Rogers outage implications show need for competition: Expert

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

A widespread Rogers Communications Inc. outage that caused trouble for 911 services, retailers and transit operators Friday had many warning the incident is a sign that monopolistic telecommunications companies need more competition.

"The outage is illuminating the general lack of competition in telecommunications in Canada," said Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy program.

The country's telecom sector is dominated by three large carriers — Rogers, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. — and their hold on the industry has long been a concern of academics, who have called for regulators to increase competition for mobile and internet services in Canada.

The Competition Bureau is currently fighting Rogers' plans to purchase Shaw Communications Inc. for $26 billion despite the planned sale of its Freedom Mobile business to Quebecor Inc. because the regulator feels the deal would only bolster Rogers' monopoly and not create a viable fourth carrier.

When the outage began Friday, Rogers, Shaw and the Competition Bureau had just wrapped a two-day mediation period that ended with no resolution.

The company offered no explanation for the outage or its expected duration, number of customers affected and location, but promised technical teams are "working hard to restore services as quickly as possible."

When everything from 911 services to GO Transit is impacted by a Rogers outage, the reach of telecommunications companies is very obvious, Bednar said.

"But unless we're going to see people switching their providers today or new publicly run options suddenly springing up, there's not much more that we can do right now other than perhaps factor in people's anger and frustration, as the pending Rogers-Shaw deal is considered."

She added that people should be compensated for the disruption.

"It's a huge expense to Rogers, but even a modest decrease on people's bills would acknowledge some kind of deficit."

Rogers said in a statement late Friday afternoon that some customers have already raised the question of credits.

"Of course we will be proactively crediting all customers and will share more information soon," the statement said.

Beanfield, an independent fibre network operator, called the outage "every telecom provider’s nightmare," but said it was also an example of why it has long been concerned with the lack of rivals for Rogers, Telus and BCE.

"A lack of competition and choice can lead to a building with the population of a small town going completely dark- cut off from all communications," the company said on Twitter. 

"If you can't even get help from a neighbour, where do you go? How do you call 911?"

The business implications are likewise tremendous, the company added.

"The consequences of such an outage for the financial sector, the lack of functioning ATMs, of working bank branches, can be catastrophic," it said. 

"Not to mention the independent businesses across the country with no way of processing payment."

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/canada-massive-rogers-outage-snarling.html

Thousands rescued at flood-hit Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir

Emergency workers have rescued thousands of pilgrims after flash floods triggered by sudden rains swept through their makeshift camps during an annual Hindu pilgrimage to an icy Himalayan cave in Indian-controlled Kashmir

The Associated Press
July 09, 2022, 

Indian army soldiers carry an injured of a cloudburst for treatment, at Baltal, 105 kilometers (65miles) northeast of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, July 9, 2022. At least eight pilgrims have been killed after a cloudburst triggered a flash flooding during an annual Hindu pilgrimage 

SRINAGAR, India -- Emergency workers rescued thousands of pilgrims after flash floods triggered by sudden rains swept through their makeshift camps during an annual Hindu pilgrimage to an icy Himalayan cave in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday. At least 16 people have died and dozens were injured.

Authorities suspended the pilgrimage for two days as rains continued to lash the region. Teams of rescuers combed through the slippery mountain tracks and used sniffer dogs and through-the-wall radars to locate dozens of missing amid inclement weather. Civilian and military helicopters evacuated the injured to hospitals.

The heavy rain Friday evening near the mountain cave revered by Hindus sent a wall of water and boulders down a gorge and carried away about two dozen camps and two makeshift kitchens, officials said. Thousands of people were in the mountains when the rains struck.

Officials said about 15,000 devotees were moved to safer locations and at least five dozen injured were administered first aid at base camp hospitals set up for the pilgrimage, which is undertaken by hundreds of thousands of Hindus from across India.

Groups of pilgrims are staggered over 1 1/2 month for security and logistical reasons.

The Amarnath pilgrimage began on June 30 and tens of thousands of devotees have already visited the cave shrine where Hindus worship Lingam, a naturally formed ice stalagmite, as an incarnation of Shiva, the god of destruction and regeneration.

