CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Wall Street heavyweights profited as the market melted down in February after getting private warnings from the Trump administration, a new report says  

Wall Street investors knew of private concern about the coronavirus within the Trump administration and used the knowledge to position for the following market plunge, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

A memo from the hedge-fund consultant William Callanan described White House officials' wariness, expressed in meetings in late February, about a US outbreak. Meanwhile, the officials publicly allayed concerns about the coronavirus.

Callanan sent the note to David Tepper, the founder of Appaloosa Management, on February 26. The memo spread throughout the firm and to investors at other offices.

Some recipients adjusted their portfolios accordingly, viewing the US officials' private statements as a warning of devastation to come, The Times reported. 

 

The S&P 500 plummeted 4.4% on February 27, and by March 23 it sat roughly 25% lower than the day Tepper received the memo.

A February memo shared among Wall Street's elite detailed the Trump administration's private concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

Some heeded the warning and cashed out on bearish positions when markets tanked later that month, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

On February 24, senior members of President Donald Trump's economic team privately spoke with board members of the Hoover Institution, a research organization at Stanford University, about the risks of a domestic outbreak. One advisor said the White House couldn't yet estimate the effects on the US economy, suggesting to some that the coronavirus could cause significant harm, the report said.

But administration officials publicly allayed fears that the virus would slam the US. The next day, Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said the nation was "pretty close to airtight," despite privately telling the Hoover board that "we just don't know" how contained the virus was, The Times said.

William Callanan, a hedge-fund consultant and member of the Hoover board, wrote in a memo at the time that almost every administration official addressed the virus "as a point of concern, totally unprovoked," according to The Times.

The memo quickly spread throughout the hedge-fund industry just as markets began to grapple with the prospect of a US outbreak.

On February 25, Callanan emailed David Tepper, the Appaloosa Management founder, about the Hoover meetings, highlighting the wariness expressed by the administration officials.

In an interview with CNBC on February 1, Tepper had told investors to be "cautious" until more was known about the virus. Callanan's memo reinforced his bearish stance.

The email spread through Appaloosa and, eventually, to investors outside the firm. Over the next day, at least seven investors across four money-management offices received elements of Callanan's memo, The Times reported.

Many of the investors, equipped with knowledge of the Hoover meetings, adjusted their portfolios accordingly. One told The Times that their reaction was to "short everything," while another said they added to their existing short bets. Some said they even bought up essential goods like toilet paper, reading the memo as a preview of nationwide devastation to come.

The bearish adjustments likely paid off big. The S&P 500 plunged about 4.4% on February 27, the day after the Hoover memo spread from Appaloosa to other investing firms. By the time the benchmark stock index bottomed on March 23, it sat roughly 25% lower from its level on February 27.

Tepper initially denied receiving the memo before telling The Times that while he likely got it, he didn't pay it much attention.

"We were in the information flow on COVID at that point," Tepper said. "Because we were so public about this warning, people were calling us at this time."

He added that Appaloosa held a bearish position on February 23, days before he received Callanan's email.

Thousands of indigenous people march to end Colombian violence
AFP 3 days ago

Thousands of indigenous people demonstrated in southwestern Colombia on Monday demanding an end to violence, on the day commemorating Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.

© Luis ROBAYO Colombian indigenous people are heading to Cali in the southwest in the hope of meeting President Ivan Duque to demand concrete action on ending violence

Clashes also broke out between police and protesters in Chile as hundreds demonstrated in favor of the Mapuche indigenous people on the day known in many countries in the region as the 'Day of the Race.'

Dressed in green and red and carrying traditional sticks, the demonstrators converged on the city of Cali where they hope to meet President Ivan Duque.

"The main reason we're marching is the systematic massacres happening in our territories without the government taking any interest," said Franky Reinosa of the Regional Indigenous Council in the western state of Caldas.

The demonstrators are demanding they be consulted on major development projects and for the full implementation of the historic 2016 peace plan that ended a half century of armed resistance by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels.

Interior Minister Alicia Arango said on Twitter a government delegation was traveling to Cali to meet the protesters.

The demonstration coincides with the commemoration of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.

While the occasion was originally intended to mark the beginning of Hispanic influence in the Americas, for many people in Latin America it is seen as an opportunity to celebrate native cultures and their resistence to European colonialism.


"For us (that) was the greatest ethnocide in the history of our territories," said Reinosa.

The southwest of Colombia that borders Ecuador and the Pacific has a large indigenous population and is one of the worst affected areas by a wave of violence that has resulted in at least 42 massacres this year, according to the United Nations.

Despite the 2016 peace accord, dozens of armed groups remain active in Colombia fighting over the lucrative drug-trafficking trade.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine.

Representing 4.4 percent of Colombia's 50 million population, indigenous people have been fighting for territorial rights for decades, using methods such as road blocks to gain attention.

In Chile's capital Santiago, hundreds of people, including other indigenous tribes, converged on a central square for a demonstration dubbed "Mapuche Resistence."

Clashes broke out with police as some people wearing hoods smashed bus stops and road signs and threw stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

The Mapuche are the largest indigenous group in Chile and have a long-running dispute with the state.

They are demanding the return of ancestral lands in the country's south, much of which has been allocated to private logging companies.

The disturbances came less than two weeks before a landmark referendum on changing Chile's dictatorship era constitution.

dl/lda/bc/jh

'I want freedom': Thais mass to defy protest ban

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat

© Reuters/CHALINEE THIRASUPA FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy protesters show the three-finger salute as they gather demanding the government to resign and to release detained leaders in Bangkok

BANGKOK (Reuters) - From shops, offices and schools they spilled onto a Bangkok street in their tens of thousands, voicing shock and anger and above all defiance.

Thailand's government had announced emergency measures to ban gatherings of five or more people to try to end three months of protests. The response was one of the biggest demonstrations so far, in the heart of the capital.  

© Reuters/JORGE SILVA FILE PHOTO: A pro-democracy protester stands in front of police officers during anti-government protests in Bangkok

"I'm not afraid. Emergency or not, I have no freedom," said 26-year-old illustrator Thanatpohn Dejkunchorn, who left work early to attend the protest with friends. "I want freedom to exist in this country. I want it to be free from this vicious cycle."  

© Reuters/JORGE SILVA Pro-democracy protesters gather demanding the government to resign and to release detained leaders in Bangkok

Protests have built since mid-July in the biggest challenge in years to the political establishment - seeking the removal of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, and to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

"We have to create understanding with the protesters," government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri told Reuters, complaining that protest leaders were not giving protesters "complete information."

© Reuters/CHALINEE THIRASUPA Police officers with riot shields take position during a gathering of pro-democracy protesters who demand the government to resign and to release detained leaders in Bangkok

Police said they would arrest all protesters, though they did not explain how they would charge tens of thousands of people.

