Massachusetts approves Ballot Question 2 ending MCAS graduation requirement, AP projects
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/massachusetts-ballot-question-2-election-results-mcas/
Massachusetts approves Ballot Question 2 ending MCAS graduation requirement, AP projects
November 6, 2024
BOSTON – Massachusetts Ballot Question 2 will pass, the AP projects, effectively ending the MCAS graduation requirement for high school students.
Here are the latest live results: (updated as of December 3, 2024)
Massachusetts Ballot Question 2 results
A “yes” vote ended the mandate that requires students to pass the tenth grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam to graduate high school. A “no” vote would have kept it as a graduation requirement.
About 99% of students pass the exam, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). If they don’t pass, they can take it up to five times. There’s an appeals process and there are alternative tests.
The question has been one of the most contentious issues in Massachusetts during the 2024 election.
Massachusetts Teachers Association responds
The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), the largest union of teachers in the state, issued a statement after the AP projection. The union called a “collective victory.”
“Massachusetts has long had the best public schools in the country, and that’s because of the dedication of educators and the commitment of legislators and policymakers to provide every student with the opportunity to thrive,” the MTA said in part. “We see this as a victory to build upon as all of us who want what is best for students continue to address significant needs in our schools, including supporting student mental health and providing funding to districts in need.”
“Yes” on Ballot Question 2
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the MTA both supported a “yes” vote.
“One test is not a great measure for every kid, that ultimately we keep about 700 kids from getting a high school diploma and it’s a lot of special needs kids and a lot of kids who are just learning English,” Warren said in a debate on WBZ last month.
“We are a union that is committed to fixing a key part of what’s wrong in public schools, that is this over-reliance on high-stakes testing,” MTA President Max Page told WBZ. “What students will be judged on is successfully passing the curriculum that shows they have mastered our state standards – grades in courses.”
Shelly Scruggs of Lexington filed the petition in July 2023 to put the question on the statewide ballot. She said she did it on behalf of her teenage son who “works hard” but “isn’t a great test taker.”
“No” on Ballot Question 2
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey led the call for a “no” vote on Question 2.
“That question, if it passes, would deliver us to a place of no standard – essentially 351 different standards for high school graduation. I don’t believe that is the right direction to go, the governor does not believe that it’s the direction to go,” Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler told WBZ-TV.
When ballot Question 2 becomes state law, it will not drop standardized test-taking in Massachusetts schools. Federal law requires an English and math test in third through eighth grade and once in high school.
High school students in Massachusetts have been required to pass the MCAS tests to graduate since 2003.
Teachers will no longer need to pass basic reading, writing, and math test for certification in New Jersey
Teachers Will No Longer Need To Pass Basic Reading, Writing And Math Test For Certification In This Blue State
December 30, 2024
A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
The law, Act 1669, was passed by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June in an effort to address a shortage of teachers in the state, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass a “basic skills” test administered by the state’s Commissioner of Education.
“We need more teachers,” Democratic Sen. Jim Beach, who sponsored the bill, said according to the New Jersey Monitor. “This is the best way to get them.”
New Jersey is especially in need of math and science teachers, according to an annual report from the state’s education department.
Just months earlier, Murphy signed a similar bill into law that created an alternative pathway for teachers to sidestep the testing requirement. A powerful teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, was a driving force behind the bill, calling the testing requirement “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” Teachers in the state are paid an average of $81,102 annually, according to the National Education Association.
New Jersey followed the example of New York, which scrapped basic literacy requirements for teachers in 2017 in the name of “diversity.”
Other states such as California and Arizona also lower requirements for teacher certification by implementing fast-track options for substitute teachers to become full-time educators and eliminating exam requirements in order to make up for shortages in the field that were worsened by Covid, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
As students struggle to regain learning losses caused by school closures during the pandemic, some states, such as Massachusetts, have opted to lower testing requirements for students in order to allow more to pass rather than make up for the lost education.
Teachers unions continue to hold major bargaining power in some blue states, pushing legislation that protects teachers despite their failure to improve learning outcomes for students. Only about half of New York students in grades three through eight tested as proficient in English and Math in the 2022 to 2023 school year despite the state spending almost twice the national average on education and New York teachers remaining some of the highest-paid in the country, according to the National Education Association.
Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
According to this New York Times article, the real purpose of H-1B visas is for American corporations to fire their American employees and replace them with cheaper foreign labor.
Last Task After Layoff at Disney: Train Foreign Replacements
June 3, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. — The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss.
While families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney World ticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had been called in for bonuses.
Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.
“I just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,” said one former worker, an American in his 40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”
The layoffs at Disney and at other companies, including the Southern California Edison power utility, are raising new questions about how businesses and outsourcing companies are using the temporary visas, known as H-1B, to place immigrants in technology jobs in the United States. These visas are at the center of a fierce debate in Congress over whether they complement American workers or displace them.
Just a reminder to everyone about this Washington Post article from April 14, 2020. It says that two years earlier, U.S. visitors said the Wuhan lab was not taking the necessary steps to prevent COVID from leaking.
State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses
By Josh Rogin
April 14, 2020
Two years before the novel coronavirus pandemic upended the world, U.S. Embassy officials visited a Chinese research facility in the city of Wuhan several times and sent two official warnings back to Washington about inadequate safety at the lab, which was conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats. The cables have fueled discussions inside the U.S. government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus — even though conclusive proof has yet to emerge.
In January 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing took the unusual step of repeatedly sending U.S. science diplomats to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which had in 2015 become China’s first laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety (known as BSL-4). WIV issued a news release in English about the last of these visits, which occurred on March 27, 2018. The U.S. delegation was led by Jamison Fouss, the consule general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the embassy’s counselor of environment, science, technology and health. Last week, WIV erased that statement from its website, though it remains archived on the Internet.
What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.
“During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,” states the Jan. 19, 2018, cable, which was drafted by two officials from the embassy’s environment, science and health sections who met with the WIV scientists. (The State Department declined to comment on this and other details of the story.)
The Chinese researchers at WIV were receiving assistance from the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other U.S. organizations, but the Chinese requested additional help. The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support, mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous.
As the cable noted, the U.S. visitors met with Shi Zhengli, the head of the research project, who had been publishing studies related to bat coronaviruses for many years. In November 2017, just before the U.S. officials’ visit, Shi’s team had published research showing that horseshoe bats they had collected from a cave in Yunnan province were very likely from the same bat population that spawned the SARS coronavirus in 2003.
“Most importantly,” the cable states, “the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus. This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases. From a public health perspective, this makes the continued surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention.”
The research was designed to prevent the next SARS-like pandemic by anticipating how it might emerge. But even in 2015, other scientists questioned whether Shi’s team was taking unnecessary risks. In October 2014, the U.S. government had imposed a moratorium on funding of any research that makes a virus more deadly or contagious, known as “gain-of-function” experiments.
As many have pointed out, there is no evidence that the virus now plaguing the world was engineered; scientists largely agree it came from animals. But that is not the same as saying it didn’t come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals, said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley.
“The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat to public health that came from this lab’s research, if it was not being adequately conducted and protected,” he said.
There are similar concerns about the nearby Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab, which operates at biosecurity level 2, a level significantly less secure than the level-4 standard claimed by the Wuhan Insititute of Virology lab, Xiao said. That’s important because the Chinese government still refuses to answer basic questions about the origin of the novel coronavirus while suppressing any attempts to examine whether either lab was involved.
Sources familiar with the cables said they were meant to sound an alarm about the grave safety concerns at the WIV lab, especially regarding its work with bat coronaviruses. The embassy officials were calling for more U.S. attention to this lab and more support for it, to help it fix its problems.
“The cable was a warning shot,” one U.S. official said. “They were begging people to pay attention to what was going on.”
No extra assistance to the labs was provided by the U.S. government in response to these cables. The cables began to circulate again inside the administration over the past two months as officials debated whether the lab could be the origin of the pandemic and what the implications would be for the U.S. pandemic response and relations with China.
Inside the Trump administration, many national security officials have long suspected either the WIV or the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab was the source of the novel coronavirus outbreak. According to the New York Times, the intelligence community has provided no evidence to confirm this. But one senior administration official told me that the cables provide one more piece of evidence to support the possibility that the pandemic is the result of a lab accident in Wuhan.
“The idea that is was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side,” the official said.
As my colleague David Ignatius noted, the Chinese government’s original story — that the virus emerged from a seafood market in Wuhan — is shaky. Research by Chinese experts published in the Lancet in January showed the first known patient, identified on Dec. 1, had no connection to the market, nor did more than one-third of the cases in the first large cluster. Also, the market didn’t sell bats.
