Anatomy

Anatomy of a shutout: Why the Emmys snub Beyonc despite her continuing to innovate on TV – Salon

Emmy voters are a fickle bunch. Every nominations day reminds us of that, regardless of how diverse the nominees are in a given year, despite the boldness of the choices. Television Academy members hit a few bullseyes, even in rounds that make us question whether they actually watch TV. Whether the year's preliminary choices are good, bad or ugly, they will always show tendency to reward the familiar while leaving indisputably deserving contenders on the curb.

Anyone who is at all emotionally or professionally invested in these awards knows this, but on Tuesday, fans of Beyonc Knowles-Carter may have felt more acutely aware of this fact than others when her 2020 Disney+ special "Black Is King" was completely shut out of contention.

This same voting body granted four nominations to her 2016 opus "Lemonade" and six to 2019's "Homecoming: A Film By Beyonc." Neither netted a statue at their respective awards ceremonies, but given the track record it was reasonable to expect the pop performer's third major TV feature to get at least a nominationfor something. Yet not even a costume nod came its way, which is incredible considering the strength of that artistic element alone.

"Black Is King" is an interesting project to consider as an example of what Emmy voters gravitate toward and what they snub. There are multiple elements to consider in every category, many of which change every year. But what it frequently comes down to is the simple fact of how popular a work is, or the familiarly of a work's star, and whether the TV academy members understand a project enough to gravitate towards it.

Beyonc has been deconstructing her narratives concerning who she is and her place in the world since 2013's "Life Is But a Dream," a biographical documentary that follows all the standard beats of the form while still frustratingly keeping the audience at arm's length. "Lemonade" is neither a reaction to that perception or the result of it, but the artist's acknowledgement that her storytelling mastery rests in her songs and by extension her videos.

Visually speaking, TV is her medium because of the opportunities it now affords for experimentation with structure and short form narratives. "Lemonade" dropped on HBO because it is premium TV. "Homecoming" hybridizes the concert film with a backstage exploration of intellectual consciousness.

Out of Beyonc's three features for the small screen, "Black Is King" is at once her highest concept work and her most narrowly targeted, in that Beyonc, who voiced Nala in the 2019 photo-realistic remake of "The Lion King," transforms the Disney fableinto a metaphor for the Black experiencerendered in a collage of rich natural imagery, luxurious set piecesand vibrant dance.

Emmy voters are not big on metaphors, so they probably didn't know what to do with it.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a creative success. The same year that Emmy is denyingBeyonc her TV propers, she set a new all-time record for most Grammy wins by a female artist, racking up a career total of28 so far. The piece that put her over the top is her best R&B performance win for "Black Parade," the first single released from "The Lion King: The Gift," the musicalinspiration for"Black Is King."

What thrills Grammy voters doesn't necessarily charm thosewinnowing down dozens ofEmmy contenders to a handful of nominees in each category. It's much simpler to reward broadly appealing projects and TVstars, or telecastversions of cultural giants.

Hence, in the categories in which "Black Is King" were expected to gain some type of foothold, such as for best variety special (pre-recorded) or best variety special directing, nominations went toDave Chappelle's "8:46," Bo Burnham's "Inside" and of course! "Friends: The Reunion" and "A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote."

Beyonc deemed "Black Is King" (and herself by extension) a whole mood, but Emmy voters don't tend to reward abstract notions like moods, or archetypes as opposed to characters, or visualized odes that don't adhere to a plot in any standard fashion.

"Hamilton," another pre-recorded variety special contender along with fellow Broadway production"David Byrne's American Utopia," is a mood too. Lin-Manuel Miranda encapsulated said mood in a linear narrative told to a catchy hip-hop beat that people quote even if they haven't seen it.

"Black Is King" was a balm to the walking wounded when it landed last July in the midst of uprisings in protest of racial inequality. Regardless of how well it spoke to what people, and specificallyBlack people, were feeling in that moment,Emmy's mostly white voting body has probably seen "Hamilton" on Broadway. Even those who haven'tcan easily get behinda story of the Founding Fathers told by Black and brown people. And it has a script!

Something else happened with this year's nominees, too. Music categories that otherwise would have been firmly in Beyonc's wheelhouse shut out every major name performer who submitted for entries in music categories, including Cher, H.E.R., Sara Bareilles and Bruce Springsteen. Queen Bey wasn't the only superstar that didn't get an invite to the party, in other words. Instead, favor fell upon working composers . . .and Mumford & Son's singer Marcus Mumford, who wrote the "Ted Lasso" theme.

Artistsdenied well-earned spots in an award nominations round may not take much comfort in knowing they're in good company. But that is truly the case here. Hell, even Dolly Parton came up with bubkes on the music side of the Emmy nods, although her soul-killingholiday film "Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square" received a TV movie nomination. She'll probably be there on Emmy night with rhinestones on, and we love that for her and for us.

But back to Beyonc and the cold comfort zone. The larger takeaway is that all her visual albums and projects fall outside of what the Television Academy typically rewards. The fact that "Lemonade"lost out to the directors of "Grease: Live" in the 2016 outstanding directing for a variety special horse race speaks to this.

"Lemonade" wasthat spring's version of a pop culture wildfire, inspiring reading lists and academic syllabi, but the "Grease: Live" actors pulled off a performance broadcast live onstagewith few flaws, andin the middle of a rainstorm. Any TV production nerd would give the edge to that level of performance moxie, and what areEmmy voters if not TV nerds?

In 2019, "Homecoming" received even more nominations . . . but to Emmy voters it probably coded as a Coachella concert film and nothing more.

When I originally wrote about "Black Is King" I suspected that people may penalize it in part because of its source material. The Lion King" is as much of a Broadwayhit as "Hamilton," but it started out as an animated Disney theatricalfor kids. It's possible that lineage played some role in its snubbing.

But it'smore likely that voters simply didn't know what to do with it, in the same way they might not have been sureof how to categorize Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" anthology, another triumph left out in the cold. Easier to explain is why shows like critical favorites "WandaVision" and "The Good Lord Bird" didn't make the cut for outstanding limited series. This year wasblessed with a surfeit of suitable contenders in that race.

In the larger scheme of things, all parties are having a goodyear. This round of Emmy nods is relatively diverse and generally satisfying, save for the odd "Emily in Paris" blip. Beyonce is nowthe winningest woman in Grammy history, and her creative ambition expands with each new visual work she introduces. Someday Emmy voters may reward that, but whether they eventually get her doesn't matter. Her fandom's numbers arefar greater than theaward show's average audience, and they'll keep on showing up regardless of what she does.

View post:
Anatomy of a shutout: Why the Emmys snub Beyonc despite her continuing to innovate on TV - Salon

Anatomy

Back of the Agenda: Anatomy of a council meeting – Stuff.co.nz

BRADEN FASTIER / STUFF

Theres a lot that goes on in council meetings, and knowing how it all operates is the first piece of the puzzle.

Its been a quiet week for public-facing council operations, so this weeks column is tackling what to expect from your average council meeting consider this your guide to understanding whats happening in the chambers (or on youtube).

Firstly, before anything starts, theres a lot of busywork making sure the meeting has enough people (quorum), making sure people who are missing (or arriving late, or leaving early) have made the right apologies, and making sure everyone knows whats happening that day.

Next up councillors confirm that their interests things like what roles they have in the council, what companies they own, are employed by, or otherwise financially benefit from, and where they own property do not conflict with anything on the days agenda.

