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Galapagos Islands threatened by fishing fleets and COVID-19 – Los Angeles Times

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Just south of the Galapagos Marchena Island, theres a dive spot known by locals as the fish arena.

There, within the choppy, cool waters of the Pacific, thousands of colorful fish swim in schools, lobsters poke their long antennae out of rocky outcrops, dolphins bear their young and moray eels gape menacingly at visitors who swim too close.

Charles Darwin documented the rich biota of these islands in the early 1800s. In more recent times, an unofficial network of local tour boats and fishing vessels has worked to protect it, by keeping an eye out for those who might harm the marine bounty. But the pandemic has grounded this surveillance fleet, creating an opening for outsiders.

Earlier this summer, more than 300 Chinese fishing vessels many designed to hold 1,000 tons of catch waited at the marine preserves border, ready to snatch up sea life as it migrated south toward the waters off Peru and Chile.

By some estimates, China has a distant water fishing fleet of 17,000 vessels that has been involved in fishing conflicts off the coasts of West Africa, Argentina and Japan in recent years. Now this fleet is triggering similar anger off Ecuador and Peru, two nations highly dependent on their robust near-shore fisheries.

This is an attack on our resources, said ngel Ynez Vinueza, the mayor of Santa Cruz canton, the Galapagos equivalent of a province. They are killing the species we have protected and polluting our biota with the plastic waste they drop overboard. They are raping the Galapagos.

The fleet is hardly the only threat to this park, a UNESCO world heritage site.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has plummeted tour boats have been moored in Santa Cruz Islands Academy Bay for months, while shops and restaurants are shuttered along Puerto Ayoras main drag, Avenida Charles Darwin.

It has laid bare the vulnerability of an economic model that is 90% dependent upon tourism dollars, while also highlighting the extraordinary beauty and remoteness of the islands and the magic that is lost when thousands of tourists descend daily into this fragile ecosystem.

The Galapagos marine reserve faces threats from industrial fishing, climate change and reduced funding for conservation.

During a recent visit to the Galapagos, a Times reporting team the only visitors touring the park by boat witnessed penguins swimming alongside tropical fish and sea turtles, krill blooms clouding the shallow waters with pink flotsam, and migrating tuna and hammerhead sharks meandering through the darker, deeper waters.

Normally, pods of dolphins and whales stay out of the busy harbor in Academy Bay. But with the tourist boats out of commission, they are swimming around the area for the first time in decades. Brown pelicans are nesting in the nearby cliffs and mangroves a sight Fiddi Angermeyer, 68, a local tour operator and business owner, says he hasnt seen since he was a kid.

Animals like these Galapagos penguins have flourished as the pandemic keeps visitors away, but the lack of tourism could devastate the parks funding and has left an opening for poachers to move in.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The situation has prompted politicians, environmentalists and business owners to wonder how the region can regrow and provide a vibrant economy and jobs for its residents while maintaining the wild essence of the park and tamping down on its carbon-intensive requirements the jet planes and cruising boats of international tourism.

Its like it was 30 or 40 years ago, said Mary Crowley, the director of Ocean Voyages Institute, a Sausalito, Calif., environmental organization working to rid the oceans of plastic. Shes been to the Galapagos 23 times since 1972. That splendor has returned.

Its also exposed the critical role tourism plays in the upkeep and safety of the park: Without visitors traveling to the outer islands and local fishing crews patrolling the parks waters, no one is watching for poaching or picking up the litter and plastic floating in from the mega-fleets and mainland.

The calculus is clear, said Angermeyer: If there are no tourists, there is no park. And if theres no park, there are no tourists.

A world heritage site, the Galapagos marine reserve faces threats from industrial fishing, climate change and a drastic drop in tourism and funding for conservation.

Mosquera Island is not much more than a skinny spit of sand and rock off Baltra Island, where the Galapagos Islands main airport is located.

On a recent afternoon, baby sea lions, Galapagos pigeons and Sally Lightfoot crabs scrambled across the rocks or lolled in the sunbaked sand on Mosqueras southern shore. The airport and the channel separating the islands were largely silent just the sound of waves lapping and sea lion moms and pups barking back and forth.

But a walk around the rocky edge of the island showed something deeply distressing to Fernando Ortiz, a park guide and former director of the regions chapter of Conservation International: Scores of plastic bottles, shoes and equipment packaging labeled with Chinese characters poked out of the jagged rocks.

Fernando Ortiz, a park guide and former director of the regions chapter of Conservation International, picks up bottles, shoes and equipment packaging from the jagged rocks of Mosquera Island in the Galapagos.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

These are from those boats, said Ortiz, pointing south, toward the horizon, where the fleet of Chinese fishing vessels had congregated roughly 200 nautical miles away. He noted the newness of the items, with labels not faded by sun or sea.

In July, the Ecuadorian navy had become alarmed as the fleet approached the edge of the 200-mile zone around the park where commercial fishing is illegal.

For years, fishing crews have trawled this zone, hoping to capitalize on the fruits of conservation increasingly healthy and robust fish stocks said Boris Worm, a researcher at Dalhousie University in Canada who has studied the fishery.

But last summer, the number of vessels exploded. In late August, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter was called in to help Ecuadors navy patrol the area.

Capt. Brian Anderson, commanding officer of the Coast Guard cutter Bertholf, said the Chinese brought in a tanker ship, which provided fuel to the other ships, and processing ships, where the fishing vessels could dump their harvest and go out and collect more.

It was like a city, he said, noting the fleet had all the pieces it needed to stay out for months without returning to home ports.

Several of the Chinese vessels werent reporting their location electronically, he said, and one was reporting its location as Alaska. But without jurisdiction in the area, and nothing blatantly illegal to report to the Ecuadorian navy, the Coast Guard was relegated to watching, he said.

A Chinese fishing boat off the coast of Peru lights up the surrounding water to attract squid in 2018.

(Simon Ager Photography)

For its part, China has contended it has zero tolerance toward illegal fishing. In a July 23 statement, the Chinese Embassy in Quito said China respects Ecuadors measures to protect the environment and preserve marine resources.

But John Serafini, chief executive of a Virginia-based military defense and commercial data analytics start-up called HawkEye 360, said his companys research which relies on radio frequency and satellite imagery to process movement showed many suspicious signals coming from within the zone this summer.

In 2017, a Chinese fishing vessel intercepted off of the Galapagos was found to be hauling 300 tons of fish, which included tens of thousands of illegally caught sharks.

Mayor Vinueza said the continuing presence of the fleet is an assault on the preserve and his residents livelihood, especially in the face of the economic devastation the park is suffering.

Local fishermen try to sell lobster to boaters in Santa Cruz Islands Academy Bay. The pandemic has caused a desperate economic situation for the residents who depend on tourism in the Galapagos.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

In August, hundreds of Santa Cruz canton residents took to the streets to protest the fishing fleet worried it was depleting the parks natural resources, potentially giving one more reason for tourists not to return.

On Sept. 24, a commercial flight from Guayaquil to Baltra Island had only nine passengers aboard. Though Avianca Airlines once had daily flights to the island, those have dropped to a sporadic two or three a week.

The lack of tourists has clearly hit the businesses that rely on them, as well as the fishermen and farmers who supply the industry.

Denato Rendon, a local fisherman, has been giving his fish away while his cooperative tries to find new buyers on the mainland and overseas. William and Noralma Cabrera, farmers in the hills outside Puerto Ayora, are also giving food away, and sometimes bartering trading their tomatoes and cucumbers for goods such as fish, chicken or milk.

Were a close-knit community, the father of two said as he stood in front of greenhouses where beans, lettuce and tomatoes were ripening.

The dearth of tourists has also hit the park, which relies on $100 entry fees from visitors. The fees provide money for preservation, conservation, upkeep and enforcement. More than 97% of the Galapagos is protected parkland; the rest is residential.

On Sept. 24, the park pulled in $1,240 from tourist fees at the islands two airports just 4% of last years collection for the same day, said Norman Wray, president of the Government Council of Galapagos.

Noralma Cabrera and her husband, William, are farmers in the hills outside Puerto Ayora. Without tourism driving the economy, theyve started giving food away.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

We cant keep things going like this, Wray said of the high unemployment and tourism exodus from the islands. To try to counteract that, Wray and others are underscoring the safety of the islands and the seriousness with which the industry takes the pandemic.

Look around you, Vinueza said, it is safe here. We have strict protocols. We wont let the virus in.

Proof of a negative PCR coronavirus test, taken within 96 hours of arrival in the Galapagos, is required for entry. Thats more stringent than the requirement to get into Ecuador, which requires a PCR coronavirus test to be taken within 10 days of arrival.

Seemingly everyone in the now-quiet Puerto Ayora wears a mask, and all businesses require patrons to douse their hands and shoe soles in alcohol before entry. Boat crews are even spraying the hands of scuba divers just emerging from the ocean before they let them back on their boats.

We just cant be too careful, said Ortiz, who works on Angermeyers ship, the Passion, as a guide. And its important that people know how seriously we take this disease.

As a result of the pandemic, tourism has plummeted in the Galapagos and tour boats have been moored in Academy Bay for months, while shops and restaurants are shuttered.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Still, theres the sense here that the pandemic may have changed the tourist economy in the islands forever and in some respects, Wray said, that may be for the better.

He noted that broadband cables are being laid along the ocean floor, which soon will connect the islands with high-speed internet making it possible for a high-tech academic center or industry, such as Google or Amazon, to relocate or establish satellite offices in the islands.

What a laboratory to work in, he said, describing the wildness, beauty and history of the islands. And such a prospect, he said, could help park managers imagine a future that didnt require international tourists to board jumbo jets or gas-guzzling pleasure cruisers to meander around the islands.

For the park to survive and its wildlife to thrive, the future of tourism on the island and in the region must change, Wray said.

Though the pandemic and Chinese fishing fleet pose threats, he said, they also have offered a moment for the parks leaders to consider more sustainable models for the Galapagos and the flora and fauna that tourists come to see.

We cant survive without them, he said. But we need to find a balance.

