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Ford, GM Layoff Another 500 Workers As Strikes Ripple Across Heartland
After United Auto Workers expanded strikes against Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. on Friday, both automakers laid off an additional 500 workers at four Midwestern plants because of the worsening impacts of labor actions about to enter the third week.
Reuters said Ford on Monday "was furloughing a total of 330 workers at its Chicago Stamping and Lima, Ohio Engine plants, while GM layoffs included 130 at its Parma, Ohio Metal Center and 34 at its Marion, Indiana Metal Center."
On Friday, UAW boss Shawn Fain expanded strikes against a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan, and a Ford Chicago assembly plant but spared Stellantis after last-minute talks that offered progress on a new four-year labor deal for UAW workers.
"Our courageous members at these two plants are the next wave of reinforcements in our fight for record contracts," the union boss said Friday. He added, "We are not calling on additional members at Stellantis to go on strike because moments before this broadcast, the automaker made significant progress on the contract."
The Wall Street Journal said, "With the layoffs disclosed by GM and Ford on Monday, more than 6,000 factory workers are off the job because of spillover effects from the strike. That figure includes several suppliers who have cited furloughs directly tied to the walkouts."
About 25,000 out of 146,000 UAW workers are striking at facilities operated by General Motors Ford, and Stellantis.
Last week, Ford's chief supply chain officer, Liz Door, warned:
"We have roughly 125,000 supplier employees that support our Michigan assembly plant.
"And if prolonged, this really could have a significant impact as it expands into our other Ford factories. We see anywhere between 325,000 to 500,000 people that could be laid off."
CEOs of Ford and General Motors blasted UAW boss Fain over the weekend:
GM CEO Mary Barra said: "It's clear that there is no real intent to get to an agreement."
While CEO Jim Farley said, "UAW is holding the deal hostage over battery plants."
Late Monday, General Motors said it received a counteroffer from the union. Last week, Fain dropped pay hike demands from 40% to 30% for a new four-year labor contract. Still, automakers are around 20%.
In other UAW news, Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks agreed on a new labor contract with the union on Sunday night to avert a strike.
JPMorgan told clients Monday that it had reduced General Motors' third-quarter earnings by approximately $191 million and decreased Ford's profit by around $145 million because of ongoing strikes.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Netflix Might Be Forced To Raise Prices (Again) After Hollywood Strike
Hollywood writers ended a five-month strike against studios in late September on a new labor deal. Although the contract is still in the finalization process, The Wall Street Journal has reported that the world's biggest streaming platform plans to increase prices once more.
WSJ cited people familiar with the matter that said Netflix "is discussing raising prices in several markets globally, but will likely begin with the US and Canada." They said the price increase or when it will take effect is still unknown.
News of further pay hikes comes after eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America accepted a new labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers last month. The contract includes higher pay, more benefits, and a pledge by the studios not to replace writers with artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, talks between actors union SAG-AFTRA and studios are still ongoing.
Increasing labor costs for actors and writers is likely the main driver forcing Netflix to raise streaming prices again. WSJ shows that 'streamflation' has been a recent phenomenon across all streaming platforms.
"The company plans to wait until the dual Hollywood writer and actor strikes end before increasing prices. The Writers Guild of America announced a tentative agreement with studios last week and the Screen Actors Guild, which went on strike in July, restarted negotiations with Hollywood studios this week," WSJ noted.
To offset the higher cost of doing business, Amazon Prime plans to place "limited advertisements" in TV shows and movies unless customers pay an extra monthly fee.
Some consumers have had enough with 'streamflation' and canceled Disney+ and Hulu services ahead of new price hikes slated for Oct. 12.
Streaming platforms have produced an abundance of shows over the years, causing consumers to develop an addiction problem, commonly known as 'binge-watching'.
If consumers don't like higher streaming costs because of the union's - well, you're out of luck. Wait until Detroit's Big Three agree on a deal with the United Autoworkers Union -- this will only force automakers to increase prices for new vehicles.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Bill Clinton Breaks With Democrat Party
Image Credit: Bill Clinton via MSNBC.
Former Democrat President Bill Clinton says immigration is “broken” under Joe Biden and “we need to fix it.”
