by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Multiple types of weather alerts were implemented in every U.S. state by the National Weather Service (NWS), warning that “powerful winter storms” are slated to hit much of the country.
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Al Gore exiting Apple’s board of directors after hitting age limit
Former vice president Al Gore is retiring from Apple’s board of directors after more than two decades as part of a major shakeup, the company announced Thursday.
Gore, 75, had served as a board director for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company since 2003.
Also exiting from the eight-member board is former Boeing CFO James Bell, also 75, who had held a seat since 2015.
Apple’s board has a longstanding policy that directors can’t stand for re-election once they turn 75. Gore and Bell had both hit the age cap.
Wanda Austin, former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, was nominated for a board seat.
Her confirmation is pending a shareholder vote at Apple’s annual meeting on Feb. 28.
“For more than 20 years, Al has contributed an incredible amount to our work — from his unconditional support for protecting our users’ privacy, to his incomparable knowledge of environment and climate issues,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
“James’s dedication has been extraordinary, and we’re thankful for the important perspectives and deep expertise he’s offered on audit, finance, and so much more over the years,” Cook added.
Gore has earned a major financial windfall during his lengthy stint at the iPhone maker. He owns more than 468,000 shares of common stock — a stake worth more than $87 million.
During fiscal 2023, Gore earned approximately $377,000 in compensation, including $275,022 in stock awards and $100,000 in cash.
Bell owns 38,527 shares of Apple common stock with a current value of more than $7 million.
He received the same stock and cash compensation as Gore in 2023.
Cook said Austin “has spent decades advancing technology on behalf of humanity, and we’re thrilled to welcome her to Apple’s board of directors.”
Austin already serves as a board director for Amgen and Chevron.
She previously held a seat on the board of space firm Virgin Galactic.
Despite the age limit policy, another board director, Ronald Sugar, 76, is retaining his position.
Apple said it would keep Sugar in place “in consideration of the significant recent transitions in board composition and the value of retaining directors who have developed deep insights into the company during their tenure.”
"Federal scientists want to ease restrictions on marijuana, citing medical benefits'
Federal scientists want to make marijuana more accessible to those seeking therapeutic medicine by downgrading weed from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.
Researchers with the Food and Drug Administration wrote a letter in August that listed “eight factors” why the drug should be downgraded — which would essentially make it legal, the new-released letter said.
The Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug in 1970 by using factors including the potential for abuse, the pharmacological effect, and whether there is a psychic or physiological dependence liability.
But as the scientists argued in the letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, marijuana is not as prone to abuse as other Schedule I drugs, such as heroin. It also has a significant potential for medical benefits.
The Schedule I designation determines that the drug has a high potential for abuse and no medical use. They also carry several trafficking punishments under federal law.
Scientists want to reclassify the drug in Schedule III, the same category as ketamine and testosterone, which are both available by prescription.
Although they noted that marijuana does have a physical and psychological dependence, they said a serious consequence from it was “low,” according to the documents that were in a 250-page review. The documents were released Thursday by Matthew Zorn, a lawyer, who sued Health and Human Services for its release, according to The New York Times.
Marijuana has been proven to have positive medicinal effects for the anorexia, nausea, and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.
The DEA is reviewing the recommendation and is expected to announce its decision in the coming months.
Before the decision can be made final, it would have to go through a public debate period.
However, senior DEA employees are reportedly hesitant about the reclassification, sources told The Times. The DEA rejected a petition in 2016 that asked to reclassify the drug due to its abuse rates.
Keith Humphreys, a Stanford professor, said the “therapeutic claims about cannabis have been debunked” and that science has found that it can be “quite harmful,” he told The Times.
“Yet it is now that the federal government has decided to call it a medicine,” he said.
President Joe Biden urged the government to “expeditiously” reexamine the classification in Oct. 2022. The urge came as he pardoned many inmates who were charged with marijuana possession.
However, the FDA stays in touch with the DEA and has continued to “communicate” their “position,” The Times reported.
“We put it all out there for them,” said Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services. “We continue to offer them any follow up, technical information if they have any questions.”
