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A potential Lakers center target is apparently off the table
A rim-running, defensive-minded center who has been linked to the Lakers just got traded to another team.
L'Oréal's Acquisition of Innovist Signals India's Beauty Potential
From L'Oréal's acquisition of Innovist to expanded distribution for brands like Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, the Indian beauty scene is accelerating.
George Kittle says Brandon Aiyuk 'still got it' ahead of potential 49ers split
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle said Brandon Aiyuk appeared healthy but alluded to potential extra baggage for the Commanders.
Uber's stake in Lime's IPO shows potential payday, business strategy
Uber is Lime's largest shareholder with a 24% stake. The scooter company filed plans for an IPO, targeting a price of $24 to $26 per share.
Will NASA’s SkyFall Mars helicopter fleet sink science at the Red Planet?
Mars researchers are wrestling with the potential costs of a flashy new NASA mission to the Red Planet
DOJ may be able to release potentially embarrassing Biden audio recordings unless courts step in
Former President Joe Biden is in an uphill battle to try to stop the Justice Department from sharing recordings it collected of him speaking to his ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017, during which his speech and memory faltered.
World Cup 2026: Who's facing who in the last 32? Every potential fixture in the knockout stages!
Who could England and Scotland face in the last 32? How are the routes to the final shaping up? Keep tabs on the potential knockout stage line up with our live World Cup bracket
What is there to teach a Kennedy about politics? As Jack Schlossberg has found out, a lot
If multiple polls and the wariness of friends who have been helping him are proven right, Jack Schlossberg is facing not just potential rejection in Tuesday’s primary but the prospect of letting down the Kennedy name and all the people who still get excited about it.
Apple's first Ultras are coming: 20 new products in 2026–2027 according to Bloomberg
Apple's new CEO John Ternus will begin his tenure in September with a wave of new products that will bring Apple fans many exciting new releases. Well-known Bloomberg analyst Mark Gurman has listed the most important new products coming our way after the summer break, including the first ones potentially bearing the “Ultra” moniker.
Sunderland’s Potential Summer Departures Part One: Goalkeepers And Defenders
Dean McDonald casts his eye over our defensive fringe players and what the future may hold for them beyond the summer.
Rams news: No felony charges, potential breakout player and more
Some stories about the NFC West rival LA Rams from the last week for Arizona Cardinals fans to know.
World’s 1st HIV-to-HIV lung transplant performed at NYU Langone Health
The surgery brings new hope for HIV-positive patients in need of lung transplants, as it opens a pool of potential donors who were previously ineligible.
Insider Shares Timeframe For Potential T.J. Watt Trade
Pittsburgh could look to trade star pass rusher T.J. Watt.
Long-lived families reveal a rare genetic clue to healthy aging
A study of long-lived families has identified rare genetic variants that may help people stay healthier for much longer as they age. One standout mutation appears to temper inflammation, potentially delaying disease and extending years of healthy living.
Long-lived families reveal a rare genetic clue to healthy aging
A study of long-lived families has identified rare genetic variants that may help people stay healthier for much longer as they age. One standout mutation appears to temper inflammation, potentially delaying disease and extending years of healthy living.
Wedbush Initiates Coverage on Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Stock with Outperform Rating
Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE:FLUT) is one of the Stocks with Potential to Explode in 2026. On June 17, Wedbush initiated coverage on the company’s stock with an “Outperform” rating and a price objective of $138.00. As per the analyst, the company is the world’s largest online sports betting and internet gaming operator and has exposure to the […]
Christian Scott takes positive step toward looming Mets return
Christian Scott took a positive step Saturday toward potentially returning to the Mets as soon as his required 15 days on the injured list pass.
Ellis Medicine, St. Peter’s Health Partners drop potential merger plans
After several years of discussions, Ellis Medicine and St. Peter’s Health Partners are no longer exploring plans to merge.
Karl Rove analyzes political fallout from US-Iran deal, public opinion of the conflict
Fox News contributor Karl Rove joins ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss the political implications of the Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) and the potential impact of U.S. public opinion of the deal.
Halo: Campaign Evolved Has Some Weird Xbox Account Requirements For Local Co-Op
Not a big issue on Xbox Series X|S, but it potentially is on PS5
The Big Ten and SEC don’t like the college sports bill in Congress. Can they break away?
The Protect College Sports Act took a step forward Thursday with a Senate committee approval. Plenty of potential pitfalls remain ahead, including opposition from the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences.
Scientists found a cannabis compound that relieves pain without the high
Compounds responsible for the aroma of cannabis and many other plants may offer a surprising new way to relieve chronic pain. Researchers found that several cannabis-derived terpenes significantly reduced pain in mouse models of fibromyalgia and post-surgical pain, with one terpene, geraniol, showing especially strong effects. Unlike THC, these compounds are not associated with psychoactive effects, making them a potentially attractive alternative for pain treatment.
Democratic states scramble to prevent potential Trump administration interference in their elections
Democratic-led states are racing to safeguard November’s midterm elections against potential interference from the Trump administration and its allies, passing new laws that restrict the presence of law enforcement at polling places or seek to thwart the federal government’s efforts to obtain sensitive election material.
What Democrats want: New York congressional race showcases fight over party’s future
In NY-12, four Democrats, including one Kennedy, are vying to replace Jerry Nadler – and potentially shake things up
Battenfeld: Michelle Wu’s unlikely nemesis — ex-con Dianne Wilkerson
Wilkerson, who ran for her old seat in 2022, is trying to mobilize Boston’s Black community in what could be an attempt to put together a powerful voting bloc in a future election. So she is a threat to Wu and has the potential to embarrass…
Purdue Football – 2026 Countdown to Kickoff: #78
Veluri is another potential depth option for Purdue on the offensive line.
They’re leaving Congress with nothing to lose, spelling potential trouble for Trump
A trio of Senate Republicans, including Texas' John Cornyn, are on their way out of Congress. Each has previously drawn President Trump's scorn and now each are seen as newly liberated to complicate his agenda if they choose.
Starmer’s future hangs in balance after Burnham’s Makerfield election win
Ashton-in-Makerfield, a town few knew of until recently, has potentially chosen the UK's next prime minister.
The health screenings men shouldn’t skip — and how CVS Health makes them easier
Taking care of health doesn’t have to be complicated — but it does need to be consistent. Regular screenings can identify potential issues before symptoms appear.
2026 World Cup: Canada's Ismaël Koné stretchered off with potential leg injury
Qatar's Assim Madibo was given a red card for the tackle, marking the team's second red card of the match.
Exploring Meleek Thomas' potential fit with the Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics have the 27th pick in this years draft. Could Meleek Thomas emerge as a potential target?