This can be found on the council website, but at the start of every meeting councillors have the chance to highlight any issues on the agenda which they cant discuss or vote on thanks to their interests.

READ MORE:* Nelson sea sports building approved, but location yet to be decided* Back of the Agenda: Nelson Council roundup June 7-11* Christchurch City Council holding private get-togethers before public meetings

The next step in the meeting is the public forum. This is the time when people who have applied to make a submission to the council can have their say at the council table.

These submissions are timed, but unless the agenda is jam-packed the time-keeping is not strict.

If your topic isnt one thats on the agenda for the day, no decisions will be made on it, and if it is on the agenda, youll have to wait for it to come up to see how things shake out.

NCC/Supplied

Depending on how many people, if any, are making public submissions, the first five or six items on any given council agenda can take just a few minutes to go through.

Finally, the meeting gets to the actual items on the agenda mostly reports from council staff.

Each report generally contains background information on the topic, an outline of the current issue, and two or more potential paths forward. One is usually a recommended option, but there is always at least one other option councillors could choose.

Staff come forward to present their report, answering questions from councillors about its contents. At this point councillors are not debating, and are meant to be forming opinions about the report and options available.

Once all questions have been asked and answered, a councillor moves an option, and if it is seconded then the council begins to debate.

Councillors talk about why they do or dont like the option put forward, suggest amendments, and eventually vote, with the simple majority rules approach.

Most news reports from the council chambers cover parts of the public forum, answers from council staff about their reports, and the debate.

See more here:
Back of the Agenda: Anatomy of a council meeting - Stuff.co.nz

Anatomy

The Anatomy of Hate | Inas Younis – Patheos

In a free society, you are what you pretend to be. In an authoritarian dictatorship, you are what you are told to be. But on a desert island, you are who you are. What makes solitude a religious discipline is that only when we are totally isolated can we discover our true identity apart from both social and political considerations. When the only relationship available to us is the one with God, the only emotionapart from lonelinessbecomes love. Even our relationship with the remorseless natural world inspires no personal contempt. At the very worst, it might solicit our indifference. What this suggests is that the problem of hate and bigotry is not just a psychological phenomenon, but a social one. Other than enforcing a radical form of social segregation, as some mystics have done, how can we stop hate from becoming a political force?

What is Hate?

Plainly defined, hate is a response to the fear of losing ones identity.

Every human being is endowed with two primary identities. The first is the identity that evolves in response to our egos needs. And the second identity is the one that is uncontaminated by the world of subjective human perceptions, which I will refer to as our Desert Island identity or DIIDnot to be confused with Freuds Id. We are all born with an innocent Desert Island Identity and yet, with every minor and major pain we experience from birth onwards, we evolve coping mechanisms or personality traits that contribute to the development of our ego-self. The ego-self is determined by the attributes we inherit like race and gender, as well as those we acquire through our experiences.

Good or bad, your ego-self is a false self that is for the most part, at least in the initial stages of our spiritual maturation, nothing more than a product of our circumstances. For all practical purposes, our ego is our identity, and its primary role is its own self-defense. What we defend ourselves against becomes who we are.

We are defined by our struggles.

As a Muslim, I do not think of the ego as an enemy to be conquered. I merely acknowledge its role in my life on earth. And at times I salute my ego-self as the part of me designed to survive difficult circumstances. I believe this even though I know that our ego is finite and develops in relation to other finite beings, while our Desert Island Identity develops in relation to an infinite force, we call God.

In Eastern religious traditions, as well in some metaphysical New Age thought, those who identify exclusively with their DIID are called enlightened masters, mystics, or prophets. In the Islamic tradition, we are advised against identifying exclusively with one identity or the other. Mainstream Islamic religious practice is not designed to completely obliterate the ego, but rather to engage with it in a spiritual struggle called Jihad. The word Jihad has evolved to hold negative connotations, but it is in fact the traditionally noble term used to capture the meaning and essence of the cosmic negotiations between our two identitiesthe ego and the DIID. I did not use the term cosmic battle because we are not attempting to destroy the ego, we are merely struggling to subordinate it, in service to our higher self.

Those of us who live in free societies have multiple ego identifications. I am an American, but I am also a Muslim, a woman, a mother, a writer, a baker, a believer, a friend, and a community activist just to name a few. My ego identifies with all of the above. When any of the above identities feel threatened, I remain cognizant of the fact that they are all false crutches, and that my true identity is the one that exists apart from all these social constructions.

As long as I am free to develop my ego with enough freedom to cope with reality, then my ego becomes a means to an end and not the means to my end or the end of others.

There are three things that differentiate my ego from the ego of someone who perpetuates hate and may even engage in acts of violence:

First, hate is the emotional response of an ego whose thoughts and actions are unmitigated by the DIID. In other words, it is an ego that is disconnected from any kind of infinite spiritual orientation and can only achieve a sense of immortality by attaching itself to an ideal greater than itself, such as nationalism or tribalism.

Second, hate is the emotional response of an ego that develops a singular identity to the exclusion of all others, usually in response to a threat or a perceived threat to that specific identity.

Third, an ego that is driven by hate is by nature finite because it is singular and can therefore only survive if it congregates around other egos who share its singular identity. It makes no difference what singular identity a group gathers around, whether its race or religion or even a noble ideology. Every form of collective ego identification leads men to murder and hate. What we are dealing with, when we speak of hate, is a psychological state that has nothing to do with God and is only connected to religion in so far as its doctrines can be employed to inflate and empower the collective ego. Hate is not the attachment to ones own ego-self to the exclusion of ones Desert Island Identity. Hate is the detachment from both forms of identification in exchange for a collective identity. Hate is a social phenomenon that arises only in cultures or subcultures that do not honor the individual right to volitionally develop an ego, independently of others.

In authoritarian societies, hatred is inspired and dependent on a world where success is determined by the arbitrary whims of an elite, and where competition occurs, not on the basis of effort, but on the basis of inherited characteristics; A phenomenon commonly referred to as tribalism.

The remedy for this is not to turn exclusively to God and away from the world. (I might be peaceful and holy on a desert island, but I would not be useful).The solution to the proliferation of hate and bigotry is that we remain steadfast in the advancement of a political philosophy founded on two non-negotiable principles: individual rights and objective law. When the long-held theory of human nature as inherently evil finally yielded to the notion that man is innately moral and good, the world was forever transformed. It was this historical shift in our understanding of human nature, a nature with a DIID, that became the impetus for the actualization of the enlightenment ideals of individual right, objective law, liberalism, democracy, and faith in science.

The ability to craft our own ego identifications, while simultaneously believing that our true nature apart from all those social constructions is one of purity and goodness is a heroic psychological achievement; And the best counteragent to hate.

In a free society, we are who we pretend to beand I choose to pretend, to be stronger than I am, and more determined than I feel so that I can wage a victorious jihad against hate. Meanwhile, on a beautiful island far, far away, I am totally perfect and one with God. And I didnt have to do a single thing to get here.

