J&J secretly launched 'Project Plato' last year to shift liability from about 38,000 pending Baby Powder talc lawsuits to a newly created subsidiary
The subsidiary company, LTL, was then put into bankruptcy in October in order for J&J to limit its financial exposure to the lawsuits
Company said it placed LTL into bankruptcy to settle those claims rather than litigating them individually J&J and claims doing so was legitimate
The claims alleged J&J's talc-based products contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer
J&J maintains that its consumer talc products are safe and have been confirmed to be asbestos-free
Talc plaintiff committees argue J&J should not be permitted to use bankruptcy to address the talc litigation and that is deprived claimants of their day in court
US judge been asked to weigh whether bankruptcy was filed in bad faith
Johnson then tried to get a U.S. judge to block Reuters from publishing a story based on what it said were confidential company documents
#1
I can see how the stuff might possibly cause mesothelioma, but the ovarian cancer connection is strange: asbestos is supposed to be a 'physical' carcinogen, not a chemical one, and even 'swimmers' have a tough time making it up to the ovaries, so how do inert particles get there? I guess it's possible but I would like to see it explained.
It's a question until it isn't. That question is less important than determining whether or not these "inert" particles are found there in the first place.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
02/05/2022 10:46 Comments ||
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Continuing yesterday's Page 3 story.
[Epoch Times] GoFundMe says it won’t be giving the C$10 million ($8 million USD) raised to support the truckers protesting COVID-19 mandates to the organizers anymore, saying it will instead work with the organizers to send the funds to "established charities verified by GoFundMe."
"To ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, we work with local authorities to ensure we have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground," the fundraising platform said in a statement on Feb. 4. I don't trust GoFundMe. Do you?
GoFundMe added that it has "evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity." Occupations are only allowed in US Democratically-controlled cities.
John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) which is providing legal representation for the organizers, told The Epoch Times that the linking of protesters to violent or unlawful activity is unfounded.
"I would like to see what evidence there is," Carpay said. "That’s political spin."
In a Feb. 4 post on Twitter, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson thanked GoFundMe for "listening to the plea made by the City and the Ottawa Police to no longer provide funds to the convoy organizers."
The organizers have now set up an alternate donation site on GiveSendGo, which they say will ensure the money gets to the protesters. The donation site had raised over $175,000 in just a few hours after its creation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/05/2022 07:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
According to this, they have decided to refund all to original donors. I suspect their legal department told them having a bunch of states' AGs on their backs for fraud might be bad for business.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/05/2022 8:00 Comments ||
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#2
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2022 8:00 Comments ||
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#3
So GO F'Me has the final say.. if the $$$$$ is in line with greater agenda DEPENDING if its for the far left, or against it?
What about the $$$$ that they handled for the Democrats riots, Anti-FA, BLOM, FAL-CHE-ISM (sp), LAW VIOLATIONS.
#4
Found on Gab:
"If you donated to the GoFundMe for the Freedom Convoy 2022 do NOT request a refund. Call your bank (or credit card company) and request a chargeback for services not rendered. This will charge GoFundMe up to $35 per incident - potentially costing GoFundMe millions of dollars for their shenanigans."
#5
And having worked for a credit card processor for nearly five years, I can tell you that is a legitimate use of charge back. Plus if you more than 3-4, the processor typically boots you from their service.
#8
But the one I was involved with came out and basically said, "If you don't believe in Black Lives Matter and all they do, you can piss off." That's OK.
#9
I've read people are having trouble accessing GiveSendGo online. This may be a "situational" DDOS, with great numbers of people trying to sign on all at once.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
02/05/2022 10:43 Comments ||
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#10
There's a buzz that GA. and Florida are going to open investigations into this.
