Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Discord says it is cooperating in probe of classified material breach

Reuters
April 12, 2023,

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Instant messaging platform Discord said on Wednesday it was cooperating with U.S. law enforcement's investigation into a leak of secret U.S. documents that has grabbed attention around the world.

The statement comes as questions continue to swirl over who leaked the documents, whether they are genuine and whether the intelligence assessments in them are reliable. The documents, which carry markings suggesting that they are highly classified, have led to a string of stories about the war in Ukraine, protests in Israel and how the U.S. surveils friend and foe alike.

The source of the documents is not publicly known, but reporting by the open-source investigative site Bellingcat has traced their earliest appearance to Discord, a communications platform popular with gamers.

Discord's statement suggested it was already in touch with investigators.

"In regards to the apparent breach of classified material, we are cooperating with law enforcement," the statement said. "As this remains an active investigation, we cannot provide further comment at this time."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Although the documents only began drawing attention recently, Bellingcat said it found evidence that at least some of the files had been floating around on social media as far back as March or even January.

Bellingcat cited Discord users who it said gave similar accounts of the documents' provenance but cautioned that it was unable to independently verify all the information they shared.

Reuters could not immediately corroborate Bellingcat's reporting; attempts to reach former members of the server via the social media site Reddit and other servers on Discord were not immediately successful.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Josie Kao)

Revealed: Top secret Pentagon documents claiming 50 British special forces are operating inside Ukraine were leaked on obscure online meme group run by 20-year-old university student who lives in UK

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE and ANEETA BHOLE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12 April 2023

A major leak of top secret Pentagon documents that has shaken Washington and aired disputed claims British special forces are operating in Ukraine was shared on an obscure online meme group run by a 20-year-old university student living in the UK.
The trove of information was shared on a part of the messaging app Discord operated by self-professed 'micro celebrity' calling himself wow_mao. Afterwards, he posted a video discussing the fallout onto YouTube and told a journalist it was 'hilarious'.

He said a moderator on his Discord chat group called the End of Wow Mao Zone 'shared 30 plus leaked documents concerning the Russia-Ukraine war' on March 1 and one month later he was unwittingly at the centre of the scandal.

In an interview with the New York Times, wow_mao said he spent 'little time' on the Discord server and mostly focused on his YouTube channel where he has about 250,000 subscribers.

He declined to share his real name to the outlet but said he is British and Filipino and was living in the UK. He said that the documents being leaked on his server was 'hilarious.'

Do you know the true identity of wow_mao? Email rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk

YouTuber wow_mao, who was thrust onto the international stage after classified Pentagon papers were leaked on a Discord server he hosts, has said that the 'US government should fear these losers'

'It was just spread onto the nicheiest [sic], nerdiest parts of the internet,' he said. 'That's the kind of people who would find these documents — losers. That's who the U.S. government really has to fear.'

A lack of respect for the government was cited as why the documents were most likely leaked, wow_mao telling the outlet: 'They'll always find it funny to mock them and cut under them in some sort of way.'

The leak includes claims that 50 members of the UK's special forces have operated in Ukraine, prompting the UK Ministry of Defence to warn against taking allegations contained in the documents 'at face value'.

Britain has the largest contingent of special forces on Ukrainian soil, alongside more than a dozen operators each from fellow NATO states Latvia, France and the US, according to a document dated March 23.

In response, the Ministry of Defence posted on Twitter: 'The widely reported leak of alleged classified US information has demonstrated a serious level of inaccuracy.'

What is the encrypted app Discord?

Discord is a messaging service which is invite-only and encrypted - meaning data is concealed by being converted into code.

The platform can only be accessed with a log-in and password with chat groups known as 'servers' - of which many remain small and exclusive.

Any Discord user is able to start a server for free and invite their friends.

There are also larger, more open communities, which usually focus on specific topics such as popular games like Minecraft and Fortnite.

The app estimates it is being used worldwide by tens of millions aged 13+.

Discord says the server is: 'A place where they can be themselves and spend time with other people who share their interests and hobbies'.

Some of the supposedly classified documents leaked online appear to have been doctored, according to Pentagon spokesperson Chris Meagher.

But US defence officials have been adamant a leak had taken place, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowing to 'investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it'.

Users investigating the leak on the server revealed moderator Lucca had been behind the leak. The origins of the documents reported earlier by Bellingcat who said they later spread to other sites such as the imageboard 4Chan before appearing on Telegram, Twitter and then major media publishers around the world in recent days.

The New York Times reported that a Twitter account using the name 'MrLucca,' who used the same profile photo of Lucca on Discord, said that he'd sourced the documents from yet another Discord server.

'Found some info from a now banned server and passed it on,' the user wrote, according to screenshots of the conversation obtained by the outlet. The Twitter and Discord accounts have since been deleted.

In a video posted in the wake of the leak to YouTube, wow_mao said: 'Hey guys Filipino YouTube celebrity here, guess who just got an article on Forbes. Me. But not for the best reasons. If you don't know what's going on right now let me give you a quick rundown.'

'On the first of march a mod on my Discord server shared 30 plus leaked documents concerning the Russia-Ukraine war and one month later my name is showing up on news sites such as Forbes, the Telegraph, and the Washington Post.'

