Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter Los Angeles, California

Sunday, December 31, 2023

False Claims About Israel, Jews, Jewish People Clarified by Mary Cummins

The amount of false claims, fake news and propaganda being spread about Israel and Jewish people on social media and main stream media is out of control. A few of my Facebook friends are supporting Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PLO, Palestine and their false and disgusting propaganda and antisemitism. I have Latino friends saying that Palestinians are like Native Americans and Israelis are like the Spaniard colonialists who claimed and took the Americas by force. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's the exact opposite. I really hope they are merely uneducated and were just brainwashed by the Hamas, terrorist paid propaganda. I'm writing this post to help clarify and educate about a few things for non Jews so people will stop supporting lying terrorists.

FTR I was born and raised Catholic. I grew up in Beverly Hills, California and most of my friends were, are Jewish. Most of my friend's grandparents were in the Holocaust and concentration camps. They had ID numbers tattoo'd on their arms. There was a lot of Jewish education at Beverly Hills High School and in the City. The main Holocaust TV series aired when I was growing up. I went to my friends Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. While I'm no Jewish scholar I do know a little about Jewish history for this reason.

Below are some of the main lies about Israel and Jewish people.

1. Israel is an apartheid state.

Apartheid means separation by race or ethnicity. There is NO separation of race or ethnicity in Israel. Arabs, Christians, Jews, white, black ... all go to the same public schools. They are allowed in all government positions. There is no segregation. Israel is the opposite of an apartheid state.

2. Israel is a colonialist state.

Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Israel has existed for thousands of years in the same location. It used to be, still is called Judea. The name Judea comes from the Hebrew name Yehudah. The term "Judea" has been used since 700 BCE to describe the area where the population was mostly Jewish. They are and have been occupying and settling their own country and land for about three thousands years. If you challenge any of this, you are called a racist by Hamas, unless you are racist against Jews. Then you are a "faithful ally of the oppressed." The Hamas propaganda twists everything around so that the victim is the perpetrator. Propaganda against Jews has been happening for centuries and it continues.

3. Israel is white supremacy

White supremacy is the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups. People in Israel are all different colors, ethnicities, cultures and religions. They are all treated equally. Most consider Israelis brown while some may have lighter skin because some were in Europe for generations. Here in the US they were never considered white. They were grouped with blacks, Mexicans, Italians, Native Americans, Asians... Real White Supremacists hate Jewish people and think they are inferior to whites. I'd consider Jews the opposite of white supremacy.

4. Zionism is terrorism.

Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. Zion is the biblical term for the land of Israel. Jews have lived in Israel aka Judea for thousands of years. They have the right to exist. If you don't think they have the right to exist, you're an antisemite who wants them dead and gone.

5. Israel bombs, kills women and children in Gaza

Israel is targeting Hamas who are hiding in hospitals, schools, refugee camps and private homes of Palestinian civilians. Hamas uses hostages, women and children like human shields.When Israel is going to target an area they warn the residents ahead of time telling them to move. They do this by dropping flyers and by loud speakers when able even though they know they are tipping off Hamas. Hamas on the other hand gives no warnings. They gave no warning on October 7, 2023 when they invaded Israel and raped, tortured, murdered, burned men, women and children. Hamas bombs, fires missiles at, kills Israelis every day. Israel has repeatedly asked for a cease fire and Hamas refuses. If Hamas were to stay away from civilians, no civilians would be killed. Israel's goal is not to kill civilians. Hamas intentionally surrounds itself with hostages, women and children in hospitals to protect Hamas. If they die, even by the hand of Hamas intentionally or by misfires, they blame Israel to try to get sympathy for their terrorist cause.

Israel is following the law in the war. They are fine targeting the enemy. Two civilians are sadly killed per each enemy combatant. While any civilian death is horrible the average in modern warfare is nine to one. This shows Israel is doing all it can be prevent civilian deaths. They even warn the civilians weeks in advance where they will be targeting and tell them to move. They even provide tents and food for the civilians.

It is a travesty than any civilians or any people die in this conflict. Hamas could end it by stopping their attack, releasing the hostages or surrendering but they don't. What gets me is people who say "Israel is killing children in Gaza." What about the children killed in Israel? They don't count? Their lives don't matter? Israel is being bombed almost every single day. Jews, Israelis die every day. I don't want anyone to be killed on either side.

