1577: Gerontocracy

Russian Naval Base in Sudan:

SUMMARY Timeline:

Aug 22: New US Ambassador to Sudan

Nov 22: Blinken suggest working with the US (i.e., nix the naval base)

Feb 23: Sudan finalizes Russian naval base deal

Mar 23: Victoria Neuland shows up

Apr 23: Civil war breaks out in Sudan

In Summer of 2022, Putin's "Illegal War of Aggression" was well under way, and Russia was looking for a place to offload grain. Africa seemed like a great place.

After a 25 year hiatus, the US appointed John Godfrey as the new US Ambassador to Sudan in August 2022. The Sudanese government in Khartoum was about to finalize a deal with Russia for a new Naval Base in Sudan, and the West was not happy about it. The new US Ambassador strongly advised against finalizing the deal.

In November, Blinken also advised Sudan against working with Russia and to accept US Support for rapid transformation to a US-backed, civilian-led transitional government. That still didn't work - in February of 2023, Sudan confirmed the deal with with Russia for the new naval base. Interesting to point out, the EU will not buy Russian oil but does purchase oil from the Saudis. These tankers must traverse the Suez Canal, via the Red Sea, right past the new Russia Naval Base. Very convenient for Russia...

Fast forward one month, to March 2023 and everyone's favorite International Merchant of Death VICTORIA NEULAND shows up. She paid a visit to Africa to "discuss democracy" with the African Union Commissioner, specifically Sudan. I'm not sure if she was trying to rally support for the upcoming Sudanese civil war, or trying to force support.

In early April, Hamedti (the "rebel" commander) held talks with US, UK, and Norway representatives. Ostensibly, this meeting was to discuss support from the West against the Khartoum regime. Two days later, the civil war kicked off. So they tried diplomacy, which the West isn't very good at, and when that didn't work the civil war was given the green light. In summary, the West is pissed off at Sudan for letting Russia build a naval base on their coast.

BRICS:

As you've well covered on the podcast, BRICS is the number one threat to the US Dollar's hegemony, followed closely by the hubris of central bankers. It's interesting that 2022 was Sudan's largest gold producing year ever. Sudan is also on the list to join BRICS+ in the near future. If/When BRICS introduces their own gold-backed currency to compete with the US dollar, Sudan's contribution would be significant for those reserves. Interestingly, the Sudanese government has placed a moratorium on exporting this gold in order to help the country build its gold reserves. Membership in BRICS would be a great reason to break that moratorium. The upcoming BRICS summit in August in St. Petersburg will be very interesting to watch as far as Sudan is concerned.

Chinese Intelligence: In the West, we train intelligence assets for the explicit specialty of collecting information. The Chinese consider every citizen an information collector and routinely debrief citizens from returning overseas. This includes subject matter experts embedded in a variety of business ventures. One such example I've personally witnessed was for oil exploration on Lake Albert, which lies on the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. A Chinese civil engineering company was given a permit to conduct oil exploration on the lake. In order to get the exploration gear there, new roads must be built, which was also part of the concession. Imagine our surprise when we ran into a large group of Chinese building a road in the middle of the jungle in central Africa. If you ever wanted or needed a reason to map out the mineral reserves of a remote and difficult to reach area, building a road is much easier than invading by force.

Aside from natural resources, the Chinese have been busy scooping up contracts for construction of government buildings in nearly 40 African countries. Over the past two decades, the Chinese have built nearly 200 government building in Africa, to include at least 15 intra-government telecommunication centers. You can safely assume that every word spoken by a government official on these networks is being monitored by the Chinese. As a result, you can assume that any relevant information is most likely shared with the Russians. You can imagine the nightmare this causes for the West when trying to conduct operations in Africa. Once again, we have been beaten at diplomacy by our adversaries because the neo-cons and neo-libs can't see past the end of a rifle. It's always easier to convince someone to do something than force them to do it.

Thank you for Your Courage,

Capt Redbeard of the Space Coast

Malema also denounced the United States for “threatening” South Africa by demanding it turn against the Russian leader in exchange for remaining part of the landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which grants duty-free access for most exports.

“They can take away AGOA and leave us with our sovereignty,” the 42-year-old said, addressing a packed stadium of more than 90,000 supporters donning the party colour red.

The militant EFF, which draws inspiration from Marxism-Leninism, was celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Link

"One facet of neo-colonialism and colonialism was Africa being confined to producing only raw materials, crops, like coffee, and minerals. I can give you an example: the global business for coffee is worth $460 billion. That is the value of the coffee business in the world. But of those $460 billion the coffee producing countries of the whole world share only $25 billion and Africa shares only $2.4 billion out of $460 billion. This issue is the biggest stunting factor why the African economies are stunted; they do not grow, because all the value is taken by other people. Germany earns more from coffee than the whole of Africa. Germany earns $6.85 billion from coffee, while Africa earns only $2.4 – 2.5 billion. This is the big scandal. So, what I want to propose to Russia and China is to discourage as a policy the importing of raw materials from Africa, to instead work with the Africans to add value at source. This would within a very short time transform the economies of Africa from low- and mid-income to high- and middle-high income because we see from the example of Uganda that everything is depressed now; production is high but we are still producing raw materials."

British PM and #WEF2030Agenda devotee #Sunak invested $500 million of his private funds into Moderna through a company called Thelema Partners in a notorious tax haven in the Caymen Islands. Afterwards he stated in parliament that the vaccine was "safe and effective" while then going on to roll out further permissions for Moderna to set up further vaccine producing interests within the UK.

Did he use his position as Prime Minister to make massive personal profits while knowingly or even unknowingly causing harm to the British people and has he broken the National Security Act which states "if you're working in secret for a foreign power to use or abuse your knowledge in a way that causes harm to our citizens you will be a criminal." Former Head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger.

mRNA Covid Jabs Have Caused Silent Heart Damage to Tens of Millions of People, According to a Shocking New Study – The Daily Sceptic

Hello Adam, right to the point. There is a good chance that our contract tentative agreement may not be ratified. My fellow upsers are focused on what profits the company made while we were on this unfair contract. Unfair because of how inside people and the lower tier drivers are paid.

My concern is that many don't see the big picture, there's a limit to what people will pay for shipping even for the best in service. To ask for more than the proposal now will lead to a loss of public support, and could jeprodise the dream end game of future pension checks for our worn bodies.

Lastly I view this job/career, even with its challenges as a blessing from the Lord and am thankful. There aren't a lot of places with the combination of our pay, benefits and retirement left out there.

Proof there are still crew months issues in this email to employees regarding all reserves exhausted and United limping to the end of the July crew month (which is offset and ends today). This is flight attendant crew month, but they are usually the same as pilots. It appears they are not having pilot staffing issues to the level of flight attendants due to sick calls. That has really accelerated due to the laxing of sick policies during COVID.

UPDATE: End of Crew Month Shortage at United | Patreon

South Carolina Primary will be interesting

Commentary: Reflecting On JFK's Place In Black History

Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me. Typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests from presidential candidates is 14-days. After 88-days of no response and after several follow-ups by our campaign, the Biden Administration just denied our request. Secretary Mayorkas: "I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr is not warranted at this time." Our campaign's request included a 67-page report from the world's leading protection firm, detailing unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats.

Readers added context they thought people might want to know

The Secret Service does not provide protection to non-incumbent Presidential candidates until 120 days before the general election. The next election is Nov. 5, 2024. July 8, 2024 is 120 days prior.

Link

Concerning the komodo health study referenced on CBS at time stamp:

2.37.44

This was misstated by the news model. She stated that only 56 genital surgeries were performed on minors between 2019 and 2021. The study only covered procedures that were paid by insurance.

Many insurers will not cover elective surgeries like this, hence all the GoFundMe campaigns for these procedures.

Here is the data:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/

Note that she neglected to point out that it looks like at least one genital surgery was perform on a 13 year old.

Tyfyc

Erin, the concerned therapist

The committee is concerned that malicious cyber actors are increasingly targeting the kernel and firmware in IT and OT infrastructure, which constitutes a vast and largely undefended attack vector… The committee is aware of the development and maturation of commercial technology for monitoring, protecting, and alerting of intrusion attempts on the infrastructure kernel layer and firmware.

The committee directs the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (CIO) to provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees, not later than March 1, 2024, on the cybersecurity of firmware in information and operational technology. The briefing should include:

Link

ITM

Just wanted to share anonymously -

Former Navy Radioman 2nd class - tech controller

We used to transmit (they may still do) Emergency Action Messages on Navy Hicom (HF (shortwave for civies) frequency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Action_Message#:~:text=In the United States military's,LAOs) in a nuclear war.

These messages sound a lot like your Number Station.

Alpha Numeric -

Something like:

This is Foxtrot Two Bravo (a daily call sign designator for our station - other stations would decode it to figure out who we were)

Echo Charlie Two Foxtrot Fife standby

Echo Charlie Two Foxtrot Fife standby

Message Follows

Echo Charlie Two Foxtrot Fife Bravo Eight Foxtrot …. Etc... usually 8-10 sets of five or six characters.

These were NMCC messages that were relayed around the world for Boomers (Ballistic Missile Subs)

Love the show

British PM and #WEF2030Agenda devotee #Sunak invested $500 million of his private funds into Moderna through a company called Thelema Partners in a notorious tax haven in the Caymen Islands. Afterwards he stated in parliament that the vaccine was "safe and effective" while then going on to roll out further permissions for Moderna to set up further vaccine producing interests within the UK.

Did he use his position as Prime Minister to make massive personal profits while knowingly or even unknowingly causing harm to the British people and has he broken the National Security Act which states "if you're working in secret for a foreign power to use or abuse your knowledge in a way that causes harm to our citizens you will be a criminal." Former Head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger.

mRNA Covid Jabs Have Caused Silent Heart Damage to Tens of Millions of People, According to a Shocking New Study – The Daily Sceptic

In The morning!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to maybe help others in the GITMO Nation. Quick background, several of the shows have recently pointed out Bobby the Op discussing the likelihood of Covid being engineered to target certain races/ethnicities and my wife and I couldn't agree more. In fact we've been speculating this since the New Year. Please feel free to share this, as I would like it to be a warning for listeners to not dismiss their health.

I'll try to keep this brief and succinct. My wife is non-vaxed just for reference! Her family has medical history of carrying an antigen called HLA-B27, which is basically just a genetic marker that indicates an individual may be susceptible to various autoimmune inflammatory diseases. In the case of her father, Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS for short) has been battling this autoimmune disease and took decades for a correct diagnosis. Think Mick Mars from Motley Cru for reference. Regardless, the way this disorder manifests has expanded over the years.

Fast forward to fall of 2020, family is hit with their first round of Covid (my second) beyond a mild fever and my wife losing her sense of smell everyone is okay. During this time frame, our 10 month old managed to land a perfect heel strike to my wife's eye. This quickly developed into uveitis, which thankfully the was quickly identified by her ophthalmologist who decided to screen her for the HLA-B27 due to the family history. Low and behold, she carries the genetic marker. For the next year, she fought uveitis with steroidal drops and oral pills but was on the verge of injections in her eye. Luckily it was controlled until around the holidays in 2021 again, when we all got another round of Covid. Once again, covid wasn't bad.