Hillsborough County wants to seek state review of Tampa Sports Authority stadium vote
Hillsborough County commissioners are weighing whether to ask Gov. Ron DeSantis to review potential ethics concerns involving members of the Tampa Sports Authority after a contentious sports board vote sparked intense allegations of self-dealing.
'Adventures of Elliot' review: A fun, frustrating Zelda tribute
It's good, but it had the potential to be so much better.
Nurses across Baystate Health signal concern over potential staffing cuts
Nurses across the Baystate Health system said the hospital is “misaligned”
UToledo Pharmacy and Science Career Camp
University of Toledo Medical Center hosted a Pharmacy and Science Career Camp during which 47 students from five different states were introduced to potential careers.
Playing politics with water access in Anne Arundel? Behind the vote to delay two projects.
Two projects for public water access in Anne Arundel were quickly amended out of next year’s budget. Advocates described feeling blindsided, and some officials decried the move as potentially motivated by politics.
Mydays founder expresses interest in ProSiebenSat.1's adventure business
The founder of adventure experience business Mydays, now part of broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, told Reuters he and co-investors are looking into buying back the unit, potentially pitting them against German entrepreneur Jochen Schweizer.
Defense Health Agency Outlines Joint Force Blood Therapy Strategy at National Forum
Medical logistics and prolonged field care in austere environments present significant challenges for the military health system. To address potential Large-Scale Combat Operations in remote locations across the globe, Defense Health Agency experts presented a strategy update for novel blood replacement therapies during the Strategic National Forum on Blood and Biotherapies, June 12, 2026, in Bethesda, Maryland.
MSI prices its latest handheld at $1,800 as exec says ‘it will be a tough year for us and the gamers’
There’s still potential for more price hikes, its marketing lead warns…
Durham breaks ground on 160 affordable apartments near potential ‘entertainment district’
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — In an effort to ease the city’s affordable housing crisis, Durham leaders broke ground on more than 100 new apartments near Brier Creek on Wednesday. The currently empty…
Trump targets hospital prices in 'anticompetitive' contracts
White House officials detailed potential savings for families by targeting 'anticompetitive' hospital contracts.
Scientists discover spider that disguises itself as a parasitic fungus
Scientists have discovered a new Amazonian spider with an astonishing disguise: it looks like a parasitic fungus. The species, Taczanowskia waska, mimics both the appearance and behavior of the fungus, helping it stay hidden from predators and potentially catch prey more easily.
Breakthrough to Make Bones Stronger Could Reverse Osteoporosis
A potential treatment for millions.
Dems pick potential successor to DC's congressional delegate after decades-long incumbency
An at-large D.C. council member won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the district's non-voting House seat after Eleanor Holmes Norton's retirement.
War, sports collide as Iran's World Cup kicks off in Los Angeles
CBC News reported on the unchartered territory FIFA World Cup 2026 is finding itself in as members of Team Iran arrive in Los Angeles, inviting a divisive collision of geopolitics and sports in an area with a large Iranian diaspora. "You've never had two countries engaged in active military conflict matching up against each other, competing in the same tournament," said Salma Mousa, an assistant professor of political science and affiliated faculty with the Bedari Kindness Institute. Mousa, who studies the intersection of sports and conflicts, worries that a potential July 3 face-off between Iran and the U.S. in Texas might “increase tensions to kind of a cataclysmic degree.” Read more about UCLA in today’s Washington Times.
Merchants of Doubt and the attacks on Extreme Event Attribution science
Last week, I attended a meeting at Columbia University on attribution science and climate law, hosted by the Sabin Center. It was a fantastic event, bringing together scientists and legal experts working at the intersection of extreme event attribution and climate law. Subscribe For those unfamiliar with it, extreme event attribution attempts to quantify the contribution of climate change to an extreme event. For example, several groups analyzed the impact of climate change on Hurricane Harvey’s enormous rainfall totals over Houston, Texas and they found that climate change increased rainfall by 15 to 38%. One thing that came up again and again was how terrified fossil-fuel interests are of extreme event attribution science. They are acutely aware that this research could land them in court. And losing those cases would leave them legally liable for billions of dollars in climate damages. Because the legal stakes are so high, the blowback has turned ugly. I spoke with several scientists at the meeting who are facing ongoing harassment over their work. This blowback is a coordinated campaign to make the entire field look suspect. The goal is to create the impression that attribution science is too uncertain, too political, or too conflicted to be useful in court or in public policy. The strategy is not based on actual science or evidence of misconduct, but on the generation of doubt. The new Merchants of Doubt We’ve seen this before. In fact, not that long ago: We only have to go back a year to the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group (CWG) report to see an example of using doubt as the tool to push back against well-established science. This strategy is laid out in an email from a member of the CWG, Dr. Roy Spencer, that was released during litigation over the Climate Working Group process. The key quote is: About all I can hope is that what we write will provide sufficient “reasonable scientific doubt” regarding the science claims in the 2009 TSD [technical support document], based upon almost 2 decades of new science, to call into question the original reasoning for the EPA Administrator’s decision that CO2 presents a threat to human health and welfare. This statement is strong evidence that at least some members of the committee were working to support a particular policy outcome: revoking the Endangerment Finding. The email also explains how they planned to do it: by attempting to generate “reasonable doubt”. This is going to be hard, Spencer implies. Despite falsely claiming that “2 decades of new science” weakens the case, Spencer explicitly acknowledges that the actual peer-reviewed science of climate change overwhelmingly rejects his position: But if the science argument is decided upon by a vote, or by the number of published citations, we lose the science argument. We can go back even further: This CWG email shares unmistakable DNA with the infamous 1969 tobacco memo that declared: “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.” The tobacco memo also acknowledges the limit of this strategy: Like the CWG, they knew the science was not on their side. Share The new new Merchants of Doubt The people attacking the IPCC chapter on extreme event attribution are the newest iteration of the Merchants of Doubt. Their goal, like all Merchants before them, is to introduce doubt into the process. Because the report is not even out yet, they cannot attack its conclusions. So they are attacking the authors instead. Here is a press release from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: In the letter, the Chairmen express concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving members of the Attribution Committee, stating that “publicly available information suggests a troubling pattern” in which committee members are affiliated with nonprofits that support climate accountability lawsuits, “raising the appearance of impropriety and member bias.” To be clear, this is just innuendo. There is no actual evidence of bias. And given the robust process that these reports go through, including multiple lines of peer review, it seems very unlikely that significant bias can survive into the report. When the report comes out, critics will have the opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the report — if any exist. If none do, however, they’ll still make criticisms, but they’ll be bogus, simply designed to generate doubt. We’ll see. A note to the press: Fix your frame To any journalists reading this: The public debate over extreme event attribution science is not going away. The science is simply too dangerous to fossil-fuel interests for them to stop fighting it. You very well might be assigned to write an article about this area of research in the future. When you do, do not automatically adopt the framing that climate misinformers want you to use. They want you to frame the story around questions like: Are climate scientists trying to put their thumb on the scale to achieve a predetermined, politically motivated result? Are climate scientists improperly letting their politics invade the science of the IPCC? That frame is a trap. Instead, you need to view this through the historical lens of the Merchants of Doubt. How does the ecosystem of doubt operate? Who funds it? What methods do they use to misrepresent science and slime researchers? What scientific results are they trying to keep people from understanding are legitimate? Ultimately, you instead need to focus your article on the generation of doubt as a way to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s social and legal license to keep burning oil, gas, and coal. If you treat the misinformers’ frame as a legitimate, good-faith scientific critique, you are helping them produce doubt. Don’t do it. Don’t be a Merchant of Doubt. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe other stuff The Staying Curious Substack has an interesting post about the different flavors of climate sensitivity. This is crucial information if you want to understand how scientists think about how much warming the Earth will experience. I’d be grateful if you could hit the like button ❤️ below! It helps more people discover these ideas and lets me know what’s connecting with readers.
