RIPS OFF HOLY BLOOD HOLY GRAIL

QAnon cultists drawn to Dallas by hideously antisemitic conspiracist who thinks Jesus had four children

Travis Gettys
November 05, 2021

Michael Brian Protzman. (Telegram)

The QAnon influencer who drew right-wing conspiracists to Dallas to await John F. Kennedy's Jr.'s reappearance has effectively built a cult around himself.

Conspiracists converged from across the county on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza, where the 35th president was assassinated while riding in a car with his wife -- and where the QAnon influencer Michael Brian Protzman, known as Negative48, promised a supernatural spectacle that would return Donald Trump to the White House as the "king of kings," reported Vice.

"His rise to notoriety and fame within the QAnon world has been rapid," the website reported. "Back in March, his Negative48 Telegram channel had around 1,700 members; today, it has over 105,000 members. But aside from the number of followers Protzman has, what makes him stand out from other QAnon influencers is the loyalty and worship he has instilled in those people."

The 58-year-old Protzman, who ran a demolition company in Washington state until beginning his new online career, pushes deeply antisemitic content, questionable financial advice and a fake version of gematria -- a Hebrew system of assigning numerical values to letters, words and phrases.

"The stuff that I have seen has shaken me to my core," said one extremism researcher, who asked for anonymity to protect himself from Protzman and his followers. "They are brainwashing people with English gematria."

Protzman applies this bogus system to passages in the Bible and QAnon slogans, which he uses to spin complex conspiracies linking Christianity, QAnon and the Kennedy family.

"In Protzman's telling, Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had four children with her," Vice reported. "This gave rise to a bloodline that went on to create many famous people today, notably the Kennedys. He also claims that blood type O is a marker for the Christ bloodline and that the 'New World Order' is trying to hunt down that bloodline by DNA testing COVID-19 PCR swabs."

But most of all, Protzman repackages old antisemitic conspiracies for a new audience to claim the Holocaust never happened, and he has promoted the hideously antisemitic 10-part film "Europa: The Last Battle 2017," which claims Jews created communism and purposefully started both world wars in a plot to establish Israel, and the film "Adolf Hitler: The Greatest Story Ever Told."

"There are no Jews, period, anywhere -- period," Protzman said in one audio chat. "There is no Jewish race, and the Jewish leadership are basically the British empire, the Roman empire, it's just the criminals."

 

US Economy Adds 531,000 Jobs In October Unemployment Falls To 4.6 Percent – Analysis

 November 6, 2021 

By Dean Baker

The economy added 531,000 jobs in October, as the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent, a level not reached following the Great Recession until February 2017. The jobs numbers for the prior two months were also revised upward by 235,000 to bring the three-month average to 442,000.

It’s also worth noting that private sector employment grew even more rapidly, adding 604,000 jobs. The hours-worked index, which only measures private sector employment, has risen by 1.2 percent in the last three months, which would translate into 498,000 private sector jobs per month if there were no change in hours. Many employers who are unable to hire are likely increasing the hours for the workforce they have.

Unemployment Falls for Most Groups

The drop in the unemployment rate was much larger than most analysts had expected, especially after a 0.4 percentage point decline in September. It has fallen by 1.3 percentage points since June. The least educated saw the largest drop in unemployment with the rate falling by 0.5 percentage points for those without a high school degree to 7.4 percent, and 0.4 percentage points for those with just a high school degree to 5.4 percent. The unemployment rate for college grads edged down 0.1 percentage points to 2.4 percent, which is 0.3 percentage points above its pre-pandemic average.

The unemployment rate for Blacks and Asian Americans was unchanged at 7.9 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. It fell 0.4 percentage points to 5.9 percent for Hispanics.

Wage Growth Remains Strong

We continue to see strong wage growth, especially for low-paid workers. The average hourly wage for production and nonsupervisory workers has risen 5.8 percent year-over-year. In the low-paid leisure and hospitality sector, it has risen 12.4 percent. However, wage growth is slowing somewhat in the leisure and hospitality sector. The annual rate for the last three months (August, September, October) compared with the prior three months (May, June, July) was 9.7 percent; although it accelerated slightly for production workers overall to 6.6 percent.

