ZIONIST APARTHEID IN ACTION

Bennett: There’s no room in Jerusalem for a US consulate for Palestinians

The Biden administration has promised the PA it will reopen the consulate-general but has to make good on that pledge.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, JEREMY SHARON

JERUSALEM POST
NOVEMBER 6, 2021 

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett shake hands during a meeting at the White House in August.
(photo credit: JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS)

Israel has told the Biden administration that it is opposed to any plan to reopen the US consulate-general that services the Palestinians in Jerusalem because the city is the undivided capital of the Jewish state, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters on Saturday night.

“My position, which has been presented to the Americans by myself and by Foreign Minister Lapid, is that there is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem,” Bennett said.

“We have expressed our position [to the US] determinedly, quietly, without drama, and I hope it will be understood. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone.”

Lapid backed up Bennett, saying that “sovereignty in Jerusalem [belongs] to one country, the State of Israel,” and that “this is a principled stance of the State of Israel to the opening of a consulate in Jerusalem.”

The issue here is Jerusalem and not a consulate for the Palestinians, Lapid stressed, adding that the US was welcome to open a consulate for the Palestinians in Ramallah.

A coalition of organizations who oppose the Biden Administration's intent to reopen a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem held a vigil in Jerusalem. 

(credit: Courtesy)

Former President Donald Trump in 2019 had closed the long-standing US consulate-general in Jerusalem that serviced the Palestinians and acted as a de-facto embassy to the Palestinian Authority. It had provided a direct line between the PA and Washington. Its services were merged with those of the US Embassy, which was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.

The Biden administration has promised the PA it will reopen the consulate-general but has not yet made good on that pledge or even provided a date for such an opening.

It had been expected that the US would only push forward with the matter once the government had successfully approved its budget on Thursday.

It is presumed that this issue will be a growing point of tension between Jerusalem and Washington, along with continued settlement activity which the Biden administration frowns upon.

It’s as if the US would need Israel’s approval to reopen the consulate, even though the building itself exists and the change is solely on the policy level.

Bennett downplayed the significance of Israeli opposition to American plans to reopen the consulate-general.

“There is so much more that we agree upon with our American friends, than we disagree upon,” he said.

Bennett and Lapid spoke as Senior Advisor for Global Energy Security Amos Hochstein is due to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sunday and Monday. He will meet with senior Israeli and Palestinian senior officials to discuss energy security. Hochstein will also discuss maritime negotiations with Israeli officials.

In addition to Hochstein’s arrival, Colombian President Ivan Duque will land in Israel on Sunday for a three-day visit.

On Tuesday he will open a trade and innovation office in Jerusalem that will be a satellite of its Tel Aviv office. The move is a nod to Colombian recognition of Israeli sovereignty over its capital city.

Bennett, Lapid in united front: ‘No place for US consulate in Jerusalem’

Foreign minister says Washington welcome to open mission to Palestinians in Ramallah if it wishes; believes there is ‘understanding’ in US toward blacklisting of rights groups

By TOI STAFF

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (right) and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid speak at a press conference in Jerusalem, on November 6, 2021. (Haim Zach/GPO)


Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented a united front Saturday in their opposition to the United States reopening its consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Speaking to the media after the approval of the state budget for 2021-2022, the prime minister said that “there is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem.” This had been conveyed to Washington “both by myself and by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid,” he said.

“We are expressing our position consistently, quietly and without drama, and I hope it is understood. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone.

Lapid backed Bennett up, saying that “If the Americans want to open a consulate in Ramallah we have no problem with that.” But “sovereignty in Jerusalem belongs to one country — Israel.”

Lapid rejected the notion that with the government more stable following the budget’s passing, the leaders may be more willing to take on such a politically touchy subject.

“It’s not a question of politics. It’s an Israeli objection on principle for opening a consulate in Jerusalem. There’s an American embassy [here].”

Late last month, a senior official in the US State Department told senators that Israel’s permission would be required before the US could reopen its consulate in Jerusalem serving Palestinians.

US President Joe Biden has pledged to reopen the consulate, but the issue has been a sticking point between Israel and the US, as well as among some members of Congress. The consulate was shuttered by then-US president Donald Trump in 2019 and its staff was folded into the US embassy — which had been moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a year earlier — in what the Palestinians view as a downgrading of their ties with the US.
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View of the US Consulate building in Jerusalem, on October 27, 2021, currently serving the US Embassy. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Asked about the issue during a press conference alongside Lapid in Washington two weeks ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s intention to proceed with the plan. “As I said in May, we’ll be moving forward with the process of opening a consulate as part of deepening those ties with the Palestinians,” he said.

Behind closed doors, Lapid reportedly warned Blinken that such a move could risk toppling the coalition government.

Lapid was also asked Saturday about the contradictory claims coming from Israel and the US as to whether Jerusalem had notified Washington in advance of its move to blacklist half a dozen Palestinian human rights organizations for alleged terror ties, a step that was taken last month.

Israel has alleged the groups effectively operate as an arm for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group — a claim to which the international community has reacted with skepticism.

The foreign minister once again maintained that the Americans had been notified, saying there had been “a process of evidence gathering” for several months that the State Department had been updated on. “It’s incorrect that they were not told,” he said.

This contradicted comments by US State Department spokesman Ned Price.


