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India’s Jio creates 5G tech in-house, teams with Google on affordable smartphone – FierceWireless

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

As major investments from tech giants stack up for Indias Jio Platforms, the chairman of parent Reliance Industries said a complete 5G solution created from scratch in-house by Jio can be ready for field deployments in 2021.

Speaking during Reliances Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani laid out visions for its Jio Platforms unit, including plans to export 5G technologies to other telecom operators globally.

Jio Platforms is behind Indias largest mobile operator, which shook up the telecom market since entering the scene just four years ago now counting more than 388 million subscribers. Ambani said he sees a strong path for Jio to connect over 500 million mobile customers, more than a billion smart sensors and over 50 million homes and business in the next three years.

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With its 4G LTE-only network, Reliance Jio disrupted Indias telecom market that was largely 2G, offering very low pricing, broad coverage, and data. Some of Indias numerous operators at the time were forced to exit or decided to consolidate, leaving three major players Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

RELATED: Nokia scores major network deal with Indias Bharti Airtel

According to GSMAs Mobile Economy 2020 report (PDF), the resulting price war following Jios entry has meant India now has some of the cheapest mobile data pricing in the world, while 4G now accounts for almost 60% of total connections in the country.

Jio Platforms has secured billions in investments, including Google whichsaid yesterday it would put $4.5 billion into the company for a 7.7% share.Facebook is investing $5.7 billion for just under 10% in Jio Platforms.Other investors include Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, private-equity firms Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, and General Atlantic, and Abu Dhabis two largest sovereign investment arms.

Ambani said the operators 4G and fiber network is already powered by several core software technologies and components developed by Jio engineers in India.

RELATED: Qualcomm invests $97M in Reliance Jio; Google commits $10B to India

This capability and know-how that Jio has developed positions Jio on the cutting edge of another exciting frontier 5G, Ambani said. The in-house 5G solution will enable us to launch a world-class 5G service in India using 100% home-grown technologies and solutions.

News of Jio developing end-to-end 5G technology to replace third-party vendors previously surfaced in March.

The 5G kit will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum becomes available and ready for field deployments in 2021, Ambani added.

Jio can easily upgrade its 4G network to 5G, he told investors, citing the converged all-IP network architecture. And Jio has sights beyond India for its 5G tech.

Once Jios 5G solution is proven in India, Jio Platforms will be well positioned to be an exporter of 5G solutions to other telecom operators globally as a complete managed service, Ambani said.

Googles involvement with Jio also includes a commercial agreementto jointly develop an affordable 4G smartphone.

Part of Jios impact in connecting mobile users in India was the introduction of low-cost feature phone with 4G connectivity. The JioPhone launched in August of 2017 and sold over 100 million devices, costing less than $10.

In 2019, India surpassed the U.S. as the second-largest smartphone market globally with 158 million shipments and is still under penetrated relative to many markets, according to Counterpoint Research. By 2025 India will still be the second largest smartphone market with 1.04 billion users, only behind China, according to the GSMA.

Still, Ambani in his presentation saidthere are 350 million Indians who currently use a 2G feature phone that would want to upgrade to a conventional smartphone if it was affordable.

We believe we can design an entry-level 4G, or even a 5G, smartphone for a fraction of its current cost, Ambani said.

To that end, it's partnering with Google to build an Android-based smartphone operating system, designed with India in mind.

RELATED: Radisys supports Reliance Jio behind the scenes

Through this partnership we are confident that we can accelerate the national mission of putting a smart device in the hands of every Indian, he said, adding that existing 2G users shouldnt be deprived of the benefits that the digital and data revolution offer. Jio is determined to make India 2G-mukt.

Googles investment in Jio is the first part of a $10 billion Google for India Digitization Fund announced earlier this week. It aims to help accelerate Indias digital economy by making strategic investments in the country over the next 5-7 years.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a video appearance said getting technology into the hands of more people is a big part of our mission, and Google through its partnership with Jio Platforms sees a chance to have a greater impact than either entity could alone.

Pichai said he was excited the joint collaboration would focus on increasing access for hundreds of millions of Indians who dont currently own a smartphone, while simultaneously improving the mobile experience for all.

G Suite’s new unified interface poses an existential threat to Zoom and Slack – Business Insider

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Googleannounceda design overhaul for G Suite that will further integrate its enterprise productivity services including Gmail, Chat, Meet, and Docs. The new G Suite will beavailable to a select group of customers for preview starting this week, with a larger roll out slated for later in 2020.

Business Insider Intelligence

In essence, the redesign further blurs the lines between Google services: The Gmail app will also serve as a hub for Chat, Docs collaboration will be directly embedded in Chat rooms, and backend search will function across Chat and Gmail. Google claims these changes are intended to help G Suite users retain their focus by reducing the need to switch apps between tasks. The tech giant also noted more features are in development, such as supporting picture-in-picture video calls within Gmail and offering Meet functionality directly in Docs.

Deeper G Suite integrations pose an existential threat to Zoom and Slack, as enterprises will look to cut redundant software subscriptions.As we havenotedbefore, Google and Microsoft togetheraccountfor virtually the entire enterprise office suite market this gives the tech giants a considerable advantage over smaller competitors like Zoom and Slack, which only offer standalone enterprise communications platforms.

Google and Microsoft can exercise this advantage by promoting their less dominant services through their already dominant platforms. In concrete terms: If G Suite is suffused with Google Chat integrations available at no additional cost, it doesn't make sense for an enterprise to pay for both Slack and G Suite. And because there aren't viable competitors to Microsoft and Google in the enterprise office suite market, enterprises will choose to stay within their ecosystems, cutting the redundant services offered by Zoom and Slack.

Google will likely take a more gradual approach to rolling out the G Suite integrations due to concerns over both the user experience and antitrust regulation.For enterprises that use G Suite along with competing services like Slack or Zoom, the deeper integrations might come off as more invasive than useful, considering how much real estate they occupy within the revamped user interface. So even though Google could probably flip a switch and turn on every available integration at once, it risks alienating a significant number of customers by doing so. A more gradual approach could also help to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

In May, Slack CEO Stewart ButterfieldtoldThe Verge, "Microsoft is perhaps unhealthily preoccupied with killing us, and Teams is the vehicle to do that." Google is employing a similar strategy to grow market share in this domain, and as it faces antitrust scrutiny in both theUSandEurope, it may restrain its G Suite integration plan in an attempt to avoid attracting further regulatory attention.

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G Suite's new unified interface poses an existential threat to Zoom and Slack - Business Insider

Is satire in political cartoons fully protected? Ask the lawyer – The Daily Breeze

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Q: This is an election year. I saw a cartoon about Trump that was just plain offensive. Does anything go legally, its all OK?

-D.H., Hawthorne

A: Political speech is a right fundamentally defended by the First Amendment. Unless actual malice can be proven with regard to a depiction, the public figure or politician is fair game. An important case in this regard was decided in 1970 about former Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty. He sued the Los Angeles Times and its publisher for a caricature done by the well-known editorial cartoonist Paul Conrad, arguing it represented that Yorty was insane and should be placed in a straight jacket. In denying his claim for libel, the court held that opinions about the fitness of a person for public office are protected even though (the) view are those of a political adversary and are presented in rhetorical hyperbole. In addition, the court held the cartoon was not intended to be a literal depiction, and that reasonable readers would know.

Q: Can a tweet, or an online post, actually lead to a defamation claim?

-K.B., Long Beach

A: Defamation is a publication to a third person, which is not privileged (in other words, subject to some legal protection), that is false and damages a persons reputation. There are two kinds of defamation: Slander, which is oral, and libel, which is written. A post on twitter, or online generally, can rise to the level of defamation for the simple reason it may meet the definition. There is nothing about social media that is all that different from libeling someone in a letter (a writing) that is false and has been sent to one or more others.

This is a well-established procedure in California, which stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. The law is intended to prevent people from using the courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are properly exercising their First Amendment rights. The way it works is if a person is sued, he or she makes a motion to strike the case because it involves speech on a matter of public concern. The plaintiff, or plaintiffs, then has the immediate burden of showing the court a probability he or she will prevail in the suit. This means, often very early on, having to show evidence that a favorable outcome for plaintiff is likely; if the plaintiff cannot do so, thats the end of that claim and the plaintiff may have to pay attorney fees to the other side.

Ron Sokol is a Manhattan Beach attorney with more than 35 years of experience. His column, which appears in print on Wednesdays, presents a summary of the law and should not be construed as legal advice. Email questions and comments to him at RonSEsq@aol.com.

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Is satire in political cartoons fully protected? Ask the lawyer - The Daily Breeze

Opinion: Blake Fontenay: Buts on the road to censorship – The Daily Camera

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

By Blake Fontenay

Bari Weiss, an opinion editor and writer at the New York Times, created a disturbance within the journalism world a few days ago when she tendered her resignation.

Weiss wasnt forced out because she had fabricated source material, libeled someone or committed some other unforgivable transgression. Instead, in her resignation letter, she said that she was quitting because she felt bullied and harassed by some of her Times colleagues for giving voice to moderate and conservative viewpoints within the newspapers predominantly liberal opinion pages.

I have to say that this story resonated with me on a deeply personal level. Not that Ive experienced that type of animosity from my colleagues here at the Daily Camera.

Most of them are still working from home as part of the newspapers efforts to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Those I have met during my first few weeks on the job have been far too polite to tell me if they think Im running this newspapers opinion pages into the ground.

However, some readers are a different story. On an almost-daily basis, I hear from readers who have complaints about particular letters, editorials, cartoons or guest columns that have appeared on these pages.

Thats nothing new. I have worked at a lot of different newspapers over the course of my career and fielding complaints from readers goes with the territory.

I think healthy interaction between journalists and readers is one of the things that makes newspapers superior to other forms of news media. I mean really, when was the last time you called someone at a local TV or radio station to provide feedback on something you saw or heard there?

That said, Im seeing a pattern emerging that I find troubling, both as a journalist and an American. A great number of the complaints Ive received to date have come from people who believe certain pieces of commentary shouldnt have been published because the ideas expressed dont align with their own personal beliefs.

If you truly believe in the First Amendment and the freedom of expression, as I do, this line of thinking provides a path down a very dark road.

