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itsawritblr · 5 months

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The Courage to Follow the Evidence on Transgender Care.

(WOW, the New York Times -- which a couple years ago had an ad about a qu**r girl who wished for a world in which J.K. Rowling wasn't the author of Harry Potter -- has published yet another opinion piece about trans, this one about the Cass Review. Personally, I think he's too lenient, but at least he's bringing attention to the review to Americans. )

(For those who can't read the NYT page, here's the text.)

Opinion, David Brooks, April 18, 2024.

Hilary Cass is the kind of hero the world needs today. She has entered one of the most toxic debates in our culture: how the medical community should respond to the growing numbers of young people who seek gender transition through medical treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies. This month, after more than three years of research, Cass, a pediatrician, produced a report, commissioned by the National Health Service in England, that is remarkable for its empathy for people on all sides of this issue, for its humility in the face of complex social trends we don’t understand and for its intellectual integrity as we try to figure out which treatments actually work to serve those patients who are in distress. With incredible courage, she shows that careful scholarship can cut through debates that have been marked by vituperation and intimidation and possibly reset them on more rational grounds.

Cass, a past president of Britain’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, is clear about the mission of her report: “This review is not about defining what it means to be trans, nor is it about undermining the validity of trans identities, challenging the right of people to express themselves or rolling back on people’s rights to health care. It is about what the health care approach should be, and how best to help the growing number of children and young people who are looking for support from the N.H.S. in relation to their gender identity.”

This issue begins with a mystery. For reasons that are not clear, the number of adolescents who have sought to medically change their sex has been skyrocketing in recent years, though the overall number remains very small. For reasons that are also not clear, adolescents who were assigned female at birth are driving this trend, whereas before the late 2000s, it was mostly adolescents who were assigned male at birth who sought these treatments.

Doctors and researchers have proposed various theories to try to explain these trends. One is that greater social acceptance of trans people has enabled people to seek these therapies. Another is that teenagers are being influenced by the popularity of searching and experimenting around identity. A third is that the rise of teen mental health issues may be contributing to gender dysphoria. In her report, Cass is skeptical of broad generalizations in the absence of clear evidence; these are individual children and adolescents who take their own routes to who they are.

Some activists and medical practitioners on the left have come to see the surge in requests for medical transitioning as a piece of the new civil rights issue of our time — offering recognition to people of all gender identities. Transition through medical interventions was embraced by providers in the United States and Europe after a pair of small Dutch studies showed that such treatment improved patients’ well-being. But a 2022 Reuters investigation found that some American clinics were quite aggressive with treatment: None of the 18 U.S. clinics that Reuters looked at performed long assessments on their patients, and some prescribed puberty blockers on the first visit.

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Unfortunately, some researchers who questioned the Dutch approach were viciously attacked. This year, Sallie Baxendale, a professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University College London, published a review of studies looking at the impact of puberty blockers on brain development and concluded that “critical questions” about the therapy remain unanswered. She was immediately attacked. She recently told The Guardian, “I’ve been accused of being an anti-trans activist, and that now comes up on Google and is never going to go away.”

As Cass writes in her report, “The toxicity of the debate is exceptional.” She continues, “There are few other areas of health care where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behavior.”

Cass focused on Britain, but her description of the intellectual and political climate is just as applicable to the U.S., where brutality on the left has been matched by brutality on the right, with crude legislation that doesn’t acknowledge the well-being of the young people in question. In 24 states Republicans have passed laws banning these therapies, sometimes threatening doctors with prison time if they prescribe the treatment they think is best for their patients.

The battle lines on this issue are an extreme case, but they are not unfamiliar. On issue after issue, zealous minorities bully and intimidate the reasonable majority. Often, those who see nuance decide it’s best to just keep their heads down. The rage-filled minority rules.

Cass showed enormous courage in walking into this maelstrom. She did it in the face of practitioners who refused to cooperate and thus denied her information that could have helped inform her report. As an editorial in The BMJ puts it, “Despite encouragement from N.H.S. England,” the “necessary cooperation” was not forthcoming. “Professionals withholding data from a national inquiry seems hard to imagine, but it is what happened.”

Cass’s report does not contain even a hint of rancor, just a generous open-mindedness and empathy for all involved. Time and again in her report, she returns to the young people and the parents directly involved, on all sides of the issue. She clearly spent a lot of time meeting with them. She writes, “One of the great pleasures of the review has been getting to meet and talk to so many interesting people.”

The report’s greatest strength is its epistemic humility. Cass is continually asking, “What do we really know?” She is carefully examining the various studies — which are high quality, which are not. She is down in the academic weeds.

She notes that the quality of the research in this field is poor. The current treatments are “built on shaky foundations,” she writes in The BMJ. Practitioners have raced ahead with therapies when we don’t know what the effects will be. As Cass tells The BMJ, “I can’t think of another area of pediatric care where we give young people a potentially irreversible treatment and have no idea what happens to them in adulthood.”

