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Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market to Witness Stunning Growth to Generate Massive Revenue During Forecast 2020 2027 | 3M Company, Dentsply…

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Marketresearch report is the new statistical data source added byA2Z Market Research.Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market is growing at a High CAGR during the forecast period 20212027. The increasing interest of the individuals in this industry is that the major reason for the expansion of this market.

Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Marketresearch is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share and contact information are shared in this report analysis.

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Note In order to provide more accurate market forecast, all our reports will be updated before delivery by considering the impact of COVID-19.

Top Key Players Profiled in this report are:

3M Company, Dentsply International, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Stryker Corporation, AAP Implantate AG, Affymetrix, Inc., Perkinelmer, Inc., ST. Jude Medical, Inc.

The key questions answered in this report:

Various factors are responsible for the markets growth trajectory, which are studied at length in the report. In addition, the report lists down the restraints that are posing threat to the global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices market. It also gauges the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat from new entrants and product substitute, and the degree of competition prevailing in the market. The influence of the latest government guidelines is also analyzed in detail in the report. It studies the Nanotechnology in Medical Devices markets trajectory between forecast periods.

Global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market Segmentation:

Product Type Segmentation

Industry Segmentation

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Regions Covered in the Global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market Report 2021:The Middle East and Africa(GCC Countries and Egypt)North America(the United States, Mexico, and Canada)South America(Brazil etc.)Europe(Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)Asia-Pacific(Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)

The cost analysis of the Global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market has been performed while keeping in view manufacturing expenses, labor cost, and raw materials and their market concentration rate, suppliers, and price trend. Other factors such as Supply chain, downstream buyers, and sourcing strategy have been assessed to provide a complete and in-depth view of the market. Buyers of the report will also be exposed to a study on market positioning with factors such as target client, brand strategy, and price strategy taken into consideration.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:

Market Penetration:Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Nanotechnology in Medical Devices market.

Product Development/Innovation:Detailed insights on the upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and product launches in the market.

Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of the market strategies, geographic and business segments of the leading players in the market.

Market Development:Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various segments across geographies.

Market Diversification:Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Nanotechnology in Medical Devices market.

Table of Contents

Global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market Research Report 2021 2027

Chapter 1 Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market Overview

Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry

Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by Region

Chapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions

Chapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

Chapter 7 Global Market Analysis by Application

Chapter 8 Manufacturing Cost Analysis

Chapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Chapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Chapter 11 Market Effect Factors Analysis

Chapter 12 Global Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market Forecast

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Nanotechnology in Medical Devices Market to Witness Stunning Growth to Generate Massive Revenue During Forecast 2020 2027 | 3M Company, Dentsply...

NBD Nanotechnologies announces InvisiPrint MBED, an anti-fingerprint coating with embedded antimicrobial protection – PRNewswire

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

NBDs proprietary dual function coating renders fingerprint smudges invisible and prevents the growth of odor and stain-causing bacteria.

InvisiPrint MBED combines best in class fingerprint hiding with exceptional antimicrobial properties. The protection of surfaces with InvisiPrint MBED is also extremely durable. When surfaces coated with InvisiPrint MBED are exposed to wear and tear similar to what mobile devices and displays typically experience throughout their service life, the 5+ log bacterial reduction is unaffected.

The low temperature and simple application process combined with excellent fingerprint hiding make InvisiPrint MBED an especially attractive option for high touch electronic displays where anti-fingerprint coatings are already applied but now require antimicrobial properties. "NBD's ability to introduce innovative product enhancements are the reasons customers continue to depend on NBD Nano for their product roadmap planning and execution. InvisiPrint MBED is yet another example where NBD is successfully providing customers with best-in-class technology," said Miguel Galvez, President of NBD Nanotechnologies.

Applications for InvisiPrint MBED include touch displays, eyewear, appliances, architectural glass, ceramics and other high touch surfaces. For more information, please contact us at [emailprotected]

About NBD Nanotechnologies.

Founded in 2012 and based in Lexington Massachusetts, NBD Nanotechnologies, is a rapidly growing specialty chemical company. NBD has a number of tailored coating solutions for the electronics and industrial sectors.

Disclaimers ISO 22196 results are insufficient to make Health Claims and InvisiPrint MBED is not registered to make EPA approved Health Claims.

SOURCE NBD Nanotechnologies, Inc.

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NBD Nanotechnologies announces InvisiPrint MBED, an anti-fingerprint coating with embedded antimicrobial protection - PRNewswire

C-Bond Systems Provides 2020 Year in Review Other OTC:CBNT – GlobeNewswire

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Company Expects to Achieve Record Annual Revenue for 2020

Record Revenue Fueled in Part by Two $1 Million-Plus Exclusive Distribution Contracts for the Companys Disinfection and Windshield Strengthening Products

HOUSTON, Dec. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- C-Bond Systems (the Company or C-Bond) (OTC: CBNT), a nanotechnology solutions company, today provided a 2020 year in review including operational highlights molded by the Companys strategic decision at the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic to separate its business lines and establish two divisions: C-Bond Transportation Solutions and C-Bond Safety Solutions.

This pivot and delineation of the Companys businesses helped it forge new partnerships and increase distribution opportunities, including the expansion of its product lines to include new products to help in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

2020 Highlights

C-Bond Transportation Solutions Group 2020 Highlights

C-Bond Safety Solutions Group 2020 Highlights

We are extremely proud of all we accomplished during 2020, which was a year that brought multiple challenges to businesses across the world, stated Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of C-Bond. With the pivot we made in March, not only have we successfully augmented our product offering to address safety issues brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, we strengthened our balance sheet and better positioned our business for the future.

We are excited to see the foundational progress we made in 2020 continue to bear fruit in 2021 and beyond for both the Transportation Solutions Group with the expansion of the C-Bond nanoShield distribution network and addition of MB-10 Tablets, and the Safety Solutions Group, with new development initiatives and ongoing installations of our best-in-class window film solutions, continued Silverman. We are confident that we will be able to monetize this progress with our broader nanoproduct portfolio offering, exclusive distribution agreements, and other new commercialization partners to bring value to shareholders.

About C-BondC-Bond Systems, Inc. (OTC: CBNT) is a Houston-based advanced nanotechnology company and marketer of the patented C-Bond technology, developed in conjunction with Rice University and independently proven to significantly strengthen glass in key automotive and structural applications. The Companys Transportation Solutions Group sells C-Bond nanoShield, a liquid solution applied directly to automotive windshields, sold through distributors. The Companys Safety Solutions Group sells ballistic-resistant glass solutions directly to private enterprises, schools, hospitals and government agencies. The Company also sells disinfection products, including MB-10 Tablets. For more information, please visit our website:www.cbondsystems.com, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbondsys/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBond_Systems.

Forward-Looking StatementsStatements in this press release about our future expectations, including the likelihood that we will generate record revenue in the fourth quarter and full year 2020; the likelihood that with the pivot we made in March we have better positioned our business for the future; the likelihood that our efforts will continue to bear fruit in 2021 and beyond for both the Transportation Solutions Group, and the Safety Solutions Group; the likelihood that we will be able to monetize this progress with our broader nanoproduct portfolio offering, exclusive distribution agreements, and other new commercialization partners to bring value to shareholders; constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and our actual results could differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, C-Bonds ability to raise capital; the Companys ability to successfully commercialize its products; the effect of the COVID-19 global pandemic on the Companys ability to operate; the Companys ability to source materials; as well as other risks. Additional information about these and other factors may be described in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including its Form 10-K filed on March 25, 2020, its Forms 10-Q filed on November 16, 2020, August 14, 2020, and May 15, 2020, and in future filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

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C-Bond Systems Provides 2020 Year in Review Other OTC:CBNT - GlobeNewswire

Food Nanotechnology Market TO GENERATE LUCRATIVE REVENUE PROSPECTS FOR MANUFACTURERS AFTER THE END OF COVID-19 CRISIS – The Courier

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

The Food Nanotechnology market has gained incredible momentum in recent years.The steadily increasing demand due to improved purchasing power is expected to be a good sign for the global market.The report is prepared in collaboration with the leading industry experts and dedicated research analyst team to provide an enterprise with in-depth market insights and help them to take crucial business decisions. This report covers current market trends, opportunities, challenges, and detailed competitive analysis of the industry players in the market.The authenticated data presented in the report is based on the results of extensive primary and secondary research. The insights gained from the data are excellent tools that enable a deeper understanding of the diverse aspects of the Food Nanotechnology market. It also helps users with their development strategy.The report is molded by tracking market performance since 2015and is one of the most detailed reports

The market report on globalFood Nanotechnologymarket serves as a requisite tool to understand and assess various facts of the market to unravel crucial details on tactical strategies that steer effective growth prognosis trajectory in global Food Nanotechnology market.