I go back to that famous quote we learned in elementary school, attributed to the French writer Voltaire but probably actually written by one of his biographers, which said: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Thats the ideal on which our First Amendment was based.

I wonder, in our politically polarized society, how many people today could truthfully speak those words. If youre a supporter of President Donald Trump, would you really fight to the death to defend the free speech rights of one of the presidents critics?

Oh, but that argument cuts both ways. If you hate Trump and all that he stands for, are you still willing to fight to the death, or even a little bit to protect the views of the Make America Great Again crowd?

In my years as an opinion page editor and writer, I have yet to meet anyone willing to confess a desire to censor opposing points of view. Oh, no. Its never that.

The conversations usually start this way: Im all for hearing different opinions, but and what follows the but is a rationalization for why a particular piece of commentary was somehow beyond the pale and shouldnt have been published.

I agree that there are certain types of content that have no place in a general circulation newspaper. But the standard for excluding something has to be higher than this has the potential to offend someone. A lot higher.

If that were the standard, then there arent enough people writing about puppies and rainbows to fill our opinion pages each week.

Look, Im well aware that Boulder is predominantly a left-leaning community. The citys Wikipedia page even makes a light-hearted reference to the Peoples Republic of Boulder.

And thats absolutely fine with me. I wouldnt have agreed to take this job if I wasnt OK with that.

However, judging by some of the comments made to and about me on social media (where I think the term keyboard courage applies), some people apparently think my employment here at the Daily Camera is part of an evil plot to secretly transform Boulder into another Colorado Springs.

Right. And while Im working on that project, Ill also be trying to level off the Flatirons with a sandbox shovel.

For the record, I dont agree with every piece of content that appears on our opinion pages. You can be reasonably sure Im in agreement with the positions taken in our staff-written editorials, although even those represent not just my views, but the consensus of the editorial board.

The rest of the pages are an open forum where I strongly believe a variety of different viewpoints deserve a fair hearing. A former editor of mine used to refer to opinion pages as a garden of ideas. While I disagreed with him on nearly everything else, I think his views on that point were exactly right.

I think thats the right approach to take anywhere, but especially in a town like Boulder, with so many smart and well-educated people. This is, after all, a college town where a premium is placed on learning. And how can people truly learn without being exposed to ideas that fall outside of their personal belief systems?

I did my research on Boulder before I started work here. I know this is a place where tolerance and inclusion are highly valued. But tolerance and inclusion apply not only to peoples skin color or sexual orientation, but also to their ways of thinking.

I dont want to be in a position where Im asked to curate content to keep readers from being unduly influenced by potentially objectionable material. I have more faith in the critical thinking abilities of Boulderites than that. And I hope you have the same faith in your neighbors and yourselves.

Blake Fontenay is the opinion editor for the Daily Camera.

Opinion: Blake Fontenay: Buts on the road to censorship - The Daily Camera

Japans $2.2 Trillion Cost Of Befriending Donald Trump – Forbes

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe listens to U.S. President Donald Trump during a bilateral meeting ... [+] on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, south-west France on August 25, 2019, on the second day of the annual G7 Summit.

As political bets go, the one Japans Shinzo Abe made on Donald Trump in 2016 is proving to be a mistake of historic proportions.

No world leader was quicker in getting to Trump Tower in New York to congratulate the U.S. president-elect on a victory few saw coming. Nine days after Trumps shock win, there was Abe on Nov. 17, reassuring a fearful worldnot to worry, hed be a trustworthy leader.

From the start, Prime Minister Abes visit was a comedy of errors. Japanese diplomats are obsessive sticklers for protocol. Trumps people were slow to set a time or any choreography for his first post-election tte--ttewith a world leader. Japanese officialdom was livid that Trump brought his daughter Ivanka along.

The real error, though, was Abes effort to normalize a U.S. leader whos since taken a wrecking ball to the global economic order Abes team hoped to preserve 44 months ago. That order gives Japan a seat at the Group of Seven nations table not accorded to Beijing. And at a cost to Tokyo, so far, of more than $2.2 trillion and counting.

The amount referenced here is how much Abes government is having to spend to revive the economy. To be fair, Japan would be pumping stimulus into the economy even if Trumps White House hadnt so spectacularly botched its Covid-19 response. But the magnitude of the spending, about 40% of gross domestic product, is a direct result of Trumps failure and the global financial repercussions.

For a time, Tokyo-based pundits applauded Abes Trump wager. It seemed like a stroke of realpolitik genius. As Trump railed at China and threatened tariffs, pundits believed, Japan would be spared. Yet once Trump began slapping taxes on steel and aluminum, Japan did not score an exception. Trumps China tariffs, meantime, disrupted the supply chains on which Japan Inc. relies.

Trumps occasional Twitter attacks on a yen he views as too weak panicked Abes Ministry of Finance. Hes cozying up to North Koreas Kim Jong Un, ignoring Tokyos security interests, made for sleepless nights at Abes Ministry of Foreign Affairs. News that Trump cajoled Abe into nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prizehumiliated Japans diplomatic corps.

More recent news that Trump cozied up to Chinas Xi Jinping to help win reelection wont sit well with Abes fellow nationalists. An even worse discovery from John Boltons new book The Room Where It Happenedis that Trump tried to shake down Abe for an additional $8 billion annuallyfor hosting U.S. troops.

Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping attend a state dinner at the Great Hall of the People ... [+] in Beijing on November 9, 2017.

The former national security advisor detailed times when Trump would rail about Imperial Japans attack onPearl Harborand suggest Abes father was a failed kamikaze pilot. And how Trump dispatched Abe to negotiate with Iranin June 2019 as a lark.

But the real buyers remorse Japan is feeling concerns an economy losing altitude, and fast. In this sense, Trump has been costing Abe all along. The trade war sent powerful headwinds Japans way, steadily chipping away at its best recovery since the 1980s bubble economy imploded.

Granted, Abe made big mistakes of his own. One: not working harder since 2012 to implement big structural reforms to labor markets or Japan Inc.s patriarchal mindset. He failed to cut red tape, catalyze a startup boom or liberalize immigration in ways that wouldve positioned Japan to woo multinational companies tempted to flee Hong Kong as China clamps down on the city. Another: hiking sales taxes to 10% last October, a move that contributed to a 7.3% GDP contraction.

The real problem, though, is a U.S. veering off the rails. With coronavirus cases approaching 3.5 million, its clear Trumps White House has given up on fighting the pandemic. The economic fallout to come will reverberate around the globe, sapping growth in China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and beyond. So might any steps Trump takes to intensify his trade war between now and the Nov. 3 election to cheer his base.

If Trump cared about pal Abe or other allies, he would announce an immediate trade war ceasefire. Hed get on the phone with G7 and Group of 20 leaders to devise a collective assault on Covid-19and the global fallout on growth and incomes.

Japan is directly in harms way as a leader Abe vouched for hobbles the global economy. The trillions of dollars of stimulus Washington threw at Covid-19 is already wearing off. Even if Democratic rival Joe Biden defeats Trump 110 days from now, itll take time for his White House to repair thedamage done to growth and global economic relationships.

The answer for Abe is jumpstarting reforms to boost Japanese competitiveness, increase innovation and generate growth organically. Two decades after its economy imploded, Japan is becoming more and more reliant on zero interest rates and ginormous spending packages. Yet with approval ratings below 40%, Abe might not have the political capital to get much done.

Theres also a big question of what Trump might do between now and Nov. 3. As he seeks to cheer his base, might Trump slap new taxes on China? Will he make good on threats of 25% tariffs on cars and auto parts, savaging supply chains anew? Trump could weaken the dollar, further ruining Japan Inc.s year.

And have Japanese wondering what, oh what, their leader was thinking when he scurried to Trump Tower 1,337 days ago to do Trumps bidding. The bill for that blunder, $2.2 trillion and counting, will be one for the record books.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters following a meeting with President-elect ... [+] Donald Trump November 17, 2016 in New York City.

What Donald Trumps Access Hollywood Weekend Says About 2020 – The New York Times

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

People who know him cite this semi-magical thinking as a kind of political superpower, when harnessed effectively.

Dont underestimate his personal resiliency, Mr. Scaramucci said. He recalled the presidents advice to him once about news-cycle velocity: He said, Yeah, you get negative press. It lasts about a week. And then it blows over, and theyre onto something else, and nobody cares.

On this weekend, though, Trump advisers sensed that little would blow over on its own.

The idea of deploying Mr. Clintons accusers had filtered through the Trump orbit for months, discussed among Mr. Bannon and allies like Aaron Klein of Breitbart News the hard-right, Trump-supporting site that Mr. Bannon had run and long promoted by Roger J. Stone Jr., the informal Trump adviser and infamous Republican hell-raiser. (On Friday, Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stones sentence on seven felony crimes after he had been convicted last year of obstructing a congressional investigation into the Trump 2016 campaign and possible ties to Russia.)

Just before Billy Bush weekend, as Mr. Bannon calls it (a nod to the Access Hollywood personality on tape with Mr. Trump), three of the Clinton accusers had been in Washington for interviews with Mr. Klein.

As Republican pleas for Mr. Trumps ouster multiplied, Mr. Bannon recognized an opportunity. He said he called Mr. Klein, now an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and asked how the Clinton material looked. The answer pleased him. New travel arrangements were made.

In the meantime, Mr. Trump sought temporary comfort in a familiar balm: applause.

By 5 p.m. on Saturday, supporters had clustered along Fifth Avenue, waving signs from the sidewalk. Mr. Trump descended to the marbled lobby, joined by his eldest son and his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, and stepped through the glass front door.

He pumped his right fist, to cheers. Fans reached out to graze his suit jacket.

A reporter asked if he would stay in the race. Hundred percent, Mr. Trump replied.

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What Donald Trumps Access Hollywood Weekend Says About 2020 - The New York Times

Donald Trump ends the career of his former chief ideologue, Jeff Sessions – The Economist

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Jul 18th 2020

THOUGH A FAN of Confederate monuments, Donald Trump could not have taken down Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a living memorial to the rebel South and the presidents first attorney-general, more ruthlessly. This week the Republican veteran named after two Confederate heroes (Jefferson Davis and General P.G.T. Beauregard) suffered his first electoral defeat, in a primary for the Alabama Senate seat he occupied for 20 years. When he last defended it, in 2014, Mr Sessions won an uncontested race with 97% of the vote. But against a Trump-backed rivala former college-football coach and political debutant, Tommy Tuberville, who seemed unsure of most issueshe was trounced.

