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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Man with skin as rough as TREE BARK lives with agonising disease that makes his body ‘crack’ – The Sun

Posted: June 30, 2017 at 4:48 pm

Li Xitian has developed thick, crusty patches of skin over his head, shoulders and back

FOR almost 40 years Li Xitian has suffered from an incurable skin condition that makes his skin as rough as tree bark.

Li, 58, is believed to be suffering from an extreme case of psoriasis a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales.

AsiaWire

AsiaWire

His crusty, bark-like skin has spread from his head to his back and down his legs.

His body now cracks as the thick, rough skin continues to spread over his entire body.

The skin condition can start at any age but is more common in adults under 35.

The patches of skin normally appear on the elbows, knees, scalp and lower back, but can appear anywhere on the body.

Most people are only affected with small patches.

In some cases, the patches can be itchy or sore.

AsiaWire

There is no known cure for psoriasis,but a range of treatments can improve symptoms and the appearance of skin patches.

In most cases, the first treatment used will be a topical treatment, such as vitamin D analogues or topical corticosteroids.

Topical treatments are creams and ointments applied to the skin.

AsiaWire

Li, fromWeihui city, in Central Chinas Henan Province, claims his condition was triggered by a hairdresser who accidentally cut his scalp in the 1950s.

Li has spent more than 11,350 trying to find a cure for his condition but doctors have been unable to relieve his symptoms.

Theyhave also been unable to find a link between his condition and his hairdresser theory.

Li, who never married, was built a special home inside his village so he could live in isolation.

The villagers have dubbed him bark man and, while they claim they are used to seeing Li walk around their neighbourhood, they fear his condition could spread to others.

Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales.

These patches normally appear on your elbows, knees, scalp and lower back, but can appear anywhere on your body.

Most people are only affected with small patches. In some cases, the patches can be itchy or sore.

It affects around two per cent of the UK population.

Why does it happen?

People with psoriasis have anincreased production of skin cells.

Skin cells are normallymade and replaced every three to four weeks, but in psoriasis this process only lasts about three to seven days.

The resulting build-up of skin cells is what creates the patches associated with psoriasis.

It is thought to be a problem with the immune system and can run in families.

How is it treated?

Theres no cure for psoriasis, but a range of treatments can improve symptoms and the appearance of skin patches.

In most cases, the first treatment used will be a topical treatment, such as vitamin D analogues or topical corticosteroids.

Topical treatments are creams and ointments applied to the skin.

If these arent effective, or your condition is more severe, a treatment called phototherapy may be used.

Phototherapy involves exposing your skin to certain types of ultraviolet light.

In severe cases, where the above treatments are ineffective, systemic treatments may be used. These are oral or injected medicines that work throughout the whole body.

Source: NHS

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Man with skin as rough as TREE BARK lives with agonising disease that makes his body 'crack' - The Sun

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TissueGene Awarded $750000 Maryland Stem Cell Grant for Invossa Clinical Study – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted: at 4:47 pm

TissueGene has been awarded a $750,000 clinical grant from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) via the MSCRF. The clinical grant is to be used for conducting clinical trials in Maryland using cell therapy. This money is part of Accelerating Cure, a new TEDCO initiative to support regenerative medicine and cell therapy technologies in Maryland.

The grant award will be used by TissueGene to fund a component of a clinical study at a Maryland location for its US Phase III clinical trial for Invossa. The ultimate outcome of this study is the verification that Invossa exerts its therapeutic effect not only by tissue regeneration but on other inflammatory aspects of the disease such as synovitis.

The title of the grant is "Assessment of the Efficacy of TG-C in Treating Synovitis Using Contrast Enhanced MRI in a Clinical Study of Knee Osteoarthritis." The Principal Investigator (PI) for the study will be Dr. Gurdyal Kalsi, Chief Medical Officer of TissueGene.

"We are excited to support this important clinical trial and the growth of TissueGene in Maryland," said Dr. Dan Gincel, TEDCO's VP University Partnerships, and MSCRF's Executive Director. "We look forward to see many more patients treated and cured from this and other devastating diseases."

