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Genetics and race: An awkward conversation during volatile times – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted: December 15, 2021 at 10:28 am

In these fractious times, when we are confronting the reality of systemic racism, how can we have an informed discussion about genetics and race?

One way is to calmly state the increasing evidence of meaningful genetic differences between human populations and then engage in honest and robust debate about the social and political implications, if any, of such inter-group divergence.

Back in the real world, meanwhile where open discussion of race and biology is largely taboo (a state of affairs recently exacerbated by DNA pioneer James Watson) a better idea might be to quickly change the subject. So what about the weather, eh?

But battening down the hatches and sitting out the storm isnt really an option. For a start, it would mean blithely ignoring the deluge of data from the recent revolution in molecular biology about our species evolution and of the genetic divergence of separate human populations over time. More importantly, it would also miss the opportunity to genuinely level the playing field for those very peoples most marginalised by an undeniable history of prejudice and neglect.

Note, though, the numerous alternatives for race already employed above: populations, groups, peoples (to which ancestry, descent and the like could also be added). Far from simply being politically correct euphemisms for a tainted term, it is important to distinguish between the word race as it is socially used say, the Black/African American, Native American, White, etc. racial categories used in the US census from the biological sense, used to describe distinct populations within a species.

Because of the historical misuse of the term race, this is an important distinction to make. In 19th century Britain, for example, two groups who would now be simply lumped together as White were regarded as separate biological races namely, and complete with the picturesque descriptors of the time, the careless, squalid, unaspiring Irish and the frugal, foreseeing, self-respecting Scots. (Full disclosure: my own genetic ancestry is of the careless, squalid and uninspiring variety.) A more modern perspective, however, does not deny the existence of genetically distinct indigenous British populations such groupings do indeed exist rather, it avoids describing them in meaningless racial terms. Similarly, the idea of an overarching Black race utterly fails to capture the genetic diversity of African (or African-descended) peoples, irrespective of how we are now able to distinguish genetically related groups within the wider human population of Africa.

Nor is this simply overly-sensitive quibbling over the meaning of a word. Historically, race was often used synonymously with varieties, breeds or sub-species (in the Descent of Man, for instance, Darwin considers at great length what was then still an open question: Arguments in favour of, and opposed to, ranking the so-called races of man as distinct species). But whether we like it or not, words have power, and once-acceptable descriptors of human inter-group variation now carry obvious egregious connotations (such as the slur half-breed).

Indeed, the limitations of language have long been a bane of everyday discussion of human evolution, with phrases and concepts survival of the fittest, say, or struggle for existence inevitably being interpreted in terms of intrinsic worth. Descriptions of sub-species of flora and fauna, for instance, would ruffle few feathers; similar talk of sub-populations of human beings, however, inevitably evokes hierarchical notions of superiority and inferiority. (As a light-heartened analogy, think of the hierarchical distinction between language and dialect then tell the Germans that their language is a dialect of Dutch.)

In sum, then, anyone discussing genetics and race must be conscious of the connotations and impact of words. And this is especially true when engaging in dialogue with those with a standard social science conception of race, one in which human evolved biology is seen as irrelevant to social issues a paradigm, moreover, in which the very idea of human biological difference is treated with the utmost suspicion. Given this latter mindset and the human tendency towards righteous indignation it is hardly surprising that many liberal-minded people react badly when confronted with arguments about human difference that they perceive (rightly or wrongly) as morally offensive. If worthwhile or meaningful discussion of genetics and race is to proceed, therefore, it is beholden on geneticists and their ilk to take this into account not through political timidity but through simple courtesy and common-sense.

Of course, as pointed out above, such is the toxic nature of this topic that open discussion is often avoided, especially by those cowed by the likely reaction of their peers. In this respect, political scientist James Flynn discoverer of the eponymous Flynn effect of rising IQ over time points to the counterproductive nature of intellectual censorship: [T]hose who boycott debate forfeit a chance to persuade. They have put their money on indoctrination and intimidation. A good bet in the short run but over the long course that horse never wins.

The sort of censorious indignation highlighted by Flynn also has another detrimental effect: it opens a space for nationalistic populists and race supremacists to claim they are simply telling it as it is or bravely saying what others are too scared to admit. The losers here, of course, are the very people that the taboos were designed to protect those marginalized minorities likely to face greater prejudice from emboldened bigots.

Moreover, Flynns own work provides a further explicit example of how such taboos can have counterproductive consequences; if Flynn had been unable to research the causes of reported racial differences in IQ he would never have discovered the Flynn effect, the best evidence we have of environmental influences on intelligence (and of how improvements in impoverished environments can lead to dramatic changes in IQ scores over time).

This points not only to the benefits of openly addressing sensitive subjects, but also to a possible way to assuage some of the suspicion that surrounds genetic research into inter-group difference that even if such differences are shown to exist, this does not dictate any particular social or political response. Facts do not determine values.

At the same time, however, facts can certainly inform social policy. Take, for example, the overwhelming evidence of strong genetic influences on academic achievement. Contrary to what many might pessimistically assume, this genetic evidence does not mean that nothing can be done for those currently failing in the education system. As the Flynn effect shows, environmental change does make a difference, despite the high heritability of IQ.

Indeed, the strong genetic determinants of educational attainment are much less straightforward than they appear. For example, some studies that indicate a causal link between genes and learning hinge on the observation that older mothers have offspring who are more likely to succeed in school. As older mothers also have fewer children (with whom they can devote more time and resources), the relevant genetic influence here pertains to fertility rather than academic smarts. Given this, and given a political desire to raise academic attainment amongst specific groups, ameliorative social policy could focus on womens reproductive health and opportunities in marginalised communities.

Be this as it may. The point is that genetic facts including evidence of genetic differences between racial populations carry no necessarily social or political implications. Nevertheless, these same genetic facts may help highlight obstacles to achieving desired social outcomes, and could provide information that assists in overcoming them. In this respect, just as greater awareness of social and environmental barriers can assist in designing policies to reduce inequalities, so too could greater recognition of possible genetic hurdles to improved life outcomes.

In the past in the era of Social Darwinism and eugenics hereditarian political beliefs equated biology with destiny. Unfortunately, much of the present-day antipathy to human genetic research appears premised on a similar erroneous belief: that if human behavior is under the influence of biology/genes then certain social outcomes, such as disparities in wealth or status, are inevitable. Hence the desire to denigrate genetic research that touches on the raw nerve of race for, as many well-intentioned egalitarians may mistakenly believe, if meaningful differences between different peoples really do exist, then the goal of greater equality could prove unattainable.

