RED BULL GIVES EXEC.S WINGS
Red Bull fires top North American executives following internal controversy over Black Lives Matter and the leak of an offensive presentation slide

Red Bull global CEO Dietrich Mateschitz. David Geieregger/SEPA.Media/Getty Images

Red Bull fired its top two North American executives, CEO Stefan Kozak and president and CMO Amy Taylor.

The company also fired global head of music, entertainment, and culture marketing Florian Klaass and reduced or dissolved its cultural marketing teams in the UK, Canada, and its home country of Austria.

The moves came weeks after employees leaked a letter to leadership that criticized Red Bull's "public silence" on Black Lives Matter and an offensive slide from a company presentation.

Insiders said it was widely believed the North American execs were fired because corporate leaders in Austria blamed them for the leaks and internal tensions behind them.

Red Bull fired its top two North American executives, CEO Stefan Kozak and president and CMO Amy Taylor, and global head of music, entertainment, and culture marketing Florian Klaass.

A person with direct knowledge of the firings, who is known to Business Insider but requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it, said Klaass was let go over his role in a February corporate event, first reported by Business Insider, where a presentation slide was shown that featured racist stereotypes.

The slide, which was leaked to Business Insider, showed a world map that labeled the Middle East and Southeast Asia as "evil doers," continental Europe as "pussies," and South America as "coffee comes from here I think." Multiple employees said Klaass' Austria-based team included the slide despite being warned not to do so by US colleagues.

Red Bull more recently has been rife with internal tensions over Black Lives Matter. Employees leaked a letter that was sent June 1 to Kozak and Taylor criticizing the company's "public silence" on the movement.

The three fired executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An internal memo confirming the North American changes is printed at the bottom of this story.
Employees said the firings were acts of retaliation

Several insiders close to the situation said it was widely believed that Kozak and Taylor were fired by Austrian leadership over the leak and internal tension over diversity issues. Two employees said Taylor had been working on a project to increase Black representation at Red Bull but that the leadership wasn't interested.

Another employee said that managers urged staff not to leak any more information, warning that Kozak and Taylor could be fired if leaks continued.

Red Bull also cancelled several major cultural events and dissolved the teams that oversee them

Along with firing the executives, Red Bull cut or dissolved entertainment and culture teams in Canada, the UK, and Austria and canceled most of its major cultural events, including its annual Red Bull Music Festival and Red Bull Presents.

"Red Bull has decided to strengthen the focus of its culture marketing programs on where it makes most impact," a spokeswoman said. "Culture programs that remain include Red Bull BC One, Red Bull Dance Your Style, Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos."

Two employees said global CEO Dietrich Mateschitz told staff earlier this year that there wouldn't be any layoffs in 2020.

Two others who work in marketing, however, said management told them that between 20 and 50 people were laid off or told that they would have to choose between new jobs and exit packages.

Another employee said the culture teams were seen as the most vocal about racial justice matters and that US staffers saw the restructuring as a form of punishment.

The company's board said it rejected racism

Red Bull consists of two separate organizations: Austria-based Red Bull GmbH and Red Bull North America, headquartered in Santa Monica.

Employees told Business Insider the firings and leaks illustrate a divide between the company's US culture and its more conservative Austrian leaders.

Red Bull's board of directors addressed the leaks in a June 26 memo that read: "We reject racism in every form, we always have, and we always will. Anyone who knows anything about our company knows this."

"Red Bull has always put people and their dreams and accomplishments at its core and values the contribution of each and every person — no matter who they are. We want everyone who feels this way to be welcome in Red Bull," it concluded.

Kozak spent 16 years with the company, running its Canadian and Latin American divisions before being named North American CEO in July 2010. Taylor had been with Red Bull for 20 years after working with the Atlanta Hawks organization. Klaass was a 14-year veteran.

Read the memo announcing the North American restructuring below.

RBNA,

I would like to share with you the changes that will happen in Red Bull North America this week.

Stefan Kozak and Amy Taylor will leave Red Bull. We would like to thank Stefan and Amy for their contribution and wish them the best for the future. Stefan and Amy's successors as CEO and CMO respectively will be announced at a later stage.

In the interim period and for the Business Planning process:
Matt Rosenmayr and Alexandre Ruberti will be responsible for local co-ordination in the US and will represent the US Leadership Team in Austria.
Alexandre Ruberti will continue to lead Sales and Distribution for RBNA and RBDC and in the interim will take on the responsibility of our 3 Business Units.
Bill Connors, Eddie Hayden and Joe Waters will report to Alexandre.
Anjelica Garcia, Djenaba Parker and Marc Rosenmayr will continue to lead their respective teams.
Ken Turner will, on top of his current role as Head of Brand Marketing, coordinate the other Marketing disciplines with the support of Markus Obrist (Area Marketing Manager NA)
Alexandre, Anjelica, Djenaba, Ken, Marc and Keith DeGrace will report to him.

These changes are effective immediately.

We are extremely proud of what the North American business has been able to achieve including increasing our market share in what has been a challenging year for all of us and we want to say thank you to everyone for your commitment to continue to deliver excellent results. We look forward to your 2021 plans to help grow our brand for the future.

We will work closely with the business leaders to ensure a successful 2020 and Business Plan 2021 and I will travel to the US and Canada as soon as I am able to do so.