Woosok Lee, CEO of TissueGene stated, "As a Maryland-based company, TissueGene is honored by the grant award from the State of Maryland which has consistently demonstrated its commitment to supporting innovative therapies such as Invossa, which could potentially be the world's first disease-modifying drug for treating osteoarthritis."

Invossa is a first-in-class osteoarthritis drug designed to conveniently and effectively treat osteoarthritis of the knee through a single intra-articular injection. Clinical trials completed in Korea and on-going trials in the US have demonstrated pain relief, increased mobility, and improvements in joint structure offering substantial convenience for the nearly 33 million Americans with osteoarthritis who would otherwise be in need of surgery.

TissueGene, Inc. TissueGene, Inc., is a Maryland-based regenerative medicine company specializing in cell and gene therapy. TissueGene's lead product is Invossa, an allogeneic, cell and gene therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee that has completed Phase II clinical trials in the US. TissueGene has recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for a Phase 3 clinical trial for Invossa. Information can be found at the NIH registry, ww.clinicaltrials.gov. For additional information about TissueGene, Inc., please visit http://www.tissuegene.com.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) was established by the State of Maryland under the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006 to promote State-funded stem cell research and cures through grants and loans to public and private entities in the State. Administered by The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), the MSCRF is overseen by an independent Commission that sets policy and develops criteria, standards and requirements for applications to the Fund. For more information about the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, please visit http://www.mscrf.org.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is the go-to source for entrepreneurial support and guidance for technology start-ups and early-stage companies engaged in bringing innovative ideas to market. For over nineteen years, the organization has provided funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to support Maryland's innovation ecosystem. It is frequently ranked as one of the most active seed/early-stage investors in the nation. The organization plays a key role in bringing research created in Maryland's educational institutions and federal laboratories into the commercial marketplace. For more information on TEDCO and its programs and resources, visit http://www.TEDCO.md.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tissuegene-awarded-750000-maryland-stem-cell-grant-for-invossa-clinical-study-300482506.html

SOURCE TissueGene, Inc.

http://www.tissuegene.com

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Sea anemone genes could spur advancements in regenerative medicine – Digital Trends

Posted: at 4:47 pm

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Author: Philadelphia ‘Shunned’ After The Revolution For Not Supporting Independence – CBS Philly

Posted: at 4:47 pm

June 30, 2017 10:16 AM By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA(CBS) Dave Dougherty, co-author of the book,The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution, talked with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, saying that though Philadelphia was the first capital of the nation, many people living in the city at the time were not on board with breaking away from England.

Philadelphia was the most populous city in the United States at the time of the revolution. The problem was Pennsylvania was split between the Scots-Irish in the Susquehanna Valley and the Quakers over in Philadelphia. The Quakers, during the Revolutionary War, were neutral. They were not patriots. Very few of them foughtPennsylvania split right down the line and, as a result, Philadelphia was, pretty much, shunned after the war was over. Of course, during the war, the British occupied it and the Quakers traded with the British, but wouldnt trade with the patriots because the patriots couldnt pay.

He stated that even before the Declaration of Independence, the colonies had already adopted the ideals and values celebrated by historians.

We were, at that point, an exceptional country. We had four pillars of American exceptionalism that already existed but didnt exist anywhere else in the world, and they were, essentially, a culture based on Protestant Chrisitianity, we had common law, we had the sanctity of private property, you could get a deed to to a piece of property and then you owned it. Literally, nowhere else in the world could you do that and even today, very few countries have real private property. The last one is free market capitalism. No other country, even today, has those four and thats why were unable to export American democracy anywhere else in the world. They dont have the underpinnings.

Dougherty also rejected the idea that slave owners were the driving force to create a new country in order to derive more profits from their businesses.

Dont tell me about it was all about the rich white guys who were making money because thats simply not true. Thats the leftist narrative. Thats why this is the politically incorrect guide, because the politically correct position on the revolution was it was a trumped up thing by big, rich white guys, slave owners in the main, who wanted to get away from England so they could make more money. That is as untrue as me saying that the sky today is orange and purple.

