June 14, 2023
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Month: June 2023
Study Finds Heart Attacks May Affect Another Major Part Of Your Body Too
HuffPost
Study Finds Heart Attacks May Affect Another Major Part Of Your Body Too
Jillian Wilson – June 14, 2023
The connection between your heart health and brain health is underscored in a recent study.
We know heart attacks can take an immediate toll on our cardiovascular system, and potentially a long-term toll as well. Now new research is highlighting another part of the body that may be affected: our brains.
An extensive study published in JAMA Neurology suggests a connection between heart attacks and cognitive decline. The data was drawn from six smaller studies that ran for various lengths of time, and followed a total of 30,465 people with no history of heart attack, stroke or dementia. Researchers assessed each person’s cognitive function by measuring memory, global cognition and executive function. They also evaluated these metrics after any heart attacks that occurred during each of the study periods.
Researchers followed up years after each of the original assessments, ranging from between 4.9 and 19.7 years later, depending on the length of the study. (The median follow-up time was 6.4 years.) In all, 1,033 participants across the six studies had heart attacks during the study’s timeline.
Researchers found that people who suffered a heart attack experienced a faster cognitive decline than those who did not. (All participants naturally experienced some form of lost brain function as they aged — but it only happened at a faster rate for those who’d had a heart attack.)
“The eventual decline in global cognition for those in the study who experienced a heart attack was equivalent to 6 to 13 years of cognitive aging,” Dr. Percy Griffin, director of scientific engagement at the Alzheimer’s Association, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today.
The connection between heart and brain health
“I think in this study there’s a clear heart-brain connection. And I think that connection in this particular study likely has to do through what we call vascular health,” said Dr. Daniel Muñoz, executive medical director and chief medical officer at Vanderbilt Heart & Vascular Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. “Medically, a healthy heart is one that has, among other things, healthy blood supply and healthy blood vessels.”
“Similarly, a healthy brain is one that has, among other things, a healthy blood supply and healthy blood vessels,” Muñoz said. “So, vascular health, or blood vessel health, connects all organs — in particular, the heart and the brain, right?”
In the case of a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is blocked by things like cholesterol and plaque. And the same can happen with the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood, Muñoz noted, which can cause cognitive problems.
“So, a heart attack may be a dramatic indication or a sign that vascular health, or blood vessel health, is not what we ideally would like it to be in that person,” Muñoz said, noting that a heart attack can put multiple parts of the body at risk.
Dr. Eric Adler, a cardiologist and medical director of heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support at UC San Diego Health, said the study’s findings also make sense when you consider inflammation.
Your body’s inflammation system is triggered after a heart attack, Adler said ― “and we know… there are biological mechanisms in which inflammation can affect cognitive function.”
In fact, according to one study, people with higher inflammation in the body had 7.8% more cognitive decline than those who did not have as much inflammation.
Adler said there are some new medicines for Alzheimer’s disease that target plaque buildup in the brain (which underscores Muñoz’s point above), and some ideas about inflammation’s effects on the condition.
“There are some thoughts about the inflammatory cells in the brain, which are called glial cells, and if those cells are contributing to Alzheimer’s, those cells may be triggered by heart attacks to be more active,” Adler said.
Adler noted there are many unknowns when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, but there are potential connections between this study’s research and what is already in the medical zeitgeist.
Some amount of brain function loss is normal as you age, but new research suggests that people who have heart attacks experience this loss at a faster rate.
How to protect your heart and brain before or after a heart attack
All this is to say, you should work to better your heart and brain health.
“With regards to patients or our loved ones who experience a heart attack, I think this study suggests that they are vulnerable cognitively in the long run,” Muñoz said.
If you’ve had a heart attack (or a loved one has), and you’re concerned about accelerated cognitive decline, try not to worry too much. Instead, take this as a sign that you should work on your mental health in addition to your physical health.
“Doing what we can to support their mental health, to support their overall health, I think becomes really important to try to protect them from a vulnerability that may be there,” Muñoz said.
This could look like making sure a person’s medical needs are fully supported, like ensuring loved ones take their heart medication or setting a reminder each day if you’re taking medication yourself.
Additionally, it’s important to work your brain to keep it as sharp as possible. Studies show that crosswords and jigsaw puzzles can help challenge your brain, which can help slow mild cognitive decline.
“People aren’t doomed to this fate after a heart attack, but the study suggests that there’s a vulnerability there,” Muñoz said. “So, addressing that vulnerability head-on and working to support and protect patients who might otherwise be vulnerable, I think, could potentially do a lot of good.”
If you haven’t experienced a heart attack, keep taking steps to reduce your risk.
“For folks who have not had a heart attack, where the focus is on maintaining well-being and avoiding a heart attack… thanks to decades of research and better understanding, we know what the key tactics are for prevention,” Muñoz said.
“A healthy lifestyle ― which I think is a trifecta of healthy eating, exercise and, frankly, learning more about social engagement and lack of social isolation ― those kinds of things actually can be quite impactful on both your risk of heart attack and your risk of Alzheimer’s,” Adler said.
Additionally, maintaining healthy blood pressure is important, Muñoz explained. If you do have high blood pressure, make sure you manage it — whether through medicine or lifestyle changes, whatever your doctor says — so it stays in a healthy range. The same goes for cholesterol, Muñoz said.