She writes in her report, “The option to provide masculinizing/feminizing hormones from age 16 is available, but the review would recommend extreme caution.” She does not issue a blanket, one-size-fits-all recommendation, but her core conclusion is this: “For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress.” She realizes that this conclusion will not please many of the young people she has come to know, but this is where the evidence has taken her.

You can agree or disagree with this or that part of the report, and maybe the evidence will look different in 10 years, but I ask you to examine the integrity with which Cass did her work in such a treacherous environment.

In 1877 a British philosopher and mathematician named William Kingdon Clifford published an essay called “The Ethics of Belief.” In it he argued that if a shipowner ignored evidence that his craft had problems and sent the ship to sea having convinced himself it was safe, then of course we would blame him if the ship went down and all aboard were lost. To have a belief is to bear responsibility, and one thus has a moral responsibility to dig arduously into the evidence, avoid ideological thinking and take into account self-serving biases. “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence,” Clifford wrote. A belief, he continued, is a public possession. If too many people believe things without evidence, “the danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.”

Since the Trump years, this habit of not consulting the evidence has become the underlying crisis in so many realms. People segregate into intellectually cohesive teams, which are always dumber than intellectually diverse teams. Issues are settled by intimidation, not evidence. Our natural human tendency is to be too confident in our knowledge, too quick to ignore contrary evidence. But these days it has become acceptable to luxuriate in those epistemic shortcomings, not to struggle against them. See, for example, the modern Republican Party.

Recently it’s been encouraging to see cases in which the evidence has won out. Many universities have acknowledged that the SAT is a better predictor of college success than high school grades and have reinstated it. Some corporations have come to understand that while diversity, equity and inclusion are essential goals, the current programs often empirically fail to serve those goals and need to be reformed. I’m hoping that Hilary Cass is modeling a kind of behavior that will be replicated across academia, in the other professions and across the body politic more generally and thus save us from spiraling into an epistemological doom loop.

#cass review #the cass review #cass report #the cass report #transgender #trans #trans insanity #the tide is turning #gender critical #gender ideology #gender identity #gender cult #gender madness

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jcmarchi · 4 months

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President Sally Kornbluth’s charge to the Class of 2024

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/president-sally-kornbluths-charge-to-the-class-of-2024/

President Sally Kornbluth’s charge to the Class of 2024

Below is the text of President Sally Kornbluth’s Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery today.

Penny, and Mikala — thank you both, for your reflections today, and for your leadership in our community.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It’s customary, on this day of celebration, for the president to deliver a “charge” to the graduating class. In a year when there has been so much campus turmoil, I may not be able to offer you either advice or inspiration. But I would like to acknowledge a few things that I’ve learned since I came to MIT 17 months ago.

And I want to start by addressing your parents and families.

As all of you know, the education we offer our students is famous for its depth and rigor — and we’re proud of the bursting satchel of skills and knowledge that every MIT graduate carries out into the world.

But the truth is that the young people you sent to us, whom you trusted us to educate, and care for, were remarkable before we even met them.

You certainly know this about them as individuals. And you know the specific challenges they had to overcome. For some of you, the young person whose graduation you’re here to celebrate is the first in your family to go to college. For some, coming here meant leaving home many thousands of miles away. For some, it meant overcoming language barriers or personal hardships. Some faced all the normal rigors of the MIT curriculum, on top of family responsibilities and even tragic losses.

You also know their individual achievements — how much they learned, and grew, and stretched, and pushed themselves – long before they came to MIT. You know how delightful and inspiring and thoughtful they are.

And I expect at least most of you know the particular thrill of the day you realized that they now understood things that you just cannot understand — the day when it would no longer be possible for you, even theoretically, to “help them with their homework.”

So you know them well, as exceptional individuals.

But at MIT, we also get to see them all together. Taken together, in their critical mass, they are a natural wonder — as awe-inspiring as a visitation of 17-year-cicadas, as miraculous as a total eclipse of the sun.

It has been our privilege to teach them, and to learn together with them. And we share with you the highest hopes for what they will do next.

Play video

Now, to those of you graduating today:

With the exception of a few masters’ students, nearly all of you have been part of the MIT community longer than I have. You know its culture and qualities so well that they may not stand out to you anymore. But I’ve spent my whole career in higher education — and I have never seen a community quite like this one.

A community founded on wonder — and wondering why. A community whose version of March Madness is 1000 people staring upward, spontaneously sharing the wondrous sight of a solar eclipse — (and actually being able to explain it). A community that runs on an irrepressible combination of curiosity and creativity and drive. A community in which everyone you meet has something important to teach you. A community in which people expect excellence of themselves — and take great care of one another.

I have no doubt that you’re tired of hearing how “resilient” you are, because of the pandemic.

But I mention that long, drawn-out challenge as another illustration of what it means to be part of this particular community. A community that fought the virus with the tools of measurement and questioning and analysis and self-discipline — and was therefore able to pursue its mission almost undeterred. A community that understands, in a deep way, that the vaccines were not some “overnight miracle” — but rather the final flowering of decades of work by thousands of people, pushing the boundaries of fundamental science. A place that does not shy from complexity. A place that embraces the hardest problems.

