Category Archives: Post Human

The problem with Modern Portfolio Theory, the basis for most diversified investment approaches, is that the often irrational human investor in charge is a major point of failure.

In other words, nice theory but shame about the monkey who is running it.

Modern Portfolio Theory, originated by Harry Markowitz in 1952, is the idea that portfolios, by diversifying, can maximize returns for a given level of risk, or volatility. This allows investors to get a higher return than they otherwise would since the assets blended together will give a smoother ride, achieving what is often called the only free lunch in investing. Since different assets perform differently in various circumstances i.e. are not perfectly correlated mixing them together improves results.

The problem isnt with the theory, which won Markowitz the Nobel prize in 1960, but, according to money managers at Newfound Investment Research, with the way it fails to take into account the impact that behavioral flaws and biases can have on how an investor actually does.

In MPT, volatility, how much and how quickly an asset goes up and down in price, is used to measure risk. As shown repeatedly in times of crisis and stress, however, different asset classes have a nasty tendency to become more correlated, to all go down together, at the worst possible time.

This increases the chances that an investor will lose nerve and bail out during extreme market conditions, turning what might be a passing downdraft into a permanent loss.

We often say that risk cannot be destroyed, only transformed. Beyond the free lunch of traditional diversification, most reductions in one type of risk come with increases in other types of risk. For example, holding a higher cash allocation will reduce volatility but will lead to more inflation risk, Corey Hoffstein, Justin Sibears and Nathan Faber of Newfound write in a study.

A significant amount of effort can go into providing an investor with an optimal portfolio under the MPT framework, only to see it discarded before the end goal has a chance of being realized. An investors behavior can be one of the biggest risks facing a successful investing.

Asset class returns are not evenly distributed, and investors, who have difficulty measuring the talent of the people theyve hired to advise them, may face long periods when their investments are not performing as theyd planned.

Investors hate two things above all else: losing money and missing out. The tension between the two, the fear of loss and the fear of doing less well than ones neighbor, drives much behavior in financial markets.

It is psychologically painful to lose money. Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman demonstrated that losing a dollar is about 2.25 times more painful than gaining a dollar is pleasurable. Holding on during market falls is hard, and looking at a supposedly evenly distributed graph of returns does little to give the average saver comfort.

At the same time, humans are animals who naturally compare what they have to what others get, not just to what they had before. Go to a Wall Street trading floor the day bonuses are announced to see how this works out in practice.

This means that investors are sensitive not simply to how they are doing relative to their goals, but also relative to the Smiths down the street. This fear of missing out, and its flipside, pain at lagging, can cause investors to take on too much or too little risk if they observe the stock market, often wrongly conflated with an index, going up faster than their own holdings.

While volatility stands in for risk in MPT, it doesnt fully drive loss aversion or FOMO (fear of missing out), both of which can drive investors to make costly mistakes.

MPT is engineered for end results but investors exult and suffer minute by minute all along the trip.

A slavish devotion to maximizing return for risk can put an investor into a portfolio she cant tolerate, leading to either selling at the wrong time or getting greedy and buying at the wrong time.

In some ways, all of this simply argues for process and for advice.

Part of the value in having a process is not that it is perfect and always achieves best results but that it can guard against the worst mistakes.

And while that process can certainly be run by a solitary investor, given the right skills, another message here is that a good deal of the value of wealth managers is serving as a guard rail against sudden lurches one way or another.

Low-cost off-the-shelf portfolios work well in theory but are followed less often, perhaps, than ones which also have a hand-holding advisor involved.

(James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

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Nice portfolio, shame about the human running it: James Saft - Financial Post

A composite reconstruction shows the earliest known Homo sapiens fossils found just west of Morocco at the archeological cave site called Jebel Irhoud. (Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig)

Bones found in a cave in Morocco add 100,000 years tothe history of modern human fossils.These bones are from early anatomically modern humans our own species,Homosapiens,with a mixture of modern and primitive traits, an international team of anthropologists, paleontologists and evolutionary scientists report in apair of paperspublished Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Despite theirprimitive features, these ancient people could blend in with a moderncrowd, study authorJean-Jacques Hublinof theMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said in a news briefing Tuesday particularly, he added, if hats covered their somewhat oddly shaped heads.

