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Quick Take
Abortion is illegal in Texas, with narrow exceptions for the life and health of a pregnant patient. Those who provide abortions can face stiff penalties, but Texas law specifies that those who get an abortion are not to be penalized. Posts have been circulating online falsely claiming that those who get an abortion in Texas can face fines and prison time.
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Texas has a long history when it comes to banning abortion.
Within a decade of joining the United States in 1845, Texas had criminalized abortion. The laws remained largely unchanged until a woman using the pseudonym Jane Roe challenged the state’s laws in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted, in 1973, in ensuring the right to access abortion across the country.
The Roe v. Wade decision stood until the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson in 2022, which overruled Roe.
Texas was one of 13 states, according to the Congressional Research Service, that had a so-called “trigger law” that would ban abortion in the event Roe was overturned.
The Texas trigger law, which was passed in 2021, became effective 30 days after the Dobbs ruling, making it illegal to have an abortion in Texas outside of narrow exceptions to preserve the life and health of a pregnant patient.
The law includes penalties for those who perform an abortion, including a minimum fine of $100,000, the loss of the health care provider’s medical license, and the potential for a life-time term in prison.
It also specifies that the person who gets an abortion will not be penalized. The law does not “authorize the initiation of a cause of action against or the prosecution of a woman on whom an abortion is performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced.”
Another pre-Dobbs Texas abortion law has a similar provision. That law, commonly called SB8 or the Texas Heartbeat Act, was passed in 2021 and prohibited doctors from performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat was detectable. That law also allows anyone to sue an abortion provider who violates it.
But, like the trigger law, SB8 specifies that those who get an abortion cannot be penalized. As codified, it says, “This subchapter may not be construed to: (1) authorize the initiation of a cause of action against or the prosecution of a woman on whom an abortion is performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in violation of this subchapter.”
There was some confusion after SB8 was passed and a 26-year-old woman in Starr County, Texas, was charged for an alleged “self-induced abortion.”
The district attorney dropped the charges, though, and issued a statement saying, “In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. [Lizelle] Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her.”
Despite that, some falsehoods about the law persist online.
For example, Qasim Rashid, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Bill Foster in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, posted one such claim on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There, he wrote, in part:
“Texas SB8:
•Doctor performs abortion: $100K fine, lose license, life in prison
•Woman gets abortion: $10K fine, life in prison”
Rashid appears to have conflated the penalties from the Texas trigger law with the penalties under SB8. But, more importantly, he falsely claimed that those who get an abortion would be subject to penalties.
That post has been copied and shared as a screenshot meme on other platforms, too.
We asked Rashid’s campaign for evidence to support the claim and were provided with links to two news stories, neither of which substantiated the claim.
In fact, one of the articles provided by the campaign says, “The statute specifically prohibits prosecuting a pregnant patient who undergoes an abortion.”
Sources
Texas State Law Library. History of Abortion Laws. Accessed 15 Feb 2024.
U.S. Department of State, Office of the the Historian. “The Annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1845–1848.” Accessed 15 Feb 2024.
Roe v. Wade. Case no. 70-18. U.S. Supreme Court. 22 Jan 1973.
Dobbs v. Jackson. Case no. 19–1392. U.S. Supreme Court. 24 Jun 2022.
Congressional Research Service. “State Laws Restricting or Prohibiting Abortion.” Updated 22 Mar 2023.
Texas State Legislature. Bill history HB 1280. Last action 16 Jun 2021.
Texas State Law Library. “Does Texas have trigger laws related to abortion?” Updated 9 Nov 2023.
Texas State Legislature. Bill history SB 8. Last action 19 May 2021.
Shapero, Julia. “Texas district attorney to drop murder charge in ‘self-induced abortion.’” Axios. 10 Apr 2022.
Todd Boyd started writing his new book, “Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made the World,” about three years ago, though in many ways, it’s been underway for decades.
“I’ve been telling that in many ways, I’ve been writing this book since I was 9 years old,” the University of Southern California professor says. “Before I knew I was writing it, I was writing it.”
Boyd turned 9 in 1973, the year generally accepted as the birth of rap, and that’s where “Rapper’s Deluxe” begins, at an apartment party in the Bronx, where a DJ named Kool Herc showed a new way of spinning records.
The book ends, neatly, if not entirely by intent, 50 years later, when hip-hop culture had reached a peak far from its underground origins, a handful of its biggest stars playing the halftime show at the Super Bowl, a sign of the music’s dominance of the culture.
Todd Boyd, author of the new book, “Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World,” speaks at the University of Michigan Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2022 Summit on Oct. 12, 2022. (Photo by Lon Horwedel)
“Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World” is the new cultural history of rap and hip hop culture from Todd Boyd. Seen here are interior pages at the start of a chapter. (Photo courtesy of Phaidon)
Todd Boyd, author of the new book, “Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World,” speaks at the University of Michigan Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2022 Summit on Oct. 12, 2022. (Photo by Lon Horwedel)
Todd Boyd, author of the new book, “Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World,” speaks at the University of Michigan Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2022 Summit on Oct. 12, 2022. (Photo by Lon Horwedel)
“Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World” is the new book from Todd Boyd. In it, the University of Southern California professor explores the strands that came together five decades to create rap and hip hop culture, and how they influenced and entwined with the culture in the years that followed. (Photo courtesy of Phaidon)
“Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World” is the new cultural history of rap and hip hop culture from Todd Boyd. Seen here are interior pages at the start of a chapter. (Photo courtesy of Phaidon)
“The fact that coincides with the anniversary is one thing,” says Boyd, the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture, and a professor at its School of Cinema and Media Studies. “But I think it’s a story that unfolded from the ’70s to the present. I needed all that time in order to tell the story.