The biological study of human behavior is notoriously fraught hardly surprising, given that fallible humans are both the subject and the object of scrutiny. Furthermore, given the egregious history of political ideas based on supposed facts of human biology, the results of human behavioral research are often held to a higher standard of proof and most especially with research relating to politically sensitive topics, such as race, gender or sexuality.

Whether always warranted or not, such critical inspection comes with the territory; indeed, one higher standard that human geneticists can impose upon themselves is to understand the motivation of the opposition, however wrong-headed this might appear. Such awareness would not mean avoiding discussion of troublesome topics but it might avoid discussing them in ways more likely to inflame than inform.

A version of this article was originally published by the Genetic Literacy Project on Feb 13, 2019.

Patrick Whittle has a PhD in philosophy and is a freelance writer with a particular interest in the social and political implications of modern biological science. Follow him on his website patrickmichaelwhittle.com or on Twitter @WhittlePM

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Regrowing limbs using CRISPR? It’s been done with lizards, with hopes that human limb regeneration will be possible in the future – Genetic Literacy…

Posted: at 10:28 am

Ive admired the cockroachs ability to regrow lost legs since learning about them while working on my PhD in developmental genetics ages ago. Cut off a roachs appendage, and soon signals from the exposed cells stimulate division of neighboring cells at the injury site. And out grows a new leg.

The signaling pathways of both embryonic development and regeneration are common to many animal species, and are therefore ancient. The genes in control have intriguing names: Grainy Head, Notch, Wingless,Sonic Hedgehog,and evenHippo.

I remember reading about elegant experiments that moved the cells at the interface of an amputation in a model organism, such as the cockroach poster-child for regeneration. When a researcher rotated the cells at a cut site, a turned-around limb unfurled.

Salamanders can regenerate limbs too. Back in graduate school in Thom Kaufmans lab at Indiana University, we had two pet Mexican axolotls from the developmental biology group upstairs. Sally and Gerry Mander lived in a large rectangular tank above the vials of fruit flies, happily swimming, as amphibians do. And if a bit of a leg broke off from crashing into the side, the salamander could regrow it.

Of course humans cant regenerate missing limbs, or even toes. Our closest relatives that can are lizards (reptiles, not amphibians).

In a new report in Nature Communications, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the University of Pittsburgh describe teaming the gene-editing tool CRISPR with neural stem cells to enable mourning geckos to regrow functional tails. Without the intervention, the lizards regrow tails that are bands of soft cartilage, good for little more than balance. A working tail is built of a distinctive top and bottom that spatially distributes nervous and muscle tissue in a pattern that enables the animal to move. The research has implications for regenerative medicine.

Growing a tail is complicated, and embryos are the experts.

Undulating levels of biochemical signals bathe the dividing cells of early embryos of any species. This highly regulated brew turns specific genes on and off in ways that direct the emergence of tissues that then interact and fold into organs.

In an animal species that has an amniote egg (surrounded by air, fluid, and membranes), the embryos tail develops from a bump called a tail bud. The cells then sort themselves into a top (dorsal) layer of roof plates and a bottom (ventral) layer of floor plates.

Thats what happens in an embryo as the choreography of development unfolds. But replacing a body part after injury to an adult isnt the same as the origin of the corresponding part in an embryo. And so an injured lizard can regrow something from an amputated tail, but its not the real deal. Instead, its a tube of cartilage that doesnt do much. (Imagine replacing a dogs wagging tail with a static cardboard tube.) The adult lizards replacement tail lacks the nuances that distinguish top from bottom, what developmental biologists call dorsoventral patterning. (Dorso refers to the back and ventral to the belly portion of a structure.)

The wounded lizard makes a cartilage tail because it inappropriately activates Sonic Hedgehog signaling. In the embryo, this signaling normally fades and that triggers harder bone to replace the bendy tail cartilage. At the same time, the stem cells that occupy the neural tube that forms along the embryos back divide and specialize, giving rise to the nerve cells of the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia. A few stem cells remain in the adult, clinging to the interior of the spinal cord.

What would happen, the researchers wondered, if they blocked Sonic Hedgehog signaling in adult geckos with shortened tails? Would the stem cells step in to regenerate appendages that could enable movement, and not just offer the balance that a cartilage tail provides?

In the experiments, the researchers isolated neural stem cells from lizard embryos, used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to knock out the ability of the cells to respond to Sonic Hedgehog signaling. They then injected the disarmed stem cells into the spinal cords of adults that had their tails cut off.

The introduced cells indeed glommed onto the forming cartilage tail tubes and instead oversaw establishment of the dorsal-ventral, aka top-bottom, distinction that enabled the animals to regenerate complete and functioning tails not the placeholders. The new and improved lizard tails have bone and nerve tissue on the upper or dorsal side, and cartilage on the lower or ventral side.

Said co-author Thomas Lozito, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Keck School of Medicine,

This is one of the only cases where the regeneration of an appendage has been significantly improved through stem cell-based therapy in any reptile, bird or mammal, and it informs efforts to improve wound healing in humans. Perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail provides us with a blueprint for improving healing in wounds that dont naturally regenerate, such as severed human limbs and spinal cords. In this way, we hope our lizard research will lead to medical breakthroughs for treating hard-to-heal injuries.

Ricki Lewis has a PhD in genetics and is a science writer and author of several human genetics books.She is an adjunct professor for the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College.Follow her at herwebsiteor Twitter@rickilewis

A version of this article was originally posted atPLOSand has been reposted here with permission. PLOS can be found on Twitter@PLOS

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How often do you poo? New research shows bowel habits are written in our DNA – The Indian Express

Posted: at 10:28 am

Do you go once a day? Maybe you go twice, or even three times? Or perhaps you only go a few times a week? Yes, were talking about pooing. In our new study, weve found how often you go is, at least to some degree, a function of your genetic make-up.

You might be wondering why this is something we chose to study. While many people rarely give a second thought to going when the urge presents itself, for others, common gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) cause problems.

IBS affects up to 10 per cent of people globally and is characterised by abdominal pain and bloating, irregular bowel habits, constipation and diarrhoea. Although not life threatening, it can severely affect a persons quality of life.

