Carmakers’ unsafe, un-American push to eliminate AM radio

 Nothing is more American than a dirt road, a Ford truck and AM radio crackling through the speakers.

But some automotive makers — Ford among them — want to eliminate the AM option in all gas-powered and electric 2024 models.

The move isn’t only un-American — it’s just plain dumb.

AM radio is undisputedly the most reliable form of communication during emergencies.

And it’s not only small markets that depend on getting crucial information out via the airwaves — every major city uses AM alerts during manmade and natural disasters. 

A Pew Research Center survey last fall found that nearly 50% of US adults get their news from radio and about 47 million Americans still listen to AM radio regularly, which represents about 20% of the radio-listening public.

A recent Nielsen report says AM listeners tend to be older (about one-third are over 65), but the amount of time they spend listening to AM has increased slightly over the last five years, to just over two hours a day.

AM signals travel farther and reach more people, especially at night; they’re a critical news source in rural areas.

And AM stations often cater to a demographic traditional popular media ignores, offering diverse programming geared toward specific cultural and religious communities.

They also have broad coverage of diverse perspectives critical to the marketplace of ideas.

It’s an easily installable, reliable technology. Most carmakers have pledged to stick with the classic AM/FM options, but the few planning to do away with the AM wavelength say that electric vehicles generate more electromagnetic interference than gas-powered cars, disrupting the reception of AM signals and causing static, noise and a high-frequency hum. 

But this is 2023, folks — if you can make a car that drives itself, you can surely make a radio that receives a signal.

I have been leading the charge to save AM radio, and just last week at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, I met with members of the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

I’ve also been speaking with some of our leading politicians in Washington, and I am urging the public to do the same and speak to their representatives about preserving the AM option in all new vehicles.

The Wall Street Journal reported in late February that seven former FEMA administrators wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and several congressional committees asking for the government to seek assurances from automakers that AM radio will remain a feature in vehicles.

Catsimatidis in the 77 WABC studio.

Stefano Giovannini

Even former Vice President Mike Pence is on our side and voiced a “Save AM Radio” public-service announcement for 77 WABC, which I am offering to every radio station in America.

Broadcast AM radio is an essential part of our emergency-alert infrastructure, and it’s an integral piece of American history.

It was the first form of modern entertainment, as families convened around the radio in the 1920s to listen to music and story times. 

Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats drew the nation together during the Great Depression.

Thanks to the AM dial we were mesmerized by the music of Frank Sinatra, Elvis and the Beatles.

And who isn’t drawn to the soft hum of Sunday summer baseball on the radio, the ball “popping” over the din of the “crack . . . crack . . . crackle-and-pop” AM dissonance?

The automotive industry is doing a huge disservice to Americans by even considering removing AM radio from cars.

They are putting the safety of Americans in peril by putting profits before people.

Americans deserve better. 

Americans deserve AM radio.

John Catsimatidis is the CEO of WABC radio.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/26/carmakers-unsafe-un-american-push-to-eliminate-am-radio/

Florida Tourism Oversight District Board: Illegal for Business Including Disney to Adopt COVID Curbs

After voiding Disney’s final agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors voted to make it illegal for businesses within the district to exercise any COVID-19 preventative measures.

At the start of the Wednesday meeting, several Disney Springs business owners appeared before the board to express their concerns about potential tolls and taxes.

Walt Disney World Resort and most businesses were forced to shut down in March 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida businesses opened sooner than many in other states. At Walt Disney World, COVID-19 restrictions included physical distancing and masking. Masking is now optional and physical distancing requirements have been lifted.

The CDC reports approximately 1,129,573 deaths in the United States from COVID-19 so far. According to data from John Hopkins University, there have been 86,850 total deaths in Florida, and 1,140 in the past month.

Governor DeSantis and The Walt Disney Company initially clashed over the corporation’s opposition to a much-debated and controversial Florida law regarding classroom instruction and discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools, alongside various other recent state laws and proposals in a similar vein.