6. Palestine should be free

Palestine has never existed as a true nation. They are considered part of Southern Syria by Arabs. Those in what is referred to as the state of Palestine rule themselves. They allegedly voted to allow the PLO and Hamas to rule them. They are as free as PLO and Hamas allow them to be. It's not up to Israel. The surrounding countries refuse to allow Palestinians to enter. Tell Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria ... to let them into their country. They have refused.

7. South African filed a suit with the UN against Israel stating they committed "genocide."

Any nation can file any suit for any reason. It doesn't mean it has merit or is based on fact. US President Biden stated it was "meritless." "U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby last week called the lawsuit “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”

South African did not even mention the October 7, 2023 attack in their suit. SA didn't include any video from the Oct 7 attack. They only included unverified and generally false video clips from TikTok as their "evidence." SA clearly supports terrorists Hamas and antisemitism. Israel is engaged in a war with Hamas. They want to stop Hamas. Hamas is using Palestinians as human shields. They are not committing "genocide."

"The word “genocide” did not exist prior to 1944. It is a very specific term coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959) who sought to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder during the Holocaust, including the destruction of European Jews. He formed the word genocide by combining geno-, from the Greek word for race or tribe, with -cide, from the Latin word for killing."

Below are some truths about the situation.

1. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, ISIS are terrorists organizations whose main goal is to kill all the Jews and remove them from Israel. They are support the destruction of the West, US, Britain...just about everyone except Arab states and some Muslims. They clearly, publicly and loudly state this every day. If you support those groups or their actions, you support terrorism and antisemitism.

2. "From the River to the Sea" means you want all Jews killed and removed from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea aka all of Israel. There is no other meaning.

3. Israel has offered cease fires to Hamas many times and they refuse or they violate them. The current offer is a permanent cease fire by Israel if Hamas releases all hostages, stops bombing Israel and surrenders. Hamas said no. Keeping power in the area of Palestine is financially lucrative to the leaders who aren't even living in the area. They are billionaires living in Europe making money off the conflict. They make money maintaining control and having their people wage war against Israel. They personally take the "aid" money and supplies. The cease fires Hamas has agreed to in the past were broken by Hamas and not Israel.

4. "Bring the intifada!" Intifada is attacking, terrorizing Jews, Israel and destroying Israel.

5. I wrote this article before the campus protests. The leaders of Hamas are thanking the "students" and outside agitators for their help terrorizing, attacking, trying to destroy Israel. When Hamas is thanking you, you know you're on the wrong side. See my recent articles which show Hamas entities are behind the campus uprising. They are behind all the misinformation and propaganda spread on social media around the world.

I will add to this list as more issues and fallacies arise.

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary, Cummins, #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, certified, single family, condo, condominium, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, fha, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, brea insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, 1073, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls, historical appraisal, facebook, linkedin DISCLAIMER: https://mary--cummins.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer-privacy-policy-for-blogs-by.html

Monday, December 25, 2023

Who is Father Edward L Beck controversial Catholic priest by Mary Cummins

Father Edward L Beck is a controversial attention seeking Catholic priest of the Passionist Congregation. He promotes himself as a celebrity TV priest and religious expert to various media outlets. As a priest he has a very controversial background. He currently does not have a church, is not the main priest of a church as he was kicked out of his last church for cause.

Father Edward L Beck III was born in 1959 in New York and ordained in 1985 at age 26. He allegedly per his own account worked as an actor and on Wallstreet prior to becoming a priest. His father was Edward L Beck Jr 1935-2015. His mother was Madeline Maureen McGuinness 1937-2007. This is all public knowledge from his father's obituary He also publicly posted about these events. Per Father Edward Beck his father shot himself in the head after a diagnosis. Father Edward Beck has talked about his father's suicide on various media outlets. I personally don't have a problem with suicide but suicide is a mortal sin in Catholicism. The bible says if you commit a mortal sin you won't go to heaven if you don't repent and ask for forgiveness before you die. Some say if you commit suicide in a moment of weakness God will still forgive you and you can go to heaven. I no longer practice or believe so I don't personally care.

