Sara Ramírez Pitched for Their Grey's Anatomy Character Dr. Callie Torres to Be Bisexual

Christina Dugan Ramirez - Yesterday 

© Provided by PeopleTheo Wargo/Getty

Sara Ramírez is reflecting on their game-changing character on Grey's Anatomy.

On Wednesday, Ramírez, 46, opened up about their experience playing Dr. Callie Torres, a bisexual woman and orthopedic surgeon, in 239 episodes of the ABC medical drama — making Callie the longest-running LGBTQ character in TV history.

In a recent interview with Variety, Ramírez, who came out as non-binary in 2020 and uses the pronouns they/them, recalled the moment they approached creator Shonda Rhimes with the fresh idea of introducing Callie as bisexual.

"I wanted to pursue a storyline where Callie would discover that she was attracted to women, as well as men," Ramírez told the publication.

Rhimes was quick to jump on board with the idea. "She knew I was bi," Ramírez recalled.

And so, Callie came out as bisexual on the series in 2009. At the time, Ramírez says they knew they were bisexual themselves, but weren't ready to come out publicly.

"I was really afraid it would hurt my career if I came out as bisexual," Ramírez told PEOPLE in December. "I was very aware of the bi[sexual] antagonism that exists. But I'm really proud of what we put out in the world. It was definitely disrupting a narrative."


© Provided by PeopleDanny Feld/ABC

RELATED: Sara Ramírez Joins the Cast of HBO Max's Sex and the City Revival as a Non-Binary Podcast Host


After a brief marriage to Dr. George O'Malley, Callie went on to marry Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) on the show. The relationship proved to be extremely impactful.

During an interview with Out Magazine last year, Ramírez said the role not only had an impact on the LBGTQ community as a whole, but also their own self-understanding.

"Prior to Callie Torres, I'd never seen myself represented on television," Ramírez told the outlet. "There was so much I didn't know that I didn't know. So, I've caught up with myself in a lot of ways."

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Speaking with Variety, showrunner Krista Vernoff expressed similar sentiments about Callie.

"I don't think it can be overstated what the social impact of Callie's bisexuality was on the culture at large," Vernoff said. "Bisexuality was almost invisible on TV at that point. I personally have two kids who have come out as bisexual, and I don't think it's disconnected from Callie and Sara publicly coming out."



Though Ramírez exited Grey's Anatomy in 2016, and last appeared in the season 12 finale, they said they're open to a Grey's return in the future.

"It taught me so much, portraying a character that a lot of folks had not seen on TV including myself," Ramírez told PEOPLE in December. "I will always have a soft tender place in my heart for that work family and that role. It was the role of a lifetime."

"I wouldn't be who I am today without the experience I had on Grey's Anatomy and my heart is completely open to going back and checking in with Dr. Callie Torres," Ramírez added. "But that would only happen if the writers' room and the story really organically led them to need a character like Callie to come back. They all know that I support them from afar and that I'm rooting for them."

Grey's Anatomy is not the first time Ramírez has broken boundaries with their character. They also starred as Che Diaz, an outspoken, non-binary podcast host and stand-up comic on the Sex and the City revival series, And Just Like That..., who ends up being (spoiler alert!) Miranda Hobbes' love interest.

‘An Act of Defense’: Jaclyn Moore on Republicans Weaponizing Trans Panic and Why Representation Really Does Matter

Jaclyn Moore - Yesterday 


It’s Pride Month, which means three things: Corporate Twitter accounts will start talking like “Drag Race” contestants, the queer community will continue fighting our annual blood feud about kink’s place at Pride and there will be think pieces about LGBT representation in the media. If you’re like me, the thought of those three things is enough to make your eyes glaze over.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that conversations about representation aren’t important. Letting viewers see themselves depicted in art helps people feel less alone. It tells them they’re OK. It tells them that they are worthy of story and narrative and, yeah, maybe love. And it exposes people to folks who are different than they are and makes the case that those that we don’t understand are worthy of empathy and love. That’s all wildly important, but it’s also self-evident.
More from Variety

But as a trans woman, I’m sick of these conversations because it feels like we only get to have them in June. I’m sick of these conversations because I’m sick of feeling like representation alone is enough. I’m sick of these conversations because I’m sick of art that seems to simply argue on behalf of our community’s collective humanity. That humanity should be beyond debate. I want stories of complex queer and trans people. That was our goal when making Peacock’s “Queer as Folk.” To depict queer folks who were messy and made mistakes but were still ultimately worthy of love and narrative. I want that to be where we’re going. I want more than just “representation” for our community.

