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Published by DPA Monkeypox, which has been detected worldwide with several thousand cases in recent weeks, is believed to be mainly transmitted from person to person through close physical contact. Cynthia S. Goldsmith/Russell Regnery/CDC/dpa With the number of confirmed and probable monkeypox cases rising rapidly in countries around the world, public health officials say it is critical for everyone to look out for potential symptoms. The virus could infect anyone, though it does not spread as easily as Covid-19 and typically requires prolonged face-to-face or intimate contact, according to guidance from the CDC. Here’s what you need to know: Monkeypox symptoms Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes followed by a rash. The distinctive features of monkeypox happen after the first symptoms, said Dr. Aileen Marty, professor of infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. After an incubation period of five to 21 days, but usually six to 12 days, infected people get early symptoms like a bad headache, fever, back pain, muscle ache and swollen lymph nodes. These early symptoms generally last one to three days and then comes the rash. “The rash is unusual because it classically starts on the face and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, followed by rash elsewhere — but in the current outbreak, that has not been the usual spread. In this outbreak, lesions have manifested first in the groin, and the prodrome (early symptom) has not been as severe or notable,” Marty said in a previous interview with the Herald. Infectious period People are infectious from a few hours before the first symptom manifests until the scabs are dry and gone. According to the CDC, lesions progress through the following stages before falling off: macules (flat lesions), papules (well-defined skin bump), vesicles (blister, filled with clear fluid, usually), pustules (bulging fluid containing pus) and scabs. The illness typically lasts for two to four weeks. The rash is typically painful, Marty adds, and the scabs contain infectious viral particles. What to do if you have symptoms? Even if you don’t think you’ve been in contact with anyone who has monkeypox, if you are experiencing symptoms, the CDC recommends that you speak with your health care provider to determine whether you need to be tested. These tests are now more widely available to physicians since Labcorp, a company that operates one of the largest clinical lab networks in the world, began testing for monkeypox using the CDC’s orthopoxvirus test as of Wednesday. “The ability of commercial labs to test for monkeypox is a key pillar in our comprehensive strategy to combat this disease,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a statement to the press Wednesday. “This will not only increase testing capacity but will make it more convenient for providers and patients to access tests by using existing provider-to-lab relationships.” View the full article

Published by AFP Over-the-counter birth control, which could be made available at pharmacies in the US if HRA Pharma's application is successful, has long been backed by major medical organizations as a way to reduce barriers to contraception access Washington (AFP) – In a first, a pharmaceutical company applied Monday for US approval to make its birth control pill available over-the-counter, weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned a federal right to abortion care. HRA Pharma, a subsidiary of Perrigo, said in a statement it was seeking the switch away from prescription-only for its product Opill, a progestin-only daily birth control pill — also referred to as a mini pill or non-estrogen pill. Over-the-counter (OTC) birth control has long been backed by major medical organizations as a way to reduce barriers to contraception access. The timing of the application — which comes amid a wave of state-level restrictions and bans on abortion following the top court’s ruling — was “coincidental,” according to an HRA spokeswoman, who said the company had been compiling research for its application for the past seven years. “This historic application marks a groundbreaking moment in contraceptive access and reproductive equity in the US,” said Frederique Welgryn, chief strategic operations and innovation officer at HRA Pharma, in a statement. “Moving a safe and effective prescription birth control pill to OTC will help even more women and people access contraception without facing unnecessary barriers.” Over-the-counter birth control is backed by major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians. It is also standard practice in many countries, including Brazil, Greece, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea and Turkey. Generally speaking, wealthier countries favor more regulations and thus prescription only birth control. But according to ACOG, “Data support that progestin-only hormonal methods are generally safe and carry no or minimal risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE),” also known as blood clots. “Several studies have demonstrated that women are capable of using self-screening tools to determine their eligibility for hormonal contraceptive use,” adds the organization, in an opinion on the matter published on its website. A 2016 study found that nearly one third of US women who have tried to obtain prescription contraception reported access barriers. The application will now be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, a process that would normally take around a year to complete. View the full article

