Climate change endangers Scotland's archaeological treasures.

Explanation: Ancient British structures older than the pyramids are being threatened by climate change, experts have warned, as rising sea levels, heavier rainfall and severe weather events endanger Scotland’s archaeological treasures.

The Orkney Islands, situated off the north coast of the Scottish mainland, are home to more than 3,000 historical sites. Evidence has been found of human habitation there going back 8,500 years. Some buildings on the islands date to the Iron Age, Viking rule and medieval times. But around 1,000 sites are situated on the coastline and are under threat. One such site is the Iron Age building South Howe Broch on the island of Rousay. Dating from between 600-400AD, the sea has taken much of the site’s western area. Now the broch wall itself is falling into the sea. Julie Gibson, a lecturer at the University of the Highlands and Islands, says it will eventually disappear. “What you can see just over here is the front door of the broch, exposed by the sea, taking away parts of the ruins and leaving a built wall still intact. And each year a little more falls as the sea batters it,” she said as she stood on the cliff’s edge. “What we have discovered in recent years, through the use of geophysics and other things, is that... on this stretch of the coastline, all the settlement archaeology is within 100 meters of the coast edge. And so as the sea takes this heritage of ours away it’s taking all that we have,” she said. A couple of hundred meters north of South Howe Broch is Midhowe Broch. This Iron Age building is well-preserved, courtesy of a sea wall built in the 1930s and well-maintained since. A spring-fed water tank, fireplace and room partitions are clearly visible. But even Midhowe Broch is at risk from climate change. A climate risk assessment of Orkney’s Neolithic sites, published by conservation public body Historic Environment Scotland (HES) in July this year, described the potential impact of climate change on the sites as “extreme” and their vulnerability as “high”. According to HES, average precipitation (rain, sleet and snow) has increased by 27% in Scotland since the early 1960s. In the same period, winter precipitation has gone up by more than 70% in parts of northern Scotland. Wetter weather means buildings are wetter for longer, meaning water is more likely to penetrate masonry and decay it. It also leads to metal parts of buildings corroding and the ground becoming unstable. This can lead to structural collapse. Sea levels are also rising and beach erosion is a growing problem. Since 1970 some Orkney beaches have narrowed by an average of 16 inches (40 centimeters) per year since 1970. That is compared to an annual average loss of eight inches between 1890 and 1970, according to data from cross-governmental coastal change assessment partnership Dynamic Coast. Increased storminess also threatens damaging Orkney’s historical sites, HES says. Arguably the most famous site of Orkney is Skara Brae. This Neolithic settlement, occupied from roughly 3100-2500BC, features a network of stone buildings. When inhabited it was approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the sea with a freshwater loch and sand dunes in between. Now it sits only a few meters from the North Atlantic. Visitors can see the settlement’s 5,000-year-old hearths, bed recesses, cupboards and dressers. Some 112,000 people visited it in 2018. “Climate change is a really real present risk. The climate has already changed because of the influence of humans. And it’s going to continue to change and that pace of change is going to speed up,” said HES climate change scientist, David Harkin. “So the risk to sites like Skara Brae and other sites around Orkney, it’s real, it’s here, it’s happening. But it shouldn’t all be doom and gloom and despair. There is an opportunity to still do something about it and to avoid the worst possible consequences of climate change,” he added.


Estrogen predicts breast cancer recurrence: study.

A doctor examines a breast x-ray in an undated file photo. Blood taken from women whose breast cancer returned showed high levels of estrogen even though many had been treated with estrogen-blocking drugs, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. REUTERS/National Cancer Institute/Handout They said the finding suggests women who have had breast cancer should take extra steps — such as regular exercise and weight management — to reduce their estrogen levels and minimize the risk that their cancer will return. Estrogen is strongly linked with the initial development of many breast cancers, but few studies have looked at the link between high estrogen levels and cancer recurrence, especially in women who are taking anti-estrogen drugs like tamoxifen. “This is the largest study to date and the only one to have included women taking agents such as tamoxifen to reduce estrogen’s effect on cancer growth,” said Cheryl Rock, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego, whose study appears in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Rock said taking anti-estrogen drugs like tamoxifen may not completely wipe out the hormone’s effect in women who have high levels of estrogen. Tamoxifen transformed breast cancer therapy when it was shown to reduce the risk of cancer coming back by close to 50 percent. But Rock said women on that pill or a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors should also consider some basic preventive measures. “You can’t just assume because you’ve got one drug that has good effect that you should forget about all of the other useful things that you might be able to do,” she said in a telephone interview. Rock and colleagues drew their conclusions from a dietary intervention trial that followed 3,088 women who had been treated for early stage breast cancer but who were cancer-free at the time they enrolled. They identified 153 women from the study whose cancer had returned and matched them with 153 who were cancer-free after seven years. The women were matched up by type, body size, age, ethnicity and use of chemotherapy and other items. About two-thirds of the women had been taking tamoxifen, and 78 percent of them had so-called estrogen-receptor positive cancers — tumors that need estrogen to grow. When they looked at blood samples taken at the start of the trial, the researchers found women whose cancer came back had more than the double the concentration of estrogen compared with women who remained cancer-free. “For us it just connects the dots from what we would expect and now we will go forward and find lifestyle modification factors that would be a benefit for this target group,” Rock said. She said moderate to vigorous exercise has been shown to help lower estrogen in the general population. “There is no reason it wouldn’t in a breast cancer survivor,” she said. And she said weight management would be especially useful to these women. Studies have found that women who put on a lot of weight at any stage of adulthood increase their risk of breast cancer, likely because estrogen accumulates in the fat and promotes tumors. “We are doing studies now that explore whether women who are heavier are at greater risk for recurrence,” she said.


School water coolers may help kids lose weight

Explanation: Despite it being a fairly short report, CBS covers a lot of ground: it quantifies the benefits in absolute terms, outlines the study design and weighs the advantages of modern water dispensers against “old-fashioned” water fountains. But in other areas, the story falls short. There is no mention of costs and of study limitations. Although it quotes from the accompanying JAMA Pediatrics editorial, the CBS story doesn’t feature any critical perspectives on the study. We would have liked a closer look at some of the study’s shortcomings, which could have been achieved by comments from an independent source, or someone who was not involved in the study. More context on where this study fits in “the growing body of evidence” would have also been welcome. Finally, word choice could have been better. CBS refers to the JAMA editorial and writes that “the study’s findings are significant.” However, “statistically significant” has a different meaning than what the public believes is “significant.” The distinction should be clear, or another word should be used. Childhood obesity is a health concern that is on the minds of many parents and policymakers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese, the CDC said. And compared to other countries around the world, the US comes out on top when it comes to obesity among adults, according to a 2014 OECD report. There are even speculations that high obesity rates may cause life expectancy in the US to decline. Therefore, any efforts to curb the “obesity epidemic” in America is newsworthy, especially if the intervention is low cost, low risk and for children.

The CBS article does not mention any costs associated with the installation of a water dispenser. The JAMA Pediatrics article states that water jets are “relatively low-cost” interventions, with a one-time cost of about $1,000 per machine. There are also ongoing maintenance expenses, as well as additional costs for disposable cups. In addition, if the jets affect sales of milk and other beverages on school grounds, the costs would actually be higher still. We believe the water jet cost should have been covered in the story, since researchers in the original journal article emphasized the association between a “relatively low-cost water availability intervention and decreased student weight.” That’s why we give the CBS article an Not Satisfactory rating here. The CBS story does a good job quantifying the benefits in absolute terms, when the lead researcher points out that water dispensers were associated with “a one percentage point reduction in the likelihood of being overweight for boys and a little over half a percentage point reduction for girls.” The article translated this for readers as “a modest weight drop among students.” The piece also notes that water jets were linked with “a decrease” in the amount of half-pints of milk students bought, but it does not give any specific numbers. Specifically, researchers found a 12.3 decrease in the number of all types of milk purchased per student per year. We think the quantification of benefits in absolute terms is enough to merit a Satisfactory rating here. Students in New York City schools had access to water through drinking fountains before this intervention study. This study looked at a new way to deliver New York city tap water to kids, which may have encouraged them to opt for water instead of sugary beverages, like soda. We rate this one Not Applicable. The CBS story doesn’t mention any study limitations or take any sort of critical angle on the research. But in the original journal article, researchers point out some of the shortcomings of their data. For one, they only looked at administrative data on water jet delivery and did not directly observe water consumption in the cafeteria. They also used the same technique for milk purchases, and they acknowledged that they had no data on which beverages students usually consume in school. Since the CBS story doesn’t point out any limitations to the evidence, we give it an Not Satisfactory rating here. There is no disease mongering in the story. No conflicts of interests were reported in the original journal article. The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The CBS report only quoted comments from the study’s lead researcher and then excerpts from the accompanying JAMA Pediatrics editorial. Technically, these editorial comments are sufficient to clear our bar, but we’d note that the thrust of the quote is mainly to confirm what the researchers are reporting. We would have liked to have seen a quote from someone willing to provide a more critical perspective on the study, such as the significance of its limitations and their impact on the research. While we give the benefit of the doubt here as we always do, the story didn’t really fulfill the spirit of this criterion. The story explains how water jets may be more effective than old-fashioned water fountains, due to concerns over water quality and fountain cleanliness. Drinking fountains also are less efficient at serving large numbers of children, the article adds. The availability of water dispensers is not in question. We would have liked to have seen a bit more context in the CBS story. Research looking at water availability is nothing new and has been conducted in the US and abroad – for example in Germany, researchers said. One US study found that water consumption nearly tripled after the installation of water jets, while the German study saw a decreased risk for students being overweight if more water was available in the classroom. However, the CBS article does quote the JAMA editorial, which pointed out this study “adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the importance of providing drinking water access in schools.” We think that’s good enough for a Satisfactory rating. The article does not rely on any news releases we found online. There is also evidence of original reporting in the lead researcher’s second comment, as he “told CBS News.”


