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Gen Z influencers, quietly recruited by a company with deep GOP ties, rally to impeached Ken Paxton’s aid

Robert Downen
Mon, August 14, 2023 

Former Donald Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, shown during a bus tour stop on Sept. 3, 2020, in San Antonio, was among those who met with social media influencers at a recent event sponsored by Influenceable LLC. Credit: Christopher Lee for The Texas Tribune


In late June, about a dozen conservative Gen Z influencers converged on Fort Worth for a few days of right-wing networking. They hit local night spots, posed for group photos and met a far-right Texas billionaire and Donald Trump’s former campaign chair.

And then they took to social media to rally their many followers behind a new, controversial film about human trafficking before turning their support to impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The event was sponsored by a fledgling company, Influenceable LLC, that recruits young, conservative social media figures to promote political campaigns and films without disclosing their business relationship. On its website, the company touts itself as the “world’s largest network of digital activists” and offers clients the power to “cultivate a community of influencers to leverage their credibility” with audiences.

Photos from the event show that Influenceable has powerful allies. Among the speakers were Brad Parscale, who recently moved to Texas after years running the Trump campaign’s digital strategy, and Tim Dunn, the West Texas oil tycoon who has given tens of millions of dollars to ultraconservative movements and candidates in Texas — including Paxton.

Now Influenceable appears to be recruiting young conservatives to parrot claims that the attorney general is the victim of a political witch hunt and, more recently, to promote a series of videos alleging that the Texas Legislature is secretly controlled by Democrats intent on destroying Paxton and other conservatives.

The company’s emergence comes amid Republican initiatives to connect with young Americans who tend to be more supportive of liberal policies.

Tim Dunn, a West Texas oil executive and prominent donor to ultraconservative campaigns and movements in Texas, speaks at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 24, 2016. Credit: Brett Buchanan for The Texas Tribune

And while legal experts said Influenceable’s methods don’t appear to run afoul of campaign finance and political advertising rules, the company has already irked some Republicans who say its approaches are deceptive and harmful to democracy. State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, said he may propose new laws to strengthen disclosure requirements because of companies like Influenceable, saying they create “manufactured outrage” and further polarize the country.

“It disgusts me,” Oliverson said in an interview. “It calls into question the value and the validity of their entire message as an influencer. … I think they should all be investigated. I think the company should be investigated, and I think all of these influencers should be outed.”

Dunn, Parscale and Influenceable representatives did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Ties to an “anti-woke” company

Influenceable is closely linked to another right-wing organization, Today Is America Inc., a self-described “anti-woke” social media company that was founded in 2019 by North Carolina brothers Camron and Liam Rafizadeh. The company quickly rose to prominence on platforms such as Instagram, where it continues to deluge its quarter-million followers with anti-LGBTQ+ memes and pro-Trump talking points.

According to LinkedIn, Camron Rafizadeh is Influenceable’s CEO, Liam Rafizadeh is a co-founder and another high-ranking Today Is America employee, Tim Korshunov, leads development.

Liam Rafizadeh also ran the well-known Republican Hype House account on TikTok, which had 1.2 million followers before it was taken down when the platform targeted misinformation ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The Rafizadeh brothers also attracted the attention of GOP operatives: Business filings for Today Is America LLC, one of a few companies associated with the Today Is America brand, list unsuccessful North Carolina congressional candidate Bo Hines as its CEO. Its chief financial officer is Jason Boles, who was the campaign treasurer for U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., before he joined the campaign of famed fabulist U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. Boles is also the leader of Heal the Divide, a political action committee backing the presidential campaign of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Influenceable was first registered in August 2022 in the infamous Corporation Trust Center, a one-story building in Wilmington, Delaware, that some 300,000 corporations — including Google, Apple and Walmart — have used as a registration address to take advantage of the so-called “Delaware loophole” that allows them to avoid taxes and many public disclosures.

Influenceable’s website touts a partnership with Campaign Nucleus, a company that Parscale began developing seven years ago. Parscale’s digital prowess is legendary: The San Antonio native spent decades working in marketing before leading the 2016 Trump campaign’s digital strategy — his first foray into politics — and playing a key role in Trump’s unexpected ascendancy to the Oval Office. He served as Trump’s campaign manager from February 2018 until July 2020, when he was demoted. Parscale left the campaign a few months later after his wife made, then retracted, domestic violence accusations.

Campaign Nucleus promotes itself as an all-in-one digital “ecosystem” that cuts out third-party platforms and protects conservatives from “cancel culture.”

“Stop wasting time using big tech platforms to reach audiences,” Campaign Nucleus’ website says. “Talk to people directly.”

CJ Pearson speaking at an event in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Nov. 3, 2021.

 Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia

As heat waves strained the Texas power grid last year, Campaign Nucleus reportedly pushed anti-renewable-energy talking points favored by oil and gas companies, and Trump’s campaign has also reportedly used Campaign Nucleus. Earlier this year, Parscale appears to have moved from Florida to Midland, home to a significant portion of the state’s energy industry as well as Dunn, an oil executive who has spent tens of millions of dollars to promote his far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ and religious views.

Dunn, Parscale and Dunn’s son David, a Christian music artist, spoke at the Fort Worth event, according to Instagram photos posted by Korshunov that were deleted after The Texas Tribune reached out to Influenceable and Dunn for comment.

“Are you Influenceable?” Korshunov wrote in the caption.

Well-known attendees chimed in: “I’m influenced,” commented CJ Pearson, a conservative Gen Z activist with more than 440,000 followers on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, who was at the Fort Worth event.

“BIG Influenceable guy,” responded Xaviaer DuRousseau, who also attended the event and works with Pearson at PragerU, an activist group that pushes “alternative” educational materials aimed at young conservatives.

PragerU — which was recently allowed to provide curriculum to Florida public schools despite being unaccredited — did not respond to requests for comment about its relationship with Influenceable or requests to make DuRousseau or Pearson available for interviews.
Promoting movies, coming to Paxton’s defense

In the weeks after the Fort Worth event, a pattern emerged on many attendees’ social media profiles: In posts to Instagram Reels, TikTok or X, they warned their hundreds of thousands of collective followers about “an issue” that is “rarely talked about” or is “being swept under the rug” — human trafficking.

They frequently listed misleading statistics about the annual rate of abducted or missing children, sometimes inserting their own conspiracy theories about “globalists” and “Hollywood elites” running trafficking rings aided by Democratic immigration policies.

Actor Jim Caviezel at the “Sound of Freedom” movie premiere in Miami Beach, Florida, on June 23, 2022. Credit: Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA via REUTERS

And then they’d pivot to their calls to action, telling followers they could save innocent kids and fight evil liberals by simply going to see a new movie, “Sound of Freedom,” and urging others to do the same.

