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Tyre Nichols latest news: Memphis police accused of ‘shielding’ white officer as 7th ousted for killing
Protesters march in Memphis after video released of Tyre Nichols being beaten by police
The Memphis Police Department has been accused of “shielding” the only known white officer involved in Tyre Nichols’ arrest, as it was revealed two more officers were placed on leave in connection with the man’s death at the hands of police.
Lawyers for the Nichols family denounced the Memphis police for allegedly giving special treatment to a white official by placing him on leave despite his involvement.
It comes as Memphis police disclosed that seven of its officers, including five Black officers who have already been charged over Nichols’ death, had been relieved of duty.
The sixth officer, identified as Preston Hemphill, who is white, was suspended with pay pending a hearing, and a seventh officer who was not immediately identified was relieved of duty without pay, police said.
Nichols’ parents – RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells – have accepted an invitation from the Congressional Black Caucus to attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week.
Nichols, 29, was pulled over for a traffic stop in Memphis on 7 January. He died three days later in hospital.
Footage of the fatal encounter was released on Friday, capturing Nichols being punched, kicked and beaten with batons.
Eric Garcia: ‘Republicans choose their words carefully on Tyre Nichols’
The Independent’s Washington chief Eric Garcia writes about a long weekend of relative silence from the GOP:
The statements from the Republicans who have spoken show that they clearly know the video is disturbing. But the rhetoric they use show that they likely hope to treat this as an isolated incident and likely won’t spring into action on it.
Alex Woodward31 January 2023 15:30
‘Police are not always telling the whole truth’
The Independent’s Josh Marcus writes:
As the nation turns its attention to the death of Tyre Nichols, there’s something you need to know. In cases like these, police don’t always tell the full truth. Sometimes they seek to distract from it. Other times they flat-out lie.
This is well known to victims of police violence, civil rights organisers, and those, like me, who spend their days covering policing. But it’s an important thing to remember after the Friday release of law enforcement video of Nichols’s 7 January arrest, perhaps the most explosive instance of police misconduct since George Floyd.
Read what he has learned about law enforcement distortions while covering the cops:
Alex Woodward31 January 2023 15:00
How to support the family of Tyre Nichols
A fundraiser created by the mother of Tyre Nichols has raised more than $1m for the family in the wake of his death.
“My husband and I have had our entire world turned upside down by what happened to our son,” RowVaughn Wells wrote in the description of a GoFundMe page raising funds for the family.
“We are two hardworking, loving parents, [and] now have to turn our full-time attention to seeking proper justice for our son,” she added. “We have yet to have the proper space to begin our grieving process, which will be long and burdensome.”
The fundraiser will help cover the costs of mental health services and time off work, where they do not have unlimited paid time off, she said.
The funds will also support the creation of a memorial skate park for Nichols, “in honor of his love for skating and sunset,” according to Ms Wells.
Alex Woodward31 January 2023 14:30
Four videos, 56 minutes, seven Memphis police officers, one deadly arrest: What the Tyre Nichols footage shows
The release of footage of the fatal assault of Tyre Nichols graphically depicted the prolonged and savage fatal beating that was meted out by five Memphis Police Department officers.
But questions persist that the edited footage failed to answer, most notably the claimed traffic violation that had led officers to pull Nichols over in the first place, and what caused the officers to respond so violently.
The Independent’s Bevan Hurley has more in the story below:
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 14:00
Republican Congressman Jim Jordan says ‘no law’ could stop the ‘evil’ in Tyre Nichols police bodycam footage
Conservative Congressman Jim Jordan told NBC News’ Meet the Press that he was unsure if any law could stop the “evil” on display in the police bodycam footage showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by officers.
“I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw,” he said on the program.
He then accused Democrats of trying to use legislation to solve issues like systemic police abuse.
“The Democrats always think that it’s a new law that’s going to fix something that terrible,” he said.
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 13:00
Congressional Black Caucus pushes Biden to restart police reform talks
Representative Steven Horsford, the Nevada congressman who serves as chair of the CBC, said in a statement on Sunday that the caucus is asking for a sit-down with Mr Biden “to push for negotiations on much needed national reforms to our justice system – specifically, the actions and conduct of our law enforcement”.
Mr Horsford said Mr Nichols’ death, which was captured on disturbing video showing him being beaten and kicked by a group of officers who are now facing murder charges, is “a grim reminder that we still have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America”.
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has more in his story:
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 12:00
Sixth officer suspended in Tyre Nichols confirmed to have fired stun gun during encounter
Preston Hemphill, the sixth Memphis police officer to face disciplinary action in the beating of Tyre Nichols, reportedly fired a stun gun at Mr Nichols the night of the encounter that preceded his death.
The Memphis Police Department announced that Mr Hemphill had been placed on administrative leave in connection with the encounter.
He was the officer who fired a stun gun at Mr Nichols when he tried to escape from the police who had pulled him over, according to ABC 7.
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 11:00
Newly-suspended Memphis police officer Preston Hemphill tased Tyre Nichols during traffic stop
Memphis police officer Preston Hemphill was reportedly the third officer on the scene of Tyre Nichols’ beating.
Mr Hemphill’s attorney, Lee Gerald, confirmed to ABC 7 that his client was the third officer at Nichols’ initial traffic stop.
