Scientists use DNA to identify bones, find descendants of Franklin expedition sailor

CBC
Tue, September 24, 2024

Marc-André Bernier, Parks Canada's manager of underwater archelogy, sets a marine biology sampling quadrat on the port side hull of HMS Erebus in 2014. (Parks Canada - image credit)


Human remains resting in a remote Arctic cairn, visible emblems of one of the North's most enduring mysteries, finally have a name.

Scientists have managed to identify bones belonging to a member of the Franklin expedition, a 19th-century voyage of exploration and discovery that ended in disaster, starvation and death. James Fitzjames — only the second member of the expedition's crew to be identified by DNA — captained one of the expedition's two ships and served as second-in-command after Sir John Franklin's death.

"It helps us ask new questions about what really transpired," said Doug Stenton, an archeologist at the University of Waterloo whose paper on the identification was released Tuesday.

Franklin's ships, HMS Erebus and Terror, set out from England in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage. The commander and his 128 men never returned.

More than 30 expeditions tried to find them.

Three graves were found on Beechey Island, their occupants identified. In 2014, the wreck of the Erebus was discovered through a blend of Inuit oral history and systematic, high-tech surveys just off the northwest coast of King William Island in Nunavut. The Terror was found two years later.

Fitzjames' final resting place on King William Island was probably first found in the 1860s by Inuit and studied by archeologists in the early 1990s. With 451 bones from at least 13 Franklin sailors, it was not like the careful interments of Beechey Island.

Qiniqtiryuaq (barge) above the Erebus site, wreck and divers visible.

Qiniqtiryuaq (barge) above the Erebus site, wreck and divers visible. (Underwater archeology team/Parks Canada)

"The human skeletal remains at this site, the bones, were scattered over several hundred square metres," Stenton said.

Fitzjames' DNA was isolated and profiled from a single molar. It had been extracted from a jawbone that bore the distinctive marks of man-made cuts, making Fitzjames the first identified victim of the cannibalism for which the expedition has become notorious.

"Surely the most compassionate response to the information presented here is to use it to recognize the level of desperation that the Franklin sailors must have felt to do something they would have considered abhorrent, and acknowledge the sadness of the fact that in this case, doing so only prolonged their suffering," Stenton writes.

Descendants 'excited and really intrigued'

Stenton and his colleagues have advertised for years at venues, such as museum displays on the Franklin expedition, for DNA samples from people who believe they are descendants of those doomed sailors. Those ads paid off in 2021, when the great-great-great-grandson of Warrant Officer John Gregory was located in South Africa.

Fitzjames' descendants, the family of a paternal second cousin of Fitzjames five times removed, have been contacted but have not yet spoken out.

"They were excited and really intrigued," Stenton said.

Much is known about Fitzjames' life. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 12 and sailed in Central and North America, Malta, Syria, Egypt and China before the Arctic. He was known for his bravery and was awarded a silver cup by the City of Liverpool after he dove fully clothed into a river to rescue a drowning man.

It was Fitzjames who, as captain of the Erebus, wrote the main text of the last known message from the expedition, discovered at Victory Point on King William Island.

The note, co-signed by Fitzjames, reads in part: "Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the Expedition has been to this date nine officers and 15 men ... (We) start on tomorrow 26th for Backs Fish River."

At the time of his death, Fitzjames had a wife and two children. Meanwhile, Stenton and his colleagues continue to look for DNA matches to identify more remains. Fitzjames has been returned to his final home, where bones share a cairn with those of his shipmates on the windy, cobbled coast where he died.

Stenton said the identification of his remains, not far from those of Gregory's, could reveal more about what happened to the expedition. Both Fitzjames and Gregory, he notes, sailed on the Erebus.

"It's going to invite a lot of speculation," Stenton said. "What events really transpired — especially after the retreat, when the ships were deserted?"

Franklin researchers have long wondered about leadership during the expedition as more officers died, Stenton said.

"What exactly was going on?" Stenton asked.

That question has been asked over and over as the Franklin expedition entered Arctic folklore, persisting through songs, novels, TV shows and undying curiosity. It remains with us.

Thousands of bones and hundreds of weapons reveal grisly insights into a 3,250-year-old battle

Ashley Strickland, CNN
Tue, September 24, 2024 

A new analysis of dozens of arrowheads is helping researchers piece together a clearer portrait of the warriors who clashed on Europe’s oldest known battlefield 3,250 years ago.

The bronze and flint arrowheads were recovered from the Tollense Valley in northeast Germany. Researchers first uncovered the site in 1996 when an amateur archaeologist spotted a bone sticking out of a bank of the Tollense River.

Since then, excavations have unearthed 300 metal finds and 12,500 bones belonging to about 150 individuals who fell in battle at the site in 1250 BC. Recovered weaponry has included swords, wooden clubs and the array of arrowheads — including some found still embedded in the bones of the fallen.

No direct evidence of an earlier battle of this scale has ever been discovered, which is why Tollense Valley is considered the site of Europe’s oldest battle, according to researchers who have studied the area since 2007.