You may never find another community like it.

But I hope you’ll keep us in mind as you design and invent creative communities of your own!

All of you graduating today have been tested. By the repercussions of a relentless virus. By societal upheaval here, and by violent conflict and the most terrible human suffering abroad.

And of course, you have also been tested — many, many times — by the faculty of MIT.

An MIT education is a test of endurance. A grand p-set made of p-sets! A test made of tests!

MIT is famous for testing its students — but you have tested us too — from the moment you arrived, to the present. You’ve tested our systems. Our assumptions. Our practices.

You’ve revealed places where our understanding may fall short. You’ve shown us that we need to reflect more deeply and be willing to assess and reconsider long-held beliefs.

In short, the Institute you are graduating from is — thanks in part to you — always reflecting and always changing. And I take that as your charge to us.

So thank you! Congratulations! And best wishes to each of you for a wonderful future!

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 22, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

The backdrop of everything political these days is the 2022 midterm election.

The most immediate story in the country is that coronavirus infections are rising rapidly. The seven-day average of Covid-19 cases is rising about 37,700 cases per day, and the seven-day average of hospital admissions is about 35,000 per day. The seven-day average of daily deaths has also increased to 237 per day, about 19 percent higher than it was in the previous seven-day period.

The vast majority of these hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated as the new, highly contagious Delta variant spreads. Today, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned that the Delta variant “is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of and that I have seen in my 20-year career.”

Three states with lower vaccination rates, Florida, Texas, and Missouri, had 40 percent of all the nation’s cases. At a White House press conference, Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, noted, “For the second week in a row, one in five of all cases [occurred] in Florida alone.”

Republican lawmakers and right-wing pundits have cast doubt on the vaccines and hardened opposition to them as part of the stoking of a culture war, but now, quite suddenly, many of them are urging their supporters and listeners to get vaccinated. They have not offered their reasoning for the about-face, and perhaps they are suddenly concerned about coronavirus deaths.

But as news outlets repeat that hospitalizations and deaths are overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated, Republican lawmakers must also realize that their voters will at some point resent the anti-vaccine advice that is singling them out for death.

Republicans seem to be trying to rewrite their past attacks on the vaccine by now blaming the people who refused the vaccines for their reluctance to get it. Today, for example, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who has been a strong Trump supporter, blamed the unvaccinated for the spike. “Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the vaccinated folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she said.

The Republicans have another problem, too. Candidates vying to win Republican primaries are trying to pick up the Trump base by sticking closely to him and to the lie that he won the 2020 election. But the same stances that will win primary voters will alienate voters in the general election.

Candidates are staking out their pro-Trump ground in part because they are holding out hope that the former president will choose to pour money into their campaigns; however, news broke today that Trump has taken in about $75 million in the first half of 2021 on the promise that he is fighting the results of the 2020 election but has spent none of that money on those challenges.

At the same time that news about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the January 6 commission put a spotlight on the possible involvement of Trump Republicans in that insurrection, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is using the Senate Rules Committee, which she chairs, to highlight the voter restrictions that legislatures in Republican-dominated states are imposing on their citizens. The committee is holding field hearings this week in Georgia.

There, Georgia State Senator Sally Harrell (D) told the committee about begging for copies of voting rights bills so she could read them before voting, about bills being switched at the last minute, and of not being able to stop the Republicans from undermining voting rights. Harrell told the committee that state lawmakers need the help of the federal For the People Act to protect voting rights.

Mounting pressure on Republican lawmakers to try to shore up their voters showed in the July 20 Senate vote on the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law today. Originally passed in 1984, the measure gathers fines and penalties paid by convicted federal criminals into a fund that spreads money to organizations helping the victims of crimes. But the amount of money in the fund has dropped 92% since 2017, as “non-prosecutorial agreements” and “deferred prosecution agreements” kept money from going into the fund.

This measure is vital for domestic abuse survivors and their children, and the new bill directs money from those agreements into the fund to replenish it. The Senate, which generally opposes social welfare legislation, backed it 100–0 in what looks like an attempt to reach out to the suburban women Republicans need to win in 2022 and 2024.

—-

Notes:

https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/its-time-to-start-blaming-the-unvaccinated-gov-ivey-on-rise-in-covid-19-cases-low-vaccination-rate/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/18/us/politics/amy-klobuchar-rules-committee-voting.html

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/georgia-democrat-voting-laws-republicans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pac-ballot-reviews/2021/07/22/d451fcaa-e596-11eb-934f-7e6c1927f261_story.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/22/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-h-r-1642-the-voca-fix-to-sustain-the-crime-victims-fund-act-of-2021/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/22/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-46/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #midterms #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #COVID19

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dailybuglenow · 4 years

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WEDNESDAY, 8 JULY 2024. EDITED BY J. JONAH JAMESON.

AMERICA’S FIRST FAMILY LEADS THE WAY!

