#REMOVE THE SECONDAMENDMENT

Biden pick for ATF pushes back against GOP senators — and disinformation

Dareh Gregorian 

President Joe Biden's choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, David Chipman, got a rough welcome Wednesday from Senate Republicans at a confirmation hearing, where he defended his statements about guns and pushed back against a social media disinformation campaign.© Provided by NBC News

"Buckle your seat belt. You want to be the head of the ATF. Hang on tight. They're coming after you, buddy," Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Chipman at the beginning of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "It's going to be rough at times."

Leadership of the ATF, which enforces gun laws, has become a political hot potato — the Senate has managed to confirm only one director in the last 15 years, who served in the Obama administration.

Chipman spent more than two decades with the ATF before he went to work with Giffords, a group that advocates for stricter gun laws, which is named for its founder, Gabby Giffords, a former lawmaker who was shot at a constituent event.

David Chipman at his confirmation hearing 

(Graeme Sloan / Sipa USA via AP)

Chipman pushed back against a right-wing social media campaign that accused him of having participated in the deadly ATF raid on a cult compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993. The disinformation campaign included a picture, supposedly of Chipman, posing with a gun in front of the smoldering rubble of the Branch Davidian compound.


"This is not me," Chipman said, adding that whoever the person in the picture is, "it's not an ATF agent."

Chipman said he was sent to Waco in May 1993 — a month after the end of the deadly siege — to join the investigation into what went wrong. "One of the reasons I was selected is because I had no involvement in the actual case that was being examined," Chipman said.

As he was testifying, reports started coming in of a mass shooting at a rail yard in San Jose, California. At least eight people were killed.

"I'm sorry to hear that news. I wasn't aware of that. If I'm confirmed as ATF director, one of our priorities at ATF will be focusing on gun trafficking, the unlawful transfer of legal guns to criminals, and perhaps in this case, a crime like this could be prevented," Chipman said.

WACO CAME ONLY MONTHS AFTER THE FATAL SHOOT OUT WITH WHITE SUPREMACIST SURVIVALIST/MILITA AT RUBY RIDGE, 'REMEMBER RUBY RIDGE' WAS HEARD JAN 6TH 

Republicans focused on Chipman's work on gun control, suggesting that it was disqualifying.

"Many see putting a committed gun control proponent like David Chipman in charge of ATF is like putting a tobacco executive in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services or antifa in charge of the Portland Police Department," said the committee's ranking member, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, pressed Chipman about comments he had made opposing legislation that would loosen regulations for silencers for firearms, which Lee sponsored. "You said, 'The only people that benefit from this bill are gun lobbyists and criminals,'" Lee recounted.

"There are legitimate reasons someone might want to protect their hearing," he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, focused on Chapman's remarks supporting a ban on AR-15s, which Biden has also called for.

"The AR-15 is one of, if not the, most popular rifles in America," Cruz said. "Your public position is you want to ban AR-15s, is that correct?"

"I support a ban," Chipman said, but "if I'm confirmed, I would simply enforce the laws on the books right now. There is no such ban on those guns."

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., made it clear after the hearing that he would oppose Chipman's nomination, referring to him as "Joe Biden's gun-grabbing nominee for the ATF."

"This is the last person who should be given any power," Cotton tweeted.

The Senate is split 50-50 between the two parties. Democrats could confirm Chipman without any Republican support if they remain united, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tiebreaking vote.

Volcano erupts in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A volcanic eruption in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain sent an ash cloud into the air that remained visible on satellite images hours later but the threat level after the late Tuesday explosive blast was reduced as activity quieted, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.

The observatory, in a statement Wednesday, said a 1-2 minute eruption of Great Sitkin Volcano began late Tuesday, resulting in an ash cloud that rose up to 15,000 feet above sea level. Since that eruption, seismicity had decreased and satellite images showed no additional ash emissions, the statement said. It noted that additional “explosive events are possible, but not certain.”

The observatory downgraded the volcano alert level from warning to watch and also reduced the aviation alert level.

The volcano is about 26 miles (42 kilometers) east of Adak and about 1,167 miles (1,878 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.

It covers most of the northern half of Great Sitkin Island and erupted at least three times during the last century, most recently in 1974, according to the observatory.

The Associated Press

GREENWASHING

Canada's oldest oil and gas trade association to drop 'oil' from its 

name in bid to upgrade image

Kyle Bakx 

CBC

© Kyle Bakx/CBC With its decision to rebrand, the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors joins several companies that have removed the word 'oil' from their name over the last few decades. The group will become the Canadian Association of Energy…

After 72 years, Canada's oldest oil and gas trade association is announcing a new brand and mandate on Thursday, including the removal of the word "oil" from its name.

The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) will replace "oilwell drilling" with "energy" to attract new members in a wider variety of fields, not strictly those involved in oilpatch drilling.

The new direction comes at a time when the sector is facing increasing pressure to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and transition to lower-emitting sources of energy.

CAODC member companies have already approved the new direction, although some grudgingly voted in favour of the name change.