Studies of the bones have yielded some insights into the men — all young, strong and able-bodied warriors, some with healed wounds from previous skirmishes. But details on who was involved in the violent conflict, and why they fought in such a bloody battle, has long eluded researchers.

There are no written accounts describing the battle, so as teams of archaeologists have unearthed more finds from the valley, they have used the well-preserved remains and weapons to try to piece together the story behind the ancient battle scene.

Now, a team of researchers studying arrowheads used in the battle has discovered evidence that it included local groups as well as an army from the south. These findings, published Sunday in the journal Antiquity, suggest the clash was the earliest example of interregional conflict in Europe — and raise questions about the state of organized, armed violence thousands of years ago.

“The arrowheads are a kind of ‘smoking gun,’” said lead study author Leif Inselmann, researcher at the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies within the Free University of Berlin, in a statement. “Just like the murder weapon in a mystery, they give us a clue about the culprit, the fighters of the Tollense Valley battle and where they came from.”

An ancient skull recovered from the Tollense Valley site was found perforated with a bronze arrowhead. - Volker Minkus/Minkusimages
Evidence of invasion

Previous discoveries of foreign artifacts, such as a Bohemian bronze ax and a sword from southeastern Central Europe, and analyses of the remains have suggested that outsiders fought in the Tollense Valley battle. But the researchers of the new study were curious to see what clues the arrowheads would yield.

When Inselmann and his colleagues analyzed the arrowheads, they realized that no two were identical — not exactly shocking before the days of mass production. But the archaeologists could pick out key differences in the shapes and features that signified some of the arrowheads were not made within Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a state in northeast Germany that’s home to the Tollense Valley.

Inselmann collected literature, data and examples of more than 4,700 Bronze Age arrowheads from Central Europe and mapped out where they came from to compare them with the Tollense Valley arrowheads.

Many matched the style of arrowheads from other sites in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, suggesting they were locally made and carried by men who called the region home, according to the study.

Lead study author Leif Inselmann holds one of the arrowheads recovered from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a state in northeast Germany that’s home to the Tollense Valley. - Leif Inselmann

But other arrowheads with straight or rhombus-shaped bases and side spurs and barbs matched those from a southern region that now includes modern Bavaria and Moravia, Inselmann said.

“This suggests that at least a part of the fighters or even a complete battle faction involved in Tollense Valley derive from a very distant region,” Inselmann wrote in an email.

Inselmann and his colleagues suspect it unlikely that the arrowheads were imported from another region to be used by local fighters. Otherwise, they would expect to find evidence of arrowheads within ceremonial burials in the region that were practiced during the Bronze Age.

Researchers uncovered a variety of bronze and flint arrowheads at the Tollense Valley site. - Leif Inselmann

The spark of war

A causeway that crossed the Tollense River, constructed about 500 years before the battle, is thought to have been the starting point of the conflict, said study coauthor Thomas Terberger.

Terberger, a professor in the department of prehistoric and historical archaeology at Germany’s University of Göttingen, has studied the site, a 1.8-mile (3-kilometer) stretch of the river, since 2007.

“The causeway was probably part of an important trade route,” he said. “Control of this bottleneck situation could well have been an important reason for the conflict.”

However, the fact that researchers haven’t found any clear evidence in the area of sources of wealth, such as mines for metal or places to extract salt, makes the trade route theory less likely, said Barry Molloy, an associate professor in the school of archaeology at University College Dublin. Molloy was not involved in the study.

“The causes of warfare were many, but it is likely in my view that this was about a group seeking to impose political control over another — an age old thing — in order to extract wealth systematically over time, not simply as plunder,” Molloy said in an email.

The exact scale and cause of the battle remain unknown, but the remains and weaponry found so far suggest more than 2,000 people were involved, according to the study. And researchers believe that more human bones are preserved in the valley, which could represent hundreds of victims.

The 13th century BC was a time of increased trade and cultural exchange, but the discovery of bronze arrowheads across Germany has suggested it was also when armed conflict arose.

“This new information has considerably changed the image of the Bronze Age, which was not as peaceful as believed before,” Terberger said. “The 13th century BC saw changes of burial rites, symbols and material culture. I consider the conflict as a sign that this major transformation process of Bronze Age society was accompanied by violent conflicts. Tollense is probably only the tip of the iceberg.”

The new study also points to the placement of arrow injuries found on remains buried at the battle site, which suggests that shields may have protected warriors from the front, while their backs were left exposed.

The research drives home the importance of archery on the battlefield, which has often been underestimated in previous studies of Bronze Age warfare, Molloy said.

“This is a really convincing study that uses routine archaeological methods to great effect to provide insight into the nature of this key prehistoric battle site, with regard to aspects of battlefield actions and the participants involved,” he said. “The authors make a robust case that there were at least two competing forces and that they were from distinct societies, with one group having travelled hundreds of kilometers. That is a crucial insight into the logistics behind the armies involved at Tollense.”

Researchers cataloged the types of injuries inflicted on remains recovered in the Tollense Valley to understand how the conflict played out. - Ute Brinker

The scale of conflict

The large scale of battle has researchers rethinking what social organization and warfare were like during the Bronze Age.