“Ten years ago, 20 years ago, this book couldn’t have been written,” he says. “It could only have been written now. One of the main reasons is because you needed all that time for this to kind of fully unfold and reveal itself. And that’s where I came along.
“As I was watching that Super Bowl halftime performance that I ended the book with – at SoFi Stadium with Dr. Dre and Snoop and Kendrick Lamar and that group – I realized, you know, this is it,” Boyd says. “This is the most mainstream stage in American culture. And, you know, 30 years ago, there’s no way possible that Dre and Snoop would have been performing at the halftime show of the Super Bowl.
“When you get to that Super Bowl stage, it’s a strong indication that you’ve reached the sort of center of mainstream society. And you can talk about things happening afterward, but the sort of larger point has been made.”
‘Root to the fruit’
“Rapper’s Deluxe” traces the evolution of rap music and hip-hop culture with chapters organized by decades, each packed with photos around Boyd’s essays on artists, trends, history and pop culture.
Its name is a play on “Rapper’s Delight,” the 1979 Sugar Hill Gang track that’s credited as the first rap single. But Boyd makes clear that while its success put rap on the radio and exposed its new sounds to listeners far from its birthplace in New York City, there was a whole lot more going on that decade behind the music.
“The point I was trying to make in that ’70s chapter was we’ve had examples of, if not rap specifically, hop-hop culture for a long time before a lot of people even knew it,” he says. “The seeds for what we would later call rap music were being planted. And if you use that metaphor, you know, you plant seeds, they don’t grow right away. That takes time.
“So listening to Muhammad Ali rhyme before his fights to me is part of what would later be identified as hop-hop culture,” Boyd says. “Listening to Richard Pryor on his comedy albums. Watching blaxploitation movies.”
“Rapper’s Delight” is a historical marker, he says. But the groundwork was laid in communities where Ali and Pryor and “Super Fly” and “Shaft” were popular, neighborhoods where Black veterans came home changed by Vietnam and Black Panthers and activists such as Angela Davis had support.
“I like to say we go from the root to the fruit,” Boyd says. “The seeds were planted and eventually those seeds bore fruit. All of those things were happening in the ’70s. Later, they’re very visible in hip-hop.
“I start the ’70s chapter with that story about the week that DJ Kool Herc threw the sort of legendary party,” he says. “The No. 1 movie at the box office that week is Pam Grier’s film ‘Coffy.’
“Twenty years later, there’s a rapper named Foxy Brown” – after the Pam Grier title role in the 1974 blaxploitation film of the same name – “and Quentin Tarantino is making ‘Jackie Brown’ starring Pam Grier,” Boyd says. “There’s a connection there that nobody anticipated in 1973, but you can see the influence of that by the time you get to the ’90s.”
‘Suburbs to the hood’
Rap, like many musical genres before it, experienced growing pains on its way to its worldwide popularity. But throughout the ’80s, Boyd writes that a combination of factors, including the rise of hip-hop-themed movies, fashion, and art, as well as rap’s appeal to celebrities and sports figures and their fans, helped it burst into the mainstream in unprecedented ways.
Unlike earlier Black American music such as blues and jazz, rap had freer access, and an unlikely ally, as it reached young listeners in every corner of the country, Boyd says. Rap emerged from the Black community, and soon spread far and wide.
“Historically, there were barriers to the expression of some of those older genres of music,” he says. “In spite of that, they still found loyal White fan bases who would be influenced by that music. But it didn’t have the same sort of free form of expression and access that would be available for rap music by the 1980s.
“Which is why I talk about the role of MTV,” Boyd says. “Which, of course, originally was hostile in terms of playing Black music, but by the late ’80s, ‘Yo MTV Raps,’ a hugely popular show, is what allows the music to spread throughout the country, whether or not the people listening to it had any direct connection to that experience or not.
“It didn’t matter,” he says. “Everybody was watching MTV whether you’re in an urban area, a suburban area, a rural area. If you had cable and you got MTV you could look at ‘Yo MTV Raps.’”
Rap music, like many genres before it, was a way for younger listeners to rebel against the tastes of their parents’ generation, he writes. Where early rock and roll saw White performers co-opt Black artists and find huge commercial success, rap was largely impervious to that kind of appropriation.
“When you get to rap music, so much of this is about lived experience,” Boyd says. “So as the music becomes more personal, a White person can’t come and claim that this is their own. They can listen to it and appreciate it and celebrate it. But it becomes kind of a minstrel show if you’re saying this is my life.”
A White rap star such as Eminem succeeded because he didn’t appropriate hip-hop culture as much as become part of it, something recognized by his early mentor Dr. Dre, which gave him credibility that a rapper like Vanilla Ice couldn’t touch.
“Eminem is the anti-Vanilla Ice,” Boyd says. “I think it speaks to just how things changed from, say, the time that Elvis was popular as someone appropriating Black music, and Eminem, who came along and said, ‘I want to be part of this culture. I want to be in it.’
