May 2nd, 2024 • 3h 3m
Shownotes
Every new episode of No Agenda is accompanied by a comprehensive list of shownotes curated by Adam while preparing for the show. Clips played by the hosts during the show can also be found here.
Big Tech AI and Socials
Replacement Migration
Israel vs Hamas
CLOWARD-PIVEN STRATEGY
Cloward-Piven’s goal was to create impetus for government to guarantee a universal living. The modern Democratic Party is significantly less interested in guaranteed benefits than for an economic leveling.
Protest BOTG Dallas Cam operator
I have covered 4 different campus protest in the Dallas area in the last week
All are organized by Students for Justice in Palestine SJP
April 24 I covered a Palestine Protest on the campus of University of Texas Arlington
The
group was obviously not all UTA students This was basically a speech
with blowhorns and people with homemade signs then followed by a march
around campus
I think I was the only news photog at this event
They called for Intifada resolution (there is only one solution)
April 26 I covered a SJP protest on University of Texas Dallas
This was different. The Administration of UTD agreed to meet with the students
The
University rep met me in the parking lot and walked me to the admin
building I was asked not to go inside any building.
Also
the student group was different. The SJP had individuals wearing
yellow reflective vests. The yellow vest told protesters not to talk to
the media and also directed the crowd. They had a media person who did
the messaging. The students massed outside and when it started pouring
rain they all ran inside the Administration building and started
chanting. After the meeting they all walked out and started chanting
and then prayed. I got an interview with a SJP member who attended the
meeting with UTD President. She said they gave him three demands and
said they would not talk to him again until their demands are meet and
they walked out
Demands
1. Call for a ceasefire in Gaza
2. Divest from all companies assisting Israel in the Gaza genocide (their words not mine)
3. Ignore Governor Abbotts Executive order
They
seemed aware not to call for Intifada but Divestment. Also the chants
were exactly the same as the first protest. They were all reading it
off their phones
This event I was one of two photogs
April 30 University of North Texas SJP held a walkout of classes
It appears that SJP is evolving. This was a massing in front of the library like the first protest
This
event I was one of 7 news photogs. Many stations had a few cam ops
and also reporters to do live hits. There were also 2 news helicopters
This
protest had the same chants plus they called for UNT to accept their 3
demands. Same as above given to UT Dallas. But there was a lot more
preparation. They got there early and had more people with yellow
vests who now had clip boards. These people were identified as safety
helpers.
The leaders of the chants had blowhorns but now
other SJP people were dispersed throughout the crowd with blowhorns to
repeat the chants and get the crowd going I left before the end of
the protest Like the first two protests, these are obviously not all
students at UNT
Today I went back to UT Dallas. Now the SJP are making an encampment.
They
have the same yellow vest safety helpers but now have a new group with
red vests who hold clip boards with "LEGAL OBSERVER" printed on the back
side
These Legal observers were identified by the chant
leader, who now has a powered pa system, as "legally trained". Most
looked under the age of 22. They had more blow horns chanters
throughout the crowd.
I kinda followed one of these legal
observers. They basically walked around and made notes of who came up
to observe the protest. One note I noticed was... 10:15. Drone
appeared
The
Police had two drones hovering the whole time. I covered a palestine
protest at Northup Groman a few months ago and saw the Police drone
operator and his set up. They have really good drones. Also at the
Northup protest some protesters got arrested. I saw a lot of the same
people at that protest leading the University protests
Also
the UTD police had a car I had never seen. It had about 10 cameras on
it. I think they were driving in the parking garage and checking all the
car plates?
As I left UTD was erecting a
trailer with a pole with about 4 different cameras to monitor the
encampment. The company setting up the system is Cloud Engenuity
I
got to the encampment about 9 am. It had wood boards surrounding it
and two of the blue canopy tents and six green camping tents. When I
left about 1pm they expanded the wood walls to take up more area and had
7 blue pop up canopy tents. They had grub hub delivers, pizza
deliverd, water and fresh food was being trekked in. There was now a
pile of brand new camping tents and sleeping bags in boxes. An old
guy arrived and passed out brand new palestine folded flags followed by
another guy who had 6 or 7 full size palestine flags already mounted on
poles. Before I left they had a new enclosed canopy tent for the food
storage and another serving food.
There were
two masked tattooed guys who controlled access to the encampment. At
first they used a table as the door/gate but then they got two metal
signs to use as gate doors which they would move to allow access
The
two metal signs had the rules of the encampment written on them.
They two doorkeepers would ask if the person had agreed to the rules
and then they were allowed in
The rules on the encampment doors
1 We are here, standing in solidarity with the people of Gaza
2 Respect the Land No littering Graffitti or vandalism of any kind
3 No drugs or Alcohol
4 Respect personal boundaries
5 No pictures or videos without consent
6 No sharing of personal info with admin, police, press, or social media without consent
7 We assume the best intentions of others
8 We do not tolerate any forms of hate or bigotry
9 We consider each others safety when taking action
10 Listen to the safety volunteers, they are here for your safety
11 If media approaches you, please direct them to the media liasion
12 We do NOT engage with Zionists and counterprotesters
13 If you are sick wear a facemask and practice social distancing
14 If you bring food make sure ingredients are listed
Again
it is obvious this is not all students and for some reason they had a
kid of about ten years old leading the chants at one point
The SJP said Israel had destroyed all schools and universities in Gaza and they were now guilty of SCHOLASTICIDE
If you care to see any video or photos I am happy to provide them.
Tomorrow I will probably be back there. It is supposed to storm so I am excited to see how dedicated they really are
Bird Flu
Anonymous Rancher Ground Beef BOTG
Afternoon Adam, Anonymous Rancher here. Thank you again for the update on Sunday’s show about the bird flu again.
I received this link to an article saying they are going to start testing ground beef for bird flu.
Link1 Link2
Before I saw this I was thinking more like John that they want testing and I always think any negative news about cattle is a hit on the beef cattle market to drop prices so the packers can by animals cheaper. The longer this goes on the more I worry you may be right that they are coming for our cattle. We not like the chicken and hog producers, who are vertically integrated with their packers. But with only 4 big beef packers I would imagine they are scheming to make it that way. We are a defiant bunch and feel like Cole. We just need to figure out that that’s what’s really going on.
Also I just herd that our USDA Secretary Tom Vilsac signed and order that in 6 months requires all BREEDING beef cattle to be EID tagged. I had dug into this a bit and until then it was a non issue. This rule is agains the NCBA and the state affiliates, it was signed on Friday, maybe they will take it to court. We’ll see.
Maybe the donations are down so bad because inflation is catching all the producers where it hurts, 4 more years!
Thanks again for all your good work.
The anonymous Rancher
Climate Change
Creature from Jekyll Island page 51
I recently finished the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G Edward Griffin. It mostly talks about how corrupt the Federal Reserve is and the lies of fiat currencies. After I finished listening to the podcast a few weeks ago where you discussed climate change as the next way to control people I started my audio book, the chapter of the book i happened to be listening to was discussing "The Report from Iron Mountain". I'm not sure if it's real of fake but it defiantly called out that during peace we need a "substitute for war" possibly something unwinnable like climate change.
Page 51
"Nevertheless, an effective political substitute for war would require "alternate
enemies," some of which might seem equally farfetched in the context of the
current war system. It may be, for instance, that gross pollution of the
environment can eventually replace the possibility of mass destruction by
nuclear weapons as the principal apparent threat to the survival of the species.
Poisoning of the air, and of the principal sources of food and water supply, is
already well advanced, and at first glance would seem promising in this respect;
it constitutes a threat that can be dealt with only through social organization and
political power. But from present indications it will be a generation to a
generation and a half before environmental pollution, however severe, will be
sufficiently menacing, on a global scale, to offer a possible basis for a solution."
Ministry of Truthiness
Transmaosim
With States Banning DEI, Some Universities Find a Workaround - The New York Times
Welcome to the new “Office of Access and Engagement.” Schools are renaming departments and job titles to try to preserve diversity programs.
Boeing vs Airbus
Big Pharma
Cancer mRNA BOTG - no way
Hi Adam,
I thought I'd lend you some of my expertise on targeted cancer therapies to help explain how the new mRNA cancer therapies are supposed to work. Though it's been a decade since I worked in cancer research, I'm recognizing similarities in old and new approaches. In the past, biopsied tumor cells would be analyzed to determine unique proteins expressed on the cell surface. Special molecules called ligands that bind only to these proteins would be selected and attached to chemo therapy drugs, and then administered to the patient. The ligands with drug then attach to the protein-expressing cancer cells, killing them. This method seems to work well at first, but half of the cancer cells may not express the targeted protein (they mutate a lot), and are thus immune to the therapy. Eventually, the surviving cancer cells fill the tumor ecosystem , restore blood supply, proliferate, and metastasize after a few months of apparent remission, killing the patient rather quickly.
This mRNA therapy seems very similar with the exception that it does not rely on a chemo drug to bind to the cell; rather, it instructs the immune system to attack anything expressing the target protein, which will likely have similar outcomes as previous targeted therapies. The target proteins are likely benign, unlike spike protein, and probably won't cause harm on their own; but given the loss of transcription fidelity of mRNA over time, who knows what type of crap-proteins/fibrils affected cells will be instructed to make. I definitely won't be volunteering for a cancer mRNA vaccine anytime soon.
Aaron
Therapeutic cancer vaccines BOTG yes!
Hi guys: I've been a listener and donor (overboard for awhile) for many years. Knight status, just never claimed it. Straightening my thought process has been reward enough, thank you.
I have a super rare cancer known as Chordoma, 1 in 1 million, stage 4. Surgery, many times, radiation 80 times, bla bla... Anyways, I have gone back to the NIH about 200 times on their dime as a volunteer trying to find a treatment for this nasty disease. The reason for me to do it is no doctors, surgeons anywhere have any clue how to treat it. NIH is learning from us lab rats. Good thing is I've survived stage 4 for 12 years, mostly intact, and that's about the time I've been traveling to NIH. Don't know if any of it has worked but doesn't seem to have killed me yet. I'm skeptical...
One of the main treatments they have done over the years on me is three different "therapeutic" vaccine regimens where they inject a dead protein only found in Chordoma, (Brachyury), to try and get the immune system to recognize and attack it. It might make sense to use mRNA for this type treatment as you mentioned on Sundays show, for melanoma, and other cancers, using specific proteins, maybe. Problem with the covid vaccines is spike protein got everywhere. If asked, I'd try it if available.
Hoping this helps your understanding of the cancer vaccine treatments you spoke of on your show. They're designed for treatment, not prevention. Maybe that's why they are called "therapeutic"? IDK. Please sign me,
"Dave Granger"
Ukraine vs Georgia vs Russia
Digital ID and CBDC etc
Federal Digital ID Test case in Texas BOTG
Porn sites requiring age verification
Make no mistake, this is a test case. If SCOTUS says it’s okay (or even declines to get involved), then Congress will be free to enact its own laws (which of course it would—it always does). And those laws would almost certainly preempt state laws to the contrary.
Trump
RFK Jr. proposes 'no-spoiler' pledge with Biden to defeat Trump
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed to take a "no-spoiler" pledge with President Joe Biden at a campaign event in New York Wednesday, as he feuds with former President Donald Trump.
The pledge, as he laid out, would have Kennedy and Biden co-fund a 50-state poll of more than 30,000 people in mid-October that would pit each of them against Trump in a two-man race and agreeing that whoever performs weakest against him will drop out of the presidential race.
After presenting results from a campaign-commissioned poll that showed scenarios where he could win against both Biden and Trump in separate head-to-head races, Kennedy alleged Biden is the "spoiler" in the race, not him.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
Democrats quickly rejected the argument on Wednesday. Democratic National Committee spokesperson Matt Corridoni called Kennedy a spoiler candidate in a statement, saying his "VEEP-like performance today does nothing to dispel that notion — it only reinforces how deeply unserious his campaign is," referencing the HBO comedy.
Down and Out Down Under
Those bloody Australians BOTG
Hi Adam,
I just had to write this email to you, as you have ruffled a few feathers of a few Australians by your comments the other day on the show.
The truth of it is, you are right on the money, but also wrong at the same time.
Over the past 2 years I've seen a worrying trend of Aussies slipping in to a dream.
At the height of the pandemic, you could have been mistaken to believe that we had enough power to overturn the decisions of the political ruling class with how many people were activated by lockdowns, mandates and such.
But once the mandates took full effect, most people rolled over and got the shot.
I have no malaise towards these people. Many No Agenda folk in our circle felt forced to do the same, but have now dropped off the map from our groups.
Others have dropped off because life seems to have "gone back to normal"
Australia is the lucky country. Life has always been good. The people here around my age (i'm 40) have never really had to fight for anything. The political process is not something anyone is familiar with.
In their eyes, politics happens once every 4 years and we have no power in between then.
If we don't like something, we will vote them out! Unfortunately, just like the USA, we have a two party system essentially, and the other side is just as bad if not worse.
Trying to activate the average Australian is near impossible, and politically activating the already activated is just as hard. Only 3 months ago I worked with a group to get co-signatures on a submission to the COVID Royal commission enquiry from a huge base of activated Australians. All that had to be done was sign your name and it would go directly to the senate hearing.
Out of around 800,000 - 1 million people, we got 45 thousand signatures. Pathetic.
Australians have been crushed in to submission.
On top of that, Australians now are facing a cost of living crisis. We have become addicted to nice things, and will do anything to keep this addiction going (except the obvious)
Almost everyone I know owns a house worth 1 million or above.
My brother in law bought his house for 900k 4 years ago paying $3500 a month in mortgage repayments.
That house is now worth 1.4 million, but the interest rates have gone from $3500 to just over $6000.
Him and his family have now had to rent this out and move in to a shitty house in Melbourne just to get by.
This is very common, but relatively unspoken.
People are trying to survive here, and because of that, they don't have time for Politics!
Australia is like the snake that eats its own tail.
To preserve the good life, we do more of the things that endanger it.
Immigration sits at 800k for one year last year. While no new houses are being built.
People are turning on immigrants and each other rather than the hand which is orchestrating this. The Left Right Paradigm is in full play.
I could go on and on about transgender politics (massive here, I know of at least 6 people close to my family who are transitioning right now) Or the drug issues (Victorian government setting up safe injecting rooms next to a primary school in Richmond Victoria, no joke!!) or Aboriginal crime and living conditions, which is almost never talked about.
Australia is on a knifes edge. You won't see it in the hearts of our Glitzy cities, but its there. Its unspoken, but its boiling away right below the surface.
Australians have become lazy Automitons hell bend on living the 'good life' or what ever their idea of that is.
If you want to see the real side of Australia, check out this guy Spanian. He shows the underbelly of the nation. This one about Alice Springs is amazing [https://youtu.be/YGz1Tiaying?si=KRhjuBkfEofnmwXX](https://youtu.be/YGz1Tiaying?si=KRhjuBkfEofnmwXX)
While I'm here too, a cheeky plug to my organisation I work with [www.standupnowaustralia.com.au](http://www.standupnowaustralia.com.au)
I run the Stand Up Australia Podcast where we talk about this shit every week.
God bless you Adam and John.
The world is a better place with you in it.
Mitch from Brisbane (NAers know me as Ludwig)
STORIES
Spirit AeroSystems Whistleblower Dies After Sudden Infection | TIME
Thu, 02 May 2024 15:25
J oshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems who had flagged safety concerns and alleged misconduct by the aircraft manufacturer, died Tuesday after a sudden and severe infection.
Dean is the second Boeing-linked whistleblower to have died in the last two months as the company has come under heightened scrutiny.
Dean, who was 45 and lived in Wichita, Kan., was in good health before he began to experience trouble breathing about two weeks ago and went to a hospital, according to the Seattle Times, which first reported on his death. Dean's deterioration from that point, his aunt told the newspaper, was ''brutal'' and ''heartbreaking.''
According to a series of public social media posts by Dean's family, by April 21, he was in ''very critical condition.'' Dean tested positive for influenza B and MRSA, a difficult-to-treat bacterial infection, and developed pneumonia. He was intubated and put on dialysis as well as airlifted to another hospital to be put on an ECMO machine, a form of cardiac and respiratory life support. A CT scan showed that he had also suffered a stroke. Doctors were considering amputating his hands and feet, which had turned black from lack of oxygen.
''He is in the worst condition I have ever known or heard of. Even the hospital agrees,'' Dean's sister-in-law Kristen Dean posted on Facebook on Saturday, April 27. On Sunday night, Dean's family posted that he was ''giving up his fight'' and ''refusing to let them do any life saving procedures,'' though his mother said she ''told the doctor he doesn't know what he wants, I'm sure he wants to live, he's afraid, scared and depressed.'' According to Dean's mother, the doctor agreed and performed a bronchoscopy, a surgical procedure to investigate the lungs and airways. Dean's family announced that he had passed on Tuesday morning.
''His absence will be deeply felt,'' his aunt posted on Facebook.
''Josh's passing is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public,'' Brian Knowles, a lawyer who represented Dean as well as the other whistleblower, John Barnett, who died in March, tells TIME. ''He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he felt was true and right and raised quality and safety issues.''
