Breakenridge: Maybe Kenney was right after all about anti-vaxxers hijacking the UCP

Jason Kenney’s recent comments about anti-vaxxers being the author of his downfall were widely seen as self-serving and unhelpful.


Jason Kenney speaks at an event at Spruce Meadows in Calgary on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

Rob Breakenridge, for the Calgary Herald - Yesterday 

After all, there were many factors in Kenney’s demise. It’s less damaging to his ego to blame sinister forces conspiring against him than to have to confront his own missteps and shortcomings. But suggesting that the UCP has been hijacked by the anti-vaccine movement is just going to scare voters away. Not a great parting gift from an outgoing leader.

However, six weeks after those comments, they now seem much less paranoid and off-base. In fact, maybe the outgoing premier had a point.

Otherwise, it’s hard to explain the odd and creepy fixation on vaccines that’s emerged in the UCP leadership race. Kenney’s warning about “huge” numbers of memberships purchased by those “motivated primarily by their anger and hostility to vaccines” is not so easily dismissed anymore.

Leadership candidate Danielle Smith, for example, has been especially focused on issues around vaccines and vaccine mandates (to which she has previously drawn parallels to the Nuremberg trials). Last week she vowed that if elected, Alberta would not enforce any federal vaccine mandates.

Of course, there are no longer any federal vaccine mandates, and even if there were, there’s nothing for any province to “enforce.” It’s an empty slogan, but it’s an excuse to keep pushing the issue.

Being against vaccine mandates is not the same thing as being anti-vaccine. Although, it’s fair to say that everyone who is the latter is also the former.


© Azin GhaffariUCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith.

Smith’s bona fides on this issue were established well before the leadership campaign. Last year, for example, she hosted on her internet show a pathologist who has claimed that vaccines are killing people by the thousands and an Ontario doctor who has been disciplined for spreading misinformation about vaccines.

It’s quite a commentary on her own judgment that she would undermine vaccination despite the overwhelming evidence of its success while also touting hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin despite the overwhelming evidence of their ineffectiveness against COVID. Unfortunately, there’s an audience for this.

In fact, there’s apparently enough of a constituency for this type of message that other candidates are trying to compete for their own share.

Enter Brian Jean. So far his campaign hasn’t focused too much on these issues, but they must sense the need for a pivot. In a speech earlier this month in Olds, Jean made the claim , “COVID killed … a lot of people. But, so did the vaccine.”

It is, of course, an outrageous and irresponsible thing to say, especially for someone campaigning to be Alberta’s next premier. That he would feel such a statement could help his campaign is quite alarming, indeed.


© Greg Southam

Brian Jean speaks during his official campaign launch for the UCP leadership on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 in Edmonton.

Even Travis Toews, who seemed to reside on the party’s more sensible side, felt compelled to get in on the act. Last week, Toews posted a tweet that included an unattributed quote to “Ottawa” saying that “two doses are no longer enough.” Toews’ response to that was “enough is enough.”

Again, this seems completely out of step with Toews’ campaign as well as his time as finance minister. That he, too, feels the need to pander only serves to reinforce the notion that the anti-vaccine crowd wields considerable clout in the party.

Let’s hope that’s not the case. But even if this all does play well in the leadership race (which, sadly, it appears to), this is a dead-ender as far as a general election is concerned. Not to mention the very troubling implications for Alberta’s public health approach this fall and winter.


© Provided by Calgary Herald

Travis Toews, candidate for leader of the United Conservative Party held a media availability and news conference at the Westley Hotel in Calgary on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.

And while Kenney’s own political judgment might be forever tainted, he wasn’t wrong when he urged leadership candidates to “focus on the mainstream concerns of ordinary Albertans which revolve around jobs, economy, strong public services and a strong province.”

For whatever reason, some of his would-be successors are taking a much different — and worrying — approach.