See the original post here:
The Anatomy of Hate | Inas Younis - Patheos

Anatomy

When Is Greys Anatomy Season 18 Coming Back? And More ImportantlyIs It the Final Season? – Cosmopolitan

Its been only a few months since the season 17 finale of Greys Anatomy aired, and I feel like I cant be the only one still processing what happened. I mean, Meredith is now running the residency program at Grey Sloan, and she may be in a RELATIONSHIP with Dr. McIrish. Teddy and Owen are all bood up for the moment, and Maggie and Winston are married! Honestly, its the perfect ending to a v chaotic seasonand Im kinda ready for more.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

If youre like me, theres one major question on your mind: When is Grey's Anatomy season 18 coming to our screens and giving us the perfect Thursday-night watch party? We know the show just got renewed, but COME ONwe need to get Meredith back on TV soon!

Well, lucky for you, there are some answers to this very important question.

Luckily for us, the series will be back soon. ABC announced that Greys Anatomy season 18 will premiere on September 30. Itll also stick to its Thursday at 9 p.m. ET time slot, so make sure to mark your calendars accordingly or you might get hit with spoilers when you open Twitter as it airs.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

That is up to Shondaland to determine for us. We do know this: Most of the cast members have renewed their contracts through a possible season 19 (thank god), so there will likely be lots of familiar faces. As for new people, Meredith is now running the residency program, so we can probably expect a newly minted doc or two. TBD!

Again, youd need to speak to Shondaland! Deadline did make it extremely clear that Ellen Pompeo signed just a one-year extension contract, and TBH, she cant do this show forever. Coupled with the exits of some big names on season 18 like Jesse Williams, Ellen might just hang up her latex gloves and call it a day.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

That said: Nothing is what it seems in the world of television. After all, we all thought season 17 would be the last time wed see the staff of Grey Sloan. And look what happened there! So really, theres no telling with this show. And with its extremely dedicated fan base? Um, yeah, theres definitely more to this.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

More here:
When Is Greys Anatomy Season 18 Coming Back? And More ImportantlyIs It the Final Season? - Cosmopolitan

Anatomy

Anatomy into the battle of supporting or opposing reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter: A temporal and spatial analysis – DocWire News

This article was originally published here

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 13;16(7):e0254359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254359. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

Reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a battle on social media. The supporters perceived that the lockdown policy could damage the economy and exacerbate social inequality. By contrast, the opponents believed it was necessary to contain the spread and ensure a safe environment for recovery. Anatomy into the battle is of importance to address public concerns, beliefs, and values, thereby enabling policymakers to determine the appropriate solutions to implement reopening policy. To this end, we investigated over 1.5 million related Twitter postings from April 17 to May 30, 2020. With the aid of natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning classifiers, we classified each tweet into either a supporting or opposing class and then investigated the public perception from temporal and spatial perspectives. From the temporal dimension, we found that both political and scientific news that were extensively discussed on Twitter led to the perception of opposing reopening. Further, being the first mover with full reopen adversely affected the public reaction to reopening policy, while being the follower or late mover resulted in positive responses. From the spatial dimension, the correlation and regression analyses suggest that the state-level perception was very likely to be associated with political affiliation and health value.

PMID:34255783 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0254359

See the original post here:
Anatomy into the battle of supporting or opposing reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter: A temporal and spatial analysis - DocWire News

Anatomy

Anatomy of an insurrection: How military veterans and other rioters carried out the Jan. 6 assault on democracy – Raw Story

More than six months after the storming of the US Capitol, more than 550 people have been arrested, with an estimated 800 people surging into the building during the hours-long assault. Members of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized right-wing paramilitary, and Proud Boys street fighters galvanized by then-President Trump's call to "stand back and stand by" have been indicted on conspiracy to disrupt Congress, which delayed the certification of Joe Biden as president by almost six hours.

"Every single person charged, at the very least, contributed to the inability of Congress to carry out the certification of our presidential election," prosecutors wrote in memorandum filed with the court on Tuesday.

The slow-moving tedium of prosecutorial legal machinery and the GOP campaign to deflect responsibility can make it easy to lose sight of the big picture of what transpired on Jan. 6. But based on an aggregate review of individuals cases, along with other sources, a Raw Story analysis of the critical events in the Jan. 6 siege reveals a striking degree of coordination, sustained and intentional violence, planning and preparation, and determined effort to disable the United States' critical governance apparatus by participants, including many with recent military experience. Many of the rioters who played critical roles in breaching the Capitol came away from the experience vowing to wage war against the United States. Few among those who are being prosecuted have expressed any remorse for their actions.

Amid the hundreds of prosecutions of Trump supporters motivated by the big lie, the GOP has punished lawmakers who fail to bear allegiance to the former president and run afoul of the party line that the election was stolen, while thwarting the House investigation into the events of Jan. 6. GOP intransigence makes it likely that the Democratic-led investigation will become reduced to another partisan snipe-fest, undermining its potential to hold people accountable and prevent future attempts to overturn democracy.

A handful of defendants, including Oath Keepers members, have pleaded guilty, as fresh arrests fatten the docket weekly. Those recently charged are not minor players: In addition to people who trashed media equipment and assaulted reporters, they include the first boogaloo-identified rioter, with hints that there are more to come, and a man who organized a resistance cell under the cover of a Bible study. Critically, the FBI has yet to make an arrest for bombs that were planted outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters on the eve of the insurrection. Even under the most optimistic scenario, the prosecutions are likely to drag on for years: Among the few cases set for trial, white nationalist Christian Secor isn't scheduled to begin deliberations until January 2022.

Beyond the chaotic events that took place when hundreds of Trump supporters unleashed mayhem on the Capitol, it remains unknown to what degree, if any, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers coordinated their actions. And beyond Trump's feverish promotion of the Jan. 6 "Save America" rally and instruction to his followers to "walk down to the Capitol," it also remains to be seen whether the siege may have been directed by the president or his surrogates through intermediaries such as Trump confidant Roger Stone or "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander.

Notably, the mob began its advance on the Capitol well before Trump had finished speaking at the Ellipse, suggesting that key players had decided in advance to disrupt the certification of the electoral vote, while Trump's exhortations mobilized thousands more to reinforce the riot that was already unfolding at the seat of American government.

'Back the yellow'

On Jan. 5 at 8:28 p.m., some 60 Proud Boys on an encrypted channel named "Boots on the Ground" received instructions from an as-yet-unnamed individual, according to government court documents. "Everyone needs to meet at the Washington Monument at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning!" the message read. "Do not be late! Do not wear colors! Details will be laid out at the pre-meeting. Come out as a patriot!"

Marching towards the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, Proud Boys an anti-democratic group that cloaks its white supremacy under a soft cover of "Western chauvinism" chanted, "Where's antifa?" Many carried Baofeng walkie-talkies and wore earpieces. The Proud Boys had previously clashed with antifascists adversaries in the streets of Washington DC during pro-Trump rallies on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, but on Jan. 6 they didn't find any leftists to fight.

Proud Boys' de-facto leader on Jan 6 is raising money 'to make ends meet': reportEthan Nordean

"Back the yellow," Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean aka Rufio said through a megaphone. Then referring to the arrest of Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio two days earlier and the stabbing of four members on Dec. 12, Nordean seemed to address the police: "You took our boy in, and you let the stabber go. You guys got to prove your shit to us now. We'll do your goddamn job for ya."

Video livestreamed by California Proud Boy Eddie Block shows that the group had made it to the west side of the Capitol by around 11:20 a.m. Trump had tweeted the day before that he would be speaking at the Ellipse at 11 a.m. Had he started on time, the Proud Boys would have been in place in front of the Capitol while he was speaking. But Trump did not start speaking until noon, leaving the Proud Boys time to kill.