“So when Jay-Z says we didn’t crossover, I think it’s important,” he says, referencing the line “I ain’t crossover I brought the suburbs to the hood’ in 1999’s “Come and Get Me.” “When you think about the ’80s, it’s the era of crossover, from Michael Jackson, Prince and Tina Turner. Whitney Houston.
“Hip-hop didn’t cross over. Instead, people outside the culture came to hip-hop.”
‘Evolution of the culture’
The latter chapters in “Rapper’s Deluxe” move through the ways in which rap and hip-hop sent deeper roots into every aspect of American and global culture.
The ’90s trace the rise of influential artists such as NWA, Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, and the Notorious B.I.G., as well as chapters on offshoots of rap such as the Dirty South and trap music. It looks at artists such as Outkast and Three 6 Mafia – the latter of whom became the first rappers to win an Oscar – T.I. and Lil Wayne.
In the 2000s and 2010s, the book doesn’t focus so much on artists as impacts: the election of President Barack Obama, the shift of rappers into other businesses such as fashion and art, and finally, that landmark Super Bowl halftime show, produced for the NFL by Jay-Z’s entertainment company.
“I was not trying to write hip-hop’s greatest hits,” Boyd says. “I was not trying to write, ‘These are the new important rappers.’ Honestly, to me, once Obama gets elected? I mean, you want to talk about cultural influence? What is a better demonstration of hip-hop’s influence than the election of a president?”
In the final chapter, Boyd says he was more interested in spotlighting the unexpected ways in which rap and hip-hop have fully joined the larger culture.
“So, you know, the National Symphony with Nas performing ‘Illmatic,’” he says. “Or Kendrick Lamar winning a Pulitzer Prize. Or Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys’ art collection, the Dean Collection. Jay-Z’s connection to Basquiat and more broadly contemporary art. “Rappers talking about their art collection the way they used to talk about their cars and their sneakers? To me that’s major.
“People can decide for themselves who the hot new artists are; we’ve covered that,” Boyd says. “That’s almost not as significant. What is significant, however, we can talk about hip-hop going into these previously elite White cultural spaces, and dominating in those spaces, because it speaks to the full evolution of the culture in ways that maybe pointing out who the hot new rapper is doesn’t address as significantly.”
Todd Boyd in conversation with Chuck D
What: Author Todd Boyd will be in conversation with Chuck D of Public Enemy, as well as signing his new book, “Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World.”
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7
Where: Oculus Hall at The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
How much: Tickets are with reservation.
For more: See Thebroad.org/events for information and to reserve tickets
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, augmented analytics is a transformative force, reshaping how businesses operate and empowering consumers with actionable insights. This paradigm shift is particularly evident in the financial sector, where the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has played a pivotal role in enhancing decision-making processes and the consumer experience. We delve into the concept of augmented analytics and explore its impact on financial services businesses and their consumers.
Augmented analytics refers to using AI and machine learning (ML) technologies to enhance data analytics, automate insights generation, and facilitate decision-making. Unlike traditional analytics, which often requires extensive expertise and time-consuming processes, augmented analytics leverages AI to automate data preparation, pattern recognition, and predictive modeling. The goal is to empower users, including business analysts and non-technical stakeholders, to make data-driven decisions effortlessly.
Impact on Businesses in the Finance Industry
The evolution of augmented analytics in finance has been a dynamic journey marked by technological advancements, changing business needs, and an increasing emphasis on data-driven decision-making.
Improved Decision-Making
Business Intelligence (BI) tools allow financial institutions to organize and visualize their data with dashboards and reports that offer a user-friendly interface for data exploration. By incorporating machine learning algorithms, augmented analytics can identify patterns, trends, and correlations within data, enabling predictive analytics. This capability is invaluable for forecasting and anticipating future trends, especially in finance. Businesses can quickly respond to market changes, identify opportunities, and mitigate risks more effectively, accelerating the decision-making process with real-time insights.
Enhanced Productivity
Augmented analytics automates the process of data cleaning, integration, and interpretation, reducing the time and effort required for data preparation. It ensures that the data used for analysis is accurate and reliable. It also frees up valuable time for analysts to focus on strategic initiatives, allowing organizations to extract more value from their data.
Democratization of Analytics
Augmented analytics makes data analysis accessible to a broader audience within an organization using natural language interfaces. Making analytics more accessible to individuals without a technical background democratizes data-driven decision-making and promotes a data-driven culture across all departments.
Predictive Analytics
With the advent of more advanced analytics techniques, the financial industry has shifted its focus from descriptive analytics to predictive analytics. Financial businesses can employ machine learning algorithms for tasks like credit scoring, fraud detection, and risk assessment. AI-driven algorithms have demonstrated significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency in these areas.
Ethical and Responsible AI
The evolution of augmented analytics also brings forth considerations for ethical and responsible AI usage in finance. As technology advances, fairness, transparency, and regulation compliance are paramount.
Photo: nijieimu via 123RF
Impact on Consumers
Customer Segmentation and Targeting
Augmented analytics can analyze vast datasets to identify meaningful customer segments based on behavior, preferences, and demographics. Marketers can then target specific segments with more personalized and relevant content, improving the chances of engagement and conversion.