The movie tells the story of Operation Underground Railroad and its founder, Tim Ballard, who has for years been condemned by anti-trafficking groups for his flirtation with QAnon conspiracy theories and for his group’s methods, which experts say endanger children and interfere with the work of local child protection agencies.

The film’s star, Jim Caviezel, is also a leading QAnon figure who has said he believes that global elites derive their power from adrenaline extracted from children as they are raped or tortured — an extreme QAnon theory that borrows heavily from Nazi and other antisemitic propaganda.

Since leaving the Fort Worth event, Parscale and nine other attendees posted about “Sound of Freedom” at least 50 times, often using the same talking points, promotional hashtags and studio-quality movie clips. As criticism of the movie poured in, many of them alleged that the pushback was part of a sinister and coordinated attack by Democrats and the media. Jeffrey Epstein’s name was sometimes invoked.

“Sound of Freedom exposes the dark realities of human trafficking that are largely ignored by legacy media, and perpetuated by left-wing open border policy,” wrote Blake Kresses, a Fort Worth-based podcaster who previously worked for Jeff Younger, an anti-transgender activist whose unsuccessful 2022 Texas House campaign was financed by one of Dunn’s groups.

“Liberals, why are you so mad that people are trying to bring awareness to human trafficking? Is there something going on there?” asked Vince Dao, a conservative influencer with 196,000 Instagram followers. “Everyone watching this: Be sure to go see ‘Sound of Freedom’ to send them a message.”

The film’s producer, Angel Studios, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its relationship with Influenceable. Neither Kresses, Dao or others responded to Instagram messages, texts or phone calls.

Some of the attendees have since begun posting about a new anti-vaccination film, “Remedy,” that prominently features Kennedy Jr., whose presidential bid has been bankrolled by a super PAC run by Boles, the Today Is America CFO.

The influencers have also been vocal about Paxton, parroting anti-impeachment talking points favored by his biggest donors — including Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which gave $18,000 to a similarly named company, Influencable LLC, shortly before the Texas House’s investigation into Paxton was made public.

In the 48 hours before the Texas House voted to impeach Paxton on May 27, at least six of the Fort Worth event attendees made strikingly similar posts in which they accused House Speaker Dade Phelan of being an alcoholic, claimed Republicans in Name Only — “RINOs” — were attacking Paxton for his conservative values, and used a handful of unique hashtags such as #TXKangarooCourt and #TexasCorruption to rail against the House investigation.

Other major social media figures who were not at the Fort Worth event, but are pictured on Influenceable’s website, made similar posts supporting Paxton and condemning House leaders.

More recently, Influenceable appears to be recruiting social media figures to share posts about a new film that claims the Texas Legislature is secretly controlled by Democrats intent on destroying Paxton, a claim that has for years been pushed by Dunn-backed groups.

Screenshots of one of the recruitment pitches, which were published recently by the conservative website Current Revolt, offer influencers $50 for sharing one post about the film. Also listed were links to a payment website and to a tweet by Michael Quinn Sullivan, the longtime leader of Texas Scorecard, a far-right website that’s received millions of dollars from Dunn.

Defend Texas Liberty PAC is also primarily funded by Dunn and another West Texas oil billionaire, Farris Wilks. And the social media manager for Pale Horse Strategies — a consulting firm for Dunn-backed political campaigns — also attended the Fort Worth event.

Defend Texas Liberty and Texas Scorecard have for years been among Paxton’s biggest donors, defenders and cheerleaders. Texas Scorecard did not respond to interview requests. The leader of Defend Texas Liberty PAC declined requests for comment.

In other screenshots published by Current Revolt, the company offered $50 to influencers to share a specific post from Paxton’s personal X account by July 26. The recruitment text includes the name and number for Influencable’s head of recruitment operations and links to a payment portal that’s run by a company that Influenceable’s website lists as a partner.

On July 26, DuRousseau shared the Paxton post to his 144,000 followers, adding that “there are few patriots in leadership like Ken Paxton.”

Dao also shared the post: “RINOs in Texas are still trying to impeach Ken Paxton,” he wrote. “STOP THE WITCH HUNT!”

The Texas Tribune reviewed four of the leading influencers’ profiles on X and Instagram dating to January 2021 and found that most rarely — if ever — posted about Texas politics or Paxton prior to May. Pearson led the Teens for Ted (Cruz) group in 2015. Other than occasional posts about the border or gerrymandering, he does not appear to have frequently engaged with Texas politics. Dao has posted a few times about the border, while DuRousseau’s profile has primarily focused on race issues and anti-Black Lives Matter posts.

Kresses, who lives in Texas and served on Younger’s campaign, has been more vocal about state-level politics, telling his 14,000 Instagram followers to vote for Paxton and unsuccessful Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake in 2022, and urging them to vote no on a Michigan ballot measure to expand voting access — a post that he disclosed was a paid political advertisement.

“Getting paid by God-knows-who”

Influenceable’s tactics have been condemned by figures from across the conservative political spectrum.

Well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes has repeatedly railed against the company, accusing it of working with Jewish political figures to paint him as an informant to federal law enforcement. Fuentes has also taken issue with the lack of disclosure by social media figures about their ties to the company.

“Why are they so afraid of people finding out about Influenceable?” Fuentes said during a February podcast. “Is it because people aren’t supposed to know that influencers are getting paid by God-knows-who to literally follow instructions like animals?”

The Federal Trade Commission says social media influencers should “make it obvious” when they have a “material connection” — including any “financial, employment, personal or family” relationship — with a brand.

But campaign law experts say there is little that state or federal regulators can do to force more disclosures when it comes to political messaging.

Ian Vandewalker, an expert on the influence of money in politics and elections at the Brennan Center, said federal campaign regulations have not been seriously updated since the early 2000s. He said outdated rules, coupled with recent court rulings, have allowed dark-money groups and popular social media figures to have outsized — and often undisclosed — sway over political discourse.

“The laws around disclosure of campaign spending assumed a traditional model, like paying somebody to print your ad in the newspaper or paying a TV station to play your ad on the air,” he said. “Paying an influencer to talk about a candidate doesn’t fit into those traditional definitions, and so it’s slipping through the cracks.”

In Texas, there are some restrictions on out-of-state donations and on when donors can give to certain politicians, campaigns and “specific-purpose committees.” The state also requires disclosures of “express advocacy” political advertising, which the Texas Ethics Commission says is undefined by law but includes “any time a candidate, a candidate’s agent, or a political action committee authorizes political advertising.”

Groups and individuals who are not directly connected to candidates or campaigns are also required to make disclosures if they are clearly advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate or for the passage or defeat of a measure.

But the state’s rules otherwise "allow dark money to run amok and do whatever it wants,” said Roger Borgelt, an Austin lawyer who specializes in campaign finance and election law.

“If you’re not actually advocating for or against the election of someone or a proposition, then you pretty much fall outside” most regulations, he said.