Proud Boy Dan 'Milkshake' Scott arrested after assaulting police at Capitol Dan Scott followed by Wall Street Journal during Jan. 6 attack (Photo: Screen capture)

At around 11:47 a.m., the Proud Boys stopped on the east side of the Capitol and milled around. While lining up for a group photo, Proud Boy Dan Scott aka Milkshake yelled, "Let's take the f***ing Capitol." An unidentified individual admonished him: "Let's not f***ing yell that, all right?"

About five minutes after the photo op, Block's livestream shows that the group started moving north towards Constitution Avenue. The Proud Boys took a break next to a row of food trucks outside of the Department of Labor for roughly 35 minutes.

While the Proud Boys were eating and resting, Trump was addressing his supporters a mile and a half away at the Ellipse.

"We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women," he said. "We're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong."

Christopher Quaglin, an unemployed electrician from New Jersey, livestreamed himself walking towards the Capitol.

"Trump is speaking and everyone is walking there," Quaglin said. "And I am walking there." He turned his camera to show the Capitol.

"And I am ready," Quaglin said, holding up a gas mask for viewers to see. "We will see how it goes. Proud of your boy."

At about 12:43 p.m., Ethan Nordean announced to the Proud Boys gathered beside the food trucks that they would be heading to the "roundabout," likely referring to Peace Circle, which aligns with the northwest approach to the Capitol.

Proud Boys leader Charles Donohoe (right) carried a riot shield that fellow Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola (left) stole from police and later used to shatter a Capitol window, allowing rioters to stream inside.(YouTube screengrabs courtesy US government)

Charles Donohoe, later described by a magistrate judge as a "trusted senior lieutenant" who was responsible for ensuring the group's secure communications," walked some distance ahead. A Marine Corps veteran, Donohoe served as president of the North Carolina Piedmont chapter of the Proud Boys. Nordean led the march, along with Joe Biggs, an Army veteran described by his lawyer in a legal filing as "a mainstay Proud Boy planner and organizer since 2018," and Zach Rehl, president of the Philadelphia chapter. The group paused for a moment on First Street, and Billy Chrestman, from the Kansas City chapter, conferred briefly with Nordean.

Proud Boy pal brags about role in Capitol attack - Raw Story ... (DOJ footage)

Around 12:45 p.m., as Trump was still speaking, the Proud Boys converged with a large crowd at Peace Circle, according to court documents. Along with Nordean, Biggs, Donohoe, Rehl, Block and Chrestman, the group included Proud Boys Dominic Pezzola, Matthew Greene and William Pepe. Pezzola, a Marine Corps veteran from Rochester, and Greene, an Army National Guard veteran with combat experience in Afghanistan, had traveled to DC together from Syracuse. Pepe, who was employed by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, had worked until midnight on Jan. 5, and spontaneously decided to drive through the night, according to a filing by his lawyer. Pepe had met Pezzola for the first time at a protest on Dec. 5, according to a filing on Pepe's behalf.

'Extensive history of violent and assaultive behavior'

While the Proud Boys and other Trump supporters massed at Peace Circle, Ryan Samsel of Bucks County, Pa. walked over to chat with Biggs, video from a recent New York Times visual investigation shows. It's not clear what they discussed. Federal investigators would later discover what government lawyers describe as "an extensive history of violent and assaultive behavior and of intimidation of witnesses" on Samsel's part. In opposing pre-trial release for Samsel, a government lawyer would write that Samsel's history showed a pattern of "choking and beating women to the point of loss of consciousness, of many hospital visits for many victims, of chipped and missing teeth, and of Samsel even breaking into a victim's home multiple times to assault her."

Pennsylvania Capitol rioter who attacked cop has a history of violence against women accusations: report Ryan Samsel (Photos: DOJ Indictment documents)

Biggs' lawyer, J. Daniel Hull, told Raw Story his client didn't know Samsel. "Joe doesn't know him," he said. "Never heard that name."

About a minute after speaking with Biggs, Samsel walked toward the barricades. As the first person to confront US Capitol police officers blocking the path, Samsel was in effect the spearpoint of the initial attack on the Capitol. According to a statement of facts supporting Samsel's charges, he and others pushed and pulled on the barricades, a series of metal bike racks reinforced with plastic mesh netting. In the process of throwing the barricades to the ground, they reportedly knocked over a police officer, causing her to hit her head on the stairs behind her, causing her to lose consciousness.

"We don't have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?" Samsel reportedly said, while picking her up off the ground. The officer, referenced in court documents as "O-1," was directed to go back to the West Terrace at the Capitol to regroup. Hours later, according to the government, she would black out and collapse while arresting another rioter and had to be transported to a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion.

After Samsel dismantled the first set of barriers, Proud Boys and other rioters streamed down the walkway. At the second set of barriers, Pepe and another rioter grabbed one of the bike racks and dragged it aside to allow the crowd to advance to a police line guarding the plaza on the west side of the Capitol, according to a government filing. (In a legal filing on Pepe's behalf, his lawyer described the scene differently: "People ahead of him threw barricades in his direction forcing him to push them out of the way to avoid being hit by them.")

Pezzola was one the first to reach the next police line, which was quickly overwhelmed by the crowd, according to the government. As rioters were pouring onto the plaza on the western side of the Capitol, Congress began the tally of electoral votes and Vice President Mike Pence released a letter declaring he did not have unilateral authority to overturn the results. Trump concluded his speech at the Ellipse at 1:11 p.m., reinforcing his call to action.

"So, we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue," Trump said. "We're going to give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don't need any of our help, we're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."

As scuffles broke at the Lower West Terrace in front of the Capitol, Pezzola wrested a riot shield away from a US Capitol police officer. During the melee, the government alleges that Donohoe helped Pezzola carry the shield, and that Donohoe reported in a group message to fellow Proud Boys on Telegram: "Got a riot shield."

'Lords of war'

By the time of the Capitol insurrection, Pezzola had become a celebrated figure in the Proud Boys, earning the praise of Chairman Enrique Tarrio for a news photo that showed him striking a menacing pose at the front of a line of Proud Boys in DC on Dec. 12. Tarrio shared the photo on Parler on Dec. 31, writing, "Lords of War. #J6 #J12."

Christopher Worrell (right).Screengrab via FBI complaint.

Other Proud Boys were also in the thick of the action. Billy Chrestman can be seen in video published by the New York Times rallying the mob with his back to the police line, shouting, "Whose House is it?... Do you want your House back?... Take it!" Around the same time, the government alleges that Christopher Worrell, a Proud Boy from Naples, Fla., sprayed pepper gel at police. The New York Times footage also shows rioters throwing bike racks.

Around 1:35 p.m., some in the crowd turned their focus from the plaza to a set of steps encased by scaffolding that had been set up for the inauguration. Worrell and Dan Scott aka Milkshake were positioned in the front line of that fight with officers at the lightly guarded entrance to the staircase. Footage shows the heavyset Scott heave his body against the police line and then briefly fall back, and others take advantage of an officer lunging at Scott to break through the line. The decision to take the staircase is described by the Times as a "pivotal move," noting that it provided "direct access to an upper level and dozens of doors and windows."

Among the first to ascend the stairs were Pezzola and Greene, the Proud Boys from central New York, along with Robert Gieswein, a Colorado Three Percenter dressed in full tactical gear and carrying a baseball bat who had marched with the Proud Boys.

