New study finds far more hurricane-related deaths in US, especially among poor and vulnerable

SETH BORENSTEIN
Wed, August 16, 2023 



 Cars are submerged on a freeway flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey near downtown Houston, Texas, on Aug. 27, 2017. Hurricanes in the U.S. over last few decades killed thousands more people than meteorologists traditionally calculate and a disproportionate number of those victims are poor, vulnerable and minorities, according to a new epidemiological study released Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Hurricanes in the U.S. the last few decades killed thousands more people than meteorologists traditionally calculate and a disproportionate number of those victims are poor, vulnerable and minorities, according to a new epidemiological study.

A team of public health and storm experts calculated that from 1988 to 2019 more than 18,000 people likely died, mostly indirectly, because of hurricanes and lesser tropical cyclones in the continental United States. That's 13 times more than the 1,385 people directly killed by storms that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration figures, but the study authors said those numbers aren't directly comparable.

Instead of just looking at people who drowned, were hit by debris or killed directly by the storm, the study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances examines changes in a storm-hit county’s overall number of deaths just before, during and after a hurricane and compared those to normal years. Researchers attributed the excess deaths to the storm, using a standard public health technique.

“It’s the difference between how many people died and how many people would have died on a normal day” with no hurricane, said study lead author Robbie Parks, an environmental epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

After a storm, deaths spike because of heart and lung problems, infections, injury and mental health issues, Parks said. It’s a stressful time with clean-up and rebuilding.

Parks said meteorologists do an admirable job counting people killed during the height of the storm, but so many people die indirectly and especially after the storm, he said “it does seem to be an undercount" that misses the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.

“People who have the least means suffer the most,” said study lead author Robbie Parks, an environmental epidemiologist at Mailman. “It’s a good opportunity to put a number on that.”

Using the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s social vulnerability index, Parks divided American counties into the least vulnerable third, the most vulnerable third and the middle, categories that often correlate with the richest, poorest and middle income people. In the case of the heaviest hurricane winds, the most vulnerable third had 57% of the excess deaths and least vulnerable had 6%.

“Conceptually the results of the study make sense, as tropical cyclones often leave communities vulnerable for long periods of time after impact,” National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in an email.

The hurricane center has noticed this when their experts study storm sites, so the center is trying to increase community engagement to more socially vulnerable populations and expand translation of storm warnings into other languages, Brennan said.

“It does not surprise me, but deeply saddens me that excess mortality is largest among the most vulnerable segments of our population,” said MIT hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel, who wasn’t part of the study. “It is the poorer people with fewer places to evacuate to and fewer means to get out who take the brunt of the suffering.”

After a storm, people need to have money “to do more than just survive from day to day,” which is why the poorer, more vulnerable survive less, said former NOAA hurricane scientist Jim Kossin of the climate risk nonprofit First Street Foundation, who also was not part of the study.

Finding out how many people are really killed because of a storm is much more challenging to quantify than merely counting direct deaths reported in the media, Kossin said.

For example, the National Hurricane Center estimates that 1,200 people died in 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, but using deaths before, during and after and comparing them to 30 years of normal death rates for those places at that time of year, Parks and colleagues figured a death count of 1,491.

Parks’ team found bigger gaps between official death counts and what they calculated for 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, where the hurricane center said 147 people died. Parks put the death toll at 1,193. And the largest gap was for 2017’s Irma, where NOAA said 92 people died directly or indirectly in the United States, while Parks counted 1,202.

The National Hurricane Center's Brennan said his agency writes official reports on storms that use fatality statistics based on information from government officials, medical examiners and the media within several months of landfall. The center doesn't have access to the longer-term statistical studies used to calculate “indirect” deaths, but tries to bring them in when able, such as in the case of 2005's Katrina and 2017's Maria.

In a separate report for the American Meteorological Society, the National Hurricane Center analyzed how people died in direct hurricane deaths the last 10 years and compared them to earlier. It found that a much lower percentage of people are being killed by storm surge, but a higher percentage of Americans are dying in freshwater flooding.

From 1963 to 2012, storm surge was responsible for almost half of the hurricane deaths. NOAA has made a concerted effort to improve storm surge forecasts, warning and education of residents on the coast. Since 2013, only 11% of the hurricane deaths were storm-surge related, the hurricane center said.

But freshwater flooding deaths went from 27% of the deaths to 57% of all hurricane deaths, a figure that may be skewed by 2017's Hurricane Harvey, when there 65 freshwater flooding deaths. Rip current and surf deaths went from 6% of the hurricane deaths to 15%.