However, in addition to her uveitis she started developing severe AS flairs that would leave her bed ridden and immobile as the inflammation ravaged her body. After seeing a rheumatologist, she was diagnosed with AS and recommended to go on biologics. Which she declined, because she wanted to try and control it through less risky measures first. Over the next year we would battle bouts of flairs that would cause systemic inflammatory attacks variously across her body.

This past Christmas, we were attempting to fly visit her brother who was in he ICU unexpectedly due to a misdiagnosis of mini-strokes that caused larger strokes. Before we left, we decided to do a quick Covid test as we had what we thought was a seasonal cold however it turned out to be Covid yet again...once again we were fine. Thank God, her brother made a full recovery but due to my wife and her father's history they decided to do a full rheumatological work up which revealed he did have HLA-B27 marker and was diagnosed with AS. They deemed he had unchecked uveitis similar to my wife's that went unchecked and the inflammation cross the blood brain barrier causing the mini strokes.

Not long after, my wife started developing shortness of breath and pain under her ribs and chest after that most recent round of Covid. Finally we ended up in the ER to get an MRI of her lungs. Which showed pulmonary damage to the major tissues within her lungs, essentially killing a portion of her left lobes. For the past year we've been fighting insurance, working our way to get to the top specialists within the in the country/world and just got back from the NIH after being accepted into a vasculitis study. The doctors, to include the world's leading doc in vasculitis can't really explain it and haven't been able to nail down with certainty what is exactly wrong with her. She's currently on a mix of biologics, injectable NSAIDS, blood thinners, and a ridiculous dose of steroids that we are tapering off of. They still have no clue what our outcome looks like, but I think her top doc said it best "you are an interesting patient, that we want to become boring" which we pray for every day. At this point, they think it' some form of rare large vessel vasculitis or a rare clotting issue within her pulmonary vessels only.

During this time frame, both my wife and I have come to the conclusion that the cytokines (cells that cause inflammation) where already at elevated numbers (have the lab work over this entire period) due to her autoimmune disease that was triggered back in 2020. It's well documented at this point Covid causes cytokine "storms", which is a flood of these inflammatory cells within the body. We both think Covid in her and potentially her brother caused these comorbidities that would have been lethal, had we not fought back against doctors that were dismissive. If either of them had been vaxed, these cytokines plus the known clotting issue (which would be related to the clotting) would have more than likely been the final kiss of death. We both have said if Covid was indeed engineered, this would be the ultimate silent killer as it would just cause a multitude of other health issues causing death that would normally never be traced back.

We've also been discussing about getting her on a prophylactic dose of hydroxychloroquine in order to curb another potential flair from Covid. Between the vaccine deaths and I think a lot of increased deaths of "normal" caused by an uptick in rare diseases, people need to be aware of this and very proactive with their care. The genetic marker HLA-B27 primarily affects caucasians (specially of nordic decent) the second highest group is African Americans. I plead with you and the audience to take an active role in your healthcare. These doctors and providers (by the way your correct Adam, "Provider" is just a new term within healthcare to identify who can write prescriptions) are just in the early stages of trying to understand what is going on. Several of the physicians have uttered a causal link to Covid and my wife's health issues under there breath, almost avoiding how this is going to affect diagnosing future patients. We've also had about 70% providers recommend NOT getting the vaccine at this point due to her condition. Some still push, even her cardiologist who has seen the clotting issue with vaxed patients.

I would remiss sharing this with No Agenda in the hopes of helping save someone who may be struggling with health issues that they can't explain. Apologies for the length.

Steve

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 15:08

Image source, AFPJames Clayton and Ben Derico in San Francisco & Anna Foster in Turkey

BBC News

Google's earthquake warning system failed to get to many Turkish residents before February's deadly tremor, a BBC Newsnight investigation has found.

Google says its alert system can give users up to a minute's notice on their phones before an earthquake hits.

It says its alert was sent to millions before the first, biggest quake.

However, the BBC visited three cities in the earthquake zone, speaking to hundreds of people, and didn't find anyone who had received a warning.

The system works on Android phones, essentially any phone that isn't an iPhone. Android phones, which are often more affordable, make up about 80% of the phones in Turkey.

"If Google makes a promise, or makes an implicit promise, to deliver a service like earthquake early warning, then to me, it raises the stakes," says Prof Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

"They have a responsibility to be able to follow through on something that is directly related to life and limb."

Google's product lead on the system, Micah Berman, insisted it had worked. "We are confident that this system fired and sent alerts," he told the BBC.

However, the company did not provide evidence that these alerts were widely received.

More than 50,000 people died in February's earthquake.

After the first major 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning, another major tremor shook the surrounding area at lunchtime.

The BBC was able to find a limited number of users who received a warning for this second quake.

How the system works

Google's Android Earthquake Alert System was announced in Turkey in June 2021.

The system is operational in dozens of countries around the world. The company describes the ability to send quake alerts as a "core" part of its Android service.

It works by using Android's vast network of phones. Smartphones contain tiny accelerometers that can detect shaking.

When many phones shake at the same time, Google can pinpoint the epicentre and estimate the strength of a quake. Google has made an explainer on how it works.

When an earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or greater is detected, the Android system can send a warning.

"This is an alert unlike any you've probably seen on your phone before. It takes over your phone screen," Mr Berman says.

The warning says "drop, cover, hold" and is accompanied by a loud alarm.

Image caption, How Google's alert appears on Android smartphones

It should also override a user's do not disturb mode automatically, so you don't need to switch it on.

"No matter what state your phone is in, you should get that warning," Mr Berman says.

Google claims the system successfully sent alerts on 6 February to millions of people.

How much warning people should have got from Google would depend on how far away they were from the earthquake, Mr Berman explains. A message travelling over the internet can travel much faster than the waves of an earthquake travelling through the earth.

"Sometimes [the warning] might be a second or a fraction of a second, sometimes it might be 20 or 30 seconds, sometimes it might be 50 or 60 seconds," he says.

Despite extensive reporting across the earthquake zone in the hours, days and weeks after the quake, no-one mentioned getting an alert to the BBC.

So we began to search specifically for people who had got the warning.

Our team travelled to Adana, Iskenderun and Osmaniye, cities between 70km (43 miles) and 150km (93 miles) away from the epicentre.

We spoke to hundreds of people with Android phones.

Although we managed to find a small number of people who had got an alert for the second earthquake, we couldn't find anyone who got a warning ahead of the first, most powerful quake.

In Iskenderun, we spoke to Alican who lost his grandmother when a hospital collapsed. He says he had received the alert before, but he didn't get it this time.

We put our reporting from the earthquake zone to Google's Mr Berman.

He said: "It's possible, given the massive impact of the first event, that this just quietly happened in the background, while users were really paying attention to lots of other things. At the end of the day, I think that's probably the most likely explanation."

But the people we spoke to were adamant that none arrived.

Funda, who has been living in a temporary tent encampment since the quake, says she lost 25 members of her family.

"We literally dumped people into the ground. My brother-in-law and nephew were buried hugging each other," she says.

Image caption, Funda lost 25 members of her family in the quake

She owns an Android phone but told us she was "certain" she didn't get an alert.

After an earthquake you would expect people to post on social media that they had received a warning. This is common in other countries where quakes have occurred since Google's system launched.

"One of the few feedback sources that we have is being able to look on social media," Mr Berman says.

And yet after the first earthquake in Turkey, social media was unusually quiet - something Mr Berman accepts.

"I don't have a resounding answer for why we haven't seen more reaction on social media to that particular event," he says.

The BBC asked for data that showed people had received the notification. The only evidentiary document Google shared was a pdf with 13 social media posts the company had found of people talking of a warning that day.

So we contacted the authors of the posts.

One was Ridvan Gunturk, who had posted that he had got a warning in the city of Adana. However, after speaking to the BBC, he clarified that this was for the second earthquake. He confirmed he had not received an alert for the first earthquake.

Image caption, Ridvan Gunturk received an alert for the second quake

In fact, only one of the social media posts referenced a warning about the first quake, giving a detailed account. The BBC has spoken to the author of the post, but they wouldn't give their name.

The author said they believed they had received an alert, but couldn't be completely certain of their memory of events at the time.

Google also said it had received feedback from user surveys that say the system worked. However, it declined to share this information.

Prof Tobin told the BBC Google's system was relatively new, and could be useful, but that it was important for the company to be transparent.

"If you are delivering an essential life safety or public safety piece of information, then you have a responsibility to be transparent about how it works and how well it works," he says.

"We're not talking about an anecdote of, 'oh it's popped up here and there.' These are intended as blanket warning systems. That's the whole point."

Turkish earthquake expert Prof Sukru Ersoy told the BBC his wife was in the earthquake zone. She has an Android phone but did not receive an alert.

He says that he has not spoken to anyone who got a warning.

"If Google's system had worked, perhaps it could have been very beneficial," he says.

"But the system not working in an important earthquake such as this one begs the question: if this is a beneficial system, why couldn't we benefit from it in this major earthquake, one of the biggest earthquakes of the last 100 years?"

In a statement given to the BBC by Google after the interview, Mr Berman said: "During a devastating earthquake event, numerous factors can affect whether users receive, notice, or act on a supplemental alert - including the specific characteristics of the earthquake and the availability of internet connectivity."

Additional reporting by Alp Akis

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 15:06

Starting next week, Americans will only be able to purchase LED lights from retailers across the nation as an official ban on incandescent lightbulbs will go into effect.

Come Tuesday, while it won't be illegal to own incandescent light bulbs, it will be illegal for stores to sell them and companies to manufacture them.

The federal government's warnings started in January and have been getting progressively more aggressive as they want to make sure Americans don't go back in time. The government announced a ban on the manufacturing and selling of incandescent bulbs, saying it will help Americans save money and help the environment.

Everyone will have to purchase LED or compact fluorescent light bulbs instead.

However, some critics of the ban are calling it government overreach, saying lawmakers should let Americans make their own decisions about the light bulbs in their houses.

The Department of Energy says LED lights provide more light using 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. Plus, LED lights are estimated to save families about $100 per year.

The average cost of an LED light bulb ranges from $5 to $7 each, while an incandescent light bulb would normally range from $2 to $3 a bulb, according to a report from Lifehacker. However, LED bulbs save money in the long run because they use less energy to run and last longer.

The agency also claimed that discontinuing inefficient incandescent lights will save Americans nearly $3 billion yearly and substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years.

Despite the long-term benefits, some people said the decision to make the light switch should be their own, not the government's.

Last week, a House subcommittee discussed the ban at a hearing titled, ''Canceling Consumer Choice: Examining the Biden Administration's regulatory assault on American's home appliances.''

''I'm happy the Department of Energy is out here making sure that we can all save money because we're too dumb to figure out how to do it ourselves,'' Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., said.

The hearing was in part a reference to gas stoves. The House passed a bill to prohibit banning them last month despite the Consumer Product Safety Commission not currently considering a ban.

''These updated regulations are not an attempt to ban or take away appliances like gas stoves, light bulbs, or dishwashers,'' Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said.