“As per departmental regulations Officer Hemphill activated his bodycam,” Mr Gerald said in a statement. “He was never present at the second scene. He is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”
The officer’s bodycam footage was included with the footage released on Friday.
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 09:00
ICYMI: Sixth Memphis officer suspended
A sixth Memphis police officer has reportedly been suspended from the department in the wake of the death of Tyre Nichols.
A department spokesperson speaking to Fox13 Memphis said officer Preston Hemphill has been relieved of duty.
The spokesperson did not provide details on how Mr Hemphill’s release is related to Mr Nichols.
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 08:00
Skatepark vigil planned for Tyre Nichols in Sacramento
A skatepark in Sacramento that Tyre Nichols visited regularly said it planned to hold a vigil for him at 6:30pm PST.
Mr Nichols was a regular at the park before he moved to Memphis in 2020.
Niko Chapman, who grew up in the area, remembered Mr Nichols fondly. He recalled to Fox 2 how, when he was younger, his parents would only let him visit the skatepark if they knew Mr Nichols was there to help look out for him.
“You remember people that are really kind to you, and Tyre was just a really kind person,” Mr Chapman said. “He just always made me feel really welcome.”
Graig Graziosi31 January 2023 07:00
How Bob Chapek was ousted from Disney by CFO who plotted behind his back
Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger complained his successor Bob Chapek was ‘incompetent’ before plotting with the CFO to oust him, reports say.
Even though Iger, 71, finally stepped down in 2020 following 15 years of growth at the House of Mouse, sources familiar with the transition told the Wall Street Journal he never really let go of the reins.
Iger would allegedly hold meetings with executives without Chapek, 63, and often complain about his successor’s leadership and refusal to lean on him, saying the new CEO was doing a ‘terrible job.’
Among one of Iger’s closest confidants was CFO Christine McCarthy, who slammed Chapek’s leadership as ”devastating,’ and made a call on November 16 asking the former CEO to take the reins again.
Two days later, Disney’s board would offer Iger the job and then sack Chapek, who was marred by dropping stock prices and a battle with Florida lawmakers over its special tax district status.
Revelations into the insight of Chapek’s final days comes as Disney warns staff that job cuts are imminent with its stock down more than 42 percent in the last year.
Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger (left) was reportedly frustrated with his successor, Bob Chapek’s (right), leadership, callling him ‘incompetent’
Iger also grew angry at Chapek for not looking to him for advice, while Chapek accused his mentor of being unwilling to let go of the reins at the company and holding meetings without him. The duo are pictured during Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2021
One of Iger’s closest confidants, CFO Christine McCarthy (above), was at odds with Chapek, sources say, and made a call on November 16 for Iger to return
According to current and former executives at Disney, Iger continued to act as a ‘shadow CEO’ at the company after retiring but taking a job as an executive chairman.
Iger allegedly continued to work in his office at Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California, and conducted business with top executives without inviting Chapek.
The meetings were to let Chapek know, ‘They work for me, not for you,’ the sources said.
Chapek, on the other hand, wanted to find his own footing in the company and often strayed from Iger’s advice.
When the pandemic hit, Iger had recommended the company delay staff cuts until Congress approved relief aid.
Chapek, however, pushed for the cuts to preserve cash, but the board sided with Iger, who maintained much of his power to help guide Disney through the pandemic.
Sources said Chapek was ‘livid’ and would privately complain to his deputies that he ‘wasn’t fully in control.’
After Iger touted his work during the pandemic during a New York Times interview, the sources said that any chances of Chapek personally turning to his mentor for advice ‘went from unlikely to out of the question.’
The two men also clashed over the rollout of Disney’s streaming service, where Iger had projected the company would get 60 to 90 million users within its first five years.
Chapek, noting the rise of streaming during the pandemic, raised the projections in December 2020 to 260 million subscribers, with Iger saying it ‘wasn’t smart to offer such an ambitious goal.’
Although Disney saw early success, its latest quarterly report shows the streaming service has since lost $1.5 billion.
Since Chapek took over, the company has lost a full one-third of its value.
Disney’s stock has plummeted by more than 42 percent in the last year
Bob Iger, who led Disney through a 15-year era of explosive growth, has returned to the helm as his successor is marred in controversy and poor profit reports
McCarthy was among the leading executives who often chastised Chapek’s failings, catching him off guard during a meeting where she laid out Disney’s dropping revenue, sources told the WSJ.
They noted the Chapek was angry at McCarthy for not previously discussing the numbers with him while giving briefing materials to the rest of the board.
Chapek allegedly held meetings without McCarthy and said she had ‘lost focus’ and become ‘unstable.’
By the fall, MCCarthy slammed Chapek’s leadership in a text exchange with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, who echoed criticisms against the then-CEO on Mad Money.
The day after the episode aired, Disney’s stock fell by 13.2 percent, the largest one-day drop in the company’s history.
Iger’s sensational return as Disney’s CEO came as a shock to even some of the media conglomerate’s senior executives — who only found out about the change in leadership while at an Elton John concert on November 20.
Chapek is expected to receive a $23 million exit package, and will receive even more if share prices bounce back up after falling more than 42 percent over the past year.
Since Chapek took over the company, it has been blasted as becoming too woke as the House of Mouse further mishandled its relations with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the bill, which bars teachers of students in third grade and below from discussing sexuality.
As a result, DeSantis decided to strip Disney World of its special tax privileges.
