Futurology Today

Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court hears a case involving Black voters on Wednesday that could have lasting repercussions on whether Democrats or Republicans control the House of Representatives.

The case touching on the thorny issues of race and politics is a challenge to a congressional map adopted by the Louisiana state legislature creating a second Black majority district.

The conservative-dominated top court actually heard the case last term, but in an unusual move it decided not to issue a ruling and scheduled it for re-argument during the current session.

African-Americans tend to overwhelmingly vote Democratic and they make up one-third of the population of Louisiana, which has six congressional districts.

Following the 2020 census, Louisiana created a new congressional map that included only one Black majority district instead of the previous two.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others filed suit claiming the new map diluted Black voting power and violated the Voting Rights Act, which was passed during the civil rights movement in 1965 to remedy historic racial discrimination.

The Louisiana legislature released a new map last year with two Black majority districts that was met with the legal challenge from a group of "non African-American" voters. It has now reached the Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.

The opponents of the redrawn map argue that using race to design congressional districts is racial gerrymandering prohibited by the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

"The stakes are incredibly high," said ACLU attorney Sophia Lin Lakin. "The outcome will not only determine the next steps for Louisiana's congressional map, but may also shape the future of redistricting cases nationwide."

Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the House and an increase or decrease in the number of Black majority districts could help tip the balance in the November 2026 midterm elections, when all 435 seats in the chamber will be up for grabs.

According to a report by two voting advocacy groups, Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter, a Supreme Court ruling striking down Voting Rights Act protections for minorities could lead to Republicans picking up an additional 19 seats in the House.

"It's enough to cement one-party control of the US House for at least a generation," they said.

The Louisiana voting case is being heard against a backdrop of redistricting moves in both Republican- and Democratic-ruled states.

Republican-led Texas is drawing new congressional district maps that are expected to flip up to five House seats from Democrats to Republicans.

Several mainly Latino or Black districts which Republican Donald Trump lost in the 2024 election in Texas were broken up to dilute support for Democrats.

Democratic leaders in California responded with a redistricting push to offset potential Republican gains in Texas, though it will first be put to a state-wide referendum.

[dude speaking proudly, holding a d20] I can't be racist, I watch the NBA and one of my tabletop characters is black

[the same dude, now zoomed on, looking so angry he's shaking and sweating] It's just that I don't want my sister to date one of them, okay?

https://thebad.website/comic/the_least_racist_colleague_at_work

https://bsky.app/profile/thebad.website

Source: American Society of Anesthesiologists

Summary:

Overdose deaths from fentanyl mixed with stimulants have skyrocketed among seniors, increasing 9,000% in just eight years. Once thought to affect mainly the young, the opioid epidemic’s fourth wave now engulfs older adults too. Cocaine and methamphetamine are the leading culprits, and experts warn that multi-drug use makes these overdoses especially lethal. Doctors are urged to educate patients and caregivers on prevention and safer pain management.

The study info:

To conduct the study, researchers examined 404,964 death certificates listing fentanyl as a cause of death from 1999 to 2023, using data from the CDC Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) system. Of those deaths, 17,040 involved adults 65 and older, while 387,924 were among adults aged 25 to 64.

Between 2015 and 2023, fentanyl-related deaths rose from 264 to 4,144 among older adults (a 1,470% increase) and from 8,513 to 64,694 among younger adults (a 660% increase). Within the older population, deaths involving both fentanyl and stimulants grew from 8.7% (23 of 264 fentanyl deaths) in 2015 to 49.9% (2,070 of 4,144) in 2023 -- a staggering 9,000% rise. In comparison, among younger adults, fentanyl-stimulant deaths rose from 21.3% (1,812 of 8,513) to 59.3% (38,333 of 64,694) over the same period, a 2,115% increase.

Researchers chose to highlight 2015 and 2023 in their analysis because 2015 marked the beginning of the epidemic's fourth wave, when fentanyl-stimulant deaths among older adults were at their lowest, and 2023 represented the most recent year of CDC data available.

The researchers noted that the rise in fentanyl deaths involving stimulants in older adults began to sharply rise in 2020, while deaths linked to other substances stayed the same or declined. Cocaine and methamphetamines were the most common stimulants paired with fentanyl among the older adults studied, surpassing alcohol, heroin, and benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium.

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/30283473

The Washington Post joined the New York Times, Newsmax and CNN in refusing to sign the restrictive new policy.