Predictive Analytics for Customer Behavior
By leveraging predictive analytics, augmented analytics can forecast future customer behavior based on historical data. Marketers can use these insights to anticipate customer needs, tailor marketing campaigns, and offer personalized recommendations.
Automated Insights and Reporting
Augmented analytics automates extracting insights from marketing data, enabling marketers to focus on strategy rather than data analysis. This results in quicker decision-making and the ability to respond rapidly to changing market conditions.
Content Optimization
Analyzing consumer interactions with content becomes more sophisticated with augmented analytics. Marketers can gain insights into which types of content resonate most with different audience segments, allowing for the optimization of content creation and distribution strategies.
Personalized Experiences and Marketing Campaigns
Augmented analytics enables the creation of personalized products and services tailored to individual consumer preferences that enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. By understanding preferences and behaviors, marketers can deliver tailored messages, offers, and experiences that are more likely to resonate with consumers.
Real-Time Analytics
With the ability to process data in real time, augmented analytics allows marketers to quickly adapt their strategies. This is particularly valuable in dynamic environments where consumer preferences and market trends change rapidly.
Customer Retention Strategies
By analyzing customer data, augmented analytics aids in the identification of factors influencing customer churn. Marketers can then implement targeted retention strategies, such as personalized loyalty programs or special offers, to retain valuable customers.
Compliance and Ethical Marketing
Augmented analytics can help ensure marketing efforts comply with ethical standards and regulations. It can flag potential privacy issues or inappropriate targeting, enabling marketers to maintain trust with consumers.
The evolution of augmented analytics in finance reflects a broader trend in the industry towards leveraging advanced technologies to gain a competitive edge. As financial institutions continue to navigate an increasingly data-driven landscape, augmented analytics plays a crucial role in driving efficiency, improving decision-making, and ultimately shaping the future of finance. Meanwhile, consumers can expect more personalized experiences, assistance in making better-informed financial decisions, and increased effectiveness of marketing strategies.
Finances FYI is presented by JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan Chase is making a $30 billion commitment over the next five years to address some of the largest drivers of the racial wealth divide.
Erza Klein, a columnist and podcast host for The New York Times, called on President Biden to end his White House bid and go out as a “hero.”
“I want to say this clearly: I like Biden. I think he’s been a good president. I think he is a good president. I don’t like having this conversation,” Klein said Friday in an episode of his podcast, “The Ezra Klein Show.”. “And I know a lot of liberals, a lot of Democrats are going to be furious at me for this show.”
“I think Biden, as painful as this is, should find his way to stepping down as a hero,” he added later.
“The people whom Biden listens to — Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, Mike Donilon, Ron Klain, Nancy Pelosi, Anita Dunn — they need to get him to see this,” he continued. “Biden may come to see it himself.”
Klein said the Democratic Party should want to help Biden to be “the bridge of the next generation,” making reference to what the president called himself during his 2020 campaign.
“The party should help him find his way to that, to being the thing he said he would be in 2020, the bridge to the next generation of Democrats,” Klein continued. “And then I think Democrats should meet in August at the convention to do what political parties have done at conventions so many times before, organize victory.”
Klein stated that while he appreciated Biden’s achievements while in office, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, he also noted that the president has been trailing in the polls — and invoked the recent stir over his age, after a damning special counsel report branded him “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“To say this is a media invention, that people are worried about Biden’s age because the media keeps telling them to be worried about Biden’s age?” Klein said.
“If you’ve really convinced yourself of that, in your heart of hearts, I almost don’t know what to tell you,” he added. “In poll after poll, 70 percent to 80 percent of voters are worried about his age. This is not a thing people need the media to see.”
A recent poll, conducted in the wake of the report found that 86 percent of Americans think he is too old for office.
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The Director General National Automotive Design and Development Council, Joseph Osanipin, has said that Nigeria needs to step up the manufacturing of automotive spare parts
The NADDC DG said this during a meeting with the Special Adviser to the Governor of Anambra State on Internal-Government Affairs, Nkoli Anyagoku, held in Abuja.
Osanipin said manufacturers like Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Nord Motors, and other local manufacturers will fare better if parts production ramps up.
Anambra is home to Nigeria’s biggest indigenous car maker, Innosson and Osanipin said the state plays critical role in the success of NADDC’s programmes.
Osanipin frowned at the challenges posed by the proliferation of parts manufacturing, particularly in the unauthorized sector.
The DG stressed the importance of collaboration between NADDC and the Anambra State Government to address the issues through engagement.
He added, “Stakeholders continued engagement was agreed upon to address these challenges and come up with strategies to propel the local auto industry forward and dialogue with manufacturers, rather than resorting to forceful measures.
“Anambra State has been a key player in the automotive sector, with a significant number of component parts manufacturers and beneficiaries of NADDC’s funding initiatives.”
NADDC Boss Osanipin Says Nnewi Will Become Hub For Spare Parts Manufacturing is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
When Chuck Walter saw the permission slip from his daughter’s Miami school, he turned to social media.
Sharing an image of a form that requested parental signature for his first grader to attend a 30-minute “read-aloud” activity in which she would hear a “book by an African American author,” Walter aired his disbelief.
“I had to give permission for this or else my child would not participate???” Walter wrote Feb. 12 on X. The image showed that the library event would involve guests — “fireman/doctor/artist,” it read.