Even after so many illustrations of the presidents grip on Republican voters, it was astonishing to see Mr Sessionss career-long claim on Alabaman affections blown away in this fashion. It was equally remarkable, even after so many displays of Mr Trumps vindictiveness, to see him end his former aides career so cruelly. No Republican played a bigger part in Mr Trumps rise than Mr Sessions. No one did more to try to make Trumpism meaningful.

He was not only the first congressman to endorse Mr Trump (apart from two Republican House members, who have since been jailed for unrelated crimes). He was also the first to take him seriouslyas he signalled by donning a MAGA cap and appearing with Mr Trump at a rally in Mobile in August 2015. Though Mr Trump had recently supplanted Jeb Bush to lead the primary field, most elected Republicans still considered his presidential bid absurd. Mr Sessionss decision to stand with him, before 30,000 roaring Alabamans, and praise him for the work youve put in on the immigration issue was a striking corrective. No one could accuse Mr Sessions of being unconservative, the charge Mr Bush was levelling at Mr Trump. Indeed, his racially accented populism had latterly moved from the margins of his party to the mainstream.

He saw America not as an idea, as most Republican leaders professed to, but as a place of communities and traditions besieged by immigrants, criminals and a liberal elite unleashed by the first black president. He demanded tough border restrictions and policing, deregulation and religious-liberty guarantees. The Tea Party movement, a nativist campaign masquerading as an anti-government one, had embraced this agenda and Mr Sessions personally. A like-minded nationalist, Steve Bannon, even urged him to run for presidentnotwithstanding his low stature, thick accent and air of twinkling eccentricity. By identifying Mr Trump as a more charismatic populist, whose professed beliefs were close enough to his own, Mr Sessions made him seem not only more acceptable to his Republican colleagues, but comprehensible.

He played a similar role as attorney-general. In a cabinet of competent technocrats, such as John Kelly, and populist nincompoops like Ryan Zinke, Mr Sessions was a rare competent populist. Even more than Mr Bannon or Stephen Millerwho had gone from Mr Sessionss office to the presidentshe drove the administrations strict border policies. (On the trail in Alabama, he derisively mimicked those who had objected to his separating migrant children from their parents: Noooo, this is a poor child!) He also dismantled an effort to make the police more accountable. He launched a religious liberty task force. And as he did so the president tried to destroy him by a thousand cuts.

Mr Trump dealt the first (because he has no respect for eccentric ideologues) in Mobile, where he joshed that Mr Sessions was like 20 years old. But it was after Mr Sessions recused himself from his departments investigation into Russias effort to get Mr Trump elected that he let loose. That was 22 days after Mr Sessions was confirmed by the Senate. For his remaining 20 months in the job, Mr Trump mocked and insulted him, on Twitter and in private, including allegedly as a dumb southerner and mentally retarded. No matter how often he was assured that Mr Sessions had had no choice but to recuse himself (because of his own Russia ties), Mr Trump considered his failure to fix the Russia investigation a sign of weakness and disloyalty. And the fact that Mr Sessions not only put up with this onslaught but continued beavering away at the presidents agenda only seemed to make him angrier. A similar dynamic was apparent in the closing stage of this weeks primary contest: the more Mr Sessions claimed to have delivered Trumpist policies, the more the president denounced him.

If Mr Sessions were a slightly more sympathetic figure, his downfall would be tragic. Instead it mainly points to Mr Trumps abandonment of much of the populist platform he was ostensibly elected on. While he persists with protectionisman important exceptionhe has not restored manufacturing jobs, built infrastructure including a border wall, or changed Americas immigration regime in any way that a Democratic administration could not change back. He has no heavy-hitters working on those issues. Mr Miller, a writer of dystopian speeches, is the last Bannonite standing. Mr Sessionss latest successor, William Barr, though not opposed to tough policing and border policies, spends more of his time protecting the president and his criminal cronies, in precisely the way Mr Sessions refused to.

A few prominent conservative populists are still struggling to make Trumpism mean something more than presidential whimled by the Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson and a handful of senators, including Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio. But none, for obvious reasons, is eager to enter the administration, which makes them much less influential than Mr Sessions and Mr Bannon were. The result, less than four months from the election, is that Mr Trump appears to have no policy agenda of any kind for a second term. Trumpism, as Mr Sessions must now suspect, as he slopes back to his church and grandchildren, appears to mean little more than Mr Trump. Actually, he must have suspected that all along.

Dig deeper:Sign up and listen to Checks and Balance, our weekly newsletter and podcast on American politics, and explore our presidential election forecast

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "A family separation"

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Donald Trump ends the career of his former chief ideologue, Jeff Sessions - The Economist

‘They Realize the Bully Is Just Kind of an Empty Suit’ – POLITICO – POLITICO

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Sensing, correctly, that the balance of power between him and these owners had shifted in his favor, an emboldened Trump only escalated his Kaepernick rhetoric the first fall he was president.

In September at a rally in Alabama, he levied a new strain of assault. Wouldnt you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, Get that son of a bitch off the field right nowouthes fired ? he roared. The crowd responded with a crescendo of cheers. Hes fired!

Lockhart called Goodell early the following morning to talk about what to do. Hours later, Goodell issued a lukewarm statement labeling Trumps comments divisive. It wasnt close to enough; this was only the beginning. The next day, Trump took to Twitter to call for a boycotta president, and a Republican to boot, employing a highly atypical tactic of interfering with private enterprise.

The NFL owners wanted no part of thiseven if, as a league source said to ESPN, they were all pissed at the president. Even Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, who considers Trump a wonderful friend, said he was deeply disappointed by the tone of his comments in Alabama. The owners of the Lions, the Dolphins, the Falcons, the Giants, the Rams and the Bills, too, made similar public censures. Jones of the Cowboys kneeled with players on his team before the playing of the national anthem, and Stephen Ross of the Dolphins locked arms with hisat first. The owners, though, quickly became alarmed at how rapidly fans outrage was eroding many of the leagues key business metrics, ESPN reported, and public polling showed the net favorability of the NFL dipping because of the protestsin particular among Trump voters. This, said an owner, could kill football and end our business.

Kaepernick, meanwhile, remained conspicuously unsigned.

We already know in a situation where Colin Kaepernick couldve actually helped some NFL teams he wasnt re-signed, and one of the reasons for thatno questionwas Donald Trump placing this social pressure, this cultural pressure, on the league.

Dave Zirin

The following spring, the NFL stiffened its anthem policy: Players could stay in the locker rooms during the national anthem; if they were out on the field in the view of the fans, however, they needed to stand and show respect. Teams with players that didnt faced fines. NFL, read the POLITICO headline, caves to Trump.

Trump, Tim Miller, the political director of Republican Voters Against Trump, told me, demonstrated that he wielded enormous influence over the owners around the Kaepernick controversy.

We already know in a situation where Colin Kaepernick couldve actually helped some NFL teams he wasnt re-signed, Dave Zirin, the sports editor of The Nation, told me, and one of the reasons for thatno questionwas Donald Trump placing this social pressure, this cultural pressure, on the league.

He could make life miserable for them, Geragos, Kaepernicks attorney, told me. And he did. The league, Lockhart added, was well aware that a tweet might be coming at any time.

This is a very winning, strong issue for me, Trump told the Cowboys Jones in a phone call, according to Jones deposition in Kaepernicks lawsuit that accused the league of colluding to nix his career. Tell everybody, Trump told Jones, meaning all the other owners, you cant win this one. This one lifts me.

It doesnt matter this time what Donald Trump says

Now, though, the NFL could help sink him.

Trump wants the NFL, the institution besides the start of school that tells the country its fall, to play its games as slatedneeds it, national sports columnist Dan Wetzel told meto foster any semblance of normalcy for citizens addled with anxiety, and perhaps to provide some vague collective psychic boost during the run-up to Election Day, with as ever a certain portion of voters making their choices based on how they feel more than what they might or might not know. In April, less than a month after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a pandemic, the president said he thought the NFL season should start on time. A few weeks ago, when Anthony Fauci sounded notes of skepticism about the leagues ability to play games safely, Trump lashed back. Tony Fauci, he tweeted, has nothing to do with NFL Football. He retweeted himself some 8 hours later.

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'They Realize the Bully Is Just Kind of an Empty Suit' - POLITICO - POLITICO

Donald Trumps Efforts to Distort the Census Have Started Back Up – Slate

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

President Donald Trump makes a statement on the census with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr in the Rose Garden of the White House on July 11, 2019.Alex Wong/Getty Images

A year after the Supreme Court struck down the Trump administrations attempt to add a citizenship question to the census form, the integrity of the 2020 census is once again under threat. And once again, the stakes are highest for communities of color. On Friday, Politico reported that President Donald Trump was planning to reup his push to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count. Such a move this late in the count would be unprecedented; it would also fundamentally alter apportionment and likely depress the response rates of immigrants who have not yet filled out their forms. This change would be consistent with the Trump administrations long and unsuccessful bid to add a citizenship question as well as with recent apparent attempts to politicize census operations more broadly.

At the end of last month, the White House and the Commerce Department placed two new political appointees at the Census Bureau, renewing fears that the Trump administration was again seeking to interfere with the census, a sprawling operation whose results will shape the distribution of political power and federal funds for the next decade. One of the roles went to Adam Korzeniewski, a Marine Corps veteran who consulted for the unsuccessful congressional campaign of Joseph Saladino, a controversial YouTube prankster who once wore a swastika to a Trump rally and claimed in one of his videos that the Black community is very violent towards Trump and his supporters. The other position went to Nathaniel T. Cogley, a radio commentator and assistant professor at Tarleton State University in Texas, who will be the deputy director for policythe highest post a political appointee has held at the bureau for decades (besides the director, who is also a political appointee).

Neither Cogleys nor Korzeniewskis job descriptions have been made publicthe roles did not even exist prior to the announcementand neither man has sustained experience with census operations. Adding political appointees in the middle of the count is virtually unprecedented, not to mention doing so right at the start of what is sure to be one of the most difficult in-person counting operations in the bureaus history. The American Statistical Association decried the news as creating the perceptionif not realityof improper political influence. The inspector general has asked the bureau to provide additional information about the positions, and Democratic lawmakers recently accused the Trump administration of failing to explain why political appointees are running what should be an ideologically neutral count of the people in our country.