Although responses to the newly created S.315, aka the Underage Superhuman Welfare Act have been decidedly mixed the first superheroes have finally stepped out in support. Fantastic Four members Dr. Reed Richards and Dr. Susan Storm-Richards announced that they not only believe in Kamala’s Law but have also registered their own children, Franklin Richards ( 16 ) and Valeria Richards ( 14 ) with Mister Fantastic set to sponsor Valeria while the Invisible Woman will register Franklin. This announcement may come as a surprise to some but analysts predicated it weeks ago due to the Fantastic Four’s history. Child Protective Services were called a few years back, according to government records, as it was believed that children could not be raised in a healthy and safe environment if superheroics are in the mix. It was ultimately decided that the Richard’s were fit to maintain custody of their children. Their current support of the Act shows a continued devotion to making the world a safe place for young heroes.

Psychologist and government agent Dr. Valerie Cooper pointed out that S.315 was not put in place to discourage underaged superheroes, only disruptive behavior. “During formative years it’s important for there to be structure and consistency. S.315 requires underage heroes to enter partnerships with established adult heroes who can provide advice and guidance.” By that definition it should be easy for people to take extra precautions to protect their children and set them up for success. Upon turning twenty-one sponsored heroes are able to become mentors themselves, therefore creating a positive cycle that shows sponsorship is not censorship.

“We want the world for our children,” the Invisible Woman said in a Fantastic Four press conference. “But we also remember the fear and struggle that can come with harnessing metahuman abilities. Our son has fantastical powers and with proper guidance we know he can do fantastic things. That’s why we support Kamala’s Law; it fosters potential. We’ve always been champions of positive change and hopefully, through this, a little bit more is passed onto our children.”

With the Fantastic Four now behind the Underage Superhuman Welfare Act more heroes are expected to step forward. So far none of Osborn’s American Avengers have been listed as potential sponsors but they are expected to be soon. Hero teams such as the Champions and the family of minors the Power Pack are expected to sign up for sponsorship soon or will face repercussions. As more and more time passes it seems as if President Osborn’s America may be here to stay. If the Fantastic Four leads the way we may very well end up in a world with supervised heroics. Hopefully this goes better than the last time.

— Christine Everhart, Daily Bugle News Senior Reporter

ROBBING THE C.R.A.D.L.E.: A CONTAINMENT OUTBREAK

Over the last three months the Child Hero Reconnaissance and Disruption Law Enforcement ( C.R.A.D.L.E. ) division of the government have rolled out raids and warranted visits to bring in underaged superheroes. As it stands, being a superhero under the age of twenty-one is not illegal as long as said hero has a government approved sponsor. The government has deigned Central VA Correctional Unit 13 in Virginia as the official C.R.A.D.L.E. Correctional Facility. “The goal is not long term residency,” C.R.AD.L.E. Captain Carolina Washington said in a statement after the announcement. “They’re not inmates. It’s a correctional facility in name but the point is to have a consolidated place to keep heroes safe while we process each case. After they comply they’re welcome to go home and continue making a positive difference.”

On May 25th C.R.A.D.L.E received an anonymous tip that the New Avengers would be having a meeting at the New Avengers Compound in Upstate New York. This tip came shortly after the Bugle received word that high school senior Peter Parker of Queens, NY was actually the masked hero known as Spider-man. Whether or not Parker was the reason C.R.A.D.L.E. was called to the Compound is unknown, but he was confirmed to be present. Please see our article by reporter Melita Garner on page 3 for more of Spider-man’s story. C.R.A.D.L.E. Captain Carolina Washington led the strike alongside America’s Avenger team-member Star, who was there to oversee the situation. Upon arriving they received pushback from Katherine Pryde ( Red Queen ), Sam Wilson ( Captain America ) and Carol Danvers ( Captain Marvel ) the operatives were able to take seven underaged heroes into custody. Parker managed to evade arrest alongside Illyana Rasputina ( Magik ) and Nathan Summers ( Cable ). The addition of the May 25th raid brought the total of arrested minors to seventeen total in the Correctional Facility.

Surprisingly, among those taken into custody was Xandra Neramani, daughter of the deceased Shi’ar Empress Lilandra Neramani and famed mutant leader and humanitarian Charles Xavier. The arrival of the Shi’ar in March revealed that the galactic empire had chosen to allow a fifteen year old to act as their Majestrix due to her Neramani royal blood. She has been supported by Shi’ar Grand Council and former Majestrix Kallark ( Gladiator ). The Shi’ar are known for complicated family relationships, and it was her Aunt turned guardian Cal’syee Neramani ( Deathbird ) who handled the incident. Empress Neramani’s action as a minor on American soil conflict with her diplomatic status, but she was released the following morning to Deathbird’s care and the elder Shi’ar made reassurances that the Empire took no offense and that Empress Neramani’s position is an understandably delicate one. Xandra is the only arrested minor to be released and the rest were booked that night.