Weekdays: 5:30 a.m. - 9 a.m. Chris Stigall brings a contemporary brand of opinionated talk and humor to mornings on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Prior to his arrival in Philadelphia, Chriss radio career began in Kansas City where he worked on-air ...

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Disney To Remove ‘Wench Auction’ From Pirates Of The Caribbean Ride – HuffPost

Posted: at 4:47 pm

One of the most memorable scenes on one of Disneys most iconic rides is getting a major makeover.

The company announced on Thursday that Pirates of the Caribbean will replace the auction scene in which women are sold off as brides with an auction for plundered goods.

Artwork released by Disney showed that the sign which read AUCTION and Take a wench for a bride will soon feature the words: AUCTION and SURRENDER YER LOOT.

Disney

Thats not the only change.

The character known as the redhead the object of affection as the pirates shout we wants the redhead will enjoy a role reversal.Instead of being auctioned off, she will become one of the plunderers.

Our team thought long and hard about how best to update this scene,Kathy Mangum, a senior vice president with Disney Imagineering, said in a news release. Given the redhead has long been a fan favorite, we wanted to keep her as a pivotal part of the story, so we made her a plundering pirate!

Heres a closer look at her new role:

Disney

In a blog post, the company said the changes would be put into place next yearat both Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Orlando.A version of the ride at Disneyland Paris will reopen later this summer after a larger makeover.

Disney has altered Pirates before to remove some of its more politically incorrect elements. In 1997,a scene in which pirates were chasing women was changed to the women holding pies (thus to indicate the buccaneers were pursuing food rather than the ladies).

There is very little that is politically correct about Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Pressler, then president of the Disneyland resort, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview at the time. In fact, in order to be politically correct, we would probably have to close down the whole ride.

One of the rides original designers later admitted he wasnt crazy about some of those changes.

Nobody asked me but my reaction was this is Pirates of the Caribbean not Boy Scouts of the Caribbean! Disney Legend X Atencio, who also wrote the rides iconic Yo Ho song, said last year in an interview with D23, the companys official fan club.

The latest changes received mixed reviews from the Disney fan community. Many werent thrilled to see alterations to a scene that had been part of the ride since the first version opened at Disneyland 50 years ago:

Others were more supportive of the change:

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To Hell with political correctness time for a national ‘speak English’ initiative? – BizPac Review

Posted: at 4:47 pm

Months ago, a home repairman made a comment so politically incorrect that I am still wrestling with its meaning (details later). However, his remark is why I read with great interest the Immigrant Literacy: Self-Assessment vs. Reality report posted last week by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) a conservative-leaning nonprofit think-tank advocating lower levels of immigration.

The report was attributed to Jason Richwine. His study was linked on the Drudge Report, and its key findings were headlined on numerous conservative media outlets, but ignored by the mainstream media.

Key findings were 41 percent of immigrants score at or below the lowest level of English literacy, a level variously described as below basic or functional illiteracy.

Hispanic immigrants struggle the most with English literacy. Their average score falls at the 8th percentile, and 63 percent are below basic.

Greta Van Susteren fired from MSNBC, and the way it went down was absolutely brutal

But the reports headline-maker was 67 percent of Hispanic immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for 15 or more years are functionally illiterate. Moreover, the children of Hispanic immigrants scored at the 34th percentile of the English literacy test with 22 percent scoring below basic.

One of the reasons the mainstream media ignored the report was because Richwine injected political incorrectness such as:

When the United States accepts low-skill immigration it chooses to accept a multi-generational skills deficit, with all of the socioeconomic challenges that come along with it.

These socioeconomic challenges tend to become magnified when54 million Hispanics comprise 17 percent of our population. This demographic fact, coupled with the reports finding that across generations Hispanics are struggling with English fluency, negatively impacting their potential for higher income must never be discussed openly in polite political circles.

With those thoughts in mind, here are the circumstances surrounding the politically incorrect comment uttered to me by a repairman working at our condo. The man was Caucasian and about 40 years of age. As he looked out the windows, he noticed that our 300 unit high-rise building was undergoing a massive painting and concrete restoration project.Upon seeing the Hispanic workmen painting and patching while standing on a 25-foot aluminum platform dangling about 300 feet above the ground, my repairman lamented compassionately, Those are our new slaves.

