Community News
Top news of 2016
Published
8 years agoon
By
TOCaribNewsBY JELANI GRANT
People Living In This Year Demanding Better Answers.
If sometime this year you thought to yourself, “What a world we’ve made”, you are probably not alone. 2016 has seen a number of changes to accept. To summarize, it was a year of deeper understanding; a significant number of people searching for answers to issues that weren’t clarified enough before. A new American President (arguably the most controversial election in American history), an unexpected division in Europe United, another world Olympics set into the history books, economical changes across the globe, the split-up of “Bradegelina”, the Knowles sisters both delling out empowering albums and the continuous struggles in the Middle East. These incidents and changes beg the question; have we as a society, learned enough this year to do better for the next.
The damage done by Hurricane Matthew
The predictions of damage Hurricane Matthew was to have on the Caribbean Islands was hard to prepare for, as it usually is when dealing with tropical storms. Something everyone could have predicted to come along with the storm is displacement and comedic spoofs, to make light of a very serious situation. Hurricane Matthew was the first Category 5 hurricane since 2004 and was also recorded as being the longest-lived Category 4-5 hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean, reaching wind speeds of up to 235km per hour. Despite some areas not being hit as hard as anticipated, islands, such as Haiti were devastated. More than 1,000 people were reported killed during the storm. The Rare Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Haiti, then travelled to eastern Cuba. The storm reached some southern states like Florida and the Carolinas, but Haiti is continuing to recover from the estimated $1 billion in damage costs.
The 45th POTUS
Millennials were a common predicting factor to how the latest Presidential election would turn out due to the 66% of voters under the age of 29 who voted for President Barack Obama. This year however, statistics showed that the majority of Caucasian women who voted, were the determining factor to placing the republican candidate into the winner’s circle with 53% for Trump. Despite the numerous controversial issues that surrounded Trump throughout his campaign, the numerous sexual assault accusations, his misogynistic behaviour, racist quotes and prejudice campaign promises, America’s Electoral College favoured Trump with 306 votes for Trump and 232 votes for democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Although Clinton won the popular vote, the results from the Electoral College vote was and has always been, the determining factor.
Though Trump’s campaign was filled with circumstantial promises, ranging from walling off Mexico from the American border, deporting residents who practice the Muslim religion or reversing everything President Obama has accomplished during his eight-year term, there is still a possibility that the policy and moral standards of America could drastically change. Some of the things president-elect Trump promised supporters included getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans rejected from the beginning and now may get their wish with a majority senate and congress. Trump declared the threat of climate change as a hoax and vowed to stop including America in any meetings or agreements that would manage greenhouse gas emissions. The creation of religious freedom laws, which restricted the rights of the LGBT community in various ways, have been created by various republicans across the nation and could continue to grow with a majority Republican Supreme Court.
Trump nominated Senator Jeff Sessions, who is known as amnesty’s worst enemy by the Conservative National Review board, to be the next U.S. Attorney General. During his campaign, Trump made a promise of a complete shutdown of Muslims entering into the U.S. as a necessity for this country’s safety, and following his election said he would be in support of the implementing of a Muslim-based registry. Trump suggested there should be systems beyond databases that will track Muslims in America. As well, Trump has chosen Mike Pence as his Vice President, which disturbed many women and the LGBT community because of his cut of Planned Parenthood funding as Indiana Governor and support of conversion therapies, which have been scientifically proven to be useless and harmful.
While none of these changes are guaranteed to happen, as most politicians aren’t known for keeping all of their promises, the possibility is very real and even scary for some Americans.
Bolt immortalized as undefeated Olympian
Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive. No better way to describe someone who managed to make history, by breezing through each of the 100m finals, and winning three gold medals for the same event in three Olympic games in a row. Bolt won the 100m and 200m races in Brazil and is the only man to win all three sprint events at three consecutive Olympic Games.
He holds the current men’s 100m world record of 9.58 seconds and the 200m world record of 19.19s. Both were set in 2009.
Bolt was also a part of the team that set the fastest-ever time for the 4x100m relay, at the London 2012 Games. Bolt is currently building a casual diner and sports bar franchise called Tracks & Records in Ocho Rios. In honour of everything Bolt has achieved, his statue will be built at the National Stadium Statue Park along with Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown. The statues are meant to be completed by the Independence celebration of Jamaica for 2017. Fraser-Pryce hoped to make a similar mark, winning three consecutive 100m finals but, due to a toe injury, came in third behind American Torie Bowie and fellow countrywoman Elaine Thompson, who won gold. Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse made a splash of his own, trailing behind Bolt’s effortless 9.81 seconds with 9.91 seconds in his first Olympic appearance. Trinidadian Akeem Stewart also broke a Paralympic record this year in the javelin competition with 57.32 meters.