"It seems a shame to me" to change the association's name, said Scott Darling, president of Performance Energy Services in Calgary. 

 

© Kyle Bakx/CBC Scott Darling, president of Performance Energy Services in Calgary, says 'it seems a shame' that CAODC has decided to change its name because he's proud to be part of the oil industry.

It's not that Darling doesn't believe in climate change or that he doesn't understand how the world is shifting to lower-emitting sources of energy, but he does feel pride in being part of the oil industry.

Not only does it support tens of thousands of families and bolster government coffers, but it provides a material used in countless products — from cars and computers to clothing and medical supplies.

"Quietly, people wish we didn't have to do this, but overtly everybody kind of feels that we do have to do something like that," he said, discussing the mood among member companies.

Darling's company could be considered more of an environmental than an oilpatch business, since all of his crews are currently focused on cleaning up old oil and gas wells.

Association's new branding questioned

Calgary-based CAODC heard concerns from members but said the new mandate will broaden the organization as the world turns to many sources of energy in the future, such as liquefied natural gas, hydrogen and geothermal. The group could also play a role in the growing carbon capture and storage industry.

"The demand for energy has never been higher, and the global marketplace has set a mandate for not only low carbon, renewable, clean alternatives, but for responsible and ethical processes throughout the production lifecycle," the association's president, Mark Scholz, said in a message to member companies

.

 CBC Mark Scholz is president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, which says its new mandate will broaden the organization as the world turns to many sources of energy in the future, such as liquefied natural gas, hydrogen and geothermal.

Over the last few decades, several companies have removed the word "oil" from their name. Using the term "energy" often doesn't mean a change in a company's operations and is just a euphemism for oil and natural gas, said Kathryn Harrison, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies environmental, climate and energy policy.

CAODC emphasizes its "role in fighting regulation and hostile opposition to the industry, so that gives me pause whether this is true diversification or whether this is embracing a euphemism 15 years later than everyone else that is actually intended to distract us from the carbon intensity of fossil fuels," she said.

Environmental pressure

Several large oil and gas companies faced pressure this week to improve their environmental performance.

A tiny activist investment firm formed less than six months ago won at least two seats on ExxonMobil's board on Wednesday, a sign that investors are increasingly willing to force companies to tackle climate change.

A group called Engine No. 1, had launched an activist campaign against Exxon in December, describing the company as a fossil-fuel dinosaur that lacked a coherent plan for surviving a global transition to cleaner energy sources.

© Kyle Bakx/CBC The new direction from CAODC comes at a time when the oil and gas sector is facing increasing pressure to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and transition to lower-emitting sources of energy.

It's the latest episode in a long journey by investors and analysts to focus on climate-change risks, both from a business case and a humanitarian one, said Rory Johnston, managing director and market economist at Price Street, an investment technology company in Toronto.

"Exxon has generally been known to be one of the laggards on climate policy and one of the companies that hasn't gone as far as others who are trying to proactively commit to energy transition policies," he said.

Royal Dutch Shell was ordered to cut its carbon emissions by net 45 per cent by 2030 by a Dutch court, in a case brought by climate activism groups.
Net zero goal

Meanwhile, in a presentation to investors on Wednesday, Suncor Energy said it is now committed to a net-zero-by-2050 carbon emissions target.

The new goal is an upgrade from its previous target set in 2015 to reduce emissions intensity from upstream operations by 30 per cent by 2030.

Suncor says it expects to cut greenhouse gas emissions through improvements at its oilsands operations and growth in its renewable fuels, electricity and hydrogen businesses.

"I hesitate to call it a plan because the details of what we're doing in 2044 or 2042 are not defined clearly, but we understand where all our emissions come from, we understand the technology sets that are required and we have specific initiatives underway that get us started on this," Suncor CEO Mark Little said in an interview.

The company still plans to increase oilsands production in the next five years.

"These big companies see the writing on the wall [that] if they're not part of the transition, they're going to be left behind, and they're not going to be part of the energy future that they want to be part of," said Warren Mabee, director of the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy in Kingston, Ont.

"If you harness your wagon to just oil and gas, in a decade or two you're going to find yourself a long way behind the pack" he said.

CAODC will be officially known as the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors after a formal announcement Thursday morning. Energy ministers from the Alberta, Saskatchewan and federal governments are scheduled as speakers.

Canada's environmental workforce grew by five per cent in 2020 — adding nearly 35,000 net new jobs — according to a report in March by ECO Canada, which also forecasts thousands more environmental job openings over the next five years.

Joe Biden's Buying Metals Abroad Could End Controversial Mining Projects

Meghan Roos

NEWSWEEK

26/5/2021

Officials within President Joe Biden's administration are working on a plan to collect the materials needed for energy-efficient vehicles without ostracizing environmentalists key to the Democratic voter base, who are often opposed to domestic mining projects, Reuters reported Tuesday.

YOU CAN NOT RECLAIM THIS ECO DISASTER

© FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images The mayor of Superior, Arizona told Newsweek she was "very disappointed" to learn that President Joe Biden's administration is considering collecting raw materials needed for electric vehicle production overseas rather than pursuing domestic mining opportunities. In the photo above, the Lavender Pit at Copper Queen Mine, which opened in 1877 and was run by the Phelps Dodge Corporation from 1879-1975, is seen in Bisbee, Arizona on July 24, 2020. 