In addition to undermining the reputation of an agency that prides itself on nonpartisanship, political meddling poses a serious risk to the accuracy of the census. If the White House pressures the bureau to curtail efforts to reach nonresponsive households, as some career bureaucrats fear, it will be historically undercounted communitiespeople of color, the poor, the homelesswho will suffer most. This is especially so amid a pandemic that has already upended the bureaus door-knocking operation, which is designed to count people who do not respond on their own.

As of mid-July, only 62.1 percent of households nationally had responded to the census. If the remainder are to be counted, Census Bureau employees will need to visit nonresponding households in person, a process that is starting now on a phased basis and will continue through the fall. This non-response follow-up is especially critical for counting historically undercounted groups, who tend to respond to the census on their own at lower rates than do the general population.

Already, the response rate in some predominantly Black communities is far lower than the national average. In Jefferson County, Mississippi, home to a population that is more than 80 percent Black, the self-response rate is just 42.2 percent; in Hancock County, Georgia, which has a population that is nearly three-quarters Black, the self-response rate is a staggeringly low 24.8 percent. Even with a full door-knocking operation, the 2010 Census had a net undercount of Black citizens and residents by 2.1 percent and Latinos by 1.5 percent, missing the equivalent of two congressional districts. (The net undercount measures the share of people missed less the share of people counted multiple times or otherwise erroneously.) Before the pandemic hit, the 2020 census was already at risk of an even worse net undercount given low levels of trust in government and the Trump administrations botched attempt to add a citizenship question to the census form. If the Trump administration does decide to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count, that could skew the data even further.

The new political appointees could further undermine the census if they propose cutting back on the door-knocking operation, such as by limiting the number of times door knockers can try to contact unresponsive households. (Currently, door knockers can make up to six attempts to visit a home.) While working in a previous role as a senior adviser in the Commerce Department, Cogley reportedly questioned some of the bureaus methodologies, including those used to reach historically hard-to-count communities. Any last-minute changes to census operations would be highly disruptive. Even before Cogleys appointment, it was not clear whether the bureau would be able to conduct door-knocking safely, although all field workers will be required to wear masks (a policy announced only last week) and the bureau will also distribute hand sanitizer and gloves. The recent surge in COVID-19 caseloads across the country makes their job even more difficult.

The new appointees could also pressure the Census Bureau to cut costs by increasing the use of administrative records, rather than in-person visits, to count the population. Despite the concerns of some activists and experts, the Census Bureau was already planning to rely on such recordswhich include federal tax returns, Medicare enrollment information, and 2010 census datato fill in data for households they fail to reach in person. Using administrative records for this purpose was already risky, given that such records typically underrepresent communities of color. Relying more heavily on these records would be a mistake.

Now is the time for the bureau to fortify its operations, not shortchange them. The bureau should make sure it has enough staff to count homeless people, for example, an effort that will not begin until late September, just a month before the census ends. The bureau should also continue to spend money on advertising and outreach, which has been the primary way of spreading awareness about the census, especially among undercounted populations who tend to be less familiar with the questionnaire.

After the counting period is over, the Census Bureau typically reviews the data for accuracy, to try to ensure that no one is missed or counted more than once. The pandemic makes this stage more important than ever, given the risk of double-counting people who have moved during the counting periodcollege students living away from home, in particular, who tend to be disproportionately higher-income and white.

An accurate count benefits everybody, but it is especially important for Black citizens and residents and other racial minorities. Since the very first census, in 1790, Black people have never been counted equally: the text of the Constitution mandated that enslaved persons count as merely three-fifths of a free person. Even now, people of color continue to be omitted from census data. The current census could yield a particularly severe undercount in light of COVID-19, which has sickened racial minorities at disproportionately high rates and reduced opportunities for in-person outreach.

As the nation grapples with the effects of systemic racism, the census may appear dry and technocratic compared to debates about police brutality or Confederate statues. But failing to fully count communities of color will have deep repercussions, depriving Black and Latino communities of their share of political representation and federal funding for the next 10 years.

Census data provides the basis for determining which states will gain and lose seats in the House of Representatives, and states rely on census data for redistricting and often to allocate seats in state legislatures. The federal government, meanwhile, uses census data to distribute more than $1 trillion per year in funding to programs that cover everything from education to roads to Medicare. Prince Georges County, Maryland, a majority Black county, estimates that an undercount would result in a loss of $18,250 per person over the course of a decade.

The census should be above politics, and its data above reproach. To ensure this remains the case, the bureau should make Cogleys and Korzeniewskis job descriptions public and disclose any operational changes it is seriously considering. Everyone has a right to be counted. Amid COVID-19 and a national reckoning over race, the stakes have rarely been higher.

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Donald Trumps Efforts to Distort the Census Have Started Back Up - Slate

Donald Trump has battled to block my film’s release for years. Now he has failed – The Guardian

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Here in Britain we like to think our journalism is free from control by those with power and money. Sadly thats not always the case. I have spent years trying to release a film about Donald Trump and have witnessed the corrosive power his money has over freedom of expression both in the UK and the US.

In 2016, when the Mail Online reported on a 92-year-old Scotswoman taking on Trump, readers were appalled to learn Molly Forbes had to collect water from a nearby stream in a bucket because, she claims, Trumps construction workers had cut off her supply. The article was accompanied by a disturbing picture of an exhausted Molly, taken from my new documentary Youve Been Trumped Too, which was due to be released ahead of the US election. But shortly after its publication, the article vanished, along with another like it in the Sun.

Next, our films American cinema release was cancelled and a US TV network pulled the plug on screening it. This was after Trump International had issued a legal threat to anyone who showed the film or repeated Mollys allegation about her water supply. The threats were enough to undermine our films release.

The Guardians Peter Bradshaw wrote of Youve Been Trumped Too: There could hardly be a more relevant or urgent film than this. But to understand why the film was seen mainly by critics and not more widely by the general public, you have to understand that Trump and I have history.

Rewind to before he was US president: in 2010, after a phone call from Donald Trump Jrs team, Aberdeenshires police arrested me and my colleague and threw us in jail. This was after we first learned Mr Trumps workers had cut off the water supply of Molly, then aged 86, while building his luxury golf course. Footage of my arrest and the Forbes familys desperate plight appeared in my earlier film Youve Been Trumped, which was ultimately broadcast on BBC2 in 2012 despite Donald Trump and his lawyers attempts to block it on the grounds of defamation.

In 2016 and more than half a decade after her water was cut off, Molly was still without a reliable supply. Other residents who opposed Trumps golf course found huge Mexico border-style walls surrounding their homes. After returning from the Republican convention in 2016, Mollys son Michael found that the water was still not working properly and fixed it himself. Ahead of the US elections in November that year we ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund Youve Been Trumped Too, in order to inform voters about the person running for president.

While editing the film, we were simultaneously working to secure a form of liability insurance (called errors and omissions in the film industry), which all distributors and broadcasters require, and which gives protection from legal action from the rich and powerful. Normally this is a routine matter, costing about 2,000, and two sets of lawyers had given the film a clean bill of health. However, with Trump the focus of our film, the quotes we received were astronomical. There was no time to run another crowdfunding campaign. We had just sent the film off for review and I was heading to New York for the world premiere.

On learning of Trumps legal threats and the absence of E&O, our US distributor (widely seen as a supporter of independent film) got cold feet and abruptly cancelled our US release. The company asked us to remove its logo from the start of our film. Even the leftwing American news network Now This scrapped plans for a primetime preview screening. We were left with one theatre in New York and a festival premiere at IDFA in Amsterdam. Although we streamed the film on Facebook for free it reached only a fraction of the available audience. Our US publicist said they could no longer work on the film.

The day before Trumps election victory, Mail Online published a correction to their original story about Forbes (who Trump says reminds him of his mother) which said: Trump International Golf Links has assured us the headline and related article are incorrect in various respects. The Sun issued a similar statement, in which Trump International denied that the initial disruption was deliberate or that their contractors carried out further work in 2014 and 2015. Neither myself nor the Forbes family were approached for comment.

With further legal help we have now been able to secure E&O insurance at a standard price. And although Trump has in the past taken to Twitter to threaten me with legal action, it is time to stand firm. The British distributor Journeyman Pictures agrees. The company has a proven track record of distributing powerful and controversial factual content and will be releasing Youve Been Trumped Too worldwide next month. It may be nearly half a decade late, but it is reassuring to know that freedom of speech in Britain has, in certain quarters, won the day.

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Donald Trump has battled to block my film's release for years. Now he has failed - The Guardian

Donald Trump Is Living Proof of Osama bin Ladens Success – The Nation

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Donald Trump visits Aston, PA on September 22, 2016. (Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock)

EDITORS NOTE: This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.

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Its July 2020 and Im about to turn 76, which, as far as Im concerned, officially makes me an old man. So put up with my aging, wandering brain here, since (I swear) I wasnt going to start this piece with Donald J. Trump, no matter his latest wild claims or bizarre statements, increasingly white nationalist and pro-Confederate positions (right down to the saving of the rebel Stars and Bars), not to speak of the Covid-19 slaughter of Americans hes helped facilitate. But then I read about his demand for a National Garden of American Heroes, described as a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live and, honestly, though this piece is officially about something else, I just cant help myself. I had to start there.Ad Policy

Yes, everyone undoubtedly understands why Gen. George Patton (a Trump obsession) is to be in that garden, not to speakgiven the presidents reelection politicsof evangelist Billy Graham, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and former president Ronald Reagan. Still, my guess is that most of you wont have the faintest idea why Davy Crockett is included. Im talking about the frontiersman and Indian killer who died at the Alamo. Given my age, though, I get Trump on this one and it gave me a rare laugh in a distinctly grim moment. Thats why I cant resist explaining it, even though I guarantee you that the real subject of this piece is Osama bin Ladens revenge.

After all, The Donald and I grew up in the 1950s in different parts of the same bustling city, New York. We both had TVs, just then flooding into homes nationwide, and I guarantee you that we both were riveted by the same hit show, TVs first miniseries, Walt Disneys Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, starring the actor Fess Parker. Its pop theme song swept the country. (Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free Kilt him a bar when he was only three Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.) The show also launched a kids craze for coonskin caps. (Who among us didnt have, or at least yearn, for one?) So how could a statue of Fess Parker not be in the Garden of American Heroes?