State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, on the House floor at the state Capitol in Austin on May 12, 2023. Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune

Oliverson, the Republican state representative, said he’d like to address those gaps when the Legislature’s next regular session begins in 2025. Though he declined to comment on promotions regarding Paxton because of a gag rule ahead of Paxton’s impeachment trial, Oliverson said he was deeply troubled by the idea that influencers are getting paid to advocate for positions without revealing their financial stakes.

“I’m somebody who cares about truth and motivation,” he said. “I really dislike manufactured outrage and manufactured narratives. I prefer people to be honest, straightforward and truthful. And so I do think that, at a bare minimum, these things should have to be disclosed.”

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and what’s ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.

Argentine peso plunges after rightist who admires Trump comes first in primary vote

DANIEL POLITI
Updated Mon, August 14, 2023 

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Javier Milei, presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, speaks at his campaign headquarters after polling stations closed during primary elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine peso plunged Monday after an anti-establishment candidate who admires former President Donald Trump came first in primary elections that will help determine the country's next president.

Javier Milei rocked Argentina’s political establishment by receiving the biggest share of primary votes for presidential candidates in the October general election to decide who leads a nation battered by economic woes.

Milei, 52, wants to replace the peso with the dollar, and says that Argentina’s Central Bank should be abolished. He has said that climate change is a lie and has characterized sex education as a ploy to destroy the family. He has also said that the sale of human organs should be legal.

Gun ownership is severely restricted in Argentina. Milei proposes the “deregulation of the legal market” for weapons and “the protection of its legitimate and responsible use by the citizens,” according to his party’s electoral platform.

Argentina’s government decided to devalue the local currency by 20% early Monday morning after the surprising Sunday showing. Two mainstream political coalitions have traded power for a decade in Argentina. The country is now the latest where voters have picked an outsider candidate to express anger against the status quo.

Operators were watching nervously Monday as the value of the peso also decreased in the parallel, or blue, market, dropping 12% by early afternoon.

The drop in the value of the peso means that already-high inflation will accelerate, making getting to the end of the month even harder for ordinary people.

“The more the dollar rises, the more expensive things become,” Marta Gisela Barrera, a 29-year-old urban recycler who has trouble buying enough food for her four children, said on Monday morning. “I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore.”

Argentina requires that citizens vote, with a symbolic financial penalty for not voting, and 69 percent of the country's 35 million voters went to the polls, each choosing candates for positions ranging from local councilman to president. It marked the lowest participation for presidential primaries since the current system was set up in 2009.

The major parties had contested races to be its presidential candidate. Milei was uncontested, and got a few points more than the candidates of parties that have dominated Argentine politics.

After doing much better than expected, the upstart candidate with long sideburns and shaggy hair who gained notoriety and a rockstar-like following by angrily ranting against the “political caste” is now a real contender for the presidency.

In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro was president from 2019 to 2022, and had a similar anti-left and anti-social justice orientation. Right-wing populists are also making inroads with a tough-on-crime message, most notably in El Salvador, where the popularity of President Nayib Bukele has soared amid a crackdown on gangs that has led to human-rights abuses.

With around 97% of polling locations reporting, Milei had around 30% of the total vote, according to official results. The candidates in the main opposition coalition, United for Change, were at 28% and the governing Union for the Homeland coalition had 27%.

In order to win the vote in two months, Milei would have to increase his share of the nation's votes by 15%, a high hurdle even in a nation where voters tend to favor candidates they see as winners.

If one candidate doesn't receive 45% of the vote, they would need 40% and a 10-point lead over the second-place candidate. Otherwise the race would go to a November runoff between the top two.

Celebrating in his election headquarters, Milei vowed to bring “an end to the parasitic, corrupt and useless political caste that exists in this country.”

“Today we took the first step toward the reconstruction of Argentina,” he said. “A different Argentina is impossible with the same people as always.”

In Buenos Aires on Monday, Milei's supporters seemed most excited about someone new coming into the scene.

“We always end up going back to the other party, then the other comes back, and it’s a cycle that keeps us in the same situation,” Clara Costa, a 54-year-old administrative assistant, said.

Milei has been a lawmaker in the lower house of Argentina’s Congress since 2021.

Argentina is struggling with annual inflation over 100%, rising poverty and a rapidly depreciating currency, and Milei first attracted wider support by calling for the country to replace the peso with the U.S. dollar.

Milei would need Congress to support that and that would be highly unlikely. As a result, he has said he would push for a referendum or a non-binding popular vote on the issue, although it’s also unclear if he would be able to push that through without the support of lawmakers.

Aked about the vote in Argentina, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that inflation and economic crises “always benefit the right and conservatism, which is somewhat what’s happening in Argentina,” and he mentioned the case of Hitler. He immediately made clear he wasn't making a direct comparison between the two but said it was “important to remember” that “inflation actually helped” Hitler rise to power.

Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, celebrated the results, characterizing them on social media as “an excellent start to what could be the real change that Argentina needs.” Days before the primaries, former President Bolsonaro published a short video wishing Milei luck in the election.

The main opposition coalition, United for Change, moved more to the right as former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who made toughness on crime a centerpiece of her campaign, handily beat a more centrist contender.

In the currently governing coalition, Union for the Homeland, the more business friendly candidate — Economy Minister Sergio Massa — easily beat a leftist contender but still took an overall beating from voters frustrated over the poor state of the economy, finishing in third place for total votes.

At Milei’s electoral headquarters, party leaders were ecstatic while people celebrated outside, expressing optimism that their candidate’s support would only grow in the run-up to October.

“I like his ideas about freedom,” said Orlando Sánchez, 26, a retail worker. “If criminals walk around with guns on their belts, why can’t an ordinary citizen have one lawfully and with the proper documentation? People are clearly tired of politics, being constantly lied to.”

___

Associated Press journalists Almudena Calatrava, Débora Rey, Natacha Pisarenko and Victor R. Caivano contributed to this report.

Hard-Right rock singer and ‘tantric sex instructor’ takes shock lead in Argentinian elections

James Crisp
Mon, August 14, 2023 


Javier Milei, presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, celebrates after dealing the incumbent Peronist party a historic defeat - NATACHA PISARENKO/AP


A hard-Right radical economist, former rock singer and self-described “tantric sex instructor” has taken a shock lead in Argentina’s presidential primary elections after dealing the incumbent Peronist party a historic defeat.

Javier Milei, a libertarian conservative known as “The Wig” for his eccentric hairstyle, and who embraces comparisons with Donald Trump, is now the frontrunner in October’s elections after his triumph in a primary vote on Sunday.

“We are the true opposition,” Mr Milei said as he took aim at the centre-Left Peronist party, which has held power for 16 of the last 20 years and is largely controlled by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the former president.