Today Father Edward L Beck went on CNN and stated paraphrased "Jesus was actually a Palestinian Jew born in Palestine while it was being occupied by others." He said this is a parallel to what's happening today in Gaza in the war between Hamas et al and Israel. He said Jesus is God who said "love your enemies."

Many attacked him for rewriting history and tying Jesus to Hamas and the war on Christmas day of all days. FTR Jesus was a Jew who was born in Bethlehem in the land of Israel. The area back then was called Judea. Jesus would never have supported Hamas and the atrocities of October 7, 2023. FTR I'm a Catholic who went to Catholic school K-6. I was baptized, confirmed and went to mass Sunday and many other days.

This guy was free on Christmas because no church wants him to be their priest. He has no church. All the other priests were busy saying Christmas mass while this wanna be was calling all the media outlets looking for a place to spew his blasphemous sacrilegious lies to get attention for himself to further his acting, speaking, book writing, play writing personal self. He also offers retreats and workshops. He was not serving God today. Some had said he's a "gifted writer and storyteller." He's definitely a storyteller. If God existed, he would have been struck by lightning live on the show. Goes to show ...

Fr Edward L Beck is a major attention seeker. His headshots look like actor headshots for someone who is trying to get a bit part in some made for TV movie. It looks like he wants to be Anderson Cooper. He also wears a red or bright blue sweater over his priest garments. The purpose of plain black priest garments is to not draw attention to yourself. It's to show mourning and penance. "Wearing black should remind both the priest and those who see him that we should not set our sights on the fashion of this world but should remember that we are called to do penance, not just for our sins but for the sins of the world." He goes on CNN in a red sweater to get attention for himself. Many media people wear red to stand out. If he were just cold, he could wear a black sweater.

I personally believe Fr Edward L Beck cares too much about his personal self to ever be a priest. He should become an ex-priest. Then he can do all the talk shows and make money. He's not allowed to make a lot of money as a priest. He can then really try to be Anderson Cooper. He can even have a boyfriend publicly.

In October 2021 Fr Edward L Beck was removed from his church St. Therese of Lisieux Church in Montauk in Long Island, New York. Beck tried to spin this by saying it probably had something to do with him writing an opinion for CNN about President Biden. He attacked the church for firing him. They also fired Fr. Robert Joerger who was Ed Beck's long time friend with whom he lived. They both ended up back at the monastery in Pelham, New York.

Fr Edward Beck has written many controversial things about the church. He said that Pope Francis has allowed same sex couples to be blessed. He said they can bless dogs and motorcycles and now same sex couples, big deal.

@FrEdwardBeck

http://twitter.com/FrEdwardBeck

http://www.instagram.com/fredwardbeck

http://www.facebook.com/FatherEdwardBeck

https://www.edwardlbeck.com/

Books written by Edward L Beck.

God Underneath: Spiritual Memoirs of a Catholic Priest, Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 978-0-385-50181-1

Unlikely Ways Home: Real-Life Spiritual Detours, Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 978-0-385-50859-9

Soul Provider: Spiritual Steps to Limitless Love, Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-51552-8

Thursday, May 4, 2023

US Retailers Attack Successful SHEIN with Paid Smear Campaign, by Mary Cummins

SHEIN, shein.com, shuttown shein, chapin fay, actum, china, retail, clothing, jewelry, accessories, chris xy, yangtian xy, nanjing, temu, wish, aliexpress, amazon, ebay, fashion nova, forever21, Zara, H&M, Asos, cheap, prices, mary cummins, los angeles, california 希音

SHEIN is a very successful Chinese e-commerce company selling clothing, jewelry, accessories and home decor items online direct to International and American consumers. Recently they and their customers have been attacked by a paid professional organization called "Shut down Shein." The organization is funded by US competitors of SHEIN and run by registered lobbyist Chapin Fay of Actum. Actum is a US paid public relations "lobbyist" business. The campaign Twitter account only has 28 followers! :-D

SHEIN 希音 was founded by Chris Xu aka Yangtian Xu in 2008 in Nanjing, China. The company is privately owned with headquarters in Singapore and warehouses, distribution centers all around the world and US. SHEIN through its vendors sells items at almost wholesale Chinese prices direct to the consumer. They are like wholesale Amazon, eBay, Temu, Wish, AliExpress for trendy clothing, jewelry and accessories. For this reason their almost identical items are much, much cheaper than comparative items sold by their US competitors.