SEE BISBEE MINING STRIKE BELOW

Instead of mining materials needed to build electric vehicles domestically, two unnamed administration officials told Reuters Biden will focus on purchasing the metals overseas and bring them into the U.S. Once the raw materials arrive, American workers will turn them into things like batteries, so electric vehicles can be built.

The approach deviates from former President Donald Trump's push to speed up domestic mining projects, which typically undergo a thorough environmental review to assess potential risks. Though environmental concerns surrounding proposed mining projects differ from site to site, the procedures used to pull materials out of the ground often pose problems for the companies hoping to move their projects forward.

"It's not that hard to dig a hole. What's hard is getting that stuff out and getting it to processing facilities," one administration official told Reuters. "That's what the U.S. government is focused on."

Though one of the unnamed officials told Reuters the plan was designed in part to avoid butting heads with concerned environmentalists, the strategy has already received criticism from American mining advocates, who say domestic mining projects are necessary to some of the administration's other goals, particularly in energy production.

Rich Nolan, the president and CEO of National Mining Association, said in a statement shared with Newsweek that "made-in-America must include mined-in-America."

"Whether it's infrastructure, reshoring industry and critical supply chains, creating high-paying, stable jobs, or supporting the pivot to EVs and electrification," Nolan said, "U.S. mining is essential to every dimension of the administration's climate and economic agenda."

He emphasized that people should not lose sight of the big picture.

"Sourcing the minerals the world needs to transform our transportation and energy sectors isn't a case of 'either-or—it's 'and,'" Nolan said. "We need to work closely with allies on finding secure, responsible supplies, we need to encourage recycling, and we must encourage mining at home that develops our vast resources under world-leading environmental and labor standards."

The member of a labor union that supported Biden during his campaign for president and has worked with Rio Tinto, a mining company looking into a potential copper mining project in Arizona, also voiced support for keeping mining jobs in the U.S. instead of collecting raw materials overseas.

"Let's let Americans extract these minerals from the earth," the union member told Reuters.

The copper mine of interest to Rio Tinto near Superior, Arizona, is one such project that has generated debate among mining advocates and environmentalists. Known as Resolution Copper, the proposed project could meet about 25% of the total U.S. copper demand, according to project advocates. Copper is an essential material in the making of electric vehicles that is expected to gain in value as countries all over the world switch to electric vehicles.

THEY DRIVE THESE IN CUBA TOO

© Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images An antique car sits outside a cafe on April 22, 2021 in downtown Superior, Arizona. The town is at the center of a debate regarding a proposed copper mine, which is estimated could supply about 25% of the copper demand in the U.S. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Rio Tinto has been involved in the application process for years to secure the necessary permits during Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. But Resolution Copper was most recently placed on hold by Biden in response to an economic impact review that was published during Trump's final days in office.

While some Superior residents have said the project could bring economic opportunity to the region, opponents have questioned how the project may impact sites of cultural significance to local Native American tribes. Critics who oppose the project on environmental grounds have also raised concerns about the block caving method proposed for use at the mine site.

Henry Munoz, the chair of the Concerned Citizens and Retired Miner's Coalition who spent much of his career as a miner, recently told Newsweek the block caving method is concerning to him for a drought-ridden region that has in recent years struggled with water shutoffs.

"This block cave is very destructive, and it uses a lot of water," Munoz said. "I'm not against the mine, I'm against the method."

Roger Featherstone, the director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, told Newsweek last month that concern over the mine's anticipated water use is one of "a ton of reasons" why he is opposed to the project moving forward. Among the reasons he listed are concerns for nearby sites important to local Native tribes and his belief that the project's estimated economic impact on Superior's community has been overestimated.

In a statement shared with Newsweek, a Resolution Copper spokesperson reiterated the project's potential copper supply, and said the ongoing permitting process means that, even if the project is eventually approved, miners are still "years away" from beginning work.

"Resolution can supply up to a quarter of the United States' copper demand to help support a low carbon future, creating high-quality jobs and significant economic growth in Arizona," the spokesperson said. "We're years away from securing the permits required for mining activity, and from any decision by the partners to invest in developing this project fully."

The spokesperson said project advocates are continuing to consult with local community members and Native tribes in the area "to guide further shaping of the project, minimize impacts and build on the benefits it will deliver."

© Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images On Earth Day, a partially completed copper mine sits above Oak Flats, considered sacred ground to the San Carlos Apache, on April 22, 2021, in the Tonto National Forest outside of Superior, Arizona. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

"Resolution Copper will continue to engage with Tribes and community members as we follow the permitting process set out by the US government towards completing the Land Exchange," the spokesperson said, "which passed Congress with bipartisan support after nearly a decade of public consultation."

Superior Mayor Mila Besich, who has been an advocate for the Resolution Copper project, told Newsweek she was "incredibly disappointed" to learn that the Biden administration is pushing to cultivate raw materials overseas rather than in domestic mines.

