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After helping OxyContin maker 'turbocharge' sales, McKinsey cuts ties with Purdue Pharma

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Fri, 24 May 2019 21:32 UTC
OxyContin
McKinsey's reputation has taken a beating over the past year, largely thanks to a flurry of New York Times' stories detailing the secretive consulting giant's work with authoritarian governments, while exposing conflicts of interest involving the firm's bankruptcy business and its internal hedge fund (the former led to a wrist-slap fine from the DoJ).

Unwilling to countenance another PR hit, McKinsey has apparently tried to head off more questions about the firm's commitment to ethical business practices by announcing that it has cut ties with Purdue Pharma and all other businesses involved in the sale of opioid pain pills.
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Heart - Black

4-year-old Owen Jones swept away by floodwaters in Indiana

Emily Shapiro
ABC News
Fri, 24 May 2019 12:04 UTC
Owen Jones
© Indiana Department of Natural Resources
An undated photo of Owen Jones, 4, who was swept away in a creek in Delphi, Ind.on May 23, 2019.
A desperate search is underway by boat, sonar and drone for a 4-year-old boy who was swept away in a flooded creek in Indiana on Thursday, officials said.

The search for Owen Jones was shifting to a recovery effort mid-day Friday, Lt. Dan Dulin of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources told ABC News.

Owen was playing near Deer Creek in Riley Park in Delphi when a witness saw him struggling in the water around 6 p.m. before being swept away, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
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Network

An interview with Huawei founder Mr. Ren Zhengfei


ViewStorm
Thu, 23 May 2019 19:39 UTC
Mr. Ren Zhengfei Huawei founder

Mr. Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
In his latest meeting with the media, Huawei founder Mr. Ren Zhengfei has reiterated that the company is in a strong position to move ahead despite recent political actions in the United States.

Addressing questions about the impact of the White House's recent executive order, Ren noted:
"What the US will do is out of our control. To us, the most important thing is to do our job well.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the US companies that we work with. Over these 30 years, they have helped us to grow into what we are today.

They have made many contributions to us. As you know, most of the companies that provide consulting services to Huawei are based in the US, including dozens of companies like IBM and Accenture. In the face of the recent crisis, I can feel these companies' sense of justice and sympathy towards us."

Comment: Pepe Escobar gives the skinny on what will not be reported in the western media
These are the highlights of Ren Zhengfei's landmark interview with Chinese media. A lot here was NOT reported by Western MSM. If you're interested, I have the full transcript in English.
  • On US ban: US politicians might have underestimated our strengths. Our company will not end up with an extreme supply shortage. We have got well prepared.
  • On business cooperation with US companies: So you guys from the media should not always blame US companies. Instead, you should speak for them. The blame should rest with some US politicians.
Over these 30 years, they (US companies) have helped us to grow into what we are today. They have made many contributions to us. They have taught us how to get on the right track and run the company. As you know, most of the companies that provide consulting services to Huawei are based in the US, including dozens of companies like IBM and Accenture.

...we also have been receiving support from a large number of US component and part manufacturers over all these years. In the face of the recent crisis, I can feel these companies' sense of justice and sympathy towards us.
  • On chips: We can make chips that are as good as those made by US companies, but this does not mean that we will not buy chips from the US.
  • Despite the much lower costs of our own chips, I would still buy higher-priced chips from the US. We cannot be isolated from the world. Instead, we should become part of it.
  • How long with this tough situation last: You should ask President Trump this question.
  • On talent: The Japanese economy also recovered very quickly (after World War II). This was attributable to their talent, education systems, and foundation. This is what matters most. So even if we lose everything else, we can't lose our talent. This includes their qualities, skills, and confidence. This is very important.
  • Huawei and patriotism: We cannot simply say that one is patriotic if they use Huawei products and they are not if they don't use Huawei products. Huawei's products are ultimately commodities. People use them if they like them. Politics should be left out of it. Huawei is just a company.
  • Facing the US at the top: ...we have been considering the question of what happens when we meet the US at the top, and have begun to make preparations for this. That said, we will ultimately embrace each other because we want to work together with them to make contributions to society.
  • On family: They detained my daughter, trying to shake my will, but my family's encouragement has solidified my will. In her letter to me, my daughter said she would be mentally prepared for the long run. She is very optimistic. That has greatly reassured me and eased my pressure.
I feel I owe my children a lot. I was serving in the army when my first two children were still young, and went back home every 11 months. When I was at home, my children had to go to school during the day, do homework in the evening, and then go to sleep. Life went on like this every day, so we barely had any communication.