Shi and other WIV researchers have categorically denied this lab was the origin for the novel coronavirus. On Feb. 3, her team was the first to publicly report the virus known as 2019-nCoV was a bat-derived coronavirus.
The Chinese government, meanwhile, has put a total lockdown on information related to the virus origins. Beijing has yet to provide U.S. experts with samples of the novel coronavirus collected from the earliest cases. The Shanghai lab that published the novel coronavirus genome on Jan. 11 was quickly shut down by authorities for “rectification.” Several of the doctors and journalists who reported on the spread early on have disappeared.
On Feb. 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a new biosecurity law to be accelerated. On Wednesday, CNN reported the Chinese government has placed severe restrictions requiring approval before any research institution publishes anything on the origin of the novel coronavirus.
The origin story is not just about blame. It’s crucial to understanding how the novel coronavirus pandemic started because that informs how to prevent the next one. The Chinese government must be transparent and answer the questions about the Wuhan labs because they are vital to our scientific understanding of the virus, said Xiao.
We don’t know whether the novel coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab, but the cable pointed to the danger there and increases the impetus to find out, he said.
“I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory. I think it’s a legitimate question that needs to be investigated and answered,” he said. “To understand exactly how this originated is critical knowledge for preventing this from happening in the future.”
Kern County DA files first felony charges under new Prop 36 law against repeat offender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sIG0NN1uA4
California Democrats put a rapist named Tremaine Carroll inside a woman’s prison
Pronoun use at center of rape case involving former prisoner in California
By Brianna Willis
December 23, 2024
CHOWCHILLA, Calif. — A convicted criminal who served time at the women’s prison in Chowchilla, California is charged with raping fellow inmates.
A Madera County judge ruled 52-year-old state prisoner Tremaine Carroll must be referred to with she/her pronouns because Carroll identifies as a woman.
But the district attorney believes the defendant is abusing the system.
“This is a person who is not a woman in any sense of the word,” says Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno.
In March DA Sally Moreno, charged Carroll for rape allegedly committed while incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
“After his first cellmate became pregnant and was moved to Los Angeles, two other cellmates of his had complained that he had raped them, so we have filed rape charges against this inmate,” said Moreno.
Moreno says the ruling regarding pronouns impacts her ability to prosecute the case.
“This is a particular issue in this case because it’s confusing to the jury. In California, rape is a crime that has to be accomplished by a man,” said Moreno.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Eric Dutemple says it’s also unfair to the victims.
“Its just absolutely insane that a victim would have to get on the stand and police their pronoun usage when trying to recite one of the scariest times of their lives,” said Dutemple.
Carroll was allowed to serve time in a women’s prison despite being a biological male because of Senate Bill 132, The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act, which took effect in 2021.
It allows inmates to be housed with the gender they identify as.
“There’s no psychological evaluation that needs to be done. This person does not need to be on cross gender hormones, they don’t need to be signed up for transgender surgery, they don’t need to be a psychological evaluation regarding gender confusion, the mere statement is enough,” said Moreno.
Carroll has since been relocated to Salinas Valley State Prison for men.
The CDCR sent Action News a statement about the case, writing:
“CDCR is committed to providing a safe, humane, respectful and rehabilitative environment for all incarcerated people. Senate Bill 132, The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act, became effective on January 1, 2021. It allows incarcerated transgender, non-binary and intersex people to request to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity. CDCR reviews every request to be transferred under Senate Bill 132 to determine whether that move, based on the individual’s case factors, would present a safety and management concern. At all our institutions, CDCR thoroughly investigates all allegations of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, and sexual harassment pursuant to our zero-tolerance policy and as mandated by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. CDCR does not comment on cases in litigation.”
Moreno says Carroll fired the defense attorney handling the case and has chosen to move forward with self-representation in court.
Carroll’s next court date is set for January 14th.
Media bias at its worst! An unnamed Associated Press writer just wrote that it was Daniel Penny, and not Jordan Neely, who “unnerved passengers” on the New York City subway.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
December 24, 2024
Associated Press just published this article – without citing the name of the writer.
The article states:
“High-profile incidents on the train, such as the case of Daniel Penny, a military veteran who choked an agitated New York subway rider and was acquitted of homicide this month, often attract national attention and further unnerve passengers.”
Uh, no.
It was not Daniel Penny who upset the passengers on the New York City subway.
It was Jordan Neely who did that.
Here are two different videos that show passengers telling exactly who it was that upset them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hloyv3g_1wQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5MbDR2pW5U
Shame on Associated Press for lying about this.
And shame on Associated Press for not naming the reporter who wrote this article.
The eight defining beliefs of wokeism, according to Daniel Alman from Squirrel Hill
1) Local governments should allow serial shoplifters to turn local neighborhoods into food deserts.
2) Commercial airplane pilots should be chosen based on DEI instead of on meritocracy.
3) People with penises should be allowed to participate in women’s boxing competitions.
4) Carbon dioxide is not plant food.
5) The most racist country in the world is the one that millions of people of all races are desperately trying to get into, and that millions of others are terrified of getting deported from.
6) The only time that slavery was ever wrong was when the slave owners were white.
7) Western civilization is not the best kind of society that has ever been put into widespread practice.
8) Weighing 600 pounds is just as healthy as weighing 150 pounds.
Notice how they shoplifted in broad daylight, didn’t hide their faces, and had no worries about getting caught. This video is called, “Shoplifters Learn the Hard Way That California is Stopping Thieves Now…”
California conditioned these shoplifters to not worry about getting caught.
I love their reaction when they find out that the law has changed.
Bronx bodega owner faces charges for shooting at armed robbers with gun he ‘found’ in store
Bronx bodega owner faces charges for shooting at armed robbers with gun he ‘found’ in store
By Shawn Inglima and Leonard Greene
December 4, 2024
A gutsy Bronx bodega owner is defending himself against weapons charges after using a gun he says he found in his deli against a pair of masked armed robbers who were trying to stick up the place on Thanksgiving Day.
Jhony Gomez, who has operated Mi Gerizin Market in Melrose for 13 years, said he was shocked when he found a firearm abandoned in the rest room trash can early last Thursday when he opened his store for business.
Gomez, 57, told supporters that he intended to turn the weapon over to authorities later in the day on his way to church.
He ended up using the gun instead.
“He acted in a moment of terror to protect his life, his customers and his employees from armed robbers,” said Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the United Bodegas of America.
According to Mateo, two masked gunmen stormed into the Elton Ave. bodega shortly after 9:15 a.m. demanding cash, telling everyone to go to the back of the store and lie on the floor.
Gomez told cops that, thinking quickly, he retrieved the gun he had found just a couple of hours earlier and fired several shots at the bandits, wounding one of them in the foot.
The bodega owner said he feared for his life and for the safety of the customers in the store. But now he’s telling supporters he’s afraid again — that justice won’t be served.
According to officials, the wounded alleged robber was later arrested, treated and then released. Gomez, meanwhile, was in court Wednesday facing charges of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of ammunition.
“We don’t understand the system,” Mateo said. “The system is failing all New Yorkers, all of us. The fact that those robbers are free while Jhony is being prosecuted is an injustice that no New Yorker should tolerate.”
Mateo said Gomez opened his bodega at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
“A day when most people are home with their families, this man came to his bodega, opened it up,” he said.
While routinely checking out the bathroom, Gomez found a gun, Mateo said.
“He can’t close the store and run out when he’s busy,” Mateo explained. “He holds the gun, hopefully, to return it later in the day to his police precinct on his way to church.”
Mateo said Gomez, who was working behind the counter at the time, used the gun because he feared for his life and the lives of his customers.
Gomez, a husband and father of four, surrendered to police Tuesday.
“How do you go from being a hero to going to jail?” Mateo said. “The ones who are not criminals are the ones who are being persecuted. They are the ones being held accountable for the crimes other people commit.”
Mateo said he asked Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark to drop the charges against Gomez.
“He doesn’t deserve to be in jail,” Mateo said. “He deserves to get a proclamation from the mayor of the City of New York for saving lives.”
According to Mateo, Gomez was charged with possession of a gun and ammunition at Wednesday’s court hearing and was released without bail.
I wonder how many different “scientists” missed the simple math error in Megan Liu’s study that caused an unjustified panic over black plastic utensils. Oh look. Their organization is called Toxic Free Future. This is why I favor meritocracy instead of social justice or DEI.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1871248605719507289
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1871248605719507289
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/black-plastic-spatulas-really-bad-164241783.html
Are black plastic spatulas really that bad? Your exposure to toxins from popular cooking utensils may not be as extreme as recent study suggested.
By Korin Miller
December 13, 2024
In October, home chefs and foodies collectively freaked out when research was published that detected toxic flame retardants in black-colored plastic. The study, which was published in the journal Chemosphere, detailed how high levels of these flame retardants were found in kitchen utensils, food containers, trays used to hold meat and even toys. Those flame retardants are linked with cancer and developmental issues, among other things.
