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Saturday, April 1, 2023

Warnings Unheeded Now Threaten Our Fundamental Freedoms

by Bruce Abramson via RealClearPolitics.com,

The First Amendment is at a critical juncture. Recent congressional hearings on the Twitter Files brought the matter into full public view. Freedom of speech and of the press are hanging by a precarious thread. Do we want a future in which information flows freely, or one in which an information elite controls those flows “for our own good?” The choices we make over the next few years will determine which of those futures we get.

It’s tragic that we have let the problem reach this dangerous state. What heightens the tragedy, however, is that the war against America’s most cherished freedoms was predictable and preventable. If those of us who value freedom want to win, we’re going to need a strategy grounded in a clear understanding of what’s happening and why.

The Twitter Files story is shocking. Allegations that big tech and social media manipulate information have been around for as long as we’ve had tech and social media companies. Allegations of bias among the mainstream media are even older. In recent years, however, both the allegations and the supporting evidence have ratcheted upward to unprecedented levels.

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter, he opened his company’s internal archives to scrutiny. He assembled a team of journalists with a curious pedigree: registered Democrats with a distaste for Donald Trump and his supporters, whose track records skewed considerably left of center, and whose recent work has demonstrated deep concern about the politicization of journalism.

Musk gave them unfettered access. They found a deep, broad, and disturbing pattern of collaboration between big government and big tech designed to promote “official stories” on multiple issues, throttle competing theories and arguments, and sanction those who dared to question government propaganda.

When two of those journalists – Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger – testified before Congress, their Democratic inquisitors sought to belittle their credentials, question their motives, and tar them as part of some Republican-funded, far-right conspiracy. The still-left-leaning journalists are trying to absorb their shock at the depths to which the formerly civil-libertarian left has fallen.

Far from shocking, however, that fall was predictable – and predicted. In 2001, amidst the public disgust with tech companies following the collapse of the dotcom bubble, I set out to make sense of life during the transition from the late industrial age to the early information age. I analyzed what I called the first four front-page stories of the information age: the dotcom bubble, the Microsoft antitrust trial, the rise of open-source software, and the Napster-driven wars over digital music. Contrary to popular opinion of the time, I believed that these stories were far from distinct. I saw them as four manifestations of a single underlying phenomenon. My goal was to understand that phenomenon.

I found it. It appeared most clearly in the digital music arena, but it ran through all four stories – and through much that has happened since. It appears just as clearly in today’s war on free speech. It involves an entirely predictable pattern of opportunity, action, and reaction.

The starting point is digitization and quantification. The Internet changed the economics of information. Throughout human history, information was scarce, hard to acquire, and expensive to process. Skilled professionals – spies, scholars, lawyers, accountants, clerics, doctors – could command a premium for their knowledge. When the Internet went public, anything that could be digitized and quantified suddenly flowed freely. Information was there for the asking. The premium shifted to filtering – the ability to discard unwanted information and arrange what remained.

Economic shifts generate massive opportunities for creative, entrepreneurial people and bring glorious benefits to millions of consumers. The Internet was no exception in this regard, and neither was the predictable backlash against it. Anything that benefits new businesses and empowers consumers is a warning shot across the bow of powerful incumbents who’d grown accustomed to serving those consumers in a predictable, profitable, manner.

In the music industry, anything that let individual consumers share digital music files reduced the revenues, profits, power, and control of record labels. Pre-digitization, these powerful incumbents determined what music got recorded and how it was packaged, distributed, presented, and priced. It was a comfortable business model that gave us the music industry “as we knew it.” The Internet undermined it entirely.

Powerful incumbents never fade quietly into the night when challenged. They fight, using whatever weapons they can muster. In our society, the most effective ways to undermine new technological and economic opportunities tend to lie in law, regulation, and public policy. The record labels fought – largely successfully – to apply and reinterpret existing laws and to change laws in ways favorable to their interests.

There’s the pattern: Technology creates opportunities. New businesses exploit those opportunities. Consumers benefit. Powerful incumbents fear their loss of control. Threatened incumbents seek allies in government. Government changes laws and regulations to protect incumbent interests. Media campaigns “educate” the public on the merits of the new policies. The new laws ensure that the next wave of technological change runs largely through the powerful incumbents, rather than against them.

By 2003, I had distilled this pattern, showed numerous ways that it had already unfolded, predicted that it would soon hit parts of our economy and our lives far more significant than the music industry, and suggested some ways that we might prepare ourselves for the coming battles.

