At least five people are dead and several others injured after a gun rampage in the beachfront city of Santa Monica, California, police say. … Read More
‘Conflict of interest’: US govt adviser on board of $334mn anthrax drug stockpile supplier
Richard J. Danzig, former secretary of the Navy, a prominent lawyer and biowarfare consultant to the US government, was involved with Human Genome, a biotech company. He received more than $1 million in director’s fees and other compensation from the company between 2001 and 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times.Over the decade he was a strong advocate of improving America’s capability to respond to a possible bioterriorist attack. One of the scenarios he was warning about involved terrorist creating a strain of anthrax resistant to common antibiotics and weaponizing it.He had the ear of senior Pentagon and DHS officials, with the government eventually deciding to stockpile drugs to deal with such kind of anthrax. One of them called raxibacumab, or raxi, is produced by Human Genome.It was the first product that the company managed to sale and the US government is the only customer, the newspaper says. The US ordered 20,000 doses of raxi in 2006 and 45,000 more doses after 2009, when the initial batch expired. At shelf price of $5,100 per dose, the company received $334 million for the product, the newspaper says.The LA Times spoke to seven former top US officials, six of whom said they had no knowledge of Danzig being on board of the firm. One of them, Dr. Philip K. Russell, who helped the US prepare for biological attacks during the George W. Bush administration, said “Holy smoke—that was a horrible conflict of interest,” when the newspaper explained the situation.Danzig said in an interview that no such conflict existed and that he had acted “very properly.””My view was I’m not going to get involved in selling that,” Danzig told the newspaper. “But at the same time now, should I not say what I think is right in the government circles with regard to this? And my answer was, ‘If I have occasion to comment on this, it ought to be in general, as a policy matter, not as a particular procurement.’”Danzig started sounding the alarm about possible anthrax terrorist act after the widely-publicized 2001 attack, in which anthrax-laced letters killed five people and infected 11 others. In 2008, the DoJ named senior biodefense researcher Bruce Edwards Ivins, who had died a month earlier, as the sole suspect in the attack, but no formal trial was ever conducted.While the anthrax powder used in the 2001 attack was not resistant to antibiotics, Danzig said it would be “quite easy” for terrorists to create one. “Even at the high school level, biology students understand that an antibiotic-resistant strain can be developed,” he wrote in his key policymaking 2003 report “Catastrophic Bioterrorism – What Is To Be Done?”But the notion is not shared by some microbiologists.”It’s not a trivial endeavor,” Paul Keim, a Northern Arizona University geneticist and anthrax expert, told the newspaper. “This is something beyond the capability of a high school student or even someone with graduate training.”Keim added that if anthrax were made resistant to antibiotics, it would decrease the bacteria’s stability and virulence, greatly reducing its lethality.Human Genome was acquired by the British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline last year for $3.6 billion.Raxi was tested only on animals, since the lethality of anthrax does not allow for clinical trials on humans. Luckily, no terrorist group has used anthrax – antibiotic-resistant or otherwise – for a massive attack, which would put US stockpile of raxi to good use. … Read More
Asteroid 9 times size of ocean liner approaches Earth
Officially known as Asteroid 1998 QE2, the ‘minor planet’, as astronomers refer to these space objects, is about nine times the length of its name-sharing ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth 2. The incoming space object is not named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, however, nor the 12-deck QE2 luxury liner. It’s simply the designation assigned by the US Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, based on an alphanumeric code for naming newly-discovered asteroids. Aside from the asteroid’s hulking mass, another thing that intrigues astronomers about QE2 is that nobody can say with any certainty where it came from. One clue to its origins, however, is that its surface is said to be covered with a sticky, black residue, suggesting that it may be the remains of a comet that came in close proximity to the sun, Amy Mainzer, a researcher at Jet Propulsion Laboratory at La Cañada Flintridge, California, told the Los Angeles Times. Another explanation is that QE2, discovered on August 19, 1998 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was originally part of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, she said. QE2’s nearest approach happens on May 31 at 20:59 GMT, bringing the huge space rock to within 3.6 million miles (5.8 million km) of Earth – about 15 times the distance to the Moon. While this may seem a great distance, in astronomical terms it is a mere stone’s throw away. Mainzer emphasized the significance of the asteroid, drawing parallels with a past celestial event that had devastating consequences for the entire planet.”This is a really big asteroid, similar in size to the one that killed off the dinosaurs, and it’s getting very close to us,” she told the Times. “Fortunately we’ve been tracking its orbit very carefully so we know with great certainty it won’t hit us. We don’t need to panic, but we do need to pay attention, she added. Since the threat of