Bill Ackman calls carried interest loophole an 'embarrassment' after new tax bill

Alexandra Semenova

·Reporter

Fri, July 29, 2022 

Washington Democrats may have found an unlikely ally in their bid to end a long time tax rule enjoyed by some of Wall Street’s richest executives: hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman.

The Pershing Square Capital founder on Thursday slammed the so-called carried interest “loophole” – a tax treatment that allows private equity and hedge fund managers to pay a reduced tax rate on their share of gains from fund investments.

"The carried interest loophole is a stain on the tax code," Ackman said in a tweet. "It does not help small businesses, pension funds, other investors in hedge funds or private equity and everyone in the industry knows it."

"It is an embarrassment and it should end now."

Ackman’s tweets come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) reached an agreement this week on sweeping fiscal legislation that, among other issues, takes aim at the carried interest tax preference, which Democrats have lobbied to end for 15 years as part of efforts to reform tax law.

Current tax rules allow a share of investment managers’ incomes, if held for longer than three years, to be classified as a capital gain, which is taxed at roughly 20% instead of the 37% top rate on ordinary salary and wage income.

Critics argue that treating carried interest earnings as ordinary compensation allows wealthy Americans to unfairly defer and reduce the taxes they pay, while proponents argue it encourages long-term investment.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters following the Senate Democrats weekly policy lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

"Over 74% of private equity investment went to small businesses last year,” American Investment Council president and CEO Drew Maloney said in a statement. “As small business owners face rising costs and our economy faces serious headwinds, Washington should not move forward with a new tax on the private capital that is helping local employers survive and grow.”

The deal would see carried interest taxed as regular income if passed, and is estimated by Senate Democrats to generate $14 billion in revenue over the next ten years.

The latest aim at Wall Street’s favorite tax rule comes after a separate bill proposed last year that attempted to end the tax break, the Carried Interest Fairness Act, failed to advance.

Other ultra-wealthy proponents in favor of changing the rules so that private equity and hedge fund managers pay higher taxes include Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.

How the U.S. may be overemphasizing the decline in GDP

How our 'GDP complex' prevents us from asking — happiness or growth?: Morning Brief

Andy Serwer with Dylan Croll
Sat, July 30, 2022 

All the hand-wringing this week over whether or not the U.S. economy has fallen into recession lacked an important consideration: What if the measure of GDP we're all focused on is itself massively flawed?

It’s a heretical question, because there’s a 'GDP complex' at work here.

There's an entire apparatus — economists, bankers, government officials, and prognosticators — of folks whose livelihoods are predicated on measuring GDP, maintained as the be-all and end-all method for measuring a country’s economic, or even societal, health.

And, of course, GDP growth is never quite 'right.' It’s either too fast or slow, and these parties are always ready to help fix things.

Leaving aside the experts’ deficiencies in predicting or fixing, by fixating on GDP this august group often misses items like sustainability and quality of life.

"[GDP] is a shortcut, it's not comprehensive enough," economist Mohamed El-Erian told me recently. "It’s a cognitive trap. We've all gotten used to measuring things by GDP, and we're having a huge problem getting out of that. Also the nature of GDP growth is important. Is it inclusive? It’s a useful measure, but it is just a tiny perspective into an economy."

Mohamed El-Erian speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

"What we are now concerned about has to do with the quality of the output of our economy, the quality of the food we eat, the quality of the air we breathe," says David Pilling, author of the 2018 book "The Growth Delusion," which explored our societal obsession with economic growth. "The only way of increasing the GDP of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, is to play it twice the speed so you can have more of it."

Before you accuse me of going crunchy granola on you, know that we do look beyond GDP in some instances.

Example: The fastest way for a factory to grow is to keep costs as low as possible which means dumping toxic waste in the nearby river. Sure we don’t do that today, but we could do much more.

Questioning GDP, though, begs an even more fundamental question: Does an economy need to grow? It's a point that’s been debated at least as far back as John Stuart Mill in the mid 19th century. More recently Herman Daly, a former senior economist for the World Bank, has been a leading voice in the 'steady state' movement, which he spoke to in a recent New York Times interview.

