mintpressnews--2020-10-07--Flint-Linked Veolia Merger Brings Water Privatization Closer to “Global Reality”

Veolia , one of the world ’ s largest private water corporations , has just announced the acquisition of 29.9 percent of Suez Water , another of the planet ’ s largest multinationals , with a plan to gain full control at a later date .
Based in France , Veolia already employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide , and this deal is set to greatly expand that .
In order to get around French anti-monopoly laws , Suez will continue to operate in France , but Veolia will take over its operations around the world , including in the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Antoine Frérot , has presented the move as a triumph for the environment .
“ I am very happy to lay the foundation stone in France today for a world super champion of the ecological transformation , ” he said , adding that this was a “ wonderful opportunity ” for both investors and the planet .
Others were not so sure this takeover was such a positive move .
Activist group Food and Water Watch decried the deal .
“ Veolia ’ s global domination of public water services is becoming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Public Water for All Campaign Director Mary Grant , warning of a host of negative consequences for humanity at large .
“ Lead seems to be a problem , do not pass this on ” The water and waste management firm is perhaps best known in the United States in connection to the Flint water crisis ( 2014-present ) , where it was employed in a number of lucrative roles by the city .
While much of the public outrage has been directed at local and national officials , many in Flint blame @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their lives .
In 2016 , Michigan residents sued the company , accusing it of professional negligence , a charge Veolia called “ outrageous , ” claiming that people are “ trying to create a corporate villain where one does not exist.
” However , last year , leaked email exchanges show that senior employees knew about the dangerous levels of lead and other carcinogens in the water but did not go public with the information .
As a result , months passed before the city was forced to admit there was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by The Guardian , are explicit , with officials communicating that “ lead seems to be a problem ” and instructing others , “ do not pass this [ information ] on.
” In general , allowing private corporations to control water supplies has not been beneficial for local populations .
For example , in the United Kingdom , water was privatized in 1989 , with the cost of water to the consumer increasing at 40 percent above inflation ever since .
Shareholders received $ 17.5 billion in dividends between 2010 and 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaks that spill over 650 million gallons every year .
As a result , the United Kingdom — a notoriously wet collection of islands — is facing a water shortage by 2045 .
In 1997 the World Bank strong-armed Bolivia into privatizing its water system as a condition of a loan agreement .
Almost overnight , prices soared .
A water and sewer connection for a single household cost $ 445 in El Alto , where many residents earned less than $ 2 per day .
Nevertheless , private companies managed to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collection of rainwater .
The result was mass thirst , and anger that spilled over into the streets and set the tone for two decades of radical politics in the country , especially after U.S. corporation Bechtel sued the country for $ 25 million for canceling its municipal contract with them .
The United Nations recognizes the right to water and sanitation as a fundamental human right .
Yet when the profit motive is injected into the equation , and it is treated as a commodity to be bought and sold , those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out .
Food and Water watch categorically warns against privatization .
“ As the fiscal realities of the COVID crisis begin to set in for struggling municipalities , some may consider selling off their valuable water systems as a short-term solution .
But this would create long-term harm .
Communities must revert all privatized water and sewer systems to public control to ensure safety and affordability for all , ” Grant added .
Feature photo | A student gets water from a cooler in the hallway at Gardner Elementary School in Detroit , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elevated lead levels in public water .
Paul Sancya | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Veolia, one of the world’s largest private water corporations, has just announced the acquisition of 29.9 percent of Suez Water, another of the planet’s largest multinationals, with a plan to gain full control at a later date.
Based in France, Veolia already employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide, and this deal is set to greatly expand that. In order to get around French anti-monopoly laws, Suez will continue to operate in France, but Veolia will take over its operations around the world, including in the United States.
The company’s CEO, Antoine Frérot, has presented the move as a triumph for the environment. “I am very happy to lay the foundation stone in France today for a world super champion of the ecological transformation,” he said, adding that this was a “wonderful opportunity” for both investors and the planet.
Others were not so sure this takeover was such a positive move. Activist group Food and Water Watch decried the deal. “Veolia’s global domination of public water services is becoming a terrifying reality,” wrote its Public Water for All Campaign Director Mary Grant, warning of a host of negative consequences for humanity at large.
The merger of the world’s largest water corporations will erode any semblance of competition for water privatization deals. This lack of competition will lead to unaffordable costs for families, slack maintenance and safety procedures, loss of union jobs, and potentially rampant corruption. Water privatization has been a disaster for communities across the United States and around the world.”
“Lead seems to be a problem, do not pass this on”
The water and waste management firm is perhaps best known in the United States in connection to the Flint water crisis (2014-present), where it was employed in a number of lucrative roles by the city. While much of the public outrage has been directed at local and national officials, many in Flint blame Veolia for its alleged reckless disregard for their lives. In 2016, Michigan residents sued the company, accusing it of professional negligence, a charge Veolia called “outrageous,” claiming that people are “trying to create a corporate villain where one does not exist.”
However, last year, leaked email exchanges show that senior employees knew about the dangerous levels of lead and other carcinogens in the water but did not go public with the information. As a result, months passed before the city was forced to admit there was a deadly problem. The emails, published by The Guardian, are explicit, with officials communicating that “lead seems to be a problem” and instructing others, “do not pass this [information] on.”
In general, allowing private corporations to control water supplies has not been beneficial for local populations. For example, in the United Kingdom, water was privatized in 1989, with the cost of water to the consumer increasing at 40 percent above inflation ever since. Shareholders received $17.5 billion in dividends between 2010 and 2019, but the companies refuse to plug leaks that spill over 650 million gallons every year. As a result, the United Kingdom — a notoriously wet collection of islands — is facing a water shortage by 2045.
In 1997 the World Bank strong-armed Bolivia into privatizing its water system as a condition of a loan agreement. Almost overnight, prices soared. A water and sewer connection for a single household cost $445 in El Alto, where many residents earned less than $2 per day. Nevertheless, private companies managed to get the government to pass laws banning the collection of rainwater. The result was mass thirst, and anger that spilled over into the streets and set the tone for two decades of radical politics in the country, especially after U.S. corporation Bechtel sued the country for $25 million for canceling its municipal contract with them.
The United Nations recognizes the right to water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. Yet when the profit motive is injected into the equation, and it is treated as a commodity to be bought and sold, those without the ability to pay often miss out. Food and Water watch categorically warns against privatization.
“As the fiscal realities of the COVID crisis begin to set in for struggling municipalities, some may consider selling off their valuable water systems as a short-term solution. But this would create long-term harm. Communities must revert all privatized water and sewer systems to public control to ensure safety and affordability for all,” Grant added.
Feature photo | A student gets water from a cooler in the hallway at Gardner Elementary School in Detroit, Sept. 4, 2018, due to elevated lead levels in public water. Paul Sancya | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-10-07--Following US Pressure, Aid to Yemen Falls to Just 25 Cents Per Day

Home to what the United Nations has described as “ the world ’ s worst humanitarian crisis , ” Yemen is on the brink of total disaster after five years of protracted war .
Yet crucial international aid to the country has been cut this year to just 25 cents per person , per day , around half of what was given in 2019 .
That money translates to just 200 grams ( less than half a pound ) of beans , three eggs , or 200ml of cooking oil inside the country , where food prices are soaring .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United Nations .
But the organization warns that what they received is less than half of what is necessary to supply clean water , food , shelter , and medicine to the 24 million people ( 80 percent of the population ) who need humanitarian assistance .
Much of the blame for the drop in aid can be placed at the door of the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly pressuring the U.N. to scale back humanitarian assistance to the country in an attempt to starve the rebels of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to U.N. headquarters to meet with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make his case .
Oxfam ’ s Yemen Country Director , Muhsin Siddiquey , pleaded with the international community to do more to help the country .
“ While the economic fallout unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every corner of the globe , in Yemen millions are on the brink of starvation .
Yemenis can not afford aid to be cut , people need more help to survive , not less , ” he said .
Furthermore , the countries that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States , United Kingdom , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates — are the very same ones directing the onslaught against Yemen , with Saudi and Emirati troops leading the fight , supported by British and American arms sales and political cover .
Saudi Arabia , for example , is responsible for 49 percent of all weapons purchases , while it has committed to buying $ 350 billion worth of U.S. arms in the coming years .
This economic power has allowed the four to play politics with international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to advance their agenda instead of where it is needed most .
