This has been suggested before, by a certain ex-doctor named Andrew Wakefield…

"The most noteworthy thing about this species is how much it really loves living in Guadua bamboo," Dr Evan Twomey told IFLScience.

Can scientists teach a mutt to utter words or are they barking up the wrong tree?

The U.S. federal budget recorded a $164 billion surplus in September – thanks in large part to President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported Wednesday. Since February, the Trump Administration has imposed “reciprocal tariffs” on many imported goods in order to offset the onerous tariffs some countries are charging on U.S. exports. Then, in July, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (reconciliation) Act, which institutes federal student loan program reforms saving $307 billion. Both measures greatly helped boost September’s budget surplus, while also reducing the deficit for full Fiscal Year 2025, which ended September 30, the CBO explains in its report: September’s surplus more than doubled from the September 2024 surplus, surging from $80 billion to $164 billion. Revenues were $8 billion higher than last September. Tariff-driven customs duty revenue was $22 billion higher – a 310% increase. Outlays were $76 billion lower than year-ago. Adjusted for payments that were due in FY2024, but paid in FY2023, the government would have realized a $76 billion surplus in September, compared to a $0.370 billion surplus a year earlier. Customs duties are comprised of revenue from tariffs and taxes imposed on goods transported across international borders. “Since February, the Administration has increased tariffs on most imported goods,” the CBO notes, explaining the 310% increase in this source of revenue. September’s $76 billion decline in outlays was “attributable largely to modifications to the federal student loan program that were authorized in the 2025 reconciliation act,” the CBO reports. For the full fiscal year (FY2025), the federal budget deficit was $1.8 trillion, $8 billion less than the shortfall recorded in fiscal year 2024: Revenues increased by $308 billion (+6%) from FY2024. Receipts from customs duties (including tariffs) increased by $118 billion (+153%). relative to fiscal year 2024. Outlays rose by $301 billion (+4%). Outlays decreased for federal student loan programs, deposit insurance, and by the Small Business Administration. Outlays were higher in several areas, including the largest benefit programs and net interest on the public debt (which, for the first time, surpassed $1 trillion). Just as it was for the month of September, the deficit for the full fiscal year was influenced by the timing of outlays in Fiscal Year 2024, which were reduced because payments that were due on October 1, 2023, a Sunday, were shifted into Fiscal Year 2023 (they were made in September 2023). If not for those shifts, the FY2025 deficit would have been $80 billion (4%) less than FY2024’s deficit, instead of $8 billion lower.

The Louisiana Pharmacy Benefit Manager Monitoring Advisory Council met last month with an unusual guest — one who came with a clear conflict of interest.Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, founder and CEO of the Mark Cuban-backed Cost Plus Drug Company, was invited to brief the council on PBMs. But his company directly competes with them. No PBM representatives were invited to speak or respond. What could have been an informed policy discussion turned into an unbalanced promotional session for a single competitor — and that does not serve patients.The one-sided hearingPharmacy benefit managers have long been in Mark Cuban’s crosshairs. He claims PBMs create “an inefficient market” and lack transparency. Those complaints underpin his partnership with Oshmyansky to form Cost Plus Drug Company, a business designed to bypass PBMs entirely.If Louisiana’s leaders want real reform, they must start by restoring fairness — and remembering who the system exists to serve.At the hearing, Oshmyansky presented his company’s views on PBMs without challenge or rebuttal. The absence of PBM voices left the council with a distorted view of the system it’s supposed to oversee.That imbalance creates two serious problems.First, it deprives the council of a complete understanding of how PBMs work — what services they provide, how they negotiate lower drug prices, and how Louisiana’s new PBM regulations are already being implemented. Without hearing from the industry itself, policymakers risk forming conclusions based on partial information and advocacy, not evidence.Second, when public bodies accept one-sided testimony, patients lose. PBMs manage drug coverage for millions of Americans, ensuring access to affordable medicines and stable pharmacy networks. When their perspective is ignored, regulations may raise costs, reduce access, or disrupt care for the very people the state claims to protect.Political hostility and government biasThe broader political context in Louisiana makes this even more troubling. Gov. Jeff Landry (R) has pushed to ban PBMs entirely — an extreme measure that would upend how prescription coverage operates in the state. Meanwhile, Attorney General Liz Murrill has sued CVS, one of the nation’s largest PBMs, for warning consumers about the potential fallout of such a ban.These moves reveal a pattern: State leaders are treating PBMs not as partners with critical expertise but as enemies. That approach replaces policymaking with politics and undermines public confidence in fair regulation.RELATED: The maligned and misunderstood player that Big Pharma wants gone cagkansayin via iStock/Getty ImagesReform through balance, not biasThe PBM industry isn’t above reform. Greater transparency and accountability are necessary. But good policy starts with balance. The council should convene a second meeting — this time with PBM representatives at the table alongside Cost Plus Drug Company. The proceedings should be public and transparent.Patients deserve policies based on facts, not billionaire-backed bias. Regulation shaped by evidence, not resentment, is how states protect health, affordability, and trust.If Louisiana’s leaders want real reform, they must start by restoring fairness — and remembering who the system exists to serve.