The niche internet star refuted being the centre of the leak instead suggesting that it probably came from another server. He also refused to divulge the name of the moderator who first published the documents in the group.

'I won't name who this moderator is since they're probably getting a lot of s**t right now and you don't need me to tell you how bad it is to leak secret War documents. I completely denounce this,' he said with the caption 'even if you think it's funny.'

Images circulating online reveal clues that point to the leaker's identity. This picture shows an English-language instruction manual for a hunting scope in the background

Ukraine's air defences could be depleted within weeks - making the country vulnerable to Russia President Vladimir Putin's fighter jets, newly leaked Pentagon documents suggests

'From what I understand its nowhere near as bad to share already leaked private documents as it is to do the actual leaking and from what I know this moderator found the documents from another discord server. Either from a Minecraft server where they were talking about maps, or I'm not kidding here, a server called thug shaker central.

'So, uh, yeah, we're definitely not at the centre of this leak. But my server was how a lot of people saw those documents for the first time. I should mention that my Discord server has never been perfect, hell, its very much been the opposite.'

The 20-year-old goes on to say he can see the humor in 'sharing private military secrets among your internet friends' but cautioned away from doing so.

'I can sort of understand how sharing big private military secrets could be a funny thing to do among your internet friends, but come on, take care of yourself and stay away from doing stuff like this,' he said.

'Despite my server being a small part of this massive leak, it hasn't stopped reporters bringing up my name while trying to trail back where these leaks came from.

'I'm just a road block the CIA had to go through in the trail to find whoever actually leaked that stuff.

'I'm a s**t posting internet micro celebrity and I'd like to keep it that way, he said with the caption 'everything I said was speculation and a joke and parody and satire and I'm mentally unwell.'

The top secret documents leaked online contained classified information on Ukraine's counter-offensive plans.

These are two of the leaked documents which have been shared by the New York Times

This document appears to show the state of Ukraine's air defences in February and in May, when it is anticipated they'll be badly depleted

They set out concerns on how Kyiv's armed forces are running short on some weapons, the location of Ukrainian air defences, and the extent to which the Biden administration spies on friends and foes alike.

The documents, which have been circulated for weeks on social media, also touch on Israel's Mossad spy agency, China, the Middle East and Africa.

The leak covers such a wide range of topics, prompting experts to suggest that the main source could be an American.

READ MORE: Leaked Pentagon documents show spies are deeply ingrained in Russian intelligence services and Putin's army is ravaged after a year of fighting

'The focus now is on this being a US leak, as many of the documents were only in US hands,' Michael Mulroy, an ex-senior Pentagon official, told Reuters.

Kyiv-based security analyst James Rushton said that 'the Russians are clearly the main beneficiaries' from the leak.

'It's a major embarrassment to the US, and it comes at a critical time as Ukraine is preparing to launch their long-awaited Spring counteroffensive,' he told DailyMail.com.

'Kyiv was already cautious about sharing their operational plans with Washington; this will likely further damage intelligence sharing between Ukraine and Western partners at a crucial moment,' he added.

US officials have not ruled out pro-Russian elements behind the leak, although the investigation by the Justice Department is still in its early stages.

It is the most serious intelligence security breach in the United States since WikiLeaks obtained some 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables in 2013.

The Ukraine leaks are a series of photographs of presentations and files printed on A4 paper, folded twice, perhaps to be smuggled out of a secure area.

Investigators will be looking at clues seen in the margins of the photos that could help unmask the leaker.

They include Gorilla glue, shoes, and an English-language instruction manual for a GlassHawk HD spotting scope traditionally used for hunting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed suggestions that Moscow had orchestrated the release of such highly confidential information.

'There is, in fact, a tendency to always blame everything on Russia.

'It is, in general, a disease,' Peskov, Putin's long-serving propagandist, said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed suggestions that Moscow had orchestrated the release of such highly confidential information

The intelligence breach could have a drastic impact upon the landscape of the conflict in Ukraine. Biden seen pictured meeting Ukrainian President Zelensky in February 2023

A villager is seen near a destroyed car during heavy fighting at the front line of Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar, in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine in April 2023

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claimed the leak was 'to divert attention from the actual preparation for the next stage of the war.'

Another aide to the Ukrainian leader told CNN that Ukraine's military had already changed their counter-offensive plans as a result.

In a statement on Sunday, the Pentagon said it was reviewing the validity of the photographed documents that 'appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material.'

US officials told the Washington Post that some documents appeared to have been manipulated, but many were consistent with CIA World Intelligence Review reports that are shared at high levels within the White House, Pentagon and State Department.

Defence analysts say any breach of internal classified US documents would be both damaging and potentially embarrassing.

In addition, the leak would prove valuable to Moscow by showing how deeply US intelligence has penetrated parts of the Russian military apparatus.

Officials are looking at what motivations a U.S. official or a group of officials would have in leaking such sensitive information, said one of the officials who spoke to Reuters.

The official said investigators were looking at four or five theories, from a disgruntled employee to an insider threat who actively wanted to undermine U.S. national security interests.

