Important Takeaways:
- The state is not one of the 14 others that have reported outbreaks in dairy cattle
- Disease investigators have not been able to determine how a person in Missouri with no known exposures to animals or poultry became infected with an H5 bird flu virus, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
- But Nirav Shah said the ongoing investigation has turned up no evidence of onward spread of the virus, suggesting this case may turn out to be a one-off infection that defies explanation.
- “Here’s the bottom line: Our influenza surveillance system is designed to find needles in haystacks,” Shah said at a news briefing. “Here in this case, we found such a needle, but we don’t know how it got there. Our investigation continues, and we will keep everyone updated as we learn more.”
- It isn’t unheard of to have cases in which investigators fail to be able to trace a human infection with novel flu viruses back to a source of infection, Shah said, noting that of the more than 500 swine flu infections that have been detected in the U.S. since 2010, about 8% have been in people with no traceable contact with pigs or other infected people.
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Important Takeaways:
- The commissioner of the biggest police department in the country resigned Thursday, days after having his phone seized by federal agents as part of one of multiple, ongoing criminal investigations into New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
- At a hastily arranged press conference, Adams said he accepted Caban’s decision to resign and appointed Tom Donlon, a retired FBI official who previously served as New York’s director of Homeland Security, as interim police commissioner.
- The development comes amid at least four ongoing federal investigations into the Adams administration — and have ensnared several of his top officials.
- Adams has denied any wrongdoing. At Thursday’s press conference, the mayor said he was “surprised as you to learn of these inquiries,” and added: “I take them extremely seriously.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Blinken stated “I can tell you that as we go forward, we will do exactly what we have already done, which is we will adjust, we’ll adapt as necessary – including with regard to the means that are at Ukraine’s disposal.”
- The question of permission for Ukraine to use long-range weapons inside of Russia is also likely to be discussed at a meeting between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday.
- So far, the US has only given Kiev permission to use its munitions to strike inside Russian territory if the targets are just across the border from the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
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Important Takeaways:
- The raid on Sunday was the first ground operation the IDF has conducted in recent years against Iranian targets in Syria.
- The destruction of the factory appears to be a significant blow to an effort by Iran and Hezbollah to produce precision medium-range missiles on Syrian soil.
- Two sources said Israel briefed the Biden administration in advance of the sensitive operation and the U.S. didn’t oppose it.
- Two sources with direct knowledge told Axios the Iranians began building the underground facility in coordination with Hezbollah and Syria in 2018 after a series of Israeli airstrikes destroyed most of the Iranian missile production infrastructure in Syria.
- According to the sources, the Iranians decided to build an underground factory deep inside a mountain in Masyaf because it would be impenetrable to Israeli air strikes.
- The sources claimed the Iranian plan was to produce the precision missiles in this protected facility near the border with Lebanon so that the delivery process to Hezbollah in Lebanon could take place quickly and with less risk of Israeli airstrikes.
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Important Takeaways:
- An earthquake centered in the Malibu area produced shaking Thursday morning in widespread parts of Southern California from the coast to inland communities.
- It was followed by aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 1.8 to 3.4 with more aftershocks possible in the hours and days ahead.
- Centered just north of Malibu, shaking from the 7:28 a.m. quake at a depth of about seven miles was reported in Malibu, Hermosa Beach, La Mirada, Anaheim, Santa Monica, the Hollywood Hills and parts of the San Fernando Valley.
- Shaking is more likely to be felt from shallow earthquakes, which are those between 0 and about 40 miles deep.
- There were no immediate reports of injuries or significant damage.
- Southern California has felt shaking from several earthquakes in recent weeks, including a magnitude-5.2 quake located south of Bakersfield.
- “We are having earthquakes. None of them have been damaging. They’ve all been small,” said seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones. “This is a really good reminder that the quiet of the last couple of decades is not our long-term picture.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The center of Francine has passed over New Orleans and is dumping huge amounts of rain across Louisiana, southern Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
- Francine made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane at Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, at 5 p.m. local time yesterday and has since weakened to a tropical storm with sustained wind speeds of 35 mph this morning.
- More than 400,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, according to the PowerOut.us website.
- A storm surge warning is in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama border, meaning there could be life-threatening inundation from the sea.
- 14 million people are under flood warnings, with heavy rain and possible tornadoes expected through tomorrow.
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Important Takeaways:
- IDF says Hamas used site to plan and carry out attacks on troops and Israel
- The United Nations on Wednesday night condemned an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza that rescuers said killed 18 people, including UN staffers, and called for the global body’s sites to be protected “by all parties.”
- Under international law, protected civilian infrastructure loses that status if used for military activities.
- The IDF said it carried out “many steps” to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
- The military said Thursday that “upon receiving the allegation that local Palestinian workers of the UNRWA agency were killed in the strike, the IDF contacted the agency yesterday for details and names in order to examine the allegation in-depth and as of this writing it has not yet been answered despite repeated requests.”
- “It is unconscionable that the UN continues to condemn Israel in its just war against terrorists, while Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields,” Danny Danon wrote on social media.