It took another two years to get my analysis published. It went largely unnoticed. Twelve years later, then-Senator Ben Sasse described the ways that this pattern had forever disrupted the dynamics of employment. This, too, went largely unnoticed.

Today, we see that disruptive pattern threatening the most basic of our civil liberties. Its manifestation in the arenas of speech, propaganda, and censorship is clear. Consider how each step in the process I identified above has played out here:

  • Technology creates opportunitiesThe Internet opened entirely new vistas for the creation and exchange of ideas, information, theories, opinions, propaganda, and outright lies.

  • New businesses exploit those opportunitiesThe companies founded since 1995 that created and control the world’s most important conduits for information have joined the ranks of history’s most powerful entities.

  • Consumers benefitThe centrality of these communication systems to our lives (for better or for worse) proves that they confer real value.

  • Powerful incumbents fear their loss of controlThe twin political shocks of 2016 – Brexit and Donald Trump – highlighted the extent to which official channels had lost control of the narrative. With the entirety of elite media, government, big business, and the intelligentsia aligned behind Remain and Hillary, the newly empowered masses understood – for the first time – that there were viable alternatives to the official story.

  • Threatened incumbents seek allies in governmentA coalition of elite forces assembled quickly, laser-focused on stomping out the populist threat. Masses empowered to conduct their own analyses, draw their own conclusions, and share their opinions among themselves threatened the stability of the power structure “as we know it.”

  • Government changes laws and regulations to protect incumbent interestsPrior to Musk’s Twitter, the entirety of Silicon Valley committed itself to “protecting” the public from “disinformation,” roughly defined as anything that threatened to undermine an official, sanctioned narrative. Allies throughout the administrative state, Congress, and the Biden White House are working to embed those “protections” in law.

  • Media campaigns “educate” the public on the merits of the new policies. The same mainstream media that vilified Napster, Grokster, and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing is now working to turn public opinion against the evil purveyors of alleged “disinformation.”

  • The new laws ensure that the next wave of technological change runs largely through the powerful incumbents, rather than against them. We’re now entering the stage in which censoring technologies provide strong, effective, and legally mandated protection against anything that runs against the “consensus” of government propaganda or enlightened elite opinion.

The backlash is nearing its last stages. We’re rapidly heading towards locking in a technological, economic, and legal regime of information control, censorship, surveillance, and vilification.

That’s the predictable pattern. That’s the threat. That’s the precipice on which we now stand. We’re on the verge of deciding whether we want to restore information monopoly and dominance to a powerful elite, or reverse the trajectory of recent law, regulation, and public policy to enshrine an architecture of open discourse.

Will the information age be an era of informed, empowered citizens – or an era of a dominant, information-controlling elite? Stay tuned. That’s the question we need to answer.

*  *  *

Bruce Abramson, PhD, JD, is a principal at JBB&A Strategies and B2 Strategic, a director of the American Center for Education and Knowledge, and author of the forthcoming book "The New Civil War: Exposing Elites, Fighting Utopian Leftism, and Restoring America" (RealClear Publishing, 2021).


Medtronic, DaVita launch Mozarc Medical, aimed at new solutions for kidney failure

  Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) and DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) today announced the launch of Mozarc Medical—an independent new company committed to reshaping kidney health and driving patient-centered technology solutions.

"Mozarc Medical's focus will be on meaningful and innovative kidney health technologies that improve the overall patient experience and increase access to care globally," said Ven Manda, CEO of Mozarc Medical. "At a time when patient preferences are evolving and in-home kidney care is on the rise, Mozarc Medical is uniquely positioned to better serve patients with kidney disease around the world."

Central to the creation of Mozarc Medical is its global workforce, which includes the former Medtronic Renal Care Solutions (RCS) business (now part of Mozarc Medical) and other industry-leading talent hired to advance the new company's strategic mission. In addition to Manda, a 28-year veteran of Medtronic, the former RCS leadership team has also transitioned to serve as Mozarc Medical's leadership team.

"With proven industry leadership, a strong product portfolio and R&D pipeline, and strategic investment from Medtronic and DaVita, Mozarc Medical is well-positioned for long-term success," said Manda. "I look forward to unlocking the full potential of our new company, with a dedicated global team and innovative pipeline that will transform kidney care."

Under the terms of the agreement, which was announced last year, Mozarc Medical is co-owned by Medtronic and DaVita, each with equal equity stakes. Through the first three quarters of Medtronic's fiscal year 2023, the RCS business had revenue of $64 million$63 million, and $70 million, respectively.