Shawan Jabarin, director of the al-Haq human rights group, at the organization’s offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Saturday, October 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

“I understand some things were said just after the announcement,” Lapid said, “but in general we are on the same page with the Americans, they’re aware of it. Representatives of the Foreign Ministry were in Congress and the Senate in the past week to present the materials to the Senators and congressman on the various panels. I believe there is an understanding toward this step and the intelligence behind it.”

Amy Spiro and Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

UPDATED
Slave room discovered at Pompeii in 'rare' find
  

Slave room discovered at Pompeii in 'rare' find

The little slave room contains three beds, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest

The 16-square metre (170-square feet) room was a cross between a bedroom and a storeroom

 (AFP/Handout)

Ella IDE
Sat, November 6, 2021

Pompeii archaeologists said Saturday they have unearthed the remains of a "slave room" in an exceptionally rare find at a Roman villa destroyed by Mount Vesuvius' eruption nearly 2,000 years ago.

The little room with three beds, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest was discovered during a dig at the Villa of Civita Giuliana, a suburban villa just a few hundred metres from the rest of the ancient city.

An almost intact ornate Roman chariot was discovered here at the start of this year, and archaeologists said Saturday that the room likely housed slaves charged with maintaining and prepping the chariot.


"This is a window into the precarious reality of people who rarely appear in historical sources, written almost exclusively by men belonging to the elite," said Pompeii's director general Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

The "unique testimony" into how "the weakest in the ancient society lived... is certainly one of the most exciting discoveries in my life as an archaeologist," he said in a press release.

Pompeii was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing those who hadn't managed to leave the city in time. They were either crushed by collapsing buildings or killed by thermal shock.

- 'Rare insight' -

The 16-square metre (170-square feet) room was a cross between a bedroom and a storeroom: as well as three beds -- one of which was child sized -- there were eight amphorae, stashed in a corner.

The wooden chest held metal and fabric objects that seem to be part of the harnesses of the chariot horses, and a chariot shaft was found resting on one of the beds.

The remains of three horses were found in a stable in a dig earlier this year.

"The room grants us a rare insight into the daily reality of slaves, thanks to the exceptional state of preservation of the room," the Pompeii archaeological park said.

Experts had been able to make plaster casts of the beds and other objects in perishable materials which left their imprint in the cinerite -- the rock made of volcanic ash -- that covered them, it said.

- Slave 'family' -

The beds were made of several roughly worked wooden planks, which could be adjusted according to the height of the person who used them.

The webbed bases of the beds were made of ropes, covered by blankets.

While two were around 1.7 metres long, one measured just 1.4 metres, and may therefore have belonged to a child.

The archaeological park said the three slaves may have been a family.

Archaeologists found several personal objects under the beds, including amphorae for private things, ceramic jugs and what might be a chamber pot.

The room was lit by a small upper window, and there are no traces or wall decorations, just a mark believed to have been left by a lantern hung on a wall.

The excavation is part of a programme launched in 2017 aimed at fighting illegal activity in the area, including tunnel digging to reach artefacts that can be sold on illicit markets.

The Villa of Civita Giuliana had been the target of systematic looting for years. There was evidence some of the "archaeological heritage" in this so-called Slave Room had also been lost to looters, the park said.

Damage by grave robbers in the villa had been estimated so far at almost two million euros ($2.3 million), it added.

ide/mbx

Discovery of Pompeii slaves’ room sheds rare light on real Roman life

Cramped room contains beds, chamber pot and other items used in slave family’s ‘precarious’ existence

Beds, pots and other possessions in the well-preserved room in Villa Giuliana. Photograph: Getty Images

Angela Giuffrida, Rome correspondent
Sat 6 Nov 2021

A perfectly intact room that was lived in by slaves has been discovered in a suburb of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. Three wooden beds, a chamber pot and a wooden chest containing metal and fabric items were among the objects found in the cramped living quarters of what was a sprawling villa in Civita Giuliana, about 700 metres north-west of Pompeii’s city walls.

The discovery comes almost a year after the remains of two victims of the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, believed to have been a master and his slave, were found in the same villa.

A chariot shaft was also found in the room, which archaeologists said had served as the humble lodgings of, possibly, a small family who carried out day-to-day work in the villa, including preparing and maintaining the chariot.


Human remains in tomb are best-preserved ever found in Pompeii

The only natural light in the 16-square-metre space came from a small upper window, and there is no evidence of any wall decorations.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii’s archaeological park, said the discovery was “exceptional”, especially as it gives a rare insight “into the precarious reality of people who seldom appear in historical sources, that were written almost exclusively by men belonging to the elite”.

Several personal objects were found under the beds, including large amphorae, used for storing personal possessions, and ceramic jugs. The three beds, one child-size, were made of rope and wooden planks.

“What is most striking is the cramped and precarious nature of this room, which is something between a dormitory and a storage room,” said Zuchtriegel. “It is certainly one of the most exciting discoveries of my life as an archaeologist, even without the presence of great ‘treasures’. The true treasure here is the human experience – in this case of the most vulnerable members of ancient society – to which this room is a unique testimony.”

Excavations on the site of the Civita Giuliana villa began in 2017 and several relics have been found, including a ceremonial chariot and a stable containing the remains of three harnessed horses. In May, three frescoes looted from the villa in 2012 were returned to the archaeological park.

Casts were created of the remains of the two Vesuvius victims found in the villa last November. The two men, lying close together, are believed to have escaped the initial phase of the eruption, when the city was blanketed in volcanic ash and pumice, only to then be killed by a further blast the following day.