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For the basic understanding of strategy in this report, we will focus on the static and dynamic pillars of the industry. Beyond this, identify the business development circle and opportunities. It also focuses on the limitations for analyzing problems in existing business strategies. Focus on various aspects such as application areas, platforms, and key players operating around the world.

The Global Food Nanotechnology Market research report assembles data collected from different regulatory organizations to assess the growth of the segments. In addition, the study also appraises the global Food Nanotechnology market on the basis of topography. It reviews the macro- and microeconomic features influencing the growth of the Food Nanotechnology Market in each region. Various methodological tools are used to analyse the growth of the worldwide Food Nanotechnology market.

Some are the key players taken under coverage for this study are: Aquanova, Blue California, Frutarom Industries, Southwest Research Institute

Food Nanotechnology Market: Competitive Landscape

Competitive Analysis is one of the best sections of the report, comparing the progress of leading companies using key metrics like market share, new developments, global reach, local competition, pricing, and production. From the nature of the competition to future changes in the vendor landscape, the report offers an in-depth competitive analysis in the Food Nanotechnology market.

Why should you invest inFood Nanotechnology Business?

If you are aiming to enter the globalFood Nanotechnologymarket, this report is a comprehensive guide that provides crystal clear insights into this niche market. All the major application areas for Food Nanotechnology are covered in this report and information is given on the important regions of the world where this market is likely to boom during the upcoming years, so that you can plan your strategies to enter this market accordingly. Besides, through this report, you can have a complete grasp of the level of competition you will be facing in this hugely competitive market and if you are an established player in this market already, this report will help you gauge the strategies that your competitors have adopted to stay as market leaders in this market. For new entrants to this market, the voluminous data provided in this report is invaluable.

Major Highlights of Food Nanotechnology market in Covid-19 pandemic covered in report:

The report provides impact of COVID-19 on Food Nanotechnology market along with its impact on overall industry and economy of world. Further, it adds changes in consumer buying behavior as it impacts majorly on market growth and sales. Distributors and traders on marketing strategy analysis focusing on region wise needs in covid-19 pandemic is also added in the Food Nanotechnology market report. The last segment of COVID-19 impact chapter include recovery and major changes opted by major players involved in Food Nanotechnology market.

In conclusion,the Food Nanotechnology Market report is a reliable source for accessing the research data that is projected to exponentially accelerate your business. The report provides information such as economic scenarios, benefits, limits, trends, market growth rates, and figures. SWOT analysis is also incorporated in the report along with speculation attainability investigation and venture return investigation.

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Food Nanotechnology Market TO GENERATE LUCRATIVE REVENUE PROSPECTS FOR MANUFACTURERS AFTER THE END OF COVID-19 CRISIS - The Courier

Cybersecurity expert: After Russian hack, common security tools, including cloud-based multi-factor systems, shown to be less effective in preventing…

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Bertrand Cambou, a professor of nanotechnology and cybersecurity at Northern Arizona University, is available to discuss what went wrong in the Russian hack attack revealed this week and what organizations, including the U.S. government, can learn from the attack. Cambou is a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors and is an invention ambassador of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Bertrand Cambou

Media coverage has mentioned two specific methods the hackers used:

According to Cambou:

The use of these products is inherently risky; cloud-based email services should not be trusted for security andsensitive operations. In general, software tools with mandatoryupdates can be used as Trojan malware. These updates are forced on the client devices without authentication, and the servers havethe upper hand and are able to shortcut security.

The weak link for massive attacks is the server or cloud having the authority to infect terminal devices at large scale. Tools like MS Duo have the objective to block malicious users, not malicious cloud services.

It was reported that SolarWind customers often use Microsoft'sDUO multi-factor authentication, which did not prevent the attack.

Due to the recent attack, the information already stored on the cloud is as suspicious, and all government personal computers with the monitoring system should be quarantined, with the assumption that worms were potentially planted in the software stack. In both cases the users were interacting with contaminated networks. This is a really bad situation.

Recommendation:

Implementtwo-way authentication, which is much more secure than cloud-based multi-factor.The objective should be both to prevent a bad server to play and block malicious users.

Earlier this year, Cambou hosted industry and military partners on a multimillion-dollar cybersecurity project. Learn more about the grant from the U.S. Air Force.

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Cybersecurity expert: After Russian hack, common security tools, including cloud-based multi-factor systems, shown to be less effective in preventing...

Nanotechnology in Energy Market Analysis by Market Size, Market Status, Market Share, Growth with Top key players, and Forecasts to 2028 – BIZNEWS

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Scope of the Global Nanotechnology in Energy Market

This study offers an all-inclusive analytical environment for the Global Nanotechnology in Energy Industry. Detailed secondary analysis, primary interviews and in-house expert reviews are the product of the market forecasts presented in the report. By analyzing the effect of various social, political and economic factors along with the current market dynamics influencing global market development, these market estimates have been taken into account.

In addition to the market overview, which includes the dynamics of the market, the section includes an analysis of Porters Five Forces that offers five forces: namely the bargaining power of producers, the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of consumers, the threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition in the Nanotechnology in Energy Market. It provides different actors within the target business ecosystem, such as device integrators, end-users, and intermediaries. The study also emphasizes the markets competitive environment.

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Nanotechnology in Energy

Covid-19 Effect on Global Nanotechnology in Energy Market

The Global Nanotechnology in Energy Market Study (for the 2016-2028 Forecast Period) focuses on the review of the COVID19 epidemic effects of major market growth impact points. This report also delivers details such as product variety, overview of the industry, possibilities, competitive environment of the market, driving force, as well as different market risks.

Understanding Segmentation: Global Nanotechnology in Energy Market

For detailed competitive landscape analysis, the complete market is further split by business, by region, and by application / type. The report then forecasts the Nanotechnology in Energy industrys 2016-2028 business growth patterns. Analysis is also carried out of upstream raw materials, downstream demand as well as current market dynamics. Finally, the research report provides several relevant ideas for a new target market project before evaluating its feasibility. Also, the study offers an in-depth insight into all the key parameters of the global and local industry.

Market Segmentation: By Material (Nanostructured Material, Carbon Nanotubes, Fullerenes and Others), By Application (Electrical (Transmission and Storage), Manufacturing, Renewable and Nonrenewable energy production, Others)

Regional Analysis of Global Nanotechnology in Energy market

In addition, the market study studies the main geographical range of the market and the geographical specifics of the market with important aspects such as production capacity, supply and consumption of goods. This market report covers regions such as North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Russia, and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia), South America (Brazil, Argentina), and the Middle East and Africa (UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa).

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Competitive Landscape: Global Nanotechnology in Energy Market

Several primary producers of the industry are recognized in the competitive landscape segment of the research report. It allows the reader to understand the alliances and tactics that players priorities in the market to fight competition. A significant microscopic look at the competition is given by the detailed study. A fundamental overview of the industry, such as its concept, production technology, and applications, is given in the study. Then, in depth, the study discovers the main global and local industry providers. The study presents the product specifications, capability, business profile, value of production, and market shares for each company in this segment. The study defines the global and local total market of Nanotechnology in Energy industry with the statistical analysis including production value, cost, profit, supply, demand, power, production, and import / export.

Key players covered in the global Nanotechnology in Energy market report are: : Nano Dimension, Ablynx, Advance reproductions corporation, Z-medica, LLC, InMat, Inc., APS material, Inc., SolarMar energy, Inc., Solar Botanic Ltd., Rogue Valley Micro.

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Betsy L. Ames: One concrete step to make the world more human – GazetteNET

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Published: 12/22/2020 2:13:31 PM

During a year with so much uncertainty, with the pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, the death of Justice Ginsburg, the election, and Senate hanging in the balance, heres one concrete step we can take to make the world more human. As we enter into the holiday season, we of the Christian faith/tradition can lose sight of the way that our celebrations can take up all the room and crowd out any space for those who dont come from this tradition. And we dont realize, in our efforts to be inclusive, how we are unintentionally asking people to give up or deny parts of themselves in order to assimilate to our way of doing things.