Bob Chapek was Chief Executive Officer of Disney at the time and initially remained silent and passive on the issue — until massive internal criticisms from cast members and controversy over Disney’s practice of making hefty political contributions to campaigns and individuals allegedly against their own stated human principles came into focus.

In an apparent act of retribution over Chapek’s expression of dissent, the Governor moved forward with various verbal and legal assaults on Disney, including the attempted dissolution of Reedy Creek and the eventual transfer of power directly under his control. DeSantis argues he is attacking a rather vague perception of something he calls “woke politics,” invading the state. He further says he aims to put the people of Florida first through his actions: “Disney has gotten away with special deals from the state of Florida for way too long. It took a look under the hood to see what Disney has become to truly understand their inappropriate influence.”

The Governor insists he will double down on efforts to punish Disney through methods both in the Legislature and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board. Notably, he promised to hike Disney’s hotel taxes and institute tolls on the roads around Walt Disney World Resort property.

Recently, Disney has taken to their official community outreach site to share their view of the Reedy Creek Improvement District in a new post entitled “The Value of Disney Reedy Creek to Florida.”

https://wdwnt.com/2023/04/central-florida-tourism-oversight-district-board-makes-it-illegal-for-businesses-to-adopt-covid-19-restrictions/

S. Korea to step up scrutiny of company strategy announcements

 South Korea's financial markets regulator said on Thursday it would strengthen its oversight of disclosures by listed companies on their business plans, citing a danger of speculative activity in their stocks.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement many companies announced plans to add popular sectors such as rechargeable batteries, artificial intelligence and robotics to their businesses but failed to disclose progress later.

The move came after stock prices of several companies making such announcements showed unusual rallies before crashing in a relatively short period and without any clear event.

It said it would strengthen its probes into stock price movements and transaction patterns for companies making such announcements and carry out swift investigations into suspicious cases for punishment.

If the regulator finds activity was fraudulent, it can refer cases to the prosecution office.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/south-korea-step-scrutiny-company-strategy-announcements-3447601

First babies made with ‘sperm robot’ are born, potentially lowering IVF costs

 The first babies ever made with a sperm-injecting robot reportedly were born thanks to a cutting-edge procedure that experts say could lower the cost of IVF by thousands of dollars.

Engineers used a robotic needle to insert sperm cells into eggs at the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City — resulting in two healthy embryos and ultimately two baby girls, according to MIT’s Technology Review.

“It’s wild, isn’t it?” said one of the infants’ fathers, who asked to be anonymous. “Until now it had always been done manually.”

The fertility breakthrough involved using a remote-controlled needle and a camera to penetrate the eggs in a petri dish, potentially eliminating the need for highly-paid embryologists, according to the report.

The technology could one day eliminate the need for patients to visit a fertility clinic, where a single attempt at getting pregnant can cost $20,000 in the US, said Santiago Munné, chief geneticist of the Spanish company Overture Life, which developed the sperm robot.

“[IVF] has to be cheaper. And if any doctor could do it, it would be,”said Munné.

Engineers used a remote-controlled needle to insert sperm cells into eggs.

Overture Life

Munne believes the fertilization process could one day be automated and carried out by a gynecologist, but he didn’t elaborate on how multiple eggs would be grown and retrieved in that setting.

Overture Life has filed a patent application describing a “biochip” for an IVF lab featuring  hidden reservoirs containing growth fluids, and tiny channels for sperm to swim  through — and other companies are getting in the game, too.

At least half a dozen other start-ups have similar goals including AutoIVF, IVF 2.0, Conceivable Life Sciences, which aim to tap into the $25 billion IVF industry.

The technology could one day eliminate the need for patients to visit a fertility clinic for IVF.

Overture Life

Alan Murray, co-founder of Conceivable Life, estimates the average IVF baby costs $83,000 in the US, when factoring in failed attempts, expensive fertility drugs and medical procedures that are largely not covered by health care.