“ Countries should stop cashing in on this appalling humanitarian crisis and instead put people ’ s lives above arms manufacturers ’ profit , ” Siddiquey said .
“ The Yemenis who ’ ve had to flee their homes , go without food and clean water , and endure outbreaks of disease need a nationwide ceasefire and inclusive peace talks to end this war so they can rebuild their lives.
” The World Bank has warned of a “ famine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 20 million people also lacking access to clean water .
Because of the lack of funds , the U.N. has had to reduce services at 300 health and food distribution centers across Yemen .
These sites are already in short supply , as the Saudi-led coalition intentionally targets their Yemeni counterparts , attacking water or medical facilities once every ten days on average since the war began in 2014 .
Two-thirds of all districts in the country are already pre-famine , the U.N. explains , and one-third face a convergence of multiple acute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cholera and COVID-19 .
Officially , the country has seen only 2,047 COVID-19 cases and cholera numbers have dropped from last year .
But , as Oxfam warned , these low figures do not show that the country has the epidemics under control .
Quite the opposite : it shows their embattled health systems have been completely overwhelmed and are unable to record the devastation wrought .
While the conflict has its origins in the 2011 Arab Spring , the war officially began three years later , when armed Shia Houthi rebels rose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corrupt and undemocratic government led by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi .
Hadi initially fled the country but was given strong support by Saudi Arabia , other Gulf monarchies , and Western powers , who accused Iran of arming and funding the Houthis .
However , without many boots on the ground , they have been unable to dislodge the Houthis from their strongholds in the populous south and west of the country , preferring to bomb the country from above .
While the official death toll of the war stands at over 100,000 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Unfortunately , the war is unlikely to cool down in the foreseeable future .
The recently signed Abraham Accord between Bahrain , the U.A.E.
, and Israel , for example , allows for the transfer of high-tech American and Israeli weaponry to the Gulf states , who will doubtless be keen to use it in Yemen .
“ The U.A.E .
is one of the central protagonists in the cataclysmic war of aggression against Yemen , ” Greg Shupak of the University of Guelph , Ontario , told MintPress .
“ So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will unleash these killing machines on the impoverished Yemeni population that it has already done so much to devastate…Likewise , increased intelligence sharing between Israel and the U.A.E .
could entail Israel helping the U.A.E .
having more , and possibly more advanced , information that it can use to maim and kill Yemenis.
” Despite promising to draw down its role in the conflict , Sudan is sending hundreds of more troops to the country via Saudi Arabia .
A foreign ministry spokesperson also recently revealed that the country is in talks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arabia has also recently begun building a military base in the Hawf nature reserve in eastern Yemen , a crucial oasis in the largely arid country .
As always , there appears to be plenty of money for weapons , but not enough for crucial humanitarian aid .
Feature photo | A medic checks a malnourished newborn inside an incubator at Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa , June 27 , 2020 .
Hani Mohammed | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Home to what the United Nations has described as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” Yemen is on the brink of total disaster after five years of protracted war. Yet crucial international aid to the country has been cut this year to just 25 cents per person, per day, around half of what was given in 2019. That money translates to just 200 grams (less than half a pound) of beans, three eggs, or 200ml of cooking oil inside the country, where food prices are soaring.
The aid has been channeled primarily through the United Nations. But the organization warns that what they received is less than half of what is necessary to supply clean water, food, shelter, and medicine to the 24 million people (80 percent of the population) who need humanitarian assistance.
Much of the blame for the drop in aid can be placed at the door of the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly pressuring the U.N. to scale back humanitarian assistance to the country in an attempt to starve the rebels of aid. In March, Pompeo traveled to U.N. headquarters to meet with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make his case.
Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, Muhsin Siddiquey, pleaded with the international community to do more to help the country. “While the economic fallout unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every corner of the globe, in Yemen millions are on the brink of starvation. Yemenis cannot afford aid to be cut, people need more help to survive, not less,” he said.
Cashing in on a crisis
Furthermore, the countries that have contributed the most in aid — the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — are the very same ones directing the onslaught against Yemen, with Saudi and Emirati troops leading the fight, supported by British and American arms sales and political cover. Saudi Arabia, for example, is responsible for 49 percent of all weapons purchases, while it has committed to buying $350 billion worth of U.S. arms in the coming years. This economic power has allowed the four to play politics with international aid, directing to groups that allow them to advance their agenda instead of where it is needed most.
“Countries should stop cashing in on this appalling humanitarian crisis and instead put people’s lives above arms manufacturers’ profit,” Siddiquey said. “The Yemenis who’ve had to flee their homes, go without food and clean water, and endure outbreaks of disease need a nationwide ceasefire and inclusive peace talks to end this war so they can rebuild their lives.”
The World Bank has warned of a “famine of biblical proportions,” with over 20 million people also lacking access to clean water. Because of the lack of funds, the U.N. has had to reduce services at 300 health and food distribution centers across Yemen. These sites are already in short supply, as the Saudi-led coalition intentionally targets their Yemeni counterparts, attacking water or medical facilities once every ten days on average since the war began in 2014.
Two-thirds of all districts in the country are already pre-famine, the U.N. explains, and one-third face a convergence of multiple acute vulnerabilities. These include deadly outbreaks of cholera and COVID-19. Officially, the country has seen only 2,047 COVID-19 cases and cholera numbers have dropped from last year. But, as Oxfam warned, these low figures do not show that the country has the epidemics under control. Quite the opposite: it shows their embattled health systems have been completely overwhelmed and are unable to record the devastation wrought.
From Arab Spring to Abraham Accord
While the conflict has its origins in the 2011 Arab Spring, the war officially began three years later, when armed Shia Houthi rebels rose up against what they saw as a corrupt and undemocratic government led by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi initially fled the country but was given strong support by Saudi Arabia, other Gulf monarchies, and Western powers, who accused Iran of arming and funding the Houthis. However, without many boots on the ground, they have been unable to dislodge the Houthis from their strongholds in the populous south and west of the country, preferring to bomb the country from above. While the official death toll of the war stands at over 100,000, most believe this is a serious underestimate.
Unfortunately, the war is unlikely to cool down in the foreseeable future. The recently signed Abraham Accord between Bahrain, the U.A.E., and Israel, for example, allows for the transfer of high-tech American and Israeli weaponry to the Gulf states, who will doubtless be keen to use it in Yemen.
“The U.A.E. is one of the central protagonists in the cataclysmic war of aggression against Yemen,” Greg Shupak of the University of Guelph, Ontario, told MintPress. “So there is a strong possibility that it will unleash these killing machines on the impoverished Yemeni population that it has already done so much to devastate…Likewise, increased intelligence sharing between Israel and the U.A.E. could entail Israel helping the U.A.E. having more, and possibly more advanced, information that it can use to maim and kill Yemenis.”
Despite promising to draw down its role in the conflict, Sudan is sending hundreds of more troops to the country via Saudi Arabia. A foreign ministry spokesperson also recently revealed that the country is in talks with Israel to normalize relations. Saudi Arabia has also recently begun building a military base in the Hawf nature reserve in eastern Yemen, a crucial oasis in the largely arid country. As always, there appears to be plenty of money for weapons, but not enough for crucial humanitarian aid.
Feature photo | A medic checks a malnourished newborn inside an incubator at Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, June 27, 2020. Hani Mohammed | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-10-08--New DARPA-Funded Tech Promises to Diagnose COVID-19 Through Implantable Biochip

The POC ( point-of-care ) diagnostics market stands at about $ 18.8 billion globally , according to recent market trends , and is expected to grow by a third to $ 24.1 billion this year and projected to explode by 2024 to $ 46.7 billion .
The main driver for these highly optimistic forecasts is the surge in healthcare technology demand brought on by the pandemic crisis , which is lining the pockets of big pharma and big tech , aided and abetted by the Defense Department ’ s various tentacles into the private sector , like DARPA or In-Q-Tel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ private enterprise through direct investment , stock purchasing , and grants , representing one of the clearest examples of how the military industrial complex works .
The “ detection ” of COVID-19 is among the most crowded segments of the POC diagnostics market and recent advances in the life sciences have made new technologies , such as mRNA-based vaccines and testing possible .
The U.S. government , through the Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ) , has been intimately involved in helping these technologies along , and in the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considerable investments in its development dating back to November 2019 in the case of one company developing an mRNA-based COVID-19 diagnostic tool .