And yet, here I am, in June, writing an article about the continued need for more queer representation. Why?

I was recently driving from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Now, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the geography of the American Southwest, but that’s a drive that puts me in Texas by myself for something like 15 hours. Not ideal.

One night, a little before midnight, I was a couple hours outside of Austin when my dog Leo woke up and very clearly needed to go to the bathroom. I took the next exit and pulled into a mostly empty gas station plaza. I parked along the edge of the lot, hopped out, leashed up Leo for an impromptu walk and encouraged him to move quickly. Just then, across the parking lot, three guys left the convenience store part of the station and headed to a van. As they made the walk to their car, I felt like they were looking at me, but they were far away, and my nerves were on edge, so I tried to dismiss the thought and turn my attention back to my pup, who had finally found a rock worthy of his pee.

Only I couldn’t dismiss it. And as I looked back to the van, I felt my blood run cold. The van was driving across the parking lot toward me.

It parked about 10 or so feet away from me. Close enough that I could see the faces of the men inside looking at me and talking to each other, but not so close I could make out what they were saying. There was laughter, but the kind that feels coated in razor blades. A joyful noise paired with hostile eyes.

I turned back to Leo, grabbed him, and returned to our car. I pulled out of the parking lot only for the van to follow. I drove back to the highway entrance, with my heart in my throat, and my eyes fixated on my phone’s lack of service. As I stopped at a red light, a million scenarios played out in my head at once. All of them bad. The light finally turned green and I finally turned onto the entrance to the highway. Once I did, I saw the van pull a U-turn and drive off into the night.

In some ways this is a story of something not happening. I’ve been assaulted for being trans before. I’ve been groped. I’ve had beer bottles thrown at me. Why this story and not those?

Because these men looked sure of their anger. They had the air of a group who felt like they had morality on their side. And why wouldn’t they? Right now, trans rights are under attack across this country. The Republican Party has spent the last two years explicitly running an election strategy to weaponize trans panic. On Fox News, trans people and those who support minors having access to gender-affirming care are being recategorized as “groomers.” On Netflix, famous straight comedians make jokes about trans women being dangerous in bathrooms, as well as worthy targets for their audience’s anger. All this leads to a simple but scary truth. When you start to say a group of people is dangerous, you empower your followers to become dangerous to them.

And it’s not stopping with trans people. “Don’t Say Gay” bills are becoming common in state legislatures across the country. And with Roe v. Wade likely to be overturned soon, Supreme Court protections that queer folks fought long and hard for are also seemingly back under threat. It’s not doom and gloom to say that things feel like they’re getting worse right now. It’s a realistic reading of the situation.

So, here I am, in June, saying that we need to make art that shows that queer and trans people are worthy of love and respect. Yes, I want to move beyond simple representation, and I hope our reimagining of “Queer as Folk” does that somewhat. But as much as I think that is where we should be going as an industry, I can’t sit here in the face of the political backslide we are experiencing and its very real-life consequences for actual queer and trans people (not to mention anyone with a uterus) and act like “representation matters” is trite. Telling our stories is an act of defense against the narratives being pushed that seek to harm us. Our humanity should be beyond debate, but unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where that’s true.

Jaclyn Moore is an executive producer and writer on Peacock’s “Queer as Folk.”

Variety

CULTURE WAR OVER MATH BOOK

Uproar in China over textbook images ‘not suitable for children’

Alyssa Chen and Dylan Duan and Livia Liu and Dawn Liu - Yesterday

HONG KONG — China’s education ministry has ordered a nationwide review of all primary, secondary and university textbooks after illustrations in widely used mathematics textbooks for primary school students were criticized online as ugly, sexually suggestive and anti-China.

The textbooks, published by the state-run People’s Education Press, have been in use for about a decade, according to Chinese news reports. But there has been an outcry on Chinese social media since last week, when illustrations from the books were posted on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.

Some Chinese internet users criticized what they said were racist depictions of people with small, wide-set eyes, while others objected to scenes that appear to show girls being groped or boys with bulging pants. An inaccurate rendering of the Chinese flag and a drawing of a boy wearing the U.S. flag colors of red, white and blue also drew accusations that the publisher was sending a pro-Western, anti-China message.