“We’re not only going to end Kirchnerism, but we’re also going to end the useless, parasitic, criminal political caste that is sinking this country,” said Mr Milei, who wants his country to gain a Hong Kong-style gradual transfer of sovereignty over the Falklands from Britain.

With some 90 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Milei had 30.5 per cent of the vote, far higher than predicted - ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP

The 52-year-old outsider who was endorsed by Jair Bolsonaro, the former hard-Right president of Brazil, plans to adopt the dollar as the national currency and abolish Argentina’s central bank in a country suffering 116 per cent inflation and a cost of living crisis leaving four in 10 people in poverty.

The “anarcho-capitalist”, who has built ties with Spain’s hard-Right Vox party, has pledged to cut taxes and spearhead an austerity programme to help pay off the country’s $44 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund.

“A different Argentina is impossible with the same old things that have always failed,” Mr Milei said, before thanking his five mastiff dogs, each of which is named after a conservative economist.

Voting in the primaries is obligatory for most adults and each person gets one vote, making it in effect a dress rehearsal for the general election and giving a clear indication of who is the favourite to win the presidency.

The vote is intended to select candidates for each political party. But when each party’s total votes are tallied, they give a strong indication of which is most popular.

With some 90 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Milei had 30.5 per cent of the vote as the only candidate for the Liberty Advances party, far higher than predicted. In total, the candidates for the main conservative opposition bloc received 28 per cent of the vote while those for the ruling Peronist coalition came in at third place with 27 per cent.

Polls had predicted he would take just short of one-fifth of the vote.
‘This speaks of people’s anger with politics’

“Milei’s growth is a surprise. This speaks of people’s anger with politics,” said former conservative president Mauricio Macri as he arrived for the count.

The former singer with the band Everest, known for its Rolling Stone covers, was seen as a protest candidate with a history of making outlandish claims on chat shows.

In one instance, the climate change sceptic said he was a tantric sex instructor who could go three months without ejaculating after claiming he had various threesomes, 90 per cent of which were with two women.

Despite such boasts over his sexual prowess, Mr Milei claims to be a staunch Catholic and wants to limit abortion rights in all cases, unless the mother’s life is at risk. He blames cultural Marxism for the LGBT movement.

Mr Milei and his running mate have defended Argentina’s military dictatorship and suggested they would loosen gun laws and legalise the sale of human organs, which the congressman said the government has no business restricting.

Javier Milei embraces fellow party member Ramiro Marra, left, and his running-mate Victoria Villarruel, right, after polling stations closed on Sunday - NATACHA PISARENKO/AP

His Trump-like rallies and strong social media presence are thought to have helped the outsider outperform expectations amid widespread disillusionment with establishment parties, especially among the young, because of the economic crisis.

“Inflation is killing us and job uncertainty doesn’t let you plan your life,” said Adriana Alonso, a 42-year-old housewife.

“The Argentine people have finally woken up,” Rebeca Di Iorio, 44, an administrative worker celebrating at Mr Milei’s election-night street party in Buenos Aires, told the New York Times.

“Argentina needs that. It needs a change.”

Sergio Massa, currently serving as the minister of economy, won the nomination for the ruling Peronist coalition as expected, and could perform more strongly in October if he can win over more moderate voters.

Turnout was under 70 per cent, the lowest for a primary election since they were first held in Argentina over a decade ago.

Whoever wins in October, or more likely in a November runoff, will have big decisions to make on rebuilding depleted foreign reserves, boosting grain exports, reining in inflation and on how to unwind a tangle of currency controls.

Argentine far-right outsider Javier Milei posts shock win in primary election









August 13, 2023 
By Nicolás Misculin, Eliana Raszewski and Candelaria Grimberg

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine voters punished the country's two main political forces in a primary election on Sunday, pushing a rock-singing libertarian outsider candidate into first place in a huge shake-up in the race towards presidential elections in October.

With some 90% of ballots counted, far-right libertarian economist Javier Milei had 30.5% of the vote, far higher than predicted, with the main conservative opposition bloc behind on 28% and the ruling Peronist coalition in third place on 27%.

The result is a stinging rebuke to the center-left Peronist coalition and the main Together for Change conservative opposition bloc with inflation at 116% and a cost-of-living crisis leaving four in 10 people in poverty.

"We are the true opposition," Milei said in a bullish speech after the results. "A different Argentina is impossible with the same old things that have always failed."

Voting in the primaries is obligatory for most adults and each person gets one vote, making it in effect a dress rehearsal for the Oct. 22 general election and giving a clear indication of who is the favorite to win the presidency.

The October election will be key for policy affecting Argentina's huge farm sector, one of the world's top exporters of soy, corn and beef, the peso currency and bonds, and ongoing talks over a $44 billion debt deal with the International Monetary Fund.

The economic crisis has left many Argentines disillusioned with the main political parties and opened the door for Milei, who struck a chord especially with the young.

"Inflation is killing us and job uncertainty doesn't let you plan your life," said Adriana Alonso, a 42-year-old housewife.

As polls closed in the early evening after voting system glitches caused long lines in capital Buenos Aires, all the talk in campaign hubs was about Milei, a brash outsider who has pledged to shutter the central bank and dollarize the economy.

"Milei's growth is a surprise. This speaks of people's anger with politics," said former conservative President Mauricio Macri as he arrived at Together for Change's election bunker.

CONSERVATIVE BULLRICH BEATS MODERATE LARRETA

In the most important leadership race, within the Together for Change coalition, hard-line conservative Patricia Bullrich, a former security minister, beat out moderate Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Larreta, who pledged to get behind her campaign.

Economy Minister Sergio Massa won the nomination for the ruling Peronist coalition, as expected, and could perform more strongly in October if he can win over more moderate voters.

The unpredictable factor had been Milei, whose loud rock-style rallies are reminiscent of ex-U.S. President Donald Trump, but he far outperformed all forecasts. Most polls had given him just shy of one-fifth of the likely vote, though were also badly wrong four years ago in the 2019 primaries.

Turnout was under 70%, the lowest for a primary election since they started to be held in Argentina over a decade ago.

Whoever wins in October, or more likely in a November runoff, will have big decisions to make on rebuilding depleted foreign reserves, boosting grains exports, reining in inflation and on how to unwind a thicket of currency controls.

Jorge Boloco, 58, a merchant, said Argentina need a "course into the future," but no party offered a clear way forward.

Maria Fernanda Medina, a 47-year-old teacher, said she had also lost some optimism about politicians truly bringing change after many years of revolving economic crises.

"I don't have much hope because in every election I feel a little disappointed," she said as she cast her ballot in Tigre, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. "But hey, we can't lose all hope, right?"

(Reporting by Nicolás Misculin, Candelaria Grimberg, Walter Bianchi, Lucila Sigal, Maximilian Heath and Jorge Otaola; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)

Analysis-Could Argentine radical libertarian Javier Milei win the presidency?