After reversing the border policies of Donald Trump, Biden triggered an unprecedented and historic surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.
Clinton says it’s time to end asylum and sanctuary city laws that Democrats have been supporting.
Referring to New York City’s “Right to Shelter Law,” Clinton argues “it should be modified.”
“It’s broken. We need to fix it,” Clinton said, adding that the law “doesn’t make any sense.”
As an asylum city, NYC has required shelter for illegal immigrants and the homeless for 40 years.
With thousands of illegals in the city, they are being fed, sheltered, and vaccinated at local hotels. This puts an enormous strain on taxpayers and causes significant debt.
“They come here, and we’re supposed to shelter people who can’t get work permits for six months. We need to change that,” Clinton said.
“They ought to work,” Clinton continued. “They need to begin working, paying taxes and paying their way. Most of these people have no interest in being on welfare.”
“We should build more housing just over the Rio Grande, and Mexico, I think, would support that,” he said.
“Keep people there, and let them in as quickly as possible if they are going someplace where we know they can get a job, and they’ll be welcome.”
Clinton also noted the “chaos” around the migrant crisis is “very beneficial for the Republicans.”
Millions of Americans will vote for Republicans as this mass invasion occurs under Democrats’ watch.
-Carver Malone, America Insider
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Ukraine adds Chinese energy giants to ‘war sponsors’ list
Three major Chinese oil and gas conglomerates were added to a Ukrainian blacklist on Tuesday, after the government in Kiev accused them of helping Moscow’s war effort by having their subsidiaries in Russia pay taxes.
Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) announced it was adding the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC Group), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to the list of “international sponsors of war,” because they “continue to implement joint projects with Russia and finance Russia’s strategic industry by paying significant taxes.”
According to the NACP, Sinopec owns a 10% stake in PJSC ‘SIBUR’ Holding, which paid $347 million worth of taxes to the Russian state in the first half of 2023. It also has a 40% stake in the Amur Gas Chemical Complex LLC, which paid $30 million in taxes in 2022.
CNPC has multiple joint projects with Russia, including Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2, the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, and the Skovorodino-Mohe-Daqing oil pipeline, the NACP said, adding that Yamal LNG alone paid $1.14 billion in taxes to Moscow in 2022.
The Ukrainian agency described the blacklist as a “powerful reputational tool,” which in effect intimidates companies into stopping doing business with Russia by elevating their risk rating in the World Check database used by banks and insurance companies.
The government in Beijing has not yet responded to Tuesday’s action by NACP, which follows the blacklisting of the online marketplace Alibaba, telecommunications company Xiaomi, and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
On Monday, Ukraine removed Hungary’s OTP Bank from the list, citing unspecified promises to stop its operations in Russia. Budapest has pointed to the bank’s blacklisting as justification to hold up €500 million ($523 million) in EU military aid to Kiev since May.
-RT News
Politico Pens 'Not All Nazis Are Bad' Op-Ed After Canada Lionizes Waffen SS: Taibbi
Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,
Start with the title: “Fighting against the USSR didn’t necessarily make you a Nazi.” The Politico Europe editor approving it was either high on glue, or finally decided yesterday to come to work in his secret Schutzstaffel uniform. No other explanation fits.
Writer Keir Giles argued there’s “disinformation” and a “lie” in the outrage over Canada’s parliament cheering former Waffen SS soldier Yaroslav Hunka:
This history is complicated because fighting against the USSR at the time didn’t necessarily make you a Nazi, just someone who had an excruciating choice over which of these two terror regimes to resist. However, the idea that foreign volunteers and conscripts were being allocated to the Waffen-SS rather than the Wehrmacht on administrative rather than ideological grounds is a hard sell for audiences conditioned to believe the SS’s primary task was genocide. And simple narratives like “everybody in the SS was guilty of war crimes” are more pervasive because they’re much simpler to grasp.