Published by AFP The James Bond theme was written by British composer Monty Norman, who has died at 94 London (AFP) – British composer Monty Norman, best known for writing the iconic theme music for the James Bond films, died on Monday at the age of 94, his official website announced. “It is with sadness we share the news that Monty Norman died on 11th July 2022 after a short illness,” read the statement. Norman was born Monty Noserovitch in east London, to Jewish parents, on April 4, 1928. He began his singing career with big bands before turning to composing, penning songs for musicals and films including “Songbook” and “Poppy and Make Me An Offer” and for pop stars such as Cliff Richard. His best-known work came when he was asked to score the first James Bond film, “Dr No”, in 1962, although the producers drafted in John Barry to rearrange the piece. Barry said he had actually written the piece, but Norman won a libel case against the Sunday Times when it made similar claims. The theme became an integral part of the Bond brand, featuring in 24 subsequent films. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden, marking the first major federal gun safety bill passed in three decades, said the United States is “awash in weapons of war” on Monday and renewed his call for assault weapons to be banned. Congress has shown little inclination to outlaw assault weapons after a ban on such weapons expired in 2004, but Biden is hoping to use growing American outrage about mass shootings to lead to greater pressure on lawmakers to change their mind. “Assault weapons need to be banned. They were banned. … I’m determined to ban these weapons again, and high-capacity magazines,” he said. The Democratic president also said lawmakers should add safe storage laws requiring personal liability “for not locking up your gun.” Biden also said he supports the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment that gives Americans the right to possess firearms, but said “the right to bear arms is not an absolute right to dominate all others.” Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at an event on the White House South Lawn to commemorate recent passage of the gun safety bill, the first such new law on guns in 30 years. In the audience were many members of Congress who approved the legislation and family members of some of the people killed in mass shootings, including the recent attacks in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Highland Park, Illinois. The bipartisan bill came together just weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children at an elementary school. The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. It also blocks gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners and cracks down on gun sales to purchasers convicted of domestic violence. The gun bill came the same week as the Supreme Court expanded gun owners’ rights. Gun control has long been a divisive issue in the nation, with several attempts to put new controls on gun sales failing time after time. Biden, who is looking to improve sagging public approval ratings ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections for control of Congress, made securing victories on gun control a part of his campaign pitch to voters. (Reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A judge declined to delay the contempt of Congress trial of Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon, just one week before it is set to begin, CNN and NBC News reported. Bannon was indicted last year for refusing to answer questions from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president. Bannon told the panel over the weekend he was ready to testify, a change of heart from days before he was due to be tried for contempt of Congress. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese) View the full article

Published by AFP A health worker uses an oximeter to monitor the pulse an oxygen saturation levels of a resident of Hyderabad, India Washington (AFP) – Racial minorities receive less oxygen in the intensive care unit than white patients because of a flaw in a medical device found in hospitals across the world, a US study said Monday. The pulse oximeter, first developed in the 1970s, clips to a patient’s finger and uses red and infrared light absorption to assess hemoglobin. But it is known to generate falsely elevated readings in people with darker skin. In new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Eric Raphael Gottlieb and colleagues looked back at records of 3,069 patients at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who spent at least 12 hours in the hospital’s ICU. They compared oxygen saturation estimates on the pulse ox devices to more accurate direct readings taken of hemoglobin oxygen saturation. After controlling for other variables, they found that Black, Asian and Hispanic patients were given 0.2 to 0.4 liters per minute less oxygen than their white counterparts. “Our findings present a unique and compelling opportunity to improve equity through device reengineering and by reevaluating how data are interpreted,” the team wrote. Another recent study on the same topic showed that measurement biases in oxygen saturation levels was associated with a time delay in eligibility for Covid-19 treatment for Black and Hispanic patients. An accompanying editor’s note said devices exist that perform more equitably, but have never been widely distributed. “Health care systems, including academic centers, are large-scale purchasers of pulse oximeters,” the editorial said. “If they make a commitment to buy only devices that function across skin tones, manufacturers would respond.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) – In June, a few dozen activists started meeting regularly at a seaside tented camp in Colombo for hours-long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka’s flagging protest movement. The group, which included a Catholic priest, a digital strategist and a popular playwright, succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Colombo. After initially clashing with police, protesters occupied key government buildings and residences, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his prime minister to promise to step down. “I’m still trying to process it,” said Chameera Dedduwage, a digital strategist at a major advertising firm who became part of the team that helped organise the uprising. “It was 50 percent premeditation and coordination, another 30 percent willingness of the people and 20 percent luck.” In interviews, veterans of those small meetings described how they agreed on a multi-pronged campaign to inject new life into the movement widely known as “Aragalaya”, or “struggle” in Sinhala. The movement had begun in March, when thousands took to the streets to vent their anger at lengthy power cuts and spiralling prices, and to call for the Rajapaksa family that had dominated the country’s politics for much of the last 20 years to leave power. On May 9, Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda – president from 2005-2015 and at that time serving as prime minister – had stepped down. On June 9, younger brother Basil had quit as a lawmaker. So, the Aragalaya activists targeted July 9 as the day they hoped to unseat the president himself. A plan emerged to combine online agitation, meetings with political parties, labour unions and student groups and door-to-door campaigning to get enough people back on the streets for a final push, according to the three attendees. Public frustration at ongoing shortages, which has brought the economy to a standstill, and the president’s stubborn refusal to step aside, had been simmering for weeks. Riding on trains, buses, lorries and bicycles, or simply walking, huge crowds converged on Colombo on Saturday, outnumbering security forces deployed to protect government buildings and upending Sri Lankan politics. “Gota Go Home!” the crowds chanted in Colombo’s Fort area, seething over the country’s worst economic crisis since independence. They quickly broke into the president’s colonial-era house, before storming a portion of the presidential office and entering the prime minister’s official residence 2.5 km (1.6 miles) away. Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been moved to undisclosed safe locations, and within hours they separately announced they would resign to allow an all-party interim government to take over. If he resigns on Wednesday as promised, Rajapaksa, once a war hero who was both revered and feared, will become the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit. “I think it is the most unprecedented gathering in this country. Full stop,” Ruwanthie de Chickera, a playwright who is part of the core group of Aragalaya activists, told Reuters. Representatives of the president and prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the protests and why they stepped aside. Their whereabouts have not been made public. ‘EVERYONE ON BOARD’ Sri Lanka has around 5 million households and 8 million active Facebook accounts, making online outreach an extremely effective way to reach demonstrators, said Dedduwage, the digital strategist. “Which means basically through Facebook, we can practically reach every corner of the country at no cost,” Dedduwage told Reuters, sitting at a tent at “Gota Go Village”, the main Colombo protest site that mockingly refers to the president. In early July, one of those who received the group’s social media messages was Sathya Charith Amaratunge, a marketing professional living in Moratuwa, some 20 km from Colombo, who had taken part in earlier anti-government protests. The 35-year-old took a poster he received via WhatsApp on July 2 that read “The Country to Colombo, July 9” in Sinhala, and uploaded it on his personal Facebook page. That night he began preparing a campaign that would eventually see tens of thousands of people join him on a march to Colombo. Other Aragalaya members reached out directly to opposition political parties, trade unions and student unions, including the influential Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF), in order to bolster support, according to Dedduwage. One of Sri Lanka’s largest student groups, the IUSF has a reputation for its political agitation and clashed with security forces during recent protests, dismantling police barricades amid teargas and water cannon. The Aragalaya group also asked volunteers to visit thousands of homes across parts of Colombo, including middle-class government housing estates, some within walking distance of the main protest site. To bring people in from outside the city, activists appealed to more than 30 “Gota Go Village” sites that had sprung up in towns and cities across the country. Late on July 8, police declared a curfew in several districts around Colombo, which activists said was aimed at stalling the planned protest. Police said the move was to maintain public order. Some core group members swiftly moved to safe houses, fearing arrest. Jeevanth Peiris, a Catholic priest who is part of the activist group, worried that only a few thousand people would turn up the next day because of the restrictions. Fuel shortages had curtailed transport options for weeks. “We honestly expected only 10,000 with all these restrictions, all this intimidation,” he told Reuters, dressed in a white cassock. “We thought 5,000 to 10,000.” ‘PEOPLE DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE UP’ Early on July 9, marketing professional Amaratunge said he started off on foot from Moratuwa with around 2,000 fellow protesters, about the size of group he had expected after a week of sharing posts on Facebook and WhatsApp. It was only when he left his hometown that Amaratunge said he realised how many people wanted to go to Colombo. Many had been angered by the curfew, which the police withdrew early on Saturday. In multiple Facebook livestreams posted by Amaratunge on Saturday, several hundred people can be seen strolling down the main road to Colombo, some holding the national flag. By Amaratunge’s estimate, tens of thousands eventually joined the march he was on, and reached Colombo’s fort area. According to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the crowd there swelled to at least 200,000 people. Members of the Aragalaya core group said several times that number took part, as wave upon wave of people arrived in Colombo and marched towards the main protest site. Organisers had roughly calculated that it would take around 10,000 people to overpower personnel guarding each of the four entry points to the president’s house, Dedduwage said. In the early afternoon, after dismantling police barricades and commandeering water cannon, protesters took apart the tall gates guarding the president’s house and overwhelmed a large deployment of security forces. By night, Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe’s official residences were occupied by protesters, who uprooted fences outside the presidential secretariat and took over a part of it. Wickremesinghe’s personal residence was attacked and a section of it set alight. Within hours, the leaders were ready to go. “There were so many elderly, teenagers, youth, women,” recalled Peiris, the priest, who said he was part of clashes with police. “People didn’t want to give up, didn’t want to withdraw.” (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Peter Graff) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni Questions are being raised about a California pastor and failed Republican Party House candidate who jumped on the Trump train and saw revenue for ministry — where he is the only employee — jump from $280,000 in 2019 to more than $5.3 million in just one year allowing him to go on a property buying spree that primarily benefits only himself. According to a report from Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson and Kara Voght, 38-year-old Sean Feucht went from a little-known Christian singer and evangelist to a MAGA star by aligning himself with former president Donald Trump, thereby raisi… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, along with other Justices, have faced protests outside of their home from those furious over the right to privacy and abortion being taken away. Outside of Morton’s steakhouse, which is owned by Tilman Fertitta, who Donald Trump once called “a friend,” protesters gathered while Kavanaugh was having dinner. They never came inside the restaurant nor did Kavanaugh ever hear them or face them. Morton’s, however, was aghast and released a statement stating that the judge couldn’t have dessert and was forced to go out the back door of the res… Read More View the full article