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Galapagos Islands threatened by fishing fleets and COVID-19 - Los Angeles Times

COPD Linked to Three-Fold Greater Mortality Risk in Severe COVID-19 Patients – MD Magazine

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The prevalence of comorbid chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among patients hospitalized with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is actually lower than its presence in the general population, according to a new observational cohort analysis.

In new data presented online during the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) 2020 Annual Meeting this week, investigators reported just 1 in 20 observed patients hospitalized with COVID-19 suffered from COPDversus significantly greater rates of cardiometabolic disease among the most severely ill patients.

Study authors Vikramaditya Samala Venkata, MD, and Gerard N. Kiernan, MD, both of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, conducted a systematic electronic search-based assessment of COVID-19 clinical trials to define associations between baseline COPD and overall outcomes of hospitalized patients.

Current understanding of such associations is not yet comprehensive, but nonetheless troubling given the respiratory burden of the pandemic virus.

Although clinical data is limited, studies published so far raise concerns about an association between COPD and worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19, they wrote.

The systematic search included retrospective studies including original hospitalized COVID-19 patient data from any of 3 major databases. Venkata and Kiernan used pooled analysis with a random-effects model in order to interpret the associations between COPD and COVID-19.

Their analyses included 22 studies from 8 countries including 11,000-plus patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Mean patient age was 56 years old, with 58% reported as male.

Among all comorbidities, hypertension was the most prevalent in hospitalized patients, at 42%. Another 23% of patients had diabetes mellitus.

Investigators observed a COPD prevalence rate of just 5% (n = 437) in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. However, such patients faced a three-fold greater risk of mortality (odds ratio [OR], 3.23; 95% CI, 1.59 6.57; P <.05). They noted the global prevalence of COPD among patients >40 years old is approximately 9%.

One explanation may be precautions put in place by COPD patients and their friends, family, and neighbors to limit their risk of COVID-19 exposure, given fears of more severe disease risks for such patients.

While one would expect patients with prior lung disease to have greater mortality with COVID-19, it is curious to see that the prevalence of COPD was lower than the general population may reflect greater measures taken by COPD patients to avoid coronavirus exposure, investigators wrote.

Uniquely, Venkata and Kiernan also found that smoking was present in more than one-third (37%) of COVID-19 patientsyet patients who smoked faced only a 52% worsened risk of disease severity (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 0.81 2.87; P = .20). Reasoning for a mixed association, they noted, is still unclear.

Investigators concluded that more randomized trials are necessary to understand relationships between COPD, smoking status, and hospitalized COVID-19 prognosis in patients.

This will alert clinicians to the worse prognosis of COVID-19 infection in patients with history of COPD and it will raise a question for future studies to look at the association between baseline COPD and COVID-19, they concluded.

The study, COVID-19 and COPD: Pooled Analysis of Observational Studies, was presented at CHEST 2020.

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COPD Linked to Three-Fold Greater Mortality Risk in Severe COVID-19 Patients - MD Magazine

Covid-19 deaths will rise almost 80% by February, researchers foresee – CNN

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The model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, forecasts there will most likely be about 389,087 deaths -- or 78% more fatalities -- by February 1.

The model's best-case scenario projects 314,000 deaths by then if all Americans use masks. There could be more than 477,000 deaths if mask mandates are eased, it projects.

The data show the pandemic increasing in younger populations -- and thus fewer deaths than a previous forecast. That model, released five days ago, projected about 395,000 deaths by February 1.

"We expect deaths to stop declining and begin increasing in the next one to two weeks," researchers with the institute said. "The winter surge appears to have begun somewhat later than the surge in Europe. Daily deaths will reach over 2,000 a day in January even with many states reimposing mandates before the end of the year."

21 states reach record 7-day average of new cases

As of Thursday, the nation is averaging 52,345 new cases a day, up 16% from the previous week, a trend that concerns health experts as we head into the cooler months.

"This is a very ominous sign. I think we're in for a pretty bad fall and winter," said Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.

"This is the time when we could be entering one of the worst periods of our epidemic and one of our worst periods in modern American public health," he said. "I'm very worried for the nation."

Thirty-five states are showing increases in new Covid-19 cases greater than 10% over the last week compared to the prior week. In seven states, cases are up less than 10%.

Only eight states -- Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Texas and Vermont -- are showing decreases in new cases compared to the previous week.

Since Sunday, 21 states have hit their peak 7-day average of new cases since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins data, those being Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

That kind of spread is "quite concerning," Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"The issue is that as we enter, as we are now, in the cooler season of the fall, and ultimately the colder season of the winter, you don't want to be in that compromised position where your baseline daily infection is high and you are increasing as opposed to going in the other direction," Fauci said.

"We need to think about what we need to do as individuals," she said, "and how each of the decisions that we make can actually contribute to bringing this pandemic to an end."

Herd immunity is not the way out of pandemic, experts say

Wisconsin reported 3,747 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday -- a daily record, according to the state's Department of Health Services. That prompted Gov. Tony Evers to urge residents to help get the spread under control by staying home and wearing face coverings when out.

"The longer it takes for everyone to take this virus seriously, the longer it will take to get our economy and our communities back on track," Evers said at a news conference.

Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio also reported their highest single-day totals on Thursday, though Michigan's data included a backlog of cases.

And Florida reported 3,356 cases on Thursday, the 11th day this month that the state Department of Health reported at least 2,200 new cases in a single day, according to CNN's tally.

Vaccine is the best weapon, expert says

Frieden was responding to recent efforts to promote herd immunity as an answer to Covid-19. The idea is being pushed by those eager to stop the economic damage the pandemic has caused.

White House senior administration officials, in a call with reporters Monday, discussed a controversial declaration written by scientists that advocates such an approach.

But the idea is "a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence" that risks "significant morbidity and mortality across the whole population," 80 scientists from around the world wrote in an open letter.

"Any infection anywhere is potentially a threat somewhere else because even if you feel fine and get over it with no problems, no long-term consequences, you might spread it to someone who dies from it. And that's what we're seeing all over the country," Frieden said.

It is impossible to keep only the vulnerable protected from the spread, Frieden said. And letting the virus run rampant would likely lead to recurring epidemics because there is no evidence that people are protected long-term after they have been infected, according to the letter.

The best way to achieve widespread immunity, Frieden said, will be through a vaccine.

"The concept (of herd immunity) really comes from vaccines," Frieden said. "When you vaccinate enough people, the disease stops spreading, and that might be 60%, 80%, 90% for different diseases."

Frieden's comments were echoed Thursday by the WHO's Van Kerkhove, who said that allowing the virus to spread for the sake of herd immunity would lead to "unnecessary cases" and "unnecessary deaths."

"This is not a strategy for this virus," she said, "because there is so much that we can do."

CNN's Maggie Fox, Amanda Watts, Shelby Lin Erdman, Christina Maxouris Raja Razek, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jennifer Henderson, Rebekah Riess and Gisela Crespo contributed to this report.

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Covid-19 deaths will rise almost 80% by February, researchers foresee - CNN

2 more local residents die of COVID-19 as new cases identified near The Villages – Villages-News

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Two more local residents have lost their battles with the COVID-19 virus as cases continue to be identified just outside the confines of The Villages.

One of the latest fatalities was from Sumter County and the other was a resident of Marion County. They were identified Monday by the Florida Department of Health as:

No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in The Villages on Monday. In fact, three cases that had been attributed to mega-retirement community were removed from the overall list, bringing the total (Sumter, Lake and Marion counties) to 764. But 17 new cases were reported in communities just outside the confines of Floridas Friendliest Hometown. Those include:

Sumter County is now reporting 2,754 cases a decrease of two from Sunday to Monday among 1,562 men, 1,171 women, 10 non-residents and 11 people listed as unknown. A total of 206 cases have been reported in long-term care centers and 739 in correctional facilities. There have been 80 deaths and 270 people treated in area hospitals.

The Villages continues to pace Sumter County with 718 cases. Besides those mentioned above in Wildwood, others have been identified in Coleman (656), Bushnell (323, 140 of which are at the Sumter Correctional Institution among 103 inmates and 37 staff members), Oxford (139), Webster (100), Lake Panasoffkee (85), Center Hill (55), Sumterville (47) and the Lady Lake portion of the county (42). The federal prison in Coleman also is reporting 155 cases among 51 inmates and 104 staff members.

Below is a breakdown of other COVID-19 activity in the local area:

TRI-COUNTY AREA

LAKE COUNTY

MARION COUNTY

All told, Florida is reporting 756,727 COVID-19 cases an increase of 1,707 from Sunday to Monday. Of those, 747,183 are residents. A total of 49,401 cases have been reported in long-term care centers and 23,682 in correctional facilities. Across the state, there have been 16,222 deaths and 47,125 people have been hospitalized.

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2 more local residents die of COVID-19 as new cases identified near The Villages - Villages-News

Alt-Right Figures Distance Themselves From SF Rally Organizer, With One Proud Boy Vowing a ‘Better Planned’ Event in SF – SFist

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After yet another right-wing Twitter figure was embarrassed by poor turnout and overwhelmed by counter-protester turnout in San Francisco on Saturday, self-styled alt-right pundits have spent the last 48 hours ridiculing him and distancing themselves from the embarrassment. Also, Instagram and Twitter have booted him of their platforms. Still, a GoFundMe to help fix the organizer's front teeth has raised over $26,000.

SFist surmised two weeks ago that Texas-based Twitterer Philip Anderson a seemingly passionate but highly confused young Black man who supports the Proud Boys and hates Black Lives Matter and all things Left was likely operating under some delusion of grandeur and without the confirmation of many of his scheduled speakers when he began tweeting out a flyer for a "free speech rally" in San Francisco's Dolores Park.

Such events can not get permits for Dolores Park, as SF Rec & Parks assured us. But Anderson turned out to be somewhat more determined than we'd guessed, obtaining a permit for an event in UN Plaza and flying himself to San Francisco to appear, all while costing SF taxpayers money with police protection, etc.

Berkeley Antifa helped galvanize turnout among local leftist activists to make a show of force at Saturday's event, and by all accounts there were several hundred counter-protesters facing off with Anderson and perhaps a small handful of supporters and Proud Boys. It's not even clear if any of his scheduled speakers showed up at all, and current leader of the Proud Boys, Florida-based Enrique Tarrio, had publicly backed out of the event two days before.