There’s a ton of interesting stuff in there from Daly, like: "Earth is not expanding. We don’t get new materials, and we don’t export stuff to space. So you have a steady-state Earth, and if you don’t recognize that, well, there’s an education problem."

Holistic socio-economic models haven’t been widely adopted of course, with some notable exceptions.

In 1972, Bhutan abandoned GDP as its measure of economic progress and replaced it with…happiness. The Guardian reports: “[Bhutan] has championed a new approach to development, which measures prosperity through formal principles of gross national happiness (GNH) and the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and natural environment."

Much has been written about the Bhutanese experiment (here and here) and there are shortcomings, but even its critics have to acknowledge its successes. New Zealand, for its part, now has a "Wellbeing Budget."

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge poses with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge in front of the Paro Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan, April 15, 2016. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

Vox notes: “To Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the purpose of government spending is to ensure citizens' health and life satisfaction, and that — not wealth or economic growth — is the metric by which a country’s progress should be measured. GDP alone, she said, 'does not guarantee improvement to our living standards' and nor does it ‘take into account who benefits and who is left out.'"

"The really important thing which New Zealand understands is that subjective well-being data can be used to unlock the policy situation," says John Helliwell, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia.

Some U.S. economists scoff Bhutan and New Zealand (or is it Aotearoa?): "Fringe economies," kind of stuff. These same dismal scientists disparage Italy, Spain, and France too, which to my mind have budgeted — inadvertently to a degree — along these lines for centuries. And as I pointed out, they’re decent places to live too.

GDP is hardly a hallowed metric, nor is it infallible.

On the first count, remember that up until 1991, we used to use GNP (gross national product) to measure the economy. As for fallibility, look to Ireland and its "Leprechaun economic" episode — a phrase coined by Paul Krugman after the country reported GDP growth of 26.3% in 2015, the result of massive tax sheltering schemes by multinational companies, in particular, it seems, Apple.

Two years later, Ireland replaced GDP with Modified GNI (Gross National Income).

But the "GDP complex" doesn’t have to resort to such extremes to win at this game.

Fixing low or non-growing GDP through fiscal policy (cutting taxes) and monetary policy (cutting interest rates) disproportionately helps the shareholder class, which includes the aforementioned economists, bankers, government officials, and prognosticators. Those tools do not directly address life expectancy, infant mortality, drug addiction, murder, and suicide rates. No country obsesses more over GDP data than the U.S., and yet our quality of life relative to other countries (see here and here) is a shocking embarrassment.

"GDP is weighted toward the people whose incomes are higher. It's their experience that is dominating the GDP," says Richard Easterlin, professor emeritus of economics at USC. "In the case of happiness, it doesn't matter whether you're a shareholder, or farmer. Each of you counts the same."

Is it possible to have strong GDP growth and high quality of life across a society?

Some might argue that we used to in the United States — though huge portions of our population had a paucity of civil rights back in those "good old days." Singapore perhaps, but it also has limited civil liberties.

So, which would you rather have: strong GDP growth and poor quality of life for a majority of citizens, or find another measure that helps raise all ships?

I think I’m on board with the latter.

Jon Stewart goes to war on Twitter with Ted Cruz over veterans' healthcare: 'I'll go slow cuz I know you only went to Princeton and Harvard'

Sarah Al-Arshani,Cheryl Teh
Sat, July 30, 2022

Ted Cruz (L) and Jon Stewart (R) are embroiled in an all-out Twitter war over veterans' healthcare — specifically, the former's 'No' vote on the PACT Act.

Comedian Jon Stewart and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz have gone to war on Twitter over the PACT Act.

Cruz was one of several Republican lawmakers who blocked the bill in the Senate.

The bill would have expanded healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

Comedian Jon Stewart lashed out at GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on Twitter over a veterans healthcare bill.

Stewart initially uploaded a clip addressing inaccuracy to a response Cruz gave on why Republicans blocked the PACT Act, a bill that would have expanded healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. Cruz was one of several Republican lawmakers seen fist-bumping after the bill was blocked.

Cruz said while he supports the PACT Act, the dispute is over Democrats "playing a budgetry trick," by taking "$400 billion in discretionary spending and shifted it to mandatory spending."