On June 15th there was a disturbance at the Correctional Facility when a group disguised as guards broke in. Security cameras have positively identified them as Avenger’s Hawkeye ( Barton ), Hawkeye ( Bishop ), Spider-man ( Parker ) and Spider-Woman ( Drew ). Also present were mutants Angel ( Worthington III ), Cable ( Summers ), Cyclops ( Summers ), Gambit ( LeBeau ), Hellion ( Keller ), Kid Omega ( Quire ), Illyana Rasputina ( Magik ) and Polaris ( Lorna Dane ).

No guards were killed during the break-in and injuries were minor. They managed to break into special holdings and free seven minors. Some of these youth were deemed a danger to themselves and others. Take for example, eighteen year old Lana Baumgartner, aka Bombshell. Baumgartner and her mother, Lori, were booked a decade back for robbery and the eight year old was sent to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Maximum Security Facility for Mutants. A child criminal with mutant terrorist charges, Baumgartner was deemed a victim of poor parental influence and given a parole that meant she was prohibited from using her abilities until the age of twenty-one. The revelation that she has been working with the Champions means she has broken her parole and is legally required to stay at the Facilities until she can be tried again. Cases like this show why C.R.A.D.L.E. is important. Some kids are caught up in things bigger than themselves but others make conscious decisions to do wrong and need to be held accountable.

C.R.A.D.L.E. is currently working to reprehend those who escaped. Jurisdiction remains complicated in mutant cases due to the fact that while they now claim Krakoa citizenship most were born in the States and operate here. The same goes for Terrigen fueled Nuhumans, but like Krakoa’s Quiet Council the Inhumans Queen Amaquelin has remained firm that her people - who are also Americans - should be allowed to live freely as both.

If you see an underaged superhero, please call the C.R.A.D.L.E. Hotline to report them. A list of sponsored heroes is available on C.R.A.D.L.E.’s webpage along with information on those who have warrants out for them. Like the government has said, this is for the good of underaged heroes. You’re helping both them and the country you live in.

— Sally Floyd, Daily Bugle News Senior Reporter

THE CABAL THAT ISN’T A CABAL AT ALL, OR, POWER PLAYS

Cabal, noun: a secret political clique or faction. Normally, the point of a cabal would be to stay true to its definition and remain out of the public eye but news broke back in late April that President Norman Osborn was assembling his own with an impressive array of world leaders in a new sign of unity and development. Shortly after the leak Oscorp’s new spokeswoman Lily Hollister confirmed that the Cabal was real and would function similar to the now defunct multiversal Illuminati of heroes that had consisted of heroes such as Doctor Strange, Namor, Black Bolt and others. According to Hollister, the Cabal was never meant to be secret but treaties and alliances had yet to be secured.

Now made public, the ‘Cabal’ name has stuck but the group is being touted as a sign of unity and progress. Representatives hail from across the galaxy and are compromised of groups that normally would not be seen working together. Of course, there’s been a fair amount of discourse stemming from the proximity and relationship that each member has with the leader of their populous. I was provided information on each member from Ms. Hollister with permission to reprint it here.

Representing Latveria is world leader Victor Von Doom ( Doctor Doom ). Doom is the current leader of Latveria but used to be at odds with the Fantastic Four. His participation on the Cabal is one of the least surprising. Representing the United States is Dr. Valerie Cooper, Special Assistant to the President's National Security Adviser. Dr. Cooper has been instrumental on setting up S.315 and overseeing President Osborn’s new programs and initiative. Part of Dr. Cooper’s platform, however, is the danger of mutants and how superhumans can be harmful to the country, which leads some to be uneasy about having her as a representative.

Representing Asgardia is Loki Laufayson, the adopted brother of Avenger Thor Odinson. Laufayson is infamous for attempting to take over New York through the force of the Chitauri during The Battle of New York in 2012. Although apparently redeemed, there were rumors that he was murdered by Thanos in 2018. Laufayson’s blatant disregard for human life and safety is not something most want to associate the United States with. Laufayson is also acting as a diplomat for Asgardia, but he was not appointed by their King nor does she support him. The only statement that the Valkyrie would make is that “he is a snake, both literally and figuratively.” Because of this it would appear that Laufayson’s words hold no power in the country is supposed to be representing.

In a similar position is the representative of New Attilan, Maximus Boltagon. Boltagon is the brother of former King Black Bolt and is known for his madness and attempts to seize the Inhuman throne. When Black Bolt and his wife, Medusalith Amaquelin, stepped away from the throne it was Amaquelin’s sister Crystalia Amaquelin who took over as Queen, effectively passing Maximus over. This comes across as another power play by Boltagon to claim the Inhuman throne. Queen Amaquelin emphasized the fact that the Inhumans have a Royal Diplomatic Party and Boltagon’s participation on the Cabal is not reflective of their stance. Queen Amaquelin’s cousin isn’t the only Cabal threat to rule over the Inhuman people though.