But in a paper published on the FDA ’ s website , independent journalist Jon Rappaport discovered that the CDC – at least in the summer of 2020 – had no virus isolates of the novel coronavirus “ currently available ” and reveals that all the assays used to design diagnostic testing algorithms for COVID-19 were of other isolates meant to “ mimic clinical specimen.
” In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detect COVID-19 at all , which raises a number of questions , including why the Defense Advanced Research Agency ( DARPA ) just awarded $ 1.1 million to a molecular diagnostic firm that is working on a machine-learning diagnostic test for COVID-19 , that uses mRNA biomarkers to read the immune system ’ s response .
The company ’ s “ host-response diagnostics technology , ” or HostDx , was initially hypothesized by Inflammatix ’ s co-founder , Timothy E. Sweeney , during his time at Stanford University ’ s Khatri Lab , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ applied to biomedical research .
Founded in 2016 , the young company was incubated by the University ’ s now-defunct StartX fund and is run by four Stanford University alumni .
The Stanford University “ spinout ” company named its COVID detection product CoVerityTM , which is billed as a way to help doctors make better decisions for COVID-19 patients upon arrival at hospital emergency rooms , through its mRNA rapid detection technology .
Originally geared towards creating a more accurate and faster diagnosis method for detecting sepsis , which Sweeney calls one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Inflammatix ’ s core technology was expanded to include influenza testing with host-response biomarkers in November 2019 , when it received a cost-sharing contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA ) worth up $ 72 million .
BARDA ’ s contract was followed up by $ 32 million in private venture capital funds , and in March 2020 , a full week before the World Health Organization declared a global coronavirus pandemic , Inflammatix co-founders Sweeney and Purvesh Khatri – principal investigator for Khatri Lab – published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Improved identification of bacterial and viral infections through a “ 29-mRNA neural-network classifier.
” The study cited “ recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence ” that can help distinguish “ between bacterial , viral , and non-infectious inflammation.
” Another study published in April focused on the cost-effectiveness of the “ Novel Multi-mRNA Host Response Assay for Diagnosis and Risk Assessment of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections , ” which concluded that Inflammatix ’ s HostDx technology provided “ substantial cost savings.
” Among the lead researchers for the study was Inflammatix @ @ @ @ @ @ @ describes him as an “ expert in commercializing novel molecular diagnostics.
” The patently commercial feel of this endeavor is buttressed by the company ’ s origins in the Stanford ’ start-up incubator , which was sued by another Stanford researcher and StartX fund beneficiary for using the fund “ as a mask by using non-profit employees and resources to run a venture capital enterprise.
” While the University denies any wrongdoing , StartX was quietly closed in 2019 as litigation in that case continues .
The technology being developed by Inflammatix to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in patients with COVID-19 links directly to an implantable biochip , also developed with DARPA money and covered by this author , by virtue of its reliance on mRNA markers and health surveillance data sets to execute its algorithm .
CoVerity requires the kind of technology made possible by DARPA ’ s hydrogel paired with a light sensor technology , like that provided by Profusa , Inc. for DARPA ’ s biochip , which can deliver binary signals for the algorithm to process and make the diagnosis .
Related technology has also been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ board members , Steve Tablak , whose company GeneWeave BioSciences was acquired by Roche in 2015 for its “ Smarticles technology , ” which binds to family-specific DNA sequences of pathogens to produce a “ luciferase reporter ” or binary light emission that can be read by technology such as CoVerity .
Inflammatix CEO Timothy Seeney is confident that his algorithm is the best “ method for test development that involves analyzing raw data [ to ] discover the best gene sets for specific applications.
” Investors , apparently , agree and is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bring in onetime Roche exec , Oliver Liesenfeld , as the company ’ s Chief Medical Officer ( CMO ) to oversee the product ’ s clinical trials and the road to regulatory approvals as it looks for FDA approval by early 2021 .
If you ask MedWhat ’ s CEO Arturo Devesa , the Stanford University Medical School researcher who sued his alma mater ’ s start-up accelerator StartX for fraud , the experience “ has made him question everything he believed about Stanford ’ s high-minded pursuit of innovation and Silicon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I was really naive , and now I just see it for what it is , ” Devesa told a San Jose news outlet in a 2019 interview .
“ It is not this amazing entrepreneur-friendly thing that everybody talks about , ” he continued .
“ it ’ s just business .
It ’ s like Wall Street.
” Given Stanford ’ s deep ties to U.S. military intelligence dating back to the cold war , through an early version of StartX called the Stanford Research Institute ( SRI ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the true nature of Wall Street as an arm of the U.S. military industrial complex , which seems poised to make a killing on the brave new world of implantable biochips and AI-enabled diagnostic tools that are on the brink revolutionizing the healthcare industry .

The POC (point-of-care) diagnostics market stands at about $18.8 billion globally, according to recent market trends, and is expected to grow by a third to $24.1 billion this year and projected to explode by 2024 to $46.7 billion. The main driver for these highly optimistic forecasts is the surge in healthcare technology demand brought on by the pandemic crisis, which is lining the pockets of big pharma and big tech, aided and abetted by the Defense Department’s various tentacles into the private sector, like DARPA or In-Q-Tel, where federal dollars are channeled into private enterprise through direct investment, stock purchasing, and grants, representing one of the clearest examples of how the military industrial complex works.
The “detection” of COVID-19 is among the most crowded segments of the POC diagnostics market and recent advances in the life sciences have made new technologies, such as mRNA-based vaccines and testing possible. The U.S. government, through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has been intimately involved in helping these technologies along, and in the case of mRNA, specifically, has made considerable investments in its development dating back to November 2019 in the case of one company developing an mRNA-based COVID-19 diagnostic tool.
But in a paper published on the FDA’s website, independent journalist Jon Rappaport discovered that the CDC – at least in the summer of 2020 – had no virus isolates of the novel coronavirus “currently available” and reveals that all the assays used to design diagnostic testing algorithms for COVID-19 were of other isolates meant to “mimic clinical specimen.”
In other words, the tests aren’t designed to detect COVID-19 at all, which raises a number of questions, including why the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) just awarded $1.1 million to a molecular diagnostic firm that is working on a machine-learning diagnostic test for COVID-19, that uses mRNA biomarkers to read the immune system’s response.
Verified COVID
The company’s “host-response diagnostics technology,” or HostDx, was initially hypothesized by Inflammatix’s co-founder, Timothy E. Sweeney, during his time at Stanford University’s Khatri Lab, which focuses on developments in machine learning applied to biomedical research. Founded in 2016, the young company was incubated by the University’s now-defunct StartX fund and is run by four Stanford University alumni.
The Stanford University “spinout” company named its COVID detection product CoVerityTM, which is billed as a way to help doctors make better decisions for COVID-19 patients upon arrival at hospital emergency rooms, through its mRNA rapid detection technology. Originally geared towards creating a more accurate and faster diagnosis method for detecting sepsis, which Sweeney calls one of the “holy grails of medicine,” Inflammatix’s core technology was expanded to include influenza testing with host-response biomarkers in November 2019, when it received a cost-sharing contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) worth up $72 million.
BARDA’s contract was followed up by $32 million in private venture capital funds, and in March 2020, a full week before the World Health Organization declared a global coronavirus pandemic, Inflammatix co-founders Sweeney and Purvesh Khatri – principal investigator for Khatri Lab – published a study in Nature Communications announcing “Improved identification of bacterial and viral infections through a “29-mRNA neural-network classifier.” The study cited “recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence” that can help distinguish “between bacterial, viral, and non-infectious inflammation.”
Another study published in April focused on the cost-effectiveness of the “Novel Multi-mRNA Host Response Assay for Diagnosis and Risk Assessment of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections,” which concluded that Inflammatix’s HostDx technology provided “substantial cost savings.” Among the lead researchers for the study was Inflammatix COO Jonathan Romanowsky, whose Linked-In profile describes him as an “expert in commercializing novel molecular diagnostics.”
The patently commercial feel of this endeavor is buttressed by the company’s origins in the Stanford’ start-up incubator, which was sued by another Stanford researcher and StartX fund beneficiary for using the fund “as a mask by using non-profit employees and resources to run a venture capital enterprise.” While the University denies any wrongdoing, StartX was quietly closed in 2019 as litigation in that case continues.
Proprietary singularity
The technology being developed by Inflammatix to predict the risk of severe respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19 links directly to an implantable biochip, also developed with DARPA money and covered by this author, by virtue of its reliance on mRNA markers and health surveillance data sets to execute its algorithm.
