It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, November 20, 2022
FORDISM IS GLOBALIZATION
VinFast celebrates Canadian launch with opening of first store at Yorkdale Shopping Center
TORONTO, CANADA – Media OutReach - 16 November 2022 – VinFast officially opened its first Canadian store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The flagship location is part of the company's rollout in Canada, with seven more stores set to open before year end, including two locations at CF Carrefour Laval in Quebec, and Park Royal Shopping Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The VinFast Store network in Canada is part of VinFast’s go-to-market strategy, in which eight retail and service centers opening in 2022 will be the first in a network of locations to build personalized relationships with Canadian customers, ensuring reliability, convenience and peace of mind throughout the process of purchasing and owning their VinFast vehicles.
Designed to convey the "Future of Mobility'' theme, VinFast Yorkdale is created with futuristic and minimalist design languages, advanced technology, interactive consumer experience. The spacious in-store ambience blends modern finishes sourced from local Canadian producers with design elements inspired by the beauty of Vietnam's natural wonders to provide customers with a seamless experience.
With a prime location, customers can access VinFast Yorkdale with ease to explore the interior and exterior details of VinFast’s electric SUVs – the VF 8 and VF 9, while experiencing the advanced technologies and engaging one-on-one with VinFast product experts. At VinFast Yorkdale, visitors will also be able to test drive the VF 8 and viewvehicle features on a large LED screen – an exclusive for VinFast, globally.
Mr. Huynh Du An, CEO of VinFast Canadashared: “The opening of the first store in Canada marks the next milestone in VinFast's global expansion journey. Our network of stores will be key in interacting with our customers, ensuring quality service, and strong relationships in Canada on our journey towards a sustainable future.”
Customers can visit VinFast Yorkdale at 3401 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6A 2T9 and reserve the VF 8 and VF 9 on VinFastAuto.ca, as well as stay up to date on future VinFast events and the upcoming store openings:
VinFast Park Royal: Park Royal Shopping Centre, 2002 Park Royal S, West Vancouver, BC V7T 2W4
About VinFast
VinFast – a member of Vingroup – envisioned to drive the movement of global smart electric vehicle revolution. Established in 2017, VinFast owns a state-of-the-art automotive manufacturing complex with globally leading scalability that boasts up to 90% automation in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Strongly committed to the mission for a sustainable future for everyone, VinFast constantly innovates to bring high-quality products, advanced smart services, seamless customer experiences, and pricing strategy for all to inspire global customers to jointly create a future of smart mobility and a sustainable planet. Learn more at: VinFastAuto.com.
About Vingroup
Established in 1993, Vingroup is one of the leading private conglomerates in Asia, with a total capitalization of approximately $35 billion USD from three publicly traded companies. Vingroup currently focuses on three main areas: Technology and Industry, Services, and Social Enterprise. Find out more at: Vingroup.net/en.
GM aims to lower EV battery cost, locks up supply deal with Vale
By Ernest Scheyder and Paul Lienert
(Reuters) - General Motors Co aims to slash the cost of electric vehicle battery cells and has added Vale to its growing roster of battery material suppliers as the automaker girds for increasing EV competition beyond 2025, GM said on Thursday.
Brazilian mining giant Vale SA will supply GM with battery-grade nickel for future electric vehicles, starting in 2026, GM executive Doug Parks said on Thursday.
The automaker also expects to cut the cost of its Ultium battery cells to less than $70 per kilowatt-hour "in mid to late decade," according to Parks, who heads GM's global product development, purchasing and supply chain.
The average industry cost for cells with nickel-based cathodes has risen as high as $140 per kWh over the past year, as raw material prices have soared.
Parks said GM is exploring the use of less expensive lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells to help reduce costs. The company also is testing lithium metal and pure silicon anodes to increase energy storage capacity, as well as solid electrolytes, Parks said.
Under a long-term supply agreement, Vale Canada will provide GM with battery-grade nickel sulfate, a key ingredient in battery cathodes, from a proposed plant in Becancour, Quebec.
The agreement with Vale is the latest in a series of GM deals aimed at locking down the supply of critical battery minerals as the automaker ramps up electric vehicle production in 2025 and beyond.
GM has said it will have the capacity to build 1 million EVs in North America by 2025, and that it has signed agreements with at least 20 battery materials companies, including Livent and Glencore, to supply those vehicles.