Coral die-off predicted as marine heat wave engulfs Hawaii.

Explanation: At the edge of an ancient lava flow where jagged black rocks meet the Pacific, small off-the-grid homes overlook the calm blue waters of Papa Bay on Hawaii’s Big Island — no tourists or hotels in sight. Here, one of the islands’ most abundant and vibrant coral reefs thrives just below the surface.

AP Top News, General News, Oceans, Hawaii, Science, Travel, Corals, Heat waves, Coral reefs, U.S. News

Yet even this remote shoreline far from the impacts of chemical sunscreen, trampling feet and industrial wastewater is showing early signs of what’s expected to be a catastrophic season for coral in Hawaii. Just four years after a major marine heat wave killed nearly half of this coastline’s coral, federal researchers are predicting another round of hot water will cause some of the worst coral bleaching the region has ever experienced. “In 2015, we hit temperatures that we’ve never recorded ever in Hawaii,” said Jamison Gove, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “What is really important — or alarming, probably more appropriately — about this event is that we’ve been tracking above where we were at this time in 2015.” Researchers using high-tech equipment to monitor Hawaii’s reefs are seeing early signs of bleaching in Papa Bay and elsewhere caused by a marine heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring to record highs for months. June, July and parts of August all experienced the hottest ocean temperatures ever recorded around the Hawaiian Islands. So far in September, oceanic temperatures are below only those seen in 2015. Forecasters expect high temperatures in the north Pacific will continue to pump heat into Hawaii’s waters well into October. “Temperatures have been warm for quite a long time,” Gove said. “It’s not just how hot it is. It’s how long those ocean temperatures stay warm.” Coral reefs are vital around the world as they not only provide a habitat for fish — the base of the marine food chain — but food and medicine for humans. They also create an essential shoreline barrier that breaks apart large ocean swells and protects densely populated shorelines from storm surges during hurricanes. In Hawaii, reefs are also a major part of the economy: Tourism thrives largely because of coral reefs that help create and protect iconic white sand beaches, offer snorkeling and diving spots, and help form waves that draw surfers from around the world. Ocean temperatures are not uniformly warm across the state, Gove noted. Local wind patterns, currents and even features on land can create hot spots in the water. “You have things like two giant volcanoes on the Big Island blocking the predominant trade winds,” making the island’s west coast, where Papa Bay sits, one of the hottest parts of the state, Gove said. He said he expects “severe” coral bleaching in those places. “This is widespread, 100% bleaching of most corals,” Gove said. And many of those corals are still recovering from the 2015 bleaching event, meaning they are more susceptible to thermal stress. According to NOAA, the heat wave’s causes include a persistent low-pressure weather pattern between Hawaii and Alaska that has weakened winds that otherwise might mix and cool surface waters across much of the North Pacific. What’s causing that is unclear: It might reflect the atmosphere’s usual chaotic motion, or it could be related to the warming of the oceans and other effects of human-made climate change. Beyond this event, oceanic temperatures will continue to rise in the coming years, Gove said. “There’s no question that global climate change is contributing to what we’re experiencing,” he said. For coral, hot water means stress, and prolonged stress kills these creatures and can leave reefs in shambles. Bleaching occurs when stressed corals release algae that provide them with vital nutrients. That algae also gives the coral its color, so when it’s expelled, the coral turns white. Gove said researchers have a technological advantage for monitoring and gleaning insights into this year’s bleaching, data that could help save reefs in the future. “We’re trying to track this event in real time via satellite, which is the first time that’s ever been done,” Gove said. In remote Papa Bay, most of the corals have recovered from the 2015 bleaching event, but scientists worry they won’t fare as well this time. “Nearly every species that we monitor has at least some bleaching,” said ecologist Greg Asner, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, after a dive in the bay earlier this month. Asner told The Associated Press that sensors showed the bay was about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit above what is normal for this time of year. He uses advanced imaging technology mounted to aircrafts, satellite data, underwater sensors and information from the public to give state and federal researchers like Gove the information they need. “What’s really important here is that we’re taking these (underwater) measurements, connecting them to our aircraft data and then connecting them again to the satellite data,” Asner said. “That lets us scale up to see the big picture to get the truth about what’s going on here.” Scientists will use the information to research, among other things, why some coral species are more resilient to thermal stress. Some of the latest research suggests slowly exposing coral to heat in labs can condition them to withstand hotter water in the future. “After the heat wave ends, we will have a good map with which to plan restoration efforts,” Asner said. Meanwhile, Hawaii residents like Cindi Punihaole Kennedy are pitching in by volunteering to educate tourists. Punihaole Kennedy is director of the Kahalu’u Bay Education Center, a nonprofit created to help protect Kahalu’u Bay, a popular snorkeling spot near the Big Island’s tourist center of Kailua-Kona. The bay and surrounding beach park welcome more than 400,000 visitors a year, she said. “We share with them what to do and what not to do as they enter the bay,” she said. “For instance, avoid stepping on the corals or feeding the fish.” The bay suffered widespread bleaching and coral death in 2015. “It was devastating for us to not be able to do anything,” Punihaole Kennedy said. “We just watched the corals die.” ___ Follow Associated Press Hawaii correspondent Caleb Jones on Instagram and Twitter .


Thailand bans entry to foreigners, prepares emergency measures against coronavirus.

Explanation: The Thai government banned entry for all non-resident foreigners on Wednesday but held off on restricting people’s movement inside the country as the government prepared to roll out emergency measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

A state of emergency will take effect from midnight local time (1700 GMT) until April 30, giving Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sweeping powers to combat the surge of coronavirus infection. The Southeast Asian country recorded 107 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the known total to 934. Four people have died since the outbreak began, 860 are hospitalised while 70 patients have recovered and gone home. New restrictions taking effect at midnight include the closing of all border crossings except for Thai nationals, diplomats and their families, and foreigners with work permits or other official documents allowing them to work in Thailand. “We are not closing the country, we are still allowing Thai people to return but for foreigners the country is closed,” Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told a news conference. He added that airports will remain open to flights from abroad. Wissanu said the government had no immediate plans to impose curfews or travel restrictions within the country. But he said checkpoints would be set up to screen inter-provincial travellers and an “all day curfew” could still be introduced in certain areas if coronavirus contagion worsened. The government on Sunday closed down department stores, malls, dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues and other public places for several weeks in major cities across the country. It is still allowing banks, government offices, pharmacies and grocery stores to operate as normal but urged people over the age of 70, children under five and people with respiratory and other health complications to stay home.