Regards,
Franz Watzlawick
Chief Commercial Officer

Meet Trump's new coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford physician who frequently criticized lockdown measures and believes in the full reopening of schools

Scott Atlas listens to President Donald Trump at a briefing at the White House on August 10, 2020. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty

President Donald Trump announced the hiring of Dr. Scott Atlas as a coronavirus adviser on Monday. 

Atlas is a healthcare policy expert who works at the Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. He is not an infectious-diseases expert. 

He has been a frequent guest on Fox News in recent months, where he frequently spoke out against lockdown measures and for the full reopening of schools in the fall. 

Atlas' appointment comes as Trump appears to be tiring of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, two experts who have been on the White House coronavirus task force for months.

President Donald Trump has taken on a new coronavirus adviser who shares his belief that schools and college football should resume in the fall — as he continues to be at odds with top experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci.

At the White House's coronavirus briefing on Monday, Trump announced the hiring of Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University.

Since the beginning of the US coronavirus outbreak, Atlas has spoken out against imposing lockdown measures, saying it impedes herd immunity and is costing the lives of people too afraid to seek emergency medical treatment for other issues.

"In the absence of immunization, society needs circulation of the virus, assuming high-risk people can be isolated," he wrote in an op-ed for The Hill in April. "It is very possible that whole-population isolation prevented natural herd immunity from developing."

—KUSI News (@KUSINews) August 12, 2020

Since May, Atlas has also appeared on Fox News regularly to speak on the US coronavirus crisis, and shared opinions often at odds with many public-health experts' warnings.

For one, Atlas has said that he thinks schools should reopen and that the college football season should be able to start without any issues.

These ideas seem to line up with the president's own ideas about the pandemic.

At the Monday press briefing, Trump called Atlas a "very famous man who's also very highly respected," according to a pool report.


"He has many great ideas," Trump said. "He thinks what we've done is really good, and now we'll take it to a new level."
Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci at a White House coronavirus briefing in April 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In an interview with Fox News on Monday night, Atlas said about his new appointment: "Any way I can help, I will do so."

During this interview Atlas also said that it was perfectly safe for the college football season to start this fall.

He said that athletes would be in a "very sophisticated environment" to prevent the spread of the disease, and claimed that being "physical specimens" meant there was "virtually zero risk" of the virus hurting them.


While young and otherwise healthy people have a lower risk of contracting a severe version of COVID-19, several athletes have tested positive for COVID-19. Athletic people have also contracted severe coronavirus symptoms.

However, Atlas did acknowledge that there may be some coaches or players with other health conditions who may need to sit the season out.

"There is such fear in the community and unfortunately it's been propagated by people who are doing some really sloppy thinking and really sensationalistic media reporting," Atlas said.

Trump and many other top Republicans have recently called on organizing bodies to continue with the fall season of college football, though several conferences and players have already dropped out over coronavirus fears.
Trump listens as Atlas speaks at a White House coronavirus briefing on August 12, 2020. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Atlas also spoke on Wednesday at an event Trump held on reopening America's schools.


According to a pool report from the event, Atlas said that the "risk of the disease is extremely low for children, even less than that of seasonal flu" and that the "harms of locking out the children from school are enormous."

His comments came two days after the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association reported that more than 97,000 children in the US had tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks of July.

Studies have also shown that children can be carriers for the disease, posing threats to the adults who teach them if schools reopen.

This isn't the first time that Atlas has supported reopening schools. In July, he told Fox News that the idea of not reopening schools in the fall was "hysteria" and "ludicrous."


Forbes has pointed out that Atlas is not an infectious disease expert, like Fauci, but focuses on healthcare policy instead.

Prior to joining the Hoover Institute at Stanford, Atlas was the chief of neuroradiology at the school's medical center from 1998 to 2012, according to his profile on Stanford's website. Neuroradiologists analyze x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs.

Atlas has also previously advised on the presidential campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, according to Forbes.

Atlas' appointment as an adviser to the president comes as Trump appears to be tiring of Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, two top experts who have been advising the White House coronavirus task force for months.

He has called Fauci "a bit of an alarmist" and called out Birx on Twitter for saying that the disease was "extraordinarily widespread."

The USPS is shutting down mail-sorting machines crucial for processing absentee ballots as the 2020 election looms

ITS NOT JUST ABOUT THE ELECTION ITS ABOUT SELLING OFF THE POST OFFICE A LONG TIME REPUBLICAN WET DREAM

Ben Margot/AP

The United States Postal Service is deactivating mail-sorting machines at processing centers across the US.

At least 19 sorting machines, which can process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, have been dismantled and removed in recent weeks, postal workers told Motherboard.

The president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union and Democratic lawmakers have voiced concerns about sorting machines being dismantled and about sweeping changes to the USPS made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a top Trump donor who took office earlier this summer.

Mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause a surge in mail volume ahead of the 2020 election. President Donald Trump has said he would withhold funding from the USPS to sabotage mail-in voting.

United States Postal Service workers say mail-sorting machines are being taken apart and removed from distribution facilities across the US, raising concerns about their ability to handle a surge in mail-in ballots for the general election in November.

At least 19 mail-sorting machines, which can process up to 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, have been removed without any explanation, postal workers told Motherboard. And an internal letter published by the USPS in June outlines a plan to remove hundreds of mail-sorting machines from operation this year.

