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Rights group warns Israel's policies are pushing the West Bank healthcare system to collapse
A new report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel warns that Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank have pushed the territory’s health system to the brink of collapse.
Six more Central Florida eateries such down amid health issues
Last week, half a dozen Central Florida eateries were forced to shut down temporarily after a visit from a health inspectors, according to state records.
Dozens of health workers at epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak protest lack of payment
Health workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are protesting over unpaid wages.
Dozens of health workers at epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak protest lack of payment
Dozens of health workers working at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are protesting Thursday to demand payment for their wages.
Leader of Myanmar's military-backed government arrives in Thailand seeking political legitimacy
The leader of Myanmar's military-backed government has arrived in Thailand on an official visit.
Leader of Myanmar's military-backed government arrives in Thailand seeking political legitimacy
The leader of Myanmar's military-backed government has arrived in Thailand on an official visit.
Senate confirms Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director, bringing new leadership to troubled agency
Dr. Erica Schwartz has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Disney's strong quarter driven by 'Toy Story 5' and the draw of its US theme parks
Disney managed a solid showing in its third quarter, bolstered by movies like “Toy Story 5” and ongoing strength from its U.S. theme parks that made up for continued weakness from international tourism.
Disney's strong quarter driven by 'Toy Story 5' and the draw of its US theme parks
Disney managed a solid showing in its third quarter, bolstered by movies like “Toy Story 5” and ongoing strength from its U.S. theme parks that made up for continued weakness from international tourism.
Space for music on late-night TV has dwindled. New media seeks to offer an alternative
When CBS ended “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” earlier this year, it also shuttered the program’s robust music offerings.
Orange County weighs restrictions on exotic wildlife entertainment after Sloth World controversy
Nearly a year after the Sloth World controversy sparked outrage across Central Florida, Orange County leaders are exploring whether they can prevent a similar situation from happening again.
This summer isn't breaking heat records — yet. Wait until El Nino kicks in, scientists say
With parts of the globe aflame in wildfires, deadly heat waves parking over cities, record hot oceans and a strengthening super El Nino, it seems like we’re baking through the hottest year on record.
This summer isn't breaking heat records -- yet. Wait until El Nino kicks in, scientists say
With parts of the globe aflame in wildfires, deadly heat waves parking over cities, record hot oceans and a strengthening super El Nino, it seems like we’re baking through the hottest year on record.
This summer isn't breaking heat records -- yet. Wait until El Nino kicks in, scientists say
With parts of the globe aflame in wildfires, deadly heat waves parking over cities, record hot oceans and a strengthening super El Nino, it seems like we’re baking through the hottest year on record.
‘I did not steal’: Jacksonville businesses accuse influencer of taking money without delivering. He denies it
A social media influencer accused by Jacksonville-area businesses of taking money for food reviews and failing to deliver what they expected is pushing back against the allegations, saying he never stole from anyone and that some of the claims against him are false.
Politics & Power: Scandals, splits, uncertain road to November mean midterms are still in flux
Scandals, ideological schisms, and foreign‑policy crises have blurred the midterm map. Candidate quality, outside spending, and voter perceptions of the economy — plus President Donald Trump’s outsized role — will determine control of Congress.
Comedian Jenny Yang uses a comedy tour to uplift immigrants, one grocery store at a time
Comic Jenny Yang has turned cultural grocery stores into comedy clubs for her summer tour.
Cowboys’ Ryan Flournoy steps up as offense loads up with playmakers
The pads are on at Dallas Cowboys training camp, and one thing is becoming increasingly clear: The Cowboys have a lot of mouths to feed on offense.
Methodist Healthcare acquires 18 Texas MedClinic locations in San Antonio
Methodist Healthcare announced the acquisition of 18 Texas MedClinic urgent care facilities in San Antonio on Monday.
If Not AOC, Then Who?