Foreign Policy, Sports, PunditFact, Bloggers,

Germany may have won the 2014 World Cup, but the tournament featuring soccer’s best has left the anonymous producer of the YouTube channel Korea News Backup with good reason to pop the champagne. Its mock video of a North Korean news broadcast previewing the final match has garnered over 8 million views. The video’s charm? It appears to tell North Koreans that their team made it to the final and will face the powerhouse team from Portugal. We at PunditFact took an interest because bloggers, and maybe even some journalists, thought North Korea was actually trying to put one over on its citizens. We want to be clear: The video is a fake. But a writer for the blog Outside the Beltway posted, "North Korea is telling its people that their men’s national team is in the World Cup final." The bulk of the post is a copy and paste from an article on the British website, Metro: "We’ve known for a long time now that supreme leader Kim Jong-un controls the flow of information to his people, with the television channels only reporting positive stuff about the country. "But in a report posted on YouTube, the media have been caught broadcasting that North Korea are on course to win the biggest prize in football, despite not actually qualifying for the World Cup. "The report says North Korea’s brave side crushed Japan 7-0, USA 4-0 and China 2-0 in the group stages, before going on to reach the final… against Portugal. "Of course, the real final, which takes place this Sunday, is between Germany and Argentina." The Outside the Beltway blogger observes at the end, "This is yet another example of just how pervasive the Kim dictatorship is, and just how hard it will likely be to integrate this nation into the real world when that regime finally falls." We emailed the blogger and didn’t hear back. Curiously, by the time other readers saw the Metro article he linked to, it said something quite different from the words he quoted. The second sentence was key. "But in a brilliant spoof report posted on YouTube, the media appears to be caught broadcasting that North Korea are on course to win the biggest prize in football, despite not actually qualifying for the World Cup," the Metro article said. We emailed the Metro sports writer to see if the article had been changed from the original but again, no word back. So it’s possible that that sports writer had also been pulled in, but we can’t say. From the comments on the Outside the Beltway blog, it is clear that while most readers doubted the newscast’s authenticity, others were ready to believe that the North Korean propaganda machine was aiming for a personal best in the disinformation category. A dose of reality There are several reasons the North Korean government would be unlikely to try such a stunt. For one, state-controlled media had been broadcasting the games, although not live. Also, most North Koreans would likely know that about two years ago, their team failed to qualify for the World Cup. It ranks 137 in the FIFA world rankings; only 32 countries get to compete. Soccer stat maven and professor of government at Cornell University Chris Anderson said "making it to the final is basically impossible for North Korea on sporting grounds." Stephen Epstein, a specialist in Korean culture and society at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, noted several elements in the video would instantly tell a trained viewer that it was a joke. "As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was," Epstein said. "The way the women was speaking, her accent, sounded like a South Korean broadcaster. Also she used the word ‘fighting’ (an English word brought over to South Korea). It clearly was not from the north." In fact, Epstein said he thinks only people outside South Korea "were suckered." But he said that’s understandable. "If you don’t have a real familiarity with North Korea and just know what Western media generally provides, this would fit with a preconceived stereotype," Epstein said. A mountain birth and a golf score It’s not as though North Korea doesn’t exercise creative license. According to the official biography of its previous leader Kim Jong Il, he was born on  Mount Baekdu, a sacred place in Korean culture. In reality, historians place his birth on Russian soil near Vladivostok where his father lived in a camp for Korean exiles. There’s also another sports myth, and this one is interesting because it has morphed over time. In 1994, the Agence France Presse news service said the golf pro at the Pyongyang golf course told a reporter with the Australian Financial Review that Kim Jong Il had scored 5 holes-in-one on his very first time on the links. "He is an excellent golfer," the pro told the reporter. What’s notable about this factoid is that it was first ascribed to the golf pro alone, with no witnesses, as told to a named Australian reporter. By 2003, the New York Post had it at 11 holes-in-one. In 2011, the golf website Cybergolf.com had the 11, plus that the feat was witnessed by 17 security guards and "dutifully reported to the North Korean masses by the state news agency." With golf as with soccer, stories about North Korea seem to have the ability to take on a life of their own. Our ruling Bloggers said that North Korea was telling its people that the national team was in the World Cup final. The video was satire and bore unmistakable markings, for any Korean speaker, of having not come from the communist country. Plus, North Korea had been broadcasting the World Cup and any soccer fan there would know that their team failed to qualify. We rate the claim .


National, Foreign Policy, Military, Ben Carson,

Ben Carson suggested during the Fox Business News debate in Milwaukee that China is involved in the Syrian conflict. When asked if he supports President Barack Obama’s decision to put 50 special operations troops in Syria, Carson said any presence is better than no presence, especially given the forces at play. Here’s what he said in context: Moderator Maria Bartiromo: "Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president’s decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan?" Carson: "Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they — that’s why they’re called special ops, they’re actually able to guide some of the other things that we’re doing there. "And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. "We also must recognize that it’s a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there." We were curious about Carson’s assertion that the "Chinese are there" in Syria. According to the White House, China and experts, they are not. But before we dive into that issue, let’s sort out some semantics. What Carson meant Multiple media outlets, including our friends at the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, took Carson’s remarks to mean that Chinese troops are in Syria. But the Carson camp forwarded us a statement refuting that interpretation. Rather, his actual point was that China is providing "various military weapons and equipment that Syria is using in the current conflict," according to the statement which also included several links to articles on that point. "Dr. Carson does not believe that China is currently fighting in or deploying troops to Syria, and contrary to press reports, he has never made that assertion," the statement reads. "Regardless, Dr. Carson's claim that China is exerting its influence and has in the ongoing Syrian conflict is well-supported by evidence, even if it is not evidence commonly available to or easily accessible by journalists without the requisite language skills or knowledge about Chinese." However, Carson seems to be backtracking. On Nov. 11, the day after the debate, a top Carson adviser spoke specifically about "Chinese military advisers" in Syria when defending Carson’s remarks. "During Dr. Carson’s conversations with military operatives and people in Iraq, in that part of the world, (they) discussed with him multiple reports that Chinese military advisers are on the ground in Syria operating with Russia (sic) special-operations personnel," the adviser told Business Insider. A Carson spokesperson also referred the Washington Post’s Fact Checker to a few blog posts speculating explicitly about Chinese military personnel in Syra. We also ran Carson’s statement by an expert on political campaign rhetoric. "Saying ‘the Chinese are there’ means the Chinese are there, not just that their weapons are there," said Kathleen Kendall, a communications professor at the University of Maryland. "He is making a clear, firm assertion. Had he made a more nuanced statement, such as ‘there is a Chinese influence there,’ there would be some room for debate on his meaning." No Chinese in Syria What’s the source of the idea that China is in Syria? The posts Carson’s spokesperson sent to the Washington Post all link back to a Sept. 27 report from the Lebanon-based news site Al-Masdar Al-’Arabi. According to the news site, a senior officer in the Syrian Arab Army said Chinese military personnel would join Russian marines in the Syria in the next six weeks. The story then got picked up by Russian state media, and the overseas media attention led China's Foreign Ministry to officially deny China’s presence in Syria in mid October, while its state-run media characterized the reports as "speculative nonsense," according to Reuters. Carson’s statement also prompted responses from the White House. Press secretary Josh Earnest said he was "speechless" over Carson’s claim that he has better intelligence than the administration. "I really can’t speak to what he was referring to, but unless you’re talking about having a diplomatic presence, I’m not sure what he was referencing," National Security Adviser Susan Rice said at a press conference. "I have not seen evidence of Chinese military involvement in Syria." Experts told us it would be very uncharacteristic for China — a country with a longstanding, though gradually changing policy of nonintervention — to send troops abroad, especially to the Middle East. "The Chinese have been very, very clear from day one that Syria is not something they want to take responsibility for," said Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group, a global consulting firm. "It would go against absolutely everything we know about China. And Syria is the world's worst morass. ... The Chinese want no part of this." "There is no possibility that China is planning on sending troops into Syria," said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "China doesn't send troops abroad except for peacekeeping purposes. China isn't interested in taking on the role of global policeman." Both Bremmer and Glaser noted that official Chinese statements on Syria are vague comments promoting peace and self-rule. "China opposes easy interference in other countries' domestic affairs. China supports Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, as well as its approach to find its own path of development that is consistent with its national circumstances," China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a visiting Syrian official in mid October. The same sentiment is expressed in a five-point proposal for the Syrian conflict put forward by China during the United Nations’ Geneva II peace conference in 2014, as well as the four-step initiative it offered at the Syria peace talks in Vienna at the end of October 2015. That came as news to Bremmer, who noted he’s not surprised that the neurosurgeon flubbed a statement about foreign policy. Is it possible that some Chinese officials are in Syria discreetly? "There are 1.3 billion Chinese, they're in a lot of places. China’s got an economic interest in Syria obviously, so would I be stunned that there were a couple of Chinese intelligence guys on the ground? No, but they're not playing a military role," Bremmer said. Our ruling Carson said the Chinese have a presence in Syria. In context, Carson’s comments suggested a military presence. That claim appears to be lifted from unconfirmed blog posts and a news report by a Lebanese news site. China and the White House have denied that Chinese troops are in Syria, and experts told us there’s no evidence to the contrary. Even if Carson meant something less than a military presence, China seems to be taking a hands-off approach to the conflict in Syria. We rate Carson’s claim .


A Maryland doctor who participated in a secret surgery to remove a blood clot from Hillary Clinton's brain died suddenly under mysterious circumstances.

Explanation: It’s highly unlikely a 68-year-old patient who had just been through major brain surgery would have been up to sitting through a grueling 3.5-hour questioning just two days later, or that the FBI would have conducted such an interview under those circumstances.