What would cost $9 to $69 at H&M, Zara, ASOS, FashionNova, Forever 21...costs $1 to $9 at SHEIN. SHEIN also has an insane variety of products adding thousands of new items per day. SHEIN does not operate expensive International and US retail brick and mortar stores except for some temporary popup stores. This reduces costs which is how they are able to sell items at lower price points.

Instead of changing their business model to better compete with SHEIN the US competitors have embarked on a smear campaign of attacks, lies and pleas to the media, public and US politicians to shut down SHEIN by any means. "Shut down Shein" and their supporters attack anyone who supports SHEIN online including commenters and shoppers on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. They call them "anti-American," "racists," supporters of "slavery" and even "communists." They're attacking teenage girls whose only sin was to comment "cute!" on a tshirt posted by SHEIN. They're also spreading anti-Chinese racism and hate during Asian heritage month.

The lies don't stop there. They state that SHEIN makes "throw away" clothes which are destroying the environment. SHEIN is making similar clothes to the ones their US competitors are selling. They're made in the same place in the same way with the same materials for the same wholesale price sometimes even in the same factory. Nike, Adidas, Levis, L.L. Bean, Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch and the more expensive brands like Armani, Burberry, Prada, D&G, Marc Jacobs are also made in China. Even luxury jewelry brands are made in China such as Maria Tash and many more.

They even state that SHEIN steals copyrighted designs. Most clothing, jewelry and accessories are made with inspiration from other items. The large US companies do the exact same thing which is why they're complaining because it's competition. There have been copyright claims on some designs in the past. When you consider the sheer number of vendors and items, one could see how that could happen. SHEIN has a copyright policy. They will remove any copyrighted item posted by any of their vendors. Perhaps large companies such as SHEIN can institute an auto Google image search of all new items to prevent this possibility especially since they're adding thousands of new products daily.

There was a claim that some products used cotton sourced from forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang, China violating the Federal Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). Cotton from Xinjiang is widely used in the global garment industry. As of last fall, 16 percent of cotton clothes on store shelves in the US contained this cotton. It's a difficult issue because the cotton ends up being mixed with other cotton, sold as thread, yarn and manufactured into fabric or products in places other than China. Adidas, Hugo Boss, Puma all were found to have this cotton in their products even though they had no links with Xinjiang. Xinjiang cotton is shipped to India, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries who then make products. H&M, Nike, L.L. Bean, Patagonia, Victoria Secrets, Reformtion, L Brand and many more US companies used this cotton. There's no way to know if products have this cotton without DNA testing it. SHEIN states they no longer use this cotton. So do the US companies. If you were to DNA them all, they all may have some of this cotton. SHEIN has a supply chain statement. They also have statements about supporting entrepreneurs, the community and environment. More info about the company here.

Some people are buying items in SHEIN just so they can leave false negative reviews about other issues. Here's one for a plastic hair clip. It's not cotton. "SHEIN USES UYGHURS. SHEIN USES UYGHURS. SHEIN USES UYGHURS." It's in English and Arabic and recent.

In the past these same large US companies ran smaller US stores out of business by selling cheaper items made in China. These same companies used similar business practices as SHEIN which indirectly killed the smaller US companies. Now that SHEIN has taken it a step further by selling items at almost wholesale prices the US companies are screaming foul. There is nothing stopping the US competitors from dropping their prices to match SHEIN's except profits.

SHEIN is successful because SHEIN has similar items for a lot less money than US retailers. They are able to do this by making money off volume and having a cost effective supply chain, efficient logistics, modern technology and data-driven insights. Their website is easy to navigate and they have detailed dimensions, materials, sizes and customer reviews listed for the products which their competitors don't have. Their customer service and shipping is much better and faster and they're all the way in China. Items generally arrive in nine days or less from order to delivery in the US which is faster than US companies. They also offers shopper incentives for placing orders, receiving orders and leaving reviews besides offering lots of coupons and special pricing.