“When [cholesterol is] abnormally high, that can accelerate the development of blood vessel disease everywhere, including in the heart, including in the brain, including other places,” Muñoz said. You should also stay away from tobacco products or, if you smoke, try to quit.
Adler stressed that it’s important to see your primary care doctor on a regular basis. They’ll help make sure your blood pressure is under control, along with your cholesterol, and will help figure out the best management tools for these things — and any other issues that could arise.
Seeing a doctor regularly, Adler noted, can help you catch any issues before it’s too late.
Related…
Here’s How Long You Should Walk Every Day to Keep Your Heart Healthy
Verywell Health
Here’s How Long You Should Walk Every Day to Keep Your Heart Healthy
Alyssa Hui – June 13, 2023
Fact checked by Nick Blackmer
Key Takeaways
- National guidelines recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week for a healthy heart. That adds up to walking for about 20 minutes every day.
- Walking daily can help you lose and maintain weight, lower your blood sugar levels, and reduce chronic stress—all of which can be beneficial to your heart and overall health.
- Besides walking, you can also engage in other physical activities and lifestyle changes to support your health.
According to guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services that are supported by the American Heart Association (AHA), adults should try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week.
While 150 minutes of physical activity may sound like a lofty goal, experts say that if you break it down day by day, you could meet that goal by walking for about 20 minutes a day.
The reality is that fewer than 1 in 4 adults are able to meet the recommended amount of physical activity, and certain groups—including older adults, females, and those in lower socioeconomic statuses—are even less likely to meet the goal.
Here’s why walking matters for heart health, and what other activities you can do to support your overall well-being.
Related: If Walking Is the Only Exercise You Do, Is That Enough to Stay Healthy?
How Much Do You Need to Walk?
While the scientific statement highlights that many people are not able to meet the recommended guidelines, the authors hope those findings will provide an opportunity to focus community efforts on physical activity programs in places where people need them the most.
The authors wrote that even though bringing awareness to the lower levels of physical activities in certain groups “will not address the underlying structural inequities that deserve attention,” it’s still important to promote physical activity—especially in adults with “both low physical activity levels and poor cardiovascular health.”
Experts say your daily 20-minute exercise goal can be cumulative: Walking throughout the day adds up.
“Going for a brisk walk gets you moving toward that goal,” Gerald Jerome, PhD, FAHA, volunteer chair of the writing committee for the scientific statement and a behavioral exercise scientist and professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Towson University, told Verywell. “Taking the stairs or parking a little farther away from a store entrance also helps you move toward your goal.”
Related: Walking Just 4,000 Steps a Day May Lower Your Risk of Dementia
How Does Walking Improve Heart Health?
Smadar Kort, MD, a cardiologist and Director of the Echocardiography and Structural Heart Imaging Program at Stony Brook Heart Institute, told Verywell that going for a walk increases your heart rate so it can pump more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles. It also improves blood flow in your body, can lower blood pressure, and can make your heart stronger over time.
“Walking can help a person maintain a healthy weight or lose weight if he or she is overweight, and it can lower blood pressure,” Kort added.
Smadar Kort, MD
It’s never too late to start getting active. Even people who never engaged in physical activity can start.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, regular activity such as walking can help lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol and increase HDL or “good” cholesterol levels. That can be another step in the right direction for heart health because high levels of “bad” cholesterol can clog your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Regular physical activity can also reduce inflammation throughout your body and lower your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and coronary heart disease. Additionally, it’s good for your mental health.
“Walking, especially in nature, can help reduce stress,” said Kort. “We know that stress has a negative effect on our health—including cardiovascular health.”
Related: Is Walking Good Exercise for Knee Arthritis?
What Other Activities Support a Healthy Heart?
Walking every day isn’t for everyone—and that’s OK. Kort said there are many other activities that you can do to improve your cardiovascular health.
Yoga, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, playing soccer, tennis, or pickleball, weight lifting, climbing stairs, jumping rope, hiking, and even engaging in gardening or heavy yard work like digging can help your heart, mind, and body.
“Any physical activity counts! These are all great activities that can count towards that required weekly exercise,” said Kort. “It’s never too late to start getting active. Even people who never engaged in physical activity can start.”
When picking an activity to do and deciding how long to do it daily, Christopher Tanayan, MD, the Director of Sports Cardiology at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told Verywell you should try to spread the minutes throughout the week to get into a habit of regular physical activity.
Depending on your interests, Tanayan said that using different cardio tools like bikes, ellipticals, and taking stairs, will help you “achieve the recommendation more easily and consistently than sticking to one routine,” since mixing it up helps you avoid getting bored.
Kort added that you should talk to your healthcare provider before you start an exercise program—especially if you were not active before. They can help you figure out the safest activities for you to do and recommend a routine that will be most beneficial for your health.
Related: How Walking Benefits Your Health If You Have COPD
Other Ways to Make Your Heart Stronger
Besides being active and getting in physical activity, experts say that there are some other things that you can do to improve your heart health and strength:
- Eat a nutritious diet (including a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as protein from plants and seafood)
- Cut down on high-sugar foods (like candy and soda) and limit foods rich in salt (such as frozen meals and snacks and canned goods)
- Avoid smoking and quit if you do
- Limit your alcohol intake
- Manage your stress levels
- See your provider for regular check-ups and health screenings
What This Means For You
Walking for about 20 minutes every day can improve your heart health. Other physical activities like hiking, running, biking, or gardening can also improve your health. Before you start a routine, talk to your provider. They can help figure out what the safest and most beneficial physical activities will be for you.