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Eye 1

Facebook removed more than 3 billion fake accounts in the last 6 months

Barbara Ortutay
AP
Thu, 23 May 2019 19:14 UTC
facebook
© Facebook, AFP
Facebook removed more than 3 billion fake accounts from October to March, twice as many as the previous six months, the company said Thursday.

Nearly all of them were caught before they had a chance to become "active" users of the social network.

In a new report, Facebook said it saw a "steep increase" in the creation of abusive, fake accounts. While most of these fake accounts were blocked "within minutes" of their creation, the use of computers to generate millions of accounts at a time meant not only that Facebook caught more of the fake accounts, but that more of them slipped through.

As a result, the company estimates that 5% of its 2.4 billion monthly active users are fake accounts, or about 119 million. This is up from an estimated 3% to 4% in the previous six-month report.

Comment: You're not fooling us, Facebook. This crackdown on fake accounts is just a cover for more censorship and silencing more conservative voices.

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Star of David

Ruined crops, burnt orchards & uprooted trees: Israel's war on the environment in Palestine

Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo
Middle East Monitor
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Olive trees
© Rabbis for Human Rights / Facebook
Killing spree.
The latest casualties in the war on the environment in Palestine were 450 olive trees destroyed last week by Israeli army bulldozers. The destruction of the Palestinian-owned trees took place in the villages of Bardala, in the Jordan Valley, and Yatta in the southern West Bank. Dozens more were also destroyed by illegal Jewish settlers.

It is a myth that only Zionist Israel "made the desert bloom." On the contrary, since its establishment on the ruins of more than five hundred Palestinian villages and cities that it has destroyed and wiped off the map, Israel has done the exact opposite. The land inhabited by Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews for thousands of years has been disfigured beyond belief by Israel in the matter of a few decades.

"Palestine contains vast colonisation potential which the Arabs neither need nor are qualified to exploit," wrote one of Israel's founding fathers and first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, to his son Amos in 1937.

Zionist Israel, however, has done more than just "exploit" that "colonisation potential"; it has also subjected historic Palestine to a relentless and cruel campaign of destruction that is yet to cease. This is likely to continue as long as Zionism prevails as a racist, hegemonic and exploitative ideology.

Comment: But nary a peep is heard from environmental activists when the damage is wrought by Israel.

See also: The lies Israel tells about its "blooming desert"

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NPC

2018-19 school year's top 5 most outrageous act of campus censorship - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Jennifer Kabbany
The College Fix
Fri, 24 May 2019 17:42 UTC
censorship free speech students
© Rob ZS / Shutterstock
Nationwide conservative-libertarian intellectual group not only documents censorship - it faces it, too

Kicked off campus. Blocked from reporting on a faculty meeting. Getting death threats.

It's been an interesting school year for students and professors involved with Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative-libertarian intellectual organization that aims to teach America's founding principles to young people.

Earlier this week the group released a list of its top five most egregious examples of campus censorship its members have witnessed - or been victim of - during the 2018-19 school year.

"They all represent that on college campuses bright conservative and libertarian students have to fight a daily battle just to be able to talk about issues or frankly participate in campus life as an equal," Charlie Copeland, president of the institute, said Thursday in a telephone interview with The College Fix.

"In every one of these cases the conservative or libertarian viewpoint was squashed, kicked out of the room, or threatened," he said.

Comment:

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Question

Poll: Half of Americans expect a war with Iran 'within next few years'

Chris Kahn
Reuters
Tue, 21 May 2019 02:32 UTC
Trump-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
© Debka.com
President Donald Trump • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Half of all Americans believe that the United States will go to war with Iran "within the next few years," according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Tuesday amid increased tensions between the two countries.

While Americans are more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the United States now than they were last year, few would be in favor of a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian military. But if Iran attacked U.S. military forces first, four out of five believed the United States should respond militarily in a full or limited way, the May 17-20 poll showed.