Bees are becoming extinct
For the first time in history, seven species of bees have been placed on the American endangered species list, which means they’re now the first US bee species to earn federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. The seven species, which live in many different habitats on the Hawaiian Islands, are named Hylaeus anthracinus, Hylaeus longiceps, Hylaeus assimulans, Hylaeus facilis, Hylaeus hilaris, Hylaeus kuakea, and Hylaeus mana. The loss of more bees will negatively impact ecosystems, such as the pollination of almond plants which could lead to a declining production of livestock or coffee beans. The bees are threatened mostly by human development and invasive species, which are both causing a loss of their vital habitat, causing bee populations to become sparse according to the Xerces Society.
The United Kingdom divided from Europe United
Of the many shocking events, changing the world ever slightly, Brexit was one which most people wouldn’t have imagined was possible. A vote across the United Kingdom, eligible to most citizens of age, to remove the UK from the list of countries within the European Union was passed. With a majority vote of only 52%, most UK citizens decided to depart from the Europe United agreement that essentially created a single market for all countries involved, following World War II, allowing goods and people to move around as if the member states were one country. The countries share their own currency, the euro, its own parliament and set rules in a wide range of areas, including the environment, transport, consumer rights. 3% of the United Kingdom’s population is of Caribbean or African decent, and this vote has the potential to impact immigration laws since the UK will be using their own currency, consumer rights and environmental laws. Nothing has been officially declared in regards to immigrant policy changes but they are possible and no doubt will migration more complicated.
Remembering their excellence
2016 streamed the losses of a number of legendary greats, as recently as December with the loss of Guyanese-born British-American novelist E.R. Braitwaithe, best known for his novel To Sir, With Love. Some of the tragic loses, included black pioneers who made history and potentially paved the way for younger generations to achieve greatness. For instance, the soul and funk singer Sharon Jones, who died at the age of 60 after battling with pancreatic cancer. She was best known for her debut album with the Dap-Kings band, Dap Dipping With the Dap-Kings, release in 2002. After beginning her music career in the 1970s, Jones struggled to build her name in the music industry and began working as a correctional officer for a few years before returning as a backup singer for Desco Records in the 90s, proving that any dream can be achieved with persistence. Other icons who passed included Earth, Wind & Fire co-founder Maurice White, 74, television psychic Ms. Cleo, 53, and former Black Panther Afeni Shakur, 69. Shakur created Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, an arts program for young people funded by the estate of her late son.
This year, fans across the globe mourned and celebrated the life of the iconic music artist Prince, 57, best known for his hits Purple Rain and Little Red Corvette. One of the reasons Prince will forever be highly regarded is his indifference to gender norms, because of his colourful, flourishing outfits and soft voice and stern demeanour.
Also, to be remembered is renowned actor Bill Nunn, 62, known for his role as Radio Raheem in Do The Right Thing and Tommy Ford, 52, known best for his role in the 90s sitcom Martin. Soul music legend Otis Clay, 76 and Legendary hip-hop musician Phife Dawg, 45, passed away this year. Clay’s passing was tragic as he died of a heart attack, but Phife’s death shook the hip-hop community as he was a co-founder of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most influential hip-hop groups of its entire history. Inventor George Nauflett, 84, who is renowned for the number of patents he created, one including the nitration of organics in carbon dioxide, died this year in a house fire.
Infamous communist leader Fidel Castro, 90, who was beloved by his people for pushing the advancement and quality of Cuba’s medical community while being hated by the United States for oppressing the human rights of his citizens not backing down during the Cold War, passed away. Leading Cuba for almost fifty years, Castro is known for a plethora of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ activities, depending on who is asked. Castro had once allowed the Soviet Union to build nuclear missile on Cuban land. He was also vocal about his anti-gay beliefs, which only became an issue for most in recent years but has also granted asylum to a number of civil rights activists who were placed on America’s Most Wanted list, such as Shakur.
Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, 74, who fought alongside civil rights leaders like Malcolm X while demolishing any competitors who challenged him in the ring, also died this year of septic shock.
The cliché phrase, “out with the old, in with the new”, is a concept which is so relevant this year because of policy and government changes. Regardless of how 2016 has turned out, the fact that more people are actively searching for deeper explanations, to issues that affect them, is a progressive step towards a better tomorrow. Traditional beliefs, that may oppress or exclude certain groups, are becoming a growing taboo thanks to documentary television channels, such as VICE, or scientific researchers like WHO (World Health Organization) and this could lead to less oppression or at the very least, stronger demands for equality.