On “fighting against the USSR at the time didn’t necessarily make you a Nazi”: didn’t it if you were Yaroslav Hunka, who was actually a Nazi? Giles protests Hunka’s Waffen-SS service is just a “hard sell” to current audiences because they’ve been “conditioned to believe the SS’s primary task was genocide,” due to “simple narratives like ‘everybody in the SS was guilty of war crimes.’” Hunka’s 14th Waffen Grenadier unit, aka the Galicia Division, was in 2003 found by the Polish government to have murdered about 1000 inhabitants of Huta Pieniacka, now in the Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. The report singled out the “14th sub-unit” of the Galizien, which may be why Poland’s education Minister just said he’s “taken steps toward the possible extradition of this man.”
It doesn’t matter, because this story was never about the moral choices of Yaroslav Hunka, but the decision by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to applaud as a “Canadian hero” a former member of the SS. Hunka also happened also to have fought on the other side in a war that killed 42,000 Canadians. But who’s counting? As Giles writes, it’s “complicated.”
GOERING AT NUREMBERG: IT’S COMPLICATED would have fit National Lampoon’s famed “Hitler’s Tropical Escape” issue, or its later “Spring Fascism Preview.” A New York Times spoof would write itself: “For Augusto Pinochet, Good Governance, Complex Choices.” But Giles one-ups them all with this piece arguing, with no laugh track, the “nuanced truth” of SS service. It’s the literary equivalent of trying to scale the El Capitan Wall without a harness, an incredible thing to try, much less publish.
Politico ran a photo of Hunka in his Galizien uniform, but the article still made repeated references to things like “shouting about ‘Nazis,’ real or imaginary” (you just established this one isn’t imaginary!) or the “chorus of evidence-free condemnation” (you just printed the evidence!).
The stunner passage is near the end:
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center registered its outrage, noting that Hunka’s unit’s “crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well-documented” — a statement that doesn’t seem to have any more substance than the accusation by Russia.
If you had “Simon Wiesenthal Center accused of echoing Russian propaganda” on your historical bingo card, congratulations.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Ex-Soviet state claims US funding ‘violent’ color revolution plotters
The Georgian government said on Monday it had interrogated agitators from a US-funded group planning to unleash a violent color revolution. The group was previously involved in the 2003 civil unrest in the country.
The head of the ruling party explained that he is seeking an explanation from Washington. The US embassy in Tbilisi didn’t deny bankrolling the outfit, but said its activities were about supporting Georgian democracy.
According to Georgia’s State Security Service (SUS), three Serbian nationals from the organization called CANVAS arrived in Georgia last week and met with local activists at a Tbilisi hotel to train them how to “overthrow the government by violent means.”
The “destructive and illegal actions” would target the government, security services, and the Orthodox Church, using techniques such as roadblocks and setting up protest encampments in front of government buildings, the SUS said. CANVAS activists also showed examples from Serbia on how to invade the parliament, take broadcasting services offline, and overthrow the government, according to the security agency.
When questioned by the SUS on September 29, Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stoisic, and Slobodan Djinovic allegedly “tried to disguise the real reason for their stay in Georgia” and provided testimonies that contradicted evidence obtained by the investigators. The trio left Georgia the following day.
Commenting on the SUS report, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze told local media on Monday that the US should explain why it is funding possible unrest in Georgia.
In a statement later in the day, the US embassy in Tbilisi said the accusations against CANVAS are “false and fundamentally mischaracterize the goals of our assistance to Georgia.” US aid to Tbilisi has always been “transparent,” the embassy insisted, adding that CANVAS was contracted by USAID more than two years ago to “deliver training to mothers advocating for better cancer treatments for children, and to people advocating for the rights of elderly citizens in their communities.”
The US will “continue to support Georgian organizations who support people to secure the future they determine and deserve,” the embassy added.
CANVAS stands for Center for Applied Nonviolent Strategies, and its mission is to “advocate for the use of nonviolent resistance in the promotion of human rights and democracy,” according to the group’s website. It was co-founded by Djinovic and Srdja Popovic, two prominent members of Otpor, a US-backed student group that played a key role in the October 2000 coup in Serbia.
A similar “color revolution” overthrew the Georgian government in 2003, with former Otpor activists coaching the Georgian copycat group Kmara. After the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution’ in Ukraine, The Guardian described the process as an American-devised “template for winning other people’s elections.”