The Vale deal, which kicks in the second half of 2026, will supply GM with enough refined nickel for up to 350,000 EVs a year.
More importantly, the Canadian nickel sourced from Vale “will help support EV eligibility for consumer incentives under the new clean energy tax credits in the U.S.,” said Parks.
Vale has existing agreements to supply nickel to Tesla and Ford Motor Co, as well as Swedish battery startup Northvolt.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Kirsten Donovan)
Big Pharma may have to reveal government deals in WHO's draft pandemic rules
Thu, November 17, 2022 By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge
LONDON/GENEVA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies could be made to disclose prices and deals agreed for any products they make to fight future global health emergencies, under new rules that would govern a World Health Organization-backed pandemic accord reviewed by Reuters.
A draft version of the WHO accord, which is being negotiated by the U.N. health agency's 194 member countries, calls for it to be compulsory for companies to reveal the terms of any public procurement contracts.
It says that public funding for the development of vaccines and treatments should be more transparent, and include provisions to ensure that any resulting products are distributed evenly around the world.
The aim of the pact, commonly known as the pandemic treaty, is to prevent the next global health crisis from being as devastating as COVID-19 and improving the global response that left many of the world's poorest countries behind.
During the pandemic, many deals governments made with pharmaceutical companies have been kept confidential, giving them little scope to hold drugmakers accountable.
A spokesperson for the WHO said it was member states that were driving the current process toward a new agreement.
"The process is open, transparent, and with the input from other stakeholders, including any interested stakeholders and public, able to submit comments at public consultations."
The agreement is at an early stage and likely to change in the course of negotiations with member states and other stakeholders. The draft will be presented to them in full in a meeting on Friday, after being circulated earlier in the week.
The document is vague about what would happen if countries that sign up do not stick to its rules and if companies do not comply. The U.N. agency cannot force companies to follow its rules.
The proposal may face resistance from the drug industry after its meteoric race to develop vaccines and treatments that proved to be critical tools in controlling the virus which has killed more than 6.5 million people worldwide.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca tested, developed and launched vaccines less than a year after the virus first emerged in China in late 2019.
Thomas Cueni, director general for the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), said the draft was an "important milestone", but added that it was important not to undermine how pharmaceutical companies innovate and to protect their intellectual property (IP).
The draft recognises the importance of IP but says there needs to be better mechanisms for sharing expertise so more companies can produce vaccines and drugs during a crisis.
"If the draft were implemented as written today it would most likely undermine rather than facilitate our collective ability to rapidly develop and scale up counter measures and ensure its equitable access," Cueni added.
The draft document also proposes a peer-review mechanism to assess countries' pandemic preparedness, as well as better universal health coverage, more domestic funding on preventing and tackling pandemics, and better access for WHO to investigate outbreak origins.
'FAR REACHING AND BOLD'
Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington D.C. who follows the WHO, said the accord could be a game changer and redress the "unconscionable" hoarding of vaccines seen during COVID-19.
"The draft is actually far reaching and bold. The obstacles though are political opposition and industry blowback," he said.
Mohga Kammal Yanni, policy co-lead for the People's Vaccine Alliance, said the pact could either break with the "greed and inequality" of COVID-19 and other diseases "or it could tie future generations to the same disastrous outcomes".
The treaty has been described as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen global health rules by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The U.N. agency's constitution invests it with considerable powers to strike international agreements, but in its 74-year history it has only done so once in the form of the 2005 tobacco treaty.
Negotiations began on the pact in February and made an important step in July, when countries agreed to make the new agreement legally-binding despite earlier reservations from Washington. The next formal meeting of the board is in December, but there is a long road ahead. The agreement is not expected to be adopted before 2024 at the earliest.
"Some of the discussions ahead are going to get uncomfortable," said a Western diplomat, referring to issues around intellectual property and price transparency.
But they said there was a genuine interest in getting agreement by some major powers. "There's appetite to explore the issues, including the difficult ones."
(Writing by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Josephine Mason and Elaine Hardcastle and Bill Berkrot)
SpaceX Awarded $1.15 Billion Contract to Build NASA's Second Lunar Lander
Passant Rabie Thu, November 17, 2022 Artist’s rendering of SpaceX Starship human lander design.
NASA recently added a new Moon landing to its Artemis plans and it needs a specialized human landing system to carry it out. To virtually no one’s surprise, NASA chose SpaceX to develop this second lunar lander.