What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 Democratic primary. Doing so in 2024 was a disaster: our abstention self-marginalized anti-billionaire politics from the national conversation and thereby gave space for Harris to pivot to the “center” (i.e. the policy preferences of corporate donors, establishment hacks, and AIPAC). Abstaining again in 2028 would be especially counterproductive since democratic socialists now have so much wind in our sails after our big electoral wins in NYC and across the country. It’s time to deepen our momentum, organization, and profile — not to retreat to the margins during America’s single most important political battle. Even more urgently, keeping Trump’s heir out of the White House may depend on whether leftists and the party’s unprecedentedly disenchanted base can force the Democrats in 2028 to take meaningful steps towards a very angry electorate and away from the corporate-consultant blob that has helped get us into this mess. If AOC (or Abdul El-Sayed) decides to run, we should enthusiastically go all in — DSA, fighting unions, progressive organizations, anybody who wants to see a better country and world. But, as far as I can tell from the outside, there’s a real chance that she doesn’t run. And we can’t just wait and see where she lands before discussing alternatives, since AOC’s decision might not come for quite a while, giving us little time to scramble at the last minute for an alternative. So we should start working now on getting a Plan B into motion, and recruiting a good candidate for the role. Here’s one idea. A Worker Candidate — Healthcare Not Warfare 2028 Run a union worker Leftists don’t need to always run experienced, well-known socialist politicians for high-profile contests. Lula, the current president of Brazil, began his political career as a metalworker militant who ran for governor of São Paulo in 1982. Especially in an era of institutional distrust, it’s possible to lean hard into making a virtue out of a working-class comrade’s distance from traditional politics. Experience abroad shows this clearly. Rachel Kéké — an immigrant hotel housekeeper — ran as the candidate of the leftist La France Insoumise for the National Assembly in 2022, defeating a former minister in the Macron government. The Belgian Workers’ Party in 2024 won its first Flemish seat in the European Parliament by running Rudi Kennes, a three-decade veteran of the Opel Antwerp auto factory. And the South Korean left in 2024 elected auto factory militant Yoon Jong-oh to the National Assembly. If a tiny French Trotskyist organization could make such a big splash in 2002 and 2007 by running a well-spoken postal worker cadre for office — the LCR’s Olivier Besancenot received about 1.5 million first-round votes — it’s not far-fetched to expect that a much larger organization like DSA, together with a broader coalition of the willing, could run this playbook to much greater effect. This is especially the case now that almost everything DSA does immediately becomes a national news story. We don’t need someone famous. We just need a charismatic, well-vetted comrade who works in a relatable working-class occupation — e.g. a nurse, or a worker in auto or construction, or at Amazon. Ideally, they have a compelling personal story or have been part of a significant strike or organizing campaign, but even those criteria don’t necessarily have to be deal-breakers. The main lesson of the Graham Platner fiasco isn’t that we should never run outsiders for office (the momentum he generated proves the exact opposite), but that they need proper vetting and roots in democratic membership organizations like DSA or a union. In any case, there are plenty of ways to signal working-class authenticity without resorting to Platner’s or Fetterman’s performative macho white dude affect. Better to have someone of any gender or race who is actually working class, with firm socialist politics, who can speak from experience about the day-to-day realities of trying to make it in America. There are surely at least a dozen such worker leaders in our movement nationwide; we just need to sit down and convince one that their personal sacrifice for the greater good (i.e. running for president) will be worth it. If we don’t have a frontrunner with a clear path to victory like AOC (or El-Sayed, were he to win Michigan), it’s better to embrace someone whose decision to run in itself tells an important story about US politics: workers have been iced out of our political system and are now fighting hard to break back in. The novelty factor, in itself, would generate press. And it would help democratic socialists signal to the American public that our movement’s defining characteristic is that we represent workers vs. bosses, not that we’re “the furthest left” force in American politics — a framework that suggests we’re extremists and that helps our opponents isolate us from non-college-educated voters by highlighting extremely minoritarian (and misguided) stances included in DSA’s platform like prison abolition. We don’t get many opportunities to speak to tens of millions of Americans; we need to use these opportunities to broaden our appeal beyond those already in our orbit. Run to polarize the 2028 primary and general election around “Medicare for All” and “End All Aid to Israel” Why should democratic socialists use our scarce time and volunteer energy to run in a race we’re unlikely to win? Running in the 2028 primary will not only recruit us scores of members (imagine having