“Afternoons with Rob Breakenridge” airs weekdays 12:30-3 p.m. on 770CHQR and 2-3 p.m. on 630CHED rob.breakenridge@corusent.com Twitter: @RobBreakenridge

​​Former Twitter employee: Twitter considered new content restrictions after Trump told Proud Boys to 'stand back and standby'

By Clare Duffy and Holmes Lybrand, CNN Business
 July 12, 2022



New York (CNN Business)A former Twitter employee told the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection that the company considered imposing a stricter content moderation policy following a September 2020 comment by then-President Donald Trump telling the right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by."

Trump's comment to the Proud Boys came during a 2020 presidential debate, after Joe Biden called for Trump to condemn the group. "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said, adding that, "somebody has to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing."

The former Twitter (TWTR) employee, who was on the company's content moderation team through 2020 and 2021, according to the committee, said their "concern was that the former President, for seemingly the first time, was speaking directly to extremist organizations and giving them directives," according to an interview aired during the House committee hearing Tuesday. Twitter did not end up imposing the policy — the details of which were not shared during the hearing — following Trump's comment, the employee said.

In their interview with the committee, the Twitter employee said that while the company was worried about Trump using the platform to talk to people who could incite violence, Twitter "relished in the knowledge that they were also the favorite and most used service of the former President and enjoyed having that sort of power."

Takeaways from the January 6 hearing day 7

"If former President Donald Trump were any other user on Twitter, he would have been permanently suspended a very long time ago," the employee said.

"We are clear-eyed about our role in the broader information ecosystem in regards to the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, and while we continue to examine how we can improve moving forward, the fact remains that we took unprecedented steps and invested significant resources to prepare for and respond to the threats that emerged during the 2020 US election," Twitter Vice President of Public Policy for the Americas Jessica Herrera-Flanigan said in a statement, adding that the company is engaging directly with the House committee.

Herrera-Flanigan added that Twitter "deployed numerous policy and product interventions to protect the public conversation" before and after the 2020 election, and said that on January 6 the company "leveraged the systems we had built leading up to the election to respond to the unprecedented attack in real-time."

Twitter designated the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as violent extremist groups in July 2018 and September 2020, respectively, and says it has permanently suspended accounts associated with the groups in line with its policy prohibiting violent organizations, according to a company spokesperson. The spokesperson added that many of the groups and individuals responsible for organizing the January 6 insurrection had been suspended from Twitter prior to the attack.

Among its efforts following the 2020 election, Twitter's teams began in December 2020 observing tweets about a large protest in Washington, DC, set for January 6, and started monitoring related content, taking action against election misinformation, references to "last stands" and few direct violent threats, according to the company.

As for Trump, after saying in 2019 it would place a disclaimer on tweets by world leaders that broke its rules but are in the "public interest," Twitter began in May 2020 labeling some tweets by the then-President as "potentially misleading," in an effort to provide context around his remarks. In the wake of the January 6 insurrection, Twitter suspended and then permanently banned Trump's account, citing a "risk of further incitement of violence."

But in their testimony, the Twitter employee suggested the company should have done more ahead of the attack. On the night of January 5, 2021, the employee said they "sent a Slack message to someone that said something along the lines of, 'when people are shooting each other tomorrow, I will try and rest in the knowledge that we tried.' ... I don't know that I slept that night."

The employee continued: "For months, I had been begging and anticipating and attempting to raise the reality that if ... we made no intervention into what I saw occurring, people were going to die. And on January 5, I realized no intervention was coming, even as hard as I had tried to create one or implement one, there was nothing and we were at the whims and the mercy of a violent crowd that was locked and loaded."

 

People were going to die': Former Twitter employee on flagging potential Jan. 6 violence

The House Select Committee investigating January 6 heard testimony from a former Twitter employee who says they begged the social media platform to do something about potential violence connected to former President Dondald Trump's election lies. Twitter spokesperson Jessica Herrera-Flanigan responded, "Leading up to and following the election, we deployed numerous policy and product interventions to protect the public conversation. We declared the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers violent extremist groups in 2018 and 2020 respectively, and permanently suspended accounts associated with the organizations under our violent organizations policy, as well as many of the organizers of the attack for violations of our policies."