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Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears

False claim LGBTQ+ expert at UN told Christians to accept pedophilia | Fact check

Joedy McCreary
USA TODAY


The claim: UN chief says Christians who don’t accept pedophilia will be excluded from society

An Aug. 10 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows an apparent news story with a photo of a man speaking at the United Nations.

“UN Chief: Christians Who Don’t Accept MAPs Will Be Excluded From Society,” reads the headline. The caption explains that “MAP” stands for minor-attracted person.

It received more than 400 likes in four days. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook.

Follow us on Facebook!Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

The picture in the post shows Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the U.N.’s independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity protections, but he said he never made that statement. The claim misrepresents a report he gave in June and originated on a website known to spread misinformation.
False claims part of ‘well-identified playbook’ against LBGTQ+ people, expert says

In a response to USA TODAY, Madrigal-Borloz called the claim false.

“I have never made such a statement,” Madrigal-Borloz said.

The article in the post is an Aug. 6 story by The People’s Voice. It claims the U.N. urged people to embrace the legalization of pedophilia and warned they would not be allowed to participate in society if they refuse.

Fact check: Pride flags displayed at Rockefeller Center, not United Nations

The headline of the story refers to the U.N. “chief,” but Madrigal-Borloz does not hold that title. The U.N.’s top official is Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and his name does not appear in the story.

It claims Madrigal-Borloz said freedom of religion can be tolerated only if religious people fully embrace an agenda that includes radical LGBTQ+ ideology.

But that mischaracterizes his presentation to the U.N. in June.

The U.N.’s Human Rights Council asked Madrigal-Borloz to gather evidence of violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, he said. His report explored how the rights to religious freedom can exist along with the rights to equality for LGBTQ+ people, and it outlined recommendations to help with that.

Neither the word “pedophilia” nor the acronym “MAP” appear in the 25-page report.

Pedophilia is a disorder often falsely connected to LGBTQ+ people as a way to demonize them, Madrigal-Borloz said.

"These and other false claims are part of a well-identified playbook that seeks to perpetuate discrimination and violence against LGBT persons and the impunity of perpetrators by portraying social inclusion of LGBT persons as a danger to society, prejudice that has damaged LGBT persons and those who love and respect them,” he said.

The People's Voice, previously known as NewsPunch, has repeatedly published fabricated stories, many of which USA TODAY has debunked.

USA TODAY reached out to The People’s Voice and to users who shared the post but did not immediately receive responses.

The Associated Press also debunked the story.
Our fact-check sources:Brian Griffey, Aug. 15, Email exchange with USA TODAY
United Nations, accessed Aug. 15, Victor Madrigal-Borloz
United Nations, accessed Aug. 15, Antonio Guterres
United Nations, June 21, Freedom of religion or belief not incompatible with equality for LGBT persons: UN expert
United Nations, June 7, Freedom of religion or belief, and freedom from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identit

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook

AMERIKA'S FUTURE

Peru allows abortion for 11-year-old rape victim after UN pressure

Reuters
Wed, August 16, 2023 

LIMA (Reuters) - An 11-year-old rape victim was allowed an abortion in Peru over the weekend after being initially refused the procedure, in a case that rights groups say highlights the lack of support for minors who suffer sexual abuse.

The girl, publicly identified only as "Mila," was raped for years by her stepfather, according to a police report. Earlier this month, Mila - approaching 18 weeks pregnant - was turned away at a hospital in the Amazon region of Loreto, which refused to perform the abortion.

The case caused a furor and after the United Nations urged the Peruvian state to intervene, Mila was brought to the capital Lima and state doctors authorized the abortion.

She is now recovering well, said Susana Chavez, director of the feminist non-governmental organization PROMSEX, and will remain in state care after being discharged.

But Mila's experience highlights the state's failings to protect young sexual abuse victims, Chavez told Reuters, adding that there are likely many more rapes of minors than reported.

"We estimate that for every pregnant girl who comes to hospital, there are at least 10 ... victims of sexual abuse," Chavez said.

Official data shows live births in girls between the ages of 10 and 14 in Peru rose 14% last year to 1,625. In the first half of this year, 14,500 sexual assaults were recorded, 70% of which involved minors under 17.

Abortion is only legal in Peru if the mother's life is endangered, and Chavez said even then access is being blocked by an "ultra-conservative" backlash.

Authorities are now searching for Mila's stepfather, who was arrested in July but later released on grounds of insufficient evidence. The judge's decision to release him was widely criticized and President Dina Boluarte has demanded his "immediate capture." His whereabouts are currently unknown.

(Reporting by Carlos Valdez and Anthony Marina, Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Biden's approval rating on the economy stagnates despite slowing inflation, AP-NORC poll shows

JOSH BOAK and EMILY SWANSON
Wed, August 16, 2023 




WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has devoted the past several weeks to promoting the positive impacts of his policies — but his efforts have yet to meaningfully register with the public.