It's the latest in a series of sweeping changes that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, has made to the agency since taking office earlier this summer. Postal workers and elected officials have said the changes dismantle the US Postal Service and could have devastating effects on the election, when many people are expected to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kimberly Karol, the president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union, confirmed that machines were being removed and told NPR in an interview this week that DeJoy's policies were "now affecting the way that we do business and not allowing us to deliver every piece every day."


In a letter to DeJoy last week, the Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said that the removal of mail-sorting machines and other cost-cutting measures "threaten the timely delivery of mail," including absentee ballots.

In a statement to Business Insider, a USPS representative, Dave Partenheimer, said the notion that mail-sorting machines were being deactivated to sabotage mail-in voting was "erroneous."

"The Postal Service routinely moves equipment around its network as necessary to match changing mail and package volumes," Partenheimer said. "Package volume is up, but mail volume continues to decline. Adapting our processing infrastructure to the current volumes will ensure more efficient, cost effective operations and better service for our customers."

Trump has repeatedly attacked the USPS and its role in the 2020 election, claiming that voting by mail is inherently fraudulent despite evidence that the rate of fraud is extremely low and that mail-in voting doesn't help or hurt one political party over the other. On Thursday, Trump told Fox Business that he would withhold funding from the USPS to harm mail-in voting.


"They want $25 billion — billion — for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said, adding, "But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting."

DeJoy, a major Trump donor, has overseen sweeping changes at the USPS, slashing its budget amid the COVID-19 pandemic and freezing hiring since he took control of the agency in May.

Postal workers told Motherboard that while it wasn't unusual for mail-sorting machines to be deactivated or moved among facilities, the timing coincided with Trump's push to destabilize the USPS before the election.

"When you take out one of the machines, it takes away our ability to respond to unforeseen things that may happen," Karol told Motherboard.

But experts have said that Trump's assertion that the USPS won't be able to process mail-in voting without a larger budget is faulty. Amber McReynolds, the former director of the Denver Elections Division and the CEO of the National Vote At Home Institute, told Business Insider in April that election-related mail likely wouldn't strain the service.

"The Postal Services estimates they process about 140 billion pieces of mail a year. And when we talk about 250 million mail ballots for, say, every American, that's only about 0.2% of their normal volume," she said.


Trump admits he's refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting

Postal workers in Oakland, California, wearing masks and gloves as they work during the coronavirus pandemic. Ben Margot/AP

President Donald Trump told Fox Business on Thursday morning that he would block additional funding and election assistance for the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Trump said he would not sign off on any relief bill that includes emergency federal funds for the USPS and more money to process election-related mail.

"They want $25 billion — billion — for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said on Thursday, adding, "But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting."

Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the cash-strapped USPS has implemented cost-cutting measures that experts say could harm the delivery of election-related mail.



President Donald Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning that he would block additional funding and election assistance for the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting.

Throughout the pandemic, Trump has rejected giving emergency funds or grants to the cash-strapped USPS, which has seen a major revenue shortfall. He has also aggressively spread false and exaggerated claims that voting by mail is inherently fraudulent. In reality, rates of fraud are extremely low, and there's no evidence that expanding voting by mail hurts or benefits either political party.

Trump said in a press conference on Wednesday evening that he would not sign off on either the $25 billion in emergency funds for the USPS or the $3.5 billion in election assistance to help states that Democrats have advocated in a federal COVID-19 relief bill.

He said the same thing during the Fox Business interview on Thursday morning.


"They want $25 billion — billion — for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said. "Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting ... because they're not equipped."
—The Recount (@therecount) August 13, 2020

Trump has previously opposed measures to help the Postal Service. He said he would refuse to sign the Cares Act stimulus package in March if it included a bailout for the agency, The Washington Post reported on April 11.

"We told them very clearly that the president was not going to sign the bill if [money for the Postal Service] was in it," an administration official told The Post. "I don't know if we used the v-bomb, but the president was not going to sign it, and we told them that."

The Post reported that while Congress initially intended to give the Postal Service a $13 billion grant, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin stepped in to quash the measure, telling lawmakers, "You can have a loan, or you can have nothing at all."


Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina shipping-and-logistics executive and a prolific Republican donor with no experience working at the Postal Service, the USPS has implemented cost-cutting measures including limiting overtime for postal carriers, cracking down on late trips to deliver mail, and freezing hiring. Critics have said the measures are slowing mail delivery in some areas and could prevent voters' ballots for the November election from being delivered on time.

The reasoning behind Trump's opposition to more USPS funding is faulty. The United States does not have "universal mail-in voting." Before the pandemic, five states mailed all registered voters a ballot that could be returned by mail or put in a ballot drop box; Washington and Oregon have done so for decades.

Four more states — Nevada, Montana, California, and Vermont — and Washington, DC, have said they will mail all or most registered voters a ballot while also offering scaled-back in-person voting for the November election.

Ten more states are planning to send all or most active registered voters a ballot application in the mail, The Post reported.


And while the USPS policy changes appear to be slowing down timely mail delivery in some areas, experts have disputed Trump's assertion that the Postal Service cannot handle an additional load of ballots.

Amber McReynolds, the former director of the Denver Elections Division and the CEO of the National Vote At Home Institute, told Insider in April that, when properly funded, the USPS is a remarkably effective tool for administering mail-in elections.