Putin ponders: Should Russia try to take Kyiv again?
Reuters
Putin ponders: Should Russia try to take Kyiv again?
Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin – June 13, 2023
MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that any further mobilisation would depend on what Russia wanted to achieve in the war in Ukraine, adding that he faced a question only he could answer – should Russia try to take Kyiv again?
More than 15 months since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian forces are still battling with artillery, tanks and drones along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line, though well away from the capital Kyiv.
Using the word “war” several times, Putin offered a barrage of warnings to the West, suggesting Russia may have to impose a “sanitary zone” in Ukraine to prevent it attacking Russia and saying Moscow was considering ditching the Black Sea grain deal.
Russia, he said, had no need for nationwide martial law and would keep responding to breaches of its red lines. Many in the United States, Putin said, did not want World War Three, though Washington gave the impression it was unafraid of escalation.
But his most puzzling remark was about Kyiv, which Russian forces tried – and failed – to capture just hours after Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year.
“Should we return there or not? Why am I asking such a rhetorical question?” Putin told 18 Russian war correspondents and bloggers in the Kremlin.
“Only I can answer this myself,” Putin said. His comments on Kyiv – during several hours of answering questions – were shown on Russian state television.
Russian troops were beaten back from Kyiv and eventually withdrew to a swathe of land in Ukraine’s east and south which Putin has declared is now part of Russia. Ukraine says it will never rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from its land.
Putin last September announced what he said was a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 reservists, triggering an exodus of at least as many Russian men who sought to dodge the draft by leaving for republics of the former Soviet Union.
Asked about another call-up by state TV war correspondent Alexander Sladkov, Putin said: “There is no such need today.”
MOBILISATION?
Russia’s paramount leader, though, was less than definitive on the topic, saying it depended on what Moscow wanted to achieve and pointing out that some public figures thought Russia needed 1 million or even 2 million additional men in uniform.
“It depends on what we want,” Putin said.
Though Russia now controls about 18% of Ukraine’s territory, the war has underscored the fault lines of the once mighty Russian armed forces and the vast human cost of fighting urban battles such as in Bakhmut, a small eastern city one twentieth the area of Kyiv.
Putin said the conflict had shown Russia had a lack of high-precision munitions and complex communications equipment.
He said Russia had established control over “almost all” of what he casts as “Novorossiya” (New Russia), a Tsarist-era imperial term for a swathe of southern Ukraine which is now used by Russian nationalists.
At times using Russian slang, Putin said Russia was not going to change course in Ukraine.
Russia’s future plans in Ukraine, he said, would be decided once the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which he said began on June 4, was over.
Ukraine’s offensive has not been successful in any area, Putin said, adding that Ukrainian human losses were 10 times greater than Russia’s.
Ukraine had lost over 160 of its tanks and 25-30% of the vehicles supplied from abroad, he said, while Russia had lost 54 tanks. Ukraine said it has made gains in the counteroffensive.
Reuters could not independently verify statements from either side about the battlefield.
Putin further said Ukraine had deliberately hit the Kakhovka hydro-electric dam on June 6 with U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, a step he said had also hindered Kyiv’s counteroffensive efforts. Ukraine says Russia blew up the dam, which Russian forces captured early in the war.
Putin said Russia needed to fight enemy agents and improve its defences against attacks deep inside its own territory, but that there was no need to follow Ukraine’s example and declare martial law.
“There is no reason to introduce some kind of special regime or martial law in the country. There is no need for such a thing today.”
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Andrew Osborn, Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich)
Hillary Clinton’s Emails: A Nation Struggles to Unsubscribe
The New York Times
Hillary Clinton’s Emails: A Nation Struggles to Unsubscribe
Reid J. Epstein and Katie Glueck – June 13, 2023
WASHINGTON — It is the topic that the nation just can’t delete from its political conversation: Hillary Clinton’s emails.
In the days since Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to face federal charges, Republicans across the ideological spectrum — including not only Trump and his allies but also his critics and those who see prosecutors’ evidence as damaging — have insistently brought up the 8-year-old controversy.
They have peppered speeches, social media posts and television appearances with fiery condemnations of the fact that Clinton, a figure who continues to evoke visceral reactions among the Republican base, was never charged.
The two episodes are vastly different legal matters, and Clinton was never found to have systematically or deliberately mishandled classified information. Still, Republicans have returned to the well with striking speed, mindful that little more than the word “emails” can muddy the waters, broadcast their loyalties and rile up their base.
“Lock her up,” chanted a woman at last weekend’s Georgia Republican Party state convention, where Trump sought to revive the issue of Clinton’s email use. “Hillary wasn’t indicted,” he said in a speech at the event. “She should have been. But she wasn’t indicted.”
Campaigning in North Carolina, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bashed Clinton’s email practices while being far more circumspect in alluding to Trump, his top rival for the Republican nomination.
Even former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has made criticizing Trump a central theme of his presidential campaign, said on CNN recently that the Justice Department “is at fault for not charging Hillary Clinton,” while casting the facts laid out against Trump as “damning.”
“The perception is that she was treated differently,” Asa Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor, a 2024 presidential candidate and a Trump critic, said in an interview Monday. “Perception can become a reality very quickly.”
