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Is Hong Kong Still Safe for Business? | The International Risk Podcast with Megan KhooHong Kong has long been regarded as one of the world's safest and most attractive places to do business. But following the introduction of the National Security Law, growing geopolitical tensions between China and the West, and increasing scrutiny from international governments, many organisations are reassessing the risks of operating in the territory.In this episode, we explore how Hong Kong's changing political and legal landscape is reshaping the business environment, what international companies should understand before investing or expanding in the region, and how geopolitical risk is becoming a board-level issue.We discuss:Is Hong Kong still a safe place for international business?How the National Security Law has changed Hong Kong's legal and political environmentThe impact of US-China strategic competition on international companiesBusiness confidence, sanctions, and reputational riskHuman rights concerns and their implications for multinational organisationsThe future of Hong Kong as an international financial centreHow organisations can better prepare for geopolitical uncertainty in AsiaThe international risks that concern Megan Khoo mostAbout the guestMegan Khoo is Policy Director at Hong Kong Watch, where she leads the organisation's policy and advocacy work on Hong Kong, China, human rights, and international affairs. Before joining Hong Kong Watch, she worked in communications and policy roles across the UK and United States, including at the US Department of Defense and the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Megan holds an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford and degrees in International Studies and Modern Languages (Mandarin Chinese and Spanish) from Georgia Southern University.About the hostDominic Bowen is Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe's leading risk management consulting firms. He advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives on crisis management, geopolitical risk, operational resilience, and strategy, drawing on decades of experience across government, humanitarian operations, and corporate leadership.

John Rutherford: Being Forced to Nail Down the Craft - Ep 201 Episode number two hundred and one is a discussion with John Rutherford, who grew up bike racing, is now an ultra runner, has served as Chief Foreign Service Officer for the US Department of State, and has flown F/A-18s when he served as a member of the Marine Corps. As such he has a solid understanding of how to negotiate extreme environments in the field of play, and where it counts a bit more.  In our discussion we cover topics including exploring extremes, how ultra events force you to nail down your craft and inevitably reveal challenges, and the normalization of puking that used to be standard in events of 20+ hours.  I hope you find our conversation illuminating in your life adventures.  

Thank you Farmers AGAINST trump., EG, Marg KJ, Suzette Jensen, Jane B In NC

Mike Switzer interviews Kellee Melton, South Carolina State Conservationist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service at the US Department of Agriculture in Columbia, SC.

Miles Taylor is a national security expert, NYT bestselling author, and co-founder of defiance.org. He previously served as chief of staff at the US Department of Homeland Security, where he published a bombshell “Anonymous” essay in The New York Times, blowing the whistle on presidential misconduct. He later published the #1 national bestseller A Warning, revealed himself to be the author, and launched a campaign of ex-officials to oppose Donald Trump's reelection. He's worked as an advisor in the George W. Bush administration, on Capitol Hill, as a CNN contributor, and is the co-founder of a DC-based charter school and multiple democracy-reform groups. He is also the author of The New York Times best-selling book Blowback and the host of the iHeartRadio podcast “The Whistleblowers”. Miles and I discuss Lindsey Graham's legacy and funeral; Trump, the Iran war, Israel and Netanyahu; Ukraine and Russia; the Midterms and more. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

In this week's Media Confidential, Alan and Lionel talk about media publisher Reach's change in direction. After years of striving for…well…reach, the publisher now says they'll focus on long form reported stories.After a federal judge savaged the US Department of Justice for issuing subpoenas against New York Times journalists, Alan and Lionel also discuss what they call a “fantastically stupid move by Trump”. They'll also talk about the president's swipes at the media at during White House Correspondent's dinner. Does the iconic event have a future?As Andy Burnham and John Healey were asked in a TikTok video: crisps, pork scratchings or scampi fries? The hosts discuss whether the government's shrewd new media strategy is working.Plus, they ask why Whitehall correspondents are complaining they haven't had the chance to interview the new prime minister—is it clever strategy from Burnham, or a deliberate cutting off of press access? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More To The Story: A photo went viral on Independence Day this year. It showed a Black woman on a Metro train in Washington, DC, surrounded by members of Patriot Front, a far-right white nationalist group. The picture, taken on America's 250th anniversary, seemed to encapsulate not only the continuing story of race in America, but also this current moment when right-wing groups seem louder, prouder, and more public than they've been in decades. Mary McCord has been working to prosecute groups like Patriot Front for years. Following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the Georgetown University law professor and former federal prosecutor successfully won a consent decree that banned the rally's lead organizer from planning future paramilitary activity in the city. Still, McCord says right-wing militias are benefiting from a friendly administration that has stretched back to Donald Trump's earliest days campaigning for the presidency. On this week's More To The Story, McCord sits down with host Al Letson to talk about Patriot Front's origins, a decade of growing white nationalism in America, and the troubling direction of the US Department of Justice under the Trump administration.Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Intern: Joni Binder | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al LetsonListen: America's New Era of Violent Populism Is Here (More To The Story)Read: Trump's White Nationalist Agenda, Explained (Mother Jones)Listen: Main Justice (MS NOW) Donate today at Revealnews.org/more Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Joyce talks about an official from the US Department of War who vowed to stay on as an employee past President Trump's time in office so that he could undo the work that the President has done. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to another episode of “On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir.” Today's guest is Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh, a blogger and activist who has written extensively since 2006 on environmental and human rights issues in Vietnam. She has been arrested twice for her activism, and received a 10-year prison sentence. She was released after two years, on the condition of exile from Vietnam. In this episode, Alon and Quynh discuss the current political status inside Vietnam and its status in the region, Quynh's experience of activism and persecution, including her arrests and imprisonment, environmental and human rights issues in Vietnam, and what role the US has and can play in supporting democracy and freedom in the country. Full bio Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh is a blogger and activist who has blogged extensively since 2006 on environmental and human rights issues in Vietnam, publishing principled arguments to inspire change and greater transparency. Ms. Quynh co-founded the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers, an independent writers' association that encourages members to “protect people's rights and freedoms from restrictions and censorship.” She was arrested on October 10, 2016 under the charge of “conducting propaganda against the state” and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was released from prison on October 17, 2018, and sent into exile in the United States. In 2014, she received a Human Rights Defender award from the Stockholm-based NGO Civil Rights Defenders, and was awarded the 2017 International Women of Courage Award by the US Department of State.

Ronnie Chatterji is the Chief Economist at OpenAI, where he leads research on how AI reshapes growth, jobs, and the economy. He is also an economics professor at Duke. He was previously the White House CHIPS coordinator implementing the $52B CHIPS Act, and before that the chief economist at the US Department of Commerce.In this episode of Summation, Ronnie and Auren discuss:The three things people actually do with ChatGPTThe 10x jump in people handing their work to AI Why the next big leap in AI is adoption and not capabilityThe case that AI could cause a population boom You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Ronnie Chatterji on X at @RonnieChatterji

Utah is a frontrunner to host a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus for the U-S Department of Energy.  Joining me now LIVE is Dr. Ted Goodell...a nuclear reactor facility director at the University of Utah. 

Grief is one of the most universal yet isolating experiences we endure—and psychedelics may offer a path through it. This Salon explores how substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT are being used to support those navigating loss, whether from death, identity shifts, or life transitions. This session sheds light on how altered states can help us reconnect to love, soften the sharp edges of sorrow, and reorient to a life forever changed. Attendees will gain insight into the science and integration practices that support emotional processing and meaning-making in the context of grief. Dr. Sunil Aggarwal is a physician in hospice and palliative medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and a medical geographer. Dr. Aggarwal's primary clinical work is as an Integrative Pain, Palliative Care, and Rehabilitation Physician in private practice at the AIMS Institute in Seattle, Washington, and as an on-call Palliative and Hospice Physician within a Puget Sound–based healthcare system. He has a petition to reschedule psilocybin that is currently under review at the US Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Aggarwal's medical geography scholarship focuses on the geographies of access, delivery, and development of cannabinologic and psychedelic integrative medicine—particularly as these relate to pain management, hospice and palliative medicine, and rehabilitation services. After two decades in journalism and content direction, Laura Sullivan Cassidy (she/her) used the early pandemic years to begin building a new career serving communities in grief and loss. She's trained as a grief work facilitator, creative coach, and death doula, and is employed at Recompose, the Seattle-based green funeral home known for pioneering the process of human composting. Her role at Recompose involves outreach, community, and client work—specifically with communities for whom a death is approaching, either via terminal diagnosis or hospice care. Laura writes a Substack called Griever's Ball and offers creative expression, listening groups, and death awareness workshops. — Psychedelic Salon: Cultivating Conscious Connections Join Seattle-based psychedelics educator and podcast host April Pride in a dynamic series co-produced with Town Hall Seattle. Psychedelic Salon explores the transformative potential of psychedelic medicines through engaging conversations, expert panels, and interactive community discussions. Rooted in scientific evidence, each event highlights unique themes—including grief, seniors, menopause, and more—emphasizing their role in mental health, spiritual growth, and personal optimization. Designed to be inclusive and insightful, this series invites attendees of all backgrounds to discover how psychedelics can foster profound connections, healing, and well-being. About April Pride April Pride is a Seattle-based creative entrepreneur and harm reduction advocate with over two decades of experience building brands at the intersection of lifestyle, cannabis, psychedelics, and women's health. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian. April is the founder of SetSet, the world's first clinician-approved woman-focused platform for safe, accessible psychedelic integration. To learn more, follow April on Substack – aprilpride.substack.com