The researchers ultimately concluded that recycling electronics that contain flame retardants was to blame, noting in the study that it was “resulting in unexpected exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items.”
Now, there’s a development in the story: As the National Post reports, the researchers made a miscalculation when crunching the data, suggesting that the findings aren’t as bad as they originally seemed.
So did you throw out your black plastic spatula for no good reason? Here’s what you need to know about the update — and what the data actually means for you and your kitchen.
The miscalculation was pretty big
The original study broke down a lot of different things, including the detection of decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in black plastic products. DecaBDE is a type of brominated flame retardant banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021.
In the study, researchers estimated that using black plastic kitchenware could cause an intake of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE. But, in a section of the study on “Health and Exposure Concerns,” the researchers said that amount “would approach” the established safe exposure limit set by the EPA (also known as a reference dose).
The study notes that the reference dose for decaBDE is 7,000 nanograms per kilogram of body weight a day; the reference dose for a 60-kilogram (132-pound) adult, it calculated, would be 42,000 nanograms a day. That would put this exposure at more than 80% of the EPA’s limit.
Here’s the thing: The math was incorrect. Sixty multiplied by 7,000 is actually 420,000, not 42,000. As a result, the exposure amount of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE from black plastic is less than a 10th of the established EPA limit.
Megan Liu, lead study author and science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, tells Yahoo Life that this was a “minor point” in the study. “We feel bad that this happened,” she adds.
Liu says that she and her research team have submitted a correction to the journal, which should be published soon.
But this may not change the conclusion
Despite the mathematical error, Liu says that people should still be wary of black plastic kitchen utensils. “Our findings and conclusions are unaffected,” Liu says.
“Our conclusion was never drawn from this calculation comparison,” Liu continues. “These highly hazardous cancer-causing products shouldn’t be in the products that touch our food. There are safer alternatives out there.”
Liu also stresses that decaBDE “is just one type of chemical in one product that we saw,” noting that “some products had nine different flame retardants.”
Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils?
While the presence of decaBDE may not be as intense as previously thought, Liu still says that people should reconsider using black plastic cooking utensils.
“These products shouldn’t even have these flame retardants to begin with,” she says. “They’re still associated with cancer, neurological effects and developmental harm.”
But Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health, tells Yahoo Life that it’s important to keep the findings in perspective. “In the current study, researchers found high levels of bromine — and thus suspected contamination from brominated fire-retardant chemicals — in just around 10% of the black plastic household products tested, which suggests that the vast majority of black plastic household items do not contain these contaminants,” she says. As a result, most black plastic cooking utensils “may not pose an increased risk of toxicity to humans from this perspective,” Johnson-Arbor says.
Jamie Alan, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, also points out that the methodology for detecting these chemicals is different from how people use them.
“They measured the amount of chemicals in black cooking utensils by literally melting them down and running them through a machine,” Alan says. “We aren’t doing that when we are using these items. We still don’t know how much of the chemicals actually make their way into the food.”
And of the amount that does make it into food, only a certain portion will be taken in by the body, Alan says. “Overall we don’t know how much makes it into our body and the effects that these chemicals will have at that concentration, whatever that ends up being,” she says.
While the updated calculation has a lower impact than the original one, “this study just reveals one of the ways we’re exposed to flame retardants in our daily life,” Liu says. “We’re already exposed through our electronics, automobiles, furniture … this is part of the big picture of exposure,” she adds.
Liu says her advice is the same as it’s been: “If you can, reduce your use of plastic. Not just black plastic, but plastic in general, [which] can reduce your exposure to any harmful chemical additives.”
Five months ago, I made this blog post, which I titled, “Why hasn’t Tempe, Arizona arrested Wolfie Kahletti for his many crimes?” Now I have an update: He just got arrested for spraying poison on the fruits and vegetables at a supermarket.
I’m going to start out by quoting my entire blog post from five months ago:
https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2024/07/31/wolfie-kahletti/
Why hasn’t Tempe, Arizona arrested Wolfie Kahletti for his many crimes?
These two YouTube videos talk about and show some of things that this guy has put on his TikTOk account.
This violent serial criminal posts his crimes on his TikTok channel. As far as I’m aware, he’s never been arrested.
In addition to committing assault, he likes to vandalize restaurants and contaminate their food.
He likes to put ice in their deep fryer, which has the potential to destroy the entire restaurant and kill everyone inside.
He’s put video proof of his crimes on the internet for everyone to see.
Why hasn’t he been arrested?
When I made that blog post five months ago, I included these two videos:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qkXf-vyQpuU
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QvlNXtrEcxs
Well now I have an update: Wolfie Kahletti has been arrested for spraying poison on the fruits and vegetables at a grocery store. And like his previous crimes, he posted this one on the internet.
Here’s video of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrqWOdB440M
And here’s a news article about it:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-video-shows-man-spraying-021413436.html
Mesa police arrest man seen in TikTok video spraying bug spray on food at a Walmart
By Olivia Rose
December 21, 2024
Mesa police arrested 27-year-old Charles Smith for allegedly spraying pesticides on produce at a Mesa Walmart and filming it for a “reckless” social media post, according to authorities.
Smith went into the Walmart located at Stapley and Baseline roads Thursday evening planning to film pranks.
A video showing a man spraying bug spray on yams, lemons, chicken and other produce was uploaded to Instagram and TikTok by a user known as Wolfie Kahletti. The original video has since been deleted, but reposts are circulating online.
“Through investigative means, and with assistance from the Tempe Police Department, detectives were able to identify Smith as the suspect,” said Detective Richard Encinas, Mesa police public information officer. “Mesa Police contacted Smith and he turned himself in voluntarily. During the interview, Smith admitted to the theft and spraying of the pesticide.”
Smith was booked into jail on charges of introducing poison, criminal damage, endangerment and theft, the news release stated.
Both Walmart Media Relations and Mesa police confirmed the store’s management was informed, the contaminated produce was removed and the affected areas are being cleaned and sanitized.
Kahletti, the user who originally posted the video showing himself dispensing the bug spray, later uploaded two videos to his respective social media accounts with captions, “Fooled u”, “Threw them away” and “Promise I threw them away”.
The videos show him taking large quantities of produce from the shelves, loading it into a shopping cart, and pushing the cart to an unspecified location within the Walmart.
Kahletti told The Republic all of the produce was “thrown away right after” and that “no one was poisoned”. This claim has not been confirmed by authorities.
Final Report: The Weaponization of the Federal Government
https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/final-report-weaponization-federal-government
Final Report: The Weaponization of the Federal Government
December 20, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its final 17,000-page staff report detailing the Select Subcommittee’s findings about the Biden-Harris Administration’s weaponized federal government.
Through its oversight and investigations, the Select Subcommittee found numerous instances of the federal government being weaponized against the American people.
For example, the Select Subcommittee:
Highlighted censorship by Big Tech that led to Mark Zuckerberg admitting Facebook was pressured by the Biden-Harris White House to censor Americans.
Empowered whistleblowers to come forward and have their voices heard despite retaliation by the Department of Justice and the FBI.
Protected the First Amendment, leading to the dissolution of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and other organizations that worked to censor Americans’ speech.
Revealed the weaponization of federal law enforcement against the American people, leading to important policy changes from the Department of Justice and IRS.
Uncovered evidence that the Biden campaign coordinated with 51 former intelligence officials to interfere in the American electoral system weeks before the 2020 presidential election by signing the statement calling Hunter Biden’s laptop disinformation.
Why have so many public schools stopped teaching phonics?
Business Insider just published the following:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/daughter-repeated-kindergarten-because-she-101201351.html
My daughter repeated kindergarten because she couldn’t read. I ended up sending both my kids to private school because I don’t trust the public system.
By Jane Ridley
December 22, 2024
Susie Coughlin was concerned when her daughter struggled with reading skills at her public school.
The mom of two was disappointed her district didn’t teach phonics as part of its literacy program.
She switched her child to a Catholic school where the girl thrived after being taught phonics.
Why have so many public schools stopped teaching phonics?
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/daughter-repeated-kindergarten-because-she-101201351.html
My daughter repeated kindergarten because she couldn’t read. I ended up sending both my kids to private school because I don’t trust the public system.
By Jane Ridley
December 22, 2024
Susie Coughlin was concerned when her daughter struggled with reading skills at her public school.
The mom of two was disappointed her district didn’t teach phonics as part of its literacy program.
She switched her child to a Catholic school where the girl thrived after being taught phonics.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Susie Coughlin, 43, an interior designer. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When our daughter started struggling with reading, we thought it was related to her late birthday and the fact that almost everybody else in her class was a whole year older.