Walter told NBC News that he gave the Coral Way K-8 Center teacher “verbal consent” for the Black History Month activity but was told that the form must be signed or his child could not participate.
A photo of a permission slip Coral Way K-8 Center sent home to parents. (Screenshot via X)
The image sparked outcry. And soon Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr., responded on X calling news of the permission slip a “hoax.”
“Florida does not require a permission slip to teach African American history or to celebrate Black History Month,” Diaz wrote Feb. 13. “Any school that does this is completely in the wrong.”
Florida Department of Education spokesperson Cailey Myers also told PolitiFact that permission slips are not required for students to receive “ordinary instruction, like African American History, in Florida.” Education leaders did not answer our questions about what book was being read during the event.
So, what happened here? The incident appears to have arisen out of confusion over the Parental Rights in Education law, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 and expanded in 2023.
The legislation bans classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in all public schools through 12th grade. The law’s supporters say it gives greater parental control over children’s education; critics have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Rule requires parental consent for “field trips, extracurricular activities and supplemental programs”
One rule in the new law, 6A-10.085, requires schools to seek parental consent before children can participate in “field trips, extracurricular activities and supplemental programs.” It doesn’t say that teaching any particular subject, including Black history, requires permission.
The local district in late November implemented its permission slip policy to comply with the rule. The policy requires parental consent for extracurricular activities, including guest speakers, tutoring sessions and school dances.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson Elmo Lugo said in an email to PolitiFact that the event’s description “may have caused confusion,” but said the district is working with schools to emphasize the importance of clearly stating what kinds of events require permission.
In this case, Lugo said, the permission slip was sent home “because guest speakers would participate during a school-authorized education-related activity,” not because it involved a Black author.
The state’s education department didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s questions about whether it believes the school district was interpreting the law correctly.
In an undated letter addressed to Coral Way’s principal, Florida Board of Education Chair Ben Gibson characterized the state’s policy as a way to “keep parents informed of the extracurricular activities their children are participating in” and said it appeared Coral Way had misinterpreted this as applying to “ordinary instruction.”
“This should be obvious on its face, and therefore, those providing guidance to you and your school are either grossly misinterpreting the rule or simply engaged in nothing more than a political ploy,” Gibson wrote, according to a copy of the letter that the Department of Education shared with PolitiFact.
Both before and after Walter’s X post, Miami-Dade school board members questioned how the rule was being executed and asked administrative staff to ask the state to clarify how to properly apply the rule.
“There’s no permission slip to teach Black history,” board member Steve Gallon III said during a Feb. 13 meeting. “And that’s the narrative that’s been formulated that I think we have to be bold and transparent and open about clarifying and debunking as much as we can.”
Teaching African American history is required by state statute and Miami-Dade schools comply with that throughout the year, the district’s chief academic officer, Lourdes Diaz, said in the meeting.
“For teachers to convey curriculum to students in the classroom — that is instruction — but activities that are sponsored by the school, created for students to study or participate in that are outside of that would require a permission form,” Diaz told school board members. “But the instruction of a required topic, be it Black history, Holocaust education, women’s history, all the other ones, does not require a form, per se.”
RELATED: Ron DeSantis said that not ‘a single book’ was banned in Florida. Districts have removed dozens
The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have a good safety record and have saved millions of lives. But viral posts claim the contrary, citing a recent peer-reviewed article authored by known COVID-19 misinformation spreaders and published in a controversial journal. The paper repeats previously debunked claims.
How safe are the COVID-19 vaccines?
How safe are the COVID-19 vaccines?
More than half a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered in the U.S. and only a few, very rare, safety concerns have emerged. The vast majority of people experience only minor, temporary side effects such as pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, or muscle pain — or no side effects at all. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said, these vaccines “have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.”
A small number of severe allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, which are expected with any vaccine, have occurred with the authorized and approved COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately, these reactions are rare, typically occur within minutes of inoculation and can be treated. Approximately 5 per million people vaccinated have experienced anaphylaxis after a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.
To make sure serious allergic reactions can be identified and treated, all people receiving a vaccine should be observed for 15 minutes after getting a shot, and anyone who has experienced anaphylaxis or had any kind of immediate allergic reaction to any vaccine or injection in the past should be monitored for a half hour. People who have had a serious allergic reaction to a previous dose or one of the vaccine ingredients should not be immunized. Also, those who shouldn’t receive one type of COVID-19 vaccine should be monitored for 30 minutes after receiving a different type of vaccine.
There is evidence that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines may rarely cause inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or of the surrounding lining (pericarditis), particularly in male adolescents and young adults.
Based on data collected through August 2021, the reporting rates of either condition in the U.S. are highest in males 16 to 17 years old after the second dose (105.9 cases per million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine), followed by 12- to 15-year-old males (70.7 cases per million). The rate for 18- to 24-year-old males was 52.4 cases and 56.3 cases per million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, respectively.
Health officials have emphasized that vaccine-related myocarditis and pericarditis cases are rare and the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks. Early evidence suggeststhese myocarditis cases are less severe than typical ones. The CDC has also noted that most patients who were treated “responded well to medicine and rest and felt better quickly.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been linked to an increased risk of rare blood clots combined with low levels of blood platelets, especially in women ages 30 to 49. Early symptoms of the condition, which is known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, can appear as late as three weeks after vaccination and include severe or persistent headaches or blurred vision, leg swelling, and easy bruising or tiny blood spots under the skin outside of the injection site.