“This is not a problem of art, this is a problem of ideology. Do they really not know the seriousness of the problem of ideology infiltrating education?” one Weibo user commented.

The publisher has apologized and said it will revise the illustrations before the start of the next academic year in the fall. But that failed to stem the public uproar, and the Ministry of Education promised a wider review.


Math textbook

 (Sheldon Cooper / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“The problems found will be rectified immediately,” it said in a statement on Monday. “Those who violated the disciplines and regulations will be held accountable, and will be dealt with seriously in accordance with laws and regulations.”


Cristina Du, the mother of a fourth grader in Henan Province, said she had never looked closely at the illustrations until they were posted on social media.

“My daughter said she has always thought the illustrations are ugly since her first year in elementary school,” Du said. “She also told me there are illustrations that are not suitable for children.”

Under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, there has been greater scrutiny of textbooks and similar materials as the government moves to center education around the ruling Communist Party and its ideology. Foreign textbooks have been banned in primary and middle schools.

Anger over the illustrations in the math textbooks has quickly spread to other Chinese materials designed for children and teenagers, leading other books to be pulled from the shelves.


Math textbook

 (Sheldon Cooper / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Others pushed back against the online furor. Wuheqilin, a prominent nationalist artist, argued that the low pay offered to illustrators resulted in poor-quality work.

One Weibo user criticized the textbook illustrations as ugly but said she was more concerned about greater censorship.

“If you look hard with a magnifying glass, you will find something wrong with everything,” she said.

Amazon employees call on Amazon to stop selling books deemed as anti-trans

Mariella Moon - 

In 2021, a handful of Amazon employees quit the company over its decision to sell books that suggest kids who identify as transgender are mentally ill. Now, a group of employees is protesting its continued sale of those books by disrupting a Pride event at its headquarters in Seattle. According to The Washington Post, around 30 members of the organization No Hate at Amazon laid on the ground wrapped in trans flags to stop the company's annual Pride flag-raising tradition. An organizer said: "Amazon does have standing policies against hate speech in its content and technically they say we don't sell it." But in truth, those contentious books are still listed on its website.



Transgender flag in the LGTB Pride Parade in Valencia, Spain

In a petition the group previously circulated to get Amazon to stop selling anti-trans books, it specifically named two titles: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier and Johnny the Walrus by American conservative political commentator Matt Walsh. "By continuing to sell and promote anti-trans books and repeating the rhetoric of the anti-trans hate movement, Amazon upper management has allowed the store that we build and operate to be complicit in [the anti-trans] hate movement," the petition reads.

At least one employee who participated in the event quit the company this week. Senior software engineer Lina Jodoin explained that it's more than just about the sale of those books, but also about the response they've gotten from management when they tried to escalate their concerns. And based on the company's response to the protest, it will keep on selling those titles.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told The Post in a statement:

"As a company, we believe strongly in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a bookseller, we’ve chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including books that conflict with our company values and corporate positions. We believe that it’s possible to do both – to offer a broad range of viewpoints in our bookstore, and support diversity, equity, and inclusion."

How Abortion Decisions Could Impact IVF, According To A Fertility Doctor Who’s Done It

Courtney Shea - Yesterday - R29

Welcome to Refinery29’s Fertility Diaries, where people chronicle their joyous, painful, and sometimes complicated paths to parenthood. Today, we hear from Roohi Jeelani, MD, FACOG, a 39-year-old reproductive endocrinologist in Chicago, IL.

Here, Dr. Jeelani shares her story of going through fertility treatments as a fertility doctor, and her thoughts on the leaked Supreme Court draft document that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and, in many states, criminalize the discarding of frozen embryos.

Working as a fertility specialist, babies are what I do. In my profession, we are always paying close attention to changes around reproductive healthcare: what states are anti-abortion, new regulations around birth control, and so on. Even still, I was stunned the day of the Supreme Court draft opinion leak. For the majority of my life, reproductive rights felt immutable, and now here we are. I want to say that I am still hopeful that this won’t happen — that the outrage will have an impact and Roe v. Wade will stand. But given the work I do, I have to prepare for a worst-case scenario. And that scenario is terrifying.