There are companies which sell similar items in many different stores for similar prices in China, i.e. Temu, Wish, Alibaba and AliExpress. SHEIN is more successful than those companies in the US because customer services is ten times better, products are superior and items ship faster and more reliably. SHEIN ships all items combined from their own warehouse. The other companies ship items individually though more recently they're doing some group shipping through central shipping centers.

The other Chinese businesses operate in a similar manner as SHEIN and have existed for years. The US competitors don't care about them because they aren't as successful. Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other websites selling items from China legally operate in the same manner under the tariff free $800 de minimus threshold for imports from China. Again the US companies don't care as much because they aren't as successful when it comes to trendy, fashionable clothing, jewelry and accessories. They're only calling out SHEIN. They know they can't shut down Amazon, eBay or Walmart which operate under the same de minimis threshold. If they can't shut down Amazon, eBay or Walmart, they won't be able to shut down SHEIN for those same reasons.

"Shut down Shein" claims that SHEIN is not paying tariffs and other taxes on the items sold. Amazon, eBay, Walmart, AliExpress...all operate legally in the same manner and have for years. The US companies could also operate in the same way if they wanted to do so. Instead they'd rather use mainstream media, social media and the US government to try to harm their competition.

Here are some things "Shut down Shein" states about SHEIN in their website that "proves" they should be shut down. It looks like a list of SHEIN's successes to me. If the US companies had accomplished these things, they'd be patting themselves on the back, giving their CEOs bonuses and bragging about it to the media.

"SHEIN is the No.1 downloaded app in both Android and iOS App Store’s Shopping category in the U.S. with 229 million downloads, beating out Amazon by almost 34 million downloads."

"SHEIN has an “unusual” marketing strategy that heavily targets teenaged and twenty-something American “influencers.” SHEIN targets all age groups. All the other companies use the same marketing strategy. If an 8-12 year old goes to Claires to buy cheap jewelry, they will be tracked by their profile, favorites, purchases, which items they linger on while scrolling... Shein only allows people 16 or older to use their website.

"SHEIN’s website ranks #1 in the world for web traffic in the fashion and apparel category, according to SimilarWeb, putting them ahead of household names Nike, Zara, Macys, Lululemon and Adidas."

"A recent survey of American upper income teens by investment bank Piper Sandler ranked SHEIN as 2nd after Amazon for most popular shopping website."

"The average duration of a site visit is estimated at 8 mins 36 seconds, higher than every major US fashion brand."

Chapin Fay who is behind "Shut down Shein" has used lies to try to garner immigrant votes for Republicans. One campaign was called "Stop the insanity" which Fay promoted on social media. It was a fear mongering campaign just like "shut down Shein." Thankfully political candidate Lee Zeldin lost the campaign. He also campaigned against AOC and again lost. Fay is hoping that current Chinese hate, racism, distrust and anti-TikTok will help his smear campaign.

Some of Fay's similar lines of rhetoric against SHEIN are “TIKTOK IS THE NEEDLE, SHEIN IS THE DRUG,” “TikTok and Shein, controlled by the [Chinese Communist Party], are trying to capture an entire generation of American youth. And in a way, they already have,” "Shein: The biggest national security threat you never heard of," Shein's “dangerous and reprehensible behavior.” All these statements are straight from their links below. Fay is actively spreading lies and anti-Chinese hate and racism. Fay is contacting all politicians who hate China asking for help. Truly a despicable campaign especially during Asian Pacific heritage month here in the US.

The PR website states their specialties are "communications, government relations, storytelling, narrative development, digital and social media, advocacy mobilization, special groups, political consulting, public opinion." If telling the world how much more successful their competitor is, is their idea of "narrative development," their client should get their money back. So far these petty attacks using an anonymous name appear as jealousy of their successful competition. The personal attacks on teenage girl SHEIN shoppers on Instagram are very low. I was even attacked by them.

This campaign is already a bust. Their Twitter account only has 28 followers! :-D It only follows US politicians. Their main campaign is to try to derail their IPO via a letter from US politicians. They want SHEIN to certify that they don't use forced labor. I believe they already did that in their website. This looks like illegal interference with business and commerce to me.