We dont know exactly what causes IBS, which means therapeutic options are limited, mostly directed at treating the symptoms rather than targeting specific causes. We also dont have a way to tell who is at increased risk of IBS.

In this climate, our general research aims to identify genetic risk factors for IBS by looking at genomic information and health-related data across large groups of people. The idea is that our findings may, in time, pave the way towards better treatment options.

In our latest study, published in the journal Cell Genomics, we looked at how often people poo or their stool frequency and how this correlates with their genes. Our findings provide clues as to the genetic risk factors associated with IBS.

Investigating the genetic links for complex diseases such as IBS is challenging for a variety of reasons. One way to simplify things is to deconstruct the disease into individual biological components or traits related to the physiological processes disturbed during illness.

These are called intermediate phenotypes or endophenotypes. If you were looking at heart disease, blood pressure would be an example of an intermediate phenotype.

We took this approach in our research, and opted to study intestinal motility, or gut motility, as a hallmark intermediate phenotype of IBS. By way of background, many people with IBS experience intestinal dysmotility, which is when the gut doesnt work properly at moving its contents (such as food and drink) through the digestive system. This may result in symptoms including constipation or diarrhoea.

While direct measurement of gut motility in humans requires clinical procedures that are not suitable for large-scale studies, stool frequency has been shown to correlate with gut motility and may therefore be used as its proxy in big genetic studies.

On this basis, we analysed data from 167,875 people (taken from the UK Biobank and four smaller groups in Europe and the US) who provided information on how often they move their bowels.

Alongside this data, we analysed millions of DNA markers the building blocks of our DNA which make each of us genetically unique. We demonstrated for the first time that stool frequency is, at least in part, a heritable characteristic.

We identified 14 regions of the human genome where specific DNA markers occur more often in people reporting higher or lower stool frequency compared to the rest of the population. This makes sense, because within these regions are multiple genes whose products (including neurotransmitters, hormones and receptors) are involved in the communication between the gut and the brain.

While some of these molecules were already known, and have even been the targets of drugs to influence gut motility, most represent potential new candidates for the treatment of diarrhoea, constipation and IBS.

A common genetic denominator

We also found evidence of similar genetic architecture between stool frequency and IBS. In other words, the genetic factors important for controlling stool frequency appear to also be important when it comes to the risk of developing IBS.

Finally, we wanted to see whether what we learned in our study could be used to try to identify people at increased risk of IBS. We did this by calculating polygenic scores, which are numerical values summarising genetic information, in this case relating to the probability of having altered stool frequency.

This was more informative for IBS primarily characterised by diarrhoea. Using data from the UK Biobank, we showed that people with higher polygenic scores (therefore more likely to have higher stool frequency) are up to five times more likely to suffer from IBS with diarrhoea than the rest of the population.

Some limitations

Its important to point out that our study doesnt account for lifestyle and dietary factors, which certainly have an effect on bowel habits.

And while we identified 14 regions containing DNA markers important for stool frequency, within most of these regions, individual genes and their specific biological functions still need to be characterised.

Further, stool frequency polygenic scores and their value in predicting IBS need to be tested and validated in independent studies and among people from different ethnic backgrounds (only individuals of European ancestry were included in this research).

Overall, however, these are important initial genetic findings, which could help us identify new treatment options. They also open up the possibility of using genetic information to identify IBS patients, as well as those falling into specific subtypes (such as IBS characterised by diarrhoea). This in turn could help to stratify patients into appropriate treatment groups.

Mauro DAmato is Visiting Professor, Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet. Ferdinando Bonfiglio is Research Associate, Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet.

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Research Demonstrates That Cells With Cancer-Associated Mutations Overtake Human Tissue With Age – Anti Aging News

Posted: at 10:28 am

CU Cancer Center members James DeGregori, Ph.D., and Edward J. Evans, Ph.D., analyzed data to highlight the surprising abundance of cells with cancer-associated mutations in cancer-free individuals.

It's worth noting, in light of recently published research, that a majority of people won't be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 40% of people will, which means 60% won't.

These percentages are worth remembering because research conducted by University of Colorado Cancer Center Deputy Director James DeGregori, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics, and Edward J. Evans, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, found that most cancer-free individuals over age 60 carry at least 100 billion cells harboring at least one oncogenic, or tumor-causing, mutation.

The research, published in Aging and Cancer, involved a meta-analysis of previously published sequencing data on normal tissues, which DeGregori and Evans used to categorize somatic mutations, or mutations that occur after egg fertilization, based on their presence in cancer and showcase the quantity of cells with cancer-associated mutations in cancer-free individuals.

"When you have trillions of cells and they're being maintained for up to a century, they're going to accumulate mutations," DeGregori explains. "The fact that we get mutations is not surprising, just based on known mutation rates. One thing this research points to is that we need to start looking at these mutations, and how or whether they cause cancer, from a different light."

Gathering data to associate mutations with cancer

"To understand the genesis of cancer, we need to look at normal tissue," Evans says. "By the time it's developed into cancer, all the mutations are there and we don't always know which ones are contributing to the actual genesis of cancer.

"We had the idea that a lot of the mutations in people would be oncogenic or associated with cancer, but we just didn't know how many. We figured that it would increase as people get older, but we didn't necessarily know which genes would be prevalent and we didn't know the magnitude of how many cells could actually have these oncogenic mutations."

After reviewing existing literature, Evans collected datasets from researchers who previously had conducted research on mutations in normal tissue. He taught himself to code in the programming language Python so that he could pull appropriate data and create data frames to categorize mutations by the genes, tissue, and age of individuals in which they were occurring, among other factors.

"We have about three trillion nucleated cells in our bodies, so to put it in perspective, 100 billion cells with oncogenic mutations isn't a majority of our total number of cells," Evans says. "But that's a surprisingly high number considering that it only takes one cell to cause cancer. If there are billions of cells with these mutations but no indication of cancer, what does that mean? What does it mean to have these oncogenic mutations in the body?"

Understanding differences between tissue types

One of the interesting facets of the research findings, DeGregori says, has been learning that oncogenic mutations can be extremely prevalent in certain types of tissue, including skin, colon, and esophagus.