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract modification known as Option B, which calls for tweaks to the company’s initial Starship lunar lander, the space agency announced this week. The Option B contract is worth around $1.15 billion.
“With multiple planned landers, from SpaceX and future partners, NASA will be better positioned to accomplish the missions of tomorrow: conducting more science on the surface of the Moon than ever before and preparing for crewed missions to Mars,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
NASA intends to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025, but more realistically in 2026, during the Artemis 3 mission. Last month, NASA announced its plans to land a second crew on the Moon during the following Artemis 4 mission as well. The space agency had scrapped its original plans for a second lunar landing during Artemis 4, which also involves delivering two space station components to lunar orbit, but the agency had a recent change of heart.
The new addition to the original contract now looks beyond that initial lunar touchdown and towards the establishment of a sustainable human presence on the Moon—a key facet of the Artemis program. To that end, Option B will include a modified Starship lander capable of docking with NASA’s lunar Gateway (a future orbiting outpost around the Moon), accommodate four crew members, and deliver more cargo to the lunar surface, according to NASA.
“Continuing our collaborative efforts with SpaceX through Option B furthers our resilient plans for regular crewed transportation to the lunar surface and establishing a long-term human presence under Artemis,” Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager for the Human Landing System program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement.
SpaceX may be developing a modified Starship lander, but NASA is still looking to expand its options as it looks beyond Artemis 4. The space agency has called on other U.S. companies to come up with designs for additional Moon landers for future missions. SpaceX previously beat out Blue Origin for the first lunar landing system, but Jeff Bezos’ company may very well be ready with a new proposal for this upcoming contract.
A Satellite That Launched Aboard SLS Is Already in Trouble
Passant Rabie Thu, November 17, 2022 NASA's Space Launch System rocket taking off from the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning.
The launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission sent the Orion capsule on a journey to the Moon, in addition to 10 cubesats included as secondary payloads. The Space Launch System’s upper stage successfully deployed the tiny satellites yesterday, but one of them appears to be malfunctioning.
The jumbo Moon rocket took off on Wednesday at at 1:47 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officially kickstarting NASA’s Artemis Moon program. The rocket skillfully placed the Orion capsule in space for its 25.5 day journey to the Moon and back, in a mission that will prepare NASA for future crewed missions to the lunar surface.
But Orion wasn’t alone when it left Earth for this historic trip. A total of 10 low-cost cubesats were tucked inside the SLS upper stage, each designed for different missions to study the Moon, Sun, Earth, and a nearby asteorid. After Orion separated from SLS to begin its journey towards the Moon, an upper stage adapter sequentially deployed each cubesat using a timer, according to NASA. The cubesats were developed by various organizations, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the Italian space agency (ASI), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Four of the CubeSats are dedicated to studies of the Moon: Lunar IceCube, LunaH-Map, OMOTENASHI, and LunIR. Southwest Research Institute’s CuSP will track the Sun’s particles and magnetic fields, while JAXA’s EQUULEUS will image Earth’s plasmasphere. NEA Scout, a product of Marshall Space Flight Center, will head to a near-Earth asteroid with the assistance of a solar sail. BioSentinel is designed to study the effects of deep-space radiation on living organisms, while the Team Miles mission will demo a propulsion scheme using plasma thrusters. ESA’s ArgoMoon has already done its part, as it observed the cryogenic propulsion stage that set Orion on its course towards the Moon.
Each cubesat has a different timeframe for communicating with its designated ground controllers. So far, six cubesats have sent a signal to mission operators: EQUULEUS, LunIR, CuSP, LunaH-Map, ArgoMoon, and BioSentinel, NASASpaceflight first reported.
Unfortunately, JAXA’s OMOTENASHI seems to be experiencing an issue. The space agency put out a short statement earlier today saying EQUULEUS is a-okay, but that OMOTENASHI “has not completed sun acquisition,” meaning the tiny probe hasn’t referenced its position relative to the Sun, which is needed for stabilization. What’s more, “communication is not stable,” JAXA added. The space agency is “continuing operations to stablise attitude, secure power and establish communication,” the space agency wrote. OMOTENASHI is designed to land on the Moon and explore its surface as the world’s smallest lunar lander—a distinction that will have to wait.
