March 17, 2023

How the covid lab leak became the American public's predominant theory

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/16/lab-leak-theory-polling/

https://archive.is/E9tVK


A view of the P4 lab inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen after a visit by the World Health Organization team in China's Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

For the second time in a week, a new poll shows Americans leaning strongly toward the belief that the coronavirus leaked from a lab rather than occurring naturally. The Quinnipiac University poll shows Americans side with the former view by 64 percent to 22 percent. And just last week, an Economist/YouGov poll showed an even stronger split in favor of a lab leak: 66-16.

The polls come shortly after it was reported that the Energy Department concluded the virus was probably a function of a lab leak. Republicans have played up that conclusion as they’ve ramped up congressional probes of the virus’s origins and related issues — even as the Energy Department’s conclusion is described as “low confidence,” and intelligence agencies as a whole remain decidedly split on which theory is more likely.

There is no question that the lab leak theory is ascendant in Americans’ minds, despite the scientific community and some in the media having cast plenty of doubt upon it early on. But it’s also true that this has clearly been an attractive theory for many Americans for a long time.



The first big-name pollster to test this question was the Pew Research Center. It asked the question in mid-March 2020, shortly after the first covid deaths in the United States were reported. At the time, 43 percent believed the virus came about naturally, but about 3 in 10 thought it was created either intentionally or accidentally in a lab. And as soon as a few months later, those views were effectively tied in Americans’ minds in another poll in September 2020, after President Donald Trump and others had promoted the theory. A Public Religion Research Institute poll then showed 50 percent thought it was developed intentionally in a lab, while 49 percent thought it developed naturally.

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March 17, 2023

YouTube's Decision to Reinstate Donald Trump is Dangerous

https://globalextremism.org/post/youtubes-decision-to-reinstate-donald-trump-is-dangerous/



Once again we are witnessing a tech company put profit above the safety of its users and elections and democracies around the globe. The only thing surprising about YouTube’s decision to let Donald Trump return to the platform is that it’s last in line, especially given its history of weak and inconsistent enforcement of its content rules when it comes to the politically powerful. When YouTube suspended Trump two years ago after he incited a violent insurrection, they didn’t even remove his incendiary videos. They just wouldn’t let him add more, but the videos inciting protests, declaring that the 2020 election was rigged, and Trump’s demonizing language of marginalized communities have been available all along. With Trump’s 2.6 million followers, YouTube’s move to welcome him back shows its willingness to be complicit in the spread of hate and extremism. Especially with the 2024 elections around the corner, how can YouTube be so sure that “the risk of violence has decreased.” After all there was political violence, such as the brutal assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, around the midterms and major law enforcement agencies still cite white supremacy as the number one domestic terrorist threat – a movement that includes groups that were inspired to violence by Trump in the January 6 insurrection.

In addition to Trump’s content leading up to the Jan. 6th insurrection, the company has a track record of allowing hate and disinformation to spread on the platform. For instance, since the racist Buffalo shooting, the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, a conspiracy that has motivated both that killing and other mass murders and dozens of deaths around the world has proliferated on the platform. Other politicians who are also given a pass on YouTube are some of the most dangerous purveyors of the replacement theory. For example, Rep. Brian Babin of Texas has a channel where he posts his TV appearances, including this Newsmax clip where he blatantly pushes the conspiracy. Another example is JD Vance of Ohio who posts his political ads, including this one that asks viewers if they hate Mexicans. None of these videos are flagged. One reason for this is YouTube’s misguided policy on politicians which allows violative content to remain if YouTube deems it educational, documentary/news, scientific or of artistic value. The implications of this decision are far-reaching, and will inspire authoritarian-leaning political figures around the world to continue using YouTube to build their hate-filled campaigns.





Politicians aren’t the only ones who get a pass. The extreme far-right purveyors of the replacement theory like Generation Identity (GI), a transnational white supremacist network that specifically targets young people for recruitment, have dozens of YouTube channels with hundreds of videos, some monetized.

YouTube needs to clean up its act. And the decision to let Trump back on is a step in the wrong direction. The bottom line is that Trump is a proven dangerous threat to our democracy. If that’s not enough for YouTube to continue to ban him, then what is? YouTube, like Facebook and Twitter under Elon Musk, has made a decision that could cause irreversible harm to democracies everywhere.

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March 17, 2023

Trump is looking/sounding as unhinged and desperate as I have ever seen him (MSNBC showed new vids)

March 17, 2023

Chicago mayoral election: Vallas supporters disrupt Johnson presser criticizing his education record

video at the link

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-mayoral-election-brandon-johnson-paul-vallas-public-schools/12964351/

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Paul Vallas' education record came under fire from Brandon Johnson Thursday in a news conference that was disrupted by some of Vallas' supporters.