"Some tissues can be absolutely dominated by these mutations," DeGregori says. "But if you look at the esophagus, for example, half of it is loaded with NOTCH1 mutations, which rarely contribute to cancer in non-smokers. So, to test for this mutation isn't really useful if most of us have it and it rarely leads to cancer.

"If we're simply looking for oncogenic mutations, we're always going to find them and they may not tell us much about cancer risk. How those oncogenic mutations are interfacing with the tissue environment will tell us so much more about risk."

A further avenue of research, DeGregori says, will be studying why some tissues have such a high occurrence of oncogenic mutations but a comparatively low occurrence of cancer, while other types of tissue have a relatively low level of oncogenic mutations.

"Before we began this research, I had no idea that almost 90% of colon cells become occupied with cancer-causing mutations," DeGregori said. "That the number was so high was quite surprising, but a relatively low percentage of us will get colon cancer. So, it's going to be important to study this difference between tissue types. Why is it that epithelial tissue in the skin, for example, becomes dominated by oncogenic variants, but lung tissue actually keeps a fairly low level?"

Evans says future research could continue studying which oncogenic mutations are most likely to contribute to cancer and help to hone genetic screening tools to test for the most cancer-causing mutations.

"The vast majority of mutations don't do anything, they don't cause any problems, and many aren't even in coding sequences," DeGregori explains. "Every cell in our bodies has dozens and dozens of mutations, if not hundreds or thousands, so we have an opportunity to begin asking whether these patterns of mutations that we see can dictate whether someone is at high risk of cancer."

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Modiphius Forums

Posted: at 10:09 am

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This Forum is for you to all use, so wed like your help in getting it to be thoroughly lovely.

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All things end, all things burn to ash. But you, my friend, burn bright.

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Welcome to the 2D20 section!

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Transhuman science-fiction adventure in the Second Age of Space.

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Explore the ancient mysteries of The Third Horizon!

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Explore the world of secret societies where the walls between worlds are thin.

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These 17 Frozen Waterfalls Across America Make Us Want To Bundle Up And Explore – Only In Your State

Posted: at 10:08 am

Posted in Bucket List December 13, 2021by Sarah McCosham

Were an unabashed bunch of waterfall chasers here at OnlyInYourState, as these epic wonders truly fuel and fan the flames of our insatiable wanderlust. And while most of us reserve our waterfall adventures for the spring and summer seasons, theres something truly marvelous about visiting a cascade in the height of winter. Because in these frosty, most frigid months,some our countrys most resplendent, roaring, rushing cascades freeze solid. Its as if Old Man Winter took a deep breath and blew the countrys most dynamic, flowing falls into something still and stationary, frozen and fantastic. Theres nothing quite like a frozen waterfall, and this fleeting phenomenon is something you can only experience in the throes of winter. So bundle up and get ready to explore; these frozen waterfalls across America are nothing short of magical.

During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date.

Snoqualmie Falls, Snoqualmie, WA 98024, USA

Multnomah Falls, Oregon 97014, USA

Roughlock Falls, South Lawrence, SD 57754, USA

Bridal Veil Falls, Utah 84604, USA

The Fang, 3088 Booth Creek Dr, Vail, CO 81657, USA

Glory Hole Falls Trail, Arkansas 72854, USA

Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA

Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, USA

LaSalle Canyon, Lasalle Canyon, Deer Park Township, IL 61348, USA

Tahquamenon Falls, McMillan Township, MI 49768, USA

Brandywine Falls, Sagamore Hills Township, OH 44067, USA

Cumberland Falls, Kentucky 42634, USA

9200 Old Dominion Dr, McLean, VA 22102, USA

Winding Stair Gap, North Carolina 28734, USA

Ausable Chasm, NY 12911, USA

Thunderbird Falls Trail, Anchorage, AK 99567, USA

Winter goes by in a blink of an eye, and while its all too easy to hibernate until spring, if you do, youll be missing out on some of the most extraordinary and fleeting natural phenomena in the country. So whether you opt to go chasing some of the countrys most marvelous frozen waterfalls, visit a commanding ice cave, or revel in one of the countrys real-life winter wonderlands, bundle up and set forth on a wondrous winter adventure this season.

Address: Bridal Veil Falls, Utah 84604, USA

Address: Winding Stair Gap, North Carolina 28734, USA

Address: Multnomah Falls, Oregon 97014, USA

Address: Niagara Falls, NY, USA

Address: The Fang, 3088 Booth Creek Dr, Vail, CO 81657, USA

Address: Thunderbird Falls Trail, Anchorage, AK 99567, USA

Address: Snoqualmie Falls, Snoqualmie, WA 98024, USA

Address: Ausable Chasm, NY 12911, USA

Address: LaSalle Canyon, Lasalle Canyon, Deer Park Township, IL 61348, USA

Address: Tahquamenon Falls, McMillan Township, MI 49768, USA

Address: Cumberland Falls, Kentucky 42634, USA

Address: Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA

Address: Glory Hole Falls Trail, Arkansas 72854, USA

Address: Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, USA

Address: 9200 Old Dominion Dr, McLean, VA 22102, USA

Address: Roughlock Falls, South Lawrence, SD 57754, USA

Address: Brandywine Falls, Sagamore Hills Township, OH 44067, USA

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Go Behind The Lens With Travel Photographer Tyson Mayr | Urban List – The Urban List

Posted: at 10:08 am

Its been a hot minute but travel is finally back. The hypothetical sabbatical has turned into a reality and we are so ready to book those flights and plan our next wild adventure.

These days, travel goes hand in hand with capturing and sharing great photos and memories, so we asked photographer and avid adventurerTyson Mayr for his top tips.

Mayrs travel photography career has been a wild one. After quitting his corporate job, buying a one-way ticket and travelling to 28 countries across six continents on a budget of $25 a day, he then won The Best Job In The World competitiona $100,000 prize to travel the world for 12 months creating content for a travel company. Most recently, hes been travelling across Australia hosting National Geographic TV series, Only In Aus where he uncovers some of the most unique and bizarre natural phenomenons that occur, only in Aus.

From his most outrageous adventures like knocking on the door of a random Kyrgyzstan yurt to the tech he cant live withoutlike the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G available at Optusstrap in for all his inspiring travel tales and all the photography tips.

[Laughs] This is an answer that will change depending on when Im asked and perhaps what Im craving at the time. Brazil was the first country I fell in love with and one that I hope to still live in one day, even if just for sixmonths.

I also love the hidden underground subcultures you can find in Tokyo and South Korea.

The most life-changing moments for me have been on my trips through Ugandainstalling water filters with an NGO called RainCatcherbut also getting off the grid to trek with Gorillas and Chimpanzees.

Anywhere I havent been is generally what excites me the most though. I recently did a motorbike trip through The Stans, which finished with a 14-day trek through Afghanistan. There is something quite thrilling about being somewhere that so few tourists have visited. Theres something very pure about the locals you meet.

I have to say, Broome.Most know Broome for its white, sandy beaches that you can watch the sunset from the back of a cameltheir stretched shadows make for an interesting drone shotbut if you venture out of town a little you will find bright-red sand beaches that contrast beautifully with a turquoise ocean that surrounds it. Located at the mouth of the Kimberly, Broome is a landscape photographer's dream about and somewhere that really is unique to Australia.

Image taken onSamsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G available atOptus

While riding my motorbike through Kyrgyzstan towards one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, I realised as the sun was setting that I was a long way from where I needed to sleep and the night time sky was quickly blanketing me with sub-zero temperatures. To make matters worse, I took a wrong turnyou have to remember the roads here are just a little more prominent than a cow trackand ended up several hours away from anywhere safe to sleep with a fuel tank that was flirting with empty. Suddenly I saw a yurt pitched a few hundred metres away from the road and even though it was 11pm, I pulled my bike in to see if the nomadic locals living there might be able to sell me a little fuel.I was greeted by a family of seven who quickly invited me in and shared a meal with me. They rolled a blanket out on the ground just next to themeveryone sleeps on the floor next to each otherand for the next day or so I lived with them and helped them with their livestock, sharing as much as we all could with each other without speaking the same language.

Its moments like thisthat make me love travel. Often I share images of well-known destinations or stunning locations, but the truth is it really is the journey and local experience you encounter that makes a region special. This is something I have to constantly remind myself of when shooting a destinationthe image is just a small part of my trip, dont forget to travel! This is why I also love to travel less prepared. The more prepared you are, the less chance you will encounter something completely unexpected.

Summiting Kilimanjaro is still one of the most surreal moments Ive ever had. I was robbed at gunpoint in a violent attack just days before this in a different part of the world so Im sure that adversity added to the entire experience. Being on the top of Africas highest peak was one of the only times Ive been emotional from a sight or experience.

Winning The Best Job In the World competition was also a very defining moment. I had been slaving away at photography and videography for two years before that, making many sacrifices to work on my craft and that competition truly fell right at the moment that I was most preparedI was announced as the winner on the TODAY show live in New York and it certainly was a moment that changed things for me mentally. You never know when a life-changing opportunity will present itself, but you better be prepared for when it does.

Make an effort to put yourself in new situations every single daystepping outside of your comfort zone is one of the most beneficial things you will get from travel and where you will truly discover who you are and what it is that excites you in life.

Couchsurfing.com is a game-changer. Staying with locals in a new part of the world is the best way to authentically experience it. Some of my best travel moments and friends have been made this way. It was also how I was able to travel to 50 countries on $25 a day.

Noise-cancelling headphones. This is important for video editing and working out, but a must-have when it comes to flights and working in busy cafes.

A camera in my pocket. They say the best camera you have is the one closest to you and I have found this to be true many times. Having a top-quality camera that travels with you everywhere like theFold3 means you never miss out on an unexpected moment. And trust me, when you are abroad, there are a lot! Before this phone, I have missed out on a lot of amazing moments, like a wolf running to the side of my car, simply because my big camera was packed in my car.

My laptop. From emails and research to editing photography and video for clients, this is a device that is crucial to everything I do. The only downside is its size and weight in my bagsomething you really do notice on seven-day treks, so using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G as a replacement for this on longer trips will be a lifesaverit already is on smaller ones!

Always shoot in RAW. The Fold3 is a photography beast and I love that it has a Pro Mode, which allows you to adjust all of your camera settings and shoot in RAW. I havent had a phone that allows me to do this before and shooting in RAW means you really have the data in your images to edit it the way it needs to be.

I was at Lamington National Park recently and with Pro Mode, I was able to slow the shutter speed right down and really smooth out the waterfall behind me. Not just that, I didnt need to set a timer to self-shoot myself, I could simply yell out Cheese and the camera would take my image for me.

Image taken onSamsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G available atOptus

My first trip will be to LA for meetings, followed immediately by Rwanda to trek with the gorillas and possibly Antarctica after that.Both of these are for a project I am launching in 2022, where others will be able to join me on these tripssome of them as specialised photography adventures.

Right now, Im in conversations with a major streaming service for my own travel show in 2022 and Im also working on a new travel company that will launch in 2022 alsosomething which others will be able to join me on the adventures I partake in.

Capture epic travel memories with the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G available at Optus. With its exceptional camera quality and ability to shoot epic angles, there are so many reasons why its the must-have travel tech accessory.

And the best part is, you can buy it now and pay over a 12, 24 or 36 month period on a device payment plan with OptusPay completely interest-free.

Image credit: Tyson Mayr

Editors note: This article is sponsored by Optus and proudly endorsed by Urban List. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who make Urban List possible. Click here for more information on our editorial policy.

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The only way to deal effectively with a pandemic is socialistic – Modern Diplomacy

Posted: at 10:02 am

While the perceived Red Scare following World War II on the fear of the potential rise of communism, anarchism, and other leftist ideologies infiltrating and subverting U.S. society and the federal government led to hysteria; today the fear of the pandemic undermining freedom and liberties in the U.S. and western democracies is very real. The Omicron Scare has neatly become the variant of hysteria further leading from a narrative built on a dystopian society to that of a quasi-Marxist utopian civilization.

Due diligence to investigate the omicron variant is required instead of the unwarranted and erratic decisions to manifest further lockdowns, mandates, blame, and travel bans unless of course there is a eminent plan of oppression being advanced. Officials keep telling us to follow the science; and yet governments around the world decided to act beyond an abundance of caution. If we gave this some thought, omicron may be just what we need a variant that mutated from a more deadly Delta variant and produces very mild cold and flu symptoms where it simply becomes the dominate variant with little to no deaths or impact on humanity.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, the South African doctor who informed the world of the new variant, was bewildered to see the world turned upside down over a virus where no one dying, mild symptoms, and those already vaccinated being infected. Coetzee said, I have been stunned at the response. No one has in South Africa has been hospitalized with the omicron variant, nor has anyone believed to have fallen seriously ill with it.