Within an hour of the leak, I was getting calls from patients asking what this means or could mean for their embryos. Should they consider pausing in vitro fertilization [IVF] treatments? If Roe v. Wade does get overturned, abortion would be outlawed in more than 20 states. Thirteen states currently have trigger laws in place, many of which include language that defines life as beginning at the moment of fertilization. Other states aren’t even waiting, using “vigilante laws” like S.B. 8 in Texas to get around the courts. In Oklahoma, for example, the governor just signed a bill into law that defines life as beginning at the moment of fertilization (“the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum”). This seems to give a frozen embryo in a lab the same “personhood” as a 30-week-old fetus. The state is circumventing what are still federally protected abortion rights by empowering private citizens to sue a doctor, or anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion, including someone driving a pregnant person to a clinic. The pregnant person can’t be sued, but, of course, that could change. [Editor’s note: The legislator who initially sponsored the Oklahoma bill that’s now law told Politico Nightly that they didn’t discuss the fertility treatment IVF in regards to the bill, and that Republicans in the state currently don’t have interest in limiting IVF. This may not be the case in other states in the future, though.]

Just to clarify, if it eventually becomes illegal to discard frozen embryos, so much of the amazing advancement we have made around in vitro fertilization goes out the window. Treatments are essentially a numbers game — a certain amount of superfluous material (i.e., frozen embryos that don’t get used) is part of the equation for success. When we do a round of IVF, we retrieve as many eggs as possible. Even if the person is just wanting to have one child, you never know how many quality eggs you will end up with, and then, how many viable frozen embryos (fertilized eggs) will come from that. Statistically, we say it takes three quality embryos to result in a live birth, but the reality is that every individual is different. Freezing extra embryos means that if a first — or second or third or eighth — attempt is not successful, we can try again without having to go through another round of IVF, which is physically and emotionally draining and may not even be an option depending on age. IVF is also incredibly expensive in states that don’t have coverage — at least $10,000 per round on the low end — and that is true whether you are creating a single embryo or 10.

The problem is, if new laws come into play and are implemented to criminalize IVF, they would punish anyone disposing of any “leftovers” (or even donating them to science, which is another option). Both the clinician who is performing the procedure and the patient who has their eggs frozen could someday face legal ramifications. That’s not a road most people would want to go down, but the only alternative — creating a single embryo per round of IVF — would make fertility treatments less effective, less safe (for mother and baby because the likelihood of miscarriage would become far greater, and due to laws’ potential implications on genetic testing), less affordable, and largely unviable for women who are fighting against the clock, which is something I know about first hand.

I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome when I was 14 years old. My mom was concerned because I wasn’t getting my period. We went to one specialist after another who said I probably had an eating disorder, that I just needed to gain weight, which was so frustrating because I knew that wasn’t the case. Finally, my uncle suggested that I should see a reproductive endocrinologist, which was a turning point for me in so many ways. I got my diagnosis, yes, but even before that, I remember sitting in the waiting room and feeling overwhelmed by the joy and intensity in the space. Even before the doctor asked me about my health, I asked her, What is this place? What do you do? I still remember her answer perfectly: “I’m a fertility doctor, I help to make babies.” From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do. I went to med school and launched my private practice in 2016.

By that time, I had already dealt with my own reproductive challenges. My husband and I met at school and we were already trying to get pregnant when I was a resident. I did a round of IVF in 2010 and experienced recurrent miscarriages before finally giving birth to my son in 2013. Even though this is what I do, being on the other side of infertility was an emotional rollercoaster. I was just about to start a second round of IVF when we found out that I was pregnant with my daughter in 2015 — a shock, of course, and a joy. I banked embryos again in 2017 and was ready to start implantation in 2020. I had seven viable embryos and none of them worked, which meant another round of IVF and, finally, success. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant — hurray! — but it took an additional seven implantations to get here.

To say my journey to motherhood would not be possible if new laws take effect goes without saying. But I will say it to anyone who will listen because it is so important that we fight to preserve the progress we have made and to protect the bodily autonomy of people who require fertility assistance. I say this as a pregnant person and a doctor. I am lucky to practice in Illinois, but I know that in some of the more conservative parts of the country people are being advised to move their embryos now, just to be safe.

There is a bitter irony to watching this group of politicians argue for the “sanctity of life,” meanwhile these new laws could mean the exact opposite in my field. I’m a fertility doctor. I help to make babies. Babies for people who desperately want to be pregnant. What kind of backwards reality are we living in that would deny me the ability to do what I do?

