Tag: billionaires

High Court of Kenya suspends Bill Gates’ special privileges and immunity

In October, the Kenyan government granted the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (“BMGF”) special privileges as part of an agreement for cooperation.  The privileges were also extended to the employees of the foundation.

On 4 October 2024, the Privileges and Immunities (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) Order, 2024, was gazetted in Kenya.  The order, made on 19 September under the authority of the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, recognised BMGF as a charitable trust and granted BMGF privileges and immunities status in Kenya under the Privileges and Immunities Act.

BMGF was granted privileges similar to those of diplomatic officials and allowed the BMGF “to engage in contracts, legal actions and property transactions within the country” and granted the foundation “tax exemptions and immunity from legal actions related to their official duties,” leaving many Kenyans “with raised eyebrows,” media outlet Kenyans reported.

“The decision to extend diplomatic immunity has sparked widespread debate over accountability. Critics argue that the privileges shield the Foundation from legal scrutiny, setting a dangerous precedent,” Capital News reported.

On 11 November, the Law Society of Kenya filed a legal challenge against the government to have the special privileges recalled arguing that it undermines public interest and constitutional principles.

“In a letter, Kenyan High Court Advocate Dr. Owiso through Dullo & Company Advocates argued that granting privileges and immunities to private foundations, including their officials and expatriate employees, had implications on Kenya’s sovereignty,” The Kenya Times wrote.

On 25 November the High Court temporarily suspended BMGF’s special privileges and immunities status while the court case is ongoing.

In his ruling, Justice Bahati Mwamuye prohibited BMGF and its directors, officers, staff, and agents acting under its authority from enjoying or continuing to enjoy any privileges and immunities under the Privileges and Immunities Act. He warned that failure to heed the court orders will attract legal consequences.

The Law Society of Kenya has until 26 November 2024, to serve the application and petition to all respondents, while responses are due by 10 December 2024.

Justice Mwamuye also directed the respondents to collect and preserve all documentation related to the privileges granted to BMGF, to be included in their court responses.

The case will be mentioned on 5 February 2025, to confirm compliance and set a priority hearing date for the hearing of written submissions, The Eastleigh Voice reported.

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Elon Musk Says DOGE Will Audit The IRS

Elon Musk, new co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency declared this week that the new outfit will seek to audit the IRS.

It started with Musk asking X users what they think should happen to the IRS budget, given that it just asked for an increase of $20 billion.

Musk then responded to a post imagining the IRS being audited.

Is Musk serious? Probably.

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Elon Musk Responds As British Government “Summons” Him To ‘Disinformation’ Hearing

X owner Elon Musk has fired back at the news that British MPs will “summon” him to their parliament to address allegations of spreading ‘disinformation’.

GB News reports that “An inquiry in the House of Commons is meaning to investigate the rise of ‘harmful’ AI content online by calling tech heavyweights to probe the ‘spread of content that can mislead and harm.’”

The report adds that “Labour’s select committee chairwoman, MP Chi Onwurah has called on the Tesla and SpaceX owner to explain his alleged ‘promotion of pure disinformation.’”

Musk responded in typical fashion on X, writing that British MPs “will be summoned to the United States of America to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens.’”

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‘A Little Dystopian’: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates Bankrolling Methane Vaccine for Cattle

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is investing $9.4 million to develop a vaccine designed to reduce the number of methane-producing microbes in a cow’s stomach, Agriland reported.

The funding comes from his Bezos Earth Fund, a philanthropy he established with $10 billion in 2020. The fund intends to distribute all of its money by 2030, by funding projects to “fight climate change and protect nature.”

Researchers at the United Kingdom’s Pirbright Institute and Royal Veterinary College, and New Zealand’s AgResearch are among the groups receiving funding to research how a vaccine could reduce the methane emitted by cows as they digest and expel food through manure, flatulence and burping.

“Vaccines have proven to be an incredibly cost-effective way to deliver global health solutions,” said Bezos Earth Fund President and CEOAndrew Steer in a press release. “If we can apply this approach to vaccinate cattle and reduce emissions, the scalability and impact could be phenomenal.”

Although scientists have sporadically researched methane vaccines for over four decades, no vaccine yet exists. The project’s first goal is to show that such a vaccine is possible.

“This grant is a moonshot for proof-of-concept — risky bets like this are essential to tackling the climate crisis,” Steer said, according to Agriland.

The researchers will study how methanogens, or methane-producing microbes, colonize the digestive tract of calves and how their immune system responds to those methanogens.

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FDA approves Gates-backed bird flu vaccine trial: ‘Disaster waiting to happen’

The FDA has approved the first phase of human trials for a self-amplifying mRNA bird flu vaccine developed by Arcturus Therapeutics, funded by the US government and the Gates Foundation. This vaccine, targeting the H5N1 virus, introduces an enzyme prompting cells to produce more mRNA, leading to sustained antigen production, which experts warn could lead to prolonged immune activation and unknown health risks.