Spirit AeroSystems, a company that was spun out of Boeing in 2005 and currently faces financial woes and an uncertain future, did not respond immediately to TIME's request for comment but said in a statement cited by other media outlets: ''Our thoughts are with Josh Dean's family. This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones.''
Dean, who worked at Spirit since 2019 though was briefly laid off during the pandemic before returning in 2021, first raised concerns about improperly drilled bulkhead holes on some 737 Max planes at Spirit's plant in Wichita in October 2022, according to a shareholder lawsuit that accused Spirit of concealing its production issues.
While Dean had reported the problem to several managers, the complaint alleged, the company hid it from investors for months until it became public knowledge in August 2023, when Boeing and Spirit announced a delay in plane deliveries due to the defect. According to testimonies from employees at Spirit, including Dean, workers had been instructed or pressured by supervisors to downplay the defects they found.
''It is known at Spirit that if you make too much noise and cause too much trouble, you will be moved,'' Dean told the Wall Street Journal in January. ''It doesn't mean you completely disregard stuff, but they don't want you to find everything and write it up.''
Dean was fired by Spirit in April 2023, ostensibly over a separate issue he failed to identify as an internal inspector. Months later, he filed a complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that he was made a scapegoat while Spirit did nothing to inform regulators and the public of the concerns he had flagged.
After a high-profile incident in January in which a plug door on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight, Dean's former colleague Lance Thompson publicly backed Dean's claims to the Seattle Times, saying that production deadlines were prioritized over safety at Spirit's Wichita plant and that managers encouraged workers to hide defects. An audit by the FAA into Boeing and Spirit found in March that both companies failed to comply with quality-control requirements.
Dean had filed a complaint with the Department of Labor in November alleging wrongful employment termination by Spirit, a case that remained pending at the time of his death. ''I think they were sending out a message to anybody else,'' Dean told NPR in February: ''If you are too loud, we will silence you.''
Dean's death comes less than two months after the death of Barnett, another whistleblower who had spent years warning about lax safety standards at Boeing. Barnett was found in his truck with what authorities described as an apparent ''self-inflicted gunshot wound,'' in Charleston, S.C., on March 9, amid depositions he was giving related to a similar alleged retaliation dispute with Boeing. An investigation remains ongoing.
When asked about his two clients' recent deaths, which have sparked conspiracy theories on social media, Knowles told TIME: ''I do not want to speculate, and I would like to see the evidence from the investigating authorities.'' But, he adds, ''what society does not need is people in fear to speak up.''
Ex BBC employee found with nearly 60,000 child sex abuse images of children - Mirror Online
Thu, 02 May 2024 15:19
The National Crime Agency investigation swooped on the home of David Mundy and discovered thousands of sick images of children as young as six years old
David Mundy was found with nearly 58,000 vile images by police ( Image: National Crime Agency)
A former BBC staff member has been sentenced after he was found to be in possession of over 58,000 indecent images of children.
A National Crime Agency investigation found David Mundy, 85, with nearly 60,000 vile images and he was arrested by NCA officers on 13 April 2022 after attempting to download illegal content. Mundy was subsequently found to have not only searched for indecent images of children, but stored thousands of them on floppy discs, CDs, USBs and hard drives. His offending covered two decades.
A total of 47 digital storage devices were seized during a search of Mundy's home address and 31 were found to contain indecent images of children, and many had been labelled to indicate their contents.
This included Micro SDs marked ''Misc = boy undone''; ''Franze, Czech etc. lots'' and ''several vid+pix'', as well as a bag of discs, 124 of which contained illegal material. Mundy had accessed illegal content online that involved children as young as six years old, though the majority of the images involved boys between eight and fifteen.
A former BBC staff member has been sentenced after he was found to be in possession of over 58,000 indecent images of children ( Image:
Getty Images)He used a peer to peer sharing system to obtain this material, though he stated that he didn't communicate with other members of the groups he used. At his address, NCA officers also found non-digital evidence of Mundy's offending '' including a 15-page double sided booklet called ''sensitive content movies'' sorted by keywords, and several how-to guides on accessing the dark web and ensuring anonymity online. He claimed he had yet to use them.
Mundy was charged the following year with three offences relating to indecent images of children. When interviewed, Mundy admitted to first looking at sexual images of children shortly before retiring from the BBC in 1998.
Stating that he was unsure what the definition of abuse was, he argued that his interest was only ''in pleasure''. Almost 2,500 images found on his devices were category A, the most extreme. Mundy pleaded guilty to all three offences. Today, 29 April 2024, he was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court to 10 months imprisonment. Adam Priestley, NCA Senior Manager, said: ''Despite clear evidence showing the scale of his offending, and the horrific nature of the content he repeatedly accessed, Mundy told officers that the images he had saved simply showed kids enjoying themselves.
''This could not be further from the truth. Behind each image is a vulnerable child who has been violated and abused for the benefit of offenders like Mundy. ''We at the NCA are committed to protecting children and ensuring that individuals who collect this material, creating a demand for abuse content, are held to account.''
Mundy has been added to the sexual offender's register for 10 years.
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The Constitution | The White House
Thu, 02 May 2024 15:10
Why a Constitution?The need for the Constitution grew out of problems with the Articles of Confederation, which established a ''firm league of friendship'' between the States, and vested most power in a Congress of the Confederation. This power was, however, extremely limited'--the central government conducted diplomacy and made war, set weights and measures, and was the final arbiter of disputes between the States. Crucially, it could not raise any funds itself, and was entirely dependent on the States themselves for the money necessary to operate. Each State sent a delegation of between two and seven members to the Congress, and they voted as a bloc with each State getting one vote. But any decision of consequence required a unanimous vote, which led to a government that was paralyzed and ineffectual.
A movement to reform the Articles began, and invitations to attend a convention in Philadelphia to discuss changes to the Articles were sent to the State legislatures in 1787. In May of that year, delegates from 12 of the 13 States (Rhode Island sent no representatives) convened in Philadelphia to begin the work of redesigning government. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention quickly began work on drafting a new Constitution for the United States.
The Constitutional ConventionA chief aim of the Constitution as drafted by the Convention was to create a government with enough power to act on a national level, but without so much power that fundamental rights would be at risk. One way that this was accomplished was to separate the power of government into three branches, and then to include checks and balances on those powers to assure that no one branch of government gained supremacy. This concern arose largely out of the experience that the delegates had with the King of England and his powerful Parliament. The powers of each branch are enumerated in the Constitution, with powers not assigned to them reserved to the States.
Much of the debate, which was conducted in secret to ensure that delegates spoke their minds, focused on the form that the new legislature would take. Two plans competed to become the new government: the Virginia Plan, which apportioned representation based on the population of each State, and the New Jersey plan, which gave each State an equal vote in Congress. The Virginia Plan was supported by the larger States, and the New Jersey plan preferred by the smaller. In the end, they settled on the Great Compromise (sometimes called the Connecticut Compromise), in which the House of Representatives would represent the people as apportioned by population; the Senate would represent the States apportioned equally; and the President would be elected by the Electoral College. The plan also called for an independent judiciary.
The founders also took pains to establish the relationship between the States. States are required to give ''full faith and credit'' to the laws, records, contracts, and judicial proceedings of the other States, although Congress may regulate the manner in which the States share records, and define the scope of this clause. States are barred from discriminating against citizens of other States in any way, and cannot enact tariffs against one another. States must also extradite those accused of crimes to other States for trial.
The founders also specified a process by which the Constitution may be amended, and since its ratification, the Constitution has been amended 27 times. In order to prevent arbitrary changes, the process for making amendments is quite onerous. An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification. In modern times, amendments have traditionally specified a time frame in which this must be accomplished, usually a period of several years. Additionally, the Constitution specifies that no amendment can deny a State equal representation in the Senate without that State's consent.
With the details and language of the Constitution decided, the Convention got down to the work of actually setting the Constitution to paper. It is written in the hand of a delegate from Pennsylvania, Gouverneur Morris, whose job allowed him some reign over the actual punctuation of a few clauses in the Constitution. He is also credited with the famous preamble, quoted at the top of this page. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates signed the new document, with many of those who refused to sign objecting to the lack of a bill of rights. At least one delegate refused to sign because the Constitution codified and protected slavery and the slave trade.
RatificationThe process set out in the Constitution for its ratification provided for much popular debate in the States. The Constitution would take effect once it had been ratified by nine of the thirteen State legislatures; unanimity was not required. During the debate over the Constitution, two factions emerged: the Federalists, who supported adoption, and the Anti-Federalists, who opposed it.
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay set out an eloquent defense of the new Constitution in what came to be called the Federalist Papers. Published anonymously in the newspapers The Independent Journal and The New York Packet under the name Publius between October 1787 and August 1788, the 85 articles that comprise the Federalist Papers remain to this day an invaluable resource for understanding some of the framers' intentions for the Constitution. The most famous of the articles are No. 10, which warns of the dangers of factions and advocates a large republic, and No. 51, which explains the structure of the Constitution, its checks and balances, and how it protects the rights of the people.
The States proceeded to begin ratification, with some debating more intensely than others. Delaware was the first State to ratify, on December 7, 1787. After New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify, on June 22, 1788, the Confederation Congress established March 9, 1789 as the date to begin operating under the Constitution. By this time, all the States except North Carolina and Rhode Island had ratified'--the Ocean State was the last to ratify on May 29, 1790.
The Bill of RightsOne of the principal points of contention between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the lack of an enumeration of basic civil rights in the Constitution. Many Federalists argued, as in Federalist No. 84, that the people surrendered no rights in adopting the Constitution. In several States, however, the ratification debate in some States hinged on the adoption of a bill of rights. The solution was known as the Massachusetts Compromise, in which four States ratified the Constitution but at the same time sent recommendations for amendments to the Congress.
James Madison introduced 12 amendments to the First Congress in 1789. Ten of these would go on to become what we now consider to be the Bill of Rights. One was never passed, while another dealing with Congressional salaries was not ratified until 1992, when it became the 27th Amendment. Based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights, the writings of the Enlightenment, and the rights defined in the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights contains rights that many today consider to be fundamental to America.
The First Amendment provides that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.
The Third Amendment prohibits the government from quartering troops in private homes, a major grievance during the American Revolution.
The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. The government may not conduct any searches without a warrant, and such warrants must be issued by a judge and based on probable cause.
The Fifth Amendment provides that citizens not be subject to criminal prosecution and punishment without due process. Citizens may not be tried on the same set of facts twice and are protected from self-incrimination (the right to remain silent). The amendment also establishes the power of eminent domain, ensuring that private property is not seized for public use without just compensation.
The Sixth Amendment assures the right to a speedy trial by a jury of one's peers, to be informed of the crimes with which one is charged, and to confront the witnesses brought forward by the government. The amendment also provides the accused the right to compel testimony from witnesses, as well as the right to legal representation.
The Seventh Amendment provides that civil cases preserve the right to trial by jury.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.
The Ninth Amendment states that the list of rights enumerated in the Constitution is not exhaustive, and that the people retain all rights not enumerated.
The Tenth Amendment assigns all powers not delegated to the United States, or prohibited to the States, to either the States or to the people.
Learn more about the Constitution
European summers will be hotter than predicted because of cleaner air
Thu, 02 May 2024 15:00
By ignoring declining air pollution, regional climate models have greatly underestimated how hot Europe's summers and heatwaves will become.
Summers and heatwaves in Europe will be even more sweltering than feared. The regional climate models relied on by planners greatly underestimate summer heat because they don’t factor in more intense sunshine due to falling air pollution, a study has shown.
A woman cools off with water distributed by the Red Cross charity near the entrance of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in July 2023Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP/ Getty
“If models don’t take air pollution changes into account, they will underestimate the intensity of future heatwaves even more than they underestimate mean summer warming,” says Dominik Schumacher at ETH Zürich in Switzerland. “It’s problematic because a lot of European countries strongly rely on these simulations to plan for the future.”
Running global climate models requires a lot of expensive computer time, so researchers often look only at smaller regions, allowing them to run more detailed models. These higher-resolution regional models are typically relied on by governments, as their projections for specific locations are supposed to be more accurate than global models.
“The regional models are used in many countries to inform future changes, so really should do a good job capturing the observed warming,” says Schumacher.
But when he and his colleagues compared the observed summer warming in Europe between 1980 and 2022 with the projections of global and regional climate models, they found the regional models underestimated the actual warming by more than 1°C, on average. The global models did better, only underestimating by an average of around 0.5°C.
One explanation is the models are missing changes in air circulation patterns that are bringing more heat into the region. When Schumacher excluded the effects of circulation changes, this brought the global models nearly in line with the observed warming, but the regional models still underestimated the changes by more than half a degree on average.
Next, the researchers looked at what assumptions the models make about sunlight intensity. They found that most regional models didn’t account for the fact that sunlight intensity is increasing in Europe as levels of air pollutants decline. The few models that do factor this in match the observed warming.
“The key reason why these regional climate models failed to reproduce this human-induced warming is that most of them assume that air pollution is constant,” says Schumacher, who presented the finding at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria.
This means the regional models are underestimating how much warmer European summers will be by 2100 by more than 2°C, the team concludes. The underestimation of heatwaves is even greater, because during heatwaves there are usually clear skies and even more sunshine than normal, says Schumacher.
Regional models will now all be altered to take account of falling air pollution, but this will take time, he says.
It has been suggested that falling air pollution is partly responsible for the record-smashing global temperature rises in the past year or so, which were even higher than expected due to rising greenhouse emissions. Schumacher says the team’s study doesn’t shed any light on this question, but that other studies presented at the meeting found this isn’t the case.
He also stresses that his team’s findings shouldn’t be taken to mean that air pollution is a good thing, pointing out that it is estimated to cause millions of deaths every year.
Reference:
European Geosciences Union meeting 2024 DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18153
House passes Antisemitism Awareness Act as GOP denounces campus protests - The Washington Post
Thu, 02 May 2024 12:46
House Republicans are seeking to unite their unruly majority around an evergreen conservative cause, devising a strict response to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled college campuses across the country in recent weeks.
GOP leaders this week announced plans for new oversight investigations of elite universities where '-- in the words of House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) '-- ''pro-terrorist anti-Semites [are] taking over.'' And on Wednesday, they passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which its advocates said would empower the federal government to crack down on anti-Israel protests on campuses by codifying a definition of antisemitism that encompasses not just threats against Jews, but also certain criticisms of Israel itself.
(14) Stop The WHO Treaty and Reject the Amendments
Thu, 02 May 2024 12:41
James Roguski on SubStack has been reporting on the so-called WHO Pandemic Treaty and it's history. He has shown that it's entire history is fraudulent and relies upon the people's silence.
On June 14 th 1948, President Truman signed a joint resolution to sign onto the WHO constitution. Section two states that three US delegates would be chosen by the President and confirmed by the US Senate. But the Biden administration has sent US delegates who have not been confirmed. Which makes them fraudulent.
Section five states that ''in adopting this joint resolution, the Congress does so with the understanding that nothing in the Constitution of the World Health Organization in any manner commits the United States to enact any specific legislative program regarding any matters referred to in said Constitution.'' And so the US is not lawfully compelled by the WHO.
On July 25 th 1969, the 22 nd annual World Health Assembly adopted the International Health Regulations ''to ensure the maximum security against the international spread of diseases.'' But did so without a senate vote.
Newspaper publishers sue Microsoft, OpenAI over copyright infringement
Thu, 02 May 2024 12:40
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Eight U.S. newspaper publishers filed suit against Microsoft and OpenAI in a New York federal court on Tuesday, claiming the technology companies reuse their articles without permission in generative artificial intelligence products and incorrectly attribute inaccurate information to them.
The group of eight newspaper publishers takes issue with ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot assistant '-- available in the Windows operating system, the Bing search engine, and other products the software maker produces. ChatGPT and Copilot have been "purloining millions of the publishers' copyrighted articles without permission and without payment," according to the complaint, which had been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The newspaper publishers in the lawsuit operate the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel, the Sun Sentinel in Florida, The Mercury News in California, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register in California and the Pioneer Press of Minnesota. All fall under the ownership of hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
"We take great care in our products and design process to support news organizations," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. "While we were not previously aware of Alden Global Capital's concerns, we are actively engaged in constructive partnerships and conversations with many news organizations around the world to explore opportunities, discuss any concerns, and provide solutions. Along with our news partners, we see immense potential for AI tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers' relationships with readers and enhance the news experience."
Microsoft declined to comment.
The newspaper publishers said in the lawsuit that OpenAI has drawn on data sets containing text from their newspapers to train its GPT-2 and GPT-3 large language models, which can spit out text in response to a few words of human input.
"The current GPT-4 LLM will output near-verbatim copies of significant portions of the publishers' works when prompted to do so," the complaint said, showing several examples of ChatGPT and the Copilot allegedly doing so.
The publishers said Microsoft copies information from their newspapers for the Bing search index, which helps inform answers in the Copilot. But such output doesn't always provide links to newspaper websites, where they can view ads alongside articles or pay for subscriptions.