While one group moved up the staircase, more rioters poured onto the Lower West Terrace. Less than 10 minutes after the staircase entrance was overrun, Jonathan Pollock, Olivia Pollock, Joseph Hutchinson, Joshua Doolin and Michael Perkins all from Florida moved into the plaza. Jonathan Pollock and an unknown person charged the police line with flagpoles, according to the government. Hutchison and another person grabbed a fence and pulled it away, allowing rioters to surge into the police line. Pollock reportedly jumped over other rioters to attack the police, grabbing an officer and pulling them down a short set of steps. After going down in a pile, Pollock is accused of punching two police officers and choking a third.

One rioter accused of sustained and continuous assaults on police is Christopher Quaglin, who reportedly accosted Metropolitan police officers on the Lower West Terrace at 1:36 p.m., yelling, "You don't want this fight. You do not want this f***ing fight. You are on the wrong side. You're going to bring a f***ing pistol, I'm going to bring f***ing cannon."

More than 30 minutes later, still battling police on the Lower West Terrace Plaza, Quaglin is accused of shoving an officer. A government motion in Quaglin's case indicates that Quaglin was seen interacting with Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean, and prosecutors also say Nordean grabbed Quaglin by the shoulder to stop him after he pushed the officer.

In a motion filed on behalf of Nordean, his lawyer wrote, "Nordean notes that he does not know or have any relationship with Quaglin."

Quaglin at one time claimed to be a member of the Proud Boys, according to evidence presented by the government. In a Nov. 3 social media post, Quaglin reportedly posted a photo of the Proud Boys, writing, "Proud to be one." But in social media chats from Nov. 6 that were retrieved by investigators, Quaglin indicated he was organizing a group of his own. "I have been beginning a group for 2 years," he wrote. "Proud boys don't even know about it."

Court documents also indicate Quaglin told an acquaintance that he was considering joining the Proud Boys and had met with members of the organization in New York.

Regardless of whether he was a member of the Proud Boys or not, he was familiar enough with the group to post on social media on Dec. 26 about his plans for Jan. 6: "Bigger the group the better. And we aren't repping any proud boy colors Fyi. Keeping it as invisible as we can."

Enrique Tarrio Enrique Tarrio (CNN screensho)

That was three days before Chairman Enrique Tarrio posted on Parler: "The Proud Boys will turn out in record numbers on Jan 6th but this time with a twist." He continued: "We will not be wearing our traditional Black and Yellow. We will be incognito and we will spread across downtown DC in smaller teams."

'Patriots storming the Capitol building'

Dominic Pezzola.Photo from DOJ memorandum in support of pretrial detention.

At 2:13 p.m., while members of the House and Senate deliberated in their respective chambers over an objection filed by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola used the stolen riot shield to smash out a window accessed from the West Terrace.

Kevin Seefried. Kevin Seefriend (DOJ complaint screengrab)

Michael Sparks of Kentucky was the first rioter to enter the Capitol through breached window, according to the Times investigation. The first group through window included Pezzola; Robert Gieswein, the Three Percenter wielding a baseball bat; QAnon follower Doug Jensen; Kevin Seefried, carrying a Confederate flag; and his son, Hunter Seefried.

FBI flooded with over 230,000 tips as they hunt hundreds more ...www.rawstory.com

Almost immediately, an unidentified man wearing a helmet kicked open the adjacent doors, allowing more rioters to enter the Capitol. Joe Biggs, the Proud Boys planner and organizer, walked through the doors about two minutes later. In the first five minutes, Zachary Alam, a laid-off hotel concierge from Washington DC, also entered the building through the compromised doors.

The Oath Keepers, a competing far-right group, mobilized slowly, relative to the Proud Boys.

Around the same time that Pezzola breached the Capitol on the west side, the Oath Keepers' designated "ground leader" for Jan. 6 a man known as "Whip" wrote in the group's Leadership Signal chat: "The [sic] have taken ground at the capital[.] We need to regoup any members who are not on mission."

Roughly 20 minutes later, according to the government, Oath Keepers Roberto Minuta, Joshua James and Jonathan Walden would race towards the Capitol in golf carts, swerving around police vehicles, after Minuta and James provided a personal security detail to Trump confidant Roger Stone.

"Patriots are storming the Capitol building; there's violence against patriots by the DC police, so we're en route in a grand theft auto golf cart to the Capitol building right now," Minuta reportedly yelled. "It's going down, guys; it's literally going down right now. Patriots storming the Capitol building. F***ing war in the streets right now. Word is they got in the building. Let's go."

'Mind-blowing' range of charges coming for hundreds in Capitol coup including 'sedition and conspiracy' A pro-Trump mob enters the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.. - Win McNamee/AFP North America/TNS

There is some evidence of communication between the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys related to Jan. 6. Kelly Meggs, who would be named Florida "state lead" for the Oath Keepers, mentioned an alliance to an acquaintance in a Dec. 19 Facebook message sent the day after the second pro-Trump rally in DC.

"Well, we are ready for the rioters," Meggs wrote. "This week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers and Proud Boys. We have decided to work together to shut this shit down."

Beyond his reference to "rioters," the timing of Meggs' statement one day after right-wing Trump supporters clashed with leftist adversaries strongly suggests that the target of Meggs' proposed alliance was antifascist counter-protesters, not the US government or law enforcement.

"Plus, we have made contact with PB and they always have a big group," Meggs wrote in a Facebook message a couple days later. "Force multiplier."

Then, he added: "I figure we could splinter off the main group of PB and come up behind them. F***ing crush them for good."

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio met briefly in a DC hotel parking garage on the eve of the Capitol insurrection, but there's no evidence they discussed plans for the events of the following day. Footage from a Channel 4 documentary shows the two men introducing themselves to one another. "I don't consider him an enemy; I didn't consider him an enemy before we just had our differences," Tarrio later told the interviewer. "We don't normally work with other groups. That's just not."

Sen. Mitt Romney and Officer Eugene Goodman. (Screengrab from surveillance video)

While the Oath Keepers were scrambling to get in place on the east side of the Capitol, rioters were streaming into the building from the west side thanks to the entry breached by Pezzola. According to the New York Times, it took only two minutes for rioters to make it from the breach to the Senate doors. As the Times investigation details, Officer Eugene Goodman rushed downstairs as the Senate was being evacuated and intercepted the rioters.

"Where are they counting the votes?" a rioter can be heard shouting at Goodman. The Times footage shows lawmakers fleeing behind the rioters, with only one officer standing guard.

The link between Trumpland, QAnon, evangelical culture and child-sex predators Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman. Win McNamee, AFP

Goodman ran up the stairs, pursued by QAnon follower Doug Jensen, luring them into a hallway where backup officers were waiting. In addition to Jensen, the mob at that point included Robert Gieswein; Kevin Siefried; brothers Jerod and Joshua Hughes from Montana; and Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman."

"He believed he was preventing the certification of President Biden," Judge Timothy J. Kelly said during Jensen's detention hearing on Tuesday. "He thought he was taking part in actions that would result in arrest of members of Congress and Vice President Pence."

Before ordering Jensen's release, Kelly observed that Jensen "recognizes he bought into a pack of lies." While noting that Jensen's expressions of remorse might have an element of convenience considering that he's facing serious criminal charges, Kelly said "they do distinguish Mr. Jensen from many other defendants."

