CBC

Three Nova Scotians who have the same extremely rare condition say their shared experience has brought them closer together as a family.Brad, Bradley and Amanda Bright have Camurati-Engelmann disease, a skeletal condition that causes increased bone density, primarily in the legs, arms and skull. It can cause pain, muscle weakness and difficulty walking.The Brights are believed to be the only people in Canada with the disease.Patriarch Brad Bright saidwhen he was a teenager, a teacher noticed one day at school he had a "swagger" while he was walking down a hallway."I never noticed it," he said in an interview. "It was the way I always walked."It wasn't until years later, when his daughter, Amanda, was diagnosed, that he found out the way he walked was because of the disease."When my daughter was getting ready for school, she had to do some tests, and one of her tests was for her to jump, and she couldn't jump very well," said Brad."We got it looked at and we found that the bones were really hard."As it turned out, three of four members of the Weymouth, N.S., family had the rare condition.It's a story that Brad's son, Bradley, told through Normal,a short film he made for CBC's Being Black in Halifax, a compilation of four short documentaries streaming on CBC Gem.Bradley, a 33-year-old filmmaker and animator, said that when he and his older sister were kids, they would spend a lot of time at the IWK Children's Hospital doing tests. He said most of those tests would be done on Amanda first."It helped that me and my sister were close. She sort of, I guess, took the brunt of it because they would do it a lot on her," he said."I really looked up to my sister for that. She sort of protected me from all that."But Amanda suggested it was part of her job as the big sister."I was always really protective of him growing up I mean, I probably still am now, though we're adults but I think it has kind of brought us together," said the 36-year-old teacher.Although her mother, Trina, doesn't have the condition, Amanda said she was by their side during their manyhospital visits.According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the prevalence of Camurati-Engelmann disease is unknown. It estimates about 300 people are affected worldwide.'Nobody really understands'Being one of the only people in Canada known to have this disease has been a challenge, said Brad.For many conditions, there are support groups and forums, people with shared experiences. That isn't the case for Brad."Ever since I've been sick, I haven't yet woke up without pain," he said. "As the years go by, it just takes everything out of youbecause you can't say nothing to nobody, because nobody really understands, and you just try to cope with it yourself each day and each day gets harder."Tasks that people may take for granted, such as making a piece of toast for breakfast, can be difficult for Brad."For me to stand by the sideboard and wait for that toast, the pain that goes through you, it's just out of this world," he said.Durhane Wong-Rieger, the president of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders, said there are many challenges that come with living with a rare disease.She said patients may not get a timely diagnosis, and there could be some difficulties in getting access to specialists or treatment.On top of that, there are few people in their situation."If you are dealing with a condition which you don't know anyone else that necessarily has that condition, it can be an awfully scary and isolating experience," she said.But in a case where family members share a disease, they can find support through each other, said Wong-Rieger."It's comforting to know that you're not absolutely alone," she said.Wong-Rieger added that while a condition may be rare, they are often part of a family of disorders, so people can find others with similar conditions.She noted that rare diseases affect many Canadians, though people might not recognize that."Even though each rare disease might only affect a few people, collectively, because there's 6,000-7,000 rare diseases, there are close to three million people in Canada who directly have a rare disease," said Wong-Rieger.Raising awarenessBradley hopes his film will help shed light onCamurati-Engelmann diseaseand help him find other people who may be living with it."It would be neat if someone [saw] the movie, and then be like, 'I know someone who has had stuff like that,'" he said. "That would be really interesting for me."His father, Brad, agreed."Because it's not known in Canada much and I think by people looking at it, listening to it, knowing that it's here, it's a real sickness," he said.Amanda said she believes it may shine a light onsimilar diseases."I know there are conditions like ours that are similar, so maybe it might bring awareness to those conditions as well," she said.MORE TOP STORIES

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The Conversation

As Christmas approaches, many families undertake a familiar ritual: an annual sojourn to the attic, basement or closet to pull out a box of treasured ornaments bought, created and collected over years, even generations. Hanging these ornaments on the tree is an opportunity to reconnect with memories of personal milestones, holiday icons and, in many cases, destinations visited. But, I argue, it may be time to take some of these old travel keepsakes off the tree. In researching my 2019 book, Confederate Exceptionalism, I studied sites throughout the American South whose histories are tied to enslaved labor. Seemingly charming souvenirs are sold to commemorate many of these places from the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, to Stone Mountain, a Georgia cliffside carved with images of Confederate generals.Christmas ornaments are among them. And while these keepsakes may seem apolitical, their very circulation enables Confederate myths and symbols to become normal features of peoples daily lives. My research suggests they can thus desensitize Americans to the destructive nature of such stories and icons. Contesting Confederate symbolsIn recent years the U.S. has seen heated conversations about public symbols that commemorate the Confederacy, centered on the Confederate battle flag and statues of Confederate generals. After a white shooters deadly 2015 massacre of nine black congregants at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, activist Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole outside the state capitol to remove the Confederate flag flying there. After Newsomes act of civil resistance, then-President Barack Obama referred to the Confederate battle flag as a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. But some in the U.S. and even abroad still see the flag as a symbol of heritage not hate.Statues of Confederate generals that dot courthouse lawns and public plazas across the United States have prompted similar controversy. In 2017 plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue triggered violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally killed activist counter-protester Heather Heyer.That tragedy spurred more cities, towns and colleges to remove or relocate Confederate statues seen as offensive. Nationwide debates followed on how best to grapple appropriately with this chapter of American history. Consuming the ConfederacyBeyond the scope of these national discussions, my research on Confederate myths and memory finds, many unexamined Confederate symbols have made their way into peoples kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms. Take Confederate cookbooks that help modern-day chefs recreate the recipes of the Old South and stuffed animals based on Little Sorrel, the taxidermied war horse of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, for example.People probably dont reflect on the horrors of slavery when baking an apple pie or purchasing a cuddly toy for their child. They arent meant to. But they are participating in that history and its mythologies nonetheless.In that way, seemingly apolitical objects like cookbooks, toys and Christmas ornaments commemorating Confederate history serve to normalize rather than problematize the objects, rituals and stories surrounding the Confederacy. More than a souvenirAs a result, tree ornaments depicting the White House of the Confederacy, a home of Gen. Robert E. Lee or the carvings of Stone Mountain are not simply mementos of a leisurely visit. These places and people are also icons of the Lost Cause, an ideology that romanticizes the Confederacy by portraying the American Civil War as a battle of states rights rather than a fight to preserve slavery. The Lost Cause is still taught in some Southern schools, demonstrating that the vestiges of the Confederacy are powerful and lasting. Like Confederate statues and flags, Confederate Christmas ornaments strengthen this myth that the Confederacy an entity built on white supremacy was about southern heritage.What appears to be a nostalgic trip reminder, then, is in fact deeply implicated in a complex matrix of memory, history and racism in the United States. Its just packaged in a seemingly benign way.Christmas ornaments communicate something about the person or family that displays them. They reveal their history, passions and aesthetic taste. So pause to consider whether your Christmas tree represents your values. Does a keepsake from Stone Mountain really belong between an ornament crafted in a kindergarten classroom and a glass nutcracker gifted by your grandmother? [ Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Read more: * Slave lifes harsh realities are erased in Christmas tours of Southern plantations * This Christmas tell your children the real Santa Clausstory * The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy isbetterNicole Maurantonio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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The Conversation