Only 36% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, slightly lower than the 42% who approve of his overall performance, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Both figures are close to where Biden’s approval numbers have stood for about the past year and a half, including just two months ago. Signs of an improving economic outlook have done little to sway how people feel about the Democratic president as he gears up for a 2024 reelection campaign that could pit him against his predecessor and 2020 opponent, Republican Donald Trump.

Job growth has stayed solid with the unemployment rate at 3.5%, while the pace of inflation has slowed sharply over the past year to the annual rate of 3.2%.

Both Biden and Trump have weaknesses as older candidates seeking a rematch. Trump, 77, faces a series of criminal indictments that include his possession of classified material and allegations that he tried to overturn the 2020 election, which has rallied support among Republicans while leaving him with substantial vulnerabilities in a potential general election contest.

Biden, 80, has yet to fully bring Democrats to his side as the lingering aftershocks of inflation still weigh on people's minds. Along with members of his cabinet and Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden has been speaking about the $500 billion worth of new investments by private companies that he said came from incentives he signed into law.

Erica Basile, a teacher who describes herself as a “staunch Democrat,” said she feels the economy is “mediocre, but improving.”

"I do think in many ways they’re working very hard at getting the economy back on track post-COVID," said Basile, who lives in Lynnwood, Washington.

Just 65% of Democrats approve of Biden's economic leadership, while 76% approve of how he’s handling the job overall.

In follow-up interviews, some survey respondents felt torn between the desire to return to a sense of normalcy after Trump's presidency and the desire for even more sweeping policies to address climate change, health care costs and taxes.

“When Joe Biden was selected to be the nominee and eventually won, my feeling at the time was that he could be the most milquetoast and undramatic president to help the country cool down,” said Steven Peters, 41, who works in information technology in White House, Tennessee. “Unfortunately, that’s what he’s been. I’m dissatisfied because I had hoped there would be more change.”

Peters added, “He’s really middle of the road when a lot of people would like to see more dramatic action.”

For GOP supporters, such as Merritt Rahn, 74, Biden has gone too far. Rahn said he is retired but also works at Home Depot and sees higher gasoline and food costs as making it harder for families to get by financially. The Jensen Beach, Florida, resident said Biden will further hurt the U.S. by moving energy sources away from oil and gas.

“It’s a death to our society and economy," said Rahn, who added that he believes Biden “has no clue what's going on.”

The poll also found that 55% of Democrats say they don’t think Biden should run again in 2024, though a large majority — 82% — say they would definitely or probably support him if he is the nominee. Overall, only 24% of Americans say they want Biden to run again.

Among Democrats who approve of how Biden is handling the economy, 58% would like him to seek another term. Just 20% of those who disapprove of his performance on the issue want the incumbent president to run again.

Biden continues to struggle to appeal to younger Democrats, especially on the economy. Only 52% of Democrats under age 45 say they approve of his handling of the economy, compared with 77% of those older.

The president has used the term “Bidenomics” to try to encompass his ideas to lower costs for people on Medicare, shift toward electric vehicles and renewable energy, and build factories for advanced computer chips and batteries. Yet some are still struggling to understand what the term means.

Asked about the definition of Bidenomics, Cory O'Brien, 39, said: “You know what, dude, I have no idea. Biden is a free market capitalist like most moderate Democrats are."

The age gap extends to Biden’s reelection campaign: Just 34% of Democrats under 45 want him to run again, compared with 54% of those older than that. Still, about three-quarters of younger Democrats say they’ll most likely support him if he’s the nominee, though only 28% say they definitely will.

O'Brien, who works in education and lives in Massachusetts, said he expects the 2024 election to be “miserable” for voters because of the likely Biden and Trump rematch.

“I think it’s going to be a miserable election cycle,” he said. “We’re going to see a lot of the same stuff that we saw in 2020.”

Biden also faces renewed pressure related to investigations over his son Hunter’s business dealings. The poll finds that a majority of Americans — 58% — have hardly any confidence in Biden to reduce corruption in government, though that’s unchanged since January. Another 30% have some confidence and 10% have hardly any.

The poll shows that 23% of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in Biden’s ability to effectively manage the White House, 31% have some confidence and 45% have hardly any. Despite the fact that Biden has achieved several of his major policy goals, just 16% say they have high confidence in his ability to do that, while 38% say they have some confidence and 44% hardly any.

Few Americans say they think the national economy is doing well: 34% describe it as very or somewhat good. No more than about a third of Americans have called the economy good since 2021.