It’s not clear how or if the Artemis 1 launch delays affected the cubesats’ electrical charges. The cubesats were packed into SLS a long time ago and the rocket endured many delays over the past few months. During a pre-launch press conference on November 14, NASA officials said ground crews were able to recharge 4 out of 10 cubesats while SLS took shelter inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on account of Hurricane Ian. The officials did admit that one unnamed cubesat had a low state of charge that would impact its ability to achieve its mission, and that the other cubesats were sufficiently charged.
We’ll be following the cubesats on their various journeys. Hopefully OMOTENASHI will spring to life and that each cubesat will eventually sign in with their respective bosses.
NASA’s Space Launch System makes inaugural journey in historic launch
Aria Alamalhodaei and Devin Coldewey Wed, November 16, 2022
After years of preparation and two false starts, NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System has finally taken off and entered orbit. It's a big win for the space agency — even as it assigns to SpaceX tasks once meant for the SLS.
Some pre-launch jitters threatened to scrub the launch, but a "red crew" went out to the hot pad to tighten something, and a bad Ethernet switch of all things later also needed to be replaced. But everything came together about 40 minutes after the original T-0, and the rocket had a clean (and impressive-looking) ascent with no hiccups to speak of. It reached orbit and as of 13 minutes after launch the various stages, separations and cut-offs were green across the board.
The SLS is a key part of NASA's Artemis program, intended to bring humanity back to the moon "to stay," as they often emphasize. That means bringing a lot of gear up there, stuff that might take years of ferrying with smaller launch vehicles like the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Rocket Lab Electron.
The SLS was built with this kind of heavy-duty mission in mind, but setbacks and delays have dogged the program, and now there is considerable speculation that commercial heavy-lift vehicles may soon offer more bang for the buck. But it is also clearly important to the U.S. government to have an option they own top to bottom.
Now that the enormous "Mega Moon Rocket" has shown it can get to space, NASA can at least plan on putting the model to work, though that will mean building a fresh one every time — unlike some launch vehicles, this one isn't reusable.
You can watch the final countdown and takeoff here:
The mission ahead
The main goal of the Artemis I mission is to test the Orion spacecraft and its critical components, like the heat shield upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and the communications systems, before the capsule eventually carries humans later this decade. The capsule will spend around 10 weeks going from orbit to the moon and back before splashing back down to Earth in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by a U.S. Navy ship.
This was NASA's third attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket. The first, which took place in August, was called off due to a hydrogen bleed line issue with one of the rocket’s four core stage engines; the second attempt a few days later was scrubbed for the same reason. It seems the third time was the charm after all.
This mission will have many more crucial and historic moments, so stay tuned for more as the Orion capsule makes its way moonward.
NASA's Artemis I moon rocket is flying through space for the first time. Meet the mannequins, Snoopy, and 'Shaun the Sheep' dolls along for the ride.
Paola Rosa-Aquino
Shaun with a model of the Artemis I mission's Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module.ESA/Aardman
The Artemis I mission launched on its maiden lunar voyage in the early hours of Wednesday, November 16.
Mannequins and mementos are hitching a ride aboard NASA's Orion capsule — without people.
Artemis I is the first mission in NASA's program to land astronauts on the moon and eventually Mars.
NASA's powerful Space Launch System, with the Orion capsule designed to host astronauts perched atop the rocket, is finally on its way to the moon.
While no human is traveling aboard the Artemis I mission, it's not going empty. Mannequins, zero gravity indicators, artifacts, mementos, and more are now embarking on a 25-day journey around the moon and back — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever gone.
It's a long-awaited first step in the space agency's efforts to get humans back to the surface of the moon for the first time since 1972. If everything goes according to plan, the Space Launch System mega rocket plans to fly the crew capsule all the way around the moon before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. That splashdown is scheduled for December 11, according to NASA.
Here are some of the cool and colorful cargo making the historic roundtrip to our nearest cosmic neighbor — the moon.
A trio of mannequins
Commander Moonikin Campos will measure the deep space environment around the moon during Artemis I.NASA
Strapped in the commander's seat at the head of the Orion capsule is a human-sized test dummy called Commander Moonikin Campos. The name is a nod to Arturo Campos, an electrical engineer who played a key role in Apollo 13's safe return to Earth.