The initial reaction by the rich nations of the world was a travel ban on South Africa and five neighboring countries. One of the countries, Namibia, a country with 2.5 million inhabitants, had no omicron cases and only 400 total reported COVID cases, was blacklisted in the travel ban yet northern European countries with numerous omicron cases were still allowed to travel to countries that were banning African travelers.

I am far from woke in making everything racist, yet I might consider playing this card in this instance where it is not logical to isolate, punish, and inflict economic hardships on the part of the world that can least afford to be shut out. We know full well what the political left and the media would be saying if the former President, Donald Trump, executed this ban on mostly black nations. Biden criticized then-President Trumps travel bans in the early days of the pandemic as xenophobic.

Countries throughout the world; specifically, those with democratically elected governments, have what they needed to push through further on their agenda of retaining power and control under the guise of another round of fear with the omicron variant. It is no surprise that the target of their actions is to leverage this latest variant scare to go after the remaining unvaccinated population. China, unlike democracies, have no need to create a fear-driven narrative in forcing vaccinations on their population while Western nations are in catch up mode, and the lesser influential countries are really of no consequence in the overall ploy and simply fall in line with globalists.

During a Biden Dr. Anthony Fauci news conference on the omicron variant, they were both emphatic that the vaccine is the only way out of this new threat. Biden claimed the reason for the travel ban was to give people an opportunity to get vaccinated before it moves around the world to America and before it is too late. While Joes message was for the unvaccinated, Fauci stated that the boosters or third shots is likely to offer cross protection against the variants and we have every reason to believe that people will have some degree of protection. The words likely, believe, and some degree is not too assuring for a man that advocates the science.

Most reports coming in has seen the vaccinated being infected by the omicron variant. Perhaps it is the third shot or the new and improved version being developed and marketed for 2022 that will make the difference. Their tag-team presser did have some immediate impact with vaccinations hitting 2.2 million doses administered in America over a 24-hour period.

While the good cops had their say, the bad cops followed in behind with more draconian measures on the heels of omicron. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the CDC is working on expanding a surveillance program at the busiest airports where airlines will be required to provide lists of travelers for testing, tracking, and forcing quarantines. It is quite absurd to be going after vaccinated law-abiding people paying to enter the country; yet hundreds of thousands of people entering illegally across the southern border are not being tested. It is estimated that 20% of the illegals are entering with COVID infections as they spread the virus to all corners of America. This is a sham! If the government really cared, the resources would be diverted to the border; however, this would impugn the governments agenda.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, Congress passed the most egregious surveillance legislation known as H.R. 550 Immunization System Data Modernization and Expansion Act, a $400 million computerized data base that allows the CDC to record vaccine doses administered across America. While regimes around the world rolled out vaccine passport systems, America by privacy design had lacked the overreach by an overbearing central government.

This legislation would enable the federal government to share crucial information with local authorities and track unvaccinated Americans who will be targeted and forced to comply with global vaccination vision. The bills author said the system will notify people when they are due for their next vaccination and identify areas with low vaccination rates. The bill will also award funding to health departments and local government entities for agreeing to adopt and share the data collection set out by the CDC.

This bill is clearly a slippery slope where medicine has mixed with political ideologies. Government has weaponized the pandemic to infiltrate, control, and force their Orwellian rules onto those who do not comply. This concept to demonize those who are not vaccinated is fascist in declaring these people are causing all the problems and begin to persecute them to accentuate their political creeds.

Countries within the EU are taking advantage of the Omicron Scare by staying one-step of the U.S. with the most extreme measures by forcing vaccine mandates. Austria announced that they will be implementing forced vaccination early next year. Those refusing vaccination will face continuous lockdowns, hefty fines up to 7,200 eros, and potential jail time. Greece followed with announcing monthly fines after December. Germanys incoming chancellor, Olaf Scholz, voiced his support for mandatory vaccinations, blaming the unvaccinated for the problems in Germany.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen then raised the stakes in calling for discussions on a common approach to implement forced vaccination throughout the entire EU. Responding to the EU chief, Hermann Kelly, the President of the Irish Freedom Party, said state coercion should be resisted. He continued that if we allow the state to dictate what chemical or biological agent you must take inside your body, it becomes questionable on what liberties remain. Kelly stated, We are witnessing the dangerous Chinafication of Europe with mandatory digital certificates.

Australia has taken the unnerving measures to build numerous quarantine camps strategically located throughout the country for the intended purpose of quarantining international travelers to ensure they are clear to move about. There are reports, however, of more sinister implications. A 26-year-old woman was removed from her home by masked police against her will for potentially being in close contact with a covid positive case even though she tested negative. The police surrounded her home and told her that she was being taken away and placed in detention for 14 days at the Howard Springs Center of National Resilience, the 2,000-capacity COVID camp outside of Darwin.

The female prisoner shared in a podcast following her release that you feel like a prisoner; it is inhumane what they are doing, they just overpower you and you are literally nothing. She said camp guards threatened her that they would extend her time in the camp next time. Masked police also set up roadblocks along a perimeter to catch three teens who escaped over the barbed wire at the same facility they had all tested negative for COVID too.

The chief minister of Australias Northern Territory, Michael Gunner, expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the military personnel and army trucks to carry out the round ups in the territory where people can only leave their homes for medical treatment. Gunner angrily declared that anyone who opposes vaccine mandates, even if vaccinated, will be regarded by the government as an anti-vaxxer. He said, If you support, champion, give a green light, give comfort to, support anyone who argues against the vaccine, you are an anti-vaxxer. Your personal vaccination status is utterly irrelevant.

Canada, with no political resistance in the country, has acted without impunity to lockdown all unvaccinated citizens from travel or from entering restaurants and events; along with full mask mandates whether you are vaccinated or not; including young children all day at school. Instead of the Australian quarantine camps, the Canadian federal government has occupied hotel camps where citizens arriving at airports; whether they are elderly, fully vaccinated with three shots, and tested negative are escorted by police to be quarantined in squalid conditions with no heat or toiletries, very little food to sustain yourself, and restricted contact with the outside world.