“Were the Bronze Age warriors (organized) as a tribal coalition, the retinue or mercenaries of a charismatic leader — a kind of ‘warlord’ — or even the army of an early kingdom?” Inselmann said.

For a long time, researchers argued that Bronze Age violence was a small-scale affair involving tens of individuals from local communities, but Tollense blows that theory wide open, Molloy said.

“We have many sites where we find evidence of mass killing and even slaughter of whole communities,” Molloy said, “but this is the first time that the demographics of the dead are those we can reasonably argue were warriors and not, for example, whole families migrating.”

Bronze Age societies built fortified settlements and smiths to forge weapons, but Tollense shows that both were more than just displays of power, he said.

“Tollense shows us that they were also created for very real military purposes including full scale battles that involved armies on the march, moving into hostile lands and waging war,” Molloy said.

Thousands of prehistoric artifacts found where Wake County highway opens this week

Richard Stradling
Tue, September 24, 2024 

Before the trees were cut and the bulldozers moved in to build NC. 540 across southern Wake County, archaeologists followed the route, looking for places people might have lived thousands of years ago.

They discovered a treasure trove along a creek east of Interstate 40. Sifting through the dirt, they found more than 24,000 artifacts, including shards of clay pots and other vessels; stone points used on spears, arrows and hand tools; and at least one piece of jewelry.

As the southern leg of the Triangle Expressway opens to traffic this week, those items are poised to join the state’s archaeological collection in Raleigh. Without the work of the archaeologists, they would have been churned up and paved over by the six-lane highway.

“It was going to be blitzed by the construction,” said Matt Wilkerson, who heads the N.C. Department of Transportation’s archaeology program. “This site was pretty much smack dab in the middle.”

NCDOT is required by state and federal law to determine whether road and bridge projects are likely to destroy important archaeological sites. That falls to Wilkerson and his team of six archaeologists, with help from consultants and the State Office of Archaeology.

They evaluate between 300 and 400 projects a year, focusing on those most likely to yield results: roads built on new right-of-way and bridges where flood plains can conceal well-preserved artifacts. The 18-mile extension of N.C. 540, across fields, forests and house lots from Apex to near Garner, was a good candidate.

NCDOT’s team gradually moved the length of the future highway corridor, pushing soil samples through a quarter-inch mesh to see what showed up.

“It’s like a chess board,” Wilkerson said. “We dig holes at a certain interval. If we find something, we tighten up that interval and dig some more.”

The goal is not to find and remove every artifact in the highway’s path. Instead, it’s to document what’s there and explore more deeply the most significant sites.

“We’re after sites that have integrity, where the soils are intact,” Wilkerson said. “That way we know the materials that we’re finding are not just all jumbled up. They might actually be able to tell us a little something about the site.”

The team found artifacts in more than 150 places along the path of the highway. But only one site was so rich and undisturbed that it was considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. And that site needed to be excavated, because it was directly in the highway’s path.

Artifacts including pottery, tools and jewelry--some made 10,000 years ago--were found during digging in 2021 for the last leg of the Triangle Expressway.
A popular spot over thousands of years

It was on a small rise just above a creek, which likely made it an attractive place to camp. It was extensive enough that NCDOT contracted with Commonwealth Heritage Group, a consulting firm based in Tarboro, to help with the work.

Using radio carbon dating and other techniques, the archaeologists determined that most of the artifacts they found were from two distinct periods: 6,000 to 5,500 BC or middle archaic and the middle woodland era, from 300 BC and 800 AD.

In neither case does it look as if the site was a permanent settlement, Wilkerson said. People may have spent a season along the creek, before moving on. The more recent occupants in particular seem to have spent little time at the site, which may have been a satellite of a larger settlement nearby, he said.

Perhaps the coolest item the archaeologists found was part of a gorget or piece of jewelry from sometime in the woodland period. The polished piece of stone was tapered on both ends and had been drilled with holes for a cord or leather strap.

“We don’t really know if it’s ceremonial or it’s just jewelry that someone would wear,” Wilkerson said. “We haven’t found many of those.”

A stone gorget or piece of jewelry found during an archaeological dig before construction of N.C. 540 in southern Wake County. N.C. Department of Transportation’s archaeologists and their consultants found more than 24,000 artifacts at one site where the highway runs now.

None of what the archaeologists found at the site is a museum piece, said Davis Cranfield, an assistant state archaeologist with the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. But taken together, they are notable, Cranfield said.

“Usually we say, ‘It’s not what you find but what you find out,’ the collective assemblage that can help tell a story,” he said. “And this was a pretty significant site.”

In particular, the concentration of ceramic pottery, the presence of a hearth or fire pit and fragments of burned walnut shells help show how people lived at the time.

NCDOT and its consultants cataloged and documented what they found; a few of the items were on display at 540 Fest, when people were invited to run and cycle on the nearly completed highway in June.

Their permanent home will be at the State Office of Archaeology’s Research Center, where they’ll be available for future study.