___

The poll of 1,165 adults was conducted August 10-14, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Twitter 'Nickel and Dimed' Feds for Trump's Personal Data

Mack DeGeurin
Wed, August 16, 2023 at 11:26 AM MDT·5 min read

Newly unsealed court filings following a federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 elections show the lengths Twitter lawyers went to try and notify the former president of the government’s inquiry and delay investigators from obtaining detailed information from the former president’s account. The fillings also show the judge’s growing frustration with Twitter’s sidestepping legal team, which was ultimately held in contempt and fined $350,000.

“I was getting nickel and dimed for the prior 20 minutes of conversation,” US government attorney Thomas Windom told the judge on February 9 when asked about his laborious communication with Twitter lawyers.

The newly unsealed court transcripts document Twitter’s repeated delays in handing over data related to Trump’s Twitter account as part of a Special Counsel warrant. That warrant was expansive and included a request for Twitter to hand over Trump DMs, both written and drafted, drafted tweets, a list of other accounts associated with him, and even his location data. US District Judge Beryl Howell grew frustrated with Twitter’s apparent hand-wringing over certain data, and repeatedly asked why the company was appearing to provide Trump special products other users didn’t have.

“Is it because the new CEO wants to cozy up with the former president?” Howell asked Twitter’s legal team in a hearing dated February 7, four months after Elon Musk took over the helm at Twitter and less than three months after the company reinstated Trump’s account at Musk’s request.

“Is this to make Donald Trump feel like he is a particularly welcomed, renewed user of Twitter?” Howell later asked. George Varghese, an attorney representing Twitter, pushed back against that question and said Twitter was simply exercising its constitutional rights. Twitter did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

Twitter’s legal team repeatedly clashed with prosecutors over the government’s insistence that the social media company agree to a “nondisclosure” order that would forbid notifying Trump about the warrant and the data being requested. Prosecutors warned that advanced warning could impact their investigation without providing specifics. At times, Twitter expressed concerns that some of the data it was handing over about Trump could be protected under executive privilege, which both the judge and prosecutors seemed to believe was far-fetched.

Howell’s frustration with Twitter’s legal team at times reads like a comedy. During a hearing dated February 9, the judge asked Twitter lawyer Ari Holtzblatt if he understood the full scope of the information listed in the warrant only to abruptly cut him off.

“We’re just going to go through it [the warrant] line by line, something tediously—I tried to avoid at the last hearing; but it seems like that kind of supervision of Twitter is necessary here,” Howell said.

Later, Howell seems to take pleasure when one of Twitter’s other lawyers, appeared to the hearing late and was locked outside the courtroom door. When a lawyer for the government asked if he should wait to continue speaking, the judge didn’t mince words.

“Proceed,” Howell said. “In my chambers, we wait for no man.”
Advocates take issue with broad nondisclosure orders

While the court documents paint a picture of Twitter’s lawyers attempting to take “extraordinary” efforts to notify Trump of the warrant, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Director Ben Wizner told Gizmodo that “advance notice” is precisely what they and other speech organizations have advocated social media companies pursue for other users in the past. Companies like Twitter, Wizner noted, receive thousands of government requests for user data every year, making it virtually impossible for them to challenge every case. Instead, giving users notice of the request gives them the opportunity to go to court and potentially try to narrow an overly broad request.

“It’s the former president, so it’s an unusual situation, but in the ordinary course, we can’t expect Twitter to hire a fancy law firm to go in and negotiate these orders on behalf of all of its users. Wizner said. “The evidence is not going to be spoiled, it’s still held by the social media company and they will still comply with the ultimate decision of the court.”

In this case, Twitter ultimately did fail to comply with a court’s ruling, which led to its $350,00 fine, something Wizner said the ACLU does not condone. There are also some scenarios where notifying a user could harm an investigation but Wizner said it remains unclear if that was actually the case for Trump.

“The burden should be on the government to justify why that notice has to be delayed,” Wizner added. “We are not advocating that social media companies ignore the clear orders of judges, we have long advocated that they request permission to notify their users.”

Still, Twitter’s interest in pushing back against the government in the Trump case runs contrary to a larger trend to the company cow tailing to government data requests. Despite Musk pledging to make Twitter a bastion for free speech absolutism, the company has actually complied with more government data requests for user data than it did prior to his tenure. In the six months after taking over Twitter, according to Twitter data provided to the Lumen database, the company received a total of 971 requests from governments and courts and complied with 808, or around 80% of them. The company only complied with around 50% of requests prior to Musk.

More from Gizmodo

China Is About To Be The World’s Largest Car Exporter

Andy Kalmowitz
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Photo: Zhou Hong (AP)


China is reportedly on track to overtake Japan as the world’s biggest auto exporter by the end of the year, according to Moody’s Analytics. CNBC reports that China is closing the gap with Japan, and the shortfall was only about 70,000 vehicles per month during the quarter that ended in June. That’s almost a 100,000-vehicle jump from the same period last year. Japan has held the title of the world’s biggest car exporter since 2019.

