Month: July 2024

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The Daily Signal - ‘It’s Going to Be Catastrophic’: Why the Next Pandemic Will Be Worse Than COVID

The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning Americans to prepare for the next pandemic, which he fears will be more catastrophic than COVID-19.


Dr. Robert Redfield, a virologist who continues to treat patients suffering from COVID, oversaw the CDC’s initial response to the pandemic and served as a member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force under former President Donald Trump.


"We are going to have another pandemic," Redfield told The Daily Signal. "I do believe it's going to be much more catastrophic than the COVID pandemic."


Redfield predicted the next pandemic would be the bird flu, also known as H5N1. Its mortality rate is significantly higher than COVID: 52% of the 888 infected patients with H5N1 have died since 2003.


"COVID's mortality was about 0.6%," Redfield said. "Bird flu's mortality is going to be north of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%. It's going to be catastrophic."


With more than 100 million chickens and turkeys already infected in the United States, Redfield said bird flu has also been found in 27 different mammals. And while there remains a low risk of infecting humans right now, another mishap like the COVID lab leak could quickly expedite bird flu's transmission.


"This is why I've called for a moratorium on gain-of-function research until we can have a broader public debate about it," he said. "I'm not convinced it needs to be done. I don't think there's really any benefit from it. Some of my colleagues disagree with me, but I think we shouldn't do it until we know how we do it in a safe, responsible, and effective way and we clearly can't do that at the present time."


Redfield served on a nonpartisan commission convened by The Heritage Foundation, which issued a blistering critique of China’s COVID-19 cover-up. The commission, which released its report Monday, blamed the communist government in Beijing for obfuscating the truth about the pandemic's origin and causing widespread damage and death as a result.


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Slate Books - Death, Sex & Money: Sex Parties and Shakespeare With Carvell Wallace

Carvell Wallace’s brilliant new memoir Another Word for Love has been rightfully praised for its passages about childhood trauma, about apologies and forgiveness, and about the healing power of love. But the book also features some important lessons about sex, consent, and the ways popular culture can send the wrong messages about both of those things. This week on the show, Carvell digs into those lessons and the experiences that changed him forever, including his first encounters with Shakespeare and his trip to an unforgettable sex party.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - France Staves Off the Far Right—This Time

France’s far-right looked ready to take control of the National Assembly after the first round of snap elections. But when the dust settled after the second round, the left and center had held. 


Though French progressives are celebrating for now, the right-wing National Rally party still took more parliament seats than it’s ever held before. 


Guest: Harrison Stetler, freelance journalist based in Paris. 


Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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Short Wave - The Invisible Substance That Structures Our Universe

The universe is so much bigger than what people can see. Visible matter — the ground, the Sun, the screen you're reading this on — makes up only about 4 or 5 percent of our known universe. Dark matter makes up much more of the universe. It's all around us even though we can't see it. So what is it? What's it made out of? How do we even know it exists? Host Emily Kwong and Rebecca Ramirez try to find out with the help of astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan.

This episode is part of our series Space Camp, all about the weird and mysterious depths of our universe. Check out the full series: https://www.npr.org/spacecamp.

Our team would love to hear your episode ideas. Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Devil Is Fine’ explores race, colonialism and grief through magical realism

Devil Is Fine, the new novel by John Vercher, follows an unnamed protagonist banging out a book pitch in a fugue state that mirrors what's happening in his own life: after the death of his son, a biracial writer inherits a plantation from the white side of his family, which has the remains of both his slave-owning ancestors and the people they enslaved. In today's episode, Vercher speaks with NPR's Lauren Frayer about why he felt magical realism made the story about American history and loss and racism more accessible, and how different layers of grief manifest in the story.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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Chapo Trap House - 848 – Straight Drop Kitchen feat. Ryan Grim & Jeremy Scahill (7/8/24)

We’re joined by Ryan Grim & Jeremy Scahill of the NEW independent journalism venture Drop Site News. We look at how the Biden campaign meltdown has pushed the war in Palestine out of the news, and the relationship between Biden’s long history of bad policies and the current crises he’s leading. Plus, mainstream media’s failed coverage of both topics, and some Drop Site reporting on Democratic megadonors gives a glimpse into Joe Biden’s aggrieved and petty motivations. Support Jeremy & Ryan’s independent journalism and check out Drop Site at: https://dropsitenews.com/
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The Stack Overflow Podcast - We chat search from both sides now

Stack Overflow and Elastic are collaborating to improve the search experience using vector search and generative AI. Learn more about the new AI features for Stack Overflow for Teams, including Enhanced Search.

Learn more about the Elastic platform, including vector search. Developers can start building here.

Connect with Paul, Steffi, and Gregor on LinkedIn.

Stack Overflow user chepner won a Lifeboat badge for answering How do I use __repr__ with multiple arguments?.

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Read Me a Poem - “Peter Quince at the Clavier” by Wallace Stevens

Amanda Holmes reads Wallace Stevens’s “Peter Quince at the Clavier.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.

 

This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.


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CBS News Roundup - 07/08/2024 | World News Roundup Late Edition

Hurricane Beryl comes ashore in Texas, knocking out power to millions and causing at least three deaths. Deadly heatwave in the Pacific Northwest. President Biden asserts he's staying in the presidential race. CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Keiper with tonight's World News Roundup.

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This Machine Kills - Patreon Preview – 352. Big Vape, Small Cigs

We chat about an interesting case study in technology governance: the rise of vapes and the return of cigarettes. How do you create new markets for a product that is highly addictive but also extremely regulated (even banned)? The answer is to flaunt regulation, disrupt competitors, and create an image of coolness using social media influencers. Platforms like Uber learned their strategies from industries like big tobacco, and now the new crop of nicotine dealers are deploying the strategies of platforms like Uber. ••• The Vapes of Wrath https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1197959345 ••• Juul Is an Easy Target—Let's Ban More Tech Products That Harm Us https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk4q5/juul-is-an-easy-targetlets-ban-more-tech-products-that-harm-us ••• Why Uber and Lyft are taking a page out of big tobacco’s playbook in labor law battle https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/11/why-uber-and-lyft-are-taking-a-page-out-of-big-tobaccos-playbook-in-labor-law-battle ••• Government waters down vaping ban to win support of Greens https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-24/vaping-ban-watered-down-greens-support/104016012 ••• How Big Tobacco enlists Black activists to fight menthol, vaping bans https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/21/menthol-ban-vaping-black-lgbt-activists/ ••• Big Tobacco Heralds a Healthier World While Fighting Its Arrival https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/06/health/tobacco-fda-menthol-ban-nicotine.html ••• A Viral Cigarette Brand? In 2023? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/style/hestia-cigarettes-downtown.html ••• That Cloud of Smoke Is Not a Mirage https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/style/smoking-cigarettes-comeback.html Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)