"It appears that the Biden administration is not going to pay attention to domestic mineral production for communities like Superior," Besich said. "Arizona's copper corridor is part of that global supply chain, and developing our natural resources—not only for our national defense, but the global economy—is critically important."

Besich said the news was especially "frustrating" in light of the multi-step permitting process that Resolution Copper has been going through for years, which she said is designed "to say that we can open mines and operate them safely in America."

"Today's news is just very, very disappointing," she said.

Bisbee Deportation - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisbee_Deportation

• Overview
• Strike
• Background
• Deportations
• Aftermath
• Prosecution
• See also
• Further reading

The town of Bisbee had about 8,000 citizens in 1917. The city was dominated by Phelps Dodge (which owned the Copper Queen Mine) and two other mining firms: the Calumet and Arizona Co., and the Shattuck Arizona Co. Phelps Dodge was by far the largest company and employer in the area; it also owned the largest hotel in town, the hospital, the only department store, the town library, and the town newspaper, the Bisbee Daily Review.

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

Arizona History: The 1917 Bisbee ‘Deportation’ Of Striking ...

https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2018/07/11/arizona-history-the...

2018-07-12 · Arizona History: The 1917 Bisbee ‘Deportation’ Of Striking Miners July 11, 2018 Albert Vetere Lannon With the controversy today about immigration, it might be worth remembering that, on this date 101 years ago, mine owners, law enforcement and deputized vigilantes rounded up and “deported” some 1200 copper miners from Bisbee, …

• Estimated Reading Time: 7 mins

July 12, 1917: The Bisbee Deportation | Zinn Education Project

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/the-bisbee-deportation

2015-07-12 · The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal deportation of more than 1,000 striking mine workers (IWW-led strike), their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 vigilantes. Striking miners and others being deported from Bisbee on the morning of …

Historian Erik Loomis on the Bisbee Deportation of 1917 | UAWD

https://uawd.org/historian-erik-loomis-on-the-bisbee-deportation-of-1917

2020-07-13 · By June 27, about 50% of Bisbee miners were on strike and that number soon rose to 85%, as workers from other companies joined the strike, making the same demands on their own employers. Phelps-Dodge and the smaller operations in Bisbee decided to use the war as a pretext to crack down on the Wobblies once and for all.

July 12, 1917 – Bisbee, Arizona Deportation of Striking ...

https://legallegacy.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/july-12-1917-bisbee...

2018-07-12 · July 12, 1917 – Bisbee, Arizona Deportation of Striking Workers by Local Vigilantes. Posted on July 12, 2018by rhapsodyinbooks. On this day in history, 1,186 men were herded into boxcars by an armed vigilante force and taken from Bisbee, Arizona to be abandoned across the New Mexico border. Arizona had a number of large copper mining operations in the early 1900s.

• Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M DEATH BY POWER FAILURE

Texas missing chance to avert deadly blackouts, experts say

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Elzie Ford lost power in his freezing home for nearly a week during February’s catastrophic blackouts in Texas. By the time the 68-year-old widower was found on the floor, his hands were purpled with frostbite. He died the next day.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

“The whole thing was a train wreck from day one, pretty much," said Larry Ford, his son.

Three months later, Texas' first pass at a fix is almost out of time: Only days remain for state lawmakers to make good on promised overhauls following one of the largest power outages in U.S. history, when more than 4 million customers lost heat after an artic blast buckled the state's electric grid.

But there are worries that booming Texas may come up short of stabilizing power and averting future blackouts. Concessions to oil and gas interests have reduced the scope of weatherization mandates. The threat of hefty fines would be left up to Texas regulators who've long been criticized as cozy with industry operators. Nothing is on the table that would add more power capacity to one of America's fastest-growing states.

There also remains a fading but continued effort to push more costs onto renewable energy generators, though frozen wind turbines and iced solar panels were not, as some GOP lawmakers have falsely claimed, a primary driver of the blackouts.

“It's hard to see how this provides full coverage of the winterization that we need,” said Daniel Cohan, a professor environmental engineering at Rice University.

Any changes to Texas' beleaguered power grid must reach Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's desk by Sunday.

Energy experts who have criticized Texas' previous lapses in protecting the grid say that despite shortcomings, there is progress in legislation that is likely to reach Abbott. They point to power plants that would be winterized, new oversight and improved coordination when a crisis hits. But worry remains that it does not go far enough after America's proud energy capital couldn't keep the lights on.

Republicans, who boast about keeping regulation low in Texas, have defended the response.

“When we started out we said we were going to fix it. And I think we've come a long way toward doing that,” said Republican state Rep. Chris Paddie, who has steered the bills in the Texas House.

The freeze and ensuing blackout killed at least 151 people across Texas, according to state health officials, a tally that is certainly an undercount. Hypothermia was the most common cause of death, while carbon monoxide poisoning killed others who sought warmth from cars and outdoor grills. Lawsuits against electric providers have stacked up, including one from Larry Ford, who said icy roads around the rural town of Whitney prevented him from checking on his father sooner.

