Economy, energy row and drugs loom at North American summit

 

North American leaders aim to give new impetus to strengthening economic ties at a meeting this week, even as a major dispute grinds on over Mexico's energy policies which has distracted from cooperation on other issues like immigration.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will host his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for talks in Mexico City from Monday through Wednesday, the first summit between the three since late 2021.

"A meeting like this is so that we keep moving forward on economic integration," Lopez Obrador said this week.

Still, Mexico remains mired in an energy dispute with the United States and Canada, who argue their firms have been disadvantaged by Lopez Obrador's campaign to give control of the market to his cash-strapped state energy companies.

A combative leftist, Lopez Obrador says his policy is a matter of national sovereignty, on the grounds that past governments skewed the energy market to favor private interests.

Washington and Ottawa believe his actions breach the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, and have launched dispute resolution proceedings against Mexico, souring the mood for cooperation over jobs and investment.

Trudeau told Reuters on Friday he would make the case that resolving the energy dispute would help bring more foreign investment to Mexico, and was confident of making progress.

Others argue the time for negotiation is over.

Aindriu Colgan, director of tax and trade policy at the American Petroleum Institute - whose members include ExxonMobil and Chevron - said it was time to call a dispute panel because "Mexico is blatantly violating the USMCA."

Ahead of the summit, officials have publicly stressed North America's shared economic interests, while privately tempering prospects for a major breakthrough on the energy spat.

"They will do their utmost to make it appear a happy gathering," said Andres Rozental, a former Mexican deputy foreign minister. "As long as Lopez Obrador keeps migrants out of the border area, Biden will be happy."

SNUBS, FENTANYL, IMMIGRATION

Since the COVID-19 pandemic scrambled supply chains, policymakers have stepped up calls for firms to relocate business from Asia to make the region's economy more resilient.

As part of that drive, Lopez Obrador, who in June snubbed Biden's invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in protest at his exclusion of the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, wants to discuss his plan to boost solar power in northern Mexico and secure U.S. financial support for it.

Biden's aides say they expect a positive tone at the gathering after the announcement of a new migration plan this week, and Mexico caught a prominent cartel boss.

Ovidio Guzman, son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, a gang blamed for helping to fuel a surge in fatal overdoses of synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States.

The U.S. government said stopping fentanyl flows would be an important part of talks on combating drug cartels. Supply chains, climate change and immigration would also be discussed.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any tensions over Lopez Obrador's June snub had dissipated and the two presidents were in a better position to work together.

Mexico's government has repeatedly urged the United States to commit funds to Central America and southern Mexico to boost development and stem the northward trek of migrants from what has long been one of the poorest regions on the continent.

It has also urged Washington to make it easier for migrants to get U.S. jobs. A Mexican official said the deal unveiled on Thursday broadening border expulsions would do that due to a quid pro quo it contained on facilitating migrant entry by air.

Mexico has recently also raised U.S. hackles with a plan to prohibit imports of genetically modified corn. Although Lopez Obrador's government agreed to delay the ban until 2025, the issue would be discussed, he said.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Economy-energy-row-and-drugs-loom-at-North-American-summit--42688046/

Ultragenyx: Prelim 2022 Revenue; Guidance for 2023 Revenue and Cash; Pipeline, 2023 Milestones

 Preliminary 2022 Total Product Revenue of $352 million to $356 million, Crysvita® Revenue in Ultragenyx Territories1 of $257 million to $258 million and Dojolvi® revenue of $55 million to $56 million

2023 expected Total Product Revenue guidance between $425 million to $450 million, Crysvita revenue of $325 million to $340 million, and Dojolvi revenue of $65 million to $75 million

Year-end 2022 cash balance of approximately $900 million and 2023 guidance for net cash used in operations expected to be less than $400 million

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ultragenyx-reports-preliminary-2022-revenue-210100976.html

Seattle schools sue tech giants over social media harm

 The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth.

Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.

It blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional training to teachers.

“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the complaint said. “Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to youth is too often harmful and exploitive ….”

Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

While federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms, the lawsuit argues that provision does not protect the tech giants’ behavior in this case.

“Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants’ platforms but, rather, for Defendants’ own conduct,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content.”

The lawsuit says that from 2009 to 2019, there was on average a 30% increase in the number of Seattle Public Schools students who reported feeling “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row” that they stopped doing some typical activities.

The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop creating the public nuisance, to award damages, and to pay for prevention education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.

