Tatyana Tandanpolie , Salon News Fellow - truthout
Stephan:
This is exactly what I have been talking about when I warn you about the use of AI to spread fake videos and audios to damage the campaign of a candidate. Mostly, it is being done by christofascist billionaires, Elon Musk as described in this report, as well Russian, Chinese and other authoritarian governments. What can you do about this? Well, for starters stop using X social media, and don’t buy a Tesla automobile, and recommend the same to everyone you know. This weaponization of misinformation has the capacity to change the outcome of our election.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (center) listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
X owner Elon Musk’s reshare of a manipulated, faux campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris on social media last week raised alarms because he did not disclose that the clip, which parroted rightwing takes about the likely Democratic nominee, was a parody. But experts warn that the move illuminates AI’s potential to further embed distrust of election institutions in among voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Musk reposted the manipulated video of Harris to X on Friday night. The clip, which used much of the same imagery from her first presidential campaign ad, featured a new voice-over that appeared to be digitally altered to sound like Harris.
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the voice […]
If your diet includes ultraprocessed foods, as this report outlines, research is showing you are harming your brain and increasing your chances of developing dementia late in life. What we eat becomes who we are. Make the right choices.
Credit: The New York Times
People who regularly eat processed red meat, like hot dogs, bacon, sausage, salami and bologna, have a greater risk of developing dementia later in life. That was the conclusion of preliminary research presented this week at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.
The study tracked more than 130,000 adults in the United States for up to 43 years. During that period, 11,173 people developed dementia. Those who consumed about two servings of processed red meat per week had a 14 percent greater risk of developing dementia compared to those who ate fewer than three servings per month.
Eating unprocessed red meat, like steak or pork chops, did not significantly increase the risk for dementia, though people who ate it every day were more likely to report that they felt their cognition had declined than those who ate red meat less often. (The results of the study have not yet been published in a journal.)
The vast majority of processed meats are classified as “ultraprocessed foods” — products made with […]
Col. John Alexander, USA (Ret.), Commentator and Retire Amy Officer - Daily Kos
Stephan:
I have known John Alexander for over half a century. He is a retired Army colonel with both combat and strategic experience. I have great respect for his insights and, in this essay, he raises an existential question that I think we must answer if we are to remain a functioning democracy.
Colonel John B. Alexander, PhD USA (ret.)
Today I attended a luncheon that featured General David Petraeus as the speaker. Among things I wanted to get my copy of his new book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine autographed. That happened and I highly recommend the book. No real chance to talk, but I was able to give him a written question I hope he will consider addressing.
As an influential military strategist, Petraeus is in a position to force current and future military leaders to begin addressing what I believe is the most consequential issue facing the future of the Department of Defense. My note read, “An Existential Question- What should, or would senior military officers do if they have a POTUS, SECDEF, and other appointed officials, that do not support and defend the U.S. Constitution?”
This may sound like a worst-case scenario but could easily become reality should Trump win the election. While momentum does seem to be shifting, the election is not guaranteed. Based on Trump’s actions after losing […]
Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown, Staff Writers - Axios
Stephan:
If you are like me you find interest rates so high they are mind-boggling. Consider: 24.9% for some credit cards 7.62% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. Well, it looks like in September we may see some improvement.
Fed chair Jerome Powell at a press conference in June. Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates at a two-decade high on Wednesday, while leaving the door open for rate cuts as soon as its next meeting in September.
Why it matters: Inflation has receded alongside signs that high borrowing costs are taking a toll on the labor market—raising expectations that the Fed will lower rates soon.
In a unanimous decision, the Fed kept its policy rate in a range of 5.25% and 5.5%, where rates have remained since last July.
What they’re saying: “The broad sense of the committee is that the economy is moving closer to the point at which it will be appropriate to reduce our policy rate,” chair Jerome Powell said in a post-meeting press conference.
“The question will be whether the totality of the data evolving outlook in the balance of risks are consistent with rising confidence on inflation and maintaining a […]
There is a new cycle in the Covid pandemic, and yet I see almost no discussion in the media about it. We are already seeing deaths and, as this report details, “Nationally, emergency room visits for Covid increased by 15.7% in the past week. Rising hospitalization rates are now higher than last summer at this time…..Nearly 400 people died in the week ending 12 June, the last week for which full data was available” If you are in a crowded space I would wear a mask, as I intend to.
Covid is surging across the US, with levels of the virus on track to exceed last summer’s wave nationally and approaching the peak of last winter’s wave in the west, according to wastewater data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Yet vaccination and antiviral uptake, plagued by inequitable access, have remained low, and other precautions like mask-wearing are being met with increasing resistance.
“A lot of people right now are getting Covid all over the country,” said Dr Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “There are still hospitalizations, and there’s still a few hundred deaths every week in the US – and that’s a tragedy.”
The rise is being driven by a trio of variants, called Flirt because of shared mutations, that seem to be more immune-evasive and transmissible. And much of the US has been locked in heatwaves, with many Americans staying indoors to avoid the heat – which can lead to more spread of the virus.
Nationally, emergency room visits for Covid increased by 15.7% in the past week. Rising hospitalization rates are now higher than last summer at this time, although it can be difficult to make comparisons now that […]
Annie Gowen, Reporter - Microsoft Start / The Washington Post
Stephan:
Even though they must surely have access to all the social outcome data I do, the state legislature of Iowa has passed, and the governor has signed, the same remarkably stupid anti-choice laws passed in 17 other MAGAt controlled states. The result will be, as it is in all those states, that women will face degradation of their healthcare, there will be all kinds of female health problems, and OB/GYNs will leave the state. This control of women obsession is so anti-wellbeing, and yet this is what MAGAts do.
Iowa abortion ban taking effect as residents flee out of state for care. Credit: Zach Boyden-Holmes / AP
Planned Parenthood says it will continue providing abortions in Iowa but only in the very limited circumstances allowed by the state’s six-week abortion ban, which goes into effect at 8 a.m. Monday after a year of legal wrangling.
The law restricts the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, the point when fetal cardiac activity can be detected, with the only exceptions being cases of rape, incest, a fetal abnormality “incompatible with life” or if the life of the mother is in danger. Iowa had previously permitted abortions until 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Reproductive care groups in neighboring states where the procedure remains legal are already seeing an influx of patients from Iowa. The Chicago Abortion Fund received more than 60 support requests from Iowa residents during the first three weeks of July, a 165 percent increase over previous months.
“It’s staggering even to me,” executive director Megan Jeyifo said Wednesday.