CoVerity does not explicitly require an implantable biochip to perform its intended function and can be used in traditional laboratory settings. Nevertheless, a clear trend points towards the development of such technology. Sensor technology similar to Profusa’s has been developed by one of Inflammatix’s board members, Steve Tablak, whose company GeneWeave BioSciences was acquired by Roche in 2015 for its “Smarticles technology,” which binds to family-specific DNA sequences of pathogens to produce a “luciferase reporter” or binary light emission that can be read by technology such as CoVerity.
Inflammatix CEO Timothy Seeney is confident that his algorithm is the best “method for test development that involves analyzing raw data [to] discover the best gene sets for specific applications.” Investors, apparently, agree and is the reason why the start-up decided to bring in onetime Roche exec, Oliver Liesenfeld, as the company’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to oversee the product’s clinical trials and the road to regulatory approvals as it looks for FDA approval by early 2021.
Just like Wall Street
If you ask MedWhat’s CEO Arturo Devesa, the Stanford University Medical School researcher who sued his alma mater’s start-up accelerator StartX for fraud, the experience “has made him question everything he believed about Stanford’s high-minded pursuit of innovation and Silicon Valley’s promise of meritocracy.”
“I was really naive, and now I just see it for what it is,” Devesa told a San Jose news outlet in a 2019 interview. “It is not this amazing entrepreneur-friendly thing that everybody talks about,” he continued. “it’s just business. It’s like Wall Street.”
Given Stanford’s deep ties to U.S. military intelligence dating back to the cold war, through an early version of StartX called the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Devesa’s assessment might reveal more about the true nature of Wall Street as an arm of the U.S. military industrial complex, which seems poised to make a killing on the brave new world of implantable biochips and AI-enabled diagnostic tools that are on the brink revolutionizing the healthcare industry.
Correction | A previous version of this article inaccurately stated that CoVerity requires DARPA’s hydrogel paired with a light sensor technology to function. CoVerity does not explicitly require an implantable biochip to perform its intended function and can be used in traditional laboratory settings. Nevertheless, a clear trend points towards the development of such technology and sensors like Profusa’s and “smarticles” technology created by Inflammatix’s board member Steve Tablak are designed to relay physiological responses directly from an Internet-connected device in a patient. The transmitted data can then be processed through CoVerity’s algorithm and virtually eliminating the need for traditional lab work.
Feature photo | MPN | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-10-09--Critics Say New Iran Sanctions Designed To “Choke off Humanitarian Exports” Amid Pandemic

Yesterday the State Department announced the beginnings of yet more sanctions on Iran , this time targeting the country ’ s financial industry .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the move was necessary to “ further deprive the Islamic Republic of Iran of funds to carry out its support for terrorist activities and nuclear extortion that threatens the world , ” adding that his actions were part of a “ maximum economic pressure campaign ” that will continue until Iran ceases its “ malign behavior.
” Pompeo insisted that the sanctions “ do not affect existing authorizations and exceptions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain in full force and effect.
” Yet existing sanctions have already wreaked havoc on the Islamic Republic , killing thousands .
Earlier this year , Human Rights Watch condemned the Trump administration for “ drastically constraining the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports , including medicines and medical equipment , ” its executive director Kenneth Roth describing Washington as “ compounding Iranians ’ misery by depriving them of access to the critical medical resources they urgently need.
” Iran was one of the first countries to be hit badly by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used the opportunity to cause maximum devastation by intimidating other nations into refusing to sell or donate them medical supplies , lest they be hit with secondary sanctions .
As a result , Iran was woefully under equipped to deal with the problem .
In the end , the World Health Organization stepped in , sending supplies themselves — part of the reason the Trump administration was so keen to leave the organization .
Washington insiders openly discussed using the pandemic to force the Iranian government out of office and implement a regime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government claims that the sanctions are “ directed at the regime and its corrupt officials that have used the wealth of the Iranian people to fuel a radical , revolutionary cause that has brought untold suffering across the Middle East and beyond , ” it is widely understood that the attack on the banking center will affect Iran ’ s ability to function and even purchase basics like food from abroad .
The National Iranian American Council ( no lovers of the current administration in Tehran ) condemned the action as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sanctions were explicitly designed to “ choke off humanitarian exports to Iran ” and displayed the cruelty of the Trump administration .
“ It is critical that the American people and our elected representatives put an end to this cruel , inhumane , and strategically catastrophic suffering and humiliation that is being imposed on innocent Iranians in our names , ” they concluded .
“ I don ’ t know how many times I have to read a headline about # Iran that breaks my heart .
Why are the lives of Iranians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the hurt , the pains , the struggles of the people of Iran ?
Why must we be so callous ?
” asked Leila Gharagozlou , a producer at MSNBC .
“ Contrary to the US claims , humanitarian goods and services are affected by the cruel sanctions .
Financial institutions fear the US vengeance , which is why the financial channels created to facilitate transactions for humanitarian commodities , have had no tangible results , ” said Mohammad Zareyian , an Iranian representative at the United Nations General Assembly .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran , sending the prices of consumer goods soaring and the value of its currency , the rial , plummeting .
Like in Venezuela , oil production has sputtered , as the Islamic Republic can find few buyers for its main national export .
The price of food has also become a serious issue for many .
“ The sanctions deliberately target ordinary Iranians , women and children , ” Seyed Mohammad Marandi , Professor of English Literature at the University of Tehran told MintPress last week .
“ They are designed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They have had partial success.
” The U.S. has dreamed of a change of government in Tehran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 overthrew the American-backed Shah and installed Ayatollah Khomeini as leader .
To that end , it has propped up dictators like Iraqi president Saddam Hussein , fomented protest movements , supported virtual shadow governments like the MEK , and imposed suffocating sanctions on the nation .
Earlier this year , Trump assassinated top general Qassem Soleimani as he was attending regional peace talks in Baghdad .
In the summer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Iran for its refusal to comply with the nuclear deal , despite the fact that the U.S. had already walked away from the same deal .
In August , Trump appointed disgraced Iran-Contra hawk and regime change specialist Elliott Abrams as his chief advisor on Iran , a signal to all those paying attention that increased hostilities were in the offing .
There is speculation that Trump will attempt to increase hostilities with Iran before the election , provoking an international incident .
If that is the case , these sanctions are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Feature photo | A member of the Iranian army walks past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for coronavirus patients set up by the army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran , Iran , March 26 , 2020 .
Ebrahim Noroozi | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Yesterday the State Department announced the beginnings of yet more sanctions on Iran, this time targeting the country’s financial industry. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the move was necessary to “further deprive the Islamic Republic of Iran of funds to carry out its support for terrorist activities and nuclear extortion that threatens the world,” adding that his actions were part of a “maximum economic pressure campaign” that will continue until Iran ceases its “malign behavior.”
Pompeo insisted that the sanctions “do not affect existing authorizations and exceptions for humanitarian exports to Iran, which remain in full force and effect.” Yet existing sanctions have already wreaked havoc on the Islamic Republic, killing thousands. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch condemned the Trump administration for “drastically constraining the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines and medical equipment,” its executive director Kenneth Roth describing Washington as “compounding Iranians’ misery by depriving them of access to the critical medical resources they urgently need.”
Iran was one of the first countries to be hit badly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. used the opportunity to cause maximum devastation by intimidating other nations into refusing to sell or donate them medical supplies, lest they be hit with secondary sanctions. As a result, Iran was woefully under equipped to deal with the problem. In the end, the World Health Organization stepped in, sending supplies themselves — part of the reason the Trump administration was so keen to leave the organization. Washington insiders openly discussed using the pandemic to force the Iranian government out of office and implement a regime more suited to their needs.
While the government claims that the sanctions are “directed at the regime and its corrupt officials that have used the wealth of the Iranian people to fuel a radical, revolutionary cause that has brought untold suffering across the Middle East and beyond,” it is widely understood that the attack on the banking center will affect Iran’s ability to function and even purchase basics like food from abroad.
The National Iranian American Council (no lovers of the current administration in Tehran) condemned the action as “heartless and sadistic,” claiming the sanctions were explicitly designed to “choke off humanitarian exports to Iran” and displayed the cruelty of the Trump administration. “It is critical that the American people and our elected representatives put an end to this cruel, inhumane, and strategically catastrophic suffering and humiliation that is being imposed on innocent Iranians in our names,” they concluded.