"The launch of Mozarc Medical holds tremendous promise to improve the lives of patients living with kidney disease as it seeks to revolutionize the approach to home dialysis by improving accessibility, ease of use, and clinical performance," said Dr. Mahesh Krishnan, group vice president of research and development at DaVita. "Our investment in this venture is born from our decades-long commitment to advancing kidney care, and our aim is that it will fuel patient-centric solutions that may not have otherwise been possible."

More information about Mozarc Medical can be found at http://www.mozarcmedical.com.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/DAVITA-INC-12378/news/Medtronic-DaVita-launch-Mozarc-Medical-aimed-at-introducing-new-solutions-for-patients-with-kidney-43400329/

Majority Of Americans Question The Value Of College

 A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll reveals that a majority of Americans believe a college degree isn't worth the cost and time. Sliding confidence in the higher education system indicates that the American Dream can be achieved without a college degree. This is an ominous sign for liberal professors teaching meaningless programs, particularly in the humanities.

The poll, conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, found that 56% of Americans believe a four-year degree is a poor investment, while 42% still have confidence in colleges.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The majority of this skepticism is found among individuals aged 18-34, and those with degrees are among the groups whose views have soured about college. And why is that?

Source: WSJ

Well, over 43 million individuals have federal student loans totaling $1.6 trillion. Many of these individuals were assured that obtaining a degree would secure them a high-paying job. Yet, in the current job market, where artificial intelligence is automating vast parts of the economy, some folks with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt are working two and even three low-paying, low-skilled jobs. 

For some context of just how quickly the belief in higher education has slumped, in 2013, 53% of Americans had a favorable view of college, while 40% did not. By 2017, the percentage of Americans who believed a four-year degree would result in good jobs fell to 49%, with 47% holding the opposite opinion. Much of the sentiment shift occurred after the 2007–2008 financial crisis. 

"These findings are indeed sobering for all of us in higher education, and in some ways, a wake-up call," said Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, which has more than 1,700 institutions of higher education as members. 

What bothers us is Mitchell's next comment:

"We need to do a better job at storytelling, but we need to improve our practice, that seems to me to be the only recipe I know of regaining public confidence."

Maybe the "better job at storytelling" could come if meaningless programs, particularly in the humanities, were removed from the curriculum. Universities need to stop catering to a few radical liberals and teach skills and critical thinking that will translate into a lifetime of success for the student. The current higher education model has failed, and the college grads working as bartenders and or 2-3 jobs are the result of a failed system. 

And if universities don't change their tune and public opinion continues to slide. The bust in the higher education bubble will broaden:

Young people realize that a college degree is not always necessary to succeed in today's economy. Some individuals earn over $100k per year in specialized trades, such as electricians, plumbers, and or welders -- many of them have very little debt. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sliding-confidence-majority-americans-question-value-college

Saudi Arabia Joins Shanghai Cooperation Organization As It Embraces China

 While the US continues to splinter and cannibalize itself as it turns into a third world country, China is expanding its zone of economic and military influence that covers virtually all global commodity producers as it prepares for the next stage in the Sino-US cold war.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's cabinet approved a decision to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as Riyadh builds a long-term partnership with China despite - or perhaps due to - US security concerns. Saudi Arabia has approved a memorandum on granting the kingdom the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), state news agency SPA said.

The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia. Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet states in Central Asia, the body has been expanded to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as counterweight to Western influence in the region. Iran also signed documents for full membership last year.

Joining the SCO was discussed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia last December, sources told Reuters, adding that dialogue partner status will be a first step within the organization before granting the kingdom full membership in the mid-term.

The decision followed an announcement by Saudi Aramco which raised its multi-billion dollar investment in China on Tuesday, by finalizing a planned joint venture in northeast China and acquiring a stake in a privately controlled petrochemical group.

Participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit attend an extended-format meeting of heads of SCO member states in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Riyadh's growing ties with Beijing have raised security concerns in Washington, its traditional ally but increasingly less so, especially following Biden's catastrophic attempts to force OPEC+ to boost oil production, an overture which backfired spectacularly and to global humiliation by the Biden admin.

Meanwhile, Washington says Chinese attempts to exert influence around the world will not change U.S. policy toward the Middle East, which of course is a lie.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have voiced concern about what they see as a withdrawal from the region by main security guarantor the United States, and have moved to diversify partners, shifting their alliance to the biggest US challenger in the global arena. Washington says it will stay an active partner in the region.