Taken aback by his blunt remark, I replied, They are getting paid, and no one is forcing them to work. End of discussion. I paid him, he left, but his words stayed with me.

Subsequently, month after month, from the window of my home office, I casually observed these hard working men literally hanging off our building. As condo owners, my husband and I were assessed $2,800 for the extensive project, so I was increasingly interested in its progress.

Then one day the aluminum platform was hanging directly in front of my window, and I saw the crew close-up as they stepped onto our balcony. The men looked between 20 and 35 years of age and were chatting away in Spanish. I asked them if they needed anything, but they ignored me since I assume they did not speak English. Still, I thought about them constantly after my repairmans inartful remark. I wondered about their journey to America, their future economic prospects as they aged, and was especially curious about their wages for such dangerous high-platform work.

After close to a year, the restoration is finished and our building looks good as new. But daily, upon seeing groups of Hispanic workmen engaged in such necessary tasks as landscaping, painting, restoring and building high-rises, or doing roadwork in the hot Florida sun, I cant shake that extreme new slaves remark. I ask myself, why are all the workers Hispanic? This is not just a function of living in Florida because when we lived in Alexandria, Virginia, it was the same.

Furthermore, when groups of young Hispanic women arrive in our building to clean condos I think of that repairmans remark. Ditto for when I stay in a hotel and see what is usually a Hispanic housekeeping staff. Unfair and untrue as it is, his remark is seared into my brain. And, because of that comment, I pay my Hispanic housecleaner more than the going rate. Do I have white guilt? Maybe.

Now lets circle back to Richwines study. Specifically, socioeconomic/political concerns over whether millions of Hispanic immigrants and their children will ever become upwardly mobile unless they learn to speak English fluently as did previous generations of immigrants.

Therefore, is it time for a bold new national initiative that would motivate and inspire all non-English speakers to learn English? An investment in such a program would pay big dividends since the alternative is a permanent and massive underclass largely subsidized by the federal government.

After all, Richwine in his study wrote:

The importance of English literacy cannot be overstated. Without language proficiency, immigrant families will find it difficult to succeed in the mainstream of American society, and high rates of English illiteracy may be a sign of poor immigrant assimilation. Policymakers should take note.

Meanwhile, these days, connecting English proficiency to successful assimilation is politically incorrect and culturally insensitive. Conversely, failing to learn the mother tongue could be thought of as aform of bondage that suppresses wages and decreases economic prospects for millions of immigrants slaving away at menial back-breaking jobs.

If you didnt see Maria Bartiromo completely unnerve Podesta over Russia ties, youre missing out

Finally, for reasons similar to why Richwines CIS study was ignored by the mainstream media, a national speak English initiative to empower immigrants is likely to never gain traction. Why? Because elected leaders of both parties fear political blowback, especially from the Hispanic community which, ironically, due to its growing size and influence has the most to gain.

Op-ed views and opinions expressed aresolely those of the authorand do not necessarily represent the views of BizPac Review.

Writing credits include National Review, World Net Daily, Washington Examiner, PJ Media, Daily Beast, RedState, Daily Caller, and Liberty Unyielding

Contact Myra at [emailprotected] On Twitter @MyraKAdams

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In Chicago, Thought-Police Brutality – National Review

Posted: at 4:47 pm

In Chicago, where there were more homicides last year than in Los Angeles and New York City combined, expressing any support whatsoever for the police is now considered an outrage. Should you point out that, say, a play seems to suggest cops are evil crackers, you may find yourself denounced as a racist and targeted for abuse and ostracization.