Microsoft's cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse, Business Insider reports
June 16 (Reuters) - Microsoft's discussions with Oracle regarding a cloud infrastructure leasing deal, potentially valued at more than $3 billion, have fallen apart due to security and compliance
Microsoft's cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse, Business Insider reports
Microsoft's discussions with Oracle regarding a cloud infrastructure leasing deal, potentially valued at more than $3 billion, have fallen apart due to security and compliance concerns, Business Insider reported on Tuesday.
More Coral Reefs May Survive Climate Change Than Scientists Once Thought
A new global analysis maps reefs with the greatest potential to withstand warmer temperatures, strengthening calls for their protection.
Microsoft reportedly negotiating closures of multiple Xbox studios, including Psychonauts' Double Fine, South of Midnight's Compulsion and Hellblade's Ninja Theory
The expected Xbox restructuring and lay-offs reportedly include potential closures for three well known games studios.
Pirate Problems: What Quarterback Will Buccaneers see Against Vikings?
As Minnesota navigates a brutal opening stretch, Tampa Bay prepares for a dual threat: veteran Kyler Murray’s resurgence or the raw potential of former first-rounder J.J. McCarthy.
What's the latest on Giannis and Jaylen? O'Connor offers insight
Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports joins Early Edition to share his latest intel on a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo-to-Boston blockbuster.
Alfredo sauce distributed to dozens of states recalled due to potential salmonella contamination
The sauce was voluntarily recalled by the supplier because it contained a dry milk powder ingredient that was possibly contaminated with salmonella, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration enforcement report.
Hungarian MPs approve PM limits to block potential return of Orban
The reform is one of the first introduced by PM Peter Magyar as he seeks to return Hungary to the EU mainstream.
Epstein survivors push Comer to investigate potential leads from DOJ’s files in private meeting
In a private meeting last week, a group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and family members of the late Virginia Giuffre pointed House Oversight Chair James Comer to allegations from the Justice Department’s Epstein files to further investigate, arguing that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s suggestion there were no more leads to pursue in the case is not true.
Gavin Newsom says Trump Justice Department is investigating him
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him, claiming that President Donald Trump is targeting a “political enemy” despite no evidence the Democratic potential 2028 presidential contender has committed a crime.
Scientists Built a Tiny “Universe” And Watched Time Emerge From Chaos
Scientists created a miniature universe using 24,000 ultracold atoms where time emerges from entropy flow, potentially solving physics' biggest mystery.
Seahawks rookie guard a potential impact player for 2026
Seahawks guard Beau Stephens was named by Bleacher Report as an underrated rookie that has the chance to make a big impact on the season in 2026.
CMS, HHS request information for potential modifications to ACA Essential Health Benefits
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services issued a request for information (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/15/2026-11994/request-for-information-comprehensive-review-of-the-essential-health-benefits-framework-and-typical) June 12 seeking input on CMS’ review of the Affordable Care Act’s Essential Health Benefits framework and the requirement that the scope of EHBs is equal to the scope of benefits provided under a standard employer plan.
Bay Area resident with measles traveled through SFO, visited San Jose businesses, officials say
Health officials in the San Francisco Bay Area issued a warning about a potential measles exposure after an infected resident traveled through San Francisco International Airport and local businesses.
This popular brain supplement was linked to shorter lifespans in men
A large-scale study suggests that men with higher levels of the amino acid tyrosine may have shorter lifespans, potentially losing close to a year of life expectancy. The finding is especially intriguing because tyrosine is commonly associated with brain health and is often used in supplements aimed at boosting focus and performance.
Community health screenings address obstacles to medical care
A local nonprofit has begun offering free clinics to screen vulnerable populations for potentially life-threatening conditions in Coastal Georgia.
Banff: Muse Entertainment Expands in Unscripted Series Adaptations
'The Kennedys' miniseries producer has inked a first-look deal with The Walrus for potential documentary projects to be shopped in the Canadian Rockies this week.
Muse Entertainment Expands in Unscripted Series Adaptations
'The Kennedys' miniseries producer has inked a first-look deal with The Walrus for potential documentary projects to be shopped in the Canadian Rockies this week.
Trump celebrates his 80th birthday with an Iran deal and UFC cage fights at the White House
President Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting a UFC cage-fighting event on the White House South Lawn while announcing an initial agreement to end the war in Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially easing oil prices. The spectacle blended politics, entertainment, and diplomacy.
South Korea lacks venues to match K-pop’s global reach
South Korea's shortage of large concert venues is pushing K-pop demand abroad and costing cities potential tourism, lodging and retail revenue.
Health concerns linger as debris remains in Tracy neighborhoods after warehouse fire
County officials say environmental testing is underway as residents continue finding debris and wait for answers about potential health impacts.
Vance says he’ll examine political future after midterms
Vice President Vance said he’ll explore next steps for his political career after the midterm elections as speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid stirs. “Usha and I will absolute…
Scientists Identify 2 Distinct Subtypes of Autism in The Brain
A potentially big step forward.
Scientists Identify 2 Distinct Subtypes of Autism in The Brain
A potentially big step forward.
One muscle protein may hold the key to staying stronger as you age, study finds
New research identifies a muscle protein called NOX4 that declines with age and inactivity, potentially explaining why exercise keeps people stronger.
The ‘Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’ has the potential to be a cruel joke
There are actual reasons to get excited about Samsung’s upcoming foldables but, the more I think about it, the more...