The legal challenge comes four months after The New York Times sued OpenAI over copyright infringement in the ChatGPT chatbot that the startup released in late 2022. OpenAI said in a January blog post that the case is without merit, adding it wants to support "a healthy news ecosystem." That same month, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, said the startup wanted to pay The New York Times and was surprised to learn about the lawsuit.
In recent months, OpenAI has signed deals with a handful of media companies, including Axel Springer and the Financial Times, enabling the Microsoft-backed startup to draw on the publishers' content to improve AI models.
Google , which has its own general-purpose chatbot for responding to user queries, said in February that it had reached an agreement with Reddit that includes the right to train AI models on the platform's content.
The New York Times case also touched on the matter of OpenAI models regurgitating information from its articles. In its blog post, OpenAI characterized such behavior as "a rare failure of the learning process that we are continually making progress on."
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct day the lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI was filed.
WATCH: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: The U.S. needs an AI policy
Early Release - Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Clade 2.3.4.4b Virus Infection in Domestic Dairy Cattle and Cats, United States, 2024 - Volume 30, Number 7'--July 2024 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC
Wed, 01 May 2024 16:22
Disclaimer: Early release articles are not considered as final versions. Any changes will be reflected in the online version in the month the article is officially released.
Author affiliations: Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa, USA (E.R. Burrough, D.R. Magstadt, P.C. Gauger, J. Zhang, C. Siepker, M. Mainenti, G. Li, P.J. Gorden, P.J. Plummer, R. Main) ; Sunrise Veterinary Service PLLC, Amarillo, Texas, USA (B. Petersen) ; Veterinary Research & Consulting Services LLC, Hays, Kansas, USA (S.J. Timmermans) ; Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, College Station, Texas, USA (A.C. Thompson)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses pose a threat to wild birds and poultry globally, and HPAI H5N1 viruses are of even greater concern because of their frequent spillover into mammals. In late 2021, the Eurasian strain of H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4b) was detected in North America (1,2) and initiated an outbreak that continued into 2024. Spillover detections and deaths from this clade have been reported in both terrestrial and marine mammals in the United States (3,4). The detection of HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b virus in severe cases of human disease in Ecuador (5) and Chile (6) raises further concerns regarding the pandemic potential of specific HPAI viruses.
In February 2024, veterinarians were alerted to a syndrome occurring in lactating dairy cattle in the panhandle region of northern Texas. Nonspecific illness accompanied by reduced feed intake and rumination and an abrupt drop in milk production developed in affected animals. The milk from most affected cows had a thickened, creamy yellow appearance similar to colostrum. On affected farms, incidence appeared to peak 4''6 days after the first animals were affected and then tapered off within 10''14 days; afterward, most animals were slowly returned to regular milking. Clinical signs were commonly reported in multiparous cows during middle to late lactation; '10%''15% illness and minimal death of cattle were observed on affected farms. Initial submissions of blood, urine, feces, milk, and nasal swab samples and postmortem tissues to regional diagnostic laboratories did not reveal a consistent, specific cause for reduced milk production. Milk cultures were often negative, and serum chemistry testing showed mildly increased aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, creatinine kinase, and bilirubin values, whereas complete blood counts showed variable anemia and leukocytopenia.
In early March 2024, similar clinical cases were reported in dairy cattle in southwestern Kansas and northeastern New Mexico; deaths of wild birds and domestic cats were also observed within affected sites in the Texas panhandle. In > 1 dairy farms in Texas, deaths occurred in domestic cats fed raw colostrum and milk from sick cows that were in the hospital parlor. Antemortem clinical signs in affected cats were depressed mental state, stiff body movements, ataxia, blindness, circling, and copious oculonasal discharge. Neurologic exams of affected cats revealed the absence of menace reflexes and pupillary light responses with a weak blink response.
On March 21, 2024, milk, serum, and fresh and fixed tissue samples from cattle located in affected dairies in Texas and 2 deceased cats from an affected Texas dairy farm were received at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISUVDL; Ames, IA, USA). The next day, similar sets of samples were received from cattle located in affected dairies in Kansas. Milk and tissue samples from cattle and tissue samples from the cats tested positive for influenza A virus (IAV) by screening PCR, which was confirmed and characterized as HPAI H5N1 virus by the US Department of Agriculture National Veterinary Services Laboratory. Detection led to an initial press release by the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on March 25, 2024, confirming HPAI virus in dairy cattle (7). We report the characterizations performed at the ISUVDL for HPAI H5N1 viruses infecting cattle and cats in Kansas and Texas.
Milk samples (cases 2''5) and fresh and formalin-fixed tissues (cases 1, 3''5) from dairy cattle were received at the ISUVDL from Texas on March 21 and from Kansas on March 22, 2024. The cattle exhibited nonspecific illness and reduced lactation, as described previously. The tissue samples for diagnostic testing came from 3 cows that were euthanized and 3 that died naturally; all postmortem examinations were performed on the premises of affected farms.
The bodies of 2 adult domestic shorthaired cats from a north Texas dairy farm were received at the ISUVDL for a complete postmortem examination on March 21, 2024. The cats were found dead with no apparent signs of injury and were from a resident population of '24 domestic cats that had been fed milk from sick cows. Clinical disease in cows on that farm was first noted on March 16; the cats became sick on March 17, and several cats died in a cluster during March 19''20. In total, >50% of the cats at that dairy became ill and died. We collected cerebrum, cerebellum, eye, lung, heart, spleen, liver, lymph node, and kidney tissue samples from the cats and placed them in 10% neutral-buffered formalin for histopathology.
At ISUVDL, we trimmed, embedded in paraffin, and processed formalin-fixed tissues from affected cattle and cats for hematoxylin/eosin staining and histologic evaluation. For immunohistochemistry (IHC), we prepared 4-µm''thick sections from paraffin-embedded tissues, placed them on Superfrost Plus slides (VWR, https://www.vwr.com), and dried them for 20 minutes at 60°C. We used a Ventana Discovery Ultra IHC/ISH research platform (Roche, https://www.roche.com) for deparaffinization until and including counterstaining. We obtained all products except the primary antibody from Roche. Automated deparaffination was followed by enzymatic digestion with protease 1 for 8 minutes at 37°C and endogenous peroxidase blocking. We obtained the primary influenza A virus antibody from the hybridoma cell line H16-L10''4R5 (ATCC, https://www.atcc.org) and diluted at 1:100 in Discovery PSS diluent; we incubated sections with antibody for 32 minutes at room temperature. Next, we incubated the sections with a hapten-labeled conjugate, Discovery anti-mouse HQ, for 16 minutes at 37°C followed by a 16-minute incubation with the horse radish peroxidase conjugate, Discovery anti-HQ HRP. We used a ChromoMap DAB kit for antigen visualization, followed by counterstaining with hematoxylin and then bluing. Positive controls were sections of IAV-positive swine lung. Negative controls were sections of brain, lung, and eyes from cats not infected with IAV.
We diluted milk samples 1:3 vol/vol in phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.4 (Gibco/Thermo Fisher Scientific, https://www.thermofisher.com) by mixing 1 unit volume of milk and 3 unit volumes of phosphate buffered saline. We prepared 10% homogenates of mammary glands, brains, lungs, spleens, and lymph nodes in Earle's balanced salt solution (Sigma-Aldrich, https://www.sigmaaldrich.com). Processing was not necessary for ocular fluid, rumen content, or serum samples. After processing, we extracted samples according to a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) protocol that had 2 NAHLN-approved deviations for ISUVDL consisting of the MagMax Viral RNA Isolation Kit for 100 µL sample volumes and a Kingfisher Flex instrument (both Thermo Fisher Scientific).
We performed real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) by using an NAHLN-approved assay with 1 deviation, which was the VetMAX-Gold SIV Detection kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific), to screen for the presence of IAV RNA. We tested samples along with the VetMAX XENO Internal Positive Control to monitor the possible presence of PCR inhibitors. Each rRT-PCR 96-well plate had 2 positive amplification controls, 2 negative amplification controls, 1 positive extraction control, and 1 negative extraction control. We ran the rRT-PCR on an ABI 7500 Fast thermocycler and analyzed data with Design and Analysis Software 2.7.0 (both Thermo Fisher Scientific). We considered samples with cycle threshold (Ct) values <40.0 to be positive for virus.
After the screening rRT-PCR, we analyzed IAV RNA''positive samples for the H5 subtype and H5 clade 2.3.4.4b by using the same RNA extraction and NAHLN-approved rRT-PCR protocols as described previously, according to standard operating procedures. We performed PCR on the ABI 7500 Fast thermocycler by using appropriate controls to detect H5-specific IAV. We considered samples with Ct values <40.0 to be positive for the IAV H5 subtype.
We conducted genomic sequencing of 2 milk samples from infected dairy cattle from Texas and 2 tissue samples (lung and brain) from cats that died at a different Texas dairy. We subjected the whole-genome sequencing data to bioinformatics analysis to assemble the 8 different IAV segment sequences according to previously described methods (8). We used the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) sequences for phylogenetic analysis. We obtained reference sequences for the HA and NA segments of IAV H5 clade 2.3.4.4 from publicly available databases, including GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org) and GenBank. We aligned the sequences by using MAFFT version 7.520 software (https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/server/index.html) to create multiple sequence alignments for subsequent phylogenetic analysis. We used IQTree2 (https://github.com/iqtree/iqtree2) to construct the phylogenetic tree from the aligned sequences. The software was configured to automatically identify the optimal substitution model by using the ModelFinder Plus option, ensuring the selection of the most suitable model for the dataset and, thereby, improving the accuracy of the reconstructed tree. We visualized the resulting phylogenetic tree by using iTOL (https://itol.embl.de), a web-based platform for interactive tree exploration and annotation.
Gross Lesions in Cows and CatsAll cows were in good body condition with adequate rumen fill and no external indications of disease. Postmortem examinations of the affected dairy cows revealed firm mammary glands typical of mastitis; however, mammary gland lesions were not consistent. Two cows that were acutely ill before postmortem examination had grossly normal milk and no abnormal mammary gland lesions. The gastrointestinal tract of some cows had small abomasal ulcers and shallow linear erosions of the intestines, but those observations were also not consistent in all animals. The colon contents were brown and sticky, suggesting moderate dehydration. The feces contained feed particles that appeared to have undergone minimal ruminal fermentation. The rumen contents had normal color and appearance but appeared to have undergone minimal fermentation.
The 2 adult cats (1 intact male, 1 intact female) received at the ISUVDL were in adequate body and postmortem condition. External examination was unremarkable. Mild hemorrhages were observed in the subcutaneous tissues over the dorsal skull, and multifocal meningeal hemorrhages were observed in the cerebrums of both cats. The gastrointestinal tracts were empty, and no other gross lesions were observed.
Microscopic Lesions in Cows and CatsFigure 1
Figure 1. Mammary gland lesions in cattle in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. A, B) Mammary gland...
The chief microscopic lesion observed in affected cows was moderate acute multifocal neutrophilic mastitis (Figure 1); however, mammary glands were not received from every cow. Three cows had mild neutrophilic or lymphocytic hepatitis. Because they were adult cattle, other observed microscopic lesions (e.g., mild lymphoplasmacytic interstitial nephritis and mild to moderate lymphocytic abomasitis) were presumed to be nonspecific, age-related changes. We did not observe major lesions in the other evaluated tissues. We performed IHC for IAV antigen on all evaluated tissues; the only tissues with positive immunoreactivity were mastitic mammary glands from 2 cows that showed nuclear and cytoplasmic labeling of alveolar epithelial cells and cells within lumina (Figure 1) and multifocal germinal centers within a lymph node from 1 cow (Table 1).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Lesions in cat tissues in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Tissue sections were stained with...
Both cats had microscopic lesions consistent with severe systemic virus infection, including severe subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphocytic meningoencephalitis with vasculitis and neuronal necrosis, moderate subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia, moderate to severe subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphohistiocytic myocarditis, and moderate subacute multifocal lymphoplasmacytic chorioretinitis with ganglion cell necrosis and attenuation of the internal plexiform and nuclear layers (Table 2; Figure 2). We performed IHC for IAV antigen on multiple tissues (brain, eye, lung, heart, spleen, liver, and kidney). We detected positive IAV immunoreactivity in brain (intracytoplasmic, intranuclear, and axonal immunolabeling of neurons), lung, and heart, and multifocal and segmental immunoreactivity within all layers of the retina (Figure 2).
PCR Data from Cows and CatsWe tested various samples from 8 clinically affected mature dairy cows by IAV screening and H5 subtype-specific PCR (Table 3). Milk and mammary gland homogenates consistently showed low Ct values: 12.3''16.9 by IAV screening PCR, 17.6''23.1 by H5 subtype PCR, and 14.7''20.0 by H5 2.3.4.4 clade PCR (case 1, cow 1; case 2, cows 1 and 2; case 3, cow 1; and case 4, cow 1). We forwarded the samples to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, which confirmed the virus was an HPAI H5N1 virus strain.
When available, we also tested tissue homogenates (e.g., lung, spleen, and lymph nodes), ocular fluid, and rumen contents from 6 cows by IAV and H5 subtype-specific PCR (Table 3). However, the PCR findings were not consistent. For example, the tissue homogenates and ocular fluid tested positive in some but not all cows. In case 5, cow 1, the milk sample tested negative by IAV screening PCR, but the spleen homogenate tested positive by IAV screening, H5 subtype, and H5 2.3.4.4 PCR. For 2 cows (case 3, cow 1; and case 4, cow 1) that had both milk and rumen contents available, both samples tested positive for IAV. Nevertheless, all IAV-positive nonmammary gland tissue homogenates, ocular fluid, and rumen contents had markedly elevated Ct values in contrast to the low Ct values for milk and mammary gland homogenate samples.
We tested brain and lung samples from the 2 cats (case 6, cats 1 and 2) by IAV screening and H5 subtype-specific PCR (Table 3). Both sample types were positive by IAV screening PCR; Ct values were 9.9''13.5 for brain and 17.4''24.4 for lung samples, indicating high amounts of virus nucleic acid in those samples. The H5 subtype and H5 2.3.4.4 PCR results were also positive for the brain and lung samples; Ct values were consistent with the IAV screening PCR (Table 3).
Phylogenetic AnalysesWe assembled the sequences of all 8 segments of the HPAI viruses from both cow milk and cat tissue samples. We used the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) sequences specifically for phylogenetic analysis to delineate the clade of the HA gene and subtype of the NA gene.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different...
For HA gene analysis, both HA sequences derived from cow milk samples exhibited a high degree of similarity, sharing 99.88% nucleotide identity, whereas the 2 HA sequences from cat tissue samples showed complete identity at 100%. The HA sequences from the milk samples had 99.94% nucleotide identities with HA sequences from the cat tissues, resulting in a distinct subcluster comprising all 4 HA sequences, which clustered together with other H5N1 viruses belonging to clade 2.3.4.4b (Figure 3). The HA sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. PP599465 [case 2, cow 1], PP599473 [case 2, cow 2], PP692142 [case 6, cat 1], and PP692195 [case 6, cat 2]).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Phylogenetic analysis of neuraminidase gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different...
For NA gene analysis, the 2 NA sequences obtained from cow milk samples showed 99.93% nucleotide identity. Moreover, the NA sequences derived from the milk samples exhibited complete nucleotide identities (100%) with those from the cat tissues. The 4 NA sequences were grouped within the N1 subtype of HPAI viruses (Figure 4). The NA sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. PP599467 [case 2, cow 1], PP599475 [case 2, cow 2], PP692144 [case 6, cat 1], and PP692197 [case 6, cat 2]).
This case series differs from most previous reports of IAV infection in bovids, which indicated cattle were inapparently infected or resistant to infection (9). We describe an H5N1 strain of IAV in dairy cattle that resulted in apparent systemic illness, reduced milk production, and abundant virus shedding in milk. The magnitude of this finding is further emphasized by the high death rate ('50%) of cats on farm premises that were fed raw colostrum and milk from affected cows; clinical disease and lesions developed that were consistent with previous reports of H5N1 infection in cats presumably derived from consuming infected wild birds (10''12). Although exposure to and consumption of dead wild birds cannot be completely ruled out for the cats described in this report, the known consumption of unpasteurized milk and colostrum from infected cows and the high amount of virus nucleic acid within the milk make milk and colostrum consumption a likely route of exposure. Therefore, our findings suggest cross-species mammal-to-mammal transmission of HPAI H5N1 virus and raise new concerns regarding the potential for virus spread within mammal populations. Horizontal transmission of HPAI H5N1 virus has been previously demonstrated in experimentally infected cats (13) and ferrets (14) and is suspected to account for large dieoffs observed during natural outbreaks in mink (15) and sea lions (16). Future experimental studies of HPAI H5N1 virus in dairy cattle should seek to confirm cross-species transmission to cats and potentially other mammals.