As Christmas approaches, many families undertake a familiar ritual: an annual sojourn to the attic, basement or closet to pull out a box of treasured ornaments bought, created and collected over years, even generations. Hanging these ornaments on the tree is an opportunity to reconnect with memories of personal milestones, holiday icons and, in many cases, destinations visited. But, I argue, it may be time to take some of these old travel keepsakes off the tree. In researching my 2019 book, Confederate Exceptionalism, I studied sites throughout the American South whose histories are tied to enslaved labor. Seemingly charming souvenirs are sold to commemorate many of these places from the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, to Stone Mountain, a Georgia cliffside carved with images of Confederate generals.Christmas ornaments are among them. And while these keepsakes may seem apolitical, their very circulation enables Confederate myths and symbols to become normal features of peoples daily lives. My research suggests they can thus desensitize Americans to the destructive nature of such stories and icons. Contesting Confederate symbolsIn recent years the U.S. has seen heated conversations about public symbols that commemorate the Confederacy, centered on the Confederate battle flag and statues of Confederate generals. After a white shooters deadly 2015 massacre of nine black congregants at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, activist Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole outside the state capitol to remove the Confederate flag flying there. After Newsomes act of civil resistance, then-President Barack Obama referred to the Confederate battle flag as a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. But some in the U.S. and even abroad still see the flag as a symbol of heritage not hate.Statues of Confederate generals that dot courthouse lawns and public plazas across the United States have prompted similar controversy. In 2017 plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue triggered violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally killed activist counter-protester Heather Heyer.That tragedy spurred more cities, towns and colleges to remove or relocate Confederate statues seen as offensive. Nationwide debates followed on how best to grapple appropriately with this chapter of American history. Consuming the ConfederacyBeyond the scope of these national discussions, my research on Confederate myths and memory finds, many unexamined Confederate symbols have made their way into peoples kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms. Take Confederate cookbooks that help modern-day chefs recreate the recipes of the Old South and stuffed animals based on Little Sorrel, the taxidermied war horse of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, for example.People probably dont reflect on the horrors of slavery when baking an apple pie or purchasing a cuddly toy for their child. They arent meant to. But they are participating in that history and its mythologies nonetheless.In that way, seemingly apolitical objects like cookbooks, toys and Christmas ornaments commemorating Confederate history serve to normalize rather than problematize the objects, rituals and stories surrounding the Confederacy. More than a souvenirAs a result, tree ornaments depicting the White House of the Confederacy, a home of Gen. Robert E. Lee or the carvings of Stone Mountain are not simply mementos of a leisurely visit. These places and people are also icons of the Lost Cause, an ideology that romanticizes the Confederacy by portraying the American Civil War as a battle of states rights rather than a fight to preserve slavery. The Lost Cause is still taught in some Southern schools, demonstrating that the vestiges of the Confederacy are powerful and lasting. Like Confederate statues and flags, Confederate Christmas ornaments strengthen this myth that the Confederacy an entity built on white supremacy was about southern heritage.What appears to be a nostalgic trip reminder, then, is in fact deeply implicated in a complex matrix of memory, history and racism in the United States. Its just packaged in a seemingly benign way.Christmas ornaments communicate something about the person or family that displays them. They reveal their history, passions and aesthetic taste. So pause to consider whether your Christmas tree represents your values. Does a keepsake from Stone Mountain really belong between an ornament crafted in a kindergarten classroom and a glass nutcracker gifted by your grandmother? [ Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Read more: * Slave lifes harsh realities are erased in Christmas tours of Southern plantations * This Christmas tell your children the real Santa Clausstory * The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy isbetterNicole Maurantonio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Rolex With Spinach, Bacon, Tomato and Avocado - Yahoo News

Week in Review

Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw say they've learned to adjust to campaigning and policymaking in the era of Covid-19.As part of a year in review series, they spoke to Newsroom about the impact of the pandemic, their views on Jacinda Ardern and their hopes for the next three years

When I last sat down for an interview withGreen Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw, it was for a pre-election profile I ended up writing on August 11.

That night, the Prime Minister announced that four community cases of Covid-19 had been found in Auckland, with no obvious link to the border. My article still ran the next day, but it was overshadowed by the news that the virus was back and Auckland was headed into Level 3 lockdown.

For the Greens, this was just another in a long string of interrupted campaigns, media pushes and policy announcements. When I met the co-leaders again on Thursday, I referenced our last meeting, saying that the resurgence of Covid-19 had plunged my piece into irrelevance.

"As were we all," Shaw says.

Election result a surprise

The challenges of 2020 made for a uniquely difficult campaign, but the Greens managed to make history by improving their share of the vote as a minor party after being in Government and winning, for the first time, an electorate seat without the help of a major party.

"Because we've been a small party and have been in opposition for the vast majority of our history, until very recently, we don't have memories of success," Shaw says.

"There's been a lot of little ones along the way obviously. Those have all been celebrated and recorded. But other than 2011 when we bounced up into the double digits for the first time, we've not really had an election result quite like that."

Given the last poll before the election had the Greens on 6.5 percent and the party tends to underperform the polling, the Greens expected their return to Parliament would be on a knife edge.

"There are lots about it that surprised us. Chle surprised everyone except Chle. But we raised more money than we'd ever raised before - we actually finished the election campaign in a better financial position than when we'd started it," Shaw says.

"The fact that our polling got it right for the first time. Our polling told us that Labour were going to win an outright majority. None of us really believed it, because we'd never really believed our research before, because we can't afford the frequency and the coverage and so on. So when we got it, we applied the standard sort of discount."

"That was the main thing for me, was, I refused to believe it until I saw [the final results]," Davidson says.

"All through the night, I was looking at the numbers going, 'It can't be'. I was working off the research and the evidence base and the evidence over the years told a different story. So I took off a couple of points here and there."

Rewriting the narrative

The co-leaders say their success wasn't necessarily achieved despiteCovid-19. While the pandemic rendered face-to-face campaigning, at least in Auckland, impossible and had MPs so busy in Parliament that they were unable to campaign, Davidson says it also highlighted the importance of the party's message.

"We had to sort of rewrite some of our narrative. We had to work harder to make the connections, to bring climate and environmental protections into the space of a public health response to Covid," she says.

"The light being shone on the inequalities that we had always been strong on, but Covid was bringing them to the forefront even more so. We needed climate change to be in the forefront of peoples' minds, and it wasn't necessarily, so we did need to do some work."

The main thrust of the campaign's strategy - a focus on six key issues like poverty, transport and agriculture, as well as the "Think ahead, act now" slogan - was developed in late 2019, before the word "Covid-19" was even invented. Nonetheless, Shaw says, the party adapted the strategyto the context of Covid-19 and stuck to it.

"Historically we're not terribly good at following our strategy," he says, to a chortle from Davidson.

"We tend not to stay on strategy. This time we did."