Food processing is target of latest promise by Alberta NDP

The Opposition NDP wants to create a special incentive program for companies to build or expand food processing facilities in Alberta.

Lisa Johnson -Edmonton Journal

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks at a news conference outside Calgary city hall on June 1, 2022.

In the party’s latest platform proposal released Tuesday , it promises, if elected, to offer either loan guarantees, grants, or tax credits that would be decided by a newly created task force.

Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference in Calgary the plan represents a different approach than when the NDP was elected to government in 2015.

“One of our bigger mistakes was we didn’t take enough time to listen and consult with families, residents, business owners across rural Alberta, so I’m determined to do a better job,” Notley said, adding the proposal will require more consultations.

While in government, the NDP sparked an outcry in rural Alberta by bringing in a bill that changed labour rules for farmers.

The price tag for the plan will come as it develops, Notley said, adding the UCP’s eight per cent corporate tax rate doesn’t necessarily help agri-food entrepreneurs, and a targeted investment that competes with programs in Saskatchewan and Manitoba will cost less and have a better return.

It comes after the UCP announced last week it had exceeded its own targets by attracting almost $1.5 billion in new investment and creating about 3,000 jobs for Albertans since 2019. The government has highlighted several recent projects, including a planned $72-million INCA Renewtech hemp factory in Vegreville, and a $225-million Phyto Organix Foods Inc. pea processing facility in Strathmore.

Mackenzie Blyth, press secretary to Agriculture Forestry and Rural Economic Development Minister Nate Horner, said in a Tuesday email to Postmedia the ministry is also actively working on around 100 additional projects, with the potential of facilitating $5 billion more in investment.

“It’s great to see the NDP has been following our lead and are looking at programs that we are already working on,” he said.

In its June Define the Decade report , the Business Council of Alberta highlighted the importance of expanding value-added processing, like making potato chips from potatoes, and creating an agri-food program modelled after the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP), which offers government grants of up to 12 per cent of petrochemical project capital costs.

Team Alberta, a group of eight crop commissions, last month called for the UCP government to do more to help attract commercial agri-food value-added processors to Alberta, noting that large investments are landing in other jurisdictions instead.

Blyth said the department has heard concerns about competitiveness and will take a close look before developing the next provincial budget. He noted Alberta’s approach combines several grant programs and business services in a “concierge model” that aims to foster growth and diversification in the sector.

The New Democrats called for lower borrowing costs for municipalities and irrigation districts to help them build infrastructure such as water lines and roads, saying the UCP has made it more difficult by increasing borrowing rates.

Notley also said a lack of capacity in the province’s regulatory agencies leaves projects waiting for years instead of months, and her party would add department staff to speed up the process.

Blyth said the government has worked hard to get spending under control, and won’t make decisions that threaten to erase that progress.

“It is important that we examine this comprehensively, from understanding ways to reduce red tape and make it easier for the sector to do business in Alberta, as well as to understanding where any competitiveness gaps may exist in the agri-food sector.”

lijohnson@postmedia.com

Bank of England deputy governor compares cryptocurrency crash to the Hindenburg airship disaster

By JOHN-PAUL FORD ROJAS FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED 12 July 2022 


A Bank of England deputy governor has likened the crash in cryptocurrencies to the Hindenburg airship disaster as he called for regulation to ensure the technology’s potential benefits are not lost.

Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, has lost more than two-thirds of its value since hitting nearly $69,000 in November as investors fret over weakening global growth, high inflation and rising interest rates.

But Sir Jon Cunliffe said in a speech in Singapore that it does not mean ‘that crypto is somehow over and we do not need to be concerned about it any more’.

Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe called for tech industry pioneers to work with regulators and other authorities to develop the right regulation for cryptocurrencies

In the past, he said innovations have been abandoned because of dramatic failures, citing the deadly disaster in 1937 when a hydrogen-powered German airship crashed in New Jersey.

