Conspiracy theories and polarisation

Riaz Riazuddin

Published April 28, 2022

The writer is a former deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.


WHY do conspiracy theories thrive and divide political opinion so much? The answer to this question is, perplexingly, very simple and rooted in the science of making decisions under uncertainty. A simplified scientific dictum is that the ‘absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence’. A theory, however, cannot be accepted just because there was no evidence to reject it. So why do people usually start believing in conspiracy theories?

Before answering the question, it is necessary to understand decision-making processes that are conducted under uncertainty, and how different entities (businesses, governments, parliamentary bodies, judicial bodies, etc) make their decisions. For instance, judicial bodies decide whether a particular act is in accordance with the law and reach a verdict on the basis of evidence, without going into the consequences of their decision. Non-judicial bodies react to a particular situation or event. They have to take day-to-day decisions continuously and under conditions of uncertainty. In making decisions, governments seldom have incontrovertible evidence regarding the superiority of one course of action over another.

If a government entity is confronted with a situation where there are only a few clues or signs that point to a conspiracy against national sovereignty or security, it must make a decision to either accept it or reject it. In conditions of uncertainty, or lacking full evidence, it will rely on the credibility of the available, although incomplete, evidence to form an opinion. Unlike judicial bodies, it will also think of the consequences of its decision. The expected consequences will ultimately drive its decision if the evidence itself is scant. One of the many reasons for the separation of judicial and non-judicial powers is that the latter has to concern itself with the consequences of decision-making as opposed to the former. That difference notwithstanding, non-judicial bodies must also ensure that their decision-making procedure is not in violation of the law.

What are the consequences in the eyes of the decision-makers? Even if there is little to suggest a conspiracy, the expected costs of rejecting a theory that is not substantiated by concrete proof could be immense. From this perspective, there seems to be nothing wrong with clinging to an idea branded a conspiracy theory. Uncertainty propels people to rely on clues and signs like Sherlock Holmes did.

Blind belief in a conspiracy theory can be dangerous, but a nuanced approach is useful.

If the views of a large number of people match those of the decision-makers in terms of the expected consequences of a ‘conspiracy’, then it would be naïve for the intelligentsia to term their belief as irrational. When intellectuals start lamenting about the naivety of people, they need to put themselves in the shoes of those they are criticising. This, of course, is not easy, and the inability or unwillingness to do so leads to political polarisation, which is at alarming levels nowadays.

According to Ikram Junaidi’s report in this newspaper some days ago, even seven-year-old children are divided according to their, or their parents’, political beliefs, and sit separately from each other in their classrooms. Nothing can be more despicable than this. All of us have a collective responsibility to reverse this trend in order to strengthen national solidarity.

According to political scientist Joseph Uscinski, “If conspiracy theorists are crazy or stupid, why are they so numerous and stubborn? Perhaps the reason is that conspiracy theories are less about specific details and more about broader conceptions of power: who has it and what are they doing with it? In this sense, conspiracy theories are alarm bells, trip wires, early warning systems. They alert the vulnerable to coming threats, violations of ground rules, and the abuse of power. The alarms sound even when the threat is not realised. The question is, would democracy be better off with more warning bells, or with less?”

While I do not have the answers to Uscinski’s questions, we need to review two important recent developments in the context of the debate on conspiracy theories. One alarming event has already been forgotten by most of us: it was an actual breach of our national borders and security when a runaway flying object from across our eastern border hit our soil last month. Luckily, it was not mounted with a warhead. According to the Scientific American, it was a BrahMos missile. The Indian authorities brushed aside this dangerous event as routine malfunction. Whether it was accidental or deliberate will not be known to us.

One theory was circulated by a defence analyst that it was deliberate move by India that wanted to test our defence system. Whether or not this theory is correct, it can still serve a useful purpose and lead to a review of the strength of our defence systems. The point here is that even if there is scant evidence to show that it was a non-accidental strike, there is no harm in accepting the possibility of the latter and boosting our defence systems if needed. We need not take the theory in the direction of a counter-response though. Blind belief in a conspiracy theory can be dangerous, but a nuanced approach is useful.

The second event occurred on April 10, when a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly was held, in line with our constitutional provisions and the Supreme Court’s directions. A week earlier, the National Assembly had been dissolved on the basis of the expected consequences of an alleged international conspiracy seeking regime change through a no-confidence resolution filed earlier. The judiciary decided on the basis of, not of the expected consequences, but adherence to the law. Our people may be naïve, but they are not oblivious to the current political turmoil. Some are celebrating purana Pakistan, others are dreading it. Despite all this upheaval, two welcome developments augur well for our future. Our judicial bodies seem to have buried the infamous doctrine of necessity and our military authorities have committed themselves to not interfering in politics. Aren’t these signs of an emerging naya Pakistan?


rriazuddin@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022

Twitter takeover

Waqqas Ahmad Mir

Published April 30, 2022 

The writer is a lawyer in Pakistan.

TWITTER is, in Elon Musk’s words, the ‘de facto public town square’. Should we worry it is now owned by the world’s richest man? This takeover has important implications for how we think about free speech, our discourse and independence of publication platforms from powerful owners.

There is consensus that newspaper owners should not be able to control or stifle editorial independence. Twitter’s model presents a twist: there is no buffer of an editorial board and everyone has their say. With more than 80 million followers, Musk can exert significant influence. A lot of people seem to think Musk owning Twitter means he will likely not be censored. He can promote viewpoints or ridicule at will. This is a credibility issue and if Twitter’s policies are applied in shadowy ways, it will become harder to believe in Musk’s proclaimed ‘pathological’ obsession with the truth.

While Musk should continue to receive scrutiny, his ownership of Twitter need not lead to assumptions about misuse of position. Him picking on certain Twitter employees (including the woman who heads Twitter’s legal department) does little to assuage concerns about bad behaviour, yet hurting a platform’s credibility after buying it would not make business or strategic sense.

He does want to influence Twitter’s content regulation. He has no issues being called a ‘free speech absolutist’; no one has ever been able to give a coherent description of what the term means. And his approach to content issues (if in doubt, let the tweet stay) doesn’t take us very far.

Musk needs to be bold to protect the vulnerable.

Marginalised groups and citizens face severe abuse, harassment and threats on Twitter. Relaxing content control could risk alienating many. Musk recently said by ‘free speech’ he means speech allowed by the law. The law in that reference is the First Amendment, which determines restrictions on state action interfering with speech. A private corporation is free to consider different standards. For a marketplace of ideas to exist, he needs to ensure people want to come to the market. Content regulation is something where Musk may have to continue to defer to experts and inclusive processes.

Encouragingly, Musk has promised he will take on spam bots. This will aid free speech and his aim to authenticate all humans on Twitter will add to the platform’s credibility.

Musk reckons Twitter’s algorithms should be open source, so people can learn and suggest improvements. Different users may be able to rely on different algorithms. This will sound revolutionary to some — and will spark worry in others who may cite issues involving the lay user’s limitations about choices of algorithms, issues around intellectual property protection, implications for the revenue stream, etc. The issue nonetheless is compelling. Consider another position Musk has articulated: if Twitter promotes or demotes your tweet, you should be able to tell.

As opposed to bans, Musk reckons ‘time outs’ backed by transparency might work better. Everyone is allowed back in the room if they behave themselves — yes, even Donald Trump.

If Twitter aims to build more trust between governments and the people, Musk is saying that enhancing the public’s trust through transparency in Twitter itself is necessary.

While advocating free speech, Musk also said Twitter should obey laws of the countries it operates in. Is this a contradiction? Twitter’s value exists in being able to broadcast and amplify speech that challenges — sometimes violates — restrictive free speech laws in many countries where it operates. Following the laws of countries could mean voices of dissidents and human rights defenders are marginalised. This will be music to the ears of almost all governments. No doubt compliance is prudent business but when celebrating speech, Musk needs to be bold to protect the vulnerable.