Nigel Farage vows to ban foreign nationals from social housing
The Reform UK leader says tenants would have three months to find a new home or face potential deportation.
Health officials confirm case of measles in a Santa Clara County resident
The Public Health Department issued a warning regarding potential public exposure to measles.
In Retrospect: Poland, Russia, Europe
In April I spent a few days with Zryw, a Polish non-profit organization that recruits young people to enter politics and public life. Their aim is to build a new generation of civic leaders in Poland. I’ve followed their evolution from the beginning; my son is one of the founders. (“Zryw” means “impulse” or “burst of speed” in Polish). Julie Chmielewska, one of Zryw’s leaders, interviewed me at the event. Here is the conversation, lightly edited for grammar and context: Julia Chmielewska: Assuming that culture shapes institutions, could we conclude that some cultures are more prone to authoritarianism? Anne Applebaum: I don’t think so. Every culture, every nation, and every country has the potential for change. When we look at history, we can see that nations do change. Poland has changed, for example, from the 1980s to today. There’s a completely different mentality here than the one I encountered when I first visited, in 1988. The current generation sees the world through a different frame. So no, I don’t believe that certain nations are doomed to authoritarianism, or to anything. Of course, there are political and cultural traditions, but they can always be challenged. JC: So do you think there’s something intrinsic in human nature that pushes people to democracy, freedom? AA: I think there is something in human nature, a deep instinct, that pushes people towards freedom, yes. People who live in authoritarian countries – and I’ve heard this from them over and over again – sooner or later find themselves angered by a feeling of helplessness. They can see the unfairness of crooked courts, irrational political decisions. They naturally dislike the fact that somebody has all the power while they have none. In those circumstances, people who have no political background at all sometimes are politicized just by that frustration. I’m thinking of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for example, who was a Belarusian housewife, until the circumstances of her husband’s arrest forced her to become a politician. I met a woman who is a Uyghur from China, and who had come to live in Turkey. After several of her family members were arrested, she too was propelled into a political role. These kinds of experiences make people interested in democracy or political reform, even if they thought they didn’t care. I also think that the opposite is true: some people instinctively prefer homogeneity, order, hierarchy. They don’t like the confrontation of opinions or the noise of debate, and they lean towards a single leader or a unified regime. I think that most of modern history is shaped by the clash between those two different sides of human nature. JC: Which force do you find more powerful today? AA: I think they both have a lot of power and there’s no way of predicting who wins. Even in countries that seem very shut off or stuck in an authoritarian system can change. We’ve seen that happen. And vice versa, I think democracies can also begin to fail and slide into authoritarianism. So it’s very important not to be complacent in either direction. JC: I want to go into your history and your experiences. You’ve lived in Russia during a time of incredible change in the late 80s, and then you came back to do research in post-Soviet Russia. AA: I was a student in Russia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I then traveled and worked there extensively in the 1990s, and I met people who really were full of hope. They hoped that Russia could become a democracy, or at least a place that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of the press. These weren’t ideas that came from Washington. Although now the narrative in the Kremlin is different, I met many people who were working towards exactly that kind of transformation. A friend of mine ran a series of seminars – once a year, and then later several times a year, in cities all over Russia – designed to get people to discuss politics in new ways. She invited young politicians and journalists, as well as foreigners. I went to many of them, in Moscow as well as Volgograd and Novosibirsk. Over two decades, hundreds of people came to these seminars, and all of them wanted Russia to be different. I remain convinced that many Russians still want Russia to be different. It’s just that the old system, in the form of Putin, a representative of that system, returned. The KGB reimposed their power. And this wasn’t because of something to do with culture, this was to do with money and politics, and who was in charge. JC: You’ve partially answered my question... I wanted to ask whether that excitement of the 1990s was an exception from the Russian historical norm which has been rather authoritarian? AA: Of course, if you look at the history of Russia since the 18th century, there have always been liberal groups, reformers and revolutionaries. There were the Decembrists, in the early 19th century, and the rural populists later on, who tried to organize the peasantry. A significant group of liberal Russians appeared at the turn of the 20th century, people like the father of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who was a Russian politician before the revolution. These groups were small in number, but sometimes had a broader significance. The Russian dissident movement in the 1950s and 1960s actually invented the modern human rights movement. It was their idea to hold the leaders of the Soviet Union accountable for the language they used, to remind them of the treaties they had signed and the promised they had made. They created the Helsinki group, for example, that held Soviet leadership to the language of the Helsinki Treaty, which formally ended the Second World War and which contained guarantees of human rights, at least on paper. That idea spread to Eastern Europe, and similar tactics were used here in Poland. (Benjamin Nathans recently wrote a great book about the Soviet dissidents, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause) JC: But seemingly, even if they do ever get power, they could never hold on to it. AA: We don’t know, because they have never really had power. But in any case, we also don’t know what will happen in the future. There is no reason to assume that Russia will forever be condemned to totalitarianism. Even during the first fifteen years of Putin’s regime there was some form of democratic politics. Only when the full-scale war began did he bring everything to an end: he shut down all remaining independent organizations and killed his most important opponent, Alexi Navalny. But does that mean he is popular, that he enjoys legitimacy? Even now, we don’t really know what Russians think about him, or about the war. There is no way of doing real polling in Russia because nobody will answer an independent pollster over the phone. JC: Do you think that the flock of young people, especially young men, who fled Russia after the start of the war represent a continuation of liberal movements that refuse to partake in the authoritarian state, or do you think they are moving for the sake of self-preservation – “I don’t want to go to the army, so I leave”? AA: I’m sure it’s both. I actually know many people who left Russia for political reasons either in the very last years before the war, or else just after the war began. JC: And do you see a change in the young generation versus the old one that have fled? AA: It’s hard for me to say because the people who I know were mostly already politicized. I do know some younger people who left, but most of them were already either active in the opposition, or working as journalists. Many of them very self-consciously think of themselves as maintaining Russian culture abroad, just as in the 20th century the Soviet dissidents or the anti-communist White Russians once thought of themselves as people who maintained the true Russian culture, outside of Bolshevik Russia. JC: Let’s move on to Poland. One of your first experiences with Poland was reporting on Margaret Thatcher’s first state visit, in the autumn of 1988. You followed her around the farmers’ market. AA: She was making a symbolic gesture. She wanted to welcome free markets, but the only one she could really visit was the farmers’ market at Hala Mirowska. JC: And I want to talk about this area because today you can look out of any window in that district, Mirów, and see rows and rows of skyscrapers. How does it feel to see a country built from the ground in such a short time, both politically and economically? AA: You know, when you’re living in a period of dramatic change, it’s always hard to know whether the change is positive or negative. The transformation in Poland created winners and losers, as well as new classes of people, new political movements of different kinds. At the time, it sometimes just felt like turbulence. Now, we can look back at the 1990s and early 2000s in Poland and see in retrospect that the country was headed in towards prosperity and European integration. In around 2009 or 2010, I remember speaking to a woman who worked cleaning government offices, and who asked me if