-RT News
Biden calls shaken US allies to reassure on Ukraine aid
President Joe Biden called Western allies Tuesday to reassure them that the United States will stand fast on Ukraine, after Republican hardliners derailed funding for US aid to help Kyiv’s war effort.
Biden spoke with the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, and of the EU and NATO, along with the foreign minister of France, the White House said.
“President Biden convened a call this morning with allies and partners to coordinate our ongoing support for Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement, adding that more details would be released later.
Washington has been scrambling to calm shaken allies after an 11th-hour deal in the US Congress to avoid a government funding shutdown on Saturday contained no new aid for war-torn Ukraine.
After Tuesday’s call, the allies rushed to show a united front with Biden, whose country is by far the largest supplier of aid to Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said Biden was “keen to reassure the allies about the continuing American support for Ukraine, also following the recent decisions of the US Congress.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “thanked President Biden for convening the call” and for his “leadership,” adding that Western support would continue for “as long as it takes.”
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg said the call was “good” while EU chief Charles Michel said the allies “stand united.”
But Russia has pounced on the chaos in Washington, with the Kremlin saying on Monday that Western war fatigue would grow amid the uncertainty over US assistance for Ukraine.
The bill passed on Saturday to avoid a US government shutdown dropped all mention of Ukraine aid amid opposition from hard-right Republicans.
‘Keep their word’
Democrat Biden has called for Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to rush through new aid, saying that US support for Kyiv could not be interrupted “under any circumstances.”
“Speaker McCarthy and the majority of House Republicans must keep their word and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine as it defends itself,” Biden said on X, formerly Twitter, earlier Tuesday.
“We are the indispensable nation in the world — let’s act like it.”
Biden has also warned that time is short before existing funding runs out.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir was “wrong” if he believes Moscow will be able to outlast Ukraine and its allies.
She added that the United States would soon announce new assistance for the Ukrainian armed forces, which will be drawn from a $113 billion budget already approved by Congress.
But the disruption in an ever-more divided US political scene could upend moves to pass the fresh $6 billion in aid that Biden had been seeking.
McCarthy was fighting for his political life Tuesday ahead of a vote seeking to oust him from his role as House speaker, forced by the far-right of his party that has put stopping aid to Ukraine at the top of its agenda.
The chaos comes right after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington in September to plead for continued backing as his forces fight in a slow-moving counteroffensive against Russian forces that invaded in February 2022.
Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, recently estimated the amount of military assistance provided to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion at $47 billion.
The US Congress has approved a total of $113 billion in aid for Ukraine but opposition among hardline Republicans has been spreading, including to some voters.
An ABC/Washington Post poll released September 24 showed 41 percent of respondents saying the United States was doing too much to support Ukraine, up from 33 percent in February and just 14 percent in April 2022.
-Insider Paper
Poland, Austria and Czechia to introduce temporary border checks with Slovakia to curb illegal migration
Poland, Austria and Czechia will all introduce random checks at the countries’ borders with Slovakia from midnight on Wednesday following an influx of illegal immigration.
Temporary checks will be conducted along the length of the border for an initial 10-day period until Oct. 13.
They will focus specifically on road and railway border crossings, although, pedestrians and cyclists may also be asked for documentation. Anyone within the vicinity of the border may be requested to identify themselves.
“The numbers of illegal migrants to the EU are starting to grow again,” said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala following the announcement. “We don’t take the situation lightly.”
“Citizens need a valid passport or identity card to cross the border,” the Czech Interior Ministry added.
The Czech policy would also be adopted by neighboring Austria, the country’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed.
Poland had already announced its intention to reintroduce checks on the Slovak border with the number of migrants along the Balkans migration route continuing to surge. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week he was “instructing Minister of Interior Mariusz Kamiński to check on buses, coaches, and cars crossing the border when it is suspected there could be illegal migrants on board.”
“In recent weeks, we detected and detained 551 illegal migrants at the border with Slovakia. This situation causes us to take decisive action,” Kaminski added.
Slovak caretaker Prime Minister Ludovit Odor acknowledged the growing issue of illegal migration in his country but insisted that the problem needs a European solution rather than individual nations restricting border access.