Trump says women won’t be ‘thinking about abortion’ if he’s elected, casting himself as their ‘protector’

OLDE FASHIONED CHAUVINISM AND SEXISM

Kate Sullivan and Eric Bradner, CNN
Tue, September 24, 2024 


Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump cast himself as a “protector” of women at a Pennslyvania rally Monday evening and claimed that American women won’t be “thinking about abortion” if he’s elected.

The plea to ignore Trump’s own role in undoing national abortion rights protections is a clear signal that the former president is keenly aware of what polls show: His Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, has a clear advantage among women voters, nationally and in key swing states. Trump has kept the race close by countering with a lead among men.

Harris’ edge with women is driven in part by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, with three members appointed by Trump, in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade and leading to a patchwork of state-level abortion regulations — including restrictive laws in several of the battleground states that could decide the 2024 election. Democrats have performed strongly in elections where abortion has taken center stage since that 2022 Supreme Court decision, and abortion rights supporters have won a series of statewide referendums on the issue, even in deep-red states.

“I always thought women liked me. I never thought I had a problem. But the fake news keeps saying women don’t like me,” Trump said in Indiana, Pennsylvania. “I don’t believe it.”

The former president claimed women are “less safe,” “much poorer” and are “less healthy” now compared to when he was president and vowed to end what he described as their “national nightmare.”

“Because I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector. I hope you don’t make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn’t go, ‘Oh he wants to be their protector.’ Well, I am. As president, I have to be your protector,” Trump said.

Women, he added, “will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

Polls also show likely voters give Harris the edge on handling abortion. Polls also show likely voters give Harris the edge on handling abortion. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS released Tuesday found likely voters nationally favor Harris’ approach to abortion (52%) to Trump’s (31%). That advantage was in line with several other national surveys released this month.

Even in polls that indicate Trump has a lead — such as a New York Times/Siena College poll of Arizona likely voters released Monday, which found Trump leading with 48% support to Harris’ 43% — it’s clear Trump faces political headwinds on the issue of abortion rights. A broad majority (58%) of voters said they would vote to back a ballot measure seeking to establish a right to abortion in the state, while 35% oppose it.

Americans remain broadly opposed to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, according to CNN polling, and it has proven to be thorny campaign issue for Republicans in down-ballot races.

Bernie Moreno, the GOP candidate for US Senate in Ohio, said at a town hall Friday that abortion is the only issue many suburban women vote on, and questioned why women over 50 would care about the issue, according to video obtained by WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio.

A spokesperson for Moreno later sought to call his remarks “a tongue-in-cheek joke,” though his opponent, incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, has already seized on the comments.

Trump appeared to be referring to Democrats later in his speech Monday when he said, “all they can talk about is abortion.”

“The country is falling apart. We’re going to end up in World War III, and all they can talk about is abortion. That’s all they talk about, and it really no longer pertains, because we’ve done something on abortion that nobody thought was possible,” he said in reference to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision.

Trump had previewed his Monday evening appeal to female women voters with a post on his Truth Social platform last week. American women, he wrote in all-caps, “are more depressed and unhappy than they were four years ago” before vowing to “fix all of that.”

Harris, in a Wisconsin Public Radio interview on Tuesday, reiterated her support for eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold to restore Roe v. Wade to codify abortion rights and protect women’s reproductive freedom.

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris said.

Doing so, she said, would “get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back into law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person, every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.”

CNN’s Ebony Davis and Jenn Agiesta contributed to this report.

Trump ignores the First Amendment and says those who criticize the Supreme Court should be tossed in jail

TRUMP ONLY BELIEVES IN THE SECOND AMENDMENT

Ariana Baio
Tue, September 24, 2024 

Donald Trump scolded those who critique the Supreme Court at a rally on Monday, saying people should be jailed for “the way they talk about our judges and our justices” – despite the First Amendment allowing people to criticize the government.

The former president, who has invoked his First Amendment right to launch a bevy of attacks against federal and state judges, suggested it should be “illegal” to rebuke judicial decisions or try and advocate in favor of a certain decision.

“It should be illegal, what happens,” Trump told a crowd in Pennslyvania. “You know, you have these guys like playing the ref, like the great Bobby Knight. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices, trying to get them to sway their vote, sway their decision.”

The former president was referring to the backlash the Supreme Court received after overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022. He called the court “very brave” for making a decision that “everybody wanted” – an unfounded claim.

Former president Donald Trump condemned those that criticize the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, saying it should be ‘illegal’ to make that kind of rhetoric (AP)

Under the First Amendment, people have the right to complain about government officials and decisions.

Trump himself has been safeguarded by this rule when during his New York criminal trial, Trump called Justice Juan Merchan “highly conflicted.” When a gag order was placed on him, Trump violated it at least 10 times and then utilized his allies to launch more attacks against the judge.

In his federal election interference trial, the former president claimed District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan was “highly partisan” and “VERY BIASED & UNFAIR” because she warned him not to make inflammatory statements about the case.

Trump has also criticized federal appeals courts, he once called the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals “a complete & total disaster” with a “horrible reputation” and claimed the judges were “making our Country unsafe.”

A protestor holds a sign saying ‘abort the court’ after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Those statements, made in 2018, were in response to Chief Justice John Roberts rebuking Trump’s assertion that an “Obama judge” ruled against his asylum policy.