Stewart replied by pointing out that "it's no trick."

"Ah dearest Theodore. I do appreciate you and @JesseBWatters trying to rally the forces of misinformation to try and kill more vets…but not tonite sweetie. I'll go slow cuz I know you only went to Princeton and Harvard…" Stewart tweeted. Stewart was likely referring as well to Fox News host Jesse Waters' segment on him on "Jesse Waters Primetime," where Waters claimed the comedian's blame on Republicans for the PACT Act not passing was "misguided."

"Everything in the government is either mandatory or discretionary spending depending on which bucket they feel like putting it in. The whole place is basically a fucking shell game," Stewart said. "And, he's pretending that this is some new thing that the Democrats pulled out, stuck into the bill and snuck it past one Ted Cruz."

Poking fun at Cruz, Stewart added: "Now, I'm not a big city Harvard educated lawyer, but I can read. It's always been mandatory spending."



In a response video, Cruz called Stewart a "funny guy."

"I appreciate your engaging on issues and public policy," Cruz said in a video attached to his tweet.

He said that the "facts matter" and that he believes in taking care of veterans and alleged that the "accounting gimmick" by Democratic lawmakers would have been "irresponsible" in light of inflation.

"And I'll say this also, Jon, if you actually want to see this bill pass, if you're not just playing partisan politics, it may not be the best idea just to scream expletives at people who support the bill that you want to see passed," Cruz said.



Stewart has been a vocal proponent for healthcare for veterans, and spent years advocating for the cause on Capitol Hill. He gave an emotional speech to Congress in 2019 where he recounted how he and friend — 9/11 first responder Ray Pfeifer — knocked on doors to speak to lawmakers who dodged their questions or turned them away.

Stewart this week hit out at Republican senators for blocking the advancement of the PACT Act, which would have expanded access to health care for veterans exposed to burn pits and toxic contaminants.

"This is corruption at its finest. And sadly, these are the people that fought and defended their right to this fuckery," Stewart told reporters on Capitol Hill. "If this is America First, America is fucked," Stewart said.

We're Not Stupid: Twitter Users Agog Melania Trump Says She Was Clueless On Jan. 6

Mary Papenfuss

July 22, 2022·

Twitter wags were still gagging Friday over Melania Trump’s claim that she had no idea people were storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and were battling to jettison the results of the presidential election her husband lost.

Many tweets in response to the news were along the lines of: We’re not that stupid.

The former first lady insisted she was taking inventory at the White House that day and was too busy to pay attention to the news, her husband or the violent crowds of Donald Trump supporters two miles away.

She was fulfilling an “obligation to record the contents of the White House’s historic rooms, including taking archival photographs of all the renovations,” Melania Trump said in a statement Thursday.

The former first lady offered the explanation nearly 19 months after the U.S. Capitol attack and following the recent release of an alleged text message exchange with Stephanie Grisham, her former chief of staff. As the attack was underway, Grisham asked Trump to issue a tweet denouncing the violence. Melanie Trump replied, “no.” Grisham also addressed the text message in her book, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” published in September 2021.

“I can dispute every single thing that she said [on Thursday] with emails, with texts,” Grisham told CNN on Thursday.

Many Twitter critics had already made up their minds.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

NO SUCH THING

Japanese carmakers race to champion ‘green’ combustion engines

The roaring noise of racing car engines filled the air, as the final round of June’s Fuji 24-hour endurance race in Japan kicked off to cheers from 20,000 spectators. The race, on a track near Mount Fuji, is part of the Super Taikyu Series, a big endurance race series for commercially available vehicles.

But before all the cars set off, two carmaker rivals met at the event to discuss the outlook for net zero carbon emissions in the automotive industry. Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who took the wheel as “Morizo” to race Toyota’s Corolla model himself, was joined by Ashwani Gupta, chief operating officer at Nissan, which was taking part with carbon neutral fuel for the first time. The Toyota Corolla has a hydrogen engine, while Nissan’s Z sports car uses fuel made from bio-raw materials.

And their appearance showed how, as other carmakers pivot to electric vehicles, Toyota and its Japanese rivals are also exploring alternative routes to net zero emissions — which maintain use of the internal combustion engine.