Manufacturers who violate the ban could face a maximum penalty of $542 per illicit bulb.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 14:21

Swiss researchers have uncovered concerning data showing some Moderna vaccine recipients experienced heart injuries, although no signs of heart damage have appeared. The revelations, published in the European Journal of Heart Failure, relate to the Moderna vaccine. Alex Berenson has the story.

A dose of Moderna's Covid jab injured the hearts of about 3% of people who received it, Swiss researchers have found.

The vaccinated people did not show obvious signs of heart damage. But when researchers ran blood tests three days after the jabs, they found high levels of troponin, a protein the heart releases when it is injured, in many recipients.

''Subclinical mRNA vaccine-associated myocardial injury is much more common than estimated based on passive surveillance,'' the researchers concluded. The paper was published last week in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Heart Failure.

Over one billion people have received mRNA jabs. The study suggests tens of millions of them may have suffered heart damage '' and don't even know they've been hurt.

The researchers conducted the tests on 777 employees at University Hospital Basel, one of Switzerland's top medical centers, from December 2021 through February 2022.

The employees had already been scheduled to receive mRNA boosters and were asked if they would undergo a blood test for troponin levels three days later.

In other words, the researchers conducted 'active surveillance' on them to trace potential side effects, as opposed to 'passive surveillance' vaccine safety systems like the Federal government's VAERS, which depend on patients or doctors to report problems.

The Moderna vaccinees were a healthy group, with an average age of 37 and few preexisting heart problems. About 70% were women.

But post-jab blood tests found that 40 of the jab recipients had highly elevated troponin levels, above the 99th percentile for average women or men. About five times as many people had extremely high troponin as should have in a random sample.

After the scientists removed anyone with a plausible non-jab explanation, 22 people '' or 1 in 35 of those they tested '' remained injured by the Moderna jab.

The study contained another striking finding.

The researchers reported that 20 of the injured recipients were women, while only two were men. Even adjusting for the fact that more women were tested, women were almost five times as likely to have elevated troponin.

Worth reading in full.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 14:19

If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed andworking. Further configuration is required.

For online documentation and support please refer tonginx.org.Commercial support is available atnginx.com.

Thank you for using nginx.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 14:15

Local and federal authorities spent months investigating a warehouse in Fresno County, California, that they suspect was home to an illegal, unlicensed laboratory full of lab mice, medical waste and hazardous materials.

The Fresno County Public Health Department has been "evaluating and assessing the activities of an unlicensed laboratory" in Reedley, the health department's assistant director, Joe Prado, said in a statement Thursday. All of the biological agents were destroyed by July 7 following a legal abatement process by the agency.

"The evaluation required coordination and collaboration with multiple federal and state agencies to determine and classify biological and chemical contents onsite, in addition to assessing jurisdictional authority under this unique situation," Prado said.

A warehouse in Reedley, Calif. Google MapsAccording to court documents, city officials inspected the location at 850 I St. on March 3 for building violations and found various chemicals being stored. On March 16, an inspection by county public health officials allegedly turned up medical devices thought to have been developed on-site, such as Covid and pregnancy tests.

"Certain rooms of the warehouse were found to contain several vessels of liquid and various apparatus," court documents said. "Fresno County Public Health staff also observed blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples and serums; and thousands of vials of unlabeled fluids and suspected biological material."

Hundreds of mice at the warehouse were kept in inhumane conditions, court documents said. The city took possession of the animals in April, euthanizing 773 of them; more than 175 were found dead.

Furniture, chemicals and devices were improperly stored. Superior Court of the State of CaliforniaThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the substances and detected at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis and herpes, according to a Health and Human Services letter dated June 6.

An investigation found the tenant was Prestige BioTech, a company registered in Nevada and unlicensed for business in California. City officials spoke with Xiuquin Yao, who was identified as the company president, through emails included in the court documents.

Yao told officials that Prestige BioTech moved assets belonging to a defunct company, Universal Meditech Inc., to the Reedley warehouse from Fresno after UMI went under. Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and identified as its successor, according to court documents.

Officials were unable to get any California-based address for either company except for the previous Fresno location from which UMI had been evicted.

"The other addresses provided for identified authorized agents were either empty offices or addresses in China that could not be verified," court documents said.

Prestige BioTech is accused of failing to comply with orders, including providing a plan for biological abatement and disposal of the materials. Emails sent to Yao and Prestige BioTech requesting comment were not immediately answered Thursday.

Prado told NBC affiliate KSEE of Fresno that those associated with Prestige BioTech were not forthcoming with information. Court documents say they failed to provide any licensing or permit that allows experimentation or other laboratory activity.

Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba told KSEE that officials have cleared the area of hazardous materials but are still working to empty the warehouse.

"Some of our federal partners still have active investigations going. I can only speak to the building side of it,'' Zieba said.

Doha Madani Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 14:01

Not so long ago many of the homes of African Americans had three pictures hanging on the wall'--John F. Kennedy, Jesus Christ and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. The three usually hung as a triptych with Kennedy to the left of Jesus and M.L.K., Jr. to the right. Growing up, I never questioned why these three pictures graced so many homes.

Kennedy was held in high regard by most African Americans. Black Americans saw in him someone who despite his privileged life had empathy for their plight. Most importantly they believed he would work to improve race relations.

That belief was tested early on in Kennedy's presidency as he resisted public and private pleas to take action against the brutality directed toward the non violent civil rights organizers including the Freedom Riders. It was disappointing to supporters who knew Kennedy likely would not have been president were it not for his relationship with King.

When he ran for the White House in 1960, the modern civil rights movement was gaining momentum with boycotts and sit ins across the South.

King was arrested after a sit in in Atlanta and thrown into Georgia's Reidsville prison. Coretta Scott King reached out to Kennedy advisor Harris Wofford. Against the advice of many in his campaign, the candidate called Mrs. King. He knew it was a risky move since he needed Southern votes to win. His brother Bobby later intervened with local law enforcement.

Upon his release, King said of Kennedy's call ''I think he did something that expressed deep moral concern, but at the same time it was politically sound.'' Kennedy won the presidency by one percent; African American enthusiasm was key, even though laws in the South prevented many African Americans from voting.

But, despite that call, Kennedy was a slow to support civil rights. He needed prodding before he finally took a stand, but a stand it was.

In a national broadcast, he declared, ''We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and as clear as the American Constitution.'' The wave of non-violent demonstrations had laid bare the nation's racial inequities, and the President was moved to call for legislation to end segregation. He said America ''will not be fully free until all of its citizens are free.''

Kennedy's words cemented his place in history, his place in the hearts of many African Americans, and he became a fixture on the wall of black homes.

This week, 50 years after his death, the nation pauses to reflect on the life and legacy of John F. Kennedy. The Kennedy/ Jesus/ King wall of honor is a footnote to this history, a particular cultural tribute to a young president who didn't live to see the changing America he hoped to lead.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 14:00

News By Carson Choate, Western Journal July 29, 2023 at 11:22am A pro-LGBT group is taking advantage of a GOP-sponsored law by using school-choice vouchers to fund a new ''queer'' middle school in America's fifth-largest city.

Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account program, launched in 2011, is a public fund intended to support students attending low-rated schools by giving them vouchers to pay for alternatives, such as private school, homeschooling and tutoring.

The program, which serves over 60,000 children, was financially boosted by Republican lawmakers last year, with many championing it as a victory for educational freedom.

One group, however, is drawing controversy for using the vouchers to fund the new Queer Blended Learning Center in downtown Phoenix.

Beginning in August, the school will be held at the headquarters of One-N-Ten '-- a nonprofit dedicated to serving LGBT youth.

''Frankly, sixth, seventh and eighth grades were some of the hardest years for me. I changed schools every single school year,'' One-N-Ten CEO Nate Rhoton told AZ Family.

''Today, if I were in junior high, I would love to be able to live my full, authentic self,'' he said.

The micro-school is meant to be a ''safe, educational space'' for LGBT-identifying middle school-aged children, but all children are allowed, no matter their sexual orientation, AZ Family reported.

''We just had this population of sixth, seventh and eighth graders that could really benefit from a safe space to be able to really have exceptional education while also having education that pertains to their own identity,'' said Clayton Davenport, One-N-Ten's director of development and marketing, according to The Blaze.

Should the school be allowed to open?

Yes: 17% (4 Votes)

No: 83% (20 Votes)

''Being able to raise their hands and ask their questions in a safe, affirming environment is going to be key to their mental health and educational advancement,'' Davenport said.

QBLC is known as a ''micro-school'' because they currently only have one teacher and eight students.

Curriculum will be provided by Spark Community Schools and will include all the basics: reading, writing, math, science, history and the like '-- with an emphasis on LGBT topics.

''Specifically,'' this means teaching ''culturally responsive curriculum in civics '-- LGBTQ history,'' Katrina Thurman, president of Spark Community Schools, told AZ Family, adding that such stories will be told from ''every perspective and point of view.''

''And then, at the end of the day, we end with project-based learning, which is something that has been proven to take what you learned in those core subjects and really make it relevant,'' Thurman said.

The cost of tuition to attend the private school is in line with the state's average voucher payout.

While ESA voucher award amounts vary, the typical payout is around $7,000.

Voucher awards can range from $4,000 to over $43,000, according to AZ Central. The amount ultimately depends on the needs of the child. Children with disabilities typically receive the most, the outlet reported.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 13:02

On the surface, getting a sag card can seem extremely complex. But in this guide, I'll simplify it so it's super easy to understand!

There are four main steps to getting a SAG card:

Decide whether it's the right time to join SAG.Become eligible to join SAG by meeting their requirements.Gather your materials and submit an application.Pay their dues and join.'‹We'll dive deep on each of these so you know exactly how to get a SAG card and perhaps even more importantly '' whether you

should join right now.

Related Guide: Access Netflix Auditions WITHOUT Joining SAGSAG-AFTRASAG and AFTRA used to be two separate unions, but combined into one entity called SAG-AFTRA on March 30th, 2012.

Joining SAG-AFTRA is something most actors aspire to because they'll be guaranteed higher wages, health benefits, strictly enforced protections on set, pension plans, and plenty of other benefits.

Ready to learn how to get a SAG card? Let's dive right in.

Step 1: Decide Whether You Should Get a SAG CardMost new actors look at SAG-AFTRA and think to themselves, "If only I could get my SAG card... then tons of new opportunities would open up to me!"

But is that really true? Will tons of opportunities actually open up the moment you join?

Sadly, the answer is no. In fact, most actors find it

harder to get auditions once they join because of something called Global Rule One.

Global Rule One: "No member shall render any services or make an agreement to perform services for any employer who has not executed a basic minimum agreement with the union, which is in full force and effect, in any jurisdiction in which there is a SAG-AFTRA national collective bargaining agreement in place. This provision applies worldwide."

Basically, this means that once you join SAG-AFTRA, you're no longer allowed to work in non-union jobs anymore. You're going to find much more difficult to get acting work because your competition will be WAY more fierce '' you'll be competing for jobs with the best of the best actors '' union, high-level performers who have been acting for many years and are competing for roles in bigger, higher-budget projects.