None of this should obscure the fact that banks do not agree to lend billions for free speech. Twitter will undergo important changes. Musk might take it from an ad-based revenue model to a paid subscription leading to a ‘blue tick’. Then there is the ‘edit’ button he has mentioned — who doesn’t want that? He has spoken of end-to-end encryption on Twitter and enhancing it as a communication medium.

This takeover is a reminder of the power of corporations — indeed, even of one rich man — but there is something more at stake. Ultimately, if we care about free speech, we the people have to prioritise it in our politics and discourse. A corporation or those controlling it cannot always be held accountable like a government. But our collective and diverse voices can and do change how governments, and ultimately even corporations, act. Musk’s burning ambition has started off another conversation — we are all better off for it — but he need not be the one controlling the discourse. That is how politics works and this is an algorithm we figured out long before Twitter.


Twitter @wamwordoflaw
Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2022

THIRD WORLD USA

Autopsy backlog plagues Mississippi, with worst delays in US

“I knew it was bad,” he told the AP. “I didn’t know it was this bad.

By LEAH WILLINGHAM

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 Denise Spears holds a portrait of her late step-daughter Marsha Harbour, in her Meridian, Miss., office, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Although Marsha's husband, Truitt Pace, admitted killing his wife, he was free on bond while court proceedings were partially held up because the Mississippi Medical Examiner's Office autopsy report was delayed for a year, and the trial got held up further because of the pandemic and other factors. Harbour was a victim of domestic violence. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — After Truitt Pace admitted to law enforcement that he beat and shot his wife, her family expected a swift conviction. The 34-year-old mother of three’s tiny frame was so bruised and traumatized that the funeral home suggested a closed casket. But as months went by, state prosecutors told Marsha Harbour’s family they were waiting on a key piece of evidence: the medical examiner’s autopsy report.

National standards recommend most autopsy reports be completed within 60 days. Prosecutors in Harbour’s case waited for a year.

Across Mississippi, many families wait even longer. An Associated Press analysis based on state data and documents, as well as dozens of interviews with officials and residents, found that Mississippi’s system has long operated in violation of national standards for death investigations, accruing a severe backlog of autopsies and reports.

Autopsies that should take days take weeks. Autopsy reports that should take months take a year or longer, as in Harbour’s case. Too few pathologists are doing too many autopsies. Some cases are transferred hundreds of miles to neighboring states for reports without their family’s knowledge.

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office was waiting for about 1,300 reports from as far back as 2011, records sent to AP in early April show. Around 800 of those involve homicides — meaning criminal cases are incomplete.

District attorneys have resigned themselves to long waits: “We’re at a point now where we’re happy if it’s only a year,” said Luke Williamson, who’s been a prosecutor for 14 years in northern Mississippi.

The National Association of Medical Examiners, the office that accredits U.S. death investigations offices, dictates that 90% of autopsy reports should be returned within 60 to 90 days.

Mississippi’s office has never been accredited. The majority of U.S. medical examiner agencies, which are chronically underfunded and face a shortage of forensic pathologists, are unaccredited. States such as Georgia have raised the alarm about autopsy report delays of up to six months. But nowhere is the issue more severe than in Mississippi.

Mississippi’s delays are an “emergency-level” concern, said Dr. James Gill, the association’s 2021 president and a leader in the College of American Pathologists. “That’s a disaster situation where you need to do something drastic.”

Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell is a former Mississippi Court of Appeals judge who stepped into his role — overseeing the state medical examiner’s office, the highway patrol and other agencies — in May 2020. He called the backlog “unacceptable” and said he’s made eliminating it the top priority of his administration. He said working as a judge, he saw how trials were delayed while prosecutors awaited reports.

“I knew it was bad,” he told the AP. “I didn’t know it was this bad.

“Families deserve better. I’m sorry that they’ve had to experience delays in laying to rest loved ones, to getting closure in these cases, but we’re going to fix the problem.”

Tindell said he’s instituted a policy that all reports must be back within 90 days. Using contractor pathologists in other states, the office began working to whittle down the backlog. Tindell said around 500 cases have been completed since summer.

But Tindell — who has hired two new pathologists, started university recruiting efforts and streamlined staff duties — said it’s been a challenge trying to fix old problems while facing new ones: the pandemic and an unprecedented increase in violent crime.

Mississippi saw 597 homicides in 2021 and 578 in 2020 — record numbers for the state of 3 million. That’s compared with 434 in 2019 and 382 in 2018.

Arkansas, with a similar population, had 347 homicides in 2021 and 386 in 2020.

From 2020 to April 2022, Arkansas has employed five to seven pathologists performing autopsies. Mississippi has employed two to three, as people left jobs.

Tindell said both the forensics laboratory and medical examiner’s office haven’t been a state priority for funding or staffing in over a decade. The forensic laboratory’s budget has essentially remained unchanged since 2008.

But during Mississippi’s 2022 legislative session, lawmakers approved $4 million that must be used to address backlogged cases.

Like most states, Mississippi does not perform an autopsy — a post-mortem surgical procedure by a forensic pathologist to determine cause of death — for all people. Autopsies are reserved for homicides, suicides, deaths of children and those in correctional facilities, and other unexpected cases. Forensic pathologists are responsible for performing autopsies at Mississippi’s two medical examiner offices — one in the Jackson metro area, one on the coast.

After the autopsy, pathologists complete a report explaining their findings and results, including an official cause of death. Reports can help determine whether a death was an accident, a suicide or a homicide. They shed light on child deaths, or show whether a person accused of murder acted in self-defense.

In 2017, 93-year-old World War II veteran Durley Bratton died after two employees of a Mississippi veterans home dropped him and put him back in bed without telling anyone. Police began an investigation after a tip from the hospital where Bratton was taken.

Arrests didn’t come until 15 months later, after the autopsy report was returned, concluding the veteran died of blunt-force trauma.

In the Harbour case, the autopsy report was the critical piece of evidence after Pace claimed self-defense for shooting his wife.

At the December 2021 trial where Pace was sentenced to life in prison, a medical examiner said Harbour suffered from blunt force trauma wounds consistent with being beaten before she was shot.

Harbour, who helped deliver babies as a surgical technician at a local hospital, had endured months of abuse. She once went to a domestic violence shelter. But she worried for her children’s safety and never went to the police.

Because Pace had no criminal record, he was released on bond days after his arrest.

Harbour’s stepmother, Denise Spears, said she and her family felt dejected as they went to the mailbox month after month to find notices that the trial was being pushed back. Once the report came in, the trial was delayed further because of the pandemic. Pace didn’t stand trial until more than three years after killing his wife.

One of the worst parts was explaining to her grandchildren why the man who killed their mother was able to live free for years, Spears said. More than once, they came to her, afraid they’d run into him.

“They couldn’t understand it,” Spears said. “It was hard for me to explain to them, because I couldn’t understand it either.”

Ben Creekmore, a district attorney in northern Mississippi, said conversations with families about delays are always difficult. He worries about the impact the postponements have on trust in the criminal justice system.

“Those things dramatically impact our relationship with people who have suffered loss,” he said. “It undermines your credibility on everything else.”

Beyond effects on criminal cases, the lack of an autopsy report and official death certificate can prevent families from collecting benefits.

Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he’s been contacted by families who can’t get insurance payouts without a certificate.

“One that contacted us was a mom and two children whose husband died unexpectedly,” he said during a fall budget hearing. “They couldn’t get their life insurance benefits, and that’s the only money they had.”

More than money, families can also find closure. Rebecca Brown lost her brother unexpectedly in 2018. It wasn’t until last June — three years after his death — that his report was completed.

Her brother, in his early 40s, had a history of drug addiction but was in recovery. He lived with his mother, who worried he’d started using again and had died of an overdose. When they finally learned the cause of death was a heart attack, Brown said she felt no relief — just anger that it had taken so long. When she showed her mother a photo of the death certificate, she cried.