This year, officials expect nearly 1 million visitors after a two-year gap due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Worshippers trek to the cave along two routes through lush green meadows and rocky and forested mountain passes with a view of glacial lakes and snowy peaks. A traditional route via the southern hill resort of Pahalgam takes three days while a trip through northeastern Baltal lasts one day. Some pilgrims use helicopter services to make quick visits.

The cave, at 13,500 feet (4,115 meters) above sea level, is covered with snow most of the year except for the short summer period when it is open to pilgrims.

Hundreds of pilgrims have died in the past due to exhaustion and exposure to harsh weather during the journey through the icy mountains. In 1996, thousands were caught in a freak snowstorm, leading to more than 250 fatalities.

The pilgrimage concludes on Aug. 11, a full-moon night that Hindus say commemorates Shiva revealing the secret of the creation of the universe.

Michigan panel wants details on Great Lakes oil tunnel plan


FILE - In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich., as Enbridge Inc., prepares to test the east and west sides of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Mich. 

A Michigan regulatory panel said Thursday, July 7, 2022, that it needs more information about safety risks before it can rule on Enbridge's plan to extend an oil pipeline through a tunnel beneath a waterway linking two of the Great Lakes. 

(Dale G Young/Detroit News via AP, File) 

JOHN FLESHER
Thu, July 7, 2022


TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan regulatory panel said Thursday that it needs more information about safety risks before it can rule on Enbridge Energy's plan to extend an oil pipeline through a tunnel beneath a waterway linking two of the Great Lakes.

The state Public Service Commission voted 3-0 to seek further details about the potential for explosions and fires involving electrical equipment during construction of the tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

The commission's approval would be required for Enbridge to replace two existing Line 5 pipes in the straits, which connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, with a new segment that would run through the proposed underground tunnel.

“This has been an extensive process,” Chairman Dan Scripps said. “We want to make sure that we get it right.”

Enbridge and the state of Michigan are mired in legal battles over Line 5. The 69-year-old underground pipeline carries Canadian oil and natural gas liquids used for propane through northern Michigan and Wisconsin to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario.

A 4-mile-long (6.4-kilometer-long) section divides into dual pipes that cross the bottom of the straits.

Enbridge is defying Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's 2020 order to shut down the line, a move long sought by environmental groups and Native American tribes who fear a rupture would devastate the lakes. The company says the line is in good condition and contends in a federal lawsuit that the Democratic governor doesn't have the jurisdiction to shut it down.

Enbridge, based in Calgary, Alberta, reached a deal with former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in 2018 to build the $500 million tunnel. Enbridge has obtained permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and awaits word from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as Michigan Public Service Commission.

The commission said last year it would not pass judgment on whether the entire 645-mile (1,038-kilometer) line should continue operating, focusing instead on the underwater section.

Its three members are Whitmer appointees. Scripps and Tremaine Phillips are Democrats, while Katherine Peretick is an independent.

In its order Thursday, the commission said testimony, exhibits and briefings included too little about tunnel engineering and hazards.

Also lacking is information about safety and maintenance of the dual pipelines, “including leak detection systems and shutdown procedures,” the order said.

Interviewed by telephone after the meeting in Lansing, Scripps said Enbridge had pegged the likelihood of an oil release from the tunnel pipe as “one in a million." The commission wants to know how the figure was calculated, he said, as well as steps to eliminate even that possibility.

In a statement, Enbridge said it already had provided “extensive" material on those matters but would answer further questions.

“The engineering and design of the tunnel has been developed in accordance with the tunnel agreement entered with the state, and in close coordination with the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to ensure its safety and design life," the company said.

The corridor authority was created under Snyder to oversee building and operation of the tunnel.

Pipeline critics praised the commission's push to learn more.

“Enbridge has not proven feasibility or safety for this project," said Beth Wallace of the National Wildlife Federation. “Enbridge has proven time and again that they cannot be trusted to operate Line 5 and they should not be trusted to blast a tunnel through the Great Lakes."