The partially mummified remains of a freed slave found at Pompeii’s Porta Sano. Photograph: Cesare Abbate

Experts said the younger man, who was probably between 18 and 25, had several compressed vertebrae, which led them to believe that he was a manual labourer or slave. The older man, aged between 30 and 40, had a stronger bone structure, particularly around his chest, and was wearing a tunic. They were found lying in what would have been a corridor in the villa.

In August, the partially mummified remains, including hair and bones, of a former slave who rose through the social ranks were found in a tomb at the necropolis of Porta Sarno, one of the main gates into Pompeii. The tomb is believed to date from the decade before the city was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Last month, the partially mutilated remains of a man buried by the eruption were found on what would have been the beach at Herculaneum, the ancient Roman town a few miles north of Pompeii. Archaeologists said the man, believed to have been between 40 and 45, was killed just steps from the water as he tried to flee the eruption.

UK

John Major does not hold back as he labels Boris Johnson 'corrupt' in unprecedented attack
Michiel Willems

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Getty Images)

Former Prime Minister Sir John Major suggested the Johnson administration was “politically corrupt” over the way it treats Parliament.

“I’m afraid that the Government, with their over-large majority, do tend to treat Parliament with contempt. And if that continues, it will end badly,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

“They bypass Parliament at will and the Speaker has expressed his frustration about that on many occasions, and rightly so.

“But they also behaved badly in other ways that are perhaps politically corrupt.”

That included briefing announcements to sections of the press before MPs.

Sir John Major suggested there was an arrogance at the heart of Boris Johnson’s administration.

“There is a general whiff of ‘we are the masters now’ about their behaviour,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

“I have been a Conservative all my life and if I am concerned at how the Government is behaving I suspect lots of other people are as well.

“It seems to me, as a lifelong Conservative, that much of what they are doing is un-Conservative in its behaviour.”

Sir John launched an extraordinary broadside at Boris Johnson’s Government over the Owen Paterson row.

He said: “I think the way the Government handled that was shameful, wrong and unworthy of this or indeed any government. It also had the effect of trashing the reputation of Parliament.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today the actions of Mr Johnson’s administration was “damaging at home and to our reputation overseas”.

Sir John, whose own government in the 1990s was undermined by sleaze rows, said: “When that happened I set up the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life to stop it, which has been a huge success.

“The striking difference is this: in the 1990s I set up a committee to tackle this sort of behaviour.

THEY HELD TO THEIR PRINCIPLES
The Squad, Unfazed by Election Rout, Forces Biden to Rely on GOP Infrastructure Votes

BY XANDER LANDEN ON 11/6/21 

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday evening passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package—a key piece of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda.

But House Democratic leaders failed to convince some of their own members to vote in lockstep on the legislation. Instead, a group of Republicans supportive of the infrastructure package helped deliver a legislative victory for the Democrats, as several progressive members of the party voted against the bill.

The legislation passed in a vote of 228 to 208.

Despite a rough week for their party that saw a loss in a pivotal gubernatorial race in Virginia, six Democratic progressive lawmakers voted against the infrastructure bill. They included Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Progressive Democrats have insisted for months that they will only support the infrastructure bill unless legislators also pass the Build Back Better Act, a sprawling spending bill that includes funding for a variety of social programs and initiatives to combat climate change.

Moderate House Democrats said Friday that they would commit to voting for the Build Back Better Act "as expeditiously as we receive fiscal information" about the legislation from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "but in no event later than the week of November 15th."

In response, Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, stated that members of her caucus and other Democrats had "reached an agreement to advance both pieces of President Biden's legislative agenda."

"Our colleagues have committed to voting for the transformative Build Back Better Act, as currently written, no later than the week of November 15. All our colleagues have also committed to voting tonight on the rule to move the Build Back Better Act forward to codify this promise," she added.

THAT'S WHY ITS CALLED BIPARTISAN
But the agreement wasn't enough to convince some progressive members. Therefore, Democrats had to rely on Republicans who backed the infrastructure package to get it over the finish line. Thirteen House GOP lawmakers voted in favor of the bill.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday evening passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, a key piece of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. But House Democratic leaders failed to convince their members to vote in lockstep on the legislation. Above, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) listen during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

ALEX WROBLEWSKI

Some Republicans criticized members of their party for backing the Democratic legislative priority. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went so far as to call the 13 Republicans traitors.

"6 Democrats did more than these 13 traitor Republicans to stop Biden's fake Infrastructure bill by voting NO," Greene tweeted, listing the six Democrats who opposed the legislation.

"They have more balls than these R's," Greene added.

Thousands protest in Glasgow and around the world for action against climate change

By SHARON PRUITT-YOUNG 

Climate activists march in Sydney during a COP26 protest on Saturday that was one of several demonstrations held around the world.
LISA MAREE WILLIAMS / GETTY IMAGES

Originally published on November 6, 2021 

Thousands of people gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, and around the world on Saturday to protest a lack of global action to combat climate change.

"It's kind of a cornucopia of different groups," NPR's Frank Langfitt reported from Glasgow, the site of the COP26 climate conference. "You have farmers, trade unionists, climate activists, even Scottish independence advocates. A wide-ranging coalition of people coming together for what they consider a common cause."

Among those coming together for change were Indigenous activists and young people from Brazil and Ecuador, as seen in photos shared via Twitter. Many young people from the global south were in Glasgow on Saturday. Despite low emissions from those areas, they are among those hit hardest by the effects of climate change, Langfitt noted.

Glasgow is the host city of the United Nations COP26 summit, which started Oct. 31. The gathering has drawn more than 100 world leaders for talks that are slated to last for another week.