“Cuba's assault on the United States was never, at root, a quarrel over economic policy or sovereignty or even ownership of a particular territory,” reads the US Department of State's new report on the communist state 90 miles from the Florida coast. “It was a revolution against Western civilization itself”. Over the course of 100 pages, Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism draws lines between Cuba and the Black Panthers, the Pan-African movement, radical feminism, Antifa and more, concluding that international sympathy for the island's dire humanitarian crisis overlooks a sinister reality; that, “its power was always ideological, subversive, and parasitic.” The Cuban government has dismissed the report as, “a mediocre propaganda pamphlet.” How much validity is there to its arguments, and why release it now? Michael Bustamante, a professor of history at the University of Miami, joins Asma to discuss. Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China CollinsPhoto: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, July 23, 2026. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/ Pool via Reuters.

A new campaign wants to make it harder to raise taxes in Iowa — background on what that constitutional amendment would actually do. Then, we hear from IPR's Rachel Kramer about why farm income is down more than half since 2022. We also talk with Kate Melloy Goettel of the University of Iowa Law School about why government wants to strip a naturalized Iowan's citizenship, discuss the AI model that forecasts nitrate spikes in Iowa's river with University of Iowa professor Jesus Gomez Velez, and more.

Hey everyone, Alex here

What prepares a leader for the high-pressure environment of the US government?In this episode of Shifting Ground, co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin sit down with The Hon. John Tien, Distinguished Professor of Practice at Georgia Tech's Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. Drawing on his extensive career spanning the military, the private sector, and high-level government service—including a tenure as Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security—Tien offers unique insights from four different presidential administrations.The discussion explores:* The Role of the Individual: How presidential leadership, personal networks, and human experience shape strategy at the highest levels of government.* Evolution of Homeland Security: Reflections on how the mission has shifted from domestic concerns in the 90s to foreign counter-terrorism post-9/11, and the current challenges of politicization.* Omnipolicy & Strategy: A deep dive into complex issues like the fentanyl crisis, illustrating how domestic and foreign policy goals are now inextricably linked.* The Future of the Global Order: Perspectives on navigating a new global operating system, marked by transactional diplomacy and the rise of autocracy.Shifting Ground is the flagship podcast of the Orbis Journal of World Affairs, produced by the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

Good afternoon, I'm _ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening  The Tai-Ex opened 73 points higher this morning at 44,899. Turnover reached 7.3 billion N-T dollars. The market bounced back on Wednesday, led by chip and technology shares. The gains came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 5.21 percent overnight, as major chipmakers (晶片製造商) and other A-I-related companies gained in the U-S. Foreign minister repeats South China Sea position Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung has repeated Taiwan's claims in the South China Sea. However, he said the Lai administration is not actively pushing those claims. His comments come as tensions continue between China and the Philippines in the disputed waters (爭議海域). Speaking at a legislative hearing on the government's South China Sea policy, Lin said Taiwan's claims over islands in the area have not changed. He said Taiwan's position is based on four principles (原則). These include solving disputes peacefully under international law, including Taiwan in international talks, protecting freedom of navigation (航行自由) and air travel, and sharing regional resources. Possible tropical storm could affect Taiwan this weekend The Central Weather Administration says a tropical depression (熱帶性低氣壓) east of the Philippines could become a tropical storm as early as today. The weather system could reach waters near Taiwan this weekend. A sea warning (海上警報) may be issued as it moves through the Bashi Channel and into the South China Sea. The tropical depression is about 1,400 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost point. It is moving northwest at 27 kilometers per hour. If it becomes a tropical storm, it will be named Noul. It would be the 12th named storm of this year's Pacific typhoon season. US signs agreement with Saudi Arabia on uranium enrichment  The U-S has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia on the kingdom's civilian (民用的) nuclear energy program. The deal could allow Saudi Arabia to develop the ability to enrich uranium (濃縮鈾). The Trump administration has released few details about the agreement. However, it could lead to the construction of a uranium enrichment center after a joint U-S-Saudi study. The U-S Department of Energy says the peaceful nuclear agreement will also give American companies greater access to Saudi Arabia's nuclear energy program. Major wildfire burns in central Spain Firefighters in central Spain are battling a major wildfire (野火、森林大火) in Guadalajara. The fire has burned more than 32,000 hectares (公頃) of land. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the area on Wednesday and called for political parties to work together against climate change. He said climate change is a scientific issue, not a political one. The Guadalajara fire is one of the largest in Spain's history. It comes less than two weeks after another fire in southern Spain killed 13 people. A heat wave is making firefighting more difficult, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees. Other European countries are also facing extreme heat and wildfires. Police station opens at Hitler's birthplace in Austria Austria has opened a police station in the house where Adolf Hitler was born. The Nazi leader was born in the former inn (以前的旅館) in April 1889. For years, Austrian officials debated what to do with the 17th-century building. They wanted to stop it from becoming a place where neo-Nazis would gather. The building has now been refurbished (翻修), and its outside appearance has been changed. The government first announced plans to turn it into a police station in 2019. Police musicians performed at the opening ceremony. Louvre reopens Apollo Gallery after jewel theft The Louvre Museum in Paris has reopened its Apollo Gallery. The gallery (展廳、畫廊) had been closed after crown jewels (王室珠寶) worth more than 100 million U-S dollars were stolen during a daytime robbery last October. The AP's Alex Turnbull reports. That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Communism is rising in the United States of America. Our fearless host, Mike Slater, is committed to explaining why this hideous ideology just won't die and what REAL PATRIOTS can do to make sure it never takes over our great nation. Following that opener, Tommy Pigott with the U.S. State Department comes on-air to chat with Slater about this topic and explain what the Trump 2.0 Administration is doing in places like Cuba to blunt it being imported en masse to our shores! MAGA! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's guest is Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Bard College's Diplomat-in-Residence, who served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under President Obama, and as special coordinator for regional affairs in the US Department of State's Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. A US Army Vietnam veteran, Ambassador Hof served two tours of duty in the US Department of State. In this episode, Alon and Ambassador Hof discuss his recent Track II diplomacy work in Lebanon regarding the prospects of a future Israeli-Lebanese agreement and the elements of the consensus document developed from this work, and the impact of the war on Iran on this delicate diplomacy work. Full bio Frederic C. Hof, Bard College's Diplomat-in-Residence, has had a distinguished career with the U.S. Army, Department of State, and the international consulting firm AALC, specializing in the Mideast region. He served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under President Obama and as special coordinator for regional affairs in the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, where he conducted a backchannel peace mediation between Israel and Syria. A Vietnam veteran and graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Naval Postgraduate School, Hof also served as president and CEO of AALC (formerly Armitage Associates LC); as a U.S. Army Middle East Foreign Area Officer; as the U.S. Army attaché in Beirut; and as an officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 2001, he directed the Jerusalem field operations of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, headed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and was lead drafter of the committee's report. As an Army officer, he helped draft the Long Commission report investigating the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine headquarters at the Beirut airport. Both reports drew international praise for their fairness and integrity. Hof has written extensively on Lebanon, Syria, and Arab-Israeli issues. Publications include Galilee Divided: The Israel-Lebanon Frontier, 1916–1984 (1985); Line of Battle, Border of Peace? The Line of June 4, 1967 (1999); Beyond the Boundary: Lebanon, Israel, and the Challenge of Change (2000); Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace (2022); opinion pieces in Foreign Policy and The Atlantic; and numerous articles on Jordan Valley water issues. Awards and honors include the Purple Heart, Department of State Superior Honor Award, Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and the Defense Superior Service Medal. He has been teaching at Bard since 2018.