Representing the Kree Nation is Ronan the Accuser. Queen Amaquelin made waves with her brief marriage to Pietro Maximoff, twin of the New Avenger Wanda Maximoff, and their daughter marked the first and only mutant-Inhuman born ( the inhomosuperior ). Maximus Boltagon announced recently after Amaquelin’s blowback on his Cabal participation that, “My darling cousin is, to put it simply, upset and distempered. She feels insecure about her position but with the stress of running our nation - which has nearly been run into the ground - it seemed fitting that I slip into the Cabal’s shoes. Of course, I know there is the additional possibility that she is unable to look outside of her own past emotions and consider her people due to the participation of Ronan. Oh, yes. That’s right. It’s not commonly known but Crystal and Ronan did wed once upon a time. While it did to work out in the traditional sense it was never annulled and likely the reason why she fails to live up to her duties.” A royal representative did not deny the claims that Queen Amaquelin and Ronan had wed but said it was for the sake of alliances and had no continued contact, nor did his presence impact the Queen’s ability to rule. Maximus, who has been admittedly unstable in the past, is currently listed as working against his people although the Cabal does not denounce his actions and the Accuser has only commented on the state of the Kree and not his marital status.

As mentioned in Sally Floyd’s front page article, Cal’syee Neramani, the Shi’ar known as Deathbird, arrived on Earth with her niece Empress Xandra Neramani. The representative for the Shi’ar was announced to be Deathbird, though, instead of the young Majestrix or former Majestrix Gladiator ( Kallark ) who had ruled after the death of Xandra’s mother, former Empress Lilandra Neramani. Deathbird and her younger sister had often gone head to head after Deathbird was exiled for matricide but still wished to claim the throne. During her banishment Gladiator became a prominent leader until Xandra’s existence was discovered. The teenaged Empress had been living with an attendant of her mother and her father, Charles Xavier, had not known of her birth. Because the Shi’ar believe a Neramani should sit on the throne Xandra was selected as Majestrix over Deathbird, who took on the role of advisor. Following Deathbird’s participation on the Cabal and Empress Neramani’s arrest by C.R.A.D.L.E. it looks as if there are cracks in the Shi’ar ruling infrastructure. “Xandra is our Majestrix,” Gladiator told the Times. “I serve the throne and she is the one who by blood and title deserves to sit there. Deathbird’s actions have been nothing short of treacherous and while that kind of behavior was endured by Lilandra it should not be by her daughter. We will not tolerate the behavior of Cal’syee. Any stances from the Shi’ar will come from the Grand Council. As for the Empresses arrest, we are currently working with the nation of Krakoa to look into the disrespect.” Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and it seems there may be one too many under it in the Shi’ar nation.

The most intriguing of the representatives is that of Krakoa’s, however. It came as a surprise to most that the mutant nation would get involved as they have been pushing their sovereignty and independence. Emma Frost, the White Queen, was announced as the Krakoa representative and brought with her connections to their very exclusive Hellfire Trading Company, the most recent iteration of the Hellfire Club. Frost’s participation with the Cabal allowed previously denied access to Krakoa’s drugs and medications and the Island stayed mostly silent about her involvement, although inside sources say their Quiet Council was far from pleased. A group of New Avengers and mutants crashed a Cabal meeting last month and Frost was seen getting into an altercation with Katherine Pryde, the X-Men formerly known as Shadowcat who has since become the Red Queen in Frost’s club. The incident involved Pryde apparently breaking Frost’s nose and rendering her unconscious before she was carried out by former flame and partner Scott Summers. In the week following the Hellfire Trading Company released a statement that, “While Emma Frost believed she was acting in Krakoa’s best interest it has since been decided that that is not true. Krakoa wishes to have no ties to President Osborn’s Cabal and the Hellfire Trading Company will no longer dispense petals through it. All trading will resume on the same international level as before. Both Ms Frost and Katherine Pryde are fine, their disagreement a very tiny part of their impressive friendship and partnership.”

It seems that from multiple sides the Cabal may be crumbling. The Shi’ar are actively petitioning to have Deathbird removed and Asgardia and New Attilan have made it clear their supposed diplomats do not represent them. The resignation of Emma Frost marks a vacancy in mutant representation but Krakoa is making no moves to fill it. This old reporter has always had his hunches, some of them right and some of them wrong. Power hungry people working together can either lead to two things: domination or a fracturing with the potential to go very, very badly. Sometimes you say ‘only time will tell’, but in this day and age there’s an ever pervasive feeling that we don’t have all that much time before things go wrong.

— Ben Urich, Daily Bugle News Senior Reporter

PETER PARKER: THE WANTED WEBHEAD UMASKED

Peter Parker is Spider-man! As you may have read in my May 25th expose, the Daily Bugle received a hot tip that a photo had been taken of Spider-man maskless. I’m sorry to report to those who are crushing on our spandex clad wall crawler that Spider-man is actually just a seventeen year old from Forest Hills in Queens, NY. Photos of the teenager in costume were sent to our publication and after verification posted a digital article update on the situation. This comes as a surprise to most, including the Bugle, as the Midtown School of Science and Technology worked as a photography intern for us over the course of the last year and was the inaugural recipient of the Stark Internship in 2015. Due to Tony Stark’s work as Iron Man it is likely that the deceased hero knew of Parker’s identity. His Internship now seems like an elaborate cover-up to aid him in dangerous activity instead of a real accomplishment. Bugle Editor J. Jonah Jameson sent out a press release that, “Spider-man is dangerous. Always has been, always will be. The Bugle was not aware of our connection to this deceitful young individual and we renounce any ties to him moving forward. It’s a shame. A real, crying shame.”