The Royal Palace has declined all comment on the protesters or their demands.

Until Wednesday, the government had largely allowed demonstrations to happen, while making no sign of meeting protesters' demands.

But that changed after an incident in which protesters jeered Queen Suthida's motorcade as she and the king were paying a rare visit from Europe, where they spend most of their time.

The government cited that as well as the risks to national security and the economy from protests and the danger of spreading coronavirus as reasons for imposing emergency measures.

The government then launched a crackdown, sweeping away a camp set up outside Prayuth's office and arresting three protest leaders - among around 40 arrests in the past week.

"EXCESSIVE AND UNNECESSARY POWER"

"It's obvious that the state wants to exercise excessive and unnecessary power on people," said 22-year-old student Pattanun Arunpreechawat, who joined Thursday's protest after studies.

Protesters want to oust Prayuth, who first took power in a 2014 coup, saying he engineered election rules last year to keep his position - an accusation he denies. Breaking a longstanding taboo, protesters have also challenged the monarchy - saying it has helped entrench decades of military influence.

They gathered in the shadow of upmarket shopping malls and shiny tower blocks that are home to multinationals and other businesses in Southeast Asia's second biggest economy.

But the Ratchaprasong Intersection also has a historic resonance for protesters. In 2010, it was the scene of bloodshed as security forces cracked down on Red Shirts who battled pro-establishment Yellow Shirts during a decade of turmoil.

"I'm not afraid. I've been chased by guns," said beef noodle seller Thawat Kijkunasatien, 57, a veteran of the bloody crackdown a decade ago and another in 1992.

"Wherever the kids go, I go," he said at the protest while sipping a can of beer.

One characteristic of the latest Thai protests has been the extent to which they are led by students and other young people. Most protest leaders are in their 20s, but an even younger generation is following.

From giving the three-finger salute of protest when the national anthem plays at school to tying white ribbons in their hair and on school bags as symbols of protest, high school students have rallied to the campaign.

Many left school to join Thursday's protest - among them 18-year-old Tan, who came along after finishing school exams. He declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals.

"I make sure I’m prepared for exams before I go to protests. I have to give importance to both things," he said. "We can’t let it go on like this, or it will never end."

(Additional reporting by Matthew Tostevin and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Toby Chopra)

GREEN CAPITALI$M

$5 trillion investor group sets tougher portfolio carbon targets

 

© Reuters/Nguyen Huy Kham FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from the chimney of a paper factory outside Hanoi

LONDON (Reuters) - Thirty of the world's largest investors managing a combined $5 trillion said on Tuesday they plan to set targets to lower their portfolio carbon emissions by as much as 29% over the next five years.

All members of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a group which includes the biggest U.S. pension scheme CalPERs and German insurer Allianz, are aiming to align their portfolios with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The move is the most ambitious yet by the influential group, whose members own sizeable stakes in many of the world's top companies, and comes as pressure builds for asset owners to use their financial muscle to push for quicker change.

While an increasing number of investors, companies and governments are committing to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, some have been criticised for not setting the clear nearer-term targets needed to ensure the goal is met.

With policymakers gearing up for the next round of global climate talks in Scotland next year, the group's move is likely to act as a challenge for other leading investors to step up their own efforts.

The group said its members would implement cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from their portfolios of between 16% and 29%, with each confirming their own particular target in the first quarter of 2021.

The plan, called the 2025 Target Setting Protocol, should help increase investment in those companies contributing to the transition to a low-carbon economy and influence both markets and government policies, the group said in a statement.

Specifically, the group said it would send a message to the thousands of companies owned by the investors that "deep emissions cuts are required", and that the group would work with boards willing to adjust their business models.

The Protocol has been made available for comment by the public, academics, government and business until Nov. 13.

"Reaching net-zero is not simply reducing emissions and carrying on with the business models of today," said Günther Thallinger, Alliance Chair and Member of the Board of Management, Allianz SE.

"There are profound changes and opportunities that will come from the net-zero economy, we see new business opportunities and strong wins for those who are ready to lead," he added.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

CANADA

Striking N.L. Dominion workers spend Thanksgiving on the picket line

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Parking lots at Dominion grocery stores in Newfoundland and Labrador were unusually deserted heading into Thanksgiving, except for a few striking employees holding their mittened hands over burn barrels.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Eleven Dominion stores across the province have been closed since late August, when more than 1,400 workers went on strike to demand better wages and more full-time positions.

The employees represented by Unifor have rejected a contract offer from Loblaw Companies Ltd., Dominion’s parent company, that included a pay raise of $1 an hour over the next three years.

In interviews with The Canadian Press over the holiday weekend, Dominion workers said they’re fighting not only for themselves, but for retail workers across the country.

The vote to strike came after Loblaws, Sobeys and other major grocery store chains eliminated a $2-an-hour pay increase offered during the height of the pandemic.

Danni Singleton, who's worked at Dominion in St. John’s for eight years, said the extra $2 an hour made a real difference.

“It was not having to worry about, ‘Oh jeez, can I pay my rent and my phone bill this month?” Singleton said.

Singleton said it’s been “tiring and stressful” being on the picket line for so long, and a lot of her co-workers with families are struggling to get by.

Paula Hennebury, who’s worked at Dominion for 25 years, said she also misses the customers.

“It’s a little sad that we’re not seeing our regular people. You get to know them as family,” said

“But we do get to see them here, they stop by and say hello. It’s a sad time of the year to be out, but we’re strong, we’re going to keep going as long as we have to.”

Hennebury said it's not always easy to hold the line, especially as the weather turns cold.

“We’re pushing through it. We could be inside doing what we love to do, but we gotta fight for the future of everybody else,” she said.

Singleton agrees with her colleague that it’s tough to be out in the empty parking lot on Thanksgiving. But as she talks, passing cars beep their horns in support. People have brought the workers pizza and fried chicken, she said, and a law firm donated $1,000, which they used to rent a warming shelter.

A spokeswoman for Loblaw defended the company's proposed contract, noting it was supported by union leadership.

"We put a deal in front of our colleagues that we believed to be fair and that addressed many of the topics they have raised including full-time roles, job security and wage increases," Catherine Thomas said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2020.

Downtown Edmonton contemporary arts centre showcases — and is led by — Indigenous artists

A new art centre in Edmonton is focused on supporting the work of Indigenous artists.

© Morgan Black/Global News 

Lana Whiskeyjack inside Ociciwan Contemporary Arts Centre on October 8, 2020

The Ociciwan Contemporary Arts Centre features the art of both established and current creatives.

"Ociciwan" comes from the Cree word that means "the current comes from there." The Indigenous-led collective chose the name to represent the North Saskatchewan River.

