CBS News Chief Election & Campaign Correspondent Robert Costa reported last night that Team Biden is infuriated by the Democrat pressure campaign to get him to quit the race while he’s recovering from COVID. As the pressure grows, he seems to dig in. Costa’s source said it is disrespectful and, “If they want him out, they’ll […] The post Dem Pressure Campaign to Push Joe Out Is an Attempted Coup appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

It’s always nice to get updates on previous contestants of hit talent shows. That being said, the news from this former The Voice contestant is particularly devastating: Matt Snook has terminal cancer. More specifically, he has been diagnosed with renal cell sarcomatoid carcinoma. According to the country singer himself, this is “an incurable and rare kidney disease.” Needless to say, this has drastically change his life. Matt first noticed signs of this disease in January 2023. This is when his breathing problems, along with a persistent cough, began. He officially received his diagnosis in January. His doctors have given him six to 12 months to live. Still, Matt takes every single day he has left in stride. With this news, fans are taking the time to remember his incredible audition of Red Dirt Road by Brooks & Dunn, the song that got him on Blake Shelton’s team in Season 8. “Singing publicly for me is probably over,” Matt shares. “I don’t have the energy or stamina to perform.” Although Matt no longer has the energy to sing, he’s still determined to make other dreams come true. In addition to a love for music, Matt is also passionate about poker. He’s been a huge fan of Texas Hold’em since he was 21. So much so, in fact, that he had already planned to step back from music in 2024 to take on the national poker tour circuits. Former The Voice Contestant With Cancer Continues to Make His Dreams Come True Although Matt can’t entirely follow through with those plans, he still made his dream come true. On Saturday, July 6, Matt competed in the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. Grateful. https://t.co/rfCyBSHV0O— Stephanie Snook (@stephsnook3264) July 7, 2024 “[This] is probably going to be one of my last hoorahs to play a tournament,” Matt admits. Although this news is devastating for both Matt and his loved ones, he wants everyone to know that he is oh-so grateful for the live he’s been given and whatever time he has left. “Poker players know that poker is a grind and life is a grind,” he says. “But I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me. I don’t want any empathy. I’ve just lived a blessed life and I’m glad to be here.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post “The Voice” Contestant Battling Terminal Cancer Shares Impressive Bucket List Item He’s Crossed Off appeared first on InspireMore.

Vince Gill and Patty Loveless are incredible singers all on their own, but when you put them together, something especially magical happens. Over the course of their decades-long careers, these two beloved musicians have delivered some of the most unforgettable duets. Some have taken place in the studio while others have been live and in front of an audience. Their most notable duets are of the iconic songs My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man and When I Call Your Name. Although they’ve performed these, and other songs, many times, the video below may very well be their very best. In it, this beloved duo sings When I Call Your Name. It’s clear that this performance took place many years ago, but the words they sing oh-so beautifully together still ring true for many to this day. Watch this unforgettable performance below. Gill and Loveless have been friends and collaborators for many years, and this couldn’t be clearer than in this performance. The two of them have the best chemistry, and their voices harmonize in a hauntingly beautiful way, only adding to the message of the song. It’s no wonder, then, that some fans consider this to be one of the greatest duets of all time. This Duet of When I Call Your Name by Vince Gill and Patty Loveless Still Moves People to Tears “That might be the most spectacular duet by any two people singing any music in the history of recorded music,” one fan boldly shares in the comments of the video, with another adding, “I swear, the combination of their voices is perfect. Made for each other.” “Two of the greatest voice’s in Country Music,” another fan writes. “A lot of power behind each voice. Love them both, thank God for such talent.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post This Performance By Vince Gill And Patty Loveless Could Be The Greatest Duet Of All Time appeared first on InspireMore.