This week we talk about cyclospora, FoodNet, and Taylor Farms.We also discuss iceberg lettuce, Taco Bell, and foodborne pathogens.Recommended Book: Babel by R.F. KuangTranscriptFoodborne pathogens cause about 48 million illnesses and around 3000 deaths in the US alone each year.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the main agency tasked with keeping those numbers as low as possible, and the CDC's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet, is one way that they've tackled this pernicious, persistent problem since 1995, in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of Agriculture, and 10 state health departments: those of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee.Collectively, this FoodNet network covers about 16% of the US population, which seems like a small number, and in some ways it is, but that grid of laboratories and surveillance sites has typically been capable of detecting foodborne problems before they've scaled-up into something more significant, growing from a localized issue into a nationwide outbreak. They're generally not capable of preventing them outright, but they can keep them relatively small and regionalized.FoodNet was created in response to a series of huge, deadly E. coli outbreaks in 1992 and 1993, and in contrast to other common methods of detection, which are usually passive and thus a little slow to respond to potential outbreak indicators, this program was built around active surveillance methods, which means proactively gathering data from medical treatment records, hospitalizations, and even individual patient outcomes (including their travel history)—anything they can pair with diagnostic samples to better understand the context surrounding the products that contain dangerous pathogens—and this was intended to help them move faster to identify issues, triangulate the source of those issues, and then implement measures to solve these issues before they harm a bunch of people, as happened during another round of E. coli outbreaks in 2012 and 2013, which sickened dozens of people across multiple states, about half of the afflicted requiring hospitalization, in addition to at least one known death.At its height, FoodNet tracked 9 pathogens, so it cast a pretty broad net, encompassing the most common and dangerous of these potential vectors, including listeria, campylobacter, shigella, vibrio, yersinia, cyclospora, cryptosporidium, e coli, and salmonella.In July of 2025, as part of a larger wave of sweeping cuts across the nation's safety nets, tracking systems, and scientific agencies, the CDC, under the second Trump administration, downgraded FoodNet so that it was only mandatory to track salmonella and E coli—the rest were no longer on the docket, because these agencies no longer had the budget to keep tracking them.What I'd like to talk about today is a recent, and as of the day I'm recording this ongoing, outbreak of cyclospora-induced cyclosporiasis, what we know about this outbreak, and what might happen next.—Cyclospora cayetanensis is a protozoan that can infect human beings, and which is usually transmitted via contaminated fruits and vegetables. This contamination is typically the consequence of inadequate sanitation standards, as it's not transmitted via coughing or blood or anything like that, it's carried via human feces.So this parasite gets into a human, sporulates, which means it releases a bunch of spores within its host, and then usually between 1 and 2 weeks after entering its new host, the host develops cyclosporiasis, the disease caused by cyclospora producing all those spores. This disease is notorious for sometimes causing what's colorfully called explosive diarrhea, alongside general watery bowel movements, intense cramping and severe gas and bloating, and that's sometimes paired with nausea, vomiting, fever, and dehydration, due to all the frequent, intense, watery bowel-movement-related output.This is how cyclospora reproduces and spreads: it infects a host, that host has urgent diarrhea for a while, usually more than two days, sometimes as long as several weeks or even a month or more, with all the pain and discomfort and life-disrupting issues you might assume from that sort of persistent symptom, and then it sometimes finds new hosts via that watery output.Sometimes, cyclospora works its way into food systems because sanitation standards at a particular farm will be not good. Specifically, workers will sometimes not be allowed to take restroom breaks, and they'll simply do their business right there in the field; so if they're sick and can't afford to take a sick day, and might be fired if they do, or if they're asymptomatic, which some people infected with cyclospora are, they might do their business in the field, unaware that waste can then go on to spread this pathogen into the food system. It's also possible that someone just doesn't wash their hands properly after using the rest room, and then gets back to work, picking vegetables or operating at some other level along the food processing and packaging assembly line, and it gets into the system that way.In a typical year, the United States records around 2,700 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, though on occasion it's as low as just a few hundred cases, the majority of which show up in health records in the Spring and Summer, between May and August. That range includes relatively mild outbreaks, so while this is a persistent issue, it's also not generally a massive one, at least compared to other pathogens of note. It's not pleasant for those who come down with it, of course, but not something that has triggered an organized response from the top, because of its meager scale, and because (again, while super unpleasant) people with healthy immune systems generally recover without treatment, even if that recovery can take a while. The biggest risk for most people who catch this disease is dehydration, though immunocompromised people are also sometimes given antibiotics by their doctors, the typical dosage curing about 96% of the people who receive it.There was a larger-than-usual outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the US in 2020, which caused a confirmed 1,241 cases across the country, a whole lot to land all at once, and there were no reported deaths resulting from that outbreak. Between 2018 and 2021, there were about 6,000 total confirmed cases across the US, so an average of about 2000 per year.As of mid-July 2026, the CDC has officially confirmed 1,645 cases of this illness, with another 5,100 probable or potential cases currently under investigation. If the majority of those still-under-investigation cases are confirmed, that would mean more people have already been infected as a result of this one outbreak in the first half of 2026 than were infected between 2018 and 2021, which again, is a range that includes the large outbreak that happened in 2020.Also worth noting about those numbers: that's federal-level, CDC reporting, and it's generally understood that there's a significant lag between local-level data and those that have percolated up to the national level. As of the day I'm recording this, Michigan's health agencies alone have more than 5,000 confirmed and suspected cases, Ohio has nearly 1,200, and other states, which are still investigating, are seeing dozens of confirmed cases, including 43 in Wisconsin, 69 in Maryland, and a few already, in the early stages of investigation, in Nevada.Over the past week, officials flagged shredded lettuce sourced from Mexico and sold by a company called Taylor Farms as the likely source of at least some of these cases, and that's led to a recall on lettuce produced by the company in 27 states. Over the weekend, the CDC found cyclospora in iceberg lettuce from the company's Mexican operations, as well, and this lettuce was part of a batch that wasn't included in the recall—so there's a good chance the recall will expand beyond the currently targeted products, which include shredded lettuce destined for Taco Bell locations in five states, and the kitchens of several other fast food chains, as well.Taylor Farms is one of the largest producers of fresh fruits and vegetables in the United States, and their products are sold all over the place, from lower-end fast food restaurants to more expensive grocery stores like Whole Foods.Taylor Foods has announced that it's voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from shelves, even though none of its branded, in-store salad kits have been clearly tied to the outbreak, and Taco Bell has said that it's voluntarily removing all potentially affected lettuce from its locations in the five most-impacted states, indefinitely removing lettuce sourced from the implicated supplier; other brands are following suit, no one wanting to be associated with this outbreak, but everyone wanting to show would-be customers that they're taking it seriously.Interestingly, the FDA doesn't actually require that Taylor Foods tell the public who their products go to—which other entities might be selling infected produce. So they've released lists of product numbers, and again, many of their customers are taking the initiative to announce the removal of this lettuce from their shelves or food, without being prompted, but there's still some fog-of-war here, because of Taylor Foods' decision not to be clearer with that product list.So this is already the largest recorded cyclospora outbreak in US history, there have been 141 confirmed hospitalizations from the CDC, and that number is likely larger, again because it takes a while for state-level numbers to work their way up to the CDC, and to be reconfirmed at that level. Also important to note here is that a lot, perhaps even the majority of people who suffer from cyclosporiasis will never show up in these data, because they just suffer silently, either not realizing they have this parasite, or not seeing the point of going to the hospital, maybe paying an arm and a leg to do so, just to get prescribed anti-diarrheal medication and told to take fluids, same as they can do at home. People who do have any kind of immunodeficiency issues or potentially confounding factors, like being older or very young, are being encouraged to seek medical help, though, as they're more likely to suffer more serious consequences after contracting this disease.It's currently unclear where precisely this outbreak came from, and it's puzzling how an outbreak of this scale might have happened, as, in the words of Matthew Moore, a food safety microbiologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was quoted in the New York Times, this many infections suggest there was a “massive degree of human fecal contamination.” So probably not just a farm laborer who forgot to wash their hands after using the rest room, something much more substantial than that.Also, because cyclospora takes a while, a week or two, to create enough spores in its host to trigger cyclosporiasis, attribution of the infection difficult, which in turn makes tracking it back to its source difficult; which is part of why this outbreak, which has been going on for weeks, is still under investigation, not a solved problem with definitive answers and in-practice solutions.Right now, experts are recommending higher-risk foods are cooked to at least 158 degrees F, because that temperature kills this pathogen, and washing fresh produce doesn't always get rid of all the cyclospora on a contaminated piece of produce. Washing fresh produce certainly helps, and it's better than nothing, and scrubbing is even better. They also recommend avoiding high-risk foods when possible, though of course that won't always be possible for everyone, nor will it always be possible to get heads of lettuce rather than pre-made salads, though that's also advised when feasible.Also worth noting here is that even if the FoodNet program was still up to full power, tracking all 9 of those original pathogens, it's unlikely this outbreak would have been prevented.It likely would have flagged that something was up earlier on in this outbreak, though, which could have led to faster action in the afflicted regions. It probably would have allowed professionals to note hot spots faster, as well, which is what this kind of surveillance system is for: it doesn't prevent, but it does make it more likely experts will have the chance to keep things from spiraling out of control.Show Noteshttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/well/cyclospora-taylor-farms-lettuce-taco-bell.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/well/eat/cyclospora-stomach-bug-what-to-know.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/business/cyclospora-taylor-farms-lettuce.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/well/eat/lettuce-safety-cyclospora-outbreak.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/health/cyclospora-taylor-farms-mexico-taco-bell-lettuce.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclosporiasishttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8471761/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00494755261437456https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/16/diarrhea-outbreak-cyclospora-parasite-cdchttps://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/php/surveillance/index.htmlhttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/expert-qa/cyclosporiasis-outbreakhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/07/17/taco-bell-warned-investors-about-cyclospora-before-the-outbreak-and-these-other-chains-did-too/https://www.today.com/health/disease/cyclosporiasis-outbreak-foods-avoid-map-cases-parasite-diarrhea-2026-rcna588006http://cnn.com/2026/07/18/health/cyclospora-what-to-do-wellnesshttps://www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/american-food-safety-funding-cuts-foodnet/https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/foodborne-disease/cdc-cuts-back-foodborne-illness-surveillance-programhttps://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-quietly-scaled-back-surveillance-program-foodborne-illnesses-rcna227089https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(25)00305-X/fulltexthttps://www.cdc.gov/foodnet/about/index.htmlhttps://www.food-safety.com/articles/10646-cdc-slashes-foodnet-surveillance-from-eight-foodborne-pathogens-to-twohttps://www.thermofisher.com/blog/food/foodnet-active-surveillance-for-food-safety/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/health/taylor-farms-iceberg-lettuce-recall.htmlhttps://apnews.com/article/cyclospora-lettuce-recall-taylor-farms-taco-bell-8c8bb30fbd100e0c246cffeff6983753 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is a wake-up call for Colorado residents, as the speaker delves into the state's education system and the proposed ballot initiative, Prop NN, which aims to reduce TABOR refunds by over one billion dollars. The conversation also touches on the role of teachers' unions and their priorities, as well as the recent scandal in Jefferson County School District involving 48 cases of employee sexual abuse.The speaker shares a personal anecdote about her experience making a documentary, Whose Children Are They?, which exposed the misallocation of funds in school districts. She highlights the alarming increase in administrators while enrollment is decreasing, and questions the priorities of the teachers' unions. The conversation also covers the recent Title IX violations in Jefferson County School District and the investigation by the US Department of Education.The speaker also discusses the proposed ballot initiative, Prop NN, and the potential consequences of reducing TABOR refunds. She emphasizes the need for accountability and transparency in the education system, and encourages listeners to do their research before voting. The conversation is a thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of education policy and the need for critical thinking.If you're concerned about the state of education in Colorado and the proposed ballot initiative, Prop NN, tune in to this episode to hear the speaker's insightful analysis and discussion with her guest, Lindsay Dot Co, founder of Jeffco Kids First.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's episode of The Carmudgeon Show is a bumper episode. It's also a headlight, taillight, and side market episode - all of the above which were effected greatly in the mid-1970s to 1980s by updated US Department of Transportation regulations in 1974.===Visit http://JasonSentMe.com to get a Hagerty Guaranteed Value (TM) collector-car insurance quote! === But first, a Rover update!! The Rover is back (temporarily) on the west coast - we get some long awaited updates, new plans, and of course a new chapter of the saga which may send the car back where it just was……the project never stops! 5-mph bumpers were one of the crucial components removed from the Rover to make it tolerable to look at today. These US-mandated bumpers (and headlights and taillights) the bane of existence for many European and Japanese manufactures in period. Most of these manufactures were so perturbed by this regulation, that the bumper integration became a bit of an afterthought. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz R107 and W116 were considered some of the worst offenders given the size and integration of the bumper in comparison to the car's raw proportions. Other cars like the BMW E21, E23, E24, E28, and E30 were also repeat offenders. Other cars mentioned include but are not limited to: Maserati Bora, Lamborghini Countach, Rover SD1, Volkswagen Scirocco (MK2) + Cabriolet, Citroen CX, Jaguar XJS, Alfa Romeo Spider, Honda Accord, Datsun Z, BMW 2002, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Corolla, Ford Taurus, and Ford Thunderbird. Rarely, did a manufacture decide they would go the extra mile and integrate the bumper into the design of the car - the G-body Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette C3 were one of the few of the time. And if you didn't get enough Rover air time this episode or need a recap, Jason's just written a 5 column article for The Intercooler about his experience so far - you can red it here: https://www.the-intercooler.com/library/features/america-fast-part-two/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every day we encounter the stimuli of our lives. Events and people. And we have feelings about most all of it. Some good, some bad, some fairly neutral, but we are processing everything through how we make meaning of things. Some of us have negative emotions about certain things that don't serve us. After 15 years as an elite cyclist I came to equate negative emotions to rain, as I associated rain with riding in it or riding indoors to stay out of it. I held this negative emotions for many years after I retired, for no real reason. From a habit of speeding and rolling stop signs I grew in myself, negative emotions toward cops who frequently pulled me over. Now, even when I'm obeying the traffic laws, I experience a negative emotion when I see a cop. These negative emotions, I created. And now I've retained even after the circumstances have changed. Analogies to question the emotions we hold from past experiences that may not be serving us today. My guest in this episode Dr. Julia DiGangi. Julia is a neuropsychologist who completed her residency at Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and is the author of a book called Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power. Dr DiGangi has nearly two decades of experience studying the connection between our brains and our behavior and has worked with leaders around the world including the White House Press Office and the US Special Forces. She shows people, at work and at home, how to harness the power of the brain to lead more satisfying and emotionally intelligent lives. You can find her on Instagram with a following of 250k @drjuliadigangi Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Nicholas Kent, Under Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of EducationIn this episode, sponsored by EdUp Leadership, the ​HigherEd PodCon​ II happening July 16 & 17, & the 2026 AcOps Conference July 29-31 by CoursedogYOUR host is Dr. Joe SallustioWhy does the Under Secretary say higher education is not too big to fail & needs a full revolution, not just tinkering?What did one prominent president admit out loud about why they won't shorten degrees, even when it helps students?How will the new Workforce Pell Grant launching July 1 put federal aid behind programs as short as 8 weeks?Thank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at The EdUp ExperienceWe make education YOUR business!P.S. Want access to the only intelligence platform built exclusively from presidential conversations in higher ed? Well, we have an app for that!Join EdUp Leadership!

Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube.Devin: What is your superpower?Nicole: I walk into challenges not seeing them as insurmountable. Let's figure this out.Nicole Whalen, founder of Green Compass, is revolutionizing urban sustainability by tackling one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions: buildings. During today's episode, Nicole explained how her company uses an innovative approach to retrofit commercial properties in Washington, D.C., turning asphalt-covered cities into vibrant green spaces.“At least 70% of the city's emissions come from the building sector,” Nicole shared. “Green Compass retrofits them to be no and low carbon, combining clean energy and clean water solutions.”The standout feature of Green Compass's work is its emphasis on green stormwater infrastructure. Nicole's team installs rain gardens, infiltration trenches, and tree canopies to manage runoff water naturally. Their proprietary stormwater retention credit system incentivizes property owners to adopt greener systems by creating financial rewards for reducing pollution and preventing floods.Nicole offered a glimpse into her process: “We excavate very large holes and backfill them with special sand, soil, and native plants. This captures rain where it falls, preventing it from running off hard surfaces into rivers without treatment.” These systems don't just mitigate water pollution and flooding—they're living, carbon-sequestering ecosystems.The visual transformation of once drab, urban parking lots into vibrant green spaces is a key motivator for the team. Nicole explained, “It's amazing when we replace asphalt with gardens that bloom with flowers like irises. These changes improve not just the environment but community aesthetics.”Green Compass's accomplishments extend beyond environmental impact. By selling over $1 million in stormwater retention credits, the company has proven the viability of its business model. Nicole is currently raising capital via a regulated crowdfunding campaign on Honeycomb Credit to expand Green Compass's groundbreaking work.“I'd much rather profit-share with mission-driven investors than big banks,” Nicole confided. Her crowdfunding approach also amplifies the value of her investors' feedback and insight.With 10 acres under management, Green Compass is poised to continue scaling its mission of transforming urban landscapes into carbon-sequestering havens. Nicole's story of combining ambition, innovation, and environmental stewardship is an inspiring call to action for future-focused entrepreneurs.tl;dr:Nicole Whalen founded Green Compass to address emissions and urban flooding using green infrastructure.Green Compass sells stormwater retention credits to incentivize eco-friendly retrofits for buildings.Efforts include creating rain gardens, tree canopies, and trenches to reduce runoff and beautify cities.Nicole demonstrates fearless problem-solving by building new markets and doubling down on innovative ideas.She's raising funds via Honeycomb Credit, sharing profits with mission-driven investors to scale impact.How to Develop Fearless Problem-Solving As a SuperpowerNicole's superpower lies in her mindset of tackling challenges head-on with the question, “How hard can it be?” She explained, “I walk into challenges not seeing them as insurmountable. Let's figure this out.” This willingness to solve problems with determination and optimism reflects her “lean into change” philosophy, which has steered Green Compass through an unpredictable world.One standout example of this superpower in action is Nicole's adoption of stormwater retention credits as a revenue stream for Green Compass. When she founded the company in 2018, this wasn't part of the plan. But using her knowledge of solar credits, she built a successful model that now accounts for 80% of Green Compass's revenue, surpassing $1 million to date. Her ability to see opportunities in emerging markets has made her company a pioneer in D.C.'s stormwater credit ecosystem.Here are her tips to develop fearless problem-solving as a personal strength:See Change as Opportunity: Lean into uncertainty with faith that new outcomes can be better.Tackle Challenges Efficiently: Stay calm in adversity and focus on finding actionable solutions.Adopt a Growth Mindset: Treat every challenge as a learning experience to build resilience and expertise.Draw Parallels: Apply knowledge from one domain (like solar credits) creatively in other contexts.By following Nicole's example and advice, you can make fearless problem-solving a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!Guest ProfileNicole Whalen (she/her):Founder & CEO, Green Compass LLCAbout Green Compass LLC: Based in Washington DC, Green Compass retrofits commercial and multifamily buildings to fight climate change by deploying:

National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak issues a warning to Alberta separtists at the annual Assembly of First Nations. Parts of Canada are sweltering under extreme heat. The US Department of Homeland Security says an ICE agent shot and killed a man in Maine. U.S. strikes Iran for third consecutive night International shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has been throttled as hosties escalate in the U.S.-Iran war. Icebergs are hindering an international research team from completing a 3D scan of a historic shipwreck

What is more American than entrepreneurship, not the faux version appropriated by heirs to affluent parents but the creation of small businesses by risk takers seeking to support their families, innovate goods and services, and invigorate their communities?  As Audrey Roofeh explains on this episode of Power Station, it was small business owners who gambled their own safety to take care of community members during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis by the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE. An entrepreneur herself, Audrey's firm Mariana Strategies, which helped federal agencies cultivate workplaces free from misogyny, racism and anti-LGBTQ conduct was put out of business by a White House executive order banning DEI initiatives by government contractors. Audrey heard the alarm expressed by fellow small business owners about sustainability in a marketplace where the Rule of Law no longer applied. She founded Integrity Matters, a unique association or small business owners impacted by tariffs, ICE crackdowns, inflation and unpredictable governance. Its members are now organizing to protect voters in upcoming elections, a powerful example of how small business owners invest in us.             

In This Episode Erin and Weer'd discuss: an Everytown article railing against the 2nd Amendment for Independence Day; California doubling down on the Glock Ban despite the US Department of Justice filing an injunction against it; Virginia being attacked in court by the NRA and DOJ for their "Assault Firearms Ban"; a new gun control group trying to bully businesses for "supporting" companies that make "assault weapons". Paul heard Weer'd make a mistake about distilling and sets him straight; and David tells us how to repair a damaged gun stock. Did you know that we have a Patreon? Join now for the low, low cost of $4/month (that's $1/podcast) and you'll get to listen to our podcast on Friday instead of Mondays, as well as patron-only content like mag dump episodes, our hilarious blooper reels and film tracks. Main Topic What Does Freedom Really Mean this Fourth of July? Bonta to Enforce Glock Ban "Aggressively" Virginia 'Assault Firearms' Ban Takes Effect Amid Murky Legal Situation, Record Rifle Sales  New Gun Control Group Wants to Shame 'Enablers' of Firearms Industry Joat Rope (formerly Paul's Unnamed Segment) Dispelling Myths: Methanol  A study on the possibilities to lower the content of methyl-alcohol in eaux-de-vie de fruits The U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition. Green Potatoes Causes and Concerns Gun Lovers and Other Strangers ACP 141 Brownells Stock Repair Pin Kit Brownells Surgical Tubing Brownells Acraglas 2 Gun Bedding Kit Brownells Acraglas Gel 2 Gun Bedding Kit Brownells Old Fashioned Whiting Nitrile Gloves Wooden Dowel Kit Bicycle Inner Tube Steaming the Dents of a Remington Model 11 Shotgun Stock Fixing a Cracked Buttstock & Forend on a Remington Model 11 Rifle Stock Repair and Refinish With Turnbull Custom Guns Anvil 074: Chipped Mauser Toe Repair Anvil 004: Gew91 MAJOR Stock Repair Okie Dokie Brena Bock Author Page David Bock Author Page Team And More  

Negah Angha, former Senior Advisor at the US Department of State and National Security Council, analyses the latest escalations between Iran and the US.

Amidst the barrage of direct attacks that the Trump administration and their allies have been waging on public lands and the environment, you'd be forgiven for missing a potentially seismic shift in the Forest Service.On March 31st of this year (2026), the US Department of Agriculture, the agency which the Forest Service is a part of, quietly announced a dramatic restructuring of the agency which manages almost 200 million acres of public land.Responses have ranged from ‘Trump is destroying the Forest Service and we need to save it', to ‘this isn't that big a deal', to ‘RIP and good riddance, Forest Service'!So to understand what is actually happening with this so-called “reorganization” and the real implications it could have for public lands, I'm joined by Kevin Hood, Executive Director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.My email is coastrangeradio@gmail.com, reach out anytime and let me know what you think of the show!Show Notes:FSEEE: https://nationalforestadvocates.org/USDA Press Release: https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/newsroom/releases/usda-prioritizing-common-sense-forest-management-moves-foresthttps://www.andykerr.net/public-lands-blog/the-death-and-rebirth-of-the-forest-serviceMore concerned perspective: https://morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/breaking-trump-administration-ordersLess concerned perspective: https://wessiler.substack.com/p/the-sky-is-not-falling-on-the-foresthttps://www.instagram.com/coastrangeradio/

-SpaceXAi says Grok 4.5 is its smartest model yet, built specifically "to excel at coding, agentic tasks and knowledge work." It was trained across tens of thousands of NVIDIA GB300 GPUs on datasets full of coding, science, engineering and math information.  -The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding action from autonomous car makers after identifying "a clear pattern of driverless AVs interfering with law enforcement and other first responders" over the past months. -There are now 100 sheep grazing at the solar farm that powers Volkswagen's manufacturing plant in Poznań, Poland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Pioneer Podcast, I discuss Lex Libertas' open letter to Roelf Meyer. I focus on why we expressed concerns about his appointment, what we expect him to say to the US administration about South Africa, and what we urge him to say. Lex Libertas still needs 80 000 signatures on our petition so that we can present it to the South African Government, US Department of State and the White House. Click here to read and sign the petition - https://www.lexlibertas.org.za/campaigns/stoppersecution

Josephina Doe v. US Department of Homeland Security

— How many times have we remained silent when something important needed to be said? How often have we hidden our thoughts, emotions, needs, or truths out of fear of judgment, rejection, conflict, or simply not being heard? Many of us learn, often from an early age, that staying quiet is safer than speaking up. Over time, those patterns can become so familiar that we hardly notice them. We silence our ideas, our creativity, our boundaries, our needs, and sometimes even our authentic selves. But what is the cost of that silence? Today, we'll explore how silence shapes our lives, relationships, workplaces, and communities, and how we can begin to recognize and unlearn the unconscious patterns that keep us from fully expressing who we are. We'll discuss the courage required to speak our truth, the importance of creating spaces where all voices are welcomed, and how authentic self-expression can lead to greater connection, belonging, personal growth, and well-being. At its heart, this conversation is an invitation to reclaim our voice—not to speak louder, but to speak more honestly, more intentionally, and more fully from who we truly are. Valeria interviews Elaine Lin Hering  — She is the author of  "Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully." Elaine Lin Hering is a speaker, facilitator, and former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She works with organizations and individuals to build skills in communication, collaboration, and conflict management. She has worked on six continents and facilitated executive education at Harvard, Dartmouth, Tufts, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. She has served as the Advanced Training Director for the Harvard Mediation Program and a Managing Partner for a global leadership development firm. She has worked with coal miners at BHP Billiton, micro-finance organizers in East Africa, mental health professionals in China, and senior leadership at the US Department of Commerce. Her clients include American Express, Chevron, Google, Nike, Novartis, PayPal, Pixar, and the Red Cross. She was named a Thinkers50 global management thinker on the rise.  To learn more about Elaine Lin Hering and her work, please visit: https://elainelinhering.com/

This episode of BHIS - Talkin' Bout [infosec] News covers the latest cybersecurity headlines, including debate over the economics of AI infrastructure, updates on the Huntress controversy, new details surrounding Scattered Spider, a critical Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability, and reports of a breach involving a DHS information-sharing network. The discussion also examines Apple's legal battles over alternative app stores, the limitations of Apple's Hide My Email feature, a Medtronic breach, firmware security, Palo Alto Networks attribution disputes, and other notable security stories that didn't make the main rundown.Join us LIVE on Mondays, 4:30pm EST.A weekly Podcast with BHIS and Friends. We discuss notable Infosec, and infosec-adjacent news stories gathered by our community news team.https://www.youtube.com/@BlackHillsInformationSecurityChat with us on Discord! - https://discord.gg/bhis