Fallout from the outages has slowed since a burst of firings and resignations of officials involved. Attention to the blackouts has also dimmed in the state Capitol as GOP lawmakers have raced to pass staunchly conservative laws over abortion, guns and voting restrictions in the final weeks.

Proposals to change the oversight of Texas' biggest electric grid — which powers 90% of the state and is cut off from the rest of the U.S. — and impose steep fines on power plants that don't winterize equipment have broad support. Abbott, whose hand-picked energy regulators stepped down under pressure, has demanded that power producers winterize.

But that is not likely to result in mandates to protect every natural gas wellhead or pipeline in Texas from freezes. The most comprehensive bill, Senate Bill 3, would instead leave it up to regulators to decide which ones are essential and then impose fines for failing to protect them.

Oil and gas executives have fought against weatherizing all natural gas infrastructure as excessive. The Dallas Fed put the cost of winterizing equipment between $20,000 to $50,000 per well.

During February's storm, demand for heat soared as temperatures plunged. Roughly a quarter of Texas’ natural gas supply was knocked off line. Failures by fossil fuel plants, including natural gas facilities, contributed twice as many outages as solar and wind generators, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator.

One penalty would be $5,000 a day, which Democrats and critics have argued could make it cheaper for operators to pay than to winterize equipment. “It leaves a huge amount of latitude, and historically, regulators have erred on the side of being too lax when given broad latitude,” Cohan said.

The efforts to limit the weatherization of natural gas sources has played out as some Republicans are trying to push more costs onto the renewable energy industry in Texas, which leads the nation in wind energy production and provides more than one-fifth of the state's electricity.

Republican state Rep. Kelly Hancock, who has pushed for requiring renewable operators to pay for backup resources, called accusations that he was using the blackout to hurt renewables “silly” and defensive. Texas lawmakers have generally been supportive of the wind industry, a group that Hancock says includes himself.

“I don't really care where the power comes from. I'm neutral when it comes to generation," Hancock said. “But I'm not neutral in making sure that it's stable.”

___

Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

Paul J. Weber, The Associated Press

FEMICIDE & MISOGYNIST REGIME OF ALMO

Serial killer case shows weakness of Mexico investigations

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A suspected serial killer in Mexico was only caught after years of alleged crimes because of the identity of the final dismembered victim: the wife of a police commander.

Without proper funding, training or professionalism, prosecutors in Mexico have routinely failed to stop killers until the bodies pile up so high they are almost unavoidable. In 2018, a serial killer in Mexico City was caught only after he was found pushing a dismembered body down the street in a baby carriage.

A suspect authorities have identified only as “Andrés” is accused of killing and dismembering a 34-year-old woman named Reyna, who ran a small cellphone shop, on May 14. Authorities can't reveal the full names of the suspect and victims under Mexican law.

Investigators found women's shoes, makeup and lists of names at the home of the 72-year-old former butcher, and thousands of pieces of bones buried under the floor at the home in the working class Mexico City suburb of Atizapan.

They also found several IDs belonging to women who disappeared as long as five years ago, and Reyna's carefully sectioned fileted body parts, a bloody hacksaw and a knife on a basement table.

Sergio Baltazar, the lawyer for the family of victim, says that Reyna's husband, Bruno, had the same frustrating experience as most Mexicans when he went to prosecutors' offices after his wife went missing.

“The detectives really let him down,” said Baltazar. “They didn't want to help him.”

But as a police commander, Bruno had means at his disposal that most Mexicans don't. With prosecutors unwilling to help, he accessed police surveillance cameras.

“Bruno did a lot of the investigative work on his own,” Baltazar said.

Reyna had been scheduled to take Andrés, a family friend, with her on a semiweekly trip to a downtown wholesale market to get supplies for her shop.

Andrés, who the family called “El Viejo,” “The Old Man,” was considered kind of a charity case by the couple and their children. They invited him into their house and fed him. He was to help Reyna carry supplies back from the market.

When Reyna failed to return home, Bruno, the husband, called Andres, who said he hadn't seen her, and that she had never shown up for the shopping trip.

But police cameras showed Reyna entering the street where Andrés lived, and never exiting.

Two days later, growing increasingly worried, Bruno showed up at Andrés' house with Reyna's brother. He had police stationed near by.

The old man got nervous, but allowed Bruno into the house, telling him he wouldn't find anything. And at first he didn't.

But then Bruno dialed Reyna's cell phone number, and heard it ringing below, in what turned out to be a makeshift basement with a narrow entrance. He discovered what remained of the body.

Andrés tried to run, but the waiting police swooped in.

Baltazar said Andrés initially admitted to some murders, but then clammed up.

“He says there are five that he remembers, but then when they showed him the notebooks (with lists of names) he says he doesn't remember,” Baltazar said. But “he does say he made recordings” of the killings.

While prosecutors have not ventured a guess on the number of victims, the ID cards, the names found in handwritten notations at the house and bone fragments suggest it may reach 15 or more.