Posted by: Chris ||
02/05/2022 12:25 Comments ||
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#11
Yes. Not every state's AG is in the Soros orbit.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/05/2022 12:29 Comments ||
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#12
GoFundMe is very selective on how they apply their "Standards".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/05/2022 13:47 Comments ||
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[Breitbart] Two Latin American presidents, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, weighed in on the ongoing campaign against American podcaster Joe Rogan on Wednesday, condemning attacks on Rogan as an attempt to stifle freedom of speech and of the press.
Bolsonaro explicitly directed his message to Rogan, sending him “hugs” and telling him, “Stand your ground!” Bukele, on the other hand, used the controversy to attempt to discredit his detractors, who have accused him of unfairly antagonizing the press, pointing out the administration of President Joe Biden has directly weighed in on Rogan’s podcast and called for him to be censored.
Rogan is facing pressure from the left – despite having endorsed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2020 presidential election – over podcast episodes featuring individuals who dissent from mainstream public health officials on handling the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. The controversy became international news after rock musician Neil Young announced he would remove his music from Spotify, which publishes The Joe Rogan Experience episodes, as a means of protest against the comedian.
“I’m not sure what [Rogan] thinks about me or my government,” Bolsonaro wrote in English on Twitter, “but it doesn’t matter.”
“If freedom of speech means anything, it means that people should be free to say what they think, no matter if they agree or disagree with us. Stand your ground! Hugs from Brazil,” Bolsonaro wrote.
While leading a conservative government, Bolsonaro’s tenure in office has been marked by legal persecution of podcasters, Youtubers, and even lawmakers for their public broadcasts by the country’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the top court. The court is dominated by appointees nominated by former socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who have used their powers to order federal police raids on public commenters who support Bolsonaro. In one of the more infamous episodes of this, the STF ordered 29 raids on bloggers, actors, and lawmakers in May 2020 on charges of “fake news,” which is not a crime in Brazil.
A year later, the STF ordered the arrest of conservative Congressman Daniel Silveira (PSL-RJ) on “fake news” grounds over a YouTube livestream in which he accused the justices on the court of abusing their power.
Bolsonaro himself has been the victim of censorship, though not by the STF. In July, YouTube censored a presidential livestream on the grounds that, like Rogan, Bolsonaro had trespassed in his statements into coronavirus “misinformation.”
Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, appeared to take Rogan’s side in the current controversy, though he did not address his post on Twitter to the comedian and former game show host.
Bukele appears to be referencing complaints from human rights groups that his criticism of journalists had led them to fear for their safety.
“Since President Nayib Bukele took office in June of 2019, he has undermined press freedoms, lashing out at independent journalists, accusing them of spreading ‘fake news,’ and calling them ‘mercenaries,'” Human Rights Watch lamented in March.
Amnesty International has similarly complained that Bukele, who is a very active Twitter user, has criticized non-governmental organizations, which has allegedly resulted in “harassment.”
Unlike Bolsonaro, who is a right-wing conservative, Bukele has defied political labels. His career beginnings were with the far-left Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), but he was expelled from the party in 2017 for “defamatory acts” against the party and “disrespect for the principles of the party.” The FMLN has since opposed his administration and many in the international left have dubbed him “right-wing.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill on Thursday that will ban transgender girls from playing in sports leagues that match their gender identity
Noem is the first governor to sign such a ban this year, making South Dakota the 10th state to enact such a law
Lawmakers used as ammunition the case of a transgender woman, Lia Thomas, 22, as proof that trans athletes possess an unfair advantage over competition
Thomas blew away the competition and shattered two national women's records at the Zippy International in Akron, Ohio in December
Such was her dominance in the 1,650-yard freestyle that second placed swimmer Anna Kalandadze, a UPenn teammate, finished 38 seconds behind her
The bill is set to take effect July 1, but still faces potential legal challenges along the way
Meanwhile, federal judges halted enforcement of similar laws in Idaho and West Virginia, while the Justice Department challenged bans in other states as violations of federal law.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill's passage or whether it would take action as a result.
The college athletics organization last month adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, allowing each sport's national governing body to determine its policy on transgender participation.