Clinical IAV infection in cattle has been infrequently reported in the published literature. The first report occurred in Japan in 1949, where a short course of disease with pyrexia, anorexia, nasal discharge, pneumonia, and decreased lactation developed in cattle (17). In 1997, a similar condition occurred in dairy cows in southwest England leading to a sporadic drop in milk production (18), and IAV seroconversion was later associated with reduced milk yield and respiratory disease (19''21). Rising antibody titers against human-origin influenza A viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) were later again reported in dairy cattle in England, which led to an acute fall in milk production during October 2005''March 2006 (22). Limited reports of IAV isolation from cattle exist; most reports occurred during the 1960s and 1970s in Hungary and in the former Soviet Union, where H3N2 was recovered from cattle experiencing respiratory disease (9,23). Direct detection of IAV in milk and the potential transmission from cattle to cats through feeding of unpasteurized milk has not been previously reported.
An IAV-associated drop in milk production in dairy cattle appears to have occurred during > 4 distinct periods and within 3 widely separated geographic areas: 1949 in Japan (17), 1997''1998 and 2005''2006 in Europe (19,21), and 2024 in the United States (this report). The sporadic occurrence of clinical disease in dairy cattle worldwide might be the result of changes in subclinical infection rates and the presence or absence of sufficient baseline IAV antibodies in cattle to prevent infection. Milk IgG, lactoferrin, and conglutinin have also been suggested as host factors that might reduce susceptibility of bovids to IAV infection (9). Contemporary estimates of the seroprevalence of IAV antibodies in US cattle are not well described in the published literature. One retrospective serologic survey in the United States in the late 1990s showed 27% of serum samples had positive antibody titers and 31% had low-positive titers for IAV H1 subtype-specific antigen in cattle with no evidence of clinical infections (24). Antibody titers for H5 subtype-specific antigen have not been reported in US cattle.
The susceptibility of domestic cats to HPAI H5N1 is well-documented globally (10''12,25''28), and infection often results in neurologic signs in affected felids and other terrestrial mammals (4). Most cases in cats result from consuming infected wild birds or contaminated poultry products (12,27). The incubation period in cats is short; clinical disease is often observed 2''3 days after infection (28). Brain tissue has been suggested as the best diagnostic sample to confirm HPAI virus infection in cats (10), and our results support that finding. One unique finding in the cats from this report is the presence of blindness and microscopic lesions of chorioretinitis. Those results suggest that further investigation into potential ocular manifestations of HPAI H5N1 virus infection in cats might be warranted.
The genomic sequencing and subsequent analysis of clinical samples from both bovine and feline sources provided considerable insights. The HA and NA sequences derived from both bovine milk and cat tissue samples from different Texas farms had a notable degree of similarity. Those findings strongly suggest a shared origin for the viruses detected in the dairy cattle and cat tissues. Further research, case series investigations, and surveillance data are needed to better understand and inform measures to curtail the clinical effects, shedding, and spread of HPAI viruses among mammals. Although pasteurization of commercial milk mitigates risks for transmission to humans, a 2019 US consumer study showed that 4.4% of adults consumed raw milk > 1 time during the previous year (29), indicating a need for public awareness of the potential presence of HPAI H5N1 viruses in raw milk.
Ingestion of feed contaminated with feces from wild birds infected with HPAI virus is presumed to be the most likely initial source of infection in the dairy farms. Although the exact source of the virus is unknown, migratory birds (Anseriformes and Charadriiformes) are likely sources because the Texas panhandle region lies in the Central Flyway, and those birds are the main natural reservoir for avian influenza viruses (30). HPAI H5N1 viruses are well adapted to domestic ducks and geese, and ducks appear to be a major reservoir (31); however, terns have also emerged as an important source of virus spread (32). The mode of transmission among infected cattle is also unknown; however, horizontal transmission has been suggested because disease developed in resident cattle herds in Michigan, Idaho, and Ohio farms that received infected cattle from the affected regions, and those cattle tested positive for HPAI H5N1 (33). Experimental studies are needed to decipher the transmission routes and pathogenesis (e.g., replication sites and movement) of the virus within infected cattle.
In conclusion, we showed that dairy cattle are susceptible to infection with HPAI H5N1 virus and can shed virus in milk and, therefore, might potentially transmit infection to other mammals via unpasteurized milk. A reduction in milk production and vague systemic illness were the most commonly reported clinical signs in affected cows, but neurologic signs and death rapidly developed in affected domestic cats. HPAI virus infection should be considered in dairy cattle when an unexpected and unexplained abrupt drop in feed intake and milk production occurs and for cats when rapid onset of neurologic signs and blindness develop. The recurring nature of global HPAI H5N1 virus outbreaks and detection of spillover events in a broad host range is concerning and suggests increasing virus adaptation in mammals. Surveillance of HPAI viruses in domestic production animals, including cattle, is needed to elucidate influenza virus evolution and ecology and prevent cross-species transmission.
Dr. Burrough is a professor and diagnostic pathologist at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. His research focuses on infectious diseases of livestock with an emphasis on swine.
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We thank the faculty and staff at the ISUVDL who contributed to the processing and analysis of clinical samples in this investigation, the veterinarians involved with clinical assessments at affected dairies and various conference calls in the days before diagnostic submissions that ultimately led to the detection of HPAI virus in the cattle, and the US Department of Agriculture National Veterinary Services Laboratory and NAHLN for their roles and assistance in providing their expertise, confirmatory diagnostic support, and communications surrounding the HPAI virus cases impacting lactating dairy cattle.
Suggested citation for this article: Burrough ER, Magstadt DR, Petersen B, Timmermans SJ, Gauger PC, Zhang J, et al. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024 Jul [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3007.240508
Report: White House Considers Inviting Gaza Palestinians as Refugees
Wed, 01 May 2024 16:07
The White House has reportedly been considering whether or not to accept Palestinians from Gaza as refugees amid Israel's war with Hamas.
According to internal federal documents obtained by CBS News, senior officials in the Biden administration and U.S. agencies have ''discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents.''
The documents show that welcoming Palestinians under the United States Refugee Admissions Program has been proposed as a means to bring people into the country from war-torn Gaza. CBS News added:
Top U.S. officials have also discussed getting additional Palestinians out of Gaza and processing them as refugees if they have American relatives, the documents show. The plans would require coordination with Egypt, which has so far refused to welcome large numbers of people from Gaza.
Potential refugees would need to pass various security and medical screenings before they could be granted access to the United States and the numerous benefits associated with refugee resettlement in the country, including permanent residency, housing assistance, and a pathway to American citizenship.
While exact numbers are difficult to estimate, local public health officials say as many as 34,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza conflict, while several hundred thousand have been displaced from their homes. Egypt and other neighboring countries in the region have refused to take in refugees. Israel launched its incursion into Gaza following the horrific October 7 terrorist attack at the hands of Hamas last year, which killed over 1,200 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, including women and children.
The White House Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have not commented on the report about the United States looking to import Palestinian refugees.
''The proposals to resettle certain Palestinians as refugees would mark a shift in longstanding U.S. government policy and practice. Since its inception in 1980, the U.S. refugee program has not resettled Palestinians in large numbers,'' noted CBS News.
''Over the past decade, the U.S. has resettled more than 400,000 refugees fleeing violence and war across the globe. Fewer than 600 were Palestinian. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. welcomed 56 Palestinian refugees, or 0.09% of the more than 60,000 refugees resettled during those 12 months, State Department statistics show,'' it added.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. ''Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,'' wrote Mark Judge. ''You haven't seen a story like this before,'' wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
Melting polar ice is slowing Earth's rotation and may affect time
Wed, 01 May 2024 16:06
Global warming has slightly slowed the Earth's rotation '-- and it could affect how we measure time.
A study published Wednesday found that the melting of polar ice '-- an accelerating trend driven primarily by human-caused climate change '-- has caused the Earth to spin less quickly than it would otherwise.
The author of the study, Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, said that as ice at the poles melts, it changes where the Earth's mass is concentrated. The change, in turn, affects the planet's angular velocity.
Agnew compared the dynamic to a figure skater twirling on ice: ''If you have a skater who starts spinning, if she lowers her arms or stretches out her legs, she will slow down,'' he said. But if a skater's arms are drawn inward, the skater will twirl faster.
Less solid ice at the poles, then, means more mass around the equator '-- Earth's waist.
''What you're doing with the ice melt is you're taking water that's frozen solid in places like Antarctica and Greenland, and that frozen water is melting, and you move the fluids to other places on the planet,'' said Thomas Herring, a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the new study. ''The water flows off towards the equator.''
The study suggests, in other words, that human influence has monkeyed with a force that scholars, stargazers and scientists have puzzled over for millennia '-- something long considered a constant that was out of humanity's control.
''It's kind of impressive, even to me, we've done something that measurably changes how fast the Earth rotates,'' Agnew said. ''Things are happening that are unprecedented.''
His study, which was published in the journal Nature, suggests that climate change is playing a significant enough role in the Earth's rotation to counteract an opposing trend. Because of a combination of factors, the Earth has begun to spin faster in recent decades, a temporary trend that has prompted scientists for the first time to consider subtracting a single ''negative leap second'' from clocks worldwide as soon as 2026. But the melting of polar ice has delayed that possibility by about three years, according to Agnew.
If timekeeping organizations do eventually decide to add a negative leap second, the adjustment could disrupt computer networks.
A view of Earth captured by the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite. NASAThe reason leap second adjustments have historically been needed is that even without climate change, Earth's daily rotation has trended slower over millions of years, even though it may seem constant.
About 70 million years ago, days were shorter and lasted roughly 23.5 hours, a study in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology suggests. That means Cretaceous dinosaurs experienced a planet with 372 days in each year.
Several key factors affect the planet's spin '-- sometimes working in opposition.
The friction of ocean tides, due in part to the moon's gravitational pull, slows the Earth's rotation. Meanwhile, since the last Ice Age, the Earth's crust has been uplifting in some regions as it responds to the removal of ice sheets' weight. That effect shifts where mass is distributed and speeds up the planet's spin. Both of those processes are fairly constant and have predictable rates.
Yet another factor is the movement of fluid within the Earth's liquid inner core '-- a wild card that can either speed or slow how fast the Earth rotates, Agnew said. Fluctuations in Earth's core are a primary reason that the planet has rotated faster than would be otherwise expected in recent decades.
That faster spin has led timekeepers to consider '-- for the first time since Coordinated Universal Time was officially adopted in the 1960s '-- whether it might make sense to subtract a leap second to keep universal time in lockstep with Earth's rotation.
But polar ice melt is counteracting that trend and has forestalled any decision point about whether to add a negative leap second. According to Agnew's estimates, it has delayed that possibility from 2026 to 2029 '-- if the current pace of Earth's rotation holds.
As climate change intensifies, researchers expect ice melt to have an even more profound effect on how the planet spins.
''It will have a bigger contribution as time goes on and as melt accelerates, as we expect it's likely to do,'' Herring said. He added that the new study was a thorough, solid analysis that combined research from several disciplines of science.
The need for timekeepers to adjust universal time to stay in line with the Earth's rotation is not a new phenomenon. But historically, that has involved adding leap seconds to the common standard for clocks when Earth's slowing spin causes astronomical time to fall behind atomic time (which is measured by the vibration of atoms in atomic clocks).
Adding or subtracting leap seconds is a pain, because they have the potential to disrupt satellite, financial and energy transmission systems that rely on extremely precise timing. Because of that, global timekeepers voted in 2022 to do away with the leap second additions and subtractions by 2035 and let universal time drift away from the pace of the Earth's rotation.
''There's been a push since about 2000 to get rid of leap seconds,'' Agnew said.
Regardless of whether clocks wind up changing, the notion that melting polar ice is affecting the Earth's rotation speaks to how significant an issue it has become. Research has already described the profound impact that ice loss will have on coastal communities.
Scientists expect sea level rise to accelerate as the climate warms, a process that will continue for hundreds of years. Last year, top polar researchers warned in a report that parts of key ice sheets could collapse and that coastal communities should prepare for many feet of sea level rise. If humanity allows average global temperatures to rise by 2 degrees Celsius, the planet could be committed to more than 40 feet of sea level rise.
Evan Bush Evan Bush is a science reporter for NBC News. He can be reached at Evan.Bush@nbcuni.com.
UN Official Condemns Health "Misinformation," Advocates for "Digital Integrity Code"
Wed, 01 May 2024 15:30
The United Nations continues with an attempt to advance the agenda to get what the organization calls its Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms implemented.
This code is based on a previous policy brief that recommends censorship of whatever is deemed to be ''disinformation, misinformation, hate'' but that is only the big picture of the policy UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming is staunchly promoting.
In early April, Fleming gave a talk at Boston University, and here the focus was on AI, whose usefulness in various censorship ventures makes it seen as a tool that advances ''resilience in global communication.''
A piece on the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases site first asserts that AI had a ''major role'' in helping spread misinformation and conspiracy theories ''in the post-pandemic era,'' while the UN is described as one of the institutions that have been undermined by all this, while ''working to dispel these narratives.''
(The article also '' helpfully, in terms of understanding where its authors are coming from '' cites the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the ''authority'' which has proclaimed that ''the threat from misinformation and disinformation as the most severe short-term threat facing the world today'').
You will hardly hear Fleming disagreeing with any of this, but the UN's approach is to ''harness'' that power to serve its own agendas. The UN official's talk was about AI can be used to feed the public the desired narratives around issues like vaccines, climate change, and the ''well-being'' of women and girls.
However, she also went long into all the aspects of AI that she perceives as negative, throwing pretty much every talking point already well established among the ''AI fear-mongering genre'' in there:
''One of our biggest worries is the ease with which new technologies can help spread misinformation easier and cheaper, and that this content can be produced at scale and far more easily personalized and targeted,'' she said.
Flemming said that with the pandemic, this ''skyrocketed'' around the issue of vaccines. But she didn't address why that may be '' other than, apparently, being simply a furious sudden proliferation of ''misinformation'' for its own sake.
Flemming then mentions a number of UN activities, basically along the lines of ''fact-checking'' and ''pre-bunking'' (like ''Verified,'' and #TakeCareBeforeYouShare'').
Some might refer to Flemming as one of the ''merchants of outrage'' but she has this slur reserved for others, such as ''climate (change) deniers.''
And it wasn't long before X and Elon Musk cropped up.
''Since Elon Musk took over X, all of the climate deniers are back, and (the platform) has become a space for all kinds of climate disinformation. Here is a connection that people in the anti-vaccine sphere are now shifting to the climate change denial sphere,'' Flemming lamented.
But, the UN official reassured everyone that ''she and her team are working to build coalitions and initiatives that leverage AI to promote exciting, positive, fact-driven global public health communications.''
If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.
YouTube Is Not the Podcast Savior You're Looking For The Podcast Setup
Wed, 01 May 2024 13:54
Listen to the articleIn an effort to hold myself back from starting a new podcast, I recorded this episode on my iPhone while sitting on my couch. Enjoy!
Google+Google WaveGoogle ReaderGoogle cough podcast app
All shutdown by Google, which incase you've forgotten, owns YouTube.
That list only scratches the surface of the once innovative products laid to waste by the juggernaut. There's an entire archive outlined in the Google Graveyard if you'd like scroll though.
''We want to make YouTube Music the ultimate destination for podcasters and fans alike'' Rene Ritchie wrote in the post Shaping the Future of Podcasts with YouTube.
Let me get this straight: The future of my podcast lies in the hands of a video-first platform where my content is distributed through a music app, backed by a company that has the track record of shutting down services on a whim'...including their own podcast app?!
Long live independent RSS.
Platforms are not on our sideHave we not learned our lesson over major platforms pulling the rug out from under us?
Rewind the clock back to the days of Facebook Pages where you were encouraged to grow your 1,000 fans, only to see the organic reach topped out at 5% of that number, but chucking $20 into the system would earn you a healthier 38% reach. Internet gambling.
Twitter adoption was largely built off the back of numerous apps that designed unique custom user experiences until their API was either shutdown or the cost of using it was too high to sustain the business. And this was pre-Elon.
Google has recently waged war (again) on their content creators that rely on search for the livelihood of their business, causing a drought in traffic with a hit to revenue small that publishers rely on. Go spend what you have left on ads.
YouTube creator payouts are at an all time low, with a ghost in the machine that tanks your stats from invalid traffic which YouTube hasn't said much about. I'm earning 1/3 of what I made from a few years back, with 3x the views and a considerably higher volume of published videos.
YouTube, or any major platform, is not the savior we're looking for.
But, I get it, podcasters are a tired bunch. Producing, recording, editing, promoting '-- rinse and repeat that 100's of times for a slow uptick in listens '-- it's tough.
Before you know it, you too are telling people to smash that subscribe button on your ''podcast.''
Why does YouTube work?Rene Ritchie says, ''YouTube's secret sauce is our recommendations. They help people discover something new or go deeper on what they love, while helping podcasters reach new audiences only found on YouTube.''
Emphasis on the only found on YouTube part. The beauty of open RSS publishing is that audiences can be found wherever they listen to podcasts. It's simple math that open distribution has access to more humans than a single closed off platform.
There's no denying that YouTube search is great. Videos are appealing, hovering over an appealing thumbnail is'...appealing. You just don't get that experience from the fragmented podcast industry.
I agree, the experience for searching audio isn't as engaging or even comprehensive.