You'll no longer be able to submit yourself for independent internet projects, student films, and even industrials anymore. And joining SAG-AFTRA does NOT make it any easier to get an agent '' in fact if you join the union without an agent, you'll probably be in the worst place possible because most

self-submission audition opportunities (those found on

Backstage and

Casting Networks, etc.), are for non-union jobs.

For that reason, I recommend you read the below questions to determine whether you should realistically begin trying to get a SAG card:

Do you have at least 3-4 Lead or Supporting screen credits on your resume?Do you have at least 1 co-star credit or union franchised film credit on your resume (meaning you're SAG-Eligible)?Do you have a professional reel with at least 3 high-budget scenes in it?Do you feel very confident in your auditioning ability?Do you have a relationship with at least 2-3 casting directors?Do you have a SAG-Franchised agent?Related: Contact info of over 140 legit agencies across the world.You should be able to answer yes to at least 4 out of 6 questions above '' if you can't, I recommend waiting a bit longer before trying to get a SAG card.

'‹Step 2: Become Eligible to Join SAG-AFTRA'‹Once you've decided you're ready to join, you need to actually become "eligible" (called SAG-Eligible). SAG-AFTRA actually has a real-time eligibility checker you can use to see if you're eligible to join:

Check your SAG-AFTRA eligibility status hereIf you're not yet eligible, here's a list of all the possible ways to become eligible:

Taft-Hartley: Non-union actors can be hired in union projects for speaking roles. The moment you are hired for a principal or speaking role on your first SAG-AFTRA production, you become eligible to join (provided the production submitted the necessary paperwork with your information on it). This is called being "Taft-Hartleyed," and is one of the most common ways of getting into SAG-AFTRA.Note 1: There are ways to improve your chances of being Taft-Hartley'd. If you're willing to put in a bit of work, you can start getting directly invited to audition for SAG-AFTRA productions, even if you don't have an extensive resume or reel. You'll cold-email casting directors (or if you prefer, meet them through classes/social media) and keep in touch for a few weeks by providing added value. Because you've given so much to them (before you expect to gain), these casting directors will feel compelled to invite you to audition for their next major SAG-AFTRA project '' and you'll have a leg up on all the other actors auditioning (because the casting director already knows you)!'‹Free Step-by-Step Guide: 3 Strategies to Get Casting Directors to Invite You to SAG-AFTRA Auditions (includes word-for-word email templates and a tutorial on how to become friends with any major casting director '' even if you've never met)'‹Note 2: Once you've performed in a principal role on a union film, you are considered "SAG-Eligible," and have 30 days to perform in as many union productions as you want. After that 30 day period is up however, you MUST join the union on the next SAG-AFTRA production you work on (unless it's as a background actor).Background Vouchers: If you perform three days of work as a background actor in a SAG-AFTRA production, you will become eligible to join '' but only if they give you a "voucher." If the production has any vouchers left (they give them out to union actors first) you'll receive one. Your goal is to collect three vouchers, one for each day of work. Unlike with the Taft-Hartley rule, there is no time frame or limit to the number of background roles you can do in SAG-AFTRA productions before being required to join. This is typically the easiest and most straightforward way to become eligible to join the union.Note 1: To improve your chances of landing a background union role, you can try working in productions that are more difficult to get to '' those outside a major production city like NYC or LA. You can also perform in roles that require more harsh working conditions, such as outdoor scenes in bad weather. These techniques will decrease the number of union actors looking for background work in those productions, thereby increasing your chances as a non-union actor of getting booked.Note 2: Background vouchers are not guaranteed. Some productions might not issue one, so be aware that this method isn't always as easy as it sounds.Put Together Your Own SAG-AFTRA Production: SAG-AFTRA offers plenty of agreement options for low budget productions, including the New Media, Special New Media, and Ultra Low Budget options. If you create your own project and submit the necessary paperwork and pay the necessary fees, you can make your own production a union project and then hire yourself on it! Basically you'd be Taft-Hartleying yourself with this option.Reciprocity: AEA (Actors' Equity Association), ACTRA (The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists), AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists), and AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) are all affiliated with SAG-AFTRA, and as long as you've been a member of one of those unions for at least a year and have performed as a principal at least once under one of their contracts, you'll generally be allowed to join SAG-AFTRA (provided of course that you pay the initiation fee).Be Upgraded to a Speaking Role: Similarly to being Taft-Hartleyed, you can start by joining a union production as a background actor, and if they decide to give you a line for whatever reason, you'll instantly become eligible to join the union because you're now considered a "principal" actor.Special Cases: If the national board for SAG-AFTRA determines that you're "engaged in work that advances the [union's] active organizing efforts or general goals," it might decide to admit you. Note that this is extremely rare and generally outside of your control.Step 3: Gather Paperwork & Submit Your Application'‹Once you're eligible to join SAG-AFTRA, it's time to submit your application! Here's what you'll need to do:

'‹Gather the required documentation. If you use the link to check your eligibility status and you're deemed ineligible but you know you ARE eligible per their requirements as outlined above, you'll need to gather the following items as proof of work:Original Paycheck stubs: make sure your pay stubs indicate the date(s) of employment, your name and social security number, the production title, the signatory company, and the wages you were paid. Do not submit copies '' only originals are accepted!Performer contract: You'll also need your original contract with the production company (again, not a copy). It should include your name and social security number, date(s) of employment, production title, signatory company, and wages paid.Payroll Printout: Finally, you'll be required to submit a payroll printout that includes your name, social security number, date(s) of employment, production title, signatory company and wages paid.Note: They don't accept background work vouchers as sole proof of work. You'll need the three above items in addition to your vouchers when applying!Submit all of the required documents. Along with the documents above, you'll also be required to include your professional name, primary address, telephone number, date & place of birth, and social security number with your submission. You can simply write these down on a separate page in the envelope you mail, or as the text in the email you send.If sending by email: employmentverification@sagaftra.org.If sending by mail: Screen Actors Guild, Membership Services Department '' Proof of Eligibility, 5757 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036Note 1: When sending by mail, be sure to make copies of your documents for your own records before sending them in! You should also include a return-addressed, pre-stamped envelope so they can send your documents back to you after verification.'‹If delivering in-person: Drop them off with the first floor receptionist at 5757 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.'‹'‹Note: No two actors can have the same name in the SAG-AFTRA database, meaning your application might be denied if you have a common name. For that reason, you might be required to submit a Stage Name instead.Schedule an appointment to join. Once they send a letter or email back to you confirming your eligibility, you'll need to schedule an appointment to speak with them. Call their office at (323) 549-6769 to schedule this appointment, where you'll initiate your membership and pay the initiation fee.If you run into trouble, just call their nearest office. You can visit www.sagaftra.org/locals to find the nearest office to you '' they're usually very friendly and and can walk you through the process, send you step-by-step instructions, and help you get together the necessary paperwork!'‹

Keep in mind that every application is individually vetted to ensure everything submitted is legit. Your proof of employment paperwork will checked and any inaccurate information will be discovered and impact future possibility of getting in '' so don't lie about anything on your application!

'‹Step 4: Join and Pay the Initiation FeeOn the scheduled call, you'll be able to ask any final questions you have before joining, and then they will instruct you on how to place payment to join SAG-AFTRA.

All new members pay an initiation fee of $3,000 when joining SAG-AFTRA (this amount is subject to change). In certain states, the initiation fee might be a bit lower.

There are also semi-annual dues required, which are usually a few hundred dollars plus a percentage of your earnings. These dues slowly increase over time.

Payment can be made with cashier's check, money order, or any major credit card. Cash and personal checks are not accepted.

'‹To see the most up-to-date dues and initiation fees,

please click here.

How to Get a SAG Card: Think StrategicallySo as a summary, how do you become a member of SAG? Well here's the most strategic order I recommend you go about it:

'‹

'‹'‹Step 1: Start saving to have $3,500 in the bank. Your money should be there so you can join as soon as you have to. Why? Because there have been cases of actors who booked an amazing SAG-AFTRA role who were required to join the union but couldn't afford the initiation fee. They lost out on the role of a lifetime because of it. Don't let this be you!Step 2: Build up non-union credits (while saving). Spend a year or two building up your credits so your acting resume is strong. Make it your goal to get at least 3-4 Supporting or Lead credits in student or indie non-union films (you can find these roles through casting websites). Also, make sure to ask for your footage so you can begin the process of putting together a professional demo reel.Step 3: Find a Union Franchised agent and begin applying for union gigs. Start looking for a union-franchised agent (you don't need to have a SAG card to get representation from one of these acting agencies). While searching for an agent, start building relationships with a few big casting directors by attending workshops and keeping in touch with them via social media or email.Step 4: Wait until you become SAG-AFTRA Eligible and then add that to your resume (or work in 3 SAG background roles and request vouchers). Once you have an agent and you've completed all the items above, you can safely join the union whenever you're ready. The simplest way to join would be by either getting booked as a co-star in a television show (or any speaking role in a union film), or by working as a background actor for three days on a union production.Step 5: Join SAG-AFTRA. Congratulations! You're ready to join SAG and you're NOT going to lock yourself into a world of hurt by joining too early.'‹ 3 Numbers All Actors Should Know Knowing how to get a SAG card is important, but it's just one small part of growing your acting career.

If your goal is to act full-time, you should know these 3 numbers:

40-60 Submissions '' This is how often full-time, working actors submit themselves (whether they have an agent or not) each month.10-20 Auditions '' This is how many times full-time working actors audition (or at least record and submit self-tapes) each month.3-5 Bookings '' This is how often full-time working actors book real, paid acting jobs each and every month.If your numbers aren't there yet, that's OK! It's certainly not easy to audition and book that much.

But those are

actual, real numbers from busy, working actors

who didn't just get lucky.

Those busy, working actors started at the beginning '' for them, the biggest question swirling in their minds at the time was:

How do I get taken seriously by casting directors when I don't have good credits or footage? And how do I get credits/footage without being taken seriously by casting directors?It's the classic actor's catch 22.

When we're struggling to get our careers off the ground, our minds can slip into "desperation mode" and start looking for quick-fix solutions. We'll ask ourselves questions like:

"Should I take another acting class?" "Do I need better headshots or s hould I pay to shoot a reel?" "What's the fastest way to get an agent?" But questions like those mean you're focused on

Tactics, instead of

Strategy.

Think about it this way: Would you bake a cake by randomly sliding a pile of flour, eggs, and chocolate into the oven? Of course not! How you combine the ingredients, the temperature you cook it at, and for how long are all just as important.

Similarly, the long-term, well thought-out

strategy you follow as you grow your acting career matters. A LOT.