“I don’t know how many times I have to read a headline about #Iran that breaks my heart. Why are the lives of Iranians disposable? Do we not have compassion for the hurt, the pains, the struggles of the people of Iran? Why must we be so callous?” asked Leila Gharagozlou, a producer at MSNBC.
I don't know how many times I have to read a headline about #Iran that breaks my heart. Why are the lives of Iranians disposable? Do we not have compassion for the hurt, the pains, the struggles of the people of Iran? Why must we be so callous?https://t.co/DHmWdje5AG — Leila Gharagozlou (@Lghara93) October 8, 2020
“Contrary to the US claims, humanitarian goods and services are affected by the cruel sanctions. Financial institutions fear the US vengeance, which is why the financial channels created to facilitate transactions for humanitarian commodities, have had no tangible results,” said Mohammad Zareyian, an Iranian representative at the United Nations General Assembly.
The sanctions have already caused serious hardship on Iran, sending the prices of consumer goods soaring and the value of its currency, the rial, plummeting. Like in Venezuela, oil production has sputtered, as the Islamic Republic can find few buyers for its main national export. The price of food has also become a serious issue for many. “The sanctions deliberately target ordinary Iranians, women and children,” Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature at the University of Tehran told MintPress last week. “They are designed to kill hospital patients and to create poverty. They have had partial success.”
there's no word in English to describe the infuriating irony of Trump's regime introducing add'l sanctions on Iran (that will DEVASTATE access to food & medicine mid-pandemic) & called a "threat" to the US while he is literally responsible for the death of 210k+ bc of COVID ALONE — Hoda Katebi هدی کاتبی (@hodakatebi) October 8, 2020
The U.S. has dreamed of a change of government in Tehran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 overthrew the American-backed Shah and installed Ayatollah Khomeini as leader. To that end, it has propped up dictators like Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, fomented protest movements, supported virtual shadow governments like the MEK, and imposed suffocating sanctions on the nation.
Earlier this year, Trump assassinated top general Qassem Soleimani as he was attending regional peace talks in Baghdad. In the summer it imposed new “snapback” sanctions on Iran for its refusal to comply with the nuclear deal, despite the fact that the U.S. had already walked away from the same deal. In August, Trump appointed disgraced Iran-Contra hawk and regime change specialist Elliott Abrams as his chief advisor on Iran, a signal to all those paying attention that increased hostilities were in the offing.
There is speculation that Trump will attempt to increase hostilities with Iran before the election, provoking an international incident. If that is the case, these sanctions are merely a prelude to something bigger.
Feature photo | A member of the Iranian army walks past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for coronavirus patients set up by the army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2020. Ebrahim Noroozi | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-10-09--World Bank: Up to 150 Million More People Will Live in Extreme Poverty by 2021

A new report from the World Bank estimates that the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world will increase by between 88 and 150 million by 2021 , thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic .
This represents an increase in the number , calculated as those living on less than $ 1.90 per day , for the first time in 20 years , according to the World Bank , rising to nearly 10 percent of the global population .
The convergence of the coronavirus pandemic , combined with global conflict and climate change has put the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virtually out of sight , the report warned .
82 percent of those newly impoverished live in middle-income countries , as vast numbers of people around the world lose their jobs , either to lockdown measures or due to the economic fallout that will follow the pandemic .
Yet the working class in richer and poorer countries are also suffering the brunt of the impact of the virus .
56 million Americans ( including well over a third of poor Americans ) have been forced to rely on a food bank during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And by late July , 54 million had filed for unemployment insurance after the economy was shut down in an attempt to deal with the virus ’ spread .
One third of Americans also had to take a pay cut .
Meanwhile , those in poor countries are faring even worse .
In April , the World Food Program warned of a potentially massive global hunger epidemic as the world ’ s poorest would no longer be able to afford food to eat .
David Beasley , the World Food Program ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of biblical proportions ” emerging , primarily in Yemen and the Horn of Africa .
Yet following pressure from the Trump administration , aid to Yemen has been cut to just 25 cents per person per day , less than half of what the United Nations estimates is needed .
Over 36 million people worldwide have tested positive for the coronavirus , and there have been over 1.068 million deaths , although this is likely a conservative estimate .
The countries with the highest official death tolls are the United States , Brazil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same time , the coronavirus has been a boon to the world ’ s elite , with large businesses able to withstand the pressure and adapt better than small ones .
Even as huge numbers of people have had their lives ’ work destroyed , the wealth of the planet ’ s billionaires has increased by around one-third ( $ 1.5 trillion ) during the pandemic .
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seen his fortune more than triple to $ 92 billion , despite the fact that his California Tesla @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus ’ spread .
“ The World Bank ’ s report shows clearly that billions of people were more vulnerable to the economic impacts of COVID-19 because of decades of economic policies which have kept them living one paycheck away from poverty , while the richest in society accumulate ever more wealth , ” wrote Oxfam .
While the global economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic is not in doubt , the World Bank ’ s poverty numbers have long been a source of contention , with many alleging they intentionally fiddle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to falsely make it seem like progress is being made .
For decades , the organization has moved the goalposts on what constitutes extreme poverty , not taking into account other factors like inflation .
Furthermore , while $ 1.90 might be enough to live on in some of the world ’ s poorest countries , it is laughably inadequate for a nation like the United States .
In 2005 , the government itself calculated that $ 4.50 was the minimum needed merely to meet nutritional requirements alone .
Others have calculated that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to ensure a standard life expectancy , but that increasing the figure would undermine the idea that progress is being made in the fight against poverty .
And when figures from China ( a country that has not taken the same path as the one the World Bank recommends ) , worldwide poverty reduction figures look even worse .
Critics of the World Bank say the Washington-based organization is far too close to the U.S. government and has effectively become a weapon of imperialism , forcing countries to open up their economies to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exchange for loans , and that their advice to developing countries has only increased the poverty and misery of the people , leading to “ lost decades ” of development .
As Jo Erickson wrote in MintPress , World Bank policies are expressly about “ benefiting the wealthy and making poor poorer.
” “ The figures are a damning indictment of the failed economic policies that will push hundreds of millions more people into destitution during this pandemic .
Urgent action must be taken to protect labor rights , boost social safety nets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ close the gap between the richest and the rest , ” said Oxfam .
Feature photo | A homeless women sleep outside on a mattress in the “ Villa 31 ” neighborhood during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires , Argentina .
May 6 , 2020 .
Natacha Pisarenko | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

A new report from the World Bank estimates that the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world will increase by between 88 and 150 million by 2021, thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. This represents an increase in the number, calculated as those living on less than $1.90 per day, for the first time in 20 years, according to the World Bank, rising to nearly 10 percent of the global population. The convergence of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with global conflict and climate change has put the goal of ending global poverty by 2030 virtually out of sight, the report warned.
82 percent of those newly impoverished live in middle-income countries, as vast numbers of people around the world lose their jobs, either to lockdown measures or due to the economic fallout that will follow the pandemic.
Yet the working class in richer and poorer countries are also suffering the brunt of the impact of the virus. 56 million Americans (including well over a third of poor Americans) have been forced to rely on a food bank during the pandemic, according to Pew Research. And by late July, 54 million had filed for unemployment insurance after the economy was shut down in an attempt to deal with the virus’ spread. One third of Americans also had to take a pay cut.
Meanwhile, those in poor countries are faring even worse. In April, the World Food Program warned of a potentially massive global hunger epidemic as the world’s poorest would no longer be able to afford food to eat.
David Beasley, the World Food Program’s Director-General, spoke of “multiple famines of biblical proportions” emerging, primarily in Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Yet following pressure from the Trump administration, aid to Yemen has been cut to just 25 cents per person per day, less than half of what the United Nations estimates is needed.
Over 36 million people worldwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, and there have been over 1.068 million deaths, although this is likely a conservative estimate. The countries with the highest official death tolls are the United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico.
A boon for billionaires
At the same time, the coronavirus has been a boon to the world’s elite, with large businesses able to withstand the pressure and adapt better than small ones. Even as huge numbers of people have had their lives’ work destroyed, the wealth of the planet’s billionaires has increased by around one-third ($1.5 trillion) during the pandemic. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seen his fortune more than triple to $92 billion, despite the fact that his California Tesla plant was temporarily shut down due to the virus’ spread.
“The World Bank’s report shows clearly that billions of people were more vulnerable to the economic impacts of COVID-19 because of decades of economic policies which have kept them living one paycheck away from poverty, while the richest in society accumulate ever more wealth,” wrote Oxfam.