It's why we have efforts like open source Podcasting 2.0 and the Podcast Standards project. Efforts underway to streamline the experience across the board albeit with much shallower pockets than the competition. It's going to take time.
You don't know it yet, but these open source movements from collaborators who actually care about podcasting, will be the heroes for the audio space when the dust settles in a few years.
If you put the features aside, YouTube also has two other key elements going for it: It's familiar and it's easy. That's why YouTube is working for the tired podcaster.
You've spent so much energy making a show, now we're going to ask you to work 5x harder to get discovered. And that's where they get you.
It's Time You Understand RSSI've been podcasting for over a decade and spent nearly 3 years working at a podcasting hosting company. I've answered the question of ''how to start a podcast'' 100's of times.
I know it's complicated. I know RSS isn't sexy. But you must look around and see the walls closing in on content creators.
Look at what happened when Spotify tried owning podcasts '-- an audio-first platform!
Joe Rogan, the largest podcast in the world is back to open publishing '-- through RSS and YouTube. Gating content only works for so long. It was more advantageous for Joe Rogan and his ad deals to be openly accessible everywhere than it was to be stuck in a walled garden of Spotify.
Follow the money. Now, the industry is letting YouTube waltz right in and become synonymous with podcasting.
Podcasting is hard, you have to treat it like a business, and you have to roll up your sleeves to build trust in an audience that will tune in every week. There is no algorithm or DIY ad network that acts as a steroid for artificial growth.
And this is the empty promise YouTube is putting in the face of podcast ''executives'' looking from the top down. Put aside that old run down RSS feed, come get this fresh new algo for your show!
YouTube-first podcasts are largely dominated by celebrities, athletes, or comedians that are ''in the business.''
Equipped with a stable of managers, ad buyers, or production crews. What you're not seeing is the inflated business of Hollywood behind the scenes. B-List celebrities are being sold at a premium per listen than you or I could only dream of.
Those brands being represented by the same buyer agencies also caught up in the inflated traditional ad business. It's a true house of cards.
Don't sleep on the fact that many of these podcast hosts also have a primary income from their real jobs. Be it acting gigs, comedy shows, or sport analysts on a TV network '-- if they need multiple streams of revenue '-- so do you and I.
Remember, Google mutilated their Feedburner product (RSS) and killed their Google Reader product (RSS) and their podcast app (RSS)!
Why? Because RSS is open and it's a protocol they can't inject their ads into. I mean, I'm sure they can, they just can't do it as effectively and at scale. And how could Google back RSS? That would send a signal to the entire market that openly distributed content is good.
But it is, for you and me, not for big ad monetized social media platforms.
Your RSS feed is the calling card you can hand to someone to subscribe to your content. Not just a podcast, but your blog, or your newsletter. Platforms don't want you to know about RSS or encourage the use of it '-- because it takes you out of the algorithm and the chance for them to sell ads against you.
Imagine a world if RSS had thrived and you knew your friends RSS feed, just like you knew their email address or website URL. There would be a lot more choice, more apps to experience content, you'd have more focused content feeds, less ads, less abusive algorithms '-- it would be a better place.
When podcasters and audience listeners start to say that YouTube channels are also podcasts, open RSS loses ground to a centralized platform. It's that simple.
In The EndYou have to decide what kind of experience you want to craft for your audience. Balance that with the work and effort needed to make a series of content successful. Whatever success means to you.
Weigh your time, energy, and creative bandwidth on audio vs video. Even if ''YouTube podcasts'' are trending right now, don't make yourself do video. Audio experiences are just as effective, especially when you're not trying to force a medium of content you're not comfortable with.
Choosing YouTube isn't wrong, I love my YouTube channel for publishing WordPress tutorials, but I also know that I'm locked in there. I don't have control over that audience, so I funnel viewers to my newsletter and then deeper into my audio podcast experience.
Having a podcast appear as video on YouTube and as audio on your own feed is perfectly okay. If the shoe fits, wear it.
What we don't want is a fleet of podcasters throughout the industry throwing up their hands in defeat trading in freely available RSS feeds in favor of a YouTube channel. And I certainly don't want to hear from podcast industry experts touting YouTube as the savior of podcasting '-- discovery be damned!
YouTube has crushed 3 major RSS products already, and while they are supporting RSS feeds for audio now, the proof is in the pudding for how long it will last.
Open RSS allows you to freely move about the internet, gaining access to anyone that can paste your link into their listening app. It's a particular freedom no other content creators on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram can do.
Don't let YouTube swallow up another piece of the open web.
Go podcasting!
3 Physicists Use Experimental Evidence To Show CO2's Capacity To Absorb Radiation Has Saturated
Wed, 01 May 2024 13:48
Adding CO2 to the atmosphere can have no significant climatic effect when rising above the threshold of about 300 ppm. Due to saturation, higher and higher concentrations do not lead to any further absorption of radiation.If one were to paint a white surface black so as to allow it to absorb as much heat as possible, it is well known the first layer of paint has the most dominant impact on heat absorption. A second coat covers up any remaining grayish color and perhaps a few spots missed on the first layer. By the third layer, there is effectively no more heat absorption that can be attained with the additional coat, as the surface is saturated in black. It cannot become blacker.
Three Polish physicists have focused their attention on this saturation principle as it applies to CO2 in three recently published papers (Kubicki et al., 2024 , 2022 , and 2020 ). Their latest ( Kubicki et al., 2024 ), published in Applications in Engineering Science, summarizes the experimental evidence from their 2020 and 2022 publications substantiating the conclusion that ''as a result of saturation processes, emitted CO2 does not directly cause an increase in global temperature.''
''From the conducted considerations, it follows that both in Eq. (4) and Eq. (6), the value of absorption is limited. In the first case, it cannot exceed 1, and in the second case, it cannot exceed the value of Ï less than unity. Therefore, for a sufficiently large mass m, saturation must occur, and further increase in mass will result in a negligible increase in absorption.''
This research adds another layer to more than 50 years of research on the CO2 saturation principle.
''Schack ( 1972 )'...demonstrated that for a concentration of 0.03% of carbon dioxide in the air, the absorption process in the troposphere is saturated.''
The authors are concerned about the recent push to rely on modeling and assumptions about CO2's capacity to drive changes in global temperature rather than observational evidence. They point out the current CO2-is-the-climate-control-knob zeitgeist is no more than a hypothesis.
''This unequivocally suggests that the officially presented impact of anthropogenic CO2 increase on Earth's climate is merely a hypothesis rather than a substantiated fact.''
Image Source: Kubicki et al., 2024In their 2022 paper the authors showed that at 400 ppm the CO2 concentration can no longer cause any increase in temperature, as no more absorption of thermal radiation can occur due to saturation.
'''...the experiment described in articles [5] an [6] was carried out, where it was shown that thermal radiation from the hot surface of the Moon, after passing through the Earth's atmosphere, is not absorbed in carbon dioxide. Thus, it was shown for this radiation there is a complete saturation of the process.''
''It can be seen that practically with the mass of carbon dioxide of about 1.5 kg/m², the process of absorption of thermal radiation goes into saturation'... So, for the current concentration of 400 ppm for which the mass of CO2 in the atmosphere is ~6 kg/m², the limit is four times exceeded.''
''Thus, it can be presumed that the carbon dioxide additionally emitted into the atmosphere does not absorb thermal radiation and thus is not a greenhouse gas.''
Image Source: Kubicki et al., 2022In their 2020 paper the three physicists reported their experimental evidence can ''disprove [the] general theorem'' that increasing the concentration of absorbing gases will ''cause strong increase of the absorption of the infrared radiation.''
In their experiment they found that there was no difference (120.9 vs. 121.0 μW) in the power of air, with 0.04% CO2, to absorb infrared radiation versus the capacity of 100% CO2 to absorb radiation due to the saturation effect.
Image Source: Kubicki et al., 2020Recently, other scientists ( Chen et al., 2023 ) also reported that CO2 has a severely reduced effect on atmospheric transmissivity due to (a) absorption saturation (CO2 can have no effect beyond a pre-industrial concentration), and because (b) water vapor and cloud forcing overlap and thus dominate absorption in CO2's band.
''[Transmissivity] in the CO2 band center is unchanged by increased CO2 as the absorption is already saturated'...''
''[T]he water vapor and CO2 overlapping at an absorbing band prevents absorption by additional CO2.''
Image Source: Chen et al., 2023Physicist Dieter Schildknecht ( 2020 ) also reported on the saturation of the CO2 impact once it reaches 300 ppm concentrations, concluding that because of this saturation further CO2 increases ''cannot affect the earth's climate.''
''The absorption reaches values close to 100% for a realistic CO2 content of 0.03%, [so] it is concluded that any further increase of (anthropogenic) CO2 cannot lead to an appreciably stronger absorption of radiation, and consequently cannot affect the earth's climate.''
Image Source: Schildknecht, 2020Dr. Easterbrook also illustratively referenced the saturation effect in research published in 2016, calculating the effect of a 80 ppm increase in CO2 as only about 0.01°C.
Notice on the pie chart there is almost no detectable change after the CO2 concentration has reached ~240 ppm.
Image Source: Easterbrook, 2016In the 1970s, before the anthropogenic global warming narrative had evolved into what it is today, it was common for scientists to admit the CO2 radiative impact is already saturated.
According to Weare and Snell (1974) , doubling of the CO2 concentration was thought to lead to a global surface temperature increase of 0.7 K, but a six-fold increase (~2,000 ppm) would only raise temperature 1.0 K more ''due to saturation of the 15 μm band.''
Per Rasool and Schneider (1971) , increasing the CO2 concentration 10-fold (over 3,000 ppm) would not increase temperatures more than 2.5°C ''because the 15 μm band 'saturates'.''
Image Source: Weare and Snell, 1974 and Rasool and Schneider, 1971Other scientists at the time estimated that when increasing CO2 ''seven times the normal concentrations, the average temperature increase is about 1°C'' ( Zdunkowski et al., 1975 ), or that doubled CO2 concentrations lead to 0.30°C warming, but quadrupled CO2 (~1250 ppm) leads to just 0.48°C warming ( Gates et al., 1981 ). Again, this is due to the saturation effect.
Image Source: Zdunkowski et al., 1975 and Gates et al., 1981
GLAAD Study: LGBTQ Characters Are Dropping on Television
Wed, 01 May 2024 12:14
LGBTQ characters are falling out of focus on the small screen.
On Tuesday, GLAAD released the findings of the 19th edition of Where We Are on TV, a report from the media watchdog group that analyzes the number of LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on scripted primetime broadcast, scripted primetime cable and scripted series on eight major streaming platforms that aired between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024.
The study, which lands at a time of immense change in Hollywood following last year's dual strikes and layoffs across the industry, finds that LGBTQ characters are dropping considerably across broadcast, cable and streaming for the second straight year to 468 from last year's total of 596. Of those counted, 36 percent of the 468 LGBTQ characters will not be returning.
On broadcast TV, GLAAD counted 39 LGBTQ regulars featured on 64 primetime series, a drop of 31 characters, or 44 percent, from the previous year's study. The dip, however, can partially be attributed to the decreasing number of primetime scripted series overall on broadcast television. The 2022-23 TV season featured 88 shows, while there are 64 series that were counted for this recent study. The story is similar on cable, where GLAAD counted 77 LGBTQ characters (regular and recurring), a decrease of 62 characters, or a drop of 45 percent, from last year's 139. Thirty-eight of the 77 characters will not be returning due to endings or cancellations of the series or limited series.
In recent years, streaming has emerged as the home to the most LGBTQ characters. This year was no different, as the study found 327 LGBTQ characters featured on streaming originals; however, that represented a drop of 29 characters from the previous year. Of the 327 counted, 119, or 36 percent, will not be returning due to series endings or cancellations.
Other key findings of the report: Of 468 LGBTQ characters, there were 24 transgender characters, a decrease of eight from the previous study; there were 232 characters of color, a decrease of 72 from the previous year; and only one LGBTQ character was found living with HIV '-- Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) in Showtime's miniseries Fellow Travelers.
''GLAAD's Where We Are on TV study found a number of concerning decreases across the board in the past two years, alongside a changing industry on all fronts which is seeing increased vertical integration and contracting budgets and staff,'' said Megan Townsend, GLAAD senior director of entertainment research and analysis.
AI Firms Rake in Billions Without Having Products
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:59
AI may represent a ''field of dreams,'' but investors are reportedly seeing a potential nightmare.
As The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday (April 29), startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) space continue to take in billions of dollars in investments, although many of those businesses have yet to produce a viable product. This has led to concerns about a bubble as companies try to generate revenue beyond AI hype.
The report cites figures from venture firm Sequoia Capital, which at its AI summit last month estimated that it had invested $50 billion into the chips needed to train language models, while revenues from generative AI startups came to $3 billion.
''Everybody's assuming: if you build it, they will come. AI is a field of dreams,'' Sonya Huang, a Sequoia partner, said at the event. ''The amount of money it takes to build this stuff has vastly exceeded the amount of money coming out so far. So we've got some real problems to fix.''
Last year, the report says, investors funneled $21.8 billion into generative AI companies, a fivefold increase from 2022, in hopes of discovering the next ChatGPT. But so far, few other startups have been able to recapture OpenAI's success.
The WSJ gives the example of Inflection AI, which raised $1.5 billion to develop the language models behind its main product, a chatbot called Pi that provided emotional support to users.
However, the report says, the company couldn't find a working business model, with its former CEO Mustafa Suleyman and much of the staff recently jumping ship to join Microsoft.
The rush to fund AI projects is happening among Big Tech companies as well, with Meta recently announcing it would spend $35 billion on the technology this year.
''This colossal investment raises pivotal questions about the future of AI development and its financial viability,'' PYMNTS wrote last week. ''Industry experts are now debating the scope and impact of this funding, probing into when these investments will yield a return on investment (ROI) and how they could reshape Big Tech revenue models.''
With strategies ranging from ads to subscriptions, the Facebook owner's move could bring about new blueprints for how tech giants capitalize on advances in AI.
''For now, there seems to be no end in sight to the arms race,'' Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of generative AI company Aisera, told PYMNTS. ''AI is clearly a top strategic focus. Think of it like the transition from on-prem to the cloud or from the desktop to mobile. These are massive secular trends that last many years. So, for a megatech company like Microsoft, Google, Meta or Amazon, missing out on AI would be disastrous. This is why they are pouring billions of dollars into capex.''
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See More In: AI, AI investments, artificial intelligence, Big Tech, funding, Inflection AI, Investments, Meta, Microsoft, News, OpenAI, PYMNTS News, Sequoia Capital, startups, Technology, What's Hot
MOATAZ SALIM NOT A STUDENT - 200 Days - CODEPINK - Women for Peace
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:41
By: Moataz "Taz" Salim
For generations we have endured the oppressor that seeks to crush our spirits and steal our homeland. Yet still our resolve has not wavered, nor our song of liberation been stilled.
For too long Gaza has suffered, unwillingly, due to the settler-colonial entity. Our land has been watered, for over 75 years, with the innocent tears and blood of my people. For over 75 years, we have been carried by an unyielding spirit of resistance that courses through our veins.
In 200 days, 161 of my own blood have been taken from us, 161 of over 40,000 that we know of. 40k too many. While the fools over here debate ''safety'' on campus, every educational institution in my homeland has been destroyed.
I recall vividly, in my childhood, being glued to the television in terror as our lands and people are massacred yet again. Thousands ''mowed down'' like stalks of wheat before the mechanical reaper's blade. Yet still the nations and the people turned their eyes away. They slept while Gaza wept.
No more will we accept this status quo of suffering in silent submission. Our time of waking has come '-- the fire in our souls will not be quenched.
Never again shall tyranny hold dominion over this sacred ground. Our song of liberation shall ring forth until we sing it in Jenin, in Tulkarem, in Ramallah, in Al-Quds, in Yaffa, in Al-Lydd, and in Gaza. Free Palestine. ð
Moataz Salim, a Palestinian-American from Gaza advocating for an end to the genocide and a free Palestine. He has been joining CODEPINK every day for 3 months to be a voice for my people heard in these halls of Congress. This post was originally posted to his Instagram account '-- you can follow Moataz on Instagram here.
New Bombshell Evidence Emerges: Was Trump Set Up in Classified Docs Saga? '' PJ Media
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:41
This week in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed a trove of new documents that Jack Smith fought to keep hidden. And you'll soon find out why. Among the documents unsealed were extensive exhibits, motions, and other filings shedding light on the intricate web of communication between the Biden White House and the National Archives and Records Administration in the lead-up to Trump's indictment.
Investigative journalist Julie Kelly found something interesting in the documents that could change everything. The first things is testimony from an FBI agent who testified that the General Services Administration (GSA) had been in possession of Trump's boxes in Virginia before ordering Trump's team to come get them.
WELL WELL WELL I am pretty sure we never heard this part of the "classified documents/box" story!More from unredacted motions in FLA--this is from an unsealed transcript of witness interview.
FBI agent says GSA was holding large quantity of Trump's boxes in VA and then ordered'... pic.twitter.com/0i4tGdWZ9A
'-- Julie Kelly ðºð¸ (@julie_kelly2) April 27, 2024"So an entire pallet full of boxes that had been held by GSA somewhere outside of DC is dumped at Mar-a-Lago," Kelly notes. "Apparently these are the boxes that ended up containing papers with 'classified markings.'"