While hundreds of families are pursuing lawsuits against the companies over harms they allege their children have suffered from social media, it’s not clear if any other school districts have filed a complaint like Seattle’s.

Internal studies revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 showed that the company knew that Instagram negatively affected teenagers by harming their body image and making eating disorders and thoughts of suicide worse. She alleged that the platform prioritized profits over safety and hid its own research from investors and the public.

https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-business/ap-seattle-schools-sue-tech-giants-over-social-media-harm/

Biden Blames Southern Border Crisis On GOP Before First Planned Trip To Region

 The Biden White House has been ignoring the border crisis for the past two years, with Biden refusing to visit the region to see the chaos in person and even denying the reality of the situation despite all evidence to the contrary.  Both Biden and the Department of Homeland Security have been actively seeking to erase Title 42, the only framework in place for slowing the tide of illegal migrants flooding across into the US.  However, now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Title 42 must remain, Biden is suddenly changing his tune.

For the first time in his residency at the Oval Office, Joe Biden is set to take a trip to the southern border, specifically El Paso.  The Democrat run Texas city has been an epicenter of the ongoing migrant surge, with Mayor Oscar Leeser finally admitting a couple weeks ago that El Paso is in a state of emergency.   Leeser originally refused to label the mass invasion of illegals as a crisis (he says the White House pressured him not to), but with El Paso running out of funds to deal with the influx and thousands of migrants crowding into sleeping bag cities on the streets he has been forced to acknowledge reality.

It should be noted that, conveniently, El Paso has been engaged in a massive clean-up effort to reduce the level of homeless migrants right before Biden's arrival, which suggests there is an attempt to hide the scale of the crisis from the American people.  Measures include the building of a make-shift border wall using shipping containers and barbed wire, which reports say has been very effective in slowing the flow of migrants into the city.  It's rather ironic that the Democrats are now forced to build a border wall just to make Biden's visit to El Paso look good after years of sabotaging any efforts to build a wall under the Trump Administration. 

It's also rather hypocritical that after conservatives spent years trying to get any traction from leftists on border security, Democrats now blame Republicans for the crisis. Biden took to his teleprompter this week to lambast conservatives for rejecting his immigration policies, most of which are designed to make it easier for illegals to get citizenship through amnesty measures.  It is these same policies which are attracting more migrants rather than dissuading the marching caravans from rushing across the border.  

   

Biden suggests that Title 42 actually makes the migrant problem worse because, by kicking illegals back to where they came from, they then might try to cross the border again.  This kind of warped logic is pervasive in the White House response to immigration - Biden is essentially saying that if we simply let most of the illegals into the country the first time around, then we won't have to deal with them at the border again in the future.  Of course, this defeats the purpose of having a border in the first place. 

Biden also argued that conservatives prefer that the crisis continues so that they can use it to gain more votes in future elections.  One would think that if this were the case, Biden and the Democrats would be anxious to close the border, build a wall and keep Title 42 in place. 

Border patrol encounters with migrants plummeted under Title 42 in 2020, proving that the law works when enforced properly.  The reason for the sudden surge in encounters is the presence of Joe Biden in the White House and the expectation that Title 42 would be rescinded.  Luckily, the Supreme Court has blocked this action and now the White House is forced to pretend as if they care about the migrant crisis.

Amnesty measures are a rationalization for open border policies, nothing more.  Biden claims that most immigrants are coming from oppressed nations seeking freedom.  However, nearly 40% of all illegal migrants are from Mexico.  Beyond Mexico, the largest number of migrant encounters are from Ecuador and Brazil (not countries of origin eligible for amnesty).  Set aside the fact that anyone can say they are seeking amnesty and are from an oppressed nation and there is no way to verify their claim.  Finally, there are many countries that real amnesty seekers could apply to for citizenship - Why is the US the only nation that is pressured to take them all in? 

At least 5 million foreign nationals have entered the US illegally since Biden took office.  Since 2018, at least 60% of all migrants seek some form of welfare benefits, which is why Democrat run cities like New York and DC cannot handle 10,000 to 20,000 migrants, let alone millions.  Without secure borders, there will not be an America left for migrant "dreamers" to come to in the near future.  But perhaps that is the point...

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-blames-southern-border-crisis-republicans-his-first-planned-trip-region

Washington state eyes 1st Medicaid rate hike in 20 years

 Healthcare will be top of mind when Washington's state lawmakers kick off the 2023 legislative session on Jan. 9.