her daughter should study in Amsterdam or in London. This seemed to me to be a real transformation, and it happened very fast: within a few years, Poles stopped feeling like second-class Europeans, and a generation of younger Poles appeared who had no qualms about crossing borders. JC: We again live in turbulent times. Do you think we’re heading towards positive outcomes? AA: I can’t make predictions, because everything that happens tomorrow depends on what people do today. Also, history doesn’t have a trajectory. It doesn’t move in a particular direction. You only think it does afterwards. As I said, you can look afterwards at Poland in the 1990s and you could say this was a period of great progress. But not everybody at the time saw that. Sometimes people are very wrong about a given country’s trajectory. I remember people writing about Ukraine in the 1990s, about how dangerous it was that Ukraine was independent, that this was going to be an anti-semitic state, that Ukrainian nationalism was going to come back... and although you can say many bad things about Ukraine, the country made many bad choices, actually it became a pretty tolerant state which now has a Jewish president and until recently a Muslim defense minister. JC: In the 1990s Poland’s and Ukraine’s GDP were roughly similar. Ukraine was even a bit richer. So the starting point was similar for both of these countries, but they’ve turned out very, very differently. Even if we stop in 2014. Why do you think Ukraine “chose East”? Was it external influence? AA: No, I think Ukraine was in a different position. First of all, central and eastern Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s, and had therefore experienced a longer period of occupation, repression, Sovietization and even Russification. Ukraine did not have, as Poland did, an alternative elite: a large cadre of economists and politicians, who already had some experience in opposition politics and in independent thinking. In Poland, the transformative finance minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, had already thought about how an economy might be decentralized before he took office. We can argue about how successful he was, but at least he was prepared to try something new. In Ukraine, people weren’t prepared. For one, there hadn’t been much space even for an illegal opposition in the previous couple of decades. Ukraine was also in many ways still emerging from colonial occupation. For the previous couple of centuries, many of the most capable Ukrainians had moved to Russia, and the first generation of leaders in independent Ukraine tended to be former Soviet apparatchiks. They didn’t immediately seek to become closer to western Europe. Instead, they looked for some kind of economic and political “third way” and an accomodation with Russia. Ukraine became stuck in this position, half-in, half-out and became pretty profoundly corrupt. JC: The Polish alternative elite had a vision of where they wanted the country to go. I think the general perception now is that this vision ends with the next election, right? Is this a natural process of gaining power? AA: Their vision, and it was shared by the time by politicians who now call themselves both left and right, was that Poland should join the EU and NATO, as fast as possible. My husband (Radek Sikorski) was in the very first government that said it wanted to join NATO. At the time this was taken very badly in Washington: the demand for NATO membership absolutely came from Poland, not from the US. But even then, in the early 1990s, many Poles already understood that the Russian sphere of influence would grow once again, that it was important to become part of the transatlantic alliance and an integrated Europe as fast as possible: NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe, all of the trading and security alliances. That consensus lasted through several different governments and over many years, even governments containing former communists. For twenty years, right, left and center disagreed about many things, but they all agreed on the direction that the country should go. In retrospect, that consensus created the basis for prosperity in Poland. JC: And regarding the Polish-Ukrainian relations. We know that antagonisms, e.g. the myth of Wołyń [a massacre of Poles that took place in what is now Western Ukraine, in 1943] are increasingly used in Polish political discourse today. In Ukraine, nationalist historians make heroes out of UPA, the Ukrainian revolutionary army, which is held responsible for this tragedy. Where do you see a start for burying the hatchet? Is the reconciliation of our nations possible? AA: So here’s a strange thing: For more than a decade after they both gained independence, Poland and Ukraine participated in a number of projects that were designed to solve exactly these kinds of Polish-Ukrainian differences. Books were published that were jointly written by Polish and Ukrainian historians, monuments were built. These projects were successful: If you’d asked me this question in 2010, I would have said that there are no real historical issues between Poland and Ukraine, that the two countries had mostly reconciled. For a number of reasons, this began to shift. In Poland, children and grandchildren of victims of the Wołyń massacre felt their tragedy hadn’t been fully recognized. In Ukraine, nationalist groups wanted the UPA partisans who had fought against the Soviet Union recognized for their heroism, despite the fact that some in this broad and not well-defined group were also linked to Wołyń. In both eastern Poland and western Ukraine, the memory of the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the late 1940s - Poles were moved West, Ukrainians East - to accomodate new borders has left feelings of displacement and bitterness. The wave of Ukrainian immigration, which started before the war, may have provoked some of this. But don’t underestimate the role played by Russia, which has always wanted to create discord between Poland and Ukraine, and pumps out propaganda to that effect in both countries. Vandalism on both sides of the border, damage done to cemeteries and monuments, is sometimes carried out by provacateurs working for Russia, just to create bad feelings. The Polish-Ukrainian conflict also hides a different reality: although there are real grievances and bad memories, the truth is that the biggest tragedies both nations experienced in the twentieth century were inflicted by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That should unite these two countries, not divide them. JC: This week (19.04.2026 – Ed.) in Hungary we saw that using historical narratives to create grievance has no longer worked. Are you optimistic about the direction after Orban’s loss? AA: The Hungarian election was really important because it shows that people can actually resist powerful, dominant propaganda. The ruling party Fidesz controlled all of the TV, 90% of the newspapers, the constitutional court, the bureaucracy... and yet people had the nerve to vote against it and resist it. It’s also an important election because Hungary created a huge network of well-funded think tanks and foundations that were funding other far right groups and projects. So that loss is going to have a knock-on effect in other places too, maybe even in Poland. JC: What you’ve said about resisting propaganda reminds me of one of the interviews you did about talking to Russians in the post-Soviet era who claimed that people knew that the system was lying. Why do people choose to believe in these regimes anyway? AA: Because it’s useful. Stephen Kotkin, an American historian, once described how people would learn how to “speak Bolshevik”: It was just a language that you needed to use in order to get by in society. If you didn’t talk the way the regime wanted you to talk, then you might have problems, or lose your job, or your kids would not get into university. It was a way of getting along. Communist Poland was similar, at least in the early years. When I was writing a book about the Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II, I met a lot of people who wanted to talk a lot about the war, when many of them had done really heroic things. But almost nobody wanted to talk about the decade afterwards, between 1945 and 1956. This was when you had the short period of terror, violence and Polish Stalinism. To stay safe, people felt the need to just go along with what others were saying, or stay out of politics, or use communist jargon without necessarily believing it. I don’t judge them for it, and I wouldn’t describe all of those people as collaborators. It’s easy to feel moral certainty in retrospect, because we know that communism ended. But if you were living in 1949, it might not have been clear to you that communism was going to end. In very repressive societies, maybe about 10% of people who are really evil – collaborators, torturers. Maybe 10% of people are really brave and who find ways to resist. And then around 80% of people have kids, they have parents, they have to have jobs and they’ve had to get through it somehow. Strange though it may sound, I’ve found that the work I did on that book is now very useful in explaining some of what’s going on in the United States today. There are plenty of members of the Republican Party in Congress who know perfectly well that Donald Trump says many things that aren’t true. But they avoid