Its painful to have to give up or deny parts of yourself in order to belong. Thats not authentic belonging. And at a time when the biological determinism of White Supremacy (the anti-maskers) is on display at the very highest levels of our government; when the assumption that the good (white) genes will protect them and that they will risk their own lives, along with the lives around them, certain that only the fit will survive; when the botched handling of the pandemic seems like a modern-day eugenics/holocaust unfolding with the Black, brown, poor, obese, disabled and elders dying first, it may seem counterintuitive NOT to extend ourselves in the ways we are accustomed, with our bells, lights and holiday spirit attempting to hold onto something that seems normal.

Yet that impulse may not be what is needed now. What may be needed more is a kind word. A human connection, nondenominational. Toning down our expectations for attention about our shopping, decorating or meals. And yes, even asking those not of this tradition, Hey, how its going for you this time of year? A simple, concrete gesture, remembering that there is not one right way to be in this world. Offering the humility to notice that there are actually people with equally valid ways of being in the world.

Betsy L. Ames

Northampton

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Betsy L. Ames: One concrete step to make the world more human - GazetteNET

Of Course Black Americans Are Wary Of The COVID Vaccines. Heres A Path Forward – Refinery29

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

First, bring everyone to the table, and I do mean everyone. Answer every question. Educate. Dont ask minority communities, especially ones scarred by generations of trauma at the hands of medical racism, to come to us. Go to them. Work with trusted leaders within that community. An example of this is how my city of New Orleans, a predominantly Black metropolis, has handled the COVID-19 pandemic this year. Once on track to become a COVID-19 epicenter, New Orleans was able to lower both its incidence and prevalence rates by holding nightly COVID-19 informational sessions on the local news with Black doctors and healthcare providers, disseminating testing availability information through the citys Department of Health, and asking local community leaders, such as the two deans of the two largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the city, to explain and solicit participation in the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials at the states best hospital. When people are not only educated but also included in decisions about their health and safety, the community is safer. That is community health.

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Of Course Black Americans Are Wary Of The COVID Vaccines. Heres A Path Forward - Refinery29

SIEGEL: U.Va. needs to contend with its racism – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

In my first article for The Cavalier Daily, I wrote that the Charlottesville community should continue observing Founders Day. I was proud of that article and the nuance that I thought it came with. Simply put, I was wrong, and Im ashamed I wrote it. A man who owned and raped his fellow human beings should not be honored with a day of remembrance or even statues in the middle of campus. As a university, we give credence to people who deserve no honor. We must work to be better.

As the Presidents Commission of Slavery and the University found, U.Va. was an institution that thrived off of slavery. The commission wrote that slavery was central to the project of designing, funding, building, and maintaining the school. Jeffersons own mission was to create an institution that taught young Virginians specifically young white men that slavery was something to be protected and defended. Jefferson himself owned more than 600 slaves. He also was an ardent believer in early forms of eugenics believing that science proved that Black people were inferior in intellect, imagination and comprehension.

Jeffersons idea of racial superiority came to evolve as the University did. As slavery was outlawed with the 13th amendment, the South and the University needed to transform its racism. Paul Barringer, who had a wing of the U.Va. Health Center named after him until 2019, said that because of emancipation, Black people were resorting to savagery. He helped turn the University into a safe haven for racist pseudoscience and eugenics. U.Va. passed on the idea of eugenics to students, professors and even political leaders. Students who were taught eugenics at U.Va. entered the highest levels of office. Hugh Cumming, a eugenics student at U.Va., was even appointed Surgeon General and was the architect behind the Tuskegee Syphilis Study that intentionally infected Black men with syphilis. These horrible men helped create a system through which 7,325 Virginians were sterilized by force. Even their contemporaries knew they were horrible people. The Richmond Planet characterized Barringer as a monstrosity and criticized U.Va.s exclusion of Black students and professors.

While it may be easier to dismiss this brand of racism as a time long gone, it still exists. Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler, organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, are both U.Va. alumni. They espouse the same ideas that those eugenicists and founders who created the University. Professor Kirt von Daacke even told The Atlantic, What we forget is when neo-Nazis marched on our university to claim Thomas Jefferson as theirs, he is theirs too. I dont think every U.Va. student is a raging white supremacist but I think a lot of students participate in and encourage a cycle of abuse towards students of color.

In 2017, Martese Johnson wrote a letter to incoming students of color, warning them of the abuse they would receive simply because of what they looked like. His experience with racism at U.Va. was not unique. When Zeta Phi Beta, a historically Black sorority, painted Beta Bridge in 2019 with a message honoring its founding, the bridge was vandalized with a white-supremacist slogan. And U.Va. students wore blackface to frat parties into the early 2000s. These racist incidents continue and theyre not isolated. Theyre a product of a community that tolerates racism.

We honor men and perpetuate myths about the people who shaped this university. Doing so upholds their legacy of racism and hate. We dont need statues of slaveholders or buildings and roads dedicated to eugenicists. Instead, we need to acknowledge the complicated fact that the University we attend is rooted in hate. But it doesnt have to be. The first step to solving any problem is admitting there is one. The University of Virginia is a racist institution. It doesnt have to be. Sitting in denial of its racist past and recent racist incidents only serve to perpetuate a horrifying cycle of abuse towards students of color. If we finally acknowledge the failings of our school, we can work to solve them. The Universitys Racial Equity Task Force has already outlined 12 key steps it can take to remedy some of U.Va.s failures. But the work cannot fall on the University alone. The student body and the community can learn to move forward and make this a place where hate is not tolerated.

Jeremy Siegel is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.

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SIEGEL: U.Va. needs to contend with its racism - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Black women health inequity the origin of perinatal health disparity – DocWire News

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

This article was originally published here

J Natl Med Assoc. 2020 Dec 9:S0027-9684(20)30421-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2020.11.008. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Black enslaved women endured sexual exploitation and reproductive manipulation to produce a labor workforce on the southern plantations during the Antebellum Period. Health care inequity has continued from slavery and into the 20th century primarily due of racial segregation, poverty, access, poor quality of care, eugenics and the assault of forced sterilizations. Racial disparity in maternal and infant mortality is an outcome rooted in racial injustice, social and economic determinants as well the stresses during pregnancy throughout the generations of black births. Affordable, available, quality and equitable care and narrowing the economic gap for black women and families is the most significant barrier in combating racial disparity in perinatal health outcomes and health inequity.

PMID:33339616 | DOI:10.1016/j.jnma.2020.11.008

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Black women health inequity the origin of perinatal health disparity - DocWire News

Win the battle and the war. Unite rather than divide by fighting discrimination together – Milford Daily News

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Frank Mazzaglia| Guest Columnist

This is a gift to those militant protesters who have been screaming about racism and calling for social change. Instead of pointing in the wrong direction, take a good hard look at our recent history and consider the harm done by the influence of some lesser known British and American racists.

This is not to say that racism was not already a serious problem here, but it was people like British born Francis Galton who made the idea of racism quite fashionable in the United States. .

Born in 1822 into a family of great wealth, Francis Galton, whose famous cousin was Charles Darwin, inherited a vast fortune by the time he was 22 enabling him to live the life of an English gentleman. Galton was an extraordinary man in some ways. Obsessed with numbers and data he discovered the individuality of fingerprints and the statistical law of regression to the mean. Yet, for all his contributions to society, he was also responsible for a pandemic of racist ideas that were adopted by Adolf Hitler.

It all sounded so harmless at first.Galton simply introduced three inherited attributes necessary for great achievement: ability, zeal, and a capacity for hard work. The problem was how he defined inheritance.

Galton failed to recognize that social factors could prevent a genius from rising to the top, and he certainly didnt believe that neurosis could interfere with success nor did he consider the role of inspiration or the power of the will.

An ardent abolitionist, Galton, without seeking any evidence to support his beliefs, also held that African Americans were inferior people. Whats more, they were not the only ones. Galton concluded that if selective breeding could improve the heredity of cats and dogs as well as cows and even plants, then why couldnt selective breeding improve the heredity of human beings?

By the time he was 69, he introduced the idea that we could modify the heredity of human beings because some people were naturally better than other people. Out of that came the idea of a hierarchy of peoples worth.There were desirable people and then there were other people who were undesirable.To the proponents of Galton style genetics, the danger came in intermarriage between a desirable and an undesirable. In such cases, the childrensuffered by becoming less desirable.