Junk News, hillary clinton, sorcha faal, whatdoesitmean.com

On 30 September 2016, Dr. Sandeep Sherlekar was found dead in his office at the American Spine Center in Frederick, Maryland. According to local police, evidence gathered at the scene indicated  Dr. Sherlekar had taken his own life with an intentional overdose:  Frederick police said their review of evidence from Dr. Sandeep Sherlekar’s office in the American Spine Center indicated the 51-year-old took his own life, said Sgt. Andrew Alcorn, a Frederick police Criminal Investigations Division supervisor. “We are ready to officially call it a suicide and we’re confident that the medical examiner’s office will determine the manner of death was a suicide,” Alcorn said. “There was video inside the business that we reviewed that [shows] the doctor was alone at the time of his death and leading up to it, and he also left several notes.” Detectives believe Sherlekar died of an intentional overdose, based on evidence gathered and the lack of any sign of significant trauma to his body, Alcorn said. “We don’t know what’s involved in terms of the chemicals used, but it appears to be an overdose,” Alcorn said. “When the [medical examiner] gives us the toxicology reports back, we should know more.”  Although law enforcement authorities haven’t openly stated a motive for the doctor’s suicide, it was quite possibly linked to the fact that he and four other medical professionals had recently been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of agreeing to refer urine specimens to a testing lab for evaluation in return for $1.37 million in kickbacks, conspiring to defraud the IRS, health care fraud, and making false statements on patient medical records. Dr. Sherlekar’s death would likely have received little notice outside of Frederick had the conspiracy-mongering whatdoesitmean.com web site not used it as fodder for yet another “Sorcha Faal” report that weaves actual events into fabricated narratives of ominous political happenings:  Sorcha Faal is the alleged author of an ongoing series of “reports” published at WhatDoesItMean.com, whose work is of such quality that even other conspiracy nutters don’t think much of it. Each report resembles a news story in its style, but usually includes a sensational headline barely related to reality (e.g. “American Rebel Forces Attack Gas Pipelines, Explode Trains As US Civil War Nears”) and quotes authoritative high-level Russian sources (such as the Russian Federal Security Service in the same article) to support its most outrageous claims. Except for the stuff attributed to unverifiable sources, the reports don’t contain much original material. They are usually based on various news items from the mainstream media and/or whatever the clogosphere is currently hyperventilating about, with each item shoehorned into the conspiracy narrative the report is trying to establish. In this case, WhatDoesItMean spun the doctor’s death into a fantasy story playing on rumors about Hillary Clinton’s supposedly concealed serious health issues, holding that Sherlekar had been part of a “specialized medical team” who secretly removed a blood clot from Hillary Clinton’s brain on 30 June 2016 — and then was killed (as part of the “Clinton body bags” scheme) to keep him from revealing what he knew about the presidential candidate’s medical condition:  A shocking new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says that the infamously named “Clinton Body Count” has now increased after a Maryland (US) based doctor was discovered dead under mysterious circumstances — and who had, this past June, been part of a specialized medical team that removed a blood clot from the brain of Hillary Clinton. According to this report, Hillary Clinton has long been known to have grave health issues since she collapsed in December, 2012, and that led to her first operation to remove a blood clot from her brain — and that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, recently stated took her 6 months to recover from. This past summer, however, this report continues, on 30 June, SVR analysts state that Hillary Clinton collapsed on her private plane while in route to her Washington D.C. home and was unconscious when it landed at Joint Base Andrews — which is the home base of the 89th Airlift Wing that manages the flights of all top American officials, including the President. Performing the emergency brain surgery on Hillary Clinton at the MedStar Montgomery Medical Center on 30 June, this report continues, was the Islamic neurosurgeon Amjad Anaizi who is her private brain doctor whom she frequently visits at the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital near her home in Washington D.C. — and who, also, is the cousin of Hillary Clinton’s top aid Huma Abedin who is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood terror organization. Attending Doctor Anaizi in his operating on Hillary Clinton’s brain to remove the blood clot that had rendered her unconscious, this report says, was Doctor Sandeep Sherlekar who was the on call anesthesiologist at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center — but who, exactly 3 months later, on 30 September, was discovered dead. Doctor Sandeep Sherlekar’s death fits exactly the profile of all of the other deaths associated with the Clinton Crime Family — with the victim fist “knowing to much”, then having “their personal and professional reputations destroyed”, with the final act being “their mysterious death” as a message for others to not dare cross these most dangerous of criminals. All of this was just another yarn that was, as usual, aggregated as a factual news report by a number of bottom-feeding web sites. Hillary Clinton underwent no emergency brain surgery on 30 June 2016: She attended a fundraising luncheon in San Francisco the day before, then returned to Washington, D.C. for a  2 July interview with the FBI regarding allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used while serving as Secretary of State.


Landmark study may impact standard stroke treatment guidelines

Explanation: This news release from Emory University describes  findings of a randomized clinical trial that showed  positive outcomes among almost half of stroke patients whose brain blood clots were removed well outside the time frame of six hours currently recommended by stroke experts. The release properly discloses that the study was funded by a company that makes the clot removing device and quotes investigators from one of the participant investigators not at Emory. The release could have been stronger had it disclosed details about the patients (such as age, and their co-occurring conditions, race, gender); the size of the population of stroke victims in the U.S. likely to benefit from “late” clot removal; and limitations of the study (e.g. follow up was for 90 days, not long term). Some details on which stroke victims are considered eligible for clot removal within six to 24 hours and the costs of the clot removal procedure itself would have been helpful. Disability from stroke is a major cause of suffering and high health care costs in the United States and elsewhere, and despite advances in technology (clot removal devices) and clot-busting drugs, its prevention has long depended on how fast a stroke patient can make it to a hospital for treatment. The six-hour window long thought to be the maximum time in which clot removal technologies could save brains and lives has meant that individuals unlucky enough to have a stroke in remote locations, or in bad weather, for example, stood little chance of enough recovery to lead independent lives. Thus, the results of rigorous studies like the one described in the release — it was stopped early because of the positive outcomes — are exceptionally newsworthy, and important for the public to know about.

Although preventing disability in stroke patients will clearly save health care dollars, it’s also possible that the additional costs of imaging to identify patients eligible for clot removal after six hours will add to health care costs. But this issue is not addressed. The release also contains no information about the potential number (and overall percentage) of stroke patients who might benefit from late clot removal, further obscuring the potential savings in dollars as well as disability. The release does an adequate job of comparing the randomized groups (late clot retrieval versus medication), although it could have offered much more information about how the study defined patients whose damaged brain area was considered “small” enough to qualify for late clot removal. The release doesn’t mention any specific harms from either approach, nor what the rate of adverse effects was in either group. It’s not enough to state only that there was no difference. The release noted that there was “no difference in mortality or other safety end points between the two groups of patients” in the study (those undergoing clot removal and those getting medical only). But the release could have been much clear about specific “safety end-points,” complications of both the clot-removal procedure and drug therapy; and certainly more information about residual disability in both patient groups. This is the category where a “ding” seems needed. The reader will not learn enough about the patient selection criteria, the patients themselves, the specifics about imaging requirements and so on to understand or appreciate why this study is considered a potential “landmark” in stroke treatment. While this was a randomized trial, it was a non-blinded non-placebo-controlled one. The fact that the patients in the clot removal group knew they were getting extra treatment may have introduced bias. Limitations such as this should have been mentioned in the release, but weren’t. No mongering here. The funding source — a device manufacturer — was disclosed. Readers of the release will get a general and adequate idea of the relative lack of options open to stroke victims who arrive at a hospital after the six-hour window considered optimal for mechanical clot removal. The alternative is not doing the procedure for late arrivals which is fairly clear from the release. In this case, availability has to do with whether hospitals offer this procedure. Since the procedure is already part of standard practice we’ll rate this Satisfactory, even though it’s not explicitly stated. The release might have noted that previous research had suggested that some extension of the six-hour timetable for optimal clot removal was possible, even for medical therapy. But overall, the release makes clear why and how this trial was novel. Terms like “breakthrough” and “paradigm shift” are over-the-top for these findings. While the release provides good supporting data, readers should remember that the study was a non-blinded, non-placebo controlled trial and given what we have learned from the ORBITA trial on cardiovascular stenting which has gained so much attention recently, even intervention therapies need a placebo control.


California sues US over home health worker union dues.

Explanation: Five states have joined forces to try and block a new rule from the Trump administration they say weakens labor unions and their ability to collectively bargain for wages and benefits.

California, Health, Lawsuits, Labor unions, Medicaid, Xavier Becerra

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, announced the lawsuit on Monday with attorneys general in Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Oregon. The lawsuit seeks to block a rule finalized last week by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. Becerra and union leaders say it would ban home health care workers paid for by Medicaid from automatically deducting their union dues and health insurance premiums from their paychecks. CMS spokesman Jack Cheevers declined to comment on Monday, saying the agency has not seen the lawsuit yet. But in announcing the final rule last week, CMS said “nothing in this rule would interfere with an employer’s ability to make payroll deductions that are required by law or voluntary deductions for things like health and life insurance ...  and union dues.” In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled union dues for home health care workers had to be voluntary, meaning unions could not deduct dues from employees who were not members yet were still covered under the collective bargaining agreement. That same year, former President Barack Obama’s administration issued a ruling clarifying states could deduct dues from paychecks of home health care workers who volunteered to join the union. The Trump administration reversed that rule, arguing it violated federal law that bans states from diverting Medicaid money to third parties, with some exceptions. But Becerra and union leaders said it is designed to weaken the finances of unions by making it harder for people to pay their dues. “It is a shameful political attack on home care providers who are largely women and people of color,” said April Verette, president of SEIU Local 2015, which represents more than 385,000 long term care workers in California. Home health care workers are part of Medicaid’s In-Home Supportive Services program. California has the largest IHSS program in the country, with more than 500,000 patients and more than 470,000 workers. Becerra noted California and other states could get around this new rule by declining to accept Medicaid dollars for the In-Home Supportive Services program. But Becerra noted for California that would mean forfeiting $6.5 billion in federal tax dollars. California has the largest IHSS program in the country, with more than 500,000 patients and more than 470,000 workers. “That is not an option in California,” Becerra said. “We have a responsibility to these workers and to the people they care for to fight back when their rights and their health care are at stake.”


Caitlyn Jenner regrets transitioning to female and wishes to de-transition.