The U.S. has devoted most of its considerable spying resources to hindering Putin's efforts and helping Ukraine.

But its spies have also been eavesdropping on allies, including Ukraine, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Israel.

The Times reported that the U.S. is spying on Ukraine in the hopes of getting a clearer picture of its military strategies and helping maximize the effectiveness of its army against Putin.

The documents - while up to several months old - offer detailed insights into which Russian intelligence agencies have been most compromised, and clues as to how the United States has gleaned so much secret Kremlin information

Leaked documents suggest the U.S. knows more about Putin's war operations than Zelensky's, which raises questions over the $200 billion in military aid that has been sent to Ukraine

The document leak indicates that the US has been spying on Ukrainian allied officials. Pictured: A Ukrainian serviceman in training exercises in Donetsk

That comes despite the Biden administration stumping up more than $77 billion in aid to the war-torn country since the full-scale invasion began last year.

Those figures have been compiled by the German think-tank the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

US cash has been credited for helping the country successfully hold-off Russian advances far longer than anyone thought necessary.

And while support for funding Ukraine continues to have bipartisan support, news that US officials are often in the dark could raise questions over the sheer amount of resources the White House continues to send to Eastern Europe.

The 100 pages of documents, at least some believed to be accurate, were leaked on a Discord server earlier this year.

They've triggered panic at the Pentagon, and a huge effort to work out where the leak is coming from.

Ukraine has suggested they're not real, but Pentagon officials are said to be treating them as genuine, exposing another schism between the US and its costly ally.

They also appear to show that the intelligence services have been compromised as some reports contain daily real-time warnings on the timing and targets of Moscow's strikes - which has enabled the U.S. to warn their Ukrainian counterparts.

The documents - up to several months old - offer detailed insights into which Russian intelligence agencies have been most compromised, and clues as to how the United States has gleaned so much secret Kremlin information.

Some psychopathic individuals have adaptive traits that lead to happiness and life satisfaction

2023/04/11

A new study published in Personality and Individual Differences examined the role that adaptive psychopathic traits may play in the lives of those who score high on measures of psychopathy. The findings indicate that individuals with higher levels of traits such as social dominance, fearlessness, low-stress reactivity, and extroversion tend to report higher levels of well-being. This research may lead to therapeutic interventions that increase adaptive psychopathic traits to moderate the effect of the less desirable consequences of psychopathy.

Psychopathy encompasses a range of traits associated with both antisocial and interpersonal-affective features. Even though psychopathy is typically linked to exploitative or violent behaviors, recent research suggests that some individuals who exhibit these traits do not engage in criminal or violent activities. There is an ongoing debate about whether specific potentially adaptive characteristics should be incorporated into the definition of psychopathy.

Despite the negative connotations associated with the term, it is unclear whether highly psychopathic individuals experience lower levels of happiness and well-being. Early studies indicated that the presence of psychopathic traits was negatively correlated with life satisfaction, positive affect, and overall well-being.

Recent research has revealed that some highly psychopathic individuals possess unusually high adaptive traits, leading to the hypothesis that those with high levels of psychopathic and adaptive traits would display the greatest levels of well-being, such as lasting happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. Following them would be individuals with high levels of adaptive traits and moderate levels of psychopathic traits, and those with lower levels of adaptive traits regardless of their psychopathic trait level.

In order to test this hypothesis, researchers Guillaume Durand and Jill Lobbestael recruited 2,209 undergraduate students at the University of Ottawa. Participants completed measures of psychopathic traits, adaptive psychopathic traits, fluctuating and durable happiness, satisfaction with life, and self-esteem.

Analyzing the collected data, the research team found that most participants had only moderate levels of either psychopathic traits or adaptive traits. Interestingly, the group with the highest psychopathic traits also had the highest level of adaptive traits, which could help reduce the external expression of psychopathic behaviors.

Those with high levels of psychopathic traits agree with statements such as “Feeling sorry for others is a sign of weakness,” “Sometimes I lie simply because I enjoy it,” and “When I’m upset, I often act without thinking.” Those with high levels of adaptive psychopathic traits, on the other hand, agree with statements such as “People often follow my lead,” “I rarely worry,” and “I can effortlessly mingle with any group.”

The study supports previous research on gender differences in psychopathy, where males have a higher proportion of psychopathic traits. However, the study suggests that the psychopathic personality operates similarly in both genders, despite differences in scores.

Additionally, the data revealed that those who demonstrate more adaptive traits tend to have higher levels of long-lasting happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and lower levels of fluctuating happiness. On the other hand, people with lower levels of adaptive traits tend to have lower levels of well-being, regardless of their psychopathic traits.

The study suggests that low well-being may not be solely attributed to high levels of psychopathic traits but rather a lack of adaptive traits commonly found in people with high psychopathic traits. Thus, high levels of psychopathic traits do not necessarily lead to adverse outcomes as long as they are balanced with similar levels of adaptive traits.

The current study has some limitations that need to be taken into consideration. Firstly, the study solely explored favorable results and did not address the unfavorable facets of psychopathy. It is uncertain how individuals with elevated adaptive and psychopathic traits would manifest negative attributes. Secondly, the sample group was very uniform, consisting primarily of young female university students who provided self-reported information. Lastly, the study’s approach was cross-sectional and focused on average differences.