Executive director Becca Taylor said the group worked with the city to re-design the space (formerly the iHuman building) so that it would fit the needs of an Indigenous organization.

"We needed the space to be transformable.

"We needed an exhibition space but we also needed to think about the ways in which we gather as Indigenous people," Taylor said.

"A top priority became having a kitchen because we gather over food a lot — and having a community space to gather and have conversations."

The centre's artwork features a variety of Indigenous experiences, including depictions of Canadian history such as the smallpox epidemic and residential schools.

"There are works that are a little bit darker.

"It looks at our history and the way colonialization has really affected the Indigenous population, but also the resiliency of Indigenous people and the honouring of our spirits and community within the exhibition," Taylor said.

The exhibit opened in September, after delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its first exhibit includes artists with roots in Edmonton.

Read more: Young Alberta writers explore the world through words during COVID-19 pandemic

"We wanted to honour our home, the place we are in, and highlight the incredible talent that is here," Taylor said. "You'll see paintings, film, beading, sculpture and performance."

Lana Whiskeyjack is one artist highlighted in the exhibition. Whiskeyjack's research, writing and art explores the "paradoxes of what it means to be nehiyaw (Cree) and iskwew (woman) in a Western culture and society.


"A lot of the intention and purpose of my work isn't art for art's sake; it's art for community and future generations.

"It's a constant response of my experiences as an Indigenous woman."

Whiskeyjack said the space is also a place of healing.

"It's a space I don't have to explain myself to. It has elder involvement and knows the protocols and history of the ways of knowing and being of Indigenous people in this land," she said.

"It's a space based in our Indigenous worldviews and values. It's where we can honour ourselves as human beings."

Will host four exhibits a year. You can book a visit to Ociciwan here.

CANADA
Feds fund small nuclear reactor ahead of national strategy to adopt more of them

OTTAWA — An Ontario nuclear power company is getting $20 million from Ottawa to try to get its new small modular reactor in line with Canada's safety regulations.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The grant to Terrestrial Energy in Oakville, Ont., is the first investment Canada has made in small modular reactors, or SMRs. It comes just weeks before Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan expects to produce a "road map" to show how the emerging technology will be used to help get Canada to its climate change goals.

"Just last week, the International Energy Agency released a landmark report showing that achieving our target of net-zero emissions without nuclear energy will take a lot longer, with a great risk of failure," he said.

Canada has promised to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by almost one-third in the next 10 years, and then to net-zero by 2050, when any emissions still produced are captured by nature or technology.

About one-fifth of Canada's electricity still comes from fossil fuels, including natural gas and coal.

Nuclear generators produce no greenhouse gas emissions. They currently make up 15 per cent of Canada's energy mix overall, but only Ontario and New Brunswick use nuclear reactors for electricity.

Those CANDU reactors are big and expensive, while SMRs are pitched as smaller and more versatile, and can be shipped to remote locations where electricity grids don't currently reach.

SMRs are still in the developmental stage, with about a dozen companies in Canada trying to be the first to the finish line.

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, whose department is providing the $20-million grant through its strategic innovation fund, said they are an emerging technology with high growth potential.

"Without a doubt one of our most promising solutions to fight climate change and promote clean energy has three letters — SMR," he said.

Bains says the money will help the company complete a pre-licensing process with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

This process occurs before the company applies for a licence so that it can work to meet the commission's requirements in the development phase. Terrestrial has been working with the commission for nearly two years and is also undergoing a similar process with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Terrestrial has offices in Oakville and Connecticut.

The company hopes its first nuclear reactor will be producing power before the end of the decade.

Not everyone is as convinced as O'Regan and Bains that nuclear is the answer to Canada's climate change dreams.

Eva Schacherl, who helped found the Coalition Against Nuclear Dumps on the Ottawa River, said nuclear waste is a big concern, and fears investments in SMRs are going to take money away from cleaner, already proven technologies like wind, solar and tidal power.

"It will distract our attention and resources," she said.

Plus, she said, Canada already has enough nuclear waste to fill more than 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

"We really don't need to create more," she said.

O'Regan said he is also developing a radioactive waste policy, and said nuclear will not displace other sources of clean power.

"All of this is part of a wave of different energy sources we are going to need," he said. "We're going to need all of it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2020.

Federal government invests in small nuclear reactors to help it meet net-zero 2050 target


The federal government says it's investing $20 million in the nuclear industry to help Canada meet its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The investment in Oakville Ontario's Terrestrial Energy is meant to help the firm bring small modular nuclear reactors to market.

"By helping to bring these small reactors to market, we are supporting significant environmental and economic benefits, including generating energy with reduced emissions, highly skilled job creation and Canadian intellectual property development," said Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains in a media statement.

Small modular reactors — SMRs — are smaller than a conventional nuclear power plant and can be built in one location before being transported and assembled elsewhere.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited says it sees three major uses for SMRs in Canada:

Helping utilities replace energy capacity lost to closures of coal fired power plants.

Providing power and heat to off-grid industrial projects such as mines and oilsands developments. 

Replacing diesel fuel as a source of energy and heat in remote communities.

Bains said nuclear energy is part of the energy mix Canada must have to reach its climate targets. 

Another part of that mix, Bains said, was the recently announced $590 investment — split evenly between the Ontario and federal governments — to help the Ford Motor Company upgrade its assembly plant in Oakville and start making electric vehicles there

.

© Tracy Fuller/CBC Small modular nuclear reactors could replace diesel generating facilities in remote communities across Canada, like this one in Fort Providence, NWT.

Recycling nuclear waste

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said the federal government is reviewing its radioactive waste program to ensure it adheres to the "highest international standards."

"We do have to make sure that Canadians trust the power system," O'Regan said. "SMR technology allows us to minimize the amount of waste and in some cases has the potential to recycle nuclear waste."

The federal government says that Terrestrial Energy has committed to creating and maintaining 186 jobs and creating 52 co-op placements nationally.

The government says the company also has promised to undertake gender equity and diversity initiatives to, among other things, boost the number of women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

CANADA 

Online hate, racist hiring practices among targets of $15M federal anti-racism funds


OTTAWA — Combating online hate is one of the main efforts getting a financial boost from Ottawa's anti-racism strategy, with more than a dozen projects receiving federal funding Thursday.© Provided by The Canadian Press

Diversity Minister Bardish Chagger listed 85 projects that will share $15 million from the strategy's anti-racism action program, and nearly one-fifth of that money will be used by community groups and anti-racism organizations to monitor, report on, and try to combat online hatred.

"If we as Canadians truly desire a consciously more inclusive Canada, every single one of us must step up, be allies and do whatever we can to make workplaces, communities and public spaces safer and more inclusive for all," Chagger said.