As the Chronicle reports, Anderson took the "stage" around 1 p.m. after already being punched, claiming that he was only interested in "free speech," but obviously understanding what he had come to San Francisco to incite. He reportedly had a lot of plastic and glass bottles thrown at hime. A couple of other Trump supporters and Proud Boys were confronted by the throngs of counter-protesters, and at least two other men one with a MAGA hate were reportedly injured after confronting counter-protesters on Market Street about 90 minutes later.

Violence was thankfully kept to a minimum, and Anderson claims he was punched was for "no reason." But the antifa kids clearly saw reason enough to be outraged in bringing the Proud Boys who claim not to be racist but merely "western chauvinist" and overlap quite a bit in their supporters with white nationalists to the middle of San Francisco for a rally.

The event had many parallels with an equally poorly planned Patriot Prayer rally in San Francisco in the wake of Charlottesville in the summer of 2017, which was canceled, protested, rescheduled, and ended up being a bust for gun-toting organizer Joey Gibson.

And while Anderson tried to make the case that the "optics" of his bloody mouth and taking a punch from antifa were good for the alt-right cause, this Twitter thread documents the various troublesome figures whom Anderson unsuccessfully tried to lure to the event by naming them as speakers without their permission, and figures who are now denouncing his foolishness for holding such a poorly planned event with little security of his own.

One Proud Boys leader, Joe Biggs, went on Twitter to decry Anderson's poor organization and poor planning, and says that his knocked-out tooth just makes them look "weak." He claims, spuriously, that he and Tarrio will hold their own event in San Francisco soon to raise money for Anderson's dental work, and it will be better organized and protected by more Proud Boys.

Berkeley Antifa has also been taking pains to document Anderson's support for the Proud Boys, despite his being a minor figure thus far in the alt-right, by all accounts, with fewer than 2,000 followers before his Twitter account was suspended over the weekend. Tarrio, who identifies as Afro-Cuban, and Anderson, both like to claim their own race as proof that the Proud Boys is not a racist group but as has been widely noted, they promote Islamophobia, xenophobia, violence against leftists, everything Trump, and their membership has for obvious reasons overlapped with many a racist and white-supremacist group.

Unfortunately, like Trump, embarrassments like this may only incite a stepped up sense of importance among alt-right figures, with San Francisco and Berkeley being their favorite stages (after Portland) for street battles aimed at gaining video content for their social media crusades.

Hopefully we can get through the next two weeks before the election without any more of this bullshit.

Previously: Trump Supporters Turn Out for Small 'Free Speech Rally' at UN Plaza, Outnumbered by Counter-Protesters

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Alt-Right Figures Distance Themselves From SF Rally Organizer, With One Proud Boy Vowing a 'Better Planned' Event in SF - SFist

Videos From Right-Wing Site That Preaches ‘The Left Ruins Everything’ Assigned In Ohio School – HuffPost

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An Ohio public school has been giving students extra credit for watching videos from PragerU, a right-wing website that produces clips of talking heads such as Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro discussing conservative viewpoints, HuffPost has learned.

The PragerU videos with titles such as Build the Wall, Why the Right Was Right and The Left Ruins Everything were assigned to a 10th-grade history class at Maumee High School, along with a series of questions about the videos most important messages.

The assignment came at the same time that the website has tried to gain further influence in K-12 classrooms. Earlier this month, the organization launched a program directly aimed at parents and educators, complete with study guides with sections such as Conservatives Are the Real Environmentalists and The Ferguson Lie, based on a HuffPost review of the materials.

Andrea Cutway, the mother of 16-year-old student Avery Lewis, brought the assignment to the attention of Maumee City Schools administrators and immediately pulled her daughter out of the class. Maumee is about 10 miles southwest of Toledo.

Administrators first tried what they deemed a compromise by also assigning work that reflected views from the other side of the political spectrum to the student,Cutway said. But after HuffPost reached out to the school about the assignment, it decided to remove the materials from the syllabus, Todd Cramer, superintendent of Maumee City Schools, told HuffPost.

Other PragerU videos on its website dissect issues in five-minute clips and have titles such as There Is No Gender Wage Gap, How to Steal an Election: Mail-In Ballots, andIs Islam a Religion of Peace?

The teachers class website shows that she also assigned the videos last year.

The homework assignment appeared unrelated to PragerUs latest venture, called PragerU Educators and Parents, or PREP, which launched several weeks ago. The inception of such a program suggested that these types of assignments may become more prevalent in schools.

Already, 2,000 parents and educators have already signed up for PREP, Craig Strazzeri, chief marketing officer of PragerU, said in an email to HuffPost.

We constantly hear from educators and teachers who use our videos in the classroom, Strazzeri said. He declined to disclose how many public school teachers specifically joined the new program. Ideally, every school in America would show PragerU videos in the classroom on a regular basis to help educate the next generation.

PragerU started the PREP program in response to COVID-19-related school shutdowns, which forced us to take a closer look at what is being taught and not taught across the country, said Adrienne Johnson, PragerUs chief of staff and lead of the PREP platform, in a video interview with conservative news channelOne America News Network. America is not being fairly portrayed. Many schools are implementing anti-racist Black Lives Matter curriculum andThe 1619 Project.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trumptargeted The 1619 Project, an initiative of The New York Times Magazine, which elevates the importance of the first year enslaved Africans arrived in America and reexamines American history with that year in mind. Schools around the country are teaching a curriculum based on the project, which won a Pulitzer Prize last year.

Lewis was immediately alarmed when she started her extra credit assignment last week. The assignment asked her to watch PragerU videos and then answer questions about how the videos challenged her beliefs. She had hoped to use the assignment to tack on a few extra points to her grade after taking a test on which she suspected she performed poorly, but after seeing the videos, the teen didnt think she could complete the homework.

Cutway, Lewis mother, was similarly shocked when her daughter showed her the assignment. She immediately fired off an email to the schools principal asking who approved the assignment and whether or not students had been given any context for PragerUs point of view.

Its ALT RIGHT propaganda, Cutway said in the email to the school principal, which she provided to HuffPost. If you Google PragerU and spend a few minutes scrolling, you will see that this site is controversial at best.

Photo courtesy of Andrea CutwayAvery Lewis (left) was assigned PragerU videos for extra credit at school. Her mom, Andrea Cutway (right), immediately complained.

Cutways concern was less for her daughter, whom she sees as politically savvy enough to recognize that the sites videos were one-sided. But she worried about other students, who may be learning about some of these issues for the first time and assume the videos are presenting facts rather than opinions. She immediately pulled her daughter from the class.

Lewis met with school administrators soon after to discuss the issue. Together, they came up with a solution that the teacher would also assign her viewpoints from the opposite side, Cutway said.

For Cutway, though, this ignored the larger issue that PragerU videos be assigned at all and that school administrators did not see a problem. She had a phone meeting with the administrators, which she found similarly disconcerting.

When I talked to the principal and vice principal, they acted like this was just another assignment, said Cutway, who works as a juvenile parole officer for the state. I said, I think at this time we need to end this call, gentlemen. I dont know what you have allowed to bring into your public school.

This really is some scary stuff, Cutway said of PragerU. I do feel like they have found a way to get into the public school system.

The teacher who assigned the videos did not respond to a request for comment.

Since Cutways conversation with the school administrators, district leaders appeared to have had a change of heart and said they removed the assignment from the syllabus, though they stopped short of condemning the overall use of such materials.

We believe that students deserve a balanced presentation of content, district Superintendent Cramer said when asked if the school condoned use of PragerU materials. We support our educators in using a variety of instructional tools and materials. We expect our educators to exercise good judgment and trust our students, parents and community to engage our staff in conversations about our instructional methods and the materials being used if they feel the need to do so.

The incident, he said, has also led to internal conversations focused on ensuring we are presenting content through a variety of balanced materials.

Cutway was especially concerned for how the school assignment could have made immigrant students or LGBTQ people feel, she said.

PragerU is no stranger to controversy. In 2017, the organization sued YouTube after the site flagged some of its videos as inappropriate, alleging that such a move amounted to censorship and violated the First Amendment.A federal court ruled that a private firm such as YouTube wasnt bound by the First Amendment in this case.

The PREP program study guide quizzes students with true-false questions such as nearly all the major 19th- and 20th- century breakthroughs in health care were made by Western Europeans and North Americans. (The study guide says the answer is true.) Another true-false question asks students to evaluate the following statement: Big Tech with its control of search algorithms, its shadowbanning, and deboosting supports political correctness and the resulting limitations of freedom.

In the OANN interview, Johnson said the program has signed up so many educators.

Seeing what theyre saying when they join the discussion forum, these are people who value children, value childrens education, and they are just heartbroken by what they see happening in schools and the leftist indoctrination. This is a place where they can come and fight against that, she said.

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter

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Videos From Right-Wing Site That Preaches 'The Left Ruins Everything' Assigned In Ohio School - HuffPost

Alexandra Minna Stern: Far-right groups expect to disrupt upcoming elections – University of Michigan News

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FACULTY Q&A

The recent alleged attempt by anti-government militias to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has put a spotlight on domestic terrorism in the United States.

And the violence could get worse with the November elections less than a month away, says Alexandra Minna Stern, a University of Michigan expert who studies far right extremism. She is author of Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate, which applies a historical analysis, feminist studies and critical race studies to deconstructing the core ideas of the alt-right and white nationalism.

Stern is the Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Collegiate Professor of History, American Culture and Womens and Gender Studies.

Why have far-right groups become emboldened in recent years?

Weve seen a rise in far-right groups over the past two decades, and really significantly over the past several years. This year has seen an acceleration of that process in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with protests against public health measures as we saw played out in our capital in Lansing. In addition, anti-racism protests in the summer brought people into the streets including far-right actors and instigators who want to wreak havoc.

What role did social media play in their efforts?

Social media and information technologies have played a role in the far right and among white supremacist groups for a long time. In fact, some of the white power movements in the 1970s and 80s were the first to use encrypted computer technologies to communicate with each other.