criticizing him because it’s inconvenient, because they would get in trouble, because someone would attack them on the internet. So actually you don’t even need mass terror to get people to conform. JC: Is Gen Z reinventing agency? AA: We’ll see. In any generation you can find groups of people who want agency. If you live in a society that’s unfair, for example where a tiny number of people have captured most of the wealth, then at a certain point people rebel. This is always easier for younger people, who have you have less to lose. The question now is how the internet will affect the relationships between citizens and the state, and how it will change organizations. The “Twitter revolutions” people spoke about as early as 2008-9, mass protests organized online, have often proved to be very superficial. Although you can easily join something just by clicking, the work of creating a real movement requires physical participation. Successful mass movements of the past, for example the Civil Rights movement in the United States, were built by people who had spent many years together. They had participated in non-violent workshops together. They practiced and prepared. Just using the you can get everybody to show up at a certain moment, but then when the protest is broken up, nothing happens. It’s also true that the repressive regimes have more recently learned how to use the internet to undermine leaders and movements. Most of all, they now understand how to make people cynical. The form of propaganda that most modern authoritarians use - and I think the Russians really pioneered this - deploys sneering cynicism. Instead of praising the rulers, the regime propagandists mock the opposition movement leadership for being supposedly corrupt or sexually degenerate, with the goal of undermining any kind of idealism. JC: MAGA grew on the internet? AA: MAGA is a real grassroots movement. They had symbols, red hats, they showed up at rallies. But you’re right that the cynicism, the sarcasm and the distrust that the movement embodies came originally from the internet, and this is different. Fifty years ago, most European political parties had a social base in real organizations, in trade unions for Social Democrats, in church groups for Christian Democrats. As people stopped going to church and as the trade unions became smaller, the social base of these parties disappeared. Now people who wouldn’t have known one another in the past meet on the internet and create new movements, many of which don’t last. JC: Is history ending? Going in stale circles? AA: History never ends. In truth, human beings want contradictory things at the same time: order and freedom, stability and change. These things are never resolved, and when a society swings too far in one direction, people always push it the other way. But each time that happens, the result is different. Certainly it is true that we are now in a period when old philosophers and ideas from the 1930s are undergoing a revival. Carl Schmitt, who was a philosopher who was very influential on the Nazis, is back as an influence on both the far left and the far right, once again inspiring people to think that all politics has to be existential, that all politics is about defining and defeating enemies. In the US, some are also bringing back dominionism, the idea that we need a Christian and not a secular state. It’s also true that we are living through a more fundamental shift. The old left-right divide, which was mostly about the size of the state, is much less important now. Instead, we are arguing about more fundamental things: what are our rights, what protects our freedom. Or how much power do we want to give small elites, versus how much power to give ordinary people. In America a small group of very wealthy people now control information, because they control the social media platforms and AI, which means they determine what people will read and learn. Finding a way to preserve preserve zones of autonomy and independent thinking, this is going to be the main task for the next generation. JC: What is the one book that a person interested in Central Europe should read? AA: You could read my book “Iron Curtain: the Crushing of Eastern Europe” which tells the story of how the Soviet Union imposed its culture on the region. Or read Tim Snyder’s history of the region, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.” And everyone should read “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz, which describes exactly the phenomenon we were talking about: why do people collaborate? I joined Scott Galloway and the brilliant Fiona Hill in a discussion about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. Scott told us that this was the 400th edition of his podcast, which is quite a number: My friend Francesco Chiamulera runs a brilliant series of literary events, Una Colline di Libri, A Hill of Books, in the Prosecco Hills, a region of vineyards and elegant hill towns in the Veneto, north of Venice. We did an event in Vittorio Veneto and also drove and biked around the countryside. Buy Autocracy Inc Buy Iron Curtain Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
What Genres and Streamers Won 2025? And Who Lost? Plus Six Strategy Thoughts
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Okay, time for the tenth and final article in my ten-part series recapping 2025. As I wrote two articles ago, my barometer for whether these articles are worth writing/publishing is whether they yield strategic insights, and once again, every subsection in this article has a strategic takeaway (or two). Honestly, these are the most important takeaways, since I step back and look holistically at the streaming wars in 2025. After I declare which streamers won and lost the year and which genres won and lost the year, I have six bonus thoughts. If you’d like to review the whole series... You can find the film flops here and here. You can find the TV shows flops here and here. You can find the top films here. You can find the top TV shows here, here and here. Then I declared my winners and losers in various categories here. You can find my 2024 recaps here. You can find the 2023 recaps here and here. And my 2022, 2021 and 2020 are all stored here. Yeah, it’s halfway through the year, and I’m just finishing this series up now. This year, I tried to space things out to not clog up my writing calendar, plus I had to wait for Fallout to (finally) drop off the charts. Well, that ended up pushing this series wayyyyy too far back on the calendar. Oh well. Next year, the goal will be to finish this series in March, but frankly, I just need more staff to make that happen. So please subscribe. Or, if you’re an advertiser (movie studio, FYC firm, or other), please reach out. Subscribe Streamer of the Year: Netflix Honorable Mention: Paramount (and CBS) So, just last week, I wrote about how Netflix has lost seven of its top twelve scripted shows in the last year. And I shared two very dour looks at Netflix’s potential slowdown this year and last. Guess what? They’re still the number one streamer in America. In 2025, they dominated new streaming shows (even if most of those new hit shows aren’t coming back for future seasons), they had the two biggest films, and they had the top returning TV show by a mile. The world is complicated, nuanced and messy. There may be warning signs of a future Netflix slowdown, but in 2025, Netflix was still the number one streamer. Note what I didn’t say? That Netflix has “won” the streaming wars, because obviously the streaming wars are still ongoing and, more importantly, YouTube is still growing—so now YouTube has “won” the streaming wars?—while Netflix’s share of TV consumption has stalled out. Avoid simplistic talking points, especially if they’re constantly repeated and could fit on a bumper sticker. I had trouble picking the second-place streamer this year, because all of the candidates for second place—Prime Video, HBO Max, and Paramount+—had some hits, but no one stood out. Then I saw this update from Nielsen on the top shows on TV in the 2025-206 season. Sure enough, Netflix had five of the top ten shows! And they had ten of the top 31 shows and fifteen of the top fifty. But CBS/Paramount+ actually had more shows in the top thirty and the top fifty. Paramount+/CBS had twelve of the top thirty shows and nineteen of the top fifty. Let me emphasize that: CBS/Paramount+ had more top shows in the 2025-2026 season than Netflix. And this look was just for TV shows, not live sports, an arena Netflix barely plays in. Meanwhile, Paramount-Skydance’s market cap is a fraction of Netflix’s. That’s weird, right? Streaming Loser of the Year, TV… We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… ...what streamer lost the year in TV... …whether Netflix could win the title for “film” streamer too… …who won the Disney vs Warner Bros. battle for theaters… ...what TV genres won and lost the year... ...what film genres won and lost the year... ...what film genre people think is thriving on streaming but isn’t… …why F-BOSSS TV shows don’t hold the same sway in the 2020s… …what it means to “flop” as a film on streaming… …UK shows underperforming on streaming… And a lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you’d like to read more about why you should subscribe, please read this article about the Streaming Ratings Report, why it matters, why you need it, and why we cover streaming ratings best.