He claimed that the decision by the three neighboring countries had been fueled by the Polish government, which is involved in a tightly contested election campaign, with Poles heading to voting booths on Oct. 15.
“The whole thing has been triggered by Poland, where an election will soon take place, and the Czech Republic has joined in,” Odor said.
Slovakia revealed last month that the number of illegal migrants detained by its authorities this year had soared nine-fold to over 27,000. The majority of detainees comprise young men from the Middle East using the Balkan migratory route through Serbia as they seek to migrate to northwestern Europe.
The winner of Sunday’s general election in Slovakia, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has vowed to tackle the issue more robustly by promising to reintroduce border checks with neighboring Hungary.
“It will not be a pretty picture,” Fico told journalists as he threatened to use force to dispel illegal migrants detected on Slovak territory.
-Thomas Brooke, Remix News
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PHILIPPINES ADDS DIGITAL ID TO GOVT SUPER APP AS WORLD BANK OKAYS $600M SUPPORT
Philippines’ digital ID, the digital version of the physical ID card dubbed PhilID, is the latest feature to be added to the country’s eGov PH Super App through which citizens can access many other important government services. This move comes just as the World Bank has approved $600 million fresh funding to support the country’s digital transformation efforts.
According to Technobaboy, only those who have enrolled on the Philippines Identification System (PhilSys) can have access to the digital version of the PhilID on the super app.
The eGov PH Super App, which is available for download on Google Play and App Store, was launched in June, with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) services added to the platform the same month.
Other services now accessible on it include the Social Security System (SSS), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), digital travel operations as well as a digital reporting system which enables citizens to report crimes or other issues related to government red tape.
Users can view their ID on the super app using their registered mobile number or their MPIN, and then follow the instructions to access their digital ID QR code which can also be downloaded and stored on a mobile device.
The eGov PH Super App is a supplementary option for existing digital systems for obtaining government services, officials have explained.
$600M SUPPORT TO FUND SEVERAL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS
In the meantime, digital transformation efforts in the country are set to get a new push with a World Bank loan approved at the end of September.
The Bank says in a press release that the funds, disbursed under the First Digital Transformation Development Policy Loan, will help the country in the execution of several digital transformation projects.
Apart from helping the country continue the implementation of its digital government and digital public infrastructure development policy, it will also help drive financial inclusion efforts as well as facilitate reforms in the digital trade sector.
“Transitioning to a cashless economy would provide various benefits, especially during climate-related and natural disasters, enabling the government and the private sector to respond swiftly and efficiently,” says Smita Kuriakose, lead economist in the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice.
“With digital transactions, affected individuals can receive government assistance or insurance payouts promptly, facilitating their recovery and rebuilding efforts.”
The World Bank notes that the high adoption of digital payments is of paramount importance for the growth the country’s economy given that cash payments currently dominate the space.
Part of the project’s objective is thus to support the rollout of policies that favor “broader acceptance of digital payments, strengthen trust in digital financial services, and enhance competition in digital financial infrastructure.”
The Philippines government got a $600 million World Bank loan in 2021 to advance its economic recovery and resilience efforts with some of the money meant for the development of digital ID infrastructure.
-Blacklisted News
Switzerland plans to BAN electric cars from the roads and order games consoles turned off during power shortages in a bid to reduce energy consumption
Switzerland will ban the use of electric cars for 'non-essential' journeys if the country runs out of energy this winter, the government has announced.
Emergency plans drawn up in the event the Swiss are hit by blackouts also call for shop opening hours to be reduced by up to two hours per day, heating systems in nightclubs to be turned off, and other buildings to be heated to no more than 20C.
Crisis measures could see streaming services and games consoles banned, Christmas lights turned off, and all sports stadiums and leisure facilities closed.
Switzerland fears an energy shortage in the coming months because it is highly dependent on imports to get it through winter.
The country gets around 60 per cent of its energy from hydroelectric power stations, such as dams across rivers or generators placed between lakes.
Around a third of its power comes from nuclear, which the government has committed to phasing out, and the remaining comes from a mixture of traditional fossil fuel plants and solar or wind generation.