Her father and I decided she should repeat kindergarten in her public school. In her first year, she’d been put in a Response to Intervention (RTI) program to improve her literacy skills. However, at the parent/teacher conference during her second year, we were told she wouldn’t receive RTI.
It didn’t make sense because she wasn’t progressing. Her self-confidence was low because it seemed like everyone else around her could read.
What I heard from the teacher was, “It’s OK. We’re gonna let your kid slide through.” Being a child myself who was allowed to slide, I hit the brakes. At that moment, I thought, “My kid’s not going to be the kid that’s just going to slide through.”
We had to employ a reading tutor
A key issue was the school district didn’t teach phonics for reading. Instead, the kids are taught to scan the page for picture clues to the word — often at the expense of pronunciation and spelling.
For example, my daughter wrote in her homework, “I went to the osen,” rather than “I went to the ocean.” The teacher hadn’t corrected the mistake because the emphasis was on visual cues — a picture of the ocean — rather than spelling.
With phonics, you learn to sound out the word. It’s a much more practical and efficient method of teaching literacy. It didn’t seem like the district was going to adopt the method anytime soon. We had to search because private reading specialists are in high demand in our area, but we eventually found a tutor.
Our daughter finished her second kindergarten year in public school before beginning first grade at a local Catholic school. It cost $10,000 a year, and we were fortunate enough to be able to budget for that.
We’re glad we switched to a private Catholic school
The curriculum is very old-school, and they teach phonics. Our daughter, now 8, still has a tendency to look for picture cues on the page when she’s reading, but she’s getting there. It broke my heart when her confidence was in the toilet at her previous school. But her bucket of self-esteem is filling up.
We were so happy with the Catholic school that we sent our son there, too. He’s attended for two years and has a good grasp and understanding of phonics.
In fact, at 6, he has excelled past his sister in reading because he has never been subjected to a nonsense visual cue program.
As for our daughter, she has continued to study with a tutor at home, and we help her at night. The best thing is that she finally seems to be enjoying books and the written word.
Why is Rhodes College president Jennifer Collins refusing to publicly identify the person who wrote racial slurs on campus?
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1870192008138010822
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1870192008138010822
https://www.thecollegefix.com/n-word-notes-at-rhodes-college-were-a-hoax/
‘N-word’ notes at Rhodes College were a hoax
By Matt Lamb
December 20, 2024
Tennessee college announces racist notes were a hoax
Another day, another campus hate crime hoax.
This time it is at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Campus Safety officers and the Memphis Police Department, the investigation into the hate crime that occurred recently on our campus has ended with the identification of the perpetrator and the conclusion this incident was fabricated,” Rhodes College told The College Fix via email on Thursday.
“This individual has admitted responsibility,” the media team told The Fix. “This matter has caused enormous pain to our community, and we are taking the appropriate steps to hold this individual accountable, including all legal avenues that may be available to us.”
The college told The Fix it would not be publicly identifying the person or their “relationship” to Rhodes.
“The message was discovered earlier this month, strewn across the National Panhellenic Council Plaza, which is the only space on campus to pay tribute to the historically Black sororities and fraternities,” according to Action 5 News.
The notes were left over Thanksgiving break.
“They were vulgar,” student Lauren Roberts told WREG 3 last week. “‘F N-word, Trump Rules,’” that’s what it said,” according to her.
“Rhodes needs to find whoever did it, immediately,” Roberts told Action 5. “They are saying they are investigating and doing this and that and the third but it’s been — two weeks and you still haven’t found anybody that’s kind of like a bumper to the black community, in my opinion.”
The perpetrator, who remains unidentified, admitted to the act. Prior to the revelation, students held a silent protest in the school library, according to Action 5.
Action 5 News said the person reporting the incident actually left the notes.
“We are a community that is firmly committed to diversity, inclusion, belonging, civility, and respect, and we do not tolerate racial bias or hate speech,” the college said at the time. It hosted a “campus culture” meeting after the notes were found.
The postcode lottery: Europe’s access to medicines
https://www.politico.eu/article/postcode-lottery-europe-access-medicine/
The postcode lottery: Europe’s access to medicines
Medicines for cancer or heart disease are approved for use throughout Europe, but that doesn’t mean all patients can access them — and the EU is trying to fix this.
By Helen Collis
January 25, 2022
Europe’s medicines market has a problem.
While its system ensures that every new cancer drug, for example, is approved for use across the EU — that doesn’t mean every cancer patient in Europe has access to that new drug. In fact, far from it.
Access to the best new treatments is a postcode lottery, subject to national and regional health-system rules, pricing and reimbursement negotiations, drug companies’ launch plans and the ability of local health care to deliver new treatments.
It’s a complex web of barriers that, at every turn, delays access to sometimes life-saving medicines. And it’s often the least wealthy countries that face the longest delays.
Of the 29 new treatments approved for the bloc in 2019, patients in Germany and Denmark could access 22 of them the following year, while for people in Slovakia none were available, and just one was to be had in Poland, Romania and Latvia.
For some countries, delays can last years. When the life-changing cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco was approved in Europe nearly 10 years ago, patient groups were thrilled. But, even today, it’s only available in 17 of the EU’s 27 countries. And, in two of those countries, it’s not routinely reimbursed.
The EU wants to change that — and the order is from the top.
“I want you to look at ways to help ensure Europe has the supply of affordable medicines to meet its needs,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in her mission letter to Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides in December 2019 — quite a challenge for the EU considering that health care is managed and delivered nationally.
In 2020, the Commission presented an ambitious proposal to iron out issues ranging from supply shortages and manufacturing resilience, to balanced drug-development incentives and secretive drug pricing.
It’s the first time Europe has grabbed hold of the challenge of access to medicines for patients across the bloc and campaigners are hopeful it will have a meaningful impact.
“I would like to be very optimistic in what could be in this legislation,” said Simone Boselli, public affairs director at EURORDIS, which represents European patients with rare diseases.
But tinkering with EU medicines legislation with the aim of improving the affordability of, and access to, drugs throughout the EU is a topic that triggers the pharmaceutical industry.
“It remains critical not to try and use EU legislation designed to support medical innovation as a way of trying to address access issues,” said Nathalie Moll, executive director of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. “It will not work, and its unintended consequence will be to hinder the industry’s ability to discover, develop and deliver new diagnostics, treatments and vaccines in Europe.”
Fortunately for the sector, von der Leyen also has its back. While improving access to medicines, she wants Kyriakides to also “support the European pharmaceutical industry to ensure that it remains an innovator and world leader.”
Finding the sweet spot that pleases everyone — buoying innovation and the EU economy, driving down delays in access, and ensuring health systems can afford and cope with new drugs — is no easy task.
European ambition
There’s a limit to Europe’s reach. While licenses for medicines to treat many noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and heart disease, are approved by the European Commission, in effect the buck stops there. The extent to which the EU can then ensure these new treatments are quickly made available in every European country, at affordable prices, is limited.
A first action under the Pharmaceutical Strategy is under way at the European Medicines Agency — a voluntary pilot seeking information on companies’ drug launch intentions, which POLITICO delved into in a companion article. While this could bring greater transparency on the availability of medicines in Europe, companies are currently under no legal obligation to share this information.
But campaigners for access are hopeful the plan to reform Europe’s pharmaceutical legislation, as part of the Pharmaceutical Strategy, will bring down drug prices by allowing greater competition across the bloc and by introducing more transparency to the cost of medicines.
“There is a lot that hinges upon the reviews on the general pharmaceutical legislation, the regulation on orphan medicinal products and pediatric medicine, which will come out together in the pharmaceutical package, hopefully at the end of the year,” said Boselli at EURORDIS.
Pegging conditions to marketing authorizations is one possibility. “The market approval could be linked to more transparency,” said Dimitri Eynikel, EU policy and advocacy adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières.
Under this proposal, legislation could require companies to show their research and development costs, the public investments they received, the sources of their pharmaceutical ingredients, the number of patents they have and when they expire, and if they want to market their products in the EU, he said.
This information could not only empower countries’ negotiators on drug prices, but also aid competitors who face hurdles to launching copycat drugs, including generics and biosimilars, in the EU.
But it’s strongly opposed by the sector. Drug companies argue it’s impossible to identify the R&D costs linked to one medicine. Take, for instance, BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, the first product marketed by the company after more than 20 years of loss-making research: Should these decades of costs be presented in its EU license application?
Given that prices vary greatly between EU countries, the sector fears that transparency will result in price convergence across the bloc, “preventing differential rates according to a country’s specific economic conditions,” an industry spokesperson said.