Explanation: Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday that they will slash the U.S. list price of their potent but expensive cholesterol fighter Praluent by 60 percent, as the drugmakers follow a similar move by rival Amgen Inc in hopes of increasing use of the drug.

Media Matters, ASP Article, caitlin jenner, de-transition

The new list price for Praluent will be $5,850 a year, matching the price Amgen set when it lowered the list of its competing drug, Repatha, in October. Sanofi and Regeneron said they expect the lower-priced Praluent to be available for pharmacies to order in early March. They said the new price should improve patient access and result in lower out-of-pocket costs for U.S. consumers. Praluent and Repatha belong a class of injectable biotech drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors that dramatically lower bad LDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks and death. Sales of both have been severely constrained by onerous roadblocks to patient access put up by insurers looking to limit spending on the expensive drugs. They were approved in 2015 with initial list prices of more than $14,000 a year. In March of last year, Regeneron and Sanofi said that they would be willing to charge less for their drug if insurers agreed to reduce barriers for high-risk heart patients. A few months later they struck a deal with Express Scripts, now part of Cigna Corp, to make the drug available to that company’s customers at a price in the range of $4,500 to $6,600 a year. The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than in other developed countries, where governments directly or indirectly control costs. That makes it by far the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers. Congress has been targeting the pharmaceutical industry over the rising cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers, particularly since Democrats took over the House of Representatives in January. Executives from at least six drugmakers plan to testify at a Senate hearing on rising prescription drug prices later this month. Drug pricing is also a top priority of the administration of President Donald Trump, who had made it a central issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.


Botox may prevent irregular heartbeat after bypass surgery

Explanation: This concise (393 word) news release from the American Heart Association on a trial that used botulinum toxin to prevent irregular heart rhythms after bypass surgery packs a lot of good information into a small frame. The novel use of botulinum toxin represented in the story is an interesting and potentially important step toward a possible solution. As noted, the research was conducted in a small sample of 60 patients and although the results are impressive, they should be viewed with an understanding that many other potential therapies have failed on subsequent examination. The news release is written in a clear and measured way, although a clarification on the type of botulinum toxin used and the potential costs would have been helpful for reporters and the public. Atrial fibrillation after coronary bypass surgery is a vexing problem. Most patients who develop atrial fibrillation post-procedure do so within a few days of the procedure so an intraoperative or preoperative solution seems reasonable.Atrial fibrillation can cause serious complications for the patient undergoing heart bypass, extend their stay in the hospital, and substantially drive up the costs of the heart treatment.

Association/Society news release,cardiovascular disease

The story rightly points out that the development of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery has significant financial implications: “Atrial fibrillation is also always associated with lengthened hospitalization and that means increased healthcare costs.” But we would have liked to have seen some attention paid to the cost of the intervention, namely multiple injections of botulinum toxin. We calculate the cost of one 4mls vial of Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA) to be approximately $1000. This cost is likely to be rather small in comparison to the cost of extended hospitalizations, antiarrhythmic therapies and lost productivity from atrial fibrillation. The story does a good job in detailing the results of the study and the apparent benefit of botulinum toxin injections in this small sample randomized study. Researchers found that: The story appropriately points out that there were no additional harms seen in the group injected with the botulinum toxin compared to those who received saline other than those associated with the surgery. “No complications from the Botox injections were reported,” according to the release. “But complications from the bypass surgery were similar in both groups, including time in intensive care and on a breathing machine, and infection rate.” The release satisfies this criterion but a few more details would have made the release even better. We are told that 60 subjects were enrolled and were randomly assigned to receive either botulinum toxin of saline. We are also told the study was blinded. Other important details about the study are omitted including baseline differences between the two groups, number of vessels engrafted, duration of bypass or number of off bypass procedures. All are important variables in the development of atrial fibrillation post operatively. Atrial fibrillation post coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) can dramatically impact the patient’s quality of life as well as potentially increase morbidity. The story does not over state the impact and provides statistics concerning its prevalence. The funding sources (The Russian State Research Institute of Circulation Pathology and the Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences) are noted in the release. Given the impact of post-operative atrial fibrillation, it is reasonable to assume that other attempts have been made to reduce its incidence in this population. A variety of antiarrhythmic drugs and beta adrenergic blockers have been studied with variable results. It would have been very helpful to add a few words about the alternative pharmalogical agents. Since the release makes no claim that this therapy is ready to be used outside of clinical trials we’ll give this a satisfactory. The story makes it clear that botulinum toxin is available and is routinely used in cosmetic dermatology. For that use it’s sold under the trade name Botox Cosmetic. However, there are four different FDA approved strains of the toxin. Various formulations of the toxin have received  FDA approval for use in treating excessive sweating, migraines, dystonia, bladder control issues, and several other non-cosmetic conditions. Those formulations have been available for many years as well. Since this is the first time botulinum toxin has been tested in human hearts, it’s safe to say that it could be several years before it receives approval as a preventative for heart complications. The release is clear that larger studies are needed. Dr. Steinberg’s comments on the study being the “first in man” establishes the novelty of the approach. The release does not use unjustifiable language. Instead, the language is very measured and appropriate.


Georgia takes step toward legalizing medical marijuana.

Explanation: A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Georgia for patients with seizure disorders and other medical conditions cleared a big hurdle on Wednesday when the state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the legislation.

The bill, which faltered last year on the last day of the legislative session, passed the House by a vote of 158-2 and now goes to the Senate for consideration. It would allow patients with diseases including cancer and multiple sclerosis to use a non-intoxicating oil derived from the marijuana plant. To qualify, patients or their caregivers would have to register with the state Department of Public Health after getting a physician’s certification that they are being treated for one of the medical conditions covered by the bill. Georgia would become the 12th U.S. state to allow non-intoxicating oil for medical use, said Erik Altieri, spokesman for the pro-marijuana organization NORML. Another 23 states allow regular marijuana to be smoked for medicinal purposes, said Altieri. The bill covers a “decent range of conditions” for medical marijuana use, said Altieri. A recent trend has been for legislatures to approve bills that only allow marijuana use in cases of seizure disorders, he added. “We hope the Senate will support it as is and not amend it to be further restrictive,” said Altieri.


A man using the screen name 'DreamWeaverGrey' is luring women to their deaths over the Internet.

Explanation: Online alert warns that someone using the screen name 'DreamWeaverGrey' is luring women to their deaths over the Internet.

Information goes a long way in the Internet era, and this one’s got the legs to outlast even the oldest netizen. There once was some truth to the following warnings about an online stalker of women called ‘DreamWeaverGrey’ (originally ‘Slavemaster’), but it’s long outdated:  If a person with the screen-name of DreamWeaverGrey contacts you, do not reply. DO not talk to this person; do not answer any of whispers or requests for private in Pogo. Whoever this person may be, he/she is a suspect for murder in the deaths of 56 women (so far) contacted through the Internet. This screen-name has also been seen on Yahoo, AOL, AIM, and Excite so far. This is not a joke! Please send this to men too… just in case! Send to everyone you know! Ladies, this is serious. If a guy by the name of SlaveMaster contacts you do not answer. He has killed 56 women that he has talked to on the internet. PLEAZE SEND OUT TO ALL THE WOMEN ON YOUR BUDDY LIST. ALSO ASK THEM TO PASS THIS ON. He has been on {{   Yahoo- Aol– Excite }} so far. This is no JOKE.!!!!!! AND PLEASE SEND THIS TO MEN TO…….JUST IN CASE! Send to EVERY ONE YOU KNOW!! John Edward Robinson Sr., 56, was arrested on 2 June 2000 and charged with sexual assault on two women in the Kansas City area. Robinson lured the women (as he had others) into participating in sadomasochistic sex by contacting them over the Internet under the name “slavemaster.”  The two women filed charges after Robinson “brutalized them in a way that went beyond what they intended.” After Robinson’s arrest, law enforcement authorities discovered two 55-gallon industrial barrels, each containing a woman’s body, on land Robinson owned in Kansas. A few days later, they discovered three more bodies in barrels kept in a storage space Robinson rented in Missouri. All five women appeared to have been bludgeoned to death. Robinson was also suspected in the mid-1980s disappearances of three women and an infant whose bodies had not yet been located. One of the bodies Robinson had stored in barrels was later identified as being one of these women, and the missing infant was discovered to have been adopted by Robinson’s brother. In October 2002, John Robinson was convicted of the murder of three women, the two found in the barrels on his land, and the third the disappeared mother of the child he placed with his brother. In January 2003 he was sentenced to death for these murders. He has also been charged in the deaths of the three women found in Missouri. The “slavemaster” is monstrously real, but so far he’s well short of the 56 victims claimed for him, and he remains behind bars, not out trolling the Internet for additional victims. This internet warning took on a life of its own, one quite independent of the facts. The small grain of truth (someone using the screen name “Slavemaster” was arrested for the murders of women he contacted on the Internet) was lost amidst the sandstorm of claims that he was still out there looking for more victims, and that he had killed 56 women so far. As well, pranksters have been pulling off jokes by substituting their acquaintances’ screen names in place of “Slavemaster,” so now versions are circulating that warn netizens to be on the lookout for someone using the handle “Dodgecity53_,” “SweetCaliGuy4evr,” “ooosparklesooo88,” “DreamWeaverGrey,” “Monkeyman935,” “Free_mumia911,””ineedatipdrill,” “RatBonesBlakStar,” “Silly Black Goose,” “Buc Vet,” “Rooster,” “spikey_mikey913,” or “Darksideishere1,” all screen names that have nothing to do with the real John Edward Robinson.