A Marine leads the charge through the Columbus Doors

About 10 minutes after Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola breached the Capitol from the West Terrace, a mob was massed outside the Columbus Doors, which provide access to the Rotunda from the east side. Three rioters who had entered the Capitol from elsewhere were trying to push the doors open while US Capitol Police officers battled the mob outside, according to a government filing.

Christopher Warnagiris, an active-duty Marine Corps officer stationed at Quantico, was the first to push through the Columbus Doors, according to prosecutors, at 2:25 p.m. At that moment, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes summoned his members to the southeast side of the Capitol.

Only a minute earlier, Trump had sent a tweet condemning Vice President Mike Pence, whom his supporters now regarded as a traitor.

Warnagiris entering Columbus Doors, surveillance footage

Once inside the Capitol building, Warnagiris positioned his body near the entrance to keep the door open and reached for other rioters to pull them inside. Charging documents also indicate that Warnagiris struggled with an officer attempting to regain control of the entrance.

As the trickle through the Columbus Doors became a raging stream of euphoric rioters, about 10 Oath Keepers dressed in tactical gear snaked up the outside steps in the "stack" formation with hands on each other's shoulders. Kenneth Harrelson and Jason Dolan, two military veterans from Florida, were already at the top of the steps by then. At about 2:39 p.m., according to the government, the Oath Keepers entered the Capitol building.

Alleged Oath Keepers storming the U.S. Capitol during insurrection.( Department of Justice screengrab)

Once in the Rotunda, Oath Keepers Jessica Watkins, Donovan Crowl, Sandra Parker, Graydon Young, Laura Steele and William Isaacs headed down a hallway towards the Senate, as rioters chanted "F*** McConnell," but police pushed them back into the Rotunda by deploying chemical irritant, according to the government. With the access to the Senate blocked, Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Connie Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jason Dolan and Joseph Hackett started walking southbound towards the House of Representatives.

"He apparently was searching for at least one member of Congress in particular House Speaker Nancy Pelosi," Judge Amit Mehta reflected in an order to keep Kelly Meggs in pre-trial detention. Mehta cited an exchange on Signal in which an unidentified acquaintance told Meggs on the evening of Jan. 6 that he "was hoping to see Nancy's head rolling down the front steps."

"We looked forward her," Meggs reportedly responded. (Mehta surmised that "forward" was likely a typo and that Meggs actually intended to say, "We looked for her.")

'Break it down!'

Zachary Alam (courtesey DOJ filing)

Zachary Alam, who had entered the Capitol through the window breached by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola roamed the building for roughly 40 minutes, eventually joining a mob that formed outside the doors to the Speaker's Lobby, adjacent to the House chamber. Thomas Baranyi of New Jersey, Phillip Bromley of Alabama, and Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and QAnon supporter from San Diego, Calif. also joined the mob. The scene was captured by John Sullivan, a veteran of the previous summer's police accountability protests with a dubious reputation among Black Lives Matter activists. In addition to documenting the events, Sullivan repeatedly encouraged and celebrated the mayhem, and can be heard in his video addressing one of the officers guarding the doors to the Speaker's Lobby by saying, "We want you to go home. I'm recording and there's so many people and they're going to push their way up here. Bro, I've seen people out there get hurt. I don't want to see you get hurt."

As described in an affidavit supporting charges, Alam repeatedly punched the glass panels of the doors, causing the glass to shatter, and then pushed his body against Capitol police officers guarding the door. The Capitol police officers moved aside, as officers in riot gear appeared behind the crowd of rioters. The changeover resulted in a critical gap that allowed Alam and the other rioters to escalate. After the first set of officers withdrew, according to the government, Alam took a helmet from another rioter and struck the middle panel, further shattering it, as others chanted, "Break it down!" and "Let's f***ing go." Babbitt hoisted her body through one of the windows broken out by Alam, and with a single discharge a Capitol police officer on the other side fatally shot her in her front left shoulder. Babbitt fell backwards, instantly becoming a martyr to MAGA loyalists, Proud Boys and an even more extreme faction of white nationalists who advocate for racial separation.

Only three minutes before Babbitt's shooting at 3 p.m., the Washington Post has reported, lawmakers, including Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) were being evacuated through the Speaker's Lobby.

The government has singled out Alam among the rioters surrounding Babbitt for his "unhinged, violent actions at the front of that volatile mob."

Battle of the Lower West Terrace tunnel

While rioters poured into the Capitol building from both ends, others continued to engage US Capitol police, Metropolitan police and other agencies in a furious battle on the Lower West Terrace, tying up law enforcement resources and resulting in countless injuries. Officers fought to hold their position and deny entry through the prominent entrance leading into the Capitol through a short tunnel and series of glass doorways.

Photosretrieved from Thomas Webster's phone, via DOJ

Among those who joined the battle was Thomas Webster, a retired New York City police officer who had previously worked the security detail for City Hall and Gracie Mansion. Webster is accused of choking a police officer, causing him to lose consciousness and to not be able to breathe for 10 minutes.

Thomas Webster, unsourced photo published by DOJ

By 2:40 p.m., according to a government filing in the prosecution of Pennsylvania resident Robert Morss, rioters had "engulfed" the west side of the Capitol and were "climbing on the scaffolding in front of the build as well as various features of the building."

Robert Morss, Battle of the Tunnel, screen from unsourced YouTube videos via DOJ

See the rest here:
Anatomy of an insurrection: How military veterans and other rioters carried out the Jan. 6 assault on democracy - Raw Story

Anatomy

Dublin Greys Anatomy actor admits he nearly quit acting before landing huge Hollywood role – Dublin Live

A Greys Anatomy actor who hails from Dublin admitted to nearly quitting acting before landing a huge Hollywood role.

Richard Flood is an Irish actor best known for the character Tommy McConnel in Crossing Lines; James McKay in Red Rock and Ford in Shameless.

But recently, the Dubliner has made it over in the States as he is currently a main character on a hit ABC show.

Flood is working alongside the top talent in America as he plays McWidow, AKA Dr. Cormac Hayes on Grey's Anatomy.

Speaking to The Sunday Independent about his new life in Los Angeles, the actor said: Its great but its a different world. Ive always found it quite tough.

If youre working, people love you and if youre not, they dont care.

There are so many homeless people now and theres a juxtaposition of people who have massive wealth, and then people who cant treat their mental health issues and live in extreme poverty.

The 38-year-old opened up about the difficult times in his career, he said: It got so bad I was thinking of packing it in.

I was thinking, Enough is enough.

There are big egos in this business. I find the biggest egos are the actors who are nearly famous or a little bit famous.

The top guys are more secure.

Recalling the moment he landed the role, Richard said: I flew out and landed on the Friday and I had an email from my agent saying Will you meet the Greys Anatomy people on Tuesday?

He met with showrunner Krista Vernoff and actress Ellen Pompeo, who plays Dr Meredith Grey in the show, the Irish actor was offered the part.

Richard travelled back to his wife Gabriella before starting his new acting job.

He said: I was just feeling such relief on that journey. Ive had to take that flight when things havent worked out so I was just really grateful that this time they had.

Greys Anatomy airs on RTE 2 every Tuesday at 9.40pm.