“In my mind, what they did is they called for my mother to grieve harder for three years than she could have,” Brown said.

Tindell said the problems won’t be fixed until the state is able to hire more pathologists. The National Medical Examiners Association standards recommend that pathologists perform no more than 250 autopsies a year. If pathologists perform more than 325 a year, the office risks losing accreditation.

In 2021, two Mississippi pathologists performed 461 and 421 autopsies. Arkansas’s six pathologists completed an average of approximately 282 each.

During most of the 1990s and 2000s, Mississippi had no state medical examiner, instead contracting with a private physician, Dr. Steven Hayne, who performed 80% of autopsies in the state. He completed as many as 1,700 autopsies a year.

Hayne’s work was repeatedly attacked in court as sloppy and scientifically unsound. Verdicts in multiple murder cases in which Hayne testified were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

In 2011, the state hired Pathologist Dr. Mark LeVaughn as its first chief medical examiner since 1995. During his tenure, LeVaughn spoke publicly repeatedly about a lack of resources, calling his office a critically understaffed public health risk.

Tindell said a substantial number of autopsy reports that are pending are LeVaughn’s. Because of the department’s staff turnover rate, LeVaughn was the only forensic pathologist handling all the autopsies in the state at times and fell behind on paperwork.

“He was put in the impossible situation of trying to do all the autopsies for the entire state, and just unfortunately, he was not able to get it all done,” Tindell said.

LeVaughn resigned as chief medical examiner in January 2021. He has since been rehired as a pathologist finishing outstanding reports and testifying on them in trials.

Tindell said the office expects an additional pathologist to start late next month, and that he’s recruiting to hire another as soon as possible.

In the meantime, to meet demand, the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office has been forced to send bodies to neighboring states such as Arkansas. In 2021, 284 autopsies were completed by contractor pathologists.

The National Medical Examiner’s Association recommends autopsies be completed within 72 hours. The turnaround time in Mississippi has exceeded three weeks in some cases. The problem is especially severe in north Mississippi, where there is no medical examiner’s office.

One family in Tupelo waited 24 days. After he was shot and killed in May of last year, Lorenzin Brown’s body was first brought almost 200 miles (322 kilometers) away for an autopsy at the Mississippi State Crime Lab in Pearl, the closest state facility that could do it.

Brown lay for two weeks in the morgue before pathologists determined they couldn’t get to his case fast enough. They decided he should be transferred to Little Rock — more than 260 miles (418 kilometers) away — for an autopsy by a contractor.

His family wasn’t notified that he was being transferred or told when he’d be returned. Without updates, they struggled to make funeral arrangements. His father wondered if he’d be able to see him before he was buried.

“To get a call saying that he’s been murdered, it was already a tragic enough situation,” said Brown’s uncle, Tim Butler, a pastor who organized the funeral. “The grieving process is always bad. Under these circumstances, it’s made everything that much worse.”

His mother, Geisha, said she couldn’t work while she waited for his body to be returned and to hold his service. It wasn’t until a month and a day after he died that they were able to bury her son.

Clayton Cobler — coroner in Lauderdale County, where Harbour was killed — said families try calling the medical examiner’s office for answers about the status of autopsies and reports, and they often don’t hear back. Each of Mississippi’s 82 counties has an elected coroner who’s responsible for collecting and transporting bodies to the medical examiner’s office. They end up acting as liaisons with families and answering desperate calls month after month, Cobler said.

“I’ve got a grandmother that her grandson died in 2017, and she wants to know why,” he said. “It just breaks my heart every time she calls, because I can’t tell her.”

Cobler, who has worked in death investigations for decades, said he recently made the difficult decision not to run for reelection.

“More and more coroners or long-term coroners are saying, ’I’m done. I’m not going to run again, because it’s just too frustrating, and it’s too heartbreaking,’” he said.

Rocky Kennedy, the Lafayette County coroner, said many people who work with families feel the same fatigue.

“It’s a waiting game, and I think everybody’s patience ran out a long time ago,” he said. “Words without results mean nothing.”

___

Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

GREEN MINERALS AIN'T SO GREEN
Biden order to boost mining may not have quick payoff

By MATTHEW DALY

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 The Montana Mountains loom over Thacker Pass in northern Nevada on July 14, 2021. The new lithium mining project closest to development is the one proposed for Thacker Pass by Lithium Americas. That northern Nevada mine would make millions of tons of lithium available, but Native American tribes have argued that it's located on sacred lands and should be stopped. (Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is turning to a Cold War-era law to boost production of lithium and other minerals used to power electric vehicles, but experts say the move by itself is unlikely to ensure the robust domestic mining Biden seeks as he promotes cleaner energy sources.

Biden’s action, part of his efforts to find alternatives to fossil fuels and combat climate change, does not waive or suspend existing environmental and labor standards, the White House said. Nor does it address the chief hurdle to increased domestic extraction of so-called critical minerals: the years-long process needed to obtain a federal permit for a new mine.

Even so, the mining industry and supporters in Congress cheered Biden’s use of the 1950 Defense Production Act to increase U.S. supplies of lithium, nickel and other minerals needed for electric-vehicles batteries and other clean-energy technology.

His March 31 executive order is a historic step by the White House to “recognize the critical importance of minerals and push to electrify the car industry,″ said Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

But “unless we continue to build on this action″ and approve new hardrock mines, Nolan added, “we risk feeding the minerals dominance of geopolitical rivals″ such as China and Russia.

“We have abundant mineral resources here,” he said. “What we need is policy to ensure we can produce them and build the secure, reliable supply chains we know we must have.”

Environmentalists, meanwhile, worry that Biden is activating a war-time tool to boost mineral extraction that can contaminate groundwater and harm ranching and wildlife.

“The clean energy transition cannot be built on dirty mining,” said Lauren Pagel, policy director of Earthworks, an environmental group that has pushed for stronger restrictions on hardrock mining.

Biden’s order directs the Defense Department to consider at least five metals — lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese — as essential to national security and authorizes steps to bolster domestic supplies. Biden and former President Donald Trump both used the defense production law previously to speed the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On minerals, Biden wants to ensure the U.S. has enough lithium and other materials needed for EV batteries, heat pumps and large-capacity batteries for the electric grid. A majority of global lithium production comes from China, Australia, Argentina and Chile, while Russia dominates the global nickel market and the Democratic Republic of Congo is the world’s largest cobalt producer.

Technical grade lithium carbonate comes off a conveyor belt during a tour of the Silver Peak lithium mine near Tonopah, Nev., on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. The element is critical to development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are seen as key to reducing climate-changing carbon emissions created by cars and other forms of transportation. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)

“We need to end our long-term reliance on China and other countries for inputs that will power the future,″ Biden said, vowing to “use every tool I have to make that happen.″

Although lithium reserves are distributed widely across the globe, the U.S. is home to just one active lithium mine, in Nevada. New and potential lithium mining and extracting projects are in various stages of development in Nevada, Maine, North Carolina and California. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has labeled California the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” and two projects there could produce lithium by 2024.

Under Biden’s order, the Pentagon is authorized to spend millions of dollars to support a range of activities, including feasibility studies to determine economic viability of a proposed mine and develop mineral-waste recycling programs. Money also could help existing mines and other industrial sites produce valuable materials, the Pentagon said. For example, a copper mine could also produce nickel.

It’s unclear how much money will be available for mining, but the Defense Department is authorized to keep up to $750 million on hand for its strategic and critical material stockpile.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., called Biden’s order “a good first step toward expanding our electric vehicle battery manufacturing and infrastructure.″ But she and other lawmakers said the U.S. needs a long-term strategy to improve the domestic supply chain of critical minerals.