Clad in the new Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit, Commander Moonikin will provide NASA scientists with vital data on what humans experience during a trip to the moon. Two sensors placed behind the commander's seat and under the headrest will record the acceleration and vibration generated throughout the mission, and the mannequin itself is equipped with two sensors to measure radiation exposure.
"It's critical for us to get data from the Artemis I manikin to ensure all of the newly designed systems, coupled with an energy dampening system that the seats are mounted on, integrate together and provide the protection crew members will need in preparation for our first crewed mission on Artemis II," Jason Hutt, NASA lead for Orion Crew Systems Integration, said in a statement last year.
Fitted with more than 5600 sensors, Zohar and Helga will measure the amount of radiation astronauts could be exposed to in future missions.Lockheed Martin
Two other mannequins named Helga and Zohar are riding in Orion's passenger seats.
They have torsos made of materials that mimic a woman's soft tissue, organs, and bones, along with 5,600 sensors and 34 radiation detectors to measure how much radiation exposure occurs during the mission. The only difference between the two mannequins is that Zohar is wearing a radiation protection vest, while Helga is not.
"When it comes to biological effects, different organs have different susceptibility to space radiation. Understanding the impact is very important for successful and sustainable human space exploration efforts," Ramona Gaza, science team lead at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said at a news briefing on August 17.
She added that the team is studying how women experience the space environment "as women in general have a higher risk of developing cancer since they have more radiation-sensitive organs such as breast tissue and ovaries."
The space agencies hope studying what these mannequins experience will prepare astronauts planning to fly around the moon on the Artemis II mission in 2024, and the Artemis III astronauts who eventually land on the moon. Insights from Zohar and Helga will be particularly useful, as the Artemis program aims to send the first woman to the moon.
A few cute, zero-gravity indicators
Shaun the Sheep experiencing microgravity on a parabolic flight.ESA/Aardman
Zero-gravity indicators are small items aboard a spacecraft that serve as a visual indicator that it has entered zero gravity. Artemis I has a couple of cute indicators.
Shaun, of British TV show "Shaun the Sheep" fame, is flying aboard the Artemis I mission in plush doll form.
"This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA," David Parker, the European Space Agency's director for human and robotic exploration, said in a statement. "We're woolly very happy that he's been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it's a giant leap for lambkind."
To "train" for the journey, Shaun went on a parabolic flight aboard a special Airbus "Zero G" A310 that creates the weightless condition similar to microgravity.
A familiar fuzzy figure is also flying as a zero gravity indicator in the capsule.
Snoopy will ride in the Orion capsule and serve as a zero gravity indicator.2021 Peanuts Worldwide LLC
Snoopy, the beloved Peanuts character, has long been associated with NASA missions since the Apollo program. In fact, the Apollo 10 lunar module got the nickname "Snoopy" because its job was to snoop around and scout the Apollo 11 landing site on the moon, according to NASA.
A plush version of the beagle — wearing a space suit designed according to NASA's strict specifications — alerted the team once the capsule reached a microgravity environment.
Lego figurines
Four Lego Minifigures are taking a ride around the moon on the Artemis I mission.
The figurines also star in Lego's "Build to Launch" series, which was designed in collaboration with NASA, to offer students lessons on different concepts and careers inspired by the Artemis missions.
"Each minifigure represents a real-life counterpart, such as a command pilot Kate and mission specialist Kyle, to help students better understand the diverse roles, backgrounds, and skillsets within the Artemis I team," Lego Education said in a statement in November 2021.
Four LEGO minifigures will ride along on the Artemis I mission.Radislav Sinyak/NASA
Earthly plants
NASA aims to set up permanent bases in the moon's orbit and on its surface, paving the way to eventually send astronauts to Mars.
Reliably cultivating crops in space will be necessary for would-be space travelers to survive longer missions. To that end, the space agency wants to understand how to grow plants in space for food and oxygen on the moon or during space missions.
A variety of tree and plant seeds are on board Artemis I as part of experiments to study the effects of space radiation on them. According to a statement by Sharmila Bhattacharya, NASA program scientist for space biology, they'll "help us understand a unique aspect of how biological systems can adapt and thrive in deep space."
"Gathering information like this and analyzing it after flight will eventually help us paint the full picture of how we can help humans thrive in deep space," Bhattacharya added.
Space exploration artifacts
The bolt from one of Apollo 11’s F-1 engines that is included in the Artemis I Official Flight Kit.Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
As part of Artemis I's Official Flight Kit, which contains about 120 pounds of mementos, several artifacts from previous space missions are in the Orion spacecraft.