In this episode, Ray Cochrane digs into “algorithmic outing,” new research showing that social feeds can infer your sexual orientation before you have consciously come out. He also covers Meta’s privacy-aware AI infrastructure, Alberta’s 466-million-line code scan with Claude, NVIDIA on reinforcement learning, and the many journeys of learning Rust. Along the way, he hits Google DeepMind’s A24 deal, WhatsApp usernames, and scuba-diving cyborg cockroaches. Finally, he looks up with Webb’s puzzling early universe, NASA’s emergency telescope rescue, and a gorgeous aurora from orbit. – Want to start a podcast? Its easy to get started! Sign-up at Blubrry – Thinking of buying a Starlink? Use my link to support the show. Subscribe to the Newsletter. Email Ray if you want to get in touch! Like and Follow Geek News Central’s Facebook Page. Support my Show Sponsor: Best Godaddy Promo Codes Get 1Password Full Summary Cochrane opens with a quick personal update. He hopes listeners had a good holiday weekend, and he shares that he spent his time working his other job at Oregon’s Finest, chatting with people around Portland. Because his Blurbry workweek tends to be solitary, he refills his social meter on the weekends. He then recalls a Saturday night out with coworkers at the Hungry Tiger before turning to the lead story. Algorithmic Outing: When Your Feed Knows Before You Do Cochrane leads with new research from Australia that identifies a phenomenon called “algorithmic outing.” In short, the recommendation systems behind your social feeds can infer your sexual orientation or gender identity and start serving related content before you have worked it out yourself. Importantly, the study is small and qualitative, built on in-depth interviews with twenty LGBTQ+ adults in the Hunter region of New South Wales and published in the journal Gender, Place and Culture. The mechanism is engagement signals: what you like, who you follow, and how long you linger on a post, a metric the industry calls dwell time. Lead researcher Dr. Justin Ellis of the University of Newcastle notes that several participants said the algorithm “knew” they were queer before they did, an experience that felt validating for some but frightening for others in public settings. For Cochrane, the deeper worry is what else that hidden pattern encodes, from upbringing to mental health, and where that data ultimately gets sold. Sponsor: GoDaddy Economy hosting $6.99/month, WordPress hosting $12.99/month, domains $11.99. Website builder trial available. Use codes at geeknewscentral.com/godaddy to support the show. Meta’s Blueprint for Privacy-Aware AI Infrastructure Next, Cochrane turns to a sharp engineering piece from Meta on privacy-aware infrastructure. The core challenge is that a system must understand what a piece of data actually is before any privacy rule can protect it. A field named “age,” for example, might describe a person in one place and a cache setting in another. Meta’s answer deploys a large language model only on the genuinely ambiguous cases, then distills what it learns into fixed, human-reviewed rules. The payoff is concrete. According to Meta, those deterministic rules already handle about 85 percent of the traffic, and only the last 15 percent falls back to the model, which costs roughly 400 times more compute. Cochrane loves this edge-case approach. However, he contrasts it sharply with the AI-everywhere software he wrestles with at his weekend job, which he says the heavy AI reliance genuinely makes worse and harder to audit. Alberta Scans 466 Million Lines of Code With Claude This one comes from Anthropic, and it ties directly to Meta’s theme. A team inside Alberta’s Ministry of Technology and Innovation used Claude to scan 466 million lines of code in about twenty hours, a review Anthropic estimates would have taken humans roughly six and a half years. Notably, they ran around fifty AI agents in parallel, essentially an automated red team and blue team probing the systems at once. For Cochrane, this is the good version of AI in production: cleaning up and locking down real systems rather than running the show unsupervised. NVIDIA on Reinforcement Learning for AI Agents On the AI-building side, Cochrane walks through an NVIDIA developer piece on reinforcement learning for agents. Reinforcement learning rewards a model for good behavior rather than showing it the right answer, much like training a dog with treats. Additionally, he clears up a common mix-up. NVIDIA treats RAG, retrieval-augmented generation, as a separate tool: reinforcement learning changes how a model behaves, while RAG changes what facts it can reach. GitHub Retires Two Gemini Models Meanwhile, GitHub is retiring Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash across all of Copilot on July 31. The migration paths are Gemini 3.1 Pro and Gemini 3.5 Flash. Cochrane flags it as a sign of the times, since tools that felt brand new a couple of years ago are already getting sunset. He also wonders how quickly today’s “AI-optimized” chips will turn over as the models keep changing. The Many Journeys of Learning Rust One for the programmers, and Cochrane makes no secret of loving Rust. The Rust blog’s Vision Doc series explores how people actually learn the language, which is built around memory safety and its strict borrow checker. Honest themes surface throughout, including “clone guilt,” where beginners refuse to copy anything, and “silent attrition,” the learners who quietly bounce off. His take stands: getting your brain onto a memory-safe language rewires how you approach a problem. Google DeepMind Partners With A24 In an interesting collision of worlds, Google DeepMind is teaming up with A24, the studio behind Hereditary and Everything Everywhere All at Once. The two call it a first-of-its-kind research partnership, with DeepMind researchers and A24 building creative tools shaped by the artists who use them. Cochrane adds a detail worth noting: Google also invested in A24, so this is money on the table, not just a research handshake. For now, though, the announcement stays deliberately vague, with no named films or products. Google’s $1 Million Africa Indie Game Fund Another one from Google, and it is good news for developers. Google is launching an indie games fund for sub-Saharan Africa, a region whose gaming scene is growing about as fast as anywhere. The fund puts up $1 million across ten local studios, each receiving between $50,000 and $200,000 plus mentorship and hands-on support. Applications close at noon UTC on July 31. WhatsApp Usernames Are Here to Reserve WhatsApp is finally moving off phone numbers as your identity. With usernames, someone can start a conversation with you without ever seeing your number. Starting this week, you can reserve the name you want ahead of the full launch later this year. To claim yours, head into Settings, then Account, then Username. Intel Sets Its Q2 Earnings Date Cochrane flags a date worth watching for anyone tracking Intel. The company reports second-quarter results on July 23, right after market close, with an earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific. Given recent US government investment and a shifting chip landscape, he is curious how the domestic chipmaker is holding up. Your Smartwatch Might Spot Illness Before You Do Shifting to health, Engadget reports that the wearables-plus-AI wave is starting to deliver. These devices excel at catching the moment your body drifts off its own baseline, often the first nudge to get checked out. A 2025 study from Texas A&M and Stanford suggests smartwatches can detect early signs of COVID or the flu within hours of infection. Additionally, Apple Watch’s irregular-rhythm alerts have flagged AFib correctly about 84 percent of the time. Working Memory and Consciousness Here is a heady one from Scientific American, written by philosopher Henry Taylor at the University of Birmingham. Working memory is the mental scratchpad holding whatever you are doing right now. Taylor opens with the doorway effect, that blank moment when you enter a room and forget why. Intriguingly, when information leaves working memory, it seems to leave conscious awareness at the same instant, a link drawing fresh attention across psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience. Scuba-Diving Cyborg Cockroaches Now for the wild one. Scientists have built tiny diving suits that let Madagascar hissing cockroaches survive underwater for up to three hours, while an unequipped roach suffocates in minutes. The 3D-printed suit feeds oxygen through tubes into the insect’s breathing holes, called spiracles, using a chemical generator with no electronics. This lab already steered the roaches with electrodes, so the diving suit is the new trick on top. Researchers pitch it for search and rescue, though Cochrane notes the reality of the spy bug has already arrived. Quantum Time Runs Backward at Los Alamos Next, a genuine brain-bender. Physicists at Los Alamos, led by Luis Pedro García-Pintos, found a way to make a quantum system look like it is running backward in time. To be clear, time is not literally reversing. Precise measurements just make the system’s evolution appear to unfold in reverse. The useful part is energy: measurement itself becomes a resource in what they call a continuous measurement engine. Cochrane admits the paper drifted further from his reality the more he read. Tall Trees Shrug Off Drought A new study in Science overturns some textbook wisdom. For years, the assumption held that taller trees suffer more in drought because they must lift water higher. However, researchers studying dipterocarps in Southeast Asia found that trees topping seventy meters slowed their growth by about the same amount as short ones during the 2023-2024 El Niño drought. The trick is plumbing: a seventy-meter tree grows base vessels roughly twice as wide as a ten-meter tree, so the real driver of drought stress is subtler than raw height. The Energy Department Purges Conservation Pages This next one frustrates Cochrane. The US Department of Energy deleted roughly 6,000 web pages about energy conservation, and the timing is brutal during a record heatwave. The move followed backlash over New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani urging residents to ease strain on the grid. Fortunately, the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine preserved the pages before they vanished. For Cochrane, deleting that kind of public information simply does not make sense. Webb’s Puzzling New Universe Heading to space, Quanta Magazine explores how the James Webb Space Telescope keeps finding early-universe objects that should not exist. Those include black holes that grew enormous too fast and hundreds of mysterious “little red dots” around 650 million years after the Big Bang. As astrophysicist Rachel Somerville of the Flatiron Institute puts it, scientists have “almost gone from having too many early galaxies to having too many theories.” The hard part now is figuring out which theory is right. NASA’s Emergency Telescope Rescue NASA has a rescue mission underway for the Swift Observatory, a 2004 telescope that studies gamma-ray bursts. Recent solar storms puffed up Earth’s atmosphere, and the added drag has dragged Swift’s orbit down to about 224 miles, low enough to risk burning up this year. To intervene, NASA enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona, whose LINK spacecraft launched Friday. The plan is to boost Swift back up to roughly 373 miles. A Gorgeous Aurora From Orbit Finally, Cochrane closes on something beautiful. ESA shared a stunning aurora captured from orbit, a shimmering green band of light rippling over the planet. If you have a few minutes, it is well worth a look. Cochrane wraps with housekeeping and a thank-you to GoDaddy for two decades of support, then signs off, wishing listeners a wonderful evening. The post Algorithmic Outing: When Your Feed Knows Before You Do #1869 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Steven Koonin joins John Anderson for an in-depth conversation exploring the science, engineering and economics behind today's climate debate. Drawing on decades of experience in physics, energy research and public policy, Koonin argues that while climate change is real, many public discussions fail to capture the uncertainty, nuance and trade-offs contained within the scientific evidence. Together they examine what climate models can reliably predict and why careful analysis matters when shaping long-term policy.The conversation also explores Australia's energy future, the challenges of maintaining reliable electricity grids, the potential role of nuclear power, and the balance between affordability, energy security and environmental responsibility. Koonin reflects on scientific integrity, technological innovation and why societies benefit when evidence, rather than politics, remains at the centre of public debate.Steven E. Koonin is the Edward Teller Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He served as the undersecretary for science in the US Department of Energy under President Obama from 2009 to 2011, and was the lead author of the US Department of Energy's Strategic Plan (2011) and the inaugural Department of Energy Quadrennial Technology Review (2011). His recent book is called Unsettled (Updated and Expanded Edition): What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters.Sign up to John's substack here: https://www.ourcivilisationalmoment.com/Sign up to John's newsletter here: https://johnanderson.net.au/contact/