Politics Unusual: NYC Schools Chancellor investigation, city budget conversation
In this episode of Politics Unusual, FOX 5 NY's political reporter Morgan McKay peaks with Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, about a potential finalized budget deal for New York City. Also, a conversation with Madina Touré, an education reporter at Politico, about the allegations the Schools Chancellor is now facing.
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, union agree to deal
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts and the Chocolate Workers union have reached a deal, averting a potential strike.
AI was supposed to cut health care costs. One of its first jobs was charging you more, PwC report shows
AI is one of five potential drivers of health costs climbing up to 9% in 2027, according to PwC.
The World Cup Is Bringing Millions to the U.S. Should You Worry About Infectious Diseases?
Doctors weigh in about the potential disease risks of a major international event like the World Cup.
'Toxic gases, carcinogens': Tracy medical warehouse fire raises air quality concerns as smoke billows
San Joaquin County officials are warning residents about potential health risks as thick black smoke from the Tracy medical warehouse fire continues to billow on Friday. County public health officials said respiratory irritants, toxic gases, carcinogens, and "at least one neurotoxin" are present in the smoke and could impact nearby communities downwind.
Stranger Than Heaven will explore Tupac's "potential future" if "he was still alive now", according to RGG studio head
Stranger Than Heaven's Tupac Shakur cameo will "try to envision who Tupac might be now", RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama has said.
Suitors for Oilers' Darnell Nurse Emerge After Trade Request
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Combining the general and the specific for urban science and policy
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Texas Republicans press for local control over spread of AI data centers on first day of convention in Houston
The proposed language by the party’s Legislative Priorities Committee appears to have strong support from rural delegates, but it potentially stands at odds with the priorities of Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders.
IndyCar fines drivers, clarifies potential penalties for technical infractions
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‘Bad policy and even worse politics’: DeSantis spurns potential White House AI preemption
The Trump administration’s longstanding opposition to state AI laws ultimately killed legislation in Florida, and now Gov. Ron DeSantis fears policies in other states could fall by the wayside.
What Do Analysts Think About Universal Health Services (UHS) Amid Its Decline To 52-Week Low?
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The deadly tapeworm spreading across America has reached the Pacific Northwest
A potentially dangerous tapeworm linked to severe, cancer-like disease has now been found in the Pacific Northwest, marking its first detection in wild animals along the U.S. West Coast. Researchers discovered the parasite, Echinococcus multilocularis, in 37% of coyotes tested around Puget Sound—a surprisingly high rate for a region where it had never been reported until recently.
Democrats prepare for potential election interference in midterms
The Democrats are wargaming messaging strategies over fears that Donald Trump may try to influence the midterm elections
Xbox CEO Openly Floats the Need for Third-Party Exclusives and “Potential M&A” to Win in Hardware, PC, Mobile, and Streaming
Xbox’s CEO says the platform may need third-party exclusives and potential M&A to compete across hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming.
Social Security is Facing a Political Crisis
On Tuesday the Social Security Trustees released their latest report on the system’s finances. The numbers didn’t change much: Unless something is done, the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, Social Security’s official name, will be unable to pay full benefits starting in either 2032 or 2034, depending on some technical issues. That’s not far away: If the Trustees are right, the prospect of a Social Security crisis will loom over the next presidential administration. It’s important to understand, however, the nature of the looming crisis. It won’t be an economic crisis. It won’t even be a serious fiscal crisis. Whatever you may have heard, Social Security isn’t in danger of going bankrupt. What we’re facing, instead, is potential political crisis. Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system. But given the current state of our politics, there’s no guarantee that they will. There is a widespread misunderstanding of how Social Security works. While Social Security was designed to look like a pension fund, it isn’t. A pension fund pays benefits out of a stock of assets it has accumulated over time. In contrast, Social Security operates as a government transfer program, like food stamps or Medicaid. Now, unlike food stamps — but like the highway trust fund — Social Security is on paper supported by a dedicated tax, the payroll tax, that is assigned to that program. But I say “on paper” because from an economic point of view assigning the payroll tax to Social Security is just an accounting convention. What matters for the U.S. economy is the overall balance between government spending and government revenue, not the difference between one type of spending and one source of revenue. So there’s no inherent economic significance to the fact that by 2034 payroll tax receipts will be insufficient to cover promised benefits. There is, however, a legislative issue. As long as the Social Security Administration can pay benefits out of payroll taxes and its cash reserve, there’s no need for Congress to vote each year to authorize benefits — they just keep going out until further notice. However, once those resources become insufficient, benefits will fall —by 17 percent according to the Trustees — unless Congress passes new legislation that “tops up” Social Security’s finances. Yet the current administration and Republican party are such extremists that there is a real risk that Social Security will be held hostage on behalf of their goals. If this should come to pass, the hostage-takers will claim that shoring up Social Security is unaffordable. Right on cue, Mike Johnson, the Trump-sycophant Speaker of the House, declared on Monday that “entitlement programs” like Social Security “have to be adjusted and fixed,” and that Republicans will introduce a plan to that effect next year. But this is a ploy, because while the cost of maintaining Social Security benefits at their promised level isn’t trivial, it is in fact affordable. According to the Trustees’ report, the actuarial balance of OASDI up through 2050 — the amount of additional funds it would need to keep paying full benefits for the next 25 years — is 1.06 percent of GDP. To put that number in perspective, the Trump administration proposes increasing military spending next year by $420 billion, equivalent to about 1.4 percent of GDP – without any discussion of whether that’s affordable Yet how did we get to the point where Social Security will need to be topped up? The main answer is that we have an aging population, with a growing ratio of retirees collecting benefits to workers paying into the system: Trump’s anti-immigration policies are making this problem worse. According to the Trustees’ report, lower immigration will deepen Social Security’s financial hole because many immigrants are working-age adults who will pay into the system for decades before they collect benefits. In fact, this problem may be much bigger than the report acknowledges: The report’s baseline