That's why "strategic thinking" is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself as an actor.So today I'd like to give you a gift: 3 tools specifically designed to help you start thinking and operating

strategically.These tools have helped over 14,000 actors so far, many of whom have gone on to:

Book Broadway rolesLand network television and Netflix showsSign with agents and managersAnd much more '' faster than you'd expect (you can see some success stories here).My free Actor's Toolkit will help you BLAST through the actor's catch 22 so you start getting WAYmore auditions and bookings every month:'‹ The Actor's Toolkit '‹'‹ The Top 6 Casting Websites to Find Auditions, plus 3 specific submissions strategies to get higher-quality auditions from them3 Pro Actor Resume Templates, professionally formatted (they work on any device '' just add your info)Contact info of over 140 Top Talent Agencies & Submissions Techniques to save you the hassle of trying to find legitimate (non-scam) agents'‹

Martin Bentsen (author of this guide) is an actor marketing coach who uses strategic thinking to help actors book more work. He's helped over 14,000 actors with their careers and actor headshots since 2009 and his photography studio City Headshots is ranked #1 on Yelp. He's spoken at NYU, The New England Theater Conference, The Actor's Green Room, and other venues.'‹Want to book more acting work by thinking strategically? Start with his free Actor's Toolkit to create new opportunities right away, or visit his website at www.martinbentsen.com.'‹Some Additional Q&A Can I Do Non-Union Work When I'm a Member of SAG-AFTRA?Unfortunately, no. SAG-AFTRA has a rule called the Global Rule One, which means no matter where you are in the world, you MUST only act in SAG-AFTRA productions. If you try to work on a non-union project and SAG-AFTRA finds out, you'll get fined, suspended or even expelled from the union.This is why it's important to only join the union when you're ready '' or in other words, when you're competitive. If you're still building your reel and resume and don't have much experience yet, I highly recommend waiting to join, otherwise you're going to find it MUCH harder to get work. Remember that when you join, you'll be competing with other extremely experienced union actors for every single role.

'‹What does a SAG card cost?'‹Do you have to have a SAG card to be an actor?You do not need a SAG card to be an actor! You can act in non-union productions for as long as you like, but if you eventually want to perform in bigger projects, like network-level film & television, joining the union will be a must.

How to get a SAG card as an extra?To get a SAG card as an extra, all you need to do is perform as an extra (background actor) for three full days on set and make sure to ask for your SAG vouchers each day. Then, follow the instructions in the rest of this guide and you'll be able to join!

Can I get a SAG card? Instant Eligibility CheckerPersonal Note: I do NOT recommend you go this route, because you'll constantly find yourself struggling to get acting work if you join the union before you have a decent amount of experience. Read the section towards the beginning of this article titled "Decide Whether You Should Join SAG-AFTRA" to learn more.'‹Additional Helpful Links:'‹Further Reading:

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Archived Version

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 12:58

As Hollywood actors continue to strike over a demand for higher wages and dispute the increasing use of AI in production, background actors have been revealing why the action chosen by the Screens Actors Guild came at just the right time.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (SAG-AFTRA) '-- which represents approximately 160,000 actors and entertainers '-- voted to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades on July 14.

As SAG president Fran Drescher noted when announcing the guild's decision to strike, AI has already begun to make an impact on showbusiness and this sentiment was immediately backed up by lower paid performers who claimed they had started getting their likeness 'scanned' on sets without much explanation about what could be done with it in the future.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com about her recent experiences of being scanned on set as background actor, Rebecca Safier admitted it has been hard for performers to know what will be done with their likeness going forward.

Major movement: SAG's National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland revealed to DailyMail.com that the threat of AI had long been an issue to the guild

New tech: In recent months, TV and film lovers have been noticing ways in which CGI people have been appearing in the background of projects - with less than ideal results

She stated: 'I was scanned last year by a production where it was unclear how they were going to use it.

'We went to set and worked like we normally would, but then they pulled us away in groups without really explaining and took us to a VFX trailer.'

The actress, who has worked on shows such as Westworld and The Guild, added that it wasn't the first time she had been scanned during filming.

She continued: 'I was scanned for another large production in 2019, and they were at least explaining that it was specifically for an effects shot because the only people asked to scan had been seen walking near where the effect was going to be inserted. I just have to assume that is true.'

She explained how background actors are in need of clearer contracts as she continued: 'Because there isn't currently anything in our contract about this, we have been told that it is our option to refuse, but some people feel more comfortable doing that than others do.

'We don't know what will be reported back to casting at the end of the day - if anyone will be called "difficult" or something similar which could impact hiring in the future. It also could be up to the production whether anyone who refuses will get any money for the day, and most people working background cannot afford to refuse a work day.'

What Rebecca found most concerning was the lack advance notice on both productions: 'I also was just taken by surprise. There was no advance notice in the booking that there would be scanning those days.'

Reflecting on the proposal put forward by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which led to the SAG strikes, Rebecca added: 'The proposal by the studios would absolutely impact my ability to earn. Background is always hired by the day. If they want to only hire me for one day and use my image forever, a base rate of (currently) $187 is all I will ever get.

Not happy: Many background performers have taken to social media in recent weeks to share about their experiences of being 'scanned' on set without much explanation or any extra pay

'In terms of perpetuity, that is the language in our voucher that we sign for work each time. The voucher is a version of a timecard and contract. They look different depending on the company, but they all use the same basic language. It covers the work for the day, and there is a concern that since the scanning is done as part of the workday, it could be a loophole.'

SAG's National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland revealed to DailyMail.com that the threat of AI had long been an issue for the guild.

'AI is not a new topic for us, but the developments that have happened in the last 18 months have really changed the game,' he explained at the SAG-AFTRA strike rally in New York on Tuesday. 'We are extremely insistent upon fair protections with AI, protections for informed consent, protections for fair compensation.'

He continued: 'It's nothing that should be that hard for the companies to agree to. Frankly, if you come to this from a mindset of just treating your people in a fair way, then you can say yes to every single proposal we put on the table about.'

He defiantly added: 'This is a fight that we are having, not just for today. In fact, I was on the picket line at Disney and we had teenagers who work for Disney there who are worried about whether AI is going to mean they don't have a career after all.

'I mean, when a 14 year old is worried about how he's going to take away their job, that tells you something needs to be done.'

Duncan continued: 'I think it's not just in this industry. We may be the starting point, but all of us as a society need to be concerned about making sure A.I. is implemented in a human-centered way that's fair to people.'

Speaking out: The social posts indicate the action chosen by the Screens Actors Guild came at just the right time for background actors

Many other background performers have taken to social media in recent weeks to share about their experiences of being 'scanned' on set without much explanation or understanding about their likeness would be used in future.

Taking to Twitter on July 13, background actor Dariush Seif-Amirhosseini suggested that scans had been taking place of Disney's 2021 movie, Cruella.

He wrote: 'I was a background actor on Cruella and we all got scanned. I didn't think much of it back then (we were told it was to make the crowds look bigger), but'... yeah, wish that hadn't happened!

'As for my contract, I genuinely can't even remember signing one, tho I probably must have at some point? I know for a fact I never received a copy, because I just looked through all my paperwork from that time.'

The actor continued: 'What happened was we were doing the shoot as normal, and members of crew would come up to about 2 or 3 background actors throughout the night and take them somewhere. I didn't find out that we were being taken to a trailer with a scanning rig until it finally became my turn.'

Another background actor responded to the tweet stating: 'Same for me during Ant Man 2, but they didn't use the footage in the movie. But they still own my likeness.'

Soon another background performer commented: 'I did background work for the Whitney Houston biopic and we all also got scanned and were given the same reasoning .....yikes!'

The Guild star Felicia Day revealed that several friends had spoken about having their likeness scanned to be used 'in perpetuity'.

Jump scare: Disney fans were recently left horrified by a 'bone chilling' discovery of CGI people in the background of the new movie Prom Pact

'I have friends who have done extra work recently and they have been "scanned" three times for use in perpetuity,' the actress wrote. 'Limited to what?! They don't even know!!! Egregious. #SAGAFTRAstrong.'

Meanwhile, actor, stylist and dancer Katie Licata shared similar sentiments on Instagram as she posted: 'This happened to me. When I worked on Shazam they told us that we had to be scanned for VFX and that they'd be filling the scene with more of us. This was about two year ago and something new to all of us, so we didn't question it. They used our likeness with zero compensation.

'Atlanta's background actors aren't included in SAG, so this will be a problem here regardless. It's going to be up to casting or individuals to say no.'

Taking to Twitter, another background actor with the username 'Hoe-Anna Krupa' tweeted: 'so yes I can confirm this has already started happening, I was a background actor for a certain big movie coming up and I was scanned head to toe in some machine for future usage on that specific project. Got paid for that day only, no extra pay for being scanned.'

Another user under the name, FBJ FIT, added: 'While I joke that I want to be cloned so I juggle all that I need do, as a background actor who has been scanned on 2 productions previously, studios being able to use my likeness for the rest of eternity wasn't what I had in mind. #SAGAFTRAstrike #unionstrong.'

According to AI Revenue expert Jeff Pedowtiz, the technology still has a long way to go before it can fully eliminate the roles for background actors but he admitted to DailyMail.com that 'it is absolutely a valid concern'.

He explained that performers were right to demand a new business model to make sure 'that actors get paid in perpetuity'.

In recent months, TV and film lovers have been noticing ways in which CGI people have been appearing in the background of projects - with less than ideal results.

In the Disney+ movie, Prom Pact, one scene began to go viral in April after fans 'bone chilling' discovery that a whole row of people in the background of a scene were computer-generated images (CGI).

Out in force: Chris Jackson, Jessica Chastain, Christian Slater and Michael Shannon are some of the stars who have stepped out in solidarity with fellow union members

The scene features the high school cheer team performing during a basketball game.

The camera pans to the stands where members of the team are cheering from the bleachers.

When you look to the second row, you see the CGI humans who look so 'scary.'

When Kelsey pointed out the non-human extras, social media users were quick to flood the comments section revealing how terrified they were by the CGI people in the second row.

Others slammed Disney for not splashing over more money for more extras.

'Budget cuts,' wrote one person as another added: 'Bro Disney is acting like they can't afford to hire extras.'

In launching their work stoppage action, the actors joined the Writers Guild of America, which began its own strike on May 2. The joint action has effectively halted all film production in Hollywood.

Both unions say the streaming model that has taken over the industry in recent years has cheated them of their share of income and funneled money to executives.

No further talks are planned, and no end is in sight for the work stoppage. It is the first time both guilds have walked off sets since 1960, when then-actor Ronald Reagan was SAG's leader.

Fighting back: Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann pictured on the picket line in New York on July 26

Zack Arnold, the producer of Netflix hit Cobra Kai, told DailyMail.com that the decision to take strike action was an important call by SAG and the WGA due to the fact the 'advent of AI essentially decimating the way our industry runs'.

He claimed the new technology is 'such an existential threat that I think both the writers and the actors have demonstrated they are unwilling to accept anything less than what they request during these negotiation. This isn't anything short of a paradigm shift.'

A slew of major productions have ground to a halt as a result of the strikes, including the hotly-anticipated Deadpool 3 and Gladiator 2 films, as well as the Tom Hardy-led Venom 3.

Twisters - an update to the 1996 movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones '' has also been put on pause, as well as the hit HBO series Euphoria, which has been pushed back to 2025.

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Sun, 30 Jul 2023 12:47

'We call on the president of the People's Republic of China, India and Brazil not to come to (the) Brics summit in solidarity with President Putin,' Julius Malema saidPutin's potential visit had posed a dilemma for South Africa, as he is the target of an ICC arrest warrant, but it was confirmed he would not take part in person Published: 1:29am, 30 Jul, 2023

Updated: 7:05am, 30 Jul, 2023

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Sun, 30 Jul 2023 12:24

Why would a bio-lab run by a shady Chinese company be operating in Reedley, CA in the central San Joaquin Valley?