The oldest Homo sapiens bones known date to about 200,000 years ago, but the new analysis shows these bones are surprisingly old: 300,000 to 350,000 years old.

Workers discovered the bone site in the 1960s. Barite miners excavating a hill in western Morocco hit a pocket of red sedimentwith ancient stone tools, limbs and a humanskull, which the workers gave to the quarrydoctor. The doctor turned the skull over to scientists. It was a puzzling bone. At first the skullwas linked toNeanderthals, a species that has been found in Europe but not Africa.

Discoveries of human fossils in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzaniasoon overshadowed the bones from the Moroccan hill. Complicating matters still, the quarry miners took few detailed records of where they found the bones.But the hill, named Jebel Irhoud, was not forgotten. Hublin explored the siteseveral times in the 1980s and 1990s, though he had little luck.

In 2004, a cave at Jebel Irhoud yielded a tooth. And a year later, a second tooth. And then, finally,another cranium.

The Jebel Irhoud fossils areroughly 100,000 years older than any previously described modern human bones. In the late 1960s, Richard Leakey and his fellow paleoanthropologists found Homo sapiens fossils from the Kibish Formation of Ethiopia, dated at the time as130,000 years old. In 2003, in Herto, Ethiopia, anthropologists said they found olderHomo sapiens, about160,000 years old. Two years later, a reanalysisof theKibish specimens added 35,000 years, pushing fossil evidence ofHomo sapiens tojust under 200,000 years ago.

Based on the previous discoveries, expertssuggested that humanancestors evolved intoour species 200,000 years ago. But the new fossils shift that window in time back half again as long, to 300,000 years.

I think it's wonderful that finally weve got a date from Jebel Irhoud, said Frank Brown, a University of Utah geologist and author of the Kibish reanalysis who was not involved in the new research. They're not Homo neanderthalensis. They're not Homo erectus. They're not Homo anybody else.

Brown said that the dates made sense, considering the near-but-not-quite modernity of the specimens. He also noted that the authors were careful to say that the remains are on their way to being anatomically modern.

There is nospecific biological feature thatvalidates a specimen as a member of modernHomo sapiens.But a jutting chin helps. Humans all around the world have a modern human chin,Shara Bailey, an anthropologist atNew York University and one of the study's authors, told The Washington Post. Bailey said that Irhoud mandibles, like our jaws, have aprominent chin, as well as several dental features found only in modern humans.

The really cool stuff with Irhoud, she said, is that the traits that make them look more like humans are not primitive traits.

This reconstruction of a mandible fossil found in Jebel Irhoud can be compared to archaic hominins, such as Neandertals, as well as with early forms of anatomically modern Humans. (Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA Leipzig)

To reconstruct ancient skulls, the study authors examined features from specimens Irhoud 1 (the face and brain case found in 1961), Irhoud 2 (a brain case found in 1962) andIrhoud 10 (the partial face found in 2007). The reconstructions of the Irhoud 10 face fall right in the middle of the recent modern humans, said Richard Potts, a paleoanthropologist who directs the Smithsonian Institutions Human Origins Program.

The analysis revealedsmall faces shaped distinctively like modern humans, he said in an email. And although the brain pans fall outside therangeof humans alive today, so do several other clearly fossil Homo sapiens from Africa and Europe, he said. So thats okay.Comparing these with facial position on known human skulls fromEthiopia, Potts said, I think we have a good instance of early Homo sapiens from Irhoud.

Two techniques dated these humans to about 300,000 years ago. Electron resonance spin dating can estimate how long enamel, for instance, has been bombarded by radiation from sediment. With this method, the scientists determined anIrhoud tooth was 286,000 years old (give or take 30,000 years).

A method called thermoluminescence, or TL, dating can gauge the last time an object was heated, by measuring the electrons trapped within it.Fortuitously, the inhabitants of the Jebel Irhoud cave burned their flint tools.

That was big luck, I would say, Hublin said during the news conference.