While the global economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic is not in doubt, the World Bank’s poverty numbers have long been a source of contention, with many alleging they intentionally fiddle with their definitions of poverty in order to falsely make it seem like progress is being made. For decades, the organization has moved the goalposts on what constitutes extreme poverty, not taking into account other factors like inflation. Furthermore, while $1.90 might be enough to live on in some of the world’s poorest countries, it is laughably inadequate for a nation like the United States. In 2005, the government itself calculated that $4.50 was the minimum needed merely to meet nutritional requirements alone. Others have calculated that the $1.90 figure is not enough to ensure a standard life expectancy, but that increasing the figure would undermine the idea that progress is being made in the fight against poverty. And when figures from China (a country that has not taken the same path as the one the World Bank recommends), worldwide poverty reduction figures look even worse.
Fudging the numbers?
Critics of the World Bank say the Washington-based organization is far too close to the U.S. government and has effectively become a weapon of imperialism, forcing countries to open up their economies to Western multinationals and privatize national assets in exchange for loans, and that their advice to developing countries has only increased the poverty and misery of the people, leading to “lost decades” of development. As Jo Erickson wrote in MintPress, World Bank policies are expressly about “benefiting the wealthy and making poor poorer.”
“The figures are a damning indictment of the failed economic policies that will push hundreds of millions more people into destitution during this pandemic. Urgent action must be taken to protect labor rights, boost social safety nets and deliver a fairer tax system to close the gap between the richest and the rest,” said Oxfam.
Feature photo | A homeless women sleep outside on a mattress in the “Villa 31” neighborhood during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires, Argentina. May 6, 2020. Natacha Pisarenko | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-10-09--Four Years Ago, US Bombs Killed Hundreds at a Yemeni Funeral. Those Bombs Are Still Used Today

Ten-year-old Ahmed Radwan al-Khazan holds his father ’ s photo in one hand and a wilted rose in the other .
He sits on a chair surrounded by rubble and ash in what is left of Mourning Square .
Dozens of children , along with their young widowed mothers , are perched on dozens of rows of chairs under a very long tent , its shadow cast across the wreckage of the Al Kubra Grand Hall building .
There , family members of 240 people killed gathered yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the attack that saw Saudi warplanes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funeral hall .
There were at least 1,000 mourners inside Al Kubra , located in Yemen ’ s capital city of Sanaa , when the bombs struck on October 8 , 2016 .
Many of the children that survived the horrific event are still too young to fully grasp the gravity of the moment .
Some carried red roses or white flowers , while the others carried posters emblazoned with images of their lost relatives .
“ American bombs killed my father .
We will never forget that ” Ahmed said angrily , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mother pulled him away protectingly , tugging at his hand and saying , “ your dad has gone to heaven.
” Images of the charred and mutilated remains of funeral-goers are still fresh in the minds of survivors and witnesses who spoke to MintPress .
Sami Abdullah , who is now wearing newly fitted prosthesis to replace his missing left leg lost in the attack , said “ We arrived early , at noon , and shook hands with the family members of al-Ruwayshan , after a while , we heard the loud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bombing with big pressure… shrapnel… fire… and intense black smoke .
Everything turned upside down , then , I stood up and ran and realized I had lost my leg .
When I was a few steps from the gate , a second bomb hit the tent.
” A UN panel of experts would later find that the timing of the attack “ coincided with a time when the funeral was expected to receive the highest number of mourners.
” The bombing of the funeral was the deadliest single attack in Yemen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the first Saudi attack on a civilian target , nor was it the last .
But what made it different was its sheer scale , the fact it occurred in broad daylight , and that the Saudi military used by a double-tap airstrike to assure maximum carnage .
Like the Saudi attack on a school bus that took place in August of 201 that killed more than 40 children and also used a U.S.-made MK82 guided bomb , justice for the victims of the Al Kubra attack has not been served .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saudi Arabia and all attempts to put limits on those sales have been ignored .
Since 2015 , UN investigators have repeatedly warned of the heavy civilian death toll from the Saudi-led Coalition ’ s bombing campaigns , which almost exclusively use U.S.-made munitions .
Yet the U.S. has continued selling arms to the Kingdom resulting in numerous massacres and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians like those lost in the Al Kubra Hall attack .
The catastrophic impact that western weapons , particularly American weapons , have had on Yemen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loss of life but in the creation of refugees , mental turmoil , and the destruction of vital infrastructure , especially the country ’ s healthcare system .
The United States claims that it does not make targeting decisions for the Saudi Coalition .
But it does support Coalition operations through training , arms sales , the refueling of Saudi combat aircraft , and the sharing of intelligence .
Those arms sales include precision-guided missiles as well as precision guidance parts used on the same warplanes responsible for civilian casualties in the Saudi-UAE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ According to mourners gathered to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the funeral hall bombing , the carnage will continue until Saudi Arabia and the UAE , who are still using U.S. and British weapons , are held accountable .
Until that happens , they say , they will continue to gather and mourn bombing victims until justice is served .
The anniversary of the Al Kubra Massacre must serve as a reminder of the need for justice to be served , but also as a remember that death in Yemen ’ s war @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dying without shedding a drop of blood as a direct result of the war .
Hunger , COVID-19 , and a deadly cocktail of diseases have set upon the country .
In a message to the United Nations on Thursday , the Presidium of Yemen ’ s Parliament warned that thousands of children in Yemeni hospitals now face death along with thousands of kidney failure patients as the country ’ s store of petroleum withers amid a U.S.-backed Saudi blockade .
Feature photo | A forensic expert displays glasses and other personal items @ @ @ @ @ @ @ destroyed funeral hall , two days after a Saudi-led airstrike targeted it , in Sanaa , Yemen , Oct. 10 , 2016 .
Hani Mohammed | AP Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist .
He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media .

Ten-year-old Ahmed Radwan al-Khazan holds his father’s photo in one hand and a wilted rose in the other. He sits on a chair surrounded by rubble and ash in what is left of Mourning Square. Dozens of children, along with their young widowed mothers, are perched on dozens of rows of chairs under a very long tent, its shadow cast across the wreckage of the Al Kubra Grand Hall building. There, family members of 240 people killed gathered yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the attack that saw Saudi warplanes drop an MK82 guided bomb on a funeral hall. There were at least 1,000 mourners inside Al Kubra, located in Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa, when the bombs struck on October 8, 2016.
Many of the children that survived the horrific event are still too young to fully grasp the gravity of the moment. Some carried red roses or white flowers, while the others carried posters emblazoned with images of their lost relatives. “American bombs killed my father. We will never forget that” Ahmed said angrily, his eyes brimming with tears. His mother pulled him away protectingly, tugging at his hand and saying, “your dad has gone to heaven.”
Images of the charred and mutilated remains of funeral-goers are still fresh in the minds of survivors and witnesses who spoke to MintPress. Sami Abdullah, who is now wearing newly fitted prosthesis to replace his missing left leg lost in the attack, said “We arrived early, at noon, and shook hands with the family members of al-Ruwayshan, after a while, we heard the loud screaming sound of a jet and then a bombing with big pressure… shrapnel… fire… and intense black smoke. Everything turned upside down, then, I stood up and ran and realized I had lost my leg. When I was a few steps from the gate, a second bomb hit the tent.”
A UN panel of experts would later find that the timing of the attack “coincided with a time when the funeral was expected to receive the highest number of mourners.”
US arms sales fuel the carnage
The bombing of the funeral was the deadliest single attack in Yemen’s six-year war, but was not the first Saudi attack on a civilian target, nor was it the last. But what made it different was its sheer scale, the fact it occurred in broad daylight, and that the Saudi military used by a double-tap airstrike to assure maximum carnage. Like the Saudi attack on a school bus that took place in August of 201 that killed more than 40 children and also used a U.S.-made MK82 guided bomb, justice for the victims of the Al Kubra attack has not been served. The United States still supplies weapons to Saudi Arabia and all attempts to put limits on those sales have been ignored.
Since 2015, UN investigators have repeatedly warned of the heavy civilian death toll from the Saudi-led Coalition’s bombing campaigns, which almost exclusively use U.S.-made munitions. Yet the U.S. has continued selling arms to the Kingdom resulting in numerous massacres and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians like those lost in the Al Kubra Hall attack. The catastrophic impact that western weapons, particularly American weapons, have had on Yemen is clear not only in terms of loss of life but in the creation of refugees, mental turmoil, and the destruction of vital infrastructure, especially the country’s healthcare system.