In the 1900s, race and ethnic origin was a big deal. The Womens Home Com[anion created a Better Babies Bureauthat examined 150,000 babies and scored them 50% on heredity over an infants visible charms. Heredity became another word for race. The question, of course, is: who are the desirables and who are the undesirables?In the early 1910s, eugenicswas so popular that the U.S. Public Health Service issued official heredity certification to racial desirables to help them meet and marry otherracial desirables.

The desirables were Nordic, lighter-skinned, blondes, with blue eyes, and a straight nose. The undesirables were southern European like the Italians, Greeks, Poles, and Russian Jews. These people were deemed to endanger Americas purity of race."

Racial superiority appealed to the Nazis who used genetics as the scientific rationale for the Holocaust.It also appealed to American politicians who enacted the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924 which effectively barred the identified undesirable people from entering the United States for forty years.

So, some of those summer protesters had the right idea. They just blamed the wrong people. Skin color was just one of the many marks of discrimination. It makes no sense to pit one discriminated group against another discriminated group.

Yes, racism is a serious problem in this country. However it is far more complicated than some would have us believe. Of course, there has been social injustice in our country. Understanding its roots and working together to overcome discrimination against all people, however,is a wiser choice that can unite people rather than divide them.

Frank Mazzaglia can be reached at frankwrote@aol.com.

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Win the battle and the war. Unite rather than divide by fighting discrimination together - Milford Daily News

More immigrant women say they were abused by Ice gynecologist – The Guardian

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

More women have joined an official legal petition alleging that they were medically abused by a gynecologist while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody in a move that significantly expands a case that has shocked America.

The legal petition outlining these alleged abuses were filed in the Middle District of Georgia federal court late Monday night. More than 40 women have submitted written testimony attesting to claims of abuse, one attorney on their case said.

These women, who have been detained by Ice at Irwin county detention center in Georgia, have alleged that they underwent invasive and unnecessary medical procedures. The womens attorneys have also alleged that these women endured retribution for speaking out, including deportation in some cases. The petition largely echoed past legal filings and accounts by accusers.

Petitioners were victims of non-consensual, medically unindicated and/or invasive gynecological procedures, including unnecessary surgical procedures under general anesthesia, performed by and/or at the direction of [gynaecologist Dr Mahendra Amin], the petition said. In many instances, the medically unindicated gynecological procedures Respondent Amin performed on Petitioners amounted to sexual assault.

Officials were aware of this alleged misconduct since 2018, the petition further alleged, but have nonetheless continued a policy or custom of sending women to be mistreated and abused by Respondent Amin The experiences Petitioners had at the hands of Respondent Amin form part of a disturbing pattern of inhumane medical abuse and mistreatment at ICDC.

This is an effort to protect women who have suffered horrendous medical atrocities while detained in US custody, and every effort has been made by both Ice and the contractors at this facility to cover up these medical abuses, said Elora Mukherjee, director of Columbia Law Schools Immigrants Rights Clinic, a leading attorney on the case.

She added: For more than two years, both the government, and the private contractors who run this facility, have turned a blind eye to the enormous suffering and intentional harmand intentional medical abuse that has taken place here.

Its unlike anything I ever expected to see in America, Mukherjee said.

The womens allegations emerged after a shocking whistleblower report. This report, which was submitted on behalf of a former nurse at the facility, Dawn Wooten, alleged that an alarmingly high number of hysterectomies were performed on Spanish-speaking women. Wooten and other nurses feared that these women did not understand the procedures they underwent.

Wooten alleged that the doctor performing these procedures, who was subsequently named as gynecologist Dr Mahendra Amin, had become notorious for performing these operations so much so that she called him the uterus collector in her whistleblower account.

Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy just about everybody, Wooten stated in her complaint. Ive had several inmates tell me that theyve been to see the doctor, and theyve had hysterectomies, and they dont know why they went or why theyre going.

Wooten also said that the medical center where these procedures were performed had unsanitary conditions, as well as poor safety measures against Covid-19.

Amin has denied the allegations and told the Intercept that he had only conducted one or two hysterectomies in the past two [or] three years. He did not specify whether these procedures were performed on women in Irwin.

The physicians lawyer, Scott Grubman, said in a previous statement: We look forward to all of the facts coming out, and are confident that once they do, Dr Amin will be cleared of any wrongdoing. Ice contended that its records indicate just two referrals for hysterectomies at Irwin.

The accusations have spurred comparisons with the USs disturbing history of eugenics. From 1907 to 1937, two-thirds of US states passed laws that permitted involuntary sterilization resulting in the sterilization of more than 60,000 people.

An increase in federal funding for reproductive health procedures in the 1960s and 1970s, in conjunction with racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, resulted in tens of thousands of women of color undergoing sterilizations.

Though forced sterilization was made illegal, it has continued. From 1997 to 2013, approximately 1,400 inmates were sterilized in California prisons.

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More immigrant women say they were abused by Ice gynecologist - The Guardian

Helen Keller Called ‘Just Another Privileged White Person’ by Activist – TMZ

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Helen Keller -- the first deafblind person to get a college degree -- is being skewered by an activist who calls her yet another privileged white lady who gets the hero's story in America.

Anita Cameron -- a Black disability rights activist -- was quoted calling Keller "just another, despite disabilities, privileged white person" who gets all the shine when discussing famous disabled people in history, while failing to mention achievements by her Black counterparts.

Anita's quote was included in a recent TIME magazine piece analyzing the way Helen's life is taught in schools -- which often excludes pivotal chapters of her adult life ... in which she proved, in some folks' eyes, to be pretty progressive and "radical" for her day.

Of course, people sunk their teeth into the quote calling her privileged -- including several big shots from the right, courtesy of Donald Trump Jr., Mary Vought, Ted Cruz and more ... who say the idea of criticizing Keller for being white and achieving what she did is bonkers.

Sen. Cruz writes, "This is INSANE. Woke Lefties are now attacking Helen Keller?? As 'just another, despite disabilities, privileged white person'?? There are many adjectives one can use to describe the extraordinary Helen Keller. 'Privileged' is not one of them."

While the remark on its face might sound a little out there, Anita's point might be lost on some folks -- and perhaps even on TIME itself, as it went on to note critics of Keller's point out she flirted with the eugenics movement ... almost tying Anita's outrage to just that.

It sounds like Anita feels like part of the reason we know about Helen Keller -- and how she was able to succeed as much as she did to begin with -- might be in large part due to the fact she was white and wealthy, which went a long way back late 1800s and early 1900s. HK's family had deep ties in the South, and her dad was even a captain in the Confederate Army. And yes, they were chummy with the former slaveholding crowd.

Now, Keller is unique because she was first deafblind person to achieve incredible things -- but that, too, might also be because she was white. Take, for example, Geraldine Lawhorn, who was the first deafblind African American to get a college degree.

She was born in 1916, and was alive during Helen's own lifetime ... but wasn't able to get her degree until 1983 at age 67. Helen, by contrast, got it at age 24 in 1904. Another deafblind POC of note is Haben Girma, who was the first to graduate from Harvard Law School in 2010.

Anita also partook in the Captiol Crawl of 1990, which helped spearhead the American with Disabilities Act. In that case, she notes there are unsung Black heroes who are overshadowed ... who should be part of the convo as we talk about U.S. disability history.

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Helen Keller Called 'Just Another Privileged White Person' by Activist - TMZ

Science: The Good, The Ugly, The False, And The Expedient – Scoop.co.nz

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

2020 has been the year of the scientist, or at least thepublic health scientist.

Science is a method, not adiscipline; it includes social science, because socialscience does at least notionally apply the scientificmethod.

While being about the discovery of truth, thescientific method implies that truth (with the exception ofidentities such as mathematical truths) is unattainable.With the scientific method, 'meaningful' propositions areeither false or yet to be falsified. The latter 'yet to befalsified' propositions are regarded as provisionallytrue.

The word 'meaningful' here is a technical word;it relates to propositions that are capable of being testedby 'empirical' evidence. It does not relate to certain otherpropositions, which are easily understood (but notmeaningful in a scientific sense), such asthese:

Thelatter example could be regarded as meaningful if an agreedcriterion for 'better' is provided. But two differentaccounting methods can both be 100% accurate.

William McNeill (Plagues and Peoples,1976) tells us that the suppression of the ThirdPlague Pandemic was probably the most importantachievement, ever, in public health applied science. Most ofus know nothing of this, precisely because the Third PlaguePandemic was suppressed.