This newfound Chinese dominance stems from surging demand for electric vehicles. In the first half of 2023, China’s EV export receipts reportedly doubled from the same time last year. It’s beyond levels they were seeing before the pandemic. On the other hand, overall exports from Japan and Thailand – which include both ICE vehicles and EVs – haven’t gotten back to pre-pandemic levels.

Moody’s reportedly cited the fact that China has a bit of a competitive advantage when it comes to producing lithium-ion battery cells. This – as you may have imagined – gives the country an edge when it comes to the cost of producing EVs. CNBC says that China produces over half of the world’s lithium supply. A lot of that has to do with the fact China has relatively low labor costs compared to Japan and South Korea. China also reportedly has over half of the world’s refining capacity for the metal.

Some of the world’s largest automakers – like BMW and Tesla – have set up production facilities in the country. Still, foreign brands have not passed local ones like Chery and SAIC.

It’s a good time to be in the business of EVs. CNBC says that electric vehicles made up nearly 30 percent of all passenger cars sold worldwide last year. That’s a huge jump when you consider they had less than 5 percent of the market share pre-pandemic. EV sales reportedly jumped to more than 10 million vehicles in 2022, and China accounted for about 60 percent of that market.

Jalopnik

Exclusive-US imports of auto parts face scrutiny under law on Chinese forced labor

By Nichola Groom
Thu, August 17, 2023 

(Reuters) - Electric-vehicle batteries and other car parts are the latest products under scrutiny as part of Washington's effort to stamp out U.S. links to forced labor in Chinese supply chains, according to a document seen by Reuters, agency statistics and sources.

Until now, enforcement of a year-old U.S. law that bans the import of goods made in Xinjiang, China, has focused mainly on solar panels, tomatoes and cotton apparel. But now, components that may include lithium-ion batteries, tires and major automobile raw materials aluminum and steel are increasingly subject to detentions at the border.

Increased inspection of products destined for auto assembly plants by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could signal difficult times ahead for automakers who will need solid proof that their supply chains are free of links to a region where the U.S. believes Chinese authorities have established labor camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Beijing denies any abuses.

More than a year of enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) has already stymied development of solar energy projects as detained panel shipments languish in U.S. warehouses. Installations of large solar energy facilities for utilities dropped 31% last year due to constrained panel supplies, according to the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, which has said conditions have improved somewhat this year.

Both solar energy and battery-powered electric vehicles are critical industries in the Biden administration’s push to wean the U.S. from dependence on fossil fuels and to combat climate change.

When shipments are detained, CBP provides the importer with a list of examples of products from previous reviews and the kind of documentation required to prove they are not made with forced labor, CBP told Reuters.

That document, a recent version of which was obtained by Reuters through a public records request, was updated between April and June of this year to include batteries, tires, aluminum and steel, a CBP spokesperson said. When the law was beginning to be enforced last year, the agency was primarily focused on the three commodities identified as high priorities in the UFLPA statute: cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon, the raw material used in solar panels.

"The timing of these changes does not reflect any specific changes in strategy or operations," a CBP spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the list of eight product types was "not exhaustive."

The agency did not specifically respond to questions about increased scrutiny of automotive imports. It said its focus "is where there are high risks in U.S. supply chains."

In a report to Congress last month on UFLPA enforcement, CBP listed lithium-ion batteries, tires, "and other automobile components" among the "potential risk areas" it was monitoring.

The expanded focus is reflected in CBP data, which shows 31 automotive and aerospace shipments have been detained under UFLPA since February of this year. Detentions of base metal shipments, which would include aluminum and steel, have also soared from about $1 million per month at the end of 2022 to more than $15 million a month.

CBP said it was not able to disclose additional information related to enforcement activities.

AUTOMAKER EXPOSURE

Though the automotive detentions are small compared with the more than $1 billion of solar panel imports that have stalled at the border, they have put the industry on alert, according to attorneys and supply-chain experts.

"It's a very complex supply chain and obviously a detention would be incredibly disruptive to an auto company," said Dan Solomon, an attorney with Miller & Chevalier who advises manufacturers on potential forced-labor risks.

In May, Solomon spoke about UFLPA compliance at a private event for automotive executives in Detroit.

"Without a doubt the manufacturers are focused on it," he said.

The stepped-up focus on automakers follows a study by Britain's Sheffield Hallam University published in December that said nearly every major automaker has exposure to products made with forced labor in Xinjiang.