The commission's decision was the latest of many delays for the tunnel, which the company originally pledged to complete by 2024. The Army Corps is conducting a lengthy environmental impact study.

Enbridge said it remains committed to the project.

The Great Lakes Michigan Jobs Coalition, which represents industry and labor groups, urged the commission to “get back to work, move the tunnel project forward and protect tens of thousands of Michigan jobs."

Why the Roswell Incident has never yielded to the UFO-sceptics

Bill Borrows
Thu, July 7, 2022


Roswell has become the global capital of the UFO and alien tourism industry - Eric Draper/AP

Rancher WW ‘Mac’ Brazel had no idea what he had found on his remote property in New Mexico, nor where it had come from. Three weeks later, when he visited the nearest settlement and told people about his discovery, he was impressed upon to report it immediately to the authorities.

To Brazel, ‘it’ amounted to a puzzling collection of metallic fragments, rubber, wood, tape and paper, but to those with access to radio, television, newspapers and a telephone, the debris sounded very much like the component parts of a “flying saucer”.

This was the name given by excited journalists the previous month to the unidentified objects seen by civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold as they flew past Mount Rainier, near Seattle.


Duty-bound, Brazel travelled the 75 miles to the town of Roswell, and on July 7 1947, 75 years ago today, presented the sheriff with the mysterious debris.

The sheriff contacted Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF was an army flight school base), who assigned Major Jesse Marcel – an intelligence officer with the world’s only atomic-bomb squadron – to visit the ranch and collect the debris.

Marcel flew everything to General Roger Ramey at Fort Worth; in the meantime, an official press release had been issued that read, in part: “The many rumours regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office… was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc.”

It was, as the author Anna Whitty tells in a new documentary, Roswell 75: The Final Evidence, “the ‘Big Bang’ of modern day UFO phenomena”.

On Saturday July 2, at Roswell’s 26th UFO Festival, 45,000 enthusiasts descended to celebrate World UFO Day and the 75th anniversary of what has become known as the “Roswell Incident”.

Yet while they were able to dress up as extraterrestrials, eat at a UFO-themed McDonalds, queue for the International UFO Museum and Research Center, listen to talks by “ufologists” and even enter an Alien Chase fun-run, there was no “captured flying saucer” on display. In fact, many of those in attendance would have doubted whether there was a UFO in the first place.

1st Lts. Eugene Schwartz, left, and Raymond Madison pose with 'Sierra Sam' - US Air Force

This is because, before the world’s media could arrive in New Mexico in July 1947 to cover the biggest story in recorded history, Gen Ramey and his chief of staff, Col Thomas Dubose, announced to the US press that, after close examination, the debris belonged to a crashed weather balloon. There was officially “nothing to see here”.

The Roswell Daily Record, which had declared “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell”, printed a retraction, Brazel declared himself embarrassed, and the story disappeared for decades. There were no books, no TV programmes, no films. The events were set to become a footnote in the history of an unremarkable American town.

So how did Roswell become the global capital of the UFO and alien tourism industry, and arguably the principal generator of the annual $6.6 billion that New Mexico receives from visitors to the state?

It makes perfect sense that Jesse Marcel and Stanton Friedman became the first two inductees on Roswell’s new UFO Walk of Fame.

Friedman, a former nuclear physicist and “clear-cut unambiguous ufologist”, was the man who breathed life back into the Roswell story by convincing the retired Marcel to admit publicly in 1978 that he still believed the debris he had handled in 1947 to be “nothing made on this Earth” and added a cover-up had been orchestrated.

More research and the unearthing of other witnesses led to the best-selling 1980 book The Roswell Incident, co-written by Charles Berlitz and William Moore.

It mentioned “alien bodies” at the crash site for the first time, and tapped into a post-Watergate America suspicious of authority, as well as a post-Moon landing, Space Race zeitgeist represented by the success of films such as Close Encounters of The Third Kind.