The National Cancer Institute has "admitted" that "cannabis kills cancer.

Explanation: Because the article making the claim that the NCI “admitted” that “cannabis kills cancer” uses information from a document that has no legal bearing on federal drug policy, and because that information does not in any way “prove” that cannabis could be a viable treatment for cancer, we rank this claim as false.

An August 2015 article published on the website PoliticusUSA contains the claim that an update to an National Institutes of Health document included a “quiet” admission that marijuana “kills cancer”: In just the past two weeks, the federal government and NIH have quietly confirmed that cannabis (marijuana) is very effective at killing cancer cells without harming healthy cells like radiation and chemotherapy. In fact, on the NIH website devoted to the hideous disease, Cancer.gov, they published the truth about marijuana and its effectiveness at combatting [sic] cancer in a stunning reversal of over four decades of deliberate fear-mongering and propaganda portraying the common weed as dangerous; all to satisfy the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, prison system, and law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal level. That PoliticusUSA story has been, and continues to be, used as source material for variations on a “Cancer Institute Finally Admits Marijuana Kills Cancer” clickbait article that is cloned on a variety of low-rent websites. The “report” in question is the NCI’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) on “Cannabis and Cannabinoids.” The National Cancer Institute maintains a database of peer-reviewed cancer research and publishes regular updates and summaries of this research in a product called known as a PDQ: The PDQ cancer information summaries are comprehensive, evidence-based summaries on topics that cover adult and pediatric cancer treatment, supportive and palliative care, screening, prevention, genetics, and integrative, alternative, and complementary therapies. Perplexingly, viral stories citing a 2015 update to this PDQ report as some sort of smoking gun do so for no clear reason. Both the pre-update and post-update versions of the PDQ mentioned laboratory and animal studies that suggest potential anti-tumor effects from cannabis, and both versions include phrases that could be loosely (and falsely) interpreted as “marijuana kills cancer.” The earliest NIH cannabis PDQ archived on the Internet Archive is a 6 November 2014 version, and the sections related to the potential anti-tumor capabilities of cannabis is identical to the  allegedly nefarious July 2015 update. Both include this statement in the “overview section”: Cannabis has been shown to kill cancer cells in the laboratory (see Question 6) The mysterious Question 6 (the other item cited by these viral studies as proof of some sort of admission by the government) provides information regarding a number of preclinical trials that have shown some promise at killing cancerous cells. That list includes studies on mice, rats, and cell lines suggesting that some cannabinoids (the group of medically relevant chemicals in cannabis) may be able to selectively kill cancerous cells — including those found in colon, liver, and breast cancers. That list was also not modified in any way between 2014 and mid-2018, save for the addition of one new clinical review added to the PDQ in 2017. Since the addition of that study occurred after PoliticusUSA published their article, their assertion that the PDQ was changed in a way that could be interpreted as a quiet “admission” of anything regarding anti-tumor potential in July 2015 is false. The PDQ does reference studies that suggest a possible medical role for cannabis in cancer treatment, but to claim that these changes were added “quietly” in 2015 is complete fiction. Equally made up is the claim that the studies referenced in the PDQ “prove” that cannabis “kills” cancer. The studies referenced in the PDQ are small scale preclinical trials (or reviews of such trials), and therefore they do not “prove” anything with regards to efficacy as a treatment for cancer in humans, which is a broad and diverse groups of diseases unlikely to be “cured” by a single chemical or group of chemicals. The number of drugs or treatments that have demonstrated preclinical potential only to be rejected after further study is prodigious: The organization Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America estimates that only 5 in 5,000 compounds that enter preclinical testing make it to human testing, and only 1 of those 5 may be safe and effective enough to reach pharmacy shelves. A major hurdle preventing human research on cannabis is that the United States government controversially considers it a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substance Act, meaning that the official position is that it has “no currently accepted medical use,” which limits research into its possible medical value. While the anti-tumor studies cited in the NCI PDQ could be part of a broader argument to remove marijuana from that Schedule 1 classification, they do not provide clear evidence that cannabis can be a viable cancer treatment. Further, a PDQ report, which are merely reviews of scientific studies regularly updated by scientists at the NIH, does not have any bearing on the United States Government’s official view toward cannabis, and is wholly independent of any regulatory bodies or legal or political decision making groups: PDQ is a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH is the federal government’s center of biomedical research. The PDQ summaries are based on an independent review of the medical literature. They are not policy statements of the NCI or the NIH.


Tim Canova Says Debbie Wasserman Schultz "has voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry ... as well as for delays in cleanups.

A nasty-looking toxic algae bloom on Florida’s coasts has oozed into political races, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Democratic primary. Her opponent, Tim Canova, toured the mucky scene in Stuart wearing a surgical mask. He says that Wasserman Schultz shares in the blame for the algae that extends from Lake Okeechobee to Florida coastlines on the Treasure Coast and west coast. Canova said Wasserman Schultz, who represents South Florida, has sided with the main polluters of the water that flows into the Everglades: the sugar industry. Wasserman Schultz doesn’t "want us to know that she has voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry and other agribusinesses, as well as for delays in cleanups, while failing to deliver federal funds for any real solution," he said on Medium July 9. Wasserman Schultz defended her environmental record to the Sun Sentinel, concluding, "I will continue to walk the walk on fighting to restore our precious River of Grass while my opponent just continues to talk." Time for PolitiFact Florida to weigh in. Algae and Big Sugar Everybody agrees that the algae is bad for the environment and business. But they disagree on who is to blame. Pollution from fertilizer, manure and septic waste from suburbs and farms poured into Lake Okeechobee. That pollution stimulated the growth of algae, so when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released water from the lake to avoid a breach of the surrounding dike, the algae-ridden water traveled to other waters in Florida. Some politicians blame the federal government for the water release as well as its failure to raise the dike. Others blame the state of Florida for siding with the sugar industry and resisting calls to redirect water through sugar land. In Florida, Big Sugar has given generously to state and local politicians and to federal candidates, including Wasserman Schultz. "The sugar industry is completely ambidextrous as far as its ability to penetrate the Republican and Democratic camps," said Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon Florida. Everglades delay vote Canova’s campaign points to Wasserman Schultz’s vote in the state Senate to delay Everglades cleanup and to votes on two farm bills while in Congress. In 2003, then state Sen. Wasserman Schultz voted to delay for seven years the requirement for sugar companies to clean up polluted discharges that had hurt the Everglades. It passed the state Senate 38-0 and the House 96-18, and Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law. The well-financed sugar industry fought for the delay, while environmental groups opposed it. Two days later, Wasserman Schultz changed her vote to "no" because she said she was "betrayed and misled" about the facts. The Senate passed amendments that they believed were offered by the U.S. Justice Department but had actually been written by state environmental officials. Changing a vote is ceremonial only and carries zero practical effect -- except public relations. Ryan Banfill, Wasserman Schultz’s spokesman, said that she initially supported the bill because it included a provision to buy sugar lands for filtration and was better than a 20-year-delay alternative. Sugar votes in Congress Canova’s campaign also says Wasserman Schultz supported the sugar industry because of her votes to renew the 1981 Farm Bill in 2008 and 2014. The legislation is a sweeping bill that funds an array of nutrition and agriculture programs for multiple years. So if Wasserman Schultz voted against the farm bill, she would have also voted against food stamps, assistance to food banks and economic development programs in rural areas such as providing broadband internet service. But if Wasserman Schultz had opposed the sugar portion of the bills she could have said so and she didn’t, Canova’s campaign said. The farm bill gives lucrative benefits to the sugar industry. Specifically, it gives loans to processors and limits sugar imports to the United States. The government can also buy the surplus sugar and sell it for ethanol production. These benefits amount to market controls that reduce the supply of sugar, thus making it more expensive, said Josh Sewell, a policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group that is critical of the sugar policy. The industry disagrees with the term "subsidy." "A direct subsidy -- a check -- we do not get that," said Ryan Weston, executive vice president of the Florida Sugarcane League. But Sewell said the price controls, marketing allotments and limits on imports are all government manipulations designed to provide an economic benefit to a set group and function as subsidies. "Any governmental action that reduces the cost of doing business or increases prices beyond the normal functioning of a free market is a subsidy," he said. "In this case consumers, food manufacturers, and sugar producers outside of the United States are on the losing end." The industry argues it needs the aid to compete globally with other countries that subsidize sugar and that the aid helps save jobs. Critics, including candy companies and consumer watchdogs, argue that it drives up prices for consumers and amounts to corporate welfare. In recent years, there have been several national proposals by Democrats and Republicans to change the sugar program, but votes are rare. In June 2013, however, the House and Senate voted on sugar amendments that would have scaled back the industry’s benefits. The amendments failed in both chambers with Wasserman Schultz voting "no." Most of the Florida delegation voted against the amendment, including both of Florida’s senators Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat. Banfill said Wasserman Schultz voted against the amendment because she said it would keep the market stable, protect American jobs and maintain the program allowing the government to buy and then sell surplus sugar to ethanol producers. Lee, of Audubon Florida, says Wasserman Schultz isn’t alone in her support of the federal government’s sugar policy: "The same attack could be applied to virtually every member of Congress from Florida and it could be applied to virtually every member of the Legislature." Banfill pointed to other efforts by Wasserman Schultz to clean up the Everglades and her 92 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters. She has supported a clean water rule proposed by the EPA and helped get the authorization included in the budget for multiple segments of the Tamiami Trail to restore natural water flow to part of the Everglades. She is one of many cosponsors of the Central Everglades Planning Project that includes restoration projects but hasn’t received a vote yet. Those are all steps that could help the Everglades and the environment, but the sugar industry’s benefits from the government remain in place. "Yes, these positions were important and significant," Lee said. "However, these positions did not really challenge the sugar industry. On core issues for ‘big sugar’ they have her support." This is no different from every other major political leader in Florida, he added. Our ruling Canova said Wasserman Schultz "has voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry ... as well as for delays in cleanups." In 2003, while in the state Senate, Wasserman Schultz was part of a unanimous vote for a seven-year delay to clean up the Everglades. Canova omits that two days later she changed her vote, but the vote had no practical effect and the measure passed anyway. Canova also said Wasserman Schultz voted to subsidize the sugar industry when she voted for the farm bill in 2008 and 2014. The farm bills didn’t contain actual cash subsidies, but they clearly contained lucrative benefits for the industry. The farm bill is a sweeping bill that benefits a long list of programs -- not just sugar. Wasserman Schultz has taken other steps to support Everglades cleanup. But Canova’s point about her specific actions is largely accurate.