The company has also been slammed for becoming more woke, with scenes of a lesbian kiss in kids’ movie Lightyear, and a transgender man buying tampons in TV series Baymax – although those productions were likely signed off during Iger’s tenure.
Chapek was criticized for not condemning the bill, to try and quell the backlash with a backtracking statement to staff. (Pictured: Disney employees in California rallying against the bill on March 22)
Disney is also facing pressure from park workers who have demanded wage increases as long-time employees say they’re ‘grossly underpaid’ while the company enjoys $3.6 billion in profits over their work.
The Services Trades Council Union (STCU), which represents 42,000 of Disney’s 70,000 workforce, has called on the company to bump employees’ wages to meet their high cost of living.
While Disney granted employees a $2 raise to $15 an hour in 2021, the union said it was a far cry from the $18.19 now needed to make ends meet as workers protested outside the Magic Kingdom last week.
Earl Penson, who’s worked as a chef for 11 years, told The Guardian that the latest pay increase was not distributed evenly as he only makes 50 cents more than a new hire.
‘We’re grossly, grossly underpaid for the hours that we work,’ Penson said. ‘A lot of us have the same story in not being able to afford the cost of living on the pay that we make.’
‘A lot of Disney workers are barely squeaking by. You have workers with families sleeping in their car.’
He criticized Disney for not raising their wages to meet the average standard of living in Orange County, Florida, which the MIT Living Wage Calculator puts at $18.19.
‘It’s really heartbreaking, it’s a morale downer, because you would think they would recognize how hard the cast members work,’ Penson said. ‘I wish they would let us know that they appreciate the magic that we bring.
‘Every one of us is a part of the magic of Disney and we enjoy making the magic. We just want to be compensated for making the magic.’
Disney park workers are demanding their wage of $15-an-hour increase to meet the current standard living wage of $18.19
Employees began protesting outside the Florida park last week as they say they’re struggling to keep up with their current wages
A survey from one of the protesting unions found employees are skipping meals, moving, taking second jobs and roommates just to make ends meet
According to Local 737, one of the six unions represented by STCU, about 75 percent of its members have had to skip meals over the past year just to save money.
Another 35 percent needed a second job to get by, and a fourth of the union members skipped out on purchasing medicine prescribed by a doctor.
About 40 percent or more have suffered stress over money, which has affected their relationships and health.
The Union also found that 26 percent of its members have had to move because their rent or mortgages had gone up, while 21 percent have taken on roommates to help with the costs.
About 39 percent of the members said they were worried about being homeless.
In regards to the negotiations, Disney said it was considering employees’ call for a pathway to a $20-an-hour salary.
‘We have presented a strong and meaningful offer that far outpaces Florida minimum wage by at least $5 an hour and immediately takes starting wages for certain roles including bus drivers, housekeepers and culinary up to a minimum of $20 an hour while providing a path to $20 for all other full-time, non-tipped STCU roles during the contract term.’ the company said in a statement.
Ousted Pakistan PM Imran Khan shot in shin in what aides call assassination attempt
LAHORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the shin on Thursday when his anti-government protest convoy came under attack in the east of the country in what his aides said was a clear assassination attempt by his rivals.
Khan, ousted as prime minister in a parliamentary confidence vote in April, was six days into a protest procession bound for Islamabad, standing and waving to thousands of cheering supporters from the roof of a container truck, when the shots rang out.
Several in his convoy were wounded in the attack in Wazirabad, nearly 200 km (120 miles) from the capital. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said a suspect had been arrested.
“It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding,” Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Reuters.
“If the shooter had not been stopped by people there, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out.”
Khan was out of danger, said physician Faisal Sultan, who is also the head of the Lahore hospital where the former premier was being treated. He told journalists that initial scans and x-rays showed bullet fragments in Khan’s leg.
Police have yet to comment on the attack, which drew condemnation from the White House.
In a video statement, Asad Umar, one of Khan’s top aides, said Khan believed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer were behind the attack. Umar did not provide any evidence to back the allegation.
Sanaullah, speaking to journalists alongside Aurangzeb, rejected the allegations and said the Sharif-led coalition government demanded an independent high-powered investigation. Sharif also condemned the shooting and ordered an immediate investigation.
The military’s media wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation against Naseer.
In a previous statement, the military called the shooting “highly condemnable”. Khan, 70, had accused the military of backing the plan to oust him from power. Last week, the military held a news conference to deny the claims.
Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister of Punjab, the province in which Khan’s party is in power and where the shooting occurred, said he was forming a joint investigation team. Elahi said that it initially appeared that there were two assailants.
“I heard a burst of bullet shots after which I saw Imran Khan and his aides fall down on the truck,” witness Qazzafi Butt told Reuters.
“Later, a gunman shot a single shot but was grabbed by an activist of Khan’s party.”
In purported footage of the shooting, being run by multiple channels but unverified by Reuters, a man with a handgun is grabbed from behind by one of the people at the gathering. He then tries to flee.
TV channels showed a suspected shooter, who looked to be in his twenties or thirties. He said he wanted to kill Khan and had acted alone.
[1/6] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is helped after he was shot in the shin in Wazirabad, Pakistan November 3, 2022 in this still image obtained from video. Urdu Media via REUTERS
“He (Khan) was misleading the people, and I couldn’t bear it,” the suspect said in the video. The information minister confirmed the footage was recorded by police.
No one has yet been charged with the attack.