assumption is that we’ll have net immigration of almost 1.2 million people a year, and even the pessimistic case assumes 750,000 a year. Meanwhile actual net immigration has already been cut far below that — and may now be negative. Moreover, Social Security is being financially damaged by growing income inequality in America. Payroll taxes are levied only on wages up to $184,500, and they don’t touch capital income. With the distribution of income increasingly shifting from labor to capital, as well as becoming more unequal among wage-earners, revenue from the Social Security payroll tax has been falling as a share of national income. From 1990 to 2024, it fell from 5.02 percent of gross domestic income to 4.46 percent. Which brings me to the question that, these days, we ask about everything: How might Social Security be affected by the advent of AI? A short answer: If, as many of us fear, AI accelerates rising income inequality, it will further reduce the payroll tax receipts that currently pay for Social Security and further endanger its finances. On the other hand, if AI, as its advocates promise, leads to faster economic growth, it will increase the potential tax base that could and should be used to support Social Security and other social insurance programs. But to take advantage of that larger base, we’ll have to get serious about taxing wealth and capital income. Is Social Security in trouble? Yes, but only because of the way its financing is currently structured — a structure that no longer works well because our society and economy have become so unequal. Moreover, Trump’s immigration policies are further endangering its already deteriorating financial condition. So don’t believe Republicans’ gaslighting that it will be necessary to cut Social Security benefits. All that is necessary to preserve Social Security is political will to raise taxes on the wealthy and a sensible immigration policy. MUSICAL CODA Actually 67 under current law.
The road test: Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s strategy ahead of a potential 2028 campaign
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is truly undecided about what she’ll do in 2028, when she can run for president or for the seat held by Sen. Chuck Schumer. But Ocasio-Cortez is positioning herself to try to reach nationally beyond the deepest blue parts of the Democratic base — and making clear in private that whatever she decides, she has no interest in being merely a protest candidate.
WHO urges targeted action to strengthen emergency workforce capacities for shared health risks across the Asia-Pacific region
At a time when the world is more interconnected than ever, the World Health Organization (WHO) is disseminating a comprehensive regional analysis of shared health risks across Asia and the Pacific, urging Member States to invest in enhancing workforce capacities regionwide to mitigate these risks and ensure health systems are better prepared to anticipate, tackle and withstand a range of crises and shocks. Over 100 delegates from 49 countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region reviewed results from the regional risk analysis during the WHO-led Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework (APHSAF) Stakeholders Meeting in Malaysia. Synthesizing insights from 21 strategic risk assessments and more than 800 multisectoral experts, the regional analysis highlighted an urgent imperative: countries must proactively invest in emergency workforce preparedness to navigate a landscape where climate hazards, disease outbreaks and geophysical events increasingly overlap. These complex converging crises create devastating, compounding impacts on health systems and communities – reiterating the need for investing in a fit-for-purpose regional health workforce and multisectoral action.Key findings: an evolving risk landscape More than half of the participating countries ranked flooding, cyclones, dengue and pandemic-potential respiratory pathogens as being of high or very high risk, while antimicrobial resistance, landslides and gastroenteritis remain widespread concerns as well. “Given that 51% – over half – of these assessed hazards are deeply interconnected, isolated health interventions are no longer sufficient,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Extreme weather events like cyclones and floods directly trigger subsequent disease outbreaks, while environmental degradation – driven by sea-level rise, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion – fuels health risks across the Pacific. Mitigating these cascading risks requires unified, cross-sectoral action linking environmental, agricultural and public health policies to build true regional resilience.” Priority recommendations for action To address critical vulnerabilities, WHO calls on Member States in the Asia-Pacific region to urgently prioritize the following strategic actions: Bridge workforce capacity gaps. Embed and standardize emergency preparedness within academia to promote regional workforce interoperability. Foster multisectoral coordination. Address ad-hoc taskforce responses and fragmented surge support through formalized contingency plans and standard operating procedures that are frequently updated and tested. Secure sustainable financing for emergencies. Overcome systemic barriers to access dedicated funding for both immediate anticipatory actions and long-term emergency preparedness initiatives. Enable emergency-ready primary health care. Embed emergency management into public health workforce readiness planning. Ensure that emergency planning is inclusive. Establish clear pathways for inclusive emergency planning that actively involves communities most at risk and other vulnerable groups. Optimize communication. Update risk communication and community engagement strategies, aligning them with seasonal risk calendars. Elevating workforce readiness to meet regional health risks While the gaps identified are significant, the Asia-Pacific region possesses solid foundational pillars, including dedicated clinicians, laboratory staff, rapid response teams, emergency medical teams and extensive community networks. However, to adequately address the compounding nature of modern crises, the various components of the emergency workforce must collaborate cohesively. True resilience depends entirely on transforming this currently fragmented workforce into a highly trained, interconnected and rapidly deployable asset. To achieve this, WHO is actively advancing regional workforce capacities through the Global Health Emergency Corps initiative. This initiative – supported by the Gates Foundation and the Institute of Philanthropy – seeks to build a seamless network of emergency workforce across borders and sectors, ensuring that when a crisis strikes, a standardized, well-coordinated and trained workforce is immediately ready to respond. “Scaling up emergency workforce readiness is no longer optional,” said Dr Gina Samaan, Regional Emergency Director for WHO in the Western Pacific. “It is the definitive factor that will determine how effectively the Asia-Pacific region safeguards health and protects lives in an increasingly unpredictable future.” ____________________For more information, or to arrange media interviews, contact: Ara Johannes, WHO Western Pacific Health Emergencies Division: johannesa@who.int WHO Western Pacific Communications: wprocom@who.int
New map estimates health impacts from oil refineries across the Mountain West
People living near oil refineries can often see or smell signs of industrial pollution. Now, a new interactive map aims to help them better understand the potential health impacts associated with those facilities.
Sporting KC pushing to sign Toulouse winger Yann Gboho: Sources
Any potential deal would easily be a club-record fee for Sporting KC.