Hutchinson, once a chief Clinton antagonist from former President Bill Clinton’s home state — he helped guide impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton — said he saw distinctions between Hillary Clinton’s email episode and the charges Trump faced. But, he added, “If the voters say it’s relevant, it becomes relevant politically.”
Taken together, the moment offers a vivid reminder of the ways the ghosts of the 2016 campaign continue to shape and scar American politics.
“There are few politicians on the Democratic side of the aisle that raise the ire of Republicans more than Hillary Clinton,” said Neil Newhouse, a veteran Republican pollster.
Clinton and her supporters, of course, have not forgotten the email saga. After Trump’s indictment, the episode to many of them serves as a symbol of a political system and a mainstream news media often focused on the superficial at the expense of the substantive.
Clinton backers now make light of what they view as comparatively flimsy and unproven accusations she faced about her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. And some relish the fact that the man who crowed about “Crooked Hillary” finds himself facing a range of serious charges and the prospect of prison if he is convicted.
Speaking Monday with the hosts of the “Pod Save America” podcast at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Clinton laughed when a host noted the tendency of some Republicans to make parallels to her emails.
“When in doubt, right?” she said. “I do think it’s odd, let’s just say, to the point of being absurd, how that is their only response. You know, they refuse to read the indictment, they refuse to engage with the facts.”
On Friday, Clinton posted an edited photo of herself on Instagram wearing a black baseball hat that reads, in pink letters, “BUT HER EMAILS.” That three-word phrase has become something of a shorthand among Democrats for frustration at the grief she received for how she handled classified correspondence compared with the blowback Trump confronted for all the legal and ethical norms he busted while in office.
She included a link to buy the hat for $32 on the website of her political group. (Asked about that decision, Nick Merrill, who served as a longtime spokesperson for Clinton and remains an adviser, replied, “We’re seven years past what was widely viewed as, at worst, a stupid mistake. And reminding people that a piece of merchandise exists in order to raise money to preserve our democracy is something I’m very comfortable with.”)
Substantively, there are many clear differences between the episodes.
A yearslong inquiry by the State Department into Clinton’s use of a private email server found that although it increased the risk of compromising classified information, “there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.”
The indictment against Trump, by contrast, accuses him of not only mishandling sensitive national security documents found at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida but also willfully obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. He has been charged with 37 criminal counts related to issues including withholding national defense information and concealing possession of classified documents.
Robert Kelner, a Republican lawyer and Trump critic who is a partner in the white-collar defense and investigations practice group at Covington & Burling, said Trump most likely would not have been indicted had he cooperated with the government’s requests to return classified documents he took from the White House.
“There were lots of things to criticize about the way the Hillary Clinton investigation was handled — none of which, however, in any way to my mind, suggests that the case against Donald Trump is unfounded,” Kelner said.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted Trump, seemed to anticipate efforts to bring up Clinton’s emails. The indictment cited five statements Trump made during his 2016 campaign about the importance of protecting classified information.
For veterans of Clinton’s campaign, the Republican attempt to resurface their old boss’s email server to defend Trump’s storage of boxes of classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom and other places would be comical had their 2016 defeat not been so painful.
“The best evidence that Trump’s actions are completely indefensible is the Republican Party’s non-attempt to defend it and instead rehash 7-year-old debunked attacks on somebody who is no longer even in politics,” said Josh Schwerin, a former Clinton campaign spokesperson who for years after the 2016 election had a recording of Trump saying his name as his voicemail greeting.
Merrill said that if there was a single word for “particularly acute hypocrisy,” it would apply to Republicans now.
For Republicans, “whether you believe she was cavalier or you believe that she should be tried for treason for the risky position she put Americans in by sending correspondence about yoga or whatever,” he said, “Donald Trump has done the most severe possible thing. It’s not a close call with him.”
Trump acolytes are now delighting at the prospect of reviving one of their favorite boogeywomen.
“Republicans believe there’s been an unequal application of justice,” said former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who as chair of the House Oversight Committee investigated myriad Clinton episodes leading up to the 2016 election. He added, “What is it that Donald Trump did that was worse than Hillary Clinton? Nothing, nothing, nothing.”
Timothy Parlatore, a criminal defense lawyer who quit the Trump legal team last month, said he did not believe that Clinton, Trump or President Joe Biden — who has cooperated with a special counsel’s investigation into his own handling of classified documents after his tenure as vice president — should have been charged for their handling of classified information.
Trump’s Justice Department had four years to prosecute Clinton and did not. Parlatore said Trump no longer saw her as a threat — and instead called for an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.
“Here is a big difference,” Parlatore said. “The Trump administration wasn’t looking at Hillary as being a presidential candidate. The Biden administration is looking at Trump in a different way.”
For now, the most devoted Clinton supporters are following her lead and wearing “BUT HER EMAILS” hats as a badge of honor. They appeared in recent days at dog parks, soccer tournaments and Pride events as a sort of celebration of Trump’s comeuppance.
In Boston, Rebecca Kaiser, a political consultant, has worn her “BUT HER EMAILS” hat regularly since she received it as a gift the day before Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the New York City borough of Manhattan in April.
Since then, at Little League and soccer games, the supermarket, the beach and during dates with her wife, Kaiser has sported the hat, which she said served as a conversation starter about an election that many other Democrats would rather forget.
“There are definitely people who notice the hat and very quickly avert their eyes,” Kaiser said. “There are other people who look at the hat and just roll their eyes. And honestly, I think there are a good amount of people who have no idea what it’s referencing.”