‘While the causes of the Hindenburg Zeppelin disaster are still debated, it is very probable that the general development of the use of hydrogen in transport was put aside for decades as a result.’

Cunliffe argued that some of the technologies being developed in the crypto world could mean lower costs, greater speed and more transparency for investors.

‘A succession of crypto winters will not, in the end, help the development and adoption of these technologies and the reaping of the benefits that they may offer,’ he added.

Cunliffe called for tech industry pioneers to work with regulators and other authorities to develop the right regulation.

And he also drew an analogy with the dotcom crash two decades ago when the valuations of early online firms slumped.

‘The technology did not go away but rather re-emerged in a different form, focused on the development of platforms which have now come to dominate internet commerce,’ he said.

Market values are destroying nature: 

UN report

July 13, 2022

PARIS (AFP) – A major United Nations (UN) report warned on Monday that a global economy focussed on short-term profit is wrecking the planet and called for a drastically different approach as to how we value nature.

Without this shift, universally accepted goals of sustainable development and greater equity will remain out-of-reach, the science advisory panel for biodiversity, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), found.

“The way we understand economic growth is at the core of the biodiversity crisis,” ecological economist at the University of Bern, and co-chair of a 139-nation meeting in Bonn that approved the report, Unai Pascual, told AFP.

“The new assessment aims to bring different types of values into the decisions leading us to transformative change.”

Some 80 experts combed through more than 13,000 studies, looking at how market-based values have contributed to the destruction of ecosystems that sustain us, and what other values might best foster sustainability.

A 34-page Summary for Policymakers comes as the UN steers an international process to stem species loss and protect nature.

In December, nations gather to finalise a treaty tasked with halting the decline of biodiversity and setting humanity on a path to “live in harmony with nature”.

“Nature is what sustains us all,” commented Head of the UN Environment programme Inger Andersen. “It gives us food, medicine, raw materials, oxygen, climate regulation and much more.”

But a five-fold increase in per-capita GDP since 1950 has maimed the natural world that made such growth possible. A million species are threatened with extinction and global warming is on track to make swathes of the planet unlivable.

Two landmark UN reports – in 2018 and 2019 – concluded that only a wholesale transformation of the way we produce, distribute and consume almost everything can stave off runaway global warming and a collapse of ecosystems.

 18-year oil spill in Gulf: 1M gallons collected since 2019

Janet Mcconnaughey, The Associated Press

• 
  

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — One million gallons of oil have been collected since April 2019 from the site of the nation’s longest oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, the Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.

The spill began when when Hurricane Ivan caused an underwater mudslide in September 2004, collapsing an oil production platform 11 miles (27 kilometers) from shore. Owner Taylor Energy Co. LLC capped nine wells but said it couldn't cap the other 16 at Mississippi Canyon Block 20, or MC-20 for short. They have now been leaking for nearly 18 years.

“As of July 12, 2022, 1,016,929 gallons of oil have been collected from the MC-20 site" over more than three years, the Coast Guard said in a news release. That amount — more than 3.8 million liters — would fill about 1.5 Olympic swimming pools.

The Coast Guard said that the containment system it ordered is collecting an average of about 900 gallons (3,400 liters) of oil a day.

Neither agency estimated the 18-year total.

Some earlier estimates put the daily maximum at 33 times the current daily amount, but that figure is also far above early government estimates of 7.5 gallons (28 liters) a day in 2012 and 12 gallons (45 liters) a day in 2015.

Estimates were even lower from Taylor, which unsuccessfully took the Coast Guard and its contractor to court over the containment system.

The New Orleans-based company agreed in December 2021 to drop three lawsuits, turn over a $432 million cleanup trust fund and pay an additional $43 million to settle a federal lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Greg Gerard Guidry signed the settlement in March, according to online court records.

The trust fund money went to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to pay for continuing efforts to plug the well and stop the spill, NOAA said in its press release.

“Experts continue to work on a permanent solution,” the agency said.

___

To follow AP's coverage of the environment, see https://apnews.com/hub/environment.