Yet, the former president stood in front of a crowd of supporters on Monday evening to insinuate it is not appropriate to criticize the Supreme Court – which is comprised of lifetime appointed, not elected, justices.

Trump also criticized Democrats’ desire to “pack the court”, or appoint more judges, to balance the conservative-to-liberal ratio. He claimed Vice President Kamala Harris wants to make the court 25 justices – it is unclear where that figure originated.

Harris supports President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal which would authorize a president to appoint a new justice every two years to serve for 18 years. However, given Congress would need to approve the addition of justices, it is unlikely to happen.

Trump Says People Who Criticize Supreme Court Justices Should Be Jailed

Charisma Madarang
Mon, September 23, 2024 


Donald Trump, who earlier this month threatened to jail his political opponents, upped his authoritarian rhetoric during a campaign rally at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

When speaking to supporters from the swing state, where both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have doubled efforts to capture the election count in November, Trump lamented the criticism aimed at the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority and said it should be “illegal.”

“They were very brave, the Supreme Court. Very brave. And they take a lot of hits because of it,” said the former president. “It should be illegal, what happens. You know, you have these guys like playing the ref, like the great Bobby Knight. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices, trying to … sway their vote, sway their decision”

Trump, who appointed three of the Supreme Court’s six conservative justices, specifically praised the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to ban abortion, saying it “took a lot of courage.” He said abortion will forever remain a state issue, not a federal one, and complained that Democrats are upset about it. “All they can talk about is abortion. That’s all they talk about, and it really no longer pertains,” he said.

“The issue of reproductive freedom certainly ‘pertains’ to women all across this country, especially as we learn women are losing their lives under Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans,” Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in statement after his speech.

The former president also slammed Harris’ support for Supreme Court reform and baselessly claimed her efforts were an attempt to “rig the system.” The push for reform arrived after a series of ethics scandals involving some of the justices’ failure to disclose luxury gifts — private jet flights, superyacht trips, and more — from conservative donors. Trump claimed Harris “wants to pack the Supreme Court,” and add up to 16 seats; the vice president has not endorsed such a policy.

Trump’s remarks about jailing those criticizing judges and justices align with his previous sentiments that he would be a dictator if re-elected but only on “Day One” in office. His desire to squash any hint of opposition if he were to return to the White House was again on full display in a Truth Social post made in early September, during which he threatened to jail people “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election.

“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” Trump raged on his social media platform. “We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T!” Since losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, Trump has blamed his demise on false claims of widespread election fraud — dangerous rhetoric that he has ramped up as election day approaches.

In July, the high court granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution stemming from his federal criminal charges involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the former president cannot be prosecuted for official acts committed during his time as president. Although its three liberal members dissented, the six conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by Trump, were in the majority.

Along with providing Donald Trump sweeping immunity from prosecution and eliminating federal protections for abortion rights, in recent years the nation’s highest court has rolled back climate protections, limited protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, ended college affirmative action policies, and allowed companies to provide thank-you payments to corrupt politicians.

Up next

Mark Cuban says Trump's call for 200% tariffs on John Deere tractors is 'insane' and a 'good way to destroy a legendary American company'

Kwan Wei Kevin Tan

Updated Tue, September 24, 2024 at 8:17 a.m. MDT·3 min read

• Donald Trump wants to impose a 200% tariff on John Deere if it moves its manufacturing to Mexico.

• Mark Cuban has said that's a terrible idea.

• Cuban said Trump's tariffs would make John Deere's goods more expensive than its Chinese rivals.

The billionaire investor Mark Cuban doesn't think former President Donald Trump's call for 200% tariffs on the agriculture equipment company John Deere is a good idea.

"This Lack of Understanding of Business is insane," Cuban wrote in an X post on Monday.

Cuban was weighing in on the 200% tariff that Trump said he'd impose on John Deere. Trump issued the threat at an agricultural policy roundtable in Smithton, Pennsylvania, on Monday.

"I love the company, but as you know, they've announced a few days ago that they're going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico. I'm just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that, we're putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States," Trump said.

"They think they're going to make product cheaper in Mexico and then sell it in for the same price as they did before, make a lot of money by getting rid of our labor and our jobs," the former president added.

In June, John Deere announced that it would shift some of its production — specifically the manufacturing of skid steer loaders and compact track loaders — from Dubuque, Iowa, to Ramos, Mexico, by the end of 2026.

But imposing such a hefty tariff on John Deere, Cuban said, would be counterproductive.

"Put a 200% tariff on the American company moving some production to Mexico," Cuban wrote on X. "But tariff Chinese manufacturers 10 or 20%, so that the Chinese products will be cheaper to sell in the US than the American company."

"Good way to destroy a legendary American company and increase costs to American buyers," he continued.

Cuban's criticism of Trump is unsurprising, considering his staunch support of Trump's rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

The "Shark Tank" star has endorsed Harris and backed her economic agenda since she became the Democratic nominee.

"Kamala Harris is pro-business," Cuban said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on September 5.