Published by Al-Araby Iraqis are standing up against a law that will effectively criminalise being a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the country after the parliament on Friday started planing ways to ban homosexuality. A member of the parliamentary legal committee announced the controversial move to Iraqi media shortly after a session. “It was agreed within the House of Representatives to collect signatures after returning to the session to legislate a law prohibiting homosexuality in Iraq”, State of Law coalition MP Aref Al-Hamami told Iraqi News Agency. The move sparked outrage by many Iraqis who fear for the L… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cara Delevingne never made a “conscious decision” to come out as pansexual. The 29-year-old model-and-actress – who is attracted to all genders – was tired of being “ashamed” of who she loved so felt it was time to be honest about who she was dating without feeling she had to make an announcement about her sexuality. Asked to share her coming out story, she said: “It’s hard to call it a coming out story, because I never really came out. ” It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with. It didn’t feel like I was making, you know, a conscious decision to be out. It just meant that I was done with being in the closet. “I was done with being ashamed for who I loved and who I was. So for me it was more just being like, love is love, and we should be able to love who we want.” The ‘Carnival Row’ star wishes she could tell her younger self to “love” herself and be proud of who she is. Speaking to Britain’s Vogue magazine for their August issue, which celebrates 50 years of Pride in London, she said: “If I could give my younger self a message, it would be to love yourself. It sounds so cliché, but I would also say accept yourself, be yourself. No matter what that means, good or bad. Just to take yourself as you are. “And to lift your head up high. That doesn’t mean to not speak up, not say the truth. But that means to be proud. Be proud of who you are, no matter what that means.” Cara – who is one of the magazine’s 12 LGBTQ+ cover stars and features on one of three special digital covers – thinks the LGBTQ+ community is “more than family” to her. She said: “The most joyful part about being part of the LGBTQ+ community is when you really understand and really become a part of that community, or the moments that you have and the connections you make. Being in that community is one of the most important, incredible things in the world. “Family is important. But that community is more than family. You are so alike in so many different ways. No matter where you’re from, no matter who you are, no matter what age you are.” Read the full interview with Cara at https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/cara-delevingne-interview-pride. The August issue of British Vogue is on sale from Tuesday 19 July. View the full article

Published by Sports Illustrated By Chris Ballard Fifteen years after his big reveal, he tackles the big question: Have we really changed? Each summer Sports Illustrated revisits, remembers and rethinks some of the biggest names and most important stories of our sporting past. Come back all week for more Where Are They Now? stories. In relating how he got where he is today, John Amaechi likes to tell a story. The year was 1999 and Amaechi, then a center for the Magic, was considered by teammates—and much of the league—to be something of an odd duck. One of the first British NBA players, he drank tea, eschewed partying and rea… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein and Rose Horowitch (Reuters) – With its excellent academic and music programs, Oberlin College in Ohio seemed like a perfect fit for Nina Huang, a California high school student who plays flute and piano and hopes to eventually study medicine or law. But Huang, 16, said she crossed the college off her application list after Ohio enacted a near-total ban on abortion last month. She now plans to cast a wider net for schools in states with less restrictive laws. “I don’t want to go to school in a state where there is an abortion ban,” she said. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide has some students rethinking their higher education plans as states rush to ban or curtail abortion, according to interviews with 20 students and college advisers across the country. While it has long been the case that some students hesitated to attend schools in places with different political leanings than their own, recent moves by conservative states on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights have deepened the country’s polarization. For some students, the restrictions raise fears that they won’t be able to get an abortion if they need one or that they will face discrimination for gender differences. Others said they worried about facing racial prejudice or being politically ostracized. “I’m only in high school right now, and I’m still finding out who I am,” said Samira Murad, 17, who will be a senior this fall at Stuyvesant High School in New York. “I don’t want to move somewhere I can’t be myself because of laws put in place.” It is too soon to determine whether such concerns will affect admissions in a measurable way, and evidence from other recent divisive state laws suggests there may be little overall impact. But in the wake of Roe’s overturn, college counselors said abortion has figured prominently in many conversations with clients, with some going as far as nixing their dream schools. “Some of our students have explicitly stated that they will not apply to colleges and universities in states which may infringe on their access to reproductive rights,” said Daniel Santos, chief executive of the Florida college counseling company Prepory. ‘TOPIC OF CONCERN’ Kristen Willmott, a counselor with Top Tier Admissions in Massachusetts, said students she works with have told her they are taking some top schools in Texas, Florida and Tennessee off their application lists