His firm’s goal is to lower the cost 70% by increasing success rates and reducing the price of procedures with the help of robotics.

Each year, roughly 500,000 babies are born through IVF worldwide, but most people who need help having kids can’t pay for it or don’t have access to fertility medicine.

A a single IVF attempt can cost $20,000 in the US.

Overture Life

“That is the true demand,” Murray said. “The challenge is that these wonderful rich and eccentric countries can do it, but the rest of the world cannot. But they have demonstrated the true human need.”

But some fertility experts are skeptical that robotics will lower costs considering they don’t solve the problem of aging eggs — a major reason fertility treatments fail.

Rita Vassena, an adviser to Conceivable, said the field has a history of introducing innovations without significantly increasing pregnancy rates.

Roughly 500,000 babies are born through IVF worldwide each year.

Overture Life

“The trend [is] toward piling up tests and technologies … rather than a true effort to lower access barriers,” she said.

In the case of the first babies made with the sperm robot, donor eggs were given to the patients for free and they were implanted into the mother’s uterus after the high-tech fertilization.

Overall, many fertility specialists agreed IVF robots are inevitable in the future.

“We’re going to see an evolution of what an embryologist is,” said Kathleen Miller, chief scientist of Innovation Fertility, a chain of clinics in the south.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/26/first-babies-made-with-sperm-robot-are-born/

Samsung flags second-half recovery after record chip loss in Q1

 Samsung Electronics Co Ltd flagged a gradual recovery for chips in the second half of the year after its semiconductor business reported a record loss on Thursday, driven by weak demand for tech devices.

A global downturn in semiconductor purchases amid an economic slowdown and weak customer spending sent chip prices plummeting in the first quarter, triggering production cuts across the sector.

Samsung said its chip business would focus on high-capacity server and mobile products "based on expectations of a gradual market recovery and a rebound in global demand" in the second half.

For the current quarter, Samsung said it expected limited recovery for memory chips as major data centre firms invested more conservatively in servers.

The world's biggest memory chipmaker said operating profit fell to 640 billion won ($478.6 million) for the January-March quarter, down 95% from 14.12 trillion won a year earlier and the lowest profit for any quarter in 14 years. Revenue fell 18% to 63.7 trillion won.

The South Korean tech giant's chip division - normally its most reliable cash cow - reported a 4.58 trillion won loss compared to a 8.45 trillion won profit a year earlier.

Shoppers around the world have cut back on purchases due to rising inflation. As a result, smartphone, personal computer and server companies have run down inventories, causing chip prices to plunge by about 70% over the previous nine months.

Samsung made a rare announcement of a chip production cut earlier this month, joining smaller rivals.

Although this could help chip prices recover slightly, analysts said Samsung's profit in the current quarter may be similar to Q1 without a fundamental recovery in demand for devices that use chips.

BUY CHIPS AGAIN

By the second half of the year, customers will have run down inventory and gradually start buying chips again, Samsung said.

Despite the record loss in chips, Samsung said it spent 10.7 trillion won in capital expenditures during Q1, the highest for the first quarter of any year.

https://news.yahoo.com/samsung-electronics-reports-95-plunge-235652062.html

Undercover Investigation Reveals Pro-Trans Doctors 'Cashing In' On Lifelong Patients

 In their third installment of a series exposing medical practices in the transgender treatment community, a post-O'Keefe Project Veritas reveals how the industry functions, and turns patients into transgender cash-cows that pay them for years.

"In the beginning, it’s a lot of doctor visits. But, you know, after a while, you space it out. It’s like, every six to twelve months? Which yeah, is being a patient. But that doesn’t seem so bad," said Dr. John Steever, discussing how young individuals are subjected to prolonged gender transitions.

"For a female going to male, if they would continue -- you’d have to continuously take testosterone pretty -- well, for the rest of their life," said Dr. Matthew Warnken, a pharmacist in Austin, Texas, echoing Steever's comments.

Another doctor featured in the segment, Matthew Pabis out of New York, thinks there's a connection between autism and people who want to change genders.