“Unless the president streamlines permitting, we should not expect to see any meaningful increase in American mineral production,″ said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. At a recent committee hearing. Barrasso urged Biden to “stand up to mining opponents in his own party.”


In this Feb. 10, 2020, file photo, a plant ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, points to a tiny Tiehm's buckwheat that has sprouted at a campus greenhouse in Reno, Nev. The rare desert wildflower is at the center of a fight over a proposed lithium mine in Nevada. President Joe Biden is turning to a Cold War-era law to boost production of lithium and other minerals used to power electric vehicles, worrying environmentalists who say expanded production could harm wildlife and plant life. The White House says Biden’s actions do not relax environmental protections. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner, File)

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, called Biden’s order misguided. “Fast-tracking mining under antiquated standards that put our public health, wilderness and sacred sites at risk of permanent damage just isn’t the answer,” he said.

Grijalva and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced legislation to modernize the 1872 law that governs hardrock mining in the U.S.

(asterisk)Our current mining law was put in place before we even knew what a car was, much less an electric one,″ Grijalva said. “Modernizing this relic of a law isn’t extreme or anti-industry — it’s just common sense.”

Mining companies have extracted hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of gold, silver, copper and other minerals from federal lands over the past 150 years “without paying a cent in federal royalties,” Grijalva and Heinrich said in a statement. The House bill would establish a 12.5% royalty on new mining operations and an 8% royalty on existing operations.

The bill also would set up a Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund to make the industry pay for cleanup of abandoned mine sites.

About 40% of watersheds in the western U.S. are contaminated by hardrock mine drainage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many nickel, copper, lithium and cobalt reserves are located within 35 miles or 56 kilometers of tribal lands.

Indigenous people living near a proposed lithium mine in Nevada assailed Biden’s order.

“I believe this is going to be the second coming of environmental destruction,″ said Day Hinkey, a member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone tribe and an organizer with People of Red Mountain, a group that opposes the vast Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada.

Another Nevada lithium mine is planned near a desert ridge where a rare wildflower has been proposed for listing as an endangered species. The mine’s developer, Australia-based Ioneer, said the expected habitat protections for the rare Tiehm’s buckwheat would not affect its mining activities, and company operations would not jeopardize conservation of the species.

Opponents dispute that. Hinkey said the first environmental crisis was caused by the fossil fuel industry “and I believe this next one will be lithium mining.”

RIGHT WING RALLY

Motorcycles rumble through Canadian capital under police eye


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WEARING A NAZI STYLE HELMET

Demonstrators on motorcycles ride near the National War Memorial, part of a convoy-style protest participants are calling "Rolling Thunder" in Ottawa, Ontario, on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

 (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)


OTTAWA (AP) — Motorcycles rumbled through the streets of Canada’s capital city Saturday while a strong police presence kept a close eye on a couple of rallies during the “Rolling Thunder” protest.

Many of the protesters involved in a morning service at the National War Memorial and a later rally on Parliament Hill were also involved in the “Freedom Convoy” that shuttered downtown Ottawa for weeks in February.

Police made a handful of arrests Saturday, including a driver who allegedly tried to jump onto a sidewalk to get around officers. Police arrested the person for dangerous driving and found them in breach of their bail conditions related to the previous protest, when they were ordered not to return to Ottawa.

Ottawa By-law and Regulatory Services said more than 560 tickets have been handed out for parking violations, smoking, noise and encumbering a highway, and 39 vehicles have been towed since Friday morning.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the National War Memorial which was a focal point during the early days of the February protests.

Supporters watched retired Afghanistan veteran Christopher Deering lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a quasi-remembrance ceremony.

Other speakers expressed their opposition to vaccine mandates, COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Supporters were asked to remove slogans with expletives aimed at the prime minister for the event.

A small group of counter-protesters gathered across the street from the memorial chanting ``go home″ at the protesters.

Police formed a line in between the two groups to keep the peace.

At the end of the service, the crowd marched down Elgin Street to greet a convoy of around 150 motorcycles traveling on a route outlined by police.

Police stopped the motorcycle convoy two blocks from the National War Memorial, and had the motorcyclists travel back out of the core on a designated route.

Later, protesters gathered on Parliament Hill. Some danced on the street in front of parliament shouting ``freedom!″

The protest in February lasted three weeks, as big-rigs and other trucks embedded themselves in front of Parliament Hill and set up encampments that blocked traffic. The federal government invoked the Emergencies Act in an effort to dislodge them and similar protesters who blockaded border crossings.

This weekend Ottawa police called in more than 800 reinforcements from RCMP and other police services who blocked off highway exits and every street into the core to prevent a new encampment from forming.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said police took ``a strong stance″ to prevent the kind of prolonged demonstration that gripped Ottawa in February.

Saturday’s events were relatively peaceful compared to an altercation between police and protesters Friday evening, when officers arrested seven people and faced off with what they described as an ``aggressive crowd″ just outside the parliamentary precinct.

Dems hone populist appeal with proposed stock trading ban

By KEVIN FREKING

The U.S. Capitol on a sunny morning, April 27, 2022, in Washington. 

(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Rep. Abigail Spanberger first introduced a bill banning stock trading by members of Congress and their families, the Virginia Democrat managed to get only eight co-sponsors. So far this session, 62 — or about one out of every seven House members — have signed on.

It’s a similar story in the Senate. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a once lonely voice on the issue, had just one co-sponsor for his proposed stock trading ban in the last two congressional sessions. Now, he has nine.

The uptick in support reflects a growing lawmaker appetite to tighten the rules around trading after several members faced heavy scrutiny for their stock transactions during the pandemic. While there’s no guarantee any of the proposals will become law, many lawmakers facing the toughest reelection races have embraced the legislation, elevating the ethics issue as a talking point — and potential point of attack — for the midterm campaigns.

Even with voters focused on issues like inflation and the war in Ukraine, Spanberger said the trading ban comes up time and again when she meets with constituents.

“No matter where I am, somebody brings it up,” said Spanberger, who is among those lawmakers facing a difficult reelection bid.

But it’s not clear sailing. Other lawmakers, particularly Republicans, are skeptical and raising concerns about the merits of such a ban and the logistics of enforcing it. And while congressional leaders say they are open to the proposals, there are doubts from some lawmakers about whether that will translate to action.

“The headwind is that some members of Congress don’t want to abide by these rules, and some of those members are in leadership,” Spanberger said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., initially said she did not support a stock trading ban back in December. “We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” she told reporters. But in February she announced she was open to one. “It’s complicated, and members will figure it out. And then we’ll go forward with what the consensus is,” she said.

Under current law, members of Congress and government employees must report the sale and purchases of stocks, bonds, commodity futures and other securities no more than 30 days after learning they were made and within 45 days of a transaction exceeding $1,000.

But lawmakers have been routinely late in filing such notices, and in some cases didn’t file at all, leading to a flurry of complaints to the House Ethics Committee.

During a House hearing on the issue in April, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., said it’s clear the current disclosure laws aren’t working as intended. But he characterized the violations as mostly inadvertent.

Davis said he’s heard little from constituents about the stock trading and worries that requiring lawmakers to put assets in a blind trust would prove inordinately expensive for many lawmakers. Still, he’s open to finding a compromise “that doesn’t encourage the ultra wealthy to be only ones to run for Congress.”

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., went further. He said Americans have the “right and freedom to participate in a free and fair market economy.”

“It’s not going to make a difference to me personally, but it does make a difference to me as an American citizen,” he said.

Watchdog groups warned at the hearing that public disclosure of stock trades has failed to deter lawmakers from owning and trading stocks in companies subject to their oversight, eroding voter trust.

California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the Democratic chair of the House Administration Committee who has been reviewing the various trading bills introduced, said this week she was “hopeful” of getting a bill through her committee. But she also said “it’s way more complicated than I understood when I first started looking at it.”