People began looking again at UFO sightings dating back decades, then in 1989 one Bob Lazar claimed that he had been hired by the US government to reverse-engineer extraterrestrial technology on one of nine flying saucers held at a secret site in Nevada called “S-4”, near the United States Air Force facility now widely known as “Area 51”.

His credibility has been repeatedly called into question, but the dam was broken.

Col. John Haynes holds a copy of The Roswell Report during a Pentagon news conference in 1997 - Susan Walsh/AP

The International UFO Museum and Research Center opened in Roswell in 1991, with co-founder Glenn Dennis claiming that a nurse he knew who had worked on the base told him that she had participated in an autopsy on an alien in 1947 (but sworn him to secrecy).

Dennis worked as a mortician, and also claimed that at around the same time, he had been asked by the base about the chances of procuring “hermetically-sealed” child-sized caskets.

In 1994, as the multi-million dollar UFO industry was getting into its stride – the TV movie Roswell, starring Kyle MacLachlan and Martin Sheen, kicked off a love affair between the story and screens big and small – and after United States congressional inquiries, the first “Report of Air Force Research Regarding the ‘Roswell Incident’” was released.

It acknowledged that the “weather balloon” story was indeed a cover-up, but one conducted for the purposes of national security. The debris discovered by Brazel, it claimed, was from Project Mogul, a military surveillance operation designed to detect Soviet nuclear testing.

The explanation failed to convince. Eyewitness reports of dead aliens, and a grainy video of an alleged alien autopsy, which leaked in 1995 and would eventually be acknowledged as a hoax, had not been addressed, and would not be until a second report in 1997 introduced the less-than-convincing notion of crash-test dummies being found at the site.

The official conclusion was, and remains: “No credible evidence from any witness has turned out to present a compelling case that the object [found at Roswell] was extraterrestrial in origin.”

Predictably – especially given the admission that the US Government had already been involved in one cover-up – the story continued to propagate in the fertile soil of websites and chat-rooms online. It thrives there to this day.

“[The official reports] just fed into the belief that there was actually more to this than they said there was before,” Whitty tells me. “They’ve tried so hard to kibosh it several times, but one of the things that’s really great about Roswell is that there’s just nothing conclusive that can knock it out of the park.

“Didn’t Einstein say the universe is not just weirder than we think, but weirder than we can think? It’s just beyond our [understanding].”

As if to prove the point, Dr Shirley Wright, a former assistant to the great theoretical physicist Einstein, claimed on audio tapes recorded in 1993 that she had accompanied him to “Area 51”, witnessed spacecraft and telepathically conversed with aliens.

Later, in 2011, investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen suggested that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had recruited Nazi scientist Josef Mengele after the war to create alien-like children in a eugenics experiment and then flown them to America in a remote-piloted plane to create mass hysteria, as per the infamous Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast in October 1938. The plane, however, crashed, and was discovered at Roswell before everything was hushed up.

A photo of the so-called 'body bags' from the Roswell Report - US Air Force

“It was a kind of ‘What the f---k?” moment when that came out,” smiles Dr David Hall, an analytical thinker who has held board level positions in a range of engineering and forensic science companies and also appears in Roswell 75: The Final Evidence.

“One [option] is that it’s a straight-off-the-bat weather balloon, and everything else is a figment of everyone else’s imagination. Two, it’s an extraterrestrial visitation. Three, could the Russians have been playing psychological war games with Mengele and developing their own aliens from young children?

“Yes, but isn’t it more likely that, four, a US development programme at a nuclear site led from air-balloon capability into doing tests with various life forms and ended up using humans because they needed to know what the impact [of fallout] was going to be? If you line those up, the least probable for me would be the extraterrestrial visitation. I don’t think it’s impossible, just the most unlikely.”

And yet the story persists. “Well, it’s in everyone’s interests to keep the story going,” Hall says. “For the US Army Air Force, it was a major diversionary tactic that covered up the fact that they were doing some nuclear tests that were highly covert and maybe morally questionable.