As the lawyer for the victim's family, Baltazar wants prosecutors to investigate possible accomplices, given the suspect's age and physical condition. “It is hard to believe he had the strength to do this himself. There were probably accomplices.”

There's not much chance of that; in the few cases where they catch a culprit, prosecutors in Mexico seem happy to hang as many deaths on a single suspect as they can. For victims' activists like María de la Luz Estrada, who heads the National Observatory on Women's Killings, it seems like investigators sometimes favor lone serial killer theories as an easy way out of investigating more.

“Talking about serial killers in the context of so much impunity worries me, because what we have seen is that they don't investigate,” Estrada said.

But if prosecutors are slow, inmates at an overcrowded prison almost settled the matter; Andrés had to be transferred to another prison this week after inmates at the first facility tried to kill him.

___

AP Writer Maria Verza contributed to this report

Mark Stevenson , The Associated Press

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M MI$OGYNY
Bill Gates’ money manager created ‘culture of fear’ for staff, says report

Guardian staff 33 mins ago


The man responsible for managing the vast majority of billionaire Bill Gates’ fortune has been the subject of claims including racist remarks, showing nude pictures of women to his staff and making sexist comments, the New York Times has reported.

In an extensive investigation the newspaper said that Michael Larson, who runs Cascade Investments, had created a “culture of fear” where the employee abuses had occurred. Cascade’s sole function is to manage the fortune of Gates and Melinda French Gates, who have turned their wealth into a powerhouse of global philanthropy but are now divorcing.

Related: When rich people divorce: what does the future hold for Bill and Melinda Gates?

French Gates and Gates have said they are continuing their work at the foundation. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives,” French Gates tweeted on 3 May.

Her divorce petition said the couple’s marriage was “irretrievably broken”, but also indicated that the pair had inked a “separation contract” that ironed out several potential points of contention. But the couple were not able to avoid feverish press scrutiny, including on Gates’ behavior and his links to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein

.

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Michael Larson in July 2008.

The newspaper, which said it had interviewed numerous former Cascade employees, reported that Larson had “judged female employees on their attractiveness, showed colleagues nude photos of women on the internet and on several occasions made sexually inappropriate comments. He made a racist remark to a Black employee.”

It added: “He bullied others. When an employee said she was leaving Cascade, Mr Larson retaliated by trying to hurt the stock price of the company she planned to join.”

In a statement to the newspaper, a spokesman for Cascade said: “During his tenure, Mr Larson has managed over 380 people, and there have been fewer than five complaints related to him in total … Any complaint was investigated and treated seriously and fully examined, and none merited Mr. Larson’s dismissal.”

Cascade is also referred to as Bill and Melinda Gates Investments.

Larson told the Times: “Calling BMGI a toxic work environment is unfair to the 160 professionals who make up our team and our culture.”

Courtney Wade, a spokeswoman for French Gates, said: “Melinda unequivocally condemns disrespectful and inappropriate conduct in the workplace. She was unaware of most of these allegations given her lack of ownership of and control over BMGI.”

'Your Social Media Apps are Not Listening to You': Tech Worker Explains Data Privacy in Viral Twitter Thread
Sara Santora 

NEWSWEEK

27/5/2021

Privacy tech worker Robert G. Reeve took to Twitter on Tuesday to share that he'd been served an ad for a brand of toothpaste his mother uses. Coincidence? Definitely not.

© Chesnot / Contributor/Getty Social Media Apps

Reeve had just returned from a weeklong stay at her home. But before people could use this as yet another example of phones listening in on conversations, Reeve put together a now-viral Twitter thread explaining how digital ads really work.

"I'm back from a week at my mom's house and now I'm getting ads for her toothpaste brand, the brand I've been putting in my mouth for a week," he tweeted. "We never talked about this brand or googled it or anything like that. As a privacy tech worker, let me explain why this is happening."

I'm back from a week at my mom's house and now I'm getting ads for her toothpaste brand, the brand I've been putting in my mouth for a week. We never talked about this brand or googled it or anything like that.

As a privacy tech worker, let me explain why this is happening. 🧵— Robert G. Reeve (@RobertGReeve) May 25, 2021

He explained that the idea of social media apps listening to private conversations is a "conspiracy theory." The fact is, he says, social media apps, internet browsers and cellular devices don't have to listen because the data freely handed to them on a minute-by-minute basis is "way cheaper and way more powerful."

"Your apps collect a ton of data from your phone," he said. "Your unique device ID. Your location. Your demographics. Weknowdis [sic]."

Purchases, browser history, etc., are all data that is bought and sold by aggregators. And because people tend to use the same email and phone number for their social media accounts as they do for online retailers, rewards programs, etc., aggregators can match an individual's purchases to their social accounts to create a more holistic profile of the individual. However, it becomes much more complex, and perhaps much scarier, than that.

"If my phone is regularly in the same GPS location as another phone, they take note of that," he said. "They start reconstructing the web of people I'm in regular contact with. The advertisers can cross-reference my interests and browsing history and purchase history to those around me. It starts showing ME different ads based on the people AROUND me."