Protesters attend the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice march Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, where the COP26 conference is being held.
JEFF J MITCHELL / GETTY IMAGES

Activists are pushing global leaders to take action to ensure that the planet does not warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial levels. It's a goal that was laid out in the Paris Agreement, but in the years since, the world has not been on track to meet that standard.

Demonstrations have extended beyond Glasgow in observance of a global day of action for climate justice. Thousands are protesting all over the world, with events planned on six continents.

Activists say global pledges to reduce carbon aren't enough

In the first week of the conference, more than 20 nations committed to move away from coal in favor of clean energy. A number of prominent banks pledged to halt their support of plants that run on coal.

Slowing the loss of forests is another goal that's been a focus of the conference. Thus far, 26 countries have agreed to enact policies that would make agricultural practices more sustainable.

"If we are to limit global warming and keep the goal of 1.5C alive, then the world needs to use land sustainably and put protection and restoration of nature at the heart of all we do," Alok Sharma, COP26 president, said in a statement Saturday.

But some are concerned that not enough action is taking place at the summit, and many young activists feel that their concerns are not being taken seriously. During a rally in Glasgow on Saturday, famed activist Greta Thunberg called out world leaders for slow-walking progress.

"It is not a secret that COP26 is a failure," she said. "It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place, and more and more people are starting to realize this and many are starting to ask themselves, 'What will it take for the people in power to wake up?' "

She described the conference as a "PR event" and a "global greenwash festival," during which leaders can say all the right things without their governments actually taking action.

"We need immediate drastic annual emission cuts unlike anything the world has ever seen," she said.

Copyright 2021 NPR.

Cop26: Huge crowds of protesters take to the streets to call for climate action

Andrew Milligan
Environmental groups, charities, climate activists, trade unionists and indigenous people all joined the march in Glasgow

George McMillan

DIGITAL PRODUCER
PUBLISHED Saturday 06 November 2021 -

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the UK demanding stronger climate action from leaders in the midst of the Cop26 talks.

Protesters braved pouring rain and wind to march through Glasgow, where the UN climate conference is being held, while other marches took place in central London and in other cities around the UK and the world.

Environmental groups, charities, climate activists, trade unionists and indigenous people all joined the march in Glasgow.

A fire engine, women covered in moss, Poseidon on stilts and a group of children guiding a display featuring what appeared to be a large snake wearing glasses, were among those who gathered at the starting point at Kelvingrove Park.

Jason Cook, 54, from Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, said he and two friends were marching because they were tired of hearing “blah, blah, blah” from leaders on climate action, echoing the criticism of Cop26 and world leaders by campaigner Greta Thunberg.

He told the PA news agency: “We don’t want to hear any more blah, blah, blah.”

The three men wore helmets, each adorned with a sign which said “blah”.

Dave Knight, 51, from Wiltshire, added there had been “lots of words, but we really need action – the end of fossil fuels as soon as possible”.

As the march entered Glasgow city centre a group of activists dressed as rats stood across the road holding smoke flares.

The group, who were acting as though they represented various sectors, were holding signs which, collectively, said: “When Cop fails, buy walls, buy guns, buy bombs.

“Bye bye climate migrants – profit over planet.”

Extinction Rebellion activists dressed as the Ghostbusters, along with a man wearing a sign that said “the end is nigh” were among the marchers making their way to Glasgow Green.

Hundreds of people lined the streets in support, some holding home-made signs.

Police refused to estimate how many people were marching, but organisers the Cop26 Coalition claimed more than 100,000 people had turned out despite the weather, as an estimated 300 events were taking place worldwide.

Asad Rehman, spokesman for the Cop26 Coalition, said: “Many thousands of people took to the streets today on every continent demanding that governments move from climate inaction to climate justice.

“We won’t tolerate warm words and long-term targets any more, we want action now.”

Health care company ends relationship with Aaron Rodgers



GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin health care organization has ended a nine-year partnership with Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers after the quarterback detailed his reasoning for avoiding the three COVID-19 vaccinations endorsed by the NFL.

A statement posted on Twitter by Prevea Health said the company and Rodgers mutually agreed to end their partnership, effective Saturday. Prevea Health and Rodgers had been partners since 2012.

The statement said Prevea Health “remains deeply committed to protecting its patients, staff, providers and communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes encouraging and helping all eligible populations to become vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent the virus from further significantly impacting lives and livelihoods.”

The move comes a day after Rodgers told “The Pat McAfee Show” he had sought alternative treatments to COVID-19 vaccination because he is allergic to an ingredient in two of the FDA-approved shots. Rodgers, who turns 38 in December, did not say what ingredient he was allergic to, or how he knows he is allergic.

Rodgers has strongly questioned the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, along with any organization forcing health requirements on individuals.

“I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something,” he said Friday. “Health is not a one size fits all for everybody, and for me it involved a lot of study in the offseason.”

GUESS HE SUPPORTS ABORTION RIGHTS FOR WOMEN...

The COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. were tested in tens of thousands of people and proven to be both safe and effective at dramatically reducing the risk of serious disease and death. The vaccines now have been given to more than 200 million Americans and that real-world use plus extra government safety tracking have made clear that serious side effects are extremely rare — and that any risk is far lower than the risks posed by COVID-19.

Rodgers, who has been tested daily as part of NFL protocols for unvaccinated players, found out he contracted COVID-19 on Wednesday. He can’t rejoin the Packers for 10 days and will miss Sunday’s game at Kansas City. He must have a negative test to return to the team on Nov. 13.

The reigning NFL MVP, whose endorsement deals include a starring role in commercials for insurance company State Farm, hinted that his stance on vaccination could have consequences when he described himself Friday as a victim of “cancel culture.”

Anti-vaxxer Aaron Rodgers’ spectacular fall from grace happened in record time


The Green Bay star once vied for the status of the NFL’s most well-liked player. After Friday’s bizarre interview about his vaccine status, it’s safe to assume those days are behind him

The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers looks on during an August preseason game at Lambeau Field. Photograph: Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Hunter Felt
THE GUARDIAN

Sat 6 Nov 2021 

To think, Aaron Rodgers could be hosting Jeopardy! right now. Yes, the Green Bay Packers quarterback was at one point one of the leading candidates to host the iconic quiz show. He got rave reviews during his tenure as a guest host, even, becoming a sort of pop-intellectual figure in American life. Well, after Rodgers’ public-relations disaster of an interview on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, they can consider themselves fortunate that they dodged at least one bullet on their star-crossed quest to replace the late Alex Trebek.

Rodgers – who is currently unavailable to play with his team after testing positive for Covid-19 – went on the SiriusXM program after reports emerged revealing he was, at best, fudging the truth when he previously claimed he was “immunized” rather than fully vaccinated . The good news was that this time around, he was more direct. The bad news, was that he was probably way too honest for his own good.


Rodgers rips ‘woke mob’ and touts Joe Rogan in first remarks since Covid test

It could have gone much easier for all involved. When given a chance to defend himself for not being vaccinated, Rodgers claimed he had “an allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines”. Had he stuck with this line of defense, he could have deflected some of the criticism that was to come. Sure, after the “immunized” debacle, Rodgers would not have gotten the benefit of the doubt that he would have been given a week earlier, but it would have been far more prudent than the path he did take directly off the rails.

Instead, Rodgers’ interview featured an avalanche of anti-vaxxer buzzwords and all-too-familiar phrases, each one laying bare the hollowness of his disclaimer that he was not “anti-vax”. You’ll never guess it, but Rodgers did his own research with the aid of none other than conspiracy theory-minded podcaster Joe Rogan. He confirmed that his personal “immunization protocol” included ivermectin and then proceeded to rail against (yawn) “the woke mob” and “cancel culture”. He even threw in a Martin Luther King Jr misquote, as if he were trying to pull off the Full Tucker Carlson.
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The interview, which inspired nonstop ridicule on social media, threatens to irrevocably hurt the reputation of someone who – just months ago – was one of the most beloved athletes in the country. Since replacing Brett Favre as Green Bay’s starter in 2008, Rodgers quickly became one of the NFL’s most bankable stars. He established himself as one of the most exciting and talented quarterbacks in the game and his charming off-the-field persona had, until recently, translated into a broad appeal that few other athletes could claim.

How broad? A 2020 survey revealed that just 8% of respondents had a negative opinion of Rodgers. That’s quite impressive considering how little fun it is for non-Packers fans to watch the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player dismantle their team’s defenses on a regular basis. He even helped break down the stereotype that athletes couldn’t also be intellectually curious, a fact which ironically could be his undoing if it led him to take his current stance on Covid-19.

Aaron Rodgers has been voted the NFL’s MVP by the Associated Press for the 2011, 2014 and 2020 seasons.

 Photograph: Mark J Rebilas/USA Today Sports

His reputation will not survive this unscathed. As ESPN’s Mina Kimes points out, Rodgers’ irresponsible comments aren’t just harmless nonsense. Having already put others in danger with his decision, he added to the harm by going on record by spreading misinformation couched in the all-too-familiar language of the nation’s massive anti-vaccination movement. “My body, my choice” breaks down when we’re talking about infectious diseases.

That point is key here. Rodgers isn’t the only NFL quarterback who has publicly pushed treatments of dubious medical value. One of the reasons that Tom Brady now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is that the New England Patriots didn’t approve of his closeness to controversial “nutrition advisor” Alex Guerrero. Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson has been selling his fellow athletes on a type of water that supposedly helps treat concussions (there is no credible medical evidence that it does so).

Aaron Rodgers’ Covid-19 case is a failure of leadership that won’t be forgotten
Melissa Jacobs

While both Brady and Wilson received some negative media attention for propping up what we will charitably call “unproven remedies”, they were smart enough to not escalate the bad press as Rodgers has. Also, to state something that should be obvious but clearly isn’t, there’s a difference in magnitude between making wild, untested claims about the benefits of drinking water and spreading proven disinformation during a literal pandemic.

Rodgers isn’t heading towards a full-blown “cancellation”, however much as he seems to be itching for one. Conservative football fans – a not-insignificant portion of the NFL audience – will embrace him as one of their own. He’s already setting himself up for a profitable future in right-wing punditry circles. As his friend Rogan knows, there’s a lot of money to be made in calling out the so-called “woke mobs”.

There will almost certainly be consequences, however. Rodgers might lose a few sponsorships and the NFL – probably more irritated at being criticized than the fact that Rodgers misled the public about his vaccination status – has already launched a media counterattack. The Packers also can’t be happy with any of this, but since Rodgers has already made it clear that he wants out of the organization that might be more of a feature rather than a bug here.

Rodgers’ pocketbook might take something of a hit, but as long as he’s one of the top quarterbacks in the league, he will be fine financially. Where the real damage will come will be in his public standing. Rodgers will never compete for the title of most-liked player in the league again and he has nobody but himself to blame. Not all defeats in the NFL happen on the field.

Explaining Aaron Rodgers' situation, how NFL's COVID-19 protocols work

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Considered unvaccinated, quarterback must stay isolated

 for at least 10 days

The Associated Press · Posted: Nov 06, 2021 

Both the NFL and the Green Bay Packers knew Aaron Rodgers, seen above warming up before an October game against the Chicago Bears, wasn't vaccinated. (David Banks/The Associated Press)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will miss Sunday's game at Kansas City after being placed in the NFL's COVID-19 protocol. Because he is considered unvaccinated, he must stay isolated for at least 10 days.

• 'I'm not an anti-vax, flat earther': Aaron Rodgers sought treatments instead of COVID-19 vaccine

• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers tests positive for COVID-19

Here's an explanation of the NFL's protocols and a breakdown of Rodgers' case:

Who's responsible for knowing a player's vaccine status?

Each of the 32 NFL teams. Players must submit proof of vaccination to the team, not to the league office.

What is considered sufficient vaccination?

Players must take two shots of one of the approved vaccinations under NFL protocols — Pfizer or Moderna — or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson. As Dr. Allen Sills, the league's chief medical officer, has explained, players who have been previously documented with having had COVID-19 could be considered protected with one shot of those vaccines.

There's also the possibility of a player having antibody levels that show a previous case of the coronavirus, and they can receive one shot to be protected.

"We have very clear protocols on vaccination requirements and what can be considered as being fully vaccinated under those protocols," Sills said.

NFL protocols, created in conjunction with the players' union, oversee not only team facilities but also stadiums, hotels and any travel arrangements.

Did the NFL know Rodgers was unvaccinated?

Yes, as did the Packers and the NFL Players Association.

Rodgers, who says he has an allergy to an ingredient in two of the vaccines, approached the NFLPA during the summer seeking approval of the treatment he took, details of which have not been made public. Dr. Thom Mayer, the union's medical director, consulted with Sills and with infectious disease consultants jointly agreed upon by the NFL and the union. They determined that Rodgers' treatment did not meet the qualifications or protocols to be considered a vaccine.

Rodgers has been required to wear a mask at the Packers' facility and to follow protocols designed for unvaccinated players. He is one of about 5% of the league's players considered unvaccinated.

• PLAYER STATS: Aaron Rodgers

Will anyone be penalized?

Very likely — if the NFL's investigation, which also includes looking into a Halloween party attended by Rodgers — finds violations of the protocols.

Most responsible would be the Packers for not eliminating any violations. They could be fined and stripped of draft choices. For example, the Las Vegas Raiders were fined $500,000 US last year — when there were no vaccinations available — for breaking protocols. But no teams lost picks in the 2021 draft for COVID-19 violations.

Rodgers, naturally, could be sanctioned by the NFL, too. That probably would involve a fine rather than a suspension.

Sills has been very clear that enforcement of the protocols is "serious business."

Study: Climate change makes allergies worse, doesn't increase diagnoses


Climate change may worsen allergy symptoms, but does not necessarily increase the number of people with allergies, a new study has found. 

File Photo by KatePhotographer/Shutterstock

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Children with asthma in Los Angeles have not seen an increase in allergy diagnoses, despite effects from climate change on the air they breathe, a study presented Friday during the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting found.

The percentage of children in the Los Angeles area with allergies to dust mites, cat, dog, cockroach, tree pollen, grass pollen and weed pollen remained relatively unchanged between 1999 to 2014, the data showed.

For example, the percentage of children with allergies to at least one grass, tree, weed or dog allergen held steady at 0.25% or less over the 15-year period.

Similarly, the percentage of children with allergies to dust mites or cockroaches was 0.35% or less over the entire period.

This is despite documented increases in the length of growing seasons and pollen counts due to climate change, they said.

"Although temperatures have been rising and pollen loads increasing, if someone is not genetically predisposed to allergies, they are not likely to be sensitized to more allergens," study co-author Dr. Lyne Scott said in a press release.

"The growing season is year-round in L.A. and people with allergies who are already sensitized to pollens suffer more intensely when the growing season is longer, or the air quality isn't good," said Scott, an allergist who practices in Los Angeles.

However, those with allergies may have worse symptoms because of the effects of climate change, she added.

A study published earlier this year suggested that allergy symptoms may worsen for sufferers due to the warming climate.

Still, despite dire predictions, there is little evidence that climate change will necessarily increase the number of people with allergies.

For this study, the researchers tested nearly 6,000 children in Los Angeles who had been diagnosed with asthma and allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, for allergies to dust mites, cat, dog, cockroach, tree pollen, grass pollen and weed pollen, using standard skin prick tests.

In these tests, allergists prick the skin of a test subject with a pin containing a sample of an allergen and monitor the reaction.

If the skin reacts, such as with a rash, that indicates the test subject is likely allergic to the substance.

After performing more than 123,000 tests on study participants, the researchers found no increase in the number who experienced "allergic sensitizations" over the 15-year study period.

When a person's immune system becomes sensitized to an allergen, or an otherwise harmless substance such as dust or dog hair, they will likely develop symptoms of an allergy each time they are exposed to that same allergen, the researchers said.


High pollen counts, for example, do not mean that individual allergy sufferers will be affected, they said.