Argentines react to the results of Presidential Primary Elections


Mon, August 14, 2023 
By Adam Jourdan, Eliana Raszewski and Anna-Catherine Brigida

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine far-right libertarian Javier Milei shocked the country on Sunday when he won the largest share of the vote in open primary elections. Now the big question is can he repeat the trick in October general elections when it matters?

The primary, which sees all candidates compete against one another, is a good gauge of how the general election will go. Milei won 30% of the vote, just ahead of the main conservative bloc on 28% and the center-left ruling Peronists on 27%.

The firebrand economist, whose boisterous campaign rallies draws comparisons to former U.S. leader Donald Trump, could turn the political status quo on its head in Argentina. He has pledged to shutter the central bank, dollarize the economy and sharply cut state spending.

Milei, however, faces a bigger challenge to win the Oct. 22 general election, or likely a run-off in November, with some voters casting protest votes on Sunday and record low turnout, which dented the more traditional parties.

Those trends could shift in the next two months.

Economy Minister Sergio Massa, the candidate for the governing Peronist coalition, said that the primary vote was just the "first half" of the election competition, using a soccer analogy in the country of greats Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.

"We have the second half, extra time and then penalties. And we will be fighting until the last minute," he said after the vote, which saw his coalition, the country's top political force for decades, post its worst primary election result.

Analysts said that more people could come out to vote in October after 69.5% turnout in the primary. There is on average a 4 percentage point bump in voter numbers between the primaries and the general election, J.P. Morgan said in a note.

This suggests "higher upside for traditional parties in the general elections as compared to Milei, which we see closer to its ceiling in terms of vote intention".

'MILEI PRESIDENT!'

That potential challenge has done little to dampen spirits in Milei's camp, delighted at far exceeding pollster estimates of around one-fifth of the vote in the primary.

"We can feel it! Milei president!", his fans chanted as the elections results were announced.

The Together for Change conservative coalition pledged to unite behind its elected candidate Patricia Bullrich, a hard-line former security minister, though she said the vote had revealed that people wanted something new.

"This is a society that's demands deep change, down to the roots," she said, promising security, reasonable taxes and ending years of uncertainty and government red tape.

Julio Cobos, a lawmaker with Together for Change, agreed voters had expressed themselves in the polls and were demanding profound change, but the race was still very much open.

"The challenge is the final election which is October," he said, adding the coalition had plenty of room to boost its performance if it stuck together.

"We hope to grow and win in the next elections. It is important that the leaders show up together, unify proposals, speeches, and present as a good team," he said.

Beyond doubt is the fact that the race, previously seen as between the two main parties with Milei a dark horse likely grabbing an notable third place, is now a true three-way fight. Each of the top candidates could make the run-off.

"The election race is now divided in three, which it wasn't before," said Alejandro Corbacho, director of the political science program at Argentine university UCEMA.

"It is clear that there is a lot of anger. People are very angry with the political classes."

Jared Lou, a portfolio manager at William Blair Investment Management, said that Milei had made himself the "front-runner" but there was lots of uncertainty.

"One factor that may help Milei in the presidential elections is that he's an outsider and voters are frustrated," he said. Lou added his views on promoting gun ownership, anti- abortion policies and dollarizing the economy - something most Argentines oppose - could ultimately put off some voters.

A dollar-peso peg introduced in the 1990s brought short-term benefits but ended in an ugly devaluation.

"Many of the policies he has campaigned on are viewed as fairly radical by the electorate."

(Reporting by Adam Jourdan, Anna-Catherine Brigida, Eliana Raszewski, Jorgelina do Rosario and Lucila Sigal; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

California's planning a renewable energy project at a scale never before attempted in the world

Wes Venteicher
Mon, August 14, 2023 


EUREKA, Calif. — A 300-foot tall smokestack from a defunct paper mill looms over the port in Humboldt Bay, a relic of the timber industry that once defined the northwestern corner of California along with the struggling salmon fishing industry and sputtering marijuana trade.

But a gust of optimism has arrived in Humboldt County over plans to develop offshore wind at a depth and scale never before attempted in the world – sparking hope and anxiety in a region that has lived through repeated boom-and-bust cycles and ended up with one of the lower per-capita incomes in the state.

“This is a generational project,” said Jeff Hunerlach, secretary-treasurer of a council of construction unions for Humboldt and neighboring Del Norte County. “I could work 20 years on this project and my kid could work 20 years on this project.”

The offshore wind proposal, driven by the Biden and Newsom administration efforts to dramatically increase renewable energy, would erect dozens of turbines three times the size of that smokestack with blades as long as a football field in an area of the Pacific Ocean nearly 10 times the size of Manhattan.

The turbines, which would be about 20 miles from shore in water up to 2,500 feet deep, are a key part of the state’s plan to generate enough offshore wind energy to power more than 20 million homes.

Getting the turbines to remote Humboldt County and then assembling them would be a significant undertaking – one that would create the need for heavy investment in an area that has seen little for many years.

“It’s a lot of good-paying jobs if we do it right,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), whose district includes the bay. “This can be part of lifting up the regional economy in a way that is better than anything to come along in decades.”

Rob Holmlund, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, likens the endeavor to the moon landing.

“We're talking about completely transitioning our entire energy system,” Holmlund said. “It’s an ambitious goal for the betterment of humanity.”

But the project faces a host of major challenges. They include not just the obvious economic and bureaucratic hurdles but also a widespread distrust of outsiders in a region where indiscriminate logging engendered deep resentment and where an illegal marijuana industry created a counterculture haven in the fog-shrouded mountains.

The region is still recovering from mistakes of the past. International wind developers are pitching their projects just as many residents celebrate the removal of Klamath River dams the Yurok Tribe and the fishing industry fought for decades. The structures destroyed rich salmon habitat to export hydropower even as many native people lived without electricity.

“It has to be done right,” said Yurok Vice Chairman Frankie Myers. “Because we have to avoid being in the same position we are now 50 years from now. I’ve spent most of my life fighting the dams. I do not want to leave my children a fight to remove offshore wind.”


The developers — German-based RWE Energy and Danish-backed Vineyard Offshore — secured federal leases in December for a combined $332 million that include decommissioning requirements and set aside a portion of the money for community benefits.

The companies are opening offices in the area, holding meetings and sponsoring local events.

“As a company we believe there are great opportunities ahead, because this can create jobs and other opportunities,” said Lars Pedersen, Vineyard Offshore’s CEO. “But we have to do that being respectful of those who live there and have been living there a long time.”

Humboldt Bay, now marred by rotted docks and contaminated soil, was home to 250 sawmills in 1950. By the 1970s, over half of California’s fish were being pulled from the bay. The county’s famously high-quality illegal cannabis took over after that, snaking across tens of thousands of acres in the hills. The plant’s skunky odor still wafts through Eureka, but legalization made it much less lucrative.