This was a supreme effortthat took place only when (in the 1900s' decade) 'germs'were only just coming to be understood as the principalcauses of infectious diseases. Further, it was only thisevent that enabled the more infamous Second Plague Pandemicto be adequately understood.

First, we must note that'plague' is the name of a disease that comes in two mainforms: 'bubonic' and 'pneumonic'. Bubonic plague is spreadby fleas which live on burrowing rodents which mayinclude rats for whom the disease is endemic. The morelethal pneumonic plaque is spread much like Covid19, personto person and often through super-spreader events. UnlikeCovid19, plague is treatable with antibiotics. But it mustbe treated quickly; case fatality rates for pneumonic plaguewere about 90 percent, and fatality could take place withina day of infection.

The first plague pandemic occurredbetween the years 550 and 750, affected mainly in theMediterranean coastal areas, and most likely originated inCentral Africa.

The second plague pandemic originatedin the steppes of Central Asia in the 1330s, and finished inManchuria in the 1920s; the Manchuria outbreak was the lastsubstantial outbreak linked to that Central Asian contagionreservoir. The most renown episode within this pandemic wasthe European 'Black Death' of 1348 to 1352.

The thirdplague pandemic originated in the borderlands of China,Burma (now Myanmar) and India in the 1850s. It festered inChina's Yunnan province until it spread to Canton (nowGuangzhou) and Hong Kong in the 1890s. From Hong Kong, itspread via tramp steamers, ship rats and fleas toseaports all over the world, much as Covid19 spread acrossthe world via people in aeroplanes. While largely suppressedby the 1920s, significant late outbreaks linked to thatinitial Yunnan source took place in North Africa after WorldWar 2, and in Gujarat, West India, in the early1990s.

Among the most significant transmissions werethose in California, Bombay (now Mumbai) and Sydney. Theplague came to New Zealand from Sydney in 1900, with anestimated death toll of 7 people (and many thousands ofrats). My partner's great-great-grandfather was a member ofthe Auckland Health Board that successfully managed theplague outbreak here. The death toll in Australia was about500, mostly in the Sydney area.

The scientific workwas done mainly in Hong Kong and Bombay. It was only thenthat bubonic plague was scientifically linked to rats andfleas. Ironically, that gave us this huge mental picture ofthe medieval black death as being linked to medievalpoverty, with homes in Europe in that time supposedlyinfested with rats. Yet few pictures from the time showrats, and transmission patterns away from seaports wereinconsistent with rats and fleas as being the only vectorsof the disease. It now appears that the Black Death wasmainly pneumonic plague, spread person to person bysuperspreaders. This pattern of transmission wasparticularly evident in the 1924 Los Angeles outbreak ofpneumonic plague.

The third plague pandemic wassuppressed much as the SARS1 coronavirus pandemic of2003 (more lethal than SARS2, Covid19) was suppressed through a mix of excellent scientific work and the politicalwill to implement the scientific requirements. (Politicaloverkill did take place, however, especially inBritish-ruled Hong Kong and India, and with littlecompensation for those who lost their homes and theirlivelihoods.) Had that pandemic not been supressed hadpneumonic plague got out of control like the SARS2coronavirus did in 2020 the modern world as we know itwould have collapsed. In the pre-antibiotic era, thispestilence both lethal and highly infectious couldhave halved the world's population had the science notprevailed.

Unfortunately, as a result of the thirdplague pandemic, a number of new plague reservoirs formedlast century in Argentina, Peru, South Africa and NorthAmerica. The North American reservoir covers at least thewestern two-thirds of the United States. Most human cases inthe United States these days occur in the western one-third(and are cured), and in the public estate rather than onfarms; farming practices help to minimise the risk of thedisease from overflowing from the burrowing rodents intourban human populations. Nevertheless, the fourth plaguepandemic, when it comes, will most likely start in theUnited States, some time after antibiotics have becomeineffective and public order has already becometentative.

Many very bad things havebeen done in the name of science.Eugenics is an applied science thatbecame central to our way of thinking, especially around theyears 1870 to 1930. Eugenics is the science of artificialselection; the 'survival of the fittest' enhanced by expertsdeciding who is fittest, and henceforth who may be permittedto breed.

Eugenics is not false in the way thatalchemy is false. Eugenics is indeed widely applied infarming, and other breeding programmes such as thoroughbredracing horses and pedigree breeding for home pets.

Inhumans, applied eugenics was called things like 'theimprovement of the race'. It formed a pseudo-scientificbasis for racism. Eugenics was 'pseudo'-scientific becauseit was built upon cultural premises about what constitutedfitness, and it was built upon a past lack of understandingby scientists of the importance indeed the biologicalfitness of diversity. (We note that eugenics, applied infarming, is also problematic in this regard. Eugenicpractices have substantially reduced the diversity of ourfood crops and domesticated animals, increasing ourvulnerability to animal and plant pandemics; and,potentially, to human pandemics.) Good science requiresimagination, and few scientists 100 years ago wereable to imagine the importance of biological diversity tothe fitness of the biosphere.

Eugenics became acultural-scientific enterprise that built on a particularinterpretation of Charles Darwin's published works onbiological evolution. While Darwin himself should not beunderstood as a eugenicist, the 'father' of 'scientific'eugenics was Darwin's cousin Francis Galton. Further,eugenics conflated in the Victorian upper middle class mindwith the 'Social Darwinism', an emergent socialpseudo-science championed by Herbert Spencer.

Science is the practice of forming provisionaltruths through the elimination of verified falsehoods. Inpractice, this process doesn't really work. In socialscience, it is almost impossible to definitively assign aproposition to the scientific dustbin.

In physicalscience, falsification has also proved problematic. Doctors practitioners of medical science clung onto theidea, long after the miasma theoryof infection had been disproved, that they did not need towork in sterile environments. One result was that in NewZealand in the 1920s when it became normal for women to givebirth in hospitals rather than in the home while theinfant mortality rate went down, the maternal mortality rateincreased. The problem turned out to be doctors bringinginfections with them from general wards into maternitywards.

More generally, the big dichotomy in nineteenthcentury medical science was the 'miasma theory' versus the'germ theory' explanation of infectious diseases.

Themiasma theory became the mainstay of medical practice fornearly two millennia, following the second century writingsof Galen. The theory prevailed until the 1880s, and wasstill widely believed at the time of the onset of the ThirdPlague Pandemic. Miasmas were essentially 'bad airs' arisingfrom the ground, especially disturbed or filthy ground. Onereason for the ongoing belief in the miasma theory is thatit did suggest quarantine and environmental cleanliness asremedies, and these remedies were often effective.

Thecompeting germ theory (or 'contagionist' theory) was firstproposed in the sixteenth century, and had many adherents bythe eighteenth century. (The case for quarantines was evenstronger under the germ theory than under the miasmatheory.). But in the nineteenth century, medical sciencetook a major setback; the germ theory was falselyfalsified.

William McNeill tells us(p.271) that: "French doctors, when yellow fever broke outin Barcelona in 1822, seized the opportunity to make adefinitive test of the contagionist as against the miasmaticschool of thought. They concluded that there was nopossibility of contact among the different persons who camedown with yellow fever in Barcelona. Thus contagionismseemed to have been fully and finallydiscredited."

McNeill continues to note that theproblem was that "no one as yet imagined [myemphasis] that insects might be carriers of disease". Andthat "British liberals, in particular, saw quarantineregulations as an irrational infringement of the principleof free trade" and lobbied strongly and largelysuccessfully for 'the economy to be prioritised'. Thiswas in the early years of systematised classical politicaleconomy; later the same mercantile lobby prevailed duringthe Irish potato famine.

An important consequence ofthis false falsification of the germ theory, is that whenJohn Snow discovered that the mid-century London choleraoutbreak was caused by contaminated water, his findings werelargely ignored. The end of the prevalence of the miasmatheory in medical science only came when Robert Koch in 1882physically and definitively identified the bacteria whichcaused cholera.

In 2020 our own SiouxsieWiles has promoted in New Zealand the John SnowMemorandum which strongly lobbies for politicians andadministrators to take Covid19 seriously.

Science including social science has become a career for many of our brightest minds. But thenecessity to build a career can get in the way of thequality of the science. Further, every now and again, careerscientists get much more public attention than they wouldnormally get. Even more important than their new-found mediaexposure is the fact that these scientists suddenly findthat they have the ear of senior decision-makingpoliticians; a select few scientists become public warriorswith a cause, rather than cloistered academics researchingon the margins of public attentiveness.