Janet Mcconnaughey, The Associated Press

European countries reject Israel's claims against Palestinian NGOs

Israel backlisted the groups as terrorist organisations last year but has provided little evidence to support its claims.


Shawan Jabarin, director of Al Haq human rights group, at its offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah. AP
Soraya Ebrahimi

Jul 12, 2022

Nine European countries said on Tuesday they would not change their policies on supporting six Palestinian NGOs as they had seen “no substantial evidence” to support Israel’s accusations that they are terrorist organisations.

Israel backlisted the groups last October but has provided little evidence to support its allegations.

The rights groups denied the allegations and accused Israel of escalating a long-standing crackdown on Palestinian opposition to its decades-long military rule.

“Accusations of terrorism or links to terrorist groups must always be treated with the utmost seriousness,” said a statement issued by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

“No substantial information was received from Israel that would justify reviewing our policy towards the six Palestinian NGOs on the basis of the Israeli decision to designate these NGOs as ‘terrorist organisations’.

“Should evidence be made available to the contrary, we would act accordingly."

Israel’s Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel accused the groups of serving as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a left-wing movement that has a political party and an armed wing.

It has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis for decades. Israel and western nations consider the PFLP a terrorist organisation.

The blacklisted organisations are the Al Haq human rights group, the Addameer rights group, Defence for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Centre for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

In its October 22 announcement, the Israeli Defence Ministry said the organisations were “controlled by senior leaders” of the PFLP and employ its members, including some who have “participated in terror activity".

It said the groups serve as a “central source” of financing for the PFLP and had received “large sums of money from European countries and international organisations.”

The terror declaration initially appeared to pave the way for Israel to raid their offices, seize assets, arrest staff and criminalise any public expressions of support for the groups. But all six have continued operating.

The Dutch government announced in January that it would stop funding the Union of Agricultural Work Committees after it found evidence that individual staffers were linked to the PFLP.

But it said it found no evidence the group had “organisational ties” to the PFLP or was involved in funding or carrying out terrorism, as Israel had claimed.

Israel has long accused human rights groups and international bodies of being biased against it and of singling it out while ignoring graver breaches by other countries.

Most of the organisations document claims of human rights breaches by Israel and the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel and the PA routinely detain Palestinian activists.

 

'An army of robots' and zero human workers will build a dam in China

MAY 09, 2022BySTEPHEN CHEN

Chinese scientists say the Yangqu dam on the Tibetan plateau will be built using AI-controlled machinery applying 3D printing techniques.

Weibo

China is using artificial intelligence (AI) to effectively turn a dam project on the Tibetan Plateau into the world's largest 3D printer, according to scientists involved in the project.

The 180 metre (590 feet) high Yangqu hydropower plant will be built slice by slice - using unmanned excavators, trucks, bulldozers, pavers and rollers, all controlled by AI - in the same additive manufacturing process used in 3D printing.

When completed in 2024, the Yangqu dam will send nearly five billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year from the upper reaches of the Yellow River to Henan, the cradle of Chinese civilisation and home to 100 million people.

The power will travel via a 1,500km (932 miles) high voltage line built exclusively for green energy transmission.

According to the project's lead scientist Liu Tianyun, in a paper published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and Technology), dam construction and 3D printing are "identical by nature".

After years of development testing, 3D print technology for large, filled infrastructure had matured enough for mass applications and would "free humans from heavy-duty, repetitive and dangerous work", he said.

Liu, an associate researcher with the state key laboratory of hydroscience and engineering at Tsinghua University, and his team came up with the idea of "printing" large-scale building projects about ten years ago.

They thought an entire construction site could be turned into a giant printer, with a large number of automated machines working seamlessly together as different components.

The 3D printer was initially developed as a less wasteful way to manufacture components from precious materials. Printing - or adding - materials produces less waste than cutting and grinding.

Since then, some architects have started to apply the technology to buildings, although projects have so far been small. The first 3D-printed office building, the Dubai Future Foundation headquarters, stands at just six metres (20 feet).