"They have the ability with their equipment and everything to run it at a level that must of us would never expect — it's massive," McReynolds said. When put into perspective, she said, the number of ballots the Postal Service processes is just a blip on the radar.

"The Postal Services estimates they process about 140 billion pieces of mail a year. And when we talk about 250 million mail ballots for, say, every American, that's only about 0.2% of their normal volume," she said.

THIRD WORLD USA

Slashing extra federal unemployment benefits to $200 per week would lead to a 28% drop in consumer spending, study finds

Aug 11, 2020,

Reuters

If extra federal unemployment insurance is cut to $200 per week, consumer spending will slump 28%, according to a study released Monday from the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

Consumer spending would drop 12% if the extra unemployment benefit is slashed to $400 per week, the study found. 

The study comes as Congress discusses restarting debate of the next round of coronavirus stimulus. While Democrats have pushed to extend the additional $600 weekly UI benefit, Republicans have proposed cutting it.

Cutting the extra federal unemployment insurance amid the coronavirus pandemic will lower consumer spending, according to a study released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

If extra federal unemployment insurance is cut to $200 per week, it will reduce the wage replacement rate by 44% and lead to a 28% drop in consumer spending, according to the paper, titled "The Effect of Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence From COVID-19."

Even a cut to $400 in extra weekly unemployment insurance would lower the wage replacement rate by 29%, and lead to a 12% fall in consumer spending, the study found.

"We find that higher replacement rates lead to significantly more consumer spending – even with increases in the unemployment rate – consistent with the goal of the fiscal stimulus," authors of the paper wrote.

The study comes amid a debate on the future of the extra federal unemployment insurance benefit. In March, the CARES Act established an additional $600 per week to unemployed Americans, which helped replace wages lost due to the pandemic and boosted the economic recovery from the ensuing recession.

But at the end of July, the benefit expired without a plan in place for what aid is coming next to the roughly 30 million Americans who are still unemployed. When it expired, the average weekly UI benefit fell to about $257 from $812, suggesting a 68% decline in the wage replacement rate, the study found.

Consumer spending is an important part of the economy and recession recovery because it makes up roughly 70% of US gross domestic product. Spending is also related to hiring — the more consumers shop, the more small businesses are able to expand and hire more workers.


The fate of the extra weekly unemployment benefit is up in the air. Last week, Democrats and Republicans failed to come to an agreement on the next round of stimulus, in part because of different ideas on how to extend additional unemployment benefits.

While Democrats have pushed to extend the extra $600 per week, Republicans proposed in the HEALS Act lowering the weekly amount to $200 for two months until states can set up unemployment benefits to replace 70% of workers lost wages.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders including one that would extend $300 per week in federal unemployment insurance, with states covering another $100 per week. Trump's orders could face legal and other challenges, and experts have said that many states won't be able to cover an additional $100 per week.

While the US economy added back jobs in July and the unemployment rate declined to 10.2%, there are also signs that the recovery is losing steam. Jobs were gained back at a slower pace than in previous months, and consumer sentiment has slipped amid spiking COVID-19 cases.

Vocal critics of the US pandemic response are emerging: central bankers

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's President Eric Rosengren. Reuters

Presidents of Federal Reserve Banks in major American cities are speaking out about the poor federal response to the pandemic, saying that it eliminates any potential of a quick economic recovery.

The president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that the economy may never recover from the pandemic — and eliminating aid like $600 unemployment benefits only underscores that.

On the same day, the president of the Boston Federal Reserve said the US response to the virus has been "inconsistent" and that economic activity likely won't spike upwards until Americans no longer feel threatened by the virus.

Similarly, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve said people must follow "protocols like wearing masks" because the virus' resurgence this summer has led to a "muted" economic recovery.

The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the US economy in just a few months. More than 56 million Americans have filed for unemployment over the last 21 weeks. Business Insider's Carmen Reinicke previously reported that unemployment claims swiftly surpassed the 37 million filed during the 18-month Great Recession.

The road to economic recovery is expected to take years — and now the country's central bankers are starting to speak out about how that recovery has been further hindered by the federal coronavirus response.

Most recently, congress failed to replace the stimulus package that lapsed at the end of July. With negotiations seemingly deadlocked, President Donald Trump filed a series of executive actions of questionable legality to temporarily extend certain stimulus provisions.

Mary Daly, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, told reporters on Wednesday that congress needs to agree on a new stimulus package as the US economy may flat out never recover from the pandemic, according to the Financial Times.


"It's certainly possible that we don't come back, at least in certain sectors in the same way as before," she said. "That will mean a large number of workers are not able to go back to the same jobs they had before the pandemic."

Central bankers in other major US cities have echoed Daly's statements.

Eric Rosengren, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, slammed the country's coronavirus pandemic response in a Wednesday virtual meeting with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce in Massachusetts, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"Limited or inconsistent efforts by states to control the virus based on public health guidance are not only placing citizens at unnecessary risk of severe illness and possible death, but are also likely to prolong the economic downturn," he said.


He noted that as long as the virus "poses significant threats to public health," economic activity will not tick up as individuals will "voluntarily avoid activities that place their health at risk." He stated that tighter restrictions on economic activity in Europe at the height of the virus in the spring allowed for successful retail and recreational reopenings and a fast economic recovery period.