The advertisers can cross-reference my interests and browsing history and purchase history to those around me. It starts showing ME different ads based on the people AROUND me.
Family. Friends. Coworkers.— Robert G. Reeve (@RobertGReeve) May 25, 2021

He explained that even though this aggregation can sometimes lead to an individual receiving an ad he or she doesn't want, the ad still pertains to someone in that individual's circle. This leads to a conversation about a product, which can still drive conversion.

"It never needed to listen to me for this," Reeve said. "It's just comparing aggregated metadata."

Though this research is readily available, Reeve said in the thread that people don't want to read it.

"We have decided our privacy just isn't worth it. It's a losing battle. We've already given away too much of ourselves," he said.

"So. They know my mom's toothpaste. They know I was at my mom's. They know my Twitter. Now I get Twitter ads for mom's toothpaste. Your data isn't just about you. It's about how it can be used against every person you know, and people you don't. To shape behavior unconsciously."


So. They know my mom's toothpaste. They know I was at my mom's. They know my Twitter. Now I get Twitter ads for mom's toothpaste.

Your data isn't just about you. It's about how it can be used against every person you know, and people you don't. To shape behavior unconsciously.— Robert G. Reeve (@RobertGReeve) May 25, 2021



He then encouraged his followers to block every app's ads.

People had mixed reactions to the breakdown Reeve provided. Some people thought the thread was articulate and worth sharing.

"Finally! An excellent thread explaining why your phone isn't listening to you, but sometimes feels like it is," said author and journalist Jamie Bartlett.

Finally! An excellent thread explaining why your phone isn’t listening to you, but sometimes feels like it is. https://t.co/VVZMUcTZsL— Jamie Bartlett (@JamieJBartlett) May 26, 2021

Said another Twitter user: "Social media is free for the users because we aren't their customers, we are the product."


Social media is free for the users because we aren't their customers. We are ✨ the product ✨ https://t.co/liF8IAUhKt— heriya manawari (@sheriyazaki) May 26, 2021

Others, however, still had their doubts.

"I just don't buy that it's always a coincidence," one user replied. "I mentioned a certain product out loud one day and got ads for that product the next day. Even if it's just the precision of some algorithm, it's still weird."

Someone commented back: "You see hundreds if not thousands of ads a day and don't think anything of it. You just happen to notice the ones that feel coincidental because our brains are designed for pattern recognition. Hitting [the] right people at the right time is what the ad tech industry is all about."

You see hundreds if not thousands of ads a day and don't think anything of it. You just happen to notice the ones that feel coincidental because our brains are designed for pattern recognition. Hitting right people at the right time is what the ad tech industry is all about.— Joshua Belhumeur (@goodhumeurman) May 26, 2021

Another skeptical tweeter said: "Alright, if phones don't listen in, explain this one to me: I never talk about any sort of family/mental health issues anywhere online. One day, I had a rather long conversation with my sister about these things. Not long after, EVERY SINGLE ad on insta [sic] was about remote therapy."

Data privacy and data aggregation are complex issues that involve a lot of moving pieces. So, don't be shocked to encounter a toothpaste ad after reading this article. For more detailed information, read the full thread.

Diet Culture Is Deadly — & Profitable. Elle Fanning Wants To Talk About It

Mirel Zaman 

Journalist Jessica Wapner was researching body heat when she first came across the mention of 2,4-dinitrophenol, known as DNP. The chemical had been linked to several deaths during World War I; it changes how cells expel energy, spikes body temperature, and, essentially, cooks people from the inside out. Wapner continued looking into the drug, and what she learned was as fascinating to her as it was disturbing. DNP’s toxicity had been well-established for a century, and yet it was sold online, and a small but significant number of young people continued to experiment with — and die from — it.

 

© Provided by Refinery29 Mandatory Credit: Photo by David Buchan/Variety/Shutterstock (10529175p) Elle Fanning ‘The Great’ TV Show, HULU, TCA Winter Press Tour, Panels, Los Angeles, USA – 17 Jan 2020

Why, then, would anyone take DNP? Before killing people, the drug could help them lose weight.

Wapner wrote an article about DNP for The Daily Beast, entitled “The Deadly Internet Diet Drug That Cooks People Alive.” Soon after, Elle Fanning was sent the article. The actor had recently launched her production company, Lewellen Pictures, alongside her sister Dakota. The pair wanted to experiment with podcasts in addition to movies and TV projects, and Wapner’s article seemed like a perfect fit.

“It just struck me. It’s also so well-written,” Fanning tells Refinery29. “So I came on, and Jessica and I and everyone involved had such amazing talks — we all kind of opened up about all of our struggles that we have with body image.” Because ultimately, the podcast, called One Click (as in: one click on the internet can change your life forever), has as much to do with society’s uneasy relationship to weight and unhealthy fixation on weight loss as it does with DNP. “Obviously there are so many drugs like this out there that are so harmful. People were preying on other people’s insecurities — that’s really what’s happening here,” Fanning says. “The internet or whoever wants to keep us insecure and hating ourselves so they can profit off of it. And I think that was such a chilling idea.”

