Why bird flu is so dangerous

Fever-Proof Bird Flu Variant Could Fuel the Next Pandemic

By University of Cambridge

Bird flu viruses present a significant risk to humans because they can continue replicating at temperatures higher than a typical fever. Fever is one of the body’s main tools for slowing or stopping viral infections, yet research led by the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow shows that avian flu strains can keep multiplying even when the body reaches temperatures that normally hinder viruses.

In a study published in Science, the researchers identified a gene that strongly influences how sensitive a flu virus is to heat. During the major pandemics of 1957 and 1968, this gene moved into human flu viruses, and the resulting strains were able to spread efficiently.

Rhode Island Senator Reed talks about U.S. military actions in Venezuela

Question: "When you described Maduro as a lawless president who profits from his position as President, doesn’t that also describe President Trump at this point?"

Steve Ahlquist 

United States Senator Jack Reed started his press conference with a plea to Rhode Islanders to give blood:

Senator Reed: We’re here at the Rhode Island Blood Center, and it’s National Blood Donor Month, so I want to urge all Rhode Islanders to come and donate blood. I also want to thank Rhode Island, because in the wake of the Brown tragedy, there was an incredible outpouring of individual Rhode Islanders giving blood to help those who were injured. It demonstrates Rhode Island’s community vitality. The officials here told me we have a higher donation rate than most places in the country, and that contributes to Rhode Island. So let me salute everyone who donates and the wonderful people here at the Rhode Island Blood Center.

Turning to Venezuela

Senator Reed: First, you have to commend the incredible courage and skill of the men and women of the armed forces who conducted a well-conceived and courageously executed operation. There’s no question about that. You also have to recognize, and no one should have any illusions, that Nicolás Maduro was a despicable figure. He had been governing Venezuela without regard for the law and liberties. He probably was also profiting directly and indirectly from some of the drug dealers, so there’s nothing admirable about the gentleman that I could find. But we need to understand what this means on a larger scale.

It was very clear, when President Trump spoke Saturday, that in his mind, this wasn’t about drugs. To many American families who have suffered through drugs, that’s a very important topic, and they’re very concerned about drugs. Trump indicated that he is essentially taking over a government, regime change, taking over the country, taking their natural resources, oil principally, for the benefit of the big oil companies that are going in right now. This whole campaign, which started with attacks on small vessels bearing cocaine, which also has legal issues, has transformed and now been revealed to be Trump’s desire to not only take over a country, which is illegal, but to extract its precious resources. That’s not appropriate. It’s not legal either - under international or United States law.

It sets a very dangerous precedent for people like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who can now ask, “Why are they complaining about my attack in Ukraine? They do it themselves.”

The Chinese, I’m sure, are very interested in what’s happening in Venezuela because they have their eyes on Taiwan. We’re looking at a situation that is upending the international order established after World War II, following significant suffering by Americans and their victory in the war. We created an international order with a primary rule: you cannot use force against another sovereign nation. That’s Article 24 of the U.N. Charter, and that article was totally ignored.

In domestic law, Congress has the authority to declare war. This looks very much like a war-like effort, and Congress was not consulted. Congress has not been informed of many operational details. In fact, under the law, the Secretary of Defense, Peter Hegseth, is required to issue us execute orders (ex-ords) for all these operations: all the boat strikes and everything else. He’s refused to do that, even though it’s the law.

You have an administration that repeatedly defies the law, destabilizes international relations, and whose efforts will lead to a very complicated situation. You have the President, on one hand, saying he’s going to occupy Venezuela. You have Secretary of State Marco Rubio trying to walk it back, saying, “Oh no, we’re going to cooperate with them.”

We’ve seen this story before. There was a great military triumph in Iraq under George W. Bush. Twenty years later, we were still trying to extricate ourselves from what turned out to be a major geopolitical mistake that cost the lives of many service members. We have to be conscious of that now.

For weeks now, I’ve been telling everyone in the administration, the real question is, “What are you going to do when you win? Mr. President, what are you going to do? Are you going to occupy? Are you going to cooperate? Are you going to send troops in again, as he threatened last Saturday?” We’re in a very precarious situation, one that demonstrates the Trump Administration’s disregard not only for international law but also for the laws of the United States. It’s now time for Congress to step up and make sure that what is done in the future is both legal and in the best interest of the United States - not just for a weekend of headlines, but for the future of the country.