Overall, Switzerland produces enough electricity each year to keep the lights on - but that statistic masks huge discrepancies month-to-month.
Because hydropower relies on rainfall and snow melt to top up rivers and reservoirs, it naturally increases during spring and summer but falls off in autumn and winter.
That means the Swiss export large amounts of power to neighbouring nations during the warmer, wetter months and import through the colder months.
In turn, that means energy shortages in Europe caused by Putin's war in Ukraine will impact the country even though it burns almost no Russian gas.
Germany is Switzerland's largest energy exporter and was hugely reliant on Russian supplies. France is second, and is currently suffering issues with its nuclear reactors.
Switzerland is also generating less energy than usual from its hydro plants because the exceptionally dry summer in Europe caused lakes and rivers to run low.
The country's emergency plan is divided into two categories - emergency and crisis - with three degrees of restrictions in the first, and four in the second.
It is designed to operate like Covid lockdowns, with each stage triggered depending on the amount of energy available.
Under the least-extreme 'emergency' measures, people will be asked to limit their washing machines to a maximum of 40C with public buildings heated to no more than 20C - unless they are a hospital or nursing home.
That will decrease to 19C under the next level of restriction, with streaming services forced to limit the resolution of their videos to standard instead of HD.
Under the next level of 'emergency' measures, shops will be asked to reduce opening times by up to two hours per day, with electric vehicles limited to essential journeys only.
That means attending a professional practice, food shopping, visiting the doctor, attending religious events, and attending court hearings.
Under 'crisis' measures, hot water will be turned off in public bathrooms, air conditioning in private homes will be barred, as will the use of electric leaf blowers.
Moving up the scale, outdoor Christmas lights will then be extinguished, escalators will be stopped, and commercial ice machines will have to shut down.
Next up, swimming pools will have to shut, sports stadiums cannot be illuminated, nightclub lighting will turn off, and cryptocurrency mining will be barred.
Under the most-extreme measures, all leisure businesses will have to close and all sports matches will be banned, along with concerts, theatre and opera.
-Chris Pleasance, Daily Mail
CHILLING FIND Common cold can trigger a killer blood clot disorder, scientists discover for the first time
WE all know how miserable the common cold can be.
But now, scientists are warning that your seasonal sniffles could trigger a fatal complication.
For the first time, scientists at the University of North Carolina have found a link between a life-threatening blood clotting disorder and an adenovirus infection.
Adenovirus is one of the most common respiratory viruses affecting both adults and children, causing cold and flu-like symptoms.
Viral infections, as well as autoimmune diseases and other conditions, can cause levels of platelets in the blood to drop - known as thrombocytopenia.
Platelets, or thrombocytes, are a vital part of the blood - responsible for forming blood clots, which stop you bleeding out when you're injured.
“This adenovirus-associated disorder is now one of four recognised anti-PF4 (anti-platelet factor 4) disorders,” said Dr Stephen Moll, professor of medicine at the university's Department of Medicine’s Division of Hematology, said.
“We hope that our findings will lead to earlier diagnosis, appropriate and optimised treatment, and better outcomes in patients who develop this life-threatening disorder.”
The latest findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, sheds new light on how the virus can play a role in causing an anti-platelet factor 4 disorder.
The discovery paves the way for new avenues of research to understand why and how this condition occurs, the scientists said.
What are anti-PF4 disorders?
Antibodies are large proteins that stick to the surface of bacteria, viruses and other 'foreign invaders', highlighting them for destruction by the immune system.
In anti-PF4 disorders, a person's immune system mistakenly creates antibodies that target the PF4 protein, which is released by platelets.
It can trigger a chain reaction that results in the platelets being destroyed by the immune system, causing excessive blood clotting and a drop in platelet levels.
In some cases anti-PF4 antibodies are triggered by a patient taking an anticoagulant drug called heparin, called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).
In other cases, where a person hasn't taken heparin, it's known as spontaneous HIT.
In the last three years, a small number of cases of thrombocytopenia have been linked to specific Covid-19 jabs, distinct from those produced by Moderna and Pfizer. This condition is called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).
