First overdose prevention centers in US tout their success

Online News EditorMay 27, 2023

 

By Jorge Fuentelsaz

New York, May 27 (EFE).- In the spacious waiting room at one of the only two recognized overdose preventions centers in the United States, dozens of people watch television or chat before or after consuming drugs in a safe environment provided by OnPoint NYC, an organization working for social justice in the Big Apple.

Since the centers, known as OPCs, opened in November 2021 at locations in Manhattan’s Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods, staff members have successfully reversed nearly 800 overdoses, OnPoint NYC says.

Across more than 75,000 visits by the roughly 3,500 registered users, staff have only had to call an ambulance on 15 occasions, a supervisor told EFE.

The costs of treating the other 700-plus overdoses at hospitals would have been as much as $35 million, according to Kailin See, OnPoint NYC’s senior director of programs.

“I came here about a year ago. It gives us a safe place to do our thing – get high – instead of going to the park or the sidewalk or the street,” Max, a 44-year-old heroin addict, told EFE at the OPC in Harlem.

Staff member Yusef Colley, who describes himself at the “first line of defense against an overdose,” said that the center serves around 300 people a day.

Both OPCs are in the process of hiring more staff with the aim of operating 24 hours a day.

Overdose prevention is just aspect of what OnPoint NYC does and See told EFE that 87 percent of registered participants have received help with housing, medical care, or mental health.

Noting that one of the challenges OPCs face is overcoming skepticism on the part of communities and police, See said that no one has produced any evidence to show that the presence of OPCs leads to more crime.

At the same time, she acknowledged that authorization to open the OPCs would not have been forthcoming if not for support of New York’s then-mayor, Bill de Blasio.

“But somebody had to be the first,” See said, to bring the US out of the “dark ages” when it comes to the harm-reduction approach to drugs.

“We did it and the sky didn’t fall, federal agents didn’t come here or take all of us to jail. The results of both sites have been absolutely extraordinary,” she said.

EFE

jfu/dr

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Former HealthSouth CEO denies hiding millions amid ongoing scandal

AP
yesterday

Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy leaves the federal building after he was convicted on six counts in a government corruption case in Montgomery, Ala. June 29, 2006. Scrushy, who once led HealthSouth, a huge provider of outpatient rehab services, has been ordered to turn over records related to a bank account that lawyers say he's using to hide millions. (AP Photo/Rob Carr/File)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The man who once led HealthSouth, a huge provider of outpatient rehab services, has been ordered to turn over records related to a bank account that lawyers say he’s using to hide millions.

In a seven-page order against Richard Scrushy, the Birmingham-based company’s former chief executive officer, John England Jr., acting as special master in the case, also issued an injunction against any money being transferred out of the account in question, AL.com reported.

The ruling Tuesday came after lawyers representing the plaintiffs in a 2009 civil verdict contended that Scrushy has been hiding money that could be used to pay some of the more than $2.87 billion in damages he still owes as result of the HealthSouth scandal. The government contends Scrushy and other executives inflated earnings by $2.7 billion from 1996 through March 2003 to make it appear HealthSouth was meeting expectations of Wall Street analysts.

Lawyers alleged Scrushy has written checks totaling $7.3 million on an account in the name of convicted felon Eddie Briskett, who is currently serving time in the Alabama Department of Corrections for various convictions, including property theft, burglary and assault.

England contends Scrushy, or someone connected to him, has control of the account and has actively used it. Scrushy denies any wrongdoing and said he welcomes any disclosures, since “they will find nothing,” the news site reported.

“It’s totally made-up, false information that never should have been put out,” Scrushy said.

In 2007, Scrushy was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for bribery involving former Gov. Don Siegelman. While serving his sentence in a Texas prison, a civil court found him liable for the HealthSouth accounting fraud.

After serving about five years of his sentence, Scrushy was released from prison.

According to England’s order, Scrushy contends he is unemployed and has no assets other than Social Security. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say he is conducting business through other entities owned by friends and family.

According to the ruling, Scrushy has “exchanged thousands of text messages” with a number associated with Briskett and written checks totaling $7.3 million on the account, including two checks to himself totaling $3 million.

However, those checks were never deposited in any account previously disclosed by Scrushy, the order states.