People must have been involved in heating the flints, and these have been dated directly using well-established TL techniques, said Richard Roberts, an expert in luminescence dating at the University of Wollongong in Australia who reviewed the dating techniques beforethe papers' publication.

I feel the authors have presented pretty convincing evidence for the presence of early modern humans at the site by 300,000 years ago and possibly a little earlier, Roberts wrote in an email.

Potts was more critical of the dates. In short, the dating has a lot of [indirect] links in the chain of interpretation, he said. The authors of the study assume that all of the human fossils came from the same sediment layer, he said. To link the new fossils to the 1960sspecimens, the scientists cite a metal nail they found in the area from an olderexcavation. Potts also noted that in east Africa, datingthe argon in volcanic ash is preferred overthermoluminescence (but there is no ash in Morocco to measure).

All told, he said, the researchers' estimate of about315,000 years old is aprovisional best bet,with the probable range between247,000 to 383,000 years.

Three hundred millennia ago, Morocco was wetter and dotted with clumps of trees. The ancient humans would have sought shelter in the cave as they stalked prey. The overall picture that one gets is a hunting encampment, study author Shannon McPherron, a Max Planck archaeologist, said during Tuesday's briefing.The hunters carried the flint from a source some 15 miles away; they would have stopped by the cave to eat, light fires and retool their weapons, he said.

The burned flint tools were more elegant than the heavy cleavers earlier in the Stone Age, McPherron said. Found among them were the remains of butchered gazelle, zebra, wildebeest andhartebeest. The researchers also discovered bones from a few carnivores, such as lions and leopards.

As formidable as theSahara is today, the region was more humid and the desert smaller 300,000 years ago,Hublin said primarily grassland, instead of dunes,and broken up by lakes the size of Germany.

The site is far north of where other early Homo sapiensbones have been discovered. Hublin envisioned that these early humans could travelacross Africa from Morocco to Tanzania and back,spreading their genes along the way.

There is no Garden of Eden in Africa, Hublin said. Or, there is a Garden of Eden and it's Africa. (Any one siteclaiming to be birthplace of Homo sapiens, in other words, is a tourist trap.)

Potts said: This view promoted by Hublin is by no means a slam dunk, but it is feasible. It will doubtless be tested over and over by further African fossil discoveries in this important time period.

Bailey said that this research gives a Pan-African perspective to early modern humanity. We tend to focus on areas of the world where we have a lot of fossils, in east Africa and south Africa. Much less work has been done in north Africa, she said.Were getting a bigger picture of the process of the origin of our species.

Read more:

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Oldest Homo sapiens fossils discovered in Morocco - Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS The Trump administration warned Tuesday that the United States could pull out of the U.N. Human Rights Council unless the body ends what Washington calls the whitewashing of dictators abuses and unfair attacks on Israel.

President Trumps U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, delivered the ultimatum in an unusual address in Geneva to the 47-member body.

The United States is looking very carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening, Haley told council members.

Being a member of this council is a privilege, and no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table.

The United States accuses the council of shielding the repressive regimes it should be condemning, allowing such regimes to join the body and then use it to thwart scrutiny. It is the same criticism that led former president George W. Bush to shun the council in 2006, a decision that President Barack Obama reversed in his first year in office.

Haley pointed to what she said are egregious human rights violations in Venezuela, a council member, and said if the country cannot change then it should step down from the council.

Haley outlined proposals for change in a separate address later Tuesday, delivered away from the council headquarters. She again accused Venezuela of masking starvation and repression at home with membership in the human rights body and added others to the list of those she said misuse positions on the council.

Countries like Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi and Saudi Arabia occupy positions that obligate them to, in the words of the resolution that created the Human Rights Council, uphold the highest standards of human rights, Haley said in remarks at the Graduate Institute Geneva.

They clearly do not uphold those highest standards.

She did not mention U.S. ally Egypt, a council member accused of arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses.

When the council fails to act properly when it fails to act at all it undermines its own credibility and the cause of human rights, Haley said.

It leaves the most vulnerable to suffer and die. It fuels the cynical belief that countries cannot put aside self-interest and cooperate on behalf of human dignity. It reinforces our growing suspicion that the Human Rights Council is not a good investment of our time, money and national prestige.