The nine other states that have signed legislation banning transgender female athletes from participating in women's sports teams are Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
Other states including Kentucky, Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania have had similar bills proposed, however they are not expected to advance.
Bills in New Mexico and News Hampshire had previously failed before they could even be debated.
#3
They are turning that dial back up, if you are not in Formacinae lockstep with what the Screen People say is Science!, you are in fact Anti-Science.
Which is, of course, the antithesis of the scientific method.
[Breitbart] The governments of China and Argentina finalized an agreement on Tuesday to build a nuclear plant in Argentina based on Chinese technology and backed by $8 billion worth of Chinese financing, World Nuclear News (WNN) reported on Wednesday.
The nuclear power plant will be reportedly constructed near the town of Lima, which is located in Buenos Aires province roughly 60 miles northwest of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s national capital. The energy facility will utilize China’s “Hualong One technology” which is based on an “HPR1000 reactor” that uses “enriched uranium as fuel and light water as coolant and moderator, with a rated gross power of 1200 MWe and an initial life of 60 years,” according to WNN.
The state-owned China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) signed a contract with the state-owned Nucleoelectrica Argentina S.A. to build the Atucha III nuclear project on February 1 through a virtual ceremony.
Beijing and Buenos Aires have been working to finalize the Atucha III nuclear deal since it was first negotiated in 2015 by the left-wing administration of former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The nuclear project suffered a number of setbacks under the subsequent administration of former Argentine President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) before Fernandez de Kirchner returned to power in 2019 as vice president of Argentina.
[Breitbart] Chileans on Friday protested against outgoing president Sebastián Piñera’s attempt to push through a last-minute lithium mining contract before leftist president Gabriel Boric takes office in two months, and possibly nationalizes the lithium industry.
Chile was the world’s leading producer of lithium until 2016, when it lost its crown to Australia, and on current trendlines it could fall behind several other countries.
Piñera told reporters Friday that pushing through a tender for lithium extraction was the best “strategic plan” for revitalizing the stagnant domestic industry.
“We have two options: either we leave lithium in the ground or we use lithium for the benefit of all Chileans,” he said.
Piñera’s administration pointed out the proffered 29-year contract would only cover four percent of Chile’s huge reserves, which account for over half of the world’s known lithium deposits. Chile produced 37 percent of the world’s lithium in 2016, but is down to 32 percent today, and will bottom out at 17 percent by 2030 according to current projections – even as the worldwide demand for lithium surges because it is a vital component of electric car batteries.
Boric apparently intends to create a “national lithium company” to take over the industry, much as Chilean Marxists once nationalized copper mining. Which will inevitably lead to a lithium shortage.
[Breitbart] Russian leader Vladimir Putin spent much of this month calling the leaders of allied communist nations in Latin America to discuss “boosting strategic cooperation in all fields,” giving Moscow enhanced leverage in the Western Hemisphere as tensions with Washington mount.
American corporate media outlets reported a frenzy over potential Russian colonization in Washington after President Joe Biden told reporters last week that he believed Putin would formally invade Ukraine – the Russian government colonized part of Ukraine in 2014 and is a looming presence in the ongoing Donbas war in the nation’s east. Biden suggested that America would not intervene in the event of a “minor incursion,” triggering panic that Biden’s remarks would embolden Putin to colonize the entire country.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have denied having any evidence of an imminent further Russian invasion, but their statements have largely evaded coverage in the United States. The Russian government denies any involvement in the Donbas war and has argued that the true threat to European stability is the potential for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Biden himself has not commented in depth on tensions with Russia since his extensive press conference last week. On Tuesday, during a casual public stop for ice cream, Biden compared the situation in Ukraine to World War II and claimed that predicting if Russia would invade Ukraine was “a little bit like reading tea leaves.”
Russia’s Tass news agency reported that Putin appeared more preoccupied with America’s neighbors than Russia’s this week, making time for phone calls with the dictators of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Anyone ever hear of rutube.ru ? I haven't until today.