This research investigated the connection between adaptive and psychopathic traits and their impact on well-being. Results showed that those with high levels of adaptive traits had higher levels of well-being, regardless of their psychopathic trait level. The research team concluded, “Our results highlight the importance of measuring adaptive traits and psychopathic traits independently from one another due to the impact of adaptive traits on the relationship between well-being and psychopathic traits. Future studies should focus on negative characteristics and outcomes to determine if adaptive traits can also protect highly psychopathic individuals from negative outcomes commonly observed in highly psychopathic individuals.”

The study, “The relationship between psychopathic personality, well-being, and adaptive traits in undergraduates“, was authored by Guillaume Durand and Jill Lobbestael.

© PsyPost

'Unprecedented’ situation as two African countries report outbreaks of Marburg virus

Agence France-Presse
April 12, 2023

The rousettus aegyptiacus bat is a natural host of Marburg virus.

© jamezwu, Getty Images, iStockphoto

For the first time, the world is seeing two simultaneous outbreaks of the Marburg virus – one in Equatorial Guinea, the other in Tanzania. The Marburg virus is just as deadly as Ebola, to which it is closely related, but it has been extremely rare until now.

The situation with the Marburg virus entered uncharted territory on March 21, when Tanzania announced an outbreak of the disease in addition to the one in Equatorial Guinea, on the other side of the African continent.

Five people have died out of eight confirmed cases as of April 6, according to the US Center for Disease Control (CDC), which issued a health alert warning that doctors in the US should “be aware of the potential for imported cases”, even if the risk of the disease reaching the US is low.

The situation in Equatorial Guinea currently seems the most worrying. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on February 25 after the discovery of several suspected deaths from Marburg in two villages in the north of the country in early January.

Since the first cases appeared, there have been 15 confirmed cases of Marburg in Equatorial Guinea. According to a report by the country’s health ministry, eleven of those patients died just days after symptoms of the disease appeared – vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and high fever.

But the WHO has concerns that the official tallies are underestimating the disease’s real toll. Indeed, the cases in Equatorial Guinea come from regions quite far from each other, which suggests there “may be undetected community spread of the virus in the country”, the CDC noted.

The WHO suspects that Equatorial Guinea is not being fully transparent in reporting cases.

“This is a problem – this unprecedented outbreak of the Marburg virus in two different countries,” said Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia.

“There has been an acceleration in the number of Marburg virus outbreaks over recent years,” added Cesar Munoz-Fontela, a specialist in tropical infectious diseases at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg.

From bat caves to humans

First detected in humans in 1967 in the German city of Marburg, the virus has broken out a dozen times in Africa since the late 1970s. But until recent years, the was never more than one outbreak every three or four years.

A bat – namely the Egyptian fruit bat – is the virus’s natural host, and transmits it to humans either directly or via an intermediate host such as monkeys.

Most of these outbreaks have been small – affecting no more than a dozen people each time, according to official statistics. That is lucky because Marburg is one of the most deadly viruses along with Ebola, which also belongs to the filovirus family of diseases. The two related diseases have mortality rates as high as 90 percent.

This grim statistic was borne out in the two largest Marburg outbreaks. Between 1998 and 2000, 128 patients died out of a total of 154 confirmed cases in DR Congo. Four years later, Marburg struck Angola, killing 227 out of 252 infected patients.

Since then, specialists have concluded that it is possible to reduce the fatality rate with rapid medical intervention. But even with speedily provided care, the fatality rate is still close to 50 percent, according to the WHO.

No vaccine

Marburg is much more dangerous than Ebola because – unlike with Ebola – there is “no vaccine or post-exposure treatment”, said Munoz-Fontela. There is no vaccine because, until now, there has been “no market” for one. “Without the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, we wouldn’t have an Ebola vaccine,” he continued, referring to the Everbo jab created in 2015.

The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people.

The WHO said at the end of March that it was ready to test vaccine candidates in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania – implementing a policy of rapid vaccine development it developed in response to the accelerating emergence of epidemics in recent years.

But this phenomenon of one new outbreak a year since 2020 may be a product of the “improved detection of infectious diseases in Africa since Ebola and Covid-19”, Hunter said.

National health authorities in Africa have become increasingly aware of the risk of such viruses spreading – and are consequently looking more actively and efficiently for potential outbreaks.

But this is not necessarily so reassuring, Munoz-Fontela pointed out, because it suggests that “we’ve missed Marburg virus outbreaks in the past”, meaning it is not as rare as previously thought.

Meanwhile, environmental conditions have become much more amenable to the spread of the virus. “Global warming and other human activities are increasing the risk of new diseases spreading,” Hunter said.

Notably, the encroachment of humans into the natural habitats of animals means that people are more readily exposed to new infectious diseases.

“In the past, a person could go into a forest, get infected by a bat in a cave, and then die far away from other people,” Hunter said. “But now the forest is retreating and humans are moving closer to animals’ natural habitats – so viruses spread more easily.”
Less transmissible than Covid-19

Scientists have suggested the same phenomenon of increased human exposure to animal habitats may have caused the emergence of Covid-19.