As told to Courtney Shea.

This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
A GOP congressional candidate used Covid relief funds meant for his employees to pay for his car and political campaign

mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh) - Yesterday 


A GOP congressional candidate pleaded guilty to misusing Covid relief funds meant for his employees.
He told employees at his small business that they would get paid if they worked for his campaign.
The Idaho candidate also omitted the time his employees put into his campaign in an FEC report.

A GOP congressional candidate in Idaho pleaded guilty on Wednesday to taking COVID-19 relief funds meant for his employees and using them for personal expenses like his car payments and a 2020 political campaign.

According to the Department of Justice, Nicholas Jones, 36, also pleaded guilty to falsifying records to conceal the time and work his employees put into his campaign in a report to the Federal Elections Commission.

Insider understands that Jones' small business in Boise, Idaho, is a store selling puzzles and tabletop and board games.

Jones told employees who worked at his store that he would pay them if they worked on his congressional campaign, the DOJ wrote in a press release.

In 2020, he applied for and received $753,600 from Covid-related assistance packages such as the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

He certified that the money would be put into his business but instead used a "significant portion" to pay for his car, life insurance policies, and political ads for his campaign, per the DOJ.

Jones' employees would show up to work on behalf of his campaign and were paid thousands of dollars in wages through his small business, partially with the money he received from the Covid relief packages, the department wrote.

When he lost the primary election, Jones filed a campaign finance report with the FEC. However, he omitted the contributions of anyone who worked on his campaign other than him, including the thousands of dollars worth of time and work that his employees spent, according to the DOJ.

Jones pleaded guilty to wire fraud and falsification of records in the District Court of Idaho and will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum total sentence of 40 years in prison.

Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Jones' case isn't the first time that fraud and politics have crossed paths this year. On May 18, the creator of a fake political action committee admitted in federal court that he scammed donors by pretending to support former President Donald Trump's reelection and be a part of his campaign, as Insider's Grace Panetta reported.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Biden's Education Department just wiped out $5.8 billion in student debt for all remaining borrowers defrauded by Corinthian Colleges

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) - Yesterday 

© Provided by Business InsiderPresident Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The Education Department canceled $5.8 billion in student debt for 560,000 former Corinthian College students.

Corinthian shut down in 2015 following accusations of predatory behavior that misled students.

This is Biden's latest action providing relief for borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's Education Department announced all remaining student-loan borrowers who attended now-defunct, for-profit Corinthian Colleges are getting their debt balances wiped out.

The announcement approved $5.8 billion for a group student-loan forgiveness claim that covers 560,000 former Corinthian students.

Corinthian shut down in 2015 following a number of investigations that found the school engaged in predatory behavior that pushed students to take out loans when that was not the best option for them. Since then, the department has approved borrower defense to repayment claims — a type of loan relief for borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools — for some groups of students who went to Corinthian.

Wednesday's announcement is the biggest group approval the department has acted on to date, and it will include borrowers who did not submit relief claims themselves.

"As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris Administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. "For far too long, Corinthian engaged in the wholesale financial exploitation of students, misleading them into taking on more and more debt to pay for promises they would never keep."

According to the press release, the Education Department will begin notifying impacted students of this relief, and borrowers will not have to take any additional action on their own.


So far, Cardona has approved more than $2 billion in borrower defense claims for former for-profit students, including some from Corinthian, ITT Technical Institutes, and Marinello Schools of Beauty. But those actions have still left many borrowers who submitted claims waiting for relief.

In March, Insider reported that 16 Democratic lawmakers, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, urged Cardona to act on the remaining claims for Corinthian students, saying that the Education Department has processed those claims in "a complex and piecemeal fashion" that has "delayed relief for thousands of borrowers while seemingly denying thousands of others any relief at all."

"For the estimated 350,000 students defrauded by Corinthian, which closed its campuses in 2015, the wait for debt cancellation has spanned three presidential administrations," the lawmakers wrote.

Since Corinthian shut down following investigations of predatory behavior, like misleading students into taking out unaffordable debt, former students have been fighting for the relief themselves. A group of borrowers known as the Corinthian 15 met with the Debt Collective — the nation's first debtor's union — and prepared for a debt strike that has now turned into 200 students and counting fighting for their borrower defense claims to be approved.