Another connection to Parker is Captain George Stacy, a respected member of the NYPD. It was confirmed by Parker’s classmates that for the last few months he had been seeing Gwendolyn Stacy, the Captain’s daughter. Although there’s been no word of how serious the relationship is Captain Stacy has announced that the NYPD will be monitoring the graduations of Standard High were Gwen and President Osborn’s son Harry go and Midtown School of Science and Technology for the safety of Parker’s classmates. “Leave my daughter out of this.” Captain Stacy ordered. “Gwen was just as in the dark as everyone else. Her personal choices are not yours to judge, and if she learns anything about Peter Parker’s whereabouts it will be reported.” Similarly, the White House issued a statement as Harry Osborn is a known childhood friend of Peter Parker’s. Secretary Henry Gyrich went on record saying, “Mr. Osborn believes, like his father, that America comes first. He is glad that a potential danger has been exposed and hopes Mr. Parker will do the right thing, turn himself in and register soon. The Osborn family will be issuing as no more further statements on the matter as President Osborn has a country to run and Harry needs to focus on preparing for his next stage of life.”

From what we have been able to gather, almost no one knew Parker was Spider-man. We have reached out to his best friend, Ned Leeds, and ex-girlfriend and classmate Michelle Jones for comments but have been advised by the Leed’s family that Ned will not be commenting. So far we have not made contact with Jones aunt, Anna Watson. Calls have been made to Parker’s legal guardian. May Reilly-Parker, but she has left her Queens residency and been moved to the New Avengers Compound. It is not known if Parker is with her and the Avengers are aiding a fugitive. You can expect to hear updates as soon as they are released.

— Melita Garner, Daily Bugle News Junior Reporter

IN OTHER NEWS:

June marks graduation season, and the Daily Bugle would like to congratulate this years group of seniors, many of which were victims of the Cleanse. For recognition, Midtown School of Science and Technology submitted senior valedictorians Elizabeth Brant and Michelle Jones. Their original submission included senior Peter Parker for his work with the Stark Internship, but have requested that his name be removed following the recent revelation of his double life as Spider-man. Standard High would like to recognize senior valedictorian Gwendolyn Stacy, daughter of New York Police Captain George Stacy. Also coming out of Midtown is Harry Osborn, our country’s first son and the only child of President Norman Osborn. The Bugle congratulates this years graduates and wishes them happy, successful futures.

July 4th marked what would have been the 106th birthday of American hero Steve Rogers. Although our favorite Captain America ( sorry Sam Wilson! ) may have passed away back in 2023 following the fight against Thanos we will always remember the sacrifices he made for this country. Thank you for your service, Cap. We miss you.

High school student Kamala Khan remains in critical condition in an undisclosed hospital in New Jersey. Her parents have said that while Khan has made a lot of progress there’s still a long way to go. The former Champion and hero known as Ms. Marvel who is believed to be partially responsible is still wanted for questioning and considered at large.

#all #dark reign #cradle #ben urich #melita garner #christine everheart #sally floyd #daily buzz

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nancyedimick · 8 years

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Surveillance Sauce for the Goose

Having trouble understanding what President Trump and Rep. Nunes are banging on about? Try putting the shoe on the other foot…

It’s 2020. Kamala Harris finishes a close second in New Hampshire, beating expectations that Elizabeth Warren would sweep her neighboring state (and its shared media market). Harris roars into South Carolina, where she suddenly leads in the polls with a message of repudiating what she calls the Trump administration’s dangerous foreign brinksmanship.

Whatever you call it, you can’t call it dull. President Trump has forced Iran to renegotiate the nuclear deal by the simple expedient of expanding US sanctions to include the seizure and impoundment of any tanker carrying Iranian oil. The oil market remains stable, buoyed by record US oil and gas production. But the move prompts a diplomatic rupture and some tense maritime confrontations with India and China. Undeterred, the President says North Korea is next in line for what he calls, “Sanctions that work. Unlike the last guy’s. Not a leader!”

But it will only take one foreign mishap to make Harris tough to beat. She’s fresh and virtually untouched by Warren’s surprised oppo research team. The Trump team vows that it won’t be caught similarly flat-footed.

In July, the intelligence community picks up rumors that intelligence services from Iran, North Korea, and China are working together to ensure a Harris victory in November.

The President erupts at an NSC meeting. “This is intolerable! I want to know everything about foreign interference in our election – and whether any Americans are colluding with Iran. This is a top priority for all of our counterintelligence agencies.”