Jon Hartley and Dr. Oz along with his two deputies discuss running the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) which administers the major federal government healthcare programs within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), tackling Medicaid and Medicare fraud across the nation, healthcare changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill (Working Families Tax Cuts Act), lowering pharmaceutical drug prices through most favored nation (MFN) deals and TrumpRx, and integrating AI and technology into CMS workflows. Recorded on June 11, 2026. ABOUT THE SERIES Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics. For more information about the podcast, or subscribe for the next episode, click here.

Yoga is increasingly moving beyond the studio to find a place in therapeutic and healthcare settings. That move generates new opportunities, as well as new challenges, for yoga teachers. In today's episode, host Rachel speaks with Yoga Medicine Therapeutic Specialist Jen Beal, who is a full-time yoga and meditation teacher with the Whole Health division of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Jen shares the realities of teaching yoga in a large-scale healthcare environment: working as part of a collaborative care team, documentation requirements, and the need for trauma sensitivity, confidentiality, and accessibility. This conversation offers valuable insight into how yoga can become more inclusive, adaptable, and therapeutic — both inside and outside traditional healthcare systems. "You don't have to have every single body in your classroom doing the same exact thing." — Jen Beal. — What You'll Learn: Gaining employment in the VA healthcare system [2:31] What the role involves [5:40] Rewarding and fulfilling work [7:59] Unique challenges in this environment [11:58] Record-keeping requirements [14:41] Privacy and confidentiality matter in healthcare [18:23] Clear Scope of Practice [20:30] How VA students and sequences differ from yoga studios [26:23] A "yoga kit" to encourage home practice [35:37] Advice for accessible teaching in healthcare settings [38:29] Final takeaways [44:02] — Links Mentioned: Watch this episode on YouTube Connect with Jen Beal: Instagram | Still and Flow Yoga — Learn More: Find the full show notes at YogaMedicine.com/podcast-170. Learn more about insider tips, online classes or information on our teacher trainings at YogaMedicine.com. To support our work, please leave us a 5 star review with your feedback on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Susan Pendergrass speaks with Andy Smarick, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, about Missouri's education leadership shake-up and what comes next. They discuss how to find the right commissioner of education, why outside reformers tend to succeed where insiders struggle, what the dismantling of the US Department of Education means for state accountability systems, why public complacency about poor academic outcomes persists, and more. Produced by Show-Me Opportunity

In March 1953 and May 1955, government officials—including the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), the US Department of Defense, and the Atomic Energy Commission—released nuclear bombs on two model towns at Nevada Test Site, the continental nuclear test facility during the Cold War. These so-called “Doom Towns” were designed to illustrate in the most vivid way possible what might happen to a “typical American home” caught in a Soviet atomic blast. Instead of training troops for war overseas, the Doom Towns literally brought the Cold War home. Drawing on newspaper articles, FCDA reports, and corporate documents, in Doom Town, USA: The Nevada Test Site as Ground Zero of 1950s American Culture (University Press of Kansas, 2026), Dr. John Wills brings readers into Doom Town, USA—a place where life-size mannequins of the archetypal Mr. and Mrs. America walked the streets in JCPenney clothes, drove Chrysler cars, and lived in the latest trailer homes, tailor-made to escape in the event of nuclear war. The two Doom Towns of Operation Doorstep (1953) and Operation Cue (1955) were far more than just an exercise in developing a new civilian home front. They were a media spectacle and a cultural flashpoint, attracting corporate sponsors, drawing in atomic tourists, and generating new consumer products. The atom bomb may have been bad for world peace, but it was good for business. In the excitement about these experiments, real people even volunteered to be living test subjects—but most were turned away. Doom Town became an unusual but effective banner for corporate and consumer life in the 1950s. Doom Town was an effective simulacrum of white middle-class America, right down to the racially segregated social spaces and the hierarchical gender roles of the dummies living in their classic suburban homes. But these homegrown Hiroshimas also contributed to a broader culture of catastrophe and fear in the late 1950s. Concerns over Communist invasion, Soviet spies, and ICBM missiles coalesced in the Nevada desert, framing a national culture of anxiety. The sudden explosion of the model towns revealed the shocking fragility of postwar living, calling into question the 1950s American Dream and the survivability of American ideals. The cultural crater left by these nuclear test sites exists even today in the many movies, television shows, and video games that dwell on the existential crisis of impending apocalypse. Doom Town, USA is an eye-opening tour guide of one of the most bizarre and uniquely American places in history. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In March 1953 and May 1955, government officials—including the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), the US Department of Defense, and the Atomic Energy Commission—released nuclear bombs on two model towns at Nevada Test Site, the continental nuclear test facility during the Cold War. These so-called “Doom Towns” were designed to illustrate in the most vivid way possible what might happen to a “typical American home” caught in a Soviet atomic blast. Instead of training troops for war overseas, the Doom Towns literally brought the Cold War home. Drawing on newspaper articles, FCDA reports, and corporate documents, in Doom Town, USA: The Nevada Test Site as Ground Zero of 1950s American Culture (University Press of Kansas, 2026), Dr. John Wills brings readers into Doom Town, USA—a place where life-size mannequins of the archetypal Mr. and Mrs. America walked the streets in JCPenney clothes, drove Chrysler cars, and lived in the latest trailer homes, tailor-made to escape in the event of nuclear war. The two Doom Towns of Operation Doorstep (1953) and Operation Cue (1955) were far more than just an exercise in developing a new civilian home front. They were a media spectacle and a cultural flashpoint, attracting corporate sponsors, drawing in atomic tourists, and generating new consumer products. The atom bomb may have been bad for world peace, but it was good for business. In the excitement about these experiments, real people even volunteered to be living test subjects—but most were turned away. Doom Town became an unusual but effective banner for corporate and consumer life in the 1950s. Doom Town was an effective simulacrum of white middle-class America, right down to the racially segregated social spaces and the hierarchical gender roles of the dummies living in their classic suburban homes. But these homegrown Hiroshimas also contributed to a broader culture of catastrophe and fear in the late 1950s. Concerns over Communist invasion, Soviet spies, and ICBM missiles coalesced in the Nevada desert, framing a national culture of anxiety. The sudden explosion of the model towns revealed the shocking fragility of postwar living, calling into question the 1950s American Dream and the survivability of American ideals. The cultural crater left by these nuclear test sites exists even today in the many movies, television shows, and video games that dwell on the existential crisis of impending apocalypse. Doom Town, USA is an eye-opening tour guide of one of the most bizarre and uniquely American places in history. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

As we transition from June to July this week, we are also transitioning into a heat wave. Near-record-breaking temperatures are expected much of the week, headed toward July 4th. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat watch for the entire listening area, from Wednesday afternoon through Friday evening.This summer is likely to be the worst tick season in a decade in Pennsylvania, and a lot of bites aren't taking place on trails or in the woods--they're happening in backyards.An ongoing measles outbreak here in central Pennsylvania has state health officials urging people to get vaccinated against the highly contagious disease. They're also warning vulnerable populations to be cautious.The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry is leading a coalition of 22 states to oppose a proposed joint employment rule by the U-S Department of Labor.Today - June 30th - is the deadline for Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass a new state budget. And this year, lawmakers are likely to balance the budget by dipping into the state's rainy-day fund. Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry is co-sponsoring legislation that would stop voters from directly electing their U.S. senators.Local and state officials say they're waiting for answers on what will happen next now that the Trump administration plans to get rid of a Berks County warehouse that was going to be used as an ICE detention center.As we approach America's 250th birthday, a Schuylkill County borough is celebrating its 150th.Did you know that if every one of WITF's sustaining circle members gives as little as $12 more a month, we'd close the gap caused by federal funding cuts? Increase your gift at https://witf.org/increase or become a new sustaining member at www.witf.org/givenow.And thanks!