"I felt like no matter what result, we had done well because we stuck to our game plan. But it also got us the results," Davidson says.

Cooperation agreement

After the election, the pair hashed out an agreement with Jacinda Ardern to earn themselves ministerial portfolios outside of Cabinet. Shaw held onto the climate change role and picked up Associate Minister for the Environment (Biodiversity) while Davidson earned a brand new title as Minister Responsible for Family and Sexual Violence Prevention. She is also responsible for homelessness with an associate housing role.

The decision to cooperate with Labour despite having no leverage over the bigger party wasn't a foregone conclusion, butthe party went along with it because of the achievements over the last three years.

"That was the core of the rightfully rigorous debate. It was in the context of us having just come through our first term in government with ministersgetting some stuff done and, especially for our campaign, maintaining our political independence and point of difference," Davidson says.

"We went into those discussions wanting to do both. And of course our party had those vigorous discussions back and forth. But we've had some experience now. We've had three years of being able to show influence, getting stuff done that makes a difference on the ground to our planet and to peoples' lives, as well as being able to speak up, when we knew it was important, on our priorities."

"The scale of what we were able to do in those three years of government is so many multiples greater than anything we'd been able to do in the 20 years previously, in opposition," Shaw says.

Going into negotiations, some commentators doubted that the Greens would be able to win much of significance, given Labour's outright majority. But Shaw, in the days leading up to the discussions, had publicly outlined a theory which held that politics was not quite so transactional as the media was making it out to be. Relationships mattered, he said, and the Greens have a good relationship with Labour in general and Jacinda Ardern in particular.

When asked whether he still believes that and whether he will carry that philosophy forward over the next three years, Shaw doublesdown.

"The only reason we're in this arrangement is because of the quality of our relationships with the Labour Party. They didn't have to take us, right? And if we had acted in a transactional manner in the last term, we would probably be in opposition," he says.

"I feel quite vindicated with that view. In this arrangement, we canonlyget things done as a result of our relationships. It's critical."

Transformation?

That doesn't necessarily mean the new Government will go as far as the Greens might like. When asked whether Ardern will lead a transformational Government, the co-leaders hedge their bets and say it depends on the issue.

Shaw says the Prime Minister has her own theory of change - something she reiterated to Newsroom in her own year-end interview - which holds that the change which matters most is the change that sticks. Often, that is "incremental" Shaw says.

"You take the country with you on a journey over time. You need to keep building permission," he says.

"She may well be proved right. But we take a view that some of the crises that we're facing have a degree of timeliness to them which means that it simply requires that scale of transformation in a shorter period of time."

"They campaigned on a manifesto. That's what their programme is," Davidson says.

"The things in it are good and necessary and need to happen and for the most part, we support them. But they, on their own, aren't transformative. That's what they've committed to and that's what they have a mandate for as well. There are some potentially founding things for transformation in there, but that's where the Greens have some value to add, is really being able to push for and work with the transformational stuff."

Davidson says the work she is trying to do in her family and sexual violence portfolio is "laying the foundation for transformation". She also points to the Green Party's continuing advocacy for a wealth tax in the face of housing becoming an increasingly contentious political issues.

"Some transformational work does need to happen in that space. That isn't in the manifesto. On some issues, that's where the Greens will send a really strong signal and build mandate for those particular transformational shifts."

Looking ahead

On climate change, Shaw is more optimistic.

"That's an interesting one, right? I actually think, in climate change, in the new arrangement, there is a greater likelihood of transformational government than there was in the last three years. You can see the Prime Minister is wanting to lead in ways that, I think, she felt constrained from being able to do so."

Looking ahead, the Greens say they aren't worried about the Year of the Vaccine - as Ardern has dubbed 2021 - overshadowing their policy priorities.

"I've come to terms with the fact that the Covid overview of things is going to be with us for years, if not for the rest of our lives," Davidson says.

"But actually, that is also the platform for us to talk even more so about these issues. Climate change is a health issue. Absolutely, as a health resilience and recovery issue. Housing is a health issue, very clearly. It provides us with another opportunity to relate it back to this collective wellbeing - child poverty, people having enough to survive on, is a health issue, a climate issue, an environmental protection issue."

Shaw says he will be pushing to make sure that, "as a vaccine rolls out, we don't just revert to type. One of the things I keep saying about climate change is that innovaiton is a function of constraint. When the squeeze is on, that's when you get creative - generally. Covid has been an enormous disruptor but you can also see that there are innovations that are occurring in government and public policy, and also in the private sector, which offer incredible hope.

"I just hope people don't drop that and say, 'It's cool, there's a vaccine, we can just go back to employing cheap labour to do crap work.'"

He is also looking forward to the release of draft recommendations from the Climate Change Commissionfor New Zealand'semissions budgets through 2035, recommendations for strengthening our Paris Agreement target and recommendations for how to treat agricultural methane. Those are due February 1 and he expects them to really shake things up.

"Next yearin the domain of climate change is going to be a doozy," he says.

"It's gonna be massive. And I think there will be a lot of stories to write. I think that there will probably be news in there, that people see the reality of it for the first time."

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Davidson and Shaw prepare for a second term in Govt - Newsroom

The Week

Former National Security Adviser Michal Flynn tiptoed once again toward urging President Trump to declare martial law to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory, citing discredited voter fraud claims. Trump "could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these voting machines," Flynn told Newsmax host Greg Kelly Thursday night. "He could order the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states."Using the U.S. military to force states to redo an election is "not unprecedented," Flynn added. "These people are out there talking about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times, Greg. So I'm not calling for that. We have a constitutional process," and "that has to be followed."> Here's Michael Flynn on Newsmax saying that Trump could order "military capabilities" to swing states and "rerun an election in each of those states."> > "People out there talk about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times." pic.twitter.com/KNmiAGGiPF> > Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 18, 2020The federal government hasn't implemented martial law since after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, and then only in the territory of Hawaii. "Flynn's insane rant" appears to rely on "the numerous invocations of martial law" before and during the Civil War, University of Texas law professor Steve Vladek said. Since then, Supreme Court precedents and several laws notably the Posse Comitatus Act have severely constrained the president's ability to declare martial law."Nothing to see here," Slate's Will Saletan tweeted. "Just a retired general and former undeclared foreign agent for an authoritarian regime, freshly pardoned by the president for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, asserting precedents for martial law to overturn the president's electoral defeat."Former President Barack Obama fired Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, then "tried to warn Trump about him," New York Times reporter Maggie Haberbman noted. "Trump hired him, fired him, complained about him and his son during transition, and then has obviously changed course." The Bulwark's Tim Miller added: "Michael Flynn lying to the FBI was the biggest break the nation caught during the Trump years. The thought of the insane mad man in the room when Trump was making decisions is frightening."More stories from theweek.com 5 insanely funny cartoons about Trump's election-fraud failure Trump has reportedly been convinced he actually won, tells advisers he may not vacate the White House Jill Biden tells Colbert she's proud of her doctorate, baffled by criticism of her use of honorific

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Wake-Up Weather: Clouds and sun - Yahoo News

As candidates, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris promised an administration that looks like America. But theyre facing increasing pressure from interest groups that worry Biden and Harris wont follow through and deliver a historically diverse Cabinet and staff.