What was supposed to be an empty building used only for storage was home to a black-market type of lab testing facility.

YourCentralValley.com reports that the discovery was made after a local code enforcement officer noticed this garden hose poking out a back wall of the building.

Public Health staff also observed blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples and serums; and THOUSANDS of vials of unlabeled fluids and suspected biological material.

Additionally they found 900 genetically engineered mice, engineered to catch and carry COVID-19, living in ''inhumane'' conditions.

773 of the mice had to be euthanized, and officials found another 178 mice already dead.

''This is an unusual situation. I've been in government for 25 years. I've never seen anything like this,'' said Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba.

Even county health officials were left in shock.

''I've never seen this in my 26-year career with the County of Fresno,'' said Assistant Director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health Joe Prado.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the substances and detected at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis and herpes, according to a Health and Human Services letter dated June 6.

Agents also found thousands of package boxes - many with shipping labels from China. Below is a photo included in court documents in California.

NBC News reports that an investigation found the tenant was Prestige BioTech, a company registered in Nevada and unlicensed for business in California. City officials spoke with Xiuquin Yao, who was identified as the company president, through emails included in the court documents.

Yao told officials that Prestige BioTech moved assets belonging to a defunct company, Universal Meditech Inc., to the Reedley warehouse from Fresno after UMI went under. Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and identified as its successor, according to court documents.

Officials were unable to get any California-based address for either company except for the previous Fresno location from which UMI had been evicted.

"The other addresses provided for identified authorized agents were either empty offices or addresses in China that could not be verified," court documents said.

As Kyle Bass asks in a brief tweet-thread:

Is this illegal lab the tip of the iceberg? How many additional bioagent labs will be found?

THIS WAS A LUCKY FIND.

The lab was discovered by Reedley, CA city code enforcement officers when they saw a garden hose attached to the building and investigated.

This investigation into this illegal Chinese bio-agent lab must be handled at the highest levels of US law enforcement to determine a comprehensive plan to protect U.S. national security.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 20:35

Employees of the Hawaii Department of Health trained future therapists not to document their conversations with LGBT youth in order to hide the children's sexual and gender identities from their parents, according to Fox News.

A May 5 training presentation by the state's Department of Health employees made the recommendation to staff and graduate students at the University of Hawaii Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. The presentation was obtained by Fox News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

''Be careful about what you document '' parents may be able to access the information,'' the presentation said on a slide with the header, ''Confidentiality.''

''It should ALWAYS be the LGBTQ+ person's decision to whom and when they disclose their orientation or identity. Being LGBTQ+ is not a safety risk, but being out could be,'' the same slide from the training added.

The training also told future therapists to ''be aware of Hawaii's age of consent for mental health services law for youth 14 and older.''

The training, titled ''Affirming practice with LGBTQ+ youth,'' was delivered by Kimberly Allen, who chairs the Health Department's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division's Safe Spaces Committee, and Robin Lee, a member of the committee.

Allen said the warning to therapists not to document information about LGBT youth is meant to prevent ''harm'' to those youth from ''outing'' them to their parents.

''When we say, 'Be careful about what you document,' we convey that clinicians, when deciding what words to use in documentation, should carefully consider the youth's individual situation and any harm that may arise from writing about a youth's identity in the medical record,'' she told Fox News in a statement through the state health department's communications office.

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''If a youth is not 'Out' to their parents but discloses their identity to their therapist, the therapist could inadvertently inform the parents if they document this information in the medical record and if the parent requests a copy of that record,'' Allen said.

The training also cautions that some people may not have support from their family members or ''religious leaders.''

''Realize that even though we live in a more liberal and affirming state, individuals' experiences will be impacted by those around them who may be rejecting (family members, peers, school personnel, religious leaders, politicians),'' the presentation says.

The presentation also tells trainees to consider their own ''privilege.''

''How can you use your privilege to support others who are marginalized?'' the presentation asks.

The training also had a section where ''trans students explain why pronouns are important.''

Under ''Prejudice'' in the training were listed ''heterosexism,'' ''cissexism,'' ''homophobia,'' ''transphobia,'' ''toxic masculinity,'' and ''micro-aggressions'' including ''micro-invalidations,'' ''micro-insults,'' and ''micro-assaults.''

''Minority stress'' was also defined in the training as ''additional stressors that people experience due to having a stigmatized minority status.''

In recent years, parental notification about children's gender identity has become a hot-button issue, particularly in public schools.

More than 17,000 schools across the country have rules saying school staff can or should hide a student's gender identity from parents, according to a list compiled by Parents Defending Education.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 19:02

Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the U.S. Courthouse in New York City, July 26, 2023.

Amr Alfiky | Reuters

Federal prosecutors dropped a campaign finance charge against Sam Bankman-Fried, the second time they have narrowed the indictment against the founder of crypto exchange FTX .

Prosecutors told Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday that they were dropping the charge of conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions because they had failed to obtain permission from the government of the Bahamas for that charge when Bankman-Fried was extradited from the island nation in December.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan previously dropped another charge against him, for violating anti-bribery statutes, on the same grounds.

The moves narrow the criminal exposure of the former billionaire, who prosecutors allege conspired to defraud investors and customers out of billions. The alleged scheme precipitated the collapse of Bankman-Fried's FTX and sent shockwaves throughout the crypto industry.

Prosecutors had alleged that Bankman-Fried funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in bipartisan campaign financing through two unnamed co-conspirators to avoid campaign contribution limits. The charge could have added two to five years to Bankman-Fried's imprisonment if convicted.

In their letter Wednesday to Kaplan in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors wrote, "The Government has been informed that The Bahamas notified the United States earlier today that The Bahamas did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count."

"Accordingly, in keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count," prosecutors wrote.

Since Bankman-Fried's detention and extradition, civil and criminal charges have been brought against several exchanges, advisors and individuals for crypto-related schemes. Former FTX executives, including top lieutenants Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, have all pleaded guilty to federal charges. They are cooperating with the government's prosecution against Bankman-Fried, who is expected to face trial later this year.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 18:17

NEW YORK (AP) '-- More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have become allergic to red meat since 2010 because of a weird syndrome triggered by tick bites, according to a government report released Thursday. But health officials believe many more have the problem and don't know it.

A second report estimated that as many as 450,000 Americans have developed the allergy. That would make it the 10th most common food allergy in the U.S., said Dr. Scott Commins, a University of North Carolina researcher who co-authored both papers published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Health officials said they are not aware of any confirmed deaths, but people with the allergy have described it as bewildering and terrifying.

''I never connected it with any food because it was hours after eating,'' said one patient, Bernadine Heller-Greenman.

The reaction, called alpha-gal syndrome, occurs when an infected person eats beef, pork, venison or other meat from mammals '-- or ingests milk, gelatin or other mammal products.

It's not caused by a germ but by a sugar, alpha-gal, that is in meat from mammals '-- and in tick spit. When the sugar enters the body through the skin, it triggers an immune response and can lead to a severe allergic reaction.

Scientists had seen reactions in patients taking a cancer drug that was made in mouse cells containing the alpha-gal sugar. But in 2011 researchers first reported that it could spread through tick bites, too.

They tied it to the lone star tick , which despite its Texas-themed name is most common in the eastern and southern U.S. (About 4% of all U.S. cases have been in the eastern end of New York's Long Island.)

One of the studies released Thursday examined 2017-2022 test results from the main U.S. commercial lab looking for alpha-gal antibodies. They noted the number of people testing positive rose from about 13,000 in 2017 to 19,000 in 2022.

Experts say cases may be up for a variety of reasons, including lone star ticks' expanding range , more people coming into contact with the ticks or more doctors learning about it and ordering tests for it.

But many doctors are not. The second study was a survey last year of 1,500 U.S. primary care doctors and health professionals. The survey found nearly half had never heard of alpha-gal syndrome, and only 5% said they felt very confident they could diagnose it. Researchers used that information to estimate the number of people with the allergy '-- 450,000.

People with the syndrome can experience symptoms including hives, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness and swelling of the lips, throat, tongue or eye lids. Unlike some other food allergies, which occur soon after eating, these reactions hit hours later.

Some patients have only stomach symptoms, and the American Gastroenterological Association says people with unexplained diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain should be tested for the syndrome.

Doctors counsel people with the allergy to change their diet, carry epinephrine and avoid tick bites.

The allergy can fade away in some people '-- Commins has seen that happen in about 15% to 20% of his patients. But a key is avoiding being re-bitten.

''The tick bites are central to this. They perpetuate the allergy,'' he said.

Here's a look at the top stories for July 27th: WMO says world needs to adapt to increasing temperatures; Soldiers claim to have overthrown Niger's government; UK and Jordanian foreign secretaries meet in Amman; South Korea commemorates 70th anniversary of Korean War armistice

One of his patients is Heller-Greenman, a 78-year-old New York art historian who spends summers on Martha's Vineyard. She has grown accustomed to getting bitten by ticks on the island and said she has had Lyme disease four times.

About five years ago, she started experiencing terrible, itchy hives on her back, torso and thighs in the middle of the night. Her doctors concluded it was an allergic reaction, but couldn't pinpoint the trigger.

She was never a big meat eater, but one day in January 2020 she had a hamburger and then a big, fatty steak the following evening. Six hours after dinner, she woke up nauseated, then suffered terrible spells of vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. She passed out three times.

She was diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome shortly after that, and was told to avoid ticks and to stop eating red meat and dairy products. There have been no allergic reactions since.

''I have one grandchild that watches me like a hawk,'' she said, making sure she reads packaged food labels and avoids foods that could trigger a reaction.

''I feel very lucky, really, that this has worked out for me,'' she said. ''Not all doctors are knowledgeable about this.''

___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 18:07

Pornhub's parent company is surprisingly profitable despite recent financial and reputational hits, according to internal projections reviewed by Semafor that give a rare look inside the firm.

Executives anticipated making tens of millions of dollars in profits despite MasterCard and Visa refusing to process payments for certain websites including Pornhub, with operating margins of about 27% in 2021 and almost 30% in 2022, according to estimates the company showed potential investors in 2021. In comparison, Facebook parent Meta had an operating margin of 25% in 2022.

MindGeek, which owns Pornhub and other adult websites such as Brazzers, was expected to churn out profits despite not attracting high-end advertisers thanks to relatively low costs.

Getting banned by Visa and Mastercard lowered expected earnings by as much as 40% in 2022. If the payments giants started processing again, MindGeek projected its 2022 revenue to be about $455 million '-- less than the $460 million the company said it generated in 2018.

The figures come from presentations and internal reports MindGeek, through an outside firm, showed potential investors when hoping to attract takeover interest, according to people familiar with the effort. Investment group Ethical Capital Partners, which formed specifically for this acquisition, eventually bought MindGeek in March of this year.

Pornhub was the 12th most visited website in the world in June, according to web traffic data tracker SimilarWeb, ahead of Amazon, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Ethical Capital declined to comment.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 18:07

Services

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We work closely with our clients to clearly understand their business requirements, vision, and needs in order to provide the best customized solution. We grow online brand exposure by developing and collaborative social media with search engine marketing tactics. Our Search Engine Optimization team is dedicated to uncovering the best keyword combinations to target exposure, ensures sites are compliant with search engine behavior, checks for the best user experience, and provides performance optimization and website architecture tactics.