McKee caves in and will not block protests in the Capitol rotunda

State agrees to allow access to State House rotunda by protesters before the 2026 “State of the State” address

From an ACLU of Rhode Island press release in SteveAhlquist.news

In an important preliminary victory for First Amendment rights and the role of the Capitol building as a quintessential forum for free speech activity, state officials have agreed to keep most of the first floor and rotunda at the Rhode Island State House open for use by the public, including those engaged in peaceful protest, immediately before, and during, Governor Daniel McKee’s upcoming annual “State of the State” address scheduled for January 13, 2026, at 7 pm. The decision to keep the rotunda open was in response to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by attorneys for the ACLU of RI on behalf of activists who were intentionally denied access to the rotunda for a rally and threatened with arrest before last January’s annual gubernatorial address.

“On January 13, 2026, at 6 pm, the People’s State of the State will be held in the Rotunda,” said Harrison Tuttle in response. 

Boycott CBS

Distraction, anyone?

Trump expounds on NATO, peace and his greatness. WTF?

Trump, on his Truth Social, today: 

So give us Greenland and shut up.

Ninth Rhode Island Food System Summit to be held Jan. 13 at URI

Rhode Island 2026 food summit aims to meet the moment

Kristen Curry

The University of Rhode Island is hosting its 2026 Rhode Island Food System Summit — the first time since the pandemic to gather in person as a statewide community of leaders, innovators, and changemakers. Organizers say this year’s summit at the URI campus is more than a meeting; it is a powerful act of coming together to “meet the moment” in building a resilient, equitable food future.

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, starting at 9 a.m., the free event will bring state government, academic, business, and community partners together in person for URI’s ninth Rhode Island Food System Summit to discuss ways to build the state’s food future. This year’s program expands on what has been a virtual program in recent years with a day’s worth of events and activities in URI’s DeChristofaro Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, 120 Flagg Road, Kingston.

This year’s keynote speaker, Melissa Cherney, new CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, embodies the theme as she steps into leadership at one of the state’s most vital institutions, guiding Rhode Island toward a new era of food security and justice.

Your Dinner Might Be Fueling Climate Change

Between food waste and impacts of agriculture, it's about one-third of our carbon footprint

By University of British Columbia

For many people, the holidays often bring plenty of indulgent meals, followed by guilt and firm New Year’s resolutions to eat better.

A new study from the University of British Columbia suggests that moderation should not be limited to one season. The research found that 44 percent of people worldwide would need to change what they eat if global warming is to be held below 2 °C.

The study was led by Dr. Juan Diego Martinez during his doctoral work at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. He explains what the research revealed and outlines practical diet changes that could help reduce climate risks.

What did you find?

The analysis shows that about half of the global population, and at least 90 percent of Canadians, would need to adjust their diets to avoid the most severe levels of planetary warming. Martinez notes that this estimate is cautious because the study relied on data from 2012. Since that time, both greenhouse gas emissions and the global population have continued to grow. Projections for 2050 indicate that roughly 90 percent of people will need to eat differently.

The researchers examined data from 112 countries, representing 99 percent of food-related greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Each country’s population was divided into 10 income groups. The team then calculated a food emissions budget for each person by combining emissions from food consumption, global food production, and supply chains. These totals were compared with the maximum emissions the planet can sustain if warming is to stay below 2 °C.

Fake Science Is Growing Faster Than Legitimate Research

That's where Trump's "science" is going

By Northwestern University

Organized scientific fraud is becoming increasingly common, ranging from fabricated research to the buying and selling of authorship and citations, according to a new study from Northwestern University.

The researchers conducted an in-depth examination of scientific misconduct by pairing large-scale analyses of published research with detailed case studies. While discussions of research fraud often center on individual wrongdoing, the Northwestern team identified complex international networks made up of people and organizations that deliberately coordinate efforts to compromise the academic publishing system.

The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications. The authors say this trend should alert the scientific community to the urgency of the situation and prompt action before public trust in science is seriously damaged.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One of the biggest lies yet about immigration

Stephen Miller's new bullshit about immigrants

Robert Reich

Trump’s Chief Bigot, Stephen Miller, said on Fox News this month that immigrants to the United States bring problems that extend through generations.

“With a lot of these immigrant groups, not only is the first generation unsuccessful,” Miller claimed. “You see persistent issues in every subsequent generation. So you see consistent high rates of welfare use, consistent high rates of criminal activity, consistent failures to assimilate.”

In fact, the data show just the opposite. The children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of most immigrants are models of upward mobility in America.