While for the town of Roswell, it’s no different from Loch Ness, is it? It’s a huge tourist money spinner.

“If you go back over millennia, people have always been interested in what’s happening up in the sky… People would look up and worship gods because events were taking place and they assumed they were up there, but I don’t think it’s out of romanticism. I think it’s out of trying to explain the unexplained.”

Roswell 75: The Final Evidence airs tonight on Blaze at 9pm

Protests block North Macedonia's capital over Bulgaria, EU compromise


Supporters of North Macedonia's biggest opposition party
VMRO-DPMNE rally in Skopje

Fri, July 8, 2022

By Fatos Bytyc

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Streets in Skopje, North Macedonia, were brought to a standstill on Friday because of protests against a proposed compromise deal with Bulgaria that would finally allow the Balkan country to begin long-awaited European Union membership talks.

On Friday hundreds of people parked their vehicles around government buildings in central Skopje as well as on several other regional roads. The daily protests that started at the beginning of this week have at times become violent, causing injuries to at least 10 protestors and dozens of police officers. No injuries were reported from Friday's demonstration.

North Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership for 17 years, but its approval had been blocked first by Greece and now by Bulgaria, which wants North Macedonia to recognise a Bulgarian minority and shared history with the Bulgarian language.


A 2017 agreement to change the country's name from Macedonia to North Macedonia ended the dispute with Greece, and seemed to open the door for EU membership talks. However Bulgaria, another EU member state, lodged a veto in 2020 over history and language issues, which opposing North Macedonians say attack their national identity.

France, which held the EU presidency up until July, drafted a proposal last month to amend North Macedonia's constitution to recognise a Bulgarian minority, while the remaining issues would be discussed between Skopje and Sofia. The proposal does not require Bulgaria to recognise the Macedonian language.

The Bulgarian parliament lifted its veto last month, which also caused unrest in the country and led to a no-confidence vote that toppled the government.

North Macedonia's parliament is expected to debate the proposal next week.

"We will never, never accept this treaty because it is contrary of our national interest and it is contrary to our identity,” said Hristijan Mickoski, leader of the largest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, which supports the protest.

Protester Acka Stanisheva likewise is against the compromise agreement, saying it is not a European deal but a Bulgarian proposal.

“The government should not accept this proposition,” Stanisheva told Reuters.

Political analyst Petar Arsovski thinks the proposal is both good and bad for North Macedonia.

"It is good in a sense that it does offer start of membership talks but the downside is that there is no principle of reciprocity and Bulgaria is not obliged to recognise Macedonian minority."

He said the framework for bilateral talks would enable the two countries to resolve all national issues.

North Macedonia was the only former Yugoslav Republic to leave the federation peacefully. But in 2001 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pulled North Macedonia from the brink of civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency and promised faster integration into the EU and NATO.

The Balkan country joined NATO in 2020, but has still not opened accession talks with the EU.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Skopje; Additional reporting by Ognen Teofilovski; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Josie Kao)

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/violent-protests-erupt-in-north.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/macedonia-shootings-at-latest-protest.html

GOP Senate candidate's lawsuit blaming China for Covid dismissed by federal judge: report

Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent
July 08, 2022

Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Facebook.


Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s lawsuit blaming China for COVID-19 was dismissed Friday when a federal judge ruled his court has no jurisdiction over foreign governments.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, in a 38-page ruling, wrote that a federal law setting rules for when a sovereign foreign entity could be sued in U.S. courts doesn’t allow any part of the lawsuit filed by Schmitt in April 2020 to continue.

“All in all, the court has no choice but to dismiss this novel complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” Limbaugh wrote.

Schmitt’s office filed a notice of appeal immediately after Limbaugh made his ruling.


When Schmitt filed the lawsuit, he claimed China was responsible for allowing the novel coronavirus to cause a global pandemic by covering up the initial infections in Wuhan.

“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” Schmitt said in a news release when the lawsuit was filed. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”

It took more than a year to get any of the nine defendants served with notice of the lawsuit and $12,000 to translate the complaint into Chinese.