"I will double check indictment but I don't recall this event in the timeline," she added.
So, it appears that the Biden administration may have been responsible for shipping classified information to Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. This development is significant because Trump has previously blamed the GSA for packing the boxes that contained the classified documents, only to later accuse Trump of essentially stealing them and using that as pretext for sending the FBI to raid his Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022.
"It was a set-up from the get-go," remarked Tom Fitton, the founder of Judicial Watch.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden had classified information that he was never entitled to have stored in boxes in his garage for years, but was not charged. Biden blamed staffers for packing the classified information.
While this may not prove the Biden administration set up Trump in the classified documents case, considering the way the Biden administration has abused the legal system against Trump, no one can confidently say they wouldn't.
Even so, it still raises other legitimate questions. For example, if the GSA had been in possession of the boxes, why wasn't a review of the materials conducted before they instructed Trump's team to get them? When it comes to classified information, they wouldn't have expected Trump and his staff to be responsible for ensuring that classified documents weren't among the records. Perhaps they did review the contents of the boxes and knew classified documents were contained in them before they told Trump's people to come get them.
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Chad's government threatens to kick out US troops as Russia expands influence in Africa | CNN Politics
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:29
CNN '--
The US risks losing its military presence in another African country as the government of Chad sent a letter threatening to end a critical security agreement, according to four US sources, a move that threatens to cede more US influence in the region to Russia.
In a letter sent to the US defense attach(C) last week, Chadian officials threatened to cancel the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, which determines the rules and conditions under which US military personnel can operate in the country. While the letter did not directly order the US military to leave Chad, the officials told CNN that it said all US forces would have to leave the French base in N'Djamena.
The letter specifically mentioned the US Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) at the base, an important hub for US Special Operations Forces in the region, two of the sources said. But the task force is not the only contingent of US military personnel at the base, as all US service members in Chad are located in N'Djamena.
Instead, the letter was from the Chief of Air Staff of Chad, Idriss Amine, the intelligence sources said, an unusual way to transfer such a significant message. The letter was typed in French, one of Chad's official languages, and written on Amine's official letterhead.
The letter was not sent through official diplomatic channels, according to one of the officials, which is the standard way to handle these issues. The two sources cautioned that letter could be a negotiation tactic by the government of Chad to get a new agreement that better favors their interests.
The exact number of US troops in the country is not clear but one US official said there are fewer than 100 troops there.
CNN has asked Chad's government for comment.
The move comes just a month after the military government of neighboring Niger ended its agreement with the US military that allowed American personnel to operate in the country.
One of the sources told CNN that the leadership in Chad is following the example set by Niger, attempting to use an opportunity to extract more concessions from the US. But the official said Chad's threat to terminate the SOFA agreement blindsided US officials.
The move comes at a critical time for US interests in Africa, as American officials have warned that Russian influence is expanding across the continent.
In Niger, a senior airman filed a formal whistleblower complaint, warning that the US ambassador to Niger and the defense attache had ''intentionally suppressed intelligence'' in an attempt to ''maintain a fa§ade of a great country-to-country relationship.''
The complaint alleges that the approximately 1,100 US troops in Niger are being ''held hostage'' since no new troops can come in to replace those currently deployed. ''It is clear that the country of Niger does not want a permanent military presence in their country and they have informed us that we need to leave,'' the airman wrote.
The Washington Post first reported on the whistleblower complaint.
In a statement to CNN, Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, head of US Africa Command, said some diplomatic clearances for military flights ''have recently been denied or not responded to, which has forced extended deployments in some cases.''
''US Africa Command senior leaders continue to work closely with the State Department and others to ensure US forces deployed to Niger have the support and services they need,'' Langley said. A US military official said AFRICOM remains committed to conducting intelligence activities, and that the Defense Department and AFRICOM ''are informed daily of the situation on the ground in Niger.''
CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.
The complaint comes as the Nigerien state broadcaster announced one week ago that Russia had delivered military equipment, including the latest generation of air defense systems, to Niger.
Langley, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that Russia is ''trying to take over central Africa as well as the Sahel'' at an ''accelerated pace.''
''(A) number of countries are at the tipping point of actually being captured by the Russian Federation as they are spreading some of their false narratives across Libya and from a strategic answer piece, access and influence across the whole Maghreb,'' Langley said. ''That is NATO's southern flank. We need to be able to have '-- maintain access and influence across the Mahgreb, from Morocco all the way to Libya.''
In a separate hearing with the House Armed Services Committee last month, Langley said Central African countries were ''in a dilemma,'' needing developmental assistance from countries like Russia and China but balancing those needs against ''risks to national sovereignty.''
''In this region, the stakes are high,'' Langley said.
Langley visited Chad in January this year alongside AFRICOM's senior enlisted advisor, Sgt. Maj. Michael Woods. While in the country, Langley met with Chadian military leaders including Gen. Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud, Chad's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, according to an AFRICOM press release at the time.
Langley said in the release that AFRICOM ''remains dedicated to building enduring partnerships with Chad and other African nations.''
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN's Jake Tapper contributed reporting.
U.S. troops to leave Chad, as another African state reassesses ties - The Washington Post
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:29
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia '-- Dozens of American military personnel are expected to withdraw from Chad in coming days, three senior U.S. officials said Thursday, amid a broader, involuntary reconfiguration of Washington's security policy in a volatile part of Africa.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the repositioning could be temporary as the United States intends to negotiate with Chad about their security relationship '-- including potentially returning the troops who departed '-- following the country's presidential elections May 6.
Ground-up chicken waste fed to cattle may be behind bird flu outbreak in US cows - Poultry Producer
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:15
Although the presence of H5N1 in US cattle herds increases the risk of the virus getting into humans via farm workers, it is the spread of the virus to pig farms that presents the bigger threat.
This is because pigs have receptors on some cells that are similar to humans, making it much more likely that the virus could mutate and jump to humans if pig farms become infected.
So far, the virus hasn't shown any signs of worrying mutation, however.
''Infection of H5N1 in pigs is of particular concern '' they are highly susceptible to human influenza virus strains so could act as mixing vessels for avian and human viruses to mix and generate viruses that can more efficiently infect humans,'' said Dr Tom Peacock.
Poultry litter is not only cheaper than other food sources like soy and grains but is also more calorie-dense, meaning farmers can bulk up their herds much more quickly.
According to previous statements by the FDA, the practice is safe: ''With respect to pathogenic microorganisms, drug residues and contaminants in poultry litter, FDA is not aware of any data showing that the use of poultry litter in cattle feed is posing human or animal health risks that warrant restrictions on its use,'' the agency previously noted.
There are several other theories on how the H5N1-infected cattle '' so far identified in Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, New Mexico, and Michigan '' contracted the virus.
Many experts argue that the most likely route of infection is via wild birds '' which have been found dead on some farms.
''The spread of this around the world comes back to wild and wild bird populations and where they land and where their faeces goes,'' stressed the WHO's Dr Johsua Mott.
''At some point, the contact with wild birds in the environment produced virus that then the cows had exposure to, but how that exposure happened is what many people are trying to figure out,'' he added.
It is also unclear if the virus is spreading from animal to animal, said Dr Mott.
On each farm, multiple creatures have been infected but this could be because they are eating from a common source of infection '' feed or wild birds '' rather than passing it on to another.
The director of ruminant health for the United States Department of Agriculture, Mark Lyons, suggested at a meeting last week the virus could be potentially transmitted by contamination of workers' clothing, or the suction cups that are attached to cow udders during milking.
However, others argue that poultry litter as a potential source of contamination cannot be ruled out.
Fears are growing that the H5N1 outbreak among cattle in the United States could have been caused by contaminated animal feed.
In contrast to Britain and Europe, American farmers are still allowed to feed cattle and other farm animals ground-up waste from other animals including birds.
Dairy cows across six US states '' and at least one farm worker '' have become infected with the highly pathogenic virus, which has already killed millions of animals across the globe since 2021.
The farm worker, who is thought to have been exposed via infected cattle in Texas, is only the second recorded human H5N1 case in the US. Since February, the US has investigated and discounted a further 8,000 possible exposures, according to Dr Joshua Mott, WHO senior advisor on influenza.
The development is of concern because it allows the virus, which has killed millions of birds and wild mammals around the world, more opportunities to mutate.
Experts fear that H5N1, which was only first detected in cows a few weeks ago, may have been transmitted through a type of cattle feed called ''poultry litter'' '' a mix of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and other waste scraped from the floors of industrial chicken and turkey production plants.
In the UK and EU, feeding cows proteins from other animals has been tightly regulated since the outbreak of BSE '' or 'mad cow disease' '' 30 years ago.
Experts are unsure but fear it could be the poultry litter feed used in the US that has passed the virus to cattle.
''In the US, the feeding of poultry litter to beef cows is a known factor in the cause of botulism in cattle, and is a risk in the case of H5N1,'' said Dr Steve Van Winden, Associate Professor in Population Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College.
Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist and fellow at the Pirbright Institute agreed: ''This latest case wouldn't be the first time there have been concerns H5N1 could be moving through different mammals via contaminated feed,'' citing the outbreak of avian flu in cats in Poland last year, which experts suspected might have been transmitted through mink byproducts used in raw cat food.
The US cattle industry is worth over $100 billion and regulations covering animal standards there have long been controversial in Europe '' most famously over the use of hormones in the rearing of cattle for meat.
This is because pigs have receptors on some cells that are similar to humans, making it much more likely that the virus could mutate and jump to humans if pig farms become infected.
So far, the virus hasn't shown any signs of worrying mutation, however.
''Infection of H5N1 in pigs is of particular concern '' they are highly susceptible to human influenza virus strains so could act as mixing vessels for avian and human viruses to mix and generate viruses that can more efficiently infect humans,'' said Dr Tom Peacock.
Poultry litter is not only cheaper than other food sources like soy and grains but is also more calorie-dense, meaning farmers can bulk up their herds much more quickly.
According to previous statements by the FDA, the practice is safe: ''With respect to pathogenic microorganisms, drug residues and contaminants in poultry litter, FDA is not aware of any data showing that the use of poultry litter in cattle feed is posing human or animal health risks that warrant restrictions on its use,'' the agency previously noted.
There are several other theories on how the H5N1-infected cattle '' so far identified in Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, New Mexico, and Michigan '' contracted the virus.
Many experts argue that the most likely route of infection is via wild birds '' which have been found dead on some farms.
''The spread of this around the world comes back to wild and wild bird populations and where they land and where their faeces goes,'' stressed the WHO's Dr Johsua Mott.
''At some point, the contact with wild birds in the environment produced virus that then the cows had exposure to, but how that exposure happened is what many people are trying to figure out,'' he added.
It is also unclear if the virus is spreading from animal to animal, said Dr Mott.
On each farm, multiple creatures have been infected but this could be because they are eating from a common source of infection '' feed or wild birds '' rather than passing it on to another.
The director of ruminant health for the United States Department of Agriculture, Mark Lyons, suggested at a meeting last week the virus could be potentially transmitted by contamination of workers' clothing, or the suction cups that are attached to cow udders during milking.
However, others argue that poultry litter as a potential source of contamination cannot be ruled out.
''The flu can be spread by faecal-oral routes, and so it's not an impossible scenario that chickens who are infected with H5N1 are shedding live virus through faces, which the cattle then consume, and so it is a potential mechanism of transmission, although there are other explanations,'' said Dr Brian Ferguson, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Cambridge.
''The BSE scandal showed us the reality of what happens when biosecurity is not a priority, and showed us that it really does need to be prioritised '' which is not always the case, because of the economics involved,'' he added.
Despite large-scale culling in poultry flocks during outbreaks to limit spread, it seems a similar approach will not be taken for cattle.
The CDC has advised farmers with affected herds to dispose of milk produced by infected cattle, although it is thought that the pasteurisation process also destroys the virus '' meaning the risk to humans consuming animal products remains low.
At present, the WHO has said the risk to humans is considered low, but that surveillance efforts must be kept up.
''There were 12 of H5N1 cases globally in 2023, and a similar pace so far in 2024. Since it emerged in 1996, there have been over 800 cases globally.
''So you get a sense that there's nothing unprecedented about the number of human cases we're seeing '' but we have to watch the virus. We have to watch the epidemiology, to see if it's changing in some way,'' said Dr Mott.
Source: The Telegraph
George Soros, Maoist fund Columbia's anti-Israel tent city
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:14
George Soros and his hard-left acolytes are paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.
The protests, which began when students took over Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus lawn last week, have mushroomed nationwide.
Copycat tent cities have been set up at colleges including Harvard, Yale, Berkeley in California, the Ohio State University and Emory in Georgia '-- all of them organized by branches of the Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) '-- and at some, students have clashed with police.
George Soros is paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.The SJP parent organization has been funded by a network of nonprofits ultimately funded by, among others, Soros, the billionaire left-wing investor.
At three colleges, the protests are being encouraged by paid radicals who are ''fellows'' of a Soros-funded group called the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).
USCPR provides up to $7,800 for its community-based fellows and between $2,880 and $3,660 for its campus-based ''fellows'' in return for spending eight hours a week organizing ''campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.''
They are trained to ''rise up, to revolution.''
The radical group received at least $300,000 from Soros' Open Society Foundations since 2017 and also took in $355,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since 2019.
George Soros and Wall Street moguls financed radical anti-Israel groups behind campus protests at Columbia University. Rikki Schlott The University of Texas-Austin is one of the campuses where anti-Israel protests have exploded this week, copycatting the takeover of Columbia University's lawn. APIt has three ''fellows'' who have been major figures in the nationwide protest movement.
Nidaa Lafi, a former president of the University of Texas Students for Justice in Palestine, was seen at an encampment at UT Dallas Wednesday making a speech demanding an end to the war in Gaza.
Lafi, a former legislative intern for the late Democratic Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, graduated from the school last year with a degree in global business and is now a law student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Lafi was seen at the University of Texas-Austin on Wednesday leading a protest against Israel. Alamy Live News. Nidaa Lafi returned to the University of Texas, Dallas, campus Wednesday to lead a ''teach-in'' at the Students for Justice in Palestine's occupation of the college lawn. She is paid as a ''fellow'' by a group backed by George Soros.In January, she was detained for blocking the route of President Biden's motorcade after he arrived in Dallas for the funeral of Johnson, her former boss.
At Yale, USCPR's fellow Craig Birckhead-Morton was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree trespassing when SJP's branch, Yalies4Palestine, occupied the school's Beinecke Plaza, the Yale Daily News reported.
Birckhead-Morton '-- also a former intern for a Democrat, Maryland rep John Sarbanes '-- emerged from custody to address a sit-in blocking traffic in New Haven.
At Yale, Craig Birckhead-Morton (circled) is paid up to $3,360 for his work encouraging protests. He was arrested for trespass Monday and charged with first-degree trespass.The most high-profile of the fellows is Berkeley's Malak Afaneh, co-president of the Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine.
She has been a serial speaker at an anti-Israel protest on the campus this week '-- which came after she first shot to prominence by hijacking a dinner at the law school dean's home to shout anti-Israel slogans, then accused the dean's wife of assaulting her when she asked the radical to leave.
Serial protester Malak Afaneh is paid by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights as a ''fellow.'' She has repeatedly spoken to an encampment of students at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is a law student.UC Berkeley law student Malak Afaneh speaks to a large crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters during a protest on the campus of UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., Monday, April 22, 2024. APThe cash from Soros and his acolytes has been critical to the Columbia protests that set off the national copycat demonstrations.
Three groups set up the tent city on Columbia's lawn last Wednesday: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Within Our Lifetime.
At the ''Gaza Solidarity Encampment,'' students sleep in tents apparently ordered from Amazon and enjoy delivery pizza, coffee from Dunkin', free sandwiches worth $12.50 from Pret a Manger, organic tortilla chips and $10 rotisserie chickens.
Afaneh posted this video after hijacking a dinner to which she was invited by the dean of the law school and shouting anti-Israel slogans '-- then claimed she was the victim. TikTok/@realsairaraoAn analysis by The Post shows that all three got cash from groups linked to Soros. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund also gave cash to JVP.
The fund is chaired by Joseph Pierson, and includes David Rockefeller Jr, a fourth-generation member of the oil dynasty, on its board of directors. The non-profit gives money to ''sustainable development'' and ''peace-building.''
And a former Wall Street banker, Felice Gelman, a retired investment banker who has dedicated her Wall Street fortune to pro-Palestinian causes, funded all three groups.
Free sandwiches from upscale takeout joint Pret a Manger are on offer at the encampment, worth up to $12, and $10 rotisserie chickens. Cash for the encampment has come from billionaire investor George Soros. NYPJBoth SJP and JVP were expelled from Columbia University in November for ''threatening rhetoric and intimidation.'' JVP blamed Israel for the Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead.
''Israeli apartheid and occupation '-- and United States complicity in that oppression '-- are the source of all this violence,'' JVP said in a statement on its website.
SJP called the terrorist strike on Israel ''a historic win.''