But there are important differences between Marburg and Covid-19. Thankfully, the outbreak of a global Marburg (or indeed Ebola) pandemic is a lot less likely than it proved to be in the case of the coronavirus.

First, Marburg only starts to become contagious at the same time symptoms start appearing, between two and 21 days after the virus has been contracted. So there is zero risk of undetected transmission by asymptomatic carriers.

Second, the Marburg virus is “much less easily transmissible than Covid-19”, Munoz-Fontela said. While the coronavirus spreads by respiratory droplets – with coughing and sneezing spreading it into the air – transmission of Marburg requires contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

On the other hand, it only takes a small amount of the Marburg pathogen to infect another person. “Most of the time, the disease spreads during the hemorrhagic phase of Marburg, exposing in particular healthcare workers and family members around the patient’s bedside,” Hunter noted.

Filoviruses also appear to be “more stable than coronaviruses such as Sars-CoV-2 [Covid-19],” Munoz-Fontela said. That means the virus is not likely to mutate – and that in turn means that a vaccine would not require regular updates to stay effective.

But in the meantime, development of vaccines against Marburg virus are only in the earliest stages. The WHO estimated that both ongoing outbreaks pose "moderate" risk at the regional level. “Equatorial Guinea has porous borders with Cameroon and Gabon, and so far the cases have appeared in geographically diffuse parts of the country. In Tanzania, the Kagera region has busy borders with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi,” The New York Times noted.

The next few weeks will prove illuminating about how much the disease has spread, Hunter concluded: “No new cases have been reported, but it will take as long as three weeks to find out if contacts of the previous recorded cases have been infected.”

This article was translated from the original in French.

CFP

More studies reinforce previous results

A study published in the journal Protein & Cell in May 2022 indicated no evidence of transmission of COVID-19 before December 2019 in Wuhan.

Obtaining all 88,517 plasmas from 76,844 blood donors and evaluating the pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) against SARS-CoV-2 in 43,850 samples from 32,484 blood donors in Wuhan between September 1 and December 31 in 2019, the team concluded that no SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies existed among blood donors in Wuhan before 2020.

Another study of the viral profiles of more than 17,000 bats in China, published in the journal National Science Review, did not find the sequence of novel coronavirus or its related coronaviruses.

Zhou Lei, a research fellow at the China CDC who participated in the joint studies in Wuhan, said COVID-19 origins-tracing cannot be accomplished through the efforts of a single country, and requires concerted efforts from the global science community.

She expressed the hope that the WHO can organize global origins-tracing work and remain science-based, rigorous and just in this regard, so that the origins-tracing process can arrive at a convincing result.

(With input from Xinhua)

COVID GENETIC CODE RELEASED BY CHINA JAN. 2020

Humans brought Covid to Wuhan market?

Chinese scientist's shocking claim

ByMallika Soni

Apr 10, 2023

Covid In Wuhan:

The scientist also denied a recent study that suggested that racoon dogs

were the origin of the Covid virus.

A Chinese scientist claimed that the Covid-19 virus may have originated in humans negating the theory that the virus jumped from animals to humans at the Wuhan market. Tong Yigang of the Beijing University of Chemical Technology said that the genetic sequences of viral samples taken from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan were “almost identical” to those of patients infected with Covid which thereby suggests, according to him, that Covid may have originated from humans.

Speaking at a press conference held by the Chinese State Council, Tong Yigang said that scientists took over 1,300 environmental and frozen animal samples from the Wuhan market between January 2020 and March 2020 following which they isolated three strains of the virus from the environmental samples.

The scientist also denied a recent study that suggested that racoon dogs were the origin of the Covid virus.

At the event, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researcher Zhou Lei said that the place where Covid was first discovered- Wuhan- might not have necessarily been the place where it originated.

Scientists across the world have been long demanding data from China to understand the origins of Covid virus. Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) slammed China for not sharing enough data as WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Without full access to the information that China has... all hypotheses are on the table.”

"That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this," he said. If Beijing does provide the missing data “we will know what happened or how it started”, he added.

How Republicans just lost Gen Z
Heather MacDonald, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
April 11, 2023,

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Shutterstock)
Following a school shooting in Nashville last month, hundreds of protesters gathered in the Tennessee capital demanding lawmakers act to address the out of control gun violence that once again unnecessarily took innocent lives.

In response, the Tennessee’s Republican-controlled state House took the historic and extraordinary action of expelling two Black Democratic lawmakers for joining their constituents in demanding justice. This egregious overreaction not only gave us permission to drop the “theory” from critical race theory, it also gave us a masterclass in the dying efficacy of respectability politics.
Respectability Politics

The lawmakers in question, state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled for “breach of decorum,” and a third lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, narrowly survived expulsion by a single vote.

In the lead up to the vote, Republican Rep. Andrew Farmer did little to disguise his haughty disdain saying, “Just because you don’t get your way, you can’t come to the well, bring your friends and throw a temper tantrum with an adolescent bullhorn.”

The unspoken sentiment was clear, “Know your place.”