The Newsom administration’s path to zeroing out the state’s carbon emissions by 2045 runs right through the bay. It’s the only developed port from San Francisco to Coos Bay, Oregon, able to accommodate assembly of the massive turbines. The area could ultimately supply the turbines for both California — which would need around 1,700 to reach its goal — and the rest of the West Coast. Additional leases are expected in Washington, Oregon and offshore from the Northern California counties of Mendocino and Del Norte.

President Joe Biden wants the nation to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Offshore wind is central to both administrations’ plans due to its ability to displace the burning of fossil fuels, particularly in the evening when solar power drops off.

Reaching those goals will require the state and nation to advance offshore wind and accompanying transmission projects at speeds that governments haven’t achieved in generations.

“All of it has to work together in what is a really complex and almost overwhelming set of challenges,” said Huffman.

The Harbor District is partnering with Crowley Wind Services, a division of the international logistics company, to develop a 180-acre terminal on property occupied by a former pulp mill.

The land — which now hosts two seaweed farms, an oyster hatchery and temporary storage for freshly caught hagfish — would be transformed into an industrial terminal with up to 650,000 square feet of building space, lights mounted 150 feet in the air and giant cranes that crawl through the water on tank treads.

The district is in early permitting stages under the California Environmental Quality Act, which can be a lengthy process even as Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature recently took steps to limit the duration of legal challenges filed under the law.

At the same time, the project developers are initiating a federal permitting process that’s expected to take six years. They’re assessing impacts to the economy, tribes and lands.

The projects would affect fishermen the most, impacting the Dover sole, thornyhead, and sablefish fisheries offshore and harvests of Dungeness crab, baitfish and shellfish within the bay. The extent of the threat, along with the effects on birds and whales, is still being assessed.

The companies are addressing technical challenges of operating the floating turbines and transmitting energy to shore from floating platforms connected by cable to the ocean floor 2,500 feet below. While fixed-bottom turbines are common in Europe and are arriving on the East Coast, the floating variety have never been used in such deep water.

Transmission projects of the scale needed to carry 25 gigawatts of wind energy 270 miles from Humboldt to San Francisco have in the past taken more than a decade, and an overland line would need to run through environmentally sensitive areas as well as populated communities that may not welcome them. An undersea cable is being considered, but deep underwater canyons and other features make that option logistically daunting.

On land, leaders such as Yurok Tribal Court Judge Abby Abinanti worry how the expected influx of construction and manufacturing labor, some likely to occupy temporary “mancamps,” will affect vulnerable people such as native women who already go missing and are killed at higher rates than other groups.

“Our concern is that these camps end up elevating those kinds of statistics unless preventative efforts are made,” said Abinanti.

She also wants to make sure women have the same access as men to the new jobs through training.

And then there’s the cost. The price tag to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045 is about $100 billion — not including some major outlays such as transmission upgrades, according to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimate.


Costs have ballooned even beyond expectations in New York and New Jersey, prompting developers to seek more money from those states and their electricity customers. Wind developers have canceled some of their plans in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

If they come, the turbines will barely be visible from shore in daylight once they’re towed out to the deep sea. At night, red lights affixed to their tops will line the horizon — a new symbol for an industry that will once again redefine life on the northern coast.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SEA SERPENT

Diver records the eerie moment they come face-to-face with a massive ‘doomsday fish’: ‘There is no scientific evidence … ‘

Laurelle Stelle
Sun, August 13, 2023 

Divers in Taiwan’s Ruifang district encountered a creature that many believe is a terrible omen: a giant oarfish, the New York Post reports.

What happened?

In July, video footage appeared online from diving instructor Wang Cheng-Ru. It showed a silvery, mirror-like oarfish, estimated to be about 6.5 feet long, hanging vertically in the water. Although the fish appeared to be alive, it didn’t react when several scuba divers approached it, and one even touched the incredible creature.

According to National Geographic, oarfish can reach up to 56 feet long, making this a small specimen. They usually live hundreds or thousands of feet down in the ocean and almost never appear near the surface. For this reason, most oarfish that people see are dead — and even then, they’re rare.

Why does an oarfish sighting matter?

As the New York Post explains, there is a common folk belief that spotting an oarfish is a bad omen. The fish are said to swim up to the surface just before a major earthquake.

However, Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, told the New York Post that this is not actually the case. “There is no scientific evidence of a connection, so I don’t think people need to worry,” Motomura said. “I believe these fish tend to rise to the surface when their physical condition is poor, rising on water currents, which is why they are so often dead when they are found.”

In this case, the oarfish sported holes in its body from what Wang believed to be a cookie-cutter shark attack. “It must have been dying, so it swam into shallower waters,” he told Jam Press.

While it may not be a sign of things to come, this sighting was a rare chance to see this incredible and haunting creature in nature while it was still alive.

What can you do to help oarfish?

Currently, scientists don’t know much about the oarfish population or how they behave in the wild. As Oceana points out, their deep-sea habitat makes them hard to study — which also makes it uncertain how factors like pollution and rising temperatures affect them.

However, human activity has a dramaticimpact on the rest of the ocean, and it’s hard to imagine that oarfish are completely unaffected. Donating to marine conservation, minimizing the amount of plastic you use, and switching from gas to electric to reduce air pollution are all solid ways the average person can help protect the ocean.

What is most likely going on in Area 51? A national security historian explains why you won't find aliens there

Christopher Nichols, Professor of History, The Ohio State University
Mon, August 14, 2023 a

For decades, what lay at the end of this road was a mysterious secret. David James Henry/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA



Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

What is most likely going on in Area 51? – Griffin, age 10, South Lyon, Michigan

One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going on at Area 51 is that it is a highly classified secret military facility. It was not until 2013 that the U.S. government even acknowledged the existence and name “Area 51.”

This information came out as part of a broader set of documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request, which is something regular citizens and groups can do to ask the U.S. government to provide details about government activities. In this case, the request made public formerly classified CIA information regarding the historical development and testing of the U-2 spy plane. The information also revealed where it was tested: Area 51!


As a national security historian, I know there’s a long history of secrets at Area 51. I also know that none of those secrets have anything to do with space aliens.
The place

The base commonly referred to as Area 51 is located in a remote area of southern Nevada, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Las Vegas. It is in the middle of a federally protected area of the U.S. Air Force’s Nevada Test and Training Range, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, which is inside the larger Nellis Air Force Range.