Johnson went after Vallas in the presser at Rainbow PUSH headquarters with the help of supporters from Philadelphia and New Orleans, where Vallas ran the public school systems after leaving Chicago Public Schools in 2001.

"We still are in Philadelphia trying to recover a school district that was destroyed years ago. The buck stops here," said Kendra Brooks, Philadelphia City Council member.

"Here's one thing I need to make sure that we're clear about: not just our belief in public education, but to make sure that we are investing in public education," Johnson said. When Vallas supporters tried to ask questions on his behalf and then take over the microphone, Johnson's supporters chanted them down. Police were called, but there were no arrests.

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March 17, 2023

Will anybody stop that Trump judge from banning abortion pills?

The federal courts are dominated by Republicans, so the appeals process could be rough.

https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/16/23642927/supreme-court-abortion-matthew-kacsmaryk-mifepristone-texas-trump



If you’ve followed the fight over where and whether abortion should remain legal in the United States, you’ve probably heard the name “Matthew Kacsmaryk.” Kacsmaryk is a former lawyer for a religious right law firm, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump to a federal court in Texas. He is widely expected to issue a decision ordering the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of mifepristone, a medication used in more than half of all abortions within the United States.

The Trump judge held a hearing on Wednesday to hear arguments in a case seeking to remove the widely used drug from the US marketplace, and a Washington Post reporter at the hearing says that he “appeared to seriously entertain claims that mifepristone is unsafe.” That won’t surprise anyone familiar with this judge’s record of partisan rulings.

https://twitter.com/CAKitchener/status/1636076762533617667
Make no mistake, there is no legal basis whatsoever for a federal judge to endorse a lawsuit trying to ban this medication, which has been lawful in the United States since 2000. But if Kacsmaryk rules as he is expected to rule in this lawsuit, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, that will immediately test whether the rule of law still exists in a judiciary dominated by Republican appointees.

Here’s what happens next in the federal court system: There will likely be two parallel appeals processes — a relatively quick process seeking to temporarily block Kacsmaryk’s order, and then a much more drawn-out process seeking to permanently reverse his decision.

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March 17, 2023

3 fast facts about SoFi, the company looking to end the student loan payment pause

https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/03/3-fast-facts-about-sofi-the-company-looking-to-end-the-student-loan-payment-pause.html



Capitalism always knows how to ruin a good time, especially when it comes to student loan debt. With student loan payment pauses lifting the financial burden off millions of federal borrowers since March 2020, private student-loan refinancing companies like SoFi are tired of payment purgatory and are ready to start collecting on their loans. Last Friday, SoFi filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education to end the latest payment pause extension, arguing Biden’s recent pause is “an illegal overreach of power.”

“We have supported and continue to support targeted student loan forgiveness, in addition to the student loan payment moratorium during the economic crisis at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it’s time for the administration to follow through on its word to end the federal student loan payment moratorium,” SoFi told the Washington Post.

In November 2022, after Biden’s plan to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debt for federal borrowers was put on hold by the Supreme Court, the president extended the payment pause to ensure that borrowers did not have to start paying off their debt without a decision by SCOTUS on relief. Even Education Secretary Miguel Cardona noted that the extension intended to alleviate “financial uncertainty” for borrowers. The payment pause is set to end 60 days after June 30, or 60 days after SCOTUS makes a decision about the forgiveness plan, whichever happens first. But SoFi argues that the recent payment pause violates the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, an authority the Department of Education has to suspend payments.

Read more: Student loan borrowers could be forced into ‘unthinkable financial decisions’

But according to the Heroes Act, the current education secretary is permitted “to alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies.” “This lawsuit is an attempt by a multibillion-dollar company to make money while they force 45 million borrowers back into repayment — putting many at serious risk of financial harm,” said a Department of Education spokesperson. SoFi has made billions off of borrowers owing student loan debt, and while we don’t know if they’ll win this fight – here’s what we do know about the multi-billion-dollar company;

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March 17, 2023

Molly Jong-Fast: GOP Elites Can't Simply Wish Donald Trump Away

They may be done with Trump, but he isn’t done with the party.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/donald-trump-gop-ron-desantis-2024

https://archive.is/2FF2X



Trumpism has cost the GOP in three consecutive elections, and yet it looks like the Republican base may continue to follow their basest ideological urges and stick with their guy in the next contest. A new CNN poll found that the majority of Republicans (and Republican-leaning independents) “care more about picking a 2024 GOP nominee who agrees with them on issues than one who can beat [Joe] Biden.” This polling runs contrary to the GOP-elites wishcasting described Wednesday in Politico: “Even die-hard supporters of former president Donald Trump, they’ve reasoned, are finally sick of losing.”