Historically tense relations between Washington and Tehran worsened in May after U.S. President Donald Trump hardened his anti-Iran stance and restored all sanctions on Iranian oil exports following his decision a year ago to pull the United States out of a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran.

The United States moved an aircraft carrier and forces to the Gulf region in response to intelligence that Iran may be plotting against U.S. interests, an assertion Iran denies.

Nearly half - 49% - of all Americans disapprove of how Republican Trump is handling relations with Iran, the poll found, with 31% saying they strongly disapprove. Overall, 39% approve of Trump's policy.
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Handcuffs

Michigan's AG Nessel announces first arrests in Catholic clergy abuse investigation

Elizabeth DIas
The New York Times
Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00 UTC
Michigan AG Dana Nessel
© LESTER GRAHAM/MICHIGAN RADIO
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel estimated that her team had worked its way through only 5 or 10 percent of the hundreds of thousands of documents it seized from the state’s seven dioceses last October.
Michigan law enforcement officials made their first arrests in a statewide investigation into Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse, the state's attorney general announced on Friday.

Five former Catholic priests have been charged with criminal sexual conduct, Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference. But hundreds, or even thousands, of alleged victims could still remain across the state, she said.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," she said. "We anticipate many more charges and arrests."

The charges were the latest effort by law enforcement nationwide to hold Catholic officials accountable for sexual abuse in the church. Since Thursday, four of the former priests were arrested in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan. The fifth faces possible extradition from India.
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Bomb

Man cycles up to bakery in Lyon, France, sets off nail-bomb - 7 injured


AP
Fri, 24 May 2019 18:49 UTC
Lyon police
© AP Photo/Sebastien Erome
Soldiers of French anti terrorist plan "Vigipirate Mission", secure the area, near the site of a suspected bomb attack in central Lyon, Friday May, 24, 2019.
An explosion Friday on a busy pedestrian street in the French city of Lyon injured seven people, local officials said.

The cause of the blast that occurred in or outside a branch of the bakery chain Brioche Doree wasn't immediately clear, according to Kamel Amerouche, the regional authority's communications chief. Authorities couldn't confirm French media reports that a small package had exploded.

The victims sustained leg injuries that weren't life-threatening, Amerouche told The Associated Press.

Live television images showed the Brioche Doree sign intact and police vans and an ambulance on the street, which had been cordoned off. The central area, the Presqu'ile, lies between the Rhone and Saone rivers that run through France's third-largest city.

Resident Jean-Pierre, who lives above the bakery and didn't give his last name, told BFMTV the noise from the explosion was "deafening" but it didn't cause the walls to shake. He said one window shattered and there was some debris on the street.

Comment: The place was swarming with cops and soldiers in no time. This is apparently the suspect:



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People

Teaching white privilege accomplishes nothing

Zaid Jilani
Quillette
Thu, 23 May 2019 17:22 UTC
white privilege
I recently attended a Washington-D.C. event focused on community-building hosted by The Aspen Institute's Weave project, which works to reduce social isolation and build bonds between Americans. During one portion of the event, various activists described how racism had impacted their lives and their communities. Following a number of such testimonials, a white woman from southeast Ohio named Sarah Adkins spoke about her own community work, which involves raising money to provide post-trauma support to individuals affected by tragedies.

Perhaps because several speakers had discussed racism and issues related to white privilege, Adkins spoke about her own self-perceived racial privilege. "I followed the perfect mold...I did all the things, I went to college, and I keep thinking of white privilege in my head so forgive me, that's what's in my head right now, very much white privilege," she said, while reflecting on her middle class life in an affluent neighborhood.

But Adkins also went on to describe the reason she originally had become involved in community work-which is that her then-husband had killed both of her sons and then later took his own life. One can only imagine how much suffering this caused her. Yet she still viewed herself as privileged due to her race.

"I was wealthy, okay, I was a pharmacist, I made a lot of money, right? So after that happened, I really wanted to understand that for me there definitely was a lot of white privilege. I had money, I had health insurance, so people came in and cleaned up my house. I was able to pay for a funeral for my children," she said.
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