"She's talked more about entrepreneurs and helping them have access to investment and making it easier for people to invest in startups than any president that I've ever heard talk about startups and entrepreneurs," Cuban told the journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

To be sure, Trump has talked about imposing heavier tariffs on China if he wins November's election.

In February, Trump confirmed in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" host, Maria Bartiromo, that he'd impose tariffs of more than 60% on Chinese goods.

"You know, obviously, I'm not looking to hurt China. I want to get along with China. I think it's great. But they've really taken advantage of our country," Trump told Bartiromo.

Cuban and representatives for Trump and John Deere didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular office hours.

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Activists protest US support for Israel as risks rise of wider Middle East war

Washington Protesters Rally Against Israel’s Attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon

By Kanishka Singh

Tue, September 24, 2024

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Protesters in some U.S. cities demonstrated on Tuesday against American military support for Israel as risks have risen of a full-fledged conflict in the Middle East, with anti-war activists demanding an arms embargo against the U.S. ally.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Herald Square in New York City on Tuesday evening and carried banners that read "Hands off Lebanon now" and "no U.S.-Israeli war on Lebanon," according to the ANSWER coalition group, which stands for "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism."

Protesters chanted "Hands off the Middle East," "Free Palestine" and "Biden, Harris, Trump and Bibi; none are welcome in our city," referring to U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A smaller protest with similar slogans and banners was also seen near the White House in Washington on a rainy Tuesday evening.

"Israel's attacks in Lebanon and the ongoing siege and genocide in Gaza are made possible by the huge amount of bombs, missiles and warplanes provided by the U.S. government," the ANSWER coalition group said in a statement. It said protests were also being organized on Tuesday in other cities like San Francisco, Seattle, San Antonio and Phoenix, among others.

Israel says its actions are an act of self-defense against militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that it considers hostile. The United States has maintained support for its ally during this war despite domestic and international criticism.

In May, Biden said U.S. support for Israel was "ironclad", while also calling for an immediate ceasefire. "What's happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that," Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.

The United States has seen months of protests over Israel's war in Gaza that has killed over 41,000, according to the local health ministry, caused a hunger crisis, displaced the entire 2.3 million population of the enclave and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israeli denies.

Israel's military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza followed a deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Oct. 7 that killed around 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's offensive in Lebanon since Monday morning has killed over 560 people, including 50 children, and wounded 1,800. Israel says it has struck targets of Lebanese Hezbollah militants who are supported by Iran while Hezbollah has also said it fired rockets at Israeli military posts.

The situation has raised concerns of a widened regional war that could destabilize the Middle East. Leaders of different United Nations member states met this week in the United States with the situation in the Middle East being top of the agenda.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Alberta doctors association says delayed pay deal will hurt health-care system

WE ARE NOT IN A RECESSION UCP ARE AUSTERITY NUTS

Lisa Johnson
Mon, September 23, 2024 at 3:26 p.m. MDT·4 min read




EDMONTON — An Alberta doctors' group says even though a new pay deal with the province is ready to be implemented, the government isn't putting its money where its mouth is.

Dr. Shelley Duggan, the Alberta Medical Association's new president, says doctors are worried the province's health-care system is on the verge of flatlining, and the pay deal is still waiting on approval from the province's Treasury Board.

"We are deeply, sincerely afraid that the health-care system in Alberta is ready to collapse past the point of repair any time soon. And because we must advocate for our patients, our patience has come to an end," she told reporters at a virtual news conference Monday.

In April, the province announced a plan to change how family doctors are paid, but it has yet to finalize a new model that would move away from the current fee-for-service system.

Former medical association president Dr. Paul Parks said Premier Danielle Smith promised the deal by September and the delay will only hurt the struggling health-care system.

He called on Albertans to pressure the government into action as they're forced to wait longer and longer in emergency departments and to see specialists.

"The impact of indecision and inaction is that Albertans' health-care access will deteriorate and many will suffer and some will sadly and needlessly die," he said.

Smith has promised to ensure every Albertan has a primary health provider by the next provincial election in 2027. Her government also introduced in April a new salary deal to increase access to nurse practitioners.

Parks said Monday doctors only have promises.

"You can't sign a lease, you can't hire staff and you can't run a clinic based on hope," Parks said.

Late last year, it was announced that $200 million in federal funding over two years would help Alberta physicians keep their practices open and, for its part, the province has put in another $57 million.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange's office did not respond Monday to questions about whether the Treasury Board is delaying the deal, but she promised to continue to work with the medical association to finalize the details as soon as possible.

The ministry said it's asked the association to help find ways to stabilize expenditures that are growing faster than population growth and inflation, after physician compensation hit a record of $6.7 billion in 2024.

However, Parks said the province's physician services budget hasn't kept up with population growth since 2019 and is currently about $731 million short.

The United Conservative Party government estimated earlier this year that more than 700,000 Albertans don't have a family doctor, while the Opposition NDP estimates it's closer to 800,000.

Duggan said of those doctors practising comprehensive care in the province, just over one in ten are accepting new patients and nearly seven in 10 of all physicians are eyeing an exit from their practice by 2029.