a DSA member intervening in eleven nationally televised primary debates!), but — more importantly — it has the potential to be a decisive leap forward towards an America that finally starts meeting the needs of working people instead of HMO and AIPAC billionaire donors. Polarizing litmus tests are good, actually — as long as they’re fought for around popular demands in a thoughtful and strategic way. Democratic socialists have an opportunity and responsibility to make the 2028 primary about two of the most widely and deeply felt issues of our moment: domestically, America’s unaffordable, family-breaking private healthcare system; internationally, America’s bankrolling of the genocidal Israeli government. A candidacy relentlessly demanding Medicare for All and No Aid to Israel would pose a sharp question to the American public, the Democratic Party, and other 2028 contenders: Why can’t working-class Americans afford their healthcare bills at the same time that our government is spending at least $3.8 billion yearly to fund an Israeli regime eager to keep dragging us and the world into more forever wars? Our candidate can agitate around a clear message: I’m running to give voice to all those working-class Americans who are struggling to get by. No matter what state you live in, who you voted for in 2024, or your background, it’s just plain common sense that we should make healthcare more affordable instead of spending billions to enable the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity. Every American who agrees with me when I say ‘Medicare for All — Not a Dime for Israel’ should make their voice heard through our campaign. Racking up a high number of votes for this agenda is a crucial way to show the Democratic Party and the country as a whole that we can’t keep supporting a life-destroying status quo in our healthcare system and in the Middle East. If we want to defeat Trump’s handpicked crony this coming November, we need to speak to ordinary people’s frustrations with the status quo — we can’t keep running the same tired establishment playbook and expecting a different result. For those highly engaged voters (or skeptical media pundits) who raise concerns about wasting votes, the candidate can take the time to explain why this isn’t the case: It's true I'm a long shot. But Zohran showed anything can happen — and voting for me is a pragmatic decision, not a wasted vote. In a heavily divided primary with a large number of candidates and a very discredited establishment, my campaign and the democratic socialist movement I’m part of are positioned to be the balance of power if we can get a large enough number of voters to loudly demand Healthcare Not Warfare. Since there’s a high chance no candidate will get to 50% in the 2028 primaries, the Democrats could very well be heading towards a brokered convention, where a disciplined, principled current committed to breaking from corporate donors can play an outsized role in making sure whoever ends up with the nomination raises the banner of single-payer healthcare and cutting aid to Israel. How exactly could running this sort of primary campaign be translated into actual leverage? The candidate replies: I’m aiming to win the nomination, but if I don’t achieve that goal, my delegates and I will pledge our support in the primary only for a candidate who agrees in the general election to call for ending US aid to Israel and establishing Medicare for All at home. These are both winning planks for November against the Republicans, and the only reason I can see that other candidates haven’t yet raised these is that they’re still more scared of the donor class than they are of the people. That needs to change. If Democratic leaders want young people, workers, and those sick of the status quo to show up in big numbers this November, they need to meet us halfway. In this way, whether or not we win the nomination, democratic socialists could still play a decisive role in 2028. The approach outlined here is similar to what radical left parties periodically do in parliamentary democracies like Denmark or Sweden when they find themselves as a junior partner electorally: they dictate to center-left allies what their terms would be for enabling, from the outside, the formation of a new government. Running a Healthcare Not Warfare candidate will make it significantly more likely that the 2028 Democratic candidate stands with ordinary people instead of donors on these two pivotal planks — a shift that will, in turn, make it easier to achieve the existentially important task of defeating MAGA’s heir in November. Look at how much popular traction the Uncommitted movement got with a similar strategy in 2024 with so little on-the-ground organization — surely we can go much further with a working-class candidate, a much bigger DSA, and a Democratic Party base that has turned against Israel, billionaires, and the hacks in the party who prop them up. Objections and Responses There are quite a few objections to this proposal, many of which are very reasonable. Let me briefly address each here. Socialists shouldn’t waste their scarce time and resources on a candidate unlikely to win. This is a good rule in general, but there are important exceptions, and presidential elections are the main one. There’s no other political contest that gets anything like this level of attention and engagement in the US, so if you want to be a serious force in nationwide politics, you basically can’t afford not to have a candidate. Far from being an overall drain