Manufacturing and Construction Have Strong Growth, Again

The manufacturing sector added 60,000 jobs, following a gain of 31,000 in September. Construction added 44,000 jobs after adding 30,000 in September. The sectors are now down 2.1 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively, from their pre-pandemic levels. This compares to a falloff of 2.5 percent for the private sector as a whole. That reverses the normal pattern where these sectors are hit hardest in a recession.

Most of the hardest hit industries showed good job growth in October. Air transportation added 9,200 jobs, but is still down 9.7 percent from its pre-pandemic level. The motion picture industry added 11,300 jobs and is now down 20.9 percent. The temp sector added 41,100, while arts and entertainment added 20,900 jobs. They are now down 5.9 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, from pre-pandemic levels. Hotels added 23,200 jobs, while restaurants added 119,400, leaving them 14.9 percent and 6.4 percent lower than their pre-pandemic levels, respectively.

Nursing homes added 11,800 jobs, but employment is still 14.2 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Child care facilities added just 700 jobs in October, leaving employment 10.1 percent below pre-pandemic levels. This presumably corresponds to a roughly 10 percent drop in child slots, which means many parents of young children face even greater than normal difficulties finding care if they want to work.

State and Local Education Shed 65,000 Jobs

This sector continues to lose jobs even with children back in school pretty much everywhere. This could reflect difficulty in hiring, as governments often can’t raise wages as rapidly as in the private sector. Employment in the sectors are now down 7.9 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, from pre-pandemic levels.

The Number of Unincorporated Self-Employed Edged up by 24,000

The October figure is 643,000 (7.3 percent) above the 2019 average. This presumably reflects people taking advantage of the pandemic to change career paths.

Share of Long-Term Unemployed Falls

The share of long-term unemployed (more than 26 weeks) fell sharply in September to 31.6 percent. However, it is still well above normal levels, which would be under 20 percent.

October Report is Solidly Positive

There is much to like in this report. The overall picture in both surveys is overwhelmingly positive. If we can keep up this pace of growth we will get back the jobs lost in the pandemic by next summer. The unemployment rate is already below many economists’ estimates of Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU). And workers have more freedom to change jobs than at any point in the last half century.

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Dean Baker

Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). 

He is the author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Boeing board agrees to $237.5 million settlement of 737 MAX shareholder lawsuit

Boeing CEO David Calhoun. A shareholder lawsuit against Boeing’s board, settled Friday with no admission of wrongdoing, included allegations that Calhoun made misleading statements to the press 

Nov. 5, 2021 
Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

Boeing’s board on Friday settled a lawsuit brought by major institutional shareholders that alleged the directors and top executives, including CEO Dave Calhoun, failed to adequately monitor the safety of the 737 MAX before the first fatal crash in 2018 and in the months leading up to the second crash in 2019.

Since the shareholders filed suit on behalf of the company, the insurers of the board and top executives will pay the settlement amount of $237.5 million, less the attorneys’ fees and expenses, to Boeing.

As part of the settlement, Boeing has agreed to enhance its corporate oversight in various ways. It will create an ombudsperson program to handle internal complaints by the engineers who work at Boeing on behalf of the FAA. And within one year it will appoint a new board member with experience in aviation safety.

Lawyers for the lead plaintiffs representing Boeing stockholders — New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, as trustee of New York State’s pension fund, and the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado — reviewed more than 44,000 internal documents turned over by Boeing.

“We sued Boeing’s board because they failed in their fiduciary responsibility to monitor safety and protect the company,” Di Napoli said in a statement. “It is our hope, moving forward, that the reforms agreed to in this settlement will help safeguard Boeing and the flying public against future tragedy.”

Boeing in a statement said the proposed settlement builds on actions it has already taken since the crashes and offers “additional oversight and governance reforms that will further advance safety.”

The settlement comes after presiding Judge Morgan Zurn, vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, in September criticized the board’s handling of the two fatal accidents in unusually sharp language.

Zurn ruled then that the case could proceed, based on allegations that the directors’ failed “to establish a reporting system for airplane safety” and turned “a blind eye to a red flag representing airplane safety problems.”