The council risks becoming as discredited as its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, Haley said.

That 60-year-old body was disbanded in 2006 as irredeemably tainted by its protection of abusers, and the Human Rights Council was formed as a fresh start.

America does not seek to leave the Human Rights Council. We seek to reestablish the councils legitimacy, Haley said.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Human Rights Program, attended the council session.

Its hard to take Ambassador Haley seriously on U.S. support for human rights in light of Trump administration actions like the Muslim ban and immigration crackdowns, he said in a statement. Regardless of the party in power, the U.S. needs to lead by example and practice what it preaches on human rights.

The United States is demanding changes to the way members of the council are chosen. Countries should have to compete for membership, thus making it much harder for human rights abusers to slip through, Haley argued.

The council must also stop singling out Israel for criticism, Haley said.

The former South Carolina governor, frequently mentioned as a future Republican presidential candidate, has focused heavily on what she calls mistreatment of Israel at the United Nations. The effort has endeared her to Israeli leaders and to conservative U.S. pro-Israel organizations. Haley will travel to Israel later this week.

Its hard to accept that this council has never considered a resolution on Venezuela, and yet it adopted five biased resolutions in March against a single country, Israel, Haley said in her remarks before the council. It is essential that this council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it is to have any credibility.

The council should immediately address worsening human rights conditions in Syria, Congo, Eritrea and Ukraine, Haley told the body.

Before she spoke, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein had criticized Israel for the 50-year occupation of land the Palestinians claim for a future state. He invoked the Holocaust while saying that Israels actions now are not comparable.

The Holocaust was so monstrous and so mathematically planned and executed it has no parallel, no modern equal, Zeid said. Yet it is also undeniable that today, the Palestinian people mark a half-century of deep suffering under an occupation imposed by military force.

In June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in fighting with Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

In response, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon criticized Zeid, a veteran Jordanian diplomat, and said Israel is looking forward to working with the U.S. to enact real reforms and put an end to this most absurd chapter in the history of the U.N.

The connection between the commissioner and human rights has proven to be purely coincidental and it comes as no surprise that he chose to spread lies about Israel before he even mentioned the massacres in Syria, Danon wrote in a statement issued in New York.

Haley is the first U.S. United Nations ambassador to address the council, and her address is part of a Trump administration campaign to demand chages to what Haley has called hidebound and biased U.N. bureaucracies.

A separate ambassador represents Washington at the council and at other U.N. bodies headquartered in Geneva, so Haleys decision to make her case in person was intended to underscore U.S. frustration.

A U.S. withdrawal would have only symbolic effect, since the council has no enforcement powers, but would represent further U.S. disengagement from international organizations.

The ultimatum follows Trumps announcement last week that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate change accord and his refusal to specifically pledge allegiance to European defense at a NATO summit last month.

The debate over whether to remain a part of the U.N. Human Rights Council has parallels to the administrations internal discussion about the 2015 Paris agreement, with some Trump advisers arguing that the United States can have more influence by remaining a member.

Haley had said last week that the Trump administration would decide on its council membership status after the councils session concludes later this month.

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US says it may pull out of UN human rights body, citing member abuses, treatment of Israel - Washington Post

In this April 6, 2017 photo, the NASCAR logo is among the signs at the the ticket entrance of the New London Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, Conn. The track, in operation since 1951, postponed its planned May 6 opening after NASCAR pulled its sanctions in April following the arrest of owner Bruce Bemer. (Dana Jensen/The Day via AP) less In this April 6, 2017 photo, the NASCAR logo is among the signs at the the ticket entrance of the New London Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, Conn. The track, in operation since 1951, postponed its planned May ... more Photo: Dana Jensen, AP In this May 3, 2014 file photo, fans watch a race at the New London Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, Conn. The track, in operation since 1951, postponed its planned May 6, 2017 opening after NASCAR pulled its sanctions in April following the arrest of owner Bruce Bemer. (Tim Cook/The Day via AP) less In this May 3, 2014 file photo, fans watch a race at the New London Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, Conn. The track, in operation since 1951, postponed its planned May 6, 2017 opening after NASCAR pulled its ... more Photo: Tim Cook, AP

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, signs paperwork before leaving Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, signs paperwork before leaving Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Bruce J. Bemer, of Glastonbury, leaves Superior Court, in Danbury, after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking ring in Danbury, Conn. Thursday, March 30, 2017.