due to their restrictive abortion laws. Alexis Prisco, who is entering her senior year at Eastern Technical High School in Maryland, had planned to apply to her parents’ alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She feels wary, however, after the state enacted a law effectively banning abortion. “Now my mom has warned me that I need to be very careful when applying to schools in states with trigger laws,” said Prisco, 17, referring to bans designed to take effect once the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Washington University declined to comment but shared a June 24 statement in which university leaders acknowledged the fears and frustration felt by some after the court ruling. Oberlin College did not respond to requests for comment. Several students raised similar concerns about attending college in North Carolina after the state in 2016 passed a law restricting which bathrooms transgender people could use, said counselor Jayson Weingarten of New York-based Ivy Coach. But he said many still chose to attend Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Admissions statistics from UNC show the number of applicants increased by 14% between 2016 and 2017 despite individual students’ unease. Abortion is “a topic of concern for most of the students but not something that’s going to dissuade them from going to one of the most highly selective schools in the country,” Weingarten said. Shahreen Abedin, a spokesperson for the University of Texas’ medical school, said the school had not seen a drop in applications that it could reasonably attribute to a state ban on abortions after six weeks that took effect in September. For Maryland high school student Sabrina Thaler, however, the prospect of attending college in a state that bans abortion is unsettling. Thaler, 16, recalled the question she posed to her high school class during a discussion in May after the decision that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade was leaked. “What if I go to a college in a state where abortion is banned and I get raped and then I don’t have the option to have an abortion?” (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California and Rose Horowitch in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tessa Thompson believes she is helping to “save lives” by being open about her sexuality. The ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ actress revealed four years ago she is attracted to both men and women and she admitted it means a lot to her when young people write to her to tell her that her own admission gave them the strength to come out to their families. She told Marc Malkin on the ‘Just Variety’ podcast of the letters: “That’s been tremendous. I’ve had so many folks write me and say that they were able to come out or to talk to their family, which is a dream.” The host said to her: “I will say this to you and I will say it to any artist who lives their truth as a queer person, you’re saving lives. I truly believe that.” Tessa agreed: “I think you’re right. I don’t know, there is something powerful about seeing an image of yourself reflected in any way. But we know all too well there are some ways that really just matter because we don’t have enough of it.” The 38-year-old actress feels “really lucky” that she’s been able to be true to herself because she knows there is a “real problem” in Hollywood surrounding the pressure some stars are placed under not to speak about their sexuality. She said: “I feel really lucky in the sense that I work in real close proximity to people that I think want to advocate for me to be myself and be the fullest expression of myself. “I think the industry at large might put a tremendous amount of pressure, never mind their sexuality, but a real pressure, I think, to be a certain kind of thing. “And I think that’s intensified particularly where sexual orientation is concerned and that’s a real problem. And it’s still a problem that I know friends of mine, dear friends of mine, have been deeply affected by. “I think we have a tremendous amount of work to do, but I feel really lucky to exist inside of a space, both in my professional space and my personal space and familial space, where I feel really loved and supported for who I am. And I know that is a privilege that not a lot of people share. So to those folks that don’t have those spaces, I see them.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @leointhemountains/instagram Being a member of Kody Brown‘s polygamist, Mormon family means abiding by a certain set of guidelines, but the Sister Wives lead and estranged wife Meri Brown‘s only child together, Leon, is making it clear they’re forging their own path in life. Last month, the 26-year-old revealed they’re transgender, announcing they’ll now go by Leon or Leo instead of Mariah. They’ll also be using “they/them” pronouns. “I remember the first time that i knew i wasn’t a girl. i was pretty young & unfortunately i grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive. so i continued to be socialized as a girl & later a woman,” they wrote in their Instagram reveal. “And here’s the thing, i’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. and that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic.” ‘SISTER WIVES’ STAR MERI BROWN IS LIVING IT UP DURING WEEKEND GETAWAY WITH GAL PALS: ‘GOOD TIMES’ Continued Brown, “Being queer & trans are definitely some of my favorite parts of myself. and yet, there are so many things that i am learning to love about myself through this process. here’s to me getting to know myself, share myself, and continually evolve to be the person i am, to be my favorite self in all contexts.” Scroll down to learn more about the reality star. @leointhemountains/instagram They’re an activist On their Instagram account, which has over 170,000 followers, Brown describes themselves as a “radical humanist,” and many of their posts are focused on things like Pride, Black Lives Matter and transgender rights. In one post about the BLM movement, they encouraged others to safely protest, sign a petition or donate money to help the cause. They’re a dog lover Brown owns two pups of their own. “I’m not a parent to humans, but I sure do love being ‘dog mom,’” they wrote in an old social media post. “They help me appreciate the small things — like a sunny Sunday, a sweet smell in the morning, running around & enjoying moving our bodies. I think we can all learn a good lesson in following our intuition from our little pups, don’t you think?” @leointhemountains/instagram They’re a yogi One look at Brown’s socials and you’ll immediately learn they’re frequently practicing with their mat. In 2019, they partnered with the MindBody app. The star said they were “stoked to work with a company that has truly made yoga feel accessible.” Added Brown, “MINDBODY connection is something I am constantly cultivating in my life. Connection to self, through my self care/wellness practices, help me better connect to the world around me.