Her ruling also bluntly asserted that “to preserve its image … The Board publicly lied about if and how it monitored the 737 MAX’s safety.”

Zurn cited a series of interviews Calhoun gave to The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Financial Times after the crashes that contained, as itemized in the shareholder suit, a series of misleading statements about how active the board had been.

In a motion responding to that ruling, Boeing’s lawyers asked the judge to clarify the accusation of lying and claimed the suit had misrepresented Calhoun’s comments to the press.

In the settlement, Boeing’s board admits no liability or wrongdoing.

For their part, the plaintiffs state that they “ continue to believe (their claims) have legal merit,” but decided to settle because there are “substantial risks to the successful resolution of any litigation.”

TOOK HORSE DEWORMER

Aaron Rodgers feared COVID-19 vaccine could make him infertile

HIS BALLS WOULD SHRIVEL TO PEANUTS 

HARD AS WALNUTS
Green Bay Packers star, a former Cal quarterback and Chico native engaged to Shailene Woodley, cited unsubstantiated concerns Friday that the COVID vaccine could prevent him from one day having children.

YOU CAN ADOPT 

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

By MARTHA ROSS | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: November 5, 2021 


During a lengthy screed Friday against the COVID-19 vaccine, the “woke mob” and the “witch hunt” against him, Aaron Rodgers said a primary reason for not “getting the jab” is that he feared it could make him infertile.

“The next great chapter of my life, I believe is being a father,” the Green Bay Packers quarterback said during his 46-minute appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”


Given that Rodgers, 37, is engaged to actor Shailene Woodley, the assumption is that he is looking forward to starting a family with her. But the NFL star said he was worried that his dream of fatherhood would be derailed if he got the COVID-19 vaccine, citing unsubstantiated theories that the vaccine could cause fertility problems.

“To my knowledge, there has been zero long-term studies around sterility or fertility issues around the vaccines,” Rodgers said. “That was definitely something I was worried about and that went through my mind.”

Shortly after the new celebrity super couple went public with their romance, Rodgers talked about his dream of becoming a father.

“I’m in that age group where a lot of my close friends from high school and college are fathers now and have families of their own,” Rodgers said in an interview, Us Weekly reported. “It’s maybe not in the immediate future but definitely something that I really look forward to. I’ve done a pretty good job at taking care of myself for the last 37 years and look forward to taking care of another life at some point too. I just think it’s going to be so fun.”

Woodley has not commented on her fiance’s COVID controversy, except possibly through a cryptic and since-deleted Instagram Story post Friday. According to Page Six, the post said, “Calm seas may bring you peace, but storms are where you’ll find your power.”

People on social media have wondered whether Rodgers’ vaccine resistance comes from Woodley. The “Big Little Lies” star previously talked in interviews about her preferences for herbal remedies, alternative medicine and even eating clay to eliminate “metals” from the body.

Rodgers and Woodley also are good friends with actor Miles Teller, who was at the center of controversy over the summer for reportedly causing a production shutdown on his new TV series because he refused to be vaccinated and tested positive for COVID.

Rodgers, a former Cal quarterback and Chico native, landed at the center of a national firestorm this week after testing positive for COVID-19. News of his positive test also came with revelations that he was unvaccinated and that he had apparently lied to the media and others when he said in August that he had been “immunized.” Rodgers faces additional scrutiny for attempting to push a homeopathic treatment as a substitute for a vaccine and for possibly violating NFL safety protocols for unvaccinated players.

Rodgers’ positive test means he will miss Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs and must isolate for 10 days, which is protocol for unvaccinated players.

On “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers said he had experienced symptoms of COVID-19 and “didn’t feel great” earlier this week but was feeling better Friday. However, he showed he was not feeling good about his belief that he is the latest victim of “cancel culture.”

“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I think I’d like to set the record straight on some of the blatant lies that are out there about myself right now,” began Rodgers.

Such comments during the interview immediately gave rise to the view among Rodgers’ critics that he is an arrogant narcissist who is trying to martyr himself in order to deflect responsibility after being caught in a lie and violating NFL safety protocols. Rolling Stone also said that many of his health arguments come from talking points from the anti-vaccine movement.