But affordability is an EU-wide issue. The bloc spends around $218 billion on pharmaceuticals a year, of which 76 percent is on branded medicines, compared with 24 percent on far cheaper generics. Costs are going up each year and countries’ health budgets are stretched.
Shifting the dial slightly in favor of generics would have a substantial impact on health budgets, with greater competition driving down branded drug prices.
Another way to encourage this shift is to address the monopoly incentives offered to the pharmaceutical sector.
Drug companies are offered a competitor-free market once they are awarded a patent, as well as protected data on their products. But there are several market-exclusivity incentives that, added together, can often see products on the market for as many as 15 years before competitors can arrive.
While patient group EURODIS advocates in support of added incentives for developing orphan drugs, according to Ellen ‘t Hoen, of Medicines Law and Policy, such incentives are “very generous,” and open to abuse.
She pointed to companies repurposing old medicines to treat rare diseases, and in doing so winning five years of market exclusivity for what should be a cheap drug, opening the door to higher prices. ‘T Hoen wants to see an overhaul of the incentives system.
Dreaming big
Away from medicines legislation and incentives, there are other measures at the EU level that could in theory make medicines more affordable.
EU-wide assessments on the added value of a new therapy will apply from 2025 thanks to the Regulation on Health Technology Assessment, which entered force this month. The next step on the path to market access is procurement.
But, despite proving its success in procuring COVID-19 vaccines and treatments for the bloc, Europe still has limited power to carry out these pricing and procurement talks outside of health emergencies. There are clear signs it would like to.
“I would like to have a real single market for pharmaceutical products,” Sandra Gallina, director general of DG SANTE, said last week. She’d like every EU country to have the same portfolio of medicines in five years’ time, just as they did with COVID vaccines: “So the pharma strategy … needs to blossom.”
As it stands, however, the strategy foresees softer nonlegislative measures on procurement, with Europe encouraging buyers from the health sector to cooperate on innovative approaches to procurement, expanding on existing joint buying models like Beneluxa and the Nordic region.
“The competence for instance of pricing reimbursement is not with the European Commission, but European Commission can facilitate processes and discussions that may then feed into the policymaking on a national level,” said Harald Mische, deputy head of unit for medical products, at DG SANTE.
Some campaigners still hope the EU will eventually move into a bigger drug-buying role. If Europe is serious about truly tackling market access and affordability, this would be game-changing.
“I’m expecting a small but significant step in this area,” of joint procurement, said Boselli of EURORDIS, “because we have seen a shift in gear during the pandemic of what can be done as a bloc.”
Canadians faced longest ever health-care wait times in 2024, study finds
Canadians faced longest ever health-care wait times in 2024, study finds
‘We’ve now reached an unprecedented and unfortunate milestone for delayed access to care,’ said Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute
By Stewart Lewis
December 12, 2024
Canadians waited longer than ever for medical treatment in 2024, says the Fraser Institute.
This year’s edition of its annual survey of physicians from across Canada reports a median wait time of 30 weeks from referral by a family doctor to consultation with a specialist, and then from the consultation to actual treatment.
The 30-week wait is the longest ever recorded by the Institute — longer than the 27.7 weeks in 2023, 20.9 weeks in pre-pandemic 2019, and 222 per cent longer than the 9.3 weeks in 1993, when it began tracking wait times.
“While most Canadians understand that wait times are a major problem, we’ve now reached an unprecedented and unfortunate milestone for delayed access to care,” said Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2024.”
The independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank released the new survey Thursday.
“Long wait times can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, a decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death,” said Mackenzie Moir, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and study co-author.
Ontarians seem to be doing best in the country with the shortest median wait time (23.6 weeks, up from 21.6 weeks in 2023). Prince Edward Islanders are not quite so fortunate, recording the longest median wait(77.4 weeks). The Institute notes, however, that data for P.E.I. should be interpreted with caution due to fewer survey responses compared to other provinces.
The wait time to see a specialist increased from 14.6 weeks in 2023 to 15.0 weeks in 2024. This wait time is 305 per cent longer than it was in 1993 — at 3.7 weeks. The shortest waits for specialist consultations are in Quebec (9.1 weeks) while Prince Edward Island residents are again struggling — having the longest wait (39.8 weeks).
For the second stage, the wait time for treatment increased from 13.1 weeks in 2023 to 15.0 weeks this year. This wait time is 167 per cent longer than in 1993 when it was 5.6 weeks, and 6.3 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically “reasonable” (8.6 weeks). The shortest specialist-to-treatment waits are in Ontario (10.9 weeks), while the longest are in Prince Edward Island (37.6 weeks).
Among the various specialties, national median wait times were longest for orthopedic surgery (57.5 weeks) and neurosurgery (46.2 weeks). Meanwhile, the shortest are for radiation (4.5 weeks) and medical oncology treatments (4.7 weeks).
For diagnostic tests, wait times were longest for CT scans (8.1 weeks), MRIs (16.2 weeks) and ultrasounds (5.2 weeks).
It is estimated, across the 10 provinces, that the total number of procedures people waited for in 2024 is 1,543,994. Assuming each person waits for only one procedure, 3.7 per cent of Canadians waited for treatment in 2024. The proportion of the population waiting for treatment varies from a low of 3.08 per cent in Ontario to a high of 7.97 per cent in Prince Edward Island.
“The results of this year’s survey indicate that despite provincial strategies to reduce wait times and high levels of health expenditure, it is clear that patients in Canada continue to wait too long to receive medically necessary treatment,” write the report’s authors.
Data for this study was collected from Jan. 19 to May 31, 2024. A total of 1,973 responses were received across the 12 specialties surveyed, a response rate of 17.0 per cent.
There’s nothing “positive” about having your feet amputated due to obesity and diabetes.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1869468860451320230
https://twitter.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1869468860451320230
San Francisco Health Department hires ‘fat positivity’ expert to consult on ‘weight stigma and neutrality’
Virgie Tovar, the author of ‘You Have the Right to Remain Fat,’ called the partnership an ‘absolute dream come true’
By Yael Halon
December 17, 2024
The San Francisco Department of Public Health has hired a self-described “anti-weight-based discrimination” expert to consult on “weight stigma and weight neutrality.”
Virgie Tovar, the author of ‘You Have the Right to Remain Fat” and other published works on “fat positivity and body acceptance” announced on her Instagram Monday that she was hired to consult for the department, calling the collaboration an “absolute dream come true.”
“I’m unbelievably proud to serve the city I’ve called home for almost 20 years in this way!” she wrote. “This consultancy is an absolute dream come true, and it’s my biggest hope and belief that weight neutrality will be the future of public health.”
Tovar’s website lists her as a ”plus-size Latina author, lecturer, and leading expert on weight-based discrimination and body positivity with over a decade of experience.” She is a contributor for Forbes, where she covers stories on the “plus size market.” Her most recent articles include features about hosting a “size inclusive” Thanksgiving and alleged “fatphobia” in current TV shows.
It is unclear what role Tovar will play within the department. The San Francisco Department of Public Health did not respond when asked by Fox News Digital about details of Tovar’s consultancy.
Tovar has been vocal against diet culture and BMI metrics on her social media platforms. In a video posted by Project Heal, Tovar discussed how medical professionals pressured her to lose weight since she was a child and that she had falsely believed they were doing so with her health in mind.
“I really believed that this was about my health. I really believed my doctor was right and so I was using the language of getting “better” but I was actually deeply in the throes of anorexia,” she said.
In July, Tovar posted that she conducted a weight bias training for unidentified government workers, sharing 4 tips she taught to help decrease “stigma around food and bodies at work.”
1. Talk less or not at all about how you and others eat at work,” she wrote. “2. Talk less or not at all about you or others’ bodies at work. 3. Talk less or not at all about exercise at work. 4. Don’t presume that food, weight, body size or exercise are safe or comfortable topics to discuss at work for everyone.”
In a separate Instagram post, Tovar held up a sign with the words “I don’t want Ozempic,” sharing that she was offered the weight-loss drug free of charge but declined it because it would not “solve weight bias.”
She has also been critical of the characterization of obesity as a “disease.”
Tovar offers DEI corporate trainings, per her website, which lists the Seattle Transit Agency, UC Berkeley and other notable companies as former clients.
Tovar could not be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.
openSUSE Unable to Find Board Candidates After Banning Conservatives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ZKtKGiNq8
Disney should make both versions of Pixar’s Win or Lose available, and then parents can make up their own mind about which one to show their children.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1869325394303992307
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1869325394303992307
https://yahoo.com/entertainment/disney-pulls-transgender-storyline-pixar-191500552.html
Disney Pulls Transgender Storyline from Pixar’s ‘Win or Lose’ Streaming Series
By Pamela McClintock
December 17, 2024
Pixar’s original animated series Win or Lose will no longer include a transgender storyline in a later episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The series follows a co-ed middle school softball team named the Pickles in the week leading up to their championship game. Each of the eight episodes center on the off-the-field life of a character and their point of view, whether it be a player, a parent, a coach or an umpire.