And since Donald Trump is himself the essence of a bad novel (though hes also become our reality), I just wonder: What about the Lone Ranger and Tonto, especially since there are no plans for Native Americans in his garden-to-be? They were a crew obviously put on Earth to be wiped out by white colonists, cowboys, and the cavalry in the kinds of Westerns both of us trooped to local movie theaters to see back then.

Or how about Hopalong Cassidy (Hoppy!), that other TV cowboy hero of our childhood? Doesnt he deserve to ride in that garden next to another Trump military fixation, Gen. Douglas MacArthur? After all, I know that Hoppy was real and this is how: When I was seven or eight, my father had a friend who worked for Path News and I rode in front of the tripod of his camera on the roof of that companys station wagon in a Macys Day Parade in my hometown. (I still have the photos.) Somewhere along the route, Hoppy himselfI kid you not!rode by on his white horse Topper and, since I was atop that station wagon and we were at about the same height, he shook my hand!

And heres what makes Cassidy especially appropriate for The Donalds garden landscape: In the 1950s, he was the only cowboy hero who dressed all in black right up to his hat (normally, a sign of the bad guy) and, in the process, created a kids craze for black shirts (his version of a coonskin cap), breaking its past association with either Italian fascism or mourning and bringing it back into the culture big time. Tell me honestly, then, dont you think a garden of heroes in the age of Trump should have a few black shirts and an increasingly Mussolini-ish look to it?

So Donald Trump and I both lived through the same TV world in our childhoods and youth. We also lived through 9/11, still in the same city, although unlike him, I wasnt practically a first responder at the site of those two downed towers, nor did I see all the Muslims celebrating across the river in Jersey City (as he claimed he did). Still, of one thing Im convinced: Donald Trump is Osama bin Ladens revenge.Current Issue

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Of course, that was all so long ago. The new century had barely begun. I was only 57 and The Donald 55 when those two hijacked planes suddenly slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in our hometown, a third one plunged into the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth (probably heading for the White House or the Capitol) crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after its passengers fought back. Ever since, all you have to do is write 9/11 and everyone knows (or thinks they know) what it stands for. But on 9/11, there was, of course, no 9/11.

It was a breathtakingly unexpected event (although, to be fair, the CIA had previously briefed President George W. Bush on Osama bin Ladens desire to hijack commercial planes for possible terror operations oh, and there was that FBI agent in Phoenix who urged headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools). Still, the downing of those towers and part of the headquarters of the singularly victorious military of the ultimate superpower of the Cold War, the one already being called indispensable and exceptional in 2001, was beyond shocking.

Admittedly, theres history to be remembered here. After all, it wasnt actually that military or that Pentagon that downed the Soviet Union. In fact, when the American military fought the Soviets in major proxy wars on a planet where nuclear catastrophe was always just around the corner, it found itself remarkably stalemated in Korea and dismally on the losing side in Vietnam.

No, if you want to give credit where its due, offer it to the CIA and Washingtons Saudi allies, who invested staggering effort from 1979 to 1989 in funding, supporting, and training the Talibans predecessors, groups of Afghan Islamic extremists, to take down the Red Army in their country. Supporting them as well (though, as far as is known, probably not actually funded by the United States) was a rich young Saudi militant named, believe it or not, Osama bin Laden who, before that war even ended, had founded a group called the Base or Al Qaeda, and would, in 1996, declare war on the United States. Oh yes, and though its seldom mentioned now, when charges are flying fast and furious about the possible recent Russian funding of Taliban militants to kill at most a few Americans in Afghanistan, in those years the United States poured billions of dollars into well, not to put it too subtly, empowering Islamic extremists to kill the soldiers of that other superpower by the thousands in yes, Afghanistan. Hows that for shocking?

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In 1989, the defeated Red Army finally limped home from what the Soviet Unions leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, had taken to calling the bleeding wound. Only two years later, his country imploded and the United States was left alone, officially victorious, on Planet Earth (despite future fantasies of a horrific axis of evil to be faced), the first country in endless centuries of imperial rivalry to find itself so.

And what exactly did that triumphantly indispensable, exceptional superpower do but, a decade later, get dive-bombed by 19just 19!largely Saudi hijackers in the service of tiny Al Qaeda and that wizard of terror Osama bin Laden, whose urge was then to provoke Washington into a genuine war in the Muslim world and so create yet more Islamic extremists. And did he succeed? You betand in a fashion even he undoubtedly hadnt conceived of in his wildest dreams. Think of 9/11, in fact, as the greatest example of shock and awe in this century.

Heres a feeling I still remember from the weeks after the 9/11 attacks when I saw where the administration of President George W. Bush was heading toward the invasion of Afghanistan and then, God save us, Iraq; when I watched our mainstream media narrow its focus to this country as the most victimized yet dominating and exceptional place on Earth and Osama bin Laden as the ultimate evil on this planet; when I watched the never-ending memorial ceremonies begin and what soon came to be called the war on terror be launched with up to 60 (count em: 60!) countries in its gunsights, even if I didnt yet know that, on 9/11 in the damaged Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had turned to an aide and said, Go Massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not, with a future invasion of Saddam Husseins Iraq clearly in mind, though the Iraqi autocrat had no relation whatsoever to Al Qaeda (something you wouldnt have known from the top officials in that administration in those years)when, in short (though I didnt yet think of it that way), I watched my own country become a bleeding wound that has never stopped flowing and, in Donald Trumps Covid-19 moment, has turned into an American Garden of Blood.

Back in late September 2001, despite having been deeply involved decades earlier in the nightmare of the Vietnam War (and opposition to it), I could already sense war coming, and it occurred to me that this was going to be the worst period I had ever experienced. Now that were in Donald Trumps America, with hundreds of Americans dying daily of a disease that a reasonably responsible president and administration could have brought under control, the 3,000 deaths of 9/11 are beginning to look like a drop in the casualty bucket. (By the beginning of April 2020, Covid-19 deaths in New York City alone had already surpassed those of 9/11 by 1,000.)

And I wasnt wrong in that hunch about this being the worst period, was I? Mind you, it was just a gut feeling then, no moreeven though it would soon enough lead, almost inexorably, to the creation of my website, TomDispatch, and its focus on what turned out to be Americas never-ending wars of this century.

Lets get one thing straight, though. If, at that moment, you had told me that this country was going to launch a series of forever wars across what would turn out to be a significant part of the planet and fight them hopelessly for almost two decades or that, the more success proved absent in those same years, the more one administration after another would pour taxpayer dollars into the US military, the 17 intelligence agencies, and the rest of the national security state; that whats still known, with no accuracy whatsoever, as the defense budget would years ago have become larger than those of the next seven best-funded military powers on the planet combined and, by 2020, the next 10, and would still be rising; that domestic investment, from infrastructure to pandemic preparedness, would be starved for money in those same years, and that just about no one would protest any of this in the halls of Congress or the streets of America, I would have thought you a madmanor rather, the worlds best writer of dystopian fiction.

If you had told me that, in those very years, of the two great powers of this century, China and the United Statesone rising, the other ever more clearly fallingthe latter would lose approximately 7,000 military personnel (and at least another 8,000 military contractors) and many more wounded, not to speak of those who came home with PTSD or, under the pressure of repeated deployments to the sorriest of conflicts, committed suicide, while the former, as The New York Times reported recently in the wake of a bloody (but not weaponized) clash on Chinas disputed Himalayan border with India, would have lost next to none, I wouldnt have believed you. (In four decades, as the Times wrote, the Peoples Liberation Army had lost just three soldiers to fighting abroadtroops who were killed in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali and South Sudan in 2016.)

If you had told me that, facing a devastating virus, the leader of one would largely suppress itadmittedly using the most authoritarian of methodswhile, in his search for reelection, the leader of the other, officially still the greatest power on the planet, would ignore it, open the economy, churches, schools, and institutions of every sort and watch it run wild without a plan in sight; if you had told me that fewer than 5,000 people would die in the first of those countries and more than 134,000 (and still counting) in the other, leaving the American dead of 9/11 and the bloody wars of this century in the shade, and that it was all only getting worse, I wouldnt have believed you. Not for a second.

And if, above all, you had told me that, deep into those years of bleeding abroad and increasingly at home, a near majority of Americans would vote to (as I wrote during election campaign 2016) send a suicide bomber into the White House, I would have told you that, though Osama bin Laden had been killed by SEAL Team Six in Pakistan and buried in the briny deep in 2011, Donald Trump was his living revenge, and that bin Laden had won twiceonce thanks to those ludicrous, murderous forever wars across much of the Muslim world, and the second time thanks to the pandemic from hell and the president from the same place.

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Imagine if, in 1991 when the Soviet Union imploded, I had told you that in 2020, not quite three decades distant, an American passport would be, more or less literally, a document for a trip to nowhere. Talk about a bleeding, or even hemorrhaging, wound! In the years to come, I think it will be ever more obvious that Donald Trump was, in fact, proof of Osama bin Ladens success, of the fact that 9/11 and those 19 hijackers were all that was needed to produce the world of his dreams and the wounds that went with it.

And if, by the way, you wondered why I wrote this piece with the longest sentences I could possibly create, the answer is simple enough: two decades into the 21st century, I think it should be obvious that Americans have been given an exceptionally, perhaps even indispensably long sentence without parole on a planet already heating to the boiling point, 94,000,000 miles from the sun.

No, this truly wont be the American century, but I doubt it will be the Chinese one either. By the time this crew is done, it may be nobodys century. Thanks a heap, Osama! This is your bleeding wound, too.

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Donald Trump Is Living Proof of Osama bin Ladens Success - The Nation

The unmasking of Donald Trump – Maclean’s

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

In 1997, Mark Singer, a staff writer atNew Yorker magazine specializing in profiles, was tasked with what many today would chalk up as a literary suicide mission: Follow Donald Trump and find out what makes him tick.

At the time, Trump was, at least according to his own accounts, at the top of his real estate mogul game, which is likely why he agreed to the profile in the first place. A few years earlier it likely would never have happened: the Trump Organization was on the verge of collapse, mired in debt and facing bankruptcy.