on our resources, running a dynamic 2028 campaign would likely result in a major net increase in members and capacity. In that spirit, the very pragmatic Milwaukee sewer socialists — who mostly ran to win at home in Wisconsin — supported Eugene Debs’s propagandistic presidential campaigns, which they correctly saw as a crucial means of recruiting to the Socialist Party. And now that the (post-1972) Democratic Party gives more weight to voters than party operatives in determining its presidential nomination, it’s become feasible to run as a socialist in primaries without risking a split in the vote against the Republicans in November. We should just support Ro Khanna, who also supports M4A and ending aid to Israel. I like Ro Khanna and would enthusiastically vote and canvass for him for president were he to get the nomination. But there’s a real chance that Khanna’s bid for office doesn’t catch on; he lacks the grassroots organizational apparatus of DSA, and, because he’s not really of the Left or labor (despite his current very good positions), he’s unlikely to generate the type of buy-in and enthusiasm that a DSA candidate would. Moreover, Khanna would be running as an individual, not as someone emerging from and building an organized movement — his campaign would not likely focus on building sustained power from below, nor would it likely polarize the 2028 primary around M4A and Israel aid. Also, and not inconsequentially, the poor electoral results for Tom Steyer and Saikat Chakrabarti this spring suggest that there’s perhaps not much of a popular appetite in the Democrats’ base to support multi-millionaire class traitors. Much better, then, to run a democratic socialist worker. If by Super Tuesday it’s clear that our campaign has captured the main left lane in the primary, Khanna should drop out and endorse us; conversely, if he’s managed to capture this lane, DSA could at that point transform its Healthcare Not Warfare campaign into an independent campaign to elect Ro Khanna focused on winning (and holding him accountable to) those two critical planks. An openness to consolidating an anti-corporate candidate by Super Tuesday is a necessary component of the strategy I’m proposing, because otherwise we risk splitting the primary votes (per DNC rules, you need at least 15% to get any delegates to convention). We should convince Shawn Fain or Sara Nelson to run for president instead. I agree it’d be great if either ran for president, but my impression is that there’s basically no chance that will happen in 2028, because both are firmly focused on their union leadership duties (and, in the case of Fain, beating back a federal witch-hunt). This plan could have DSA end up endorsing a non-socialist, non-DSAer for president. That’s against our principles. It’s a myth, and bad politics, that socialists can’t ever support candidates who aren’t members of their organization and/or who don’t call themselves socialists. Bernie, after all, was not a DSAer. And socialists abroad regularly make tactical decisions about if and when supporting a non-socialist candidate makes sense from the standpoint of promoting working-class interests, defending democracy, and building a socialist current in the process. If your “principles” prevent you and DSA from helping achieve the momentous stride forward of having a Democratic candidate in 2028 run on Medicare for All and ending aid to Israel, those “principles” are not very good. In fact, they actively undermine the causes they’re aiming to support. We shouldn’t confuse principles (working-class independence) with tactics (the best way to advance this in a given context). In my recent article in Catalyst on Milwaukee sewer socialism (I’ve uploaded the full text here), I have a section showing how similarly rigid rules about endorsements had to be eventually discarded in the old Socialist Party nationwide after WWI because they tended to lead socialists towards a sectarian abstention from broader anti-corporate electoral insurgencies beyond their party’s control. For what it’s worth, Lenin’s current under Tsarism frequently backed bourgeois candidates in the second round of elections and Lenin himself advocated that British Communists support Labour Party candidates; for his part, Kautsky in 1912 defended the German Social Democracy’s electoral pact with the Progressives in the runoffs. If our predecessors could be that tactically flexible in an era before the limits of their underlying strategic assumptions about intransigent class politics in capitalist democracies were made clear, then there’s no need to insist on being more tactically rigid today, after a century’s worth of accumulated experience. As long as you maintain your own political profile and organization while engaging in broader coalitional efforts, there’s zero inherent contradiction with the principle of political independence. More specifically: DSA and allied organizations should enthusiastically back Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed if AOC declines to run and he throws his hat in the presidential ring. (I have no idea whether he’s even considering this path, but there’ll surely be chatter about it if he wins his Senate race this November.) Though he doesn’t call himself a socialist, El-Sayed is a principled Berniecrat, a consistent fighter for Palestine, and would have a clear path to victory. Using the “s” word is far less important than whether a campaign fights for the interests of working people at home and abroad — and whether actively participating