The Oct. 7 terrorists have names. Make them public.
Patrick Desbois is a Catholic priest and founder and president of Yahad-In Unum, an organization dedicated to investigating targeted mass killings, including those of Jews and Roma during World War II, Mayans during Guatemala's civil war, and Yazidis during the ascendancy of the Islamic State.
Who murdered Kfir Bibas? Who tortured Edan Alexander? Who raped Amit Soussana?
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26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
History Shows the Danger of Trump's Health Policies
U.S. President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attend an event in the East Room of the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit - Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images On May 11, 2023, President Joseph Biden ended the COVID-19 public health emergency, calling an finish to the pandemic. By the end of 2023, COVID-19 claimed the lives of over 20 million people around the world. But through international cooperation and evidence-based science, vaccines were developed and the world moved on. Indeed, perhaps the biggest success of the period was the quick production of a COVID-19 vaccine. The research behind the mRNA vaccine had been ongoing since the 1970s, but the emergency of the pandemic and international sharing of knowledge helped bring the vaccine to fruition. Today, the COVID-19 vaccine has been credited with saving 2.4 million lives around the world. But now, the U.S. is choosing competition over cooperation. With President Donald Trump's day one executive order to leave the World Health Organization (WHO)—blaming their COVID-19 response—and the shuttering of USAID, the country is taking steps towards further dividing health efforts across the globe. Here in the U.S., a sudden end to $11.4 billion of covid-related grants is stifling national pandemic preparedness efforts on the local and state levels. And most recently, Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. purged experts from the CDC Advisory Committee, putting lives at risk. Historical lessons demonstrate the need for global health infrastructure that works together, shares knowledge, and remembers that pathogens do not stop at borders. White House's Pandemic Office, Busy With Bird Flu, May Shrink Under Trump One of the greatest global health achievements of all time—smallpox eradication—provides a perfect example of what can be done with independent scientific research and international cooperation. During the Cold War between the U.S. and USSR, decades of tension brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Yet, incredibly, the nations managed to find common ground to support the efforts of smallpox eradication. Indeed, they understood the strategic benefits that came from letting public health practitioners and scientists work outside of political divides. The WHO was founded after World War II in 1948. Its formation marked a move from international health, that focused on nations, to global health, that would serve humanity first. The WHO's first eradication effort was the failed, U.S.-backed, Malaria Eradication Program from 1955 to 1969. The Smallpox Eradication Program, with intensive efforts beginning in 1967, provided a chance for redemption for the U.S. and WHO. For the United States, investing in disease eradication and poverty helped to mitigate growing backlash against the Vietnam War. In June of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated, 'I propose to dedicate this year to finding new techniques for making man's knowledge serve man's welfare.' He called for 1965—the same year he ordered ground troops to Vietnam to stop the spread of communism —to be a year of international cooperation that could bypass the politics of the Cold War. Previously, the USSR did not participate in the U.S. and WHO's first, failed global eradication plan for malaria. But upon rejoining the WHO in 1956, it was the Soviets who made the first call and investment into global eradication of smallpox in 1958. The WHO functioning as a mediator was crucial to allowing the USSR and the U.S. to work together. It allowed both nations to avoid giving credit to each other; rather success went to science itself. President Johnson called this 'a turning point' away from 'man against man' towards 'man against nature.' The limited role of politicians in the program proved to be key to its success. Scientists made decisions and worked together—no matter what country they came from—by focusing on disease and vaccination, not international tensions. The Soviet-initiated program was lead by Donald A. Henderson, a U.S. epidemiologist, who worked alongside the Russians until the last case of smallpox occurred in Somalia on October 26, 1977. During the 20th century, smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300 to 500 million deaths. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated by the WHO in October 1980, and is today still the only human disease to achieve this distinction. Less than a year after the declaration of smallpox eradication, the emergence of another pandemic, the HIV/AIDS crisis, reinforced the importance of science-first cooperation over politically-driven decision making. In June 1981, the first cases of a new unknown disease were reported in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In short order, gay men were stigmatized and blamed in what would become one of the biggest public health disasters of all time. It took years of grassroots science-based activism to move beyond HIV/AIDS victim-blaming and find medical solutions. The Poster Child for AIDS Obscured as Much About the Crisis as He Revealed Too often, governments across the globe placed blame on the gay community for their 'sins' and did not provide needed support, leaving the sick to suffer and die. The pharmaceutical companies profited from the limited medications they had available and did not pursue sufficient development. The FDA process for new drugs was scheduled to take nine years, at a time when life expectancy after receiving an HIV/AIDS diagnosis was one year. These issues sparked activism, spawning the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987. ACT UP organizers took science into their own hands and began educating themselves. Members began reading scientific