Attorney General Sessions approves FISA wiretap applications for every known or suspected Iranian foreign agent, with special focus on anyone known to have contacted the Harris campaign. The surveillance reveals that Harris campaign officials talked regularly to Iranian agents and even asked for help in formulating her famous “I will prosecute the President as a war criminal” speech.

The FBI circulates the transcripts to the National Security Council and high-ranking White House officials. The identities of Harris campaign staff are initially “masked”, but many officials, including Steve Bannon, insist on knowing the names “to determine how deeply Iran’s influence operation has penetrated the Harris organization.”

Within weeks, there is a swirl of public speculation about Harris and Iran, but she successfully rejects it as a “diehard Warren delusion.” With more passion than grammar, her top foreign policy adviser denies the rumors “categorically and irrefutably.“

The nominating convention is a love fest. Three weeks later, transcripts of the Harris foreign policy guru’s conversations with Iranian operatives are leaked by government sources. Within a day, bumper stickers appear, saying, “Was it treason? Categorically and irrefutably!”

With that as her introduction to the American public, Harris’s campaign sputters and collapses.

***

Faced with that scenario, who thinks the press would be mocking Harris’s claim that her campaign was wiretapped by its enemies? So why are reporters mocking Trump’s?

Fact is, there��s a very real problem at the bottom of President Trump’s complaints. The Obama administration decided to conduct what was bound to be one-sided surveillance. Any evidence the investigators turned up would hurt the President’s adversary, not his side. The same would be true of any leaks. And widespread distribution of intelligence from the investigation would dramatically increase the risk that his adversary will be hurt by leaks. If you’re the President, or anyone in his administration, what’s not to like?

Who made the decision to expose the Trump campaign to this scrutiny and the risks that came with it? Thanks to FISA, national security surveillance decisions must be made mainly by political appointees. This is meant to be a protection for civil liberties but it’s the reverse in a partisan context. I’m sure that the Trump campaign would rather have had the decision to launch a FISA tap made by the first two names in the DOJ phone book than by Loretta Lynch and Sally Yates. (I realize that Team Trump is now focusing more on surveillance of what might be called “institutional foreign agents” – people who don’t hide their allegiance to foreign nations. The Mike Flynn transcript may have come from such surveillance, as may much of the other “incidental” collection of Trump campaign contacts that Rep. Nunes briefed the President on. Such surveillance goes on with or without an investigation, but distribution of the product would likely be wider once an investigation is opened.)

All that said, appreciating the force of President Trump’s concerns does not mean we shouldn’t have done the investigation. In my view, we have no choice but to investigate and respond aggressively when other countries interfere with our elections. But we also ought to recognize and take action to limit the partisan temptations that such investigations will inevitably offer. Because if anything is utterly predictable about the 2020 election, it’s that foreign governments will try to influence it and that partisan passions will be high. So the surveillance shoe is going to be on someone’s foot that year. Ditto for 2024 and 2028 and 2032…

So we might as well try to draw some lessons from the Trump team’s unhappiness instead of pretending that their grievances are entirely illegitimate. Without being able to offer a grand solution, I can think of things that would ameliorate the risk. Maybe the government should be required to identify in advance national security investigations likely to have an impact on political officials or candidates and take special steps to depoliticize them. Perhaps political appointees should recuse themselves from the decision to launch such investigations. And the anonymity of US persons who are also surveilled in such investigations could be protected by special limits on distribution of the masked intelligence and by requiring special assurances from those who want to unmask US persons.

I can’t pretend that these are the only or the best ways to address the problem I see. Turning these decisions over to career people does nothing for those who buy the Deep State meme – or the presumption that civil servants mostly vote Democratic. And after all is said and done, these are minor tweaks, not strong protections against abuse. But at least they’d reduce the risk that Americans will end up in a circular surveillance firing squad every four years.

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/03/23/surveillance-sauce-for-the-goose/

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wolfandpravato · 8 years

Text

Surveillance Sauce for the Goose

Having trouble understanding what President Trump and Rep. Nunes are banging on about? Try putting the shoe on the other foot…

In July, the intelligence community picks up rumors that intelligence services from Iran, North Korea, and China are working together to ensure a Harris victory in November.

With that as her introduction to the American public, Harris’s campaign sputters and collapses.

***

Faced with that scenario, who thinks the press would be mocking Harris’s claim that her campaign was wiretapped by its enemies? So why are reporters mocking Trump’s?

Fact is, there’s a very real problem at the bottom of President Trump’s complaints. The Obama administration decided to conduct what was bound to be one-sided surveillance. Any evidence the investigators turned up would hurt the President’s adversary, not his side. The same would be true of any leaks. And widespread distribution of intelligence from the investigation would dramatically increase the risk that his adversary will be hurt by leaks. If you’re the President, or anyone in his administration, what’s not to like?

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/03/23/surveillance-sauce-for-the-goose/

#Law #Lawyer

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porchenclose10019 · 8 years

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Tuesday's Morning Email: Congressional Budget Office Gives Low Marks To Ryan Plan