In response to the campaign, a spokesperson for Shein said: “Shein proudly provides customers with on-demand and affordable fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, lawfully and with full respect for the communities where we operate. We categorically deny these false and baseless claims, and will not hesitate to take swift action to protect the rights of our company.”

I sure hope SHEIN hires some lobbyists, PR people, media to help them deal with this nasty attack from "Shut down Shein." The people and companies behind this should be exposed as sleazy, liars, defamers, cheats and hypocrites. I highly doubt there is a human rights organization behind this campaign. They would have mentioned their name if they were supporting this cause.

Below is a quick example of the price differences. This earring is a gold plated hidden helix dangle. Maria Tash sells it for $490. It's made in China like the rest of Tash's expensive jewelry. Maria Tash says the design is "patented." It's not. Tash patented the back of a stud earring which no one else uses because it catches your hair. You can't copyright, patent a fashion design like this. People made and sold the earring before Tash but she lies about all of her jewelry. The exact same earring sells for $4 on SHEIN. The SHEIN version has a high quality Zircon instead of a diamond but it's still gold plate over sterling silver. The same earring on AliExpress is $3. The same earring on Etsy which was bought on AliExpress is $25-$100. Many other places sell it for $100-$200. There's a HUGE markup in jewelry and clothes. US companies are pissed that SHEIN has shown the world their huge profit margin. Below is SHEIN's earring. They show materials and dimensions which helps the consumer. Other places don't.

*I don't work for SHEIN. I just read some articles about "Shut down Shein" and saw people viciously attacking SHEIN's customers online and decided to investigate to try to understand why. The post I saw was about Frida Khalo merchandise. SHEIN licensed the name and likeness for a product line legally with the owner of the Frida Khalo trademark which is the Khalo family. I'm related to Diego Rivera which is why I saw the article. Shut down Shein attacked Shein for this even though Shein did everything legally and properly. I posted that the licensing deal was legal and was attacked so badly I had to remove my posts to get rid of their attacks against me. I have more research which I may add to this story at a later date.

@SHEIN_Official @SHEINUS_ @SHEIN_news

References

media@shutdownshein.com @shutdownshein

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawmakers-call-sec-asses-shein-221757019.html

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coalition-launches-to-shut-down-shein-protect-americans-from-foreign-influence-301779464.html

https://www.semafor.com/article/04/14/2023/following-tiktok-play-chinas-shein-enters-dcs-crosshairs

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/the-complicated-path-to-avoiding-cotton-from-xinjiang/48134540

https://sheingroup.com/

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Los Angeles, California by Mary Cummins

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The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is located at 15101 Lancaster Road, Lancaster, California GPS Latitude/Longitude: 34.72556546104782, -118.39665971500784 . This link takes you to the map . They have a poppy cam so you can see current conditions. Poppies generally bloom mid-February through May but it depends on rain, sun, wind and temperature. When it's cold, windy, raining the poppies close up. If it's very cold, they die. If it's very windy, raining, the petals fall off then you have to wait for new ones to appear which is pretty quickly. If clouds come in, temps will drop, wind will pick up. Try to get there when there are no clouds before 3:00 pm. If they last to May when it's warmer, you can get there later if there are no clouds. Here is the trail map

http://parks.ca.gov/pages/627/files/AVCPR%20Map%203-23%20Color%20QR%20update%20PDF.pdf

I took the photos below mainly outside of the reserve down the street in a field right off the road GPS 34.716140207421, -118.35129831176793 . I did not step on any flowers. There are little path ways. It's at a small intersection. They sell lemonade, honey, tshirt on the street there. Photos of satellite image of the site are down below. It's free to park on the side of the road here. You can see the poppy fields on the satellite images which I posted below.