in it can grow the organized working class and the Left. And the same holds true if a less anti-corporate candidate were, under pressure, to adopt our two Healthcare Not Warfare planks. Why focus only on M4A and ending US aid to Israel? There are so many other important issues to fight for! Obviously there are many pivotal issues beyond healthcare and Israel, and our candidate — and especially our organizations involved in the campaign — should be prepared to speak on all of these. But one of the crucial lessons of the Zohran campaign is that you have to relentlessly stay on message if you want to cut through the noise. CNN and Fox News will want to talk about DSA’s views on Venezuela and abolishing the police; we need to polarize the debate on the widely and deeply felt issues that are most favorable for growing the Left, isolating our opponents, and winning urgently needed changes. One recent poll found 63% of Americans support M4A, even after respondents were told it would raise taxes and eliminate most private insurance. Another found that 74% of Democrats opposed “providing additional economic and military support to Israel.” And focusing on two demands sets the campaign up to be able to leverage its mandate to make clear demands upon other candidates (which we can’t do if we run with a laundry list of demands). Talking about a Plan B is a distraction from the more urgent work of building a groundswell of calls on AOC to run. It’s good for DSAers, fightback unionists, and progressive organizations to try to convince AOC to run. This proposal is meant as an addendum to pushes to get AOC to run and to line DSA up for that eventuality, not as a substitute for those efforts. But I’m worried that, like in 2024, we might eventually find ourselves with no time to find a viable alternative unless we start now. DSA, with its abundant deliberative processes, moves slowly. The approach you’re suggesting seems risky. If a DSA candidate runs but doesn’t receive a lot of votes, it’ll undercut our current national momentum. This is a reasonable worry. All big initiatives always carry risks, and the path I’m advocating is certainly not free of these. That said, if a Healthcare Not Warfare campaign doesn’t catch on like we envisioned, it’s a pretty simple pivot in March 2028 to explain that in the future we really need our standard-bearers like AOC, or our growing bench of national electeds, to step up in presidential primaries. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the risk of my Plan B proposal is on the whole significantly less than the risk entailed by an AOC run. We should all back her if she runs, since she’d fire up the base, provide huge openings for organizing, have a real shot at defeating a Republican (especially given MAGA’s unpopularity), be a great standard-bearer for our issues, particularly M4A and ending aid to Israel, and be less willing than mainstream candidates to capitulate to any anti-democratic machinations from Trump and co. But it’s also true that AOC could lose, which would be a devastating setback to the country and the Left. Or she could win and find herself unable to pass much, if any, of her (and our) program, a demoralizing prospect. So if we’re willing to take these risks with AOC (and we should), it follows that we should be able to take lower-level risks if she doesn’t throw her hat in the ring. What’s Your Plan B? The US Left is facing its biggest opening for growth and influence since the 1930s. Initiatives that would have been impossible a few months ago are now potentially feasible. A President AOC is now easier to imagine, but if she ultimately assesses that the risks aren’t worth the potential reward in 2028, we can’t be left flat-footed. So even if you’re not convinced by the specifics of my Plan B, I hope you can at least agree that it’d be a disaster for us not to have one — and not to start getting a Plan B into motion. Hopefully other organizers and political currents will put forward their responses and alternative ideas ASAP. The stakes are too high to just wait and see. More As always, please share this article widely. This newsletter depends on all you lovely people to get the word out. Thank you! I uploaded the full text of my Catalyst article on Milwaukee sewer socialism here (it’s updated and 3x as long as the version published earlier on this substack). If you haven’t yet, please make sure to subscribe to Catalyst here; I read every issue front to back, highly recommend. 🌹🎵 Ivan Lins (arranged by Arthur Verocai) — “General da Banda” 🌹🎵
Jacksonville-based Complete Health to pay $14M in Medicare Advantage settlement
Complete Health Partners Holdings has agreed to pay $14.1 million to settle allegations that it caused false diagnosis codes to be submitted to boost payments from the Medicare Advantage program, the Department of Justice said.
Felicis hires Graham Littlehale to lead hard-tech startup focus
The venture capital firm, best known for bets on Shopify, Notion, and Mercor, has hired a new partner to invest in physical world technologies.
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the Kansas state primary
Kansas Republicans will narrow down a crowded field for governor in a state primary Tuesday as they look to retake the state’s top office after eight years of Democratic rule.
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Missouri’s state primary
St. Louis-area congressman Wesley Bell faces a Democratic primary rematch Tuesday with former congresswoman Cori Bush, who lost the seat to Bell in 2024.