Amira Elghawaby, a board member at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said the $268,400 grant it is receiving will allow it to hire more staff and triple the amount of work they're able to do searching for and combating hatred.

"Over the past two years, our work has taken on new urgency," she said.

"There are more members and supporters of hate groups and dangerous conspiracy groups than there has been in at least a generation. They're harassing people. They're killing people, and they need to be stopped, or at least contained. And that's what we do."

Other projects will see the development of apps, digital strategies and education campaigns to try to halt the growth of online hate.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2019 election to go after online hate more, and restated that commitment in last month's throne speech.

It took more than a year for the action program funds to be awarded, a delay Chagger blamed on the sheer volume of interest.

"We received a lot more response than was intended," she said, noting 1,100 applications were filed for the $15 million.

In addition to online hate, the funded projects will go after systemic racism in the workplace including in hiring practices, racism in the justice system including policing, as well as racism in education and social services.

The anti-racism strategy was first unveiled in June 2019 as a three-year, $45 million program that would include the funds for community action, and an anti-racism secretariat in government to address systemic racism in federal institutions and policies.

The secretariat is to produce its first report this fall.

Trudeau promised in the 2019 election to double that funding but Chagger was vague about when, or even if, that will happen.

"We will continue to build upon our commitments to Canadians," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2020.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Experts slam 'dangerous fallacy' of virus herd immunity

Issued on: 15/10/2020 -

The World Health Organization has warned for months that herd immunity strategies would not work to control the new coronavirus Fabrice COFFRINI 

Paris (AFP)

Proponents of allowing the new coronavirus to circulate among populations in the hope of achieving herd immunity are promoting a "dangerous fallacy" devoid of scientific proof, dozens of health experts said Thursday.

In an open letter published in The Lancet medical journal, more than 80 specialists from universities across the world said that the only effective way of limiting excess deaths during the pandemic was to control the disease's spread.

The letter comes after numerous US media this week reported that senior Trump administration officials had voiced support for an online declaration advocating herd immunity which gathered more than 9,000 signatories worldwide.

As a second Covid-19 wave batters Europe, several countries have reintroduced controls on movement and implemented regionalised lockdowns.

The authors of Thursday's letter said that the social and economic impacts of confinement had led to "widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust" in government measures to get a handle on the virus.

The second wave has also led to a renewed interest in so-called herd immunity, which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak among people considered to be at low risk of death or serious illness from the virus.

The health experts listed numerous flaws in the concept.

Firstly, "uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality across the whole population," the letter said.

This would have a catastrophic human and financial cost, besides overwhelming healthcare systems.

The authors also noted that it is possible to become reinfected with Covid-19.

Herd immunity offers no guarantee that those who caught the virus would remain immune to it for any meaningful length of time.

This would present a risk to vulnerable populations for "the indefinite future", the authors said.

- 'Disaster medicine' -

Such a strategy would result in "recurrent epidemics" of Covid-19 similar to those caused by numerous infectious diseases before vaccines were invented.

"It would also place an unacceptable burden on the economy and healthcare workers, many of whom have died from Covid-19 or experienced trauma as a result of having to practise disaster medicine," they wrote.

The World Health Organization has been warning for months that herd immunity for Covid-19 was impossible without untold casualties.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the concept was "unethical".

"The vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus," he said.

"Letting the virus circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections, suffering and death."

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan warned back in May that any country pursuing herd immunity were making "a really dangerous calculation".

Herd immunity: Is it a more compassionate approach or will it lead to death or illness for millions?

October 15, 2020
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

(Photo: Shutterstock)

As coronavirus cases increase across much of the United States, the Trump administration has reportedly adopted a policy of deliberately letting the virus infect much of the U.S. population in order to attain “herd immunity” — despite warnings from the World Health Organization against such an approach. We host a debate on the contentious issue of herd immunity and how best to confront the virus with two Harvard medical experts: epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard University and one of the lead signatories of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration arguing for an easing of lockdowns, and Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine doctor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and at Harvard Medical School who has worked on the COVID-19 public health response in Massachusetts since February.

Fauci blasts herd immunity proposal embraced by White House as 'total nonsense'

© Getty Images Fauci blasts herd immunity proposal embraced by White House as 'total nonsense'

Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, on Thursday called a herd immunity proposal being embraced by the White House "total nonsense."

The so-called Great Barrington Declaration authored by a small group of doctors calls for quickly reaching herd immunity by letting COVID-19 spread uncontrolled among the young and healthy population while protecting the vulnerable.

Herd immunity, typically achieved with a vaccine, is the point at which a disease, like measles, stops spreading widely throughout a population because enough people have already had it and are immune to it. It's not clear if prior COVID-19 infection confers long-term immunity to the disease.

"If you just let things rip and let the infection go ... that, quite frankly, George, is ridiculous," Fauci said Thursday, addressing ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview.

Fauci, who appeared impassioned while railing against the proposal, noted that 30 percent of the population has underlying health conditions that makes them vulnerable. Additionally, older adults, even those who are otherwise healthy, are far more likely than young adults to become seriously ill if they get COVID-19.

"What that will do is that there will be so many people in the community that you can't shelter, that you can't protect, who are gonna get sick and get serious consequences," Fauci said.

"So this idea that we have the power to protect the vulnerable is total nonsense because history has shown that that's not the case. And, and if you talk to anybody who has any experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases, they will tell you that that is risky, and you'll wind up with many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to hospitalizations and deaths. So I think that we just got to look that square in the eye and say it's nonsense," he said.

The declaration has been embraced by Scott Atlas, neuroradiologist and adviser to Trump who has no obvious expertise on infectious diseases.

The three doctors behind the declaration met with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Atlas last week to discuss the declaration, as first reported by The Hill.

A senior Trump administration official then praised the declaration during a call with reporters Monday organized by the White House.

The Great Barrington Declaration argues that lockdowns "are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health," including fewer cancer screenings, lower childhood vaccination rates and deteriorating mental health.

"The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk," the declaration reads. "We call this Focused Protection."

Fauci on Thursday responded that no one is arguing for permanent lockdowns.

"We don't want to shut down the country. I say that all the time. We certainly want to protect the vulnerable," he said.

Experts argue the best way to protect the vulnerable is by trying to slow the spread of COVID-19. The higher cases of COVID-19 are in a community, the more at risk the vulnerable are to getting sick, experts say.

"This [declaration] is dangerous because it puts the entire population, particularly the most vulnerable, at risk. Young people are not all healthy and they don't live in vacuums," dozens of scientists, doctors and researchers wrote in a letter published this week in The Lancet medical journal.