"It was a person on the spectrum as well, 21-years-old. At the time, he was coming here for mental health, and he came down here and he just sat down, and I’m like, ‘What are you here for?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I saw you do transgender.’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Well I think I need to get my penis cut off,’" he said. "I was like, ‘You know, transitioning is not easy.’ It doesn’t happen like this. You have to inject yourself with hormones. You have to take pills. You have to do bloodwork. You know, if he makes it then let’s do it, and he’s getting his vagina next week, in one year!"

More via Project Veritas:

Nora Scott, a licensed social worker at Dell Children’s Medical Center, corroborated Dr. Pabis’ statements.

“I can say from here as well, there’s a lot of folks at our clinic who are on the autism spectrum … [There is] a heavy amount of crossover between folks who are somewhere on the spectrum and also somewhere on the LGBTQIA spectrum,” she said.

Caila Hoopes, who is a nurse at the Phoenix Children’s Medical Group in Arizona, discreetly explained to a Veritas journalist how their facility handles parental consent when it comes to transitioning minors:

Caila Hoopes, Nurse, Phoenix Children’s Medical Group [Phoenix, AZ]: True hormone therapy there is, like, long-term possible side effects of like -- it is life changing and is difficult to come back from. It also requires parents to be onboard.

Veritas Journalist: Really? You--

Hoopes: So, here are my words. You have to -- we have to have one parent’s consent. If we know that there’s another parent who’s not on board, we can’t start hormone therapy.

Veritas Journalist: Oh okay, yeah.

Hoopes: Is that fair?

According to de-transition advocate, Parisha Mosley, "I was under the impression that I was going to take a cure and be healed, and I didn’t understand as a mentally ill child that I was signing up for lifelong medicalization. I didn’t conceptualize the idea that I was going to be injecting this [medication] every two weeks, forever."

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/undercover-investigation-reveals-pro-trans-doctors-cashing-lifelong-patients

Health officials warn of deadly candida auris fungus in N.J.

 A potentially deadly fungus is spreading in health care facilities across the country at "an alarming rate," according to renewed warnings from the CDC.

New Jersey is a hot spot for this fungus and health officials are renewing warnings because it's resistant to treatment.

The CDC says nation-wide cases tripled in a three year period.

The fungus is called Candida Auris. The drug-resistant yeast mainly impacts hospitals and nursing homes and can be serious and deadly for people with weakened immune systems.

"This is a very important problem it's a concerning problem that impacts the lives of millions of Americans," Dr. Arjun Srinivasan from the CDC said.

The CDC says the fungus is spreading at an alarming rate across the country. 

Two-thirds of all cases in the U.S. were concentrated in New York City and New Jersey.

Federal health officials are bracing for an even larger number of cases.

"They are not going anywhere they are only gong to become a bigger problem," Srinivasan said.

The majority of the cases in Pennsylvania are located in the Philadelphia region.

"This is not a threat to the general public at home. But it is a significant issue for long-term health facilities," Dr. Lawrence Livornese said.

Dr. Livornese, an infectious disease specialist with Main Line Health, says Candida Auris can be difficult to treat and it spreads easily.

 "This can be transmitted from skin-to-skin contact or from somebody contaminated a surface touching a surface and a second person touching it and picking up the yeast from that surface,"

Dr. Livornese said they're not sure why there's been an increase of cases recently.

"I think during COVID our health care facilities were stressed in terms of personal protective equipment," Livornese said.

Health care facilities now have increased cleaning and infection control measures in place aiming to curb the spread of infections.

Health officials say the last 12 months account for over 40% of all cases that has doctors concerned about a growing public health concern.

What are the symptoms of candida auris?

CBS News reports candida auris may not result in symptoms in healthy people.

For others, complications include bloodstream infections and other infections. The fungus can develop into invasive candidiasis that could cause fever and chills. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/candida-auris-fungus-cases-in-new-jersey-pennsylvania-new-york-city-case-counts/