SURPRISE

17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg endorses Joe Biden

Yelena Dzhanova

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg talks to the media before meeting with EU environment ministers in Brussels Reuters

Greta Thunberg, the teen activist from Sweden who made waves for urging world leaders to take climate change seriously, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden Saturday. 

"Just get organized and get everyone to vote #Biden," Thunberg said on Twitter.

There are just weeks to go before the November presidential election, and the Biden campaign has positioned itself against President Donald Trump on the issue of climate change. 

The Biden campaign said it wants to reverse one of Trump's biggest decisions: pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.


Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday, asking her Twitter followers to cast a vote for him in the upcoming November election.

"I never engage in party politics. But the upcoming US elections is above and beyond all that," Thunberg tweeted, along with an editorial from the Scientific American urging people to avoid voting for President Donald Trump.

"Just get organized and get everyone to vote #Biden," Thunberg said.
—Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) October 10, 2020

The 17-year-old is an activist from Sweden who made headlines for leading climate strikes across the country. She also interrogated large organizations and groups like the United Nations and the US Congress on climate change policy and is regarded as the face of the youth climate movement.

She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and her efforts landed her recognition as Time's Person of the Year, which drew Trump's ire.

"So ridiculous," Trump tweeted in response to the news. "Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!"
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019

Thunberg in a December interview said it was useless engaging Trump on climate change "because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me?"

The Trump administration has been in the process of pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, a voluntary accord signed by 200 countries with the goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. The withdrawal will be completed by November 4, a day after this year's presidential election.

The Biden campaign has presented itself as the antithesis to Trump when it comes to climate change. During the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, the former vice president vowed to reinstate US participation in the Paris climate agreement if he is elected.

"The first thing I will do, I will rejoin the Paris Accord," Biden said. "I will join the Paris Accord because with us out of it, look what's happening. It's all falling apart."

Neither the Trump nor Biden campaign immediately responded to a request for comment.

Trump Takes Sham 'Health Assessment' In Bizarre Fox News Appearance

Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
Reporter, HuffPost,
HuffPost•October 9, 2020

President Donald Trump said he feels “really good, really strong,” yet declined to clearly state whether he had tested negative for the coronavirus in a remote, televised “health assessment” performed on Fox News by Dr. Marc Siegel, a frequent Fox News contributor.

The president said he’d been “medication-free” for the last eight hours in his appearance on host Tucker Carlson’s show at 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday night — his first on-screen interview since contracting the coronavirus. He later revised that claim to say he had taken “pretty much nothing” and had taken his “final doses of just about everything” that day.

Asked if he had been tested for the virus on Friday, Trump dodged, saying “I have been retested and I haven’t even found out numbers or anything yet — I’m at either the bottom of the scale or free.”

Siegel, a pro-Trump internist in New York City, remotely interviewed Trump, who was filmed at the White House, and noted it was “not officially a televisit.” The doctor has previously spread misinformation about coronavirus in his appearances on Fox News


Trump described his state while at the hospital last weekend as “tired, you didn’t have the same energy level.” The president credited the fact that he “got there very early,” noting that “one of the doctors thought it would have gotten a lot worse” if he had not.

Trump tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday of last week and was hospitalized for three days over the weekend. Since he returned to the White House on Monday — flouting public health guidelines to quarantine for at least 10 days following the onset of COVID-19 symptoms — the president has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the illness, calling it a “blessing from God” that he was infected and telling Americans “don’t be afraid” of the virus.

The coronavirus has killed over 213,000 people in the U.S. so far this year.



Trump claims he is no longer taking any medications as of this morning pic.twitter.com/qn8ICrv2js

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2020

In the Fox News interview, Trump also addressed his widely criticized drive near the hospital to wave to supporters while still hospitalized, saying “it was a great display of love out there” and that he wanted to “go out and say hi.”

Trump also claimed that his Secret Service agents — two of whom were in the car with him, risking their health — had “no problem” with it.

“I love the people of this country and I thought it would have been very disrespectful ... if I didn’t go out and at least give them a wave,” Trump said. “I’m very glad I did it.”

Friday’s Fox News interview extended Trump’s recent tour of right-wing media shows, including phone calls into Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Thursday and right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh’s show earlier on Friday.

Meanwhile, since Trump left Walter Reed hospital on Monday, his medical team has not held a single press event where reporters could ask questions about the president’s health.

In Friday’s Fox News interview, Trump was asked whether he knew where he’d caught the virus.

“I don’t know. They had some big events at the White House, perhaps there,” the president said. ”You know, people have contracted it all over the world.”

He went on to downplay the virus yet again, saying that while it’s a “contagious disease,” people “generally get better from it,” and that in regard to coronavirus-related closures, “the cure is worse than the problem itself.”

Last month, the White House was the location of a coronavirus “superspreader event,” per Dr. Anthony Fauci. Following the Sept. 26 Rose Garden celebration for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, multiple attendees tested positive for the virus, including the president, first lady Melania Trump and two Republican senators.

Over two dozen people connected to the White House have tested positive in recent days, including former adviser Kellyanne Conway, current adviser Stephen Miller and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who remains hospitalized.

Trump plans to hold an in-person event at the White House on Saturday with hundreds of attendees expected.