One of those talking points appears to involve Rodgers’ fears about infertility. The Washington Post reported that false claims tying the COVID vaccine to infertility, have spread on Twitter and Facebook over the past year. The claims were echoed in September by rapper Nicki Minaj and have been flagged as misinformation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CBS News reported.

“There are stories out there on the Internet about how vaccination can lead to infertility. There’s absolutely nothing to that,” Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Washington Post.

Rodgers said his initial reason for not getting the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines is that he has an allergy to an ingredient in the mRNA vaccines made by those companies. He said he was simply following an advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rodgers did not identify the specific allergy.

But even if Rodgers had been able to take one of the mRNA vaccines, he said he would have been hesitant because of his desire to have children.

“We don’t know what the long-term effects of these (vaccines) are,” Rodgers said. “So when people say ‘Just get the jab, just get the jab,” well, everybody is different and there are lot of things we don’t know about this.”

The CDC has recommended that anyone 12 or older get the vaccine, including people who are hoping to get pregnant in the near or long term. The CDC also said there is no evidence to show that any vaccine, including the COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.

Similarly, the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) and the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) issued a joint statement earlier this year, saying there is no evidence that the COVID vaccines affect male fertility.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) also recommends that pregnant and lactating women be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, while the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says the vaccine should not be withheld from “from patients who are planning to conceive.” The ASRM furthermore emphasizes that “patients undergoing fertility treatment and pregnant patients should be encouraged to receive vaccination based on eligibility criteria.“

Rodgers said his only option was the vaccine created by Johnson & Johnson, but “had heard of multiple people who had had adverse events around getting the J&J.” He claimed that he “talked to a lot of medical individuals and professionals” about other options and “found an immunization protocol that he could go through to best protect myself.”

In a comment that is sure to raise eyebrows, Rodgers also said some of his expert advice came from “now good friend” Joe Rogan,” the podcaster who claimed he treated his own bout with coronavirus with ivermectin.

Rodgers said he had taken ivermectin, which can only be obtained with a prescription. The drug is given to both humans and horses to treat parasites, but the Food and Drug Administration has said it is not an effective treatment for coronavirus

SD Gov. Noem contradicts labor secretary on meeting with daughter


South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference in Sioux Falls, Idaho on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021 . Noem insisted that a meeting she held last year didn’t include any discussion of a path forward for her daughter after a state agency moved to deny her a real estate appraiser license.

 (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)
STEPHEN GROVES
Thu, November 4, 2021

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem contradicted her own labor secretary Thursday about a meeting last year in her office, saying it didn't include any discussion about how her daughter could still win a real estate appraiser license after a state agency moved to deny it.

The Republican governor answered questions from South Dakota reporters on the episode for the first time Thursday, more than a month after The Associated Press first reported on it. While a Republican-dominated legislative committee and state government ethics board have looked into the matter, she called AP's reporting on the meeting “twisted” and “manipulated.”

Noem's secretary of labor defended her department's actions to lawmakers last week by explaining that state regulators before the meeting had already reached an agreement to provide Noem's daughter, Kassidy Peters, with an opportunity to fix issues with her application. She said the meeting mostly consisted of potential fixes to a shortage of licensed appraisers.


However, Secretary of Labor Marcia Hultman told lawmakers it also included a “brief discussion at the end” of the meeting about a “possible plan forward” for Peters to obtain her license.

But when Noem was asked by the AP at a Thursday news conference if she was aware of that plan headed into the meeting, she responded by saying, “We didn't even talk about that” and insisted the meeting was not to discuss Peters' application.

“She gave her personal experiences through the program," Noem said. “Of course, she gave her perspective and how long it took to go through the program and how difficult it was.”

However, Sherry Bren, the longtime director of the Appraiser Certification Program, told the AP she was presented at the meeting with a letter from Peters' supervisor that slammed the agency's move to deny her the license.

Four months after the meeting, Peters received the license.

Noem once again insisted Peters “went through the exact same process that other appraisers did in the state of South Dakota. She at no time received special treatment.”