A theater writer has just found that out. In what the website American Theatre dubbed the review that shook Chicago, adding in a subhead that Local theatre artists rise in revolt, veteran theater critic Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized a new play called Pass Over, which I havent seen but is being described as a kind of update of Waiting for Godot filtered through the sensibility of Black Lives Matter. The play, by Antoinette Nwandu, was mounted by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, perhaps the most celebrated outfit of its kind outside of New York City. Weiss found its racial politics to be a bit reductionist, and offered these thoughts in her review:

No one can argue with the fact that this city (and many others throughout the country) has a problem with the use of deadly police force against African-Americans. But, for all the many and varied causes we know so well, much of the lions share of the violence is perpetrated within the community itself. Nwandus simplistic, wholly generic characterization of a racist white cop (clearly meant to indict all white cops) is wrong-headed and self-defeating. Just look at news reports about recent shootings (on the lakefront, on the new River Walk, in Woodlawn) and you will see the look of relief when the police arrive on the scene.

Cue unbridled rage. Steppenwolf charged her with deep-seated bigotry. An actor named Bear Bellinger announced that he would not perform if Weiss showed up at a workshop production he was appearing in. An ad-hoc coalition that might as well have dubbed itself the Blackball Hedy Movement (but is actually called the Chicago Theater Accountability Coalition, or CTAC) launched a petition via change.org to organize the theater world of Chicago against Weiss by denying her invitations to its plays. Several theater organizations have publicly agreed to join the blackballing effort, and dozens have offered noncommittal statements of support. The groups broadside against Weiss reads, Over the last few years especially, we have joined together to make it clear that inappropriate language or behavior does not have a place within our community, and that prejudice of any kind will not stand.

Wait a minute inappropriate behavior? Inappropriate language? Weiss cannot reasonably be accused of either of these things. She isnt disrupting plays. She isnt using curse words and slurs in her reviews. She isnt, as far as I know, belching loudly during shows nor unwrapping candies during quiet moments. CTAC should be honest with itself and admit that its charge against Weiss is that she is thinking inappropriate thoughts. It was less than two years ago that Steppenwolf mounted a stage adaptation of George Orwells 1984. Do these people not recognize their kinship with the thought police? Do they not see that Shut upis not an argument?

To join the Hedy Weiss Resistance seems self-defeating on the one hand and pointless on the other she could, after all, simply buy tickets to the plays, and pass along the cost to her employers (the Sun-Times pledged such support in its editorial defending her). Moreover, if she actually were successfully kept away from plays in Chicago, those plays would lose the publicity fillip of being written about in a widely read newspaper.

And what part of Weisss review is indefensible? Is not most of the violence perpetrated against blacks in Chicago, and elsewhere, carried out by other blacks? Of course it is. I wont bother to cite statistics because everyone knows this. Do not ordinary law-abiding black citizens respond with relief when mayhem is answered by the arrival of police? To say otherwise would be to charge black communities with valuing bloodshed more than order. As for whether the portrayal of the cop in the play is meant to indict all police officers, or whether that portrayal is simplistic and generic, I couldnt say, not having seen the play. But expressing opinions on the depth and subtlety of a play is what all theater critics do.

Weiss, we are told gravely, has done this before, meaning she has said politically incorrect things. Thirteen years ago she called Tony Kushner a self-loathing Jew in a review of his play Caroline, or Change. Kushner once called the state of Israel a moral, political catastrophe for the Jewish people and wrote the movie Munich, which was a moral-equivalence piece evincing at least as much disgust with the Mossadfor tracking down and assassinating the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the 1972 Olympics massacreas it did with the PLOmurderers themselves. Nonsensically, Weiss also stands charged with body-shaming for praising the costumes in a production of Mamma Mia, saying they make the most of the many real women figures on stage, referring euphemistically to plump performers, but contrasting them with backup dancers who had perfect bodies. An aggrieved cast member replied in a huff that all womens bodies are perfect.

The theater world is a place where being subversive and transgressive are considered the highest of all virtues. But whats going on in Chicago is a reminder is that greasepaint revolutionaries can barely handle even mild intellectual opposition. They picture themselves riding bravely into the battlefield of ideas. But if anyone shows up to fight for the other side, they cry meekly, Excuse me, I dont think youre allowed here.

READ MORE: Lefty Actors Are Beginning to Fear Donald Trump A Trump-ified Julius Caesar In the Heat of the Night: The Birth of Hollywood Virtue Signaling

Kyle Smith is National Review Onlines critic-at-large.