Did you breathe in a lot of wildfire smoke? Here’s what to do next
CNN
Did you breathe in a lot of wildfire smoke? Here’s what to do next
Katia Hetter – June 13, 2023
Smoke from more than 430 active wildfires in Canada spread south last week and led to the worst pollution the New York and Washington regions have ever experienced. More than 75 million people in the eastern US were under air quality alerts as wildfire smoke shrouded major cities. Some flights were grounded, events were canceled, and millions of people breathed unhealthy air.
Much of the smoke has dissipated, but people still have questions. Do we need to be concerned about air quality? What are the short-term effects of wildfire smoke inhalation? Are there long-term consequences? And how can people prepare for future wildfires, which, according to the UN Environment Program, will be even more frequent and more severe going forward?
To guide us through these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
CNN: How do people know if they are in the clear from wildfire smoke?
Dr. Leana Wen: The federal government has an excellent website, airnow.gov, where you can put in your city or zip code and see what the current air quality is in your area.
Just as the weather forecast in your area can change, so can the air quality. As we’ve seen from the spread of smoke from Canada’s wildfires, events hundreds of miles away can lead to pollution in another area. You can use this website to track air quality, and if necessary, change your plans and add precautions accordingly.
CNN: Are there people who should still be concerned about air quality due to the Canadian wildfires?
Wen: It depends on the air quality in their area and their underlying medical circumstances. The air quality in many parts of the country has gotten much better, returning to near normal, while other areas still have unhealthy levels of pollution.
Record-breaking smog due to smoke from Canada’s wildfires partially obscures the US Capitol in Washington on June 8. People with chronic lung and heart conditions should continue to monitor air quality, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen said. – Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Those most at risk during days with poor quality are young children, the elderly, pregnant individuals and people with underlying medical conditions, in particular chronic lung and heart conditions. Those people should be cautious, closely monitoring air quality in their area on a regular basis. If there are alerts and advisories, refrain from heavy exercise, stay indoors when possible and run air purifiers in indoor areas.
CNN: What are the short-term health effects of wildfire smoke inhalation?
Wen: During last week’s event, many people may have experienced adverse effects, such as throat irritation, hoarseness and cough. Some may have had worsening of their underlying asthma, bronchitis, COPD, which is short for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or other respiratory conditions. These are most pronounced in the initial days following smoke exposure. Studies have shown that exposure to wildfire smoke leads to an increase in emergency department visits and hospitalizations for respiratory disease in children and the elderly.
Studies have also demonstrated a more surprising link, which is the association between wildfire smoke exposure and serious cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and cardiac arrest. And there is research that has linked wildfire smoke exposure events to an increase in influenza months later, suggesting that there could be lagging effects.
It’s thought that many of these effects are due to microscopic particles called particulate matter that can enter deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. These pollutants can induce inflammation and a stress response in the body, which can worsen existing medical conditions.
CNN: If people were exposed for a few days to bad air quality, should they be worried about long-term consequences?
Wen: There are people who live in parts of the world where exposure to hazardous amounts of particulate matter and other pollutants is an everyday reality. These populations are at risk for long-term consequences. Research has linked this type of chronic exposure to an increase in some cancers, for instance, and reduced lung capacity.
For most people, a one-time exposure event probably won’t cause major lasting problems. The worry is that these may not be one-time events going forward. Some people already live in areas prone to wildfires and could have exposure to events several times a year. And, as we have seen, wildfires from hundreds of miles away can cause such significant effects on air quality. With climate change, experts predict more frequent wildfires, which can lead to more days of hazardous air quality for all of us.
CNN: How can people prepare for future wildfires?
Wen: Invest in air purifiers for your home. Bad outdoor air leads to bad indoor air. Air purifiers can help remove smoke and those microscopic particles that are harmful to health.
Workplaces and schools can do this too, and also look to upgrade their ventilation system. Improving ventilation will also reduce virus transmission, including the spread of influenza and Covid-19.
People should optimize their medical health as much as possible. Those with lung disease especially should make sure to have an ample supply of inhalers and consult their physicians about whether there should be increased use in times of worse air quality.
Everyone should have a “go bag”— a bag of emergency supplies — to take with them when an emergency hits. That includes water, nonperishable food, prescription medications, flashlights, first aid kits and more.
Finally, we need to understand the intimate link between the environment and health, and work to prevent environmental hazards that can lead to many significant health problems, now and in the future.
Trump Wanted Courthouse Protests but Instead Got MAGA Misfits
Daily Beast
Trump Wanted Courthouse Protests but Instead Got MAGA Misfits
Kelly Weill, Zachary Petrizzo and Josh Fiallo – June 13, 2023
MIAMI, Florida—Protesters assembled outside the federal courthouse here on Tuesday to express their support for former President Donald Trump—to fly the Trump colors and show prosecutors that they’re up against a MAGA army.
But if protesters sought to show unity and organization, what they accomplished was a disorganized display of MAGA spectacles, flaunting a pig’s head on a pike and getting the street shut down over an abandoned television.
Trump was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon for 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents. On social media, Trump called on fans to come to Miami for his court appearance. “SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!” he wrote. But turnout was modest on Tuesday morning, despite efforts by pro-Trump figures like rapper Forgiato Blow to gin up attendance for a 10 a.m. rally.