"They interact with family members, co-workers and neighbors. Inviting increased rates of COVID-19 in young people will lead to increased infections rates among all Americans," they said.

SECRET SHH

GOP Sen. Ben Sasse Says Trump Mistreats Women and Flirts With White Supremacists in Audio Recording 

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said that President Donald Trump has "flirted" with white supremacists, "kisses dictators' butts" and also criticized the way that the president treats women in an audio recording obtained by The Washington Examiner.

© Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) speaks while Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the second day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on October 13, 2020 in Washington, D.C. In an audio recording obtained by The Washington Examiner, Sasse criticized President Donald Trump after he was asked about his relationship with the president.

The comments that Sasse made were part of a nine-minute response the Republican senator gave when asked about his relationship with and criticism of Trump. According to the magazine, the audio was taken from a private call between Sasse and some of his constituents.

Sasse began his response by saying he worked hard to establish a working relationship with the president but reminded his listeners that he campaigned for other Republican presidential candidates before Trump became the party's nominee in 2016. During the first two minutes of his answer, he said there were some issues on which he agreed with Trump, including efforts to appoint conservative federal judges. The Senate has already approved more than 200 of Trump's judicial appointments, and the president has said he aspires to have at least 300 approved by the end of his first term in office.

Sasse spent the other seven minutes of his answer listing the policy positions on which he disagrees with Trump and explaining why Trump's leadership concerns him about the future of the Republican Party, the Senate and the country as a whole. Sasse started by addressing the foreign policy problems he had with Trump, which he said included the way Trump "kisses dictators' butts" and addressed neither the Uighur detention camps in China nor the plight of protesters in Hong Kong.

"It isn't just that he fails to lead our allies, it's that the United States now regularly sells out our allies under his leadership," Sasse said.

The senator went on to list other issues he said he had with Trump: "The way he treats women and spends like a drunken sailor. The ways I criticized President [Barack] Obama for that kind of spending, I criticize President Trump for, as well. He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He's flirted with white supremacists." Sasse also mentioned the coronavirus pandemic, which he said Trump initially did not take seriously and added that Trump "careens from curb to curb" in his administration's pandemic response.

Sasse said he expected some of his constituents to disagree with his views on the president—Trump won Nebraska by 25 points in 2016, according to election results compiled by The New York Times—but he said he has spoken with some Nebraskans who voiced concerns about Trump's time in office. "They don't really want more rage-tweeting," he said.

Sasse concluded his answer to the question by stepping back from his problems with Trump and expressing a wider concern about the Republican Party, which he repeatedly referred to as "the party of Lincoln and Reagan."

"If young people become permanent Democrats because they've just been repulsed by the obsessive nature of our politics, or if women who were willing to still vote with the Republican Party in 2016 decide that they need to turn away from this party permanently in the future, the debate is not going to be 'Ben Sasse, why were you so mean to Donald Trump?' It's going to be, 'What the heck were any of us thinking that selling a TV-obsessed, narcissistic individual to the American people was a good idea?' It is not a good idea," he said, adding, "I think we are staring down the barrel of a blue tsunami."

In a statement shared with the Examiner, a spokesperson for Sasse's office reiterated the concern the senator expressed in the audio recording about the balance of power heading into the 2020 election.

"I don't know how many more times we can shout this: Even though the Beltway is obsessing exclusively about the presidential race, control of the Senate is ten times more important," spokesman James Wegmann told the magazine. "The fragile Senate seats that will determine whether Democrats nuke the Senate are the races Ben cares about, the races he's working on, and the only races he's talking about."

Sasse, who began representing Nebraska in the Senate in 2015, has grown increasingly critical of Trump as the presidential election has drawn closer. After peaceful protesters were forcibly removed from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., in June, Sasse criticized the move and Trump's following pose with a Bible outside the nearby St. John's Episcopal Church. "I'm against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop," Sasse said in a statement about the incident to the Omaha World-Herald. Later that month, he demanded answers about a New York Times report that Russia placed bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. "Did the commander in chief know and, if not, how the hell not? What is going on in our process," Sasse said to reporters.

In August, Sasse issued a statement criticizing Trump's decision to sign executive orders that were intended to provide assistance to Americans during the pandemic. "The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop," Sasse said. "President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law. Under the Constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress."

Sasse's criticism in August caught the attention of the president, who referred to Sasse as a RINO–or "Republican in name only—in a tweet a couple of days later. "RINO Ben Sasse, who needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination for Senate from the GREAT State of Nebraska, has, now that he's got it (Thank you President T), gone rogue, again. This foolishness plays right into the hands of the Radical Left Dems," Trump's tweet said.

Newsweek reached out to the White House and Sasse's office for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Indigenous services minister calls raid on N.S. fishing facilities an 'assault' on Mi'kmaw people

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller today called this week's raid on fishing facilities in southwest Nova Scotia an "assault" on the Mi'kmaw people and urged police in the region to keep the peace.

His comments came as tensions mount over the First Nations lobster harvest in southwestern Nova Scotia. On Tuesday night, several hundred commercial fishermen and their supporters raided two facilities where Mi'kmaw fishermen were storing their catches.

By morning, a van had been set ablaze, hundreds of dead lobsters were strewn over the ground and one facility had been damaged.

Watch: Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller on the tensions in the N.S. lobster fishery

"I cannot end this conference ... without addressing the incidents in southwestern Nova Scotia in what amounts to an assault on the Mi'kmaw people," Miller told a news conference in Ottawa today.

"These unacceptable acts of violence, including the assault on [Sipekne'katik Chief Mike] Sack with threats and intimidation, some racist in nature, cannot and will not fetter the right of the people to pursue a moderate livelihood."

Watch: Tensions over N.S. Mi'kmaq lobster fishery escalate

Miller called for calm while talks at the federal level continue.

"To protect that right, space needs to be afforded to Indigenous leaders to continue discussions with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and [federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan]. And they are not easy discussions, but they must be had and they must be respected," he said.

"To do so, clearly, our police forces must ... maintain the peace."

The fact that no arrests have been made so far in connection with the two raids is prompting questions about the RCMP's response.

Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Joyce said no arrests had been made as of Wednesday afternoon — but added that officers did witness criminal activity and investigative teams were being assembled.
'Protect us,' says chief

Sack said the federal government and the RCMP are letting down the community.

"The prime minister, any minister, whoever put a tweet out or Facebook message, whatever it may be — actions speak louder than words," he said Thursday.

"You know, they're sitting in their office, safe as can be, saying we need safety out here. Send enforcement down. Like, do your job. Protect Canadians. We're all Canadians. Come here, protect us and don't just tweet about it."

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said on Wednesday that it's time for the RCMP and federal and provincial governments to step in "before someone gets badly injured or possibly killed."

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs also called for immediate action.