See original here:
Dublin Greys Anatomy actor admits he nearly quit acting before landing huge Hollywood role - Dublin Live

Cell Biology

Synthetic Biology Could Be the Next Big Thing. Here Are 3 Stocks. – Barron’s

Synthetic biology is in its infancy, but its drawing comparisons to the internet of a generation ago. Bill Gates, Cathie Wood, and venture capitalist John Doerr are among those who are investing in synthetic biology companies.

What excites investors is the promise of programming the DNA of microorganisms like yeast as if they were computers and getting them to produce products more cheaply and with a lower carbon footprint than traditional manufacturing.

Synthetic biology could reduce the need for petroleum-based chemicals as well as for plant- and animal-based products, benefiting the environment. Proponents say that the total addressable market is over $1 trillion.

This is what it might have been like 25 years ago if some guy had walked up to you and said the internet was going to be an amazing investment and you had no idea what he was talking about, says Rick Schottenfeld, the general partner of the Schottenfeld Opportunities fund, an investor in Amyris. This is where we are with synthetic biology.

Yet for all the bold claims and hopes for an industry once known as industrial biotech, revenue overall currently totals less than $1 billion. And no one is making a profit.

Synthetic biology has so far produced mostly niche products like squalane, a moisturizer formerly sourced from shark liver; vitamin E; a sugar substitute; and vanillin. Amyris, which makes an estimated 70% of the worlds squalane using engineered yeast cells and sugar cane, says its efforts have saved as many as three million sharks a year.

The small scale of the industry at present hasnt dimmed investor interest in the three main plays on synthetic biology: Amyris (ticker: AMRS), Zymergen (ZY), and Ginkgo Bioworks. Ginkgo is due to go public in the current quarter through a merger with Soaring Eagle Acquisition (SRNG), a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It will be renamed Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings.

Investors may want to take a basket approach to the stocks. The combined market value of the three is $25 billion.

Synthetic biology, which blends biotechnology and industrial chemistry, isnt an easy concept to grasp. The magic of biology, Ginkgo CEO Jason Kelly has noted, is that cells run on something akin to a computers digital code. Instead of zeros and ones, the four DNA base pairs adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine guide cells.

Think of synthetic biology as hijacking the natural biology of the cell and reprogramming it to produce something of interest, says Doug Schenkel, a Cowen analyst who has Outperform ratings on Amyris and Zymergen. Rather than have yeast make beer, you hijack it to make the scent of a flower.

Programming DNA, of course, is harder than programming computers, but progress is coming quickly.

With impressive DNA coding capabilities, Ginkgo views itself as the industrys Amazon Web Services, working with companies in consumer, pharmaceutical, and agricultural areas to design microorganisms and cells from mammals to make desired products or drugs. It provided help to Moderna (MRNA) in its development of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Ginkgo is looking to build a platform to make biology and cells as easy to program as computers, says Kirsty Gibson, a portfolio manager at Baillie Gifford, which is buying stock in Ginkgo as part of the SPAC deal. Whats really exciting is that its not limited by industry verticalsagricultural, flavor and fragrances, pharmaceuticals, food.

Amyris controlling shareholder is one of the countrys most successful venture capitalists, John Doerr, who was an early investor in Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

I believe synthetic biology will continue to be a big part of making our planet healthier and our future more sustainable, Doerr tells Barrons. Amyris is delivering on the promise of synthetic biology. Doerr is chairman of Kleiner Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture-capital firm.

Synthetic-biology manufacturing often involves large fermentation tanks filled with genetically re-engineered microorganisms like yeast that are filtered out of the finished product. This manufacturing technique uses little energy, but is unproven on a major scale.

Amyris is the furthest along, based on revenue and products. It projects $400 million in 2021 sales and break-even results based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda. Amyris, whose shares trade around $13.50, is valued at $4 billion and looks like the best bet. Its CEO, John Melo, sees a potential $2 billion in sales and $600 million of Ebitda in 2025.

With an all-star investor lineup including Gates Cascade Investment, Ginkgo has generated the most buzz. Based on the SPAC transaction, it has the highest market value of the threeabout $18 billion. Its projected 2021 revenue, however, is very modest, about $100 million.

Perhaps reflecting its lofty valuation, Soaring Eagle Acquisition shares havent budged since the May SPAC deal. The result is that investors can buy the stock for $9.95, a slight discount to the price of $10 at which several prominent investment firms including Cathie Woods Ark Investment Management and Baillie Gifford, an early backer of Tesla (TSLA), agreed to invest $775 million as part of the SPAC merger with Ginkgo.

Ginkgo calls its microorganism design fees foundry revenues. It has royalty deals or equity stakes in 54 partners, and is working with Bayer (BAYRY), Roche Holding (RHHBY), Sumitomo Chemical (4005.Japan), and Robertet (RBT.France), a maker of flavors and fragrances.

Zymergen, which went public in April at $31, is focused on consumer electronics. It has developed a durable optical film called Hyaline, which can be used on foldable cellphones and tablets. Now trading around $35, Zymergen is valued at $3.5 billion. SoftBank Goups (SFTBY) venture fund and Baillie Gifford are investors.

E=estimate. *SRNG is in the process of merging with Ginkgo Bioworks, with the result of Ginkgo becoming a publicly-traded company. **Since IPO earlier this year. Note: Ginkgo sales are foundry only; SRNG market value is post Ginkgo merger.

Sources: Bloomberg; company reports; HSBC

Amyris shares have doubled this year as the company has delivered strong revenue growth.

Amyris takes sugar, selling for under 50 cents per kilogram (22 cents a pound), and converts it into skin creams and other direct consumer-care products that retail for over $50 for a 50 milliliter bottle (1.7 ounces), wrote HSBC analyst Sriharsha Pappu in initiating coverage of Amyris with a Buy rating and $20 price target.

The company uses bioengineered yeast to produce an array of products from sugar cane, including vitamin E, squalane, vanillin (the flavoring for vanilla), and a sugar substitute using a compound called Reb M that is normally found in the stevia plant.

The vanillin, CEO Melo says, is equivalent in quality to Madagascar vanillin and is sustainably produced from sugar cane. We dont have to worry about water or land use or child labor. Madagascar is the worlds top producer of vanillin.

Cosmetics are a major focus. Amyris launched the Biossance line of products in 2017, selling directly to consumers and through retailers like Sephora. A major ingredient in many Biossance products is squalane, a version of squalene, a naturally occurring moisturizer in the skin.

Melo sees the companys consumer branded business, including Biossance and Purecane, a sugar substitute, as the key growth drivers. Up next is an acne product. Amyris is also an ingredient supplier. Melo sees branded products generating $150 million of sales this year, up from about $50 million in 2020, and topping $300 million in 2022.

Amyris has introduced its own brands and built its own factories, in contrast with Ginkgo, which pursues an asset-light strategy of developing microorganisms and letting partners do the manufacturing and marketing.

Our focus and what makes us successful is that weve figured out which products to go into first to drive real revenue and a business rather than being a science experiment, says Melo, who isnt fond of the Ginkgo approach, saying that it has yielded little in the way of recurring revenue so far. Having your own factory is critical. It [manufacturing] is the bottleneck today for unleashing the power of synthetic biology.

Newsletter Sign-up

Get a sneak preview of the top stories from the weekend's Barron's magazine. Friday evenings ET.

It also matters for profits. When we sell a kilo of squalane directly to the consumer, we get $2,500 per kilo, Melo says. When I sell it to another beauty company, I am getting about $30 per kilo. $30 versus $2,500think about that math.