Support for the trading ban is bipartisan. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, co-authored the bill with Spanberger, but the vast majority of co-sponsors of the various bills are Democrats. That includes progressives such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Several Democrats facing tough reelection battles have also signed on as co-sponsors. The list includes Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Sharice Davids of Kansas, Angie Craig of Minnesota, Kim Schrier of Washington, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey.

Malinowski is under an Ethics Committee investigation after the Office of Congressional Ethics determined there was substantial reason to believe he failed to properly disclose stocks that he purchased or sold. Malinowski said his trading activity was conducted by a third-party investment manager without his involvement. He has since established a qualified blind trust to manage his investments. But Republicans have made the trades and the ethics investigation an issue as they try to win back Malinowski’s New Jersey seat.

Slotkin said she was elected in 2018 after promising not to accept donations from corporate political action committees. She called it a defining issue in that race, and she views the proposed trading ban as an extension of that effort.

“Anything that we can do to clean up the perception about elected officials is good for democracy,” Slotkin said.

She said she shares Spanberger’s concern that Pelosi doesn’t consider the stock trading ban a priority.

“When the speaker wants something to get done, it gets done. When she doesn’t want it to get done, you have to fight to get it on the agenda, and that is the place where we are at,” Slotkin said.

In the Senate, 13 Democratic lawmakers, but no Republicans, have signed onto a bill from Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia that would require lawmakers and their spouses and children to place their securities in a blind trust. Three Democratic senators viewed as having the toughest reelection races this year are co-sponsors: Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

Larry Parnell, director of the strategic public relations program at George Washington University, said Democratic candidates have had a muddled message going into the midterms because “they’re sort of halfway in, halfway out on certain elements of the Biden agenda.” But he believes the stock trading ban is one idea “that everyone can get behind.”

“Its a win-win situation for anyone looking for a populist message to bring to the market,” Parnell said.

102 marathons in 102 days: Amputee’s unofficial world record

By WILLIAM J. KOLE and ROSS D. FRANKLIN

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Jacky Hunt-Broersma runs her 102nd marathon in 102 days, this one at Veterans Oasis Park, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Chandler, Ariz. 

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)


GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — As Forrest Gump in the Oscar-winning 1994 film of the same name, lead actor Tom Hanks abruptly trots to a halt after more than three years of nonstop running and tells his followers: “I’m pretty tired — I think I’ll go home now.”

Jacky Hunt-Broersma can relate. On Thursday, the amputee athlete achieved her goal of running 102 marathons in as many days, setting an unofficial women’s world record.

And she can’t stop/won’t stop, saying she’ll run two more for good measure and wrap up her challenge on Saturday with 104. “I might as well end April with a marathon,” she told The Associated Press.

Britain-based Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. It can take up to a year for the organization to ratify a world record.

Guinness lists the men’s record for consecutive daily marathons as 59, set in 2019 by Enzo Caporaso of Italy.

“I’m just happy that I made it — I can’t believe it,” she said. “The best thing was the incredible support I’ve received from people around the world who’ve reached out, telling me how this has inspired them to push themselves.”

Hunt-Broersma, 46, began her quest on Jan. 17, covering the classic 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) marathon distance on a loop course laid out near her home in Gilbert, Arizona, or on a treadmill indoors. Since then, it’s been “rinse and repeat” every day for the South Africa native, who lost her left leg below the knee to a rare cancer and runs on a carbon-fiber prosthesis.

Her original goal was to run 100 marathons in 100 days so she’d beat the record of 95 set in 2020 by Alyssa Amos Clark, a nondisabled runner from Bennington, Vermont, who took it on as a pandemic coping strategy. But earlier this month, after nondisabled British runner Kate Jayden unofficially broke Clark’s record with 101 marathons in 101 days, Hunt-Broersma realized she’d need to run at least 102.



On foot, day in and day out, she’s covered 2,672 miles (4,300 kilometers) — the equivalent of running from her Phoenix suburb to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, or from New York City to Mexico City.

Along the way, Hunt-Broersma gained a huge social media following and raised nearly $27,000 to help fellow amputee blade runners get the expensive prostheses they need. Health insurance typically doesn’t cover the cost, which can exceed $10,000.

Hunt-Broersma, who ran her 92nd at this month’s Boston Marathon, hopes her quest will inspire people everywhere to push themselves to do hard things.

What’s next for the endurance athlete? A 240-mile (386-kilometer) ultra race to be staged over mountainous terrain in October in Moab, Utah.

___

Kole reported from Boston.

CANADIAN, EH
First ‘Jeopardy!’ Gen Z super champ’s streak hits 19 games

April 29, 2022

This image released by Sony Pictures Television shows Mattea Roach, a 23-year-old Canadian contestant on the game show "Jeopardy!" 

(Tyler Golden/Sony Pictures Television via AP)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Reigning “Jeopardy!” champion Mattea Roach represents a new generation of the quiz show’s all-star players.

As of Friday, the 23-year-old Canadian has won 19 games and amassed USD$469,184 in prize money, putting her among the top 10 contestants for both consecutive victories and regular-season winnings in “Jeopardy!” history.

Roach, who begins her fifth week of competition Monday, is in the company of veteran standout players including Ken Jennings, who’s currently hosting the show, and this season’s champs Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio.

“The fact that I’m now one of the best players of all time hasn’t fully sunk in yet. It doesn’t really feel real,” said Roach, the first Gen Zer to be dubbed a “super champion” by the show for achieving a double-digit string of wins. (Generation Z generally refers to those born from 1997 to 2012.)

A tutor for aspiring law school students, and perhaps one herself, she plays with a breezy confidence. Roach is relaxed enough to casually think out loud about her approach, as she did when she hit a crucial Double Jeopardy last Wednesday.

“You know what, if I wager a lot and lose today, like whatever, I had such a good run,” Roach mused, then successfully wagered a hefty $8,000 and ended up taking the game from formidable challenger Ben Hsia of Fremont, California.

The category was anatomy, the clue was “To gently tease another person,” and Roach’s slightly exasperated response: “I should have wagered more. What is ‘rib’?”

Besides conservative bets, her play has been distinguished by the broad range of knowledge and buzzer command that “Jeopardy!” champs have. Athletic skill doesn’t contribute to the latter, said Roach, who admits that sports isn’t a favored category.

Among her trademarks are an engaging smile and demure wave to the camera at the start of a game; tattoos including Talking Heads song lyrics, and attire that’s on the serious side but with a touch of personal flair. For a recent interview, however, she paired a T-shirt with denim.

“There’s no denim on ‘Jeopardy!’” Roach said, helpfully. As for her on-camera wardrobe, it’s all clothes she already owned — “I hate shopping,” she said — and which she figured would send the right message.

“I wanted to be comfortable, I wanted to look professional and I wanted to express my personality, and I think I accomplished that,” she said.

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who lives in Toronto, Roach credits her love of learning to her mother, Patti MacKinnon, an auditor, and her father, Phil Roach, who works in human resources. Mattea Roach began reading at age 3, skipped a grade in elementary school and enrolled at the University of Toronto when she was 16.

After mom and dad helped pay for the first two years of college, Roach put herself through the rest.

“I have three younger siblings at home, and even with them (her parents) both working there’s only so much money to go around,” she said. “I figured I can work, so why would I not be?”

She majored in sexual diversity studies and earned minors in political science and women and gender studies. The school’s debate program helped her gain poise and tackle unfamiliar subjects, presumably helpful training for “Jeopardy!” — and maybe politics.

As a youngster, Roach said, she had a vague interest in the “workings of government” and, while she’s retained an interest in it, she realized it wouldn’t be a good fit. Despite the flurry of media and online attention that “Jeopardy!” has brought, “I’m actually a very private person, and I prefer to have a relatively more normal job,” she said.

She was applying to law school when “Jeopardy!” summoned her to be a contestant. Her success and that of Amodio (38 wins, $1.52 million) and Schneider (40 wins, $1.38 million) has made the show’s 2021-22 season a memorable one.