Mixing elements of the occult, psychedelia, stoner, doom, and heavy metal, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats are nothing short of eclectic. Dating back to 2012’s Blood Lust and right on through to 2015’s The Night Creeper, 2017’s Vol. 1, and 2018’s Wasteland, Uncle Acid has shown a knack for mixing and matching genres on a whim. And that’s been a delight for the band’s fans, which is a good thing, and 2024’s Nell’ ora blu is the band’s most distinctive yet. According to Uncle Acid’s leader, Kevin Starrs, a lot of that comes down to comfort. “I suppose I’m more The post An Interview with Kevin Starrs of Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

The post Chicken Allergies in Cats: Our Vet Explains the Signs, Causes & Treatment by Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead What Is a Food Allergy? Diagnosis Elimination Diet Treatment Food Allergy Prevention When you look around the cat food aisles at the grocery store, you’ll notice that chicken tends to be a pretty common ingredient. Even in foods that don’t list chicken as the primary flavor on the front of the pack, it’s common to see chicken flavoring, chicken meal, or chicken liver somewhere in the ingredients list. So, a chicken allergy in cats is a tough one to negotiate, and sometimes it’s really difficult to diagnose. If you think your cat could be allergic to chicken, you’ll find the following information particularly helpful. What Is a Food Allergy? Image Credit: Oporty786, Shutterstock The terms “allergy” and “intolerance” are often used interchangeably, but that’s not technically accurate. Here’s the difference: Food Intolerance: The gastrointestinal system is unable to properly digest or metabolize a certain food or ingredient, resulting in any or all of the following signs: Bloating Discomfort Vomiting Diarrhea Flatulence Gas The clinical signs of food intolerance usually appear quite quickly after the ingestion of the ingredient in question and do not require previous exposure to the food. Food Allergy: Food allergies involve the immune system, with the food/ingredient (most commonly a protein) causing a hypersensitivity reaction. Food allergies can also cause gastrointestinal signs, but we rarely see anaphylactic reactions (severe swelling, rapid heart rate, or breathing difficulties) to food in cats. In most cases, food allergies cause skin reactions, including: Pruritus (itchy skin) Red skin Bald patches (alopecia), usually from overgrooming Red, itchy ears Bumps, lumps, or scabs on the skin The signs of a food allergy will not appear until at least the second time that ingredient is ingested, and it may even appear after months or years of eating the food without any problems. The most common ingredients to cause food allergies are chicken, beef, eggs, and fish, which can make finding an appropriate diet for a cat with food allergies quite challenging! Even more challenging, however, is diagnosing a food allergy. How Is a Chicken Allergy Diagnosed? Image Credit: Ametist_Studio, Shutterstock The first part of diagnosing a chicken allergy is figuring out that chicken is actually the problem. This will usually involve some trips to the vet to rule out other potential causes and treat any secondary problems like infection. Some of the conditions that can cause similar signs to food allergies include: External parasites (fleas, mites) Flea allergy dermatitis: A more severe immune reaction to flea saliva Environmental allergies Bacterial or fungal infections: These often occur alongside food allergies, invading inflamed, moist, or broken skin There are a number of ways to test for a food allergy, including: Blood tests: These tests look at how the immune system reacts to allergens. These can be used to narrow down reactions to food or the environment, and they can look for specific ingredients or components (e.g., chicken, pollen, or dust). The reliability of this sort of testing is hotly debated, though. Intradermal testing: This includes injecting tiny amounts of allergen under the skin to look for reactions. This is more reliable than blood tests, but it requires sedation and can be expensive. Elimination diet trial: This includes feeding a diet with a single novel protein for 4 to 6 weeks. This is used to both determine if food is the problem and work out which ingredients are safe/unsafe. It is the cheapest option but can be a very slow process. Using an Elimination Diet to Diagnose a Chicken Allergy Image Credit: LightField Studios, Shutterstock An elimination diet works by feeding your cat a food that contains a single novel protein. This means using a diet based on a single type of meat, and one that your cat has not eaten before. Because food allergies tend to develop over time with repeated exposure to that ingredient, using a new protein source means that your cat shouldn’t react to it. As mentioned earlier, chicken is one of the most common ingredients found in cat food, even those that don’t mention it on the front of the pack, so it can be tricky to find a commercial food to use as an elimination diet. Another hurdle is that, for cats that have been fed a wide variety of different foods and ingredients, it can be difficult to find a novel protein. We also want to avoid the other proteins often