Media across the ideological spectrum said they will not sign the Defense Department’s restrictive new press policy by Tuesday’s afternoon deadline. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press and CNN said they wouldn’t sign, as did Newsmax and the Washington Times.

Artist: Yolanda | pixiv | twitter | danbooru

Full quality: .jpg 2 MB (2326 × 4490)

Inktober day 14

Prompt: Trunk

Updated daily 🖤🩶🤍

took a tumble and broke some of my backpacks pins. Fixed by grinding down a screw and using JB weld

Amid report after report of increasingly aggressive tactics used by federal immigration enforcement, a pair of Portland medical workers say that an agent threatened to shoot them as they tried to transport an injured protester last week.

According to publicly archived dispatch records reported by Willamette Week, an ambulance crew was attempting to transport a protester with a broken or dislocated collarbone from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in southern Portland on October 5.

The facility has been a flashpoint in recent weeks as the site of several small but persistent protests, which the Trump administration has attempted to characterize as violent provocations by “antifa” in order to justify its deployment of military troops.

Banning online anonymity tools like Tor won’t stop crime. It will only drive people underground and normalize government control over the internet

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino was among attendees in Egypt, continuing a string of appearances with the US president Donald Trump.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37270226

China Agricultural University launched the Shennong Large Model 3.0 on Monday, described as the country's most comprehensive and data-rich artificial intelligence model for agriculture, marking a significant step toward the intelligent transformation of farming and research worldwide.

The model, together with the newly introduced Shennong AI Agent Platform, was unveiled at the opening ceremony of the 2025 World AgriFood Innovation Conference in Beijing, signaling a new stage in agricultural AI that is both efficient and accessible.

Sun Qixin, president of China Agricultural University, said the third-generation Shennong model is China's first large-scale AI system trained with the country's largest agricultural dataset to date, covering 90 percent of agricultural disciplines and 80 percent of agricultural scenarios.

Named after Shennong, a legendary figure in ancient China known for teaching farming, the model was developed by a team led by Wang Yaojun, an associate professor at the university's College of Information and Electrical Engineering. The Shennong Large Model series has evolved rapidly since its first version in 2023.

Specifically designed for agricultural applications, the model covers areas that include crop breeding, planting and livestock production.

"Compared with general-purpose models, Shennong is far more specialized in answering agricultural questions," Wang said, adding that it ranks among the world's leading models in the agricultural sector.

The first version focused on agricultural question-and-answer functions, while version 2.0 introduced multimodal capabilities and real-world applications.

"The new 3.0 version features 36 intelligent agents, emphasizing small size, high intelligence and low cost to make agricultural AI more practical and widely available for farmers and production entities," Wang said.

"Through a mobile app or mini program, farmers can access AI-powered guidance for crop management and pest control within seconds," he added.

The pest and disease identification agent can recognize 70 categories and more than 600 types of crop pests and diseases, offering instant advice comparable to consulting multiple plant protection experts.

The model is already being tested in Beijing, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Shanxi and Heilongjiang provinces, with more than 100,000 active users. In Heilongjiang, for example, farmers can quickly identify the disease corn leaf spot and receive immediate recommendations on fertilizers, pesticides and treatment methods, Wang said.

He added that the model can also accelerate scientific discovery for agricultural researchers and assist in data-driven breeding decisions. Among the 36 intelligent agents, the Wheat Breeding AI Assistant integrates national-level germplasm data and expert knowledge to support precision breeding, helping move the process from traditional trial-and-error to data-based innovation.

The 2025 World AgriFood Innovation Conference ran from Sunday to Tuesday in Beijing's Pinggu district, with nearly 800 participants from dozens of countries in attendance to discuss resilient food supply and agrifood system transformation.

At the opening ceremony, several other achievements were also unveiled, including the inauguration of the China Agricultural University-Dong-EE-Jiao Joint Industry Innovation Institute and the release of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research 2025 Innovation Report.

Even with prices on the decline, homes are still prohibitively expensive for many buyers. Various metrics show that affordability has improved, but not by much. The Bank of Canada is poised to cut interest rates a couple more times in the coming months, but economists aren’t expecting a return to near-zero levels.

All to say, Canada’s housing crisis isn’t going anywhere, despite taking a back seat to trade concerns of late.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-real-estate-housing-markets-charts/