If we fast forward to the early 21st century, with the advent of social media. Its undeniable that platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube played a role in both making extremist content available and amplifying it, and also in providing ways for far-right actors to meet each other and to network.

In the plot against Michigans governor, we know that at least several of the13 men allegedly involved used private Facebook pages to communicate with one another. Social media was critical to honing their own identities, making connections with other like-minded extremists and also in organizing this plot against the governor.

Why target the governor?

There are a few reasons why they targeted Gov. Whitmer. First, theyre here in Michigan, which has a long history of militia movements. Second, they are anti-government by definition, and thus interpreted the governors social distancing orders, like closing businesses and mandating face masks, as infringements on their own personal liberties. The dialogue included in the FBI criminal complaint reveals that they expressed unbridled misogyny. They talked about attacking the governor and her family in violent fantasy terms.

Finally, it is also clear that Gov. Whitmer was a target because she was called out by President Trump. For many of these far-right actors, their views align with his views. He called her That woman from Michigan and has antagonized her over and over again. Now she has courageously spoken back at him; they interpreted her as an enemy in the same way as he did.

Are these behaviors unique to groups located in Michigan?

What were seeing in Michigan with the rise of these paramilitary groups is home-grown to the state and also to America. Its part of the recent rise of the far-right in society. However, this is a broader global phenomenon where were seeing the rise of these groups across the world, such as Germany where there have been similar anti-COVID protests and significant growth of extremist and neo-Nazi groups.

What actions, if any, do you expect the far-right groups, militias and other racist groups taking after the presidential elections?

I think we need to be concerned about what is going to unfold in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 elections. We know that several groups, including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, have stated their intent to disrupt electoral processes. They want to monitor the elections. They plan to stake out poll sites from vehicles with cameras. Many of them plan to arrive both visibly armed or carrying concealed weapons to be on-hand to protect people. They want to carry out citizens arrests and potentially disrupt the voting process. They like to call this protection, but we need to name it for what it is: voter suppression, disruption, and intimidation. And its important to note that this problem will be with us after the elections. No matter who wins the election, the far right will not disappear after Nov. 3.

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Alexandra Minna Stern: Far-right groups expect to disrupt upcoming elections - University of Michigan News

Plot to kidnap Whitmer grew from the militia movement’s toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods – Salon

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The U.S. militia movement has long been steeped in a peculiar and unquestionably mistaken interpretation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and civil liberties.

This is true of an armed militia group that calls itself the Wolverine Watchmen, who were involved in the recently revealed plot to overthrow Michigan's government and kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

As I wrote in "Fracturing the Founding: How the Alt-Right Corrupts the Constitution," published in 2019, the crux of the militia movement's devotion to what I have called the "alt-right constitution" is a toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths.

Private militias

The term "militia" has many meanings.

The Constitution addresses militias in Article 1, authorizing Congress to "provide for organizing, arming and disciplining, the Militia."

But the Constitution makes no provision for private militias, like the far-right Wolverine Watchmen, Proud Boys, Michigan Militia and the Oath Keepers, to name just a few.

Private militias are simply groups of like-minded men members are almost always white males who subscribe to a sometimes confusing set of beliefs about an avaricious federal government that is hostile to white men and white heritage, and the sanctity of the right to bear arms and private property. They believe that government is under the control of Jews, the United Nations, international banking interests, Leftists, Antifa, Black Lives Matter and so on. There is no evidence of this.

On Oct. 8, the FBI arrested six men, five of them from Michigan, and charged them with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer. Shortly thereafter, state authorities charged an additional seven men with, according to the Associated Press, "allegedly seeking to storm the Michigan Capitol and seek a "civil war." Included were the founders and several members of the Wolverine Watchmen.

As revealed in the FBI affidavit accompanying the federal charges, the six men charged claimed to be defenders of the Bill of Rights. Indeed, some of the men in April had participated in rallies in Lansing, the state capital, where armed citizens tried to force their way onto the floor of the State House to protest Governor Whitmer's pandemic shut-down orders as a violation of the Constitution by a "tyrannical" government intent upon sacrificing civil liberties in the name of the COVID-19 fight.

According to the FBI's affidavit, the conspirators wanted to create "a society that followed the U.S. Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient."

Militia members imagine themselves to be "the last true American patriots," "the modern defenders of the United States Constitution in general and the Second Amendment in particular."

Hence, the Bill of Rights and especially the Second Amendment, which establishes the right to bear arms figure prominently in the alt-constitution. It is no accident that the initial discussions about overthrowing Michigan's so-called tyrannical governor started at a Second Amendment rally in June.

According to most militias, the Second Amendment authorizes their activity and likewise makes them free of legal regulation by the state. In truth, the Second Amendment does nothing to authorize private armed militias. Private armed militias are explicitly illegal in every state.

No restrictions on rights

Additional foundational principles of militia constitutionalism include absolutism. Absolutism, in the militia world, is the idea that fundamental constitutional rights like freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and the right to own property cannot be restricted or regulated by the state without a citizen's consent.

The far right's reading of the First and Second Amendments which govern free speech and the right to bear arms, respectively starts from a simple premise: Both amendments are literal and absolute. They believe that the First Amendment allows them to say anything, anytime, anywhere, to anyone, without consequence or reproach by government or even by other citizens who disagree or take offense at their speech.

Similarly, the alt-right gun advocates hold that the Second Amendment protects their God-given right to own a weapon any weapon and that governmental efforts to deny, restrict or even to register their weapons must be unconstitutional. They think the Second Amendment trumps every other provision in the Constitution.

Another key belief among militia members is the principle of constitutional self-help. That's the belief that citizens, acting on their inherent authority as sovereign free men, are ultimately and finally responsible for enforcing the Constitution as they understand it.

Demonstrating this way of thinking, the men arrested in Michigan discussed taking Gov. Whitmer to a "secure location" in Wisconsin to stand "trial" for treason prior to the Nov. 3 election. According to Barry County, Michigan Sheriff Dar Leaf a member of the militia-friendly Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officer Association the men arrested in Michigan were perhaps not trying to kidnap the governor but were instead simply making a citizen's arrest.

Leaf, who appeared at a Grand Rapids protest in May of Gov. Whitmer's stay-at-home order along with two of the alleged kidnappers, mistakenly believes that local sheriffs are the highest constitutional authority in the United States, invested with the right to determine which laws support and which laws violate the Constitution. The events in Michigan show how dangerous these mistaken understandings of the Constitution can be.

There will be more

The Wolverine Watchmen are not a Second Amendment militia or constitutional patriots in any sense of the word. If they are guilty of the charges brought against them, then they are terrorists.

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]

The FBI and Michigan law enforcement shut down the Watchmen before an egregious crime and a terrible human tragedy unfolded. But as I concluded just last year in my book, "there is little reason to think the militia movement will subside soon."

Unfortunately, I did not account for the possibility that President Trump would encourage militias "to stand back and stand by," which seems likely to encourage and embolden groups that already clearly represent a threat. Expect more Michigans.

This story incorporates material from a story published on April 15, 2019 in The Conversation.

John E. Finn, Professor Emeritus of Government, Wesleyan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Plot to kidnap Whitmer grew from the militia movement's toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods - Salon

Column: Plot to kidnap Whitmer grew from the militia movement’s toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths Michigan Advance – Michigan…

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The U.S. militia movement has long been steeped in a peculiar and unquestionably mistaken interpretation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and civil liberties.

This is true of an armed militia group that calls itself the Wolverine Watchmen, who were involved in the recently revealed plot to overthrow Michigans government and kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

As I wrote in Fracturing the Founding: How the Alt-Right Corrupts the Constitution, published in 2019, the crux of the militia movements devotion to what I have called the alt-right constitution is a toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths.

The term militia has many meanings.

The Constitution addresses militias in Article 1, authorizing Congress to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining, the Militia.

We will find you: Whitmer warns extremists after thwarted kidnapping plot

But the Constitution makes no provision for private militias, like the far-right Wolverine Watchmen, Proud Boys, Michigan Militia and the Oath Keepers, to name just a few.

Private militias are simply groups of like-minded men members are almost always white males who subscribe to a sometimes confusing set of beliefs about an avaricious federal government that is hostile to white men and white heritage, and the sanctity of the right to bear arms and private property. They believe that government is under the control of Jews, the United Nations, international banking interests, Leftists, Antifa, Black Lives Matter and so on. There is no evidence of this.

On Oct. 8, the FBI arrested six men, five of them from Michigan, and charged them with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer. Shortly thereafter, state authorities charged an additional seven men with, according to the Associated Press, allegedly seeking to storm the Michigan Capitol and seek a civil war. Included were the founders and several members of the Wolverine Watchmen.

As revealed in the FBI affidavit accompanying the federal charges, the six men charged claimed to be defenders of the Bill of Rights. Indeed, some of the men in April had participated in rallies in Lansing, the state capital, where armed citizens tried to force their way onto the floor of the State House to protest Governor Whitmers pandemic shut-down orders as a violation of the Constitution by a tyrannical government intent upon sacrificing civil liberties in the name of the COVID-19 fight.

According to the FBIs affidavit, the conspirators wanted to create a society that followed the U.S. Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient.

Militia members imagine themselves to be the last true American patriots, the modern defenders of the United States Constitution in general and the Second Amendment in particular.

Hence, the Bill of Rights and especially the Second Amendment, which establishes the right to bear arms figure prominently in the alt-constitution. It is no accident that the initial discussions about overthrowing Michigans so-called tyrannical governor started at a Second Amendment rally in June.

According to most militias, the Second Amendment authorizes their activity and likewise makes them free of legal regulation by the state. In truth, the Second Amendment does nothing to authorize private armed militias. Private armed militias are explicitly illegal in every state.

Additional foundational principles of militia constitutionalism include absolutism. Absolutism, in the militia world, is the idea that fundamental constitutional rights like freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and the right to own property cannot be restricted or regulated by the state without a citizens consent.

The far rights reading of the First and Second Amendments which govern free speech and the right to bear arms, respectively starts from a simple premise: Both amendments are literal and absolute. They believe that the First Amendment allows them to say anything, anytime, anywhere, to anyone, without consequence or reproach by government or even by other citizens who disagree or take offense at their speech.