“What I like about this, we been supporting Trump since day one and never switch up on Donald Trump, man what’s up. DeSant-heads need to get out here and get with Trump,” Blow (real name Kurt Jantz) said in a video outside the courthouse on Tuesday, referencing Trump’s GOP rival and Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis.
Trump Placed Under Arrest as He Arrives at Court
Blow’s attendance was not purely political. The prolific novelty rapper, who frequently releases songs timed to conservative news items, is promoting a new song called “Trump Indictment” and on Monday tweeted a picture of himself wearing a signboard with a QR code for a download of the tune.
“See Everyone Tomorrow Help Us Get #TrumpIndictment To #1 On iTunes,” Blow tweeted, promoting both the track and the protest against Trump’s second felony arraignment this year.
Other eccentric characters also turned up early to the courthouse.
Osmany Estrada, 40, proudly donned an American and Cuban flag as he paraded around the courthouse with a pig’s head on a pike, posing for photos with anyone who asked, but mostly dodging TV crews that swarmed him.
Like many others who weathered blistering heat and humidity to sing Trump’s praises, Estrada said he was confident the former president would quickly be found not guilty. He said he became even more certain of a Trump victory when Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, was selected to preside over the case.
“She’s one of us,” Estrada said, referencing Cannon’s Cuban heritage. “We already know what’s going to happen—this corruption won’t stand. Everyone here knows that. That’s why you see so many smiles. We’re all just enjoying this beautiful moment before we win again.”
Estrada, who says he came to Miami on a raft from Cuba in 1992, was one of the first protesters to arrive Tuesday morning, sticking around as the crowd of Trump supporters grew into the hundreds by 1 p.m.—a far cry from the thousands expected by Trump and Miami cops. Until noon, protesters were outnumbered by journalists and dozens of cops who carried assault rifles as they circled the area.
Estrada said he didn’t have a good reason for carrying around a pig’s head on a pike, but confirmed the dead animal was real.
“Sometimes you just have to be bold,” he said.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a longshot Republican presidential candidate, gave a Tuesday morning speech in which he pledged (if elected president) to pardon Trump.
Meanwhile, Tim Gionet, a far-right personality who goes by “Baked Alaska,” live streamed himself outside the courthouse on Tuesday. Gionet was recently released from prison, where he was serving 60 days for his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. (He was also found guilty last year of defacing a Hanukkah display. “No more Happy Hanukkah, only Merry Christmas. This is a disgrace,” Gionet said in a live stream of the vandalism.)
At least one member of the far-right group the Proud Boys was in attendance. A Telegram channel for the group Villain City Proud Boys uploaded a video from the grounds, although the group did not appear to have a uniformed presence on Tuesday morning. (The Villain City Proud Boys are a splinter faction of Miami’s longer-standing Vice City Proud Boys, which disavows the former group and calls it illegitimate.)
Lauren Witzke, a far-right conspiracy theorist who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in Delaware, also live-streamed from a demonstration organized by anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer. During her live stream, she wondered out loud if “federal agents” were undercover at the courthouse protests. “Let’s count the FBI in this protest,” read a sign carried by a pro-Trump protester she interviewed. Witzke later contemplated if the man holding the sign—which had toy-water guns attached—was a “fed” himself.
Witzke, an ally of white-nationalist Nick Fuentes, soon grew tired of covering the lackluster Loomer protest and turned her attention to trolling the media.
“Is CNN here?” she asked on the stream, adding, “Oh shoot, I forgot I was streaming, oops.”
Various factions of Trump fans scheduled courthouse protests over the course of the day. Loomer’s event was slated to start at noon. A convoy of four buses, organized by the Florida Republican Assembly, arrived at 2 p.m.
Toward the beginning of the rally, Loomer claimed that Trump’s team had called her on Tuesday morning to express their support for her event.
“President Trump, his staff called me this morning,” Loomer yelled. “President Trump is grateful for the rally. His staff personally called me and said they were with President Trump this morning, and he wants to thank everybody for coming out today. They are very happy that this rally is taking place. They want it peaceful.”
“President Trump is very grateful that we are out here today,” she added.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung didn’t return The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Loomer’s claim.
Loomer had good reason to talk up Trump’s support for her efforts, as The Daily Beast reported Monday evening that Trump’s own advisers thought protests outside of the Miami courthouse were a bad idea.
Trump Advisers Quietly Worry Courthouse Protest Could Be a ‘Disaster’
“I would hope it’s not a protest,” one Trump adviser told The Daily Beast.
Even before the rally, Trump’s aides attempted to distance themselves from Loomer and the Roger Stone-promoted event.
“Anybody we’ve heard from at the campaign, it’s been somebody who just wants to come and be supportive of the president,” the Trump adviser added before attempting to make clear that the official Trump campaign wanted no part in any demonstrations.
But despite the worry from inside Trump’s inner circle, in the end, with low turnout numbers, Trump supporters found a familiar boogeyman.
“I think MAGA has to be beyond cautious and weary [sic] of Feds creating another trap like Jan 6,” Trump ally Jackson Lahmeyer told The Daily Beast.
While MAGA supporters were busy contemplating who among them might be federal agents, law enforcement tended to a much more serious concern.
The modest crowd was briefly asked to leave part of the courthouse grounds after law enforcement expressed concerns about an unattended package. The suspicious item was a TV with writing on it, apparently planted by Trump fans, Miami New Times reporter Naomi Feinstein tweeted. Police removed the TV and allowed demonstrators back onto the property.