a doomsday scenario seems unlikely, astronomers will be given an opportunity to study the physical characteristics of asteroids, as well as their history.”Whenever an asteroid approaches this closely, it provides an important scientific opportunity to study it in detail to understand its size, shape, rotation, surface features, and what they can tell us about its origin,” radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement. Observers will take advantage of radar technology to measure the asteroid’s distance and velocity to improve the calculation of its orbit and compute its motion farther into the future than we could otherwise, he added. The next arrival of Asteroid 1998 QE2 following its near-miss on May 31 will not occur again for another two centuries.Rocky history For millions of years, Earth has been occasionally pounded by space objects both large and small. Russia, due to its sprawling landmass, has played an unwitting host to many of these celestial bodies. In 1908, a comet explosion over a largely uninhabited area of Siberia flattened some 80 million trees. The so-called Tunguska Event is recognized as the largest impact event on or near Earth in recorded history: The explosion was about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. More recently, on February 15 this year, a meteor exploded in the sky over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The shock waves from the explosion shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 1,500 people, mostly from flying glass and other debris. Following the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which is the largest known space object to have entered Earth’s atmosphere since the Tunguska Event, NASA chief Charles Bolden gave advice on how to handle an asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth “if it’s coming in three weeks”: Pray. While NASA is tracking about 95 per cent of the largest objects flying near Earth, only about 10 per cent of an estimated 10,000 asteroids with a diameter of 50 meters (165 feet) or more have been identified. Meanwhile, mankind continues the search for ways to counter future space objects deemed dangerous. Just days after the Russian meteor struck, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced a joint mission between Europe and the US that aims to strike an asteroid with a spacecraft. The Joint European/US Asteroid impact and Deflection Assessment mission (AIDA) is preparing to intercept the asteroid Didymos in 2022, when it is about 6.5 million miles (11 million km) from Earth. Didymos, which poses no immediate threat to Earth, is actually a binary system, in which an 800-meter-wide asteroid and a smaller 150-meter space rock orbit each other. The AIDA mission – designed to test the theory that governments can protect the planet from a space object on a collision course with the planet – will target the smaller asteroid with a rocket at about 14,000 mph (22,539 kph) in an effort to knock the object off course. … Read More
Concussion epidemic linked to underreported US military suicide – study
Earlier this year the military released data showing that active duty service members are taking their own lives more frequently than ever before. There were 349 suicides among active duty military personnel in 2012, averaging just fewer than one per day. There are now more suicides than combat deaths.This was made more disheartening by a study from the US Department of Veterans Affairs reporting that, between 1999 and 2010, older veterans committed suicide at a rate of 22 each day, an increase from 18 per day in the years before. There is a concern, though, that the numbers don’t reveal the full scope of the military epidemic. Data was only collected from 21 out of 50 states because the remaining 29 states, according to Forbes, do not list military status on someone’s death certificate.While psychologists have linked the increasing suicide rates with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the problems could be viewed an unavoidable part of serving in a combat zone. The commonality of roadside bombs and IEDs throughout the Middle East has resulted in a drastic increase in concussions, or mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI), among American soldiers. A new study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry proposes that service men and women in Iraq who have suffered multiple TBIs were more likely to think suicidal thoughts than their fellow soldiers who had suffered one or zero concussions. Craig Bryan, the lead author of the study, questioned 157 military personnel and four civilian contractors who were recommended after exhibiting suspected concussion-related symptoms. The subjects were asked about their history of head trauma, depression, PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Twelve per cent of respondents with two or more concussions said they had considered suicide. “All of a sudden the likelihood of being suicidal increased dramatically once you had the second head injury,” Bryan told the Los Angeles Times, adding that it was likely some patients in the study lied about their history because of a stigma in the military about concussions as a weakness.