"This has been a long time coming and it's something that we've wanted for ever," Nathan Hornes, one of the original 15 strikers, said during a Wednesday press call. "It's a powerful moment, and it's a moment that I don't take for granted," Hornes added. "But there's so much more work to be done. This it doesn't stop here. The buck does not stop with us."

During her time as attorney general in California, Vice President Kamala Harris also took action against Corinthian. In 2016, she secured a $1.1 billion judgment against Corinthian, providing restitution payments for former students defrauded by the for-profit chain.

Along with student-loan relief, some of Biden's top officials have vowed to ensure for-profit schools are held accountable for bad behavior. At the end of last year, Federal Student Aid head Richard Cordray said that "more needs to be done to prevent people from abusing these student aid programs, from cheating taxpayers, from cheating students."

Wednesday's widespread relief also comes as Biden is working toward making a decision on broad student-loan forgiveness for federal borrowers. While Biden himself has not confirmed a specific relief amount, recent reports have suggested he is looking at $10,000 in forgiveness for borrowers making under $150,000 a year.

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M
NFT insider trading scheme charges are a 1st, feds say

Yesterday 

NEW YORK (AP) — A former product manager at an online marketplace was arrested Wednesday in what federal authorities called the first ever digital asset insider trading scheme involving NFTs.

Nathaniel Chastain, a former employee of a company that does business as OpenSea, was arrested in Manhattan. He was later released on $100,000 bail after entering a not guilty plea to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Chastain, 31, and his lawyers declined comment immediately after the Manhattan federal court hearing.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the charges were a first because they pertained to NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that provide digital ownership of art and other content.

Michael J. Driscoll, head of New York's FBI office, said Chastain used his knowledge of confidential information to buy dozens of NFTs in advance of them being featured on OpenSea's homepage. OpenSea is the largest online marketplace for the purchase and sale of NFTs, authorities noted.


Driscoll said the emergence of any new investment tool such as “blockchain supported non-fungible tokens” will lead some to exploit its vulnerabilities for illegal profits.

“NFTs might be new, but this type of criminal scheme is not," Williams said. "Nathaniel Chastain betrayed OpenSea by using its confidential business information to make money for himself. Today’s charges demonstrate the commitment of this Office to stamping out insider trading — whether it occurs on the stock market or the blockchain.”

Chastain, as part of his job, was responsible for selecting NFTs to be featured on OpenSea's homepage, authorities said. They added that price buyers were usually willing to pay more for an NFT once it was featured on OpenSea's homepage, enabling Chastain to sell them at two- to five-times his initial purchase price.

He concealed the fraud by conducting the purchases and sales through anonymous digital currency wallets and anonymous accounts at OpenSea, authorities said.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

Ex-OpenSea employee charged in first NFT insider trading case

"A Single Number That Has 10,000,086 Digits" by Ryoji Ikeda is on display along with other NFT art at Sotheby's first physical exhibition of NFTs, featuring the first NFT ever minted presented in partnership with Samsung on, June 4, 2021, in New York City. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors announced the United States first insider trading case involving NFTs. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

June 1 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors have arrested a former employee of the largest online marketplace for non-fungible tokens on charges of using company information for personal financial gain, making it the United States' first insider trading case involving digital assets.

The Justice Department announced in a statement that prosecutors in New York on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging Nathaniel Chastain, 31, with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each of which carry a 20-year maximum prison sentence.

The New York resident was arrested Wednesday morning before making his first appearance at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"NFTs might be new, but this type of criminal scheme is not," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

According to a February Treasury report on money laundering and terror finance through the trade of artworks, NFTs are publicly verifiable blockchain-based digital tokens representing ownership of images, videos and audio files as well as other forms of media.

These digital tokens are sold online, with the market for NFTs producing more than $1.5 billion in trading during the first three months of last year, the report said.

Federal prosecutors charged Chastain, a former employee of OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, with exploiting his advanced knowledge of which NFTs would be featured on the company's homepage for personal again.

The charging document states that information about which NFTs would be selected for the website was kept secret as after the digital tokens were featured the price consumers were would pay for them "typically increased substantially."

Chastain was responsible for selecting which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea's homepage, and he secretly purchased dozens of these digital assets and sold them at a profit shortly after they were featured on his company's website, prosecutors said, adding the scheme ran from from June to September of last year.