Daly also pointed to the US government letting unemployment lapse on July 31 as an example of the inconsistent response that is ultimately further hobbling the economy. Letting the $600 unemployment benefit expire "creates the potential for a little bit of a hole in consumer spending," she said. As congress debates the next round of stimulus, millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet — let alone increase consumer spending by the amount needed to prop up the economy.

Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said that the recent resurgence of the coronavirus has "muted" the economic recovery in virtual remarks to the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. Bolstering the recovery "requires adherence to protocols, particularly wearing masks," he said. "If we don't follow that, while people may feel freer, the economy will grow slower.

Watch Trump react when a reporter asks if he regrets 'all the lying you've done to the American people' over the past 3 1/2 years

President Donald Trump on Thursday dodged a reporter's question on whether he regretted lying throughout his presidency.

"After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you've done to the American people on everything, all the dishonesties?" a reporter asked Trump. 

Trump quickly called on a different reporter for another question. 

At a press conference on Thursday, President Donald Trump quickly moved past a reporter's question on whether he regretted lying throughout his first term in office.

HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte asked Trump: "After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you've done to the American people on everything, all the dishonesties?"
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2020

Trump replied: "That who has done?"

After Dáte said he was referring to the lies Trump has told, the president quickly looked for a different reporter to call upon.


The Washington Post's fact-checker found that as of July 9, the president had made over 20,000 false or misleading claims. On that day alone, he made 62 false claims, and about half of them were in a single interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, according to The Post's analysis.

In June alone, Trump made 721 false claims, according to The Post's roundup. In the past 14 months, he made an average of 23 false claims a day, the newspaper reported.

Some of his most repeated false claims include: "We built the greatest economy in history, not only for our country, but for the world. We were No. 1, by far."

According to the fact-checker, the economy was in better shape by several important factors under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Bill Clinton.

Did extremists in Pakistan really uproot “un-Islamic” trees?

PAKISTAN / DEBUNKED - 08/13/2020


People were circulating a series of videos online, claiming that they showed Pakistani extremists uprooting trees that they thought were “un-Islamic”. Turns out, that’s not the real story.
A video posted on Twitter on August 9 shows about a hundred people ripping out newly planted saplings in Pakistan. While the video is authentic, the caption claiming that the video shows Islamic extremists uprooting trees that they think are “un-Islamic” is totally false. The real story comes down to a rivalry between two tribes.

The video, which is just over a minute long, shows approximately one hundred people uprooting freshly-planted saplings. “Planting trees is against Islam,” reads the caption on one of the most widely circulated posts featuring this video. The author of this post, who lives in India, says the footage was filmed in Pakistan, a majority Muslim country. The post was retweeted more than 10,000 times and has so far garnered more than two million views.

Modi Ji on Earth Day started “Plant Trees” project because it has many benefits. Now Pakistan PM Imran Khan is copying Modi & started the “Tree Plantation Drive”. Look at these idiot vultures in Pakistan ripping out all the trees. They said “Planting trees is against Islam". pic.twitter.com/N4kSOKoeKK Renee Lynn (@Voice_For_India) August 9, 2020

Shortly after social media users in India first started circulating this video online, it was picked up by people in Iran and in far-right groups in France who mocked the men uprooting trees for supposedly religious reasons.




Why it’s false

On August 9, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan officially launched a vast tree-planting campaign across the country, with the aim of planting 3.5 million trees in a single day. Local officials were told to choose appropriate locations for the trees in their home regions. In Khyber, a district in northern Pakistan, local authorities designated an abandoned piece of land for the trees.




This screengrab shows the area in Khyber chosen for trees. The land is actually disputed by two tribes in the district.

That day, a group of volunteers calling themselves the “Tiger Forces” planted thousands of trees in the designated zone. But just a few hours later, hundreds of people came and ripped out the newly planted saplings.

"What happened has nothing to do with Islam or any other ideology”

Our Observer Umar Farooq lives in Khyber, Pakistan. He wasn’t an eyewitness to the incident, but he knows the region well.

What happened has nothing to do with Islam or any other ideology. The local authorities decided to plant trees on an arid strip of land that is claimed by two different local tribes, the Sipah and the Ghabi Khali. The local authorities have already negotiated with the Khali tribe and they were ok with the government about planting trees here, meanwhile the local authorities did not [do] the same with [the] Sipah tribe. However while some of the members of the Sipah tribe were ok with using this space to plant trees, others weren’t. They are the ones who came and ripped up all the newly planted trees.

That afternoon, elders from the Sipah tribe came to replant the trees. They also apologized for the younger members of their tribe, even though the damage was already done.



آج قبائیلی ضلع خیبر میں پودے لگانے کی مہم میں وہاں کے رہائشیوں نے پودے اکھاڑنے کے بعد نہ صرف معافی مانگی, پودے دوبارہ لگائے بلکہ وہاں کے مشران نے یہ بھی عہد کیا کہ وہ ١٠,٠٠٠ پودے اور بھی لگائیں گے, اور پودے لگانے کی مہم میں بڑھ چڑھ کر حصہ لیں گے-#PlantWithTigersForce pic.twitter.com/BL6h26PufE JAVED AFRIDI F club (@ILOVEJAFRIDI10) August 9, 2020
This video shows elders from the Sipah tribe replanting trees that had been ripped up.