Roach mentioned on air that she would be able to pay off her student loans after her first win. What is she planning to do as the sum has grown?

“I’m so boring. I don’t want to splurge on anything,” she said.

Roach intends to invest the windfall for her future, although some of it will go toward realizing travel plans derailed by the pandemic. Another possible indulgence occurred to her.

“I hopefully will not be afraid of buying concert tickets anymore,” she said.

Ford cutting hundreds of engineering jobs after $3.1 billion loss in Q1


The job reductions were reported on the same day that Ford said it earned $34.5 billion in revenues in the first quarter, but posted a net loss of $3.1 billion. 

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

April 28 (UPI) -- Ford is cutting out hundreds of engineering jobs in the United States in order to seek out new talent, the automaker said on the same day that it reported a first-quarter loss of more than $3 billion.

The company announced the cuts on Wednesday and said they would come in its engineering division, although it didn't specify whether those losses would occur at its Detroit-area facilities.

The total number of job cuts will be 580, Ford said. Most will involve salaried employees and the rest are agency positions.

Ford employs close to 90,000 workers in the United States and has 182,000 employees worldwide. Ford CEO Jim Farley has said previously that the company needs "totally different talent."

The job cuts were reported on the same day that Ford issued first-quarter earnings, which noted a $3.1 billion net loss for the January-March period. The loss comes primarily from devaluation of its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian, the company said.

In its earnings report, the automaker said it made $34.5 billion in revenues and sold 966,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a decline of almost 10% over the first quarter of 2021.

Nonetheless, Ford said that it remains on target to achieve production goals for the rest of 2022.

The job cuts came one day after Ford launched its Ford F-150 Lightning, the automaker's first fully electric F-150. It began rolling off assembly lines nearly two months after the company announced plans to separate its traditional and electric vehicle operations. Ford said it's so far made about 2,000 of the trucks and will begin deliveries soon.

President Joe Biden previewed the F-150 Lightning during a tour of Ford's Dearborn, Mich., plant a year ago -- famously taking the pickup for a quick spin and concluding, "This sucker's quick."

The automaker said that demand for the electric F-150 is high with 200,000 preorders.

Justice Dept. challenges Alabama law criminalizing certain transgender youth care

April 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint challenging a new Alabama law that criminalizes medical care for transgender youth, citing the 14th Amendment.

Alabama's Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed Senate Bill 184 into law earlier this month, which criminalizes hormone therapy or puberty blocking medication or surgeries that affirm the gender identity of transgender minors.

A violation of the new law is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fine of up to $15,000.

The Justice Department alleges in the complaint that this state ban discriminates against transgender youth by denying them access to certain forms of medically necessary care in violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protect Clause.

RELATED Parents ask court to overturn Alabama law denying their transgender kids healthcare

The state law, set to take effect on May 8, also requires school nurses, counselors, teachers and principals not to "withhold from the minor's parent or legal guardian information related to a minor's perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her sex."

Senate Bill 184 "denies necessary medical care to children based solely on who they are," and "threatens criminal prosecution and jail time to doctors, parents, and anyone else who provides or 'causes' that care," according to the Justice Department's statement.

The Justice Department called for the court to issue an immediate order to prevent the law from going into effect.

RELATED Alabama lawmakers pass controversial bills on transgender youth

Late last month, the Justice Department also issued a letter to all state attorneys reminding them of federal constitutional and statutory provisions that protect transgender youth against discrimination.

Parents of four transgendered children in Alabama, joined by two doctors and a reverend, recently asked a federal judge to overturn the law before it goes into effect next month.

In the lawsuit filed earlier this month, the plaintiffs said that the law should be overturned because it unconstitutionally denies parents the right to make decisions for their children, and discriminates against children for being transgender.

Kansas legislators uphold governor's vetos on controversial bills

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed two bills earlier this month that she described as being were more political than substantive. Photo courtesy of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly/Website


April 29 (UPI) -- Kansas state lawmakers have upheld Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of two controversial Republican-led bills to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls sports and allow parents to object to any school material they deem is contrary to their beliefs.

Both bills died Thursday in the state's House as they failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to overturn Kelly's vetos.

"Compassion wins today," Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard tweeted.

Kelly vetoed the bills earlier this month after they were sent to her desk amid a push by Republican-controlled states to pass similar legislation.

RELATED Parents ask court to overturn Alabama law denying their transgender kids healthcare

Senate Bill 160, dubbed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, sought to bar transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams at all public, secondary and post-secondary institutions, and was passed by both the state Senate and House earlier this month.

Kelly had object to the bill, stating both Republican and Democratic governors have veto similar bills that had reached their desks as they are harmful to students, families, and businesses.

She said everyone wants sports to be fair but accused the bill of not being based on the opinions of experts but on those of politicians seeking to score political points

"This bill would also undoubtedly harm our ability to attract and retain businesses," she said on vetoing the bill earlier this month. "It would send a signal to prospective companies that Kansas is more focused on unnecessary and divisive legislation than strategic, pro-growth lawmaking."

Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, thanked Kelly for the veto and the legislators for supporting it.

"This harmful legislation has no place in Kansas or any other state," Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at HRC, said in a statement. "Kansans deserve better than legislators who bully transgender youth -- youth who pose no threat and just want to play sports with their friends."

RELATED Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs measure restricting discussion of race in classrooms

The other bill that died Thursday was Senate Bill 58, the so-called the Parents Bill of Rights, that would have allowed parents to challenge school curriculum for removal if they deem material to cause harm to their child or impair "the parent's firmly held beliefs, values or principles."

In vetoing it, Kelly had said parents should play a role in their children's education, but this bill "is about politics, not parents."

"Over 100 Kansas parents testified against this bill. It would create more division in our schools and would be costly," she said. "Money that should be spent in the classroom would end up being spent in the courtroom."

Lawsuit says USPS didn't do proper environmental review for vehicle purchase plan


The U.S. Postal Service plans to make at least 10% of its vehicle fleet electric. 

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

April 28 (UPI) -- The attorneys general of 16 states and the District of Columbia, plus environmental activist groups have sued the U.S. Postal Service over its plans to replace the vast majority of its fleet with vehicles that burn fossil fuels.

The suit, filed Wednesday, said the plan doesn't comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to conduct environmental reviews before making major decisions.

According to the lawsuit, the USPS expects to replace 90% of its fleet of more than 212,000 vehicles with fossil fuel-powered, internal combustion engine vehicles. The plaintiffs said the plans rely on a flawed environmental analysis and miscalculations.

"The Postal Service has a historic opportunity to invest in our planet and in our future. Instead, it is doubling down on outdated technologies that are bad for our environment and bad for our communities," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

"Once this purchase goes through, we'll be stuck with more than 100,000 new gas-guzzling vehicles on neighborhood streets, serving homes across our state and across the country, for the next 30 years. There won't be a reset button. We're going to court to make sure the Postal Service complies with the law and considers more environmentally friendly alternatives before it makes this decision."

The lawsuit calls for the USPS to set aside its environmental review because it signed contracts with a defense contractor to procure the vehicles before the review was done. The plaintiffs said the agency "arbitrarily" declined to consider a greater percentage of EVs, and failed to properly consider air equality, environmental justice and climate impacts of the purchase.

The USPS holds the federal government's largest and oldest vehicle fleet. It completed an environmental review of plans to modernize the fleet in February, announcing plans to incorporate thousands of electric vehicles. The plan calls for the overall fleet mix to be at least 10% EVs, with more added as financial resources become available.

RELATED Biden signs law to reform U.S. Postal Service

Kim Frum, a spokeswoman for the USPS, told UPI the agency placed an initial order for 10,019 battery electric vehicles and that its contract allows it to order more EVs over the next 10 years.

"The Postal Service conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all of our obligations under NEPA," she said.