I don’t want to live in a country where Trump could be held accountable
Opinion – (Satire)
I don’t want to live in a country where Trump could be held accountable
Rex Huppke, USA TODAY – June 11, 2023
Now that my favorite president, Donald Trump, is facing a 37-count indictment from the feds, I join with my brothers and sisters in MAGA, and with all sensible Republicans, in saying this: I’m not sure I want to live in a country where a former president can wave around classified documents he’s not supposed to have and say, “This is secret information. Look at this,” and then be held accountable for his actions.
I mean, what kind of country have we become? One in which federal prosecutors can take “evidence” before a “grand jury,” and that grand jury can “vote to indict” a former president for 37 alleged “crimes”? Look at all the other people out there in America, including Democrats like Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden, who HAVEN’T been indicted for crimes on the flimsy excuse that there is no “evidence” they did crimes. THAT’S TOTALLY UNFAIR!
It’s like Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote in a tweet Friday: “These charges are unprecedented and it’s a sad day for our country, especially in light of what clearly appears to be a two-tiered justice system where some are selectively prosecuted, and others are not.”
What kind of country holds a president accountable for alleged crimes a grand jury charges him with?
Or as Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee tweeted: “Where are the investigations against the Clintons and the Bidens? What about fairness? Two tiers of justice at work.”
GOP sticking with Trump: Trump indicted again, and STILL Republicans flock to support him. Sad!
TWO TIERS! One tier in which President Trump keeps getting indicted via both state and federal justice systems and another in which the people I don’t like keep getting not indicted via all the things Fox News tells me they did wrong.
It’s like America has become a banana republic, as long as you do as I’ve done and refuse to look up the definition of “banana republic.”
Regardless of the Trump indictment, it’s clear this is all Biden’s fault
And of course, you know who’s behind this travesty of justice, right? It’s so-called President Biden, who is both frail and senile and also a laser-sharp master at conducting witch hunts.
Sure, they’ll tell you that the indictment came via a special counsel investigation, and that the federal special counsel statute keeps such investigations walled off from political influence.
But that’s complete nonsense, unless we’re talking about special counsel John Durham, who was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr while Trump was president and tasked with investigating the NEFARIOUS LEFT-WING CRIMES committed in the Trump-Russia probe. Durham was above reproach, and the fact that The New York Times reported he “charged no high-level F.B.I. or intelligence official with a crime and acknowledged in a footnote that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign did nothing prosecutable, either” is something I will ignore.
This is a WITCH HUNT, and I believe that because Trump said so!
Current special counsel Jack Smith, on the other hand – he’s bad news. I know this because Trump has said repeatedly that Smith’s investigation is a witch hunt, and I’ve never known Trump to lie about anything.
Keep in mind, in 2016, Trump said: “I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”
So after he said that, you expect me to believe he didn’t protect classified information? Just because, according to the indictment, there’s a recording of him holding a classified document in his office at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and saying to two staff members and an interviewer: “See, as president I could have declassified it. … Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Winners of Trump indictment: The former president and Joe Biden. DeSantis? Not so much.
You call that “damning evidence.” I call it, “What about Hunter Biden’s laptop?”
Putting Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden in prison? Now THAT makes sense!
Now I can already hear all the libs out there whining and saying that if it were Biden or Hillary or Hunter getting indicted, I wouldn’t be saying a word about two tiers of justice or the weaponization of the Department of Justice or anything like that.
Well, those whiners would be right, but the difference is I believe Biden and Hillary and Hunter are all guilty and should be locked up for life, whereas with Trump, I believe he is great and innocent and the best president America has ever known.
It’s like this: If Hillary got indicted for murder, I would say, “Yes, she is absolutely a murderer. Lock her up.”
But if in some outrageous scenario President Trump were indicted for murder just because he told a bunch of people that he did a murder, I would say: “HOW DARE YOU CHARGE THIS MAN WITH MURDER WHEN OTHERS IN THE U.S. HAVE NOT BEEN CHARGED WITH MURDER! THERE ARE CLEARLY TWO TIERS OF JUSTICE, ONE IN WHICH MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT, WHO SAID HE MURDERED SOMEONE, IS CHARGED WITH MURDER AND ONE IN WHICH PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T MURDERED ARE NOT CHARGED WITH MURDER!”
And that, my liberal friends, makes perfect sense to me and my MAGA companions. So watch out. The Trump Train’s a comin’.
98% of borrowers have a below-market mortgage rate—that’s keeping housing inventory tight
Fortune
98% of borrowers have a below-market mortgage rate—that’s keeping housing inventory tight
Alena Botros – June 12, 2023
Johnas Street and his wife were living in a one-bedroom home in the Bay Area with their, at the time, three kids (they’ve got four now). Then the pandemic happened, and the couple started working from home. In April 2021 they closed on a six-bedroom, $650,000 home in Charlotte, where Street has family. They locked in a 30-year fixed rate at 2.62%, and it’s keeping them there.
“California is home for us, and eventually we’ll go back,” Street told Fortune. “I will say, I don’t know if stuck is the right word, but a 2.62% interest rate is hard to give up right now.”
The housing market has been on a wild ride over the last few years. Starting with the Pandemic Housing Boom, a short-lived era of low mortgage rates and a surge in demand as people shifted to remote work, and ending with a correction that’s lost steam. Still, 98% of outstanding borrowers have a below-market mortgage rate, according to an estimate from Goldman Sachs, and that’s constraining both sides of the market.