"Lives are being put at risk," Chief Terrance Paul, co-chair and fisheries lead for the Assembly, said in a media release.

Watch | Video shows piles of lobster strewn over the ground outside N.S. lobster pound

"The inactions of the government and RCMP are only providing for more opportunities for people to be injured, or possibly worse."

Miller said he has seen only the videos circulating online, but what he saw alarmed him.

"The first job of the police is to serve, protect and to preserve the peace," he said. "People need to be protected ... this is the duty of the police."
Premier calls on Ottawa to define 'moderate livelihood'

The province's southwest has endured weeks of unrest following the launch of a lobster fishery by the Sipekne'katik band outside the federally mandated commercial season.

The band has justified its fishery by citing a 21-year-old Supreme Court of Canada ruling known as the Marshall decision, which affirmed the Mi'kmaw right to operate a "moderate livelihood" fishery.

The court later said the federal government could regulate the Mi'kmaw fishery but must justify any restrictions it placed on it.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil called on the federal government to better define what a "moderate livelihood" means.

"No matter how much I want to resolve this issue, I don't have any authority to do so. That is why it's critical for the national government to be there," he said during his own press conference Thursday morning.

"And it's why, in my humble opinion, the chiefs need to focus on the national government. And bring the national government to the table and deal with both sides."

No end date set for Rossdale homeless encampment as Edmonton moves forward with convention centre housing plans

As the City of Edmonton moves ahead with plans to open temporary housing for the city's homeless at the Edmonton Convention Centre, an end date has not been set for a homeless encampment in the Rossdale neighbourhood.© Global News Camp Pekiwewin in Edmonton's Rossdale neighbourhood Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.

Interim city manager Adam Laughlin provided an update to councillors Thursday afternoon on the city's continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included plans to provide housing to those living rough in the city.

The city has ramped up efforts to address the homelessness issue in recent weeks after large encampments were established in the Rossdale and Old Strathcona areas.

Laughlin said plans are well underway to offer housing at the convention centre in the downtown core, with a goal of opening the temporary pandemic housing on Oct. 30. Upwards of 300 beds will eventually be set up at the convention centre for those living rough, along with daily meals, as well as access to showers, storage and washrooms.

Read more: Edmonton Convention Centre to be temporarily used to house homeless people

Councillor Scott McKeen said he's heard from area businesses who have safety concerns related to the temporary shelter location. Laughlin noted the location was chosen because of its proximity to where the majority of those living rough are located.

He said "safety is paramount in these efforts and we have been in talks with EPS to develop plans for public safety" around the convention centre.

While Laughlin said that organizers of the encampment at Light Horse Park in Old Strathcona have committed to an Oct. 18 end date, an end date has not been established for Camp Pekiwewin in Rossdale.

The city said communication continues with organizers of Camp Pekiwewin.

Also Thursday, the city said staff from Boyle Street Community Services have started meeting with those who have been living at the Light Horse Park homeless encampment, to offer them short-term, temporary housing after it shuts down next week.

"We are committed to ensuring that vulnerable Edmontonians have a diversity of supports from which to choose," said Jared Tkachuk, acting director of programs with Boyle Street Community Services.

"The important partnership with the City of Edmonton will bolster our existing outreach services and ensure those sleeping rough in Light Horse Park are provided services that have the potential to create lasting success."

Read more: Winterization efforts underway at Edmonton’s Camp Pekiwewin

The city said about 180 Edmontonians are becoming homeless every month. Right now, there are about 2,000 people experiencing homelessness, with 600 sleeping outside or unsheltered on any given night - including nearly 45 at Light Horse Park.

The city said its temporary pandemic housing at the Edmonton Convention Centre will remain open until March.

Indonesia to create firm to build up electric vehicle battery industry

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A group of Indonesian state-owned companies will form a venture to make batteries to power electric vehicles, the Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID) chief executive said on Tuesday.

© Reuters/Yusuf Ahmad FILE PHOTO: A worker poses with a handful of nickel ore at the nickel mining factory of PT Vale Tbk, near Sorowako

Indonesia, the world's biggest producer of nickel ore, a key component of EV batteries, wants to build an integrated EV industry that will eventually include building the vehicles.

The new venture, called Indonesia Battery Holding, would be formed by state miners MIND ID and Aneka Tambang (ANTAM), state utility Perusahan Listrik Negara (PLN) and state oil company Pertamina, MIND ID Chief Executive Orias Petrus Moedak said.

"We are preparing a concrete cooperation plan, so that the nickel utilisation project can start immediately, to produce batteries," he told a webinar.

The company would help build an industry that aimed to cover everything from producing chemicals and minerals for batteries to making the units themselves, as well as recycling old batteries, Orias said.

The company would create a partnership with Chinese and Korean firms on two projects valued at $12 billion, Orias said, without giving further details.

Orias said state miner ANTAM would also work on related EV battery projects including high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) and rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) smelter projects valued $2 billion to $3 billion. He did not give details.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Edmund Blair)

WATCH: Trump attacks masks, rants about ‘Democrat’ Fauci, and claims NBC townhall is a ‘setup’ as his rally goes off the rails

October 15, 2020 By Eric W. Dolan RAW STORY

During a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, President Donald Trump attacked the use of masks as a method to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and also complained about his upcoming town hall event.

“They keep saying, nobody wears masks. Wear the masks,” Trump remarked. “Then they come out with things today. Did you see it? CDC [said] that 85% of the people wearing the mask catch it, okay?”

“Then you have my friend Tony, and he’s a nice guy. Tony Fauci. He said this is not a threat, this not a problem, don’t worry about it. No, it’s a problem, it’s the craziest thing. And then he said do not wear a mask, do not wear a mask under any circumstances, don’t wear a mask — don’t, don’t, don’t. Right? So we don’t. Then they say wear a mask,” the president said.

“Do you ever see any conflicts — but he’s a nice guy so I keep him around. He’s a Democrat, everybody knows that. He’s Cuomo’s friend. Cuomo did the worst job of any governor in the United States.”

Trump also claimed that his town hall event on NBC News was a “big setup.”

“I’m being setup tonight,” he said. “I’m doing this town hall with Concast, C-O-N — right? Con. Because it’s a conjob. Concast. C-O-N. Not C-O-M. C-O-N cast.”

Watch video below:

 

Italy shocked at discovery of fetus graves bearing women’s name

MIKE PENCE MADE THIS LEGAL IN INDIANA

 October 15, 2020 By Agence France-Presse

The discovery of the named graves last month by a woman who had undergone an abortion provoked outrage from women's rights groups and the women involved - AFP

Small crosses made of wood and metal fill Lot 108 of Flaminio Cemetery in Rome, some painted white, some askew or fallen to the ground, all carrying female names.