In addition, England references a 2020 letter to the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles by an associate of Scrushy, explaining that Briskett has an investment portfolio of about $7.1 million.

“The evidence presented suggests that Mr. Scrushy may have an interest in the account or in some or all of the proceeds of the account,” the order reads. “At minimum, it appears that Mr. Scrushy or someone acting in concert with him opened the account in Briskett’s name and that Mr. Scrushy has control of the account.”

Scrushy told the news site that he has known Briskett for 20 years through his prison ministry and has exchanged text messages with Briskett’s sister, mainly to set up telephone conversations.

The checks, he said, were “kind of a joke” between the two of them.

“He’s one of the gentlemen that I’ve helping, being a friend and minister,” he said. “I’ve never signed on any bank account of his. There’s zero truth to any of that. I’ve never been involved with Eddie Briskett on any account, period. I’ve never taken a dime from Eddie Briskett.”

Scrushy said the court filings in the case are a continued harassment to him and his family.

“I’ve never seen such abuse and waste in my life,” he said. “I told the judge yesterday to let those attorneys go and discover anything they want. There is nothing to it.”

Elon Musk And Ron DeSantis Prove That Twitter Spaces Is Kind Of A Joke

John Brandon
Contributor

FORBES
May 27, 2023

Imagine a product where the only way to make it work is if you limit how many people can use it.

That was the case this week when Governor Ron DeSantis took to Twitter Spaces to announce his presidential run. Initially, about 500,000 had connected, but after about 21 minutes, the server crashed and the Space had to be restarted.

According to one report, it was only when the user count was limited to about 250,000 that the stream started working again.

Other reports noted that as many as 600,000 had attempted to join, and ultimately only about 161,000 actually heard the live audio chat.

Think of how this would work with other products like the Apple iPhone.

Sure, you can buy one, but if Apple told us there was a limit on how many people could connect in your city at one time, we’d balk. Or how about a new minivan? It works great for your family as long as you don’t have more than one or two kids.

At this stage in the Twitter lifecycle, I’m not surprised by the hiccups. Musk has reportedly fired many of his employees, including many who disagree with him.

Twitter Spaces was always a bit suspect. It was basically a Clubhouse clone where you could hold an audio-only conversation with others. During the pandemic, I was a major fan of Clubhouse and wondered why Twitter Spaces even existed. Then I realized holding these conversations was mostly a reaction to how we can’t hold real events and talk in person.

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By comparison, presidential announcements like this usually result in incredible interest — usually in the millions. The Twitter Spaces chat with Elon Musk and Governor DeSantis resumed after stamping down the bugs but not before many users tried to join, hearing nothing but crickets.

You would think the Twitter team would have been ready for massive interest and prepared the Twitter Spaces servers to handle a high user count.

The reason this is all happening has more to do with the person leading the company, not just the technology.

Here’s why. Technical infrastructure is something that hinges on server capacity, the number of engineers you have ready to deal with problems, and cold hard cash. Anyone who has run a website knows this. If you have a few thousand users, you don’t have to worry about capacity issues. When you attract a massive audience, you have to be ready to pay for the infrastructure, the tech support, and a speedy server to handle the new interest.

My guess is that Elon Musk has been cutting corners left and right, not worrying too much about capacity problems or hosting large-scale events. It’s almost as though he expects the company to crash and burn before he can rebuild it into something new.

This is not the path forward, though.

The Twitter brand has survived quite a bit. Controversy is one thing; when the app doesn’t deliver what was promised, that’s when you have to start worrying.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
John Brandon is a well-known journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. Before starting his writing career in 2001, he worked as an Information Design Director at Best Buy Corporation. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnbrandonmn

First observation: Scientists discovered a cyclone on the north pole of Uranus

It’s a much more dynamic world than you might think.

MAY 27, 2023
BY AMIT MALEWAR

NASA scientists used microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus, seen here as a light-colored dot to the right of center in each image of the planet. The images use wavelength bands K, Ka, and Q, from left. To highlight cyclone features, a different color map was used for each. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA


Uranus is regarded as a world of mystery. It was seen only once, as NASA’s probe passed near the planet nearly four decades ago. Using huge radio antenna dishes of the Very Large Array in New Mexico, scientists present observations of Uranus in northern spring with the Very Large Array from 0.7 to 5 cm.