According to the CDC, TTS has occurred in around 4 people per million doses administered. As of early April, the syndrome has been confirmed in 60 cases, including nine deaths, after more than 18.6 million doses of the J&J vaccine. Although TTS remains rare, because of the availability of mRNA vaccines, which are not associated with this serious side effect, the FDA on May 5 limited authorized use of the J&J vaccine to adults who either couldn’t get one of the other authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines because of medical or access reasons, or only wanted a J&J vaccine for protection against the disease. Several months earlier, on Dec. 16, 2021, the CDC had recommended the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots over J&J’s.
The J&J vaccine has also been linked to an increased risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks nerve cells. Most people who develop GBS fully recover, although some have permanent nerve damage and the condition can be fatal.
Safety surveillance data suggest that compared with the mRNA vaccines, which have not been linked to GBS, the J&J vaccine is associated with 15.5 additional GBS cases per million doses of vaccine in the three weeks following vaccination. Most reported cases following J&J vaccination have occurred in men 50 years old and older.
Link to this
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The safety of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna is supported by the rigorous clinical trials run prior to their release and numerous studies conducted since. Hundreds of millions of people have been vaccinated in the U.S., many with multiple doses, and serious side effects are rare.
COVID-19 vaccines have also been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of severe forms of the disease. Multiple studies have estimated that the COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives across the globe.
But an article — written by misinformation spreaders who oppose COVID-19 vaccination — that claims to have reviewed the original trials and “other relevant studies” largely ignores this body of evidence. Instead, the review, which calls for a “global moratorium” on the mRNA vaccines, cites multiple flawed or criticized studies — many of which we’ve written about before — to falsely claim the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have caused “extensive, well-documented” serious adverse events and have killed nearly 14 times as many people as they saved.
The article was peer-reviewed and published in Cureus, an open-access online medical journal that prioritizes fast publication and has published problematic studies before, as we will explain.
Social media posts that share the incorrect conclusions of the review have gone viral.
“mRNA COVID-19 vaccines caused more deaths than saved: study,” reads a Feb. 4 Instagram post that shared a screenshot of a headline by the Epoch Times.
One author of the review — as well as other social media users — are also using the fact that the paper was published as proof that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe.
“People have said I’m a misinformation spreader because since May 2021, I have been publicly saying the COVID vaccines are not safe. Now the medical peer-reviewed literature shows I was right. Do you believe me now?” Steve Kirsch, a review co-author and a former tech entrepreneur who lacks biomedical training, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Jan. 30 (emphasis is his).
“!! TRUST THE #SCIENCE !!,” the author of a viral post wrote on Instagram on Feb. 7. The post included a screenshot of a news story titled “Mainstream science mulls ‘global moratorium’ on COVID vaccines as cancers rise, boosters flub,” and the statement “Covid vaccines *may* cause cancer. You don’t say.”
Just because a paper is published does not make it correct. While peer review is useful in weeding out bad science, it’s not foolproof, and the rigor and processes vary by journal. This review, which many experts have criticized, is an outlier, not “mainstream science.” And as we’ve written, there’s no evidence mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer and resulted in millions of deaths.
Anti-Vaccine Authors and Debunked Claims
Many of the review’s authors have a history of spreading COVID-19 or vaccine misinformation. This includes Kirsch, who has repeatedly pushed the incorrect idea that the COVID-19 vaccines have killed millions of people worldwide, as well as Dr. Peter McCullough, Stephanie Seneff and Jessica Rose.
McCullough still recommends treating COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, even though both have been shown not to work against the disease. He also promotes and sells “spike protein detoxification” products for people who have been vaccinated, despite no evidence that vaccinated people need any such detox.
Seneff is a computer scientist who has promoted the false notion that vaccines cause autism. She previously co-authored a review paper with McCullough, which the Cureus review cites, that misused data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to baselessly claim the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines suppress the innate immune system, as we reported. Rose has also been accused of misusing VAERS data to claim vaccines are not safe — a common deception among the anti-vaccination community.
The Cureus review cites and even republishes a figure from one of Rose’s Substack posts about the supposedly alarming number of VAERS reports for “autoimmune disorders” following COVID-19 vaccination compared with influenza vaccines. The review claims the increased reporting “represents an immense safety signal.” But as we’ve explained before, the higher number of VAERS reports for the COVID-19 vaccines can be explained by multiple factors, such as increased awareness and stricter reporting requirements – and does not in and of itself constitute a safety signal. A report can be submitted by anyone and does not mean that a vaccine caused a particular problem.
The review paper, titled “COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Lessons Learned from the Registrational Trials and Global Vaccination Campaign,” repeats many claims we’ve already written about, based on studies or analyses that have been widely criticized or debunked.
To claim the vaccines cause “serious harms to humans,” for example, the review draws on a problematic reanalysis of the adverse events reported in the original trials that was published in the journal Vaccine in 2022. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, have cited the paper to argue that the vaccines are too risky. But as we’ve written — and is detailed in a commentary article published in the same journal — the paper has multiple methodological flaws, including how it counted the adverse events.