If this polling is right, the base is not “sick of losing.” There is no tangible evidence to support the GOP braintrust’s fantasy. If anything, the base seems stuck in 2016, as four polls last month showed Trump experiencing a February bump, expanding his lead over Ron DeSantis. It’s been clear for months—to me, at least—that Trump shouldn’t be counted out, whereas “several top Republicans,” Axios noted Tuesday, “keep saying there’s no way” he can win the nomination.

But what’s the base saying? Thirty-eight percent of CNN respondents said they consider America’s “increasing racial, ethnic, and national diversity” to be a threat. More than half of the respondents want a candidate who would “support government action to oppose ‘woke’ values,” while a whopping “78% majority of Republican-aligned Americans” said that “society’s values on sexual orientation and gender identity are changing for the worse.” Oh, and 84% of those who identify as very conservative consider Biden’s indisputable 2020 victory to be illegitimate. Trump continues to very much have a hold over the hearts and minds of the GOP base.

The GOP didn’t bother coming up with a new policy platform in 2020, and given the base’s priorities—race, gender, and “woke” panic, mixed with election denial—it’s likely to be another campaign filled with empty slogans (“Build the wall!”) and the vague belief that Trump, or someone espousing Trumpism, can fix everything. With Trump and DeSantis (who is still not officially in the race) both trekking to Iowa within the past week, it’s clear the Republican primary season is upon us, with a mere 600 or so days until November 5, 2024.

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March 17, 2023

Extreme - Rise (2023)

That Nuno Bettencourt solo!

March 16, 2023

Separate and unequal: gender segregation at work

Gender segregation in sectors, occupations and roles still sees women persistently losing out.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/separate-and-unequal-gender-segregation-at-work

‘Women belong in all the places where decisions are made,’ declared the late United States Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. These decisions are made everywhere and at every level: in the home and at work, in the boardroom and on the shopfloor. That is why it is of such serious concern that gender segregation is so deeply rooted across Europe. It is not only evident in employment in general but is embedded in particular sectors, occupations, roles and responsibilities.

There had been progress in Europe in the years before the pandemic: women’s employment rates had increased, for instance. Yet more women than men lost their jobs when Covid-19 struck—mostly because women outnumbered men in the sectors, such as hospitality, most severely affected by the consequent lockdowns. This pattern is reproduced across the European labour market, with women concentrated in highly segregated sectors. More men are employed in industry, transport and construction, whereas women still predominate in health and education.

Far larger shares

The occupational structure is no less segregated. Women constitute far larger shares of those working in clerical support, services and sales, with men prevailing among craft workers and plant and machine operators. Despite efforts to promote broader access to sectors and occupations traditionally associated with one gender, data from the 2021 European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) show that more than half the working population in the European Union still work in occupations dominated by their own gender.

Nearly one third of the working population consists of men working in male-dominated occupations—for example, around 95 per cent of drivers and mobile-plant operators, metal and machinery workers, and building workers are men. One quarter of the working population is made up of women working in female-dominated occupations, such as personal-care workers and cleaners and helpers—they constitute over 80 per cent of workers in these occupations. Meanwhile, women and men working in mixed-gender occupations (no more than 60 per cent of one gender) represent less than one quarter of the working population.

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March 15, 2023

At Wellesley College, Students Vote to Admit Trans Men

Students supported a nonbinding referendum on Tuesday that calls for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants. Opponents say the school’s mission is to educate women.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/us/wellesley-college-trans-nonbinary.html

https://archive.is/HOH9t



Wellesley College proudly proclaims itself as a place for “women who will make a difference in the world.” It boasts a long line of celebrated alumnae, including Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Nora Ephron.

On Tuesday, its students supported a referendum that had polarized the campus and went straight to the heart of Wellesley’s identity as a women’s college. The referendum, which was nonbinding, called for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants, including trans men. Currently, the college allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman.

The referendum also called for making the college’s communications more gender inclusive — for example, using the word “students” or “alumni” instead of “women.” The vote was in some ways definitional: What is the mission of a women’s college?

Supporters said that women’s colleges had always been safe havens for people facing gender discrimination, and that with trans people under attack across the country, all transgender and nonbinary applicants must be able to apply to Wellesley. Opponents of the referendum said that if trans men or nonbinary students were admitted, Wellesley would become effectively coed.

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