Chinese civil engineers are no strangers to AI, which was used to build Baihetan, the world's second-largest dam, in just four years. But until now, it has mainly played a coordinating role in projects.

Testing of the technology in previous construction projects suggested smart machines could do a better job than humans, ", especially in some harsh and dangerous environments", said Liu and his colleagues.

Liu did not immediately respond to questions about Yangqu dam's progress, but according to state media reports work started at the end of last year in Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province.

After "slicing" a computer model of the dam into layers, the AI at the heart of the project would assign a team of robots to add one layer at a time, the paper said.

Unmanned excavators will be able to identify and load materials from a stockpile yard into a fleet of automated trucks, some powered by electricity.

Some of the automated machinery that will be used in the 3D-print construction of Yangqu dam. 
PHOTO: Tsinghua University

Following an optimised route calculated by the central AI, the trucks will deliver the right materials to the right locations, at the right time, to be located by robotic bulldozers and pavers and turned into a layer of the dam structure.

Automated rollers press the added layer until it is tight and firm, but they are also equipped with sensors. The central AI uses these to monitor build quality by analysing ground vibration and other data.

Breakthroughs in AI technology, including deep reinforcement learning, mean the machines can now recognise nearly all objects on site, deal with uncertainties in a changing environment, and perform various tasks flexibly, according to the paper.

They also do not make human errors. Liu said truck drivers often delivered materials to the wrong location, while shocks and strong vibration prevented roller operators from maintaining a perfectly straight path. And most workers were unable to read the technical design papers correctly, he added.

But where the machines shine is their ability to work in a life-threatening environment, without getting headaches from a lack of oxygen or exhausted after working continuously for 24 hours, according to the researchers.

Not all jobs in the dam's construction will be handled by machines. The team said the mining of fill-rocks from nearby mountains would be done manually because of the task's complexity.

Liu's team said the technology could also be used in other infrastructure projects, such as airport and road construction.

"AI-based on knowledge, information and data is a new tool … that will shape our future," they said.

A Nanjing-based civil engineering scientist, who asked not to be named because of his role in the technical evaluation of some major infrastructure projects, said there were limits to 3D print technology but it would find more uses in the future.

ALSO READ: As robot dogs take to the streets of China, could they ever replicate the companionship of man's best friend?

"It cannot print a structure consisting of different materials, such as reinforced concrete made of steel and cement," the scientist said.

"An army of construction robots can offset the sharp decline of manual labour caused by low birth rates," he added.

This article was first published in South China Morning Post.

Chinese scientists develop robot fish that gobble up microplastics

JULY 12, 2022PUBLISHED AT 7:54 PM

A fish-shaped robot, which researchers say can suck up microplastics in shallow water, moves under the direction of a near-infrared (NIR) light, in this screen grab taken from a handout video provided to Reuters on July 12, 2022.

Reuters

AsiaOne has launched EarthOne, a new section dedicated to environmental issues — because we love the planet and we believe science. Find articles like this there.

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BEIJING - Robot fish that "eat" microplastics may one day help to clean up the world's polluted oceans, says a team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University in southwest China.

Soft to touch and just 1.3 centimetres in size, these robots already suck up microplastics in shallow water.

The team aims to enable them to collect microplastics in deeper water and provide information to analyse marine pollution in real time, said Wang Yuyan, one of the researchers who developed the robot.

"We developed such a lightweight miniaturised robot. It can be used in many ways, for example in biomedical or hazardous operations, such a small robot that can be localised to a part of your body to help you eliminate some disease."

The black robot fish is irradiated by a light, helping it to flap its fins and wiggle its body. Scientists can control the fish using the light to avoid it crashing into other fish or ships.

If it is accidentally eaten by other fish, it can be digested without harm as it is made from polyurethane, which is also biocompatible, Wang said.

The fish is able to absorb pollutants and recover itself even when it is damaged. It can swim up to 2.76 body lengths per second, faster than most artificial soft robots.