Toyoda welcomed the efforts of Nissan, which is already a pioneer of electric vehicle technology: “It is reassuring to have more friends in this initiative to show there are many options for carbon neutrality.” Gupta responded that Nissan wants to “boost the industry by competing while co-operating”.

Carmakers globally may be shifting to electric vehicles, but defenders of the combustion engine, such as Toyoda, argue that it could ultimately provide a more sustainable route for the transition from petrol cars. Critics, however, counter that carmakers cannot afford such detours when trying to address causes of climate change.

Testing the tech: Toyota’s hydrogen Corolla at the Fuji endurance race

Recognition of the need for speed in developing the necessary technology is one reason Toyota tried out a hydrogen engine in the endurance race: the time pressures of the sport help it to keep up the momentum.

This was the second year that Toyota took part in the endurance race with a hydrogen-powered vehicle that emits no carbon dioxide. It al­ready has a standard hydrogen model in the form of fuel-cell car Mirai.

Other Japanese carmakers are testing green energy sources to power internal combustion engines.

The Nissan Z car’s biofuel, for example, is made from raw materials such as waste food and wood chips. Explaining the switch to biofuel for the race, Gupta said: “We expect to gain valuable knowledge to develop highly competitive engines for carbon neutral fuels.”

REGARDLESS OF THE FUEL IT USES

Russia's Yasen-class missile subs have impressed and worried NATO for years, and now Moscow may build more of them


Christopher Woody
July 22, 2022·

Russian Yasen-class submarine K-560 Severodvinsk.

Russian Ministry of Defense

Russia is considering building more of its Yasen-class guided-missile subs, according to state media.


Those subs and the advanced cruise missiles they carry have worried US and European commanders.


Over the past decade, military leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have kept a close eye on the Yasens.

Since Russia's first Yasen-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, Severodvinsk, entered service in late 2013, two decades after its construction began, other subs of the class have followed at quicker intervals, and Russian leaders are now considering adding even more of these subs to a fleet that has already impressed and worried NATO commanders with its ability to avoid detection and strike at valuable targets.

The second sub of the class, Kazan, was laid down in July 2009 and commissioned in May 2021. It was followed by Novosibirsk, laid down in July 2013 and commissioned in December 2021, and Krasnoyarsk, which was laid down in July 2014 and is reportedly set for delivery in late 2022.


More Yasen-class keels may be laid later this year, a person in Russia's defense industry told state media this month, adding that Moscow is considering adding two subs to the nine already built or planned.

Submarines are a relative bright spot in Russia's mixed record of naval modernization. That undersea fleet — and in particular the Yasens, which NATO calls the Severodvinsk class — has made an impression on Russia's neighbors.

"I remember my first meeting with Jim Mattis as defense secretary. The most important thing I brought with me to the meeting was a picture of the Severodvinsk-class submarine because that was so important for us to convey to the US that this was really one of the big strategic challenges that we saw," Ine Eriksen Søreide, who served as Norway's defense minister from 2013 to 2017, said during a Hoover Institution event on Wednesday.

Russian Yasen-class sub K-561 Kazan arrives at its permanent base in the Russian Arctic, June 1, 2021.

Lev Fedoseyev\TASS via Getty Images

Yasen-class subs are just some of the new ships, missiles, and aircraft that Russia has acquired in recent years, but their ability to attack targets on land and at sea make them a particular concern.

With those subs, said Søreide, who was Norway's foreign minister from 2017 to 2021, Russia "can now effectively shut off the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap and by that also hampering the reinforcements to Europe in a situation of crisis."

Norway's coast runs from the Kola Peninsula, where Russia's powerful Northern Fleet is based, to the Baltic Sea, which the Severodvinsk was spotted sailing to this month, giving the country a front-row seat for the development and deployment of many Russian weapons, but Søreide's warning likely didn't surprise US officials.

A 2009 report by the Office of Naval Intelligence assessed the Yasen class as the quietest of Russia's and China's nuclear-powered subs at the time. In 2014, the officer responsible for submarines at US Naval Sea Systems Command said he so admired the Severodvinsk that he put a replica in his office.