In 2020, the bar for diversity has been raised well beyond the seven women and 10 nonwhite officials in President Barack Obamas first Cabinet, write POLITICOs Megan Cassella, Laura Barrn-Lpez and Alice Miranda Ollstein. So far, Bidens core White House team, including his chief of staff and key advisers, will be mostly white and male, and its not clear how many of his top picks for his Cabinet will be women or people of color though the Biden-Harris team says the administrations diversity will be clear once the transition process is complete.

Biden has announced several historic picks, including the first female Treasury Secretary nominee, Janet Yellen; Avril Haines, who would be the first female director of national intelligence; and Neera Tanden, who would be the first woman of color to lead the Office of Management and Budget. This week, Biden also announced the first senior White House communications team comprised entirely of women. But while the transition team touted the announcement, a debate has bubbled up about how groundbreaking the move really is. Some observers have pointed out that women have held prominent positions on President Donald Trumps communications team as well. Others worry not enough women will end up in higher-level decision-making roles, like Cabinet positions.

The push for diversity and the limited number of top-tier slots is creating conflict. For example, the United States has never had a female Defense secretary, and many women in national security have strongly come out in favor of Michle Flournoy, a former Defense Department official in the Clinton and Obama administrations. At the same time, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been pressing Biden to appoint the first Black Defense secretary.

We asked a group of women how pioneering the Biden-Harris picks so far have actually been and what kinds of choices Biden would have to make to have a truly diverse administration. Here are some highlights:

The importance of visibility: Joe Biden is an older white man and will draw upon the social networks that he has to make decisions about his Cabinet positions and other appointments. To a certain extent, then, we should expect his cabinet picks to be reflective of this reality. I do, however, think it is important that women like Karine Jean-Pierre and Symone Sanders [two new members of the senior communications team] are in those positions because we have not seen Black women on our televisions and in our homes delivering important missives from the White House to the public on a regular basis. I think its also going to improve the ability of Black and other minority-serving news outlets to have access to the executive office. Niambi Michele Carter, associate professor of political science at Howard University and author of American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship

The incoming Biden-Harris administration knows that personnel is policy, that having women, people of color and LGBTQ people at the table improves not just our government but also its policies for the people the administration serves. I am encouraged by the early announcements including two queer women of color among the historic all-female White House communications senior staff and I hope to see more women and marginalized people in top-tier positions so we can repair the damage of the last administrations havoc on our rights. Jennifer Fiore, senior vice president for communications and marketing at the Human Rights Campaign

The pressure is really on President-Elect Biden I think because as a nation we are more aware of the need for diversity than ever. He already smashed a formerly impenetrable glass ceiling by naming Kamala Harris his vice president, but most Americans want more than that. The all-female communications staff is good, but it is also a bit stereotypical that women excel in that field. ... If the Biden-Harris administration is to make good on its promise to appoint a cabinet that looks like America it must be considering qualified candidates of Native American ancestry, LGBTQ and non-binary individuals. I think that the criticism of a too-white Cabinet is positive because the administration is not complete yet, and it signals that there will be dissatisfaction until it is more diverse still. Nichola Gutgold, professor of communication arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University and author of Still Paving the Way for Madam President

Bidens victory would not have been possible without the efforts of people of color, especially women of color, in key states. It is important that he acknowledge that these underrepresented communities are heard by appointing people whose backgrounds and actions show an understanding of and care for how policy issues affect these groups and affirming that they deserve to be descriptively represented in how our government leads and functions. Christabel Cruz, director of NEW Leadership at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University

MORE TRANSITION NEWS -- What a Joe Biden Cabinet Pick Might Mean for Native Americansand Democrats, via POLITICO Magazine ... The California Air Quality Guru Who Taught Business to Love the Environment, via POLITICO Magazine ... Biden unveils diverse economic team as challenges to economy grow, via POLITICO ... The quiet frontrunner: How Biden landed on Yellen for Treasury secretary, via POLITICO

-- Inside the unlikely return of Jen Psaki, via POLITICO ... The Mastermind Behind Bidens No-Drama Approach to Trump, via The Atlantic ... Harris taps Tina Flournoy as chief of staff, via POLITICO ... New candidates for Agriculture secretary emerge as Biden faces pushback on Heitkamp, via POLITICO

Happy Friday, and welcome back to Women Rule. Today is National Cookie Day! Many thanks to Elizabeth Ralph, who is off today but contributed items to the newsletter. Send tips and feedback to [emailprotected].

MARK YOUR CALENDARS -- Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m. for the Women Rule event Powering Forward: The Year Ahead. Well talk to the women who have provided steady leadership and vision during a tumultuous year from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza and discuss how they are looking to set the course in Washington, corporate America and activism in 2021. Register and see the awesome lineup here.

NEW WOMEN RULE PODCAST -- This week on the podcast, Anna talks to Elizabeth and POLITICO editor Carrie Budoff Brown about the strange year weve all lived through from the presidential election to the global pandemic the year ahead and what all of it means for women. Listen here.

WOMEN AT THE TABLE -- Nasdaq proposes listing standards for boardroom diversity, by Kellie Mejdrich: Nasdaq has proposed new listing standards to require greater diversity on public company boards of directors and more disclosures related to the subject, according to an SEC filing on Tuesday by the stock exchange. After a phase-in period, the proposal would eventually require most companies listed with Nasdaq to have at least two board directors who self-identify as having diverse backgrounds: one female, another either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+, the exchange said in a news release.

Nasdaq's move comes amid pressure from investors and advocates for more information on companies related to environmental, social, and governance issues. The exchange said in its proposal that was part of why it is seeking the changes. Nasdaq believes that the heightened focus on corporate board diversity by companies, investors, corporate governance organizations, and legislators demonstrates that investor confidence is enhanced when boardrooms are comprised of more than one demographic group, the exchange wrote. Nasdaq has also observed recent calls from SEC commissioners and investors for companies to provide more transparency regarding board diversity. ...

Companies that cannot meet the new board member and reporting standards will face potential delisting, although that consequence can be avoided if they disclose why they aren't meeting the diversity objectives or if they nominate additional diverse candidates to their board to satisfy the requirements. POLITICO

PANDEMIC LATEST -- Vaccines are on the way. What does that mean for pregnant people? by Chelsea Cirruzzo: Jaely Turner describes herself as covid-conscious and pro-vaccine. She and her young son are up-to-date on all of their shots. Turner wants to keep it that way. But, as the United States inches closer to making a coronavirus vaccine available to the public, Turner says she wont be rushing out the door to get it for herself. Thats because the Virginia-based doula is 10 weeks pregnant. I just have concerns about the safety of the vaccine long term and especially for myself as a pregnant and soon-to-be nursing woman, she says. I just am unsure of what the implications would be for me. And until she gets answers to her questions, she says, I feel inclined to wait it out until Im done nursing. ...