After owners arrest in human trafficking, Speedbowl back on track

The New London/Waterford Speedbowl that had its NASCAR sanctions ended after its owner was arrested in a human trafficking ring, is getting back on track with its racing season.

NASCAR severed its ties with the 66-year-old track after Bruce J. Bemer of Glastonbury, the owner of the speedbowl, was charged in March with patronizing a trafficked person.

Since the announcement, seven Speedbowl officials have resigned, according to the Norwich Bulletin.

A prostitution ring that exploited young men with mental disabilities for more than 20 years in the Danbury area unraveled early this spring when police arrested two men authorities say were clients of the operation. Along with Bemer, William Trefzger, a previously convicted sex offender from Westport was arrested.

After NASCAR cut its ties to the track, it had to remove all NASCAR branding. Drivers also had to reassign their NASCAR license to another track.

But on Monday, the speedbowl announced a proposed lease for the 2017 season.

The management team is happy to announce that an agreement has been reached with George Whitney of Whitney Farm Racing, LLC to lease the track for the 2017 season.

With over twenty years in racing, George has raced Enduro Cars, Street Stocks and Late Models where he earned Rookie of the Year. Taking several years off, George then returned to begin his career in the Legends Division taking home a Championship at The New London Waterford Speedbowl and four state championships during his Legends career. His latest accolades are bringing numerous drivers to National Championships as their Crew Chief. He now gets his racing fix doing chassis set ups for many drivers as well as Legends car repairs.

The speedbowl posted on its web site, Additional details will follow in the coming week. An updated race schedule is being reviewed and will be posted as soon as dates are confirmed, but it Georges goal to get the racers back out on the track where they belong as soon as possible. Kick off weekend, open practice and many more details will be posted regularly so please watch the website and Facebook for details.

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After owner's arrest in human trafficking, Speedbowl back on track ... - CT Post

Theresa May is wrong to say human rights law stands in the way of the fight against terror, experts have told HuffPost UK.

Under pressure after the London Bridge attack, the prime minister gave a speech on Tuesday saying she would rewrite laws that stop the Government acting to prevent further attacks.

Three men killed eight people and injured dozens in their rampage on Saturday.

The attack prompted difficult questions for the Government and security services who had monitored one of the attackers but concluded he was not a threat.

In a campaign speech in Slough two days before the election, May outlined tougher measures to make sure that the police and security and intelligence agencies have the powers they need.

She added: If our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change the laws so we can do it.

PA Wire/PA Images

But human rights experts have denied Britains Human Rights Act is a practical obstacle to fighting terror and said the changes May suggested would not necessarily conflict with it.

Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said he did not know of any terror attack where the Act had prevented the authorities from acting to stop it.

Its always tempting to respond to terrorism by saying we need stricter laws, he told HuffPost UK.

Ive not seen any particular terrorist attack where theres been a clear link found between something the authorities couldnt do because of human rights law and the outcome...

In the London Bridge attacks, it seems to be more about the way the authorities used intelligence rather than not being able to deport people or intern them for 28 days without charge.

The Human Rights Act makes the European Convention on Human Rights, which Britain was instrumental in drafting in the 1950s, enforceable in UK courts.

Its rights include privacy, a fair trial and family life, which has prevented some foreign-born criminals being deported from Britain.

In her Slough speech, May said she would look at deporting more people, restricting terror suspects movement and legislating for authorities to be able to detain them for up to 28 days without charge.

Wagner said: The fact shes not making any specific suggestions or changes [to human rights law] is important.

The reality is, the things shes mentioning and wants to change, will probably be permitted within human rights law.

PA Wire/PA Images

Rachel Robinson, acting policy director at civil rights group Liberty and a former barrister, said human rights law did not stop the Government from legislating even very serious counter-terror measures.

