Facebook Just Had Its Most Disappointing Quarter Ever. 

Mark Zuckerberg's Response Is the 1 Thing 

No Leader Should Ever Do

Don't blame your competition for your company's poor performance.


BY JASON ATEN, TECH COLUMNIST@JASONATEN
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Getty Images

Facebook (which now goes by the name Meta) had a very rough quarter. That's in contrast to most of its tech brethren. During a week in which Apple reported that it had the most profitable quarter of any company ever, and Google reported record numbers of its own, Facebook -- for the first time -- reported fewer daily active users. The number of overall users stayed mostly flat, but it's the measurement of how many people use the service on a regular basis that matters.

For the three months ended December 31, more people stopped using Facebook than signed up. That sent the company's stock tumbling as much as 25 percent, shaving $230 billion off its market cap. That's the most of any company, ever. The idea that the world's largest social-media company has finally started to shrink is a sort of "come to Jesus" moment for investors who somehow thought double-digit growth would last forever.

Facebook's primary challenge is that it has so saturated the market of people who might use its service, there's almost nowhere to grow. Well, except the metaverse, of course. That version of the immersive internet, imagined by Facebook's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is likely still a decade away, at best.

For now, Facebook is shrinking. Really, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, however. Sure, it's probably a shock that it's finally here, but it was inevitable that the company would stop growing. There are a finite number of human beings that are willing to sign up for its services, and it appears Facebook has finally reached that number.

That it made active user growth the measuring stick Wall Street would use to gauge its success is an issue entirely of its own making. For years, the line continued to grow up as it turned in massive growth in users. More users meant more ads, which meant more revenue, which meant more profits, which meant the stock kept going up.

Again, that's the business Facebook was selling as a success, until it wasn't. Now that it's not working, Facebook and its CEO spent a lot of time doing what no business should ever do -- blaming others.

It started on the call with analysts. Specifically, Mark Zuckerberg pointed at two tech rivals as the source of Facebook's problems: Apple and TikTok.

It's not the first time Facebook has complained about Apple's privacy changes in iOS 14.5. In late 2020, it took out full-page ads accusing Apple of harming small businesses and threatening the future of the free internet. Instead, Apple's changes simply require developers to request permission before their apps can track users.

That seems like common sense, but tracking users is the key to Facebook's business. Apple's change will cost the company as much as $10 billion in revenue in 2022, according to Facebook's estimates.

"With Apple's iOS changes and new regulation in Europe, there's a clear trend where less data is available to deliver personalized ads," Zuckerberg said. "But people still want to see relevant ads, and businesses still want to reach the right customers."

To be clear, it wasn't just Zuckerberg that pointed the finger outside the company.

"Like others in our industry, we've faced headwinds as a result of Apple's iOS changes," said Sheryl Sandburg, Facebook's COO. "Q4 was the first holiday season after Apple's iOS changes, which have had an impact on businesses of all sizes, especially small businesses who rely on digital advertising to grow. This will continue to be a factor in 2022."

As for TikTok, Facebook pointed out that younger users aren't signing up for Facebook, preferring to spend their time elsewhere.

"People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like
TikTok are growing very quickly," Zuckerberg said. "And this is why our focus on [Facebook's newest video product] Reels is so important over the long-term. As is our work to make sure that our apps are the best services out there for young adults."

Then, Zuckerberg repeated the same finger-pointing at an all-hands meeting on Thursday, which was first reported by Bloomberg. There, he again told employees that the company's focus was on Reels. The company first added the short-form video feature to Instagram (which is also owned by Meta), and later to Facebook. It's a direct copy from TikTok.

The thing is, you're never going to be a better version of your competition. If people are spending more time with your competition, they won't change just because you build a copy. It's not the first time Facebook has tried this -- it previously copied Stories from Snapchat -- and it didn't really work there either. So again, the company is trying to pivot.

Perhaps a better read is that Facebook is becoming less relevant. It's shrinking because fewer people want to use Facebook. It's becoming less relevant to users who choose to spend their time elsewhere, and to businesses who want to connect with those users. Ultimately, you don't become more relevant by pointing to your competitors and blaming them for your performance. That's the one thing no company -- or leader -- should ever do.

PART OF THE FACEBOOK PROBLEM

LEAVING

Peter Thiel leaving board of Facebook parent Meta


Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel looks over the podium before the start of the second day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and advisor to former President Donald Trump, is leaving the board of directors of Facebook parent company Meta, the company announced Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and advisor to former President Donald Trump, is leaving the board of directors of Facebook parent company Meta.