For the first time, NASA scientists have convincing evidence that Uranus has polar cyclones. They discovered the phenomenon at the planet’s north pole by looking at radio waves radiated by the ice giant.

Collected in 2015, 2021, and 2022, the observations went deeper into Uranus’ atmosphere than before. These observations reveal details in the thermal emission from Uranus’ north pole at 10s of bar.

The results support a general observation about all planets in our solar system with significant atmospheres: Whether they are mostly made of rock or gas, their atmospheres exhibit signs of a whirling vortex around the poles.

When peered below the planet’s clouds, scientists determined that the circulating air at the north pole seemed to be warmer and drier, indicating a strong cyclone.

Lead author Alex Akins of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said, “These observations tell us a lot more about the story of Uranus. It’s a much more dynamic world than you might think. It isn’t just a plain blue ball of gas. A lot is happening under the hood.”

The compactly structured cyclone on Uranus, which has warmed up, dry air at its center, resembles those observed by NASA’s Cassini at Saturn. But unlike hurricanes on Earth, cyclones on Uranus and Saturn aren’t formed over water. They also don’t drift and are locked at the poles.

In the upcoming years, these recently discovered researchers will constantly monitor the Uranus cyclone to see how it develops.

Akins said, “Does the warm core we observed represent the same high-speed circulation seen by Voyager? Or are there stacked cyclones in Uranus’ atmosphere? The fact that we’re still finding out such simple things about how Uranus’ atmosphere works excites me to learn more about this mysterious planet.”

Journal Reference:Alex Akins, Mark Hofstadter, et al. Evidence of a Polar Cyclone on Uranus From VLA Observations. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2023GL102872

 

Travellers face ‘utter chaos’ after e-gates go down across all UK airport

Sam CorbishleySaturday 27 May 2023 

Passengers waited hours to have their passports checked manually (Picture: Alamy Live News)

Travellers arriving in the UK for the bank holiday weekend and half term break faced ‘scenes of utter chaos’ after a huge glitch caused electronic passport gates to fail nationwide.

The problems meant arrivals at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick had to spend hours waiting to have their documents checked by hand.

It comes as millions are expected to take to the roads and public transport this weekend.

One traveller arriving at Heathrow posted on Twitter: ‘Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. 2 hour queues just to get to the real queue. Gates broken.’

Another passenger at Gatwick described the situation as an ‘utter joke’.

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said the problem started on Friday evening but queues had eased on Saturday morning.

He said: ‘Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates.

‘Our staff are working with UK Border Force – who operate passport control including the e-gates – to provide assistance to passengers where necessary.’

Holidaymakers queue for check-in at Manchester Airport (Picture: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP)

Heathrow Terminal 5 was mobbed with travellers (Picture: Alamy Live News)

Heathrow Airport posted on Twitter: ‘We are aware of a nationwide issue impacting the eGates, which are operated by Border Force.

‘This issue is impacting a number of ports of entry and is not Heathrow specific. Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare.

‘We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.’

A Home Office spokeswoman said that the Border Force had put in place ‘robust plans’ to deploy officers to minimise disruption and wait times.

The automated e-gate system is available for British citizens aged over 12 and those from the EU, as well as people from several other countries including Australia, Canada, the US, Japan and New Zealand.

Passengers at London's Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 (Picture: Marcin Nowak/LNP)

The spokeswoman said: ‘We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK.

‘We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers.’

The problems come after British Airways had to cancel 175 flights following an IT failure on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, long queues have been experienced at Dover which has also experienced IT problems.

Passengers queue for ferries at the Port of Dover in Kent as the getaway for half term and the bank holiday weekend continues (Picture: PA)

The Port of Dover posted on Twitter: ‘Thank you for your patience as we catch up from earlier IT issues at border control, which have been resolved.

‘Traffic now processing well through border. Average waiting times for cars and coaches now 90 mins.’

The RAC estimated that drivers across the UK will embark on 19.2 million leisure car trips between Friday and Monday making it the busiest late May bank holiday since 2019.

Transport data company Inrix warned that journeys on some stretches of the M25 will take up to three times longer than normal.