One importantexample of this phenomenon was the 'dry' academic leaders ofeconomic liberalism in the 1980s. (Paul Krugman himselfhaving a second career as a media economist has widelydiscussed the compromises that career-building places onscientific truth in the social sciences.) Treasury in NewZealand at that time preferred to recruit economists fromthe 'dry' universities, or people who had graduated in otherdisciplines and could subsequently be inculcated into 1980s'Treasury ways of thinking. And the worse the economy got thanks to the recommendations of these very people themore politicians and media looked to these dry economistsfor explanations and solutions.

In public healthtoday, different countries have adulated different schoolsof public health. The Swedish public health school has beendiametrically opposed to the New Zealand public healthschool. Yet both schools' leaders have been subject to asharply heightened media exposure and sense of becoming themilitary generals of the Covid19 battle. And that cancompromise good science.

In the 'battle' againstCovid19, there are essentially four pre-vaccine ant-covidmeasures: lockdowns, border management, contact tracing, andmask wearing. All almost certainly play a role, but the waysthese different measures interact can be complex, andunhelpful messaging much coming from scientists hascontributed to the pandemic. The scientists in particularunderstand their disciplines, but not the wider pictures ofpeoples' lives.

Economics can help here but notthe dogmatic kind that ruled over us in the later 1980s andearly 1990s. The principal is that an action should be takenif the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost of thataction. The result of this principle is that restrictivepolicies should be proportionate as well aseffective.

It appears that New Zealand was effective,early, through its lockdowns (through the system ofemergency levels); then, border management and contacttracing became critically important to New Zealand's successin 'eliminating' Covid19. In New Zealand, these measureswere sufficient; there has been no evidence that communitymask-wearing has had any additional effect. Where anunpopular measure has minimal benefits (and masking in NewZealand is revealed as unpopular by the general absence ofvoluntary masking), it violates the economic principal ofbalancing marginal costs and marginal benefits. Onlypoliticians, not scientists, should be making these kinds ofeconomic decisions; and the politicians need to be takingadvice from a range of relevant perspectives, and not justadvice from one group of scientists.

In Taiwan, andsome other East Asian countries, the critical measures havebeen border management and contact tracing. In the absenceof lockdowns, masking in crowded indoor environments almostcertainly played an additional role in the early stages.But, when a country has eliminated the virus from communitytransmission (as both New Zealand and Taiwan have), thecompulsory wearing of masks can make no difference; andcompulsion itself has significant costs, in some culturesmore than others. In countries without community covid, thecompulsory wearing of galoshes or codpieces would have thesame impact on Covid19 as the wearing of masks.

Thegeneral application of the economic rule about marginalbenefits and marginal costs is that contextuallyineffective measures should never be taken except underformal emergency conditions that are by their naturecharacterised by a lack of information, ie a lack of knowingin which contexts the measures are effective.

Theexpedient approach is to delegate power to disciplinaryexperts, whose lives are themselves necessarily structuredaround expedient careers choices. And the expedient approachtends to be to overregulate, rather than to seek an optimalbalance; and it doesn't always remove regulations when theyare no longer sensible. On the latter point, allemergency-type rules should always be time-limited from theoutset, albeit subject to timeextensions.

Science plays an importantrole in our lives, and sciences have much to offer as weseek to improve our lives, and seek to address circumstancesthat threaten our normal lives. But science is fallible, andno science contains the whole truth about the particularsituations we face as we navigate our lives individually andcollectively. Sometimes, big mistakes are made in the nameof science. Truth isprovisional.

Scoop Media

Political Economist, Scoop Columnist

Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s.

Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like.

Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.

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Science: The Good, The Ugly, The False, And The Expedient - Scoop.co.nz

The R-word takes away people’s humanity. We all need to stop using it – CBC.ca

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

This is an opinion column by Al Etmanski, who is the author of The Power of Disability and recently co-chaired the federal COVID-19 Disability Advisory Group. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Some of you may have heard it on the playground. Others might have used it in jest. I'm not going to write it. I'm just going to call it the R-word because it's that disgusting.

It's a slur against people with intellectual disabilities that you will see peppered in many news stories.

NFL player Janoris Jenkins was cut from the New York Giants for using the word; Khlo Kardashian promised to "do better" after she was called out on social media for employing the R-word in public posts; as was far-right pundit Ann Coulter, kicking off a national campaign in protest.

Locally, a school trustee in Chilliwack, B.C., recently used the R-wordto describe three reporters.Many have since called for Barry Neufield's resignation. One expected at the very least that he would apologize but it's been four weeks and he still hasn't done the right thing.

Even if he does, his comments are only one instance in a phenomenon that refuses to die.

According to a Leger survey, 48 per cent of Canadians use the word or hear someone called or referred to as the R-word every week.

The word represents one of the most stubborn and persistent stigmas in history.

It strikes at the heart of the dehumanization experienced by a group of people with disabilitieswho have been marginalized and oppressed throughout history. This dehumanization has led to bullying and rejection and, in some cases, sterilization, incarceration and genocide.

Those like Neufeld who use the word off-handedly are likely unaware of its origin and its link to words like dumb, imbecile, idiot and moron.

I certainly was. It wasn't until the birth of my second daughter that I realized my insensitivity and cruelty. Liz is now an artist and poet who thinks her Down syndrome makes her "radiant." And it does.

Labels, even when well intentioned or used for humour, are loaded with judgments and assumptions. They are a lazy, short-form way of thinking. They prevent us from getting to know the person behind the label. At their most tragic, labels deny personhood, citizenship, love and life, and funding. They have the power to destroy spirits, undermine confidence, exclude and abuse.

In researching my book The Power of Disability, I found such words were categories established by medical scientists and were used by social workers, doctors, lawyers and legislators beginning in the early 1900s.

They were used to justify the mass sterilization of people with developmental disabilities, making it illegal for so called feeble-minded people to marry, and "ugliness laws" that prohibited the "unsightly" from being seen on the street.

This period of eugenics was kicked off by prominent American psychologist Henry Goddard in 1913 when he published The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness.

But here's the rub: Goddard lied. He falsified data, fabricated evidence and faked research to bolster his discriminatory theories. His deceit extended to doctoring the pictures of his subject, a woman with the pseudonym Deborah Kallikak, to make her look sinister and dark.

The eugenics work of Goddard, including his phrase"the final solution," went on to influence Adolf Hitler. The Nazis began their genocidal techniques by killing people with physical and mental disabilities. By the end of Second World War, they had exterminated an estimated 300,000 of them.

Even the well intentioned have atoning to do.

In the 1980s, I became executive director of a provincial association which used the R-word in its name. It's now called Inclusion B.C., but it doesn't hide the fact that we played an institutional role in spreading a word that continues to harm those we purported to love and support.

Atonement has three stages. First, stop using the R-word, for any reason, even when it is not directed at people with disabilities or wasn't intended to hurt.

Better still, take the #NoGoodWay pledge to stop using the R-word. #NoGoodWay is a year-round leadership initiative led by young Canadians to raise awareness that the R-word is hurtful, and to eliminate its use. It's attracted an impressive array of Canadian celebrities including figure skater Tessa Virtue, singer Serena Ryderand hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser.

Next, pay attention to the pride, power and passion of people with disabilities, including their anger and impatience over the use of this word. The R-word is not only mean; like Goddard, it also doesn't tell the truth about people with disabilities.

Finally, become an ally. Learn about the barriers society imposes on people with disabilities, the poverty they experience, and align your actions and resources with theirs.

The controversy over Neufeld's remarks may have disappeared from daily media but they still sting among people with disabilities.

"Why do people want to hurt us?" says my daughter, who is wise beyond her years. She and her friends know the R-word is one of those labels that prevents us from recognizing each other as fellow human beings.

Do you have a strong opinion that could change how people think about an issue? A personal story that can educate or help others?We want to hear from you.

CBC Vancouver is looking for British Columbians who want towrite 500-600-word opinion and point of view pieces.Send us a pitch atbcvoices@cbc.caand we'll be in touch. Novice writers are also encouraged to submit ideas.

The R-word takes away people's humanity. We all need to stop using it - CBC.ca

Exclusive: People must have the ‘right to offend’ without facing a police investigation – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

In the past two years, Ms Hayden has taken action against Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, barrister Adrian Yalland, Catholic commentator Caroline Farrow and academic Louise Moody among others.

Mrs Scottow told The Telegraph the verdict is a victory for freedom of speech that confirms no one has the right not to be offended.