Almost all of the rights [in the Act] are qualified rights. So in the interests of national security, effective, targetted and proportionate measures can be taken forward without breaching human rights laws, she said.

The fact [The Government] wins many cases shows how sensitive our human rights framework is to the broader public interest.

Both Wagner and Robinson stressed that the British Government has won most human rights court cases brought against it by terror suspects.

David Anderson, the QC who was the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation until March, wrote that the last eight times Britain had to defend its terror laws before the European court had resulted wholly or very substantially in victory for the Government.

He said that human rights do not unthinkingly prioritise individual rights over our responsibilities to each other and Governments have a wide discretion in how to apply them.

Robinson said the Governments court victories showed the law was extremely flexible.

PA Wire/PA Images

The depiction of human rights as somehow offering a carte blanche in these situations is completely inaccurate, because considerations of national security are such an important part of the balancing exercise carried out by our courts, she said.

Thats why the Human Rights Act is able to act so effectively in protecting rights and freedoms but not preventing the state from doing things which genuinely are targeted and effective as a way of countering terrorism.

Wagner added: In almost every case that a suspected or actual terrorist goes to the European Court of Human Rights, the state wins.

Im sure its very frustrating for a Home Secretary to have to deal with those cases but thats the price of the rule of law.

Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International wrote on HuffPost UK that May was asking people to think human rights as some kind of blockage to law-enforcement in this country.

Allen said: Yes, there should be serious conversations about our resourcing of the police and the security services.

And yes, we need to ensure that our law-enforcement bodies can process potentially life-saving intelligence quickly and efficiently.

But human rights are themselves a vital part of that work, not obstacles to it.

Robinson called Mays comments opportunistic and dishonest.

Though May suggested restricting terror suspects movement, Robinson pointed out it was May who abolished control orders, which did just that, when she was home secretary.

May also abolished the 28-day detention before charge for terror suspects, which the Labour government had introduced.

Robinson said: Yesterdays comments were opportunistic and dishonest. She knows these are discredited and ineffective ways of responding to the terror threat.

She added: By threatening to undermine our rights and freedoms through these knee-jerk, ineffective measures, the Prime Minister is actually handing a victory to the terrorists whilst doing nothing to keep us safer.

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Theresa May Wrong To Attack Human Rights In Post-London Bridge Attack Terror Speech, Experts Say - HuffPost UK

New York Post

US weighs withdrawing from UN's Human Rights Council New York Post Haley, writing in The Washington Post over the weekend, called for the council to end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism. When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human- rights ... No, America Shouldn't Leave the U.N. Human Rights CouncilHuffPost Nikki Haley to address UNHRC Tuesday amid report US may pull outThe Jerusalem Post In Geneva, Haley to demand Human Rights Council change its treatment of IsraelThe Times of Israel Hot Air -Inquirer.net -American Thinker (blog) all 61 news articles »

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US weighs withdrawing from UN's Human Rights Council - New York Post

One of the privileges of my job is the chance to meet with some of the worlds bravest people: dissidents, exiles, relatives of political prisoners who come through Washington from every corner of the world, looking for support in their battles against dictators of every stripe.

Lately, though, theres been something different about these visits.

It used to be that The Post was a stop they made before or after the main event, which would be a meeting with administration officials. Since Donald Trumps inauguration, that has changed. The State Department, where virtually every important office remains unfilled, is a vacuum. The White House often seems on the side of the oppressors, not the oppressed.

Much has been said in the past week about the U.S. retreat from global leadership, given President Trumps truculence in Europe and his decision to join the Nicaragua-Syria axis in withdrawing from the Paris treaty on climate change.

The retreat from any commitment to democracy and human rights the failure to stand with people such as Angela Gui, Li Ching-yu or Ali H. Aslan wont generate as many headlines. But in the long run, it may do as much harm to U.S. interests and reputation, if not more.

Gui, 23, is a Swedish citizen, a university student in Britain and the daughter of Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong publisher who was apparently kidnapped by Chinese authorities while on vacation in Thailand in 2015. Hes been in Chinese captivity ever since. His firm angered authorities by publishing gossipy biographies of Communist Party leaders. Angela last heard from her father a year ago, when he telephoned to say she should stop agitating for his freedom.