After World War II, a series of trials were held in Nuremburg, Germany to hold members of the Nazi party responsible for war crimes. The trials were led by the U.S. in what became known as the Nuremburg Trials where German physicians responsible for conducting unethical medical procedures on humans in concentration camps during the war were tried. In 1947, the prosecution submitted a memorandum to the United States Counsel for War Crimes outlining ten points known as The Code that was reiterated by the judges delivering their guilty verdict.

The Codes permissible medical experiments explicitly states the voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person should have the legal capacity to give consent (to the COVID vaccine); should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved to make an understanding and enlightened decision; including the duration of the methods, hazards, and long term effects upon ones health which may possibly come from the participation. The human subject should have the liberty to bring the experiment to an end if one has reached a physical or mental state where continuation cannot continue; and the medical action must be terminated if there is probable cause to believe continuation may result in injury, disability, or death to the subject.

The Code is the most important document in the history of clinical research ethics, which had a massive influence on human rights. In America, it formed the basis for the regulations issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the ethical treatment of human subjects; and as of 2019, 173 countries have signed off on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that prohibits medical experimentation without the free consent of the subject. Sadly, and thankfully, the Nuremburg Code became the cornerstone to enlighten humanity on bioethics following the reverberation of ghastly Nazi atrocities.

To be clear, the COVID vaccines are still considered experimental medicine being administered and has not passed through the full regulatory process of clinical studies on the effectiveness and long-term impacts on ones health. This raises numerous unanswered questions, including whether the Omicron Scare has overridden the Nuremburg Code. Why are people who have been vaccinated three times required to wear a mask and are still being infected with COVID? Why are the ingredients of the vaccines not listed on the shipping documentation like other medicines? Why did a judge suppress the ingredients in the vaccines for 55 years? Are you sure the vaccine does not contain graphene oxide and are you aware this poisonous substance can be manipulated externally once it is in the human body? Why are people being forced under duress to inject the vaccine or lose their employment? Do you know how your red blood cells are reacting after taking the vaccine? Why are young children suddenly coming down with COVID after so many adults are vaccinated yet there were no issues for them prior to vaccinations? Why are there more deaths from COVID after the vaccine rollout than prior? Finally, where does this experiment lead and to what end, at what costs to society, and what are our limits for ongoing injections?

It was not long ago when people who had concerns over forced vaccinations and quarantine camps were labeled conspiracy theorists. Many vaccine supporters and politicians claimed such actions would be extreme and not legal; and yet today these mandates have become mainstream and those who object on the basis of the Nuremburg Code are being persecuted. Will forced vaccines lead to war crimes against humanity?

What of this injustice of the vaccine mandate and its mark on history? If we just take a moment to think through the confusion of the pandemic and understand the moral issues being undermined by the powers seeking to control society and usurp western democracy, then we may refuse to allow our sacrifices for freedom to be squandered. It lies with the people on whether your conscience becomes a trumpet call to like-minded people, together in steadfast perseverance with mutual purpose and support to go on to finish in a way worthy of our liberties and citizenship.

Some have asked if God cares in these days of national and global calamity. The significance of this answer is not discovered simply by human ingenuity scrutinizing the methods of divine judgement. Rather, natural laws of mankinds inept abilities and political actions of injustice work through periodic courses of tribalistic history set against a heavenly appointed destiny over millenniums. This we can not easily explain, but we can give this current calamity a profound and prayerful significance by recognizing in the moment of injustice an opportunity to intercede; knowing Gods love prevails and the instilled joy is not limited by death.

Out of the ashes and ruins, a nation will grow a worthier life of good citizenship; stirred by justice and freedom in realizing our blessing in this hour of distress. Leaders who simply follow their science as their god are obstinate in their actions and they no not acknowledge, and they do not see the real master over ones body and soul is God.

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Blame the Scots-Irish influence | Opinion | journalpatriot.com – Wilkes Journal Patriot

Posted: at 10:02 am

Why are we the way we are?

Can we blame it on somebody else, like British colonists, for instance?

By we I dont mean just you and me. I dont even include us necessarily. I am thinking about folks who live in North Carolina and the surrounding regions.

You know the kind I mean.

Hardnosed, sometimes rebellious, resistant to direction from those who think they know it all, suspicious of people in charge, unwilling to give up individual choice to some kind of group direction.

It is not just those anti-vaxxers those who will not accept an infinitesimal risk to themselves or their children in order to reduce to great risks all of us face from the ongoing series of COVID epidemics. Its not just them whom I am talking about.

Nor is it just people in a particular political party. Lots of us on both sides of the political divide share a common resistance to authority.

In The New Yorker on Oct. 4, author and columnist Joe Klein gave it a try by writing, The divide between maskers and anti-maskers, vaxxers and anti-vaxxers is as old as Plymouth Rock. It is deeper than politics; it is cultural.

For his ideas, Klein credited a 1989 book, Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America, by David Hackett Fischer. This book, Klein says, explains how the history of four centuries ago still shapes American culture and politics.

Focusing on the South, Klein says original settlers were, a wild caste of emigrants from the borderlands of Scotland and England. They brought their clannish, violent, independent culture, which had evolved over seven centuries of border warfare.

According to Fisher, these emigrants came from a society of autonomous individuals who were unable to endure external control and incapable of restraining their rage against anyone who stood in the way.

Fisher writes that the Scots-Irish in the Southern hill country were intensely resistant to change and suspicious of foreigners. In the early 20th century, they would become intensely negrophobic and antisemitic.

Other parts of colonial America were settled by different groups.

For instance, Klein writes about the Virginia-Cavalier tradition, The Virginia definition of freedom was complex, contradictory--and remains problematic. It was hierarchical, the freedom to be unequal. I am an aristocrat, John Randolph of Roanoke said. I love liberty; I hate equality. Freedom was defined by what it wasnt. It wasnt slavery. It was the freedom to enslave. It was a freedom, granted to the plantation masters, to indulge themselves, gamble and debauch.

Over time, Klein continues, this plutocratic libertarianism found natural allies, if strange bedfellows, in the fiercely egalitarian Scots-Irish hill country folk.

Neither wanted to be ruled by a strong central government.

Klein says things were just the opposite in New England. For the Puritans, Everything was regulated and order was an obsession. Local officials reported on the domestic tranquility of every family in their jurisdiction. Cotton Mather defined an honorable person as one who was studious, humble, patient, reserved and mortified.