Susan J. Demas: Protestors threatened Whitmers murder. GOP leaders havent condemned them.

Similarly, the alt-right gun advocates hold that the Second Amendment protects their God-given right to own a weapon any weapon and that governmental efforts to deny, restrict or even to register their weapons must be unconstitutional. They think the Second Amendment trumps every other provision in the Constitution.

Another key belief among militia members is the principle of constitutional self-help. Thats the belief that citizens, acting on their inherent authority as sovereign free men, are ultimately and finally responsible for enforcing the Constitution as they understand it.

Demonstrating this way of thinking, the men arrested in Michigan discussed taking Gov. Whitmer to a secure location in Wisconsin to stand trial for treason prior to the Nov. 3 election. According to Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf a member of the militia-friendly Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officer Association the men arrested in Michigan were perhaps not trying to kidnap the governor but were instead simply making a citizens arrest.

Leaf, who appeared at a Grand Rapids protest in May of Gov. Whitmers stay-home order along with two of the alleged kidnappers, mistakenly believes that local sheriffs are the highest constitutional authority in the United States, invested with the right to determine which laws support and which laws violate the Constitution. The events in Michigan show how dangerous these mistaken understandings of the Constitution can be.

Militia threats just paralyzed Oregons legislature. The movements roots in Michigan run deep.

The Wolverine Watchmen are not a Second Amendment militia or constitutional patriots in any sense of the word. If they are guilty of the charges brought against them, then they are terrorists.

The FBI and Michigan law enforcement shut down the Watchmen before an egregious crime and a terrible human tragedy unfolded. But as I concluded just last year in my book, there is little reason to think the militia movement will subside soon.

Unfortunately, I did not account for the possibility that President Trump would encourage militias to stand back and stand by, which seems likely to encourage and embolden groups that already clearly represent a threat. Expect more Michigans.

This article is republished from our partners at The Conversation. Read the original article.

Originally posted here:

Column: Plot to kidnap Whitmer grew from the militia movement's toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths Michigan Advance - Michigan...

Hong Kong and the University’s Free Speech Responsibility – The Chicago Maroon

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The University of Chicago has a long, proud commitment to freedom of speech. After the Communist Party USAs presidential candidate called for the violent abolition of capitalism on campus in 1935, the University president defended the seditious speech before a special session in the Illinois Senate. More recently, the University administration generated controversy and earned plaudits for rejecting safe spaces and promoting Chicago Principles of free expression. The report that outlines these principles states, the University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation, but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.

However, months into the most alarming restriction of campus free speech in decades, the University administration has not lifted a finger or said a peep. If it really does care about the freedom of speech, the University must do more than end its silence. It must act decisively and again lead academia on the issue.

After a year of protests, the Peoples Republic of China imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong this June. The law harshly penalizes broadly defined crimes including sedition, subversion, terrorism, and colluding with foreign forces and advocating secession from mainland China. Most disquietingly, the laws Article 38 asserts extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute activism and offenses committed against the Hong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region."

In other words, the law applies to everybody inside Hong Kong and out. It applies to you.

Beijing has a history of seeking the extradition of non-Chinese citizens to China for criminal prosecution. Students at American universities are not exempt from its pursuits and crackdowns. Just this year, a 20-year-old University of Minnesota student was sentenced to six months of imprisonment upon returning to China for tweets posted while in the U.S. The tweets were deemed to portray a national leader in an unflattering light because they likened him to a certain banned cartoon bear and "created a negative social impact."

Hong Kong student activists as young as 16 have already been arrested under the national security law for social media posts that called for regaining [Hong Kongs]right of self-determination. Hong Kong authorities have also released the arrest warrant for Samuel Chua Hong Kong-born activist and community organizer who has lived in the U.S. since 1990 and has American citizenship.

Many UChicago students unable to return to Hyde Park are currently taking classes remotely from Hong Kong and mainland China. As Zoom classes are recorded and stored as files, and many classes require blog posts, there is a real risk of immediate arrest for remarks made in class discussions and writing. While this risk is most acute for mainland Chinese and Hong Kongstudents, it exists for any and all students and faculty who may one day visit Hong Kong.

Classes at other universities now carry labels to alert students that they will cover material considered politically sensitive by China, and their professors are experimenting with blind grading, codes in place of individual names, anonymous online chats, and allowing students to opt-out of discussions without an impact on their grade.

UChicagos Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Professor of Political Science, has a regional specialty in East Asia and has written specifically about the national security law. He confirmed that he has received no guidance from the University administration on what privacy precautions he should take. Ginsburg wrote to me, I do think that, in our era of remote attendance, those of us who teach relevant subjects should be aware if we have students who are physically located in Chinese territory, including Hong Kong, that might be at risk. He uses blind grading and supports giving such students the option to opt-out of discussions that may violate local law.

The University of Chicago must uniformly adopt the measures advised by the Association for Asian Studies and the additional suggestions of Asia Society scholars. While some may be, and have already been, adopted by individual faculty, technology policies and video software are university-wide concerns.

Zooms cooperation with mainland Chinese authorities is worrying, and the University must further inquire into which local laws its technology partners comply with to ensure that student and faculty data are secure. The collection of student and staff data of any kind must be minimized, and data storage must be decentralized. Overreliance on Zoom is dangerous; having multiple and redundant software systems would further decentralize and mitigate the risk of one company deciding to comply with Chinese law in ways that jeopardize data security and student safety.

Unless the University takes decisive action soon, an arguably more dangerous threat to academic freedom will worsen: self-censorship.

Author George Packer wrote, Fear breeds self-censorship, and self-censorship is more insidious than the state-imposed kind because its a surer way of killing the impulse to think, which requires an unfettered mind. At a time when U.S.-China relations have deteriorated to their worst state in decades, we cannot afford to suspend rigorous inquiry and research into the affairs of the worlds most populous country. Students and professors must be able to continue honest, candid, and complete discussions about Hong Kong and mainland China in line with the Chicago Principles of which the University administration is so proud.

Ginsburg emailed me, The purpose [of uncensored academic discussion] is not advocacy but analysis. I think it can be both. When students are arrested for social media posts and pro-democracy professors are fired for dissidence, to resist self-censorship and forthrightly analyze the politically sensitive are acts of solidarity. When under the shadow of totalitarian censorship, studying and speaking freely are not neutral.

Good people can disagree over whether Steve Bannon should speak on campus. But surely all can agree that being imprisoned for a Winnie the Pooh tweet is as unjust as it is absurd.

Until the University administration rises to the challenge of ensuring its communitys safety, let us continue to speak, study, think, and tweet freely and merrily. We must.

Devin Haas is a third year in the College.

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Hong Kong and the University's Free Speech Responsibility - The Chicago Maroon

Attack on teacher in France rekindles debate on free speech and Islam – Vox.com

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The murder last week of a teacher who used images of the Prophet Muhammad in lessons about freedom of expression by a teenage Muslim refugee has sparked a solidarity movement in France and reignited the debate over Islams role in the country.

History and geography teacher Samuel Paty, 47, brought scrutiny this month when he showed his 12- to 14-year-old students two caricatures of Muhammad published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo the same images that in 2015 inspired jihadists to kill 11 staff members at the magazine and six others in Paris. Parents and teachers at the school, located just 20 miles outside the capital, said Paty gave his Muslim pupils the opportunity to leave the classroom or look away so as not to anger them.

Idolatry is forbidden in Islam, and many devout Muslims believe any depictions of Mohammed, or any revered prophet, to be taboo. But many also found the Charlie Hebdo drawings particularly offensive not just because they depicted the prophet, but because they did so in a way that some critics said perpetuated racist, bigoted stereotypes of Muslims.

A weeks-long uproar ensued. One students father called for a mobilization against Paty including his firing and posted the schools address and the teachers name on social media. An Islamist militant even accompanied upset parents to the school to push for the instructors ouster.

But the situation turned deadly last Friday when Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch, an 18-year-old refugee from Chechnya, beheaded Paty with a butcher knife as the teacher made his way home. French authorities said the suspected attacker, who lived about 40 miles away from the school, asked students to identify Paty moments before killing him. The teenager was shot dead after he tried to stab and shoot back at authorities who closed in on him.

Police found a Twitter account suspected of belonging to the attacker since he posted a picture of the severed head along with a message: I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Saturday visited the site of the murder, said the beheading appeared to be an Islamist terrorist attack committed because Paty taught freedom of expression. He added that the terrorist sought to attack the republic and its values, further noting this is our battle and it is existential. They [terrorists] will not succeed. They will not divide us.

On Monday, police raided numerous homes across France as part of its probe into Patys killing. About 15 people have been taken into custody and 51 Islamic organizations are under investigation, Interior Minister Grald Darmanin said on Monday. The enemies of the Republic wont be given a minutes respite, he told the Europe 1 radio station.

Its no surprise France is taking the suspected terror attack very seriously. Since the Charlie Hebdo assault in 2015, the last few years have seen high-profile knife attacks, strikes against police on the Champs-lyses, and a coordinated assault in Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more.

But Fridays killing strikes at the core of two of Frances most turbulent debates, which of late have somewhat fused together: whether there should be limits on freedom of speech, and how Muslims should integrate into French society.

And its a conversation that could continue to roil the nations politics for years to come.

For over a year, Macron promised to detail his views on the role of Islam in Frances secular culture. On October 2, he finally delivered that address.

What we must attack is Islamist separatism, he told the nation, saying extremists preyed upon desperate Muslims in desolate neighborhoods, basically creating anti-French enclaves by spreading their radical Islamic ideology and project.

We built our own separatism ourselves, he continued, arguing French authorities made such a situation possible by huddling immigrants together in areas apart from good-paying jobs or French public schools. To solve the problem, he offered some reforms, like within four years forbidding foreign-trained imams (Muslim religious leaders) to preach in France. Instead, all imams must be certified in the country in order to lead a congregation.

It was clear Macron, who has long called for an Islam of France that seamlessly integrates Muslims into the countrys society, aimed to distinguish between extremists and all Muslims. Still, his speech, and the thinking underlying it, received mixed reviews.