Noem has also defended her conduct in the episode by saying she was working to solve a shortage of appraisers in the state. However, she has faced backlash from the organization that represents appraisers after Hultman pressured Bren to retire late last year, shortly after Peters received her license. Bren filed an age discrimination complaint and received a $200,000 payment from the state to withdraw the complaint and leave her job.

“I came in to fix the program. And so we are fixing it,” she said. “But also we recognize that some people that have been involved in the industry for a long time don’t like that.”

The Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee, which is looking into the agency at the center of the episode, has requested copies of the agreements between Peters and the agency, but Noem said doing so would set a precedent of opening personnel files to the public.

“That’s why for consistency and to make sure that I’m being fair — because that’s exactly what I’m focused on — I would have to set that same precedent for everybody," she said.

When asked if she would allow the documents to be opened because the agreements themselves state they are open to public inspection, she said she would let her attorneys decide what should be deemed an open record.

Attorneys for the Department of Labor and Regulation have already denied a public records request from the AP for the records. An appeals office later ruled that the department was right to deny the records request.

While Bren declined an invitation from the Legislature to speak last week, she has said she is working with her lawyer to communicate with lawmakers and correct “any factual inaccuracies” from Hultman’s testimony.

Controversial French doctor Raoult in disciplinary hearing over notorious Covid-19 tips

Issued on: 05/11/2021 -

Didier Raoult controversially championed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. © Thomas Coex, AFP

A prominent French infectious disease doctor on Friday faced a disciplinary hearing for his controversial recommendations on Covid-19 that won him global fame at the height of the pandemic.

Didier Raoult championed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment at a time when the method was also being touted without evidence by former US Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.

But while seen as a folk hero by some in the southern French city of Marseille, which prides itself on its independence from Parisian orthodoxy, he was also accused by peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug.

Studies have found that hydroxychloroquine does not work against the coronavirus.

Raoult, 69, was present as the hearing presided over by the order of doctors in the southwestern Nouvelle-Aquitaine region got underway at a courthouse in the city of Bordeaux.

He gave no comment on arrival, acknowledging some thirty demonstrators who had come to support and applaud him.

"Raoult, our beacon in the night", "Don't touch our Raoult" were among the slogans banners testifying to the popularity of a doctor who prides himself on confronting establishment orthodoxy.

He stands accused of several breaches of the medical code of ethics related to the promotion of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 as non-validated treatment.

The disciplinary chamber, chaired by a magistrate, can decide on sanctions against the doctor ranging from a simple warning to a temporary suspension. It must deliver its ruling between 15 days and eight weeks after the hearing.

A familiar figure on French TV with his shoulder-length blond hair and grey beard, Raoult was also visited for advice by French President Emmanuel Macron in April 2020 as the pandemic was in full swing in a meeting that stunned many observers.

Raoult and his Marseille infectious diseases institute are also facing accusations at of carrying out allegedly illegal "clinical trials" against tuberculosis since 2017, claims which they deny.

Raoult must leave his job at the end of June at the latest due to retirement rules.

(AFP)

Away from the world, the mangrove fishers of DR Congo







A clam fisher surfaces after diving without equipment to the bottom of the mangrove, several metres (around 10 feet) deep 

(AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

Alexis HUGUET
Fri, November 5, 2021

They break through the surface of the water, noisily expel their lingering breath, then take another gulp of air before descending to the depths of the mangroves.

Buried in mud several metres (around 10 feet) below the surface is their prize: Clams known as bibwati, which are both a delicacy and a lifeline.

The men and women divers are members of the Assolongo tribe -- the only community authorised to live in the Democratic Republic Congo's Mangroves National Park.


DR Congo is sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, with an area the size of continental western Europe (AFP/STAFF)

The 768-square-kilometre (296-square-mile) park is a rare jewel of conservation in a world where mangroves are routinely destroyed for tourism or seafood farms.

It lies on the mouth of the mighty Congo, where unique species of trees and shellfish thrive in the confluence of fresh and salt water.

The village of Nteva is reached after a boat trip through a labyrinthine semi-submerged forest covering nearly 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres).

"We don't have electricity here, there's virtually no phone network, and no school either," village chief Mbulu Nzabi said.