"We're in a worldwide competition for physicians. It's absolutely essential that we retain the ones we have," she said.

In the meantime, Smith’s government has been working to dismantle the provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services, and replace it with four new governing bodies.

The first, Recovery Alberta, launched in early September, shifting thousands of workers from under AHS to the new addiction recovery and mental health agency.

Both Parks and Duggan said the government's reorganization is sparking chaos across the board, and that creating multiple administrative layers could stifle co-ordination between sectors, including hospital care and continuing care.

"Patients shouldn't have to wait because the department staff are too busy working with consultants trying to figure out how to break the health-care system into four pieces," said Duggan, adding that the acute care system is in a worse state than it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman said Monday in a news release that without access to a family physician, many patients end up in emergency rooms with medical conditions that could have been prevented or treated earlier.

"It doesn’t need to be this way. Instead of causing more chaos, the government should prioritize patients and health-care workers. They should sit down at the table and sign an agreement to create a stable and reliable health-care system that we can all be proud of."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

CRAZY 

Premier Danielle Smith announces plan to change Alberta Bill of Rights

TRYING TO MAKE ANTI VAXXERS A PROTECTED CATAGORY LIKE LGBTQ+

Lisa Johnson
Tue, September 24, 2024



EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith says she plans to reinforce the right to decide whether to receive a vaccination or other medical procedure in changes to the Alberta Bill of Rights.

In an online video posted Tuesday, Smith said her government aims to amend the document in a few weeks to ensure people have the right to make informed decisions without fear of undue pressure or interference by the government.

"It is my firm conviction that no Albertan should ever be subjected (to) or pressured into accepting a medical treatment without their full consent," she said.


The changes outlined by Smith would also ensure the province respects "the right of individuals to legally acquire, keep and safely use firearms."

Smith says she believes law-abiding gun owners have been targeted by the federal government, and she hopes the changes will better protect farmers, ranchers, hunters and sports enthusiasts.

The legislation would also declare that Albertans can't be deprived of their property without due process of law and fair compensation.

"This is a reaffirmation of your right to own and enjoy the property that you've worked so hard for," said Smith.

United Conservative Party members have been pushing Smith for the recognition of rights that go well beyond the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including around guns, parental rights and taxes.

Smith's announcement comes as she faces a party leadership review in early November.

Alberta conservatives have been known to boot their own leaders from the top job, including former UCP premier Jason Kenney.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Sept. 24, 2024.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

NDP sees 'opportunity' to push Liberal government on Palestinian statehood

Dylan Robertson
Mon, September 23, 2024 


OTTAWA — The NDP is urging the Liberals to recognize Palestinian statehood, warning that a Conservative government would not protect international law in the Middle East.

"If we go to an election within weeks or months, and if there is a Conservative government, this will not happen," NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said Monday.

In response Monday afternoon, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said now is not the right time for Canada to take such a step.


But McPherson accused the Liberals of lacking "moral courage and political will" to do more to promote the Trudeau government's stated goal of advancing a two-state solution, where Israel and a Palestinian country exist peacefully.

McPherson says Canada ought to recognize Palestinian statehood before any snap election. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been leading in the polls for months, and the Tories are putting forward a non-confidence motion this week in an effort to bring down the minority government. McPherson argued the Conservatives have been uncritically supportive of Israel.

"We have heard from Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives that they have no interest in international law, they have no interest in protecting the rights of Palestinians," she said.

Tory foreign affairs critic Michael Chong wrote in a statement that Israel is defending itself against terrorism by Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Conservatives recognize that Israel is a democratic state defending itself in a fight between democracy and rising authoritarianism," he wrote. "There is no question which side Canada should be on."

When asked Monday what conditions Canada needs in order to recognize Palestinian statehood, Joly said that is still being defined.

"We need to make sure that we recognize the Palestinian state at the right time," she said, noting that Hamas still rules Gaza and is holding Israeli hostages, while the Netanyahu government opposes a two-state solution.

"We are working with our like-minded countries to make sure that we identify what are the conditions for (the) right time," she told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The NDP is also seeking a two-way arms embargo, where Canada would go beyond barring new arms permits and actually block all military trade, including goods arriving from Israel.

The Liberals have restricted weapons sales by halting new permits and pausing some that were already in place. But the U.S. government has proposed buying Canadian arms and sending them to Israel, which Joly has said she is looking into.

The NDP also wants Canada to go beyond sanctioning certain settlers in the West Bank and impose a ban on at least far-right ministers in the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. McPherson said two had uttered "genocidal language against the Palestinian people."

Ottawa condemned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last month for suggesting it would be justified to starve Palestinians, and he previously said the Palestinian village of Huwara should be erased.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is part of a Jewish supremacist party, has called on Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip and have Israelis settle the territory, which has prompted accusations of ethnic cleansing.

McPherson noted the government could act on her three proposals without a vote in Parliament or a parliamentary study.

Canada's ambassador to the UN said Ottawa is trying to help end the conflict in Gaza while preventing more violence in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes on Monday killed more than 270 people in Lebanon and wounded a thousand others as part of a campaign the Israeli government says is meant to stop Hezbollah militants from ongoing rocket attacks that have caused the evacuation of large swaths of northern Israel.