They include clockwise from Junction 23 for Hatfield to Junction 28 for Chelmsford, and anticlockwise towards the Dartford Crossing.

Long delays are also expected on the M5 in Somerset and the M6 in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

In the silence ahead of Women's World Cup, Canada Soccer continues to fail women's national team

Story by Shireen Ahmed • CBC

Yesterday

Canadian soccer team's Ashley Lawrence's pending transfer to Chelsea is the only news to emerge about this team in more than a month.© Cole Burstyn/Canadian Press

We are less than 60 days away from the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the biggest women's soccer tournament in the world.

But for all the hype and excitement that should be spreading from one coast to the other, the Canadian women's national team has been unusually quiet. The team has no home games before they go, and the only thing on the Canada Soccer social media account is the announcement of their first World Cup match against Nigeria on Thursday, July 20 in Melbourne.

No hoopla, no fanfare, no montages leading up to the World Cup. Nothing.

The only news I have seen of late is world-class Canadian defender Ashley Lawrence making a move (yet to be confirmed) from her current pro team, Paris Saint-Germain of French Division 1, to Chelsea of the Super League in the U.K.

Lawrence has been in France for more than seven years. The talented fullback said about what drew her to Europe: "The way we experience football here, how we play it. And it was an environment in which I wanted to evolve."

Lawrence has played with Paris St.Germain, won the league title in France and been lauded as one of the most dangerous players on the pitch. Her ability to pivot from defending to creating plays makes her unique and critical for Canada's squad.

This is a lot of excitement for Canadian women's soccer fans because it puts her on the same squad as national teammates Jessie Fleming and Kadeisha Buchanan — a trio that is extremely impressive. In 2021, both Fleming and Lawrence were nominated for the Ballon d'Or Feminin, the most prestigious award in soccer.

But this is the only player news we've heard lately and on a squad so talented, we should be hearing more about the team.

The only recent news surrounding the women's team that reached international press was for their fight against Canada Soccer, struggling for equity and equal pay, and testifying in front of the Heritage Committee in Ottawa. It was hardly the lead-up to the World Cup that this team deserves.

I spoke with former national team player and Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer Amy Walsh, who is now part of the soccer development team at CF Montreal of Major League Soccer. Walsh noted that the fanfare Canada's men team received leading up to the 2022 Men's World Cup in Qatar stood in "stark contrast to what women's soccer has been offered."

Before the Canadian men's long-awaited return to the World Cup, there was a documentary that was dropped on YouTube by Canada Soccer and a lot of press — something I can confirm because I was interviewed multiple times on this topic.

Walsh said the responsibility to amplify the team will likely fall on the athletes themselves instead of being fully supported publicly.

"In order to champion equality, you can't just talk about a proposed historic CBA. If you can't offer equity on a daily basis — and I'm not talking about the pay dispute in the background — you're hurting soccer," Walsh said of Canada Soccer's efforts to promote the team.

The lack of a send-off game is appalling to me. I remember when the Canadian women played Mexico ahead of the 2019 World Cup in France. I was covering that match and my daughter was in the stands with her girls soccer team. The excitement was palpable and the fans were screaming and cheering for their "sheroes" in the sold-out BMO Field in Toronto.

My then-17 year-old daughter waited for me as I interviewed players after the game. She is a goalkeeper who plays in Ontario's League1. She is naturally tenacious. But at that moment she was starstruck. In front of her was Steph Labbé.

My daughter chattered all the way home about meeting her goalkeeping idol. We both will never forget that interaction and although the players meet hundreds of fans, these moments empower their supporters. My child was so motivated and inspired to continue to play.

Seeing women play at home builds up a pride that cannot be understated. Taking that power away from fans is almost cruel. No other kids will get that opportunity to see them play at home. Their most recent game came in April, a 2-1 loss to France in Le Mans.

The players seeing the fans and feeling their exuberance is part of preparation for play. They are about to face extremely talented European teams in an expanded tournament. Any support is not only required but very important. To not receive this from their own federation continues to be mind-boggling.

There were some discussions about "squeezing in" a home game before the women leave for Australia. Walsh said that a sendoff game may seem "meaningless," but it truly matters to players who have been public about how much that attention is appreciated.

There are movements and intentions to try to reconnect and unite all teams under the Canadian soccer banner in the long term. But any help for the women's team this close to the World Cup seems impossible.

While there are initiatives and campaigns on the horizon from individual players, the undercurrent of support for the whole team is too quiet. There should be emphatic support.

Canada Soccer should be working overtime to compensate for the lack of public attention and that means connecting with players or personnel and creating opportunities for stories and for amplification.

Right now the field seems eerily quiet. This team is beloved to their fans. With all the momentum around women's sport in Canada and the proposed Canadian soccer league given a "go," support for this squad should be blaring out from all media fronts and pushed by Canada Soccer.

The team that has advocated for these pathways and for a sustainable future of women's soccer in Canada should get the highest level of support possible. I would like to think of possible support for the women's team as a classic music piece that leads up to a crescendo just before the tournament begins on July 20.

Right now it feels like nothing has been composed and other than a few bars the theatre is too quiet.

Canadians Fleming, Buchanan help Chelsea to 4th straight Women's Super League title

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Australia captain Sam Kerr paces attack with 2 goals

The Associated Press · Posted: May 27, 2023

Having beaten Manchester United in the FA Cup final this month, Chelsea eased past Reading 3-0 on Saturday for its fourth consecutive Women's Super League title. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Chelsea secured its fourth straight Women's Super League by beating Reading 3-0 on Saturday to wrap up the double in style.

Having beaten Manchester United in the FA Cup final this month, Chelsea eased past Reading with goals from Guro Reiten and a Sam Kerr double.

Jessie Fleming entered the game in the 85th minute for Chelsea with fellow Canadian international Kadeisha Buchanan watching from the bench.

The Blues' recent dominance shone through as their hosts failed to deal with the attacking talent of Emma Hayes' side, which finished the season on a seven-game league winning run.

The breakthrough came in the 18th minute through Kerr, who picked up a pocket of space inside the box before heading Reiten's cross past goalkeeper Grace Moloney to make it 1-0.

Reiten added the second after 42 minutes when she pounced on a loose ball in the Reading backline to go one-on-one with Moloney before producing a composed finish.

• Canadians Fleming, Buchanan win Women's FA Cup with Chelsea before world record crowd

• Kadeisha Buchanan in walking boot for Chelsea loss to Barcelona in Champions League semi

Chelsea enjoyed long periods of possession after the break and Kerr's efforts paid off in the 88th minute. The Australia captain was slipped through on goal and her first effort came back off the post but she was first to react to claim a simple tap-in and round off the victory.

Win not enough for Manchester United

Manchester United was once again grateful for substitute Lucia Garcia but its bid for the WSL title narrowly fell short.

Garcia came off the bench to score a late winner against Manchester City last weekend and ensure the title race went to the last day of the season, where United needed to beat Liverpool and hope Chelsea slipped up.

The first part was accomplished as Garcia's 72nd-minute strike secured a 1-0 win for United at Prenton Park, it wasn't enough. Canadian international Jayde Riviere was on the United bench.

Chelsea (19-2-1, 58 points) finished two points ahead of Manchester United (18-2-2, 56 points).

A Racist Exhibition Mars Milan Design Week

Story by Camille Okhio • May 27,2023
ELLE DECOR

A collection of 1920s Murano glass figurines hit every racist trope—and provoked outrage.

© Simone Simone - Getty Images

For the last three years, dialogue surrounding race has been encouraged within the design world by the largely white architects, designers, curators, and editors that have held its keys. Rarely, though, are we asked what the end goal of this dialogue is. Is it for white people to understand the crushing effects of casual racism? Or to understand why racist tropes and practices should be eradicated from Western design? Is the end goal to make life and work easier for Black designers, editors, and architects? If so, that end goal is nowhere near being met, though the effects of racism are quite obvious.

This year during Milan Design Week, Italian curator Federica Sala presented a group show called Campo Base, described as a “manifesto for interiors” and comprising six discrete pavilions, each designed and produced by a different Italy-based architect. The press release states that the spaces are intended to offer “visitors a moment of respite, reflection, and calmness.” The presentation was held in a cavernous venue, divided by curtains and made atmospheric by sound emitting from hidden speakers, inviting visitors to experience a sense of “domestic intimacy” in a pseudo-public space. Several pavilions were thoughtful, considered, and even beautiful. One was not.