implicated in food allergies (beef, eggs, and fish). Proteins commonly used for an elimination diet include: Duck Turkey Venison Rabbit Good options for an elimination diet are: Hydrolyzed cat food: Food that has undergone the process of hydrolyzation to break the proteins into tiny fragments, making them less likely to trigger an immune reaction. Raw food diet: Either a commercially prepared diet or using a single meat source. The usual precautions must be considered when starting your cat on a raw food diet. Fresh food diet: Similar principle to raw feeding but using a small number of ingredients that have been cooked, then frozen. For an elimination diet trial to be successful, you must only feed your cat the selected food, with no other treats or tidbits for 4 to 6 weeks. If your cat’s clinical signs improve during the food trial, we can conclude that food is the problem. Once we know that we’re dealing with a food allergy, we can carefully narrow down the culprits one by one. Once your cat has been stable on the new food, you can slowly introduce one protein type at a time to find out which ingredient is the cause of the allergy. You should expect to see a reappearance of their clinical signs within a few days. If there is no reaction, wait at least 7 days before trying a different ingredient. If a food triggers an allergy, stop it and wait at least 14 days before trying any others. How Are Chicken Allergies Treated? Image Credit: Valeri Pavljuk, Shutterstock If we have worked out that our cat is allergic to chicken, the treatment is quite simple: no more chicken! Remember to check the ingredients list carefully for hidden chicken. Cats that are allergic to chicken may also be allergic to other ingredients, so sticking to a high-quality diet with only one or two proteins and no preservatives, meat meals, or filler ingredients is the best way to minimize their risks. It is also sensible to stick to just one or two types of meat in case they develop further allergies and we need to find another novel protein. Cats that have severe allergies or are allergic to a large number of ingredients may also need medical management of their condition. This may include oral medications or injections to suppress or modulate their immune reactions. Can Food Allergies Be Prevented? Allergies to certain foods and ingredients cannot be prevented, but there are ways to reduce the risk and severity of their allergic response. By choosing a high-quality diet based on whole meat, and that contains no artificial preservatives or colors, you are minimizing the number of ingredients that could trigger an allergic reaction. Although offering a wide variety of flavors to your cat might seem like a good idea, it’s actually worth limiting the number of ingredients to just a few, as this means there are far more options to explore if your cat does develop a food allergy. Final Thoughts Having a cat that is allergic to chicken may seem like a huge problem, but it’s actually not a big deal. Getting to the bottom of what has been causing their clinical signs is certainly the most painful part, and once we know what ingredient is the culprit, it is easy to find a diet that will suit their needs. Remember to check the back of the pack for any hidden chicken ingredients, and that a shorter ingredients list equals higher quality food with a lower allergy risk. Sources https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36917613/ https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/food-allergies Featured Image Credit: Kginger, Shutterstock The post Chicken Allergies in Cats: Our Vet Explains the Signs, Causes & Treatment by Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

The U.N.’s new “SOGI czar” delivered his first report to the UN Human Rights Council, which just concluded its meeting in Geneva. A SOGI czar is their independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Graeme Reid, who hails from South Africa, is a professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale, and former director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. In Reid’s case, “independent” does not mean “nonpartisan,” as his political and ideological bona fides are decidedly progressive. Reid’s debut report to the Human Rights Council treated violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in relation to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. It touted “Pride” events as a key part of freedom of expression. The report criticized governments that treat such events as a threat to public morality or public health. It singled out Russia, the Middle East, and some African countries.  “The way in which morality is often deployed to restrict rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity almost invariably represents a misuse of the concept of protecting ‘public morals,’” Reid wrote. But the SOGI czar fails to identify any role for public morals that he finds acceptable. Instead, his report bemoans what he calls the “false and dangerous narratives” of “LGBT Pride” events threatening “tradition,” “family” and “children.” These narratives, he asserts, “perpetrate harmful stereotypes and fuel prejudice and misunderstanding.” One wonders if he has witnessed any recent “Pride” events, which often seem designed to scandalize normal people by pushing the hoariest of stereotypes. The SOGI expert likewise objects to laws that protect minors from “inappropriate” subjects, such as the promotion of consensual same-sex relations. According to Reid, such laws conflict with “the rights of LGBT persons” and a child’s “right to information.” He pointed to laws in several states in the United States that “restrict or prohibit age-appropriate discussion of gender and sexuality in the classroom” as problematic. For all his talk of human rights, Reid is denying the right of parents to have oversight of their children. Parents have the primary right and duty to discuss sensitive topics about sexuality with their children according to their beliefs and values. Most parents don’t want to outsource that duty to teachers, government officials, or U.N. bureaucrats. And especially not to gender activists. Laws that respect parental rights and protect children from exposure to adult topics—like the much-attacked Parental Rights in Education Act in Florida—do not violate anyone’s fundamental human rights. The report also took aim at laws that require organizations to reveal their sources of foreign funding. Such laws especially affect groups that promote rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In many religiously and culturally traditional countries, these sexual campaigns are unpopular. As a result, groups that promote them rely on funding from western countries and other left-wing donors. But in the view of the SOGI czar, such demands for financial transparency are unfair. Why should unenlightened traditionalists in developing countries need to know who is funding LGBT groups? Pope Francis has rightly called this push for gender ideology in international organizations a form of “ideological colonization.” Unfortunately, the U.S. is one of the main colonizers. It’s no secret that the United States is a major exporter of gender ideology, sending millions of dollars around the world to promote “LGBTQI+ Rights.”  In fact, the State Department just released its newest progress report on the success of its plan to promote gender ideology abroad, highlighting examples of U.S. funded projects like the Transformation Salon in India.     But this didn’t prevent Reid from chastising U.S. states for its lack of enthusiasm for the cause. Indeed, he delivered the report prepared by his predecessor, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, on his 2022 official visit to the United States. In it, the former SOGI expert claimed that the U.S. has been failing to protect human rights. As evidence, he cited “more than 400 bills” in state legislatures “seeking to restrict the human rights of LGBT persons.” Such bills include those to limit “comprehensive sexual and gender education for all,” as well as “limiting access to gender-affirming treatment, sports and single-sex facilities for trans and gender-diverse persons.” That report criticized recent legislation in Arkansas, Alabama, and Texas that have restricted children’s access to cross sex hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries intended to alter their healthy bodies to reflect their preferred “gender identity.” Madrigal-Borloz claims these bills violate human rights. But more and more doctors, national health authorities, parents, and de-transitioners have concluded that drugs and surgeries that constitute “gender affirming care” are experimental and dangerous. States that have passed such bills seek to protect children from the lifelong consequences of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and “top” and “bottom” surgeries. For instance, the study that British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass released earlier this year confirms what many have long suspected: children with sudden onset gender dysphoria are suffering from other mental health issues. And crucially, “watchful waiting” and counseling lead to far better outcomes for gender-confused kids. Mr. Madrigal-Borloz ignores the fact that many European countries are reversing course on promoting gender medical interventions to children. In contrast, gender ideology maintains its grip on powerful interests in the U.S., including the Biden administration. In Geneva, U.S. Ambassador Michèle Taylor responded to the report by describing many of the Biden administration’s actions to implement gender ideology throughout the government. One example she gave: the recent Department of Education rule on Title IX which redefines “sex” to include “gender identity.” She didn’t mention that the rule imperils the rights of women, children, parents and free speech. The radical gender ideologues at the U.N. have an enthusiastic ally in the White House. But as much as they may work in tandem to corrupt the human rights system, most of the world opposes their efforts. Gender ideology has always violated common sense, and now more and more, policy and medical professionals are questioning its demands. U.N. elites and Biden officials are among the last holdouts, as true believers often are. Let’s hope they come to reason soon. The post Radicals Double Down on Gender Ideology at the UN Human Rights Council appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Massive IT Outage Grinds Cyber-World to a Halt