About a different group of settlers, Klein writes, The Quakers seem an afterthought, but their migration was larger in size than that of the Puritans or Cavaliers. And their version of liberty seems most amenable today. It was reciprocal freedom, based on the golden rule.

Fischer notes the Scots-Irish practiced the opposite: Do unto others as they threatened to do unto you.

The Scots-Irish, Virginia, Puritan, and Quaker legacies are very different and are, perhaps, diluted over the almost 300 years since these immigrants came.

But the influence of each continues.

The Scots-Irish influence in our region is still tenacious, which explains why the Do unto others as they threatened to do unto you rule is widely practiced by people across the political spectrum.

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The rise of the new radical right in Chile | International – Market Research Telecast

Posted: at 10:02 am

Chilean presidential candidate Jos Antonio Kast, from the Republican Party, during a rally in Concepcin.GUILLERMO SALGADO (AFP)

A few days before a second round that will oppose the candidate of the radical right, Jos Antonio Kast, who prevailed in the first round (27.9%), and that of the left, Gabriel Boric (25.8%), the polarization The discourse between the moral duty of defeating fascism and that of saving the homeland from communism or terrorism reached its climax. How to interpret the rise of an ultra-conservative and libertarian right after a plebiscite in which 78% of Chileans spoke out in favor of the construction of a new social pact through a constitutional process? What are the characteristics and connections of this new radical right?

The vote for the Republican Party has different dimensions: it can be interpreted as a rejection of the model of society offered by the candidate of the left (an anti vote) or as a restorative reaction that seeks to return Chile to its greatness (in the style of the Donald Trumps slogan Make America Great Again). It also appears as an anti-emancipatory reaction to the important cultural transformations experienced by Chilean society since the return to democracy. These three dimensions, of course, are not exclusive.

During the last 30 years, surveys have revealed a greater appreciation of individual freedoms by Chileans, particularly in the moral sphere, as well as the role of the State in providing rights in pensions, health and education, which was part of the demands of the social explosion. In May 2021, the poor electoral results of the Republican Party in the municipal, governor and constituent elections (in which the right was left without veto options in the articles of the new Constitution) confirmed the inadequacy between that political offer and the feel of citizenship. Between 30 and 50% of right-wing voters also voted for approval in the plebiscite, while Jos Antonio Kast campaigned for rejection. How, then, to explain the greater weight of a far-right project in a society that is otherwise without clear signs of ideological polarization?

This greater weight benefited from a very fluid critical juncture, which opened a window of opportunity for the success of this project. The CEP national public opinion survey of August 2021 In effect, it shows that crime became the main concern of Chileans, that there was greater public rejection of the demonstrations that began in October 2019 and the violence that they unleashed. Confidence in the constitutional conventions ability to improve the countrys situation also diminished, which can be attributed to internal disputes during the adoption of its regulations. This pendular movement of restoration of order after social movements of a re-founding nature is not exceptional, as shown by the example of the events of May 1968 in France, followed by a victory for the right.

Added to this social upheaval and situation of institutional uncertainty was the installation in the presidential debate of two critical issues: the migratory crisis in the great north of Chile, where the number of migrants exceeds that of its population, and the radicalization in the southern macrozone of Chile. Mapuche conflict indigenous population that demands the restitution of ancestral lands, partly infiltrated by armed groups. Jos Antonio Kast tripled the vote for Gabriel Boric in Araucana. An economic scenario marked by inflation and low growth projections also contributed to instilling fear towards those who want to destroy the country in the words of Kast with a program that received cross-cutting criticism for neglecting fiscal balances and driving investors away .

Regardless of who wins the second round, Jos Antonio Kast managed to install a counter-hegemonic narrative about the social explosion and the constituent process. In it, two legitimacies are opposed: the representation of the social outbreak as a necessary milestone to give way to social transformations postponed thanks to a new Constitution; and the perception that this was the beginning of a faltering political itinerary in which the government of Sebastin Piera whose approval then fell to the lowest level in thirty years for a president compromised with the left. Kast was able to take advantage of this window of opportunity to challenge the center-right in the name of its founding values: the defense of order and the rule of law, which had already been an axis of his first candidacy for the presidency in 2017, in which he achieved 7.9% of the votes.

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The Republican Party shares a family resemblance with the European extreme right: it is strengthened in a context of crisis social, political, economic and health that reinforces fear and pessimism about the future. This fear is expressed through a feeling of rejection or vote for the lesser evil, which opposes anti-communism and anti-Pinochetism. Like other ultra-right leaders, Kast also appeals to common sense, combining a certain discursive radicalism with the tools of contemporary marketing to spread messages aimed at providing radical solutions to specific problems (for example, building trenches to fight against illegal immigration). By last, those rights are not usually considered extreme. Kast has insisted on his adherence to democratic values and constitutional order, but at the same time he relativized the guilt of one of the military men with the most convictions for violation of human rights, Miguel Krassnoff.

Fundamentally, the Republican Party belongs to the family of radical rights (Mudde, 2019) that accept the essence of democracy but do not agree with fundamental aspects of liberal democracy such as minority rights. They express a new type of cultural reaction (Norris, Inglehart, 2019) with their criticisms of the so-called gender ideology, a discourse that Vox in Spain, but also Zemmour in France or Bolsonaro in Brazil. They rub shoulders with the same ultra-conservative network of parties, associations and churches that seek to stop the conquest of rights for sexual diversity. Although Kast announced that, if elected, on moral issues he would submit to the decisions of Congress, his 2017 program proposed repealing the current abortion law that decriminalizes the voluntary interruption of pregnancy only in the event of rape, a danger to the womans life or fetal infeasibility. This network also seeks, through the Madrid Forum, to stop communism in the world, installing itself as a counterweight to progressive conclaves such as the So Paulo Forum or the Puebla Group.

Beyond that global agenda, and as pointed out by one of his advisers, Kast is much more Ronald Reagan than Trump or BolsonaroIn other words, a libertarian who wants to shrink the State by updating the Chicago Boys recipe. Whoever wins on December 19, with 14 deputies, the Republican Party has already become the third largest force in Congress, managed to mobilize the center-right around its candidate and will probably play a key role in restructuring the bloc. The question of whether this is positive or negative for the health of liberal democracy remains open.

Stephanie Alenda She is the Director of Research at the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andrs Bello (Chile). She is a contributor to Agenda Pblica.

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