Some said his statements namely, Islam is a religion that is in crisis today, all over the world were incendiary, not measured. They also accuse Macron, who is up for reelection in 18 months, of trying to garner some right-wing bona fides by taking a tougher stance against Islamic extremism. The repression of Muslims has been a threat, now it is a promise, tweeted Yasser Louati, a French Muslim activist.

Others, like the Atlantic Council think tanks Benjamin Haddad, said the speech and Macrons views on the issue set the right tone.

It underlined the urgency to fight separatism, Haddad, who has defended Macrons policies in Washington, DC, since 2017, told me. Its really more about certain neighborhoods and areas that arent necessarily violent ... but will progressively socialize radical ideology as French republican ideals cant get through anymore. Its more than an ideological fight, he added. Were talking about losing territory.

If you go to Paris, everyone will tell you theres a problem. Its one of the deepest societal problems in France today, he concluded.

But what the disagreement over Macrons speech underscores is how France has struggled to accept Muslims as they come. For example, the country has banned headscarves in public schools and for government employees while at work. The government says such measures are meant to help Muslims integrate with Frances secular culture, while critics say the focus on Islamic garb stems from bigotry.

This issue burst out into the open after the terrorist attack following the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. Local debate roiled over whether outlets should refrain from producing images of Mohammad, as Islamic teaching forbids, or whether doing so is a celebration of Frances history of criticizing all religions. After all, the magazine often lampoons religious leaders like the pope.

Thousands took to Frances streets to defend that history. On Sunday, they rallied in major cities like Paris, Lyon, and Marseille in defiance of the attack, in Patys memory, and to bolster the notion that freedom of expression in France has no limits even if that leads one to show images of the Islamic prophet.

We are the result of our history: These values of liberty, secularism and democracy cannot remain just words, a demonstrator in Paris told French media. We have to keep them alive, and being here helps do that.

Politicians who attended the rallies made similar comments. I want teachers to know that, after this ignoble act, the whole country is behind them, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Sunday. This tragedy affects each and every one of us because, through this teacher, it is the republic that was attacked.

Importantly, the number of racist attacks in France, including against Muslims, has dropped in recent years. Such statistics offer hope that the potential scapegoating of Muslims in the coming weeks and months may not lead to a rise in hate crimes.

But Macrons policies and the aftermath of the attack indicate that Muslims are once again under a national microscope. That, at the very least, wont help with the assimilation problems the country aims to solve.

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Why We Must Maintain Sanctity of Free Speech and Ethics in Journalism – The Leaflet

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As a hallmark of modern society, freedom of speech and press has seen consistent erosion in recent times. Journalists must rededicate themselves to the ideals of objectivity and scientific inquiry that made journalism a noble profession, writes MOIN QAZI.

Comment is free, butfacts are sacred

-C P Scott

Free speech or the freedom of expression is the modern civilizations most precious gift to human society. Free-speech advocates typically claim that the value of unfettered expression outweighs any harm it might cause, offering assurances that any such harm will be minimal.

The key to the invention of free speech was the recognition of pluralismthat, in any human population, there will be people with irreconcilably different understandings of the truth.

While free speech is not absolute in most societies, the qualifying restrictions are only those which constrict speech which may be deleterious to the social good.

Repressing speech has costs, but so does allowing it.

A mature way to judge the system would be to look at both sides of the ledger. Free speech cant be reaffirmed by drowning out its opponents. It has to be defended as, in the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, an experiment as all life is an experiment.

Speech is a tool of change and revolution and a free press is the best public medium of expression of free speech.

A free press is the foundation of a healthy and vibrant democracy. Transparency and vigilance, which are hallmarks of an independent press, are critical to democracy. They also serve as powerful weapons against forces, ranging fromcorruptionto bad business practices that undermine economic prosperity.

The vision of better, stronger, and more robust economies is not possible without high-quality journalism.

In an ideal world, journalism is a profession of incredible integrity and journalists are among the most dexterous and skilled people in the world.

We have all benefited from the work of persistent journalists who put life, limb, family and even sanity on the line in their pursuit of truth. There is no sane, decent, and democratic polity possible without journalists who challenge power and relentlessly pursue to disseminate the truth.

It is however tragic that press freedom and independence, a staple ingredient of all great democracies worldwide, is declining.

Newspapers every morning have pages and pages of advertorial content, and newspaper editors know, as do we all, that it becomes impossible to distinguish between paid news and actual, unbiased news.

The press once seemed to have a conscience, thanks to historys painful social conflicts and questions of war and peace. The world, however, has changed, and many of us may be in the time warp of old values. Like all institutions, the media has also suffered. Whatever its position or character, a press should have a soul of its own.

In the modern journalistic paradigm, the news has become not what the facts are, but what men wish to see.

Human beings are poor witnesses, easily misled by a personal bias, profoundly influenced by their social environment. As products of their society, journalists are no exceptions

Perhaps the most vulnerable institution is the free press, and the most disposable people are journalists.

If theyre doing their job right, they can have friends in powerful places. Around the world, new systems of control are taking hold. They are stifling the global conversation and impeding the development of policies and solutions based on an informed understanding of the local realities.

We are seeing new abuses that were unimaginable earlier.

Newspapers every morning have pages and pages of advertorial content, and newspaper editors know, as do we all, that it becomes impossible to distinguish between paid news and actual, unbiased news.

Regulations for these malpractices have yet to be put in place.

Paid news is a fraud on the public and, when it is passed off as the real thing, must be regulated.

One good development in modern times has been technology. It has made it more and more difficult for a small group to effectively control the means of communication. This has also been aided by the proliferation of social media.

Yet, despite the safeguards for freedom of expression, several societies continue to use diabolic methods for chilling free speech and free press.

For the media to be credible, it has to take responsibility for getting its facts right.

That means digging deep, talking to a range of people to get the different sides of the story, and checking their facts rigorously. It should not hesitate to root out and expose lies, hypocrisy, and corruption, but has to be sure of its facts before doing so.

Walter Lippmann, who would become the most influential champion of journalistic objectivity, believed in the reimagination of journalism as a kind of scientific inquiry, subject to the disciplines of testing and verification.

Protecting the freedom of the press is a dynamic area of law.

Shifting trends and the advancement in communication technology require a re-examination of the underlying principle and its application in new contexts. The constant evolution requires deep thinking and the introduction of proper checks and balances. It may at times be difficult to strike the right balance. Freedom of the press, like several other precious freedoms, must be placed outside the reach of political exigency.

Walter Lippmann, who would become the most influential champion of journalistic objectivity, believed in the reimagination of journalism as a kind of scientific inquiry, subject to the disciplines of testing and verification. In his book, Liberty and the News, Lippman argues that good reporting must be based on the exercise of the highest scientific virtues. According to him, the best reporters are not slick persons who scoop the news, but the patient and fearless men of science who have laboured to see what the world really is.

Journalists will need to rededicate themselves to the mission that made journalism the noble calling of so many great women and men.

Journalists will need to rededicate themselves to the mission that made journalism the noble calling of so many great women and men. Their commitment to the values of liberty and freedom has earned the press the status of the Fourth Estate alongside the other three custodians of free speech and democracy.

It is time journalists reaffirmed their commitment to the credo of Joseph Pulitzer III (1913-1993), the founder of the worlds gold standard in journalism, the Pulitzer Prize: We will illuminate dark places and, with a deep sense of responsibility, interpret these troubled times.

(Moin Qazi is a development professional. Views are personal.)

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Why We Must Maintain Sanctity of Free Speech and Ethics in Journalism - The Leaflet

Free speech should not be used to push a political agenda – Binghamton University Pipe Dream

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On Oct. 8, Pipe Dream reported that Binghamton University is being investigated by the Department of Education for allegedly failing to protect the free speech rights of conservative student groups. Two months earlier, the BU College Republicans and Young Americas Foundation (YAF) had filed a lawsuit alleging the existence of a Speech Suppression Policy which supposedly authorizes [BU] officials . to prohibit, chill, oppose and shut down speech with which they, or other students and faculty, disagree. Now that one of the most tense cultural cleavages has made its way into BU, we must ask what exactly the debate over freedom of speech means in the realm of academia.

On Nov. 14, 2019, the College Republicans and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) held a preplanned tabling event, displaying pro-gun signs. Earlier that day, in Santa Clarita, California, there was a school shooting in which the gunman killed two students before shooting himself. Even after the news broke here in New York, the students chose to keep the pro-gun signs up. This crucial stipulation, in my view, is what led to roughly 200 students showing up to the Spine in order to protest the group.

We often overlook the reality that with freedom comes the responsibility of how we use our freedoms, and the associated consequences of our actions. Thus, whenever we express ourselves, particularly when expressing unpopular opinions, we must likewise be prepared to own up to the consequences of our actions. So when these student groups chose to continue displaying their signs, even after hearing there was a mass shooting and were well aware that these images may provoke a passionate reaction, they shouldnt be surprised, or even complain, when other students respond to them even in a group of 200.

Its also been noted that TPUSA has not yet been chartered by the BU Student Association (SA), nor did they receive a permit to table. However, since BU is a public institution, it is subject to First Amendment regulations, particularly the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, which guarantees freedom of expression in public schools with the exception of speech which causes undue disruption to the educational process (e.g. inappropriate behavior in a classroom). So, for the sake of argument, lets assume that the First Amendment rights of these groups trumps University regulation.

That being said, I believe that some at the initial protest went too far in destroying the property of the student groups. Likewise, I also believe that the disruption of Arthur Laffers Trump, Tariffs, Trade Wars events was unacceptable. Even if one cant grant me that it is morally wrong to disrupt unpopular speech, from a practical standpoint there is no utility in doing so and is politically regressive, allowing groups such as TPUSA to use these incidents in order to demonize the opposition.

Despite the actions of these protesters, upon carefully and objectively examining the Universitys response to these events and the protests they sparked, although insufficient, it seems theres nothing to prove the existence of any Speech Suppression Policy. This isnt to say that no one should have been accountable for the disruption of Laffers speaking engagement, but that accountability falls on the individuals and the organizations which promoted the disruption of the event, not the University administration.