Area 51, the yellow rectangle in the center of the map, is tucked in the middle of the much larger Nellis Air Force Range. DEMIS BV via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Area 51 is the secret code name for the site. The airfield at Area 51 is called Homey Airport, and the overall facility is often referred to as Groom Lake. Groom Lake is a salt flat, or dried-out lake, adjacent to the airport.
The history

In the early years of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations sought new technological developments that might give one country more power than the other. A great amount of information about scientific achievements, such as on rockets or weapons – but also even on ways to grow more food or make fuel more efficient – was kept secret as an issue of national security.

A key part of not fighting another world war was, and still is, developing technologies to see what the other side is doing – that is, surveillance technologies that can spy on the enemy. The information gathered by new and improved surveillance technologies about new innovations with planes and weapons was very important to governments.

This meant that both the surveillance information and the technology to get it were closely held national security secrets. Very few people in the governments of the U.S. and Soviet Union knew about the secrets from the 1940s all the way up until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

The U-2 spy plane was the first of many secrets kept at Area 51. U.S. Air Force

Central to all this was the U.S.’s U-2 spy plane. It could fly higher and faster than other airplanes and was made to travel over targets all around the world to take high-resolution photographs and measurements. Area 51 was selected in 1955 to test the U-2 in part because its remote location could help keep the plane secret.

Area 51 became the test site for other secret new aircraft. This included the A-12, which, like the U-2, was a fast-flying reconnaissance plane. The A-12 was first test flown at Homey Airport in 1962. It had a bulging disc-like center to carry additional fuel. Its shape and shiny titanium body could well have been responsible for some people’s reports about seeing spherical ships, also known as flying saucers.

Another important – and odd-shaped – aircraft first tested at Area 51 was the stealth fighter known as the F-117. It first flew at Homey Airport in 1981.

The F-117 stealth fighter looks like it could have come from another world but was made right here on Earth. U.S. Air Force

Secrets and speculation

“More Flying Objects Seen in Clark Sky,” read the June 17, 1959, headline in the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper. Reports like this of unidentified flying objects in the 1950s and 1960s fueled controversy and attention for Area 51. This was for three main reasons:

Area 51 was highly secret and not publicly accessible.

The area was home to test flights of secret new airplanes that moved fast and in different ways than expected.

The Cold War was an era of political tension, and there were many movies and TV shows about space aliens at the time.

When the government does not tell the public the full truth, no matter the reasons, secrets can lead to wild speculation. Secrecy can leave room for conspiracy theories to develop.

Area 51 remains off-limits to civilian and regular military air traffic, a decade after the government acknowledged its existence. The 68 years of government secrecy has helped to amplify suspicions, speculation and conspiracy theories. These conspiracy theories include crashed alien spaceships, space aliens being experimented on, and even space aliens working at Area 51.

Speculation about space aliens at Area 51 has been part of popular culture for more than half a century. Airwolfhound/Flickr, CC BY-SA

There are much simpler explanations for what witnesses have seen near Area 51. After all, the public now knows about what was being tested at Area 51, and when. For example, as U-2 and A-12 flights increased in the 1950s and 1960s, so did local sightings of UFOs. As balloons and planes crashed, and secret testing of new technologies as well as captured Soviet equipment continued, so did reports of UFO crashes and landings.

In fact, many UFO sightings match almost exactly with dates and times of flights of then-classified experimental aircraft. We also know that prototype drones and more recent versions have been tested at the site.

In the end, there is no reason to think that anything other than earthly technologies have been behind the strange sights and sounds at Area 51.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Christopher Nichols, The Ohio State University.

Read more:


Overclassification overkill: The US government is drowning in a sea of secrets


US intelligence report on UFOs: No aliens, but government transparency and desire for better data might bring science to the UFO world

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
UBS pays $1.43 billion to settle US mortgage claims as industry-wide probe concludes

Kanishka Singh and Jonathan Stempel
Updated Mon, August 14, 2023 


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - UBS agreed to pay $1.435 billion to settle U.S. charges that the Swiss lender misled investors into buying troubled mortgage securities, concluding an industrywide probe into a root cause of the 2008 global financial crisis.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said it has collected more than $36 billion in civil fines from 19 banks, mortgage originators and rating agencies over the packaging, sale and rating of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) leading up to the crisis.

Many of these securities carried triple-A ratings despite being backed by subprime and other risky mortgages, and investors suffered enormous losses as borrowers went into default and underwriting flaws became apparent.

The largest settlement, $16.65 billion, was reached in 2014 with Bank of America, which had bought mortgage specialist Countrywide Financial six years earlier.

UBS' settlement resolved Justice Department claims in a 2018 lawsuit filed in Brooklyn that the bank defrauded investors by knowingly making false and misleading statements about more than $41 billion in loans backing 40 RMBS issued in 2006 and 2007.

The bank had rejected a proposal that it pay nearly $2 billion to settle, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.

Credit Suisse, which UBS bought in June, reached a similar $5.28 billion settlement in 2017.

In a press release, UBS said it previously set aside reserves to cover the $1.43 billion payout. Monday's settlement should result in the lawsuit's dismissal.

UBS' payout is "a warning to other players in the financial markets who seek to unlawfully profit through fraud that we will hold them accountable no matter how long it takes," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said in a statement.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis)

‘Mr. Bean’ actor sparks controversy with confounding newspaper column: ‘It’s starting to become a pattern’

Rachel McGlasson

Mon, August 14, 2023 


Mr. Bean and his hijinks are always a delight to watch on screen. But after his latest antic, in which he claimed electric vehicles (EVs) aren’t better for the environment than gasoline vehicles, we kind of wish he would have stuck to the jokes.

Actor Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr. Bean) is the latest to fall prey to the misleading idea that EVs are more harmful to the environment than gasoline vehicles. He voiced these concerns in an opinion piece published in The Guardian, in which he argued that the pollution tied to mining and manufacturing behind EVs is more harmful than the pollution released by gasoline vehicles.

“Electric vehicles may be a bit soulless, but they’re wonderful mechanisms: fast, quiet and, until recently, very cheap to run,” he wrote. “But increasingly, I feel a little duped. When you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be.”

Unfortunately, the facts he is wanting to drill into are widely from pro-dirty energy groups that have a financial interest in gasoline vehicles sticking around. The argument is often the same — the production of electric vehicles produced almost 70% more pollution than the production of traditional vehicles (that’s a fact from Volvo, by the way). It’s not incorrect, but it is heavily biased.

A 2020 study by Transport and Environment found that the life cycle pollution output — or the overall pollution produced by an EV across its entire lifespan — is, on average, almost three times less than that of a vehicle that runs on gasoline. Aside from that, there is a lot of progress being made to mitigate the production pollution that Atkinson is so concerned about.

Solid and semi-solid state batteries are being explored by many EV companies. These batteries would significantly cut down on that pollution.

Don’t just take it from us, though. Auke Hoekstra, a program director at Eindhoven University of Technology and a passionate debunker of misinformation around EVs, took to Twitter to explain in a long thread just why Atkinson’s article isn’t very truthful.