None of the three companies that say theyve developed effective coronavirus vaccines enrolled pregnant or breastfeeding people in their clinical trials. And that means initial guidance on who should get vaccinated likely wont include pregnant people, public health experts say. Pregnant people have long been typically left out of major vaccine trials because of concerns that the women and their fetuses might face increased risk. That protocol has come into question in recent years as experts increasingly make the argument that leaving them out of trials puts them at greater risk. The Lily

-- Pregnant health care workers a question for early Covid-19 immunization, via The 19th

ON THE HILL -- Incoming GOP congresswoman to take aim at AOC with conservative squad, by Evan Semones: An incoming congresswoman on Sunday promised a conservative answer to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs socialist squad after a record number of Republican women were elected to serve in the House. Rep-elect Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) floated the idea during an interview on CNNs State of the Union, saying a natural alliance is occurring among members of the new freshman class of Republicans.

I think what youre going to see is a group of individuals who are going to serve as a counterbalance to the values of the socialist squad, Malliotakis told CNNs Dana Bash. We dont believe we should be dismantling the economy. We dont believe we should be destroying free market principles. We dont believe in Green New Deal. We dont believe in packing the courts. POLITICO

-- "House Democrats elect DeLauro as next House Appropriations chair," via POLITICO ... McMorris Rodgers will make history as first woman at top of Energy and Commerce, via POLITICO

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: President-elect Joe Biden formally announced former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his pick to become the next Treasury secretary at the Queen Theater on Dec. 1, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the department. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

IN HEALTH -- Eight months into the pandemic, this womens health clinic in rural Texas struggles to meet demand for care, by Shannon Najmabadi: Women come from more than one hundred miles away to Building 35 in a red brick public housing project in rural Brown County, a housing unit turned health clinic where virtually every item, even the beige exam tables, is donated. The clinic is walk-in only no appointments a better bet for patients with unreliable transportation or unpredictable schedules. Without federal funds, Midway Family Planning in Central Texas would have shut its doors long ago, its director says, as state budget cuts dried up family planning dollars from the Gulf Coast to the Texas Panhandle. Instead, the nonprofit clinic has endured as a small health care lifeline, where low-income and uninsured Texans far from busy cities with many doctors can get free or low-cost contraceptives, cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

This is what womens health care looks like in the rural heart of Texas, a state routinely ranked among the worst nationwide in health care access and where three-quarters of counties lack enough medical professionals. Lawmakers have increased funding for womens health in recent years, but there remain large swaths of the state where medical professionals are scarce and reliable internet is spotty and the gap between these health care have-nots and their urban counterparts has widened during the coronavirus pandemic.

From the rural Panhandle to the U.S.-Mexico border, financial pressures and safety concerns have shuttered doctors offices, inundated health departments and pushed people living on slim margins into ever more precarious living situations. Some clinics have seen their office visits plummet, leaving experts to wonder if women are missing opportunities to catch potential health problems before they need serious treatment. Elsewhere, safety net providers like Midway have scrambled to see patients traveling further to get time-sensitive care, like birth control. The Texas Tribune

AROUND THE WORLD -- Because Shes a Girl: Lockdown Exposes Gender Gap in U.K. Sports, via The New York Times ... In Japan, more people died from suicide last month than from Covid in all of 2020. And women have been impacted most, via CNN ... Saudi Arabia has dragged its imprisoned female activists back into court. How will Biden respond? via The Washington Post

WOMEN AT WORK -- Black women dont get much startup funding. These founders are trying to change that, by Jazmin Goodwin: Although Black women are the fastest-growing group of female entrepreneurs in the United States, theyve long been slighted by startup investors and significantly under-funded. But in spite of the obstacles they face, these founders are forging ahead and continuing to thrive in their businesses. In fact, the number of Black women who have raised over $1 million in funding has more than doubled since 2018, according to ProjectDiane, a biennial report released Wednesday. The report, which tracks publicly-announced funding of Black and Latinx women-founded businesses, is compiled by digitalundivided, a nonprofit focused on supporting entrepreneurial women of color. It uses data from Crunchbase and Pitchbook to track crowdfunding, angel, seed and venture round investments. Its possible the data doesn't include some founders who are not listed in those databases or didn't disclose funding publicly.

According to ProjectDiane, at the start of 2018, just 34 Black women had raised $1 million or more in outside investments for their businesses. But now, in data tracked through August 2020, more than 90 Black women have hit or exceeded that level. The numbers of Latinx women who've reached that milestone also grew quickly, although they remain incredibly underrepresented in VC circles, too. Still, its an impressive upswing that could signal a shift in a startup landscape largely dominated by White men.

This milestone comes amid a backdrop of protests against systemic racism and an unprecedented push to support and buy from Black-owned businesses. Founders and advocates are hoping to build upon that momentum, but also wonder if the support being shown to Black-owned businesses, let alone those founded by Black women, is here to stay. CNN Business

-- Group Seeking Equality for Women in Tech Raises $11 Million, via The New York Times ... Has Anything Changed for Black Women at Work? via Harvard Business Review

HISTORY DEPT. -- In 1968, IBM fired Lynn Conway for being transgender. She finally got an apology, by Sydney Page: When Lynn Conway started her career as a computer scientist at IBM in 1964, she quickly became known within the company for her raw talent, working on a team to produce technologies that would shape how advanced computers operate. But Conway was riddled with anxiety and depression as she tried to shield her transgender identity while living as a man. At the time, she was 30 years old and married with two children. Four years later, Conway decided to begin her medical gender affirmation journey. When IBMs corporate management team heard of Conways intentions, the chief executive at the time, Thomas J. Watson Jr., quietly fired her.

Conway, now 82, says she was crushed but that she ultimately understood. You cant change what happened, and in fact, if you look at what happened from all perspectives, it pretty much was the only thing that could have happened, said Conway. When you connect the dots, you see it as a sign of the times. Fifty-two years later, IBM has formally apologized to Conway. IBM is a very different company than it was back then, said Conway from her home in Michigan, where she lives with her husband, Charles Rogers, who is also a professional engineer.

Last month, the company invited Conway to attend a virtual meeting with its employees. I wanted to say to you here today, Lynn, for that experience in our company 52 years ago and all the hardships that followed, I am truly sorry, said Diane Gherson, IBMs senior vice president of human resources, at the event. Were here today not only to celebrate you as a world-renowned innovator and IBM alum, but also to learn from you; and by doing so, create a more inclusive workplace and society, she continued. Conway says the apology and decades-delayed acknowledgment of her work was freeing, and that it provided her with a long-sought sense of closure. The Lily

NEW RULES -- I stopped trying to control my body: the women who gave up grooming in 2020, via The Guardian

BOOK CLUB -- Why Cant Women Be Serial Killers, Too? by Amy Silverberg: Chelsea G. Summerss debut, A Certain Hunger, opens in a hotel bar not unlike other hotel bars. They all look the same, Dorothy, a middle-aged food critic and our antiheroine, tells us. Hotel bars smell like class privilege, desperation and hope. Anti might be too weak of a prefix to describe this heroine: Shes more of an outright villain, a red-haired seductress in leagues culinary, homicidal traditionally dominated by men. As a woman psychopath, the white tiger of human psychological deviance, Dorothy says, I am a wonder, and I relish your awe.