The report prompted a probe by U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, which his spokesperson said is ongoing.

"It is appropriate for CBP to scrutinize imports in this space," Wyden said in a statement.

'REAL PERIL'

Of the 13 automakers and suppliers contacted by Reuters, four - Mercedes-Benz USA, Volkswagen, Denso and ZF Friedrichshafen AG - said they had not had products detained under UFLPA.

"Under the UFLPA, we've further increased our due diligence with global media screening, risk analysis and supplier and buyer training on sustainability and human rights," a Volkswagen spokesperson said in an email.

Ford, Bosch, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Stellantis and Magna said in written statements that they were committed to ensuring their supply chains were free of forced labor but did not respond to questions about detainments under UFLPA.

Neither Tesla nor Continental AG responded to requests for comment.

The chief executive of Exiger, a provider of supply-chain management software, said the solar detentions are an indication of where auto component enforcement may be headed.

"If you're a car manufacturer and you have not started mapping your supply chains for the critical minerals and the parts of the sub-assemblies that are going through China and where they are getting their goods from, you are running a real peril as we go into the back half of the year," Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels said in an interview.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Jan Schwartz in Hamburg and Daniel Leussink in Tokyo; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

World chess federation bars transgender women from competing in women's events

JAMEY KEATEN
Thu, August 17, 2023

Norwegian Magnus Carlsen of SG Alpine Warriors plays against Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Chingari Gulf Titans during Global Chess League in Dubai United Arab Emirates, on July 1, 2023. The world's top chess federation on Monday has ruled that transgender women cannot compete in its official events for women until an assessment of gender change is made by its officials. Word of the decision comes as the federation is hosting a World Cup event in Azerbaijan, where top players including No. 1-ranked Grand Master Magnus Carlsen of Norway were attending. 

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File) 


GENEVA (AP) — The world's top chess federation has ruled that transgender women cannot compete in its official events for females until an assessment of gender change is made by its officials.

The decision by Lausanne, Switzerland-based federation FIDE was published on Monday and has drawn criticism from advocacy groups and supporters of transgender rights.

FIDE said it and its member federations increasingly have received recognition requests from players who identify as transgender, and that the participation of transgender women would depend on an analysis of individual cases that could take up to two years.

“Change of gender is a change that has a significant impact on a player’s status and future eligibility to tournaments, therefore it can only be made if there is a relevant proof of the change provided,” the federation said.

“In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made,” it said.

Holders of women's titles who change their genders to male would see those titles “abolished,” the federation said, while holding out the possibility of a reinstatement “if the person changes the gender back to a woman.”

“If a player has changed the gender from a man into a woman, all the previous titles remain eligible,” the federation said.

It acknowledged that such questions regarding transgender players were an “evolving issue for chess” and that “further policy may need to be evolved in the future in line with research evidence.”

No one immediately responded to emails to top federation officials and calls to the federation’s headquarters in Switzerland seeking further comment.

Word of the decision comes as the federation is hosting a World Cup event in Azerbaijan where top players including No. 1-ranked Grand Master Magnus Carlsen of Norway are attending.

The federation has open competitions that allow all players to take part, as well as specialized categories, such as for women, young players and even computers.

Many sports involving intense physical activity — which chess does not — have been grappling with how to formulate policies toward transgender athletes in recent years.

The International Cycling Union has joined the governing bodies of track and field and swimming as top-tier Olympic sports addressing the issue of transgender athletes and fairness in women’s events.

Last month, the cycling federation ruled that female transgender athletes who transitioned after male puberty will no longer be able to compete in women’s races.

Notorious Right-Wing Judge Will Decide Fate of 'Sham' Lawsuit That Could Bankrupt Planned Parenthood

Susan Rinkunas

JEZEBEL
Wed, August 16, 2023 

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk


The federal judge who tried to ban the abortion pill will decide the fate of an absurd lawsuit against Planned Parenthood that could end up with the organization having to pay billions, bankrupting its Texas affiliates and possibly the entire organization.

The state of Texas and an anonymous plaintiff that goes by Alex Doe are suing the national Planned Parenthood and three affiliates in Texas and Louisiana, demanding that they repay at least $17 million in Medicaid funds. The case could also result in more than $1.8 billion in fines and penalties. They filed their lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas, where Planned Parenthood doesn’t have any clinics, but is where Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an anti-abortion who judge previously worked as a lawyer at a right-wing Christian legal organization, presides. Kacsmaryk held a hearing for the case on Tuesday.

The CEOs of the three affiliates said in a statement that more than 100,000 Texans rely on their clinics every year for affordable health care—an option that would disappear if they are forced to close: “It is critical that we not lose sight of who will be harmed if Planned Parenthood is ordered to pay the outrageous penalties...: our communities and our patients, especially people with low incomes.” Manning added in a press call on Tuesday that, for many patients of reproductive age in Texas, Planned Parenthood providers are their only source of health care.

“State and federal courts explicitly permitted Planned Parenthood health centers to provide care through the Medicaid program during the period in question, as well as a grace period provided to Planned Parenthood so that we could continue to care for our patients,” Manning said on the call. “Planned Parenthood was paid for providing those services to patients with Medicaid coverage, just like any other health care provider, and just as the courts required. That is not fraud—it is providing healthcare and it’s following the law.”

Jacob Elberg, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in healthcare fraud, told the Associated Press that Texas’ argument is weak. Elberg, who is now faculty director at Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law, said it was “hard to understand” how Planned Parenthood could have been knowingly filing false claims when when it was actively suing to stay in the Medicaid program, and Texas was still reimbursing the organization.

Kacsmaryk will decide if the case will go to trial or get dismissed; Manning told reporters he didn’t give a timeline for his decision but she said it was a “meritless case” that the judge shouldn’t let proceed any further. Like the abortion pill case, any appeals will go first to the extremely conservative Fifth Circuit, then on to the Supreme Court. (Yes, we are still waiting for the Fifth Circuit to issue its decision in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s appeal of the mifepristone case.)

Similar to the abortion pill case, this lawsuit is entirely without merit and seems designed waste the time and money of those that support abortion access, and to test the fences of the federal court system that is now littered with Trump-appointed judges. It seems unlikely that the Supreme Court would go for Paxton and Doe’s argument, but the problem with this court is that you can never be too sure.

Inmates at California women's prison sue federal government over sexual abuse

OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Wed, August 16, 2023 

The Federal Correctional Institution stands in Dublin, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. Eight inmates of the abuse-plagued federal women's prison filed a lawsuit Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, against the Bureau of Prisons, saying sexual abuse and exploitation continue at the San Francisco Bay Area lockup despite the prosecution of the former warden and several former prison officers. 

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) 


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Eight inmates at a San Francisco Bay Area lockup — dubbed the “rape club” by prisoners and workers alike — filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal Bureau of Prisons, saying sexual abuse and exploitation has not stopped despite the prosecution of the former warden and several former officers.

The lawsuit filed in Oakland by attorneys representing the inmates and the advocacy group California Coalition for Women Prisoners also names the current warden and 12 former and current guards. It alleges the Bureau of Prisons and staff at the Dublin facility didn’t do enough to prevent sexual abuse going back to the 1990s.

An Associated Press investigation last year found a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the prison, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland. That reporting led to increased scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the federal Bureau of Prisons that it would fix problems and change the culture at the prison.

The Bureau of Prisons has failed to address rampant misconduct in its ranks and protect the safety of those in its care, said Amaris Montes, an attorney at Rights Behind Bars representing the plaintiffs.

“Individual prisoners have had to endure rape, groping, voyeurism, forced stripping, sexually explicit comments on an everyday basis and so much more,” she said.

The lawsuit seeks a third party to oversee the prison to ensure inmates have access to a confidential place to report abuse. It also asks that all victims be given access to medical and mental health care and legal counsel.

The plaintiffs, which are asking the court to certify the case as a class action, also want compassionate release for victims and for those who are living in the country illegally to be issued a “U visa,” a special visa program for victims of crime.

Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Donald Murphy said that the bureau does not comment on pending litigation or ongoing investigations.

In March, a judge sentenced former warden Ray J. Garcia to 70 months in prison for sexually abusing three female inmates and forcing them to pose naked for photos in their cells. Garcia was among eight prison workers, including a chaplain, charged with abusing inmates and the first to go to trial.

Montes said a sexual abuse culture persists at the low-security facility and inmates who report violations continue to face retaliation, including being put in solitary confinement and having all their belongings confiscated.

“We went to visit the prison yesterday and we heard additional stories of recent sexual abuse within this last week,” Montes said. “The BOP has tried to address individual officers and is trying to make it seem like it's an issue of bad actors or bad apples, but it’s really a systemic issue.”

A former inmate at the federal facility said she was sexually abused by an officer who manipulated her with promises that he could get her compassionate release. The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually abused unless they agree to be named.

She said she also witnessed the sexual abuse of fellow inmates and the retaliation against those who reported the officers' misconduct.

She said she was incarcerated at the prison from 2019-2022 on a drug trafficking conviction. She said she was put in solitary confinement and lost all her belongings after her cellmate reported being abused.