A small piece of moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission, an Apollo 11 mission patch, and a bolt from one of Apollo 11's F-1 engines are along for the ride.
Objects of cultural significance are also on the roundtrip journey, including a 3D-printed replica of the Greek goddess Artemis, and a pebble from the lowest dry land surface on Earth, the shore of the Dead Sea — venturing further than any human has gone before.
This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on August 18, 2022.
AOC Tells Boebert, ‘You Don’t Get to Thoughts and Prayers Your Way Out of’ LGBTQ Nightclub Shooting
Peter Wade Sun, November 20, 2022 US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-GUN - Credit: POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a response to the Republican congresswoman, writing, “You have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws.”
“You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this,” she added. “Look inward and change.”
Not only is Boebert blindly pro-gun, she has also spread vicious, dangerous lies that LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. are “grooming” children. A report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Human Rights Campaign found that Boebert was the third most influential Twitter account in the U.S. that spread the harmful and false “groomer narrative.” Her GOP colleague, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, was ranked number one. Meanwhile, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people have been rising in areas of the U.S. and internationally. Experts have been warning that increases in anti-LGBTQ hate speech online can be seen as calls to action for extremists and extremist groups.
Boebert campaigned on her love of guns and when she was first elected, she pledged in an ad that she would “carry my Glock to Congress.” Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, as advocates called for stricter gun safety laws, Boebert posted on Twitter, saying, “You can’t legislate away evil.”
“Why even be in Congress if you don’t believe in doing your job?” Ocasio-Cortez responded to Boebert at the time. “Just quit and let someone who actually gives a damn do it instead of acting like a useless piece of furniture when babies are shot with AR-15s that we let teen boys impulse buy before they can legally have a beer.”
AOC Clobbers Lauren Boebert for ‘Elevating Anti-LGBT+ Hate’ and Blocking Gun Safety Laws in Wake of Colorado Springs Shooting
Loree Seitz Sun, November 20, 2022
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chastised Rep. Lauren Boebert for “elevating anti LGBT+ hate” and blocking gun safety laws in the wake of the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ bar in Colorado Springs that killed at least five people and injured 25 others.
“@laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote Sunday. “You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this. Look inward and change.”
Boebert, who recently won a seat Colorado’s Third Congressional District in a race against Democratic opponent Adam Frisch, expressed her outrage at the tragedy Sunday with a rallying call to end “lawless violence” “quickly.”
“The news out of Colorado Springs is absolutely awful,” Boebert wrote Sunday on Twitter. “This morning the victims & their families are in my prayers. This lawless violence needs to end and end quickly.”
Shortly after the statement, Ocasio-Cortez and many others condemned Boebert’s hypocrisy in calling the shooting “absolutely awful” despite using anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in her campaign.
“Your record ‘is absolutely awful,'” wrote Mondaire Jones, a congressman for Rockland and Westchester. “You use hateful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ+ community and helped block even modest efforts to end gun violence. You’re also one of the reasons we put metal detectors outside the House floor.”
“Your first ad as a member of congress bragged about bringing guns onto the house floor. I walk through metal detectors to vote because of you,” congressman Jamaal Bowman added. “Your rhetoric and lack of legislative courage and humanity radicalized people to do the evil and unthinkable.”
Ocasio-Cortez also pointed out the correlation between hate and violence within recent shootings and attacks, urging the Republican party to “connect the dots.”
“After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history,” she wrote. “After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta. Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo. And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs. Connect the dots, @GOP.”
Lauren Boebert condemned for response
to Colorado Springs shooting
John Bowden
Sun, November 20, 2022
Conservative Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert faced blowback for her statement of concern in response to the shooting at a gay nightclub in the state when Twitter users accused her of trafficking in the same hate that has been blamed for the attack.
She added, “[t]his lawless violence needs to end and end quickly”.
But her remarks fell on deaf ears; Twitter users quickly noted that Ms Boebert was deeply entrenched in the resurgence of right-wing hate against the LGBT community. The freshman congresswoman, who holds a thin lead in a reelection bid headed for a recount, has more than once tweeted approvingly about the right-wing hate account LibsOfTikTok, which shines a spotlight on private citizens and businesses that are seen as members of or allied with the gay community; teachers and drag performers who interact with children are among the owner’s favourite targets. Those targeted by the account are subjected to relentless abuse from thousands of followers; in one recent high-profile case, the Boston Children’s Hospital received bomb threats after it was maligned by the account.