Khan, who after his removal from office was convicted by Pakistan’s election commission of selling state gifts unlawfully, charges that he denied, had been whipping up large crowds on his way to Islamabad in a campaign to topple Sharif’s government.
One member of Khan’s party said there were reports one person had been killed in the attack.
PROTESTERS ON STREETS
Handsome and charismatic, Khan first grabbed international attention as a cricketer in the early 1970s.
First known as an aggressive fast-paced bowler with a distinctive leaping action, he went on to become one of the world’s best all-rounders and a hero in cricket-mad Pakistan, captaining a team of wayward stars with bleak prospects to one-day World Cup victory in 1992.
His first wife, Jemima Goldsmith, who lives in Britain, expressed relief that Khan was not in danger on Twitter.
“The news we dread … Thank God he’s okay,” she wrote. “And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman.”
Pakistan has a long history of political violence. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 in a gun and bomb attack after holding an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad.
Her father and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in the same city in 1979 after being deposed in a military coup.
Local media on Thursday showed footage of Khan waving to the crowd after being evacuated from his vehicle after the shooting as people ran and shouted.
He was taken to hospital as protesters poured out on to streets in some parts of the country and PTI leaders demanded justice.
PTI colleague Faisal Javed, who was also wounded and had blood stains on his clothes, told Geo TV from the hospital: “Several of our colleagues are wounded. We heard that one of them is dead.”
Since being ousted, Khan has held rallies across Pakistan, stirring opposition against a government that is struggling to bring the economy out of the crisis that Khan’s administration left it in.
He had planned to lead the motorised caravan slowly north up the Grand Trunk Road to Islamabad, drawing more support along the way before entering the capital.
Additional reporting by Aftab Ahmed, Sudipto Ganguly and Tanvi Mehta; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by John Stonestreet and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Editor-in-Chief of Renowned Science Journal Ousted for Publishing Science Questioning COVID-19 Vaccine Safety
Dr. José Luis Domingo, who has served as editor-in-chief of a prestigious scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT), for the past seven years, said that he has essentially been forced to resign.
His resignation, he alleged, has come about because of gaping problems with scientific integrity and industry influence when it comes to scientific discussions about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Though Domingo has himself received three vaccinations (two AstraZeneca and one Pfizer), he told The Epoch Times that he has been bombarded with insults, threats, and accusations of being “anti-vaccine” ever since he approved the publication of a scientific paper that explores potential mechanisms of harm of injected synthetic mRNA.
Though he would have preferred to stay at the helm of the journal until the end of 2023 because he has several projects pending, Domingo has issued his resignation from the journal to maintain his scientific independence.
He told us he is first and foremost a scientist, and that he does not regret publishing the paper. Despite the attacks, he was not willing to give in to the pressure from the journal’s publisher.
The journal’s publisher, Jagna Mirska, did not respond to our request for an interview.
However, Domingo said that the journal has already picked a successor for his position—someone with clear ties to the pharmaceutical industry: Bryan Delaney, Ph.D.
According to his LinkedIn page, Delaney is a toxicologist who currently works for Haleon. Haleon is pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKlein’s new brand name for its consumer health unit.
GSK manufactures vaccines against hepatitis A and B, meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, and human Papilloma virus, among others. It also makes brand-name antibiotics and dozens of other pharmaceuticals.
An Authority on Toxicology
Seventy-one-year-old Domingo is a distinguished professor (emeritus) of Toxicology and Environmental Health at Spain’s Rovira i Virgili University.
In 2014, and again in 2015, he was named an Institute for Scientific Information highly cited researcher. As a renowned authority in toxicology, Domingo has served on the editorial boards of more than 11 scientific journals, including as editor-in-chief or co-editor-in-chief of Food and Chemical Toxicology, Environmental Research, and Human and Ecological Risk Assessment.
As its website explains: Food and Chemical Toxicology is “an internationally renowned journal, that publishes original research articles and reviews on toxic effects, in animals and humans, of natural or synthetic chemicals occurring in the human environment with particular emphasis on food, drugs, and chemicals, …”
The journal’s mandate is to “publish high-impact, scholarly work” and “serve as a multidisciplinary forum for research in toxicology.”
Given its aim, and the fact that millions of people have taken injections that they were told would protect them from COVID-19 infections, Domingo wrote an editorial voicing his concerns about the need for more research on the safety of these vaccines.
He said Jagna Mirska, senior publisher at Elsevier, which is the company that owns the journal, asked him to transform the editorial into a call for submissions for research on the toxicity (or lack thereof) of the COVID-19 vaccines. So, in February 2022, Domingo issued a public call for submissions.
The Controversial Paper
As a result, in June of 2022, while Domingo was still at its helm, FCT published an extraordinary and highly technical paper called, “Innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations: The role of G-quadruplexes, exosomes, and MicroRNAs.”
This research was co-authored by a team of preeminent scientists, including Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Peter McCullough, an internationally known cardiologist who has published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles during his 40-year career; and Dr. Anthony Kyriakopoulos, a Greek clinical microbiologist, medical doctor, and researcher who has a Ph.D. in medical and molecular microbiology.
Their research proposed that alterations in the vaccine mRNA may “hide the mRNA from cellular defenses and promote a longer biological half-life and high production of spike protein.”
In doing so, these scientists posited, mRNA vaccines may interfere with the body’s natural immune response.