Respectability politics rely on the idea that that process and procedure are paramount in all scenarios. Those in power create invisible hierarchies to label their behavior as proper and the behavior of their foes as problematic. It is historically a tool of those in power as a way to slow progress, disparage the marginalized, and justify harm. As have many shameful lawmakers before them, Tennessee Republicans weaponized the rules of conduct to punish elected officials who disagree with them.

The contrived cloak of dignified decorum starts to seriously fray when the subject at hand is children gunned down at school. Protests led by students erupted through the capital doors, while lawmakers, shielded by police, hung their heads as they maneuvered through the crowds.

The typical heartless platitudes post-mass shooting did nothing but fan the flames of discontent. Republican leaders nationwide mindlessly tweeted out their classic slap-in-the-face response of thoughts and prayers, and they were met with unflinchingly honest chants from hundreds of students: Shame! Enough! Do your job! You ban books, you ban drag, kids are still in body bags!

Kids are still in body bags

In case it was not abundantly clear: respectability politics mean nothing to Gen Z. Rehearsing dodging bullets in your classroom will do that to you.

If such glaring issues as gun violence, healthcare, and climate change were not enough to engage the youth, watching racism and inequality so blatantly on display certainly did the job.

Jones said as much on his way out, “Your overreaction, your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know that your time is up.”

Consider the numbers:

63% of 18-29 year olds believe gun laws should be stricter, 70% of 18-29 year olds voted for U.S. John Fetterman, D-Pa. (That was similar to the numbers for Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.) Meanwhile, 77% of Gen Z voted for Democratic candidates for Congress in 2022. And just last week, 87% of students voted for the Democrat in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race.

Guns are now the leading cause of death for children, and until lawmakers address the issue head-on, Gen Z will never vote Republican. Republican rhetoric sounds old and lame to a generation taught how to play dead just in case they become one of the 19,000 kids per year that will be shot.

Gun-obsessed Republican lawmakers should stop hiding behind 2nd Amendment rhetoric and tell Gen Z point blank that some of them will have to die so they can keep their hobby, that they would rather build schools with curved hallways to stop bullets rather than try to keep them safe.

Good Trouble

Decorum being front and center in the same week that former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 felonies including paying a porn star hush money shows how painfully out of touch Republican messaging really is.

Even more stunningly tone deaf, one Tennessee lawmaker compared the student led protest to an insurrection. Another asked the children gathered in the capital which gun they preferred being shot with. The Tennessee GOP has been fundraising boasting that they were just getting started.

While egregious, this authoritarian behavior is yet more proof that the right has run out of ideas. This hideous attempt to silence dissent has the potential to become a cultural touchstone for years to come.

When Tennessee Republicans inadvertently grabbed the national spotlight, it was the chants of the protestors that were amplified, the speeches of the subverted that were canonized, and “the Tennessee 3” who embodied the often-cited “Good Trouble” credo of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an icon of the civil rights movement.

They used their power and their social capital to pour into a city in grief, and in the end, they paid a high price for being the only leaders in a room full of cowards.

Leaving our nation’s youth to protest alone is not an option, and they recognize genuine governance when they see it. The small men hiding behind their wagging fingers of decorum will be remembered only for their proximity to the voices they tried to silence.

History will celebrate the good not the evil, the response not the accusation, the comeback not the dismissal.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

'Fascism': Critics rebuke Trump’s claim that America’s 'biggest problem' is its own 'sick radical people'

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
April 12, 2023

Donald Trump says the greatest problem facing America is its own “sick radical people,” a claim critics, historians, and political experts are labeling clear fascism.

The ex-president, running his third consecutive campaign for the White House while currently under criminal felony indictment, sat down with far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson Tuesday.

“I often say, they said to me the other day, one of your fellow journalists said, ‘Who is the biggest problem? Sir is it China? Could it be Russia? Could it be North Korea?'” Trump told Carlson.

“I said the biggest problem is from within. It’s the sick radical people from within,” Trump declared, presumably referring to Democrats and anyone who opposes him.

During that same interview Trump told Carlson the “biggest problem we have in the whole world” is not global warming but “nuclear warming.”

Trump went on to praise current authoritarian leaders and dictators, some who murder their own people, as “top of the line,” including China’s President Xi, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.

Professor of History at the New School for Social Research Federico Finchelstein calls Trump a “Wannabe fascist leader.”

Finchelstein, who has written seven books on fascism, warned Trump is “returning to the fascist sources…in fascism the idea of the internal enemy was intrinsically connected to a notion about the inferiority, impurity and treasonous nature of those that were deemed as different to the majority.”

Asked on social media, “Don’t you think someone is coaching him on this messaging? Textbook authoritarianism,” Finchelstein replied, “i think he is a natural…”

Freelance journalist and author of the book, “America’s Holy Warriors: How the Religious Right endangers Democracy,” Annika Brockschmidt, summed up Trump’s “sick radical people” remarks: “This is just fascism plain and simple.”

Brad Moss, a top national security attorney and frequent political commentator: “And there it is. Trump’s 2024 campaign message is that the greatest threat to national security is the American people.”

Journalist David Roberts: “Standard-issue, off-the-shelf fascism. Not even a twist, just the generic label stuff.”