"This escalation is deplorable," Bob Rae told reporters in New York. "We have a humanitarian disaster going on in Gaza and we don't want another one."

Canada recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist group, and McPherson said the rocket attacks need to stop.

She also says international law is being violated, including in pager explosions that killed Hezbollah militants as well as civilians and children. The attacks are widely believed to have been done by Israel.

McPherson would not say whether she believes the "indiscriminate" pager attack is an act of terrorism when asked twice on Monday.

"We know that Hezbollah is a listed terrorist entity, but the (Israeli) government is breaking international law when they are using indiscriminate weapons and the people of Lebanon are suffering," she said.

Rae, when asked whether he agrees with those calling the incident terrorism, said he would not "get into the business of name-calling."

He said Israel must think "more consequentially about what's happening, less impulsively" but that militants must stop firing rockets at Israel.

"We need to get to a situation where Iran stops playing footsie with Hamas and Hezbollah, pushing them to do things that need to stop," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in New York and Nojoud Al Mallees.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press


Commons committee to debate motion on quickest path to Palestinian statehood

CBC
Tue, September 24, 2024

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on September 22, 2024. Members of his caucus are presenting a motion to study the quickest path for the Canadian government to recognize Palestinian statehood. (REUTERS - image credit)

MPs on the House of Commons foreign affairs committee are expected to resume a contentious debate later this morning on the quickest path for Canada to recognize a Palestinian state.

The text of the motion — first presented to a closed-doors session of the committee last Thursday by Liberal MPs — asks committee members to dedicate four sessions to studying the matter, sources told CBC News last week.

CBC News agreed not to identify the sources as they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

The sources said last week that the Liberal MPs had secured support for the motion from the committee's NDP and Bloc Québécois members, but were prevented from putting the matter to a vote by Conservative MPs.

CBC News sought comment from committee members from multiple parties. They refused, citing the confidentiality of in-camera sessions.

NDP says no time left for debate

The NDP has been urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state.

"We are at a very dangerous moment in time for this. This is not a time when we need to have a study, this is not a time where we need to have further discussions," NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson told journalists at a news conference on Monday.

Deputy Whip of the NDP, Heather McPherson, speaks to reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, March 18, 2024. Her party is urging the federal government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state.

NDP MP Heather McPherson is urging the federal government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

She said the Liberals could lose their chance to recognize a state of Palestine if they wait too long and are defeated in the next election by the Opposition Conservatives.

The House of Commons did pass a watered-down NDP motion last March that called on the government to work for "the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution." The motion was supported by almost the entire Liberal caucus, while the Conservatives voted against it.

McPherson initiated that motion, which in its original form called on Canada to immediately recognize a Palestinian state. She has another motion on notice in the House of Commons that also calls for immediate recognition.

As a member of the foreign affairs committee, McPherson was privy to the in-camera discussions that took place last Thursday. She told reporters she would not answer questions about those discussions.

"Hopefully, there will be a vote that is public coming soon, but I can't comment on anything that's happened in camera and no members of that committee should have," she said.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military since war erupted in October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,139 people and taking hundreds hostage.

A Palestinian man inspects the damage to a school sheltering displaced people after it was hit by an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, at Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, September 22, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

A Palestinian man inspects the damage to a school sheltering displaced people after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on September 22, 2024. (REUTERS)

Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called the motion going before the committee this morning "ill-advised."

"I fear that it is more about politics and political theatre than it is about offering a meaningful contribution that is going to advance peace in the region," he said.

Fogel argued immediate recognition of a Palestinian state by Canada would reward Hamas and its allies "for an unconscionable attack on Israelis, unprovoked, almost a year ago on October 7. And it sends a message to all of those who would opt for terrorism, as opposed to negotiation, as the route towards achieving their political aims."

Stephen Brown, president and CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, disagreed. He said Canada should move toward recognition of statehood as quickly as possible in the interests of peace.

"There are millions of people that have the right to self-determination, that want to be able to live in peace," he said. "And if we believe as Canadians that the best way to achieve peace in the Middle East is a two-state solution ... what we should be doing is prioritizing peace, and doing whatever we can to move toward peace."

The Canadian government was one of 25 countries to abstain from a United Nations General Assembly vote last May granting new "rights and privileges" to Palestinian representatives, and calling on the Security Council to reconsider their request to have a Palestinian state recognized by the UN.

That vote marked a shift in Canada's posture at the UN; it has tended simply to vote against similar UN motions.

Prime Minister Trudeau said back in May that he disagreed with Israel shutting the door on a two-state solution, and also criticized Hamas for putting civilian lives in danger.

Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaks to reporters at the United Nations headquarters on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Joly says the Canadian government no longer believes a negotiated two-state solution is possible.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly speaks to reporters at the United Nations headquarters on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

"There is no possibility of a negotiated outcome," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told journalists at a news conference on Monday.

"So we reserve the right to make sure that we can recognize a Palestinian state at the right time, and that is why we're working with our like-minded countries to make sure that we can identify what are the conditions for this right time."