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Washington state's primary
Nine contenders for one of the nation’s most hotly contested congressional seats will compete in the Washington state primary on Tuesday.
Ariana Grande withdraws from a London musical and will take a break from the public eye
Ariana Grande has pulled out of an upcoming stage musical in London.
Ariana Grande withdraws from a London musical and will take a break from the public eye
Ariana Grande has pulled out of an upcoming stage musical in London.
Healthwatch: Staying hydrated as fall sports kick off
As fall sports ramp up, it’s more important than ever for student-athletes to focus on hydration.
Maryland lawmakers to consider steps toward partisan redistricting for 2028
Maryland lawmakers are set to kick off a special session to consider a first step in a partisan redistricting initiative that could help Democrats pick up an additional U.S. House seat by 2028.
Blanche rescinds fund for Trump supporters after GOP senators threaten to block his AG bid
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund to compensate his political allies.
Darline Graham promotes Trump's agenda in her political debut ahead of special primary
Sen. Darline Graham made her political debut before hundreds of Republican voters in South Carolina on Saturday, saying that she never envisioned a life in poli
Eagles waive veteran defensive end Ta’Quon Graham
The Eagles waived veteran defensive lineman Ta’Quon Graham, opening a spot on their training camp roster
Ohio GOP Rep. Miller says 'I'm not dropping out,' defends himself against claims of domestic abuse
Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller is pledging to remain in his race for reelection.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ nets second best North American opening ever with $355 million
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has made box office history in its first weekend, becoming the second biggest North American opening ever with $355 million in ticket sales.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ nets second best North American opening ever with $355 million
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has made box office history in its first weekend, becoming the second biggest North American opening ever with $355 million in ticket sales.
Los Pueblitos at Market Square closing after 30 years in business
Los Pueblitos, a colorful shop known for handcrafted pottery, jewelry, clothing and gifts from Mexico and other Latin American countries, is closing its doors at Market Square after more than 30 years in business.
Darline Graham promotes Trump's agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
As one of nine Republicans seeking to replace him more permanently in a special primary election set for Aug. 11, Graham is a relative political unknown facing off against some of the state's best-known GOP names.
Darline Graham promotes Trump’s agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Darline Graham made her political debut before hundreds of Republican voters in South Carolina on Saturday, saying that she never envisioned a life in politics for herself…
Darline Graham promotes Trump's agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
Sen. Darline Graham has made her political debut in South Carolina, stepping into the spotlight after her brother Lindsey Graham's death to advocate for President Donald Trump's policy priorities.
Darline Graham makes her political debut in South Carolina
Sen. Darline Graham has made her political debut in South Carolina, stepping into the spotlight after her brother Lindsey Graham's death to advocate for President Donald Trump's policy priorities.
Darline Graham promotes Trump's agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
Sen. Darline Graham has made her political debut in South Carolina, stepping into the spotlight after her brother Lindsey Graham's death to advocate for President Donald Trump's policy priorities
Darline Graham promotes Trump's agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
Sen. Darline Graham has made her political debut in South Carolina, stepping into the spotlight after her brother Lindsey Graham's death to advocate for President Donald Trump's policy priorities.
Trump's housing regulator Bill Pulte says he'll hand over intel reins to Jay Clayton on Monday
The two-month tenure of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence will officially come to an end on Monday.
The Guy Who Recruited Graham Platner Has a History of Sexual Misconduct Allegations Too
Is this why Platner made it so far?
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says he's 'very concerned' Trump will interfere in the midterm elections
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland says he's concerned that President Trump might use federal power to influence the fall elections.
‘Trump threw us all a curveball’: South Carolina Republicans are stewing about Lindsey Graham’s old Senate seat
When President Donald Trump helped orchestrate Darline Graham’s appointment to finish Sen. Lindsey Graham’s term, many Republicans in South Carolina saw it as a fitting tribute to her late brother.
Sophie Cunningham says she's not concerned about being a distraction for the Fever
Sophie Cunningham says she’s unconcerned that the rallies against transgender participation in women's sports that have accompanied the Indiana’s Fever’s recent games are a distraction for the team.