Attorney and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, a former MSNBC legal analyst, took a different approach: “Trump is right! The Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and all those ‘fine people’ who are Neo-nazis and white supremacists…who responded with weapons and violence on Jan 6th after they felt called up by #Trump…They are dangerous radicals.”

AMERIKAN TALIBAN

MO Republican pushing trans care ban suggests 12-year-olds should be allowed to marry

KACEN BAYLESS

Wed, Apr 12, 2023,

A Missouri Republican state senator this week suggested that children as young as 12 should be able to get married as he pushes legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.

“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, said Tuesday evening in response to questioning by state Rep. Peter Meredith, a St. Louis Democrat.

Moon made the comment during testimony in the House General Laws Committee over his bill that would ban all “gender transition procedures” for people under 18, which passed the Missouri Senate last month. Moon has attempted to frame his legislation as a way to protect kids as LGBTQ rights advocates call the bill an attack on the transgender community.

The Republican state senator has been lambasted on social media for his comment, with many pointing out the inconsistencies between his views on child marriage and his legislation targeting transgender kids.

“The fact that Missouri Senator Mike Moon said that 12 year olds can be married off to adults just sickens me,” Jess Piper, executive director of Blue Missouri, a group that fundraises for Democrats, wrote on Twitter. “My daughter is nearly 11 and still plays with Barbies and her baby dolls. We are living in a hellscape in Missouri under a GOP supermajority.”

Missouri in 2018 passed a law setting the state’s minimum marriage age at 16, with the approval of one parent or guardian. The law’s passage came after The Star revealed that Missouri had the nation’s most lenient marriage law for 15-year-olds. It previously allowed children even younger to marry with a judge’s approval.

Activists have argued that the Missouri law still doesn’t go far enough, leaving thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds open to the kind of abuse, poverty, helplessness, lack of education and exploitation that often accompany child marriage.

Moon, a hard-right member of the state Senate known for his extreme views and comments, voted against the marriage bill when he was a member of the House.

Meredith on Tuesday had pointed out Moon’s vote against the marriage bill, saying it was inconsistent with his claim of protecting kids through legislation that would ban gender-affirming care.

“You voted no on making it illegal for kids to be married to adults at the age of 12 if their parents consented to it. You said, actually, that should be the law because it’s the parents right and the kid’s right to decide what’s best for them — to be raped by an adult,” Meredith told Moon.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Bud Light's partnership with a trans influencer sparked a right-wing boycott

2023/04/12

Dylan Mulvaney attends Miscast23 at Hammerstein Ballroom on April 3, 2023, in New York City. - Rob Kim/Getty Images North America/TNS

Following in the footsteps of Hershey chocolate, Coke, M&M's and others, Bud Light is the latest major food or drink product to get caught in the conservatives' culture war.

Prominent right-wing figures, including politicians and celebrities, are boycotting the beer line. Their reasoning? A partnership between the beer and 26-year-old trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The boycotting effort has become a messy spectacle, with Anheuser-Busch — Bud Light's parent company — holding firm on the collab even as Kid Rock shoots 12-packs with a submachine gun and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, films herself buying Coors in protest (a brand that has run Pride campaigns of its own).

Here's what you need to know.

Who is Dylan Mulvaney?

Mulvaney is a TikTok influencer and actress, who grew a presence on social media for documenting her male-to-female transition. Her video diary series, Days of Girlhood, candidly discusses her experience being transgender for millions of followers.

As noted by the online LGBTQ magazine Them, Mulvaney cultivated endorsements and sponsorships as her stardom rose, including with brands such as Kate Spade, Ulta, and Instacart. Still, her popularity has also been met with transphobic hatred.

In October, Mulvaney and President Joe Biden discussed trans rights for a NowThis video. Congressional Republicans including Greene and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) lashed out against Mulvaney at the time, calling her a "fake woman."

Still, support for Mulvaney has also grown. The starlet has nearly 2 million followers on Instagram and recently announced a partnership with Nike (a company that's no stranger to right-wing boycotts).
Can you tell me about Mulvaney's partnership with Bud Light?

Last week, Mulvaney posted a video of herself dressed like Holly Golightly, the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany's character popularized by Audrey Hepburn.

In the video, which is part of a sponsored partnership with Bud Light, Mulvaney promoted the company's "Easy Carry Contest," which offers customers the chance at winning $15,000 if they post a video of themselves holding as many cans of Bud Light as possible.

Mulvaney also shows viewers a custom Bud Light can with her face on it, to help celebrate a year since transitioning, which she called her first year of "girlhood." The can with Mulvaney's face is not for sale, but the company announced an upcoming line of Pride-themed cans featuring different pronouns.
What was the response to the Bud Light partnership?

Quickly, the video was met with both positive and negative feedback.

Critics said the beer brand should "know its audience" and demanded Bud Light cut ties with Mulvaney and stop "going woke." Some posted videos of them dumping out cases of the beer.

Transgender visibility and rights remain a polarizing topic. A Pew Research Center survey last year found that 36% of Americans said society hadn't gone far enough to accept people who are trans, while 38% said society had gone too far.