The lawsuit was the first of its kind in the U.S. attempting to hold the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party liable for COVID-19, Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitt’s office, said in an email statement to The Independent.

“The office disagrees with the court’s decision to let China off the hook, and today promptly filed a notice of appeal in this case to continue Attorney General Schmitt’s efforts to hold China accountable – we look forward to prevailing on appeal,” Nuelle wrote. “Our fight continues on to make China pay.”

Schmitt, attorney general since 2019, is a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and has touted the lawsuit as an example of his willingness to confront Chinese power if elected.

Soon after it was filed, legal experts predicted that it would fail.

Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California at Hastings College of Law, told the Washington Post in April 2020 that she did not “see any portion of this lawsuit succeeding under the law as it currently stands.”

Along with the Chinese government and the Communist Party, the lawsuit named three national Chinese government agencies, the governments of Hubei Province and Wuhan, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“After the complaint was filed, plaintiff attempted Hague Convention service, but China posted notice on its web site that it was refusing service under Article 13 of the Convention, which allows signatories to refuse service that would violate sovereignty,” Limbaugh wrote.

The Hague Convention is an international agreement that creates a central agency in each signatory nation for accepting service of court papers on behalf of its citizens and entities. By refusing service, the government agencies are immune from being held liable, Limbaugh wrote.

The only remaining question, Limbaugh wrote, was whether Schmitt was correct in describing the Communist Party, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences as non-government entities.

Schmitt’s complaint alleges that the Communist Party controls everything in China. While it is technically a separate legal entity in China, it has effective total control, making it part of the government, Limbaugh wrote.

Limbaugh listed the allegations – failure to contain the virus within China, lying about
transmissibility and delaying, censoring, or withholding critical information and noted it is “not the type of conduct by which a private party engages in ‘trade and traffic or commerce’ and thus it is not commercial activity.”

Schmitt’s argument that the actions of the institute and the academy fit commercial activity exceptions in the law, is not convincing, Limbaugh wrote. The alleged conduct has to have a “direct effect” on commercial activity, he wrote.

“The court cannot conclude that the core misconduct had an immediate consequence – a ‘direct effect’ – in the United States,” Limbaugh wrote. “Many intervening events would necessarily have occurred before the mishandling and coverup resulted in COVID cases inside the United States.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.

PFAS FOREVER CHEMICALS

 
Scientists sample 156 Florida oysters, find dangerous "forever chemicals" in each

Jul 6, 2022
CBS Miami

CBS4's Peter D'Oench reports on how Florida International University scientists recently conducted a study where they sampled 156 oysters from Biscayne Bay, Marco Island to Tampa Bay and found dangerous contaminants in each one.  

Toxic 'forever' chemicals found in Mobile's drinking water 

- NBC 15 WPMI

Premiered Jul 6, 2022

MAWSS sent a consumer drinking water notice that says the levels of PFAS detected exceed what the EPA recommends.

According to the CDC, PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals used in industry and consumer products, like nonstick cookware and carpet, since the 1950s. Most people in the United State have it in their blood. Local environmental watchdog group Mobile Baykeeper says its prevalence is problematic.

Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos' convictions of cyber libel upheld


Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos' convictions of cyber libel upheld

Barnaby Lo
Fri, July 8, 2022 at 9:10 AM·3 min read

Manila – Veteran Philippine journalist and Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa has been dealt another blow in her years-long legal battles.

On Friday, the country's Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by a Manila court convicting Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr., a former writer at Ressa's news service Rappler, of cyber libel.

"The decision weakens the ability of journalists to hold power to account," Rappler said in a statement, as its staffers called on media colleagues and advocates of press freedom to be vocal and vigilant.

Ressa and Santos were sued by businessman Wilfredo Keng over a 2012 article that he said had damaged his reputation. The story was published before the Philippines' cyber libel law was enacted, but the court ruled that a typographical correction made in 2014 was essentially a re-publication, which in turn meant the article was covered under the law.


The appeals court's ruling also extended the proscribed jail time from a maximum of six years, adding an additional eight months and 20 days to the sentences.