Judge strikes down Houston minority contracting rule, leaving business owners uncertain
For more than four decades, Houston’s Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) Program has helped connect certified businesses with city contracting opportunities. Now, a federal judge’s ruling is changing part of that process.
Community around Summit View Business Park concerned over potential data center
Members of Germantown Brick Church of the Brethren are asking Franklin County leaders to slow discussions surrounding a potential data center development near Summit View Business Park, saying they are concerned about the impact such a project could have on their church, cemetery and surrounding community.
Overdose deaths continue to decrease in Washtenaw County, health officials report
Overdose deaths are down in Washtenaw County, but the crisis is far from over.
‘Measles is here’: Michigan health officials warn as vaccination rates fall dangerously low
Michigan health officials are warning of a significant measles resurgence as vaccination rates drop below herd immunity thresholds.
Investment firm acquires majority stake in Indianapolis-based ShipSigma
Pennsylvania-based Inverness Graham has acquired a majority stake in Indianapolis logistics-tech firm ShipSigma in a deal valued at an estimated $100 million-plus.
Pueblo mayor, council concoct Trumpian Texas Two-Step
Several weeks ago, an article was published positing Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham is a disciple of the calamitous Donald Trump school of governance — specifically as it related to questionable ethical practices and the misuse of public funds. Recently, Graham confirmed her allegiance by implementing the Trump tactics of deflect and divide to continue her […]
Democratic candidates grapple with past stances on defunding the police ahead of key midterm races
Democrats are trying to convince voters that lawlessness under President Donald Trump is a major threat.
Cowboys rookie Caleb Downs impresses early at camp, welcomes tough test against offense
One of the standouts has been rookie safety Caleb Downs, the team’s first selection in this summer’s draft.
How a Houston contractor is using her business to open doors for single moms in the trades
Sandra Lopez built a successful contracting company while creating opportunities for single mothers and people new to the trades. Now, a LiftFund loan is helping her grow even more.
New Orlando Health Children’s Pavilion brings several clinics under one roof
Orlando Health has opened a new children's pavilion in Orlando that consolidates 19 pediatric clinics under one roof, aiming to simplify follow-up care and reduce the logistical burden on families managing multiple specialists after a child's hospitalization.
Sen Darline Graham drops campaign video on heels of brother's funeral services amid tight primary timeline
Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, dropped a campaign video as she runs for U.S. Senate with President Donald Trump's endorsement.
What Lindsey Graham Taught Us About Political Weakness: Wolff
What did Trump’s favorite Senator really believe?
San Antonio high school students participate in hands-on research during summer Texas Biomed program
While many teenagers took a break from learning this summer, dozens of San Antonio high schoolers spent their time studying in a professional-grade laboratory.
Trump says he may temporarily pull Blanche's nomination for attorney general as Republicans seek concessions
President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, looking to avoid concessions to holdout Republicans.
Patrick Queen opens up on Steelers new defensive scheme
Patrick Queen offers insights on how Patrick Graham is rebuilding the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive scheme around clarity and details.
This Week in Jacksonville - Business Edition: Experts urge tighter HOA oversight after $11 million fraud
Kent Justice tackles a question a lot of HOA homeowners are asking after the “Hammocks” case in South Florida: could HOA fraud happen here — and would anyone catch it in time? Kent’s guest is Marc Rodriguez, EVP of Market Operations at RealManage, who breaks down how financial oversight can fail inside volunteer-run boards, what practical controls can stop fraud before it starts, and how technology can add real transparency for both board members and homeowners.
Federal tariff refund portal offers relief for small businesses hit by import costs
Businesses across the U.S. may be in line for a significant financial boost after federal agencies launched an online system allowing importers to apply for tariff refunds.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
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WLOS News 13 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Asheville, NC and nearby towns and communities in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina, including the counties of Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford, Haywood, Polk, Transylvania, McDowell, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham, Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Union, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville and also Biltmore Forest, Woodfin, Leicester, Black Mountain, Montreat, Arden, Weaverville, Hendersonville, Etowah, Flat Rock, Mills River, Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Cullowhee, Sylva, Cherokee, Marion, Old Fort, Forest City, Lake Lure, Bat Cave, Spindale, Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Burnsville, Tryon, Columbus, Marshall, Mars Hill, Brevard, Bryson City, Cashiers, Greer, Landrum, Clemson, Gaffney, and Easley.
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