They are not the names of the fetuses buried in the graves, but rather the names of the women who chose to have lawful abortions.

The discovery of the named graves last month by a woman who had undergone an abortion provoked outrage from women’s rights groups and the women involved, who denounced the public exposure of personal medical choices.

“To think that someone appropriated her body, that a rite was performed, that she was buried with a cross and my name on it, was like reopening a wound,” Francesca, one of the many women affected, told AFP.

“I feel betrayed by the institutions.”

The group Differenza Donna (Woman Difference) said it had been contacted by about 100 women who underwent abortions at hospitals in the city.

The activists are scheduled to meet the health minister next week and have petitioned the public prosecutor’s office to open an investigation.

Italy’s privacy watchdog has also opened a probe into the practice, which appears for now to be a bureaucratic procedure gone awry.

– ‘Ugly act’ –

The scandal first came to light last month after a woman who had an abortion — at a hospital different from the one used by Francesca — discovered her name on a cross at the cemetery and posted on Facebook, a message that soon went viral.

Elisa Ercoli, president of Differenza Donna, described the discovery as the latest slap in the face for women in the majority Catholic country, calling it an “ugly, authoritarian act”.

Abortion within the first 90 days of pregnancy has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the law allows for conscientious objectors among medical professionals.

Seven out of 10 gynecologists in the country refuse to carry out the procedure, complicating access to abortions for women in some areas.

Ercoli told AFP the group had found crosses bearing women’s names from 2017 to 2020 at the cemetery and learnt that the practice has been going on since at least 2005.

A similar practice was subsequently discovered at a cemetery in the northern city of Brescia.

A national law from 1990 calls for fetuses less than 20 weeks old to be incinerated by the hospitals.

But hospitals can entrust fetuses aborted after 20 weeks to cemetery services for burial even without the consent of family members.

While hospital permits required for transport and burial of the fetuses can include women’s personal data, those records are supposed to be kept confidential.

Rome’s municipal waste disposal and street cleaning agency AMA, which also manages the capital’s cemeteries, said after the first woman posted on Facebook that the fetus was buried “after specific input from the hospital where the intervention took place”.

AMA had “no role in such decisions”, it said.

AMA did not respond to AFP’s requests for more detail.

– ‘Sign of punishment’ –

A regional councillor has already proposed clearer procedures from hospital to cemetery, blaming legal ambiguity for allowing “discretionary choices”.

Francesca, who did not want to provide her last name, said she chose to undergo an abortion last September in the sixth month of pregnancy after learning her child had a serious heart defect.

She said she remembered signing papers given to her at the hospital as her contractions became stronger just before her delivery, but said she did not read them.

After the abortion, Francesca said she asked about what would happen to the fetus three times, without receiving any answers, adding that it was not only a shock to discover the grave but also to see the cross, which she said did not correspond to her beliefs.

In Italy, children are automatically given their father’s last name upon birth.

“But if a woman has an abortion, her name and surname are included,” Francesca noted.

“Finding my name on the cross was a sign of punishment for me.”

© 2020 AFP

Trump is the ‘savior from the destruction’: How Evangelicals have long talked of conspiracies against God’s ‘chosen’

October 15, 2020 By The Conversation

President Donald Trump sees many conspiracies around him.

He has described investigations into both Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and alleged violations of campaign finance laws, as well as the entirety of his impeachment, as “witch hunts” and a “hoax.”

He is not the only one seeing sinister forces at play. Some of his supporters do the same. A number of books on conspiracy theories chronicle alleged failed “deep state” attempts to take down Trump.

Even Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and hospital stay spawned a range of conspiracy theories, with some conservative sources suggesting Republicans were infected deliberately.

In my recent book, “Rhetoric, Race, and Religion on the Christian Right,” I examined conspiratorial themes and rhetoric of some of the leaders of the Christian right during the Obama administration.

I argue that the rhetoric of conspiracy, now used by Trump, was foundational for many prominent figures of the Christian right.

The Christian right and conspiracy

In the late 1970s and 1980s, evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell Sr., Billy Graham and others resisted social and cultural changes such as racial integration of schools. For some, social and cultural changes were signs of a fallen country.

As religious historian Randall Balmer explains, some conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists began to coalesce around resistance to desegregation in the mid-1970s. Conspiracy theories circulated in some conservative political spheres concerning civil rights protests.

These conspiracy theorists suggested that the student protesters in the civil rights movement were outside agitators. Others suggested that Martin Luther King Jr. and student protesters and organizers were in league with international Communist organizations.

Then in the late 1970s, Republican political strategist Paul Weyrich brought disparate religious factions and conservative politicians together and named them the Moral Majority.

Weyrich and his companions saw Christianity as under attack and suggested that America had fallen away from its values. In 1980 Falwell Sr. argued, “What’s happened to America is that the wicked are bearing rule. We have to lead the nation back to the moral stance that made America great.”

Falwell saw the nation as fallen and secular forces as the enemy of Christianity. Theological and political differences, rather than differences of approach or argument, were figured as a battle for America’s soul. Popular religious figures like Francis Schaeffer, a Presbyterian minister, framed the survival of Western culture as a battle between secular humanism and Christianity.

In explaining his father’s place as a foundational figure on the Christian right, Francis Schaeffer Jr. argued, “For the first time in American history, what you’ve got coming out of the ‘70s and evangelical subculture is a world that looks at its own country as the enemy to be feared.”

This new brand of evangelicalism grew quickly. According to sociologist Sara Diamond, 20 to 40 million Americans identified as evangelical by 1989. Exact numbers of evangelicals are hard to pinpoint, because the term encompasses a wide range of denominations.

Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll explained it this way: “the term has been associated with a particular group of Christians who hold conservative and generally Republican ideological and political beliefs.” According to a Gallup poll aggregating data from 1991 to 2018 about 40% of Americans identified as evangelicals or born-again Christians. The number has remained steady for the past three decades.

To clarify, not all evangelicals are conservative. But a defining feature of the Christian Right is political involvement. While younger evangelicals are less politically committed, older evangelicals associated with the Christian right remain deeply politically committed.

A Pew Research Poll shows that 79% of white Protestant evangelicals voted Republican in the 2012 presidential. Exit polls show about 80% of white evangelicals voted for Trump in 2016.

Christian values and conspiracy

Some Christian right leaders have named groups they held responsible for the fallen nature of America. Tim LaHaye, a political organizer and co-author of a series of best-selling Christian books, “Left Behind,” claimed that a group called the “Illuminati” coordinated a global conspiracy to undermine Christian values.

The historical Illuminati were members of a secret society founded in Bavaria, modern-day Germany, in 1776 to oppose the abuse of power by the state. Today, a mythological version of the Illuminati is a favorite among conspiracy theorists.