Randy Baron, a portfolio manager at Pinnacle Associates, believes that there is huge potential in Amyris. It could generate 35% top-line growth for the next decade-plus, he says. Trading at a big discount to Ginkgo, Amyris could hit $30 by the end of this year and $75 by the end of 2022, he says.

Zymergens goal is to develop bioengineered products in half the time and at a tenth the cost of conventional manufacturing. None of its products are on the market yetits Hyaline film is now being evaluated by partners. Zymergen is also developing an insect repellent free of DEET, a chemical that makes many consumers uneasy.

Zymergen has a large addressable market, and it can work with different host microbes, says Cowen analyst Schenkel, referring to yeast, bacteria, and fungi. He has an Outperform rating on the stock. If it can succeed with Hyaline, there will be greater confidence that it can succeed with some of the 10 other disclosed products in development.

Ginkgo generates revenue from allowing companies to use its cell-programming infrastructure. In a presentation, Ginkgo projected that cell programming, or foundry revenue, would rise to $1.1 billion in 2025 from $100 million this year.

CEO Kelly says this revenue understates the value creation because of the royalties or the equity stakes in its customers, which the company put at roughly $500 million. Ginkgo projected that it could have over 500 partner programs by 2025, up almost tenfold from now. Kelly says it will take time for royalties to materialize, but the rising value of the stakes is an indication of value creation.

We are effectively an app store or ecosystem for folks to write cell programs and bring them to market, he says. We improve with scale. The more programs we develop, the better it gets. Its a network effect.

The CEO plays down the manufacturing issue, noting that it isnt a problem in drug development, where the company has a focus. Amyris business is bringing products to market; Ginkgo is the app store, he says.

Its too early to say whether synthetic biology will live up to the hype, but these three stocks looked poised to manufacture gains for investors.

If a small percentage of programs that Ginkgo and Zymergen are working on become real, says Cowens Schenkel, the revenue numbers could get really big. The question is when does that happen and how much credit do you give them now.

Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com

Excerpt from:
Synthetic Biology Could Be the Next Big Thing. Here Are 3 Stocks. - Barron's

Cell Biology

Autophagy disruption may be at the root of early cognitive changes in Huntingtons disease – News-Medical.Net

Huntington's Disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms, and motor symptoms are often preceded by cognitive changes. Recent evidence indicates that autophagy plays a central role in synaptic maintenance, and the disruption in autophagy may be at the root of these early cognitive changes. Understanding this mechanism better may help researchers develop treatments for patients with HD early in their disease progression, report scientists in a review article published in the Journal of Huntington's Disease.

In this review, experts describe how autophagy, the cellular process responsible for clearing old or damaged parts of the cell, plays a critical role supporting synaptic maintenance in the healthy brain, and how autophagy dysfunction in HD may thereby lead to impaired synaptic maintenance and thus early manifestations of disease. The line of research discussed in this review represents a previously unexplored avenue for identifying potential disease-modifying therapies for HD.

Like many neurodegenerative conditions affecting primarily cognition, such as Alzheimer's disease, preclinical and clinical data indicate that synapses, the part of brain cells responsible for communication between cells, are affected early in HD. We have long thought that autophagy played a role in the pathophysiology of HD, but what this role is has been unclear until recently. Recent evidence indicates that autophagy may be important in maintaining the synapse. This line of research has the potential to lead to identification of a drug target to treat HD early in the disease process."

Hilary Grosso Jasutkar, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, and Ai Yamamoto, PhD, Departments of Neurology and Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

The authors first explore how cognitive dysfunction is an early manifestation of HD, and that similarly to other neurodegenerative diseases that primarily affect cognition, such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia, early deficits in synaptic function may underlie these cognitive symptoms. Next, they review the growing evidence that the lysosome-mediated degradation pathway autophagy plays a central role in synaptic maintenance, and how the disruption in autophagy may contribute to early cognitive changes in HD.

The authors conclude that there are pathologic and imaging data in individuals with mutations in the Huntingtin protein (mHtt), as well as evidence from animal models with HD, that suggest that synapse dysfunction may occur early in HD, prior to cell death.

"Autophagy plays a specialized role in the maintenance and function of the synapse, and mHtt may disrupt this function, leading to the early synaptic changes seen in HD patients and model systems," explained Dr. Grosso Jasutkar. "These synaptic changes may then manifest as impairments in synaptic plasticity and thus cognitive changes early in the disease course. Given that neurons rely on synaptic input and feedback for cell health, it is possible that this disruption in synaptic signaling in and of itself contributes to cell death in HD."

"There is much work yet to be done in this field," added Dr. Yamamoto. "Although various groups have demonstrated individual components of this pathway, a direct causal relationship of mutant Htt leading to synaptic dysfunction and, in turn, cognitive impairments, has yet to be demonstrated."

"If the model described here is borne out, therapeutics aimed at enhancing the efficiency of synaptic autophagy early in the course of HD could be protective against early cognitive changes and potentially degeneration itself," concluded the authors.

HD is a fatal genetic neurodegenerative disease that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. An estimated 250,000 people in the United States are either diagnosed with, or at risk for, the disease. Symptoms include personality changes, mood swings and depression, forgetfulness and impaired judgment, unsteady gait, and involuntary movements (chorea). Every child of an HD parent has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene. Patients typically survive 10-20 years after diagnosis.

Source:

Journal reference:

Grosso Jasutkar, H & Yamamoto, A., (2021) Do Changes in Synaptic Autophagy Underlie the Cognitive Impairments in Huntingtons Disease?. Journal of Huntington's Disease. doi.org/10.3233/JHD-200466.

Read this article:
Autophagy disruption may be at the root of early cognitive changes in Huntingtons disease - News-Medical.Net

Cell Biology

Professor’s Drive to Help the Community Gets Underway for 13th Year | Newsroom – UC Merced University News

Merced is a community with a lot of poverty, made worse with the Great Recession in 2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic. To help people in need, Professor Patti LiWang has been leading a diaper and toilet paper drive for the past 12 years.

When we moved here, the recession hit. It was hard for us, a two-income family, so I understood it must be much harder for one- and low-income families, she said. Then I read an interview with a social worker who said she had seen people re-using diapers and taking napkins from fast-food restaurants for toilet paper. I thought we had to do something.

She arranged to put a donation box in the Science and Engineering 1 Building, where her department, Molecular and Cell Biology, is housed and told everyone she knew about the drive. People began donating, sometimes boxes of diapers, sometimes money. Over the years, a few others put donation boxes in their buildings and helped gather more goods.

LiWang takes the donations to the Merced County Food Bank, which distributes them either directly or through many local food pantries.

Last year, during the pandemic lockdown, LiWang took more monetary donations and gathered some boxes of diapers and packages of toilet paper from peoples front porches and doorsteps contact-free and managed to donate more than 6,000 diapers.

We need all size diapers, all size packages, she said. I usually buy the Target brand because the name-brands are more expensive, but we accept any kind.

The drive has begun for this year. Theres a donation box in S&E1 near the vending machines and one at the Downtown Campus Center near the Public Relations Department on the first floor.

If you would like to host a box in your building and can serve as the point person to let LiWang know when donations are ready for pickup, or if you would like to donate money (cash or checks), email LiWang. She also has a Venmo account, @Patricia-LiWang, to accept donations.

Continued here:
Professor's Drive to Help the Community Gets Underway for 13th Year | Newsroom - UC Merced University News