Related...

Trump Is Going All Out In Right-Wing Media To Convince People He’s ‘Cured’ Of COVID-19

Homeless migrants sleep rough beneath Dubai's skyscrapers as Covid employment crisis bites

Ashleigh Stewart, The Telegraph•October 9, 2020

Migrant labourers have been made destitute by the coronavirus lockdown in Dubai

Dubai is witnessing a rare uptick in homelessness as migrant workers left destitute by the Covid downturn have begun sleeping out in parks under the glistening skyscrapers.

Blue collar workers from Asia and Africa say they are trapped after losing jobs and running out of money to return home.

Migrant workers who spoke to The Telegraph claimed they have been left abandoned after losing their jobs as the economy tightens.

With no jobs and expired visas, many have congregated in parks in Dubai’s poorer Satwa area, appealing for help for repatriation flights home.


Homelessness and poverty are not typically visible in the United Arab Emirates’ glitziest city.

White collar jobs have also been threatened by the pandemic in UAE, with many UK expats returning home since coronavirus. Dubai's economy is geared towards heavy consumer spending in hospitality, luxury real estate and travel.

Oxford Economics, a UK forecaster, estimates 900,000 jobs are under threat among a population of under 10 million.

900,000 jobs in Dubai are under threat, in a country where the population is only 10 million

Blue collar migrant workers from poorer countries are paid low wages, work long hours and often live in cramped dormitories that have been coronavirus hotbeds.

Many also pay fees to recruiters in their home country, a practice common for low paying jobs in the Gulf.

Susil Kumara, one of a group of Sri Lankans now awaiting repatriation in a Satwa park, was an “office boy” for a company in Dubai for five years before losing his job in July. With his residence visa and accommodation terminated, he joined others in the park two weeks ago.

Another, Buddhima Egalla, a graphic designer, slept on a grimy mattress in the park with two other men for eight days. He came to Dubai to find work on a three-month tourist visa, which he renewed twice, before running out of money.

Nearby, a tearful Jemeela Abdul Salam says she has been in the park for about two weeks, after losing her job as a house maid.

“The police are telling us to go to the embassy but the embassy can’t help either,” Mr Egalla said. The Sri Lankan consulate has now provided them temporary accommodation as they await repatriation.

While the UAE has offered amnesties for hefty overstaying fines, many still cannot afford flight tickets or exit fees.
Most migrants can't afford exit fees or flights home, leaving them stuck in Dubai

With embassies and authorities being slow to act, private donors are relied on to provide flight tickets. Others are taken to temporary accommodation camps by Dubai police, if there is space.

When contacted, the Government of Dubai Media Office did not answer questions about homelessness, but said they were “providing extensive assistance” to unemployed workers and Dubai Police was helping with emergency accommodation.

More than 480,000 Indians, 60,000 Pakistanis and 40,000 Filipinos have been repatriated since the outbreak began, according to their respective consulates. There are no reliable estimates on how many migrant workers are out of work, but the consulate of the Philippines in Dubai says about 30,000 Filipinos had lost their jobs - but many more remained in the UAE on a “no work, no pay" basis with their employers.

Isthiaq Raziq, of the Sri Lankan Welfare Association, says they cannot provide emergency accommodation as they do not have government approval, but are now coordinating repatriations with the embassy.

The association is also relying on donors for airfares after their main source of income, an annual concert in March, was cancelled due to the pandemic. Repatriating citizens was costly, Mr Razik said, as they must pay exit fees and quarantine in Colombo, as well as airfares.

“These people are very helpless, they’ve lost their jobs and they don’t have a single penny to pay.”

Nalinda Wijerathna, Dubai's consul general of Sri Lanka, said 9,000 people had been repatriated and about 6,000 were still waiting. Limited capacity in Colombo’s quarantine facilities meant delays in availability for repatriation flights.

Jemeela Abdul Salam has been living in a park for two weeks, awaiting repatriation to Sri Lanka

He said more people needed assistance than they could provide for, and some were attempting to leapfrog waiting lists by moving outside.

Anthony Iwueze was part of a group of 35 Nigerians sleeping in a rubbish-strewn Satwa park in August, after his company failed to pay his salary for three months. He joined a group of fellow Nigerians sleeping outside their consulate before police moved them to the park.

“We have suffered. We just want to go back,” he said at the time.

Stephen Oguntade was also there after being “scammed” by a recruitment agent. Mr Oguntade, a nutritionist, came to Dubai in January on a tourist visa to find work. He paid Dh2000 to a recruiter for a security job, but was taken to accommodation and then abandoned.

The two have since been repatriated to Nigeria by airfare donors.

“It’s a good thing to be back home,” Mr Oguntade said from Lagos. “I’m starting to build my life from the ground up.”

One of many volunteers who has stepped in to help, Mahnaz Faquih has been coordinating flights for homeless migrant workers for six months. The Indian mother of two relies on her network of friends, and “friends of friends” to find donors for airfares, and has purchased about 20 herself. There are strict laws around fundraising in the UAE, meaning flights must be paid by a single donor.

Ms Faquih, who owns a chain of medical clinics, says she believes she has helped about 700 people be repatriated - including a recent group of 13 pregnant Sri Lankan and Ghanaian women.

Co-ordinating now requires her attention around the clock.

Other volunteers The Telegraph spoke to would not speak publicly due to fear of repercussions.

Several had been asked to stop providing food to stop more people showing up on the street.

One man, who is organising citywide food drives, says the common theme for many people is “no work for months, lots of liabilities, no money for accommodation and living on one meal a day”.

“We were giving food for a few weeks to a labour camp of 200 people in Sharjah, whose employer had been in jail since August last year. The sad part is that most of these people aren’t paid for months and the only thing they want is to go back home.”

The man said the government must do more to protect blue collar workers, saying most of the country’s embassies are too slow or lacking in resources, and NGOs lack the scale that is needed.

UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna wins Nobel Prize for genome research

by Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley October 9, 2020

Jennifer Doudna laughs as she talks with reporters over a cup of coffee early Wednesday at her home in Berkeley. Doudna received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work with CRISPR. (Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small/UC Berkeley via UC Newsroom)


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, biochemist Jennifer Doudna has won the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry, sharing it with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9, a genome editing breakthrough that has revolutionized biomedicine.

CRISPR-Cas9 allows scientists to rewrite DNA — the code of life — in any organism, including human cells, with unprecedented efficiency and precision. The groundbreaking power and versatility of CRISPR-Cas9 has opened up new and wide-ranging possibilities across biology, agriculture and medicine, including the treatment of thousands of intractable diseases.

Doudna and Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, will share the 10 million Swedish krona (more than $1 million) prize.

BREAKING NEWS:

The 2020 #NobelPrize in Chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” pic.twitter.com/CrsnEuSwGD— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2020

“This great honor recognizes the history of CRISPR and the collaborative story of harnessing it into a profoundly powerful engineering technology that gives new hope and possibility to our society,” said Doudna after the prize was announced Wednesday. “What started as a curiosity‐driven, fundamental discovery project has now become the breakthrough strategy used by countless researchers working to help improve the human condition. I encourage continued support of fundamental science as well as public discourse about the ethical uses and responsible regulation of CRISPR technology.”

“The groundbreaking work of professor Jennifer Doudna has ushered in a revolutionary new era in genomics,” said UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D., in a statement this morning. “This Nobel Prize, which recognizes the discovery and real-world applications of CRISPR-Cas9, will continue to transform the scientific world, opening up new avenues for curing genetic diseases, improving crops and developing new biofuels. On behalf of the entire UC community, I join Chancellor Carol Christ in extending heartfelt congratulations to professor Doudna.”

While women have done research at UC Berkeley that, after they left the campus, won them a Nobel Prize, Doudna is the first woman on the UC Berkeley faculty to win the coveted award. She is the campus’s 25th Nobel laureate; the 24th winner, Reinhard Genzel, won the Nobel Prize in physics just yesterday.

Today’s honor also brings another first: Doudna and Charpentier are the first women to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences together, which sends the message, Doudna said, that “women rock.”

“Many women think that, no matter what they do, their work will never be recognized the way it would be if they were a man,” said Doudna, who was awakened from a sound sleep by a reporter at 2:53 a.m. Wednesday, learning for the first time that she’d won a Nobel. “And I think (this prize) refutes that. It makes a strong statement that women can do science, women can do chemistry, and that great science is recognized and honored.

“That means a lot to me personally, because I know that, when I was growing up, I couldn’t, in a million years, have ever imagined this moment.”

Doudna said she is “really, really proud to be representing Berkeley, … a public university that supports great science and great education, … a place that welcomes everyone, people from all over the world.” She added, “It’s a great feeling to have such incredible colleagues who are part of this.”

The Nobel Prize Committee announced Wednesday that UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her research in developing CRISPR-Cas9. Berkeley’s Journalism School aired a video news conference and interview with Doudna. (Video courtesy of UC Berkeley/YouTube)

Doudna and Charpentier were recognized by the Nobel Foundation for their discovery that a gene-cutting molecule, Cas9, used by bacteria to kill viruses, can be re-engineered as a precise and easy-to-use gene-editing tool. The CRISPR-Cas9 system is guided by an RNA molecule to bind a specific region in the DNA, and the Cas9 protein then acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the DNA, allowing it to be altered in a precise fashion.

Doudna, who is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UC Berkeley, is president and chair of the board of the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes and an adjunct professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at UC San Francisco. Charpentier, who in 2012 was affiliated with the University of Vienna and Umeå University in Sweden, was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin in 2015.
Pursuing fundamental scientific research

The bacterial enzyme Cas9 is the engine of RNA-programmed genome engineering in human cells. (Image courtesy of Jennifer Doudna/UC Berkeley)

Doudna’s research has focused on RNA, a partner to DNA in carrying genetic information and a key part of several molecular machines (such as the ribosome and telomerase) that help DNA do its job. She became interested in CRISPR because of her long-standing interest in such RNA-based machines.

Doudna’s attention was first drawn to CRISPR by a UC Berkeley colleague, Jill Banfield, who encountered it while studying bacteria living in extreme environments. The system intrigued Doudna, who wondered how exactly an unusual repeating sequence of DNA in the bacterial genome enabled bacteria to mount a successful defense against viral infections. What they and other researchers pieced together is that when viruses invade bacteria, the bacteria cut up the viral DNA and place these pieces in their genome, like “most wanted posters.” If similar viruses invade again, roving enzymes with RNA copies of these bits of viral DNA examine the virus and, if the RNA and DNA match, cut the DNA and kill the virus.

Charpentier was focusing on the Type 2 system (CRISPR-Cas9) and, in a paper published in Nature in 2011, described an unusual RNA not found in other CRISPR systems — the tracrRNA (pronounced “tracer RNA”) — and how it works together with the Cas9 protein to help generate the RNA copies of the “most wanted posters.” She and Doudna then considered how the Cas9 protein might also be involved in the final step of CRISPR immunity: surveilling the cell and cutting up invading DNA. The two began their collaboration that year after meeting at a scientific conference in Puerto Rico.

A year later, in a seminal 2012 Science paper, Doudna and Charpentier rocked the scientific community by showing that the protein Cas9 is guided by both the tracrRNA and an RNA matching a viral sequence, which it uses to seek out and destroy matching viral DNA.

What is CRISPR-Cas9 and how does it work? How do we edit genes? Jennifer Doudna, biochemist at UC Berkeley, explains. (Video courtesy of UC Berkeley/YouTube)

Perhaps more importantly, the two scientists also demonstrated that this cellular defense system had applications beyond killing viruses. They engineered the two-piece RNA into a single RNA and showed that it could be designed to pinpoint any gene in any species, not just bacteria, allowing the Cas9 protein to cleave at that spot. Doudna and Charpentier then made the visionary proposal that CRISPR-Cas9 can be repurposed to be an exceptionally powerful tool for editing plant or animal genomes, including human genes, and customized to delete or add specific strands of DNA.

“Jennifer has, for many years, been a pioneering structural biologist in determining the 3D structure and function of RNAs,” said Robert Tjian, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and former head of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “Her development of the fused, single-guide RNA was crucial in enabling the efficient and practical use of CRISPR-Cas9 as a highly efficient gene-editing molecular tool. Her further work determining structures of the Cas9/guide-RNA complex has been crucial in further refining this powerful technology.”

In early 2013, Doudna’s UC Berkeley lab and others went on to show that the system could edit human DNA. In the seven years since Doudna and Charpentier’s landmark 2012 paper, CRISPR-Cas technology, as detailed below, has been put to use in nearly every realm of biomedicine, fully validating the power of the colleagues’ vision.

In 2008, Doudna’s nascent research on CRISPR RNA strands and the Cas1 protein was funded by a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program through her Berkeley Lab affiliation. Established by Congress in 1991, the LDRD program has helped the U.S. remain at the forefront of technology through the innovative, multidisciplinary research of the DOE national labs.
Groundbreaking impact

CRISPR-Cas9 technology has become commonplace in labs around the world because it is remarkably simple to use. Despite its “low barrier to entry,” it is robust in a broad range of settings. In particular, it offers new ways to treat and cure disease, to develop a next generation of crops for a rapidly warming planet and to understand the function of living systems with remarkable speed and clarity.

In medicine, scientists and physicians have used CRISPR-Cas enzymes to precisely alter the genetic code of human cells and organs in a way that bodes clear promise to treat genetic disorders and other diseases. Remarkably, in only seven years, this technology has gone from offering such a promise in theory to being the basis of multiple experimental efforts to treat genetic disease, infectious disease and cancer.

Berkeley professor, Jennifer Doudna, discusses the far-reaching positive potential for the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, as well as the need for close consideration and agreement on how it can be used. (Video courtesy of UC Berkeley/YouTube)

Thousands of labs around the world are already using CRISPR to engineer lab animals with genetics that mimic human disease, so that we can learn how a genetic defect causes symptoms and test ways of correcting the problem.

In agriculture, researchers around the world are applying CRISPR-Cas9 to engineer pest- and disease-resistant crops, as well as crop varieties that are healthier and more nutritious. Highlighting the versatility of CRISPR-Cas technology, the technique is being pursued as the basis of so-called “gene drives” to control mosquito populations and reduce their ability to spread Zika virus and malaria.

In 2015, Doudna was one of the organizers of the first international symposium at the National Academy of Sciences that focused on the societal and ethical use of CRISPR technology. She has been at the forefront of the debate and has argued for inclusive global deliberation before making genetic changes in human sperm, eggs and embryos. She continues to urge the medical and scientific community and the general public to discuss if or when changes to the human germline are acceptable.

Doudna and Charpentier have received numerous awards for their invention, sharing the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Genetics, the 2015 Gruber Genetics Prize, the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the 2016 L’Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science Award, the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 2017 Japan Prize and the 2018 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience.

Doudna has received many other major awards as well, including the Lurie Prize in the Biomedical Sciences, the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, the Dr. H. P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the LUI Che Woo Prize for Welfare Betterment. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors, and a foreign member of the Royal Society. In 2015, she was named one of the 100 leading global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine, as well as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Born in Washington, D.C., Doudna grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, and developed an interest in chemistry in high school. She graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California, in 1985 with a degree in biochemistry, then entered graduate school at Harvard University. She earned her Ph.D. in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from Harvard Medical School in 1989 and, after various fellowships and postdoctoral positions, joined the Yale University faculty in 1994. She moved to UC Berkeley in 2002.

Doudna lives in Berkeley with her husband, Jamie Cate, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, and their son, Andrew.Jennifer Doudna (Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley)

This story was originally published by the University of California.

Study warns radicalized right-wingers uniting online—many inspired by Trump—threaten Australian democracy


October 10, 2020 By Common Dreams

Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant at the Christchurch court 

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON POOL/AFP

Australian researchers published a study this week mapping the online activity of right-wing extremists in New South Wales, concluding such individuals—many of them inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump—pose an “insidious” threat to the country’s democracy.

The study, Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales, was conducted by researchers at Macquarie University and Victoria University, who analyzed the Facebook pages of 30 extreme right-wing groups and tens of thousands of tweets from over 3,300 users in the southeastern state.

New study published today warns that U.S.-inspired rightwing extremism is a “creeping threat” in Australia. This highlights the continued internalization of the right-wing extremist threat via online networks: https://t.co/oTPe6K6v1S pic.twitter.com/W2XIjcG7eM
— CEP (@FightExtremism) October 9, 2020

The researchers found that on numerous social media platforms—including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Gab, 4chan, and 8chan/kun—communities of mostly young men are uniting over “the theme of white identity under threat.”

Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and far-right conspiracy theories like QAnon are common narratives used to engage and recruit young men into extremist groups, the study found. Trump plays a significant role in the conversation, according to Macquarie University researcher Julian Droogan.

“Trump is really held up as an example of a defender of white identity by many in this extreme subculture,” Droogan told The Guardian. “However, we also see it being presented in a distinctly Australian way.”

Trump's refusal to disavow white supremacy should come as a warning to Australia where no right-wing extremists groups are listed on the terrorism register. https://t.co/fnIPNY5EGW #USA #auspol #rightwingextremism #politics
— Maya Borom (@samayaborom) October 4, 2020

The researchers found that right-wing extremism fueled by social media poses a serious threat to Australian democracy.

“The propagation of extremist narratives online serves to polarize political debate, and to undermine trust in institutions and democracy,” the study asserts. “Social media is playing a key role in the rise of right-wing violent extremism.”

As an example, the authors cite the Christchurch terror attack, in which a Trump-supporting Australian white supremacist livestreamed his massacre of 51 Muslims worshipping in a New Zealand mosque last March

The researchers call on Australian leaders to work to safeguard the nation’s political system “from these very insidious and ongoing threats.”

Right-wing extremism and white supremacist ideologies attack our values and are a danger to democracies everywhere.

We need to face right-wing extremism squarely, name it, confront it, and reject it.

A thread

— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) October 1, 2020


The rise in right-wing extremism is reflected in statements from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, Australia’s domestic spy agency, which recently revealed that up to 40% of its counter-terrorism cases now involve far-right extremism.

Jewish groups pen letter opposing Amy Coney Barrett nom to Supreme Court
The letter concludes by saying that Barrett would run counter to the example set by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Jewish justice who died last month and whom Barrett would replace.

By RON KAMPEAS/JTA
OCTOBER 10, 2020 

AMY CONEY BARRETT was chosen by US President Donald Trump, who said he wanted to rush her confirmation so she could be seated if and when his election is challenged and gets to the Supreme Court. September 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA)

An array of liberal Jewish groups signed a letter with other faith-based organizations appealing to senators not to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, citing her past opposition to the Affordable Care Act.

The letter, signed by 41 groups in all — and spearheaded by the National Council of Jewish Women — notes a case upcoming on the Supreme Court docket that could dismantle the act, also known as Obamacare.

President Donald Trump, who wants the legislation dismantled, has said he will replace some of its provisions, including guaranteeing coverage to people with preexisting conditions, but he has not yet advanced legislation that would do so.

“Should the ACA be struck down, tens of millions of Americans will immediately lose access to coverage as an unprecedented health crisis rages on, plunging our entire health care system into confusion and chaos,” said the letter sent Friday to all 100 senators. “People of faith refuse to remain idle while the health, safety, and lives of countless individuals are on the line and believe that our next Supreme Court justice must commit to upholding precedent affirming the constitutionality of the ACA.”

The letter concludes by saying that Barrett would run counter to the example set by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Jewish justice who died last month and whom Barrett would replace.

In addition to NCJW, the 17 Jewish groups signing the letter include a number of Reform and Reconstructionist movement bodies, in addition to Jewish human rights advocacy groups.

In a separate statement this week, the Reform movement said it opposed Barrett’s nomination because of what it described as her stated opposition to the ACA, the right to an abortion and LGBTQ rights. The Reform movement has rarely opposed Supreme Court nominees in the past.

How Gen Z’s travel behaviors are changing the way we all get around for the better

Unsplash: Alexander Popov



STORY BY
Urban Mobility Daily


From the environmental impact of fossil fuel vehicles to heavily congested roads, our relationship with transport has to be re-examined. A carrot and stick approach is often used to encourage change – but there are other notable drivers.

Enter Generation Z (Gen Z). Born between the mid-1990s and 2010, they make up 32% of the population, according to UN and Bloomberg data – more than the number of millennials and baby boomers. As early adopters of ride sharing and micromobility, their collective ‘buying power’ could have a positive impact on urban mobility.

Their influence on the transport sector over the next decade raises some important questions. How can mobility providers capture the interest of these young commuters as they enter the workforce and support their green values? What opportunities does Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provide for local transport authorities to connect with Gen Z?
Commodity perspective

Answering these questions starts with understanding how Gen Z view transport. An Allison+Partners U.S. study, “The Birth of Mobility Culture,” places them at the forefront of a ‘Me’ to ‘We’ cultural shift. At ease with connected technology, they are both socially and environmentally aware, signaling a change in attitude from previous generations.

This perspective extends to transport too. The Allison+Partners study found Gen Z, viewed cars like appliances – nearly 56% saw them as just a means of transport. Unlike previous generations, cars do not define their identity, they are effectively a commodity. Given 70% of Gen Z have not gained their driving license and 30% are in no hurry to get one, car ownership is clearly not a priority.

Different values

This means that mobility providers and manufacturers need to rethink how they engage with Gen Z. Rather than focusing on, for example, a car’s looks, speed and other form factors, efficiency, sharing, sustainability and overall experience may be more suitable talking points.

Take the rise in popularity of on-demand e-scooters among younger generations in the Spanish capital of Madrid. With this move from ownership to usership comes a less polluting way to move around, making our urban areas more livable. Of course, many decisions may depend on life stage such as career plans or starting a family.

However, Gen Z has access to more modes of transport than ever before to influence their choices. Micromobility is becoming increasingly popular in cities across the globe and the expectation is that autonomous vehicles will be a viable mode of future transport too.
MaaS connection

It is important that local transport authorities embrace this and provide the tools to access a wide plethora of services. Few Gen Z have known life without technology, as reflected in research by Adobe – and 46% want apps and services to book, track and manage trips. MaaS is perfectly placed to provide the personalized experience they desire, considering 65% are constantly connected while traveling and expect to change everything from accommodation and itineraries to transportation on the fly.

MaaS apps also allow transport operators and local authorities to connect with this digital tribe in a way not seen before – and understand what makes them tick. A study by Expedia ‘How Younger Generations are Shaping the Future of Travel’ found that 70% look to their smartphone for ‘inspiration’ while 80% consider social media ‘influential’.

Not only can MaaS provide Gen Z with intelligent search results based on personal preferences – including modality, time, frequency, cost, comfort and CO2 emissions – it also allows them to tailor their transport and lifestyle choices accordingly. PTAs and mobility providers can capture data and garner feedback to help improve service provision and better understand what customers value most.
Smarter future

One thing is for sure: tech-savvy Gen Z expect more from their journeys, creating opportunities for smarter engagement with these travelers. From incentivizing shared travel and lower CO2 transport modes to offering contextual promotions and entertainment, MaaS moves beyond a simple travel app to meeting lifestyle needs too.

It calls for PTAs to take a collaborative approach with Gen Z to establish a transport system that is more sustainable, active and intelligent. There is the potential for urban planners to repurpose existing infrastructure too, creating safer cycling routes, wider footpaths (that are also wheelchair friendly), more electric vehicle charging stations, convenient pick up/drop off zones and ensuring that micromobility and shared vehicles are well-positioned for accessibility – particularly for the first/last mile.

Not only will Gen Z reshape transport by their travel behaviors, they will also be the mobility entrepreneurs and city planners of the future. From usership over ownership to a culture of ‘we’ rather than ‘me’, Gen Z will steer the course of mobility in the years ahead. With MaaS at the core, this generation could be the one that demands greener, cleaner mobility, finally making our built environments more sustainable for the benefit of us all.

This article was written by Sandra Witzel, Head of Marketing at SkedGo, on The Urban Mobility Daily, the content site of the Urban Mobility Company, a Paris-based company which is moving the business of mobility forward through physical and virtual events and services. Join their community of 10K+ global mobility professionals by signing up for the Urban Mobility Weekly newsletter. Read the original article here and follow them on Linkedin and Twitter.



SHIFT is brought to you by Polestar. It’s time to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility. That is why Polestar combines electric driving with cutting-edge design and thrilling performance. Find out how.

Published October 9, 2020 — 09:00 UTC

This adorable little electric car is made of trash

Bart van Overbeeke / TU/E

STORY BY
Abhimanyu Ghoshal


One person’s trash is another person’s zero-emissions car, goes the old saying… right?

In what might be my favorite demonstration of just how much we can benefit from recycling, students at the Eindhoven University of Technology have unveiled Luca, a cute electric car made largely from plastic you threw away years ago.

The team of 22 students first revealed its design back in December 2019, and have now completed its construction using a range of recycled materials. The project has taken a total of 18 months, and also involved numerous companies who helped with various materials needed to build it

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An early render of Luca’s design

You can watch a video of the car in action, as well as views from all sides and its cabin over on Dutch outlet NOS’ site.