In a new paper, Princeton’s Leah Boustan, Stanford’s Ran Abramitzky, Elisa Jácome of Princeton, and Santiago Pérez of UC Davis, used millions of father-son pairs spanning more than a century of U.S. history to show that immigrants today are no slower to move into the middle class than immigrants were a century ago.

In fact, no matter when their parents came to the U.S. or what country they came from, children of immigrants have higher rates of upward mobility than their U.S.-born peers.

Stephen Miller’s great great grandfather, Wolf-Leib Glosser, was born in a dirt-floor shack in the village of Antopol, a shtetl in what is now Belarus.

For much the same reasons my great grandparents came to America — vicious pogroms that threatened his life — Wolf-Leib came to Ellis Island on January 7, 1903, with $8 in his pockets. Though fluent in Polish, Russian and Yiddish, he understood no English.

Wolf-Leib’s son, Nathan, soon followed, and they raised enough money through peddling and toiling in sweatshops to buy passage to America for the rest of their family, in 1906 — including young Sam Glosser, Stephen Miller’s great grandfather.

Yard sale

Never forget!

A special kind of scum

 

Trump Threatens Child Care Funding Across the US After Bogus Social Media Claim

Child Care services nationwide de-funded based on racist claims by right-wing nut

By Sharon Zhang

This article was originally published by Truthout

The Trump administration has reportedly frozen federal child care subsidies for every state in the U.S. after a right-wing social media influencer made a debunked video purporting to show fraud in Somali-run daycares in Minnesota this week.

On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Jim O’Neill said that the agency had frozen all child care payments to Minnesota following the spread of a social media video claiming, with dubious evidence, to have uncovered over $100 million of child care fraud in the state. 

Later, reports emerged saying that the administration was freezing funding for all states until they can provide supposed verification regarding their child care programs. One outlet, Reuters, reported that one official said that no funds had been frozen, however, and that the administration was only initiating probes into fraud in Minnesota.

Federal child care subsidies fund care for 1.4 million children across the country, with over half of children receiving subsidies aged less than five years old, according to HHS’s Office of Child Care. The reported cuts come at a time when families are already facing massive shortages and an affordability crisis of child care in the U.S.

The reports came after a video by a 23-year-old right-wing influencer, Nick Shirley, circulated social media this week. In the video, Shirley visits a dozen Somali-run child care centers with a man identified only as David, knocking on their doors and demanding to see the children.

The centers refused to let them inside for reasons many commentators attributed to the safety of the children, but the men nonetheless took it as proof that the centers are fraudulent.

The video was debunked by reporters, including local news outlet WCCO. WCCO visited one of the facilities that Shirley went to for his video and claimed was empty, and instead found that there were over a dozen children there, as well as several adult staff members. Further, workers shared surveillance footage from the morning of Shirley’s visit that showed children being dropped off at the facility for a normal day of child care.

How can you avoid norovirus (the stomach flu)?

Hand sanitizer doesn’t work well on this nasty bug. So how to dodge norovirus symptoms this season? 

UC Davis Health

The norovirus – a virus that’s the country’s leading cause of vomiting, diarrhea, and foodborne illness – is picking up steam again as the holidays arrive.

Recently the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warned that norovirus — commonly known as the stomach flu — is “on the rise.”

As of Dec. 12, norovirus levels in wastewater in the U.S. West and South were labeled “medium” according to data linked on the department’s website, but were “high” in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. As of Dec. 20, levels were high at the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as in San Francisco. 

Norovirus is highly contagious, and it travels from person to person a bit differently than the respiratory viruses that cause flu, COVID and common colds. That can be both good and bad news. 

Read on to arm yourself with more understanding about norovirus symptoms and behavior — and how you can increase your chances of avoiding this bug.

What is norovirus? 

Norovirus is one of several intestinal viruses that cause diarrhea, vomiting and gut cramps that can last for multiple days. Sometimes, this can lead to dangerous levels of dehydration. 

When you hear about nasty outbreaks of stomach illness in places like cruise ships, day cares and senior facilities, it’s highly likely you’re hearing about norovirus. It’s sometimes even called “the cruise ship virus.” These are all places where people spend time close to each other, and where they usually eat and drink together from the same food source. 

For many people, those conditions also happen during holiday gatherings.

How long do norovirus symptoms last?

Symptoms usually start 12 to 48 hours after contact with the virus, according to CDPH. A person may vomit and/or have diarrhea many times a day, with symptoms usually lasting 1 to 3 days.