They described this interference as “profound impairment,” which, they believe, comes about specifically because the spike protein interferes with a critical early innate immune response mechanism, called the type I interferon response. If they are correct, injected synthetic mRNA will have a variety of negative consequences on human health, including making our bodies less able to control infections and suppress cancer.
Extra Scrutiny Because of the Sensitive Nature of the Topic
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, most developed countries have acted extraordinarily fast in investigating a number of aspects related to SARS-Co-V-2 and COVID-19,” wrote Domingo, who said that he has been the editor-in-chief of the journal for seven years and worked as the managing editor for three years prior.
Noting that “there are still an important number of gaps that need to be clarified … With respect specifically to the potential toxic effects … the published information in scientific journals is certainly rather limited.”
Domingo’s request for papers on vaccine safety further stated that “the goal in calling for research on potential toxicological effects of the vaccines, was to reduce skepticism to vaccination.”
The journal FCT, which is published by Elsevier, has a high impact factor, according to the Scientific Citation Index, which means that it is a very well-established and reputable journal.
Because Domingo knew that this was a “very sensitive social and scientific topic,” he told us that he was particularly meticulous about the review process.
During standard peer review, two or three outside scientists familiar with the subject provide written feedback on whether a paper should be published or not.
In the case of this work, however, Domingo called on no fewer than five outside peer-reviewers. These peer-reviewers scrutinized the science with extra care. They provided detailed written feedback and required the authors to do three rounds of revisions.
After the third iteration, all five were unanimous in recommending the paper be accepted.
Backlash, But Not About the Science
About a month after the paper was published, Domingo said, he began receiving angry emails and messages. These included insults, calls to resign, demands to retract the paper, and even threats.
One email asked him how he could sleep at night, knowing that the scientific paper that he had allowed to be published would lead to the death of millions of people.
The angry messages, he said, were filled with ad hominem attacks against him and against the paper’s co-authors, but did not specify their scientific objections to the contents of the paper. Domingo welcomed one scientific response he did receive and told the authors his journal was willing to publish a Letter-to-Editor (LTE) from them if the LTE could pass peer review, which is the standard process for any published rebuttal. He sent the rebuttal to four reviewers, which is higher than usual, again because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
Two said it did not pass scientific muster. Two suggested the authors revise it and resubmit it. Based on this feedback, Domingo said, he should have rejected the rebuttal outright. Instead, he invited the authors to revise and resubmit. Their revision, however, was so “scientifically poor” that three of the four reviewers said it should not be published. Given that he, too, found that the rebuttal was not scientifically sound, he felt he had no choice—in spite of what he called “kind suggestions” from the publisher—to reject it.
Since then, pro-vaccine factions have increased their personal campaign against him, going so far as to adding false information to the Wikipedia entry about him, as well as attacking the Wikipedia page of the journal itself. Both, he said, were negatively modified by pro-vaccination activists. Indeed, an Oct. 4 version of his page, accessed via internet archive, included a subheading entitled “Antivaccine controversy” that accused Domingo of “spreading disinformation during the pandemic.” That paragraph has since been removed.
The Published Rebuttal
On Oct. 26, a rebuttal and call for retraction of the Seneff paper was published in a different scientific journal Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. In this call for retraction, a team of nine scientists, from France and Sweden, among other countries, contend that “Fighting the spread of false information requires enormous effort while receiving little or no credit for this necessary work, which often ends up being threatened.”
In their abstract, the scientists insist that “The need for more scientific integrity is at the heart of our advocacy.” They describe the Seneff et. al. paper as “deadly disinformation.”
The authors of the rebuttal contend that they have made a “militant choice” to demand retraction because the issue is “not a scientific controversy, but a matter of public health.”
They further state that fighting against scientific disinformation “may be risky, too slow and insufficient.”
They end their militant call for retraction with a quote from Joseph Biden, president of the United States, that “the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated; and they’re killing people” (which they emphasize by placing in italics) and say that this quote “applies especially to the people who encourage the unvaccinated’s beliefs.”
No citation accompanies the contention that there is currently a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That statement is not scientific. It cannot be cited because it is not true. Most of the recent research shows that the vaccines do not stop the transmission of COVID-19 and that the majority of deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19 are in those who have been vaccinated.
mRNA Injections Aren’t Safe, Scientists Say
“I am honored to be collaborating with an expert team of researchers who are passionate about the goal of unraveling the toxic effects of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines,” Seneff, with whom Jennifer has published two Epoch Times articles, told us via email. “This same team has written another paper that has been accepted for publication and will appear shortly in a peer-reviewed journal, and we are working on several more papers that are either under review or soon to be submitted.
“We all share the belief that the mRNA vaccines are causing harm to many people, and that vaccine mandates are irresponsible and unjustified,” she continued.
“It is unconscionable that those of us who seek to understand the science behind the toxicity of these vaccines face so many obstacles in our efforts to inform the public of the risks they may be taking in receiving these injections. And it is also unconscionable that responsible editors who try to publish papers such as ours that go against the narrative get banished from the publishing world.”
Despite having received three vaccines, Domingo himself came down with COVID-19 in July.
“With me, the vaccines did not protect sufficiently,” he said.
Since the beginning of 2022, we have seen many scientists and medical doctors risking their careers, their medical licenses, and even their personal safety to fight for scientific freedom and integrity.