The man who approaches Dorothy in this particular hotel bar meets a violent and frankly grotesque end, and what follows is one of the most uniquely fun and campily gory books in my recent memory. Its apt that Dorothy once worked at a magazine called Noir, because A Certain Hunger has the voice of a hard-boiled detective novel, as if metaphor-happy Raymond Chandler handed the reins over to the sexed-up femme fatale and really let her fly.

Is the voice inviting? Sure, as inviting as a kidnapper holding a knife to your throat and threatening, Dont move until Ive finished my story. The descriptions of violence and gourmet cuisine are so visceral that I felt alternatingly hungry and sick to my stomach. The writer Janet Fitch says the authors ultimate goal is to give readers a pleasurable inner conflict, wanting to turn the pages faster while also lingering on each beautifully written sentence. With Summerss writing, I kept rereading sentences only as a double take, whispering to myself, Man, this lady is screwed up which is, Id argue, its own kind of pleasure. The New York Times

IN CULTURE -- Why These Women Are Crossing the Country By Motorcycle, via Cond Nast Traveler ... The Dangerous Blind Spot of The Undoing, via The Atlantic ... My Life in Different Decades, via The New Yorker ... Big Mouths Missy Finds Her Voice, via Vulture

VIDEO -- Congress is running out of time to do its job

WISDOM OF THE WEEK -- Iris Wilbur Glick, Vice President of Public Policy & External Affairs at the Greater Louisville Inc., The Metro Chamber of Commerce and Women in Government Relations 2020 Excellence in Advocacy for a Women Serving Women Campaign awardee: I often think of how I would handle a situation or take on a challenge if I could park any fears to the side. Over time, that perspective has strengthened my self-confidence in my abilities and helped me seize important opportunities for growth and advancement. What I have learned is that kind of assurance, paired with an eagerness for taking initiative, is necessary to reach the next level, especially since the kind of leadership roles I have sought were not achieved by me waiting to be told what to do. Connect with Iris here.

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Will the Biden administration really look like America? - Politico

'We continue to advocate, theres a lot of discussions being had,' said Ross Romano during today's announcement with Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney

No less than four Ontario government cabinet ministers, including Sault MPP and Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano, announced a Transportation Plan for Northern Ontario via Zoom Thursday.

What could be described as awork in progress, the plan includes more than 60 actions, including improvements to rest areas, expanding bus service and going ahead with highway widening projects on Highways 17 and 11, along with actions to make further progress on plans for passenger rail service in northern Ontario.

Four-laning, or even widening, of Highway 17 east and north of the city is something Sault and area residents have wanted for years, and though some progress has been made, more is needed.

So does the plan include that?

That is a conversation certainly thats been had, and continues to be had. Wherever we can, we want to do anything in our power to support making our highways and roads safer, Romano said, replying to SooToday.

We continue to advocate, theres a lot of discussions being had.

Romano was joined Thursday by Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation; Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines; and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Today is about a plan, replied Rickford, speaking to SooToday as a follow up to Romanos comment.

Part of the problem weve had across northern Ontario for the previous 15 years is...frankly, weve had a highway, when it comes to twinning, thats been built by ad hocery, driven by political ideology or some interest in the prospects of politics. Its high time we just got a plan. And that plan has been put in place so that we can start to make sense to the people of northern Ontario that this highway, particularly 11 and 17, is a safe highway, and the most pressing and most substantial parts of it are twinned.

I dont think theres any question that if you give this government an opportunity over the next decade, well see to it that significant parts of this road (is twinned), and Ive often felt the entire stretch at some point needs to be twinned. Nobody disputes that. You take a look at the map of across Canada, its the only section of the country where there is no twinned highway, so were going to continue to make sure that this is guided by plans, guided by safety sequencing, Rickford said.

It (the plan announced Thursday) will evolve as we do more consultation, as we gather more feedback and questions like yours (regarding Highway 17 four-laning) are exactly to the point. Thisll be an opportunity to feed those kinds of needs into future action items in the plan, said Mulroney, also in reply to SooToday.

Another element of the northern transportation plan that will be coming after todays announcement is were going to be putting together a task force of local transportation experts, Indigenous leaders, municipal leaders who can speak directly to the needs that theyre seeing on the ground that they need to be reflected in future versions of this plan.

Its a living document, Mulroney said.

As for parent company Genesee & Wyomings plans to stop Huron Central Railways short line freight rail operations eight days from now, Mulroney was asked by reporters what plans the province has to invest in rail infrastructure to keep the HCR running between the Sault and Sudbury, its operations crucial to local industries such as Algoma Steel.

In September, Genesee & Wyoming stated it needs $44 million from the senior levels of government to upgrade the line, Dec. 18 being the last day of business for the line if that financial aid doesnt come through (with a local stakeholder committee working to keep the lines operations alive).

Im well aware of the challenges theyre facing, Mulroney said, stating she and Romano had met with HCR pre-pandemic.

Were continuing through MTO and my office to discuss the challenges theyre facing and Im trying to understand how we can support them...I know theres a tight timeline so were continuing to monitor the situation. We are aware this has important implications for Ross riding and for the region.

Obviously, short line rail in northern Ontario is critical, its important, this is critical infrastructure and we want to make sure that we keep our short line rail operators and we make sure they're competitive, Romano said, adding the provinces plan includes sustaining short line rail operations in northern Ontario.

Romano drew attention to recent provincial Connecting Links funding which led to Black Road widening and work performed on Trunk Road.

There wasnt even a sidewalk on the side of the road (Black Road) and youre walking along a single lane of traffic with transports buzzing by you that are traveling across this country, and for that link we were able to secure three million dollars, the maximum allowable amount under Connecting Links funding for the Black Road expansion...and then we got three million dollars for the Trunk Road expansion, Romano said, thanking Mulroney and her Ministry for those investments.

Right now the focal point in terms of the current here and now announcements is that six million dollars worth of Connecting Links funding that youve seen over the last few years, Romano said.

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Highway 17, Huron Central Railway discussed as part of northern transportation plan - SooToday

Were all fundamentally the same. We want quiet enjoyment, mobility, access to technology, an education that wont turn us into indentured servants, and the opportunity to find a job that isnt overly dreadful. We want to live reasonably well in the time we have. And were not afraid to work hard to earn that living. But we also want serious men and women in power making good decisions. We want to feel theres still a semblance of justice and decorum in the country and that were being represented. We all generally agree on this no matter our ethnicity or our politics, but even Democrats dont agree on Joe Biden.

Were facing social entropy, an economic prison, federal dysfunction, continued pandemic, people chosen not for their skill but for their capacity to be inoffensive, and endless identity strife. Biden didnt create these things, but he rode them to power. And his transition choices are making us wonder whether theyre firmly on the docket for the next four years. We wonder whether hes deliberately and unnecessarilytrolling the rightand mollifying the left with his cabinet picks instead of choosing people who will do the best job possible.

It seems like Bidens still campaigning at full velocity, not for the presidency but for influence over an increasingly divisive Democratic party no longer united by the threat of a second Trump Administration. And no matter who comes out on top in that struggle, we worry that the country will not be governed well (or at all) and that most Americans will continue to suffer. At this point, those of us who voted for Biden have to answer a hard question. Our real vote was actually not Trump. But what did we votefor? Whatever it is, were about to get it.