It has become typical of conservatives across the country to often deride institutions of higher education for allegedly promoting a liberal agenda, and by extension suppressing conservative viewpoints. As such, conservatives have taken the mantle as the defenders of freedom of speech and groups, such as TPUSA and its BU chapter have used Novembers events to catapult themselves into the national spotlight, garnering notoriety in conservative circles. Yet when Black Lives Matter protesters are assaulted by police, or detained without due process, these groups have remained silent, revealing the true purpose of these accusations and others like them across the nation.

Conservative groups dont really care about defending free speech rights, or at least the free speech rights of their opponents. Rather, conservative organizations employ a scorched Earth approach to politics, seeking to incite political tensions as they did last November not just for the purpose of publicity, but to take political conversations away from major issues and shift them toward the actions of individuals, who are framed as being representative of the entire political opposition (i.e. the Left).

Although I believe the traditional left-right binary is an inaccurate method of viewing our politics, this country is indeed divided. Not between left and right, however, but between students with a multicultural outlook and those who are more nationalistic two competing ideas of what the country should look like. The battle for free speech is the latest manifestation of the culture war, with students caught up in interpersonal conflict, calling one another every kind of -ist in the book (e.g. fascist, communist, etc.), while ignoring the substance of the issues they are fighting about.

But rather than debating the issues in and of themselves, one side seeks to incite others for political gain, while the other falls for it. Let me be clear that I, in no way, support the disruption of anyones speech, and I believe that progressive student organizations should avoid the temptation to lash out in the face of provocation. But whats most important is that all political conversations are substantive when we do discuss issues like freedom of speech, we must also consider them in the context of movements such as Black Lives Matter, which has seen massive suppression at the hands of state actors.

From police officers driving into protesters in New York City to masked Department of Homeland Security agents arresting protesters without proper due process, protesters and organizers for Black Lives Matter have systematically had their civil liberties violated, all while groups like our campus chapter of TPUSA have declared Its time for leftist thugs to pay. Rather than getting bogged down in petty arguments with conservative groups, leftists and those who claim to truly support free speech must stand in solidarity with movements like Black Lives Matter, which have actually seen their free speech rights violated only then do we actually defend the speaking rights of all people.

Colin Mangan is an undeclared sophomore.

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Free speech should not be used to push a political agenda - Binghamton University Pipe Dream

Crypto Tax Evasion Is A Criminal Offense – Forbes

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The US Attorney Generals Cyber Digital Task Force recently issued a comprehensive report outlining the United States framework for enforcement against cryptocurrency-related crimes. This report explains emerging threats, enforcement challenges, and case studies. According to the task force report, tax evasion is one of the three major ways bad actors use cryptocurrency. This report adds to other reports issued in 2020 by regulators such as GAO, TIGTA, OECD where crypto taxes have been the main theme.

According to the IRS Tax Crimes Handbook, there are two kinds of tax evasion: evasion of assessment and evasion of payment.

Evasion of assessment is the more common of the two and occurs when someone willfully attempts to omit income from taxes, significantly underreports income, or overstates deductions. The Cyber Digital Task Force report points out: not reporting capital gains from the sale or other disposition of the cryptocurrency, not reporting business income received in cryptocurrency, not reporting wages paid in cryptocurrency, or using cryptocurrency to facilitate false invoice schemes designed to fraudulently reduce business income are examples of evasion of assessments

The report further states that these are frequently seen evasion of assessment scenarios in the cryptocurrency world. Evasion of payment occurs after the tax assessment is made and the taxpayer conceals funds or other assets that could be used to pay off the tax liability.

The recent indictment of John McAfee exemplifies both of these scenarios. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), McAfee earned millions in income from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. From 2014 to 2018, McAfee allegedly failed to file tax returns, despite receiving considerable income from these sources (evasion of assessment). Further, McAfee attempted to evade the IRS by concealing assets, including real property, a vehicle, and a yacht, in the names of others (evasion of payment).

Tax evasion is a serious offense. Upon conviction, wrongdoers can be fined up to $100,000 ($500,000 for corporations) or imprisoned up to five years plus the cost of prosecution.

Local and global regulators have paid a tremendous amount of attention to the cryptocurrency world in 2020, specifically with a focus on taxes. This is a notable difference compared to previous years where regulators primarily focused on security fraud concerns related to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). At the beginning of the year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report suggesting the IRS improve cryptocurrency tax enforcement efforts. This was reinforced again by the TIGTA report issued in October. And just this week, the OECD recommended tax authorities all over the world to form a uniform effective tax policy for cryptocurrencies. Governments everywhere are waking up to cryptocurrency taxes, so make sure that your filings are up to date.

Disclaimer: This post is informational only and is not intended as tax advice. For tax advice, please consult a tax professional.

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Crypto Tax Evasion Is A Criminal Offense - Forbes

McAfee Sets Terms of IPO, Hoping to Raise Up to $682 Million – TheStreet

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McAfee, the cybersecurity company founded by tech eccentric John McAfee, has set the terms for its initial public offering, hoping to raise as much as $682 million.

McAfee, based in San Jose, plans to sell 37 million shares at a price of $19 to $22 each. The stock will trade on Nasdaq, with the ticker symbol MCFE, the company said in an SEC filing.

Of the 37 million shares, 30,982,558 will come from the company and 6,017,442 from existing stockholders. McAfee expects to have 165.44 million Class A shares outstanding after the IPO.

Including class B shares, the company would have a valuation of between $9.5 billion and $10 billion at the top of the pricing range.

In the six months through June 27, McAfee posted profit of $31 million, swinging from a loss of $146 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 9% to $1.4 billion from $1.29 billion.

John McAfee founded McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he left the company.

McAfees anti-virus software was a market leader along with Norton in the 1990s and 2000s. It sold itself to Intel INTC for $7.7 billion in 2011.

In 2016, Intel sold a 51% stake to the San Francisco private-equity firm TPG for $1.1 billion. In its IPO prospectus, McAfee cites TPG and Chicago PE firm Thoma Bravo as investors.

After leaving McAfee Associates, John McAfee founded a raft of companies, including Tribal Voice, which offers the PowWow chat program; QuorumEx and Future Tense Central.

In 2016 he sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president, losing to former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. He gave it another shot this year, to no avail.

McAfee was arrested last week in Spain and is facing extradition to the U.S. on tax evasion charges. In a statement announcing the charges, the Department of Justice noted "The indictment does not allege that during these years McAfee received any income or had any connection with the anti-virus company bearing his name."

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McAfee Sets Terms of IPO, Hoping to Raise Up to $682 Million - TheStreet

McAfee IPO: 5 things to know about the security-software company – MarketWatch

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The McAfee logo is displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 25, 2019. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

McAfee Corp. plans to return to the public markets after nearly a decade as a private company, but the security-software company is re-emerging as a structured entity that would take a team of lawyers and accountants to truly explain.

On Tuesday, McAfee MCFE, established a projected price range for its initial public offering of $19 to $22 a share, after initially filing for an IPO in late September. The company plans to list under the ticker MCFE on the Nasdaq. Underwriters include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, TPG Capital, BofA Securities, and Citigroup. The IPO involves 37 million shares, or 42.6 million if underwriters exercise all options to cover overallotments.

McAfee reportedly plans to price the IPO late Wednesday, with trading to begin on Thursday.

Here are five things you should know.

A little more than a decade ago, Intel Corp. INTC, +0.77% announced it was buying McAfee for $7.7 billion in a deal that closed the following year. About five years later,Intel sold a majority stake in McAfee to private-equity firm TPGfor $4.2 billion. The following year, Thoma Bravo cut a deal with TPG to take a minority stake.

Rumors that McAfee would go public have been circulatingfor more than a year, but its owners chose to make the leap amid a strong year for IPOs. The Renaissance IPO ETF IPO, -0.12% is up 80% this year, compared with a 34% gain in 2019 and an 18% loss in 2018. The S&P 500 index SPX, -1.63% is up 8% this year, following a 29% gain in 2019, and a 6% loss in 2018.

When all is said and done, TPG, Thoma Bravo and Intel will control about 82.2% of the voting power.

Following the IPO there will be two classes of stock, up to 166.7 million Class A shares and up to 264.7 million Class B shares, and each of those classes will carry one vote.

But thats where simplicity ends, because those class distinctions are mixed up with a witches brew of exchanges of management incentive units and LLC units and reorganization transactions, as shown in this chart from the companys filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

How all the moving parts fit together is not easy to deduce even after several readings of the SEC filing, but the bottom line appears to be that public stockholders will get 22.4% economic interest in the company with only 8.6% voting interest.

The security software company brought in $2.64 billion in revenue in 2019 for a loss of $236 million, according to McAfees S-1 filing. For the first 26 weeks of 2020, the company reported revenue of $1.4 billion and net income of $31 million, as long as you adjust the numbers for the massive reorganization and other factors

When the reorganization transactions and other pro forma adjustments are taken into account, McAfee ran at a $3 million loss for the first half of 2020.

McAfee said it plans to use about $525 million to repay all outstanding obligations with respect to our Second Lien Term Loan, while it estimates that if shares price at the midpoint of the range, or $20.50 a share, it will net about $612 million if underwriters exercise their full options of shares.

Thats only a drop in the bucket for McAfees debt after its private-equity flip, however. In its financial statements, McAfee lists $4.66 billion in debt, which it estimates should get cut down to $4.15 billion after the offering.

The recent arrest and federal charges against John McAfee, who founded the company in 1987 and left it in 1994, dont pose a risk to the IPO, according to the SEC filing.

In its indictment, the Justice Department noted that from 2014 to 2018, when John McAfee is alleged to have not filed tax returns, he did not receive any income or had any connection with the antivirus company bearing his name. In 2017, John McAfee and Intel settled a lawsuit where McAfee agreed not to use his name or trademark his name in any security-related products or services.