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Joe Wang, Ph.D., was a molecular biologist with more than 10 years of experience in the vaccine industry. He is now the president of New Tang Dynasty TV (Canada), and a columnist for the Epoch Times.
Georgia Tech fires Geoff Collins after 1-3 start to fourth season, AD also ousted amid upheaval, per report
Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins and athletic director Todd Stansbury were fired on Monday, just two days after a 27-10 road loss to UCF sent the Yellow Jackets to 1-3 in Collins’ fourth season. The two were informed of the decision by school president Angel Cabrera, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Collins is expected to receive a buyout in the range of $11.3 million, according to ESPN. Associate head coach Brent Key will serve as interim coach for the remainder of the season, according to The Athletic.
The loss sent Collins to 10-28 (7-19 ACC) at GT with the program struggling to show any improvement during his tenure. Stansbury had served as AD for Georgia Tech since 2016 following previous stints at Oregon State and UCF.
Upon being hired away from Temple, Collins faced a difficult task: Moving Georgia Tech’s offense away from the option-based attack that Paul Johnson installed during his 11-year run with the program. That provided Collins with some leeway; however, the Jackets never finished better than 10th in the ACC in total offense while winning just three games in each of his first three campaigns, and they struggled mightily to start the 2022 season.
This past offseason saw a wave of transfer portal action with Georgia Tech losing multiple key players, including star running back Jahmyr Gibbs to Alabama, while bringing in contributors to help bolster the roster in a must-improve season for Collins. However, in its three games against FBS opponents (Clemson, Ole Miss, UCF), Georgia Tech has been outscored 110-20.
Collins is the third Power Five coach who has been fired in the first month of the 2022 season after Nebraska rid itself of Scott Frost and Arizona State parted with Herm Edwards. Both Frost and Edwards were in their fifth years with their respective programs.
A failed strategy
When Collins came to Georgia Tech, he saw recruits leaving the city of Atlanta as perhaps the most existential issue facing the program. He spruced up the program by bringing the city to the forefront and embracing Atlanta staples like the “404” area code and Waffle House. It brought some success as 30 of the 53 recruits he signed were from Georgia.
Unfortunately, few of his players ended up reaching their potential under his tutelage. The Yellow Jackets landed just two All-ACC players in 2021. Both left as Gibbs transferred and Quez Jackson graduated. Tech ranks bottom-two in the ACC in offense, defense, scoring offense, scoring defense and even field goal kicking. Trying to provide some wins on the recruiting trail was nice, but the program has bottomed out under Collins’ leadership.
Is an investment coming?
One of the biggest benefits of the Johnson option era is that it allowed Georgia Tech to take a backseat on the recruiting trail. Especially in the rough-and-tumble Southeast, the Jackets’ lack of investment sticks out like a sore thumb. Georgia Tech spent $27.2 million on football-specific expenses during the 2019-20 academic year, per Sportico. That ranked the Jackets 40th among public institutions, a spot behind Kansas State and sixth out of eight public schools in the ACC. For comparison, rival Georgia spend $48.5 million a year on football on the books.
Collins failed to convert sizzle into steak during his four years at Georgia Tech. The administration must decide what it wants its football program to be long term, and what it is willing to invest in the program to make it happen — especially in an era where every Power Five team outside the Big Ten and SEC is existentially on the chopping block.
Coaching carousel keeps spinning
There were plenty of questions about how the early signing period and transfer portal would transform the coaching cycle. Two years in, the ride is spinning faster than ever. Just four weeks into the season, three Power Five programs have already made changes. Last year, LSU and USC both fired coaches before October, as did UConn and Georgia Southern. Amazingly, Georgia Southern and Texas Tech both fired coaches and hired external full-time replacements before the season even ended.
Players only have four years of eligibility to make their mark on college football, but programs are waving the white flag on seasons earlier than ever. It will be interesting to see whether all this movement ultimately leads to some guardrails to avoid tanking the limited collegiate careers of countless college football players.
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Brooke Jenkins replacing ousted San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin
SAN FRANCISCO — The mayor of San Francisco appointed an outspoken critic of ousted District Attorney Chesa Boudin as his replacement, saying that her pick was the right person to pursue criminal justice reform while holding offenders to account.
Mayor London Breed on Thursday announced that Brooke Jenkins will be the next district attorney after voters in the famously liberal city kicked out the politically progressive Boudin in a special recall election last month. She will be sworn into office Friday.
Jenkins, who quit Boudin’s office in 2021 to volunteer for the recall, is both Black and Latina. She will be San Francisco’s first Latina district attorney. Vice President Kamala Harris was the city’s first Black DA.
“We are a city of second chances. But the truth is we have to draw a line with people who choose hate, violence and a life of crime,” said Jenkins at a press conference announcing her appointment. “I want to make clear: holding offenders accountable does not preclude us from moving forward with vital and important reforms to our criminal justice system.”
Boudin, a former public defender elected in 2019, was ousted in a June 7 recall election fueled by frustration over public safety in the deeply Democratic city. Viral video footage of people shoplifting and attacking seniors, particularly Asian Americans, rattled residents.
Breed said she picked Jenkins for her experience, sense of fairness and compassion toward both victims and offenders. The mayor did not disclose how she voted in the recall, but clashed with Boudin over enforcement.
“She sacrificed her career to fight for people in this city, to fight for victims who needed a voice in the city,” Breed said.