We knew this would happen. It always does when threats external to the polis are finally neutralized and the aristocrats turn back to their internecine rivalries and power games. Its a pattern that unfolds in every political culture to the extent that its almost a given. Only, in our present situation, the nobles, at least on the left, are ideologically-driven identity groups, each convinced that their time has now come and that Biden owes them royal favors.

They might be right. But the president-elect has no doubt already discovered that one cant be all things to all people all the time. Hes inevitably making some happy, while others feel rejected and betrayed. As a philosophy student once said to me in Prague, In Europe, weve always known: not everyone can be a cheerleader. Not everyone gets picked for the squad. Not everyone gets paid (or paid off) for ones efforts. Not everyone gets appointed consul, even if Incitatus just got the job. Some kids end up going home, dying their hair black, and practicing viola on game nights. Others have to wait until they can try out again. Still others wind up unjustly short-changed forever, whether they have it coming it or not. It all depends. Ask Alexander Vindman. Then ask Michael Cohen. Then ask Michael Flynn.

But the American people knowjust as Biden must knowthe extent to which social inequality and ethnicity play into every political decision such that the issue of racism remains influential in the United States. For all of Trumps offensive campaign race-baiting, Biden has been the primary beneficiary. The political and social divisions in America have recently made a lot of people money and put others in the poorhousea new mode of class mobility that giveth livelihoods and taketh them away, depending on who gets called out and by whom. One could look at that and reasonably argue that those forces would inevitably elevate any Democratic candidate following a Republican administration like Trumps. But not without incurring certain political obligations.

Playing on social perceptions of race and class will probably keep benefitting people until the country calms down and focuses on other ways of making itself miserable. TheOverton Windowkeeps shifting. In four years, well still be screaming about race. But whos making money off that screaming and whether theyre doing it from under a bridge, from Capitol Hill, or from a podium in a newly built University of California lecture hall remains an open question.

No one seriously doubts the fact that race and class have always been conflated in the American political imagination, but issues of racial identity have become so fraught in recent years, especially during Trumps tenure, that we often see politicians speak of one in terms of the other. For example, Marco Rubiorecently describedBidens cabinet picks as people who went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of Americas decline." He doesnt mention the transition teams intense focus on the skin color of potential nominees, but theres a strong anti-political-correctness subtext to his language verging on a dog whistle.

At a recent press conference, Biden promised significant diversity in high profile positions, while refusing to give specifics or names. Still, regarding the positions of secretary of state, treasury secretary, defense secretary, and attorney general, CNNquotesan anonymous source familiar with the transition discussions admitting that They're absolutely not going to have the top four Cabinet positions be white. Absolutely not. That would be anathema.

Many Republicans must feel less than delighted about admissions like this. But as the same CNN article notes, The bar to meet both the ideological and diversity goals is high. And Biden's concerns about plucking too many Democratic members from the Housenow that his party has a more narrow majorityhave complicated the conundrum. Its no doubt very difficult to placate the implacable, especially when theyve got a political hook in you and feel that they were instrumental in your rise to power. Itll be entertaining to watch what happens. Itll be less entertaining to see it happen in a way that results in further national disintegration.

Originally posted here:
Not Everybody Can be a Cheerleader - Splice Today

National Review

Attorney General William Barr has known about investigations into Hunter Bidens business and financial dealings since at least spring, but tried to conceal the investigations from the public during the presidential election, according to a new report.One investigation surfaced this week after federal investigators served Hunter Biden with a subpoena seeking financial information in connection with a criminal tax investigation by the U.S. attorneys office in Delaware, according to the Wall Street Journal.Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also scrutinized Bidens business and financial dealings in connection with a broader international financial investigation that has been ongoing for a year, according to the Journal. While Biden is implicated in that investigation, he was not a specific target for criminal prosecution.Neither investigation implicates President-elect Joe Biden."I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs," Hunter Biden said in a statement Wednesday. "I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors."Barr did not budge under pressure from Congressional Republicans who pressed him for more information into the investigations. Investigators worked to keep the cases out of the public eye ahead of the November election, in line with Justice Department guidelines, concerned about the impact their work could have on its outcome, sources told the Journal.Trump on Thursday criticized the Fake News Media, the FBI and the DOJ in a tweet, asking why they did not report the Biden matter BEFORE the Election.In the weeks before the election, a number of Republicans issued calls to investigate Hunter Biden, particularly after a Republican Senate investigation in September released a report on the younger Bidens finances and overseas business interests.Ranking member of the House Judiciary panel Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) wrote to Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray asking what the FBI had done to investigate the explosive report.A number of Republicans in Congress pressed Barr on October 19 to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and his father, demanding that Barr issue a response within five days.Investigators began looking into Hunter Biden following reports of suspicious activity filed by a bank that handled foreign transactions related to him, according to the Journal.Biden previously sat on the board of Ukranian gas company Burisma Holdings, where he made $50,000 per month for his work until April 2019. He also served as an advisor to China CEFC Energy Co. to the companys dealings in Europe and the Middle East.in 2017 he was a shareholder in a venture with the Chinese company while it looked to gain a foothold in the U.S.. That joint venture never took off, but the Senate Republican report found that an entity linked to CEFC paid Biden's law firm millions of dollars for legal and advisory work.The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office began investigating CEFC's activity as part of a corruption case that resulted in the conviction of a former Hong Kong official in 2018. The official was charged with bribing African officials for CEFC's benefit. The company was not charged.President-elect Biden said in a statement Wednesday after news of the tax investigation broke that he is proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger.

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Mother killed in crash one month after 12-year-old son gunned down - Yahoo News