In Italian architect Massimo Adario’s room, Murano glass figurines produced in the 1920s and depicting racist caricatures of Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous people as subhuman were placed on display in an incongruously chic vitrine, with no readily accessible context. Like editor Grace Coddington’s Mammy cookie jars, they were presented as neutral—even fun—objects. The press release reads: “Massimo Adario interpreted the concept of intimacy in a room called “Il Collezionista” (The Collector), an abstract yet cozy setting where the weather unfolds among a selection of objects that mirror the personality of the collector.” The objects on view are part of Adario’s own personal collection, here presented as the cherished objects of a fictional collector.

Predictably, given its scale and the prominence of the designers and curator involved, the Campo Base show was given a spotlight in press about Milan Design Week. The only people to call it out as offensive were Jenny Nguyen, an Asian-Australian woman, of Hello Human; designer Stephen Burks, a Black American man and founder of industrial design studio Stephen Burks Man Made whose work has appeared in ELLE DECOR (most recently in our October 2022 print issue); and the curators behind Anava Projects. Their joint Instagram post attracted immediate attention.

“Federica and I have been friends for nearly 15 years,” says Burks, who says he demanded an explanation immediately after seeing her presentation. “You see a European architect making a literal cage to contain the historical racist objects of the past, presenting them in 2023 as if they still have relevance. It’s really a question of how homogenous cultures like Italy marginalize people of non-European descent, how they have done that historically [see Blackamoors], and how they continue to today,” Burks says.

The curator, Sala, has in her defense said that one of the figurines was from the Caucasus. “We didn’t perceive these pieces on a global scale and that is our mistake,” she said in a statement. “It is our intent to listen and learn from this experience as our objective was not to create division or conflict.” A global understanding isn’t necessary to reckon with racism—Sala could have looked at Italy’s own history of colonialism.

Adario, the architect, has responded to criticism with a call for—you guessed it—dialogue. “I am not racist. I hate racism. This affair and the false accusations made against me are especially troublesome and difficult for me because they convey an image of me that is totally, diametrically opposite to who I am,” he wrote in a statement sent to ELLE DECOR. “Again, I am deeply sorry that this project has hurt the sensitivities of communities from other countries and other cultures, surely including some also here in Italy. That was absolutely not my intention.” This statement, in some ways, displays an even deeper disdain for people of color than his installation did.

He also states that he embraces “the opportunity to learn from my mistake.” But why, I wonder, was the “mistake” made in the first place? The design world is international and for the most part well informed. We all have access to data and history, the internet, and networks of collaborators and colleagues abroad, with craftspeople of color often producing the designs we see on the covers of magazines.

There are think pieces written about and research centered on racism in the decorative arts, including sources here at ELLE DECOR. What, truly, is the likelihood that Adario has never seen a critique of blackface or a #stopasianhate hashtag? I would posit it’s highly unlikely. So then we must consider what was behind his choice. His portion of Campo Base was entitled “The Collector,” and every collector collects what delights them. So it follows that these demeaning characterizations of people of color are in some way delightful to Adario.

In his statement, Adario said: “Our artistic heritage has such historical depth and breadth, which fortunately helps us to give context and not to judge only with the eyes of the present moment,” but no context was presented along with the figurines, nor was context provided afterward.

“When I first saw Adario’s installation I immediately went to look for any text explaining why these were being shown,” says Nguyen, one of the first to flag the exhibition on social media. “All I could find was a statement that mentioned the objects were from the 1920s and it was a fictional collector’s case. They were also called ‘ironic,’ which I still struggle to understand.”

Adario suggested, after receiving criticism for his display, that “racism is not fought by destroying works of art.” Nowhere do Burks or Nguyen suggest the offending objects be destroyed. Adario’s response here indicates an unwillingness to engage in the actual conversation being had, besides the overall tone deafness of a white man suggesting he knows best how racism is fought, after stoking its fires himself.

“The notion that we, the insulted, should have to explain to the people who are insulting us is in itself even more insulting,” Burks says. Still, clear explanations were offered and instead of genuinely listening, Adario asks to be reasoned with further and given the benefit of the doubt, which begs the question, Why are Black, Brown, and Asian people required to endlessly defend and explain their humanity with patience and eloquence, when no results or change are being proffered by their white counterparts?

