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Now, rather than just filming conditions in farms, they’re testing the animals for signs of the next zoonotic virus—viruses like COVID-19, H1N1, the bird flu, and others that jump from animals to humans, and which have killed more than 2 million people around the globe since 1991.
“The reality is the fact that these places, these unnecessary disease factories are existing; that is where the risk comes from,” Lewis Bernier, the team’s leader, told VICE News. “We have been warning about the threat of pathogens from animal agriculture, and from pig farms especially, for many years now.”
Industrial-scale farming is a system of agriculture that produces low-cost, uniformly-packaged foods, like pork—the kind you see in most supermarkets across the country. The highly efficient and lucrative system originated in the United States but is now used worldwide. But this infrastructure is also a near-perfect breeding ground for novel viruses, of which at least 60 percent are zoonotic. […]
THREE OTHER ARTICLES WORTH READING
- The First Modern Victim of Fake News Was a Socialist, by Greg Mitchell. A new film about ’30s Hollywood reminds us of the first truly modern campaign—whose target was California gubernatorial candidate Upton Sinclair.
- GOP Admits That Handing Out Free Money Creates Jobs, by Eric Levitz. For as long as I’ve been alive, Republicans have been telling America that the way to create jobs is to cut taxes on investors or provide subsidies to corporations or accept higher levels of air pollution. Now, the GOP Treasury secretary has declared that there is an alternative to those unsavory options: We could just mail everyone some free money.
TOP COMMENTS • RESCUED DIARIES
QUOTATION
“It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.”
~~Barack Obama, The Fight for America’s Workers Continues (2010)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2017—Trump implies Sen. Gillibrand is a prostitute, adds Twitter attack for his assault victims:
Donald Trump started the day with a demeanment 2-in-1 in which he waved off both the Russia investigation and the voices of the seventeen (and counting) women who had spoken up about his sexual harassment.
Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia – so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!
Yes. The Russia investigation has turned up nothing—except for the four indictments and noose that’s tightening around Trump’s floppy red tie. And the women are all part of fabricated stories, like the one Trump admitted to during the campaign. Women he never met: including multiple contestants in the Miss USA or Miss Universe contest he definitely met, a former contestant on The Apprentice he definitely met, a worker in Trump Tower he definitely met, a Mar-a-Lago guest he definitely met, and his ex-wife.
But in case it wasn’t clear just what Trump thinks of women in general, he followed his first tweet with an attack on Senator Gillibrand in which he makes his views crystal clear.
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
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