Cannibals arrested in Florida claim eating human flesh cures diabetes and depression

Explanation: Report of cannibals arrested in Florida is fake news

Fake news, PunditFact, TheMiamiGazette.com,

An article that tells a story about cannibals arrested in Florida is fake. TheMiamiGazette.com website posted a story on May 30 with the headline, "Cannibals Arrested in Florida Claim Eating Human Flesh Cures Diabetes and Depression." "Police in Vernal Heights, Florida, arrested 3-practicing cannibals who claim eating human flesh cures both type-1 and type-2 diabetes and depression," the article begins. This article cumulatively has 254,000 likes on Facebook and was republished by other websites and blogs. Facebook users flagged the article as being potentially fake, as part of the social media platform’s efforts to curb fake news. The story is pure fiction. TheMiamiGazette.com calls itself "an entertainment and satire web publication" in its Disclaimer section. The disclaimer also stated, "All news articles contained within The Miami Gazette are fictional and presumably satirical news." This disclaimer is buried, appearing only in a special page in the footer part of the website. Someone surfing the Miami Gazette will hardly notice the caution about the website being fictional, and the article adopts the style of news websites to give the impression of real news. In its Contact Us page TheMiamiGazette.com provides only an email address with a Gmail account. The website’s domain was registered as private and does not contain additional contact information about the owners. This article was supposedly written by Anthony Brooks, who has a profile on TheMiamiGazette.com. But there is neither a photo nor contact information for Anthony Brooks. In addition to providing real-sounding names of the suspects, the article was illustrated with images of a cluttered basement captioned with "courtesy of Vernal Heights Police Department" and cited "Vernal Heights Chief of Police Gregory Moore." The supposed picture of Vernal Heights Police Chief Gregory Moore traces back to the free photo download website, Pixabay.com. Pixabay also was used for the photo of the "‘tool wall’ that contained a myriad of tools that police believe were used to dismember several victims"  as it states in the fake article. A photo used in the article that purportedly showed "a kitchen style refrigerator located in a small room in the corner of the basement that contained the limbs, organs, and miscellaneous remains of what police believe to be upwards of 7-8 different individuals" traced back to 41 different results. As for the suspects, we had difficulty tracking down who the men truly were, although one of them was a Georgia man named Markey Caldwell, who was arrested in 2014 for criminal trespassing. There is no place in Florida with the name Vernal Heights at all, and no reports of cannibals caught eating flesh to cure diabetes and depression. That would be big news, if true. In 2012 there was a real story of "Miami Zombie" with elements of cannibalism. As for this post, it’s !


Rapper T.I. said in an interview that he takes his daughter to the gynecologist yearly to ensure she's still a virgin.

Explanation: Performing this medically unnecessary and harmful test violates several human rights and ethical standards including the fundamental principle in medicine to ‘do no harm’. WHO recommends that this test should not be performed under any circumstances.

Rap artist T.I., also known by his full name as Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr., received widespread backlash for an interview in which he claimed to take his daughter to be examined by a gynecologist annually to check whether she remains a virgin. T.I. made the comments during a podcast interview on Nov. 5, 2019, which has since been taken down. The comments drew harsh criticism prompting podcast hosts Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham, of the show “Ladies Like Us,” to apologize. Mandi and Moham posted on the social platform Instagram that they regretted their reaction to T.I.’s statements but said that they were caught off guard by them. A post shared by Ladies Like Us Podcast (@theladieslikeuspodcast) on Nov 7, 2019 at 7:37am PST  T.I. has remained silent. Our email to his record label with questions about his comments went unanswered, and he has made no statements to the news media or on social media. His daughter, 18-year-old model Deyjah Harris, has also avoided commenting directly on the matter. During the podcast episode in question, T.I. stated, “This is what we do: Right after the birthday, we celebrate. And usually like the day after the party, she’s enjoying her gifts, I put a sticky note on the door: ‘Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30,'” according to the Los Angeles Times: The Atlanta rapper, who also goes by the nickname Tip, went on to explain that the physician — “maintaining a high level of professionalism” — always tells him that his daughter has to sign away her privacy before results can be shared, and always tells him that a hymen can be broken in many ways that do not involve sex. “I say, ‘Look, doc, she don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bike, she don’t play no sports. Man, just check the hymen please and give me back my results expeditiously,’” he said, referring to “results” that legally belong to his daughter. The comments were quickly and broadly condemned, while gynecologist Jennifer Gunter took the opportunity to write a 12-tweet, mini-lecture that points out the hymen isn’t an indicator of virginity: The hymen means nothing physically and hymen exams are medically not a thing and are unnecessary. And support a disgusting patriarchal trope. 11/12 pic.twitter.com/D1EjoqZeiB — Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) November 6, 2019  In 2018, three United Nations agencies, the World Health Organization, UN Human Rights, and UN Women called for a ban on such so-called virginity tests, calling them harmful and medically meaningless: These examinations are not only a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights, but in cases of rape can cause additional pain and mimic the original act of sexual violence, leading to re-experience, re-traumatization and re-victimization. Many women suffer from adverse short- and long-term physical, psychological and social consequences of this practice. This includes anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. In extreme cases, women or girls may attempt suicide or be killed in the name of “honour”.


Electro-acupuncture for disrupted sleep in women with breast cancer

Explanation: This short release reports on a small study looking at whether electro-acupuncture is effective in diminishing night-time hot flashes among breast cancer survivors, and therefore, improving the quality of their sleep. While it states that this therapeutic approach is as good as, or perhaps better, than a drug (gabapentin) often prescribed for hot flashes, the release offers no data showing the extent of improvement, nor are there mentions of the cost of such treatments, or of potential harms from using it which, while not enormous, are not negligible either. The release also neglects to identify any of the researchers involved in the trial. More and more people are surviving breast cancer and there is increasing interest among survivors and clinicians about quality of life for survivors. As the release states, perhaps 6 million patients may have survived by the year 2020, meaning even serious discomforts like hot flashes among such patients will become a growing problem. The release hints that this approach may be effective for such people, but it fails to provide aspects critical to really evaluating this “news.”