LaHaye, for example, claimed the Illuminati faltered in their attempts to establish a New World Order because the Christian right mobilized the vote for Ronald Reagan. One-time presidential candidate and televangelist Pat Robertson similarly has attributed other conspiracy theories to the Illuminati.

More than culture wars

Since the late 1970s, the rhetoric of some of the Christian right leaders has been used to wage culture war battles against racial integration, marriage and gender identity protections and compulsory public education.

In 1986, prominent evangelical leader and political activist Beverly LaHaye, wife of Tim LaHaye, lamented feminism and those advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment, saying, “Well, nobody really likes their unisex, lesbian, radical philosophy either.”

LaHaye describes equal rights and pay equality as radical and suggests feminism seeks to undo biological sex and is intrinsically linked to same-sex relationships. Rather than a civil rights issue concerning individual freedoms, LaHaye framed the women’s movement as an attack on conservative communities and their values.

Phyllis Schlafly, founder of STOP ERA, an organization formed to stop the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, rose to national prominence in 1964 with her book “A Choice Not an Echo.” She claimed: “From 1936 to 1960 the Republican presidential nominee was selected by a secret group of kingmakers who are the most powerful opinion makers in the world.” Schlafly claimed powerful elites took the power of the conservative party from the people.

Fifty years later, in her 2014 book “Who Killed the American Family?” Schlafly claimed, “The American nuclear family made America great, but few are now defending it against forces determined to destroy it.” In Schlafly’s telling, the American family is monolithic. Variance in family structures signals destruction of conservative notions of the nuclear family.

Schlafly’s monthly newsletter, renamed the Eagle Forums Report after her death, forwards similar positions with regard to immigration. Authors on the site suggest ending birthright citizenship and make generalizations about Muslim immigrants being terrorists. They frame these matters as a means of protecting American culture and values.

Birther theories

Donald Trump seems to have joined himself with conspiracy theorists on the Christian right early in his political career.

Even before his campaign, Trump joined with conservative Christian figures like Joseph Farah, the founder and editor of WND, or World Net Daily. WND is a far-right website that entered the mainstream during President Obama’s presidency. The website was a hub for the birther conspiracy.

Participants at a rally in Washington in 2010 that questioned President Obama’s eligibility.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

According to some birthers, Obama was a “secret” Muslim. A 2009 article in the Columbia Journalism Review noted that some of the right-wing media had attacked him for being “un-American.”

In the middle of the Obama presidency, WND attracted 4 million unique visitors a month. WND also ran a publishing house that featured book titles from conservative figures like Schlafly.
Trump and the Christian right

Trump’s presidency brings together two lines of argument from some of these evangelical leaders through his rhetoric. First, God punishes America when Americans are unfaithful to his commandments. Second, Christianity is under attack.

In an article the Rev. Billy Graham wrote in 2012 during the lead-up to Obama’s reelection, he recalled his wife, Ruth, telling him, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The reference to the Old Testament story in which God laid waste to two cities for their sinful nature reinforces the idea that American leadership is responsible for American decline just as the leaders of these ancient cities were responsible for the wickedness of their people.

The underlying and unstated premise of Graham’s argument is that Obama is responsible for a fallen America that will bring God’s punishment. The Sodom and Gommorah example is telling. For Graham and some other evangelical leaders, Obama’s leadership represented an intentional move away from Christian values toward immorality.

Trump offered himself as an antidote to that fallen America and as a savior from the destruction. One way people came to accept that narrative is, I argue, through his use of conspiracy theories.

Samuel Perry, Associate professor, Baylor University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Amy Coney Barrett’s ‘ivory-tower cluelessness’ of ‘unpleasant realities in American life’ slammed by conservative

Published on October 15, 2020 By Matthew Chapman
RAW STORY

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett during her Senate hearing. (Screenshot) CLUELESS 


On Thursday, writing for The Washington Post, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin tore into Judge Amy Coney Barrett for refusing to engage with the real-world struggles faced by everyday Americans in her confirmation hearings.

“Her repeated efforts to avoid making statements on rudimentary moral principles (e.g., it is wrong to forcibly separate families) and basic facts (e.g., corporations have more power than an individual employee; the president cannot unilaterally change the date of the election as set in statute) made Barrett come across as disingenuous, evasive and clueless. She even refused to affirm the peaceful transition of power after an election,” wrote Rubin. “Either she has lived her life in a soulless vacuum, or she is terribly afraid of offending President Trump.”


“The most painful moments of the hearing may have come when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) took her through basic facts about voter suppression and bias in the criminal justice system,” wrote Rubin. “Her reactions suggested that much of the gross injustices faced by Black Americans, as Booker laid them out, were news to her. In an embarrassing admission, she could not identify any books, law review articles or studies on the legacy of racial discrimination — this at a time when many books on the subject are bestsellers. Not only did she come off as unknowledgeable about a critically important topic, but she apparently also has had no interest in getting up to speed on the great fault line through American life.”

“The general impression one gets from Barrett is that she is less knowledgeable about U.S. contemporary life than any Supreme Court nominee in recent memory, with the possible exception of Robert Bork,” wrote Rubin. “She cites theories of jurisprudence with ease, but she cannot acknowledge obvious political realities and facts about economic power, discrimination and science. That is a recipe for rigid, abstract judicial reasoning. Despite her insistence to the contrary, she seems to treat jurisprudence in a vacuum, with little regard for how it will affect others with whom she has little familiarity.”


“The hearing might nominally have been about Barrett’s confirmation, but it turned into a cringeworthy display of right-wing ideologues’ ignorance, if not indifference, to unpleasant realities in American life,” concluded Rubin. “It was also a compelling advertising for achieving more racial and socioeconomic diversity in Congress and the courts.”

You can read more here.

BEHIND A PAYWALL

FAILS SOFTBALL QUESTION

‘What am I missing?’: Amy Coney Barrett unable to name five freedoms in First Amendment

October 14, 2020 By David Edwards RAW STORY

Ben Sasse and Amy Coney Barrett appear at Senate Judiciary Committee hearing (PBS/screen grab)

Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Wednesday struggled to name the five freedoms that are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

During her confirmation hearing, a Republican senator queried the Supreme Court nominee about her views on the First Amendment.

“What are the five freedoms of the First Amendment?” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) asked.

“Speech, religion, press, assembly,” Barrett replied, counting with her fingers. “I don’t know. What am I missing?”

“Redress or protest,” Sasse offered.

“OK,” Barrett replied.

“Why is there one amendment that has these five freedoms clustered?” Sasse continued. “Why do they hang together?”

“Um, I don’t know what you’re getting at,” Barrett said.

Watch the video below from PBS.