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McAfee IPO: 5 things to know about the security-software company - MarketWatch

SEC Regulatory Actions For September and October 2020 – Bitrates

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The SEC has taken action on various cryptocurrency-related issues in recent weeks. These developments are notable.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is one of the most active regulators in the blockchain industry. Over the past several weeks, it has taken action against several crypto companies and startups. At the same time, it has put forward suggestions that could improve opportunities for cooperative companies. These are the SEC's most notable actions during September and October 2020:

On Oct. 5, the SEC charged crypto celebrity John McAfee with promoting ICO sales for profit. The SEC alleges that McAfee earned $23 million worth of cryptocurrency by endorsing the relevant projects, and by misrepresenting his relationship with those projects. The SEC now seeks to fine and penalize McAfee and prevent him from serving in leadership roles in a public company. The U.S. Justice Department has also charged McAfee with tax evasion for reasons related to the case.

On Oct. 2, SEC chairman Jay Clayton suggested that the regulator is open to tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Clayton stated that the SEC is "willing to try that" and that its "door is wide open." It does not appear that Clayton is open to a Bitcoin ETF, which has been a long-standing issue for the SEC. Rather, Clayton seems to be suggesting that traditional financial institutions may choose to represent their assets on a blockchain or digital ledger in the future.

On Sept. 21, the SEC commented on an OCC statement on stablecoins. The OCC's original statement effectively gives some banks and savings institutions the authority to handle tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar, as long as those tokens meet certain criteria. The SEC, however, intends to regulate stablecoins and determine whether those coins are securities, based on "facts and circumstances." This makes it clear that new stablecoin projects will not be exempt from scrutiny.

In early September, various news outlets reported that the trading firm Robinhood is facing a joint investigation from the SEC and FINRA. There appear to be two issues at stake. In the first, the SEC is investigating customer complaints around service interruptions in March. In the second, the SEC is investigating Robinhood's failure to disclose deals with high-speed traders. Though no public announcements have been made, insider sources suggest that Robinhood may have to pay a $10 million fine.

On Sept. 15, the SEC revealed that it has settled with Unikrn, a cryptocurrency-based eSports betting company. The SEC charged Unikrn with operating a $31 million unregistered securities offering; now, Unikrn will pay a penalty of $6 million and return funds to investors. Unikrn will not be forced to admit or deny the findings, and the company says that the business will continue to go forward. However, the company will abandon its native token in favor of established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

On Oct. 30, the SEC charged SALT Lending with operating an unregistered ICO. The crypto lending and borrowing platform raised $47 million in 2017. Now, SALT has agreed to settle with the SEC by paying a civil penalty of $250,000 and establishing a claims process that allows investors to return their tokens for a refund. SALT does not need to admit or deny the findings, and like most crypto companies in a similar position, it will continue to operate as usual.

On Sept. 30, a lawsuit between the SEC and the blockchain company Kin produced a ruling. A district court in New York ruled that Kin's 2017 ICO constituted an unregistered securities offering. However, this is not the end of the story: the ruling only impacts the possibility of a summary judgment, and Kin and the SEC will continue to battle in court. Kin believes that the SEC's regulations are unclear, conflicting, and a problem for the entire blockchain industry. The conflict has been ongoing since January 2019.

The past several weeks have made the SEC's stance on crypto clear. Settlements and charges from the SEC have reinforced the fact that crypto startups will need to work quite closely with the regulator in the future if they want to succeed. However, the SEC has also made it clear that it is interested in seeking out new ideas and products. Hopefully, up-and-coming crypto firms are not discouraged by the strict situation.

Disclaimer: information contained herein is provided without considering your personal circumstances, therefore should not be construed as financial advice, investment recommendation or an offer of, or solicitation for, any transactions in cryptocurrencies.

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SEC Regulatory Actions For September and October 2020 - Bitrates

Corrections: Oct. 13, 2020 – The New York Times

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INTERNATIONAL

An article on Friday about protests in Indonesia described incorrectly a jobs bill that was passed by Indonesias Parliament. Although the bill contained a provision allowing companies to eliminate paid maternity and menstrual leave, it was removed before final passage.

An article on Thursday about preparation by election officials anticipating unrest at the polls misstated the increase in volunteers recruited by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The group said its volunteers had increased from 5,000 to over 21,000, not from 500 to over 2,100.

A chart with an article on Thursday about polls of likely voters in Nevada and Ohio mislabeled the responses that voters could choose. To the question, How should politicians campaign in person? the responses were Large crowds and Small crowds, not Yes and No.

A chart with an article on Friday about stock market gains made by executives during the economic downturn sparked by the pandemic carried the wrong photograph for the president of Peloton Interactive. It showed John Foley, the companys chief executive, not William Lynch, the companys president.

An article on Wednesday about the arrest of the software engineer John McAfee referred incorrectly to the potential prison terms he faces. The five counts of failure to file taxes each carry a maximum one-year sentence, while the five tax evasion counts each carry a maximum of five years.

An obituary on Sept. 23 about the activist and adventurer Henrietta Boggs referred incorrectly to the civil war after which Jos Figueres Ferrer, her husband at the time, became president of Costa Rica in 1948. It lasted about six weeks, not four years; and Mr. Ferrer restored democracy to Costa Rica he did not establish a democracy.

An obituary on Friday about Stephen Barnes of the law firm Cellino & Barnes referred incorrectly to his niece Elizabeth D. Barnes, who died in the same plane crash that killed Mr. Barnes. She was a lawyer with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, not with Cellino & Barnes. The earlier version also misstated the number of lawyers employed by the firm in 2017. It was 50, not 250.

Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.

To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, complaints or other comments about our coverage, please email nytnews@nytimes.com.

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Corrections: Oct. 13, 2020 - The New York Times

The Feds Are Watching: 3 Things To Know About Crypto Tax Evasion, A Crime – Moguldom

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Written by Dana Sanchez

Oct 19, 2020

The Internal Revenue Service is paying an extraordinary amount of attention to cryptocurrency-related taxes. It wants you to know that crypto tax evasion is a criminal offense, and it wants you to be afraid. Be very afraid.

Fear appears to be working.

Chandan Lodha is chief operating officer of CoinTracker, a software firm selling crypto tax-prep services. Many of the companys new customers are seeking help, not just with 2019 forms but also for earlier yearspresumably to amend prior returns, Lodha told Wall Street Journal.

Based on what were seeing, people are starting to get scared, Lodha said.

Here are three things to know about crypto tax evasion.

The IRS this question to the front page of the standard 1040 form:At any time during 2020, did you sell, receive, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?

The question appears, just below the taxpayers name and address. Its the first question youll see and you have to check the box yes or no.

The government made an example out of Silicon Valley legend John McAfee, an antivirus software pioneer and former presidential candidate who was recently arrested in Spain on tax-evasion charges, the U.S. Justice Department said in an Oct. 5 announcement. The U.S. is seeking McAfees extradition.

McAfee allegedly earned millions in income from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. From 2014 to 2018, McAfee he allegedly failed to file tax returns. He evaded taxes by paying income into bank and crypto-exchange accounts in other peoples names. He is accused of concealing assets including real property, a vehicle and yacht.

U.S. Attorney General Bill Barrs Cyber Digital Task Force this month issued a report outlining enforcement against cryptocurrency-related crimes. Tax evasion is one of the three major ways bad actors use cryptocurrency, Forbes reported.

Tax evaders can be fined up to $100,000 ($500,000 for corporations) or imprisoned up to five years plus the cost of prosecution.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Partys sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

The IRS treats virtual currency as property for tax purposes, which means that the general tax principles that apply to property transactions also apply to virtual currency transactions. It also means the I.R.S. can seize your cryptocurrency.

Income, including capital gains, from virtual currency transactions is taxable, and virtual currency transactions themselves must be reported on a taxpayers income tax return. Wages paid in virtual currency to employees are also taxable, reportable on a Form W-2, and subject to withholding and payroll taxes.

Tax cheats may believe that the Internal Revenue Service is not able to uncover or attribute their cryptocurrency transactions, and they mayeven use additional anonymizing features of cryptocurrencies to further obfuscate their transactions, according to the report. Tax cheats may then attempt tax evasion by, among other things, not reporting capital gains from the sale or other disposition of their cryptocurrency, not reporting business income received in cryptocurrency, not reporting wages paid in cryptocurrency, or using cryptocurrency to facilitate false invoice schemes designed to fraudulently reduce business income.

Read more: Looking For You, Bitcoin: IRS Moves Surveillance Crypto Question To The Top Of Page 1 On 1040 Tax Form

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The Feds Are Watching: 3 Things To Know About Crypto Tax Evasion, A Crime - Moguldom

April Freely Appointed Executive Director of Fire Island Artist Residency – Artforum

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April Freely has been named the new executive director of the Fire Island Artist Residency, the New York organization founded in 2011 as the first residency to provide resources exclusively to emerging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identifying artists and poets. Previously the program coordinator at the Vermont Studio Center, the largest arts residency in the US, Freely will succeed cofounder Chris Bogia, who will transition to the board of directors.

In this time of transformation, I am excited to learn and grow with this organization, building upon the impressive legacy FIAR has established as a home for LGBTQ+ artists and poets, said Freely, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is now based in Harlem. It is my honor to serve this vibrant and dedicated community of artists and allies, and I look forward to our work together.

In addition to her credentials as an administrator and fundraiser, Freely is a poet and writer who holds graduate degrees in nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa and New York University. She is a professor at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, recently received a 20202021 Queer Arts Mentorship fellowship in literature, and has published essays on artists in The Kenyon Review and in several artist monographs includingJennifer Packer: Tenderheaded(Renaissance Society, 2018).

Other arrivals to FIAR include six new members of the board of directors: Brooklyn-based artist Paolo Arao; Washington, DCbased doctor of psychiatry Marc Dalton; Brooklyn-based artist Damien Davis; New Yorkbased lawyer Christian Escobar; Chicagoan artist Derrick Woods-Morrow; Chris E. Vargas, an artist based between Bellingham, Washington, and Los Angeles; and Brian Vines, a New Yorkbased journalist.

Aprils vision, exemplified by her own creative practice and professional and lived experiences, is the future face of FIAR, said board president Jeremy E. Steinke. We are excited to welcome April and all of our new board members to embark on our next decade of creating space for and amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ artists and poets.

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April Freely Appointed Executive Director of Fire Island Artist Residency - Artforum