Jenkins, who also considers herself a progressive prosecutor, said during the campaign that Boudin was too rigid. He eliminated cash bail for defendants and declared that minors would not be tried as adults, no matter how serious the crime. Jenkins said she would like those tools available for prosecutors to use at their discretion.
In an interview with The Associated Press before the election, Jenkins said that being a progressive prosecutor meant being “innovative about finding alternatives to incarceration, but trying to ensure our defendants don’t reoffend.”
Boudin, who has not ruled out running again for district attorney, said his time in office was hobbled by a pandemic that shuttered courts and the intensive treatment and counseling programs relied on to rehabilitate offenders.
Jenkins joined the San Francisco district attorney’s office in 2014.
She said she plans to run in November to serve the rest of Boudin’s term through 2023.
Shehbaz Sharif: Pakistan’s parliament votes in new prime minister after Imran Khan ousted
Sharif, the former chief minister of Punjab province and younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, is set to serve as prime minister until the next general election, which is expected to take place in 2023.
Shehbaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, was set to go up against former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was nominated by Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
But on Monday afternoon ahead of the vote, all of Khan’s lawmakers, including Qureshi, resigned en masse in protest over the proceedings. Sharif received 174 out of 342 votes in parliament.
Shehbaz Sharif’s appointment comes after widespread protests in support of Khan erupted across Pakistan late Sunday. Tens of thousands took to the streets in key cities, including Lahore and Peshawar, to support the ousted leader. They chanted slogans against the United States — which Khan had claimed was involved in a conspiracy against him — and the country’s powerful military, which had seemed to withdraw its support from him.
Against this backdrop of political turmoil and a crumbling economy, Shehbaz Sharif now faces a challenging period as the country’s leader.
Unlike Khan, Shehbaz Sharif has maintained an amicable relationship with the military and was a popular chief minister of Pakistan’s politically important and most populous province of Punjab.
He was lauded for his ambitious administrative and infrastructure projects in the province, which saw advances in the education and industrial sectors.
Shehbaz Sharif was instrumental in driving the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and maintains a positive relationship with Beijing.
A member of the wealthy Sharif dynasty, which amassed millions by producing steel, his family was mired in scandal after his brother Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison and handed a $10.5 million fine over corruption charges in 2018.
Shehbaz Sharif rejected the verdict, calling it “flawed” and “politically motivated.” Shehbaz Sharif is also facing charges for alleged corruption.
In recent months, Shehbaz Sharif had led a campaign to remove Khan as Pakistan’s leader over claims of economic mismanagement and poor governance. Along with the opposition, he had urged Khan to resign ahead of a no-confidence vote that was widely expected to dismiss Khan.
Tensions smoldered for days, with Khan repeatedly rejecting the criticism and instead claiming the moves against him were an attempt at regime change backed by Washington and some members of the opposition. The allegations were denied by both the US State Department and the Pakistani opposition.
In a dramatic series of events, the deputy speaker in parliament blocked the no-confidence vote against Khan. Khan then dissolved parliament and called for early elections. The opposition challenged Khan’s moves in Pakistan’s highest court, with Shehbaz Sharif calling them “nothing short of high treason.”
The court ruled last week that the blocking of the no-confidence vote against Khan was unconstitutional, paving the way for Shehbaz Sharif’s rise to power.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan ousted in no-confidence vote
ISLAMABAD, April 10 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted on Sunday when he lost a vote of confidence in parliament, after being deserted by coalition partners who blame him for a crumbling economy and failure to deliver on his campaign promises.
The result of the vote, the culmination of a 13-hour session that included repeated delays, was announced just before 0100 (2000 GMT on Saturday) by the presiding speaker of parliament’s lower house, Ayaz Sadiq.
Khan, 69 was ousted after 3-1/2 years as the leader of the nuclear-armed country of 220 million where the military has ruled for nearly half its nearly 75-year history.
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The late-night vote followed multiple adjournments in the chamber, called due to lengthy speeches by member’s of Khan’s party, who said there was a U.S. conspiracy to oust the cricket star-turned-politician.
Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member house in support of the no-confidence motion, Sadiq said, making it a majority vote.
“Consequently the motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan has been passed,” he said to the thumping of desks.
There were just a few legislators of Khan’s ruling party present for the vote.
The house voted after the country’s powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa met Khan, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, as criticism mounted over the delay in the parliamentary process.
Parliament will meet on Monday to elect a new prime minister.
Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, the front-runner to lead Pakistan, said Khan’s ouster was the chance for a new beginning.
“A new dawn has started… This alliance will rebuild Pakistan,” Sharif, 70, said in parliament.
Sharif, the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has a reputation as an effective administrator. read more
Elections are not due until August 2023. However, the opposition has said it wants early elections, but only after it delivered a political defeat to Khan and passes legislation it says is required to ensure the next polls are free and fair.
Khan surged to power in 2018 with the military’s support, but recently lost his parliamentary majority when allies quit his coalition government. There were also signs he had lost the military’s support, analysts said.
Opposition parties say he has failed to revive an economy battered by COVID-19 or fulfil promises to make Pakistan a corruption-free, prosperous nation respected on the world stage.
His ouster extends Pakistan’s unenviable record for political instability: has completed their full term since independence from Britain in 1947, although Khan is the first to be removed through a no-confidence vote. (GRAPHIC: https://tmsnrt.rs/3JsJaU2)
Khan’s allies blocked the no-confidence motion last week and dissolved parliament’s lower house, prompting the country’s Supreme Court to intervene and allow the vote to go through.