This has been the hardest battle I have fought that has had a profound impact on every aspect of my life, from my career to my health and my marriage.

But it was necessary to enshrine one of the most fundamental rights of every living being in a democratic society - the right to freedom of speech that is now routinely attacked at such a fundamental level.

Women fighting for their rights against an aggressive LGBT lobby have been silenced for the past three years. I hope this judgment gives them hope.

Ms Hayden said the judgment encourages online trolls to abuse, dox and intimidate transgender persons, adding: This is unfortunate and a kick in the teeth to the entire LGBT community.

She said: I do not blame Scottow. She was entitled to appeal her conviction and congratulations must be extended to Scottow and her legal team. The higher judiciary have ordained that transgender people are legitimate targets. I for one will keep that in mind and respond accordingly.

A CPS spokesperson said: The Court of Appeals judgment concluded there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant for persistently making use of a public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, determining that the timing and level of communication exchanged online did not constitute a criminal offence.

This is a complex area of law and we will carefully consider the judgment, specifically in relation to comments made online and associated issues of free speech.

Toby Young, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said: Lets hope this judgment sends a message to Chief Constables. Theyve been getting their officers to spend far too much time sifting through peoples social media accounts, like little offence archeologists. They should be policing our streets, not our tweets.

Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel of the Free Speech Union said the judgment was "a welcome reminder of when the law will step in to protect free speech."

He added: "We view this as a positive sign that the senior judiciary will exercise their jurisdiction forcefully, and control wayward judges in lower courts who cant seem to remember their ever-present obligation to protect freedom of expression.

"The judges in this case rightly recalled that the freedom to offend is not constrained by the facile obligation to be kind mooted by the magistrate below.

"The real value in this case is its limitation of the vexatious use of the Communications Act 2003 to inhibit freedom of expression.

"Twitter spats are just not the kind of conduct regulated by the provision the prosecution tried to rely on that section is directed against heavy-breathers and persistent hoax callers and the like.

"Those who, for whatever reason, are uncomfortable with free speech will still have other legal provisions to resort to. But this judgment removed one particular weapon from their armoury. This is progress, and further good news in light of the Harry Miller judgment."

The Police Federation's Simon Kempton said of investigating Twitter spats: Its an area where we would like to avoid having any involvement but there are always cases where individuals cross the line and cause some significant harm to others.

See the article here:

Exclusive: People must have the 'right to offend' without facing a police investigation - Telegraph.co.uk

Freedom of speech at universities is not under threat it is actually thriving – The Independent

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

How do you measure freedom of speech? Its not a rhetorical question, though it is a timely one. According to think tank Civitas, the University of Cambridge along with 35 per cent of UK universities now falls into the red category for free speech.

Analysing campus policy, events and a survey, wherein nearly a third of staff reported workplace harassment and bullying, the results of Civitass traffic light ranking just 14 per cent of universities were designated green are enough to make a libertarian squeal. The issue of quantifying something we perceive to be a fundamental right is, once again, making headlines but surely, free speech will be defined differently depending on who youre asking.

Its a problem as old as language itself. My freedom to do or speak as I please can never be absolute if yours is to be total, too. My right to insult you undermines your freedom not to have your feelings hurt. Every system of law strives to balance these conflicting liberties, charting Venn diagrams with varying degrees of mutual reliance between their circles. The Cambridge row, it seems to me, is no different.

One example cited by Civitass researchers involves a eugenicist and a pretty window. The commemorative glass was commissioned in 1989 to honour the legacy of one Sir Ronald Fisher, a fellow (and eventually president) of Cambridges Gonville and Caius College, who died in 1962. Students petitioned the college to remove the window, and, in June this year, the powers-that-be obliged.

Far from striking cold fear into my heart, that story makes me happy. Isnt objecting to something, talking it out and reaching an agreement, completely emblematic of how free speech ought to work?

Theres a dangerous little platitude floating to the surface of my mind, thinking of Fisher and the hoo-ha of his desecrated shrine. You know the one: everyones beliefs deserve respect. That is so patently untrue that I practically convulse when I hear it. Heres a very short extract from a very long list of people whose beliefs, Id venture, do not deserve respect: eugenicists; men who think they can beat their wives; members of the KKK or Britain First; homophobes and cult leaders; and that guy I met at a party who explained hed voted for Brexit because there was a Polish person working at his local Costa. In short, something doesnt become sacred simply because it is sincerely believed, and just because something is sacred doesnt make it any more than a belief.

Lets say that Person A believes trans rights activists are dangerous and wrong. Trans rights activists, on the other hand, believe that Person As views are harmful and reductive. Youll have your own stance on that imaginary stand-off but subtracting personal feeling from the equation, were left with two viewpoints, which would fight to the death if left to their own devices. Should we strive instead for peaceful(ish) coexistence or allow one to triumph a kind of Darwinian showdown of thought?

The dons at Cambridge raised a similar point, voting earlier this month to amend the phrase respectful of to tolerate in a series of updates to free speech rules proposed by the universitys council. Although the switch in terminology might not sound like a leap, the distinction is a crucial one not least because it renders no-platforming practically impossible, for all its prominence in Civitass report.

While the recent news cycle might lead one to believe that no-platforming was hauled from the knapsack of the radical left only a few years ago, its been used as a form of protest since the 1970s. At the 1974 NUS conference, for instance, students resolved to deny a platform to openly racist or fascist organisations or societies in response to the rising profile of the National Front.

While the criteria for such no-platforming has arguably shifted since then, the essential idea remains the same. Especially in an educational environment, surely the right to object to ideas comes under the same banner as the right to have those ideas in the first place? This latest vote might be summarised as you dont have to be nice, just dont veer into hate speech as an instruction to visiting speakers. But again, isnt it subjective? Take Jordan Peterson and Nigel Farage, who both fell prey to the brutal no-platforming brigade of Cambridge before the recent vote. Today, in theory, theyd be welcome but fairs fair. If were hosting the Nigels and Jordans of this world, theyll have to accept a bit of backchat.

Not all ideas are created equal. Some come encased in a carapace built over centuries of repetition that almost obscure them from view the patriarchy, or institutional racism, are so monolithic that its hard to step back far enough to recognise them as ideas like any other, rather than representations of some sacred natural order. Other ideas are new, vulnerable, soft and fledgling rights for anyone not white and/or male are concepts in their societal infancy, and require our careful nurture. They need us to shout louder on their behalf, if only to counterbalance the scales, which place an established system of thought on one pan and a feather on the other.

A spokesperson for Cambridge University says that rigorous debate is fundamental to the pursuit of academic excellence, which is hard to object to; whether that commitment to debate ought to cover the view that some opinions dont deserve a public airing seems less clear. The university will always be a place where freedom of speech is not only protected, but strongly encouraged, continues the statement; thing is, speaking requires spates of listening if its to graduate from monologue to conversation.

The Civitas report will no doubt reignite the old guards accusations of snowflakery See?! They got rid of my favourite eugenics window! but, as ever, the hysteria about woke censorship sheds light on the debates truly fragile side. The freedom to speak, Im afraid, must make room for the possibility of being spoken over.

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Freedom of speech at universities is not under threat it is actually thriving - The Independent

Two UK judges have included the "right to offend" under freedom of speech – Gay Times Magazine

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

This is a complex area of law

Its been reported that Justice Warby and Lord Justice Bean have ruled that the right to offend is under freedom of speech in the Scottow and Hayden Court of Appeal case.

The case in question followed cis-gendered woman Katherine Scottow and transgender woman Stefanie Hayden.

Scottow was arrested in 2019 for sending hate speech to Hayden, by misgendering her, calling her a racist and a pig in the wing online.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service stated: The Court of Appeals judgement concluded there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant for persistently making use of public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, determining that the timing and level of communication exchanged online did not constitute a criminal offence.

This is a complex area of law and we will carefully consider the judgement, specifically in relation to comments made online and associated issues of free speech.

Speaking on their decision Lord Justice Bean and Justice Warby stated: Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.

They continued: Those wishing to express their own views could be silenced by, or threatened with, proceedings for harassment based on subjective claims by individuals that felt offended or insulted.

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Two UK judges have included the "right to offend" under freedom of speech - Gay Times Magazine

Putin, Charlie Hebdo, and Free Speech – The National Interest

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

At his annual press conference this month Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Westernmulticulturalism has failed. He made the comment in response to a question about security threats to Russia after recent terrorist attacks in France because of Prophet Muhammad cartoons in satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.Apersons freedom ends where another persons freedom begins. This is auniversal formula, Putinclaimed, and added that those who act thoughtlessly, insulting the rights and feelings of religious people, should always remember there will be an inevitable backlash.