The last post on Facebook from Club Q before the shooting was advertising the upcoming “drag brunch” set for today at the venue, which has since been cancelled. Such events are frequent targets of LGBT hate and the LibsofTikTok account especially.
Just a few months ago, Ms Boebert tweeted that the LibsOfTikTokAccount had “discovered the most effective way to highlight the inconsistencies of Leftist logic” after it received a suspension from the platform.
One of the strongest rebukes of Ms Boebert came from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, her fellow congresswoman.
“.@laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws.You don’t get to “thoughts and prayers” your way out of this. Look inward and change,” she tweeted.
“So are you going to stop demonizing the LGBTQ community, or no?” progressive journalist John Iadarola tweeted at the congresswoman on Sunday.
“Don’t act like you’re not thrilled,” added another left-leaning journalist, Holly Anderson.
A third tweeted: “You can draw a straight line from the false & vile rhetoric about LGBTQ people spread by extremists & amplified across social media, to the nearly 300 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year, to (attacks)", quoting GLAAD, one of the nation’s largest LGBT anti-hate groups.
Others were more direct.
“Eat shit you f****ng ghoul,” advised Will Menaker, host of the popular “Chapo Trap House” podcast.
“What’s impressive is that you manage to be both insidiously evil AND mediocre,” added Saeed Jones, a writer and poet.
Ms Boebert was favoured to win reelection but may end up losing her seat to a Democrat if a recount in her district erases the small margin of votes she currently leads by.
Her underperformance is a symptom of the poor showing that Trump-aligned candidates had around the country in the midterm elections as the defeats of election deniers and hard-right conservatives around the country erased the GOP’s chances of taking the Senate and nearly cost the party a House majority as well.
3 top law schools quit US News rankings over equity concerns Students walk through Sproul Plaza on the University of California, Berkeley campus on March 29, 2022, in Berkeley, Calif. The University of California, Berkeley's law school on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, joined the law programs at Harvard and Yale in pulling out of U.S. News & World Report rankings over concerns that the rating system punishes efforts to attract students from a broad range of backgrounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)More
ANNIE MA Thu, November 17, 2022
The University of California, Berkeley's law school on Thursday joined the law programs at Harvard and Yale in pulling out of U.S. News & World Report's rankings over concerns that they punish efforts to attract students from a broad range of backgrounds.
Deans of all three law schools said the magazine’s influential ranking system is biased against programs meant to increase socioeconomic diversity, support lower-income students and encourage the pursuit of public service.
“We have reached a point where the rankings process is undermining the core commitments of the legal profession,” Yale Law School Dean Heather K. Gerken wrote in a blog post Wednesday.
U.S. News executive chairman and CEO Eric Gertler said the rankings are meant to help students make the best decision in choosing a law school.
“We will continue to fulfill our journalistic mission of ensuring that students can rely on the best and most accurate information in making that decision,” Gertler said in a written statement. “As part of our mission, we must continue to ensure that law schools are held accountable for the education they will provide to these students and that mission does not change with these recent announcements.”
In a later statement, U.S. News said it would continue to rank all fully accredited law schools, regardless of whether they submit their data.
Some critics have seen the U.S. News rankings as more a measure of privilege than educational quality.
While elite universities have enough prestige to forgo the rankings, other schools often feel pressure to compete, said Walter Kimbrough, interim executive director of the Black Men’s Research Institute at Morehouse College. They then pursue metrics that may not serve prospective students well.
“The way you move up in the rankings is that you become more selective, which means you’re keeping more people out, particularly a diversity of people,” he said.
Addressing the root causes of inequity, at law schools and in higher education more broadly, Kimbrough said, requires institutions to go further. Smaller schools that serve a high proportion of lower-income, disadvantaged students do not get the same recognition and philanthropic support that elite schools receive.
“HBCUs live that work every day and don’t get the same kind of rewards, both in terms of kudos and in terms of financial resources to do that work,” he said.
Not long after the Yale announcement, Harvard Law School Dean John Manning wrote in his own blog post Wednesday that he and other law school leaders had previously expressed concerns to U.S. News about the rankings. In particular, he said the prioritization of LSAT scores and college grades encourages law schools to use scholarships to attract higher-scoring candidates, directing resources away from need-based financial aid that would help less affluent students.