"They were supposed to protect us because we were in their custody, but personally, I was abused and I saw officers abuse women, especially those who had been there longer. I saw them harassing them, grabbing, groping them," she said in Spanish, her voice breaking.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Judge Rules HP Must Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Disabled Printers

Kevin Hurler
Wed, August 16, 2023 

Image: Dmitry S. Gordienko (Shutterstock)


Printers are one of the great necessary evils in our modern world, much to the chagrin of consumers. Now a federal judge has ruled that HP must face a class action lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs argue that the company’s all-in-one printers brick themselves when the ink runs low.

The lawsuit was filed in June in the Northern District of California federal court, but the Associated Press reports that yesterday, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman tossed out the company’s attempt to dismiss the suit. The lawsuit argues that HP’s all-in-one printers cease to function once any of its ink cartridges run dry—including all non-printing functions. In other words, if ink levels in one of the four cartridges (black, cyan, yellow, magenta) are deemed too low by the printer, users have found they are unable to scan or fax an item.
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“What HP fails to disclose is that, if even one of the ink cartridges is too low, empty, or damaged, the scanning function on the ‘all-in-one’ printer will be disabled and will not work as advertised,” the complaint reads. “None of HP’s advertising or marketing materials disclose the basic fact that its All-in-One Printers do not scan documents when the devices have low or empty ink cartridges.”

HP did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the pending case.

The plaintiffs initially filed the lawsuit last year. Judge Freeman dismissed that lawsuit, but allowed them to refile, with the updated complaint submitted earlier this summer.

This is not the first time HP has landed in hot water over shady practices concerning its printers. Gizmodo previously reported that HP printers were rejecting third-party ink, forcing consumers to buy the company’s own overpriced ink cartridges. HP is not alone, however, in allegedly bricking its printers when the ink runs dry—Canon faced a similar lawsuit back in 2021. Likewise, Epson was accused of having printers shut down after some arbitrary amount of use.

Gizmodo

HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on multifunction printers when ink runs low

DAVID HAMILTON
Updated Tue, August 15, 2023

  

This Aug. 15, 2019, photo shows the HP logo on Hewlett-Packard printer ink cartridges at a store in Manchester, N.H. HP Inc. has failed to shunt aside claims in a lawsuit that it disables scanners and other functions on its multifunction printers whenever the ink runs low. The suit claims that HP's so-called “all-in-one” printers provide consumers no indication the devices require printer ink to scan documents or send faxes. 

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file) 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — HP has failed to shunt aside class-action legal claims that it disables the scanners on its multifunction printers when their ink runs low. Though not for lack of trying.

On Aug. 10, a federal judge ruled that HP Inc. must face a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company designs its “all-in-one” inkjet printers to disable scanning and faxing functions whenever a single printer ink cartridge runs low. The company had sought — for the second time — to dismiss the lawsuit on technical legal grounds.

“It is well-documented that ink is not required in order to scan or to fax a document, and it is certainly possible to manufacture an all-in-one printer that scans or faxes when the device is out of ink,” the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. “Indeed, HP designs its all-in-one printer products so they will not work without ink. Yet HP does not disclose this fact to consumers.”

The lawsuit charges that HP deliberately withholds this information from consumers to boost profits from the sale of expensive ink cartridges.

Color printers require four ink cartridges -- one black and a set of three cartridges in cyan, magenta and yellow for producing colors. Some will also refuse to print if one of the color cartridges is low, even in black-and-white mode.

HP declined to comment on the issue, citing the pending litigation. The company’s court filings in the case have generally not addressed the substance of the plaintiff’s allegations.

In early 2022, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the complaint on legal grounds but did not address the lawsuit's claims. The judge allowed the plaintiffs to amend their claim and resubmit it. On Aug. 10, the judge largely rejected HP's request to dismiss the revised complaint, allowing the case to proceed.

All-in-one inkjet printers generally seem like a bargain compared to the cost of separate devices with scanning, copying and fax functions. For instance, HP currently sells its all-in-one OfficeJet Pro 8034e online for just $159. But its least expensive standalone scanner, the ScanJet Pro s2, lists for $369 — more than twice the cost of the multifunction printer.

Of course, only one of these devices requires printer ink. “Printer ink is wildly expensive,” Consumer Reports states in its current printer buying guide, noting that consumer ink costs can easily run more than $70 a year.

Worse, a significant amount of ink is never actually used to print documents because it's consumed by printer maintenance cycles. In 2018, Consumer Reports tested hundreds of all-in-one inkjet printers and found that, when used intermittently, many models delivered less than half of their ink to printed documents. A few managed no more than 20% to 30%.

HP isn't alone in facing such legal complaints. A different set of plaintiffs sued the U.S. unit of printer and camera maker Canon Inc. in 2021 for similarly handicapping its all-in-one printers without disclosure. The parties settled that case in late 2022. Terms were not disclosed.