The review also uncritically cites an unpublished analysis by former physics professor Denis Rancourt that alleged that some 17 million people died from the COVID-19 vaccines. We recently explained that the report erroneously ignored deaths from COVID-19 and that such estimates are implausible. And the review recycles unsupported claims about “high levels of DNA contamination” in the mRNA vaccines and the possibility that such DNA fragments “will integrate into the human genome” and cause cancer. As we’ve detailed, trace amounts of residual DNA are expected in vaccines, but there is no evidence the DNA can alter a person’s DNA or cause cancer.
Photo by Visoot Uthairam via Getty Images.
Finally, the review highlighted findings from a Cleveland Clinic observational study that it called the “best evidence for the failure of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine’s ability to confer protection against COVID-19.” The study, which identified a correlation between more COVID-19 vaccine doses and a higher rate of testing positive for a coronavirus infection, has frequently been cited by those opposed to vaccination. But as we’ve explained, the finding runs counter to that of many other studies, which have generally found increased protection with more doses. And the paper did not demonstrate that more doses actually cause an increased risk of infection. In fact, many experts suspect that the association is likely the result of other differences between people who received a different number of doses. Moreover, the primary purpose of vaccination is to protect against severe disease — and there is abundant evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines have been very successful on that front.
“Lessons learned? More like conspiracies spun,” wrote surgical oncologist Dr. David Gorski in a post about the review in his blog Respectful Insolence.
The authors of the review have also been criticized for citing their own studies in the review and for including non-scientific publications as primary sources.
“BTW, the McCullough, Kirsch, etc. Cureus paper that is purportedly a scientific review article references trialsitetnews, epoch times, brownstone, the spectator, children’s health defense, and conservative review as primary sources for some of their points, as well as 11 substack articles/blogs, a youtube/twitter video, and 2 explicit anti-vaccine books, plus a large number of self-citations from the review authors,” Jeffrey S. Morris, director of the division of biostatistics in the department of biostatistics, epidemiology and informatics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, wrote on X on Feb. 1.
Peer Review Doesn’t Guarantee Scientific Quality
Much of the complimentary coverage of the review paper by some of the usual misinformation spreaders has emphasized that it was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“A review paper published last week in the journal Cureus is the first peer-reviewed paper to call for a global moratorium on the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines,” declared a Jan. 29 article published on Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine website, Children’s Health Defense. The story also received attention on social media.
Peer review, or the process of having fellow scientists provide feedback on a manuscript and whether it is good enough to publish, can be immensely helpful in ensuring that a given paper does not contain major flaws or errors. But peer review is only as good as the feedback provided — and it does not automatically mean the paper can be trusted. Nor are all peer-reviewed journals the same, since each has different standards and reputations.
Cureus is unusual in that it focuses on publishing papers quickly and advertises “efficient” peer review and a “hassle-free” publishing experience. The journal’s metrics for the last six months indicate that the average time from submission to publication is 33 days and that the acceptance rate is 51%. For context, the prestigious journal Nature — which some posts have misleadingly likened Cureus to, as they share the same parent publisher — has a median time of 267 days for submission to acceptance and an 8% acceptance rate. Per the article information for this review paper, the peer-review process took 77 days.
In 2015, responding to concerns about the journal and its fast peer-review process, the founder, president and co-editor-in-chief of Cureus, Dr. John R. Adler, said that “by design peer rejection is not a big part of our review process,” and that the journal also relies on post-publication review to “sort out what is quality/important.”
A paper by Emory University librarians that was presented at a 2022 conference classified Cureus as potentially “untrustworthy or predatory.” The journal is available on PubMed Central, the National Institutes of Health’s database of biomedical research, but is not indexed on MEDLINE, which requires some vetting for inclusion. (A paper’s appearance in either database does not imply any kind of endorsement by the NIH.)
Cureus, notably, published two problematic studies about ivermectin for COVID-19 in 2022. As we reported at the time, the results of the studies were inconsistent with stronger studies that did not find any benefit of using ivermectin for COVID-19. Both studies had methodological flaws and were authored by ivermectin activists — a fact that was not disclosed at the time of publication.
Although even the best journals occasionally retract published studies, Cureus has ended up multiple times in the pages of Retraction Watch, a blog and online database of retractions — most recently on Jan. 26 for 56 studies retracted for faked authorship nearly two years after they were first flagged. In 2022, Retraction Watch reported that a study retracted by Frontiers in Medicine was later updated and published in Cureus.
Editor’s note: SciCheck’s articles providing accurate health information and correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.
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Where would you live if you won the lottery? Turns out Connecticut is a popular choice, according to Lottery ‘n Go.
A survey conducted with 3,000 participants posed the following question: If you won a lottery, what kind of property would you invest in?
Turns out, more than a couple destinations in the Nutmeg state made the list. Beachfront homes in Fairfield County landed 23rd, with real estate offerings bringing a blend of coastal living and upscale amenities. The direct access to Long Island shores is a great plus, too. Greenwich made the list as well at 40th, unsurprisingly. Its spread of luxurious homes “often feature private beaches, docks, and stunning views of the water,” according to the release. Country estates in Litchfield County and historic mansions in Hartford came in at 47th and 76th, respectively.