A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the story arc was removed and provided the following statement to THR: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”
The character remains in the show, but a few lines of dialogue that referenced gender identity are being removed. A source close to Win or Lose said the studio made the decision to alter course several months ago.
Disney declined to comment on any further details.
It’s not the first time the company has come under scrutiny for LGBTQ+ storylines, particularly regarding its animated content.
In 2022, controversy erupted both inside and outside of Disney following former CEO Bob Chapek’s much-criticized response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In June of that year, Pixar’s Lightyear included a same-gender relationship and kiss, which also sparked controversy. Disney Animation’s Strange World, which featured an openly gay lead character, opened several months later. Both films failed to perform domestically or overseas, earning just $226.4 million and $73.6 million, respectively, at the global box office. LGBTQ+ content faces challenges in certain international markets, where a country may impose a more restrictive age rating or ban the content altogether.
Gender identity has become a charged and divisive topic across the United States, especially around youth and sports. Most recently, Disney Channel’s animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur made headlines after some who worked on the show took to social media to say Disney banned the release of an episode focused on a recurring transgender character. The company denied that the episode was “banned” and said the decision to hold on releasing the episode was made more than a year ago and was not because of the transgender character inclusion.
Disney has continued to feature LGBTQ+ content in its more adult-focused fare, notably Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along, Searchlight Pictures’ All of Us Strangers, Next Goal Wins and Fire Island, and FX’s Pose, among others.
The studio is far from alone in grappling with potential fallout from politically charged content. All of Hollywood is bracing for what could be a tumultuous four years under the Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump, who won in a sweeping victory last month, has routinely criticized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, and it’s been widely reported that a number of businesses have started to pull back on DEI programming, a trend that underrepresented groups fear will only continue. Top media execs have already met with Trump, including Apple’s Tim Cook, while Netflix’s Ted Sarandos is scheduled to meet with him at Mar-a-Lago today.
The decision regarding Win or Lose comes as Disney’s film empire, led by Alan Bergman, is celebrating a major comeback at the box office, led by animation. Pixar’s Inside Out 2, released last summer, has grossed $1.7 billion globally to rank as the top-grossing animated film of all time, while Disney Animation’s Moana 2 has likewise shattered numerous records, earning more than $725 million to date as it heads for the $1 billion mark.
Win or Lose was initially set to debut this month but ended up swapping dates with Pixar’s other original animated series Dream Productions, which is based on the character of Riley from Inside Out, in an order to capitalize on the movie sequel’s success. It will bow Feb. 19, 2025. Michael Yates, Carrie Hobson and David Lally created the show, which voice stars Will Forte as coach Dan.
As it turn out, the voice actress whose character’s story arc has been changed is herself transgender. Disney informed Chanel Stewart, now 18, of the decision on Monday night. Stewart told the publication Deadline later on Tuesday she was “very disheartened” (she was 14 when she won the role after responding to an opening casting call for a trans actress). Continuing she said, “From the moment I got the script, I was excited to share my journey to help empower other trans youth. I knew this would be a very important conversation. Trans stories matter, and they deserve to be heard.”
If a family has a young child, a gun, and a swimming pool, the young child is 100 times more likely to be killed by the swimming pool than by the gun.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1868766634883883125
The voters of San Francisco believe that it is morally wrong to put serial criminals in prison. They deliberately allowed shoplifters to shut down this supermarket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3nicB-8mgo
Why did Democrats pass a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people?
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
December 16, 2024
Democrats went on and on and on and on and on about how great Obamacare was.
I knew from the start that they were lying.
And over the years, I managed to document Democrats’ lies about Obamacare, as well as many criticisms from Democrats about Obamacare, in this this blog post, which I titled, “Here are 341 reasons why Democrats and unions that support Obamacare want exemptions for themselves.”
See, the thing is – the best criticism of Obamacare doesn’t come from Republicans or libertarians.
Instead, the best criticism of Obamacare comes from the very Democrats who support it, but demanded exemptions for themselves.
I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again now: I don’t trust anyone who isn’t willing to live under the same rules that they expect everyone else to live under.
Anyway, the recent assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was followed by comments from people from across the political spectrum regarding the huge problems with our current system of health care.
I’m a libertarian, and I happen to agree with a lot of these criticisms.
In fact, I like to call myself a “bad” libertarian, because I always disagree with libertarian theory in the specific cases where libertarian theory is proven wrong by real world evidence.
I’m a “bad” libertarian because I’m actually in favor of some kind of universal health care.
To be very clear, I still think that private health insurance should be legal. And I definitely support the existence of privately owned health care providers, as well as private companies to invent new pharmaceutical drugs and new medical technologies to treat sick people. Real world experience shows that the private sector has been very successful when it comes to inventing new pharmaceutical drugs and new medical technologies.
But when it comes to paying for these things, I definitely think there needs to be some kind of government involvement for people who can’t afford private health insurance, as well as for people who can afford private health insurance but who have a personal preference to be covered by some kind of a government plan. And for those who do want to spend their own money on private health insurance, I think that that should also be an option.
But I’m totally, completely, 100% against the government forcing people to buy private health insurance.
And that’s exactly what Obamacare does.
So I would like for Democrats to please explain why they passed a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people.
Why did Democrats pass a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people?
It’s such a great question, I’m going to ask it again:
Why did Democrats pass a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people?
And again:
Why did Democrats pass a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people?
And again:
Why did Democrats pass a law that forces people to buy health insurance that denies the claims of millions of sick people?
Here are the first 10 examples from my previous blog post that I mentioned above. You can read the other 331 examples at the link:
https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/
Here are 341 reasons why Democrats and unions that support Obamacare want exemptions for themselves
1) After Obamcare was passed, unions that supported its passage requested and received special exemptions
Within months after Obamacare was passed, Obama gave some organizations an exemption from some of the requirements of Obamacare. As time went on, more than 1,300 organizations received these exemptions.
More than half of the people who are covered by insurance plans that received these exemptions are in union insurance plans. These unions supported the passage of Obamacare. But immediately after Obamacare was passed, these unions wanted exemptions from the very same law that they wanted to force everyone else to obey. This reveals an extreme level of hypocrisy among many of the supporters of Obamacare.
In addition, these exemptions are illegal for two reasons – because Obama granted the exemptions without approval from Congress, and because the Constitution requires the law to treat everyone the same.
The Washington Times wrote of this:
“Selective enforcement of the law is the first sign of tyranny. A government empowered to determine arbitrarily who may operate outside the rule of law invariably embraces favoritism as friends, allies and those with the best-funded lobbyists are rewarded. Favoritism inevitably leads to corruption, and corruption invites extortion. Ultimately, the rule of law ceases to exist in any recognizable form, and what is left is tyranny.”
“The now-familiar monthly trickling down of new waivers is, at best, a tacit admission that Obamacare is a failure. So far, seven entire states and 1,372 businesses, unions and other institutions have received waivers from the law. The list includes the administration’s friends and allies and, of course, those who have the best lobbyists.”
“More than 50 percent of the Obamacare waiver beneficiaries are union members, which is striking because union members account for less than 12 percent of the American work force. The same unions that provided more than $120 million to Democrats in the last two elections and, in many cases, openly campaigned in favor of the government takeover of your health care, now celebrate that Obamacare is not their problem.”
2) After Obamacare was passed, politicians who voted for it asked for a special exemption for their own districts
Even the politicians who voted for Obamacare want exemptions for their own districts.
In response to the medical device tax that is part of Obamacare, some medical device manufacturers have announced plans to layoff employees, including Welch Allyn (275 planned layoffs), Stryker (1,170 planned layoffs), and Medtronic (1,000 planned layoffs).
In December 2012, Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren, John Kerry, and 15 other Democrats who supported the passage of Obamacare wrote a letter to Harry Reid, asking him to delay the tax on medical devices, claiming that the tax would hurt job creation in their districts.
3 ) Politicians who voted for Obamacare wanted an additional exemption for themselves and their staff after it was passed
This is another example of how the politicians who voted for Obamacare want exemptions for themselves.
In 2010, Obamacare was passed by the House and Senate, and signed by President Obama.
Three years later, members of Congress and their staff complained that Obamacare was going to cost them a lot of money, and said that this would likely cause a brain drain among their staff. In response to this, Obama made changes to Obamacare so that these things would not happen. However, Obama’s actions were illegal, because he made these changes without Congress voting on them first.