People were shocked when they saw the images of the ripped out trees. The fake story that people had torn them up because they thought they were “non-Islamic” totally obscured the real story. After that started circulating, no one paid attention to the other video showing people from the tribe replanting trees.
Mahmood Khan, the minister in chief of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said that local authorities had taken note of this incident and promised that they would take action against those who had uprooted the saplings. He added that at least 6,000 young trees had been torn from the earth.

The rumour that people had uprooted the trees for religious reasons first emerged on social media in India.
Citizens of the two rival nations regularly try to discredit one another on social media. And both politicians and certain media outlets regularly share fake stories or images taken out of context to discredit the other camp.


>> Read on the Observers: War of fake images erupts between India and Pakistan

Article by: Ershad ALIJANI

THE CANADA CONNECTION
A top former Saudi spy files suit, spills the beans at an awkward time for Trump

Issued on: 12/08/2020

File photo of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a meeting with US State Secretary Mike Pompeo in Jeddah, Sept. 18, 2019. © REUTERS - POOL 

A former senior Saudi intelligence officer in exile filed a lawsuit in a US court last week accusing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of plotting to kill him. The allegations, including using children as bargaining chips, have sparked calls for President Donald Trump, in the thick of a difficult campaign season, to intervene on moral grounds.

In September 2017, a former top Saudi intelligence officer living in exile was desperately trying to get his two children safely out of the Gulf kingdom. Picking up his iPhone, Saad Aljabri got on WhatsApp and contacted the most powerful man in his homeland, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The WhatsApp communication between Aljabri and MBS – as the Saudi crown prince is widely known – is detailed in a lawsuit filed last week in a US court.

While the allegations have not yet been verified in court, the lawsuit makes for a jaw-dropping and yet disconcertingly familiar read.

“Tell me what you want in person,” texted MBS, according to the lawsuit, which includes a screen shot of the exchange in Arabic with an English translation.

“I hope that you will consider what I have already sent you, because this issue regarding the children is very important to me,” replied Aljabri.

Two minutes later, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler once again urged the former intelligence official in exile to return home. “I definitely need you here,” said bin Salman.

Before Aljabri could reply, the crown prince added a terse, “24 hours!”

WhatsApp exchange in a lawsuit filed by Saad Aljabry at the US District Court for the District of Columbia © US District Cout for the District of Columbia, Case 1:20-cv-02146-TJK

A crown prince falls, a crackdown begins

Four months earlier, Aljabri, a close advisor to bin Salman’s arch rival, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, had fled Saudi Arabia for Turkey. He was still in Turkey in June 2017, when his ex-boss, bin Nayef – a longtime former Saudi interior minister – was stripped of his latest post as the kingdom’s crown prince and replaced by MBS.

File photo taken in September 2016 of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. REUTERS - Ahmed Jadallah

In his new position as crown prince, the brash, young MBS had begun a crackdown against his rivals and opponents in the kingdom. As a right-hand man of Saudi Arabia’s former interior minister, Aljabri was a key link between Saudi and Western intelligence services and privy to highly sensitive information on the kingdom’s rulers.

Bin Salman wanted him back in Saudi Arabia “where he could be killed”, the lawsuit alleges.

Days after the Whatsapp exchange with MBS granting him "24 hours", Aljabri left Turkey for Canada. But two of his eight children, Omar and Sarah, were trapped in Saudi Arabia and are still being used as “human bait” to lure their father home, according to the lawsuit.

The Saudi strategy failed to entice Aljabri back. Instead it caught the attention of US lawmakers who called on President Donald Trump to act.

US senators remind Trump of a ‘moral obligation’

Last month, four US senators on both sides of the aisle urged Trump to help secure the release of Omar, 21, and Sarah, 20, calling it a “moral obligation” to help the former Saudi intelligence official in exile.

In a letter to the White House, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic senators, Patrick Leahy, Tim Kaine and Chris Van Hollen, described Aljabri as a “highly valued partner” of US intelligence and State Department agencies “who has been credited by former CIA officials for saving thousands of American lives by discovering and preventing terrorist plots”.

The Saudi royal family is holding Sarah and Omar Aljabri as hostages. Hostage taking is never justified. For a government to use such tactics is abhorrent. They should be released immediately. https://t.co/wqr22IEX1S pic.twitter.com/VdCpp0NZxV— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) July 9, 2020

The children’s fate also pushed their father, a 62-year-old former government official with nearly four decades of experience in the secretive world of national security and counterterrorism, to take the unusually public step of filing a civil lawsuit in a US court.

‘Tiger Squad’ on a campaign to kill

The lawsuit filed last week at US District Court for the District of Columbia alleges that bin Salman launched a state campaign to kill Aljabri that “has worked to achieve that objective over the past three years”.

Aljabri bases his claim on two US laws: the Torture Victim Protection Act, which bans extrajudicial killing; and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows victims – including non-US citizens or residents – of such illegal operations to sue in US courts.

The 170-page document details chilling but as yet unverified plots to target Aljabri. They include the arrival at a Canadian airport of a Saudi “Tiger Squad” hit team – similar to the one used to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey – to target Aljabri.