“I love Rowan Atkinson the comedian and I believe he learned electrical engineering once, but I feel this erroneous article on EVs dupes the readers of The Guardian and that’s starting to become a pattern,” he tweeted. “Electric vehicles really emit 3x less CO2.”

Hoekstra said the points Atkinson made are often brought up in the EV world, and while things like the mining of materials, the heavy weight of batteries, and their high costs are all concerns of the EV industry, the industry is also advancing daily to address these.

At the end of the day, Hoekstra summed up Mr. Bean’s opinion piece rather matter-of-factly.

“Atkinson is a great comedian but doesn’t understand the environmental impacts of EVs,” he wrote. “The Guardian quality control should have picked this up. EVs emit 3x less CO2 over their lifetime currently. EVs sold in 2050 will emit 10x less.”

ALT.WAGNER
Convoy Private Military Company created in occupied Crimea receives millions from Russian bank and billionaire Rotenberg

Ukrainska Pravda
Mon, August 14, 2023 

The Convoy Private Military Company (PMC), established in occupied Crimea in the autumn of 2022, has received 300 million roubles [roughly US$3 million – ed.] from VTB, one of Russia's largest banks 69% of which is owned by the state, and Arkady Rotenberg, an oligarch who is close to Russian President Putin.

Source: an investigation conducted by the Dossier centre

Details: The investigation says that in just a month and a half of autumn 2022, the Convoy PMC received 437.5 million roubles [roughly US$4.4 million]. Of this amount, 120 million roubles [roughly US$1.2 million] came from the company owned by Putin's friend [the Ai-Petri Sanatorium owned by Arkady Rotenberg], another 200 million roubles [roughly US$2 million] from a state bank, and the rest from fuel companies that have nothing to do with the Convoy PMC.

None of these companies commented on the transfer of money.

Donations from state-owned and near-state corporations are transferred to the account of the St Petersburg Cossack Community Convoy. This Community, in turn, transfers the money to the account of the Military Security Company Convoy LLC. Over the course of a month and a half in the autumn of 2022, 85 million roubles [roughly US$853,000] were transferred in this way.

As the investigators noted, the money is then cashed in for expenses "in a very simple way": funds from the Convoy account are transferred to the head of the PMC Konstantin Pikalov as "loans to the founder". According to the documents studied by journalists, he takes approximately 60 million roubles [roughly US$602,000] a month.

The organisation pays for military equipment that can be purchased openly (body armour, uniforms, tents, medical equipment) directly from their own accounts, the Dossier writes.

Pikalov is associated with the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin – the media called him Prigozhin's "right-hand man" and Wagner's curator in Africa. As the Dossier stated, the Convoy PMC's combat area is located in Kherson Oblast, and this summer the unit consisted of about 400 fighters.

A throng of interfaith leaders to focus on combating authoritarianism at global gathering in Chicago

DAVID CRARY
Mon, August 14, 2023 


Members of the Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy practice before the Parliament of World Religion Parade of Faiths, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, in Chicago.

(AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

For the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the week-long event marks a return to its roots – the organization was founded in Chicago in 1893.

More than 6,000 people representing scores of religions and belief systems are expected to convene in Chicago starting Monday for what organizers bill as the world’s largest gathering of interfaith leaders.

For the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the week-long event marks a return to its roots – the organization was founded in Chicago in 1893. In the past 30 years, it has convened six times, most recently in Toronto in 2018.

Past gatherings have drawn participants from more than 80 nations. This week’s speakers and presenters will represent Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Baha’i, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Indigenous religions, paganism and other beliefs.

This year’s theme is “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights,” with a focus on combating authoritarianism around the world. Topics on the agenda include climate change, human rights, food insecurity, racism and women’s rights.

“We will take a stand for the rights we’re all at risk of losing,” said the Rev. Stephen Avino, the organization’s executive director.

Scheduled speakers include U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and actor Raiin Wilson, a member of the Baha’i faith. The keynote speaker will be Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Illustrative of the parliament’s diversity, its program chair for this week’s event is Phyllis Curott, a Wiccan priestess who as an author and lawyer has advocated for the legal rights of witches.

In a pre-conference statement, she assailed authoritarianism as “the most dangerous crisis confronting all of us today.”

“This existential, expanding and global scourge is manifesting in tyrants and strongmen who commit crimes against humanity, suppress essential freedoms, subvert democracies and murder the truth with lies,” she said. “They are fostering hate and the resurgence of antisemitism and Islamophobia, misogyny and racism.”

Numerous cultural and educational events are taking place to complement the speeches and discussions, starting with a Parade of Faiths on Sunday that celebrated Chicago’s diversity. Local faith, spiritual and cultural communities joined the parade, some accompanied by music and dance highlighting their history and traditions.

Among the upcoming events is “Guns to Garden Tools,” featuring a blacksmith who will demonstrate how he melts down firearms to create gardening tools.

The parliament has no formal powers of any sort. And for all its diversity and global scope, it is not ideologically all-encompassing. Its participants, by and large, share a progressive outlook; conservative Catholics, evangelicals and Muslims — among others — have not embraced the movement.

Gene Zubovich, a history professor at the University of Buffalo, wrote about the 2018 Toronto gathering for the online news journal Religion & Politics.

“The Parliament can come off as an echo chamber of progressive faith traditions,” he wrote. “Given the many religious tensions across the world, the real challenges of interfaith dialogue, and the self-selected crowd at Toronto, the universalist rhetoric could sound a little hollow. “

However, he credited the the interfaith movement for its evolution over the decades.

”Its leadership is much more diverse and inclusive,” he wrote. “Its politics is attentive to Indigenous issues, women’s rights, and climate change.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Catholic archbishop of Chicago, is among the scheduled speakers this week. He has been urging Catholics in the archdiocese to engage in the event, saying it is in harmony with key priorities of Pope Francis.

The gathering “is an opportunity to live out the Holy Father’s teaching that a core part of our identity as Catholics involves building friendship between members of different religious traditions,” Cupich said in a message to the archdiocese last month. “Through our sharing of spiritual and ethical values, we get to know one another.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank kills 2 Palestinians, health officials say

Associated Press
Mon, August 14, 2023 

This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said.

Israel has been carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank since last year in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks, what has fueled tensions in the region and sent the death toll soaring. The violence comes amid a spike in attacks on Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers, continued settlement expansion and as Israel is led by a government composed of ultranationalist settlement supporters.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified those killed as Qusay al-Walaji, 16, and Mohammed Nujoom, 25, adding that the raid took place in the Jericho area, which has seen heavy fighting over the last 16 months. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades, with more than 170 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the raids and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

At least 27 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.

Israel says the raids are essential to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the violence as a natural response to 56 years of occupation, including stepped-up settlement construction by Israel’s government and increased violence by Jewish settlers.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.