The US Navy is undergoing some seismic changes in terms of C2. Not only is the concept of how they fight changing (from Fleet command to fight from the MOC), but also in changing the supporting system (GCCS-M). In understanding these changes, who is going what, when, and why, Peter is joined by David Gast, formerly head of PMW150 to outline the good, the bad, and the difficult; but most importantly to try and allow us to understand what this will feel like for the sailor (or staff officer) in 3 or 5 years' time. The Guest: Captain (retired) David Gast was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in 1996, serving in cruisers and destroyers before a lateral shift into the Engineering community. David's subsequent service saw him deeply involved in C2, C4I, and integration and interoperability programmes at the NRO, NAVWAR (or SPAWAR as it was then), and DCGS-N. He was the Combat Systems Officer in USS NIMITZ for her 2016-2017 workup and deployment before becoming Deputy Program Manager for the US Navy's C2 Program Office (known as PMW150); he subsequently became Programme Manager there. David's final tour in the USN was as Director of Innovation for the Program Executive Office for C4I, and military lead for C4I effects. Recently retired, David is now the Founder and Principal of DWG Agile Innovations LLC, an advisory, consulting and coaching firm. The Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of Mr David Gast and do not represent those of the US Navy or the US Department of Defense.

In this Energy Horizons episode of the Greenberg Traurig E2 Energy Law Podcast, host and of counsel Nikki Wise and Bill Garner, co-chair of the firm's global Energy Practice, examine one of 2026's most compelling emerging energy stories: the discovery and early-stage development of natural hydrogen, also known as white or geologic hydrogen, across the Middle East. Bill opens with an update on a landmark development in France, where Francaise De l'Energie has drilled the deepest well in the world specifically targeting natural hydrogen, reaching approximately 3,500 meters in the Lorraine region's abandoned coal mines. He then turns to the Middle East, where the unique geology of the region, including serpentinized ultramafic rock and ophiolitic formations, is generating significant exploration activity. The discussion highlights Oman as the region's clear first mover, with visible hydrogen seepage already documented, an MOU between SOHAR Port and Freezone and Swiss firm HYNAT, a US Department of Energy-backed project by GeoPower, and a recent exclusive evaluation agreement between Australian company HyTerra and ARA Natural Resources focused on the Samail Ophiolite. Bill notes that Oman's flexible petroleum law gives it a regulatory head start. The episode also covers Saudi Arabia's early-stage Aramco pilot investigations, and the UAE's establishment of a natural hydrogen research institute in Abu Dhabi, along with Irish company Decahydran's confirmed natural hydrogen well in Sharjah and its commercial partnerships with Weatherford International, Sharjah National Oil Company, and Siemens Energy. Bill and Nikki explore the legal and business dimensions of this emerging industry, noting that new regulatory frameworks, mining laws, environmental assessments, international trade agreements, and commercial contracts are effectively being written in real time, creating significant opportunities for legal practitioners and investors alike. The episode closes with a realistic look at the long timeline to commercialization and the geopolitical complexities affecting the region, before previewing the next episode, which will focus on natural hydrogen development and legal considerations in the United States.

In March 1953 and May 1955, government officials—including the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), the US Department of Defense, and the Atomic Energy Commission—released nuclear bombs on two model towns at Nevada Test Site, the continental nuclear test facility during the Cold War. These so-called “Doom Towns” were designed to illustrate in the most vivid way possible what might happen to a “typical American home” caught in a Soviet atomic blast. Instead of training troops for war overseas, the Doom Towns literally brought the Cold War home. Drawing on newspaper articles, FCDA reports, and corporate documents, in Doom Town, USA: The Nevada Test Site as Ground Zero of 1950s American Culture (University Press of Kansas, 2026), Dr. John Wills brings readers into Doom Town, USA—a place where life-size mannequins of the archetypal Mr. and Mrs. America walked the streets in JCPenney clothes, drove Chrysler cars, and lived in the latest trailer homes, tailor-made to escape in the event of nuclear war. The two Doom Towns of Operation Doorstep (1953) and Operation Cue (1955) were far more than just an exercise in developing a new civilian home front. They were a media spectacle and a cultural flashpoint, attracting corporate sponsors, drawing in atomic tourists, and generating new consumer products. The atom bomb may have been bad for world peace, but it was good for business. In the excitement about these experiments, real people even volunteered to be living test subjects—but most were turned away. Doom Town became an unusual but effective banner for corporate and consumer life in the 1950s. Doom Town was an effective simulacrum of white middle-class America, right down to the racially segregated social spaces and the hierarchical gender roles of the dummies living in their classic suburban homes. But these homegrown Hiroshimas also contributed to a broader culture of catastrophe and fear in the late 1950s. Concerns over Communist invasion, Soviet spies, and ICBM missiles coalesced in the Nevada desert, framing a national culture of anxiety. The sudden explosion of the model towns revealed the shocking fragility of postwar living, calling into question the 1950s American Dream and the survivability of American ideals. The cultural crater left by these nuclear test sites exists even today in the many movies, television shows, and video games that dwell on the existential crisis of impending apocalypse. Doom Town, USA is an eye-opening tour guide of one of the most bizarre and uniquely American places in history. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

What does it take to run the most operationally complex department in the federal government? Securing borders. Responding to disasters. Protecting critical infrastructure. At the Department of Homeland Security, keeping those missions running takes focused management. Join host Michael J. Keegan as he discusses these topics and more with Troy Edgar, Deputy Secretary of Homeland […]

"We are cultivating community to support moms Bump & Beyond!" In this week's episode of the Sisters in Loss podcast, we are sitting down with the phenomenal Alexia Doumbouya (pronounced uh-LEK-see-uh DOOM-boy-yah). Alexia is the Founder and President of CocoLife (cocolife.black), an award-winning international speaker, certified Doula, and Childbirth Educator. With a Master's in Organizational Leadership and over 20 years of experience in Healthcare Administration and Public Health, Alexia is a true powerhouse and a leading voice in maternal health advocacy and doula workforce sustainability. Her life-changing work has been recognized by the CDC, March of Dimes, and CVS Health, and she has featured on major platforms including CNN, iHeart Media, and the US Department of Health and Human Services. Alexia's own path to motherhood with her two "Jr. Interns" (ages 14 and 6) was the catalyst for her life's work. Her eldest child was the exact reason she became a doula, and the heavy stories of maternal loss, mental health struggles, and obstetric systemic barriers she witnessed in her community became the driving force behind launching CocoLife. In this episode, Alexia shares how building a strong, faith-based village and growing in community allowed her to boldly walk into the purpose God called on her life. We discuss how she is actively bridging the gap between clinical healthcare and community-based doula support to save lives. In this episode, we discuss: Alexia's transition from public health administration to hands-on doula advocacy. How her 14-year-old inspired her to step into birth work. The birth of CocoLife and how it supports mothers from the "Bump & Beyond." The critical need for maternal health equity and sustainable doula workforces. The resources that keep her anchored, including Dr. Anita Phillips' The Garden Within, Dr. Cindy Trimm's Command Your Morning, and her indispensable village. If you are a birth worker, an advocate, or a mother looking to build a stronger village, Alexia's words will ignite your spirit and inspire you to walk boldly in your own calling. Become a Sisters in Loss Birth Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula Here Book Recommendations and Links Below You can shop my Amazon Store or  ​Bookshop.org for the Book Recommendations You can follow Sisters in Loss on Social Join our Black Moms in Loss Online Weekly Grief Support Group Join the Sisters in Loss Online Community Sisters in Loss TV Youtube Channel Sisters in Loss Instagram Sisters in Loss Facebook

Bill McKeever of Mormonism Research Ministry The Book of Mormon and New World Geography In Their Own Words: A Collection of Mormon Quotations Answering Mormons’ Questions: Ready Responses for Inquiring Latter-day Saints Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints Mormonism Research MinistryThe post The Reclassification of Mormons by the US Department of War – Bill McKeever, 6/18/26 (1691) first appeared on Issues, Etc..