Berkeley law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky wrote in a letter published online Thursday that there is not a benefit to participating in the rankings that outweighs the costs.
There are other rankings systems, such as one published by Washington Monthly, that assign more weight to factors such as social mobility, research, and promotion of public service.
“If you measure something, that’s what people will value,” said Harry Feder, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which has criticized the use of standardized testing in admissions. “If they’re measuring how much graduates from law school make, what do you think that does to the public interest part of the law school?”
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Ma covers education and equity for AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15
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The Associated Press’ reporting around issues of race and ethnicity is supported in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Roku lays off 200 US employees, citing economic conditions
Lauren Forristal Thu, November 17, 2022
Roku wrote in a new SEC filing that it plans to cut 200 jobs in the U.S. as it braces for economic headwinds. Thanks to the workforce reduction, the company expects to incur a non-recurring charge of between $28 to $31 million, mainly because of severance payments, employee benefits contributions, other related expenses and notice pay “where applicable,” Roku said.
The company added that it expects most of the restructuring charges to come in Q4 2022 and that the job cuts, including cash payments, will be “substantially complete” by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
In trading before the bell, shares of Roku dropped nearly 3%.
“Due to the current economic conditions in our industry, we have made the difficult decision to reduce Roku’s headcount expenses by a projected 5%, to slow down our [Operating Expenses] growth rate. This will affect approximately 200 employee positions in the U.S. Taking these actions now will allow us to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to drive future growth and enhance our leadership position,” Roku said in an official statement.
The unfortunate news comes on the heels of Roku’s third-quarter results, when it cautioned investors that it predicts an unsatisfactory fourth quarter as the estimated total net revenue is approximately $800 million or a 7.5% decline year over year.
Many tech and media companies have had layoffs recently, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount Global, Amazon, Snap, Spotify, Twitter and Meta. Amazon was the most recent company to make major cuts yesterday. Last week, Meta laid off 13% of its workforce, affecting 11,000 employees.
Volkswagen's $2 billion Trinity electric vehicle plant in doubt
A technician attaches a Volkswagen logo to a car, at the production line for electric car models of the Volkswagen Group, in Zwickau
Thu, November 17, 2022 By Jan Schwartz
HAMBURG (Reuters) -Volkswagen Chief Executive Oliver Blume is reviewing whether to stick to a plan to build a new plant to assemble its Trinity electric vehicles (EV) or to use its existing Wolfsburg factory, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
Volkswagen, the world's second-biggest carmaker, had planned to start building the 2-billion-euro ($2.06 billion) factory in 2023 and produce its flagship electric sedan there from 2026, with a view to accelerating the manufacturing process.
Manager Magazine reported earlier on Wednesday that Blume was considering delaying production of the new model until 2030 and abandoning plans to launch it on the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), which is intended eventually to replace all other platforms.
Two sources close to negotiations refuted this to Reuters, saying the carmaker would assemble Trinity on the SSP, but they questioned whether a new factory was necessary.
A separate software platform, the E3 2.0, which was supposed to be incorporated into Trinity, has been delayed from 2026 to 2029, Manager Magazin reported.
In a letter published on an employee portal, software unit Cariad's Chief Executive Dirk Hilgenberg said the company was giving itself more time on the 2.0 platform but did not provide a new timeframe.
Cariad declined to provide further details.
"We are taking the opportunity to look at all projects and investments and check their viability," Volkswagen Group Chief Executive Oliver Blume said in a separate letter to staff.
The company, which earlier this month delayed its planning round scheduled for November citing "changing economic realities", was evaluating its plans for software and platforms and would then determine projects for each brand, he said, adding it was too early for concrete statements.
Volkwagen's supervisory board in March approved 2 billion euros ($2.07 billion) for the Trinity factory, with construction due to start in spring 2023.
If confirmed, the changes could improve Volkswagen's free cash flow but would risk delaying electrification plans and crucial product launches, Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska said in a research note. He said a capital markets day was needed in the near future to clear up plans for investors.
Volkswagen's capital markets day is planned for the second quarter of next year.
($1 = 0.9648 euros)
(Reporting by Jan C. SchwartzWriting by Madeline Chambers and Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Hans Seidenstuecker, Miranda Murray and Barbara Lewis)