The United States claims that it does not make targeting decisions for the Saudi Coalition. But it does support Coalition operations through training, arms sales, the refueling of Saudi combat aircraft, and the sharing of intelligence. Those arms sales include precision-guided missiles as well as precision guidance parts used on the same warplanes responsible for civilian casualties in the Saudi-UAE’s military campaign in Yemen.
According to mourners gathered to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the funeral hall bombing, the carnage will continue until Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who are still using U.S. and British weapons, are held accountable. Until that happens, they say, they will continue to gather and mourn bombing victims until justice is served.
The anniversary of the Al Kubra Massacre must serve as a reminder of the need for justice to be served, but also as a remember that death in Yemen’s war comes in many forms. Thousands are dying without shedding a drop of blood as a direct result of the war. Hunger, COVID-19, and a deadly cocktail of diseases have set upon the country. In a message to the United Nations on Thursday, the Presidium of Yemen’s Parliament warned that thousands of children in Yemeni hospitals now face death along with thousands of kidney failure patients as the country’s store of petroleum withers amid a U.S.-backed Saudi blockade.
Feature photo | A forensic expert displays glasses and other personal items of a victim as he inspects the destroyed funeral hall, two days after a Saudi-led airstrike targeted it, in Sanaa, Yemen, Oct. 10, 2016. Hani Mohammed | AP
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.


mintpressnews--2020-10-12--Kidnapping Dissent: The Whitmer Plot and the End of Freedom

In “ The Grand Chessboard , ” Zbigniew Brzezinski warned his fellow ruling class cohorts that the onset of the information age would require disinformation strategies to mitigate any potential threat from an increasingly politically-aware population .
Five years before Brzezinski ’ s book was published , a white separatist and former Marine named Randy Weaver would be targeted by federal agents in what came to be known as the Ruby Ridge standoff ; a landmark event in the formation of an anti-government subculture in the U.S. , underpinned by a loose framework of White Supremacist ideologies rooted in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ encouraged by their radical billionaire patrons who built a political machine at their expense and have set the stage for our current political reality .
Stoked for decades by an extremist capitalist oligarchy which has slowly and methodically disabled the levers of democracy to achieve its interests , the latent racial tensions that haunt America ’ s collective psyche are being exploited in ways never before possible with the advent of online disinformation mashups , like QAnon , Antifa , BLM and others along the spectrum of modern-day social media constructs .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the skeletons in America ’ s closet are being dressed in the latest fashion and paraded before a terrified citizenry , whose health and peace of mind is under siege as a result of the pandemic crisis while simultaneously bombarded with apocalyptic scenarios of societal collapse and civil war , like the alleged conspiracy to kidnap and murder Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer as part of a larger plan to storm the Michigan State Capitol with hundreds of armed men .
But , considering the fact that all of the individuals charged in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Federal Bureau of Investigation months prior to the scheme being hatched , it is not surprising that suspicions of entrapment by the FBI have begun to swirl around the high profile case , which was filed before the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan last Tuesday .
Ruby Ridge has long been a rallying cry for white separatists and is considered as the inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh and Michigan native , Terry Nichols in 1995 .
Together with the tragedy at Waco , which occurred in 1993 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the domestic terrorist narrative now crystallized into law at the federal level .
The standoff at Ruby Ridge stands as the most extensively documented case of overt terroristic procedures and techniques employed by the FBI and has been called a “ dress rehearsal for Waco , ” as many of the same agencies and personnel that participated in the seven-day siege at Ruby Ridge would turn their guns on the Branch Davidian complex soon thereafter .
In an apparently unrelated incident a few days before the FBI filed the affidavit against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FBI agents killed 43-year old Eric Mark-Matthew Allport during a shootout at a restaurant in a northern suburb of Detroit .
Allport had been at Ruby Ridge as a teenager and witnessed his friends and neighbors get massacred by federal agents .
His death at the hands of police immediately lifted Allport into martyr status by members of the so-called Boogaloo Bois and other self-styled anti-government groups , despite the curious role Bill Grider , Allport ’ s father , played in the Ruby Ridge affair .
According to testimony by Deputy U.S @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Grider to carry messages to and from Weaver ’ s cabin , Allport ’ s father offered to kill Randy Weaver for the feds .
“ He said he was going to kill him , and I wouldn ’ t have to pay him , ” Hunt claimed under cross examination at the trial .
While Hunt ’ s claims about Grider – who counted Weaver was a friend – were never confirmed , it is not uncommon to find infiltrated members of the armed forces and police among groups that threaten the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elements of law enforcement , military and secessionist groups also allows for a measure of sincere allegiance by such individuals .
Dar Leaf , the Sheriff of Barry County , which is located just south of Grand Rapids , reflected this reality in an interview with a local FOX affiliate on Thursday in which he unequivocally states that the kidnapping of Whitmer – in his eyes – should be treated as an attempt by concerned citizens to make a felony arrest of the governor for violating the constitution .
Leaf had earlier been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the suspects .
Prior to the 2018 midterm victory that put her in the governor ’ s mansion , Whitmer had served in the Michigan state Senate from 2006 until 2014 .
More recently , she had assumed the role of interim Ingham County prosecutor in 2016 after the serving prosecutor had to resign over a lurid sex scandal .
Whitmer beat Republican Bill Schuette to take the governorship and after just one year in office , she came into the national spotlight for the first time when she was selected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump ’ s last State of the Union address in February , which also coincided with the start of the FBI ’ s investigation into her would-be kidnappers .
In August , Whitmer again garnered national attention amid speculation that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was going to choose her as his running mate .
By then , the FBI had compiled hours of conversations between the ragtag crew of convicted criminals and U.S. Marines , who in June , allegedly targeted Governor Whitmer as part of a grand plan to storm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and take hostages before the upcoming presidential election .
The group ’ s motivation is said to come from Whitmer ’ s “ unilateral ” lockdown policies , extending the state ’ s coronavirus emergency measures beyond the original April 30 cut-off date through executive order .
The move elicited an immediate reaction from conservatives in the state and the very influential Koch-funded Mackinac Center , which filed an injunction against the governor ’ s executive action in May .
After challenges to the governor ’ s orders were struck down in lower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week added fuel to the fire by ruling Whitmer ’ s executive orders to be unconstitutional and setting off a firestorm of controversy on the same day FBI agents murdered Eric Mark-Matthew Allport in Detroit and just before the FBI decided to submit their affidavit against the Whitmer plotters .
The “ tyrant bitch , ” as aborted coup leader Adam Fox called Whitmer in a Facebook group later that month , was to be tried for treason in mock trial after which she would be executed , according to a recorded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a vacuum repair retail establishment owned by a long-time friend of Fox and former U.S. Marine , Brian Titus .
The term “ tyrant ” as used by Fox isn ’ t gratuitous but is yet another link to Ruby Ridge and the language adopted by white nationalists to refer to their enemy .
The language used by Randy Weaver ’ s wife , Vicki , in letters where she quotes the founder of a White Supremacist prison gang organization called The Order : “ Do you hear the approaching thunder ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that of the awakened Saxon .
War is upon the land .
The tyrant ’ s blood will flow.
” After the conversation in the repair shop ’ s basement , the kidnapping plot seems to pick up speed .
Less than a month later , the conspirators were getting together in Wisconsin for combat drills and an “ alliance ” with the White Supremacist Wolverine Watchmen group was effectuated soon thereafter in August after Adam Fox was introduced to one of their leaders at a gun rally .
Titus has been quoted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he now repudiates , despite knowing the young man since he was 17 and recently letting him squat in his shop ’ s basement .
“ I had no idea what was going on , ” Titus told local CBS affiliate WWMT , though he conceded that Fox had “ some dark secrets ” and characterized him as an “ anti-police , anti-government ” man to another outlet .
On Sunday , CNN reported that military records confirmed two other suspects , Daniel Harris 23 , and Joseph Morrison 26 , are also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the reserve forces until last week , while Harris concluded his stint in 2019 .
The younger of the two is facing federal charges along with Fox and four other men .
Morrison is among the seven facing state charges .
Members of a Michigan militia known as the Wolverine Watchmen were also among those accused by state officials on Thursday of targeting police and helping to plan Whitmer ’ s kidnapping .
The generous interpretation of these events would credit the FBI with foiling the kidnapping plot against the Democratic governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ domestic terrorists whose trail the agency had followed for three months short of a year and , despite knowing of the plan early in the summer of 2020 , decided to sit on the case until less than a month before the presidential election and right on the heels of Trump ’ s “ stand back and stand by ” soundbite at the infamous presidential debate last week .