journals religiously, learning the chemistry and epidemiology of drug manufacturing and clinical trials. Members learned how to translate these dense scientific messages to educate the community members on what was—and what was not—being done to help. Because of this work, the FDA changed policies to allow for new treatments to be tested at accelerated rates in times of emergency. ACT UP was able to shift the cultural blame showing that the issue was a result of politics getting in the way of scientific advancements. By 1990, ACT UP influenced the largest federal HIV program to pass Congress, the Ryan White CARE Act. This program was a vital precursor to the 2003 PEPFAR (The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) global initiative. Both of these histories offer a powerful lesson: global health is national health, and national health is local health. With the recent funding cuts from the U.S. government, the future of global health is going in an unknown direction. And yet, the occurrence of pandemics is expected to increase in frequency due to climate change, mass migration, urbanization, and ecosystem destruction. It has been estimated that there is about a 25% chance we will have another COVID-sized pandemic within the next 10 years. No matter how secure the world makes borders, history shows that it can not protect us from disease if we do not have a strong, interconnected public health infrastructure. Luke Jorgensen is a Master of Public Health student at Purdue University where his epidemiology research examines human migration and infectious disease. Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. Write to Made by History at madebyhistory@
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Is Georgia's Fort Eisenhower getting its Fort Gordon name restored? Yes and no
Did you just get used to calling Fort Gordon Fort Eisenhower? Well, depending on your point of view, we have some good or bad news. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and the U.S. Army announced seven installations, including this Georgia base, will have their names reverted with a twist. Here's what we know: Fort Barefoot in Virginia to Fort Pickett Fort Cavazos in Texas to Fort Hood Fort Eisenhower in Georgia to Fort Gordon Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia to Fort Lee Fort Johnson in Louisiana to Fort Polk Fort Novosel in Alabama to Fort Rucker Fort Walker in Virginia to Fort A.P. Hill All of the original names of these installations were connected to members of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Under the Biden Administration, an independent commission was created to recommend name changes in the wake of renewed calls for racial justice following the death of George Floyd. While the original names are being restored, the original namesakes are not. For example, Fort Pickett is no longer named after the Confederacy's Maj. Gen. George Pickett. Instead, it will be named after World War II First Lt. Vernon W. Pickett. So why change the names back (but not really)? Trump said during his visit to North Carolina's Fort Bragg "We won a lot of battles out of those forts — it's no time to I'm superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going right." Originally, Augusta's Fort Gordon honored Lt. Gen. John Brown Gordon, one of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee's most trusted officers, according to Time. He is also believed to have been a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, according to the National Governors Association. Now, Fort Gordon will be named after Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, according to the Army's press release. Gordon was a Maine native who received the Medal of Honor for his service and sacrifice during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. The award was given posthumously to his widow by President Bill Clinton in 1994, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. The base is named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was famously also an Army general and even re-entered the military after his presidential term. As the Army described in 2023 when the base was renamed, Augusta was a major place of respite for "Ike" with its ample opportunities for hunting and golf. While specific numbers haven't been reported for this change, when it was first renamed in 2023, the cost of changing signed alone, not counting auxiliary street signs placed by the City of Augusta, was estimated at about $1.3 million. Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@ This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia's Fort Eisenhower renamed Fort Gordon? What we know
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Former Islamic State leader in Germany loses deportation appeal
The former leader of the Islamic State terrorist group in Germany, Abu Walaa, has lost his appeal to avoid deportation. The 41-year-old Iraqi is currently serving a sentence that keep him behind bars until May 2027. Following his release, he is due to be sent back to Iraq. After an urgent appeal against his deportation a year ago went against him, the full case was heard by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court. In the ruling, the judge said there was neither evidence that Walaa has credibly renounced his former life as an Islamic State terrorist nor that he has deradicalized, and that therefore there was a risk of reoffending. The judge said that the danger posed by him to public safety was so serious that the interests of his seven children did not prevent him from being deported. His lawyer unsuccessfully requested that the proceedings be suspended until an expert opinion of his potential danger was available. The Islamic preacher was found guilty of support and membership in a foreign terrorist organization by a court in Celle in 2021, after a trial that lasted more than three years. The court found that until his arrest in 2016, he had espoused a jihadist ideology as an imam in a mosque in the northern city of Hildesheim. The presiding judge said that he had been appointed by Islamic State as its de facto top representative in Germany. Despite the judge's ruling, there is a strong chance that the German government will not follow through with Abu Walaa's deportation, as Iraq has not ruled out executing him upon return.