To understand the condition better, researchers looked into a five-year-old boy who was previously diagnosed with an adenovirus infection and was hospitalised with a severe blood clot in his brain and significantly reduced platelet levels.
Doctors noted he hadn't been taking heparin, or had a Covid vaccine.
“The intensive care unit physicians, the neuro-intensivist, and hematology group were working around the clock to determine next steps in the care for this young boy,” said Dr Jacquelyn Baskin-Miller.
“He wasn’t responding to therapy and was progressing quickly.
"We had questioned whether it could have been linked to his adenovirus considering the vaccine data, but there was nothing in the literature at that time to suggest it.”
The results showed that the boy had an antibody typically associated with HIT.
It followed a similar case reported in Richmond, Virginia where another patient with an adenovirus infection was found to have multiple blood clots, a stroke, heart attack, DVT as well as severe thrombocytopenia.
Like the little boy, the patient hadn't been exposed to heparin or a Covid jab.
Test results showed that the patient’s antibodies were targeting the same protein as HIT antibodies, which concluded that they had a variant of HIT linked to the adenovirus infection.
Researchers said there are many unanswered questions on how common this disorder is and if it can be caused by other viruses - adding more research is needed.
-Isabel Shaw, The Sun
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PENTAGON OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH FACILITATING DOG FIGHTING RING FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS
The feds on Monday announced they're charging senior Department of Defense official Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr for allegedly facilitating a brutal dog fighting ring with roided-up pit bulls for over 20 years.
A senior member of the Department of Defense communications staff has been arrested and charged with participating in a dogfighting ring in the D.C. area for more than 20 years, federal authorities disclosed Monday. The ring regularly trained dogs for fights, ran thousands of dollars in bets on the outcomes, and executed dogs that didn't die during matches, court records state.
Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr., 62, of Arnold, Md., was a deputy chief information officer for command, control and communications for the Secretary of Defense's Chief Information Officer, court records and Moorefield's LinkedIn page show. He was arrested Thursday on a charge of promoting and furthering animal fighting venture, along with a longtime friend who allegedly admitted his participation in dogfighting, Mario D. Flythe, 49, of Glen Burnie.Investigators found battery jumper cables, which allegedly were used to execute dogs at Moorefield's house, along with five pit bull-type dogs at his house and five pit bull-type dogs at Flythe's house, court records show. The FBI, the Department of Agriculture and other local and federal agencies raided both houses on Sept. 6, according to a federal affidavit, finding weighted collars and heavy metal chains used to increase fighting dogs' strength. Authorities said they also found "an apparatus that is used for involuntarily inseminating female dogs" and stains "consistent with bloodstains from dogfights."
Both men were released after being arraigned.According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, Moorefield, a Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, and Communications, for Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Flythe used an encrypted messaging application to communicate with individuals throughout the United States to discuss dogfighting. Moorefield used the name "Geehad Kennels" and Flythe used the name "Razor Sharp Kennels" to identify their respective dogfighting operations.
For example, as detailed in the affidavit, Moorefield, Flythe and their associates used the encrypted messaging application to discuss how to train dogs for illegal dogfighting, exchanged videos about dogfighting, and arranged and coordinated dogfights. Moorefield and Flythe also discussed betting on dogfighting, discussed dogs that died as a result of dogfighting, and circulated media reports about dogfighters who had been caught by law enforcement. As further alleged in the affidavit, Moorefield and others also discussed how to conceal their conduct from law enforcement.
On September 6, 2023, law enforcement officers executed search warrants at Moorefield and Flythe's residences in Maryland. Following the execution of these warrants, twelve dogs were recovered and seized by the federal government. Law enforcement also recovered veterinary steroids, training schedules, a carpet that appeared to be stained with blood, and a weighted dog vest with a patch reading "Geehad Kennels." In addition, law enforcement officers seized a device consisting of an electrical plug and jumper cables, which the affidavit alleges is consistent with devices used to execute dogs that lose dogfights.Here's Moorefield's bio from the Pentagon (which has since been deleted):
-Blacklisted News
Washington State Might Protect Sex Offenders. Proposal: No More Public Notices, Public Access to Registries
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Washington state is preparing to let sex offenders roam wild and free by easing restrictions and sentencing guidelines for the rapists and perverts, a draft report from two state panels says.