"The Postal Service is fully committed to the inclusion of electric vehicles as a significant part of our delivery fleet even though the investment will cost more than an internal combustion engine vehicle. That said, as we have stated repeatedly, we must make fiscally prudent decisions in the needed introduction of a new vehicle fleet."

'Extremely' rare 15-carat blue diamond sells at auction for almost $60 million




The De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond is seen at Sotheby's in New York City on February 15. Before the auction, Sotheby's estimated that the step-cut gem could fetch as much as $48 million. The final price was roughly $10 million higher. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

April 28 (UPI) -- A 15-carat blue diamond found in South Africa last year -- the largest diamond of that color ever put up for auction -- has sold for close to $60 million, blowing past even the top-end estimates for the gem.

Sotheby's in Hong Kong said that the De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond sold to an anonymous buyer over the telephone on Wednesday for $57.47 million.

The sale featured a bidding war between two buyers that lasted for eight minutes before the final hammer came down.

Before the auction, Sotheby's estimated that the step-cut gem could fetch as much as $48 million. The final price was roughly $10 million higher.


Blue diamonds are among the rarest of all colored diamonds. The blue hue is normally caused by small amounts of boron within the crystal structure. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

The Cullinan Blue gemstone is the largest internally flawless vivid blue diamond that the Gemological Institute of America has ever graded, the auctioneer said. The GIA says it's given its top color grading -- "fancy vivid blue" -- to no more than 1% of blue diamonds it evaluates.

The stone was cut from an exceptional rough stone mined in South Africa a year ago.

Sotheby's says that blue diamonds with the size and quality of the De Beers diamond are "exceptionally rare." Only five other diamonds larger than 10 carats ever have come to auction and none exceeded 15 carats. The De Beers stone is 15.10 carats.

The De Beers stone barely missed setting a sales record for blue diamonds. The record-holder is the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond, which sold for $57.5 million six years ago.

Blue diamonds are among the rarest of all colored diamonds. The blue hue is normally caused by small amounts of boron within the crystal structure. This differs entirely from pink diamonds, which get their color from distortions within the lattice structure. Diamonds can exhibit a number of colors -- including orange, yellow, green and brown -- and most get their color from small amounts of chemicals inside.

Ukraine says Russian forces looted Melitopol museum of Scythian gold

The Golden Pectoral, a neckpiece, is an ancient Scythian artifact found in a burial kurgan at a site in southern Ukraine in 1971. 

Photo courtesy D. Kolosov/Wikimedia

April 30 (UPI) -- Russian forces stormed the Melitopol Museum of Local History and stole rare Scythian gold artifacts, according to officials in Ukraine.

"The orcs have taken hold of our Scythian gold," Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said, according to Ukrinform -- the nation's information and news agency.

"This is one of the largest and most expensive collections in Ukraine, and today we don't know where they took it, whether it was hidden or stolen. We don't know about its fate, but of course this gold has been stolen from our community, and I hope that we will be able to get it back."

Leila Ibrahimova, the director of the Melitopol Museum of Local History, told The New York Times that Russian forces had kidnapped a museum caretaker at gunpoint and ordered her to show them the artifacts that the museum had hidden earlier in the invasion.

A "mysterious man" in a white lab coat was with the troops when they showed up at the museum on Wednesday and used special gloves to steal the ancient artifacts from the cardboard boxes where they had been stashed in the museum's cellar, The New York Times reported.

In all, Russian troops looted at least 198 gold items, rare old weapons, centuries-old silver coins and special medals, Ibrahimova said.

Ibrahimova herself was kidnapped by Russian forces in mid-March, according to a press release at the time from the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in Kyiv.

"The occupiers are purposefully repressing representatives of Ukrainian culture, intimidating Ukrainians, and threatening the most active ones," the Holodomor Museum alleged in its statement.

Ibrahimova was questioned and released after she and other museum staff members had tried to hide the precious artifacts in the cellar when control of the city was taken by Russian forces.

"We knew that any second someone could come into the museum with a weapon," she said. "We hid everything but somehow they found it."

The Scythians were nomadic people that migrated from Iran to southern Russia and Ukraine around 800 B.C.E. and an empire centered in what is now Crimea, the region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Tuesday confirmed Tuesday that at least 110 sites have been destroyed since the start the invasion on Feb. 24.

Russia's scorched-earth tactics have led to the destruction of at least 48 religious sites, 10 museums, 22 historic buildings, 11 buildings dedicated to cultural activities, 13 monuments and six libraries.

Museums that have been damaged or destroyed include the Ivankiv Museum in the Kyiv region, the Regional Art Museum in Chernihiv and the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.

Concern over the cultural artifacts of Ukraine has led international institutions such as Venice's Civic Museums to send supplies to Ukrainian museums to help secure such priceless art and artifacts.

The Lviv National Art Gallery will receive protective fabrics, foam panels and data loggers for tracking changes in humidity and temperature from the museums in Venice, Italy, The Art Newspaper reported.

According to the outlet, the donation is part of Save Ukraine Art 22 - an initiative from private companies and public institutions to create a supply chain of materials to help Ukrainian museums save the art.

The Art Newspaper noted that the Lviv National Gallery, a network of 18 museums, has also attempted to hide its collection of 67,000 works from the Russian invaders.

More than 3,000 migrants dead, missing in 2021 after Europe crossing attempt


One of hundreds of overcrowded boats filled with migrants attempting to get to Europe is pictured. A report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday found more than 3,000 people died or disappeared trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean in 2021. 

File Photo Courtesy of MSF/TWITTER

April 29 (UPI) -- More than 3,000 migrants died or went missing last year, while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean, according to a UN Refugee Agency report issued on Friday.

The majority of the attempted crossings took place in "packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats," which collapsed or otherwise became unusable as they attempted to reach Europe, according to the UNHCR report.

The number of dead or missing migrants is up from 2020, when the agency reported 1,776 people perished while attempting the same crossings.

The 3,000 number is up from 1,776 in 2020, according to the UNHCR report. 

File Photo by Brais Lorenzo/EPA-EFE

Migrants typically used one of three routes, with a total of 1,924 people reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean passages. An additional 1,153 died or went missing on the Northwest African maritime route to the Canary Islands.

Another 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea since the beginning of 2022.

The maritime crossing from the West African coast can take up to 10 days. Boats can often drift off course and disappear without a trace, the UN agency said.

Attempted crossings across land borders can be just as dangerous.

More people have died while on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, the report found. Others end up in detention camps or in the captivity of smugglers or traffickers, where they are exposed to "gross human rights violations."

The UNHCR report calls for $163.5 million worth of international financial aid to assist and protect thousands of refugees. The agency is appealing for support to help provide alternatives to the dangerous crossings.

The appeal covers five countries across four different regions connected by the same land and sea routes which are used by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

The UNHCR is also urging states to commit to strengthened humanitarian development to address protection.

"States must ensure unimpeded humanitarian access for the delivery of essential services to people on the move or stranded en route, intercepted at sea, or held in detention centers, and to determine whether they have international protection needs," states the report, warning of further tragedies if no action is taken.

A report from the same U.N. agency in February, found migrants seeking protection in Europe are often met with violence, ill-treatment and pushback at multiple EU ports of entry.

"People report being left adrift in life rafts or sometimes even forced directly into the water, showing a callous lack of regard for human life," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said at the time.

"Equally horrific practices are frequently reported at land borders, with consistent testimonies of people being stripped and brutally pushed back in harsh weather conditions."

Migrant boat disaster wrecks a Lebanese family amid crisis

By FAY ABUELGASIM

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Bilal Dandashi, gestures as he speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. A week ago, the boat carrying Bilal Dandashi, his relatives and dozens of others hoping to escape Lebanon and reach Europe sank in the Mediterranean. Dandashi still doesn't know if his wife and children are alive or dead. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — A week ago, the boat carrying Bilal Dandashi, his relatives and dozens of others hoping to escape Lebanon and reach Europe sank in the Mediterranean. Dandashi still doesn’t know if his wife and children are alive or dead.