"We are mostly working on collection (of microplastics). It is like a sampling robot and it can be used repeatedly," she said.

HUBRIS
‘I’m very proud’ – French president Emmanuel Macron bites back at criticism after ‘Uber files’ revelations

French president Emmanuel Macron visits the STMicroelectronics company in Crolles, southeastern France. Photo: Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AP


Sophie Louet and Benoit Van Overstraeten
July 13 2022 

French president Emmanuel Macron has said he would not change a thing in the approach he took to US ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies when he served as economy minister, after political foes said they would seek a parliamentary inquiry.

“I would do it again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow... we created thousands of jobs... I’m very proud,” he told journalists whilst visiting a plant in the French Alps where STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries will build a new semiconductor facility.

The Guardian and Le Monde newspapers reported on Sunday that Uber broke laws and secretly lobbied politicians as part of an aggressive campaign to expand into new markets from 2013 to 2017.

Mr Macron’s office told Le Monde that as economy minister at the time, he frequently had contact with many companies disrupting the service industry, and that it was appropriate to facilitate the lifting of red tape.

The new left-wing opposition Nupes alliance, headed by the anti-capitalist France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, said it would seek a parliamentary investigation into Mr Macron’s role in helping the Californian company in France.

Olivia Gregoire, minister of small and medium companies, told parliament Mr Macron just “did his job” when he served as economy minister.

“He spoke with Uber. But also with Netflix, with Airbnb, Tesla (...) And why? Because those companies are at the core of today’s economy,” Ms Gregoire said.

The Guardian reported that while other members of the then-Socialist government had misgivings about Uber’s push onto taxis’ turf, Mr Macron exchanged text messages with Uber executives, who identified him as a key behind-the-scenes ally.

In response to the Guardian and Le Monde reports, Uber said in a statement: “We have not and will not make excuses for past behaviour that is clearly not in line with our present values.”

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for UBER 

NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First

Images of Unseen Universe

This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Learn more about this image.

Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí.

The dawn of a new era in astronomy is here as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

The full set of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a collection of cosmic features elusive until now, released Tuesday, are available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

“Today, we present humanity with a groundbreaking new view of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope – a view the world has never seen before,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “These images, including the deepest infrared view of our universe that has ever been taken, show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don’t even yet know to ask; questions that will help us better understand our universe and humanity’s place within it.

“The Webb team’s incredible success is a reflection of what NASA does best. We take dreams and turn them into reality for the benefit of humanity. I can’t wait to see the discoveries that we uncover – the team is just getting started!”

NASA explores the unknown in space for the benefit of all, and Webb’s first observations tell the story of the hidden universe through every phase of cosmic history – from neighboring planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. 

“This is a singular and historic moment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “It took decades of drive and perseverance to get us here, and I am immensely proud of the Webb team. These first images show us how much we can accomplish when we come together behind a shared goal, to solve the cosmic mysteries that connect us all. It’s a stunning glimpse of the insights yet to come.”

“We are elated to celebrate this extraordinary day with the world,” said Greg Robinson, Webb program director at NASA Headquarters. “The beautiful diversity and incredible detail of the Webb telescope’s images and data will have a profound impact on our understanding of the universe and inspire us to dream big."

Webb’s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. They reveal the capabilities of all four of Webb’s state-of-the-art scientific instruments:

• SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours. For a person standing on Earth looking up, the field of view for this new image, a color composite of multiple exposures each about two hours long, is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This deep field uses a lensing galaxy cluster to find some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. This image only scratches the surface of Webb’s capabilities in studying deep fields and tracing galaxies back to the beginning of cosmic time.
• WASP-96b (spectrum): Webb’s detailed observation of this hot, puffy planet outside our solar system reveals the clear signature of water, along with evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect. With Webb’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of.
• Southern Ring Nebula: This planetary nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star, is approximately 2,000 light years away. Here, Webb’s powerful infrared eyes bring a second dying star into full view for the first time. From birth to death as a planetary nebula, Webb can explore the expelling shells of dust and gas of aging stars that may one day become a new star or planet.
• Stephan’s Quintet: Webb’s view of this compact group of galaxies, located in the constellation Pegasus, pierced through the shroud of dust surrounding the center of one galaxy, to reveal the velocity and composition of the gas near its supermassive black hole. Now, scientists can get a rare look, in unprecedented detail, at how interacting galaxies are triggering star formation in each other and how the gas in these galaxies is being disturbed.
• Carina Nebula: Webb’s look at the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ in the Carina Nebula unveils the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden. Looking at this star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina, as well as others like it, Webb can see newly forming stars and study the gas and dust that made them.