The marijuana industry, on the other hand, is rooting for the reclassification to help businesses gain footing in the business sector.
Usage of cannabis has been dropping in the states. Around 52 million Americans used the drug in 2021, but that has dropped to around 36 million in December, according to The Times.
The drug is legal in 38 states for medical use and two dozen states have legalized recreational use.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/12/lifestyle/federal-scientists-want-to-ease-restrictions-on-marijuana/
Former female boxer says new USA Boxing trans policy is ‘letting a man fight a woman’
A former female boxer sounded the alarm about USA Boxing’s decision to allow trans women to compete against women.
USA Boxing is the latest sports organization to make allowances for transgender competitors to compete in the gendered divisions they identify with. After the regulations were first drafted in August 2022, the policy went officially into effect on January 1, 2024.
“I can’t believe that USA boxing would allow transgender [individuals] to compete. I mean, basically, you’re letting a man fight a woman,” Christy Martin, one of the most prominent former female boxers to compete, told Fox News Digital.
Martin was the first woman to get inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016 and has been inducted into six other Halls of Fame, including the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. By the time she retired in 2012, Martin had completed her career with 49 wins and 7 losses, with 31 of those wins by knockout.
“Your body, your bone structure, the density, it’s just different. And I think someone’s going to get seriously injured,” Martin said.
She also cautioned how there could be a possibility of lethal effects as a result of the new allowances.
The new USA Boxing policy states that both transgender men and women are allowed to compete in the biological divisions. The requirements to compete in each category include:
- A declaration by the athlete that their gender is either male or female, and they have completed gender reassignment surgery accordingly.
- The athlete in question has completed quarterly hormone testing for a minimum of four years post-surgery.
- For transgender women competitors, the athlete must demonstrate testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L for at least 48 months prior to the first competition.
- For transgender men, testosterone levels must be maintained at a level above 10 nmol/L throughout the period of the competitor’s eligibility to compete in the male category.
Martin detailed how these new regulations could deter new female boxers from entering the field, citing how women’s boxing is having a “tough time” growing and this act by the organization could potentially stunt further growth.
“We need to have a bigger pool of opponents, and we don’t have that. So now if someone’s out there training, and they’re training their butt off, and they realize they’re going to go into a tournament, they’re going to be competing against a male, basically. This is not fair. This is not the way we do things,” Martin said.
The former boxer also touched on the idea of how this could even play out in the men’s division by having transgender men compete, “we’re all focusing on male to female. But this also goes female to male.”
“In that case, transgender women are loading up on testosterone, of course. So maybe they are actually at an advantage against a male competitor because their testosterone levels, would kind of be like juicing, and we know that’s illegal,” she said.
Martin is not the only person in the boxing world to be upset by this decision. Current female boxing champions Ebanie Bridges and Amanda Serrano, for instance, have also shared discontentment with the organization’s decision on their social media.
“The general reaction to this decision is negative. I haven’t talked to one person that thinks this is a good idea,” Martin said about the consensus within the boxing community regarding this matter.
Martin explained how fathers of female boxers have expressed to her that they would “never” want their daughters to compete against a transgender person.
“I’ve had coaches talk to me, [say] they’ll never let their boxer compete against a transgender person. Again, this is going to hurt women’s boxing more than it will ever help,” she added.
The boxing champion elucidated how we all have choices to make in life, and how sometimes, because of our choices, there are sacrifices we have to make and consequences we must face as a result of those decisions.
“I’m 100% for someone who wants to be transgender. That’s their business. That’s their right if that’s what they want to do,” she said.
“But, you give up some opportunities when you make that decision. And, this is one of those opportunities, to compete in sports,” she said, stressing how this idea is especially important for a combat sport like boxing, where physical differences become critical factors. “You’re [transitioning] because you’re going to be happy as a male. And that way outweighs competing in boxing. To me, competing in boxing would be something that wouldn’t even factor [in] on the scale, or competing in any sport,”
USA Boxing was reached for comment but they have yet to respond.
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