By 1997, it had not only survived, but Trump was doing better (which in his mind can only mean richer) than ever. Hed re-financed his failing hotels and casinos division with a successful public offering, netting himself $7 million in 1996 in salary and bonuses (even while the value of the shares was tanking).

Singer, not known to shy away from challenges, embarked on weeks of research, shadowing Trump in what ultimately reads like an otherworldly jaunt through the crass Wonderland that is Trumpworld, complete with mobsters, Hollywood stars and shady businesspeople.

At the centre of the story, of course, is the shadiest of them all, Donald Trump who, among other pulp fiction character traits, Singer describes as the hyperbole addict who prevaricates for fun and profit and the perpetual seventeen-year-old who lives in a zero-sum world of winners and total losers, loyal friends and complete scumbags. Trump, Singer concludes, is a fellow both slippery and nave, artfully calculating and recklessly heedless of consequences.

READ MORE: What Americans dont know should worry us

Somewhere in that riot of egos, one must assume, was the real Trump, though Singer conceded in the end that he had failed in his mission to find him. He did claim, however, to have unearthed something even more astonishing and rare: an existence unmolested by the rumblings of a soul.

In some ways, Singers profile aligns neatly with the Trump weve all come to know as the American president. His penchant for exaggeration and outright lies, his visceral loathing for journalists who write stories he doesnt likethis is just Trump, and he hasnt changed, even after a quarter of a century.

But in other ways, something has changed. The artfully calculating Trump of 1997 has gone missing, replaced by a clumsy, sometimes pitiful novice who cant seem to formulate any cohesive strategy. Singers slippery Trump, the man who has dodged bankruptcy and the IRS for decades, who has shifted his political position so often that his politics resembles a mosaic cobbled together by a 4-year old, is now noticeably stickier, more ranting Republican of the deep south Confederate variety than the slick Wall Street free marketer he pretends to be.

As a businessman, even as incompetent as he was, Trump had been able to maintain the illusion of invincibility. The masks never came off. Even when it seemed like he was on the verge of being outed as a shyster, he stayed in character, forever the bigwig blessed with a golden touch. But as president, the opposite has happened: he has been steadily unmasked.

Is it a function of increased scrutiny? Despite his enablersAttorney General Bill Barr and Republican members of Congress who continue to throw up smoke screens to protect a man they see as their best chance to reverse the tide of liberalism they believe is threatening to destroy AmericaTrump cant completely avoid the oversight that comes with being president, particularly with a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. Or maybe its just plain old age. Trumps lifestyle, his eating habits, lack of exercise and any meaningful intellectual stimulation is a perfect recipe for cognitive decline.

Whatever it might be, what were seeing now is not the same fit and agile Trump who is pictured in the 1997 New Yorker profile. Were seeing past that glittery veneer at an angry man-child, the inevitable outcome of an upbringing poisoned by privilege and racism. The more he fails against the pandemic, against Americas racial reckoning, against the pollsthe more desperate he appears to become, and the more transparent.

The fact is, Trump has always been a racist. Weve seen glimpses of it over the years, for instance in the early 1970s when the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Trump, his father and the property management company they co-owned for allegedly discriminating against prospective Black and Latin American tenants. It was not the first time the Trumps had been called out on their racial bias and, unsurprisingly, they not only denied the charges but countersued, enlisting Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthys infamous legal attack dog during the anti-Communist purges in 1954. After the presiding judge rejected the countersuit and ruled that there was enough evidence to proceed on the charges of discrimination the Trumps decided to settle.

Somehow, that history has been largely buried, though David Cay Johnston, an investigative journalist who has covered Trump and his business dealings since the 1970s, re-hashed it in his 2016 book, The Making of Donald Trump. Over the years of his presidency, major news outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post have also dug deep into Trumps history and uncovered piles of past wrongdoings.

Johnston, however, with some justification, still blames the media for failing to properly report on Trump in 2016, ultimately helping him win the White House.

Donald Trump knows that so long as he never corrects himself or acknowledges error, journalists will quote what he says, Johnston told me recently. Thats why George Lakoff, the cognitive research professor at UC Berkeley argues journalists who cover Trump should use what he calls a truth sandwich. Instead of quoting Trump and then taking it apart, you should say: Were about to tell you something Donald Trump said that is depending on the appropriate worddubious or a flat out lie, etc. Then you quote him and after that, you take it apart. That way, people are psychologically set up to understand that what youre hearing is not revealed truth.

Indeed, journalists themselves now admit they dropped the ball in dealing with the deluge of misinformation that poured out of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. This time around, they seem better prepared, challenging Trump whenever he makes himself available to the media.

Typically, Trump has responded by making himself less available. His most recent appearance, a press conference on July 14 where he was supposed to announce additional sanctions against China, devolved into an hour-long incoherent rant on everything from Joe Bidens alleged lack of mental acuity to a redux of his 2016 claim that killer immigrants are crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. He answered questions for all of six minutes before abruptly walking off the stage.

Increasingly, a cornered Trump is turning to those people most like him, a segment of the American population lashing out at the prospect of losing its privileged position, of having to compete on an equal footing with immigrants and people of colour, with homosexuals, queers and the gender fluid. The dream for most of usa world where the colour of your skin or the clothes you wear has nothing to do with your life prospectsis a nightmare for them.

Whats frightening is that this is still such a large segment of American societysomewhere around one-third of voters. But despite its size, its not going to be enough to hand Trump a victory in November, and it seems to be dwindling. The latest Gallup poll reinforces what we suspected all along: In the 2016 election, Trump relied on a sizeable cohort of voters who, after the 2009 financial crisis, had lost faith in the American political system. They were tired of politiciansBarack Obama includedwho promised to revive the American Dream but then, in times of crisis, went on to dole out sweetheart deals to corporations and their CEOs.

For a wide range of regional and idiosyncratic reasons, those people, including some Obama voters, decided to give an outsider like Trump a shot. Now that Trump has been unmasked, these same people are fleeing Trumps dystopia in droves. In every demographicgender, age, race, education or regionthe percentage change in support for the U.S. president from January to July is negative. Trump has alienated nearly everyone who can be alienated.

Instead of shifting tactics, Trump has decided to double down on those core supporters, the people he himself most identifies with. As a businessman, he was able to dissemble his way out of most tight spots. But as a politician, Trump is quickly discovering that theatrics can only take him so far. With all of the hustling stripped away, whats left is a hollow ideologue grasping for approval from those who see the world the way he does.

Finally, we are seeing the real Donald Trump, and it is a sad, frightening, unhinged image indeed.

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The unmasking of Donald Trump - Maclean's

What is Alternative Medicine? – Learn.org

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

'Alternative medicine' is a general term that covers medical practices that aren't considered mainstream, but are believed to have some beneficial purposes. Common types of alternative medicine include chiropractic, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and some types of massage. Read on to learn more about this field.

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Alternative medicine is made up of a variety of medical practices that have not yet become part of conventional medicine. Professionals who have earned a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree practice conventional medicine. Most forms of alternative medicine stem from a combination of traditional medical practices, spiritual beliefs, and folk medicine.

While much of this medicine has been practiced and refined over centuries, it's only recently that alternative medicine has obtained widespread interest on the part of both patients and medical practitioners. Many medical practitioners refer to alternative medicine as complementary medicine, since it's often used to complement more accepted and modern medical practices. When alternative medicine is combined with conventional medical techniques, it's called integrative or integrated medicine.

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is a government agency that performs research in the field. NCCAM groups alternative medicine practices into the following categories:

There are completed scientific studies involving various alternative medicine practices, and some studies are still ongoing. A good place to start looking for the results of these studies is the NCCAM website. The site features research and advice about various therapies, as well as information on alternative medicine practitioners and sources for training in the field. One may also call the NCCAM Clearinghouse (1-888-644-6226) to ask specific questions or to locate publications.

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What is Alternative Medicine? - Learn.org

Massive Demand in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market | Scope and Price Analysis of Top Manufacturers Profiles by 2027| Columbia…

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

HealthCare Intelligence Markets unravels its new study titled Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market. Effective exploratory techniques such as qualitative and quantitative analysis have been used to discover accurate data. For an effective business outlook, it studies North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and India by considering different aspects such as type, size, as well as applications. SWOT and Porters five analysis have been used to analyse cost, prices, revenue, and end-users. Various aspects of businesses such as primary application areas, financial overview, and requirement of the industries have been mentioned to give a brief to the readers. This research study further offers mergers, acquisitions and product portfolio of the businesses.

Ask for sample copy of this report@https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=32290

Profiling Key players: Columbia Nutritional, Herb Pharm, Herbal Hills, Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, John Schumacher Unity Woods Yoga Centre, Yoga Tree Studios, Inc., Helio USA, Inc., NatureKue, Nordic Nutraceuticals, Pure encapsulations, LLC., The Healing Company Ltd., Quantum-Touch.

Global Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market Report Illuminates:

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HealthCare Intelligence Markets Reports provides market intelligence & consulting services to a global clientele spread over 145 countries. Being a B2B firm, we help businesses to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving market with unbridled confidence. We craft customized and syndicated market research reports that help market players to build game-changing strategies. Besides, we also provide upcoming trends & future market prospects in our reports pertaining to Drug development, Clinical & healthcare IT industries. Our intelligence enables our clients to make decisions with which in turn proves a game-changer for them. We constantly strive to serve our clients better by directly allowing them sessions with our research analysts so the report is at par with their expectations.

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Massive Demand in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market | Scope and Price Analysis of Top Manufacturers Profiles by 2027| Columbia...

Why India needs to regulate Ayurveda to win the world market for natural remedies – ThePrint

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

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The Coronil controversylast month highlighted the problems with regulating Ayurveda in India. Patanjali claimed to have developed an Ayurvedic medicine that would protect people from Covid-19 and also cure the disease. Later revelations raised doubts about these claims and the process of testing these medicines.

The episode highlighted how modern thinking is creeping into alternative medicine. This is good, and India stands to gain enormously as a producer and exporter of traditional herbal medicines.

The worlds growing fascination with natural remedies, traditional and alternative medicines and herbs augurs well for India. These can provide a substantial source of income for farmers and companies across the country.

