News Round-Up: The Time of Year to Take Your Private Jet to Climate Conference Again, Elon Musk on Blackmailing and Face Masks as Facilitator of Covid Infections
Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:
COP28 in Dubai: how many participants will arrive by private jets this year?
Musk on advertising boycott on X: you cannot blackmail me with money, go f..ck yourself!
Study: face masks actually contribute to Covid infections.
UK: parents sought to stop daughter's 'breast' surgery in court, but court refused.
Electric car reliability: problems 80% more common than with internal combustion engine cars.
COP28 in Dubai: how many participants will arrive by private jets this year?
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which started in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday will bring together around 70,000 participants from around the world.
But how do you get to Dubai? Of course, tens of thousands of delegates will arrive by plane, and the past experience of climate conferences shows that the world's political and business elite are not too worried about their own climate footprint. Last year's climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for example, attracted the most prominent participants on board of 400 private jets.
The number of private planes arriving this year has not yet been counted, but indications are that there will be quite a few. For example, the UK's King Charles, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary David Cameron each flew to Dubai on a separate private jet. Critics say this sends the wrong signals about the UK's environmental commitments and is a waste of taxpayers' money. However, the prime minister's office stressed the importance of a strong UK presence at the climate conference. It also noted that the government's position is not anti-flying.
Musk on advertising boycott on X: you cannot blackmail me with money, go f..ck yourself!
In last week's news round-up, we described how Media Matters for America, an organisation that bills itself as a progressive think tank exposing conservative misinformation, called on big companies to stop buying advertising on social media platform X. The call was based on the grounds that racist and national-socialist content was being spread on the platform and that Musk himself could be accused of anti-Semitism. Major companies started to announce that they would suspend their advertising on the platform. X filed a complaint in court over the Media Matters articles.
The issue continued on Wednesday this week when Musk attended The New York Times DealBook summit. Answering questions on stage in front of the participants, he said the post that had led to him being accused of anti-Semitism had been foolish on his part. Indeed, in a post on November 15, he agreed with a user of X who claimed that 'hatred against whites' was being promoted in Jewish communities.
Musk apologised for this post. But on the issue of the advertising boycott, his message was now even clearer. Bob Iger, the head of Disney, had previously explained at the same stage that Musk's post had prompted them too to take the decision to stop buying advertising on the platform, as many other companies had already done.
"I hope they stop," Musk said. Asked if he really didn't want them to advertise, Musk replied again: don't advertise. “If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f..ck yourself,” he said. “Go f..ck yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob (Disney CEO Bob Iger – HS), if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise.”
At the same time Musk admitted that this boycott can very well kill the company. According to X internal documents the boycott could cost the company 75 million dollars (69 million euros).
This statement by Musk has been seen by some social media users as epoch-making – a strong signal against the 'woke phenomenon' that labels and cancels people for their opinions. Finally, Musk also gave a blunt assessment of the prevailing hypocrisy. “I’m saying what I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil, f..ck them," Musk added.
Study: face masks actually contribute to Covid infection
A recent Norwegian study has found that people who wear face masks to prevent infection with the coronavirus may actually be far more likely to contract it than those who do not, The Epoch Times reports. The study, published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection, analysed the use of masks among 3,209 people in Norway. Researchers followed them for 17 days and then asked participants about their mask use.
The research team found that people who wore masks more often had a higher incidence of Covid-19 positive tests. People who sometimes or often wore masks had a 33 percent higher prevalence of Covid-19 than those who never or almost never wore masks. However, people who almost always or always wore masks had a 40 per cent higher prevalence. The researchers who carried out the study said their findings contradicted previous studies on the same topic.
UK: parents sought to stop daughter's 'breast removal surgery' in court, court refused
The parents of a 17-year-old girl who considers herself non-binary, neither a boy nor a girl, tried to get the London High Court to stop their child from having a sex change operation, but got no help, The Telegraph reports. The parents applied to court for an injunction banning their child from having a breast removal surgery. They also sought a psychiatric evaluation of the teenager.
However, the judge refused to give such an order, saying that although the child is 17, she will soon turn 18 and can therefore decide for herself as an adult what operations she wants. The judge also said it would be disproportionate to examine the mental health of a teenager in this case.
The 17-year-old daughter uses the pronouns they/them and claimed in court that she first started to feel lesbian and non-binary when she was 11 years old.
Electric car reliability: problems 80% more common than with internal combustion engine cars
According to a report by US consumer organisation Consumer Reports, electric vehicles are nearly 80% more likely to have problems and are generally less reliable than conventional internal combustion engine cars, reports CBS News. Plug-in hybrids, on the other hand, fare even worse, with almost 150% more problems on average. The analysis found that hybrid cars are much more reliable, with around a quarter fewer problems than petrol cars.
The results are based on a survey of vehicle problems, asking if and what problems users have experienced with their vehicles in the last year. The survey includes data on more than 330,000 vehicles manufactured between 2000 and 2023, including brand new models.
The most common problems reported by owners of electric cars were problems with the battery and charging system, as well as flaws in how the vehicles' body panels and interior parts fitted together. Consumer Reports noted that electric car manufacturers are still learning how to build entirely new electric systems.
In addition to issues of reliability, US consumers see the lack of charging stations, long charging times and the high cost of electric cars as problems.