The villagers hand-fish for bibwati and -- almost literally -- live on them.

The clams are boiled and their flesh taken for food. The shells are then thrown onto the river bank, joining a pile of remains that become the foundations for homes.

"Our grandparents built their huts several dozen metres (yards) from where we are today," said Nzabi.

"We are living on a huge pile of bibwati shells that is growing all the time."

Away from the world, the mangrove fishers of DR Congo

Night falls on Nteva village as a fisherman returns to his home 

(AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

The park and its precious ecosystem are overseen by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN). It has an annual budget for the park of less than $100,000 (85,000 euros).

"Before there was the park, you could do anything you like," said Nzabi, a touch nostalgically.

"People could fish for manatees and sell their meat. You could cut down mangrove trees and make charcoal. Everything these days is regulated."

If the lifestyle in Nteva seems light-years from the rest of the world, daily reminders of the 21st century pass by every day.

Huge container ships, carrying Chinese products, frozen foods and many other goods, haul their way up the Congo to the ports of Matadi and Boma -- the trading gateway to the DRC's bustling capital, Kinshasa.

The shoreline of Nteva village is a beach of clam shells, which become the foundations for homes (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

When night falls in Nteva, there is no television, nor is there the sound of rumba, the musical backdrop to life in the city.

Instead, the silence of the mangroves is broken by hymns sung in the Kissolongo language.

They are sung by a choir of women and girl choristers, gathered at a Catholic chapel made from raffia palms.

ah/bmb/at/ayv/ri/pbr

A clam fisher boils up his catch (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

 

SPACE

Court Dismisses Blue Origins’ Case Over Artemis Lunar Lander

Written By: Heidi

Published Date: November 4, 2021Last Edited: November 4, 20

In a victory for SpaceX, Federal Judge Richard Hertling has dismissed Blue Origins’ lawsuit against NASA. The lawsuit had been filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging that NASA had unfairly favored SpaceX in the process of awarding a critical contract for the Artemis Program.

NASA awarded the contract for development of the lunar lander to SpaceX in April 2021. Previously, the space agency had planned to down-select the competing proposals in stages until only two were in the running.

Three proposals had still been in the running before NASA selected SpaceX for the exclusive contract. SpaceX had submitted a Starship-derived lunar lander that may have been vaguely reminiscent of some retro artwork of crewed lunar missions from before even the Apollo lunar landings. Blue Origin and Dynetics had also been in the running.

Soon after the final down-select, Blue Origin and Dynetics both filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO ruled that NASA had not made any error in its selection process.

Blue Origin filed its lawsuit against NASA soon afterward.

The legal wrangling has officially held up work on NASA’s lunar lander. Some U.S. lawmakers weighed in by proposing an amendment to a bill that would have added $10.03 billion to NASA’s budget and allow for the selection of two proposals as previously planned.

There had been hints that cost may have been a factor in NASA’s decision to select only SpaceX. SpaceX’s bid came in at about $2.9 billion, less than half of Blue Origin’s $5.99 billion bid.

With Hertling’s ruling, NASA says that work on SpaceX’s lunar lander can resume “as soon as possible.”

“There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program,” the space agency said in a statement on the ruling.

Blue Origin chief Jeff Bezos did not seem pleased by the decision, but implied that he wouldn’t appeal:

Although SpaceX characteristically didn’t release a statement on the ruling, CEO Elon Musk was quick with a meme:

Much of Blue Origin’s original complaint has been redacted due to proprietary information. Hertling’s ruling has been sealed for the same reason.

Blue Origin has reportedly been suffering enormous employee turnover. The engineering team leader for its proposed lunar lander, Nitin Arora, left Blue Origin for a position at SpaceX, for instance. Current and former employees recently alleged a highly toxic and unsafe workplace culture at Blue Origin.

NASA’s Artemis Program includes the goal of landing crews on the Moon beginning as early as 2024. It will launch the uncrewed test flight “Artemis-1” as early as February 2022.

To support extended crewed missions on the Moon, NASA plans to construct the Lunar Gateway with help from international partners, most of which are currently partners on the International Space Station.