"We'll be facing tough potential opponents. One only has to look at the Severodvinsk," Rear Adm. Dave Johnson said at a conference that October. "I am so impressed with this ship that I had Carderock [naval test center] build a model from unclassified data."
'Very highly precise weapons'

The crew of the Russian submarine K-560 Severodvinsk during basic training, March 14, 2018.Lev Fedoseyev\TASS via Getty Images

In addition to being distinctly quiet, Severodvinsk is armed with dozens of cruise missiles capable of attacking warships and land targets. Severodvinsk also test-fired Russia's new Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in late 2021.

The three follow-on subs are considered Yasen-Ms and are similarly armed but have upgrades that include new sensors, new quieting technology, and a nuclear reactor updated to make less noise.

Those subs' long range and newfound land-attack capability worry NATO military leaders, who see a threat to physical infrastructure, such as ports, that would be vital to resupply and reinforcement.

"For the first time in Russian history, the Russian Navy is able to lay off a European coast or in some cases even the continental United States and present a land-attack cruise missile threat ... with very highly precise weapons," Michael Petersen, director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College, told Insider in 2020.

In a reflection of their concern, NATO navies have in recent years practiced getting convoys across the Atlantic and to disembarkation points in Europe — operations that haven't received much attention since the Cold War.

Shortly after Kazan joined Russia's Northern Fleet in June 2021, Gen. Glen VanHerck, who oversees US military operations around North America, said the sub was "on par with ours."

This spring, VanHerck again cautioned that Yasen-class subs "are designed to deploy undetected within cruise-missile range of our coastlines to threaten critical infrastructure."

"This challenge will be compounded in the next few years as the Russian navy adds the Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile to the Severodvinsk's arsenal," VanHerck added.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

CHRISTIAN DOMINIONISM

Military officers testify in House hearing about difficulty getting abortion care

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Cailf., speaks during a House committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 8. Speier heard testimony Friday at a House Armed Service subcommittee hearing from women officers describing the difficulty in accessing abortion care in the military. 

Pool photo by Andrew Harnik/UPI | License Photo

July 29 (UPI) -- Female military veterans testified Thursday before the House Armed Forces subcommittee about their concerns and experiences with getting abortions, providing abortions and accessing reproductive healthcare in the U.S. military.

Subcommittee Chair Jackie Speier, D-Calif., has introduced the MARCH for Servicemembers Act to enable the Department of Defense to provide abortion care.

"Let me be clear: it is inhumane to force women to remain pregnant against their will," Rep. Speier said in prepared opening remarks. "It is arrogant to think that we know better than a woman or her doctor about what's best for her body. It is wrong to create government-mandated pregnancies. Access to abortion care is essential to a woman's health and central to their economic and social well-being."

Air Force Major Sharon Arana testified at the subcommittee hearing, sharing her story about seeking an abortion while in the military.

She said she was stationed in Alabama, which had strong abortion restrictions, when she realized her birth control pill had failed. She told the subcommittee she had to leave the state to access an abortion, but found that Georgia had a three-day "cooling off period" before she could access the needed care.

She said she was able to get to her home state of New York and got the abortion.

"I was fortunate enough to come from a state that honors a woman's right to make her own decisions, and I wasn't forced to carry through with a pregnancy against my will," Arana told the subcommittee.

She described the difficulty accessing reproductive healthcare in the military.

"I didn't want to go to the base clinic to get tested because it would prompt a profile and my chain of command would instantly be notified of my pregnancy. I also knew the clinic couldn't help me find access to an abortion," Arana said.

Theresa Mozzillo, also an Air Force major, testified that at 21, fresh out of military technical training and stationed in Missouri, she sought an abortion and had to travel to the Missouri and Kansas border to get the medical care.

"Without question, if I had not been able to have an abortion as a junior enlisted service member, I would not have been able to have my career and would not be before you today," she told the subcommittee. "Today I am speaking in support of the women in the military who will now have a much harder time to access an abortion than I did."

Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an abortion provider, routinely cared for servicemembers and their families near Fort Hood, Texas.