Indeed, the report’s authors don’t even want parents to know if a sex offender is living next door. And leftist Governor Jay Inslee recently vetoed a notification bill on violent offenders, and even released dangerous sex offenders into residential neighborhoods.
That would make Inslee and other backers of leniency for sex criminals directly responsible for any crimes they commit. Not that they would be punished when the criminals they protect rape and molest.
Current Laws Undermine Safety
Uncovered by the Post Millennial scribe Ari Hoffman, the proposal to modify the law came from the state’s Sex Offender Policy Board and Sentencing Guideline Commission. It says restrictions and tough sentences on sex offenders must be rolled back because “these laws actually undermine public safety, the exact opposite of what lawmakers and the public so confidently assume they accomplish.”
The draft claims that “those convicted of a sex offense have some of the lowest recidivism rates compared to individuals convicted of a non-sex offense,” the website reported. And “this is also true for individuals convicted of sex offenses against children.”
The draft document did not include data to back its claim that sex offenders are a low risk to reoffend, the website reported. In 2019, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that “released sex offenders were more than three times as likely as other released prisoners to be arrested for rape or sexual assault (7.7% versus 2.3%).”
As well, “released sex offenders accounted for 5% of releases in 2005 and 16% of arrests for rape or sexual assault during the 9-year follow-up period,” BJS reported.
“Recidivism rates for these offenses are as low as or lower than for other sex crimes,” the draft document insists. And although “sex offenses are ‘distinctively unsettling and injurious’ justifying exceptional prevention efforts … punishments like registration, public access, community notification, and residency restrictions conclusively do not reduce recidivism rates.”
Castration or the electric chair would certainly reduce recidivism, but that obvious fact aside, the document also recommends sending sex offenders into the community to reduce recidivism:
Reduced reintegration, social support, stable living, steady employment, all undermine rehabilitative efforts and may actually increase registrant recidivism.
Even worse, the draft policy suggests keeping the public in the dark when a pervert is released. Nor should anyone know where he lives. Such policies are useless because they don’t inspire folks to take “meaningful precautions to protect themselves.”
And, the draft continued:
These systems create a false sense of security and divert attention from more significant sexual dangers, increasing risk to the public.
Instead, the document recommends registries for police use only and stopping community sex-offender alerts. It also claims that “registration laws are expensive to implement,” costing several “millions dollars per year.”
The two boards also fret that released perverts might go homeless.
Sex Offenders Set Free
More frightening than the draft proposal, however, is what Hoffman revealed in February. Level 3 sex offenders, the most dangerous, were released to live in residential neighborhoods. “The inmates were called ‘the worst of the worst’ by the federal government and included convicted pedophiles who are the most likely to re-offend,” the Hoffman reported.
Level 3 offenders are the most dangerous, the Pierce County website says:
These offenders pose a potential high risk to the community and are a threat to re-offend if provided the opportunity. Most have prior sex crime convictions as well as other criminal convictions. Their lifestyles and choices place them in this classification. Some have predatory characteristics and may seek out victims. They may have refused or failed to complete approved treatment programs.
Worse still, Hoffman reported, Inslee vetoed a provision that would have amended the law so that the public is notified about violent criminals.
Bob Ferguson, the state’s attorney general, Hoffman reported, backs the effort to protect sex offenders.
In 2021, when “37 Republican and Democratic members of the National Association of Attorney Generals signed a letter in response to the proposals regarding the Modern Penal Code opposing similar rollbacks of sex offender regulations,” Ferguson didn’t sign.
“He is actually in favor of rolling back the laws as they apply to sex offenders,” Glen Morgan of watchdog We The Governed told Hoffman. “There’s no way that he’s going to ever be in favor of making things more transparent.”
Morgan said Ferguson and his backers not only “destroy public records at every turn” but also “want to keep secret from the public who these violent criminals are, where they are, where they’re going and they want to keep it secret. And the only outcome from that secrecy is more victims.”
-Cort Kirkwood, The New American