This is because there are many types of pollen, from various kinds of trees, from grass and from a variety of weeds. As a result, a high overall pollen count does not always indicate a strong concentration of the specific pollen to which individuals are allergic.

"We were somewhat surprised at the results as we expected there would be an increase in the number of kids with asthma who were sensitized to pollen and other allergens," study co-author Dr. Kenny Kwong said in a press release.

"Between 80% to 90% of children with asthma have allergy triggers, which is why it's important for children with asthma to be tested for allergies," said Kwong, an allergist who also practices in Los Angeles.

Harris says space technology to play a key role in addressing climate change

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (C), and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., (L), tour the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on Friday.

 Photo by Ting Shen/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- As the United States seeks to address climate change it will look to space, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a speech at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Saying the "opportunity of space will define the 21st century," Harris made the remarks Friday as she prepares to convene the inaugural meeting of the Biden administration's National Space Council on Dec. 1.

She said life on Earth has already been improved by technology developed to explore space, such as camera phones and CT scans.

"Today, our nation is more active in space than ever before, and there are more ways than ever before that space can benefit humanity," she said. "I believe it is incumbent on all of us, then, to seize all the ways in which space can help us solve our biggest challenges, including that of the climate crisis."

RELATED Harris to announce first National Space Council meeting in nearly a year

Harris referenced the United Nations Climate Change Conference underway in Glasgow, Scotland. She said world leaders gathered at the conference declared climate change an "existential threat" that needs urgent action.

She pointed to how space-based technology is already being used to monitor emissions and measure the impact of climate change.


"We have a fleet of satellites and sensors providing citizens and scientists with the data that they -- that you need to mitigate the impact and to adapt to the impact," she said.

RELATED Kamala Harris, Energy Department announce $200M to reduce vehicle emissions

Harris mentioned Landsat 9, a satellite developed at Goddard and launched into space last September. The satellite can produce real-time landscape images that can aid first responders during increasingly frequent natural disasters, she said.

In addition to helping scientists working on climate change, she said images produced by the satellite can help farmers respond to drought and heat.

While on a recent visit to Hampton University, a historically Black university in Virginia, Harris said students were working with scientists on new satellite technology and connections between climate change and atmospheric changes.

"So, here's the bottom line: I truly believe space activity is climate action. Space activity is education," she said. "Space activity is also economic growth. It is also innovation and inspiration. And it is about our security and our strength."

When the National Space Council, which she chairs, meets next month, Harris said its members will discuss a broad framework that includes civilian efforts, STEM education, military and national security efforts, as well as the "emerging space economy."

COP26: Dozens of nations pledge to safeguard nature amid past failures

To save a salt marsh, conservationists opted to let nature take its course. 

© Nicolas Tucat, AFP

Issued on: 06/11/2021
Text by: NEWS WIRES

Dozens of nations pledged on Saturday to do more to protect nature and overhaul farming at the COP26 U.N. climate talks, amid misgivings about past failures.

Agriculture, deforestation and other changes in land use account for about a quarter of humanity’s planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions, making reforms vital to safeguard nature and feed a rising global population without stoking global warming.

“Nature and climate are interlinked, and both our people and our surroundings are facing the very real impacts of rising temperatures,” Alok Sharma, the British president of the Glasgow summit, told a news conference.

He said that 70% of tropical corals, which are nurseries for fish, would be lost if temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

“If we get to two degrees they are all gone,” he added.

Temperatures are already up nearly 1.2C and the overriding goal of the Glasgow negotiations is to keep alive hopes of limiting warming to 1.5C, the toughest goal set by almost 200 nations in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Britain said 45 nations were making pledges to safeguard nature on Saturday, including the United States, Japan, Germany, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Vietnam, the Philippines, Gabon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uruguay.

Sharma said the pledges included $4 billion in public sector investment which would help spur innovation such as developing crops resilient to droughts, floods and heatwaves that could benefit "hundreds of millions of farmers".

Campaigners said needed shifts to agriculture to curb emissions and protect food security should have a larger share of the global spotlight.

'Sexy' Farming

“We need to shine a light on climate justice, and we need to make food and farming sexy,” said Idris Elba, a British actor and goodwill ambassador for the U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Vanessa Nakate, 24, a climate justice advocate from Uganda, warned that in her country, "we're watching farms collapse," with floods, droughts, heatwaves and swarms of locusts making hunger more widespread.

Among pledges on Saturday, Canada said it would allocate about $1 billion - out of $5.3 billion previously pledged for climate finance - to "nature-based climate solutions" in developing countries over the next five years.

Britain said it would give a 500-million-pound ($675 million) boost to protect more than 5 million hectares - equivalent to more than 3.5 million football pitches - of tropical rainforests across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Nations including Peru and Cameroon said they would increase support for small-scale farmers, while Nepal and Madagascar said they would join efforts to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030.

But other similar past pledges have fallen short.

A U.N. report last year found that the world had failed to fully meet any of the 20 global goals it set in 2010 to protect biodiversity.

Those ranged from phasing out harmful agricultural subsidies to limiting the loss of forests and raising sufficient finance for developing nations.

British officials said there was hope the Glasgow pledges would be different. They pointed to plans to track pledges, as well as the promises of cash and innovative technologies, such as high-yielding, drought-resistant crops.

Britain said 28 nations that are big consumers of deforestation-linked commodities such as beef, soy, palm oil and cocoa had joined a Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) roadmap launched in February this year.

FACT says it promotes sustainable land use as a step to unlock investments, create jobs and protect forest livelihoods.