electro-acupuncture,North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

There was no mention in the release as to the cost of electro-acupuncture, although a quick search on the web revealed that the costs per session could range anywhere from $60 to $150. Nor did the release give any information about the number of sessions required to acheive improved sleep — a single one or multiple. Lastly, the release gives no indication whether Medicare or health insurance plan will cover electro-acupuncture, a factor that can affect whether many patients would choose this treatment. The release stated that the use of electro-acupuncture was “comparable to, if not better than” the drug (gabapentin) that was used in this comparative study in reducing “hot flash severity and frequency and improving overall sleep quality.”  This kind of vague statement doesn’t help readers looking for some quantification, or degree of change, provided by this alternative therapy. The release also states that “although electro-acupuncture produced significant sleep improvements, researchers noted that sleep quality for the participants was still not as good as it should be.”  But again, there is no scale of benchmark provided which would help a reader gauge the effectiveness, and therefore the worth, of trying electro-acupuncture. The release makes no mention of potential harms or side effects from the use of electro-acupuncture, which like traditional acupuncture, is considered to be of relatively low risk. But neither is without risk entirely, given that infection is possible along with bleeding or other injury. Electro-acupuncture is not suggested for people with heart problems, strokes, seizures or epilepsy, nor should it be used by patients with cardiac pacemakers since the small current used can disrupt the function of these devices. These risks should have been included in the release. The release provides no details about how the study was conducted or about the participants in the study, especially regarding their overall health, the length and type of treatment they had for their breast cancer, or the length of time since their breast cancer diagnosis and  treatment. Nor does the release include any specifics  about how the participants’ sleep and specific aspects of their sleep were measured. The release does say that the research involved a “randomized, controlled trial,” which offers some detail, as does the fact that “58 breast cancer survivors” who experienced bothersome hot flashes participated. But 58 is considered a small study size. The release correctly points out that “blinded controlled trials are needed.” This release steps over the line in suggesting that hot flashes — a normal part of menopause for some women and especially for breast cancer survivors — is like a disease unto itself that always requires medical treatment. According to Johns Hopkins University, about 75 percent of all women going through menopause experience hot flashes, the most common symptom of menopause. Many are able to manage their symptoms through simple, inexpensive lifestyle changes. The release notes that the research was funded in part by the National Cancer Institute but it makes no mention of potential conflicts of interest on the part of the researchers involved. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here since we don’t have access to the full published study to verify who the funders are or assess whether there are financial conflicts of interest. We encourage news releases to always disclose whether or not there are conflicts. The release points out that electro-acupuncture was compared with the drug gabapentin. But there are numerous other alternatives to both a fairly powerful drug with its own side effects and electro-acupuncture. There are many other ways to help one sleep while experiencing hot flashes such as non-hormonal medications and lifestyle changes — dressing in layers, lowering the thermostat, staying away from caffeine — to name a few. The release doesn’t mention where or if electro-acupuncture is available to patients who desire such treatments. The release claims in the subhead that the “Study confirms benefits versus gabapentin for helping breast cancer survivors suffering from hot flashes achieve better sleep” but given that no additional information is provided in the release, it is hard to find such a vague conclusion is novel enough to warrant issuing a news release. Moreover, it appears that acupuncture has been used extensively in previous studies for hot flashes in breast cancer patients, so some comment on that approach, and how “electro-acupunture” might differ, is warranted. No unjustifiable language was used here.


A step-dad refused to pay for his daughter's wedding at the last minute because she allowed her biological father back into her life.

Explanation: As to whether a 3 November 2015 wedding was canceled as related in the narrative, that claim was provably false. The story was lifted in its entirety from a 3 June 2013 post to Reddit’s r/offmychest titled “My step-daughter wants her “Real Dad” to give her away,” but it was subsequently reposted in subreddits devoted to misogyny and revenge tales. In the original version the wedding was scheduled for 3 August 2013 (not 3 November 2015), and it appeared the dates were revised to make the tale sound new. The user who claimed credit for originating it racked up a grand total of only four posts and was not an established Reddit user. That user returned to update the original post twice, but the story and its subsequent repetitions were still based on a single, unverified Reddit thread from 2013 (which perhaps would have more aptly been posted to this subreddit). While the narrative certainly resonated with readers, there’s no evidence it occurred outside the imagination of the individual who wrote it.

Viral Phenomena, conservative post, qpolitical, reddit

In October 2015, multiple content-scraping, clickbait web sites published a tale of wedding revenge involving a purportedly devoted step-dad, his ungrateful common-law wife and step-daughter, and a lauded but deadbeat biological father:  My step-daughter will be getting married on August 3rd. The wedding planning has consumed most of her and her mother’s life (I say her mother because we aren’t married, though we’ve lived together for 10 years) for the past six months. My step-daughter graduated last December from University. I paid for her to go to college, though it was a state school, it still ran $40K. She does not have a job and has been living with us for the duration of her college career and since her graduation. I also bought her a car to get back and forth from school when she finished high school. From time to time her deadbeat father would pop into her life and she would fawn all over him. Although he has not contributed a cent to her education or paid any child support, though that is my girlfriend’s fault as c.s. was not part of the settlement, she still loves him and wants him in her life. He stays long enough to break her heart by skipping town and breaking some promise that he made her. The wedding venue holds 250 people max. I gave them a list of 20 people that I wanted invited, you know, since I was paying for everything. They told me that was no problem and they’d take care of it. So I let these people know they’d be getting an invite and they should save the date. Saturday, I saw one of my friends on this list at the golf course and asked if he was coming. He told me that he wasn’t invited. He told me that he got an announcement, but not an invitation. He had it in his back seat (along with probably six months of mail) and showed it to me. Sure enough, it was just an announcement, and my name was nowhere on it. It had her dad’s name and her mom’s name and not mine. This led to a pretty big fight with my GF, as I found out that NONE of my list of twenty “made the cut” for the final guest list because “250 people is very tight.” I was pissed, but not a hell of a lot I could do because the important people in my life had already been offended. My GF said “if some people didn’t rsvp yes, I might be able to get a couple people in.” But that is an ultimate slap in the face in my opinion. So, I was boiling on Saturday. Yesterday, we had a Sunday dinner with the future in-law’s family and us and a surprise guest, the “Real Dad.” At this little dinner my step-daughter announced that her “Real Dad” was going to be able to make it to her wedding and that now he’d be able to give her away. This was greeted with a chorus of “Oh how great” and “How wonderful”s. I don’t think I have ever felt so angry and so disrespected. I was shaking. I took a few seconds to gather my composure, because I honestly wasn’t sure if I would cry or start throwing punches or both. Once I was sure I’d be able to speak I got up from my chair and said I’d like to make a toast. I can’t remember exactly what I said but the gist of it was this: “I’d like to make a toast.” The sound of spoons against glasses ring in my years. “It has been my great pleasure to be a part of this family for the past ten years.” Awe, how sweet. “At this point in my life I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to bride and groom, because they have opened my eyes to something very important.” Confident smiles exchanged. “They have showed me that my position in this family is not what I once thought it was.” And now a glimmer of confusion and shock begins to spread on the faces in the room. “Though I once thought of myself as the patriarch or godfather of the family, commanding great respect and sought out for help in times of need, it seems instead that I hold the position of an ATM, good for a stream of money, but not much else. As I have been replaced as host, both on the invitations and in the ceremony, I am resigning my financial duties as host to my successor, Real Dad. So cheers to the happy couple and the path they have chosen.” I finished my drink. “You all can let yourselves out.” Is this selfish? I’m supposed to shell out 40 – 50 grand for a wedding that I can’t invite anyone to? That I am not a part of? I’m so done with this crap. I’m done with my step-daughter, I’m done with my GF. I transferred the money out of our joint account last night. (she has not had a job since she moved in with me) This morning I called all the vendors I had written checks to for deposits to refund my money. At present it looks like I’ll lose around 1500, for the venue, but the other vendors have been great about refunding. Would you have done the same? The tale appeared on sites such as Tickld and Hrtwarming (“Step-Dad Pulls Out Of Funding Daughter’s Wedding at Last Minute. But His Reasoning Is Heartbreaking”), the Conservative Post (“Step Dad REFUSES to Pay For His Daughter’s Wedding Because This INCREDIBLE THING HAPPENED”), and Top Right News (“Step Dad Stops Paying for His Daughter’s Wedding at The Last Minute, His Reason Broke My Heart”) at roughly the same time. Nearly all the sites opted to present the story in an image-based format, forcing readers who wished to share it to drive traffic to those sites rather than simply copying the text. All versions were near-verbatim recitations the same (too-good-to-be-true) anecdote. In it, a long-suffering step-dad was fed up with his freeloading live-in girlfriend (and the step-child for whom he’s footed the bill for years) and was subjected to implausibly exploitative treatment for years at the hands of the mother and daughter — who, in his words, treated him “like an ATM.” After funding college for his girlfriend’s daughter, he was then conscripted into financing a $40,000 wedding for her; and (in keeping with their comically boorish demeanor) she and her mother sent announcements to his friends and family instead of invitations, cutting them from the guest list. Incensed, he waited until a family gathering weeks prior to the wedding to “make a toast,” theatrically denouncing his mooching partner and her progeny in front of gathered guests. Afterwards, the man claimed he left his jobless girlfriend penniless (by draining their joint account) and canceled payments to all wedding vendors, essentially calling off his daughter’s wedding. The story was certainly very pat, leaning heavily on deeply entrenched stereotypes of shiftless women and the meal-ticket men they routinely drain dry. Every character in it occupied a single dimension, either a long-suffering man-wallet or a callous woman with dollar signs in her eyes. Further implicit was the insinuation that the gold-digging step-daughter maintained no interest in her once-upcoming wedding other than the lavish event, as step-dad’s last-minute funding withdrawal left no outcome in which the young bride availed herself of alternatives such as opting to say her vows in a county courthouse. Another unpleasant subtext involved the stepfather’s “heartbreaking” motivation for breaking up with his family in front of an assembled crowd. Whether or not the narrative represented events that once occurred (or was simply the product of an active, misogynist imagination), the girl’s major sin involved mending fences with her unreliable biological father in the weeks before her big day. While the writer took pains to paint the bride and her mother as greedy and selfish, he similarly admitted that his step-daughter’s reconciliation with her biological dad was unacceptable to him. Through that lens, it seemed clear the writer (and not his erstwhile family) viewed their established relationship as purely transactional; after he implicitly bought and paid for them, they betrayed that unstated contract by failing to abide his every wish.