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Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Upside Foods bio meat, EPIC manufacturing plant and Uma Valeti. Is this a real business? Probably not

Uma Valeti, Upside Foods, Memphis Meats, cultivated cell meat, Califorornia, Emeryville, epic, lab, biomeat, biotech meat, scandal, scam, con, venture capital, Nicholas Genovese, fda, cultured meat, lab grown meat, cultivated meat,

UPDATE: 05/28/2023 Lab grown meat industry and not yet a possible commercial venture. It currently takes too many resources and energy to produce the meat. It will not be a commercial product until they find a way to make it more easily, cheaply and with less of an environmental footprint. In the meantime we should just be eating plants or already commercially available plant made "meats." Impossible Foods makes the best burgers, grounds and they have great chicken nuggets.

https://futurism.com/new-study-lab-grown-meat-worse-environment

04/28/23 Upside is now making ground chicken with plant base and a few lab meat cells thrown in. That sounds like Impossible chicken nuggets with a dash, a pinch of cells. If we're talking .0001% cells, that makes the product commercially viable now. As it's just plant based chicken nuggets, what is the point? The point of lab meat is an entire piece of meat indistinguishable for real meat, a chicken breast, a cut of steak. We already have great ground chicken substitutes. Who would pay $20,000 for ground lab meat? There's no market for that.

https://www.fooddive.com/news/upside-foods-cultivated-ground-chicken-pdgf-independent-cells/648266/

04/23/23 I haven't read this because of the pay wall. https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-struggle-to-make-lab-grown-meat-12cf46ab

ORIGINAL: Dr Uma Valeti has been churning out press releases about his company Upside Foods for years now. The company will allegedly produce, already produces bio meat. Dr. Uma Valeti is a cardiologist in California. Upside Foods used to be Memphis Meats. Bio meat is meat cultured from animal cells that doesn't involve raising and killing animals.

Bio meat is a hot hot hot industry because it could cut down on greenhouse gases from animal farming, reduce water consumption and reduce the cruel treatment of farm animals. Many have tried to cultivate animal cells but so far the process is too costly. Upside claims to have found a way to produce bio meat affordably. For this reason many want to invest in the company so they can make millions of dollars. The company has raised over $500,000,000 based on the promise of being able to currently manufacture bio meat at a reasonable cost.

November 2022 the FDA sent Upside Foods a letter stating they reviewed their data and their bio chicken would be safe for consumption. https://www.virgin.com/about-virgin/virgin-group/news/upside-foods-receives-green-light-for-cultivated-meat-from-fda This of course is very different than having an actual product which can be commercially produced. This is not an approval of the final or any product.

The new manufacturing facility is called EPIC. It's located at 6201 SHELLMOUND ST, EMERYVILLE, CA 94608-2119. It's currently zoned for retail shopping center anchor store, storage or shipping facility. Approved uses are retail, food/beverage, office, gym, entertainment, life science i.e. lab space. It's not approved for manufacturing. Previously there was a sports gym and a market bar at this location. It's located near apartments and retail properties. There is no application for a zoning or planning variance to manufacture bio meat. May 2021 they stated the "facility will produce, package and ship cultured meat at a larger scale than any other company in the industry." The company claimed in late 2021 they currently can and are(?) producing 50,000 lbs of bio meat per year and are testing production runs.

December 2022 they applied for a "pilot production plant" permit which expires November 2023. This was after they stated they already built the manufacturing plant and were manufacturing bio meat. I'll call tomorrow and update the article. I checked with Alameda County, California Building and Safety using their address https://permit.acgov.org/ You would need a lot of permits and variances from many different agencies to be able to operate a meat for human consumption operation at this site.

I managed to find this from the city of Emeryville. It's for "research and development" only and not production or manufacturing. "Memphis Meats – 6201 Shellmound Street; tenant improvements for research and development. Building permit application for Memphis Meats biotechnology company submitted on July 29, 2020. Issued building permit to install structural mezzanine in Parcel C1 for mechanical equipment for Memphis Meats on September 23, 2020. On November 18, 2020 received building permit application for Memphis Meats tenant improvements." https://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5105

I also found this from November 2021, "Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) – 6201 Shellmound Street; office, and research and development lab; valuation $30.5 million; building permit received final inspection on November 10 and certificate of occupancy was granted on November 23." "Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) – 6005 Shellmound Street, Suite 175; interior tenant improvements; valuation $5.4 million; building permit application for expedited plan review submitted on November 5." Status was listed as zero completion. This is when they had their building ribbon cutting grand opening. Looks like it was the grand opening of the office.