“The next challenge is to go from bold statements to real implementation,” said Yadvinder Malhi, a professor of ecosystem science at the University of Oxford.

Britain grabbed headlines this week by announcing a range of new alliances, such as one by more than 40 nations to phase out coal and another by major investors with $130 trillion at their disposal to boost the green economy.

“Important as these announcements may be, they are not legally binding," noted Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a Kenya-based climate and energy think-tank.

(REUTERS)

Net-zero emissions plans expect too much from nature

By Doreen Stabinsky, College of the Atlantic

 & Kate Dooley, The University of Melbourne

Nature has received a great deal of attention for its ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the biosphere, such as in soils, grasslands, trees and mangroves, via photosynthesis. Photo by Siggy Nowak/Pixabay

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Net-zero emissions pledges to protect the climate are coming fast and furious from companies, cities and countries. But declaring a net-zero target doesn't mean they plan to stop their greenhouse gas emissions entirely -- far from it. Most of these pledges rely heavily on planting trees or protecting forests or farmland to absorb some of their emissions.

That raises two questions: Can nature handle the expectations? And, more importantly, should it even be expected to?

We have been involved in international climate negotiations and land and forest climate research for years. Research and pledges from companies so far suggest that the answer to these questions is no.

What is net-zero?
Net-zero is the point at which all the carbon dioxide still emitted by human activities, such as running fossil fuel power plants or driving gas-powered vehicles, is balanced by the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since the world does not yet have technologies capable of removing carbon dioxide from air at any climate-relevant scale, that means relying on nature for carbon dioxide removal.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global carbon dioxide emissions will need to reach net-zero by at least midcentury for the world to have even a small chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F), an aim of the Paris climate agreement to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

The devil of net-zero, of course, lies in its apparent simplicity.


Nature's potential and its limits

Climate change is driven largely by cumulative emissions -- carbon dioxide that accumulates in the atmosphere and stays there for hundreds to thousands of years, trapping heat near Earth's surface.

Nature has received a great deal of attention for its ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the biosphere, such as in soils, grasslands, trees and mangroves, via photosynthesis. It is also a source of carbon dioxide emissions through deforestation, land and ecosystem degradation and agricultural practices. However, the right kinds of changes to land management practices can reduce emissions and improve carbon storage.

Net-zero proposals count on finding ways for these systems to take up more carbon than they already absorb.

Researchers estimate that nature might annually be able to remove 5 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the air and avoid another 5 gigatons through stopping emissions from deforestation, agriculture and other sources.

This 10-gigaton figure has regularly been cited as "one-third of the global effort needed to stop climate change," but that's misleading. Avoided emissions and removals are not additive.

A new forests and land-use declaration announced at the U.N. climate conference in November also highlights the ongoing challenges in bringing deforestation emissions to zero, including illegal logging and protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Stored carbon doesn't stay there forever

Reaching the point at which nature can remove 5 gigatons of carbon dioxide each year would take time. And there's another problem: High levels of removal might last for only a decade or so.

When growing trees and restoring ecosystems, the storage potential develops to a peak over decades. While this continues, it reduces over time as ecosystems become saturated, meaning large-scale carbon dioxide removal by natural ecosystems is a one-off opportunity to restore lost carbon stocks.

Carbon stored in the terrestrial biosphere -- in forests and other ecosystems -- doesn't stay there forever, either. Trees and plants die, sometimes as a result of climate-related wildfires, droughts and warming, and fields are tilled and release carbon.

When taking these factors into consideration -- the delay while nature-based removals scale up, saturation and the one-off and reversible nature of enhanced terrestrial carbon storage -- another team of researchers found that restoration of forest and agricultural ecosystems could be expected to remove only about 3.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually.

Over the century, ecosystem restoration might reduce global average temperature by approximately 0.12 C (0.2 F). But the scale of removals the world can expect from ecosystem restoration will not happen in time to reduce the warming that is expected within the next two decades.

Nature in net-zero pledges

Unfortunately there is not a great deal of useful information contained in net-zero pledges about the relative contributions of planned emissions reductions versus dependence on removals. There are, however, some indications of the magnitude of removals that major actors expect to have available for their use.

ActionAid reviewed the oil major Shell's net-zero strategy and found that it includes offsetting 120 million tons of carbon dioxide per year through planting forests, estimated to require around 29.5 million acres (12 million hectares) of land. That's roughly 45,000 square miles.

Oxfam reviewed the net-zero pledges for Shell and three other oil and gas producers -- BP, TotalEnergies and ENI -- and concluded that "their plans alone could require an area of land twice the size of the U.K. If the oil and gas sector as a whole adopted similar net zero targets, it could end up requiring land that is nearly half the size of the United States, or one-third of the world's farmland."

These numbers provide insight into how these companies, and perhaps many others, view net-zero.

Research indicates that net-zero strategies that rely on temporary removals to balance permanent emissions will fail. The temporary storage of nature-based removals, limited land availability and the time they take to scale up mean that, while they are a critical part of stabilizing the earth system, they cannot compensate for continued fossil fuel emissions.

This means that getting to net-zero will require rapid and dramatic reductions in emissions. Nature will be called upon to balance out what is left, mostly emissions from agriculture and land, but nature cannot balance out ongoing fossil emissions.

To actually reach net-zero will require reducing emissions close to zero.

Doreen Stabinsky is a professor of global environmental politics at College of the Atlantic and Kate Dooley is a research fellow in the Climate & Energy College at The University of Melbourne. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.