Canada, for instance, will provide an upgraded version of its iconic “Canadarm” line of space-rated robotic arms. The original Canadarm robotic arms were used on the Space Shuttle. Canadarm2 is currently being used on the International Space Station.

SpaceX also has a contract to launch the first components of the Lunar Gateway on a Falcon Heavy as early as May 2024.

France vows to end harsh treatment of Calais migrants

University changes course; professors may testify in lawsuit

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2014, file photo, University of Florida President-elect W. Kent Fuchs speaks during a press conference at Emerson Alumni Hall in Gainesville, Fla. Reversing its previous position, the University of Florida said Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, that it would allow professors to testify as experts in a lawsuit challenging a new state law that critics say restricts voting rights. In a letter to the campus, President Fuchs said he is asking the office responsible for approving professors’ outside work to reverse the recent decision rejecting the professors' request to serve as expert witnesses in litigation involving the state of Florida. 

(Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun via AP, File)


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Reversing its previous position, the University of Florida said Friday that it will allow three professors to testify as experts in a lawsuit challenging a new state election law that critics say restricts voting rights.

Last month, the university prohibited Dan Smith, Michael McDonald and Sharon Austin from testifying in the lawsuit brought by civic groups, saying that such testimony would put the school in conflict with the administration of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, which pushed the election law. More than half of the university’s trustees are appointed by the governor.

In a letter to the campus, university president Kent Fuchs said he is asking the office responsible for approving professors’ outside work to greenlight their request to serve as expert witnesses in the litigation. Fuchs said the outside work would have to be on the professors’ own time and not use university resources.

Attorneys representing the professors said they were still planning to move forward with a lawsuit against the university.

“Despite reversing the immediate decision prohibiting the Professors from testifying, the University has made no commitment to abandon its policy preventing academics from serving as expert witnesses when the University thinks that their speech may be adverse to the State and whatever political agenda politicians want to promote,” David O’Neil and Paul Donnelly said in a statement. “It is time for this matter to be rightfully adjudicated, not by press release, but in a court of law.”

The university’s announcement came after the union for faculty members urged donors to withhold contributions and scholars and artists to turn down invitations to campus until university administrators affirmed the free speech rights of school employees.

Not allowing them to testify would be “an attack on all of us,” said Paul Ortiz, a history professor who is president of the union chapter at the university.

Hours later, after hearing about the reversal, Ortiz called the announcement, “a really positive step forward,” and said the union chapter’s executive committee will meet to decide how to proceed.

“I’m delighted to see this,” Ortiz said. “We want some kind of guarantee that this isn’t going to be on a case-by-case basis — if another faculty member says, ‘I want to engage in this type of activity,’ that we aren’t going to end up back in the same place.”

The union also had asked the university to issue an apology, affirm its support for voting rights and declare that the school’s mission is for the public good.

Fuchs and Provost Joe Glover said in a letter to the campus community earlier this week that the school will immediately appoint a task force “to review the university’s conflict of interest policy and examine it for consistency and fidelity.” On Friday, Fuchs said a preliminary recommendation will be ready by the end of the month.

Also this week, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges told news outlets the organization planned to investigate the university’s previous decision to prohibit the professors from testifying.

The University of Florida’s president answers to its board of trustees, which has six members appointed by the governor and five appointed by the state university system’s board of governors. The board of governors, in turn, has 17 members, 14 of whom are appointed by the Florida governor and confirmed by the state Senate. These offices have been in Republican hands for many years.

In a statement this week, DeSantis’ office denied being behind the decision to block the faculty members’ testimony, and on Friday his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, tweeted that any such suggestion was “absurd.”

Florida Democratic elected officials, many of whom attended the University of Florida, were critical of the university’s initial rejection of the professors’ requests, tying it to other controversial recent decisions by the school, such as the quick hiring of DeSantis’ pick to be Florida’s surgeon general. Dr. Joseph Ladapo recently came under fire for refusing to don a mask at a meeting with a lawmaker who was being treated for cancer.

“The rapid reversal of this ill-advised policy will restore the pride and integrity of the Gator Nation of which I am so incredibly proud,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “Go Gators!”

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP