It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Updated: Euroferry Olympia.
Survivor Escapes Burning Ferry After Two Days in a Vehicle Hold
Firefighters look for survivors aboard the Euroferry Olympia (Image courtesy Hellenic Fire Service)
The Hellenic Coast Guard and Greek emergency-response agencies have saved one additional survivor from the burning ro/ro Euroferry Olympia. The man spent two days trapped in a vehicle hold before making his way abovedecks on Sunday, and he was rescued from the ship's port quarter.
The survivor, a 21-year-old truck driver from Belarus, told Greek outlet Protothema that he had been sleeping in the cab of his truck when the fire broke out. He woke after the blaze had started, and he said that initially he could not find a safe escape route. The temperature in the hold rose, and he decided to wait it out. "I stayed for two days and turned on the truck lights sporadically to see what was happening, because I was afraid that the garage I was in would catch fire," he said.
On Sunday, the temperature in the hold seemed to be coming down again. He decided to attempt an escape, and he found an emergency exit that led up to the deck. Rescuers evacuated him from the ship and brought him safely to emergency services on shore. A medical exam found that he was dehydrated but otherwise unharmed.
Separately, responders also located the body of a Greek truck driver in an adjacent vehicle hold. The victim was identified as Evangelos Malesiadas, 58.
The remains of a 58-year-old truck driver were recovered from the ship on Sunday (Images courtesy Hellenic Fire Service)
10 people remain missing, and the Hellenic Coast Guard says that there is hope that some of them may still be alive in compartments belowdecks. The survivor who escaped on Sunday reported hearing voices inside the ship.
The 27-year-old Euroferry Olympia caught fire on Friday morning on a voyage from the port of Igoumenitsa of the west coast of Greece to the port of Brindisi, Italy. In addition to passengers and crew, she was carrying about 150 commercial vehicles and 30 cars. The fire broke out at about 0400 hours as the vessel passed Corfu, and it spread quickly.
The ship has been towed to a sheltered harbor at Corfu, where firefighting is still under way. There are no signs of pollution, and the Hellenic Coast Guard says that the vessel's stability is within safe margins, though she has taken on a slight list due to the accumulation of firefighting water.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but a spokesperson for operator Grimaldi said Friday that there are indications that the fire started in one of the ship's vehicle holds.
11 Passengers Missing After Fire Engulfs Grimaldi Ferry
Euroferry Olympia was engulfed in flames as crews attempt two rescue to drivers trapped on the car deck and search for missing people (Guardia Costiera)
Fire engulfed an Italian-register Ro/Pax ferry sailing in the Ionian Sea in the early hours of Friday, February 18. Reports indicated that more than 270 passengers and crew have been evacuated to the neighboring island of Corfu. A successful rescue effort was undertaken to rescue two truck drivers trapped on the lower decks of the vessel.
Reports indicate that as many as 11 people remain missing, with the authorities searching the water. Greek authorities on Corfu are reporting that as many as 10 people were taken to the local hospital. One person received minor injuries while several others were reporting breathing problems. Healthcare workers also reported that a two-month-old baby was also being taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The 27-year-old Euroferry Olympia operated by Italy’s Grimaldi Group departed from the port of Igoumenitsa of the west coast of Greece around 1:00 am local time for an eight-hour crossing to Brindisi in Italy. Aboard there were 239 passengers, 51 crew as well as 153 commercial vehicles and 32 passenger cars. The 33,588 gross ton vessel has a capacity of 560 people.
Shortly after 4:00 am the captain reported to Italian and Greece authorities that a fire had broken out on the number three deck and that crews were attempting to put it out. Within 20 minutes passengers reported being awoken by the emergency alarms and shortly after the captain ordered everyone to abandon ship. They reported that the fire was very intense and spread quickly. At the time there was a moderate breeze blowing in the area and the seas were mostly calm.
At least four patrol boats from the Hellenic Coast Guard, as well as an Italian patrol boat, private craft, and multiple helicopters, responded to the scene. The passengers and crew were recovered from four lifeboats and transferred to Corfu which was less than 10 miles away. Residents on Corfu reported seeing the ship on fire and possibly hearing one or more explosions.
After the evacuation, the authorities received a telephone call from two truck drivers who said they were trapped on the vehicle decks of the ferry. “Efforts are being made to lead them to the deck,” a Greek coastguard official told reporters. An early report from Grimaldi indicated that as many as five people had been tracked down on board.
The Greek Navy delivered special equipment to help crews to locate the two trapped individuals which they had been communicating with via their cell phones. Rescue crews were able to make their way through the thick smoke and lead the two to deck where they were air lifted by helicopter to shore and reported to be in a hospital.
On Corfu, they were working to identify the survivors and match them to the manifest. Reports are now saying that 277 or 278 people have been accounted for, with one of them believed to be a stowaway not on the passenger list.
Grimaldi reports that the vessel has continued to drift and is currently in Albanian waters. Two Albania vessels have joined the firefight now that the vessel is in their waters. Grimaldi has also hired the salvage company SMIT to secure the hulk with Royal Boskalis Westminster reporting that its salvage division has a team of twelve experts mobilized that will assist with the fire fighting operation. Two tugs were reported en route to secure the Euroferry Olympia.
The cause of the fire is unknown but a spokesperson for Grimaldi indicated that the early thinking was the fire started in one of the garages. They reported that have been no indications of a fuel sill and that the stability of the vessel appears not to have been compromised.
The Italian Guardia di Finanza is working with the Hellenic Coast Guard and monitoring the situation aboard the ferry. The Italian authorities have been using helicopters to monitor the water around the vessel and also requested the assistance of the European Maritime Safety Authority to investigate for environmental issues The authorities have already begun an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Cost of Felicity Ace Ro/Ro Fire Could Top $400 Million
The estimated cost of the Felicity Ace fire may be far greater than previously believed due to the high value of the luxury cars in her vehicle holds, according to an independent insurance consultancy.
The ship was carrying roughly 4,000 cars, including Lamborghinis, Audis and VWs, based on an internal Volkswagen Group email obtained by German media. The manifest included 1,100 Porsches and about 190 Bentleys, many of them custom-ordered by buyers in the U.S.
Risk consultancy Russell Group estimates that the total value of the vehicles on board exceeds $400 million, plus another $38 million in non-vehicle goods. Assuming that the vessel and her cargo are a total loss, the event is expected to create at least $155 million in losses for VW Group, according to an analysis by Russell.
“These figures showed once again the precariousness of global supply chains. The incident comes at a bad time for global carmakers who are in the middle of a supply chain crisis sourcing semiconductors, resulting in new delays for new cars. An event like this will not do a great deal in instilling trust with consumers," said Suki Basi, Russell Group's managing director.
The Felicity Ace under way from Emden, Germany - a major loading port for Volkswagen brands - to Davisville, Rhode Island, and a fire broke out while she was transiting south of the Azores. Her master called for an evacuation on February 16, and the crew was safely rescued by a merchant tanker and transferred to shore.
The ro/ro is still adrift and burning south of the Azores, and she is drifting further away from the islands, according to operator MOL. The vessel remains stable and no oil pollution has been reported.
Two large tugs with firefighting equipment were scheduled to arrive Monday morning, and they will begin spraying cooling water on the Felicity Ace's hull. An additional salvage vessel with more firefighting equipment is under way from Rotterdam and should arrive on February 26.
"Together with the all relevant parties, MOL is making every effort to contain the damage and resolve the situation as soon as possible," the company said in a statement.
An unspecified number of the vehicles are all-electric, battery-powered cars. The captain of the nearby port of Faial told Reuters that the presence of lithium-ion batteries on board is complicating the firefighting effort. Water does not extinguish a Li-ion battery fire, and the fumes from a burning battery are toxic and potentially explosive. The battery packs are "keeping the fire alive," captain of the port João Mendes Cabeças told Reuters.
The car carrier Felicity Ace continues to burn at a location off the Azores, according to the Portuguese Navy. The vessel is carrying thousands of new luxury cars made by Volkswagen Group brands, including Audis, Porsches and Bentleys.
An unspecified number of the vehicles are all-electric, battery-powered cars, and the captain of the nearby port of Faial told Reuters that the presence of lithium-ion batteries on board is complicating the firefighting effort. Water does not extinguish a Li-ion battery fire, and the fumes from a burning battery are toxic and potentially explosive. The battery packs are "keeping the fire alive," captain of the port João Mendes Cabeças told Reuters, and the blaze has been progressively moving down from its starting point on an upper deck. The cause of the fire has not yet been identified.
The patrol ship NRP Setubal remains on scene to monitor the fire, and multiple salvage vessels are under way to join the effort, according to operator MOL. Two large tugs with firefighting equipment have been chartered to support the salvage effort, and the first one is scheduled to arrive from Gibraltar on Sunday. A second tug from Gibraltar should arrive Monday, and a third from Rotterdam is expected on Feb. 23-24.
The vessel remains stable, and no pollution has been reported, MOL said in an update. All of the crewmembers were evacuated safely on the day the fire broke out, and they have been delivered to shore in the Azores.
In a statement, MOL thanked "the Portuguese Navy, the local authorities in the Azores and those vessels that supported the rescue operation of the crew members in the best traditions of the merchant marine."
Photos: Fire-Ravaged Felicity Ace Adrift off the Azores
Felicity Ace showing the devistation two days after the fire was first reported (photos courtesy of the Portuguese Navy)
The Portuguese Navy released new photos showing the utter devastation to the car carrier Felicity Ace as the vessel continues to drift in the waters approximately 90 nautical miles south of Horta in the Azores. The fire appears to have spread the length of the 656-foot vessel and while she is reported to be stable in mostly calm seas, she has developed a slight list.
The owner and manager of the vessel, Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines via a subsidiary Snowcape Car Carriers, reports that the crew has all been safely transferred to a hotel in the Azores. At the same time, Boskalis’ SMIT Salvage has transferred a 16 member team to the Azores while large equipment is on route from Spain and the Netherlands to assist with the fire fighting. The initial team was expected to arrive at the vessel today, but ocean-going tugs, however, are not expected to reach the car carrier till possibly next Wednesday, February 23.
The port captain in Horta told Reuters that they continue to monitor the situation along with the Portuguese Navy. However, he said that the hulk would not be permitted to enter their environmentally protected zone. It has been suggested that the salvage team might have to tow the vessel either to the Bahamas or to Europe.
In the meantime, speculation is mounting over the cause of the fire as well as the full scope of the loss. The trade publication Automotive News is now reporting that it obtained information that there are a total of 3,965 cars aboard of which the largest portion is believed to be Porsche, Audi, and VW, but that there could also be nearly 200 Bentleys and an unspecified number of Lamborghini. The trade magazine first reported that analysts are estimating the value of the loss of the cars, without the vessel, at more than $255 million.
One of the points of speculation is centering on the possibility that the vessel was carrying electric vehicles among its load. The car carrier industry has been focusing on the dangers of the batteries used in electric cars with some questioning if they could be the source of the fire. Experts noted even if the batteries had not caused the fire, that they are highly explosive and likely contributed to the spread of the fire on the vessel.
Experts on the scene are reporting that everything above the waterline has now burnt. The pictures supplied by the Portuguese Navy do not show dates or times. While several show the vessel billowing smoke, some appear to show the fire had subsided. Experts are pointing out that batteries on board mean that special equipment will be required to handle the fire fighting efforts.
Car owners have taken to social media to lament the loss of their specially ordered vehicles, some of which they have been waiting months or longer to receive.
Laurie Bristow: 20-year absence of Afghan political solution to blame for Taliban takeover
Former UK envoy to Afghanistan led the evacuation of British nationals and vulnerable Afghan citizens from Kabul airport
Laurie Bristow said there had been many Afghan soldiers who had fought very hard and courageously in the face of the Taliban advance. AFP
A failure to bring the Taliban into a political settlement for Afghanistan was a key reason why the hardline group was able to topple the Western-backed Afghan government last summer, the UK’s former ambassador to Kabul said.
Laurie Bristow, who helped supervise the Kabul airlift last August as the Taliban seized the country, also said the West had not understood well enough how the loyalty of soldiers could be built in the context of Afghanistan. He was speaking in relation to the collapse of the Nato-trained Afghan military, and the soldiers who stood down and did not fight the Taliban as it rapidly took over Afghanistan.
“They’re Afghans. They don't represent all Afghans, they don't represent all of Afghan society. But they're an important constituency.
“And I think if I wanted to identify — perhaps you could call it a mistake — our biggest mistake was not to find ways of bringing them into a political settlement,” said Mr Bristow.
After the fall of the Afghan capital last August, and with the Taliban outside the gates of Kabul’s airport, Mr Bristow led the evacuation of British nationals and vulnerable Afghan citizens. The efforts of him and his team were widely praised.
Mr Bristow said there had been many Afghan soldiers who had fought very hard and courageously in the face of the Taliban advance. But he also conceded that others had laid down their arms “and went over to the Taliban”.
“I think looking back on it, one of the things that led to that — and if we're looking at our own role in this — we had not understood well enough how loyalty is built in a situation of that sort.
“If you're trying to create a national army that can stand up to the Taliban, where does its loyalties lie? Do its loyalties lie to a central government? Do they lie with a local leader? Do they lie with their own community?
Taliban fighters police a road in Herat. AFP
“Honestly, I don't think we ever really got a strong enough handle on that to build the Afghan national defence and security forces that were capable of standing up to the Taliban.”
But Mr Bristow also said the Taliban had run an effective propaganda and military campaign, which convinced some soldiers to lay down their arms and isolated parts of Afghanistan.
Truth Social, Donald Trump’s new social media platform, was launched late Sunday by becoming available for download on the Apple App Store.
While the app rose to the number one spot among free apps downloaded on iOS, most new users were unable to get on the platform. Some users reported they were placed on a wait list with more 150,000 users and others were prevented from gaining access when the account setup process halted during email verification.
Truth Social in the Apple App Store
According to Inside, the Twitter-like app experienced a partial outage as of 7:15 a.m. on Monday which lasted for more than seven hours. A status page said, “The Truth Social application is online, although user creation is currently rate-limited during our rollout. We will expand capacity over the coming hours to enable more users to join Truth Social.”
Through his media company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the fascistic former president and January 6 coup plotter announced the app on October 20 in a press release from Palm Beach, Florida. The statement said the mission of the media company was to “create a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America.”
The press release then quoted Trump himself, who said, “I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced.”
Actually, Trump was suspended and then permanently banned from using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube beginning on January 6, 2021, during his attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and remain in power through a violent mob assault on the US Capitol.
Twitter, which had been Trump’s primary method of promoting his right-wing populism, racism and xenophobia prior to the 2016 election and throughout his presidency, blocked his account for twelve hours on January 6 and warned of a permanent suspension for “repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.” His account was reactivated and, following three more Tweets of further incitement of his supporters, Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the platform on January 8.
In the case of Facebook, Trump was indefinitely suspended from the largest social media platform and its subsidiaries Instagram and Snapchat on January 7, at least until the end of his term in office. A statement from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor.”
In June, Facebook extended this ban to two years, saying his actions “merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” and the company will reconsider the decision in January 2023. A large Facebook group called “Stop the Steal,” associated with Trump’s campaign to block the election results from being certified by claiming it had been “stolen,” and its hashtags were permanently banned two days after the election on November 3, 2020.
A report in the New York Times on Sunday said that start date of Truth Social was being pushed back to March and the app available on the Apple App Store was a “limited test” version. The Times also reported that Trump’s merger with the blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC) that created his TMTG media enterprise was facing a regulatory investigation.
A blank check company is a firm that exists for no other purpose than to make acquisitions. Also referred to as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), these businesses sell shares to investors and then go around and find businesses to merge with. In December, the Securities and Exchange Commission requested information about the deal between DWAC and TMTG, the identities of some investors and documents and communications between the two firms. At the time of Trump’s announcement of the media business, he claimed it had a cumulative valuation of $1.7 billion.
Aside from the politics of Trump himself, the individuals whom he has assembled around him in support of the social media initiative shows something of the political forces that are lining up and participating in the ongoing development of a fascist movement in the US.
Former California Republican congressman Devin Nunes, who had been chairman and then ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, resigned from office at the end of 2021 to take a position as chief executive of TMTG and work on Trump’s social media platform.
The far-right Republican has called global warming “nonsense,” supported Trump’s Muslim travel ban and, during the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, told families who were “healthy” to “go out and go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easy.” He also said at that time that the developing public health disaster would be over by Easter 2020. He has repeatedly referred to Democrats as “followers of neo-Marxist, socialist, Maoist or Communist ideals.”
Nunes proved his loyalty to Trump by publishing a four-page memo on February 2, 2018, that said the FBI “may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources” to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page in the early days of Mueller probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2020 elections.
Another significant figure joining Trump’s tech team is billionaire Peter Thiel. The New York Times reported on February 7 that Thiel is resigning from the Meta (formerly Facebook) board of directors to focus on candidates who support Trump’s agenda in the midterm elections in November.
The Times report, based on comments from an anonymous source, said Thiel views the midterms as “crucial to changing the direction of the country.” Another unnamed individual told Fortune that Thiel’s focus, “will be on supporting Blake Masters, JD Vance and others who support the Trump agenda. He wanted to avoid being a distraction for Facebook.”
Thiel, 54, is a German-American venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, the US intelligence and defense department big data firm. He was the first outside investor in Facebook, and his estimated net worth is approximately $10 billion. In his business advice book, Zero to One, Thiel argues in favor of corporate monopolies and says that monarchies are the most efficient form of government.
A friend of far-right media personality Ann Coulter, he campaigned for Trump in 2016, publicly announced a $1.25 million campaign donation to his candidacy and was a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. After Trump won the presidency, Thiel was named to the executive committee of the President-elect’s transition team and nominated several of his friends for White House positions.
As of February 14, Thiel had contributed a total of $20.4 million to 16 different Republican Party candidates running in the 2022 elections. At least two of these candidates for US Senate, Masters in Arizona and Vance in Ohio, have maintained that Trump was defeated among massive election fraud and Masters stated in a campaign ad, “I think Trump won in 2020.”
Trump’s TRUTH Social launches at the top of the App Store, but no one can get in
Donald Trump’s media group released its TRUTH Social iOS app today in the U.S., but a scan of the app’s API using publicly available tools revealed that it already closed itself to registrations (also, the scan showed that its “proprietary account registration microservice” is named “Pepe,” which is also the name of a meme with racist connotations).
Though TRUTH Social sits at the #1 spot for free downloads in Apple’s App Store, most users can’t get into the app. When you download TRUTH Social, you’re prompted to enter your email and date of birth (users must be 18+) before waiting for a verification email. But at every step of the process, TechCrunch received error messages. Once we received a verification email, the link yielded more error messages, making it impossible to create an account. Some users have reported being placed on waitlists with over 100,000 users, while others never received verification emails or couldn’t move past the verification step. TechCrunch reached out to the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) for comment on these sign-up difficulties.
Former President Trump became interested in building his own social media platform after he was removed from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for violating their policies following last year’s attack on the Capitol. In an October press release, the TMTG wrote that its mission is to create “a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the Big Tech companies.”
Image Credits: TRUTH Social
The announcement of TRUTH Social was also rife with growing pains. The new social network used open-source code from Mastodon, yet claimed the code as its own.
“The terms of service included a worrying passage, claiming that the site is proprietary property and all source code and software are owned or controlled by them or licensed to them,” Mastodon wrote at the time. “Notably, neither the terms nor any other part of the website contained any references to Mastodon, nor any links to the source code, which are present in Mastodon’s user interface by default. Mastodon is free software published under the AGPLv3 license, which requires any over-the-network service using it to make its source code and any modifications to it publicly accessible.”
In December, TRUTH Social finally added Mastodon’s source code to its website on a section labeled “open source.”
“Our goal is to support the open source community no matter what your political beliefs are. That’s why the first place we go to find amazing software is the community and not ‘Big Tech,'” TRUTH Social’s website says.
In December, Congressman Devin G. Nunes (R-CA) departed from the House of Representatives to join TMTG as its CEO (Trump serves as Chairman of the company).
In an interview with Fox News this weekend, Nunes said that the full launch of TRUTH Social is a few weeks away — currently, its only available for download on iOS.
“Every day we bring on more and more Americans, and we’re getting to you as soon as possible,” Nunes said on Fox News.
Donald Trump’s new social network is just as embarrassing as you’d imagine
'TRUTH Social is but the latest attempt by the far-right to monetise support through social media. Platforms like Parler and Gettr have each tried to dethrone Twitter as the destination for conservative voices. It all ended about as badly as you’d expect.'
A funny thing happened when I tried to sign up for TRUTH Social, Donald Trump’s new social media platform. It asked me to agree to the terms of service and privacy policy, which is fair enough; most websites do. No, the strange thing was that when I clicked on them, I got a 404 error. “Sorry, but it looks like this page does not exist,” I was informed.
othing better sums up Donald Trump — as businessman, as reality TV star, as politician — than a 404 error. As an entrepreneur, Trump was famed for overpromising and overdelivering. Producers of The Apprentice have claimed that his persona as a billionaire business mogul is a “scam” they created.
Trump’s latest gambit looks to be no different. It is already plagued with glitches, placing users on waiting lists and hoping to be “fully operational” by the end of March. The company claims that the high demand is responsible for the problems.TRUTH Social is but the latest attempt by the far-right to monetise support through social media. Platforms like Parler and Gettr have each tried to dethrone Twitter as the destination for conservative voices. It all ended about as badly as you’d expect.
Parler found itself offline for much of the first half of 2021 after Google, Amazon, and Apple stopped hosting the platform for allowing violent, threatening posts in the run-up to the January 6 insurrection. Meanwhile, Gettr has banned one right-wing pundit for using a racial slur against Black people and has banned the racist term “Groyper” from its platform. headtopics.com
Indeed, history suggests there is as much appetite for Trump’s TRUTH as there were for Trump Steaks. I’m old enough to remember Menshn, the right-wing gadfly Louise Mensch’s foray into social media. Like most pretenders to Jack Dorsey’s throne, it went the way of the Fail Whale — the cartoon cetacean from the halcyon days of Twitter — and disappeared, existing now only in the digital graveyard that is the WayBack Machine.
Whether this is arrogance or ambition on the part of Trump is in the eye of the beholder. This kind of gambit, though, is classic Trump. In the 1980s, he tanked the United States Football League with his hubris.Back then, Trump bought a team (the Generals) and then insisted that the USFL compete with the NFL in the fall instead of the spring. Lacking the resources and network contracts of the NFL, the USFL suffered. At Trump’s urging, it sued the NFL under antitrust laws and — in the definition of pyrrhic victory — won a $3 settlement which bankrupted the USFL.
Is TRUTH Social another example of Trump’s Icarus complex? The Trumps themselves seem to acknowledge the deck is stacked against them. Last week, Parler announced that former First Lady Melania Trump has entered into “a special arrangement for her social media communications” and will exclusively use their app. That’s right: even Donald Trump’s own wife doesn’t trust his TRUTH.
And none of these apps — not TRUTH (even once the bugs are worked out) or its competitors — can compete with the behemoth that is Twitter. According to analysis published last month by the Washington Post, following Trump’s ban from Twitter in January 2021 platforms like Gab, Rumble, Parler, and Gettr saw a surge in popularity. “But those audiences have barely grown in the year since,” the Post reports. “in some cases, they even declined.” headtopics.com
Daily Digest NewsletterGet ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.30am and Fionnán Sheahan's exclusive take on the day's news every afternoon, with our free daily newsletter.Enter email addressSign UpRight-wing influencers who saw steady growth in their audience on Twitter found their platforms severely diminished on the alt-right alternatives. Those who have dutifully followed Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene and others to these apps are their most loyal acolytes. They’re preaching to the choir, and they are increasingly doing it in a vacuum.
And therein lies the problem. One can certainly debate whether Twitter has gone too far in policing speech — I think it has — but no one can argue that it markets itself as an echo chamber. You can still find robust debate and a plurality of thought and belief. Imperfect as it is, it still functions as a modern-day agora.
When viewed in this context, TRUTH Social and its predecessors are seen for what they are: far-right safe spaces. They are marketed and intended as platforms where one can espouse the most outrageous conspiracy theories or their vilest bigotries without challenge, reproach, or consequence.
If Twitter is a modern agora, Gettr is a 1970s biker bar, or a Trump rally held in cyberspace. (Tomayto, tomahto.) As The Verge reported last year, shortly after Gettr launched, “multiple hashtags with racist and anti-Semitic slurs hit the app’s trending section… and multiple reports found a torrent of porn.” headtopics.com
How does an app that purports to be dedicated to free speech at all costs confront hate speech? That’s a problem Twitter has yet to solve, and it doesn’t look like Gettr, Parler, or TRUTH Social can do it any better. Because of that, I can’t see these platforms lasting long term.
After all, part of what made Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so successful is how inclusive they were. They appealed to the widest possible audience in order to attract as many users as possible. And it worked because, if we are all being honest with ourselves, part of what draws us to social media is interacting with those who disagree with them. There’s a reason the algorithm keep us outraged. If we are arguing in the comments or tweeting our disgust, we are using the product. Social media has won.
A social media platform where everyone agrees with you sounds great in theory, but it quickly becomes boring in practice. TRUTH Social may experience a boost of initial interest, but I anticipate it will quickly go the way of the USFL — a pale imitation of an established stalwart that Trump will crash into oblivion, walking away with about $3 before declaring it a success.
THE ONLY HONEST ANCHOR AT FOX
Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto returns to air after five-week absence and says he was in the ICU with Covid-induced pneumonia following breakthrough case
The longtime anchor, who is fully vaccinated and had already battled COVID-19 in October, said the second bout nearly killed him
'I did get COVID again, but a far, far more serious strand, what doctors call 'COVID pneumonia,' he said during his Coast to Coast with Cavuto segment
Cavuto is severely immunocompromised after having gone through open-heart surgery in 2016 and receiving treatment for cancer in the 1980s
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1997. The host went on to criticized anti-vaxxers suggesting his complications had been caused by the vaccine
'Let me be clear..had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn't be here,' he said
Fox News Channel anchor Neil Cavuto returned to the air following a five-week absence and revealed he was in the ICU battling COVID-induced pneumonia.
The longtime host, who is fully vaccinated and had already battled COVID-19 in October, said the second bout nearly killed him. 'I did get COVID again - but a far, far more serious strand, what doctors call ''COVID pneumonia,''' he said during his Coast to Coast with Cavuto Monday morning segment on the Fox Business Network.
'It landed me in intensive care for quite a while and it really was touch-and-go... Some of you who've wanted to put me out of my misery darn near got what you wished for! So, sorry to disappoint you!' Cavuto joked.
'This was scary. How scary? I'm talking, ''Ponderosa suddenly out of the prime rib in the middle of the buffet line scary!'' That's how scary.'
'...Let me be clear, doctors say had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn't be here,' he added.
The host also called out anti-vaxxers who suggested he suffered complications from the coronavirus because he was vaccinated and urged viewers to get the jab.
'The vaccine didn't cause that. That grassy knoll theory has come up a lot. My very compromised immune system did... I'm among the vulnerable three percent or so of the population that cannot sustain the full benefits of a vaccine,' he said.
Cavuto is severely immunocompromised, having gone through open-heart surgery in 2016 and receiving treatment for cancer in the 1980s. He was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1997.
Meanwhile, US virus cases and hospitalizations continue to steadily decline, with confirmed cases Saturday barely exceeding 100,000, a sharp downturn from around 800,850 on January 16, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto returned to air on Monday following a five-week absence and revealed he was in the ICU battling COVID-induced pneumonia
WHAT IS 'COVID PNEUMONIA'? COVID-induced pneumonia occurs when the coronavirus causes significant damage and inflammation in the lungs, resulting in fluid and debris building up and making complicated for a person to breath.
The condition, which usually affects both lungs, can quickly become life-threatening.
When COVID pneumonia develops, it causes additional symptoms, such as: Shortness of breath Increased heart rate Low blood pressure
Additionally, the widespread inflammation that occurs in some people with COVID-19 can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) — a severe type of lung failure.
For the 15% of infected individuals who develop moderate to severe COVID-19 and are admitted to the hospital for a few days and require oxygen, the average recovery time ranges between three to six weeks.
For the 5% who develop severe or critical illness, recovery can take much longer.
COVID-induced pneumonia occurs when the coronavirus causes significant damage and inflammation in the lungs, resulting in fluid and debris building up and making complicated for a person to breath.
The condition, which usually affects both lungs, can quickly become life-threatening.
For the 15 percent of individuals experiencing moderate to severe COVID-19 and are, the average recovery time is three to six weeks, while the 5percent who develop severe or critical cases can take even longer to recover, according to the Houston Methodist.
On Monday, Cavuto featured comments of viewers who seemed not to mind his absence, and were even delighted by it.
'It's very easy not to miss Cavuto,' one read, while another said 'Dead or alive, as long as he isn't on my TV, it's a good day.
The cable channel had fill-in hosts David Asman, Ashley Webster and Jackie DeAngelis during Cavuto's time away.
Cavuto had previously defended the COVID vaccine after he had his first breakthrough infection in October 2021.
'Life is too short to be an ass,' he said at the time. 'Stop the deaths. Stop the suffering. Please, get vaccinated.'
'I hope anyone and everyone gets that message loud and clear. Get vaccinated, for yourself and everyone around you,' the journalist said.
Cavuto has hosted Coast to Coast on the Fox Business Network since 2018. He also hosts Your World with Neil Cavuto and Cavuto Live, on Fox News.
Average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the US, an indicator that the omicron variant's hold is weakening across the country.
In New York, the number of cases went down by more than 50% over the last two weeks.
Cavuto also made light of his absence, featuring comments of viewers who seemed not to mind his absence
Cavuto has hosted Coast to Coast on the Fox Business Network since 2018. He also hosts Your World with Neil Cavuto and Cavuto Live, on Fox News
'I think what´s influencing the decline, of course, is that omicron is starting to run out of people to infect,' said Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and infectious disease chief at the University of Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
More than 934,000 Americans have died of the virus since the pandemic began
COVID-19 hospitalizations are down from a national seven-day average of 146,534 on Jan. 20 to 80,185 the week ending in Feb 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID data tracker.
Public health experts say they are feeling hopeful that more declines are ahead and that the country is shifting from being in a pandemic to an `endemic' that is more consistent and predictable.
However, many expressed concern that vaccine uptick in the U.S. has still been below expectations, concerns that are exacerbated by the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
The United States currently has more than 79 million active cases of COVID, while more than 934,000 Americans have died of the virus since the pandemic began.
SMOKEY AND THE BEAR US inspector general finds former Trump official Ryan Zinke wasn’t honest about real estate dealings
An investigation by the inspector general of the Department of the Interior found that former Secretary Ryan Zinke, a native of Montana and current congressional candidate, committed multiple ethics violations and was not honest in disclosing real estate dealings while he served in the Cabinet of former President Donald J. Trump.
The investigation, released Wednesday, centered on Zinke’s role with a nonprofit foundation he established with his wife and a group of developers, one of whom was a high-ranking executive with the defense and energy services company Halliburton.
While the 32-page inspector general’s report outlines more than 60 texts, with emails or other communications, it stopped short of recommending any criminal charges for Zinke, who refused to participate in the investigation. It also found no evidence that Zinke had used his position as Interior chief to benefit Halliburton.
Zinke’s current campaign manager, Heather Swift, was also his spokesperson while at the Department of the Interior. In an email to the Daily Montanan, she accused the Biden administration of publishing “false information” and said the investigation was a “political hit job.”
The investigation showed that even when news of Zinke’s potential dealings in Whitefish broke in 2018, he lied to the department’s ethics investigators, denying any involvement and saying his wife was still on the board, making decisions. Lola Zinke also declined to speak with investigators.
Inspectors were able to obtain email, texts and other testimony that show that Zinke was involved with the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park Foundation after he had officially signed an agreement to resign from the position.
It also shows that Zinke made modifications and suggestions to the developers about details like fence lines and snow removal. At one point, Zinke said if developers wanted to use the land as a parking lot, they’d have to grant him permission to establish a brewery or distillery on the location, something the developers called, “a big ask.”
The inspector general’s office received 64 emails and text messages from Aug. 21, 2017, through July 30, 2018.
“Zinke played an extensive, direct, and substantive role in representing the foundation during negotiations with the 95 Karrow project developers,” the report said.
One of those messages between the developers in September 2017 details how intricately Zinke was involved.