To conceal his identity, Chastain is accused of using anonymous digital currency wallets and anonymous accounts on OpenSea to buy and sell the NFTs, prosecutors said.

"With the emergence of any new investment tool, such as blockchain-supported non-fungible tokens, there are those who will exploit vulnerabilities for their own gain," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll said. "The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue actors who choose to manipulate the market in this way."

Paraguay's slow slide into a state held hostage to drug trafficking

AFP - Yesterday 


Two Paraguayan officials murdered in as many weeks: an anti-drug prosecutor executed while on honeymoon in Colombia and a mayor gunned down outside his office.


© NORBERTO DUARTEParaguayan security forces destroy a drug factory in Pedro Juan Caballero in May 2022

These incidents have sent a disturbing signal that parts of the South American country are falling under the influence -- and bullets -- of organized crime and drug traffickers.

A few months ago, the mayor of Pedro Juan Caballero, a northeastern city on the border with Brazil, complained bitterly that mafia groups "walk around armed and no-one does anything.

"How can you walk around the streets armed with an AR-15 or AK-47?" asked Jose Carlos Acevedo, 51.

"The citizenry knows what happens here but (apparently) the police don't know and the public prosecutor's office doesn't know."

It was one of the last interviews the mayor would give before being struck on May 17 by a hail of bullets as he left town hall.

A week earlier, Marcelo Pecci, a leading prosecutor in Paraguay's fight against drug trafficking and money laundering, was shot dead execution-style on a Colombian island in front of his wife.

One line of inquiry, according to sources close to the investigation, has pointed to the suspected crime boss Sergio de Arruda Quintiliano Neto, known as "The Minotaur", who has been detained since 2019 in Brazil.

The alleged leader of the Brazilian First Capital Command (PCC) gang was arrested as part of a probe led by Pecci.

At the time of his death, the 45-year-old Pecci was compiling evidence against captured criminals belonging to the PCC and Red Command (CV), groups that originated in Brazil but now also operate in Paraguay.

A small, landlocked country of 7.3 million between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, Paraguay has traditionally been known as a marijuana producer.

But "we have become the regional distribution center for Andean cocaine. From Paraguay, shipments are sent through the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo to Europe," criminologist Juan Martens from the National University of Asuncion told AFP.


The country "is located in a strategic region for smuggling and drug-trafficking," said Arnaldo Giuzzio, a former interior minister and anti-drugs chief.

- 'Big fish starting to fall' -

In Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital of northeastern Amambay province, there is a volatile mix of anti-drug trafficking operations, score settling between rival organized crime groups and murders of officials who try to tackle the scourge.

Even family members can be targeted: the niece of former mayor Acevedo was killed in 2021.

The province, a hub for transporting drugs into neighboring Brazil, had a murder rate in 2020 of 70 per 100,000 inhabitants -- 10 times the national average.

Just last week, police in that region destroyed 600 tons of marijuana in a highly publicized operation following Pecci's murder.

Over the course of this year, more than 1,000 hectares of marijuana crops have been destroyed, while 3,400 tons of the plant has been taken off the market, "causing drug traffickers to lose $103 million," Paraguay's anti-drugs spokesman Francisco Ayala told AFP.

On top of that, 2.2 tons of cocaine have been seized.

President Mario Abdo Benitez, who has faced harsh criticism for a perceived lack of success against the drug traffickers, trumpeted the "record" figures and the fact that "big fish are starting to fall."

But he also painted a bleak picture of a country where "organized crime pays politicians, pays parliamentarians, pays prosecutors, magistrates and various authorities," without naming any.

Martens says crime gangs have been "progressively taking control of various institutions" in the country.

"Here in Paraguay we have drug-breeding, drug-soyabean, drug-sport (through club owners), drug-religion, drug-universities."

Abdo says there is "a war" being waged against drug trafficking that "will be tough and will last."

Paraguay's Congress recently began debating new legislation aimed at better controlling the nation's airspace, which Martens has described as the "open sky."

Some members of Congress hope to give the Air Force more authority to shoot down non-identified or "hostile" tourist planes frequently used by drug traffickers.

But the military has said that to tackle the problem it prefers improved radar systems and airplanes over new legislation.

hro-pbl/lab/ybl/bc/des

WORLD BICYCLE DAY

Will the bicycle help us address pressing social issues?

The Conversation

JUNE 3,2022

World Bicycle Day is celebrated on June 3 in support of the idea that bicycles “contribute to cleaner air and less congestion and makes education, health care and other social services more accessible to the most vulnerable populations.”

The bicycle plays a massive role in physical activity. This was especially evident during the pandemic, as bicycle purchases skyrocketed. Amid lockdown measures, cycling remained a crucial alternative to public transportation, while offering the benefit of outdoor and socially distanced physical activity. But even before the pandemic started, people’s interest in bikes was growing.

Cycling could be the answer to more than just our physical activity and pandemic woes. It could offer public officials a way to address convergent crises in public health, transportation and climate. At the same time, increased bicycle use can generate new economic opportunities, like offering low-cost bicycles for sustainable transport and mechanical training to local communities to create jobs.

And as gas prices continue to rise due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, governments are urging citizens to consider the bicycle. What’s clear is that the bicycle’s capacity to respond to pressing social issues has inspired both intrigue and optimism, especially in the context of COVID-19.
Bicycles for development

We are a group of researchers interested in the social and environmental dimensions of sport, physical activity and health with a focus — for the work described here — on the perceived role of development in the emergent cycling boom.

So far our research has attempted to map out the bicycles for development movement, which considers the bicycle a powerful technology that holds notable implications for social change and development objectives.

Our research shows that this movement is driven largely by the work of non-governmental organizations delivering bicycles to communities across the globe.

These initiatives can be entirely local, although they often cross international lines — organizations collecting used bicycles in one place sometimes ship them elsewhere. Bicycles that are delivered to communities often come from donations, micro-financing initiatives or social entrepreneurial ventures, like those led by women in rural Uganda.

Over the past six years our research in Canada, Nicaragua and Uganda has highlighted key ways that bicycles for development initiatives seem to have positive effects. For example, bicycle access can foster mobility, which can lead to various opportunities (like accessing educational opportunities and local markets to sell goods), and may help promote a sense of social inclusion or economic development.

In Canada, we conducted research with communities in Toronto and Vancouver. Our studies in Toronto showed how bicycles are being taken up by mutual aid organizations to respond to increasing food insecurity during the pandemic. Through focusing on the experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ and racialized cyclists, we highlighted the ways in which diverse cyclists challenge systems of racialized and gendered oppression using the bicycle to dismantle stereotypes about who can participate in cycling.

However, while the bicycle has positive potential, our research also demonstrated that providing bicycles to women and girls is, in some ways, filled with tensions and challenges. For example, in our most recent research in Uganda, some women explained that prior to receiving the bicycle, they were mainly responsible for caregiving and other domestic tasks like cooking.

Upon receiving the bicycle, they now also have to engage in economic activities — meaning more labour-focused expectations for women in rural communities. This often leads to an extension of existing inequalities between men and women.

There was also a concern over the quality of bicycles donated. For example some of the bicycles donated required specific unavailable spare parts meaning they were of little use once they broke down. But programs like World Bicycle Relief’s “Buffalo Bicycle” are geared towards addressing this problem.

The fact that bicycle-driven aid may have unintended and sometimes negative consequences aligns with a wealth of research in the sport for development field, and in development studies more broadly.

We refer to these unintended negative outcomes of development-focused interventions as forms of “ironic activism.”

While our research revealed the positive potential of bicycle access, our findings also steered us in other directions: bicycles might empower people and communities but they may also reflect or exacerbate existing problems and inequalities. Bicycle-based development programs can have both intended and unintended consequences.

While the optimism for World Bicycle Day is welcome, it is important to remember that with all of their potential, bicycles cannot solve our overlapping contemporary crises on their own.

Janet Otte, Patrick Eyul and Lidieth del Soccorro Cruz Centeno co-authored this article. Janet has experience managing development projects on refugees, women’s rights and clinical research in Uganda. Patrick is a social scientist who works with development and research organizations in Uganda. Lidieth is the director of the Asociación Movimiento de Jóvenes de Ometepe in Nicaragua.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
COVID-19 cyclists: Expanding bike lane network can lead to more inclusive cities

Bike share programs are on the rise, yet the gender gap persists

Lyndsay Hayhurst receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Brad Millington receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Brian Wilson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Jeanette Steinmann receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and MITACS.

Jessica Nachman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program, and MITACS.

Mitchell McSweeney receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.