Traditional medicines have been used in India, even though there is little quality control or trials. A very small quantity of herbal medicines produced in India is exported, as they do not meet the regulatory standards required by importing countries. While they can be a great source of income and exports for India, we will need a modern regulatory system to succeed.

Even at its current levels, with little exports, estimates are that Ayurveda is a Rs 30,000 crore industry in India.

Also read: Ayurveda, FMCG, Covid, controversy Baba Ramdev and the Patanjali school of marketing

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Successive governments have taken steps to promote alternative medicines. In 2003, the government published the first official list of Ayurvedic medicines, called a pharmacopoeia. The publication of a pharmacopoeia is the first step towards formalising any medical system.

In 2014, the Narendra Modi government merged the regulation of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (collectively called AYUSH) into a separate eponymousministry.

Recently, the government decided to sell Ayurvedic medicines inJan Aushadhi stores.

In 2017, the All India Ayurveda Institute was set up in Delhi, on the lines of the famous All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The government isencouragingfarmers to grow Ayurvedic plants in various states to diversify agriculture and boost farm income.The budgetary allocation for alternative medicines has doubled since the present government has come to power.

The Coronil controversy emphasises the role the government has to play beyond encouraging the use of Ayurveda. At the core of promoting alternative medicines are two government regulatory functions: One, ensuring safety, and two, checking the truth of claims about efficacy. In addition to all the other schemes, the government has to emphasise on these two functions.

Contrary to popular belief, Ayurvedic medicines can be dangerous to health. The dangers arise primarily for three reasons: (i) All plants are not safe for consumption,(ii) Use of ashes and non-plant materials, (iii) Illegal addition of allopathic medicines.

Ayurveda uses many plants which aretoxicto humans, like datura andnux vomica, in large doses. It is essential that their dosage is limited or the plants are treated before they are included in the medicine.

Similarly, ashes may concentrate dangerous metals in the formulation. As recently as 2017, the Food and Drug Administration of the USwarnedagainst the use of certain Ayurvedic medicines. The FDA found the medication to contain dangerous levels of lead. This isnot the first timethis has happened.

Some unscrupulous medicine manufacturers go a step further. They mix allopathic medicines in Ayurvedic drugs, usually steroids. Some steroids (mostly corticosteroids) give a false sense of well-being by improving circulation and alertness. For the wrong ailments, like infections, they may accelerate the underlying disease, but since the patient gets a steroid high,he or she feels better and ascribes it to the medicine. Astudyby the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai found around 40% of Ayurvedic drugs tested contained steroids.

Uncontrolled use of poisonous plants, presence of heavy metals, and outright fraud (adding steroids) damages the reputation of Indian medicine. The unscrupulous and negligent manufacturers make profits by cheating, but harm the status of the entire industry.

The problem is worse in international markets. While we in India may be able to distinguish between established brands and suspicious ones, this is difficult sitting in the US. A patient with a negative experience will probably avoid all Ayurvedic medicines.

Also read: Unethical, unreasonable to ignore Ayurveda for Covid treatment & prevention, say researchers

The first step of regulation of medicines is to ensure safety. Irrespective of whether they have any therapeutic effect, an AYUSH medicine should not harm patients. While the government published guidelines for the development and manufacture of Ayurvedic drugs, the enforcement of these provisions is inadequate. Lax enforcement of detailed regulations undermines the efforts made to develop the rules in the first place and encourage a culture of ignoring the law. Even companies which start by complying with the legislation may slowly slip up if they observe systemic non-compliance.

The second step after enforcing safety provisions is checking therapeutic claims. Therapeutic claims are very difficult to establish in allopathic medicines. In alternate medicine, this may be even tougher. Unlike allopathic medicine, the active ingredient is usually not extracted in Ayurveda. This makes Ayurvedic medicines less potent and may take longer timelines to show effectiveness. However, Ayurvedic medicine manufacturers mustnt make claims about curing conditions or diseases which are demonstrably false. Such false claims have a similar effect to dangerous medicines. Perceptions will develop that false claims dominate the whole field. Even where Ayurvedic medicines have positive outcomes, customers will be sceptical.

Regulation of any medical system has concentrated on safety and efficacy to protect patients. However, another role that governance plays is in developing trust in the system. When confidence in a system erodes, the effectiveness of subsidies, promotional campaigns and other schemes will be limited. Along with the promotion of AYUSH and farming of herbs, if we set up proper regulation of Ayurvedic medicines, we will not merely protect patients, but also promote Ayurveda as a safe and effective system of medicine, a system in which India can be a world leader.

Also read: Modi govts love for Ayurveda may be undermining ancient medicinal system

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Why India needs to regulate Ayurveda to win the world market for natural remedies - ThePrint

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market 2020: Industry Growth, Competitive Analysis, Future Prospects and Forecast 2025 – Cole of Duty

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

The AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market study now available with Market Study Report, LLC, is a systematic detailing of the potential factors driving the revenue statistics of this industry. Key data documented in the study includes market share, market size, application spectrum, market trends, supply chain, and revenue graph. This research report elucidates a precise competitive summary of the business outlook stressing on expansion strategies adopted by key contenders of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market.

The recent study on the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market contains a detailed assessment of the business arena with respect to the various market divisions. This report also evaluates the impact of Covid-19 outbreak on the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine industry, involving potential opportunity and challenges, drivers and risks. We present the impact assessment of Covid-19 effects on AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market growth forecast based on different scenario (optimistic, pessimistic, very optimistic, most likely etc.).

Request a sample Report of AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market at:https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/2468923?utm_source=coleofduty.com&utm_medium=Ram

Key insights about the industry size, growth rate forecasts, and sales volume have been compiled in the report. A detailed evaluation of drivers, restraints, as well as the growth opportunities that will determine the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine markets expansion in the forthcoming years are also cited in the report.

The geographical landscape of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market:

Market segmentation:

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market is split by Type and by Application. For the period 2015-2025, the growth among segments provide accurate calculations and forecasts for sales by Type and by Application in terms of volume and value. This analysis can help you expand your business by targeting qualified niche markets.

Competitive Landscape and AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market Share Analysis:

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine competitive landscape provides details by vendors, including company overview, company total revenue (financials), market potential, global presence, AYUSH and Alternative Medicine sales and revenue generated, market share, price, production sites and facilities, SWOT analysis, product launch. For the period 2015-2020, this study provides the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine sales, revenue and market share for each player covered in this report.

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Additional takeaways of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market report are listed below:

Influence of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market report:

What are the market factors that are explained in the report?

Key Strategic Developments:The study also includes the key strategic developments of the market, comprising R&D, new product launch, M&A, agreements, collaborations, partnerships, joint ventures, and regional growth of the leading competitors operating in the market on a global and regional scale.

Key Market Features:The report evaluated key market features, including revenue, price, capacity, capacity utilization rate, gross, production, production rate, consumption, import/export, supply/demand, cost, market share, CAGR, and gross margin. In addition, the study offers a comprehensive study of the key market dynamics and their latest trends, along with pertinent market segments and sub-segments.

Analytical Tools:The Global AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market report includes the accurately studied and assessed data of the key industry players and their scope in the market by means of a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis, feasibility study, and investment return analysis have been used to analyse the growth of the key players operating in the market.

The research includes historic data from 2015 to 2020 and forecasts until 2025 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs.

For More Details On this Report: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-ayush-and-alternative-medicine-market-2020-by-company-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2025

Some of the Major Highlights of TOC covers:

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Regional Market Analysis

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Segment Market Analysis (by Type)

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Segment Market Analysis (by Application)

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Major Manufacturers Analysis

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AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market 2020: Industry Growth, Competitive Analysis, Future Prospects and Forecast 2025 - Cole of Duty

Ayurveda VS Homeopathy: Whats the difference? – PINKVILLA

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Ever wondered what is the difference between Ayurveda and Homeopathy? Read on to know the differences between the two alternate therapies.

Alternative medicines are slowly gaining more prominence all around the world. Ayurveda and Homeopathy are two such practices widely used by people. However, people always find themselves in a dilemma when choosing between the two. If you are someone who cant seem to decide which one to go for, then this article might help. Today, we are talking about both these medical practices and the difference between them.

While Ayurveda dates back as far back as 5000 years ago, homoeopathy was developed in the 1790s. Both alternative medical practices aim to eradicate illnesses from the root and improve your overall health. They both take time to work and do not guarantee sure-shot cures. It is necessary to take precautions and follow a healthy lifestyle if you wish to opt for any of them. Apart from the similarities, there are many differences between the two therapies.

Ayurveda VS Homeopathy.

What is Homeopathy?

It is a medical system developed in the late 1700s in Germany. It is based on the belief that the body can cure itself. A homoeopathic practitioner prescribes medications based on the patients history, nature and medical conditions. The medicines are made of natural substances. It is believed that homoeopathy doesnt have any side effects.

It is widely used for problems such as allergies, migraines, depression, chronic fatigue, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome and premenstrual syndrome. However, it is not recommended to use homoeopathy medicine for life-threatening diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, etc.

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurvedic medicine is one of the worlds oldest healing systems that originated in India about 5000 years ago. According to WebMD, it is based on the belief that everything (dead or alive) in the universe is connected and made of five elements space, air, fire, water and earth. It is about maintaining a balance between the mind, body and spirit. The focus of this practice is to promote good health.

The treatment is meant to cleanse the body of undigested foods that might lead to illnesses. The practitioners use panchakarma to reduce the symptoms, restore harmony and balance. Treatment might include massage, use of medical oils, herbs, and medication.

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Ayurveda VS Homeopathy: Whats the difference? - PINKVILLA

Considering meditation and yoga as adjunctive treatment for COVID-19: Study – Devdiscourse

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

A recent study explores the healing benefits of yoga and meditation practices as potential adjunctive treatments of COVID-19 in peer-reviewed journal JACM, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Deepak Chopra, University of California, San Diego and William Bushell of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-authors from Harvard University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health describe the anti-inflammatory effects associated with meditation and yoga.

The 'brief overview of key subjects' found "there is evidence of stress and inflammation modulation, and also preliminary evidence for possible forms of immune system enhancement, accompanying the practice of certain forms of meditation, yoga, and pranayama, along with potential implications for counteracting some forms of infectious challenges." The authors also "readily acknowledge that in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the ideas put forth in this article must be put to further rigorous scientific investigation."