The New York Times wrote of this:
… the language of the health care law requires Congressional employees to obtain health insurance through an exchange created by the law, but other parts of the federal legal code restrict the ability of the federal government to pay the usual employer share for group insurance programs approved by the Office of Personnel Management.
A straightforward reading of the law thus means that Congressional staff members, starting in January 2014, will have to obtain insurance through the Affordable Care Act but pay for it on their own without the normal contribution from their employer — Congress. This would be a multi-thousand-dollar income hit for those affected… many… would potentially feel the pain, giving rise to concerns over a potential brain drain of Congressional staff members finding other employment.
… the federal personnel office initially ruled that Congressional staff members would not be eligible for the subsidies, and then changed this decision under pressure from the White House…
4) An entire state that supported Obamacare asked for an exemption
The people of Massachusetts were huge supporters of Obamacare when it was passed, and they voted for Obama in both elections. But even they eventually ended up asking for their own special exemption from Obamacare.
In August 2013, Obama gave an Obamacare waiver to Massachusetts.
This waiver was illegal for two reasons. First, the waiver was not approved by the U.S. Congress. Second, the U.S. Constitution requires that the federal government treat all states the same.
5) Obamacare supporters at Democratic Underground later complained about it
For some really hilarious displays of shock and outrage by supporters of Obamacare at how it’s harming people, check out these threads at Democratic Underground: one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.
6) Union members quit their union because of Obamacare
The AFL-CIO was a big supporter of the passaage of Obamacare in 2010, and supported Obama in both elections.
In September 2013, it was reported that 40,000 longshoremen had quit the AFL-CIO, and that they had cited Obamacare as one of their reasons for doing so.
7) Obama broke his own deadline for creating healthcare exchanges
Even Obama himself seems to be an opponent of Obamacare.
Three years after Obama signed Obamacare, the New York Times reported that Obama would miss his own deadline for creating some of the insurance exchanges for small businesses.
8) Obama waited until after the 2012 election to release unpopular Obamacare rules
Obama himself is so much against Obamacare that he waited until after the 2012 election to release some of its rules.
In April 2013, the New York Times reported:
… even fervent supporters of the law admit that things are going worse than expected.
… the Obama administration didn’t want to release unpopular rules before the election.
Everything is turning out to be more complicated than originally envisioned.
A law that was very confusing has become mind-boggling… Americans are just going to be overwhelmed and befuddled. Many are just going to stay away, even if they are eligible for benefits.
9) Obama illegally bypassed Congress to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate
Here’s another example of how even Obama is against Obamacare.
As the Obamacare law was written, the employer mandate was to begin in January 2014. This is what the law said when it was passed by the House and Senate, and signed by President Obama in 2010.
However, in July 2013, Obama delayed the employer mandate part of Obamacare until January 2015. Obama did this without approval from Congress.
For Obama to change a law that was passed by Congress, without first getting approval from Congress, is a violation of the Presidential oath that Obama took to uphold and defend the Constitution.
What Obama did here is an action of a dictator, not an action of a President whose power is limited by a written constitution.
If Obama can get away with this, then it sets a horribly dangerous precedent, and means that the President can arbitrarily make any change to any law that has been passed by Congress, without first getting approval from Congress.
10) Obama illegally avoided enforcing the required income verification of people who receive subsidies for Obamacare exchanges
Here is yet another example of how Obama is against Obamacare.
Even though Obamacare requires the government to verify the income of people who receive subsidies for Obamacare exchanges, in August 2013 it was reported that Obama would not be verifying their incomes.
You can read the other 331 examples at this link:
https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/
You can read my tweets, buy my books, and donate to me at the following three links:
Unscrupulous doctors are helping Wall Street employees to get addictive prescription drugs after they lie on a 5 minute questionnaire
It’s explained right here in this Wall St. Journal article:
https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/young-banker-finance-adhd-medication-adderall-d578a16f
The Drugs Young Bankers Use to Get Through the Day – and Night
Many on Wall Street see Adderall and Vyvanse as tools to plow through long hours of tedious work amid high-pressure competition
By Alexander Saeedy
December 14, 2024
As Mark Moran was facing another 90-hour week as an investment-banking intern at Credit Suisse in New York, he knew he needed help to survive the rest of the summer. His colleagues gave him a tip: Visit a Wall Street health clinic and tell the staff he had trouble focusing.
Ahead of his first appointment, he filled out a five-minute questionnaire. One of the questions asked if he had trouble staying organized, another, if he procrastinated. He then met with a clinician who said his answers suggested he had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. He left with a prescription for Adderall.
No matter that a family member, a psychologist, didn’t think Moran had ADHD. He found that when he took Adderall, he could keep working for hours, and was able to actually be interested in some of the mundane tasks required of a young investment banker, such as aligning corporate logos on a PowerPoint or formatting cells in Microsoft Excel.
He also wanted to show his bosses he was a hard worker and eventually secure a lucrative full-time job offer after finishing graduate school.
“They gave me a script, and within months, I was hooked,” said Moran, now 33 years old and running his own investor-relations firm. He’s also a provocative personality on social media, commenting on finance, politics and culture, including prescription drug use. “You become dependent on it to work.”
Images of Wall Street’s rank-and-file blowing cash on illegal drugs and nightlife are well known, with cocaine a favored drug through the 1980s, as portrayed in “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
These days, drugs are more a tool to optimize performance on the job. Especially for entry-level bankers at the analyst and associate level – who work long, tedious hours and fiercely compete for higher-level jobs with big pay days – prescriptions for stimulants such as Adderall and other ADHD drugs have become commonplace.
Jonah Frey, who worked as an investment banker in healthcare for Wells Fargo in San Francisco, said one colleague would sometimes snort lines of crushed up Adderall pills from his desk in the bullpen – the common area where junior bankers sit and work together. “Nobody blinked an eye,” he said.
Others use nicotine pouches such as Zyn to excess, or consume energy drinks. One banker who worked in Houston between 2017 and 2019 described his colleagues drinking “Monsterbombs” – an extra-strength 5-hour Energy shot dropped into a glass filled with Monster Energy, chugged in one go. The caffeine payload was the equivalent of nearly five cups of coffee at once.
The feeling that the jobs can’t be done without stimulants comes as Wall Street is under fire for pushing junior bankers to take on dangerous workloads.
A Wall Street Journal investigation in August about Bank of America’s treatment of young bankers put a spotlight on long hours that violate its policies and cause health problems. One junior banker died in May after putting in over 100 hours a week for about a month to finish work on a $2 billion acquisition. After the article’s publication, Bank of America and the wider industry said they would crack down on overwork. Morgan Stanley, for example, now asks junior bankers to report their hours and will intervene in some cases to make sure they don’t go over 80 hours a week.
Still, interviews with more than 50 current and former investment bankers at over a dozen banks about how they cope with long hours and high-pressure jobs made clear that the use of stimulants is openly discussed and visible in workplaces.
Most banks mentioned in this article either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Broadly speaking, some banks said they were focused on improving working conditions for employees. Some said they viewed these examples as isolated cases and said employees made their own health decisions regarding prescription medication.
‘A very, very important tool’
Trevor Lunsford, a mergers-and-acquisitions banker for Ascend Capital in Washington, D.C., said he has taken Adderall for seven years. “It’s a very core, integral component of my life, and to me, something that is a very, very important tool,” he said.
He said that for a month he took a 6 a.m. flight to Denver early in the week, connecting through Detroit, to meet with clients of the bank. He would spend eight hours at a management presentation, then go to dinner for four hours after that.
“For a couple of days of the week, it was very regularly a 20-22 hour day,” he said. “That’s something that I would not have been able to be on for, be focused and be quick with decisions if I wasn’t able to take Adderall.”
Around 14 million people had prescriptions for ADHD medication at the end of 2022, up 26% from 2012, according to numbers provided to the Justice Department by pharmaceutical data firm Iqvia. Easier access to the drugs through online health services has driven a surge in new prescriptions, particularly among adults. First-time Adderall prescriptions increased 27% for people aged 30-44 in 2024 from 2021, according to medical insights firm Truveta.
Adderall and Vyvanse, another commonly prescribed ADHD drug, are classified as Schedule 2 drugs, on par with cocaine and opioids because of their high potential for abuse. Abuse can cause frenetic behavior and heart problems.
Samuel Glazer, a New York psychiatrist who counsels high-powered bankers working on Wall Street, said the long-term effects of drugs such as Adderall haven’t been adequately studied, and that they can often be gateways to more dangerous substances. He said he has had clients come in after they tried to buy pills from drug dealers because they ran out of their monthly prescription.
He said the immense financial rewards of working on Wall Street – starting banker salaries can reach $200,000 – can push people to use drugs to improve their performance, saying “the only way to work these hours is if you are really, really driven to perform.”