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Though all components in the infrastructure are monitored for performance, we also enable end-to-end service monitoring on all hosted sites. This allows us to meet our response and capacity commitments. Our hosted sites combine to rank in the top ten globally for traffic levels, letting Mindgeek stand alongside a select few who dominate the cyber landscape.

Our production infrastructure is distributed across several global datacenters, divided between North America and Europe. We use a combination of hosting providers to maintain a balance between quality of service delivery and cost, while providing Mindgeek Engineering the flexibility to address capacity and growth.

Ad Platform TrafficJunky is an innovative web advertising service that manages advertising on some of the world's largest websites.

We provide a versatile, intelligent CPM-based advertising platform which facilitates advertisers and publishers alike to achieve their goals. We offer advertisers extensive reach to their target audience. With over 3 billion ad impressions served to dozens of millions of daily visitors, volume and reach is what sets TrafficJunky and its AdTool companion apart from all other online ad networks.

TrafficJunky has seen tremendous growth through its user friendly, self-serve system, which enables advertisers and publishers to reach their goals in real time. TrafficJunky offers many different targeting options, such as Auto Optimization and geo, channel or device targeting. TrafficJunky aims to provide advertisers with flexible options to make their target audience easily accessible.

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Our Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructure is fully redundant, supported by two of the world's largest CDN providers offering geographically load-balanced servers in North America and Europe. Our goal is to provide content as quickly as possible to our customers, no matter where they are, with the highest quality real-time streaming services possible.

Our CDNs support tens of thousands of streaming videos each minute, in high definition, without sacrificing quality. More than streaming video, we broadcast over twenty television and radio channels worldwide, reaching hundreds of millions of viewers and listeners.

Customer Care MindGeek Customer Care operates 24/7, 365 days a year because we know that service should be available at any time, not only during regular business hours. We have built our values on the foundation of the following 3 pillars:

'' World class customer service

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As a result of our global footprint, MindGeek operates in several languages and multiple locations, maintaining an onshore business model to better serve the communities in which we operate.

We seek excellence in everything we do. Our team is dedicated to providing prompt and professional service, responding to our customers with the courtesy they deserve.

We believe constant improvement based on feedback and observation is essential to our success and keeps us in tune with out customers' needs.

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 17:58

Back in the United States, data shows the rate of gun suicides among Black teens has topped the rate among white teens for the first time, as gun suicides reached an all-time high in 2022. The data, compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also shows Black children and teens have a gun homicide rate 20 times higher than white children and teens. Guns remain the leading cause of death for children and teens, with the rate of gun deaths among minors soaring by 87% over the last decade. Last year over 48,000 people in the U.S. died from guns, an average of one person every 11 minutes.

Topics:

SuicideGun ControlRace in America

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 17:56

Thousands of children in the United States now openly identify as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth, their numbers surging amid growing recognition of transgender identity and rights even as they face persistent prejudice and discrimination.

As the number of transgender children has grown, so has their access to gender-affirming care, much of it provided at scores of clinics at major hospitals.

Reliable counts of adolescents receiving gender-affirming treatment have long been guesswork '' until now. Reuters worked with health technology company Komodo Health Inc to identify how many youths have sought and received care. The data show that more and more families across the country are grappling with profound questions about what type of care to pursue for their children, placing them at the center of a vitriolic national political debate over what it means to protect youth who identify as transgender.

Diagnoses of youths with gender dysphoria surge

In 2021, about 42,000 children and teens across the United States received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017, according to data Komodo compiled for Reuters. Gender dysphoria is defined as the distress caused by a discrepancy between a person's gender identity and the one assigned to them at birth.

Overall, the analysis found that at least 121,882 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021. Reuters found similar trends when it requested state-level data on diagnoses among children covered by Medicaid, the public insurance program for lower-income families.

Gender-affirming care for youths takes several forms, from social recognition of a preferred name and pronouns to medical interventions such as hormone therapy and, sometimes, surgery. A small but increasing number of U.S. children diagnosed with gender dysphoria are choosing medical interventions to express their identity and help alleviate their distress.

These medical treatments don't begin until the onset of puberty, typically around age 10 or 11.

For children at this age and stage of development, puberty-blocking medications are an option. These drugs, known as GnRH agonists, suppress the release of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the drugs to treat prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, but not gender dysphoria. Their off-label use in gender-affirming care, while legal, lacks the support of clinical trials to establish their safety for such treatment.

Over the last five years, there were at least 4,780 adolescents who started on puberty blockers and had a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis.

This tally and others in the Komodo analysis are likely an undercount because they didn't include treatment that wasn't covered by insurance and were limited to pediatric patients with a gender dysphoria diagnosis. Practitioners may not log this diagnosis when prescribing treatment.

By suppressing sex hormones, puberty-blocking medications stop the onset of secondary sex characteristics, such as breast development and menstruation in adolescents assigned female at birth. For those assigned male at birth, the drugs inhibit development of a deeper voice and an Adam's apple and growth of facial and body hair. They also limit growth of genitalia.

Without puberty blockers, such physical changes can cause severe distress in many transgender children. If an adolescent stops the medication, puberty resumes.

The medications are administered as injections, typically every few months, or through an implant under the skin of the upper arm.

After suppressing puberty, a child may pursue hormone treatments to initiate a puberty that aligns with their gender identity. Those for whom the opportunity to block puberty has already passed or who declined the option may also pursue hormone therapy.

At least 14,726 minors started hormone treatment with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2017 through 2021, according to the Komodo analysis.

Hormones '' testosterone for adolescents assigned female at birth and estrogen for those assigned male '' promote development of secondary sex characteristics. Adolescents assigned female at birth who take testosterone may notice that fat is redistributed from the hips and thighs to the abdomen. Arms and legs may appear more muscular. The brow and jawline may become more pronounced. Body hair may coarsen and thicken. Teens assigned male at birth who take estrogen may notice the hair on their body softens and thins. Fat may be redistributed from the abdomen to the buttocks and thighs. Their testicles may shrink and sex drive diminish. Some changes from hormone treatment are permanent.

Hormones are taken in a variety of ways: injections, pills, patches and gels. Some minors will continue to take hormones for many years well into adulthood, or they may stop if they achieve the physical traits they want.

Hormone treatment may leave an adolescent infertile, especially if the child also took puberty blockers at an early age. That and other potential side effects are not well-studied, experts say.

The ultimate step in gender-affirming medical treatment is surgery, which is uncommon in patients under age 18. Some children's hospitals and gender clinics don't offer surgery to minors, requiring that they be adults before deciding on procedures that are irreversible and carry a heightened risk of complications.

The Komodo analysis of insurance claims found 56 genital surgeries among patients ages 13 to 17 with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2019 to 2021. Among teens, ''top surgery'' to remove breasts is more common. In the three years ending in 2021, at least 776 mastectomies were performed in the United States on patients ages 13 to 17 with a gender dysphoria diagnosis, according to Komodo's data analysis of insurance claims. This tally does not include procedures that were paid for out of pocket.

A note on the data

Komodo's analysis draws on full or partial health insurance claims for about 330 million U.S. patients over the five years from 2017 to 2021, including patients covered by private health plans and public insurance like Medicaid. The data include roughly 40 million patients annually, ages 6 through 17, and comprise health insurance claims that document diagnoses and procedures administered by U.S. clinicians and facilities.

To determine the number of new patients who initiated puberty blockers or hormones, or who received an initial dysphoria diagnosis, Komodo looked back at least one year prior in each patient's record. For the surgery data, Komodo counted multiple procedures on a single day as one procedure.

For the analysis of pediatric patients initiating puberty blockers or hormones, Komodo searched for patients with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis. Patients with a diagnosis of central precocious puberty were removed. A total of 17,683 patients, ages 6 through 17, with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis initiated either puberty blockers or hormones or both during the five-year period. Of these, 4,780 patients had initiated puberty blockers and 14,726 patients had initiated hormone treatment.

Youth in Transition

By Robin Respaut and Chad Terhune

Photo editing: Corrine Perkins

Art direction: John Emerson

Edited by Michele Gershberg and John Blanton

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 17:42

C BS New York is mourning the loss of colleague and Emmy-winning meteorologist Elise Finch, who died suddenly over the weekend just a few days after she began appearing on the air.

The station announced its colleague's death on Monday. Finch, 51, had been a team member at WCBS for 16 years.

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She began her career in TV at E! Entertainment Services as a production coordinator before she worked as an anchor, reporter, and meteorologist for several stations for NBC and ABC News affiliates. Finch arrived at CBS New York in 2007 and served as the meteorologist for weekend shows. Most recently, she joined the morning news with Mary Calvi and Chris Wragge. In September, Finch joined anchor Cindy Hsu on the 9 a.m. newscast, the station said.

"Elise was a gifted and consummate professional who took great care with her work. She was also a wonderful ambassador in the community, including her hometown of Mount Vernon," CBS New York wrote in a tribute to Finch. "Above all, Elise was a fiercely loving and devoted mother to her daughter Grace and wife to Graig Henriques, who is a photojournalist at WCBS."

Finch, whose full name is Elise Dione Finch Henriques, died at a local hospital, and the cause of her death is unknown at this time, the station said.

Several of Finch's colleagues took to social media to express their grief and remember Finch.

"Elise was fiercely loyal to those she loved, a straight shooter, a consummate professional, and made me laugh until I cried. But above all, she was completely devoted to her family, especially her daughter Grace. I love you so much, my friend. Heaven now has an angel like no other," WCBS news anchor Jessica Moore tweeted.

Elise was fiercely loyal to those she loved, a straight shooter, a consummate professional, and made me laugh until I cried. But above all she was completely devoted to her family, especially her daughter Grace. I love you so much, my friend. Heaven now has an angel like no other pic.twitter.com/tczwxgTXGT

'-- Jessica Moore (@JessicaMooreTV) July 16, 2023Wragge and other colleagues remembered Finch for her love for music.

''My heart is broken. Our team will never be the same,'' Wragge tweeted. ''No one matched musical wits better. I'll miss you much.''

It is with profound sadness that we share news of the passing of our beloved colleague, Elise Finch. Our hearts are broken. Join us in keeping Elise's husband Graig and daughter Grace in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. https://t.co/TL8pHUrlTT

'-- CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) July 17, 2023''The song of her life deserved many more verses. Her gifts were many, and so too the lives she touched,'' WCBS reporter Tony Aiello tweeted. ''My deepest condolences to Graig and little Grace, her parents and sister, and all our CBS2 family.''

Elise Finch loved music. The song of her life deserved many more verses. Her gifts were many, and so too the lives she touched. My deepest condolences to Graig and little Grace, her parents and sister, and all our CBS2 family. pic.twitter.com/VASGsIrnEO

'-- Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) July 17, 2023CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams also expressed her condolences to Finch's loved ones.

''Elise served as CBS' meteorologist for over a decade and graced thousands of households with her genius,'' she tweeted. ''She will truly be missed. My prayers go to her family and friends.''