Also on offer for the thirsty anti-Israeli protesters camped out at Columbia is free coffee from Dunkin'. Behind the scenes, the groups organizing the encampment have received cash from Soros and another former Wall Street banker. NYPJAn analysis by The Post shows how Soros and Gelman's cash made its way to the students through a network of nonprofits that help obscure their contributions.
Soros has given billions to the Open Society Foundations which his son Alexander '-- whose partner is Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's top aide and the estranged wife of pervert Anthony Weiner '-- now controls.
In turn, Open Society has given more than $20 million to the Tides Foundation, a progressive nonprofit ''fiscal sponsor'' that then sends the cash to smaller groups.
George Soros, the billionaire investor, is the ultimate source of cash for JVP and SJP, two of the groups encamped on Columbia's lawn. It comes via a series of intermediaries. Andrew TothThose groups include A Jewish Voice for Peace, which between 2017 and 2022 has received $650,000 from Soros' Open Society. Its advisers include the academic Noam Chomsky and the left-wing feminist author Naomi Klein.
JVP has been a prominent part of the protests at Columbia and one of its student members was among a group expelled from the university for inviting the leader of a proscribed terrorist group, Khaled, to the ''Resistance 101'' Zoom meeting.
Soros has also donated $132,000 to WESPAC, called in full the Westchester People's Action Coalition Foundation.
Soros' Open Society Foundations is now controlled by his son Alexander. It has been the ultimate source of funds for all three groups that set up camp on the Columbia lawn.The White Plains-based nonprofit was founded in 1974 to rally for civil rights and against the Vietnam War but is now a major funder of anti-Israel groups, including Within Our Lifetime and Students for Justice in Palestine.
SJP has also received funding from the Sparkplug Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit run by Gelman and her husband, Yoram Gelman.
The couple funneled their $20,000 donation to the group through WESPAC in 2022, according to public filings.
Alexander Soros' partner is Huma Abedin. The Hillary Clinton aide separated from her husband Anthony Weiner after he was caught sexting an underage girl. X/@humaabedinGelman was previously on WESPAC's committee for Justice and Peace in the Middle East in 2009 when she was invited to Gaza by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, according to the group's website.
The UN group has been slammed for its support of Hamas.
Gelman is on the board of the Bard Lifetime Learning Institute, an offshoot of the infamously progressive college, as well as the Jenin Freedom Theatre, located in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
David Rockefeller Jr., seen with daughter Ariana, is a fourth-generation scion of the Standard Oil fortune. He chaired the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which champions progressive causes until 2022. It is now chaired by Joseph Pierson. Paul Bruinooge/PatrickMcMullan.c Felice Gelman, a former Wall Street investment banker, gave Students for Justice in Palestine $20,000 through Sparkplug, her family foundation. Bard LLIWESPAC president Howard Horowitz, a former Orthodox Jew, is a member of the New York chapter of JVP, which says it works for ''advocacy and public education for Palestinian human rights.''
Horowitz said he embraced the Palestinian cause after time spent living in Israel, according to a report in the Israel Times.
WESPAC has also given money to Within Our Lifetime, founded by the ubiquitous anti-Israeli protester Nerdeen Kiswani.
Howard Horowitz, a former Orthodox Jew from New York, is the longtime leader of WESPAC, which funds radical anti-Israel groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine. 914Wired/ YouTubeWithin our Lifetime uses a loophole in the law to avoid declaring how much it receives from donors by not being a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, meaning it is unknown how Kiswani has benefited.
However, WESPAC is named as a fiscal sponsor of Within Our Lifetime.
After The Post published our story, an Open Society Foundations spokesperson said: ''For the record, Open Society Foundations has a long history of fighting antisemitism, islamophobia and all forms of racism and hate.
''Open Society has funded a broad spectrum of US groups that have advocated for the rights of Palestinians and Israelis and for peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel and the OPT.
''This funding is a matter of public record, disclosed on our website, fully compliant with US laws, and is part of our commitment to continuing open debate that is ultimately the only hope for peace in the region.
''The Open Society Foundations proudly support the right of all citizens to peaceful protest '-- a bedrock principle of our democracy.''
None of the other groups responded to requests by The Post for comment.
Cats suffer H5N1 brain infections, blindness, death after drinking raw milk | Ars Technica
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:03
Spillover '-- Mammal-to-mammal transmission raises new concerns about the virus's ability to spread. Beth Mole - Apr 29, 2024 10:41 pm UTC
Enlarge / Farm cats drinking from a trough of milk from cows that were just milked.
On March 16, cows on a Texas dairy farm began showing symptoms of a mysterious illness now known to be H5N1 bird flu. Their symptoms were nondescript, but their milk production dramatically dropped and turned thick and creamy yellow. The next day, cats on the farm that had consumed some of the raw milk from the sick cows also became ill. While the cows would go on to largely recover, the cats weren't so lucky. They developed depressed mental states, stiff body movements, loss of coordination, circling, copious discharge from their eyes and noses, and blindness. By March 20, over half of the farm's 24 or so cats died from the flu.
In a study published today in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers in Iowa, Texas, and Kansas found that the cats had H5N1 not just in their lungs but also in their brains, hearts, and eyes. The findings are similar to those seen in cats that were experimentally infected with H5N1, aka highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI). But, on the Texas dairy farm, they present an ominous warning of the potential for transmission of this dangerous and evolving virus.
The contaminated milk was the most likely source of the cat's fatal infections, the study authors concluded. Although it can't be entirely ruled out that the cats got sick from eating infected wild birds, the milk they drank from the sick cows was brimming with virus particles, and genetic data shows almost exact matches between the cows, their milk, and the cats. "Therefore, our findings suggest cross-species mammal-to-mammal transmission of HPAI H5N1 virus and raise new concerns regarding the potential for virus spread within mammal populations," wrote the authors, who are veterinary researchers from Iowa, Texas, and Kansas.
Advertisement The early outbreak data from the Texas farm suggests the virus is getting better and better at jumping to mammals, and data from elsewhere shows the virus is spreading widely in its newest host. On March 25, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of H5N1 in a dairy herd in Texas, marking the first time H5N1 had ever been known to cross over to cows. Since then, the USDA has tallied infections in at least 34 herds in nine states: Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Idaho, Ohio, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Colorado.
The Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, has detected genetic traces of H5N1 in roughly 20 percent of commercial milk samples. While commercial milk is still considered safe'--pasteurization is expected to destroy the virus and early testing by the FDA and other federal scientists confirms that expectation'--the finding suggests yet wider spread of the virus among the country's milk-producing cows.
Cows are only the latest addition to H5N1's surprisingly broad host range. Amid a global outbreak over the past several years that has devastated wild bird populations and poultry farms, researchers have documented unexpected and often deadly outbreaks in mammals. Since 2022, the USDA has found H5N1 in over 200 mammals, from big cats in zoos to harbor seals, mountain lions, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, polar bears, black bears, foxes, and bottlenose dolphins.
"The recurring nature of global HPAI H5N1 virus outbreaks and detection of spillover events in a broad host range is concerning and suggests increasing virus adaptation in mammals," the authors wrote. "Surveillance of HPAI viruses in domestic production animals, including cattle, is needed to elucidate influenza virus evolution and ecology and prevent cross-species transmission."
In the meantime, it's definitely not the time to start drinking raw cow's milk. While drinking raw milk is always dangerous because it carries the threat of various nasty bacterial infections, H5N1 also appears to be infectious in raw milk. And, unlike other influenza viruses, H5N1 has the potential to infect organs beyond the lungs and respiratory tract, as seen in the cats. The authors of the new study note that a 2019 consumer survey found that 4.4 percent of adults in the US consumed raw milk more than once in the previous year, suggesting more public awareness of the dangers of raw milk is necessary.
Overdiagnosis of Autism '' The Daily Sceptic
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 21:20
Last week, we introduced the concept of overdiagnosis in prostate cancer screening. It didn't take long for the issue to rear its head again as the Telegraph reported 'Why autism and ADHD self-diagnosis may be inaccurate', and 'ADHD and autism referrals are up fivefold since the pandemic'.
These reports are based on a recent Nuffield Trust report, which ''shows that there might be as many as 1.2 million autistic people and 2.2 million people with ADHD in England''. Furthermore, in December 2023, there were 172,022 patients with suspected autism waiting to be seen '' the highest number ever reported and five times higher than the 32,220 waiting in 2019.
According to the Telegraph, experts blame ''diagnostic creep''. An NHS task force is investigating the problem. ''NHS England has also begun important work into investigating challenges in ADHD service provision and last month launched a cross sector task force alongside Government, to help provide a joined-up approach for the growing numbers of people coming forward for support.''
At the TTE office, we decided to try out the AQ test, developed by Cambridge researchers in 2001 and popularised by Wired magazine. Here's a link to the test.
Here at TTE, we hit near the threshold because we scored highly on questions such as ''Are you fascinated by numbers?'' People also often tell us that we'd keep going on and on about the same thing '' take excess deaths as one example. And we frequently find it difficult to work out people's intentions '' we have no idea what the WHO is up to in its latest treaty. The difference between answering definitely or slightly agreeing is enough to tip you over the edge.
Diagnostic creep is a phenomenon where the diagnostic threshold is expanded to include ambiguous or very mild symptoms. Overselling promotes adult autism by moving the line that separates normal from abnormal '' people with milder and milder symptoms get diagnosed. While the symptoms may be intense or debilitating for a minority, they are mild or fleeting for most.
People on the waiting list report they want a formal diagnosis of ADHD or autism; they just want to know. However, reports say they are not looking for medical treatment, be it prescriptions or talking therapies; they're looking for ''validation and recognition''.
But the consequence of diagnostic creep is disease-mongering. Widening the diagnostic boundaries allows aggressive public promotion to expand the markets for treatment. As an example, ADHD prescribing has risen by 50% over the last five years.
With 3.4 million potential patients, that's a lot of drugs to sell to people who may never benefit and often will be harmed. And if you think healthcare can meet such demand, then think again.
Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration. This article was first published on their Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.
With YouTube Booming, Podcast Creators Get Camera-Ready - The New York Times
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:33
U.S. World Business Arts Lifestyle Opinion Audio Games Cooking Wirecutter The Athletic To some, ''video podcasts'' are a contradiction in terms. That hasn't made them any less popular.
''What Now? With Trevor Noah,'' a new podcast from Spotify Studios, is one of a new breed of shows that have launched with video on Day 1. Credit... Spotify For its new podcast studio in Burbank, Calif., Exactly Right Media '-- the company behind hit shows like ''My Favorite Murder'' and ''This Podcast Will Kill You'' '-- made several investments in high-end audio equipment: soundproofing, microphones, a dedicated control room.
But that was only half the job.
Next, it purchased half-a-dozen video cameras with the help of consultants, hired a set designer and a lighting designer, and found someone to build the scaffolding from which the new equipment would hang.
''We got the best truss guy in the city,'' said Danielle Kramer, the company's chief operating officer.
Until recently, Exactly Right would have had little need for such accouterments '-- more typical of a television studio than an audio company whose products are primarily consumed on long commutes or during weeknight dish duty. But the podcast industry is changing. As consumers, especially those under 30, spend more time on video platforms like YouTube and TikTok, many audio creators are reimagining their work to be seen as well as heard.
Image Exactly Right Media, whose shows include ''This Podcast Will Kill You'' (with the hosts Erin Allmann Updyke, left, and Erin Welsh), is among the companies adding video supplements to their existing programs. Credit... Exactly Right Media New shows, like ''Power User,'' ''Beyond the Arc'' and ''What Now? With Trevor Noah,'' now commonly launch with video on Day 1, while established series '-- including ''Las Culturistas'' and ''Planet Money'' '-- have added video supplements. According to a Times analysis of data published by Edison Research, 16 of the top 30 podcasts in the final quarter of 2023 '-- more than half '-- were available as filmed videos, compared with just seven of the top 30 from that same period two years earlier.
But the embrace of video presents a web of challenges. In addition to the added production and facilities costs, there is the question of how audio creators can compete in the oversaturated, cutthroat universe of viral online video.
Even to make the attempt, some industry veterans argue, represents a kind of betrayal. Podcasts, they say, are a distinctly aural form, and the very idea of a ''video podcast'' is a contradiction in terms.
''It's like saying 'video radio,''' said Jay Cockburn, a radio and podcast producer for The Globe and Mail and Vocal Fry Studios. ''It's a fundamental misunderstanding of the medium.''
Some categories of podcasts have produced video versions for years. Interview-driven series like ''The Joe Rogan Experience,'' ''Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend'' and ''Drink Champs'' reach millions of subscribers on YouTube and Spotify, which added support for video in 2020. Like the 1990s cable iterations of ''The Howard Stern Show'' and ''Imus in the Morning,'' the videos typically go behind the scenes of their audio counterparts '-- multiple camera angles show the hosts and guests sitting around a table and talking into microphones.
Shannon Sharpe, the pro football Hall of Famer and host of the interview podcast ''Club Shay Shay,'' said viewers like watching how his guests comport themselves. A viral episode of the show from January, featuring the comedian Katt Williams, has been viewed more than 66 million times on YouTube.
''There's something about video and being able to see it for yourself,'' Sharpe said. ''You can get a sense of a person and their mannerisms. Are they happy? Are they agitated? Are they sad? Do they really want to tell this story, or would they rather not go further with it?''
A surge of interest in podcasts on YouTube, which added features making them easier to play and discover last year, has made video hard to resist for a wider range of podcasters. It is now the top platform for podcast consumption in the United States, overtaking both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. According to a survey published last fall, 28 percent of podcast consumers now do so on YouTube most frequently, compared to 15 percent who use Spotify and 12 percent who use Apple Podcasts. Those results are the reverse of five years ago, when 29 percent of consumers used Apple Podcasts and just 15 percent preferred YouTube.
''People want their content the way they want it when they want it,'' said Lucinda Treat, chief executive of the progressive podcast company Crooked Media, producer of ''Pod Save America'' and ''Lovett or Leave It.'' ''They might be listening to a podcast in their car and put it on YouTube when they get home.''
YouTube's powerful recommendation algorithm '-- an endless pipeline of new videos based on the user's interests '-- is key to its allure. There is no equivalent on audio platforms, which many in the industry have long complained lack tools for easily discovering what to listen to next.
Image ''There's something about video and being able to see it for yourself,'' said Shannon Sharpe (left, with Katt Williams), the host of ''Club Shay Shay.'' ''You can get a sense of a person and their mannerisms.'' Credit... Club Shay Shay A potential new audience could be a boon to the industry after a painful year of layoffs, closures and cancellations, thanks to a down ad market and backpedaling from disenchanted tech investors. But many podcasts may not be fit to survive in a video-driven ecosystem.
Narrative and documentary podcasts, in particular, have struggled to break through. Unlike talk shows, scripted content is generally less amenable to ''second screen'' or background viewing, which is how 50 percent of users between 18 and 34 prefer to consume podcasts, according to Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights. Episodes of ''Radiolab,'' a narrative show that is among the Top 40 most popular podcasts in the U.S., across platforms, typically draw only 3,000 to 5,000 views on YouTube.
Cockburn, the radio and podcast producer, said the power of these podcasts derives from the personal connection that forms between the listener and the voice in their ears, and in the acts of imagination that only audio can stir.
''There's nothing like going for a walk or a drive '-- with a narrator right on your eardrums '-- and getting that feeling that you just have to hear what happens next,'' he said.
''Radiolab," like many similar podcasts, uses simple, subtly animated background images to accompany its YouTube edition. But some narrative audio companies are hoping that a more ambitious approach to video can succeed where other efforts have stalled.
Bradley Hope, the co-founder of Project Brazen, producers of ''The Sound'' and ''Spy Valley,'' said his company is experimenting with documentary-style video clips and filmed narration to make its scripted podcasts more visually compelling. It recently spent around $100,000 building an in-house video studio.
''There's a sliding scale '-- if you do too much, then you're basically making a full-blown documentary, which could easily double your costs,'' Hope said, placing the standard budget for a limited, audio-only series at $250,000. ''In my ideal world, there's a step in between that wouldn't be such a heavy lift.'' He estimated that a middle-ground approach to video could add anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 in costs, or between 2 percent and 20 percent.
Podcast companies that are investing in video see a much welcome, potential new revenue stream. Ian Enright, chief executive of the production company Goat Rodeo (''The Retreat,'' ''Let's Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa''), estimated that, relative to an audio-only advertisement, a 60-second video ad read by the podcast host might bring in an extra 60 percent in revenue per 1,000 listens. A podcast with a conservatively budgeted video operation and a large and consistent viewership could comfortably justify the added costs.
Image Though Crooked Media, producer of ''Lovett or Leave It'' (with Jon Lovett), has embraced video, the majority of its audience still comes from audio. Credit... Crooked Media Even for those enticed by the prospect of a new audience and a boost to revenue, the rapid rise of video has inspired some wariness. Treat, who worked for four years at Vice Media before joining Crooked Media in 2022, said she had ''visceral memories'' of the digital publishing industry's own ''pivot to video'' era. Many outlets, largely chasing viral traffic on Facebook, threw millions of dollars and scores of staff at shiny new video operations '-- only to retreat after the social network changed its strategy.