Among the highest priorities for some stakeholders is a request to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals through a directed payment program, The Chronicle reported Jan. 6. It would be the first update to Medicaid rates in the state in 20 years.

Rather than requesting funds from Washington's state general fund, the program would tax hospitals, triggering payments from the federal government, the report said.

"Hospitals are a large industry in our state, and there's a little bit of a fear that people think hospitals are too big to fail," Whiteaker said. "We are signaling that we have significant financial concerns."

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/?view=article&id=216494:washington-legislature-to-consider-1st-medicaid-rate-hike-in-20-years&catid=339

Automakers show off in-car entertainment options at CES

 From BMW’s new color-changing car

to Sony’s long-awaited push into electric vehicles,

automakers showed off their next-generation vehicles at the CES 2023 technology trade show in Las Vegas.

In particular…how they are reshaping the in-car entertainment experience.

As autonomous driving capabilities improve, car brands are following Tesla by offering video streaming and even gaming.

Sony is building this EV with Honda, using its vast entertainment content to turbo charge the car cockpit experience.

South Korean carmaker Hyundai is joining forces with Nvidia Corp,

a company whose chips power PC gaming, to stream games in cars.

Nvidia will provide access to more than 1,000 titles from PC game stores such as Steam, as well as free-to-play games such as Fortnite.

Thousands of tech enthusiasts converging on Las Vegas were given a peek at the latest innovations in other sectors too..

This smart baby stroller made waves.

It can self-drive or operate hands-free when a baby or toddler is not present inside.

Vancouver-based husband and wife team, Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang, came up with the idea after the birth of their child.

"So, it scans its environment and knows its environment so that parents can walk hands free when it's not occupied. And when you stop, it will stop when you're out of the range."

"So when you're going uphill, you can have push assist, where you can literally have fingers on to move a 100 pounds. It's just effortless. And then when you are out of range, it will stop, it breaks automatically and it also works on downhill too. So, it detects that it's rolling away and after a certain period, it stops it completely."

LG unveiled a giant 97-inch wireless OLED TV

offering a solution to untidy cables and wires in the living room.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/automakers-show-off-car-entertainment-145853920.html

Fresh bad news for kids makes pot legalization look even worse

 The move to decriminalize and normalize weed is already hurting kids — even when they’re supposed to be learning.  

Per the city Department of Education, the number of NYC public-school students caught with drugs or paraphernalia is up 8% this year over the same period in 2019, even though enrollment is down 11%. The rise is even worse in middle school.

It’s no coincidence that these numbers are jumping amid the push to make weed sales and smoking a part of normal city life. The state legalized pot in 2021 for over-21s. And despite a long wait for the first licenses for West Coast-style legal dispensaries (the city’s first legal pot shop opening to much fanfare in late December), unlicensed vendors have sprung up everywhere, which vastly increases access for any kid looking to get high. 

That news is all the worse when you realize that disciplinary reports on drugs in schools capture only a slice of the problem, as cannabis use often goes undetected. And worse still when you consider the increases — from the low single digits to above 70% — in the concentration of THC (the chemical that actually gets you high) in weed since the 1990s.

Couple these factors with a growing body of evidence linking pot use during adolescence to both mental illness and changes in the reward circuitry of the brain that likely contribute to later addictions to other drugs, and the stage is set for yet another youth mental-health crisis on top of a wave of depression, anxiety and attempted self-harm thanks to disastrous school-closure policies during the pandemic.

Indeed, one city residential youth drug-treatment facility has seen, per a staffer, 95% of recent admissions driven by cannabis addiction. 

All this suggests that the progressive line on weed — that it’s a harmless drug, whose integration into wider society will have no worse effect than the widespread use of alcohol — does not match up to reality.

The victims of that disconnect? Kids. (Not that it’s only adolescents misguidedly looking to self-medicate.) 

Recent surveys have clocked a 245% jump in weed-related poison-control center calls from 2000 to 2022 for kids aged 6 to 18. Kids 5 and under, horrifically, have seen it soar 1,375% from 2017 to 2021. That’s due largely to THC edibles, a big part of the legalization push, which often come packaged like normal snacks or candy. 

In other words, once the vaporing about “equity” is set aside, the data suggest that legalizing weed will bring with it a severe social toll among the most powerless group in society: children. 

What’s it going to take for progressive to grasp the law of unintended consequences? 

https://nypost.com/2023/01/07/fresh-bad-news-for-kids-makes-pot-legalization-look-even-worse/