"Servicemembers and their spouses regularly sought abortion care at our clinic, and I witnessed the countless obstacles they endured to obtain that care," Moayedi said in her prepared testimony. "These barriers included struggling to obtain leave for their procedure or time to take the pills, challenges traveling from the base to Austin for care, costs, stigma, and even barriers to getting a referral for care. Because of the chilling effects of unjust policies like the Hyde Amendment that have been applied to military health insurance, there is a longstanding history of not giving out information about abortion."

She said military members have "agreed to put everything on the line and our country does them a disservice by denying access to and coverage for essential abortion care."

OUTSOURCING

New Mexico road sign corrected after misspelling 'Albuquerque'

July 29 (UPI) -- Officials in New Mexico said a highway sign in the East Mountains was corrected after travelers pointed out the word "Albuquerque" was missing its "r."

The sign for Interstate 40 was recently installed on Route 66, and social media users pointed out the name of the city was misspelled as "Albuqueque."

A New Mexico Department of Transportation spokesperson said the department was flooded with calls this week from travelers and residents pointing out the typo.

The spokesperson said the sign has now been corrected.

BOOMERS KNOW HOW TO SPELL ALBUQUERQUE

R you there? NM highway sign forgot the R in Albuquerque, but officials say it was 'simple mistake'

Alyssa Guzman For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press - Thursday July 28,2022

Did you spot it? A New Mexico highway sign hilariously forgot the 'R' in Albuquerque, but officials said it was just a 'simple mistake.'

A newly upgraded Department of Transportation (DOT) sign was erected last week on Route 66 and Interstate 40 that pointed drivers toward 'Albuqueque,' misspelling the New Mexico city's name.

People called and emailed the department to point out the mistake on the sign visible to drivers on the parallel highways, said Kimberly Gallegos, a New Mexico DOT spokesperson.

A corrected sign went up this week, she said.

'I do not recall this happening before,' Gallegos said. 'But I honestly think this was just a simple mistake.'


© Provided by Daily MailA New Mexico road sign on Route 66 and Interstate 40 hilariously forgot the 'R' in Albuquerque. The sign has since been replaced after many reported the misspelling to DOT

Albuquerque is one of the most commonly misspelled cities in the US, alongside Cincinnati, Ohio, and Worcester, Mass., among plenty of others.

One social media user suggested the sign stay up, saying: 'Just go with it, only locals know how to spell it correctly anyway.'

Another said: 'We lost the first "r" a long time ago. It's probably time for the second one to exit too!'

Albuquerque used to have another 'R' in its name before 1706, when King Philip of Spain granted colonists the right to establish a new community on the banks of the Rio Grande.

The colony's governor, Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, wrote a letter to Spain's Duke of Alburquerque to report that it had been named La Villa de Alburquerque in his honor.

The first 'R' was dropped later, leaving Albuquerque with its current spelling, the city website said.

Another social media user commented on Albuquerque's rough reputation, writing: 'Knowing Albuquerque the R was probably stolen.'

Many, like Twitter user Tom O'Leary, just made fun of the new word, spelling it out phonetically: 'I like alba kew kew.' Another pointed out another sign that spelled the city wrong, calling it 'Abluquerque.'

Albuquerque is also commonly misspelled these ways too: Abaquerque, Albequerque, Albuqerque and Albuquerqe.

© Provided by Daily MailR you there? NM highway sign forgot the R in Albuquerque, but officials say it was 'simple mistake'


© Provided by Daily MailR you there? NM highway sign forgot the R in Albuquerque, but officials say it was 'simple mistake'


© Provided by Daily MailR you there? NM highway sign forgot the R in Albuquerque, but officials say it was 'simple mistake'


© Provided by Daily MailMany social media users made fun of the mix up, saying no one would notice anyways

1 in 4 Americans say harassing health officials over COVID-19 closures is 'justified'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been a target of threats over measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. File Pool Photo by Anna Rose Layden/UPI | License Photo

July 29 (UPI) -- More than a quarter of Americans believe it is "justified" to harass or threaten health officials, a downturn in public opinion stemming from exhaustion with COVID-19 shutdowns catalyzed by a polarized political climate, according to a study published Friday.

More than a quarter of U.S. adults surveyed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University believe such behavior is acceptable, indicating faith in public health has plummeted, even in demographics that previously tended to heed expert advice.