A more probable scenario is that the FBI , as it ’ s done time and again , led the subjects of their investigation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their actions to the desired result and providing a narrative that politicians can use to further lead us down the road to an inescapable surveillance state where dissent is rebranded as a hate crime against our benevolent overlords .
Feature photo | Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a campaign stop for Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris , D-Calif. , at the Detroit Pistons practice facility in Detroit , Sept. 22 , 2020 .
Paul Sancya | AP

In “The Grand Chessboard,” Zbigniew Brzezinski warned his fellow ruling class cohorts that the onset of the information age would require disinformation strategies to mitigate any potential threat from an increasingly politically-aware population.
Five years before Brzezinski’s book was published, a white separatist and former Marine named Randy Weaver would be targeted by federal agents in what came to be known as the Ruby Ridge standoff; a landmark event in the formation of an anti-government subculture in the U.S., underpinned by a loose framework of White Supremacist ideologies rooted in the foundational myths of American settler culture and encouraged by their radical billionaire patrons who built a political machine at their expense and have set the stage for our current political reality.
Stoked for decades by an extremist capitalist oligarchy which has slowly and methodically disabled the levers of democracy to achieve its interests, the latent racial tensions that haunt America’s collective psyche are being exploited in ways never before possible with the advent of online disinformation mashups, like QAnon, Antifa, BLM and others along the spectrum of modern-day social media constructs.
As we near the 2020 presidential election, the skeletons in America’s closet are being dressed in the latest fashion and paraded before a terrified citizenry, whose health and peace of mind is under siege as a result of the pandemic crisis while simultaneously bombarded with apocalyptic scenarios of societal collapse and civil war, like the alleged conspiracy to kidnap and murder Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer as part of a larger plan to storm the Michigan State Capitol with hundreds of armed men.
But, considering the fact that all of the individuals charged in the plot had been under intense scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation months prior to the scheme being hatched, it is not surprising that suspicions of entrapment by the FBI have begun to swirl around the high profile case, which was filed before the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan last Tuesday.
Coloring over the lines
Ruby Ridge has long been a rallying cry for white separatists and is considered as the inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh and Michigan native, Terry Nichols in 1995. Together with the tragedy at Waco, which occurred in 1993, these events form the holy trinity of the domestic terrorist narrative now crystallized into law at the federal level.
The standoff at Ruby Ridge stands as the most extensively documented case of overt terroristic procedures and techniques employed by the FBI and has been called a “dress rehearsal for Waco,” as many of the same agencies and personnel that participated in the seven-day siege at Ruby Ridge would turn their guns on the Branch Davidian complex soon thereafter.
In an apparently unrelated incident a few days before the FBI filed the affidavit against the alleged conspirators in the Whitmer case, FBI agents killed 43-year old Eric Mark-Matthew Allport during a shootout at a restaurant in a northern suburb of Detroit.
Allport had been at Ruby Ridge as a teenager and witnessed his friends and neighbors get massacred by federal agents. His death at the hands of police immediately lifted Allport into martyr status by members of the so-called Boogaloo Bois and other self-styled anti-government groups, despite the curious role Bill Grider, Allport’s father, played in the Ruby Ridge affair.
According to testimony by Deputy U.S. Marshal David Hunt, who used Grider to carry messages to and from Weaver’s cabin, Allport’s father offered to kill Randy Weaver for the feds. “He said he was going to kill him, and I wouldn’t have to pay him,” Hunt claimed under cross examination at the trial. While Hunt’s claims about Grider – who counted Weaver was a friend – were never confirmed, it is not uncommon to find infiltrated members of the armed forces and police among groups that threaten the state, but the ideological overlap between elements of law enforcement, military and secessionist groups also allows for a measure of sincere allegiance by such individuals.
Dar Leaf, the Sheriff of Barry County, which is located just south of Grand Rapids, reflected this reality in an interview with a local FOX affiliate on Thursday in which he unequivocally states that the kidnapping of Whitmer – in his eyes – should be treated as an attempt by concerned citizens to make a felony arrest of the governor for violating the constitution. Leaf had earlier been captured on video at a rally with one of the suspects.
A rising target
Prior to the 2018 midterm victory that put her in the governor’s mansion, Whitmer had served in the Michigan state Senate from 2006 until 2014. More recently, she had assumed the role of interim Ingham County prosecutor in 2016 after the serving prosecutor had to resign over a lurid sex scandal. Whitmer beat Republican Bill Schuette to take the governorship and after just one year in office, she came into the national spotlight for the first time when she was selected to deliver the Democrats’ response to the Trump’s last State of the Union address in February, which also coincided with the start of the FBI’s investigation into her would-be kidnappers.
In August, Whitmer again garnered national attention amid speculation that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was going to choose her as his running mate. By then, the FBI had compiled hours of conversations between the ragtag crew of convicted criminals and U.S. Marines, who in June, allegedly targeted Governor Whitmer as part of a grand plan to storm the Michigan State Capitol with 200 men and take hostages before the upcoming presidential election.
The group’s motivation is said to come from Whitmer’s “unilateral” lockdown policies, extending the state’s coronavirus emergency measures beyond the original April 30 cut-off date through executive order. The move elicited an immediate reaction from conservatives in the state and the very influential Koch-funded Mackinac Center, which filed an injunction against the governor’s executive action in May.
After challenges to the governor’s orders were struck down in lower courts, the Republican-majority Michigan Supreme Court last week added fuel to the fire by ruling Whitmer’s executive orders to be unconstitutional and setting off a firestorm of controversy on the same day FBI agents murdered Eric Mark-Matthew Allport in Detroit and just before the FBI decided to submit their affidavit against the Whitmer plotters.
Truants and tyrants
The “tyrant bitch,” as aborted coup leader Adam Fox called Whitmer in a Facebook group later that month, was to be tried for treason in mock trial after which she would be executed, according to a recorded conversation that took place in the basement of a vacuum repair retail establishment owned by a long-time friend of Fox and former U.S. Marine, Brian Titus.
The term “tyrant” as used by Fox isn’t gratuitous but is yet another link to Ruby Ridge and the language adopted by white nationalists to refer to their enemy. The language used by Randy Weaver’s wife, Vicki, in letters where she quotes the founder of a White Supremacist prison gang organization called The Order: “Do you hear the approaching thunder?” she writes. “It is that of the awakened Saxon. War is upon the land. The tyrant’s blood will flow.”
After the conversation in the repair shop’s basement, the kidnapping plot seems to pick up speed. Less than a month later, the conspirators were getting together in Wisconsin for combat drills and an “alliance” with the White Supremacist Wolverine Watchmen group was effectuated soon thereafter in August after Adam Fox was introduced to one of their leaders at a gun rally.
Titus has been quoted in several stories about Fox, whom he now repudiates, despite knowing the young man since he was 17 and recently letting him squat in his shop’s basement. “I had no idea what was going on,” Titus told local CBS affiliate WWMT, though he conceded that Fox had “some dark secrets” and characterized him as an “anti-police, anti-government” man to another outlet.
On Sunday, CNN reported that military records confirmed two other suspects, Daniel Harris 23, and Joseph Morrison 26, are also former Marines. Morrison was actively serving in the reserve forces until last week, while Harris concluded his stint in 2019. The younger of the two is facing federal charges along with Fox and four other men. Morrison is among the seven facing state charges. Members of a Michigan militia known as the Wolverine Watchmen were also among those accused by state officials on Thursday of targeting police and helping to plan Whitmer’s kidnapping.
The generous interpretation of these events would credit the FBI with foiling the kidnapping plot against the Democratic governor of Michigan by a group of alleged domestic terrorists whose trail the agency had followed for three months short of a year and, despite knowing of the plan early in the summer of 2020, decided to sit on the case until less than a month before the presidential election and right on the heels of Trump’s “stand back and stand by” soundbite at the infamous presidential debate last week.
A more probable scenario is that the FBI, as it’s done time and again, led the subjects of their investigation down the road to entrapment by guiding their actions to the desired result and providing a narrative that politicians can use to further lead us down the road to an inescapable surveillance state where dissent is rebranded as a hate crime against our benevolent overlords.
Feature photo | Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a campaign stop for Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., at the Detroit Pistons practice facility in Detroit, Sept. 22, 2020. Paul Sancya | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.