The complaint also sheds light on the moves by global intelligence and law enforcement agencies to contain some of bin Salman’s human rights excesses on foreign soil. In October 2018, for instance, just weeks after Khashoggi’s brutal killing, vigilant Canadian authorities stopped and questioned Tiger Squad members who arrived separately at Ontario airport, the lawsuit claims. Most of the team were sent back home to Saudi Arabia.

Interpol snags ‘politically motivated’ warrant request

MBS, the lawsuit alleges, had warned Aljabri that he would use “legal measures as well as other measures that would be harmful to you”.

But the Saudi crown prince’s attempts to use "legal measures" were stymied at Interpol, the global law enforcement agency based in the French city of Lyon, the US court document reveals.

In a July 4, 2018 decision taken months before Khashoggi’s killing sparked an international furor, the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) found Saudi Arabia’s arrest and extradition request for Aljabri was “politically motivated rather then strictly juridical”. While any person has the right to request Interpol data about them, the CCF decision on the Aljabri case was not publicly known before the lawsuit was filed last week.

‘In the business of assassinating people’

The Aljabri case once again casts a spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations at home and against its citizens abroad.

“It’s a lawsuit containing accusations that are not yet proved, but these are serious accusations against the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, which is a very powerful country. If the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in the business of assassinating people, it’s very important,” said Rami Khoury, a journalism professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, in an interview with FRANCE 24.

The crown prince's role in Khashoggi’s assassination has been a public relations nightmare for the oil-rich Gulf kingdom. While MBS has acknowledged that men working for him killed the Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, he denies involvement in the murder.

His denials are widely disbelieved. In June 2019, an investigation into Khashoggi’s killing by UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard found “credible evidence, warranting further criminal investigation”, of the involvement of top Saudi officials, including bin Salman.

The latest Aljabri allegations – which names bin Salman and several Saudi officials implicated in Khashoggi’s murder, such as Saud “Mr. Hashtag” al-Qahtani, as defendants – are strikingly similar to the slain journalist’s case.

But the Khashoggi investigations so far have been impeded by political and diplomatic challenges.

As a UN special rapporteur, Callamard works as a volunteer, not UN staffer, and her office is independent of UN institutions. The fiery French human rights lawyer has publicly criticised UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for failing to act on her investigation findings to set up a panel of criminal experts.

Meanwhile the Trump administration has been stonewalling Congressional attempts to enforce accountability for Khashoggi’s murder while a Turkish trial on the case lacks international credibility, given the weaknesses of the Turkish justice system.

‘Lost in the world of the rule of law’

Aljabri’s extraordinary recourse in a US court of law opens the gates to a level of transparency that could, depending on the court proceedings, be damning for the crown prince, some experts believe.

“The accusations against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be adjudicated in a US court using the instruments of the rule of law,” said Khoury. “This is being put into the public light. If a crown prince or ruler of a country is convicted as a criminal, that’s very important.”

Khoury, like every Saudi expert, does not expect the crown prince to appear before a US court. Unlike criminal cases, civil suits pursue compensations, not prison sentences. On Friday, August 7, the US district court issued summons, or an official notice of a lawsuit given to defendants being sued. Saudi authorities have not responded so far to media organisations about the case.

It’s an unfamiliar terrain for Saudi authorities accustomed to petrodollar diplomacy, including the use of top lobby groups during crises. “The Saudis aren’t used to it, they’re totally lost in the world of the rule of law. They operate on personal relations and don’t know how to deal with this shift into the chambers of Congress and into the chambers of courts,” explained Khoury.

Kushner-Saudi way of doing business

The Saudi way of doing diplomatic business found a perfect partner in Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who developed a personal relationship with MBS.

“Trump and Kushner, both used to shady real estate deals, adapted quickly to Saudi Arabia’s system of patronage and clientelism: unwavering support from the Trump administration for the promise of weapons sales and other business deals,” noted Mohamad Bazzi, a New York University journalism professor, in a Guardian column.


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But the Saudis are keenly aware that in the US – unlike in their conservative country of glacial or paternalistic reforms – the winds of change can swerve abruptly.

The Aljabri case filing comes barely three months before the November US presidential election, with the Saudis bracing for a potential change in the White House. Historically, a confluence of oil and business interests makes a Republican US president a better fit for Saudi interests.

Joe Biden, the centrist, septuagenarian Democratic presidential candidate, is not expected to bring radical change if he wins the November 3 election. But unlike Trump, who protected MBS in the fallout of Khashoggi’s killing, Biden is unlikely to give the crown prince’s human rights violations a pass. “Joe Biden is more inclined to obey international law and follow public opinion and pressure from senators,” noted Khoury.

The pressure is expected to mount as Aljabri's unusual lawsuit winds its way through US court proceedings before and after the 2020 presidential election.

MBZ, the UAE strongman behind historic deal with Israel

THEY ARE GOING TO MARS THEY BUILT A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, THEY NEED ISRAEL'S LAUNCH AND TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES AND THEIR SECURITY TECHNOLOGY AS THEY MOVE AWAY FROM SAUDI ARABIA'S INFLUENCE AS THEY DID IN YEMEN IN SUPPORTING THE SOUTHERN SEPARATISTS

Issued on: 13/08/2020 - 

UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan becomes the first Gulf leader to reach a deal with Israel to normalise ties. AFP - MONEY SHARMA

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the first Gulf leader to strike a deal normalising relations with Israel, has long been seen as a strongman who has driven the UAE's rise to diplomatic prominence.

A trained soldier and football fan, Sheikh Mohamed has for years been the quiet power behind the throne of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

In a 2009 note to US President Barack Obama leaked by WikiLeaks, former American ambassador Richard Olson said the royal -- better known as MBZ -- was "the man who runs the United Arab Emirates".

Despite a low profile, and his apparent reluctance to speak in public, his ambition has been on display in recent years as the UAE built its profile as a regional player.

The country -- a collection of emirates better known for its skyscrapers, palm-shaped islands and opulent mega attractions -- has in short order built a nuclear power program and sent a man to space.And in July it joined another elite club by sending a probe to Mars, to mark the 50th anniversary of its unification.

Named crown prince of Abu Dhabi in November 2004, Sheikh Mohamed is the third son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahayan -- the revered founder of the UAE.

With his brother Sheikh Khalifa the nation's president, he serves as deputy commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, which controls the emirate's substantial finances.

While the glitzier emirate of Dubai has had to develop its tourism and services industries to make its fortune, Abu Dhabi sits on 90 percent of UAE oil production.

Military muscle

Born in the capital on March 11, 1961, Sheikh Mohamed was sent to military school in Britain, where he graduated from the famed Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in 1979.

He rapidly rose through the ranks of the armed forces to become air force commander, deputy chief of staff and finally chief of staff in January 1993 and a year later was promoted to the rank of general.

Described by diplomats as Abu Dhabi's strongman, Sheikh Mohamed has forged links in world capitals, particularly in the West.

He is widely believed to have taken the decision to deploy boots on the ground in Yemen in 2015 as part of a Saudi-led military campaign against Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels.

The Yemen war marked the first protracted military campaign abroad for the UAE and the first time it had to contend with military casualties, with dozens of Emirati soldiers killed.

The coalition has been denounced for air strikes, including on markets and hospitals, that have caused heavy civilian casualties since intervening in Yemen in March 2015.

The UAE, which largely exited the conflict last year, has also been accused of running secret prisons across southern Yemen. It denies the accusations.

Tight grip

Although the crown prince does not often speak in public -- he left the November 2017 inaugural speech of the Louvre Abu Dhabi to Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid -- his reach into the political sphere cannot be underestimated.

Under his leadership, Abu Dhabi has fostered trade and political ties across the region -- including, to a limited extent, with Shiite Iran -- but has sided with the US against Tehran's nuclear programme and with Saudi Arabia on its role in the mainly Sunni Arab world.

Sheikh Mohamed also took the lead on a staunch no-mercy domestic security policy.

Observers believe it was he who masterminded an unprecedented clampdown on Islamists in the UAE, with dozens handed lengthy jail terms over charges of ties to extremists.

At the same time, he crafted for the UAE a reputation of tolerance that contrasts with its conservative neighbours.

In 2017, he announced that Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque, also known as Sheikh Zayed mosque after his father, would change names to become the "Mariam Umm Issa" (Mary, Mother of Jesus) mosque as a means to "consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions".


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An avid football fan, MBZ is president of the local club in the oasis of Al-Ain, his father's hometown and the second largest city in Abu Dhabi.

He has also been spotted cycling through the capital in shorts and a helmet.

A keen hunter and a poetry enthusiast, he is married to fellow royal Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al-Nahyan -- the couple has four sons and five daughters.

(AFP)

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/dont-be-hoodwinked-by-trumps-uae-israel.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/backgrounder-uae-efforts-to-normalise.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/israel-uae-deal-how-middle-east-reacted.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/opinion-israel-uae-deal-means-goodbye.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/rashid-khalidi-israel-uae-deal-to.html

Pope Francis says COVID-19 has exposed 'broadest social ills'
ALL THE POPE HAS TO SAY TO AMERICA IS VOTE CATHOLIC AND TRUMP LOSES

The pope said COVID-19 is a disease that's exposed the "broadest social ills" that have distorted views and ignored dignity. File Photo by Siciliani/Spaziani/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Pope Francis said in an address Wednesday that personal and collective individualism, selfishness and indifference brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is damaging human relationships and culture.

The pontiff spoke to his General Audience during catechesis, which is religious instruction given in preparation for Christian baptisms or confirmations.

"The pandmic has made us more aware of the spread within our societies of a false, individualistic way of thinking, one that rejects human dignity and relationships, views persons as consumer goods and creates a 'throwaway' culture," Francis said.

"In contrast, faith teaches that we have been created in God's image and likeness, made for love and for the communion of life with him, with one another and with the whole of creation. Jesus tells us that true discipleship consists in following his example by spending ourselves in service of others."

COVID-19, he said, is a disease that has exposed the "broadest social ills" that have distorted the view of people and ignored dignity. He said Jesus Christ set an example of service to others.

"He confirms it by immediately restoring sight to two blind men and making them his disciples. We want to recognize the human dignity in every person, whatever his or her race may be."

The pope said faith encourages worshipers to fight indifference "in the face of violations of human dignity" in times like these.

"Faith always requires us to let ourselves be healed and to convert from our individualism, both personal and collective."

Since the start of the pandemic, Francis has urged compassion for the homeless and resistance to politicians who prioritize economies ahead of health.