Their boat sank in the darkness of night in a matter of seconds after a collision with a Lebanese Navy ship trying to stop the migrants. Of the around 60 men, women and children on board, 47 were rescued, seven bodies were found — and the rest remain missing.

The tragedy underscored the desperate lengths to which some Lebanese are going after their country’s economy collapsed, driving two-thirds of the population into poverty with no hope on the horizon for any recovery.

Lebanon has now become a source for migrants making the dangerous boat crossing to reach European shores. There are no firm figures, but hundreds of Lebanese in recent months have attempted the journey.

In Tripoli, Lebanon’s poorest city, residents say there is a constant stream of migrant boats, taking off from shores around the city — even from Tripoli’s official port.

“The port has become like an airport. Young people, women and children are going to Europe. The trips are daily,” said Amid Dandashi, Bilal’s brother, who was also on the boat with him and whose three children were killed in the capsizing.

On Friday, police said they arrested three smugglers preparing to set off with a boat carrying 85 migrants from the dock of a resort near Tripoli.

Bilal and another of his brothers had attempted a crossing once before, but the smugglers’ boat they were on stalled offshore.

So for a second trip, they took matters into their own hands. Working with two other families in Tripoli, they obtained a recreational boat, nearly 50 years old, from a smuggler. The brothers spent three months refurbishing it and getting life jackets for it.

On the night of April 23, they set off: around 22 members of the extended Dandashi family along with members of the other two families. They were around 60 people total, well over the capacity of the small yacht. The goal was to reach Italy — some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) across the Mediterranean, a common route for migrant boats from Lebanon.

An hour and a half into their journey, their boat was intercepted by the Lebanese Navy.

Disaster struck: The boat collided with the Navy ship and sank within seconds.

The Navy has blamed the boat captain, saying he was maneuvering to avoid being forced to return to shore. It also blamed the migrants for overcrowding the boat and not wearing life vests.

Bilal Dandashi, however, accused the Navy ship of intentionally ramming their boat to force it back.

He said the Navy crew were shouting insults at the migrants during the encounter. Their boat would have reached international waters, out of the Navy’s jurisdiction, in just a few minutes, he said.

“If it hadn’t hit us from the front ... we would have been able to cross,” he said. “They took a decision intentionally.”

The passengers weren’t wearing their life jackets because they didn’t want to draw attention as they left port and the boat sank too fast to put them on after the collision, Dandashi said.

Bilal Dandashi was rescued along with two of his children. But his wife and two other children remain missing.

His brother Amid’s three children were all killed, their bodies found in the later search.

Amid recalled packing up his children’s things for the trip, never imagining he’d return home without them. He and his brothers had felt certain the boat was safe after the work they put into it, otherwise he never would have put his children at risk, he said.

“I blame myself, as a father, that I went and took that risk,” he said. “But I was sure that I would reach (Europe.) ... Everything was safe.”

The increase in migrants is fueled by desperation from an economic meltdown caused by years of corruption and mismanagement.

Spiraling inflation and the collapse of the currency have wrecked people’s salaries and savings. Medicines, fuel and many foods are in short supply. Bilal Dandashi has diabetes and cannot find the medication he needs.

Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, has felt the brunt of the crisis. Almost the entire Tripoli workforce depends on day-to-day income.

Since the boat sank, tensions have heightened in the city. Angry residents blocked roads and attacked a main army checkpoint in Tripoli, throwing stones at troops who responded by firing into the air.

The government held an extraordinary meeting and asked the military tribunal to investigate the case.

“This whole country is drowning, (it is) not just us who drowned. The whole country is drowning, and they are ignoring it,” Bilal Dandashi said.

The 47-year-old acknowledged his attempted crossing was illegal but said he was unable to travel legally. With so many Lebanese requesting passports, authorities have wrestled with a massive backlog and recently stopped processing applications altogether.

“Give me a passport. For 6 months, I couldn’t get one,” he said. “Why? Because they want us here to put us in the grave here -- or go die in the sea.”

Watchdog says fear at health agencies allowed Trump officials to interfere in COVID-19 matters


National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci is seen at the White House as President Donald Trump leaves a press briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic on March 26, 2020. 

File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI |

April 29 (UPI) -- The head of an independent government watchdog appeared in Congress on Friday to expand on a recent report and answer questions about new evidence that former President Donald Trump's administration interfered in the COVID-19 response two years ago for political purposes.

Gene Dodaro, chief of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, was called to testify before the House select coronavirus subcommittee. In his remarks, he said that the accusations indicate that federal health agencies have work to do in ensuring that political interference doesn't compromise scientific integrity.

The GAO is Congress' main auditing and investigative agency and is often referred to as the "congressional watchdog."

Dodaro's appearance came after a GAO report last week described incidents of political interference under Trump's administration. It said that scientists at top health organizations witnessed political interference just weeks after COVID-19 arrived in March 2020. It explained that some scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said the interference they witnessed led to changing or suppressing scientific findings.

The interference, however, wasn't reported because the witnesses feared retaliation, the assessment said. It further found that all three agencies under Trump trained staff on scientific integrity, and the National Institutes of Health provided information on political interference as part of its training.

The 37-page GAO report said that interference was also seen in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

Dodaro told the subcommittee Friday that the report has spurred concern about the public's trust in the health agencies.

"People did not know how to report if they believed there was something inappropriate," Dodaro said during the virtual hearing. "People didn't understand how they would be protected.

"So we recommended that the four agencies develop policies and procedures in order to report and address any allegations of potential political influence."

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said before the hearing that the panel has received new evidence that support the accusations that Trump officials interfered in decision-making about the coronavirus response.

"We must never again allow politics to interfere with processes of public health," he said at Friday's teleconference.

Clyburn added that the political interference under Trump made the United States sicker and "did immense damage to our public health workforce and to public trust in our scientific institutions."

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the panel's ranking Republican, deflected the accusations toward President Joe Biden's administration, saying that interference by the current administration "is well-documented."

Scalise accused Biden's CDC of leaking guidance on school openings to the American Federation of Teachers -- something he said was on par with the GAO report about Trump.

The watchdog's assessment, however, continues a long string of accusations about the former president's handling of the health emergency when it arrived in the United States. Trump admitted to journalist Bob Woodward later in 2020 that he deliberately downplayed the threat of the virus. Other accusations have said that Trump exploited parts of the government's pandemic response for a political advantage in a presidential election year -- such as pushing for a COVID-19 vaccine before Election Day.

"The previous administration engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference in the nation's pandemic response, prioritizing election-year politics over protecting American lives," Clyburn said in a previous statement.

"The lifesaving work of scientists at our public health agencies must never be corrupted for the perceived political benefit of the president or for any other reason."

A report by the House subcommittee last December found that Trump's administration performed various efforts to influence or downplay the virus -- which included blocking experts from speaking publicly about health dangers, playing down testing guidance and attempting to interfere with public health guidelines.

The GAO report last week supported those findings, and said employees at the agencies witnessed political interference that "may have resulted in the politically motivated alteration of public health guidance or delayed publication of COVID-19 related scientific findings."

"For example in May 2020, a senior official from [the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response] claimed HHS retaliated against him for disclosing ... concerns about inappropriate political interference to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to the public as treatments for COVID-19," GAO officials wrote.

"The absence of specific procedures may explain why the four selected agencies did not identify any formally reported internal allegations of potential political interference in scientific decision-making from 2010 through 2021," the report states.

The GAO recommended that the agencies provide information on whistleblower protections and clarify reporting requirements for employees who witness political interference. The recommendations are intended to reduce fear of retaliation and encourage more witnesses to come forward when they should.