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brad Brooks ANADARKO, Okla. (Reuters) – U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Saturday met with elderly survivors of Native American boarding schools, her first stop on a year-long tour to hear first-hand accounts of widespread abuses committed at those institutions. Haaland met with survivors at the Riverside Indian School, the nation’s oldest federally operated boarding school for Native Americans, collecting oral histories of the atrocities they faced. In May, Haaland, the first Native American female Cabinet member, released an initial report https://www.reuters.com/world/us/interior-dept-investigation-finds-burial-sites-53-indian-boarding-schools-2022-05-11 from the Interior Department’s continuing investigation into the history the boarding schools. The schools were centers of forced assimilation that began in the early 1800s and continued through the 1970s, with the stated goal of wiping out Native American culture. Haaland told a crowd of about 300 people that federal Indian boarding school policies had touched every indigenous person she knew, and that all Native Americans “carry the trauma in our hearts.” “I’m here to listen. I will listen with you, I will grieve with you, I will believe you and I will feel your pain,” she said. After Haaland’s brief remarks, several elderly survivors of boarding schools took turns telling their accounts of abuses they suffered decades in the past, nearly all saying they were separated from their families by ages 4 or 5 and rarely made it home until they graduated from high school. Conditions at former Indian boarding schools gained global attention last year when tribal leaders in Canada announced the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children at the site of the former Kamloops residential school for indigenous children, as such institutions are known in Canada. Unlike the United States, Canada carried out a full investigation into its schools via a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The U.S. government has never acknowledged how many children attended such schools, how many children died or went missing from them or even how many schools existed. Lawrence SpottedBird, the newly elected chairman of the Kiowa tribe, said he’s a veteran and feels as American as anyone. But he said it’s far overdue that the country stops “whitewashing the brutal history” of the boarding school system. “America prides itself on being an advocate of democracy and human rights around the world but was itself one of the worst violators of human rights when it comes to Native Americans,” he said. “They need to be honest about this history so they can heal with us.” (Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Sandra Maler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A member of the Oath Keepers extremist group brought explosives to the Washington, D.C., area ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, according to the U.S. Justice Department. In a court filing, federal prosecutors alleged that Jeremy Brown, an Oath Keepers member from Florida, drove explosives to a Virginia hotel in his recreational vehicle on Jan. 6. A second member of the group, Thomas Caldwell, was later found in possession of a “death list” that included the name of a Georgia election official, according to the document. In a statement forwarded by his attorney, Caldwell denied the allegation against him. “The DOJ’s claim that I sought to assassinate election workers is a 100% false and disgusting lie. Unfortunately, the mountain of exculpatory evidence that exonerates me is being hidden from public view by the DOJ through protective orders,” the statement said. A legal representative for Brown was not immediately available for comment. The 28-page court document, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, details evidence that the Justice Department is likely to present later this year at the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers members, including Caldwell and the group’s leader Stewart Rhodes. It lists Brown as an unindicted co-conspirator. The filing came as the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot prepared to hold two hearings next week. A hearing set for Tuesday is expected to focus on efforts to assemble Trump supporters including members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys extremist groups in the Capitol. The Jan. 6 attack took place as Congress worked to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump. U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican panel member, has said Trump could be held criminally liable for allegedly encouraging the attack with false claims that the election was stolen from him. More than 840 people been charged with taking part in the Capitol riot, attacking police and sending lawmakers scrambling for safety. About 250 defendants have pleaded guilty, including some members of the Oath Keepers. (Reporting by David Morgan) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni Saturday afternoon before he headed off to Alaska to help out former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin (R) with her bid to win a House of Representatives seat, Donald Trump lashed out at Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) to “RECLAIM the Electors” from the 2020 election and “turn over the Election to the actual winner (by a lot!)” — by which, we must assume, he means himself. Reacting to a ruling to a narrow party-line 4-3 ruling by the Wisconsin state Supreme Court banning the use of ballot drop boxes going forward, the former president insisted the ruling it is retroact… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP A deal for Tesla founder Elon Musk to buy social media giant Twitter was called off, sparking both celebration and frustration Washington (AFP) – Elon Musk’s move to abandon his purchase of Twitter has been greeted with a mix of relief and disappointment across the political spectrum, with many criticizing the Tesla founder but others applauding his “exposure” of the influential messaging platform. The announcement of the deal valued at $44 billion in late April sparked fears the platform would see a surge in abuse and disinformation after Musk — a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist — said he would largely let anyone say anything allowed by law on Twitter. Musk’s announcement Friday that he no longer wants to buy Twitter triggered celebration by advocacy groups that had launched a campaign to stop the wealthiest man in the world from going through with the purchase. “A Twitter under Musk’s leadership would have ripped open Pandora’s box and reopened the floodgates for hate and baseless conspiracy theories — making the platform, and the country a more dangerous place,” said Bridget Todd, communications director at UltraViolet, an advocacy group. The deal breakdown “is a welcome reprieve for women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.” Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of the left-leaning watchdog Accountable Tech, slammed Musk’s bid as “a chaotic crusade.” “Our information ecosystem, safety, and democracy cannot remain at the whim of unaccountable billionaires,” she said. But hopes were dashed for others who believed Musk’s stearing of the platform would lead to a decrease in measures aimed at curbing bullying, lies and other abuses deemed politically motivated and anti-free speech. “The party is really over here. The purge is coming,” tweeted conservative commentator Dave Rubin. Donald Trump Jr, the son of the former president, predicted “censorship” at Twitter “will be back tenfold.” “Zero chance of free thought or speech there at this point,” he said on his father’s fledgling Truth Social platform, launched after he was booted from his preferred medium where he’d amassed some 88.7 million followers. The former president was banned from Twitter following accusations he had used it to incite his followers to assault the US Capitol on January 6 last year. While Musk said he would lift the ban on the elder Trump, the fellow billionaire said he would stick to Truth Social — a message he reiterated on Friday. “THE TWITTER DEAL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE ‘TRUTH’,” he posted on Truth Social. Another conservative Twitter competitor, GETTR, also took the opportunity to tout itself as an alternative platform that would “protect online freedom of expression.” CEO Jason Miller praised Musk “for further exposing the incurable, rotting, politically discriminatory culture” within Twitter. The deal may be off but the Musk-Twitter tug-of-war is far from over, as the company says it will pursue legal action to enforce the agreement. View the full article

Govt’s Halting Response In Ramping Monkeypox Tests, Vaccines May Have Missed Chance to Contain Outbreak Over Last 30 Days.Andy Stone is one of the lucky ones. The New York City resident saw a tweet from a local AIDS activist saying that monkeypox vaccines would be available that day at a clinic in Manhattan. Stone, 35, and his husband booked appointments online right away and got their shots last month. “I want to do what I can to protect myself and others,” said Stone, a marketing consultant living in Brooklyn, who said his primary care doctor advised him to get the vaccine as soon as possible. Hundreds of men who showed up without appointments and waited in a snaking line around the Chelsea Sexual Health Clinic that day weren’t as fortunate. The 200 shots available went quickly, and many people were turned away, according to New York City Council member Erik Bottcher, whose district includes the neighborhood of Chelsea. When people tried to make online appointments for subsequent days, none were available, he said in a letter to state officials urgently requesting additional doses of the vaccine. “…six weeks in, and we’re still having problems with availability of testing and vaccine supply, all these issues that we saw with COVID. Now, the prospects for containment are receding quickly.” Gregg Gonsalves, Assoc. Prof Epidemiology, Yale School Public HealthThe first monkeypox case in the United States was confirmed in mid-May. As the number of monkeypox cases reached 605 nationwide as of July 6, some public health experts saw echoes of covid-19 in the government’s halting response. “We’re six weeks in, and we’re still having problems with availability of testing and vaccine supply, all these issues that we saw with covid,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. “Now, the prospects for containment are receding quickly.” Monkeypox is not covid. Covid has killed more than 1 million Americans, but no one has died from a monkeypox infection in the United States during the current outbreak Monkeypox is not covid. Covid has killed more than 1 million Americans, but no one has died from a monkeypox infection in the United States during the current outbreak. People can’t get monkeypox by simply walking into a room and breathing the same air as an infected person. The monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family as smallpox, typically causes painful, pimple-like sores on people’s face, hands, feet, chest, or genitals, along with fever and swollen lymph nodes. Until the lesions scab over and heal, people can infect others through close physical contact or by touching things like bedding that were in contact with the rash. People generally recover from monkeypox in two to four weeks. Most infections identified so far have been in men who have sex with men, and many of the cases are in Europe. But the World Health Organization reported July 1 that cases are emerging among other groups — in some cases, among people such as household members, heterosexual contacts, and children. Up to 10% of patients have been hospitalized, according to the WHO. Two vaccines are available to protect people against monkeypox, Jynneos and ACAM2000. Federal officials are focused on prioritizing providing Jynneos, given in two doses 28 days apart, because it has fewer side effects and can be administered to people who are immunocompromised, which ACAM2000 cannot. The federal government has distributed more than 800 doses of the ACAM2000 vaccine to date. At the moment, however, vaccine distribution is barely a trickle, and health care providers on the front lines say they need more doses now. In recent days, federal officials have announced a three-pronged response to the monkeypox outbreak: Monkeypox tests, vaccines, education that includes expanded deployment of vaccines, easier access to testing, and a campaign to educate the public and providers about the disease and promote vaccinations among people most at risk, particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community. “While