The company said Monday that Thiel will stay on until Meta’s next shareholder meeting later this year, where he will not stand for reelection.

Thiel joined Facebook’s board in 2005, a year after the company was founded and seven years before its made its debut on Wall Street. But he has been an increasingly polarizing figure among the company’s directors due to his conservative politics.

“Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we’ve always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests.”

Meta Platforms Inc. did not say what Thiel planned to do after his director stint is over. But reports in The New York Times and Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources close to Thiel, said he wants to focus on influencing November’s midterm elections and support candidates who would further Trump’s agenda.

A representative for Thiel did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

In a statement, Thiel said “It has been a privilege to work with one of the great entrepreneurs of our time. Mark Zuckerberg’s intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness are tremendous.”

Peter Thiel leaving Meta board, will reportedly focus on pro-Trump advocacy

ByTheo Wayt
February 7, 2022 

Conservative tech mogul Peter Thiel is leaving the board of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta after nearly two decades, the company said Monday.

The co-founder of PayPal and Palantir plans to leave Meta following its annual meeting in May, Meta said in a press release.

Thiel is stepping down to focus on advancing his pro-Trump political agenda in the 2022 campaign cycle, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported.

The tech founder — who has an estimated worth of $2.6 billion — became Facebook’s first outside investor in 2004 and joined the company’s board in 2005. His endorsement of Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention ruffled the feathers of some Facebook staffers

.

Peter Thiel’s support for Donald Trump ruffled the feathers of some Facebook staffers.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

In the press release confirming Thiel’s exit, Mark Zuckerberg lavished praise on the conservative mogul.

“Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company,” Zuckerberg said. “Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions.

Thiel likewise praised Zuckerberg for his “intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness.”

“His talents will serve Meta well as he leads the company into a new era,” Thiel said

Thiel is now reportedly expected to focus more of his time on conservative political causes, including senate bids by two of his proteges, Blake Masters and JD Vance, according to the WSJ report

.

Thiel plans to focus on pro-Trump advocacy, according to reports.

Getty Images

Masters and Vance are running the Republican Senate primaries in Arizona and Ohio, respectively. Thiel has spent millions of dollars supporting their candidacies and held fundraising dinners for both candidates.

“He thinks that the Republican Party can advance the Trump agenda and he wants to do what he can to support that,” a source close to Thiel told Bloomberg. “His focus will be on supporting Blake Masters, JD Vance and others who support the Trump agenda.”

Thiel spokesman Jeremiah Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Depression may make people more likely to believe COVID misinformation

They found that people with depression were 2.2 times more likely to endorse misinformation about the vaccines.

Maija Kappler,

Jan 24 2022

The results don't indicate that depression causes people to be susceptible to fake news. GETTY

Vaccine misinformation is one of the most pressing health issues of the present moment, continuing to threaten the effectiveness of measures aimed at ending the pandemic.

Experts have previously spoken about some of the reasons people might subscribe to vaccine misinformation. But a new study from the Massachusetts General Hospital may shed light on one underlying condition that might make people more vulnerable to that specific kind of incorrect information: depression.

“One of the notable things about depression is that it can cause people to see the world differently — sort of the opposite of rose-coloured glasses. That is, for some depressed people, the world appears as a particularly dark and dangerous place,” the study’s lead author Roy H. Perlis told the hospital’s news outlet .

“We wondered whether people seeing the world this way might also be more susceptible to believing misinformation about vaccines. If you already think the world is a dangerous place, you might be more inclined to believe that vaccines are dangerous — even though they are not.”

Researchers surveyed 15,464 American adults from across the country between May and July. In an online questionnaire, the participants answered questions that measured symptoms of depression followed by questions about COVID-vaccines.

They found that people with depression were 2.2 times more likely to endorse misinformation about the vaccines. And that had real-world consequences: people who agreed with at least one incorrect statement about vaccines were 2.7 times more likely to be vaccine-resistant, and half as likely as other respondents to be vaccinated.

Two months later, a small group of the original respondents — 2,809 this time — filled out another survey. They found that the people who had had depression the first time were twice as likely as other people to endorse even more vaccine misinformation than they had originally.

This finding indicated to researchers that people were more susceptible to misinformation after they had been depressed for a while.

“While we can’t conclude that depression caused this susceptibility, looking at a second wave of data at least told us that the depression came before  the misinformation,” Perlis said. “It wasn’t that misinformation was making people more depressed.”

However, the results don’t indicate that depression causes people to be susceptible to fake news, he said. “Our result suggests that, by addressing the extremely high levels of depression in this country during COVID, we might decrease people’s susceptibility to misinformation. Of course, we can only show an association—we can’t show that the depression causes​ the susceptibility, but it’s certainly suggestive that it might.”

The pandemic itself has had devastating effects on people’s mental health: the survey found that depression levels in the United States were at least three times higher than what they were before COVID. That lines up with what’s happening here, too: one in three Canadians is struggling with their mental health, according to an Angus Reid poll released Monday, Jan. 24. That’s a jump up from one in four Canadians who said the same in November, before the Omicron wave. More worrying, seven per cent said their mental health is terrible and they’re barely getting by — almost double the four per cent who said the same since October 2020. Poorer mental health has also been reported in people between the ages of 18 and 34, and people in lower-income households.

And the majority of Canadians — 66 per cent — say they feel that anxiety and depression have worsened in their friends and family since the pandemic started.

Maija Kappler is a reporter and editor at Healthing. You can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com

Muscogee dismayed by nearly naked statue of Georgia ancestor

By MICHAEL WARREN

1 of 4

A statue depicting Chief Tomochichi, a Muscogee native who signed the 1733 Treaty of Savannah that launched the Georgia colony, pictured here on Dec. 20, 2021, in its temporary location outside Atlanta's Millennium Gate Museum. Plans for Atlanta's Peace Park include installing the statue atop a 110-foot high pedestal where it would tower over statues of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. 

(AP Photo/Michael Warren)


ATLANTA (AP) — There’s a problem with putting someone on a pedestal: Exposed on all sides, a hero to some can be seen as a traitor to others.

Atlanta plans to install a statue of a Native American man atop a 110-foot (34-meter) column in its new Peace Park, where it will tower over statues of 17 civil rights icons, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Developer Rodney Mims Cook Jr. calls Chief Tomochichi “a co-founder of Georgia” who prevented massacres by warmly inviting British Gen. James Oglethorpe to colonize his people’s land in 1733.

“They became the closest of friends, initiating from the moment of Georgia’s founding a practice of diplomatic negotiation and cohabitation,” a narrator asserts in a video promoting the park. “Nearly three centuries later, Georgia’s tradition of peaceful coexistence continues to thrive.”

But Cook didn’t ask the Muscogee about their ancestor, and now that he’s unveiled the $300,000 bronze statue, historians say it’s all wrong. “Disrespectful” and “incredibly inappropriate” are some of the reactions three tribal historians shared with The Associated Press.

They say the nearly naked figure presents an offensive and historically inaccurate conception of Native Americans as primitive savages, and glorifies a heavily mythologized figure blamed by the Muscogee for initiating a century of ethnic cleansing. They also say that Atlanta is erasing them again, acting as if they vanished without a fight after handing over their land and heritage.

Even if Cook has the best intentions, there’s no excuse today for failing to work with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, whose 93,100 enrolled citizens constitute the fourth-largest federally recognized tribe, said Raelynn Butler. She directs their cultural preservation division. Norma Marshall, who teaches tribal history at the College of the Muscogee Nation; and Turner Hunt, who handles thousands of tribal-patrimony inquiries annually, joined her in a call from Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

The city council unanimously approved a plan in 2020 that would align Tomochichi with statues of the late Rep. John Lewis, Coretta Scott King and Rodney Mims Cook Sr., a white Republican legislator who stood out in Atlanta as a civil rights ally.

The statue recently unveiled at a temporary spot outside Cook’s Millennium Gate Museum portrays Tomochichi making a wide, welcoming gesture with his right hand while using his left to clutch a bear pelt that fails to cover his rear end.

“Can we put some clothes on the man, please?” Marshall said. “Is this the only statue that doesn’t have any clothing on?”

In reality, Tomochichi would have worn deerskin leggings and a long white shirt with a ceremonial belt and an elaborate bandolero bag, according to the Muscogee and other scholars. Muskogean-speaking tribes traded deer skins for European cloth, beads, guns and ammunition for a century before Oglethorpe arrived, they noted.

Cook said Tomochichi’s statue was based on a painting and a drawing from his 1734 trip to London to meet King George II. But according to Western Carolina University historian Andrew Denson, those images by artist Willem Verelst were propaganda. They were commissioned to convince potential British migrants that Native Americans were weak and uncivilized, said Denson, whose book “Monuments to Absence” explores how white people appropriated their cultural memory.

And while school texts promote a myth of peaceful coexistence, white settlers waged ruthless extermination campaigns to force them westward, said University of Georgia historian Claudio Saunt, who wrote “Unworthy Republic — The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory.”

Saunt called the statue a monstrosity. He said the Tomochichi’s gesturing right hand says to the colonists, “Here, come and take it.”

The Atlanta reality TV actor who modeled for the statue posted on Instagram that Cook had his DNA tested and found a Native American ancestor seven generations removed, and brought in a descendant of Pocahontas for approval before he posed in a loincloth.

Claiming Native American identity through DNA is another insult, the Muscogee said.

Cook said he tried in vain for years to discuss his “Georgia Peacemakers” plan with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama. But Hunt said that group, which won federal recognition in 1984 and built a casino that displaced Muscogee graves, isn’t culturally, historically or linguistically related to the people who lived in present-day Georgia.

Cook said he’s eager to connect now that he knows the Muscogee are the ones to talk with, to see if they’ll participate in his vision and tell a fuller story.

“I’m glad to have the conversation because we need to talk about all this,” Cook said. “Let’s not tear down. Let’s just add the story and correct it.”

The council approved a historical oversight committee to ensure “accuracy and authenticity” when it authorized the mayor to enter into a lease agreement with Cook’s foundation. But Cook said then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms never signed it.

Everyone interviewed for this story said they’d welcome more education about what really happened with Native Americans in Georgia.

The Muscogee historians said Oglethorpe called Tomochichi a king to serve his colonial ambitions, but he was more like a small-town mayor. Banished by his people, he declared himself leader of the “Yamacraws,” fewer than 200 outcasts who sought refuge among the British. He lacked authority to give away land, and Butler said the Yamacraw people lived on only in the settlers’ imagination after his 1739 death.

Tomochichi also supplied colonizers with Native American slaves, and promised, in Article Six of the 1733 treaty, “to apprehend and secure any Negro or other slave which shall run away from any of the English Settlements” and return them for the price of one gun if alive, or a blanket if dead.

“Is he looking for the whole truth here? The fact that he was a slaver and ran slaves up to the colonies? That’s what the historical documents say,” Hunt said. But the Muscogee blame British traders who cheated Tomochichi’s people into debts they had to repay by forcing enemies into human bondage, setting off a 1715 war.

“You can’t hide from it. It was a part of history as part of colonization,” Hunt said. “And that’s what I blame — I blame colonization.”

US Black colleges alarmed by bomb threats, but undeterred

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY and JEFF MARTIN

1 of 7

Firefighters and ambulance attendants remove a covered body from the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., after a deadly explosion detonated by members of the Ku Klux Klan during services on Sept. 15, 1963. Threats against Black institutions are deeply rooted in U.S. history and leaders say the history of violence against people of color should be passed on to new generations so the lessons of the past can be applied to the present. (AP Photo, File)


From her office in Birmingham, Alabama, DeJuana Thompson looks across the street and sees a daily reminder of terror. Her window overlooks the 16th Street Baptist Church, where a bomb in 1963 killed four young Black girls.

“Living in the era of bomb threats is not new to people of color,” said Thompson, president and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Nearly six decades after that bombing by the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI is now investigating last week’s bomb threats against at least 17 historically Black colleges and universities across the U.S. Thompson said the threats underscore the need to teach new generations the history of violence targeting people of color so the lessons of the past can be applied to the present.

The FBI said the hate crimes probe involves more than 20 field offices and “is of the highest priority.” Investigators have identified at least five “persons of interest,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

In one of the cases, a caller claiming to be affiliated with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division described a plot at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida involving seven bombs hidden in bags, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said.



University campuses are considered “soft targets,” but “they’re not as soft as they used to be,” said Robert McCrie, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Universities have traditionally been easily accessible to the public, but many hardened their security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Now, picture IDs are needed to enter buildings on McCrie’s campus and others, he said.

Though no devices were found at the schools threatened last week, “people of color don’t have that privilege to think it’s not real,” said Lance Wheeler, director of exhibitions at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.

The bomb threats against Black institutions are deeply rooted in U.S. history. In Alabama, people used to call Birmingham “Bombingham” because of how many bombs and bomb threats occurred, Thompson said. Among the many victims: the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader whose home was damaged on Christmas Day in 1956 by 16 sticks of dynamite placed beneath his bedroom window. When a KKK member suggested he leave town, Shuttlesworth responded that “I wasn’t saved to run,” U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. told the House of Representatives after Shuttlesworth died in 2011.

“How we responded then is how we are responding now,” Thompson said. “We will not stand for these hate crimes, we will not stand for this intimidation, we shall not be moved.”

The Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus’ statement on the latest bomb threats recalled 1969 racial segregation protests at North Carolina A&T that prompted an armed response by the National Guard and police. One student was killed, dozens injured and more than 300 people arrested as gunfire was exchanged from campus buildings. The protests followed the first sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter by four Black men, later known as the Greensboro Four.

“We know from history that in spite of external threats, HBCUs are resilient institutions that will persist through all forms of adversity,” the statement said.

Universities in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and other states targeted last week have resumed operations since the lockdowns. But many still worry about future threats and efforts to prosecute those responsible.

Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party and strategist for the Movement for Black Lives, said HBCUs and independent Black institutions are targeted because they represent independence and resilience for African Americans, which is a threat to a white supremacist ideology.

“The mere existence of Black schools, Black churches, Black political organizations and Black business are a threat,” he said. “We see upswings in these attacks as backlash to Black resistance, the exercising of independent Black political power, the influence of Black social movements.”

The attacks are “ways to try to put fear into communities that are trying to obtain freedom,” Wheeler said.

The impact of the Black vote this last election has been felt at the ballot box, such as Georgia flipping two Senate seats for Democrats including the election of Raphael Warnock as the first Black senator to represent the state. And the Black Lives Matter movement has led a national push for protests against police violence and injustice, including murder convictions for the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and George Floyd in Minneapolis.

There is a “culture of fear of Black independence, of Black people building our own institutions, our own power and setting out our own direction politically, economically. There’s always efforts to suppress that, and I think that is what’s happening right now,” Mitchell said. “The best way to challenge these white supremacists and haters is by doubling down and investing in HBCUs long term and strengthening them as institutions.”

National Urban League President Marc Morial called the latest bomb threats “part of the poisonous tree of hate,” putting them in the same category as legislative proposals that would suppress the vote, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a spike in hate crimes and backlash against affirmative action.

“Terrorism is always about creating discord, creating unrest and fear — it’s about disrupting society,” said Warren Eller, who also teaches at John Jay.

Delaware State University President Tony Allen said students and community members shouldn’t let threats disrupt their spaces. Sharing in Thompson’s message, Allen wrote a letter to the university community shortly after a bomb threat on his campus.

“Here is what I say to these bullies, these fearmongers of our day: ‘We shall not be moved,’” he said.

___

Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. She is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cheymumph. Martin reported from Atlanta. AP reporter Michael Balsamo in New York contributed.

US Justice Dept. signals it may allow safe injection sites

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL BALSAMO

Supplies are shown on a desk at Safer Inside, a realistic model of a safe injection site in San Francisco, Aug. 29, 2018. The Justice Department is signaling it might be open to allowing so-called safe injection sites, or safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses. The department's stance comes a year after federal prosecutors won a major court ruling that found the sites would violate federal law. The Justice Department tells The Associated Press it is talking to regulators about “appropriate guardrails” for the sites. 

(AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A year after winning a major court battle against the opening of so-called safe injection sites -- safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses — the Justice Department is signaling it might be open to allowing them.

In response to questions from The Associated Press, the Justice Department said it is “evaluating” such facilities and talking to regulators about “appropriate guardrails.”

The position is a drastic change from its stance in the Trump administration, when prosecutors fought vigorously against a plan to open a safe consumption site in Philadelphia. The Justice Department won a lawsuit last year, when a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania ruled that opening such a facility would violate a 1980s-era drug law, aimed at “crackhouses,” which bans operating a place for taking illegal drugs. The Supreme Court declined in October to take the case.

About six weeks later, the first officially authorized safe injection sites opened in New York City in November. The two facilities — which the city calls “overdose prevention centers” — provide a monitored place for drug users to partake, with staffers and supplies on hand to reverse overdoses.

Such sites exist in Canada, Australia and Europe and have been discussed for years in New York and some other U.S. cities and states. A few unofficial facilities have operated for some time.

Advocates have hailed them as a way to curb the scourge of overdose deaths. Drawing from the latest available death certificate data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses from May 2020 to April 2021.

Critics, however, argue that safe injection sites encourage illegal drug use and burden neighborhoods.

For months, the Justice Department – under Attorney General Merrick Garland – had refused to take a public stance on safe consumption sites. Officials now say they are weighing their use.

“Although we cannot comment on pending litigation, the Department is evaluating supervised consumption sites, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety,” the agency said in a statement Friday to the AP.

The New York City sites so far have intervened in more than 125 overdoses among more than 640 users, many of whom have made multiple visits, according to OnPoint NYC, the organization running them.

Executive Director Sam Rivera said he was excited and relieved by the Justice Department’s statement. The group is eager to tell the agency about its work, he said.

“I believe they’re going to land in the right place here and we’ll be able to, together, really expand on this health initiative that’s saving lives every day,” he said.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat whose administration allowed the centers to open, said the city’s attorneys believed that the federal statute is “aimed at drug trafficking, not at medical facilities,” as he characterized the consumption sites.

But U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a New York City Republican, has urged Garland to work to shut them down, citing the appeals court ruling against the Philadelphia proposal last year. She told Garland in November that it is “imperative that you enforce this legal precedent,” and she wasn’t pleased to hear about the new Justice Department statement.

“Instead of stopping the deadly drugs streaming over our border, putting drug dealers behind bars and helping people receive the long-term treatment they need to overcome addiction, Democrat leadership is enabling illegal drug use,” Malliotakis said in a statement.

Some other arms of the federal government also have signaled some willingness at least to explore safe injection facilities, if not yet embrace them. Asked about the New York sites, White House drug czar Dr. Rahul Gupta told CNN in December he was “interested in looking at the science and data behind all of the emerging harm reduction practices.”

Later that month, the National Institutes of Health issued a call for harm reduction research that mentioned safe consumption sites, among other approaches.

Rare session of key Palestinian body could provide Abbas succession clues


FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets

 with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Sun, February 6, 2022
By Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA (Reuters) - A key Palestinian decision-making body convenes on Sunday for the first time in nearly four years in a session that could be a stepping stone for two potential successors to 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Central Council last met in 2018, hampered by internal divisions among Palestinians. Hamas and Islamist Jihad movements turned down an invitation to attend Sunday's meeting, saying Abbas had to institute power-sharing reforms first.

Abbas heads the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His main rival, Hamas, runs the Gaza Strip, also an Islamic Jihad stronghold.

The elderly leader, who has a history of heart problems, has not proposed a successor. Both Islamic groups have accused Abbas, who hasn't held a presidential election since 2005, of not doing enough to heal Palestinian divides which are holding up a ballot. Abbas blames Hamas for the current split.

The 141-member Central Council, meeting on Sunday and Monday, was widely expected to appoint two of Abbas's confidants, Hussein Al-Sheikh and Rawhi Fattouh, to senior posts, effectively placing them on a short list to replace him, Palestinian analysts said.

Abbas, scheduled to speak at the opening session, wants 61-year-old Sheikh, now a key Palestinian liaison with Israel and the United States, to fill the post of secretary-general of the PLO's Executive Committee, replacing the late Saeb Erekat, the analysts said.

Fattouh, 73, another Abbas aide, is his choice to head the PLO's highest decision-making body, the National Council.

Both men are close to Abbas and are not expected to shift policies over the handling of the conflict with Israel.

But even if the appointments are ratified by the Central Council, the path to succeeding Abbas, elected in 2005 to replace the late Yasser Arafat as PA president, could prove complicated.

"There is a long list of successors to (Abbas) and there is a clear internal conflict," said West Bank-based political analyst George Giacman. "If something happened to (him) there will be disputes."

Relations with Israel were also due to be discussed at the council session. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

(Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Two potential successors to Palestinian president named to top posts


President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting in Ramallah

Mon, February 7, 2022,

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Two potential successors to 86-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were named on Monday to top posts in the Palestine Liberation Organization at a meeting boycotted by his Islamist rivals.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the PLO's 141-member Central Council appointed Hussein Al-Sheikh, 61, an Abbas confidant who serves as key liaison with Israel and the United States, to the PLO's Executive Committee.

He is likely to replace the late Saeb Erekat as the committee's secretary-general.

The council, meeting for the first time in nearly four years, picked Rawhi Fattouh, 73, another Abbas aide, to head the PLO's highest decision-making body, the National Council.

Both men were nominated by the Western-backed Abbas and his Fatah party and are widely seen in the Palestinian territories as possible successors. They are not expected to promote any shift in policies over the handling of the conflict with Israel.

The Hamas and Islamist Jihad movements turned down an invitation to attend the council's two-day session, which began on Sunday, saying Abbas had to institute power-sharing reforms first.

"These appointments are void, illegal and lack (national) consensus. It is nothing but a redeployment of (Abbas's) team," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in Gaza.

Abbas heads the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His main rival, Hamas, runs the Gaza Strip, also an Islamic Jihad stronghold.

Both groups have accused Abbas, who hasn't held a presidential election since 2005, of not doing enough to heal Palestinian divides holding up a ballot. Abbas blames Hamas for the current split.

Palestinian analysts said the Central Council's appointments could improve Sheikh's and Fattouh's prospects of succeeding Abbas, but internal divisions and other potential challengers cloud the political picture.

Abbas, who has a history of heart problems, has not proposed a successor.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Leslie Adler)

WHO chief says he stressed collaboration on COVID-19 origins with China

Sun, February 6, 2022, 


World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday that he stressed greater cooperation in investigating the origins of the novel coronavirus during conversations with Chinese officials.

In a Twitter thread on Sunday, Tedros said he also spoke with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang about the global goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world's population this year.

"Pleased to meet with Premier Li Keqiang. We discussed #COVID19 and the need for an aggressive effort on #VaccinEquity this year to vaccinate 70% of all populations. Solidarity is key to ensuring access and affordability of vaccines," Tedros wrote in his tweet.

"We also discussed the need for stronger collaboration on #COVID19 virus origins, rooted in science and evidence. I welcomed his support to strengthen @WHO and discussion about a #PandemicAccord to advance global preparedness," Tedros concluded.

The WHO last year established the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens, calling on China to provide raw data concerning its investigation on the matter, Reuters reported.

Chinese officials denied WHO's request for data, citing patient privacy rules. Beijing has continually denied that the COVID-19 virus was leaked from a laboratory in the city of Wuhan.

A joint study from WHO and China found the most likely scenario on how COVID-19 began was spreading through a human naturally infected through the wildlife trade, Reuters noted.

A Bridge Too Far? The Dutch Are Lining Up to Pelt Jeff Bezos’s Gigayacht With Rotten Eggs


Bryan Hood
Mon, February 7, 2022,


Jeff Bezos’s gigayacht could be in for an embarrassing surprise if it ever leaves Rotterdam.

Thousands of residents of the Dutch port city have said they’re willing to egg the second-richest person in the world’s new $485 million boat, according to Jalopnik. Why? Because they’re annoyed by his plan to dismantle a historic bridge so that the yacht can pass.

Last week, word broke that the Amazon founder’s new 417-foot boat, which is currently known as Y271, had run into a problem. The boat, which is set to dethrone Sea Cloud as the world’s largest sailing yacht, features three 229-foot masts making it too tall to pass under the Koningshaven Bridge that stands between the Oceanco shipyard where it’s being built and open water. Rather than trim down the ship’s giant masts, or build them later, the idea is to temporarily disassemble the middle section of the bridge—which is known to locals as De Hef—so it can pass.

While Bezos will reportedly pay to dismantle and reassemble the center section structure once his ship has passed, it would see that Rotterdammers are none too pleased about the idea. One resident named Pablo Strörman set up a Facebook event inviting others to join him in throwing a carton of rotten eggs (or tomatoes “if you want to keep it vegan”) at the boat as it passes. As of press time, 3,300 people have said they plan to attend the event, while another 11,100 are interested in participated in the en masse egging in some form.

“Rotterdam was built from rubble by the people of Rotterdam, and we don’t just take that apart for the phallus symbol of a megalomaniac billionaire,” the description of the event reads, according to Google translate. “Not without a fight!”

Although the city’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, has previously talked up the potential benefits of Bezos paying to dismantle the bridge, it appears that is no longer certain to happen, according to The Guardian. Late last week, the politician’s office said it had yet to received a permit request for dismantling the bridge, and because of this no official decision had been made one way or the other.

Time will tell whether a mass egging is enough to make Bezos and his team reconsider the route. If so, they will need to figure out another way to get the behemoth to open water.

Leaked video shows F35 fighter crashing on aircraft carrier and going up in flames in South China Sea


Leaked video shows F35 fighter crashing on aircraft carrier and going up in flames in South China Sea

Gustaf Kilander
Mon, February 7, 2022

A leaked video shows an F35 fighter jet crashing onto an aircraft carrier and being engulfed in flames before sliding into the South China Sea.

The F-35C plane is the most recent in the fleet used by the US Navy. It was filmed off a monitor and uploaded to Reddit by a user who said they were not the original owner of the video. The footage was filmed inside the USS Carl Vinson on 24 January, CNN reported.

After crashing into the ship, the plane slides across the runway into the water. Members of the crew can be heard yelling “wave off, wave off” as the $100m plane approaches the ship. The term is used when a pilot is advised to abandon a landing attempt, and instead speed back up to turn around for another try. But in this case, the warning came too late to avoid a crash.

Seven people were injured in the crash. The pilot ejected from the plane, with six people on the aircraft carrier also sustaining injuries.

Former Royal Australian Air Force Officer Peter Layton, currently at the Griffith Asia Institute, told CNN: “That’s really, really scary.” He said the plane appeared to struggle to retain control as it approached the ship.

“As the aircraft is coming down the flaps are working overtime backwards and forwards. It looks like the pilot has lost control and is suffering oscillations,” he said, adding that the plane may have not been using the automatic landing system, which limits the corrections a pilot has to make.

“It’s a really clever piece of software that links up the flight controls [the flaps] and the throttles and also gives the pilot some display so the pilot can monitor the system and fine tweak,” Mr Layton said. “This is a reasonably new system that came out of the F-35 program.”

The F-35C started being used in 2019, and its use on the USS Carl Vinson was its first operational deployment. The US Navy has confirmed that video is authentic, CNN reported.

“We are aware that there has been an unauthorized release of video footage from flight deck cameras onboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) of the F-35C Lightning II crash that occurred Jan 24, in the South China Sea. There is an ongoing investigation into both the crash and the unauthorized release of the shipboard video footage,” Navy public affairs officer Zach Harrell said in an email.

Navy officials said the aircraft carrier resumed normal operations quickly after the crash. According to analysts, the ongoing efforts to get the ship from the seafloor would be difficult and would come under Chinese scrutiny. China considers almost all of the South China Sea to be its territory.

The F-35C has advanced technology that the US would want to avoid handing over to China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that they have “no interests” in the plane.

“We advise [the US] to contribute more to regional peace and stability, rather than flexing force at every turn in [the South China Sea],” spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

EDITORIAL: Webb telescope peers deep into space, and into our humanity


Portland Press Herald, Maine
Mon, February 7, 2022, 11:32 AM·2 min read

Feb. 7—As far as we know, we are the only beings capable of looking into the night sky and wondering what's out there. We're the only ones able to grasp the enormity of the universe around us, and to seek to know its secrets.

That is reason enough to explore space — to do whatever we can to make sense out of its mysteries.

And in doing so we not only learn more about where we came from and how we fit into the story of the cosmos, but we also display the best parts of us.


It took tremendous technical skill, building on the successes and failures of prior space explorations, to create the James Webb Space Telescope and send it successfully to its new home 1 million miles away — equal to 40 times around the Earth's equator.

But it also took the most human of qualities: cooperation, determination, curiosity, and a never-ending will to know more.

The Webb telescope, designed and built over 25 years for about $10 billion to replace the Hubble-era telescopes, was launched on Christmas Day. It reached its final destination on Jan. 24, settling into a spot between the gravitational pulls of the sun and Earth.

That wasn't nearly the end of it. The telescope featured dozens of mechanical arms that had to be deployed. There were five layers of foil-thin plastic that stretched out to the size of a tennis court, protection against the sun, whose heat would fry the telescope's instruments. A 21-foot-wide array of 18 gold-plated mirrors were unfolded to reflect light into the ultrasensitive infrared sensors that produce the scope's images.

In all, there were 344 of what NASA calls "single point failures," places where the telescope could fail once it was ready for launch, many of them around new techniques and technologies never used before.

Things could still go wrong now that the telescope is in orbit. But if not, sometime this summer it will begin sending images home. First, it will look at planets beyond our solar system, sized in between Earth and Neptune and unlike anything we know near us.

Over what is hoped to be a 20-year life, the Webb telescope will look deep into space, which because of the distances involved will actually be the far past.

The telescope will pull in light reflected off the very first stars and galaxies formed in the wake of the Big Bang, about 13.7 billion years ago, just 500 million years after everything started.

This isn't a telescope. It's a time machine, allowing us to see the universe coming together as it has never been seen before.

It's also a measure of us — of our innate desire to understand the mysteries of life and the universe, and our incredible and unique ability to come together in pursuit of that knowledge.