“Zinke is asking us to transfer…(a) corner of the land (and all utilities) to the Peace Park for the brewery, (which I am assume (sic) he still think he can spot zone on county property). He is also asking for an exclusive right to produce alcohol on 95 Karrow and the Peace Park. In essence, he is leveraging the parking and snow storage for the Brewery lot and legal access to his site,” the text reads.
The report also shows that Zinke used his government staff to print documents and arrange for meetings with the developers, including one meeting at Zinke’s Washington, D.C., office, with dinner that night and a personal guided tour of the Lincoln Monument, which included a security detail for Zinke.
The report also deals with Zinke’s response to media inquiries when reporters started digging into the deal. Zinke exchanged 37 text messages with the developer about how to deal with press inquiries about the project and the secretary’s involvement.
In one, Zinke sends a text, referring to himself in third person, seeming to coach the developer how to respond, “(The news organization) is not our friend. Zinke has resigned from the park and has turned all decisions over to the board. We are working with the board in the best interest of the community that we love.”
In the news reports from 2018, he told both the Associated Press and Lee Newspapers that he had resigned and was not active in the discussions.
When news broke of his involvement, the ethics office within the Department of Interior interviewed him about the reports, to which he responded, “Neither the park nor (my wife) or I have any financial interest or involvement in the building or operation of the micro-brewery or any other facility within the 95 Karrow development.”
During Zinke’s tenure in office, the Washington Post reports, there were 15 misconduct allegations. Most closed without finding any evidence, but one is still ongoing.
“Secretary Zinke did not abide by ethics obligations while Secretary of the Interior,” the report said. “Evidence consistently showed that Secretary Zinke had extensive and in-depth involvement with the 95 Karrow project developers regarding Foundation matters in the months after he resigned as the foundation president and from its board.
“With respect to knowing falsity, we rely primarily on the sheer amount of detail in the communications between Secretary Zinke and the developers. We believe that the level and extent of Secretary Zinke’s engagement with the developers on issues pertaining to the Foundation generally and the 95 Karrow project in particular make it unlikely that he would have forgotten or misconstrued his role. The emails and other communications were not casual exchanges but rather were in-depth discussions about particular aspects of the project, the foundation, and how the two intersected.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.
The US women's soccer team first launched a lawsuit in 2019 demanding equal pay
Washington (AFP) - The US national women's team has won a $24 million payout and a promise of equal pay in a landmark settlement with US Soccer, the two sides announced Tuesday in a joint statement.
"US Soccer has committed to providing an equal rate of pay going forward for the Women's and Men's National Teams in all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup," the terms of the deal, sent to AFP, said.
The question of World Cup prize money had formed a prominent part of the lawsuit filed by the US women's soccer team in 2019, which accused the federation of "stubbornly refusing" to pay its men and women's players equally.
"I think we're going look back on this day and say this is the moment that, you know, US Soccer changed for the better," women's star Megan Rapinoe said in an interview with ABC after the deal was announced.
"Obviously we can't go back and undo the injustices that we faced but ... we know that something like this is never gonna happen again," she continued, adding she hopes that they can now "move forward" with "setting up the next generation so much better than we ever had it. So it's a great day."
Her teammate Alex Morgan, also speaking on ABC, called the deal "a monumental step forward in feeling valued, feeling respected and just mending our relationship with US Soccer."
The agreement stipulates that $22 million will be distributed to the players, while $2 million will go into an account to benefit them "in their post-career goals and charitable efforts related to women's and girls' soccer."
The settlement is contingent on a new collective bargaining agreement, which needs to be ratified before the deal can be finally approved by a court.
A federal judge had rejected the claim of pay discrimination, but the US women then launched an appeal.
The 2019 lawsuit cited the discrepancy in World Cup prize money payments paid to the two teams in 2014 and 2015.
The US men received $5.375 million for reaching the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup, while the women received $1.725 million for winning the 2015 tournament. 'Not easy'
The US Soccer Federation had argued that its hands were tied because the prize money is set by FIFA, which awarded $38 million to France for winning the 2018 men's World Cup in Russia, but only $4 million to the American women for winning the 2019 Women's World Cup.
"Getting to this day has not been easy," both sides admitted in a statement announcing the deal.
"The US Women's National Team players have achieved unprecedented success while working to achieve equal pay for themselves and future athletes... We look forward to continuing to work together to grow women's soccer."
In September last year USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone said the body hoped to equalize the World Cup prize money for its players.
"Until FIFA equalizes the prize money that it awards to the Men's and Women's World Cup participants, it is incumbent upon us to collectively find a solution," she wrote in an open letter addressed to fans.
She said the gulf in prize money paid out by FIFA was "by far the most challenging issue" facing US Soccer in pay negotiations with men's and women's teams. AFP
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