MIT scientists translated spider webs into music. It could help us talk to them

By David Williams, CNN 

4/14/2021

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have turned spider webs into music -- creating an eerie soundtrack that could help them better understand how the arachnids spin their complex creations and even how they communicate.

© From Isabelle Su and Markus Buehler/ACS Cross-sectional images (shown in different colors) of a spider web were combined into this 3D image and translated into music. Credit: Isabelle Su and Markus Buehler

The MIT team worked with Berlin-based artist Tomás Saraceno to take two-dimensional laser scans of a spider web, which were stitched together and converted into a mathematical model that could recreate the web in 3D in virtual reality. They also worked with MIT's music department to create the harplike virtual instrument.

"Even though the web looks really random, there actually are a lot of internal structures and you can visualize them and you can look at them, but it's really hard to grasp for the human imagination or human brain to understand all these structural details," said MIT engineering professor Markus Buehler, who presented the work on Monday at a virtual meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Listening to the music while moving through the VR spider web lets you see and hear these structural changes and gives a better idea of how spiders see the world, he told CNN.

"Spiders have very keen vibrational sensors, they use vibrations as a way to orient themselves, to communicate with other spiders and so the idea of thinking literally like a spider would experience the world was something that was very obvious to us as spider material scientists," Buehler said.

Spiders are able to build their webs without scaffolding or supports, so having a better idea of how they work could lead to the development of advanced new 3D printing techniques, he said.

They scanned the web while the spider was building it and Buehler compared it to a stringed instrument that changes as the structure becomes more complex.

"While you're playing the guitar, suddenly you're going to have new strings appear and emerge and grow," he said.

Buehler said they've recorded the vibrations spiders create during different activities, such as building a web, courtship signals and communicating with other spiders, and are using artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions.

"We're beginning to perhaps be able to speak the language of a spider," he said. "The hope is that we can then play these back to the web structure to enhance the ability to communicate with the spider and perhaps induce the spider to act in a certain way, to respond to the signals in a certain way."

He said that work is still in progress and that they've had to shut down their lab because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Buehler has been interested in the connection between music and materials on the molecular level for years and has used similar techniques to show the subtle differences between the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and between two different variants of the Covid-19 virus (you'll hear one through your left speaker and the other through the right).

In addition to the scientific value, Buehler said the webs are musically interesting and that you can hear the melodies the spider creates during construction.

"It's unusual and eerie and scary, but ultimately beautiful," he said.

Members of the team have done live musical performances by playing and manipulating the VR web, while musicians jam along on human instruments.

"The reason why I did that is I wanted to be able to transfer information really from the spider perspective, which is very atonal and weird and spooky, if you wish, to something that is more human," Buehler said.

IRS Failed to Collect $2.4 Billion in Taxes From Millionaires: Report

Yuval Rosenberg
March 15, 2021·


The Internal Revenue Service has failed to collect more than $38.5 billion from taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year — and more than $2.4 billion from taxpayers with incomes over $1.5 million, according to a new report from a Treasury Department watchdog highlighted by Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg’s Laura Davison reports:

“Auditors were only able to recoup about 39% of the more than $4 billion in unpaid taxes owed by a group of rich taxpayers with an average annual income of nearly $1.6 million, the report found. The findings suggest that the IRS should place more emphasis on a taxpayer’s income when determining whether to pursue an audit case, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in the report released Monday. …

“The findings are the latest in a series of government accountability reports that recommend the IRS do more to pursue high-income taxpayers after audit rates dipped to historic lows in recent years. The dearth of examinations has prompted Democrats in Congress to pursue legislation that would mandate higher audit levels of businesses and wealthy individuals.”

The watchdog report made seven recommendations that it said could help the IRS improve collection from wealthy taxpayers. It suggested, for example, that the agency could use income information to better identify taxpayers who can pay their delinquent taxes. The report found that many high earners owe little relative to their incomes, but said that the IRS does not prioritize income when deciding which cases to pursue, instead placing more significance on factors such as the dollar amount of the balance owed. “It is the IRS’s belief that it is effectively addressing noncompliance by high-income individuals by focusing on the size of the amounts owed,” the report said. “As subsequently shown, this assumption is faulty.”

IRS management agreed with just two of the seven recommendations but said it plans to evaluate its models and consider additional income factors to improve its ability to predict recovery of delinquent taxes.

IRS is probing the dark web to look for cryptocurrency and NFT tax evasion, says IRS commissioner

Robert Frank 
CNBC

4/14/2021

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said the U.S. fails to collect as much as $1 trillion in taxes owed each year, partially due to the explosion of cryptocurrencies.

The crypto world "is replicating itself constantly," Rettig said, who cited NFTs as an example.

Many NFT buyers are not aware that they have to pay a capital gains tax when they use appreciated crypto to make a purchase.

© Provided by CNBC

Tax evasion using cryptocurrencies is "replicating" with nonfungible tokens and other new crypto-related products, according to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Rettig said Tuesday the U.S. fails to collect as much as $1 trillion in taxes owed each year in part due to the explosion in cryptocurrencies, which are difficult for the agency to track and tax.

Rettig said the crypto economy — now valued at over $2 trillion globally — continues to expand, specifically mentioning NFTs, as an example.

"So now we have these nonfungible tokens, which are essentially collectibles in the crypto world," Rettig said. "These are not visible items by design. The crypto world is not visible."

"In the criminal context, the IRS criminal investigations, cybercrime unit has been spectacular operating in the dark web, engaging with cryptocurrency-related transactions," Rettig added.

Answering a question from Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio — who said he is working on a bill to require more reporting and disclosure around crypto transactions — Rettig noted that "absolutely, reporting with respect to cryptocurrencies would be important."

Cryptocurrencies are taxed by the IRS as capital assets, not currencies. Thus, holders of the cryptocurrency are required to pay capital gains taxes if they sell their crypto for a profit or use it for a purchase. Tax experts say many crypto holders are either unaware of the requirement or avoiding the tax.

Platforms such as Coinbase — which fought an IRS request for customer data in 2016 — now report some customer information to the IRS. But tax experts say clearer government regulation is needed to require more taxpayer disclosure.

As a sign of how important crypto tax evasion has become to the IRS, the agency added a question to the top of the Form 1040 — the main income and tax reporting form — asking: "At any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in virtual currency?"

NFTs have also exploded in value and popularity in recent months, raising a whole new set of tax questions.

NFT sales topped $2 billion in the first quarter in the platforms tracked by NonFungible.com. Although NFTs are purchased with crypto — usually ether — many U.S. NFT buyers are not aware they have to pay a capital gains tax when they use appreciated crypto to make a purchase.

Poll: Majority say higher income Americans should pay more in taxes

Gabriela Schulte 

THE HILL 

4/14/2021

A majority of voters believe higher-earning Americans should pay more in taxes, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.

© iStock Poll: Majority say higher income Americans should pay more in taxes

Fifty-four percent of registered voters in an April 9-12 survey said high-income earners should pay more in taxes while 8 percent said they should pay less and 38 percent said they already pay their fair share.

Eight percent of respondents said middle-income earners should pay more, 32 percent said they should pay less and 60 percent said they pay their fair share.

Nine percent of voters said low-income earners said they should pay more, 54 percent said they should pay less while 37 percent said they pay their fair share.

© Provided by The Hill

Seventy percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents said higher-earning Americans should pay more in taxes while 53 percent of Republicans said the wealthy pay their fair share.

An April 9-12 Hill-HarrisX survey found a plurality of voters, 46 percent, said the U.S. does not do enough to redistribute wealth.

According to a recent report, the top 1 percent of households per income do not report 21 percent of their income to the IRS while the bottom half of earners fail to report about 7 percent of their income.

The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 2,813 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 1.85 percentage points.

-Gabriela Schulte

A bill on studying reparations is getting a House vote 30 years in the making

Gregory Svirnovskiy 

VOX 4/14/2021

The House Judiciary Committee is preparing for a vote on reparations that has been 32 years in the making

.

© Alex Wong/Getty Images Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), 

the sponsor of HR 40, at a Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2021.

Wednesday, the committee will mark up and vote on HR 40 — a bill sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that would create a 13-person federal commission to study American slavery, its effects, and what the government might do to mitigate those effects. After completing its study, the commission would be required to issue recommendations on possible “forms of rehabilitation or restitution” — essentially, reparations — to Congress.

Reparations, generally interpreted as financial compensation to descendants of enslaved people, have historically received little support. According to a July 2020 Washington Post/ABC News poll, reparations aren’t overwhelmingly supported by Democrats: 53 percent of Democrats approve of them. And there’s almost no support for reparations — just 6 percent — in the GOP.

Generally, critics (including many GOP lawmakers) have argued reparations are prohibitively expensive, with Duke University economist William Darity Jr. and Artefactual founder Kirsten Mullen estimating they would cost the federal government between $10 trillion and $12 trillion. Other opponents claim they would force Americans with no history of benefiting from enslavement to pay for the moral crimes of others.

Supporters argue the federal government would be capable of making such a large payment, and say this latter view ignores the benefits created by generational wealth and the negative effects of present-day systemic racism that has its roots in slavery. Specifically, advocates for HR 40 are promoting the idea of reparations as an important tool, not only to finally atone for the moral ills of slavery, but also to close current gaps between white and Black Americans in things like wealth and homeownership.

For instance, the average white family is more than 10 times wealthier than an average Black family, and white non-college graduates have more wealth than Black college graduates, according an April 2020 report from the Brookings Institution on the need for reparations. As the Economic Policy Institute has explained, there is a similar gap between the wages of Black and white workers — making it extremely difficult for labor alone to close that wealth gap.

Some policy experts and lawmakers see reparations as an effective way around this problem — and have for some time. The earliest version of HR 40 was first introduced in the House by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) in 1989, before the youngest current member of the House was even born. The Korean War veteran and civil rights icon brought his proposal back up for consideration every year until he retired in 2017.

Now, Lee is leading the charge to push it through Congress. It is expected to face Republican opposition in committee, and — given that not all members of the slim Democratic House majority support the idea of reparations — it’s uncertain whether the bill will make it to a vote. Should a successful floor vote happen, Senate Democrats seem unlikely to find the 10 Republican votes they would need to pass it in the Senate, given the fact that GOP leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been open about their opposition to reparations in the past.

Still, that HR 40 will receive a committee vote for the first time in its history is a reflection of how attitudes toward reparations, and racial justice more broadly, are changing.

In 1999, just 19 percent of Americans in an ABC News poll approved of compensation for Black Americans. The July 2020 Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 31 percent of respondents now support reparations. As worldwide civil rights protests erupted following the killing of George Floyd, renewed interest was paid to the issue — and it became a topic of debate during the 2020 presidential race, with President Joe Biden’s campaign platform including the creation of a commission to study reparations.

That interest has been sustained. And now, after more than three decades spent languishing in the House, HR 40 will get a committee vote.

Briefly, what’s in HR 40, the House’s bill to study reparations

If passed, HR 40 would establish a “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” composed of 13 members, with three to be chosen by the president, three by the speaker of the House, one by the president pro tempore of the Senate, and another six by “major” civil rights groups “that have historically championed the cause of reparatory justice.”

The commission would be charged with determining institutional culpability against former enslaved Africans and their American descendants across the public and private sector. It would also be required to interrogate how practices such as redlining, educational funding discrepancies, and predatory financial practices — alongside enslavement — have exacerbated racial opportunity and wealth gaps.

At the conclusion of their work, the commission would then report “appropriate remedies” to Congress, based on its findings on institutional enslavement and racism.

Lee, the bill’s sponsor, told the New York Times she sees it as a step forward in addressing America’s problematic and racist past.

“We think it will be cleansing for this nation, and we think that it will be a step moving America forward to see us debate this question on the floor of the House,” Lee said.
HR 40 hopes to clarify the debate over whether reparations are a good idea

Ideological notions against reparations are still the norm. As HR 40 came up for a committee hearing in 2019, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he opposed reparations because “none of us currently living are responsible” for slavery. He further said landmark civil rights legislation in the 1960s and the election of President Barack Obama were examples of the US dealing with its “original sin of slavery.”

That’s where most Americans seem to be on the issue. Sixty-three percent of Americans oppose reparations, including a whopping 93 percent of Republicans, the Post/ABC poll found. It’s not popular.

But many supporters of reparations, and lawmakers like Lee, have argued that reparations are less about correcting a past wrong, and more about negating the past’s effect on the present. They tie the exclusion of Black people from the GI Bill, and the racist ways the construction of the highway system broke up Black communities, with present-day issues, including the use of cash bail and policing being overwhelmingly concentrated in majority-minority areas. The argument is that by compensating the Black population for a long history of exclusionary government policy, they can gain better housing, educational, and financial footholds to have full access to opportunity.

It’s important to note that HR 40 would not institute reparations — and that even if a commission were to recommend them, the federal government might not act on that recommendation. But its backers see it as a first step in the right direction.

“The centuries-long injustices of slavery and its legacy, fueling the persistence of racial inequality today, remain largely unaccounted for,” said Human Rights Watch advocate Dreisen Heath in a press release. “As states, cities, and other institutions pursue reckonings, Congress should step up to lead the nation in accounting and atoning for the ongoing impact of slavery. The committee vote on H.R. 40 is a crucial step in that direction.”

Some reparations advocates — including Duke University’s William Darity Jr. — have called for HR 40 to be further refined so that it might constitute a larger step toward reparations. Darity told the Washington Post the bill should specify exactly who would be eligible for any possible reparations, and should include the creation of a plan to narrow the racial wealth gap.

“Unless the markup process results in major revision of the bill, it will not propel our nation toward true reparations,” Darity told the Post.

At the moment, Biden has not outlined any further vision for reparations beyond what was in his platform; however, Lee said HR 40 has an ally in the president. After leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus met with Biden Tuesday, Lee told reporters that Biden indicated support for HR 40 and its study on reparations.

“We have heard from not only the president but the White House, and his team, that he is committed to this concept,” Lee said. “We are grateful for that because we are now doing something historically tomorrow that’s never been done.”

Overall, it’s clear that there remains — and will remain — a lot of debate as to whether reparations are a good idea, both in regard to their moral virtue and implementation. HR 40 aims to change that, by arming lawmakers with actionable data and research on the direct causes of historical racial opportunity gaps and the impacts they have on society today.

Liberals' bill on Indigenous rights getting pushback from Conservatives, First Nations critics

Olivia Stefanovich 

CBC 4/14/2021

A key element of the Liberal government's reconciliation agenda is facing resistance from Conservatives in the House of Commons — and some First Nations critics on the outside.

Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), is at the second reading stage and is being discussed this week by members of the standing committee on Indigenous and northern affairs.

The proposed legislation aims to implement the UN declaration by ensuring federal laws respect Indigenous rights.

Some First Nation critics say the bill doesn't go far enough and may end up restricting those rights.

"It doesn't seem like Canada has really learned its lesson from Oka to Wet'suwet'en to the Mi'kmaq fishermen," said Grand Chief Joel Abram of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians.

"Our first choice is to have it go back to the drawing board."

UNDRIP affirms the rights of Indigenous peoples to their language, culture, self-determination and traditional lands.

It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. Canada's Conservative government voted against it at the time, citing concerns about natural resources and land use — but then endorsed it in 2010.

In 2019, an NDP private member's bill to implement UNDRIP died on the order paper after Conservative senators — warning it could have unintended legal and economic consequences — slowed its progress. Last December, the Liberal government introduced a new form of the legislation.

Fear of 'veto' persists

Conservatives again are raising concerns — mainly over UNDRIP's requirement that governments seek "free, prior and informed consent" from Indigenous communities before pursuing any project that affects their rights and territory.

"When a First Nation says no to a project, does that mean it's dead?" asked Jamie Schmale, Conservative Crown-Indigenous relations critic, at Tuesday's standing committee hearing on Bill C-15.

"It leaves a lot of unanswered questions and potentially the courts to decide that definition."

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, legal counsel to the Assembly of First Nations, said those fears are misplaced.

"Consent is not a veto over resource development," Turpel-Lafond said.

© Derek Spalding/CBC Grand Chief Joel Abram of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians wants the proposed legislation to go back to the drawing board.

"What this is doing is saying we want to end the process of this very colonial approach to taking Indigenous peoples' lands, supporting projects and developments on those lands without their consent, engagement and involvement."

Human rights at stake, ITK president says

Turpel-Lafond said the language in the bill should be made clearer by, for example, replacing the word "discrimination" with "racism".

She also said the bill has promise and aims to close a gap by reinforcing existing rights that haven't been respected.

"The most important thing it does is it puts an obligation on Canada to conduct its policies and conduct its interactions with Indigenous peoples on the basis of recognizing Indigenous people have rights," Turpel-Lafond said.

"Since as long as there's been a Canada, it's been doing it the opposite way, which is denying that Indigenous peoples have rights and ... a very high-conflict relationship. The bill is meant to shift that."

In a statement to CBC News, Justice Minister David Lametti's office said the government remains open to any proposed improvements to the bill.

"Our government has been clear in recognizing the realities of discrimination and racism that Indigenous peoples face in Canada, and we continue to work in partnership with Indigenous peoples to find and implement concrete solutions to address them," said the statement.

Natan Obed is president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which co-developed the bill with the federal government. He told CBC News the legislation creates a new avenue for Indigenous people to seek justice in the courts.

"This legislation really is a test on whether or not specific political parties or specific jurisdictions accept that Indigenous peoples have human rights," Obed said.

"If governments are still in the place where they're fighting against Indigenous peoples rights, what they're really saying is that human rights apply to some of their constituency, but not all. I hope that political parties can understand that this is actually what is at stake here."

'You're going to see more conflict'

Russ Diabo, a member of the Mohawks of Kahnawake and a policy analyst, went to Geneva in the 1980s and 1990s to develop the declaration with the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

He said Canada's interpretation of UNDRIP doesn't advance the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and allows the government to keep the upper hand under the law.

"Bill C-15 is going to entrench all of that, the colonial status quo," Diabo said.

© CBC Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, legal counsel for the Assembly of First Nations, said claims that the bill might give Indigenous communities a veto over development projects are mistaken.

Diabo said the bill reinforces Canada's existing policies on modern treaties and self-government, which he believes are in breach of the UN declaration's standards.

That, he said, will make it harder for Indigenous communities to block resource projects they don't want.

"(UNDRIP) will be used domestically against land defenders and water protectors to say that they're acting outside of the law when they go and stop projects or activities that they feel are infringing or affecting their aboriginal treaty rights," Diabo said.

"You're going to see more conflict."

The provinces also could play spoiler and undermine the federal bill if they decline to pass their own laws on UNDRIP, since natural resources fall under their jurisdiction, Diabo said.

"It doesn't deal with provincial jurisdiction and that's going to be the big problem."

Half a dozen provinces already have asked the government to delay the bill over worries it could compromise natural resource projects.

NDP Premier John Horgan's government in B.C. is the only one so far that has passed a provincial law implementing the declaration.

More than 650 tech workers at The New York Times have formed a union to fight for more diversity, pay equity, and job security

kduffy@insider.com (Kate Duffy) 

4/14/2021

|

© Johannes EISELE / AFP The New York Times building. Johannes EISELE / AFP
More than 650 tech workers at The New York Times have formed a union called the Tech Times Guild.
The union said workers are facing "unexplained termination and opaque promotion processes."
It's organizing the formation with the NewsGuild union and awaiting recognition from the Times.

Tech workers at The New York Times on Tuesday announced they have formed a union and asked for recognition from the publication.

The union, called the Tech Times Guild, represents more than 650 employees who work for the digital side of the company in roles such as software engineers, data analysts and product managers.

The Tech Times Guild said in a statement on Twitter that it's organizing its formation with the NewsGuild of New York - an editorial union of more than 3,000 media workers at the Times, The Daily Beast, The Nation, and other media outlets.

Tech workers weren't included in the NewsGuild because they weren't allowed to join. The Tech Times Guild is looking to become a separate bargaining unit from the NewsGuild. It would communicate with the Times management independently.

"As of now, we face a number of challenges, including sudden or unexplained termination, opaque promotion processes, unpaid overtime, and underinvestment in diverse representation," the Tech Times Guild tweeted.

"Without a union, we lack the data or bargaining rights to address these issues," it said, adding that the tech workers will be able to build digital products and platforms in a company, which is more "equitable, healthy and just."

"At The New York Times, we have a long history of positive and productive relationships with unions, and we respect the right of all employees to decide whether or not joining a union is right for them," The New York Times said in a statement to Insider.

"We will take time to review this request and discuss it soon with representatives of the NewsGuild," it said, adding that the company wants to "make sure all voices are heard."

The forming of the Tech Times Guild comes three months after more than 200 Google employees formed a union to promote inclusivity, transparency, and ensure the company acts ethically. At Amazon, there was a historic push to form the company's first union in the US last month but workers voted against it on April 9th.

Daniel Dae Kim Says He Took ‘Drastic’ Pay Cut On ‘Hawaii Five-0’ After Starring On ‘Lost’
Corey Atad 

ET 

4




Daniel Dae Kim has always been serious about representation.

© Photo: Art Streiber / ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection/CP Images Daniel Dae Kim

In an interview with Vulture, the actor talked about his positive experience working on "Lost", as well as the trouble he later faced on "Hawaii Five-0".

"One thing that has never really properly been reported is the amount of pay cut I took to do 'Hawaii Five-0' from 'Lost'," he revealed. "It was drastic, and it was never made up."

RELATED: Daniel Dae Kim, Daniel Wu Offer Reward After Attack On Elderly Man

After starring in the remake of the classic TV series for seven seasons, Kim left the show due to the significant pay disparity between himself and co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan.

Kim had met with CBS to demand equal pay among the co-stars, including fellow star Grace Park.

"Make us all equal," he said, "Make us all the ensemble that I thought we always were, and get me back to where I was with 'Lost'."

He continued, "I didn't think that was an unreasonable position to take. It was very clear and simple. I was very transparent about it with my castmates, with my showrunner, with the studio from the start. It became much more dramatic because of the way that it didn't come together."



Gallery: 40 Comedians Reveal Their Favourite Jokes Ever (Reader's Digest Canada)


Ultimately Kim and Park both left the series and their relationships with the other co-stars suffered.

"I think any time you have an ensemble of actors, everyone's objectives are unique and individual," Kim said. "So it's hard for me to collectively say whether they were allies in this ... I do know that the way things got spun by the end changed my relationships with them."

RELATED: Daniel Dae Kim Calls On Other Communities To Speak Up Against Asian Hate During Time 100 Interview

Before "Hawaii Five-0", Kim had his breakout role as Jin on the mystery drama "Lost", revealing that at first he did express concerns to the show's creators about stereotypical portrayals of Koreans.

“When I read the script for the pilot, I knew this was a land mine,” Kim said. “My greatest fear was that the pilot of ‘Lost’ would air but the series would not — because if you were to see the pilot as the totality of my character, you would have been left with that stereotype.”

He continued, “While we were shooting, I remember sitting down with Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams and saying, ‘Guys, this character cannot progress in this same way.’ They basically said, ‘Trust us.’ I did, and it turned out for the best. As an Asian actor, you’re just looking to get hired. It’s about working within the system to try and change it when you have the opportunity. The character grew to a place where I don’t think you’d call him a stereotype by the end.”

Kim also talked about the work he did to make sure he had the character's accent as close to correct as possible.

“It is a funny thing about my accent. It’s not standard Korean (표준어) because I speak Busan satoori (사투리)," he explained. "So when we first started, because Yunjin spoke standard Korean, it was decided that I was going to try and change my Busan to standard Korean. So that, plus thinking about the acting of it and realizing I did have an American accent — it became this weird mix of things.”

RELATED: Daniel Dae Kim Says Anti-Asian Violence 'Has Gotten Worse, Much Worse' In Testimony At U.S. Congressional Hearing

Unfortunately, he still got hit with some criticism over the accent.

“There’s no doubt it stung when I felt like the people I was trying to respect and please the most were the ones who were critical of me,” Kim said. “It was painful because, as my career since then has borne out, I take a great deal of pride in being Korean American. I know that not every representation is 100 per cent something we can stand behind all the time, but I choose to look at things as whether they’re moving the needle of progress on a larger scale. I don’t think you can question the positive effect ‘Lost’ had on representation. You could even argue it has had an effect on the way we cast now, if you look at the copycat shows that came out as a result of ‘Lost'.”

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Liberal MP caught stark naked during House of Commons video conference

OTTAWA — A Liberal MP was caught wearing his birthday suit in the virtual House of Commons.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

William Amos, who has represented the Quebec riding of Pontiac since 2015, appeared on the screens of his fellow members of Parliament completely naked Wednesday.

A screenshot obtained by The Canadian Press shows him standing behind a desk between the Quebec and Canadian flags, his private parts hidden by what appears to be a mobile phone in one hand.

"This was an unfortunate error," Amos said in a statement sent by email Wednesday.

"My video was accidentally turned on as I was changing into my work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction. Obviously, it was an honest mistake and it won’t happen again.”

Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille, the party whip, raised the incident in a point of order after question period, suggesting a reminder about parliamentary decorum.

“It may be necessary to remind the members, especially the male ones, that a tie and jacket are obligatory, but so are a shirt, boxer shorts or pants,” she said in French.

“We have seen that the member is in great physical shape, but I think members should be reminded to be careful and control the camera well.”

Speaker Anthony Rota later thanked DeBellefeuille for her "observations" and clarified that while he had not seen anything, he checked with technicians and confirmed they saw something.

He reminded MPs to always be vigilant when they are near a camera and microphone.

Amos, the parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, was visible only to MPs and staffers on an internal video conference feed. Because he was not speaking during question period, his image did not show up on the public feed.

Liberal whip Mark Holland said Amos was "utterly mortified."

Holland said he was satisfied with the explanation from his caucus colleague.

"I don't think there was any ill intent … It's certainly an unfortunate circumstance," Holland said in an interview.

"I think it's part of the circumstances of the world we're in right now, where the line between our home and our office place is so blurred and trying to manage that is sometimes challenging," he added.

"This is a warning to everybody. You've got to really always assume that camera is on and be very careful any time you wander anywhere near that camera that you're dressed appropriately."

Asked if he'll be issuing a warning to all Liberal MPs to that effect, Holland said: "Oh, big time."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2021.

Catherine Lévesque and Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

How Ottawa's financial aid package for Air Canada compares to the auto sector bailout

The federal government's blockbuster financial aid plan for Air Canada amid the COVID-19 pandemic shares similarities — and stark differences — with its contribution to the bailout of two Detroit automakers during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Here's a comparison of the two multibillion-dollar rescue deals:


Pre-crisis standing

Canada's largest airline was on a much stronger financial footing ahead of the COVID-19 crisis than the car makers were before the financial meltdown.

Air Canada made a profit of $1.5 billion the year before the pandemic, whereas many large automakers regularly posted losses before the recession.

"Air Canada was in a great financial position," said Jacques Roy, a professor of transport management at HEC Montreal business school. "They had experienced five years of profits."

Yet the automotive sector had suffered from years of slumping sales.

Experts say the industry as a whole was in dire need of restructuring, including shrinking its manufacturing footprint, closing dealerships and discontinuing brands.

Cost cutting

The federal and Ontario governments rejected initial restructuring plans put forward by automakers, suggesting more cost reductions were needed before public dollars would be available.

However, Air Canada had already undergone aggressive cost cutting before striking a deal with Ottawa, said Robert Kokonis, president and managing director of Toronto-based aviation consulting firm AirTrav Inc.

"They embarked on major cost-cutting to extract not just low hanging fruit but tougher-to-get fruit from their operations," he said. "They went to aircraft leasing companies looking for deferrals, they asked for delayed deliveries, they laid off staff."

In contrast, Ottawa turned down the first appeal for aid from the automakers because there had not been enough concessions, Kokonis said.

Bailout vs. financial aid

Ottawa's pandemic rescue package for Air Canada is "probably as close to commercial terms as you're going to get," said Chris Murray of ATB Capital Markets.

As well as low-interest loans, the agreement will see the federal government take an equity stake in the airline but requires Air Canada to refund passengers for cancelled flights, cap executive compensation at $1 million and restore service to regional airports.

"You've got a lender that really is engaged in making sure Air Canada can resume service and ... the company is using this as a bridge to get back to normal operations."

The structure of the deal contrasts with the bailout offered to automakers, said Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

"There are more strings attached with respect to share buybacks and corporate compensation," he said. "Those are probably included because of the lessons learned during the financial crisis."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC).

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press

IT WAS A CROWN AND WAS PRIVATIZED TO AVOID THIS
Airline deal means taxpayers once again take a risk on corporate Canada
Don Pittis CBC

4/14/2021

© Chris Helgren/Reuters Sparse crowds at airports across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic have hurt the finances of Air Canada, but with roughly $6 billion in federal government support announced on Monday, there is every reason to think the airline can…

Once again taxpayers have stepped in to throw a multibillion-dollar lifeline to corporate Canada, but this time it looks as though Canadians may actually make money on the deal.

After a long and contentious negotiation, the federal government announced this week that it had struck a bargain to bail out Air Canada, imposing a strict series of conditions. It will provide refunds to ticket holders, support the aerospace industry, return service to regional airports and help ensure that the country's biggest air carrier can survive financially until Canadians start travelling again once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

You could see Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's eyes light up at Monday's late-night news conference when she heard the wording of a reporter's question about why taxpayers were "footing the bill" to refund Air Canada ticket holders.

"Taxpayers aren't footing the bill," Freeland said almost gleefully. "This is a loan facility, and the government of Canada fully expects to be paid back."
Taxpayer risk

The impression that this was mere corporate welfare was not just held among reporters suddenly coming to terms with the surprise deal, rumours of which only began to emerge late Monday afternoon. A Tuesday morning search on Twitter for "Air Canada" showed many angry tweets demanding why some other more worthy causes — from universal basic income to urban public transport — did not get the generous handout instead.

Of course, as in any government bailout — this one worth about $6 billion — taxpayers are taking a risk. In the uncertain world of commerce, there is always at least a small chance that a company will not be able to pay its bills, in which case Canadians will indeed be on the hook.

But having a backer like the Canadian government makes a corporate failure that much less likely. And along with offering repayable loans to the company, Canadians took a half-billion-dollar stake, buying shares in Air Canada at $23 each.

Despite a decline in share prices to about $26 when markets opened on Tuesday as investors assessed the deal, taxpayers were still in the money. And if, as most people expect, air travel returns to levels before COVID-19 once everyone has been vaccinated, taxpayers will see a windfall if shares head back toward a pre-pandemic $50 each.

While Freeland and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra fronted the news conference and soaked up the good publicity, people in the know say the hard-bargaining mastermind behind the deal was no politician. Like a poacher turned gamekeeper, deputy finance minister Michael Sabia used to be on the other side of the bargaining table, holding powerful corporate positions that include chief executive officer of Bell Canada and head of Quebec's giant pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

"I think a lot of the credit does go to Michael Sabia," said Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, noting that when Sabia was named deputy minister in December, Hyder sent him a note in the middle of the night offering advice.
'Michael gets it'

"His arrival there actually triggered a real negotiation and a real discussion and conversation that led to the successful conclusion of the agreement," Hyder said in a phone conversation on Tuesday. "I would say Michael gets it."

But it is clear that it's not just the business side of the deal that Sabia gets. By hammering out a bargain specifying that the money would have to be paid back before shareholders got dividends and before the executives could return to their multimillion-dollar salaries and bonuses, Sabia proved to be a shrewd political operator as well, cutting a deal that voters are likely to accept just before what many expect will be a federal election.

© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Deputy finance minister Michael Sabia, who was once CEO of Bell Canada, may keep a low profile, but his business skills are all over the Air Canada deal, observers say.

Not all previous corporate bailouts — including a purchase of shares in a troubled General Motors in 2009 by the federal Conservative government at the time — have been as successful as this one promises to be.

Times were different then, as a global financial meltdown created a persistent recession and industries had trouble climbing out of the hole. Also, taxpayers may not have got the best price when the government sold the shares before the 2015 election in a murky deal with Goldman Sachs to help bolster its claim of running a balanced budget.

According to Canada's auditor general and according to Mark Milke in a report for the Fraser Institute, taxpayers lost billions of dollars on the GM share deal.

But as in the GM deal, Hyder said, the government's calculation is not to make a short-term profit on shares, but, in this case, to support an entire air transport sector and aerospace sector and the many good jobs they provide. And while, like many in the private sector, he doesn't want to see long-term government ownership of the airline, there is a benefit to the government having "skin in the game" and a seat at the corporate table, Hyder said.

According to the International Monetary Fund, this recession really is different, and it recently altered its gloomy forecast made last autumn that the pandemic would cause lasting damage. Last week it predicted there would be few scars, especially in the world's richer economies.

As Sabia and Air Canada both recognized, the airline's problem was not a bad business model but a classic cash-flow problem, and by acting to plug that temporary shortage of cash, taxpayers and the national carrier are both very likely to benefit.

While Hyder sees the Air Canada deal as a good one, he believes that Sabia and Freeland have plenty more work ahead with other airlines and other sectors to help business restart the Canadian economy and return to profit.

"There's still much more to do here," he said.

Follow Don Pittis on Twitter @don_pittis