“They very much wanted to be returned to duty,” he said. “They feel guilty letting everybody else down while they are in a clinic.” Studies have shown that, sometimes, the decision to kill one’s self is impulsive. Suicide prevention professionals often promote “means restriction” to separate someone in a depressive state from implements they could use to hurt themselves. Being around weapons is part of a soldier’s daily routine. “If we want to limit suicide, we should put means restriction at the front because it works,” said Dr. Bryan, who now works at the University of Utah.Other experts stressed that deployment could hasten and escalate someone’s suicidal thoughts, not necessarily be the starting point. Researchers said civilians generally decide to take their own lives because of a myriad of factors: mental illness, sexual or physical abuse, financial problems, addiction, and a failed relationship, just to name a few. “This is probably the keenest misconception the public has: that deployment is the factor most related to the increased rates of suicide,” Cynthia Thomsen, a research psychologist at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, told the New York Times.Those problems intensify as deployment separates one from their friends and family and potentially adds PTSD, concussions, or other pressures. A 2011 Pentagon study, as noted by the Times, found that roughly 50 per cent of troops who committed suicide in 2011 experienced a failed romance and another quarter were diagnosed with substance abuse. “There is a difference between a military at war and a military at peace,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “There is no doubt that war changes you.” … Read More
Wells Fargo sued on claims it wrongfully litigated California man to death
The retired 62-year-old US Navy veteran had been battling Wells Fargo for two years, following a mistake by the bank which held him liable for property taxes actually owed by a neighbor – $13,361 which the bank paid in order to keep that property’s mortgage afloat.Unfortunately for Delassus, described as a quiet man who suffered from a rare and debilitating blood clot disorder known as Budd-Chiari syndrome, the simple typo that caused Wells Fargo to misidentify him for his neighbor seemed to be an error that the fourth-largest bank in the United States simply would not rectify.According to an investigation conducted by LA Weekly, even after admitting that a mis-entered number had dragged Delassus into the ordeal, the bank eventually foreclosed upon and sold his condominium apartment. This was after increasing his mortgage payments from $1,237.69 to $2,429.13 in order to recover the $13,361 in taxes he never owed.Delassus, a retiree living on a limited budget, couldn’t meet the increased mortgage bill, and once he stopped paying became delinquent. Following the foreclosure on his home, he had to move to a small apartment in an assisted-living home.In January 2009 Delassus was first informed that he owed tens of thousands in property taxes. After consulting with Anthony Trujillo, his attorney and next-door neighbor, Trujillo confirmed that he was actually six months ahead on those taxes, paid directly to Los Angeles County. By March 2009 the bank had doubled his mortgage payment, and by December of that year the bank was ready to foreclose.It was not until May 2010 that Trujillo discovered that in the fine print the initial letter sent to Delassus had his property parcel number off by two digits, and that he had been mistaken for a neighbor.In court documents later, LA Weekly reports that Wells Fargo attorney Robert Bailey of Anglin Flewelling Rasmussen Campbell & Trytten LLP admitted the bank’s original error: “Wells Fargo paid the amount it determined was owed to the County Assessor: approximately $10,500. This was a mistake. The $10,500 was the tax amount owed on a neighboring property, not Plaintiff’s.”Despite admitting to that mistake, the bank would not allow Delassus to pay his original mortgage payment, and demanded the past due amount plus fees called “reinstatement.” During a phone conversation recorded by Trujillo, bank representatives were unable to tell Delassus what the total amount due was, and eventually simply hung up.Six days after that phone call attempt, on January 25, 2011, Delassus finally heard back from Wells Fargo, which wanted a total sum of $337,250.40 – and required payment the very next day.Delassus instead decided to sue Wells Fargo with Trujillo’s help for negligence and discrimination against a disabled person. It was during a hearing for that case in December 2012 that he died in court.Following his death, a close friend of Delassus, Debbie Popovich, along with Trujillo, filed a wrongful death claim in April. According to Courthouse News Service, Popovich seeks restitution, costs, civil penalties and punitive damages on behalf of his estate.In a scathing legal complaint filed by the two, Wells Fargo is accused of nothing less than litigating Delassus to death.”At the very end, with his home being sold by the Bank and resold by the purchaser within months for nearly twice what he paid, Larry Delassus, now living in a boarding home, was still fighting for what he and many Americans believe is right by going to court. Wells Fargo, with its virtually unlimited resources, filed a series of procedural motions in its defense, needlessly forcing an ailing Larry to appear in court. Delassus valiantly continued to fight the best he could until his body gave up,” reads the complaint. … Read More
The troubling privacy implications of increasingly common eye tracking technology
With eye tracking technology becoming increasingly common in everything from phones to computers, some individuals and groups have raised troubling concerns about the privacy implications involved. … Read More
Top Air Force commander blames ‘hookup culture’ for rise in military sexual assault
The top commander in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) suggested on Tuesday that the rise in reported sexual assaults against military service members was caused by a more permissive social climate, the Los Angeles Times reported. “Some of it is the hookup mentality of junior high even and high…