Countries belonging to the organisation plan to hold a joint "counter-terrorism exercise" in Russia's Chelyabinsk region in August this year.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/saudi-arabia-joins-shanghai-cooperation-organization-it-embraces-china

TikTok hires ex-Obama officials, ex-Disney exec amid threat of US ban

 TikTok has tapped former senior advisers to President Barack Obama and an ex-Disney executive as the wildly popular social media app is trying to avoid a US ban over fears it is being used by China to spy on Americans.

David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and Jim Messina, who helmed the then-president’s re-election bid in 2012, have been retained by TikTok, according to the Wall Street Journal.

TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has also hired Zenia Mucha, Disney’s former longtime communications chief, to help it navigate the political and legal minefield, the Journal reported.

Plouffe, Messina and Mucha were reportedly hired to coach TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in the days and weeks leading up to the executive’s contentious appearance before Congress.

Despite all the firepower, Chew failed to sway lawmakers in testimony before Congress last week when he denied that Americans’ data was at risk of falling into the hands of the Chinese government and said TikTok is willing to offer “third-party monitoring of our source code.”

David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign, has been hired as an adviser by TikTok, according to The Wall Street Journal.

David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, has been hired as an adviser by TikTok, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Getty Images

“Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security,” Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said in her opening statement.

The Post has sought comment from TikTok, Plouffe, Messina and Mucha.

TikTok’s move to hire the trio of advisers, who are firmly embedded in the intersection between business and politics, is an indication that the Chinese-owned tech unicorn that has disrupted the social media space is putting up a fight against bipartisan calls for its banning.

After working in the Obama administration, Plouffe was hired by Uber to help the ridesharing app in its strategy to sway lawmakers and regulators.

Jim Messina, who managed Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, has also been retained by TikTok, the Journal reported.
Jim Messina, who managed Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, has also been retained by TikTok, the Journal reported.
JLN Photography/Shutterstock
Zenia Mucha, a former trusted aide to Disney CEO Bob Iger, will also advise TikTok, according to the Journal.
Zenia Mucha, a former trusted aide to Disney CEO Bob Iger, will also advise TikTok, according to the Journal.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Plouffe’s resume also includes a stint as a policy advocate for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic arm of Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc.

Messina has made frequent television appearances on cable news, where he has provided political commentary.

He has also been hired as a consultant by foreign leaders, including former UK Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May as well as former Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy.

Mucha, who runs her own consultancy firm, worked as a key aide to Disney CEO Robert Iger.

Her main area of responsibility was expanding Disney’s footprint in China.

She is credited with working with Chinese state officials to secure the rights to build Shanghai Disney Resort, the $5.5 billion theme park that opened in 2016.

Messina has advised several foreign leaders since leaving the Obama administration.
Messina has advised several foreign leaders since leaving the Obama administration.
AFP via Getty Images

TikTok’s public relations blitz on Washington was in full force last week when the company sent dozens of creators to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers in favor of the platform.

The Post reported exclusively on Thursday that ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming flew to Arkansas to meet secretly with the CEO of Walmart.

Former President Donald Trump pursued a ban on TikTok in 2020, but the effort was eventually struck down in federal court.

Messina, Plouffe, and Mucha reportedly coached TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in the days and weeks leading up to his testimony before Congress on March 23.
Messina, Plouffe and Mucha reportedly coached TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew ahead of his March 23 testimony before Congress.
AP

The Biden administration has demanded that ByteDance divest itself from TikTok as a condition for the app’s continued operations in the US.

ByteDance in recent weeks has pooh-poohed the prospect of a sale of its US business.

Last week, the Beijing government officially said it would “firmly oppose” any such deal

https://nypost.com/2023/03/31/tiktok-hires-ex-obama-officials-ex-disney-exec-amid-ban-threat/

NATO Holds War Games Miles From Ukraine's Border

 Via The Libertarian Institute, 

The US and its NATO partners are conducting military drills in a region of Romania that borders Ukraine. Thousands of soldiers will gather to simulate repelling an invasion on the Black Sea coastline.

Dubbed "Sea Shield 23," the war games kicked off on March 20 and will run until April 2. The US and 11 other NATO countries are participating in the Romanian-led military exercises. Nearly 3,500 soldiers, 30 naval ships, 14 aircraft and 15 other "fast intervention" boats are participating in the live-fire operations, which will occur in the Black Sea and Romania’s Danube Delta. Troops taking part in the Sea Shield drills will come within 20 miles of the Ukrainian border.

"The multinational exercise ‘Sea Shield 2023’ is the most complex training event, planned and conducted by the Romanian Naval Forces, through the Naval Component Command, in the 2023 training year," the Romanian Navy said in a press release.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US has conducted several rounds of war games in Eastern Europe to simulate a similar conflict and develop strategies for Kiev.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported that last summer, the Joe Biden administration used the cover of war games in the Baltic Sea to plant explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines.