Meanwhile, Russia, according to Putin, never permitted and[does] not permit such offensive behavior with regard topeople ofdifferent faiths. Putins Russia, it turns out, can stifle domestic dissent,use the Russian Orthodox Churchas a political tool,rehabilitate Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union, abuse its own Muslims, and help Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad perpetuate one of the worst humanitarian atrocities since World War II against his ownMuslimpeople; but Russia is one respectful place.

The events that inspired Putins comments began in October in France, with thegruesome beheadingof ahistory teacher Samuel Paty, for showing Prophet Muhammad cartoons during a lesson on free speech; several otherbrutal attacksfollowed in a church in Nice. French President Emmanuel Macron defended the French tradition of lacit (secularism), and more broadly,stood upfor liberalism and freedom of expression.

As France mourned, authoritarians who cynically use religion or external threats to roll back freedom and individual rights,blamed the victimFrance itself. But while attention focused largely on Muslim leaders such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fewer noted the Kremlin reaction. It was worth the attention. Some may still think that Putin, for all his faults, understands the threat of terrorism and can be a partner. But the Kremlin response showed otherwise. Putins press secretary Dmitry Peskovassertedthat in Russia there could never be a magazine like Charlie Hebdo because Russia is also partly a Muslim country.

Not everyone agreed with the Kremlin rationale. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former billionaire now anti-Putin activist living in London, posted on his Facebook page a picture of an Iranian a caricature of Macron andcommented, for some reason the French did not smash the editorial office in Tehran or even the embassy in Paris [in response]. Maybe cartoons arent the problem? Nikolay Uskov, chief editor of Russian Forbes,told liberal outlet Echo Moskvy, I certainly support Charlie Hebdo, I believe that one of the main values that has shaped modern society is press freedom. Novaya Gazeta provided aneutral podcastfocusing on the facts surrounding Patys murder, which it described as shocking and horrific; earlier in the year, Novaya Gazeta published a special issue on the five year anniversary of terrorist attacks against Charlie, and wrote thatcensorship (including self-censorship) hurts everyone.

But censorship and repression continue to grow in Russia. Charlie Hebdo for its part has provoked the Kremlins, and more broadly Russian ire before, when it lampooned the crash of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai on October 31, 2015, killing all 224 people on board. Peskov called the cartoons pure blasphemy. Charlie then proceeded to satirize the crash of a Russian military plane over the Black Sea in December 2016, where all passengers died, including 64 members of the world-renowned Red Army Choir. One of the cartoonscaptions read The bad news is that Putin wasnt on-board.

Among the slew of Russian politicians who criticized Charlie at the time was none other than Putin-installed Chechnya strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, whose rule has been both abusive andoversaw ChechnyasIslamization. Kadyrovsaidback then about Charlie Hebdo, I have said it before and will say it once again now - that the editorialpolicy of the magazine is immoral and inhuman. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech - neither directly norindirectly.Putin meanwhile also warned Russian artists the same monthagainst offending religious sentiments. There is a very narrow edge between dangerous buffoonery and freedom of expression, he said, adding that art needs to avoid splitting society. Of course, he never defined where that narrow edge lied but the message was clear enoughart is permissible as long as it doesnt challenge.

Against this backdrop it does not surprise why at this year press conference Putin has also defended Kadyrov. Ramzan Kadyrov defends theinterests not only ofChechnya andtheChechen people but also oftheentire nation, Putin said, This is why it is one oftheobjectives forour so-called opponents abroad, referring toU.S. sanctions against Kadyrov.

Putins claim that he stands as the bulwark against immoral, decadent West isa theme he began promoting long ago, along with his perpetual accusations of the West trying to weaken Russia, which go hand in hand withacceleratingcurtailment of freedom at home and providing support to authoritarians abroad.But earlier this month, Putintasked the Russian foreign ministryto raise the issue of defense of feelings religious peoplethrough international organizations. Thus, its a safe bet that Moscows comments reflect a deeper interest than a mere passing commentary on current events.

Meanwhile, issues ofterrorism and radicalism facing France will remain front and center for the foreseeable future. Western officials would do well to remember that Vladimir Putin,the polite person, will not play a helpful role in these efforts. And, as Putin seeks to erode Western influence, along with liberal values and institutions,liberals would do well to defend liberalism.

Anna Borshchevskayais a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on Russias policy toward the Middle East.

Image: Reuters.

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Putin, Charlie Hebdo, and Free Speech - The National Interest

Is Freedom Of Speech In Danger In Taiwan? The CTi Ruling From A Legal Standpoint – The Taiwan Times

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Danzig

Editors note: This is the first of several pieces we will carry on the recent ruling to reject the CTi News license renewal by Taiwans National Communications Commission a decision that had made headlines at home and overseas, with claims that freedom of speech in Taiwan is under threat.

On November 24th, the National Communications Commission (NCC) voted unanimously to reject CTi News license renewal, and last Friday (12/11) we saw the medias last hours of airtime on Channel 52.

Over the past few weeks, Want Want China Times Media Group, CTi News largest shareholder, has criticized the NCC (and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party) for clamping down on freedoms of press and speech; a view that has found widespread popularity among KMT supporters.

As discussion surrounding the issue has become increasingly politicized, it is worth examining the legal origins of the decision, and whether this decision has indeed infringed upon free press.

To begin with, the Satellite Broadcasting Act () provides for the legal mechanisms through which the government may regulate the press.

The Act gives the NCC authority to approve or reject channel license applications, and under the Act, channels are to apply for license renewal every six years.

Already, it is clear that freedom of the press is not to be taken absolute and without limit, at least legally.

For some, imposing regulations on the press thus seems reasonable, particularly with regards to news channels.

For good journalistic practices, protection of the diversity of opinions and promoting civic dialogue is key to democratic development, whilst bad practices do the opposite.

There are two main reasons as to why the NCC rejected CTis application for license renewal.

The first is content. It is no secret that CTi (and the Want Want group that backs it) is close to China, and it would indeed be unfair to CTi if this was the grounds on which the NCC made its decision (as KMT supporters like to characterize it).

But it is not.

In the past year, the NCC received 962 complaints regarding CTis content, and it found 25 breaches of media regulations since the news channels last license renewal in 2014.

Among these breaches are CTis broadcasting of fake news and stories from content farms, and sanctioning journalistic practices that egregiously fail to match the facts is a matter of upholding basic journalistic ethicsnot an unfair limitation on opinion expression.

The second reason is editorial autonomy, and this has to do with the CTis institutional makeup, or its internal control mechanisms.

In 2014, when the news channel last applied for license renewal, the NCC had already demanded CTi establish a mechanism of independent reviews.

Over the past six years, this demand remains unfulfilled, and the risks posed by this lack of commitment is clear.

The NCC has found evidence of Tsai Eng-meng (), the founder of Want Want Group, interfering with the journalistic practices of CTis editors.

Ultimately, the NCC had revealed CTis lack of journalistic expertise and its broken internal controls.

It is thus incorrect to damn the NCCs decision as political persecution when CTi has so clearly disrespected the standards set out in law, which were put in place long before the DPP had come into power.

Moreover, it is also incorrect to say that the NCC had clamped down on free press and free speech.

Although CTi can no longer air its show on satellite TV (which is a limited public resource since radio waves can only carry so many channels), the media has found huge success on the internet with its Youtube channel.

CTis mediums have been limited, but their opinions themselves have not.

Finally, some people may doubt whether the NCC was politically motivated or retort that the pro-DPP SET News is just as bad.

But motivations cannot be verified, and, even if the NCC had been politically motivated, they had sufficient legal grounds to back their decision.

To put it bluntly, one cannot blame the NCC for CTis failings.

It just so happened that CTis license required renewal in 2020if one is concerned with fairness, they should look out for whether the NCC applies the same license-renewal standards for SET News in 2023 (alongside TVBS and FTV News).

After all, a point is made when the nations news channels (regardless of political leaning) are criticized for their excessive use of dash cam and CCTV footage.

But, instead of leaving the channels to rot equally, it is much more productive to push them to improve with fair standards applied unbiasedly.

Is Freedom Of Speech In Danger In Taiwan? The CTi Ruling From A Legal Standpoint - The Taiwan Times

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