- “The solution,” he added, “is not a ceasefire, but the release of all hostages still held in Gaza and the elimination of Hamas.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring temporary prosperity; both bring permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.” Ernest Hemingway
- The United States federal debt has soared to $35.3 trillion. In less than a year, the federal government has increased its debt by $1.9 trillion. This occurred during years of record tax revenues and economic growth.
- If the current administration remains in power, the Treasury’s own estimates predict an additional $16 trillion increase in debt by 2034, without accounting for any recession or slowdown in tax receipts. According to the CBO, the Kamala Harris economic plan would add another $1.9 to $2,2 trillion to the national debt.
- The Harris campaign has not even bothered to discuss a plan to balance the budget. She just said that “efficiency” and the old fallacy of taxes to the rich would pay for the increase in spending—two things that have proven to do nothing to the ballooning debt and that do not even start to scratch the already unsustainable $2 trillion deficit.
- In a recent article, Claudia Sahm stated that you should not worry about debt. “Debt is neither inherently good nor bad. As such, the question is not what the right level of borrowing is, but rather what’s the economic return on the borrowing or the societal goals it advances.” She continues to say that “the government can easily service its debt because of its unlimited taxing authority and ability to issue more U.S. Treasury securities to repay maturing securities” (“The US debt is now $34 trillion. Don’t worry. Seriously”. January16, 2024). Now you must worry. A lot.
- It is true that debt is not inherently bad, but unproductive borrowing is. It is a massive transfer of wealth from the productive sector to the bloated bureaucratic state. Furthermore, the societal goals cannot be unlimited. The government must administer and not just add expenditures to previous expenditures, particularly when there is no realistic analysis of the success or failure of government programs. The idea that a particular government program is beneficial is not enough to add it to the budget without reducing other expenses. Not even a benign view of government spending as Sahm’s can justify that every government expenditure item today is essential.
- Furthermore, we must always understand that governments do not give money for free. They tax the productive sector and borrow, which means printing a currency that is constantly losing purchasing power. Therefore, the government is not advancing societal goals by borrowing without control; it is implementing a profoundly regressive policy that creates a dependent subclass and makes it increasingly difficult for the middle class to thrive.
- It is false that the government has “unlimited” taxing authority and the ability to issue more debt, i.e., print money. The government has economic, fiscal, and inflationary limits. Economic because constantly increasing taxation leads to stagnation and more debt; fiscal because expenditures are consolidated and annualized, while tax receipts are cyclical; and inflationary because the constant issuance of new currency, which is what happens when more debt is issued, leads to the loss of confidence in the currency and the erosion of its purchasing power. If what Sahm and Kelton state were true, the euro area and Japan would be examples of high growth and economic strength, but they are examples of stagnation, high debt, and rising social discontent.
- The government does not set taxes to fund its incessant spending habits. Taxes should be set according to the economic reality of an economy. The fallacy of taxes to the rich and corporations does not even address the ballooning deficit and erodes economic growth and productive investment.
- When someone tells you not to worry about record debt, you should be extremely concerned. When they say that the government has unlimited resources, they mean that you will pay by becoming poorer with more taxes, more inflation, lower growth, or all three at the same time.
- When they tell you that $35 trillion of debt is peanuts compared with $142 trillion of American wealth, they are saying that the government will be pleased to absorb the wealth of the economy. You will pay.
- When they tell you that tax cuts are the problem, it comes from the perspective that the private sector is an ATM at the disposal of governments
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Important Takeaways:
- The new research (Talker Research) showed that 49 percent of Gen Z respondents agreed that in-laws should provide financial support to their child and their child’s partner.
- By comparison, 37 percent of millennials born between 1981 and 1996 and 30 percent of Gen X respondents born from 1965 to 1980 also agreed that in-laws should be chipping in.
- These findings highlight a growing trend among Gen Z, who are grappling with economic challenges such as student debt, housing costs and an increasingly uncertain job market.
- For many, turning to in-laws for financial help has become a reasonable expectation, particularly because the research also revealed that 46 percent of Gen Z agreed their in-laws were better off financially than they were.
- “In general, Gen Z has grown up feeling like the financial cards are stacked against them, making prosperity woefully out of reach,” Levine said. He added that they have a closer relationship with their parents than previous generations, and therefore feel comfortable asking for help.
- “For example, in the U.S., the percentage of American Gen Zers who can afford to buy a house without parental assistance is less than 20 percent, which is abysmally low. Add to that student loan debt and the general high cost of living, and it’s no surprise that many members of this generation still look to their parents to help with their own families,” the trends expert said.
- Levine added that the influence of social media doesn’t reflect an accurate representation of real life, leading many Gen Zers to live beyond their means.
- “Part of the reason that many young adults rely on their parents more than in the past is because more parents are fostering dependency with their children that lasts into adulthood,” Levine said.
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Important Takeaways:
- China recently launched a not-so-secret submarine to spy on the US, and now they’ve launched cloud-seeding missiles to help combat a heatwave.
- The human intervention into the persistent dry weather resulted in gusts of 76mph blasting residents’ laundry from their balconies in what has been humorously referred to as “the 9/2 Chongqing underwear crisis,” reports Daily Star.
- Zhang Yixuan, the deputy director of the Chongqing Weather Modification Office, insisted that the wind was a natural occurrence and not a result of the cloud seeding.
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