In 2003, the all-female country music band the Dixie Chicks committed career suicide when the lead singer, Natalie Maines, told a London audience during a concert that the band was “ashamed the president of the United States [George W. Bush] is from Texas.” The girls returned home to boycotts and threats. It took them years to rebuild their brand.Just a few days ago, country music star Zach Bryan pulled a stunt that’s been dubbed by many as a Dixie Chicks 2.0. On October 6, the “Pink Skies” singer posted a snippet of his new song “Bad News” on Instagram. Some of the lyrics he chose to feature triggered a visceral reaction in his largely conservative fan base.“I heard the cops came / Cocky motherf**kers, ain't they? / And ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / But I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone / The bars stopped bumping, the rock stopped rolling / The middle finger's rising and it won't stop showing / Got some bad news / The fading of the red, white, and blue.”From DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to fellow country star John Rich, Bryan received heat for the lyrics, especially considering that he’s a U.S. Navy veteran. X users and MAGA supporters suggested boycotts, the DHS mocked him by using his song “Revival” in an ICE recruitment video, and figures in conservative media like Tomi Lahren and Fox News slammed him as unpatriotic.When Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of “The Rick Burgess Show” and “Strange Encounters,” got wind of Bryan’s latest scandal, he couldn’t help but admit that “this one's going to hurt a little bit.” “He can write about whatever he wants, but the people, like I say, can respond however they want to,” he says.But the people who make up Byran’s audience are largely conservative, as are the majority of country music fans, which doesn’t bode well for the Oklahoma troubadour.“If he writes a song to his fan base condemning ICE and getting on that wagon, we'll see,” says Rick.While Rick’s producer, Adler, understands the argument that America was built on immigrants, the reality is: “We are not in a nation-building phase.”“The entire world [is] coming here to live off of our welfare programs, and you can't sustain a country if you do that,” he says.“Plus legal immigration is how the country was built, not illegal,” adds Rick.To hear more of the panel’s analysis, watch the episode above.Want more from Rick Burgess?To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

In Episode 417 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the ghost towns in and around the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts. In the 1930s, the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott, Massachusetts with a combined population of about 2,500 people had to disincorporate in order for the Swift River Valley to flood and form the reservoir needed for Boston’s drinking water. What was left behind were scars, haunts, mysteries, and maybe a dirty secret many would rather not know about. BECOME A LEGENDARY PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends CREDITS: Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger Edited by: Ray Auger Theme Music by: John Judd SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST FOR FREE: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Podcasts | TuneIn | iHeartRadio JOIN OUR SUPER-SECRET: New England Legends Facebook Group

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