“Absolutely thrilling!” said John Mather, Webb senior project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The equipment is working perfectly, and nature is full of surprising beauty. Congratulations and thanks to our worldwide teams that made it possible.”

The release of Webb’s first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb’s science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within our solar system to the early universe using Webb’s four instruments.

The James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25, 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. After completing a complex deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science.

The public can also view the new Webb images Tuesday on several digital screens in New York City’s Times Square and in London’s Piccadilly Circus beginning at 5:30 p.m. EDT and 10:30 p.m. GMT, respectively.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

NASA Headquarters oversees the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages Webb for the agency and oversees work on the mission performed by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Northrop Grumman, and other mission partners. In addition to Goddard, several NASA centers contributed to the project, including the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and others.

For a full array of Webb’s first images and spectra, including downloadable files, visit:

https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images

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Robert Reich: How To Handle Radical Republicans – OpEd

 July 13, 2022 

By Robert Reich

I heard a commentator allude to “Mitch McConnell and other conservative senators.” The other day, a news report described the upcoming Alaska Republican primary as pitting Trump’s “conservative wing against Murkowski’s more moderate base.” I keep seeing references to the “conservative majority” on the Supreme Court.

Can we get real? There is nothing conservative about these so-called “conservatives.” They don’t want to preserve or protect our governing institutions — the core idea of conservatism extending from Edmund Burke to William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater. They are radicals, intent on wrecking these institutions to impose their ideology on everyone else.

The Supreme Court’s Republican appointees have all but obliterated stare decisis — the conservative principle that the Court must follow its precedents and not change or reverse them unless clearly necessary, and with near unanimity. Recent decisions reversing Roe v. Wade, elevating religious expression over the Constitution’s bar on established religion, questioning Congress’s ability to delegate rule making to the executive branch, and barring states from regulating handguns, all call into question the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as an institution.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, are abusing the filibuster and undermining the legitimacy of the Senate.

Throughout much of the 20th century, filibusters remained rare. But after Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office in 2009, McConnell and his Republican senate minority blocked virtually every significant piece of legislation. Between 2010 and 2020, there were as many cloture motions as during the entire 60-year period from 1947 to 2006. Now McConnell and his Republicans are stopping almost everything in its tracks. Just 41 Senate Republicans, representing only 21 percent of the country, are blocking laws supported by the vast majority of Americans.

At the same time, Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress and in the states have upended the centerpiece of American democracy, the peaceful transition of power, and undermined the legitimacy of our elections.

They continue to assert without any basis in fact that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump encouraged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and threatened the life of the Vice President. Republican state legislatures are enacting legislation to suppress votes and take over election machinery.

Make no mistake: Republican appointees to the Supreme Court, most Republicans in Congress, and Trump Republican lawmakers across America are not conservative. They are radicals. They have embarked on a radical agenda of repudiating our governing institutions and taking over American democracy.

It is time to stop using the term “conservative” to describe them and their agenda.

And it is time it to fight back: Enlarge the size of the Supreme Court and limit the terms of justices. Abolish the filibuster and then pass laws most Americans want — protecting voting rights and reproductive rights, and controlling guns. Criminally prosecute Trump and his insurgents.

These are conservative measures. They are necessary to conserve and protect our governing institutions from the radicals now bent on destroying them.

Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and writes at robertreich.substack.com. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.