Khan earlier accused the United States of backing moves to oust him because he had visited Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin just after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Washington rejected the charge.
Muhammad Ali Khan, a legislator from Khan’s party, said the prime minister had fought till the end and would return to lead parliament in the future.
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Reporting by Asif Shahzad, Syed Raza Hassan and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam in Islamabad; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by William Mallard, Jan Harvey and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga ousted
San Francisco voters overwhelmingly supported the ouster of three school board members Tuesday in the city’s first recall election in nearly 40 years.
The landslide decision means board President Gabriela López and members Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga will officially be removed from office and replaced by mayoral appointments 10 days after the election is officially accepted by the Board of Supervisors.
The new board members are likely to take office in mid-March.
Early returns showed 79% of voters endorsed recalling Collins, 75% backed removing Lopez and 73% backed recalling Moliga.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen said she wasn’t surprised by the results.
“We faced the hardest time of our entire lives as parents and as students in public schools and this Board of Education focused on issues that weren’t about dealing with the immediate crisis of the day, and they didn’t show the leadership that that was necessary and that parents needed to hear, and that kids needed to hear,” said Ronen.
At least a hundred recall backers had gathered in the back room of Manny’s Cafe in the Mission District on Tuesday night.
“This is what happens when you try to rename the schools in the middle of a pandemic!” exclaimed David Thompson a.k.a “Gaybraham” Lincoln, an SFUSD parent dressed in head-to-toe rainbow drag and towering platform shoes, who described his persona as a form of protest. “We wanted to show the diversity of the community behind this recall. I knew they were going to say, ‘Oh isn’t it just a bunch of Republicans?’ and I’m like, do I look like a Republican?”
Within the next few weeks, Mayor London Breed is expected to appoint replacements to finish out the commissioners’ terms, which end in early January 2023. To remain in office, the replacements would have to run in the upcoming November election, but would have an edge as incumbents. The three were the only school board members eligible to be recalled.
“The voters of this city have delivered a clear message that the school board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else,” Breed said in a statement. “There are many critical decisions in the coming months — addressing a significant budget deficit, hiring a new Superintendent, and navigating our emergence from this pandemic … The school district has a lot of work to do.”
Breed did not indicate who might be in the running to replace any of the board members or when she would make the appointments.
Collins, López and Moliga are the first elected officials in the city to be recalled in recent memory. The last time a recall effort made it to the ballot was in 1983, in a failed attempt to remove then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein from office.
The school board recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School.
“Parents have spoken, parents have been heard,” Meredith Dodson, co-founder of the S.F. Parent Coalition, said on Twitter.
Kit Lam, a supporter of the school board recall and father of two who attend school at the San Francisco Unified School District, speaks to a voter while canvassing in Chinatown on election day in San Francisco, California Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
Stephen Lam / The ChronicleThe recall drew support from a wide range of city officials, including Breed, state Sen. Scott Wiener, state Treasurer Fiona Ma, as well as current and former supervisors and school board members.
“That is incredible,” shouted Siva Raj, one of the parents who had been leading the recall campaign, to a cheering and hollering crowd of attendees at Manny’s. “Thank you, and thank you San Francisco for making this happen. For fighting for our children. For fighting for the children that our school board members did not prioritize.”
Moliga acknowledged the loss shortly after the first round of results posted.
“We fought hard and ran a great campaign,” he said. “I want to thank the Pacific Islander community for standing up and taking on this challenge. There are many more fights ahead of us.”
Collins and López did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
State Sen. Scott Wiener said the vote was a clear statement.
“We need the Board of Education focused like a laser on stabilizing our schools, keeping them open, and supporting students and families in the most effective way possible,” he said in a statement. “With the recall now behind us, I look forward to the mayor making three strong appointments to the Board of Education and to all of us circling wagons around our school district to stabilize and strengthen it.”
Volunteers took to the streets and farmers’ markets a year ago to collect signatures as hundreds contributed money to the campaign. Later deep-pocket funders from San Francisco’s business and tech communities signed on, many of whom have fought against progressive reform efforts in the past.
As of Monday, the pro-recall organizers had pulled in nearly $2 million, a jaw-dropping amount for a school board election. The opposition had raised $86,000, including $47,000 specifically donated to keep Moliga in office.
Opponents of the recall described the effort as an attempt by billionaires to take over the school board, an attack on three people of color as well as a waste of money, given the upcoming election.
Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton slammed the recall as being driven by “closet Republicans and most certainly folks with conservative values in San Francisco, even if they weren’t registered Republicans.”
“Trump’s election and bold prejudice brought a lot of that out, even in our Democratic and liberal city,” he told The Chronicle in the days before the election. “There are a lot of people who do not want people of color making decisions in leadership, even though the voters said that is what they want.”
The commissioners who faced the recall are among six people of color on the seven-member school board.
Supporters said the recall had widespread support in the city.
“While a few large contributions came from investors, nearly 2,000 individuals have donated to this campaign, and approximately 84% of them live in San Francisco,” said Marie-Jose Durquet, a former district teacher whose own children attended city schools. “People from all walks of life desire a school board that behaves responsibly and delivers a quality education for children.”
Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com annie.vainshtein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker @annievain