He said he worried that the destigmatization of amphetamines in a work setting will lead many to lifelong dependencies. “Many of my patients think about taking stimulants just like they would think about taking multivitamins or dietary supplements,” he said. “This is much more casual than opioids were 20 years ago.”
Boutique health clinics such as New York’s Trifecta Health, used by Moran, and the telehealth sites that boomed during the pandemic have eased access to ADHD drugs.
Edward Fruitman, a psychiatrist who owns and operates Trifecta, said 50% of his clientele comes from Wall Street. He said they turn to him because they say their high-octane jobs are nearly impossible to do unassisted. “There is a limit to what any human being can really produce and do,” he said, adding that the difficulties at work could be a sign of untreated ADHD.
For ADHD patients, “I was trying to create a system that does not throw any other obstacles in the way of treatment,” he said. The doctor said the clinic sought to prevent stimulant abuse and looked for signs of drug seeking behavior.
Trifecta doesn’t take insurance. Patients pay $350 for an initial consultation and $240 every month thereafter. After the pandemic started, Trifecta began to offer telehealth services. (Fruitman also operates a plastic surgery business, offering Botox, filler and face-lifts, and has a psychiatric practice that includes addiction counseling.)
Moran visited the clinic from 2016 to 2019, spending over $5,000. He eventually switched drugs to Vyvanse instead of Adderall, and his prescription steadily increased to 70 milligrams a day. He said he was told it was normal to increase dosages as users developed a tolerance to the drug. At first he visited once a month to get his prescription refilled, but he said eventually he wasn’t required to.
During his final visit, a physician assistant offered to keep his prescription at 70 milligrams of Vyvanse – the maximum daily dosage of the drug – and add on 20 milligrams a day of Adderall. He didn’t agree to the new regimen, and stopped going to the clinic about a week later.
By that time, he had a job at the boutique investment bank Centerview Partners in New York. He had stayed at the office preparing a pitch deck for a client until 5 a.m., went home to change clothes, then headed back to work at around 9 a.m. for a meeting with the client, taking Vyvanse on the way in.
Later that morning, while tinkering with a financial model, he began having heart palpitations that felt like he had just sprinted an 800-meter race, “except I was on Microsoft Excel instead of the track.”
“I knew that I needed to stop,” he said.
Monthlong detox
Frey, the Wells Fargo banker, received an Adderall prescription through Teladoc, an online healthcare company, in 2020.
He wanted to try it because some of his colleagues took the drug and had told him it helped them cope with the long hours. It wasn’t unusual to start some days in the San Francisco office at 4 a.m., to be awake for calls with the bank’s clients on the East Coast, and stop around 2 a.m. the next day.
In 2021, he took a new job in New York at Leerink Partners, the former investment banking arm of Silicon Valley Bank, where he was working to build out a healthcare-focused team.
He began to lose track of what day of the week it was because the pills whipped him into a nonstop productive frenzy. He lost his appetite and dropped around 25 pounds.
Finally, he quit the job in 2022 and stopped taking the drug.
He moved back in with his parents. It took about a month to feel normal again. He got cold sweats in the evening and would either sleep for 12 hours straight or not sleep at all. He tried to stay productive, including by learning French through the app Duolingo.
“I went in understanding the downside risks” of using Adderall, he said. “But the reward was making managing director and pulling in a seven-figure salary. I felt that I had to have an edge to make it.”
After stopping the drug, “I had to basically relearn the basics of how to operate as a human being in society, outside of the realm of just going to the office and working yourself to death,” he said. He enrolled in business school two months after he stopped taking the drug and now is back to work.
Zyn pyramids
Some bankers use nicotine pouches such as Zyn and energy drinks to power through tedious work, including building large financial models where one incorrectly typed equation can ruin an entire project, or spending hours pulling together obscure financial figures about private companies for prospective buyers.
The products are heavily used by young men and are touted by “bro” influencers on social media.
Zyn, a product of Swedish Match, which is owned by Philip Morris International, comes in hockey-puck size containers of 15 pouches – a user places one between the lip and gum. Some bankers said they have seen colleagues use so many Zyn pouches in a day they ingest the same amount of nicotine as they would by smoking a pack of cigarettes or more. Empty containers are commonly stacked in pyramids around bullpens.
On top of building complex financial models and 100-slide presentations to win key advisory roles for big mergers and acquisitions, he was working on business development and helping less-experienced analysts learn the job. “My workload went up at least two- or threefold, and that’s when things started to go south,” he said.
During his monthly appointments via Teladoc, he told clinicians he was working a lot more than in the past, and they offered to up his dosage. He agreed.
“I started taking it once in the morning and then once in the afternoon, at first for five days a week, and then it became seven days a week because I was working most weekends,” he said.
Some analysts in the Houston office of Jefferies were known to put two Zyn pouches in at a time while cranking out financial models and PowerPoint slide decks, according to three people who worked there.
They said Zyn helped bankers cope with a major spike in hours this year, when they would work until 4 a.m. for days in a row on big deals, such as the $26 billion merger of Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy.
The product often sells out online and in retail stores, including at shops near investment banks. In Manhattan, Smiler’s Deli across the street from Jefferies typically sells out of Zyn a few days after getting its twice-weekly shipment of nearly 100 containers, a cashier said. The store had a bag of competitor brands behind the counter to offer to customers who need a fix as it waited for its next delivery.
Changed personality
Prescription medications are widely used to get through the long days on Wall Street.
One former banker said he started taking Adderall while working at Guggenheim Partners in New York between 2017 and 2019 after realizing that many others were on it. At the office, “there were pill bottles everywhere,” he said.
A banker at Wells Fargo said he takes 50 milligrams of Vyvanse each morning and 20 milligrams of Adderall some evenings. A typical starting dose is either 30 milligrams of Vyvanse or 5 milligrams of Adderall a day, according to Glazer.
Because of an ongoing shortage of ADHD medications, the banker often struggles to find a pharmacy that can fill his prescription. He has a list of around 10 he tries each month. He said he realized he was addicted when he found himself sitting in traffic on a city bus in Queens, nearly an hour from his office, to get to a pharmacy that could fill his prescription.
He also said he has felt himself become antisocial and isolated from using the medication over the years.
He said the amphetamines hinder his ability to have casual conversations at work because he feels anxious and laser-focused on working. Instead of socializing, he exercises almost every night at a gym near his apartment or plays videogames by himself.
He said he felt the drugs make him robotic and highly transactional, unable to entertain the idea of socializing with strangers – because he sees no immediate value-add.
One woman who worked in commodities finance in Boston found Adderall to be a miracle drug for the first year, giving her so much energy that she would work late into the night and stay at the office for 48 hours. She said that on the drug, she could focus on analyzing obscure trends in commodities markets and build complex forecasts of power prices for hours without needing a break.
She lost around 30 pounds and was rarely eating, but she was succeeding at work and decided not to think too much about it.
Over time, she said the drug altered her personality, making her overconfident and financially irresponsible. She would take short breaks at work to gamble with her savings by investing in penny stocks.
After nearly two years, she realized she depended on the drug to have the energy to do anything. She tried to quit cold turkey. She stopped going to work and started to lose thousands of dollars on her risky investments in penny stocks, but she didn’t sell off the bad bets because she felt no motivation to go anywhere or do anything.
In 2021, she quit her job, sold off the stocks and moved to California for a time. She has struggled with depression and relapses since then.
Adderall is also widely bought as a street drug. But the risk is that counterfeit pills can be contaminated with fentanyl, an often deadly opioid. Two college students at Ohio State University died in 2022 after taking counterfeit Adderall pills that contained fentanyl.
Glazer, the New York psychiatrist, said people who misuse stimulants are more prone to seek out other types of drugs.
Michael Bloom, 29, joined Royal Bank of Canada in New York in 2022, eager to prove himself after transferring into investment banking. His team worked on deals in the financial technology industry, and two people who worked on the team said it was known for long hours and high turnover.
A superior pulled Bloom aside and voiced concern that he was using Adderall to manage his workload, a person close to Bloom said. Bloom told him he didn’t think it was an issue that he was taking the pills, and that he needed them to concentrate.
On April 11, 2023, Bloom went home from the office around 7 p.m. and worked through the night from home, according to three people familiar with his schedule. One person on his team pinged him around 9 p.m. to see if he had more bandwidth to start working on a new project, and Bloom said he couldn’t because he was already too busy, one of the people said. He took another call around 3:30 a.m. from someone he worked with, two of the people said.
His wife found him dead on the floor the next morning. An autopsy concluded he died accidentally from acute intoxication from the combined effects of fentanyl and ethanol. It couldn’t be learned how the fentanyl entered his system.
A spokeswoman for RBC said, “We remain extremely saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend. Our thoughts continue to be with his family.”
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