Right-wing media figures, including Fox News hosts, called for a boycott of Bud Light as well as other Anheuser-Busch-produced beers. Anheuser-Busch owns brands including Stella Artois, Budweiser, Busch and Republican favorite Michelob Ultra.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, filmed a video of his Bud Light-less fridge but goofed by accidentally stocking up on other Anheuser-Busch beers instead.

Conservative commentators John Cardillo and Ben Shapiro amplified transphobic criticism of Mulvaney on their popular Twitter accounts. Cardillo also misgendered and tweeted transphobic remarks about Mulvaney.

But Bud Light supporting the LGBTQ community isn't new. The brand has touted its Pride campaigns for more than 20 years, including a rainbow aluminum bottle last year for Pride month. Other major beer brands have also expressed support. A Newsweek analysis said at least half of the 10 most popular beer companies have LGBTQ partnerships.
How is the boycott going?

It depends on whom you ask.

With celebrities such as Kid Rock and country singer Travis Tritt joining in on the anti-Bud Light movement, more people are finding out about a once-niche ad campaign. According to Cookoutnews.com, millions of people were using the #BoycottBudLight hashtag on Twitter and TikTok.

In turn, there has also been a lot of misinformation swirling across the internet involving the original campaign.

A debunked rumor began spreading that Anheuser-Busch laid off its entire marketing team because of the right-wing backlash. The Associated Press confirmed that wasn't the case.
What have Bud Light and Mulvaney said since the boycott?

In statements to news outlets, Bud Light has expressed support for Mulvaney.

"Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics and passion points," the company said in a statement to Fox News.

Still, supporters of the influencer say that's not enough. The brand, which typically posts near-daily, has not posted on its social media accounts since announcing the partnership.

In an Instagram story, Mulvaney referenced facing harassment.

"There's been a lot going on and I was feeling a little down," she said, thanking fans for their support.

© The Philadelphia Inquirer

Florida LGBTQ group issues rare advisory warning for travel to Sunshine State

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visits 2019 Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium in 2019. (Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com)

Gideon Rubin
April 12, 2023

A group that’s invested in promoting Florida as a place to live, work and visit, is now advising anyone considering visiting the Sunshine State to stay home.

Equality Florida, a civil rights group that advocates for the LGBTQ community, on Wednesday issued a travel advisory.

In what the group acknowledged in a statement to be an “extraordinary step,” it warned of the risks posed to the health, safety, and freedom of those considering short- or long-term travel, or relocation to Florida amid the “passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.”

The NAACP last week issued a similar travel advisory over the Sunshine State’s African American studies ban.

Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith said in a statement it issued the advisory “with great sadness.”

“As an organization that has spent decades working to improve Florida’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive place to live work and visit, it is with great sadness that we must respond to those asking if it is safe to travel to Florida or remain in the state as the laws strip away basic rights and freedoms,” Smith said.

“While losing conferences, and top students who have written off Florida threatens lasting damage to our state, it is most heartbreaking to hear from parents who are selling their homes and moving because school censorship, book bans and health care restrictions have made their home state less safe for their children. We understand everyone must weigh the risks and decide what is best for their safety, but whether you stay away, leave or remain we ask that you join us in countering these relentless attacks.Help reimagine and build a Florida that is truly safe for and open to all, and where freedom is a reality, not a hollow campaign slogan.”

The group’s statement alleges that Gov. Ron DeSantis has made “the extremist policies the centerpiece of his” likely presidential campaign strategy, noting that he “has weaponized state agencies to silence critics and impose sanctions on large and small companies that dissent with his culture war agenda or disagree with his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

(Disclosure: Raw Story/AlterNet CEO John Byrne is a donor to Equality Florida.)

Florida Republican defends anti-drag measure even if it means ‘erasing a community’

Gideon Rubin
April 12, 2023,

Photo by Rochelle Brown on Unsplash

A Florida Republican on Wednesday doubled down on a controversial anti-drag bill.

State Rep. Randy Fine, a proponent of SB 1438, the so-called “Protection of Children Act” that would ban anyone under 18 years of age from attending a drag show, argued during a debate on the House floor that "if it means erasing a community, because you have to target children, then damn right we outta do it."

Fine didn’t identify the community he supports “erasing,” but SB 1438 targets Florida’s LGBTQ community, The New Republic reports.

The bill would also prevent anyone under 18 from attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show or the musical Hair, the report said.

Rep. Angela Nixon, a Florida Democrat, said under the law she can’t take her child to the Hamburger Mary’s restaurant, which according to its website features entertainment including a “Dining with the Divas” drag show.

Fine said he’s OK with that.

“If Hamburger Mary’s, whatever they are, is engaged in ‘adult live performances’ as defined by section 827.11 under this bill, then yeah, you couldn’t do that. I don’t know whether they are or not,” Fine said.

Nixon called the measure “disgusting.”

“This is a disgusting bill and is designed to target parents like me,” Nixon said.

“It will – like everything – be selectively enforced by the state to target members of the LGBTQ community, as we’ve already seen, with DPBR taking away licenses of venues that host drag shows – that were not lewd and that were very family friendly.”

Watch video below or at this link.

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