To create the podcast, Wapner expanded her original article, which she now calls “an overture,” by re-investigating DNP’s past and present. “We’ve done so much more investigating about how DNP entered the world in the first place — and repeatedly over time. Like, how did a banned substance come back again? Those stories have been very surprising and I feel very excited about the reporting that we did to that end,” Wapner says.

Fanning narrates each episode. “It’s been really thrilling,” the actor says. “Even though it’s investigative, there’s a mystery to it — but then also we’re dealing with real people. This is really happening. So it has to be handled with care.” At the bottom of the first episode, Fanning notes that some listeners may be curious and compelled the drug themselves, and implores them not to. After hearing about how DNP kills people — painfully and quickly — it’s almost inconceivable that anyone would be tempted by it, until you realize that many of the young people who took the drug knew that an overdose would be fatal; the promise of easy weight loss still won out.

That deadly desire to lose weight will be explored in depth in future episodes. “There’s a lot to do with body image, and understanding why certain thought patterns can have such a grip on us,” Wapner says. “You think, ‘Well, gosh, I’m a smart, thoughtful, capable, human being. Why do I fall prey to this? Why do I still feel this way about my body?’” she says. “We have a lot of voices coming up in upcoming episodes that really blow the doors wide open on the history of these kinds of thought patterns and why you can’t just say everyone should feel good about their bodies, you know? Because then it’s like, ‘Well, what’s wrong with you for not feeling that way?’”

© Provided by Refinery29

“I compare myself to others all the time,” Fanning adds. “I compare my body to others… Especially growing up in the public eye, when you’re looking at yourself in photos and going through puberty and your hips are widening, and you’re like, God, my thighs are bigger than this person’s thighs. It can be so all-consuming, you know? You can go down that rabbit hole of just constantly harping on what you’re not.” She points out that the internet perpetuates these issues in more ways than one. Our social media feeds show us image after edited image of unattainable bodies, priming us to be vulnerable when a targeted ad pops up to sell us a quick-fix weight loss product — like DNP.

But Fanning says that one of the most surprising things she’s learned while working on this project is how difficult it is to catch the people responsible for illegally selling DNP. “People can’t wrap their head around how hard it is to catch the people that are doing this. It’s frustrating because you can’t necessarily lead it back to just one person; it’s become a global situation,” Fanning says.

Wapner says there are many parts to the story they’re telling on the One Click podcast: why it’s so hard to stop the sale of DNP in particular; the role the internet plays in the sale of dangerous products like this; and the factors that can warp a person’s body image and make them turn to a deadly drug. The podcast does not shy away from the heaviness of the subject matter; early in the first episode, one family member of a person who died after taking DNP breaks down crying, and asks to stop recording. But, that only confirms how important the message behind One Click is, and how it goes beyond the story of this specific diet drug. “If it’s not DNP, it would be something else,” Wapner says. “So what brings people to it in the first place?”

The first two episodes of One Click, Season One are available on Apple Podcasts, Audacy, Spotify and everywhere podcasts are available. New episodes of the eight-episode season will be available every Thursday.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Elle Fanning Is Going To Wreck You In New Movie

The F-Factor Diet Controversy, Explained

Ashley Graham's New Collab Celebrates Body Hair

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M IS CORRUPTION

U.S. charges ex-Austrian bank CEO in Odebrecht bribery scheme

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors said the former chief executive of an Austrian bank was arrested on Tuesday and charged with involvement in a long-running bribery and money-laundering conspiracy involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA.

© Reuters/AMANDA PEROBELLI The corporate logo of the Odebrecht SA construction conglomerate is pictured at its headquarters in Sao Paulo

Peter Weinzierl and co-defendant Alexander Waldstein, both of Austria, were accused of conspiring from 2006 to 2016 with Odebrecht and others to launder money in a scheme involving the use of slush funds to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to public officials.

Weinzierl is a former chief executive of Meinl Bank, later renamed Anglo Austrian AAB Bank, and a deputy chairman at the House of Julius Meinl, according to Meinl's website.

The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York said Weinzierl was arrested in the United Kingdom pursuant to a U.S. request while Waldstein, an officer at Weinzierl's bank, remained at large. Both were also directors at an affiliated bank in Antigua, the office said.

Lawyers for both defendants could not immediately be located. Meinl did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside U.S. business hours.

Prosecutors said the defendants and their co-conspirators used fraudulent transactions and sham agreements to move more than $170 million from New York bank accounts through their bank, and to offshore accounts secretly controlled by Odebrecht.

According to prosecutors, some suspect payments went to government officials in Brazil, Mexico and Panama, and Odebrecht evaded more than $100 million of Brazilian taxes by improperly deducting fraudulent payments from reported profits.

Both defendants were charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with two money laundering counts and one conspiracy count, while Weinzierl was also charged with a money laundering spending offense.

In December 2016, Odebrecht and its parent Braskem SA, Brazil's largest petrochemicals company, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $3.5 billion to settle bribery-related charges by U.S., Brazilian and Swiss regulators.

Odebrecht changed its name in December to Novonor SA.

The case is U.S. v Weinzierl et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 20-cr-00383.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)