“It’s a very vulnerable position Stephen and I have put ourselves in,” says Nguyen, speaking to how sensitive and exhausting raising this issue has been. Many other editors of color were reluctant to speak or write publicly about the exhibition. I wonder who or what they were afraid of? And I wonder when we will move past dialogue to more concrete change. So far, our discussions as a field have proven an endless cycle of emotional labor, and so again I wonder, to what end?

‘Murderers’ and ‘criminals’: Meteorologists face unprecedented harassment from conspiracy theorists

Story by Laura Paddison • CNN


“Murderers.” “Criminals.” “We are watching you.”

These are just a handful of the threats and abuse sent to meteorologists at AEMET, Spain’s national weather agency, in recent months. They come via social media, its website, letters, phone calls – even in the form of graffiti sprayed across one of its buildings.

Abuse and harassment “have always happened” against the agency’s scientists, Estrella Gutiérrez-Marco, spokesperson for AEMET, told CNN.

But there has been a rapid rise recently, coinciding with extreme weather in Spain. A severe drought has shrunk water levels to alarming lows, exacerbated by record-breaking April temperatures.

The abuse got so bad that in April, AEMET posted a video on Twitter calling for an end to the harassment, and asking for respect. Even the government intervened. Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister for the ecological transition, posted on Twitter in support of the agency: “Lying, giving wings to conspiracy and fear, insulting … It is time to say enough.”

The harassment of meteorologists by conspiracy theorists and climate deniers is not a phenomenon confined to Spain.

National weather services, meteorologists and climate communicators in countries from the US to Australia say they’re experiencing an increase in threats and abuse, often around accusations they are overstating, lying about or even controlling the weather.


Usually submerged ruins of the former village of Aceredo, appearing from the Lindoso hydroelectric plant reservoir due to the low water level, near Lobios, northwestern Spain, on February 15, 2022. - Cermelo Alen/AFP/Getty Images

In Spain’s case, much of the trolling revolves around the rehashing of an old conspiracy theory: so-called “chemtrails.”

Under many of the agency’s Twitter posts, especially those that refer to more extreme weather, users have posted images of blue skies, crisscrossed with wispy, white trails. They falsely claim the trails contain a cocktail of chemicals to artificially manipulate the weather – keeping rain away and causing climate change.

It’s a theory roundly rejected by scientists.

Airplanes do release vapor trails called contrails, short for condensation trails, which form when water vapor condenses into ice crystals around the small particles emitted by jet engines.

But scientists have been clear: There is no evidence “chemtrails” exist.

‘One of the hardest experiences’

In April, meteorologist Isabel Moreno wrote a tweet saying “rain skips Spain,” with an image of a band of rain stretching across Europe but missing Spain almost entirely. She was completely unprepared for the response.

“It was one of the hardest experiences in social media in my life,” said Moreno, who appears on the Spanish TV channel RTVE. “I received HUNDREDS of responses to an (apparently) inoffensive tweet,” she told CNN in an email.

Many accused her of covering up weather manipulation.

“Do not take us for idiots,” said one. “They dry us up, and you are the spokesperson for those who do it,” said another. And on, and on.

While there were plenty of supportive messages, too, it was scary, Moreno said. “I have never seen either that amount of responses nor that level of aggression.” It took days for her to be able to go onto Twitter again without feeling anxious or stressed.

This phenomenon may be particularly pronounced in Spain, but it spreads much wider.

In France, meteorologists have been accused of exaggerating the country’s drought and heat.

Météo France, the French national meteorological service, said the agency’s communications are “the object of more and more repeated attacks,” a Météo France spokesman told CNN.

Climate misinformation on social media is particularly widespread, he said. It “seems to be on the rise, both in terms of the number of attacks directed against scientific publications but also the increasingly aggressive tone of the insults.”

In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology has been bombarded with criticism of its reporting of temperature records, with claims they have been inflated to make climate change seem worse. A spokeswoman for BOM called these claims inaccurate. “The Bureau transparently reports on and provides access to its very large climate data records,” she said.


And in the UK, meteorologists reported unprecedented levels of online harassment during last year’s record-breaking heat wave, which led to the first-ever “red warning” for heat.