GlobeNewswire

2020 SIM Connect Live - Powered by HMG Strategy Join the top CIOs and technology executives from around the world as we explore the CIO's role in fostering radical business innovation and cultural change on the road to 2021 and beyond. WESTPORT, Conn., Dec. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HMG Strategy, the world's 1 digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world, will host the 2020 SIM Connect Live conference for the first time ever on December 15. With 40 chapters across the U.S. and around the world, the Society for Information Management (SIM) is the worlds premier networking organization for IT leaders. The event has already generated more than 500 registrants from around the world with technology executives continuing to flood in to join the event. Click here to learn more about the event and to register.HMG Strategy has produced more than 100 digital events since March, bringing together the worlds most distinguished and innovative technology leaders to discuss the most pressing leadership, strategic, cultural, technological and career challenges facing technology executives now and into the future.HMG Strategy President and CEO Hunter Muller and SIM International CEO Mark Taylor will lead an engaging discussion throughout the event on matters critical to enterprise success and career ascent. Topics technology leaders will be discussing at the event include fostering radical business innovation and cultural change across the organization, preparing your company to grow and thrive into 2021 and beyond, and how to cultivate digital innovation securely.We are incredibly excited for the opportunity to host the 2020 SIM Connect Live conference, said Hunter Muller, President and CEO of HMG Strategy. We work closely with SIM leaders from all over the U.S. every day and their experiences provide invaluable insight into the top leadership challenges that technology executives are facing and the future of the industry. This is a cant-miss event.Notable technology executives speaking at the 2020 SIM Connect Live conference on December 15 include: * Julia Anderson, Global CIO, Smithfield Foods * Dr. David Bray, Inaugural Director, Global GeoTech Center & Commission, Atlantic Council * Wayne Bulmahn, Chief Information Officer/Security Officer, UNITE HERE HEALTH * Chris Gates, Group CIO and SVP Hosting Services, Allstate * Melissa Hohauser, SVP, IT Director, Servicing and Ops, TCF Bank * Jeanette Horan, Experienced Board Member and Strategic Advisor * Rodney Kenyon, GVP, Global Oracle Applications Support, Rimini Street * Susan Malisch, VP & CIO, Loyola University Chicago * Quintin McGrath, Senior Managing Director, Technology Management & Enablement, Global Technology Services, Deloitte * Mark Polansky, Senior Partner, Technology Officers Practice, Korn Ferry * John Repko, EVP & CIO, AIG * Rafael A. Sanchez, CIO, Feld Entertainment, Inc. * Marcus Session, President, SIM Tampa Bay; VP of IT Services, Tampa International Airport * Scott Strickland, EVP & CIO, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts * Mark Taylor, CEO, Society for Information Management Valued partners for the 2020 SIM Connect Live on December 12 will include Appian, Aryaka, Darktrace, Forescout Technologies, Globant, Obsidian, PagerDuty, Rimini Street, the Society for Information Management, Sonatype, Tessian, and Tanium.To learn more about 2020 SIM Connect Live and to register for the event, click here.To learn more about HMG Strategys upcoming CIO & CISO summits, click here.UPCOMING WEBINARS & DIGITAL ROUNDTABLESHMG Strategy has also received exceptional interest in its webinars through the strength of the 400,000+ technology executives in its community and the quality of the content it delivers. HMG Strategy has scheduled multiple 30-to-60-minute webinars over the next few months with an arsenal of innovative technology companies such as Citrix, Darktrace, HCL Technologies, Ivanti, Moveworks, Nutanix, Okta, OutSystems, PagerDuty, RangeForce, RingCentral, UiPath, Zoom, Zscaler, and Zylo.On December 16th, HMG Strategy will host two separate webinars powered by Zoom. The first, Forward Thinking on the Future Digital Workplace, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, will focus on how CIOs and technology executives must focus on what the future of work will look like and how they can best position their companies and team members to remain engaged and productive for the long haul.To learn more about this webinar and to register for the event, click here.At 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT that same day, HMG Strategy will also host a webinar powered by Zoom entitled Protecting the Hybrid Enterprise. In this event, which is tailored for CISOs and security leaders, top security executives will share the steps theyre taking to protect the enterprise as their organizations shift to hybrid work models. These issues include security associated with remote staff bringing unsecured personal devices into the office as well as securing data properly as employees repeatedly transition between in-office and remote workspaces.To learn more about this webinar and to register for the event, click here.Click here to view HMG Strategys complete calendar of upcoming and on-demand webinars.Connecting Enterprise Technology Buyers with the Right VendorsIn the absence of large, national conferences or trade shows, CIOs and technology executives are seeking new ways to connect with their peers and find new business partners to help them drive innovation that can enable their companies to survive and grow.Meanwhile, sales and marketing professionals at enterprise technology companies are looking for successful ways to engage with senior technology leaders and target accounts. HMG Strategy has harmonized these interests by creating the HMG Marketplace.HMG Strategys high-powered Marketplace transforms the time-consuming request-for-information (RFI) process for CIOs and other technology buyers. Now, technology buyers can indicate the types of technologies and services theyre currently interested in and be matched with a prospective provider to make the connection.The HMG Marketplace essentially serves as a reference center to connect the right technology buyers with the right technology providers at the right time, said Hunter Muller, President and CEO of HMG Strategy. By filling out a short needs assessment survey, CIO, CTOs and other technology executives are connected with executive leaders and subject matter experts from technology companies to have focused, relevant discussions.Charter members that are actively participating in the HMG Marketplace include Appian, Aryaka, Darktrace, Forescout Technologies, Globant, Ivanti, Obsidian Security, PagerDuty, Slack, Sonatype, Tanium and Tessian.Its challenging for all of us that we cant all be together at these events, says Nicole Eagan, Chief Strategy & AI Officer at Darktrace. But the next best thing is being able to connect through the Marketplace. Were committed that you wont be meeting with a salesperson youll be meeting with myself and the Darktrace executive team. Youve got CIOs and CISOs who will attend these meetings and we would love the opportunity to catch up and strategize together.How it WorksAfter attending an HMG Strategy Executive Leadership Summit, an attendee is redirected to the HMG Marketplace, where they are prompted to fill out a short needs analysis survey to indicate their current technology needs. From there, an HMG Strategy customer relationship specialist evaluates the survey information and schedules a meeting between the technology buyer and the most suitable technology partner in the Marketplace based on the buyers interests.While in the Marketplace, the technology buyer is presented with a menu of options to choose from, including an option to view customer testimonials for that vendor and the business problem that was addressed. Sponsor partners receive highly qualified leads because of the strength of relationships inherent in the HMG network combined with the specific technology or service interest indicated by the buyer.The HMG Marketplace offers multiple benefits to both technology buyers and vendors: * Precision matching of buyer needs with vendor capabilities -- Enterprise buyers can fill out a short needs analysis survey that is used by HMG Strategys Customer Relationship Management team to identify the vendor thats best suited to address their requirements. * Accelerates the sales process for both buyers and sellers - Buyers and sellers quickly identify one another through the needs analysis process and associated reference materials * Ensures Quality Discussions CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and other technology buyers are qualified based on their true interest and by a set of characteristics (size, industry, types of technology/service interests, spend parameters, etc.). Buyers are paired with technology suppliers based on their domains and areas of expertise to avoid wasting time * Drives Higher Conversion and Close Rates for Providers The HMG Marketplace accelerates high-quality deal flow in challenging times and enables technology providers to lower their customer acquisition costsTo learn more about the HMG Marketplace and explore the digital assets that are available there, click here.About HMG StrategyHMG Strategy is the world's leading digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world. Our regional and virtual CIO and CISO Executive Leadership Series, authored books and Digital Resource Center deliver unique, peer-driven research from CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and technology executives on leadership, innovation, transformation and career ascent. HMG Strategy also produces the HMG Security Innovation Accelerator Panel, a new webinar series thats designed to connect enterprise CISOs and security leaders with the most innovative cybersecurity companies from across the world.The HMG Strategy global network consists of over 400,000 senior IT executives, industry experts and world-class thought leaders.To learn more about the 7 Pillars of Trust for HMG Strategy's unique business model, click here.HMG Strategy: Your 1 Trusted Digital Platform Connecting Technology Executives to Reimagine the Enterprise and Reshape the Business World.A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17779d3e-a481-401f-a61f-464e73eeb43f CONTACT: Tom Hoffman 203-221-2702 TomHoffman@hmgstrategy.com

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What to do with the 4th pick in a fantasy basketball draft - Yahoo! Voices