| |  | | Growing up in Greenwood, Mississippi, where the hospital was shuttered and gang violence plagued the city, Morgan Stanley saw firsthand how racism and racial stereotypes adversely affect medical outcomes for minorities. Now the Tougaloo College freshman is determined to pave the way for young African Americans to enter the health care fields. “We need diversity in medicine so we can represent and advocate for equity in health care,” says Morgan. That’s what he hopes to accomplish with his Daniel Williams Exposure to Health Care Program, providing low-income students the opportunity to discover careers in medicine and take their rightful place as leaders in U.S. health care. |
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IMPORTANT
|  | Love Is Love Is Law | With a Signature, Biden Codifies Marriage Equality “The road to this moment has been long, but those who believe in equality and justice, you never gave up,” President Joe Biden said at the White House signing event. The legislation marks the official end of the Defense of Marriage Act and requires all states to recognize marriages from other states, irrespective of race or sexuality. Both chambers of Congress threw bipartisan support behind the bill, prompted in part by comments made by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that the court should revisit landmark laws like Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized marriage equality. (Sources: NYT, Axios) |
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|  | No Sick Note | China’s Sick Doctors Are Back at Work as Daily COVID Tally Scrapped “People who’ve been infected have been required to work in the hospitals, which creates a transmission environment there,” said Professor Chen Xi, a health policy expert at Yale University. Healthcare workers infected with the virus have been forced back to work as Chinese hospitals struggle to cope with exploding patient numbers. Meanwhile, officials have confirmed the country will no longer collate caseload data as mass testing efforts wind down. Abruptly dropping lockdown policies without adequately preparing for a sharp increase in caseloads stresses public health systems, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said, comparing the situation in China to those seen earlier in countries like Australia. (Sources: BBC, Reuters, Bloomberg) |
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| | |  | European Disunity | Brussels’ Socialists Scramble as Far-Right Seizes Corruption Row The European Parliament’s second-largest faction, the Socialists & Democrats, was rocked by allegations high-profile member Eva Kaili was involved in lobbying on behalf of Qatar. Four more S&D members — two representing Italy and two from Belgium — have stepped down from party positions as investigations continue. “My group and myself are shocked by this corruption case,” S&D President Iratxe García Pérez said Tuesday, vowing to protect the Parliament’s credibility. It’s a win for Europe’s ascendant far-right lawmakers like France’s Marine Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who both accused the center-left faction of hypocrisy. (Sources: Euronews, Politico) |
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|  | Radicalized? | Police to Probe ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Connections in Australian Shooting Nathaniel Train, his brother Gareth and sister-in-law Stacey frequented conspiracy theory and anti-vaccine internet forums prior to the incident on Monday, Queensland police said late Tuesday. The trio killed two young police officers and a neighbor before they were killed in a shootout with police. Posts under the name Gareth Train suggested Port Arthur — an infamous mass shooting in 1997 that prompted massive gun reforms — was a false-flag operation. Extremist researcher Josh Roose said the views allegedly expressed online raise serious red flags for extremist behavior, similar to the case of Brenton Tarrant, the Australian national convicted for the 2019 massacre in New Zealand. (Sources: AP, Crikey) |
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|  | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Slammed. FTX crypto exchange founder Samuel Bankman-Fried was charged with a string of financial crimes by U.S. investigators, including the deception of customers to enrich himself and others. It comes a day after his arrest in the Bahamas. (Source: AP) Leaked. Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has the IRS and the Treasury Department in his sights. He filed a suit against the two bodies for the “unlawful disclosure” of his tax information, which appeared in a 2021 ProPublica report. (Source: CNBC) Blasts. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Ukrainian capital was hit by two explosions early Wednesday morning, shortly after local forces shot down 13 drones. (Source: BBC) |
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| Real estate dethroned: mega-sale sends surprising NYC market soaring +16.5% | | Few investments are considered more reliable than New York City real estate. But with a negative 3% growth in median sales price this year, it hasn’t escaped broader macroeconomic turmoil. However, one NYC market has: blue-chip contemporary art. In fact, at NYC’s mega-auctions this November, contemporary art sales totaled $2.3 billion in a single week – an all time record – as prices climbed 16.5%. And not only ultra-rich dealmakers are celebrating this year. Thanks to Masterworks. With this investment platform, anyone can easily invest in shares of multi-million dollar art by names like Banksy and Picasso. So far, seven of Masterworks’ last eight exits have realized a net return of +17.8%* each. Presidential Daily Brief readers can skip the waitlist with this exclusive referral link. See important Regulation A disclosures. |
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INTRIGUING
| | | There It Is! | Researchers Find Snakes Have Not One, But Two Clitorises The two-part clitoris is known as a hemiclitoris and is found in at least nine species of snake. Researchers that made the identification have been confounded by the lack of scholarship into the organ, given how much is known about male snakes and their penises. Researcher Megan Folwell from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, said that in the end it wasn’t all that hard to work out: “You peel back the skin and it’s right there in front of you.” Folwell thinks it’s likely most — if not all — female snakes have a hemiclitoris, after dissecting snakes from across South America and Australia. (Source: New Scientist) |
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| | | | | Polarized Posting | Has Meta Stoked Division in Ethiopia’s Civil War? Two Ethiopian researchers and local rights group Katiba Institute think so. A suit filed in Kenya Tuesday alleges Facebook’s parent company boosted hateful posts on the platform via the recommendations algorithm. Facebook has denied the charges, saying it’s serious about removing content that could be seen as inciting violence. But Meta’s own independent Oversight Board last year recommended a review of Facebook and Instagram activity in Ethiopia. The lawsuit calls on the social media giant to augment local moderation staff and set aside a $2 billion fund for victims of violence in the country, which it says was incited by Facebook. (Source: Reuters) |
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| | | Funny Person | After Decades of ‘Hustle’, Adam Sandler Honored With Comedy Award Sandler is officially the Big Daddy of American comedy after winning the 24th Mark Twain Award for American Humor. Sandler started out on SNL at just 23 but was dropped shortly after. His Do-Over came when Billy Madison made him a star for his particular brand of comedy. Not everyone approved: in 2014 a film critic said Sandler’s films “exist on their very own plane of bad taste and questionable intentions.” A shift towards more serious fare like the uber-hyped Uncut Gems and The Meyerowitz Stories showed off his serious acting chops. Sandler will be honored at a Kennedy Center gala in March. (Source: NPR) |
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| | | Never Forgotten | 'Give Us Back Our Skulls' Demand Inishbofin Locals 130 Years Later In 1890 on an island off the Irish coast, two headhunters came across dozens of skulls in a graveyard and helped themselves to 13 of them. Since then, the skulls have sat in a room in Trinity College, Dublin. “The skulls were stolen, and there is an accomplice that’s keeping them stolen,” historian Marie Coyne said. Taken as part of research into a long-abandoned theory that the people of Inishbofin were Ireland’s aborigines, Coyne said it’s time to bring them home. Nearly all of the island’s 170 residents have signed a petition in support and Trinity College is deliberating the demand. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | | Ultimate Penalty | Soccer World Raises Alarm for Player Facing Death in Iran FIFPRO, the global soccer players union, said it is “shocked and sickened” by the detention and possible execution of Iranian national player Amir Nasr-Azadani. He was arrested after taking part in a protest, described as an “armed riot” by officials, in mid-September. Nasr-Azadani faces charges of “rebellion, membership in illegal gangs, collusion to undermine security” as well as “enmity of God,” which carries the death penalty in Iran. “We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment,” FIFPRO tweeted. It follows the recent execution of two Iranian nationals for their role in the September protests. (Source: AFP) |
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