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Sat, 29 Jul 2023 17:18

Former President Carter's public disclosure in February that he was entering hospice care '-- where he remains nearly six months later '-- is shifting the perception of end-of-life care for patients and their families.

Many assumed the 98-year-old former president was on his deathbed, but his family says he has continued to enjoy ice cream and stay up to date on the work of the Carter Center.

Ben Marcantonio, interim CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, told The Hill this week that the belief that hospice care is a short-term situation ''can be a very common understanding.''

''The main marker identified in the benefit [of hospice care] is six months or less,'' Marcantonio said. ''Yet it also says that's if the course of the illness or illnesses run their normal course. And so, it's not like a definitive marker.''

The average length of hospice care is roughly 90 days, which Marcantonio notes includes situations where it only lasts a few days or less. So, while some people may be surprised by how long Carter has been in hospice, his situation falls within the norms of what many patients experience.

Those who work in the hospice realm say Carter has really opened up the conversation for a general population reluctant to think about issues surrounding death and end-of-life care.

''I don't think we can understate the significance of someone as prominent and well-respected as Jimmy Carter '... openly and publicly making that decision,'' said Davis Baird, director of government affairs for hospice at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

Carter's decision to publicly disclose his choice to go into hospice has served to highlight the multitude of benefits that patients enjoy, Baird said.

''Just the positive experience he's having is, I think, really important for the public to have that model,'' he said. ''These things often happen behind closed doors. Other celebrities that use hospice '-- you know, whether it's an old movie star, a sports star or someone '-- you often find out after they passed away that they were on hospice, and the journey isn't articulated.''

While the Carter Center is not providing any additional information about the former president's health and declined to comment for this story, the rare anecdotes from family members have brought attention to the purpose of hospice care, which is to ensure a higher quality of life after a patient has decided to no longer pursue medical treatment.

At the time Carter entered hospice, it was shared that the decision had been made following a series of short hospital stays for an undisclosed condition. According to hospice experts, this is a common course of action among patients who get tired of constantly going in and out of hospitals.

Marcantonio said the thought process for many patients is: ''We don't want to keep on this cycle of returning to hospitals or to seek some sort of other medical interventions to prolong life. Rather, we want to focus on quality of life and alleviating any discomfort, pain, any sorts of emotional challenges that might come with this process.''

Apart from the duration of hospice stay, Baird said another common misconception is that the process involves a precipitous decline in a person's health. In fact, many patients stabilize after leaving the ''ringer'' of the health care system, he said.

Baird noted that treatment for terminal illnesses can be extremely depressing for an individual who would rather be doing more enjoyable things with their time. Transitioning to a space where their goals and desires are prioritized over treatment can result in the patient and their family feeling better.

As Carter, the longest-lived U.S. president in history, completes his fifth month in hospice care, he nears a significant milestone for many patients like him. After six months '-- 180 days '-- in hospice, patients on Medicare will have to go through a recertification process to see if they still meet the criteria for coverage.

Many people continue to live past the six-month mark, at which point a hospice medical director or hospice doctor will need to recertify them for Medicare to continue covering the cost of care.

These evaluations can sometimes result in grim outcomes for patients.

''If that patient is not, for example, showing fast enough decline in their medical profile, sometimes the contractors will come and take a look at that hospice and say, 'Oh, this person's not declining fast enough.' So, you know, they weren't eligible,'' Baird said.

If this happens, hospices may have to go through an audit that could lead to all their claims for a patient being denied.

''It's not something they like to do very often, but it does happen,'' Baird said.

For the most part, recertification for hospice is a standard administrative process that commonly occurs, due to the fact that predicting when someone will die is an ''extremely inexact science.''

Marcantonio hopes that Carter's openness encourages others in similar situations to consider hospice care. He noted that just more than half of people who are eligible for hospice are receiving it.

And the sooner that eligible people elect to enter hospice, not only do they experience a higher quality of life, but it's less costly overall, a recent study has found.

The research from NORC at the University of Chicago, which was published in March, found that Medicare spending for hospice patients was $3.5 billion less than if they had decided not to enter hospice.

Which drugs will be selected for Medicare negotiations? Here's what we knowExtreme heat moves east where many will see their hottest days of the yearRegardless of how long patients were in hospice, the study also found that patients and their families experienced ''increased satisfaction and quality of life, improved pain control, reduced physical and emotional distress, and reduced prolonged grief and other emotional distress.''

''We've never heard anyone say, 'Gosh, I wish I had less time on hospice,''' Marcantonio said. ''The more we can get past those myths '... and those misperceptions that we mentioned, the more people will get the care that they need when they need it.''

'--Updated at 4:30 p.m.

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Graphic Content Warning: Graphic References To Child Sexual Abuse As Detailed In Court Documents.

A high-profile investigative journalist who worked with ABC News and the New York Daily News has just pleaded guilty to the possession of horrific child sexual abuse materials. James Gordon Meek, 53, once held a position as a senior counterterrorism adviser and investigator for the US House Committee on Homeland Security.

Meek, an Emmy award-winning journalist, was found to have been in possession of thousands of pieces of child sexual abuse media dating back to 2014, one being a sick video of an infant girl being raped. Meek also sent abuse materials to other pedophiles, and engaged in graphic conversations fantasizing about the rape of children.

Photo Source: Alexandria Sheriff's Office.According to Virginia court records reviewed by The Publica, Meek was arrested at the end of January after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was alerted to disturbing videos that had been uploaded by Meek.

Dropbox, a file hosting service that offers cloud storage, contacted CyberTip in March of 2021 because an account containing Meek's full name had uploaded five videos that concerned Dropbox staff. By the end of April of that year, a search warrant was obtained and executed at Meek's Arlington-area apartment by members of the Washington Field Office Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

Court transcripts reveal that after the search warrant was executed by FBI agents, Meek reportedly declared ''my life is over.''

Two iPhones, a hard drive, and a laptop were seized by law enforcement, and digital forensics revealed that the devices cumulatively contained hundreds of photos and videos of extreme child sexual abuse material.

The devices also revealed that Meek posed as a minor and had used several social media apps and online platforms to find minors, extract their usernames for other platforms, engage in sexual conversations, and attempt to solicit nude photos from them.

Meek was found to have been participating in one chat titled ''Cocks, Cunts, and Kids'' on Telegram. The group had 13 members and the profile picture depicted a child eating a popsicle. At least one clip sent in the chat showed a young girl engaged in oral sex on an adult man.

One video found on Meek's devices contained footage of an adult female sexually abusing a female child using her mouth and other footage where an adult male rapes a female child.

Another image in Meek's possession depicted a naked male child whose hands were bound to his feet. The child had a bondage device on his face that forced his mouth to stay open.

Meek as seen on his official Twitter.In addition to illicit photos, Meek had collected hundreds of images of ''softcore'' child erotica from social media platforms, many of which depicted young girls doing gymnastics. He also had a folder of women breastfeeding and used the images for sexual gratification.

Meek utilized apps such as Snapchat and Instagram to obtain explicit photos from multiple young girls.

One minor female sent him several nude photos on Snapchat, which he screenshotted and saved. The girl has been identified and, in an interview with law enforcement, confirmed that Meek did approach her through Snapchat and pressured her to send the photos. Posing on Instagram as a minor female, Meek convinced another girl, who appears to be a minor, to send nude and illicit photos of herself.

Most disturbingly, Meek used Kik, a messaging application notoriously popular amongst pedophiles, to discuss his fantasies about the abuse of women and children in graphic detail with other men. Meek was known by the username ''Pawny4'' on the platform.

In one Kik conversation, Meek exchanged photos of his penis with another user identified as a 25-year-old male. The two men expressed interest in raping a ''toddler girl'' together while they were engaged in sexual acts with each other.

''Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It's amazing,'' Meek asked the other man.

The user, who Meek called ''sexy,'' replied: ''I want you with me fucking her together while we kiss and use her.'' He then sent Meek a sexually explicit video of a young girl, later stating: ''I'd give anything to rape toddlers with you.''

From the court affidavit obtained by The Publica. Meek responded ''I think I'm in love with you,'' and sent the other pedophile a video of an adult male raping a female infant. The video was over a minute long and became increasingly violent as it progressed. The infant could be heard crying and screaming throughout the duration.

After sending the video, Meek expressed a desire to consume the rapist's ejaculate off of the child in the video.

In another Kik exchange with a user identified as a 22-year-old male, the two exchanged child sexual abuse images as well as fantasies about raping and impregnating a woman.

Meek disclosed to the other man he wanted to impregnate a woman so she would give birth to a child for the sole purpose of sexually abusing the infant.

In the months following the search, Meek left his job with ABC News and allegedly moved in with his mother, apparently becoming ''divorced '... from society to great degree.'' He later relinquished his passport to the FBI and firearms.

Tucker's tone deaf comments fell a million miles short of condemning racism in his midst after millions of Americans marched together to say America has failed to treat all men and women as equals, particularly those of color. Instead it was like he was speaking to a small child. https://t.co/GeLJmliPwK

'-- James Gordon Meek (@meekwire) July 14, 2020During a motion hearing in February, the court weighed allowing Meek to stay at liberty during the course of the trial.

Meek's lawyer presented letters of recommendation about Meek from people in law enforcement who wrote kindly him and asserted that he deserved to maintain his freedom.

The presiding Judge told Meek's lawyers that ''these kinds of cases'... start out with a little something [and] evolve into something else, and then there's a grooming'...and then you get the meeting, and then you get the act [of harming a child],'' and that the allegations against Meek ''suggest that continuum.''

''I think we can all agree the things that Mr. Meek has done are heroic, no doubt about it. But even heroic people can lose their way, and that's, I believe, what the government is suggesting here,'' the judge stated.

Meek's sentencing date is scheduled for September 29. Transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material can result in a maximum prison term of 40 years.

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DEMO VIDEOS Get to know everything Vimeo can do for your business. Watch now

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Published on Jul. 29, 2023, 1:04 PM

Scientists found that the 46,000-year-old nematode, found in the Siberian Permafrost, belongs to a previously undescribed species.

Genome analysis of roundworms (nematode) from the Ice Age that came back to life when defrosted have revealed it to be a new species.

Scientists from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Cologne, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden and the Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), all in Germany, found that the 46,000 year old nematode, found in the Siberian Permafrost, belongs to a previously undescribed species, Panagrolaimus kolymaensis. The study is published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

In 2018, Russian researchers revived the two frozen individual nematodes from a fossilized burrow in silt deposits in the Siberian permafrost. Radiocarbon dating revealed that these nematodes had been in cryptobiosis since about 46,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene.

"It's kind of a super fascinating finally to suddenly see life, living animals crawling out of a piece of soil that has been deep frozen for 46,000 years," said Dr. Philipp Schiffer from the University of Cologne, speaking to Reuters from a field station some 100km north of Broken Hill, in the Australian outback where he is currently searching for other species of nematodes.

Still from file footage of permafrost. (Reuters)

Schiffer and colleagues were asked to study the newly thawed nematodes to determine the species and analyze its genome. He and his team were able to define the roundworm as a novel species.

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Weekend General Tchiani declares himself the new leader of Niger General Tchiani declares himself the new leader of Niger

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