Lead researcher Rachel Topazian, of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Hopkins, said the "rise in attacks on public health officials has frustrated and perplexed the scientific community. "

"Early on, press attention focused on the culpability of President [Donald] Trump in flouting public health measures and cultivating a divisive political climate," wrote Topazian, who surveyed 1,086 participants in two waves of questionnaires in November 2020 and August 2021.

"However, we found that in July to August 2021, eight months into the Biden administration and amidst optimistic projections about vaccination and falling case rates, U.S. adults' support for harassment and threatening of public health officials had increased significantly," she wrote.

Of the respondents, 34% of Republicans were more likely to endorse the idea that harassment of health officials was justified, compared to 19% of Democrats.

"The rise in attacks on public health officials has been attributed to emboldened extremist factions within former President Trump's base," Topazian wrote. "Attacks occurred in an increasingly volatile political climate characterized by threats of violence toward politicians and punctuated with the January 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

"Restoring public trust in public health officials will require nuanced engagement with diverse groups," she added.

In May, a West Virginia man pleaded guilty to sending emails threatening to harm Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, and other federal and state health officials.

Fauci, a key figure in the U.S. response to the pandemic, was targeted by Trump and his supporters for his endorsement of lockdowns and other restrictions.


Dr. Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, has seen some vicious attacks on medical professionals.

"Most common are disparaging and offensive social media posts; public sharing of their work and personal cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses, residential addresses; or other virtual bullying," he wrote in April in the American Journal of Public Health.

"In some cases, this harassment includes the higher-profile cases of death threats, armed protests and threats of physical violence requiring law enforcement protection," he wrote.

Fraser added that one explanation for this shift in perspective could be the overpoliticization of public health issues.

"Facing the threat of COVID-19, America's leaders could have rallied around a collective, warlike response to an emerging global pandemic, but instead some used the virus and our response to it to strengthen, not to heal, bitter partisan divides," he added. "Health officials became targets of this partisan rhetoric and the public outcry that followed."

University of Minnesota Associate Professor Sarah Gollust said the situation calls for immediate investments to address a "depleted and demoralized workforce."

"Social science research affirms that no one silver bullet will reduce the hostility of political discourse at the moment, whether about politics in general nor public health in particular," Gollust wrote in a commentary on the study in JAMA Network Open. "However, the price of inaction and hopelessness is too high."

BILLION  TRILLION DOLLAR BOONDOOGLE

Air Force grounds some F-35s over ejector seat concerns


An F-35 flies at the first Lockheed Martin Space and Air Show in Sanford, Fla., in October 2020. The Air Force announced Friday that a component of the F-35's ejector seats has a defect. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

July 29 (UPI) -- The Air Force announced Friday that it's grounding its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet over problems with a component that helps propel the pilot's ejection seat.

Faulty Cartridge Actuated Devices could prevent the seats from properly clearing the fighter jet during an ejection.

Air Combat Command spokeswoman Alexi Worley confirmed the temporary grounding in a statement to Breaking Defense.

"ACC's F-35s do have Martin-Baker ejection seats, and on July 19, began a Time Compliance Technical Directive to inspect all of the cartridges on the ejection seat within 90 days," she said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, ACC units will execute a stand-down on July 29 to expedite the inspection process. Based on data gathered from those inspections, ACC will make a determination to resume operations," Worley said.

F-35s operated by Air Education and Training Command will also be grounded for inspection.

Air Force spokeswoman Aryn Lockhart on Thursday confirmed to the Air Force Times that the Air Force also halted flying 203 T-38 Talons and 76 T-6 Texan IIs, for the same issue.

"Our primary concern is the safety of our airmen and it is imperative that they have confidence in our equipment," 19th Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Craig D. Wills told the Times. "Our actions ... were taken out of an abundance of caution in order to ensure the safety of our pilots and aircrew."

Defense One reported that no other Air Force commands have ordered a stand-down of aircraft. The Navy and Marine Corps also haven't grounded their F-35s.

The announcement came three days after the U.S. Navy announced it was notified by of the potential defect by Martin-Baker in the CADs in some fixed-wing aircraft, including the F/A-18B/C/D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, E/A-18G Growler, T-45 Goshawk and F-5 Tiger II training aircraft.

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