The exterior is made of flax fibers combined with various plastics, including waste plastic fished out from the ocean, PET bottles, and recycled ABS; a sandwich panel made of these materials was used for the chassis. The yellow finish isn’t paint, but instead a wrap, also made of recycled material. The same goes for the glass, which gets a natural dark tint. The whole car weighs just 360 kg; its batteries add just 60 kg more.

Credit: Bart van Overbeeke / TU/E

Isn’t the Luca an absolute beauty? It’s hard to believe this is mostly recycled waste.

Pop into the sporty coupe and you’ll find seats made of coconut husk and horsehair, wrapped in recycled PET. Two electric motors power the rear wheels to help the Luca hit a top speed of 90 kmph (56 mph), and achieve a range of 220 km (136 miles). The university notes that this efficiency translates to about 180 kilometers per liter of gasoline.

“With this car, we want to show that waste is a valuable material, even in complex applications like a car,” said team member Matthijs van Wijk. It’s certainly a remarkable experiment to demonstrate that; the next challenge will be to meet requirements for safety and reliability over time.

The students aim to eventually have Luca inspected and allowed on public roads. Hopefully, it’ll also encourage automakers to start thinking actively about recycling more for their future vehicles.

Published October 8, 2020 — 13:39 UTC

Hyundai’s first fuel cell-powered trucks arrive in Switzerland — bye bye, diesel

Hyundai Motor Group


STORY BY
Abhimanyu Ghoshal

Hyundai‘s first batch of seven XCIENT hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks have been presented to its customers in Switzerland today, kicking off the company’s plan to deliver 1,600 such zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles by 2025.

That’s the result of a joint venture between Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility (HHM) and Swiss firm H2 Energy. 50 of those will roll out by the end of this year.


Reuters reports that Switzerland-based commercial customers will be leasing the trucks from HHM to transport goods around the country, and will be supported by newly set up hydrogen charging station infrastructure.

The XCIENT trucks manage around 400 km (~250 miles) of driving range with a full trailer in tow, thanks to a 350-bar 32kg hydrogen tank on board. Hyundai says these vehicles can be recharged fully within 8-20 minutes.

The idea behind this project is to replace diesel-powered trucks in markets aiming to reduce the use of fossil fuels, so it’ll be worth following Hyundai and others in this space across Europe to see how they fare over the next few years.

Toyota also made the news earlier this week after announcing its plan to build a fuel-cell powered truck for North America, with a view to present a prototype within the first half of 2021

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Credit: Toyota

Totoya’s heavy-duty fuel cell truck is slated to show up as a prototype next year

Between various such ventures, Bloomberg predicts that global sales of medium and heavy-duty commercial fuel-cell vehicles will reach 10,000 units annually by 2030.

Hyundai will host a live streamed event to officially launch the XCIENT Fuel Cell truck on October 14, along with its roadmap for clean commercial mobility. You can follow the stream on the company’s YouTube channel at 10AM KST/6PM PDT/9PM EDT/3AM CEST.

Lucid unveils the Air, its luxury EV with up to 517-miles of range costing as much as $169K

All the important bits you need to know and many pictures

Lucid Motors


STORY BY
Matthew Beedham


Pretty much every electric vehicle that comes to market at the moment is compared to Tesla. That’s mostly because it’s the main option, it’s got a car for most core markets, and it regularly bests the competition in games of EV Top Trumps.

Of course, there’s a lot more to what makes a car good than how fast or far it goes, but the EV that’s just been officially unveiled, the Lucid Air, might just redefine the top line benchmarks.

[Read: Turns out Nikola won’t build its Badger hydrogen EV truck after all — GM will]

Over the past few weeks, in the run up to the Air’s official unveiling, Lucid has bragged about various world-beating features. Those claims just took one big step closer to becoming a reality today, after the company officially unveiled its debut vehicle, the Air. Let’s take a look at what we know.

Credit: Lucid Motors The Lucid Air, unveiled officially today is going to shake down the EV market, in a good way.

It’s going to cost $80,000 and first deliveries will begin in Spring 2021, so we don’t have to wait that long before we see them on the road. Bear in mind, you’ll have to wait until 2022 for an $80,000 model, the more expensive variants are coming to market first, but more on that later.

In terms of price, it competes squarely with the likes of the Tesla Model S. While Lucid Motors is aiming for the luxury market, there’s not much on the market to compare it to so reviewers will no doubt look to draw parallels.
The Lucid Air is fast

According to Lucid, the Air is going to have an insane 1080 hp in its dual-motor setup. That should be capable of running a quarter mile in under 10 seconds.

Credit: Lucid Motors

The Lucid Air sedan claims to have the lowest drag coefficient in its class. There’s something classic about its rear styling, and has a subtle French vibe which is no bad thing, if you ask me.

It has a massive battery pack

Thanks to a 113 kWh battery pack, it’s expected to have an EPA estimated range of 517 miles on a single charge. This gives it the longest range of any production EV at the moment. To achieve that range speculators suggested the Air would have a 130 kWh battery pack, but it seems the company has found ways to tweak efficiency, too. For reference, Tesla surpassed 400 miles on a single charge on its long-range Model S, and that has a 100 kWh battery pack.