I understand youve got to say that, Angela replied. But until you can tell me theres going to be an end to this, Im going to continue campaigning.

You might expect Sweden to lead that campaign, because her father, too, is a Swedish citizen. You might expect to hear from Britain, which 20 years ago accepted Chinas solemn promise that freedoms in Hong Kong would be respected. But both have been pretty quiet, which is why Angela was in Washington.

Li Ching-yus husband, Li Ming-che, is imprisoned in China, too. He is a Taiwanese human rights activist, but in Taiwan theyve been telling me I should keep quiet, his wife told me during a recent visit.

Thats why Im here in the United States, she said. Im hoping the United States will uphold its values and use its power to influence China to release a prisoner of conscience.

Ali Aslan has the same wish, though not much hope. He was Washington correspondent for Zaman, a leading Turkish newspaper until the increasingly authoritarian government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan shuttered it. Now, more than 50 of his former Zaman colleagues are in prison.

[President Barack] Obama was too soft on Erdogan, Aslan said during a visit to The Post last week. We told him, This isnt how you deal with a bully.

But at least Obama was not encouraging or supporting him, he said. Now we have Trump, who acts like a bully himself. Hes getting along better with dictators than with democratic allies.

Aslans assessment of Obama is a useful reminder that human rights supplicants often departed from Washington disappointed long before Trump. Even when the United States was encouraging democracy overseas, it necessarily balanced that interest against security and commercial concerns.

But its also true that even a meeting with a deputy assistant secretary or a photo op with a presidential adviser could have major impact, saving one prisoner from torture, winning freedom for another, maybe just boosting the morale of someone else. Trump, in helping two U.S. citizens escape political captivity (one from Egypt, another from Chinese agents in Thailand), has already seen how much clout he could have if he chose to wield it.

Given this administrations predilections, visitors are putting hope in meetings with members of Congress committed to human rights, such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). Others look to France or Germany to pick up the slack.

And then there are those such as Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who optimistically said he believes this administration eventually will pivot because of the connection between these severe human rights abuses and the instability that occurs as a result.

I think the evidence is so plentiful that its only a matter of time before they understand it, Zeid, a Jordanian, said during a visit to The Post last month. If you want a prevention rather than an intervention agenda, you have to embrace a human rights agenda.

Angela Gui, Li Ching-yu, Ali Aslan and thousands of others can only hope that such a revelation comes sooner rather than later.

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The faces of Trump's retreat from human rights - Washington Post

By Nikki Haley By Nikki Haley June 2 at 3:40 PM

Nikki Haley is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The president of Venezuela, whose government shoots protesters in the street, recently thanked the international community for its universal vote of confidence in that countrys commitment to human rights.

The Cuban deputy foreign minister, whose government imprisons thousands of political opponents, once said Cuba has historic prestige in the promotion and protection of all human rights.

How can these people get away with saying such things? Because they have been elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, whose members are on paper charged with upholding the highest standards of human rights.

Last month, a U.S. Senate subcommittee met to consider whether the United States should remain a part of the council. Expert witnesses shared their viewpoints, not on the question of whether America supports human rights of course we do, and very strongly. The question was whether the Human Rights Council actually supports human rights or is merely a showcase for dictatorships that use their membership to whitewash brutality.

When the council focuses on human rights instead of politics, it advances important causes. In North Korea, its attention has led to action on human rights abuses. In Syria, it has established a commission on the atrocities of Bashar al-Assads regime.

All too often, however, the victims of the worlds most egregious human rights violations are ignored by the very organization that is supposed to protect them.

Venezuela is a member of the council despite the systematic destruction of civil society by the government of Nicols Maduro through arbitrary detention, torture and blatant violations of freedom of the press and expression. Mothers are forced to dig through trash cans to feed their children. This is a crisis that has been 18 years in the making. And yet, not once has the Human Rights Council seen fit to condemn Venezuela.

Cubas government strictly controls the media and severely restricts the Cuban peoples access to the Internet. Thousands are arbitrarily detained each year, with some political prisoners serving long sentences. Yet Cuba has never been condemned by the council; it, too, is a member.