Epidemiologist Dr. Nicolas Hulscher described the FDA’s approval as an opportunity for Arcturus to “experiment with injecting humans with H5N1 bird flu replicon mRNA.” The clinical study is funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of HHS focused on pandemic preparedness. Arcturus also recently received a $928,563 grant from the Gates Foundation, which has long supported mRNA research.

Arcturus claims self-amplifying mRNA vaccines can provide immunity with smaller doses. However, Hulscher warned that even a small dose might be more hazardous due to the vaccine’s self-replicating nature, as the extent of antigen production cannot be precisely measured or controlled.

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Almost 15 years ago Bill Gates suggested a “death panel” system be implemented in the USA because palliative care wasn’t cost-effective

Bill Gates was interviewed at an Aspen Ideas Festival in 2010 and said that the USA must get medical costs under control and re-examine its funding priorities to prevent its education system from further erosion.  He said medical costs are dominating state and federal budgets in the form of Medicare and other payments, and fewer funds are available for education.

Gates told Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson that the USA had demonstrated an unwillingness to question if “spending $1 million on the last three months” of a person’s life is a cost-effective direction, especially considering the same amount of money can keep 10 teachers employed.

He called for the nation to do a better job of examining the benefits of costly end-of-life medical care.  “That’s called the death panel and you’re not supposed to have that discussion,” Gates said, taking a jab at critics of the health care bill that the US Congress had considered earlier that year.

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Elon Musk’s X Corp. Intervenes in Bankruptcy Case of Alex Jones’ Infowars with Surprise Filing

Attorneys for X Corp., the Elon Musk-founded firm that took over Twitter and rebranded it as X, have filed a notice of appearance in the bankruptcy case of Alex Jones and his Infowars platform.

On Thursday, The Onion purchased InfoWars at auction and plans to transform it into a satirical take on the iconic brand.

NBC News reported, “The Onion plans to shutter Jones’ InfoWars and rebuild the website featuring well-known internet humor writers and content creators, according to a person with knowledge of the sale.”

On the same day, a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas ordered an evidentiary hearing to scrutinize the transparency of the auction process.

Jones, in a video posted to X on Thursday, accused Connecticut Democrats and The Onion of orchestrating a backdoor deal to claim the platform. “They said, ‘It was competitive,’” Jones said.

“They changed all the bidding rules and made it secret two days ago. I had a bad feeling about this.”

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Elon Wins Again: Advertisers Who Boycotted X Have Returned

Remember when major companies including Disney pulled their advertising from X after Elon Musk took over, and then Elon told them to go fuck themselves?

Well, they’ve come crawling back.

Musk is suing Soros funded rabid leftist organisation Media Matters for suggesting that the ads were appearing next to “hate speech.”

In the meantime it appears that the huge companies involved have finally realised that shutting off their reach to half the planet on the world’s biggest platform isn’t the smartest of ideas.

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Elon Musk’s X Sues California Over Deepfake Law Seen as Threat to Free Speech

Elon Musk’s X has initiated legal action against the state of California, seeking to prevent the enforcement of a new statute mandating that major online platforms either remove or label deepfake election-related content, as a violation of the First Amendment, particularly for its impact on memes and satire.

We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.

The legal challenge was presented in a federal court earlier this week, focusing on legislation designed to curb the influence of artificially altered videos, images, and sounds, collectively known as deepfakes. The legislation is poised to become effective on January 1.

The law in question, Assembly Bill 2655, was signed as part of California’s efforts to safeguard the integrity of the upcoming 2024 US presidential election from the risks posed by technological manipulation. Governor Gavin Newsom, having clashed with Musk following Musk’s sharing of a parody video of Vice President Kamala Harris, aims to mitigate these alleged risks.

The legislation has sparked concerns among tech giants and free speech supporters, who understand that it suppresses user engagement and stifles free discourse and satire under the guise of curbing misinformation.

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FDA Greenlights New Bill Gates-Funded ARCT-2304 Self-Replicating samRNA ‘Pandemic’ H5N1 Bird Flu Jab

Arcturus Therapeutics, a company specializing in mRNA-based pharmaceuticals, quietly announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ARCT-2304, a self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) injection targeting the H5N1 avian influenza “bird flu” virus.

The FDA has recently come under fire for “failing to meet safety requirements” and “failing to prioritize scientific data quality delivered from FDA laboratories,” according to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The new Arcturus trial, funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), aims to assess ARCT-2304’s efficacy in preventing pandemic influenza and plans to enroll around 200 healthy adults across the United States.

“Arcturus is actively engaged with the U.S. government to prepare for the next pandemic, and clearance to proceed into the clinic with our STARR® self-amplifying mRNA technology is a key step in this important process,” said Joseph Payne, President & CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics in a press release.

“The Phase 1 clinical trial is designed to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of ARCT-2304 as a potential vaccine to protect against the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza.”

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