"The paper is another in a series in JACM and in other integrative medicine journals suggesting that research agencies in the United States and Europe would serve their citizens by upping their exploration of the potential contributions of natural health practices, especially amidst the present dearth of conventional treatments," said JACM Editor-in-Chief John Weeks.

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Use of Ayurvedic doctors to treat Covid patients by Health Ministry raises concern among public health experts – The Kathmandu Post

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

Public health experts have raised concern after learning that the Ministry of Health and Population was deploying Ayurvedic doctors to the care of Covid-19 patients who are being treated in isolation at the National Ayurveda Research and Training Center in Kirtipur, Kathmandu.

They have said it is unethical and illegal to let practitioners of alternative medicine in the treatment of the Covid-19 patients. The ministry is not only risking the lives of the patients but also the concerned Ayurvedic doctors and their family members, said Dr Baburam Marasini, former director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division.

They know nothing about the infectious diseases. Infectious disease experts are needed to deal with the Covid-19 cases. How can traditional medicine practitioners treat the patients infected with highly contagious disease, when even the MBBS doctors know very little about it? Marasini told the Post.

Dr Ram Adhar Yadav, director at the National Ayurveda Research and Training Center, said Ayurvedic practitioners were attending to the Covid-19 patients because the ministry has not deployed allopathic doctors and nurses.

We have requested for doctors and nurses, but the ministry has not responded to our request yet, said Yadav.

The center was converted into a 20-bed isolation treatment facility for Covid-19 patients. The facility has reached its capacity with the recent rise in cases of coronavirus infection in the Kathmandu Valley. The Health Ministry has not assigned any doctors or nurses to treat and monitor these patients.

Deploying Ayurvedic doctors to treat Covid-19 patients is also an ethical issue, which can not only raise controversy but also defame the country internationally, warned Marasini.

Without a medical licence, even those individuals with advanced medical degrees from worlds top universities cannot be involved in medical practice in Nepal.

But as to why the Health Ministry decided to allow Ayurvedic doctors to look after the Covid-19 patients, public health experts are not sure and clearly concerned.

Ayurveda and allopathic medicines are separate methodsthe former is empirical and the latter is evidence-based treatment, said Dr Dhundi Raj Paudel, executive member of Nepal Medical Council, the national regulatory body of medical doctors, Using Ayurveda doctor in treatment of Covid patients is unethical. We cannot mix up Ayurved and allopathy.

Paudel added Ayurveda doctors are not even trained to handle Covid-19 cases and have knowledge about the risk factors and the use of personal protective equipment.

The Health Ministry might have been encouraged by the promotion of traditional medicines by our prime minister, an official at the Department of Health Services said on condition of anonymity.

The official was referring to Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis oft-repeated claims that Covid-19 is like the common cold and could be treated with home remedies.

The Health Ministry has said that there is nothing wrong in using Ayurvedic doctors to treat the Covid-19 patients.

What is wrong in providing treatment by an Ayurveda doctor in isolation? said Dr Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson for the ministry, said, Treatment is treatment, and anyone who can provide treatment can be used.

He said the patients at the Ayurveda center had mild symptoms and the people attending them only had to perform minor medical tasks like monitoring their temperatures and blood pressures.

If any of the patients become seriously sick, they will be transferred to hospital for proper treatment, Gautam said.As of Monday, 16,945 people have been infected with Civid-19 including 38 deaths. Among them 356 cases are in Kathmandu Valley.

Frequently asked questions about the coronavirus outbreak

UPDATED as of July 19, 2020

What is Covid-19?Covid-19, short for coronavirus disease, is an illness caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, short for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Common symptoms of the disease include fever, dry cough, fatigue, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

How contagious is Covid-19?Covid-19 can spread easily from person to person, especially in enclosed spaces. The virus can travel through the air in respiratory droplets produced when a sick person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes. As the virus can also survive on plastic and steel surfaces for up to 72 hours and on cardboard for up to 24 hours, any contact with such surfaces can also spread the virus. Symptoms take between two to 14 days to appear, during which time the carrier is believed to be contagious.

Where did the virus come from?The virus was first identified in Wuhan, China in late December. The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that is responsible for everything from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). After an initial outbreak in Wuhan that spread across Hubei province, eventually infecting over 80,000 and killing more than 3,000, new infection rates in mainland China have dropped. However, the disease has since spread across the world at an alarming rate.

What is the current status of Covid-19?

The World Health Organisation has called the ongoing outbreak a pandemic and urged countries across the world to take precautionary measures. Covid-19 had spread to 213 countries and infected more than 14,223,132 people with 600,629 deaths. In South Asia, India has reported the highest number of infections at 1,040,457 with 26,285 deaths. While Pakistan has reported 261,917confirmed cases with 5,522 deaths. Nepal has so far reported 17,502 cases with 40 deaths.

How dangerous is the disease?

The mortality rate for Covid-19 is estimated to be 3.6 percent, but new studies have put the rate slightly higher at 5.7 percent. Although Covid-19 is not too dangerous to young healthy people, older individuals and those with immune-compromised systems are at greater risk of death. People with chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease, or those whove recently undergone serious medical procedures, are also at risk.

How do I keep myself safe?The WHO advises that the most important thing you can do is wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizers with at least 60 percent alcohol content. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unclean hands. Clean and disinfect frequently used surfaces like your computers and phones. Avoid large crowds of people. Seek medical attention if symptoms persist for longer than a few days.

Is it time to panic?

No. The government has imposed a lockdown to limit the spread of the virus. There is no need to begin stockpiling food, cooking gas or hand sanitizers. However, it is always prudent to take sensible precautions like the ones identified above.

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Use of Ayurvedic doctors to treat Covid patients by Health Ministry raises concern among public health experts - The Kathmandu Post

Ex-president Jammeh’s Alternative Treatment patient testifies – The Point

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Danzig

She told the TRRC that while receiving her treatment from MRC, there was a group of Santa Yalla Support Group initiated by seven people but later had 300 members.

She said that Santa Yalla was the first group that came out and enlightened people about the disease and that she was welcomed when she joined them.

"I was the first female in The Gambia to come out and said that I had HIV/AIDS."

She said the reason why she did so was because of the way people perceived it and through her sensitization,

She said through her sensitization, she was able to change peoples perceptions, educate and even convince others to get tested.

She told TRRC that in one of the workshops at Tendaba, she declared that she had the disease but people could not believe it and some had to call her later and asked whether she meant what she said.

According to her, she was one-time told that someone with HIV/AIDS can't live for more than 2 months. However, since 1995, she said, she had lived for many months.

"I prefer HIV/AIDS than High blood and Diabetes because what I am able to eat, a diabeticpatient wouldn't eat," she declared.

Ms. Jatta testified that at Santa Yalla Support Society, they had a home based care with facilities to support people chronically sick. However, she said, there was a day they were told that the former President Yahya Jammeh wanted to have a meeting with them at State House.

"At this time you had only Santa Yalla Support Society and Nganiya Kiling Support Society based in Brikama. Upon arrival at State House, Jammeh told us to have a family photo.

She said after the meeting Yahya Jammeh sent a cartoon of 1.5 litres bottles containing herbs which were meant to cure HIV/AIDS. She added that no one at the time knew who sent the medications as their coordinator did not tell them anything.

"On the 18th February, 2007, while in my house, my coordinator called me and told me she had a problem because she received a call from VP's office that Yahya Jammeh said she should select 10 people for him and that he would start administering HIV treatment the next day."

Ms. Jatta recalled that it was announced over the news that the former President would starttreating HIV/AIDS patients.

At this juncture a video with an Aljazeera Journalist where Yahya Jammeh declared to the whole World that he can treat HIV/AIDS was played.

Continuing her testimony, the witness testified that on the 19th of January, 2007, a vehicle took them to State House and they were received by Isatou Njie Saidy while Dr. Malick Njie did the consultations.

"After the president arrived, he declared that his conditions were that the patients would stop using Western Medicine, stop drinking attaya (green tea), and stop chewing kola nuts. While leaving Santa Yalla, I took it as if I was just going to meet a normal doctor and be allowed to go home. She added that she can't remember asking her consent before taking her details.

Ms. Jatta informed the Commission that while the consultations were ongoing, the camera was filming and some of the victims started to cover their faces but Dr. Malick Njie told them that there was no need to do that because the president was not going to play it on the TV but rather use it for reference purposes.

According to her, she was surprised because a screen was mounted and she was told to undress and put her towel and lay on the stretcher as Yahya Jammeh poured some spiritual water on her body.

She stated that Jammeh later told her to lie on her back and he took a bottle of oil and massaged her body including the private part, despite not having consented.

"Thereafter he took almost half a litre and told me to drink. I became unconscious and there was a stretcher outside in which I lied with a camera on me throughout."

The witness testified that after she drank the medicine, she became unconscious.

"Prior to taking Jammeh's medicine I was healthy and strong but the moment I started the concoction, I suffered as I was thinking and stressed because I was thinking a lot," said Jatta.

"In that treatment, we were there for six months and after our release, the following day, Yahya Jammeh called me to go back to the hospital to serve as a nurse attendant."

However, she said she could not decline the offer because she won't know what the consequences would be but later decided to leave the job on the grounds that there would come a time when she would lie to the whole world that the treatment was indeed true.

She informed the Commission that the treatment was administered at State House but they were kept at Kanifing Hospital.

She said there were seven batches receiving treatment from Jammeh and they spent seven months despite Jammehs claims that he could treat HIV/AIDS within 3 days.

The witness recalled that there was a time each time Yahya Jammeh traveled his younger brother, Ansumana Jammeh and Dr. Mbowe administered the medications.

"After attending the treatment, they used to give us three bags of rice to remove the gravels; we went to the rice fields and picked cashew."

She added that they were also forced to work on the farms.

She said during the month of Ramadan Yahya Jammeh ordered that no one should fast because his medication was to be taken morning and evening respectively.

The witness said after nine months spent at the treatment centre, some people came out and said they were cured after conducting tests from the Sheikh Andiob; adding that samples of HIV/AIDS and non HIV patients were taken and some of these people were soldiers and their samples were taken to either Dakar or Morocco for testing

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Ex-president Jammeh's Alternative Treatment patient testifies - The Point

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