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‘Reason You’re Alive’ is a feel-good experience – Fort Worth Star Telegram

Posted: at 4:47 pm


Fort Worth Star Telegram
'Reason You're Alive' is a feel-good experience
Fort Worth Star Telegram
The author of The Silver Linings Playbook introduces readers to David Granger, a politically incorrect Vietnam veteran who takes pride in the fact that he's basically too ornery to die. By book's end, everyone will wind up loving the camouflage ...

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Germany passes censorship law to fight online hate speech – Christian Science Monitor

Posted: at 4:46 pm

June 30, 2017 BerlinGerman lawmakers approved a bill on Friday aimed at cracking down on hate speech on social networks, which critics say could have drastic consequences for free speech online.

The measure approved is designed to enforce the country's existing limits on speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial. Among other things, it would fine social networking sites up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content within a week, including defamatory "fake news."

"Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill.

Mr. Maas said official figures showed the number of hate crimes in Germany increased by over 300 percent in the past two years.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter have become a battleground for angry debates about Germany's recent influx of more than 1 million refugees, with authorities struggling to keep up with the flood of criminal complaints.

Maas claimed that 14 months of discussion with major social media companies had made no significant progress. Last week, lawmakers from his Social Democratic Party and Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Union bloc agreed a number of amendments to give companies more time to check whether posts that are flagged to them are illegal, delegate the vetting process to a third party, and ensure that users whose comments are removed can appeal the decision.

But human rights experts and the companies affected warn that the law risks privatizing the process of censorship and could have a chilling effect on free speech.

"This law as it stands now will not improve efforts to tackle this important societal problem," Facebook said in a statement.

"We feel that the lack of scrutiny and consultation do not do justice to the importance of the subject. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure safety for the people on our platform," the company said, noting that it is hiring 3,000 additional staff on top of 4,500 already working to review posts.

Aside from the hefty fine for companies, the law also provides for fines of up to 5 million euros for the person each company designates to deal with the complaints procedure if it doesn't meet requirements.

Social networks also have to publish a report every six months detailing how many complaints they received and how they dealt with them.

Among those cheering the law was Germany's main Jewish organization, which called it a "strong instrument against hate speech in social networks."

Germany has long had a law criminalizing Holocaust denial a response to the country's Nazi-era history of allowing racist ideas to become genocidal policy.

"Jews are exposed to anti-Semitic hatred in social networks on a daily basis," the Central Council of Jews said. "Since all voluntary agreements with platform operators produced almost no result, this law is the logical consequence to effectively limit hate speech."

The nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which has frequently been accused of whipping up sentiments against immigrants and minorities, said it is considering challenging the law in Germany's highest court.

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Germany passes censorship law to fight online hate speech - Christian Science Monitor

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Brazil’s Rand Paul: Can Libertarianism Fix Crime and Corruption? – OZY

Posted: at 4:44 pm

Fabio Ostermanns office in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre boasts a bookshelf with rows dedicated to Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises. On top sits a copy of the American Declaration of Independence, a ukulele and a cartoon blow-up doll of Brazils former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, dressed in the black-and-white stripes of a prison uniform, sporting an inmates number.

Over the former presidents mouth, it reads Menos Marx, mais Mises less Marx, more Mises, the latter referring to libertarian pioneer Ludwig von Mises.

Ostermann, 32, is a key player in Brazils growing libertarian movement, which has risen against a backdrop of the countrys collapsing left. Hes led youth groups on college campuses, co-organized some of the countrys largest-ever protests which may have helped impeach the countrys leftist president, Dilma Rousseff. Now, hes the president of the Social Liberty Party in his home state, which he is reforming to defend classical libertarian ideals.

He ran and lost for mayor of his hometown of Porto Alegre, but now has his eye on a lower house seat in 2018 and on launching a larger campaign in next years presidential and congressional elections to occupy the political vacuum created by the lefts disintegration with a rebranded, youthful, American-influenced libertarianism. Ostermanns brand of libertarianism calls for widespread privatizations, deregulation of the economy and open trade markets. Hes pro marijuana legalization and favors gay marriage. Sound familiar? For Americans, it should: Ostermann was trained by the United States most influential libertarian organizations the Cato Institute, the Atlas Network and the Charles Koch Foundation. The latter, a grant-distributing organization, was founded by Charles Koch, one of the famous Koch brothers, who own the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. and are best known for using their vast fortune to support right-wing political causes.