Rappler said Ressa and Santos would elevate their challenges against the conviction to the country's Supreme Court — an opportunity, they said, "to take a second look at the constitutionality of cyber libel and the continuing criminalization of libel, especially in light of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press."

Last week, the Philippines' Securities and Exchange Commission released an order affirming its decision in 2018 to revoke the articles of incorporation of Rappler. The SEC maintained that the news outlet had violated foreign ownership rules after a court-mandated review.

The company had received funding from the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm owned by e-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar. That in itself would not have been necessarily illegal, but the SEC noted "a provision requiring the Filipino stockholders of Rappler to seek the approval of Omidyar Network on fundamental corporate matters."

Philippine laws prohibit foreign control of mass media. Omidyar's holdings were subsequently donated to Rappler employees, but the SEC ruled that that move had no effect on its earlier decision.

Ressa refused to shut down operations, saying in an online news conference that Rappler would "continue to work and do business as usual."

"We have been harassed, this is intimidation, these are political tactics, and we refuse to succumb to them," Ressa said.

Aside from cyber libel and the closure order, Ressa and Rappler are facing five tax-related legal cases. A number of other libel complaints have either been withdrawn or dismissed.

All cases were filed during the six-year term of President Rodrigo Duterte, which ended on June 30.

Ressa has reported extensively on disinformation on social media that proliferated during the controversial leader's rule. Rappler journalists regularly came up with in-depth and often critical stories about Duterte's deadly war on drugs.

Press freedom continues to be an issue of concern under the new administration, led by President Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He often shunned questions from reporters during the election campaign, showing a preference for social media and news organizations that did not criticize him or his family.

But Ressa still hopes for the best.

"I continue to appeal to the incoming administration: Work with journalists, we're here to help you give a better future for the Philippines. We're not your enemies," she said a day before Marcos Jr. assumed office.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Report: Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon paid more than $12 million to 4 women to suppress sexual misconduct allegations

Tyler Greenawalt

Fri, July 8, 2022 

(Warning: This story contains allegations of sexual misconduct.)

Vince McMahon, the longtime CEO of WWE who stepped down in June, paid four women at least $12 million total over the past 16 years to hide numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

McMahon was also being investigated by the WWE's board after was discovered in April he paid $3 million to cover up an affair with a former employee. This new report indicates McMahon covered up more.

So far, here are the four settlements McMahon reportedly paid out, per the Journal:

• A $7.5 million payment in 2018 to a former wrestler who alleged McMahon "coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her and, ultimately, declined to renew her contract in 2005 after she resisted further sexual encounters."

• A roughly $1 million payment in 2008 to a WWE contractor who "presented the company with unsolicited nude photos of Mr. McMahon she reported receiving from him and alleged that he had sexually harassed her on the job."

• A $1 million payment in 2006 to a former 10-year WWE manager who alleged McMahon "initiated a sexual relationship with her."

• The $3 million payment in 2022 to the former paralegal who allegedly had an affair with McMahon. The board concluded the relationship between McMahon and this woman was consensual.

The board is also investigating a $1.5 million nondisclosure agreement from 2012 between the same former paralegal and WWE executive John Laurinaitis.

McMahon voluntarily stepped down on June 17 following reports of the investigation as well as the alleged settlement. He also pledged his "complete cooperation to the investigation" and "pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are" in a statement released by the company. McMahon's daughter, Stephanie McMahon, was named interim CEO and interim Chairwoman after serving as the company's chief brand officer as well as a former wrestler.

Vince McMahon reportedly paid out more NDA settlements than originally known. (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)

Vince McMahon's Hush Money Explained

Jun 17, 2022

Tap Out Corner

Vince McMahon allegedly had an affair with a former WWE employee and paid $3 million to keep it a secret but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

WWE CEO Vince McMahon Paid Millions To Cover Up Misconduct

Jun 17, 2022

Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey

CEO of WWE Vince McMahon is being investigated by the board for paying millions in settlement money for women he may have victimized or had affairs with.  Dr. Rashad Richey and Ben Gleib discuss on Indisputable. Tell us what you think in the comments below. 

Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/media/...

"New York (CNN Business)Vince McMahon, the CEO of WWE, is being investigated by the company's board for agreeing to pay a secret $3 million settlement to a former employee he allegedly had an affair with, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The separation agreement, which was reportedly made in January, prevents the former, unnamed employee "from discussing her relationship with Mr. McMahon or disparaging him," according to the Journal."

Vince McMahon NDAs and payments investigated by WWE board | Wrestlenomics Radio

Jun 19, 2022

WWE announced on Friday that Vince McMahon will no longer be CEO and Chairman for the duration of an investigation by the Board of Directors. He remains head of creative. Stephanie McMahon is now interim CEO and Chairwoman. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Vince paid a former WWE paralegal, with whom he had a sexual relationship with, $3 million so she would sign an NDA upon leaving the company. Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis also had a sexual relationship with the former employee, whose salary was doubled from $100,000 to $200,000. The Board is investigating additional NDAs and payments.

Rita Chatterton, who says Vince McMahon raped her in 1986, is interviewed by New York Magazine. Former wrestler Mario Mancini says Chatterton told him about the assault the day after she says McMahon assaulted her in his limo.

Donahue on WWF (AKA WWE) Drug & Sex Scandal in 1992

'A 'Wow' moment': US renewable energy hit record 28% in April. What's driving the change?


Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Fri, July 8, 2022 


The amount of electricity generated by renewable resources hit a record 28% in April, a breakthrough number that shows how important renewable energy has become in U.S. energy markets.

"It's a 'Wow' moment," said Peter Kelly-Detwiler, an energy analyst and author of "The Energy Switch," a recent book about the transition to a carbon-free energy economy.

The percentage of U.S. electricity produced by renewable energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric dams has been steadily rising, from 8.6% in April 2001 to this April's 28%. Those numbers were released this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which tracks energy data for the nation.

What explains the surge?

There are several reasons. At the top is that wind and solar installations dominated U.S. energy buildouts.

"Basically, the only things we've added to the grid in the past decade are wind, solar and natural gas," said Harrison Fell, an economist and engineer at Columbia University, where he co-leads the Power Sector and Renewables Research Initiative.

That's happening for two reasons. The first is cost. Renewables are simply the most economically competitive power currently available, Kelly-Detwiler said.

In 2021, the cost of producing a megawatt-hour of electricity from a new wind turbine was $26 to $50. The same amount of electricity from the cheapest type of natural gas plant ranged from $45 to $74, according to Lazard, a financial advisory firm that publishes annual estimates of the cost of producing electricity.

Federal and state mandates and incentives to increase the amount of clean energy used also help, Fell said.

"When you do the math on what's the most profitable thing to add, it's often going to be wind and solar at this stage," he said.

Was weather a factor?

Yes. April tends to be a particularly windy month, and this spring was windier than most, Fell said.

There's also less power coming into the grid from fossil fuels and nuclear in the spring. That's because electricity demand is generally lower because of the mild weather and fossil fuel and nuclear power plants use the time for maintenance and refueling, which reduces their production, he said.

Another surprise was that in April, wind and solar power together produced more electricity than nuclear plants.

Historically, nuclear power plants, which are carbon-neutral, have reliably produced about 20% of America's electricity. In April that number dropped to 18% while wind and solar combined stood at 19.6%.

The nuclear decrease is partly a result of the shutdown of two plants in the past year, Indian Point in New York state and Palisades in Michigan, as well as scheduled closures for maintenance.
Will the trend continue?

When all U.S. carbon-neutral energy sources are added together – nuclear, wind, hydroelectric and solar – almost 46% of U.S. electricity in April came from sources that don't contribute greenhouse gases to the environment, federal data shows.

"It's a milestone," Kelly-Detwiler said. "But in a few years, we'll look back and say, 'This was a nice steppingstone to the next 'Wow!' moment."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Solar, wind power push renewable energy to record level in US in April