monkeypox poses minimal risk to most Americans, we are doing everything we can to offer vaccines to those at high-risk of contracting the virus,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Secretary, Health and Human Services“While monkeypox poses minimal risk to most Americans, we are doing everything we can to offer vaccines to those at high-risk of contracting the virus,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “This new strategy allows us to maximize the supply of currently available vaccines and reach those who are most vulnerable to the current outbreak.” Initially, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people get vaccinated only if they were exposed to someone with monkeypox. The federal guidance has been expanded to a much larger group, including men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a place where monkeypox has been reported. On July 1, the CDC said it had purchased additional doses of the Jynneos vaccine, made by Bavarian Nordic A/S, bringing to 4 million the total number of doses that will be available in 2022 and 2023. On July 6, the federal government said that it had distributed 41,520 “patient courses” of the vaccine to 42 jurisdictions. New York City received an initial 1,000 doses that were made available at the Chelsea clinic, but then got nothing more for nearly two weeks. In Washington, D.C., 300 vaccine appointments that were made available at the end of June were reportedly taken in minutes. In Los Angeles, 800 vaccine doses had been distributed as of July 1 to people who are close contacts of people who have the disease. In a news release, Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health said it would provide more doses to high-risk groups as the vaccine supply increases. In early July, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it had been approved for nearly 6,000 additional doses of the vaccine, which it would make available at two city clinics. A software glitch halted efforts to make appointments, however. They are scheduled to resume next week. The city health department’s Twitter feed has chronicled its stop-and-go efforts to acquire vaccines and schedule appointments, along with residents’ exasperation. “A sincere apology for the technical difficulties our vendor @medrite_ experienced with today’s monkeypox vaccine appointment rollout,” tweeted New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan. “We pledge to do better in the days and weeks ahead.” “Right now, we don’t have a sense if it is the tip of the iceberg,” Jennifer Nuzzo,Epidemiologist Brown University’s School of Public Health.The city has recorded 141 suspected cases of monkeypox, officials said. The doses for New York will be a drop in the bucket, advocates said. At three clinics in New York City, the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center serves 20,000 primarily LGBTQ+ patients, many of whom are eager for the vaccine, center officials said. “We’re promoting vaccines and working closely with patients to find access,” said Anthony Fortenberry, chief nursing officer at Callen-Lorde. “But right now, there’s a very small amount of vaccine available, and it’s much less than the demand is for it.” The health center has seen 15 patients with monkeypox so far, he said, up from four a week ago. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to requests for information about vaccine and testing availability. Epidemiologists said that speed bumps in testing for the disease are also hampering the nation’s ability to get in front of the monkeypox outbreak. Without widespread testing and contact tracing, the extent of the outbreak is not clear. “Right now, we don’t have a sense if it is the tip of the iceberg,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University’s School of Public Health. To date, monkeypox testing has been handled by a network of public health laboratories and requires a cumbersome process that many physicians are not familiar with, according to some critics. “If you’re an average clinician, you may have never sent a sample to a public health lab,” said Dr. James Lawler, executive director for international programs and innovation for the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As part of the expanded efforts announced by federal officials, five large commercial labs will begin running tests this month, dramatically increasing capacity. Systemic improvements offer scant comfort to people at risk right now. Charles Rockhill said he has nightmares about getting monkeypox. “I’m pretty worried. I work in a gay bar,” the Manhattan resident said. “I’m around a lot of people all the time.” Rockhill is a bartender at Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn, the site of the Stonewall uprising in 1969, considered the birthplace of gay pride. He has been searching for monkeypox vaccination appointments. Unable to get a vaccine, he wears gloves at work and washes his hands more often on the job. In his personal life, he’s erring on the side of caution too. “I’m just trying to make the best decisions for me and hoping that I don’t become infected,” he said.KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation. 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Published by New York Daily News Marvel’s latest superhero movie is very gay, according to one of its stars, Natalie Portman, and its director Taika Waititi. At a recent preview screening of “Thor: Love and Thunder,” Portman joined Waititi and fellow cast members for a Q&A session with the audience. In a scene that was captured on cellphone video and then shared on social media, an audience member asked the 41-year-old actress how gay the movie was. After a brief pause, Portman, who returns to the franchise as the astrophysicist Jane Foster, responded: “So gay.” Waititi agreed, adding: “super gay.” That wasn’t the first time … Read More View the full article

Published by The Detroit News DETROIT — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten are officially Michiganians — a move that may help bolster the former South Bend, Indiana mayor’s future political prospects. The couple have moved to Traverse City, Chasten’s hometown, and plan to register to vote there before the midterm election this fall, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson confirmed to The Detroit News. The move will allow the Buttigiegs to be closer to Chasten’s parents, who have helped the couple with child care since they adopted their twins last August, according to the spokesp… Read More View the full article