In September, those explosives were detonated destroying the natural gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany.

Over the past year, the North Atlantic alliance has increased its force posture in what it regards as its "eastern flank," which is made up of eight countries that stretch from the Baltics to the Black Sea, including Romania.

NATO is concurrently conducting the "Crystal Arrow 23" war games in Latvia, which will see Danish soldiers train Riga’s Mechanized Infantry Brigade.

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/nato-holds-war-games-miles-ukraines-border

How 4 health systems are preparing for Medicaid redeterminations

 Medicaid redeterminations begin April 1, but Renton, Wash.-based Providence's preparations date to last year. 

"As an organization, we started preparing for Medicaid redetermination almost a year ago because we know health insurance coverage is an essential social determinant of health and foundational to ensuring equitable access to care," Whitney Haggerson, Providence's vice president of health equity and Medicaid, told Becker's. "We knew from reports at the time that our most vulnerable communities could be disproportionately impacted by coverage loss if they do not know or understand the process they need to follow to reapply or find another option for healthcare coverage. We are hopeful that our efforts will help our patients stay covered."

In anticipation of the unwinding period, Providence launched a series of communications designed to ensure Medicaid patients across the seven states it serves are aware of the actions they must take to reapply, a Providence spokesperson told Becker's

Providence is providing information on alternative healthcare coverage options should patients no longer qualify for Medicaid. This includes information on ACA plans via state exchanges and information regarding the health system's financial assistance program. The spokesperson said the communications are available in several languages. 

Providence has also prepared for the unwinding period by developing education and training resources for front-line staff, including community health workers and financial counselors. The system has also developed partnerships with community-based organizations and payers at the local level and developed a digital tool to help with patient outreach and financial counseling appointment scheduling. 

A specialized set of financial counseling staff was specifically trained to work with Medicaid patients throughout the redetermination process. 

On the East Coast, Philadelphia-based Temple Health told Becker's in a statement that its financial counseling team is preparing to provide patients with information and assist them in completing renewal forms, as well as gathering and submitting necessary documentation. 

The health system said it is partnering with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to provide information to patients. Fliers and posters provided by the department will be displayed and distributed throughout Temple Health's physician offices and hospital campuses. 

Temple Health said it has also developed letters to provide Medicaid patients with information about the renewal process, contact information for county offices and change centers, as well as contact information for the health system's financial counseling team. 

The health system said its recent EHR/revenue cycle implementation has provided the technology to assist in its efforts. They can easily identify patients with Medicaid coverage through the system and have planned the following outreach efforts: 

  • Beginning in April, when Medicaid patients arrive for scheduled visits, staff are prompted to provide them with the aforementioned letters.
  • Patients enrolled in MyChart who have Medicaid coverage will receive these letters electronically through their MyTempleHealth account. If they are also enrolled in text messaging through Temple Health, they will also receive the notice via text. 
  • When scheduling patients with Medicaid coverage (via phone or in person) for physician visits, staff will be prompted with scripting providing information about the renewal process and providing contact information for financial counseling.

Financial counseling staff will be available to help patients who miss renewal deadlines to file appeals when possible or assist them in reapplying for coverage. 

"We anticipate that a significant number of patients will no longer qualify for ongoing Medicaid due to their current income and/or citizenship status," the health system said. "For these patients, financial counselors will assist with marketplace plan enrollment, Temple Health charity care/financial assistance applications, as well as referral to city health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers for care." 

Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health told Becker's it has been preparing for the start of redeterminations in multiple ways. It has developed a systemwide campaign to raise awareness and provide support to patients in need of enrollment assistance. The campaign can be customized by each of its local systems to meet the needs of their specific markets. 

Outreach to patients will take place by email, MyChart, community health worker outreach and vendor partners, Trinity said in a statement. Information and resources are also available through websites, social media, at appointments and throughout patient-facing areas of its facilities. 

Michael Gustafson, MD, president of Worcester-based UMass Memorial Medical Centertold Becker's the system is increasing the number of employees on its financial counseling team to assist patients who may see a loss of coverage.  

"This is a substantial amount of work that needs to be done," he said. "We are staying current with all communications from MassHealth [Medicaid], Mass Hospital Association and CMS. We are also working to identify patients who will be part of the MassHealth redetermination process and developing both targeted and broad communications to inform them of potential changes to their plans."

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/how-4-health-systems-are-preparing-for-medicaid-redeterminations.html