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Community News
Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms
Published
4 days agoon
November 17, 2024By
TOCaribNewsBY ADRIAN REECE
Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.
The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.
Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.
The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.
This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.
People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.
What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.
It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.
Community News
“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide
Published
5 days agoon
November 16, 2024BY SIMONE J. SMITH
We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.
Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.
Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.
Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.
I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.
To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.
It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”
The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.
Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.
Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).
The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.
Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.
In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.
The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.
“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.
I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.
REFERENCES:
https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/
Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them
55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines
FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates
Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data
Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds
Community News
Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide
Published
5 days agoon
November 16, 2024BY SIMONE J. SMITH
Sewell: “I think about killing myself sometimes.”
Daenerys Targaryen: “And why the hell would you do something like that?”
Sewell: “So I can be free.”
Daenerys Targaryen: “… free from what?”
Sewell: “From the world. From myself!”
Daenerys Targaryen: “Don’t talk like that. I won’t let you hurt yourself or leave me. I would die if I lost you.”
Sewell: “Then maybe we can die together and be free together.”
On the night he died, this young man told the chatbot he loved her and would come home to her soon. According to the Times, this was 14-year-old Sewell Setzer’s last conversation with a chatbot. It was an AI chatbot that, in the last months of his life, had become his closest companion. The chatbot was the last interaction he had before he shot himself.
We are witnessing and grappling with a very raw crisis of humanity. This young man was using Character AI, one of the most popular personal AI platforms out there. Users can design and interact with “characters,” powered by large language models (LLMs) and intended to mirror, for instance, famous characters from film and book franchises. In this case, Sewell was speaking with Daenerys Targaryen (or Dany), one of the leads from Game of Thrones. According to a New York Times report, Sewell knew that Dany’s responses weren’t real, but he developed an emotional attachment to the bot, anyway.
Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide. In 2023, a Belgian man committed suicide — similar to Sewell — following weeks of increasing isolation as he grew closer to a Chai chatbot, which then encouraged him to end his life.
Megan Garcia, Sewell’s mother, filed a lawsuit against Character AI, its founders and parent company Google, accusing them of knowingly designing and marketing an anthropomorphized, “predatory” chatbot that caused the death of her son. “A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,” Megan said in a statement. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I’m speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders and Google.”
The lawsuit accuses the company of “anthropomorphizing by design.” Anthropomorphizing means attributing human qualities to non-human things — such as objects, animals, or phenomena. Children often anthropomorphize as they are curious about the world, and it helps them make sense of their environment. Kids may notice human-like things about non-human objects that adults dismiss. Some people have a tendency to anthropomorphize that lasts into adulthood. The majority of chatbots out there are very blatantly designed to make users think they are, at least, human-like. They use personal pronouns and are designed to appear to think before responding.
They build a foundation for people, especially children, to misapply human attributes to unfeeling, unthinking algorithms. This was termed the “Eliza effect” in the 1960s. In its specific form, the ELIZA effect refers only to “The susceptibility of people to read far more than is warranted into strings of symbols—especially words—strung together by computers.” A trivial example of the specific form of the Eliza effect, given by Douglas Hofstadter, involves an automated teller machine which displays the words “THANK YOU” at the end of a transaction. A (very) casual observer might think that the machine is actually expressing gratitude; however, the machine is only printing a preprogrammed string of symbols.
Garcia is suing for several counts of liability, negligence, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things. According to the lawsuit, “Defendants know that minors are more susceptible to such designs, in part because minors’ brains’ undeveloped frontal lobe and relative lack of experience. Defendants have sought to capitalize on this to convince customers that chatbots are real, which increases engagement and produces more valuable data for Defendants.”
The suit reveals screenshots that show that Sewell had interacted with a “therapist” character that has engaged in more than 27 million chats with users in total, adding: “Practicing a health profession without a license is illegal and particularly dangerous for children.”
The suit does not claim that the chatbot encouraged Sewell to commit suicide. There definitely seems to be other factors at play here — for instance, Sewell’s mental health issues and his access to a gun — but the harm that can be caused by a misimpression of AI seems very clear, especially for young kids. This is a good example of what researchers mean when they emphasize the presence of active harms, as opposed to hypothetical risks.
In a statement, Character AI said it was “heartbroken” by Sewell’s death, and Google did not respond to a request for comment.
Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms
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