“As scientists communicated this information, they were accused of instigating a nanny state hysteria,” Liz Bentley, the chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, told CNN.

The Met Office was even accused of changing the color palette of its maps to make them look more dramatic. “We hadn’t, it was just really hot,” Oliver Claydon, a communications officer at the Met Office, told CNN.

Firefighters contain a wildfire on July 20, 2022, in Sheffield, England. Multiple fires broke out across the UK during a record-breaking heatwave.

- Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

US meteorologists and climate communicators have not escaped the barrage of abuse and conspiracies.

“Whenever I posted about global topics, like the yearly temperature report, the comments section would be filled with political jabs and conspiracy theories,” said Elisa Raffa, a broadcast meteorologist with Queen City News, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As a woman in the media, she more often receives comments about her appearance than the science she’s communicating, she told CNN.

Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, said she’s seen a ramp up of abuse lately.

“I receive almost daily verbal declarations of my ignorance and climate alarmism,” she told CNN.

An erosion of trust

Some disinformation experts draw a straight line from the conspiracies that flourished during the Covid pandemic – when experts faced a slew of abuse – to the uptick in climate conspiracies.

People need “trending” topics on which to hang these theories, said Alexandre López-Borrull, a lecturer in the Information and Communication Sciences Department at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Spain.

As Covid-19 fades from the headlines, climate change has become a strong rallying point. There’s been a big increase in “insults directed at all organizations related to the weather,” he told CNN.

“It’s a logical evolution of the broader trend around pushback on institutions, and the erosion of trust,” said Jennie King, the head of Climate Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank focused on disinformation and extremism.

These kinds of conspiracies are usually grounded in the idea that a set of institutions is “using the pretext of climate change, or the pretext of solving public policy issues, to enact some insidious agenda,” she told CNN.

And the weather is an easy way in. Many aspects of climate science can feel very technical or abstract, but the weather is something people interact with frequently, said King.

“It’s a much more immediate way to bring a wider audience into that skepticism … planting seeds of doubt against the climate agenda writ large,” she said.


The Hoover Dam on September 16, 2022, in Boulder City, Nevada. Climate change fueled drought has pushed Lake Mead's water levels to historic lows.

 - David McNew/Getty Images

The role meteorologists have in explaining how climate change affects the weather, especially extreme weather, is a particular flashpoint.

Extreme weather can be alarming, especially when there are consequences and sacrifices, such as Spain’s water restrictions.

Conspiracy theories feed on this fear by offering a simple, enticing explanation, said López-Borrull. It’s easier to believe climate change is fake, or a manipulation by powerful people, than get your head around the complex problem and what it means for society.

“Change is hard and scary,” Francis said

‘I’m just trying to do my job’

It’s difficult to combat conspiracy theories when they bubble up. Some experts say they offer simple charts and rebuttals when they can, but try to ignore those who come in bad faith.

Doug McNeall, a climate scientist and statistician at the Met Office Hadley Centre, a UK research center, said that, as a scientist, he welcomes being challenged. “If people come with better evidence, and you change your mind, that’s good,” he told CNN.

But that’s not been his recent experience. “These people were not coming with better evidence,” he said. “They were coming to stop us talking about climate science.” He now relies much more on the block button.

Moreno echoed this. “I find it very difficult to change the minds of people that really have strong beliefs in these conspiracies,” she said. It’s easier to prevent the ideas from taking hold in people in the first place by tackling the myths and explaining how the atmosphere works, she added.

This kind of communication can really help, said King. Some of the best initiatives are “when media outlets or scientific institutions really try to demystify the process of how they produce public interest data,” she said.

King worries about the impact of these conspiracies on climate politics. “If we want to implement any policies, ambitious or not, around the environmental agenda, and the acute crisis of climate change, it does now seem that this is going to rear its head,” she said.

López-Borrull hopes meteorologists and climate communicators will persevere and not be pushed away from online spaces.

“The answer is not disappearing or closing social media profiles … they have to remain on social media because they are really useful,” López-Borrull said.

But as the climate crisis causes more extreme weather, harassment could increase even further.

And it takes a toll, said Raffa.

“I think it’s easy for people to forget I’m human, some of those comments can be hurtful. I’m just trying to do my job.”

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