It Americanizes our political debate.

Camila Rocha, Ph.D. student studying the emergence of libertarian think tanks in Brazil

Ostermann, once a left-leaning law student (like many young people at the time, as he puts it), found his way into the D.C. think tank scene, as he says, after finishing university in Brazil. He took a course on libertarian theory with Cato and earned a Koch summer fellowship to work at the Atlas Network. Newly evangelized, Ostermann returned to Brazil in 2009, where he co-founded Estudantes pela Liberdade the Brazilian chapter of Students for Liberty, another U.S.-based libertarian group.

The organization had matured in time for 2013s mass protests over increasing bus fares, dissatisfaction with government services and Rousseffs reelection. We saw an opportunity, he says. From that came the Free Brazil Movement. They started rallying hard to impeach Rousseff. On March 15, 2015, Free Brazil and other organizations mobilized 3 million people to protest in 229 cities across the country the largest protest since the fall of the military dictatorship in 1985. The rest is history. Free Brazil remains controversial, in part for protesting Rousseff so heavily without levying the same criticisms against right-wing President Michel Temer. Ostermann has since left. The group has splintered, and he reflects that the group became too partisan, with some of its leaders cozying up to traditional political parties.

This makes Ostermann part of an increasing number of Brazilians who are coming of age in the image of American libertarian think tankers. Atlas, for instance, holds an increasing presence in Brazil, where it offers several online and in-person seminars in Portuguese. Skeptics see the ideological cultural exchange as nothing new. I think its just continuing a tradition; Americans have always manipulated us, says Juremir Machado da Silva, a columnist and radio show host, citing the U.S. alignment with Brazils military dictatorship.

Camila Rocha, a Ph.D. student at the University of So Paulo whos studying the emergence of U.S.-style libertarian think tanks in Brazil and Latin America, says Atlas teaches young Brazilians how to found think tanks, manage libertarian organizations, develop an internet presence and, crucially, become what she calls a polemista (a polemic figure) via op-eds and media appearances. Between Atlas and Cato, theyve trained many of the leaders of Brazils new right wing. It Americanizes our political debate; it brings those proposals to the Brazilian context, Rocha says. Libertarianism itself is something that never even existed in Brazil, this ultra-individualist vision. She cites the calls for privatization sans regulation. And they call for privatizations of sectors in Brazil that have always had the consensus they should be public and free, like education and health care.

But American-imported or not, Ostermann speaks about policy in his national context. If elected, Ostermanns first policy order of business would be the mass privatization of Brazils $70 billion-plus social safety net. He supports voucher systems for private schools and health care. I dont think the government has the competence or capacity to manage these services in a country as chaotic as Brazil, he says, though hes happy to let the government spend on sanitation, security and basic infrastructure. (That doesnt include soccer stadiums, he adds, in sardonic reference to some $25 billion spent on the World Cup and the Olympics in 2014 and 2016 though that number is frequently contested in Brazil.)

When talking marijuana legalization, he situates his pro stance in response to Brazils bloody drug landscape, where drug crime causes near-constant violence in urban centers. In 2015, Brazil had more than 56,000 homicides, landing it the worlds highest murder rate in terms of absolute numbers, which in large part is due to drug-related crimes. In turn, Brazil also has the worlds fourth-largest prison population. To leave drug traffickers and cartels to have a monopoly over marijuana is a crime against society and an ineffective way to spend taxpayer money, he says.

Ostermann defends this latter stance despite the fact that it may have lost him his race last year. Its his obsession with ideological purity that might keep him and his party from finding success. I think Brazil isnt prepared for this Brazilian politics is very polarized right now. Its black and white, right or left, says da Silva. To voters, I think he comes across as too in the middle; he wants to be both at the same time this discourse in Brazil doesnt stick.

Excerpt from:
Brazil's Rand Paul: Can Libertarianism Fix Crime and Corruption? - OZY

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