Look no further than Street and his wife, who in their mid-to-late thirties work in tech with remote roles that might not last forever. They know that, so they’re looking to move back as more positions in their field transition to hybrid work. But it would cost them a lot to sell their home with a rate below 3% and buy another in San Francisco (or anywhere in the Bay Area), with an average home value that’s much higher than Charlotte’s, coupled with rates that are pushing 7%.
“It’s really keeping us…that’s so much more money in our pockets,” Street said. “That’s so much more money for our kids, you know what I mean, so it’s kind of tough to leave that.”
Mortgage rates that were previously below 3% spiked to above 7%, and currently, the average 30-year fixed rate is hovering around 7%, with the latest reading at 6.94%. That’s of course down from a peak of 7.37% last year, but still much higher than the 3% people got used to during the pandemic. Let’s take a look at the difference that makes in Street’s monthly mortgage payment. On a $500,000 loan with a 30-year fixed rate at 2.62%, his monthly mortgage payment comes out to roughly $2,007 (without taxes and insurance). With the same circumstances but at a 7% rate, his monthly mortgage payment would be around $3,327. That’s a roughly $1,320 monthly difference and a $15,840 difference annually. That’s not taking into account the difference in home values between Charlotte and the Bay Area.
Outstanding borrowers like Street who have a below-market mortgage rate are fueling the so-called lock-in effect or the golden handcuffs of mortgage rates. To put it simply, would-be sellers are holding on to their homes in fear of losing their low rates. With Street’s case, in choosing not to move back to California and buy a home there, retaining their current home in North Carolina, the market lost both a buyer and a seller. Not to mention that Street told Fortune that he gets tons of messages from people wanting to buy their home, likely because of a lack of supply.
As of last month, there were 22.7% fewer newly listed homes for sale compared to last year, according to Realtor.com. All the while, new listings remained 29.4% below pre-pandemic levels. The difference primarily amounts to a segment of people that have almost disappeared from the market: move-up buyers and sellers.
View this interactive chart on Fortune.com
It’s clear that selling a home with a rate below 3% and buying another with a rate over 6% doesn’t make financial sense because of that substantially larger monthly payment. That’s exactly why homeowners are holding on to their low rates and not selling. Some are even becoming “accidental landlords” to keep their low rates.
Take Josh Dudick, CEO and founder of wealth and investment website Top Dollar, who previously told Fortune he was thinking of selling his vacation home in the Hamptons with a 30-year fixed rate below 3%, but decided to rent it out instead. Dudick said he didn’t want to lose that “really low mortgage rate” he locked in. And Bob Wood, finance and economics professor at the University of South Alabama, previously told Fortune that despite wanting to downsize, “it just doesn’t make sense” to sell his home in Mobile with a 15-year fixed rate below 3%.
Even homeowners that want to move feel like they can’t because they’re trapped by their low mortgage rates that were once considered a financial win. This all translates into fewer homes coming into the market, which puts pressure on the supply side and the demand side because every homeowner that decides not to sell equates to one less buyer.
Housing has become so unaffordable that over 75% of homes on the market are too expensive for middle-income buyers
Business Insider
Housing has become so unaffordable that over 75% of homes on the market are too expensive for middle-income buyers
Jennifer Sor – June 12, 2023
- The housing affordability crisis has priced middle-income buyers from a majority of homes on the market.
- Buyers earning up to $75,000 could only afford 23% of properties listed for sale in the US.
- Affordability has been crimped by low inventory and mortgage rates at multi-decade highs.
The US housing market is so unaffordable, over 75% of homes on the market are too expensive for middle class buyers, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com.
That’s largely due to the shortage of housing supply, which has hit middle income buyers the hardest. Thanks to elevated mortgage rates, the housing market is missing around 320,000 homes priced at or below $256,000 – the maximum price a middle-income buyer earning up to $75,000 can afford.
Of the 1.1 million listings on the market in April, middle-income buyers could only afford 23% of them, the report said. That’s less than half of what the group could afford five years ago, when around 50% of all listings on the market were considered affordable for that group.
The three metropolitan areas with the largest inventory of affordable homes are currently located in Ohio, the report added. Meanwhile, El Paso, Texas; Boise, Idaho; and Spokane, Washington have the fewest number of listing considered affordable.
“Even with the current level of listings, the housing affordability and shortage issues wouldn’t be so severe if there were enough homes for all price ranges,” NAR senior economist Nadia Evangelou said in a statement. “Our country needs to add at least two affordable homes for middle-income buyers for every home listed for upper-income buyers.”
The US housing market has slowed in 2023, with high mortgage rates sidelining both buyers and sellers. Existing homeowners are discouraged from listing their properties for sale, as many of their properties were financed in the last decade of ultra-low interest rates.
The result is an inventory shortage that could last for the next several years, industry experts say, which has pushed up home prices and made unaffordability even worse. Housing has never been so unaffordable for Americans, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, with the group’s Purchase Applications Payment Index rising to a record high of 172.3 in April.
Affordability is also unlikely to improve until mortgage rates ease, which will incentivize more homeowners to list their properties for sale. But that’s an uncertain prospect, as the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate surpassed 7% in May, and has hovered around two-decade highs. Mortgage rates will likely pull back to just 6% by the end of the year, Redfin’s chief economist told Insider.