Curious about the top ten places lottery-winners would go to live? Here is the top 10:
1. Hawaiian Haven: Resort-Style Villas in Hawaii.
Topping the list is the Big Island of Hawaii, where winners would purchase resort-style villas within the confines of elite communities such as Hualalai and Mauna Kea. These lavish dwellings boast amenities fit for royalty, including access to premier golf courses, private pools, and mesmerizing vistas of the ocean or the island’s distinct volcanic topography.
2. Urban Oasis: Penthouses in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Hawaii makes another appearance with its capital city’s penthouses ranking second. Honolulu offers a cosmopolitan lifestyle with high-rise luxury penthouses that feature sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, Diamond Head, and the bustling cityscape, accompanied by the finest modern amenities.
3. Coastal Elegance: Beachfront Homes in Malibu, California.
Third place goes to the quintessential beachfront homes of Malibu, renowned for their breathtaking sea views, direct beach access, and opulent facilities, including expansive terraces and state-of-the-art designs.
4. Timeless Beauty: Historic Homes in Coral Gables, Florida.
Coral Gables is celebrated for its impeccably maintained historic homes, many of which display the intricate designs of Mediterranean Revival architecture, complete with verdant gardens and exquisite interiors.
5. Seaside Serenity: Oceanfront Estates on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
The most popular choice outside the usual triumvirate of states is Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Here, luxury means oceanfront estates with private beaches, golfing, and picturesque views of the Atlantic.
6. Island Luxury: Waterfront Estates in the Florida Keys.
The allure of the Florida Keys is undeniable for the affluent, with its relaxed yet luxurious waterfront estates that come with their own docks and stunning vistas of the open water.
7. Lakeside Grandeur: Mansions on Tennessee’s Lakeshores.
Tennessee’s beautiful lakes, such as Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake, are coveted for their grand lakefront mansions offering private docks and panoramic water views.
8. Southern Charm: Beachfront Homes on St. Simons, Georgia.
Georgia’s St. Simons Island ranks eighth, with its luxurious beachfront properties that provide direct access to sandy shores and beautiful ocean views, embodying a tranquil coastal life.
9. Historic Splendor: Homes in Asheville, North Carolina.
Asheville is known for its array of historic homes, especially in areas like Biltmore Forest, featuring stately architecture, expansive grounds, and proximity to landmarks such as the Biltmore Estate.
10. Mountain Retreat: Lakefront Estates in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Completing the top ten are the luxury lakefront estates in Lake Tahoe, situated at the Nevada-California border, offering private lake access and sprawling outdoor areas set against a peaceful mountain backdrop.
Kenneth B. Morris Jr. introduces his mother, Booker T. Washington’s granddaughter Nettie Washington Douglas, at the Descendants’ Day Event on Feb. 13 at the White House. Morris and his mother are a part of the non-profit Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, which is dedicated to human rights and anti-racism. Photo: Joy Young, HU News Service.
Story by Joy Young
Video by Amya Henry
More than 100 descendants of civil rights trailblazers gathered Feb. 13 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.
They had gathered on Feb. 13 for Descendants’ Day, part of the Biden-Harris administration’s celebration of Black History Month.
Among them were family members of Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman.
Vice President Kamala Harris welcomed the descendants.
“There’s so much happening in our country and in the world right now that I think challenges us all to ask, ‘What kind of country do we want to live in?’” Harris said. “And in order to adequately answer that question, I think it is imperative to understand where we are and came from.”
Representative Terri Sewell said the descendant’s efforts to uphold the work of those who came before them.
“Each generation must fight to preserve the progress of the past and to advance it,” Sewell said. “So to the families here today, we say thank you for the perseverance, the personal sacrifice, and the tireless work to preserve and protect the work of your ancestors,” she said.
Stephen K. Benjamin, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, followed shortly after to recap the initiatives of the Biden-Harris administration.
He highlighted the administration’s accomplishments of providing an estimated 5.5 million Black households with affordable internet, increasing healthcare coverage for African Americans by nearly 50%, and pioneering an executive order to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Kenneth B. Morris, a descendant of both Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass, was the final speaker, emphasizing the power that descendants have to foster collaboration that could help tackle modern problems.
“This historic event marks the beginning of coalescing the descendants’ families and like-minded leaders and organizations to catalyze transformative positive societal change amongst the most significant challenges faced by our country,” Morris said. “As Fredrick Douglas said, without struggle, there is no progress.
“As descendants, we have the responsibility to finish what our ancestors started.”
Rodericka Applewhaite, director of Black media at the White House, said the request to gather at the White House was presented to the Office of Public Engagement for present foundations to share initiatives to collaborate with the White House.
The Descendants’ Day event is one of many activities on the weekend itinerary for the family members of the iconic figures, according to NBC News.
NBC News reported that the invitees will visit the Lincoln Memorial, the Supreme Court and the U.S. Capitol. There will also be opportunities for group discussions and collaborative dialogue.
The article White House Celebrates Descendants Of Civil Rights Leaders for Black History Month originally appeared on Howard University News Service (HUNS). Howard University News Service, established in 2001, trains student journalists to provide hyperlocal and national reporting to serve media deserts and address a severe lack of diverse news coverage. Senior-level journalism students provide multimedia stories under the supervision of professional journalists and professors in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University. As a free wire service, HUNS primarily serves the 200 African-American weeklies that are members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) with coverage of national and local events in and around the Washington area, including Congress and the White House, as well as issues of interest to multicultural audiences.