In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and took over Crimea. This illegal occupation resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and injuries, as well as arbitrary detentions. No special meeting of the Human Rights Council was called, and the abuses continue to mount.

The council has been given a great responsibility. It has been charged with using the moral power of universal human rights to be the worlds advocate for the most vulnerable among us. The United Nations must reclaim the legitimacy of this organization.

For all of us, this is an urgent task. Human rights are central to the mission of the United Nations. Not only are they the right thing to promote, they are also the smart thing to promote. In April, I dedicated the U.S. presidency of the U.N. Security Council to making the connection between human rights and peace and security.

Next week, I will travel to Geneva to address the Human Rights Council about the United States concerns.

I will outline changes that must be made. Among other things, membership on the council must be determined through competitive voting to keep the worst human rights abusers from obtaining seats. As it stands, regional blocs nominate candidates that are uncontested. Competition would force a candidates human rights record to be considered before votes were cast. The council must also end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism. When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong.

The presence of multiple human rights-violating countries on the Human Rights Council has damaged both the reputation of the council and the cause of human rights. When the worlds preeminent human rights body is turned into a haven for dictators, the idea of international cooperation in support of human dignity is discredited. Cynicism grows. There is already more than enough cynicism to go around these days.

I believe the vision of the Human Rights Council is still achievable, but not without change. It is the responsibility of the United Nations to reclaim this vision and to restore the legitimacy of universal human rights.

Originally posted here:
The UN Human Rights Council whitewashes brutality - Washington Post

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who on Thursday praised President Trumps withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord, declined to comment Friday on the extent to which human activity has driven climate change over the last half-century.

She instead reiterated her praisefor Trumps decision during a visit to a D.C. charter school, saying that he hadmade good on a promise to ensure that the American people are not subject to overreach and fulfilled a commitment to keep America first and to focus on American jobs.

Pressed by reporters for her personal views on climate change, DeVos said: Certainly, the climate changes. Yes.

DeVos said she didnt have an answer to a question about what the United States should do to confront the challenges of climate change. Im here to talk about students and schools today, and I would hope that we could focus on the opportunity that these kids have in this unique environment and this unique school with amazing teachers and administrators, she said.

Eagle Academy Public Charter School enrolls about 700 students in preschool through third grade, about 20 percent of whom have identified disabilities.

DeVos who this week unveiled a revamped website on special-education law toureda special education classroom and a sensory room where students receive occupational therapy, and she read Dr. Seusss classic Oh, the Places Youll Go! to a group of students in the library. She also toured the schools science fair.

Former president Barack Obama on June 1 said President Trump's administration "joins a small handful of nations that reject the future" by withdrawing from the Paris climate deal. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Read more:

EPA chief and Trump aides wont answer this simple question: Does the president believe climate change exists?

Trumps tangle with Europe leads the continent to find partners elsewhere

Read more:
DeVos praises Paris withdrawal, won't comment on human role in climate change: 'Certainly, the climate changes' - Washington Post

Weve partnered with Playdius Ent, the indie game label by Plug In Digital, to organize a Post Human W.A.R. beta giveaway. This indie title is a turn-based tactical and psychological strategy game, according to the developers at Studio Chahut.

Post Human W.A.R. launched earlier this month on Steam Early Access, but youll be able to get in by picking one of the 500 codes available in the giveaway below. Do note that these codes wont give you access to the full game once the beta is over; the Early Access phase is reportedly going to last two months, which should mean that Post Human W.A.R. is set to release at some point in July.

Post Human W.A.R. Beta Giveaway

At the dawn of our third millennium, mankind went extinct, leaving behind a deeply affected planet Earth. Ferocious mutated animals, household robots converted for warfare, and inventive monkeys in tracksuits battle it out to decide the fate of the human heritage.

Form your armies and set off on an adventure through solo campaigns, or face off against players online! Experience a purely strategy-oriented gameplay with nothing left to chance, and filled with tactical challenges, bluffs and absurd humor.

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Try Post Human W.A.R. with our Beta Giveaway - Turn-based Strategy & Tactics Indie Game - Wccftech