Credit: Lucid Motors

The Lucid Air is going to have a 113 kWh battery pack, that’s the biggest of any production EV that I know of.

Lucid says that it has the lowest drag coefficient of any luxury car, too. This might go some way to explaining how it gets such good range. Lucid says its drag coefficient is 0.21, the Tesla Model S’ is somewhere around 0.24 (in this case, lower is better). A car that cuts through the air easier needs less power to do so, hence the impressive range.
It’s going to charge super fast

Lucid also says that it’s going to be the fastest charging EV in the world, which will be a boon for long-distance travelers. The company hasn’t mentioned the minute technical details of how it achieves this, but you’ll almost certainly have to plug the Air into an ultra-rapid EV charger rated to at least 200 kW. In fact, it’ll more likely have to be a 300+ kW charger.Credit: Lucid MotorsThe Lucid Air claims to be the fastest charging EV in the world. You’ll need to use super powerful chargers, though. There are of course Lucid branded home chargers available, too.

The only issue is that those are quite hard to come by right now, so early adopters might have to wait to take full advantage of this feature. Whatever the case, Lucid says that at peak power it can add 20 miles per minute spent charging. In reality, Lucid says that should convert to around 300 miles of range added in 20 minutes. If anyone has range anxiety, with the Lucid Air that should be a thing of the past.
The inside

The passenger experience is going to be quite unique. As some new EVs are looking to Google for their in-car entertainment systems with Android Automotive, Lucid has gone to Amazon and will integrate Alexa into the vehicle.

As with cars that use the Android system, like the Polestar 2, drivers and passengers will be able to ask the car to do a host of things like make calls, navigate, and change the temperature in the cabin. More features will be added using OTA updates.Credit: Lucid MotorsThe Lucid Air will feature a panoramic style screen and roof.

For the driver, there’s going to be a 34-inch 5K cockpit display that hovers above the dashboard the width of the vehicle. There will still be some physical buttons to control certain vehicle functions, including familiar steering wheel-based audio controls.

If you are still clambering for more world records, the Lucid Air will also have the world’s largest frunk of any EV, that’s a trunk in the front. More space for bags.Credit: Lucid MotorsThere seems to be plenty of interior space for passengers, too. That’s mostly thanks to not needing a transmission tunnel down the center of the car.
The underside

If you haven’t kept up with Lucid and the Air’s development, the short story is that the company is run by a host of former Tesla engineers. It’s headed up by Peter Rawlinson who was the lead Model S engineer as it happens.

The main innovation that Lucid is claiming to have made is a widely seen technology phenomenon, in that it has focused on increasing efficiency of electrical components and making them smaller. It sounds simple, but the benefits affect the entire vehicle.

Credit: Lucid MotorsLucid has redesigned electric motors to combine multiple components in one unit to take up less space, whilst maintaining power, torque, and efficiency.

Having smaller motors means there’s more space inside the car for passengers, that frunk, and batteries. All in, it’s allowed Lucid to push the envelope just enough to stand out from the crowd in many important areas for EVs like range, speed, and charging capability.
Lucid’s model variants

The Lucid Air is going to be available in four different spec levels. The first one to market — coming in Spring — is the Lucid Air Dream Edition. It’s the flagship, it’s the most expensive, it’s the all singing all dancing version with the most power and the most luxury. Although, all that extra power — and weight — does bring its range down to 465 miles on 21-inch wheels, on 19-inch wheels the range is 503 miles. Its list price (before subsidies) is $169,000. That puts it in a whole new space beyond the Model S.

Credit: Lucid MotorsThe Lucid Air is aiming at a segment of the EV market that’s pretty much unpopulated right now. Its base model will compete with the Model S, but given its luxury verions costs $169,000 it’s going to be in a class of its own for a while.

The next model made available will be the Lucid Air Grand Touring. That’ll have a list price of $139,000 and will be available in mid-2021. This will be slightly less powerful, putting out just 800 hp but will still do 517 miles on a full charge.

In late 2021, the Lucid Air Touring will reach the market with a 620 hp motor and 406 miles of range, with a list price of $95,000.

By 2022, the base-spec Lucid Air will be available and will cost $80,000. Lucid are yet to say what its range and power will be, though. Presumably, it’ll have to be pretty similar to the Touring model, otherwise it’ll be basically the same as a Model S.

Credit: Lucid MotorsThe interior is typical for a luxury car. Expensive leather, Eucalyptus wood, and a smattering of other high-end features that you won’t find elsewhere.

It’s understandable that Lucid hasn’t disclosed the range of its base level car yet, as technology will move on, and in two years time, there will almost certainly be more EVs on the market that have over 400 miles of range.

The Lucid Air is no doubt going to ruffle a few feathers in the EV world, and in a good way too. It’s a unique proposition, one that is out of reach of most average drivers sure, but hopefully the tech will trickle down to more affordable vehicles in the future.

If you want to experience some of those world beating features Lucid has been bragging about so far, you’re going to have to pay for them. But for now, here’s a bunch more pictures of it.







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SHIFT is brought to you by Polestar. It’s time to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility. That is why Polestar combines electric driving with cutting-edge design and thrilling performance. Find out how.

Published September 9, 2020 —