Initially the cost of Upside's cellular meat was $18,000/lb then $9,000 and now it's allegedly $2,400/lb. Real animal meat sells for $2-$20/lb. Plant based meat sells for about the same. Upside is a long ways off. If you don't want to eat animal meat today, makes more sense to eat plant meat like Impossible or Beyond. Impossible meatballs, burgers taste fantastic and don't have unhealthy animal fat, cholesterol like real meat. 12 oz Impossible ground beef is $5. Gardein has wonderful affordable options as well. I've vegan and eat mainly unprocessed beats, nuts, seeds besides fruits, veggies, rice, grains. I have no investment in any food or other company.

A few of Upside's legal woes.

Many suspect the company is an investment scam. "Will Biotech Meat Become the Next Tech Scandal? Everything about the biotech meat industry is premature. The entire sector is essentially one massive PR campaign disguised as food tech pretending to save the world. When you’re spending more time chasing media than ensuring your company is financially successful, the house of cards will inevitable fall."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelesimon/2023/01/10/will-biotech-meat-become-the-next-tech-scandal/?sh=b753e142c96c

Another red flag is the company sued one of their founders Nicholas Genovese. Two other key employees resigned after Genovese was fired.

https://www.wired.com/story/upside-foods-blue-sky-trade-secrets-lawsuit/

https://thecounter.org/upside-foods-lab-grown-meat-cultured-uma-valeti-nicholas-genovese-firing/

More red flags is CEO, GMs who have never successfully run a real active business that makes products. Dr. Uma Valeti is just a cardiologist. He's never run any business before yet alone a multi million dollar business. They have no real product in the market even though they claim they made their first bio meat over a decade ago. All they do is churn out PRs and raise funds. Most board members are venture capitalists. This company reminds me of the scam bio fuels companies. They claim to take waste and turn it into bio fuel or as a replacement for plastic like Xyleco which I outed. Just fyi I predicted the failure of investment scams NPCT, UMCC, ASTN, EZR, TMOT, Theranos, Enron... I was sued twice for defamation for my 100% factual statements about the companies ASTN and their stock promoters NPCT. I represented myself pro se and won both cases.

About Upside Foods: "Upside Foods, based in Berkeley, Calif., was founded in 2015 by Uma Valeti, MD, the company’s CEO, and William Clem. Formerly known as Memphis Meats, the company – a pioneer in the lab-grown meat business -- underwent a name change in May 2021. On November 16, the Food and Drug Administration announced that lab-grown chicken developed by Upside Foods is safe for human consumption. The company anticipates being able to bring its products to market once its facilities have been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

"Among Upside Foods’ investors have been Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Softbank, Tyson Foods, Norwest Venture Partners, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson. The company has raised at least $520 million, the latest of which was a Series C round in April 2022. Its last known valuation was $1.3 billion and has not publicly communicated an intention to IPO."

Other investors Kimbal Musk, Cargill, Khalifa Al Suwaidi of Abu Dhabi Growth Fund,

SEC filings

Form D Exempt Offering of Securities

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1668780/000156761922009601/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Jackie Robinson Memorial, Mack Robinson brother, Pasadena, California, by Mary Cummins

Beautiful bronze statues of Jackie Robinson and his brother Matthew Mack Robinson who both grew up in Pasadena, California. They were both amazing athletes and people. Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Mack was an Olympic athlete who won a medal in track and field.

These ten foot tall sculptures are open to the public 24/7. They're amazing sculptures! So much artistic talent and detail by Ralph Helmick. 95 N Garfield Ave, Pasadena, CA across from City Hall. Mack is on the left and Jackie is on the right. These are some of the most beautiful bronze sculptures I've ever seen.

Huntington Museum, Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California by Mary Cummins

mary cummins, investigative reporter, real estate appraiser, animal advocates, los angeles, california, the huntington, museum, library, botanical gardens,

The Huntington is a Museum, Library and Botanical Garden in San Marino, California. It's so huge you should really visit it over a few days. Take advantage of the free museum days and you can see most museums in California. These are just some photos of the gardens taken March before the flowers started blooming.

mary cummins, investigative reporter, real estate appraiser, animal advocates, los angeles, california, the huntington, museum, library, botanical gardens,