[REGNUM] The People's Militia of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics of Donbass (DPR and LPR) have created new video channels on the Russian video hosting Rutube after their accounts were blocked by the administration of the American YouTube.
The military of Donbass reported this on February 4 in their Telegram channels.
"The People’s Militia has prepared an alternative platform for posting video materials on Russian video hosting," the People’s Militia of the DPR said. When it gets hot in Novorossiya, I use the militia channels in V Kontakte when I want additional information.
In addition, the NM DPR has placed its account on the independent international video hosting "Bastion".
As REGNUM reported , on the night of February 4, the American video hosting YouTube, without any explanation, deleted the Luganskinformtsentr channel, blocked the accounts of the State Television and Radio Company of the LPR and the press service of the People's Militia of the LPR. The American video hosting made a similar trick in relation to the channels of the Ministry of Information and the People's Militia Department of the DPR.
[Epoch Times] The much-anticipated Winter Olympics in Beijing got off to an awkward start as a member of the local security forces wearing a red armband accosted and pushed a Dutch reporter who was attempting to report on the event.
In a clip of the incident aired by the Dutch broadcaster NOS on Twitter that quickly received thousands of likes and re-tweets, viewers can see NOS reporter Sjoerd den Daas standing in front of a busy street and overpass while delivering his commentary into a microphone when the guard moves up without warning and begins yelling and pushing him aggressively.
Den Daas tries to ignore the guard and carry on with his reportage, his gaze alternating between the camera and the increasingly menacing guard, until the camera cuts away.
NOS’s tweet of the clip states that den Daas was able to resume his on-air report a few minutes after the guard accosted him. But the incident quickly drew international attention as a spate of Western publications rushed to report it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/05/2022 07:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Almost as bad as getting caught walking around Amsterdam without a health license and mask.
Every single one of you MFs totally on board with Covid protocols, here is your destination.
[Breitbart] Kyiv and Ankara signed a preliminary deal during bilateral talks this week to manufacture Turkish drones in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
“We have signed an agreement today which will significantly expand production of unmanned aerial vehicles [designed by Turkish drone maker Bayraktar],” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on February 3 in Kyiv.
“Turkey sells Ukraine its Bayraktar TBT 2 combat drone, and Russia says they are used in Ukraine’s conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region [of southeast Ukraine],” Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News observed Thursday.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
02/05/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Breitbart] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday “urged” El Salvador’s government to rescind the legal tender status it bestowed to Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency, in September 2021, indicating that its failure to do so could hinder El Salvador’s intention of securing a future loan from the financial institution.
The IMF’s executive board met with Salvadoran government officials on January 24 for an annual “Article IV consultation,” which serves as a culmination of the IMF’s regular surveillance of a member nation’s economic policies. During the meeting, IMF directors “urged” El Salvador’s government authorities “to narrow the scope of the Bitcoin law by removing Bitcoin’s legal tender status,” according to a press release issued by the organization on January 25.
El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender in September 2021. Financial analysts predicted the development could jeopardize El Salvador’s plans at the time to ask the IMF for a loan of $1.3 billion, as the lender views the cryptocurrency world as demonstrating “inadequate disclosure and oversight.” The IMF formally addressed El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin for the first time on January 25 during their consultation.
“[T]here are large risks associated with the use of Bitcoin on financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection, as well as the associated fiscal contingent liabilities,” the fund’s board said.
The IMF on Tuesday offered limited praise of El Salvador’s “Chivo e-wallet,” which it said could help facilitate a system of “financial inclusion” in the country in alignment with the international lender’s objectives. El Salvador’s government established the smartphone application-based “Chivo e-wallet” in 2021 to directly support its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. The administration El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele created the digital payment system to facilitate Salvadorans’ acceptance and use of Bitcoin.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] 
[Epoch Times] The much-anticipated Winter Olympics in Beijing got off to an awkward start as a member of the local security forces wearing a red armband accosted and pushed a Dutch reporter who was attempting to report on the event.