''It was a business model that everybody thought was growing forever, and then it really changed,'' she said.
Despite reaching 64 million viewers on YouTube last year '-- up about 100 percent from the year before '-- Crooked Media still finds the vast majority of its audience on audio platforms, which Treat said are the company's primary focus. The audience for ''Pod Save America,'' its flagship series, is about 80 percent audio and 20 percent video. Fans who discover Crooked Media shows on YouTube, Treat said, will hopefully become audio subscribers, as well.
At Exactly Right Media, Kramer and the co-founders Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark are taking a similarly balanced approach. When it is completed later this spring, their new Burbank studio will at first be used not to record full video podcasts but for promotional videos and livestreams, meant to drive audiences back to their audio content.
''Maybe it's the elder millennial in me,'' Hardstark said. ''But I still love the intimacy of audio.''
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With States Banning DEI, Some Universities Find a Workaround - The New York Times
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:49
U.S. World Business Arts Lifestyle Opinion Audio Games Cooking Wirecutter The Athletic Welcome to the new ''Office of Access and Engagement.'' Schools are renaming departments and job titles to try to preserve diversity programs.
Students rallying at Florida State University to oppose cuts to D.E.I. initiatives. Credit... Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat/USA Today Network, via Reuters At the University of Tennessee, the campus D.E.I. program is now called the Division of Access and Engagement.
Louisiana State University also rebranded its diversity office after Jeff Landry, a Trump-backed Republican, was elected governor last fall. Its Division of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX is now called the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.
And at the University of Oklahoma, the diversity office is now the Division of Access and Opportunity.
In what appears to be an effort to placate or, even head fake, opponents of diversity and equity programs, university officials are relaunching their D.E.I. offices under different names, changing the titles of officials, and rewriting requirements to eliminate words like ''diversity'' and ''equity.'' In some cases, only the words have changed.
For some universities, the opposition to diversity programs comes at a challenging time. They face an incoming student shortage, the result of declining birthrates and skepticism of the value of an expensive college degree. Others are worried about how the ban on race-conscious admissions will affect the complexion of their campuses.
In either case, many college officials feel they need D.E.I. offices to market to an increasingly diverse generation of students and the faculty who might attract them. While no two campus diversity programs are exactly alike, they often preside over a variety of functions, including operating student cultural centers, ensuring regulatory compliance and hosting racial bias workshops for students and faculty members.
Conservative critics have questioned the cost of what they call D.E.I. bureaucracies, which in some places have budgets reaching into the tens of millions of dollars, and attacked the programs for being left-wing, indoctrination factories.
In a recent webinar making the case for the continuation of D.E.I. efforts, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the backlash is based on ''a few anecdotal examples of some terrible training module that went haywire.''
In announcing the renaming of the Louisiana State D.E.I. program, the school's president, William F. Tate IV, said that there had been no political pressure.
But he also recently told the faculty senate that ''we most certainly have paid attention to the ripple effects that have happened to campuses around the country.'' He vowed that the university, one of the most diverse in the Southeastern Conference, is ''still committed to D.E.I.''
Todd Woodward, a university spokesman, said that the idea of ''engagement,'' which is now used instead of ''inclusion,'' has been the centerpiece of the university's strategic plan since before Governor Landry was elected.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 82 bills opposing D.E.I. in higher education have been filed in more than 20 states since 2023. Of those, 12 have become law, including in Idaho, Indiana, Florida and Texas.
This has led to layoffs and closures. The University of Florida recently announced that it would lay off more than a dozen diversity employees. At the University of Texas at Austin, the Multicultural Engagement Center closed. And about 60 administrators received notices that they would lose their jobs, according to the state chapters of the N.A.A.C.P. and American Association of University Professors. Some Texas campuses shut down their L.G.B.T.Q. centers.
Image The students Christian Mira, right, and Amanda Garcia studying in a space that used to house the University of Texas' now-shuttered Multicultural Engagement Center. Credit... Eric Gay/Associated Press But some schools, even in states with D.E.I. crackdowns, have reacted more moderately.
Florida State University, in Tallahassee, seems to be taking a ''damage mitigation approach,'' Will Hanley, a history professor at F.S.U., said in an interview.
The school has reshuffled jobs and turned the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office into the Office of Equal Opportunity Compliance and Engagement.
But there have been limits to how far it will go.
F.S.U. students are required to take two ''diversity'' courses, which include dozens of topics like Buddhist ethics, German literature and L.G.B.T.Q. history. A faculty committee recently proposed renaming the requirement ''perspectives and awareness.''
The faculty senate rejected the idea. In the senate meeting, Dr. Hanley, who specializes in the Middle East, said that the new name would obfuscate the requirement's very intent.
''In the context of attacks on D.E.I., I wondered if changing the name of this requirement gives weight to those attacks,'' he said, according to minutes of the meeting.
In Georgia, David Bray, a finance professor at Kennesaw State University, sees things another way, and says that diversity officials should have been eliminated rather than given a new title. Kennesaw State announced last December that its diversity chief would now be the vice president overseeing the Division of Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development and Inclusive Excellence.
The move came after the state Board of Regents approved a policy change barring Georgia's 26 public colleges from requiring applicants and employees to fill out diversity statements.
''It's the same lipstick on the ideological pig,'' said Dr. Bray, who is gay and opposes diversity programs, arguing that they promote equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity. ''As soon as D.E.I. was uncovered as political left, they now reinvent the language and have morphed into the 'sense of belonging' crew.''
But for many administrators, name changes are often an attempt to keep the mission of diversity programs intact.
Donde Plowman, the chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, told the faculty senate in November that the school had ''not historically done well'' attracting students from underrepresented groups to its campus. The percentage of Black students declined between 2020 and 2023, from 5.5 percent of total enrollment to 4.2 percent.
After a professor asked whether prospective faculty and lawmakers ''looking for red meat'' would be put off by the name change of the D.E.I. program, the Division of Diversity and Engagement, Dr. Plowman said, ''What has happened is those words have become weaponized '-- they create noise and distractions away from the real work.''
Thus, the newly renamed Division of Access and Engagement.
Dr. Plowman has ''consistently discussed the change to access and engagement on campus as a broadening of our mission to reach and support students, faculty and staff,'' said Tisha Benton, a spokeswoman for the chancellor.
Tennessee lawmakers seemed wise to the workaround. A bill introduced in January specifically stated that no such offices should be operating ''regardless of name or designation.''
The legislation had seemed destined for passage in the overwhelmingly Republican legislature. But the mood shifted during a committee meeting after members considered a letter from the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, which expressed concern that the ban would limit how the University of Tennessee reached out with support for Jewish students.
The bill was killed, unanimously, on a voice vote.
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. More about Stephanie Saul
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Spielberg helping to direct Biden's campaign '' NBC '-- RT Entertainment
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 14:01
Steven Spielberg, one of Hollywood's best-known film directors, has been enlisted to assist US President Joe Biden with his reelection campaign, NBC reported on Friday.
Spielberg, a long-time supporter of Biden, is reportedly providing strategy for the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place August 19-22 in Chicago. He has been meeting event organizers, who expect more than 5,000 delegates from 50 states to offically select the Democratic Party's presidential and vice presidential nominees, according to the outlet.
The filmmaker is offering his insights on how best to ''convey the president's successes and his vision for the country'' to delegates and viewers as Biden, who is expected to be rubber-stamped as the Democrat candidate, prepares to face former President Donald Trump in a November rematch.
''Steven wants to be as helpful as possible to the president,'' a well-placed source told Deadline. ''He believes this is one of the most important elections in the nation's history.''
Spielberg has proven to be a dedicated donor to the Biden-Harris ticket. He appeared at a mega-fundraiser in December last year, which was hosted by his friend and former DreamWorks business partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is also a co-chair of Biden's campaign.
The famed director, however, has no plans to produce a movie of the August event as he did for John Kerry's and Barack Obama's nominations, the NBC source said.
The publication added that Biden's campaign is in separate negotiations with former President Obama about appearing at a Los Angeles fundraiser in mid-June, which would reportedly feature George Clooney and Katzenberg as hosts. A previous star-studded event in New York City last month, which was attended by Obama and former President Bill Clinton, raised more than $25 million in one night.
Biden currently trails his Republican rival, according to a national poll released by CNN on Sunday. Trump's support stands at 49%, while Biden is at 43%, a two-point drop since January.
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VIDEO - USAID, DoS, CIA Begin Structured Color Revolution on Russia's Border in Georgia - The Last Refuge
Thu, 02 May 2024 13:29
You may have heard of the protests in Tbilisi, Georgia recently. The protests are framed around what the State Dept and CIA call ''Russian favored'' legislation.
The Georgia legislation essentially says that domestic lobbyists, NGO's, entities, groups and individuals who are funded more than 20% by foreign interests need to register as such.
Essentially, the USA law we call the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), is what the country of Georgia is enacting in their own political landscape. However, the USA is not happy about the Georgia law to disclose the source of foreign funding (most of it anti-government) because the USA (specifically the State Dept and CIA) is the source of that funding.
This Georgia political scheme is yet another U.S. led color revolution in the same hues as 2014 Ukraine.
As noted by Global News, ''in Georgia, protests have erupted over a proposed law requiring organizations with foreign funding to register their activities with the government. Critics compare the bill to similar legislation used to silence opposition groups in Russia. Thousands of Georgians marched through the capital, Tbilisi, on Sunday to voice their opposition to the bill, with opposition parties and civil society groups calling for mass protests against its expected passage.'' WATCH:
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) '-- Dozens of people have been arrested in Georgia after police in the capital used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who rallied outside Parliament to protest a controversial bill which they argue limits media freedom.
Georgia's Interior Ministry said 63 people were arrested Tuesday while they took part in a demonstration in Tbilisi. Levan Khabeishvili, an opposition MP, posted a picture of himself on his social media accounts with a bloodied face and heavy bruising. Members of his party said he had been assaulted by police.
Those arrested were taking part in the latest in a series of protests against a bill which would require media and non-commercial organizations to register as ''pursuing the interests of a foreign power'' if they get more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The protesters have denounced it as ''the Russian law'' because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin.
It is similar to a bill that the ruling Georgian Dream party proposed and then withdrew under pressure last year after large street protests.
If the bill is adopted, protesters are concerned that it will allow the authorities to more heavily control the media space as well as derailing integration with the EU after Georgia was granted candidate status in December 2023.
We know the US State Dept and CIA are behind this because we predicted it and wrote about it two months ago.
(March, 2024) '' Having planted the seed for color revolution in Hungary, a European country that doesn't want expanded war with Russia '' therefore the U.S. needs to change the democracy, now Samantha Power moves to another European country for the same reason. This time it's Georgia.
Georgia legislature recently passed a bill saying all funding for foreign intervention in the country's politics, via Non-Governmental Agencies (NGO's), needs to be made public and the funding registered as foreign agent lobbying. Essentially, the proposed Georgia law would mirror the U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).
However, because the U.S. is the funding mechanism for the anti-government agencies that operate within the country, the United States is against the effort. To make sure the U.S. can continue to covertly manipulate the political outcomes, the groups supported by Samantha Power attacked Parliament. [Power Tweet]
To highlight what Power is celebrating'.... ''Georgian protesters in their tens of thousands have gathered in the capital, smashing the windows of the Parliamentary headquarters and fighting local enforcement officers as the country erupts into chaos. The nation's ruling party, Georgian Dream, rushed through its first reading of a ''Kremlin-inspired'' bill on Tuesday two days before the debate was scheduled to take place, causing carnage in Tbilisi as citizens fear their government is severing links to the West at a time of increased tensions with Russia.'' (more)
So why is Samantha Power targeting Georgia now? Well, like Hungary's Viktor Orban, Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili does not want expanded war with Russia. Therefore, just like Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Georgia must now be removed and replaced with a pro-war leader.
The U.S. has already installed a pro-war President in Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili. Now Samantha Power has the responsibility to replace the anti-war Prime Minister. [ Please note we did the same thing in Poland ]
The ruling Georgian Dream party has insisted it remains committed to Georgia's EU and NATO membership. But a ''foreign agent'' bill reminiscent of Russian legislation used to silence critics has in recent days sparked demonstrations, to which authorities have responded with water cannons and tear gas.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on Thursday congratulated protesters in the Caucasus country after the government said it would drop the bill. ['...] worry has grown since Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili's party tried to introduce the ''foreign agent'' law, even if for now they have withdrawn it. (link)
Yes, if you want to have a Foreign Agent Registration Act in a nation where the United States is the foreign actor, then you must be a Kremlin stooge. So goes the argument. It would be a lot more difficult for the U.S. to meddle in foreign countries if the people receiving the money from the U.S. had to disclose it to their citizens.
Hypocrisy thy name is'...
'.... And yes, it sucks to accept that we are the bad guys!.
.
TEAM USA Suspicious Cat has, well, suspicion and shame sometimes.
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VIDEO - Blackrock's Larry Fink Jumps On "Next AI Trade", Warning World Will Be "Short Power"
Wed, 01 May 2024 15:46
At the start of April, we penned a lengthy report for premium subs discussing why artificial intelligence data centers, the electrification of the economy, and onshoring trends will result in a major upgrade of the nation's power grid. We followed the note up on Monday with a report titled Everyone Is Piling Into The "Next AI Trade."
Now , BlackRock Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Fink has jumped on the "Next AI Trade" theme at a World Economic Forum event on Monday.
"I do believe to properly um build out AI. We're talking about trillions of dollars of investing. So data centers today could be as much as 200 megahertz - and they're now talking about data centers being one gigawatt. That powers a city," Fink told the audience.
He pointed out that he spoke with the head of one tech company, who said their data centers currently require about 5 gigawatts of power. By 2030, the person told Fink that number could jump to 30 gigawatts.
"The amount of power that's needed to use AI has a huge impact on society," Fink said.
He then asked: "So where's that power going to come from? Are we going to take it off the grid? What does that mean for elevated energy prices?"
Fink then said the surge in power demand because of AI data centers is a "huge investment opportunity."
He warned: "The world is going to be short power - short power - and to power these data companies you cannot have this intermittent power like wind and solar."
"You need dispatchable power because they can't turn off and on these data centers," he continued.
So what kind of clean, reliable energy could Fink be hinting at?
Well, nuclear, as we've explained to readers as early as December 2020: "Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze."
This week, the nuclear power industry appears to be gaining a major comeback. The federal government is expected to continue restarting shuttered nuclear power plants in the coming years, according to Jigar Shah, director of the US Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, who spoke with Bloomberg on Monday.
In March, Shah's office approved a loan to Holtec International Corp. to reopen the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. This was a historical shift, and it was the first nuclear power plant to be reopened in the US, setting a precedent for atomic energy to make a triumphal comeback. The plant could begin producing power as early as the second half of 2025.
Shah said, "A lot of the other players that have a nuclear power plant that has recently shut down and could be turned back on are gaining that confidence to try." He declined to give specifics about which plants were slated to reopen.
Now, the head of the world's largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management, is a believer in the "Next AI Trade," as everyone is seriously piling in.
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VIDEO - Joe Scarborough and Mika Panicked That Pro-Hamas College Campus Protests Will Get Trump Elected
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:46
Joe Scarborough and Mika of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' had a recent meltdown over the insane protests happening on college campuses, because they're worried that these displays are going to help elect Trump.
They might have a point. People are sick and tired of the left's behavior and have noticed that the left riots whether Democrats win or not. If they're going to behave this way no matter the outcome, they will be ignored and more people will back Trump for the economic benefits to the country.
Joe talks about the many similarities to 1968, when the Democrats lost big.
RedState has details:
Oh Noes! Joe Scarborough Frets That Ongoing Pro-Hamas Demonstrations Will 'Elect Donald Trump!'
Is Joe concerned about Jewish students at Columbia University who are afraid to leave their apartments? Is he concerned about the potential for violence? Is he worried about the disruption of classes?
Nope, none of the above.
What really worries Scarborough is that the failure of left-wing university administrators to quell the demonstrations might lead to the election of the Devil's spawn '--Donald Trump '-- in November.
Oh, the humanity!
Mika kicked off the festivities on Monday's edition of ''Morning Joe.''
Ahead, the latest on the protests over Gaza that are spreading to more and more college campuses.
And, we're going to have an exclusive, first look at Forbes' list of the new Ivies, universities who are poised to replace the elite institutions, in part because of their handling of the protest. It is a much bigger story'...
And I've got to say, just the absolute weakness of the administration, the cowardice of the administration, and, unfortunately, on these elite colleges, having people that are now running these elite colleges on faculty boards that, that, that burned down college campuses in the 1960s, that were responsible for the election in part of Richard Nixon in 1968 because of the chaos on college campuses, because of the chaos in Chicago.
Watch the clip below:
Joe Scarborough Rages At University Leaders' Silence Over Anti-Israel Protests pic.twitter.com/Em87LYiS6T
'-- Illinois girl Desi (@d_ewinger) April 29, 2024
Joe and Mika have basically become cheerleaders for Biden. If they're worried, that's a good thing.
