Good morning! <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/10-things-in-politics">If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.</a> I'm Brent Griffiths. Send tips to <a href="mailto:bgriffiths@insider.com">bgriffiths@insider.com</a> or tweet me <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentGriffiths">@BrentGriffiths</a>.Here's what we're talking about today:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-is-facing-legal-risk-on-many-fronts-meet-the-lawyers-in-his-corner-2021-4">This is Trump's team fighting his legal battles</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-sought-preemptive-pardon-from-trump-nyt-2021-4">Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly sought a blanket pardon</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-climate-activists-biden-climate-change-school-strike-2021-4">These 17 Gen Z climate activists are ready to challenge Biden</a></li></ul>With Jordan Erb.<hr />1. ALL OF TRUMP'S LAWYERS: Former President Donald Trump faces legal jeopardy on multiple fronts. He runs the risk of becoming the first president to be indicted. In his corner is a mix of lawyers who helped him try to overturn the election, plus those who defended him during his first impeachment. Even in the ever-changing Trumpworld, there are many familiar faces.Here's a peek at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-is-facing-legal-risk-on-many-fronts-meet-the-lawyers-in-his-corner-2021-4">Insider's exclusive list of Trump's team:</a>Election challengers: Sidney Powell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are outcasts now, but Trump leans on other campaign veterans who played less high-profile roles in the post-election fight.<ul><li>Key names: Justin Clark, a former deputy campaign manager, continues to coordinate Trump's legal efforts. Multiple Trump advisors have criticized Clark over his handling of court fights across battleground states that fizzled amid the baseless and conspiracy-heavy strategy advanced by Powell and others. Alex Cannon, a top campaign lawyer, has been tasked with unwinding Trump's failed reelection campaign. He may also feature prominently in any comeback bid.</li></ul><div type="image" title="Speaking to reporters, Jay Sekulow, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, attacks the Democrat's arguments in the impeachment trial of the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)" height="2852" width="3803" msid="81949344" hostid="261"></div>The Ukraine team and White House alums: Jay Sekulow, Michael Purpura, Patrick Philbin, Eric D. Herschmann, and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone all remain involved in Trump's current affairs after joining the successful defense in his first impeachment.<div type="image" title="Trump family lawyer Marc Mukasey" height="3143" width="4191" msid="81949346" hostid="261"></div>The New York team: Trumpworld remains concerned about the Manhattan investigation into the Trump Organization's finances. The former president has held onto a respected team to fight it.<ul><li>The big names: Marc Mukasey, a New York-based criminal defense lawyer and son of former Attorney General Michael Mukasey; Alan Futerfas and Jane Raskin, a criminal defense lawyer who had previously helped Trump in the Russia investigation and in his first impeachment trial. Lawrence Rosen, a lawyer who advised Trump on issues related to Stormy Daniels' hush-money payment, is also involved.</li><li>There may be more trouble coming their way: A lawyer for Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of a top Trump Organization employee, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-investigations-jennifer-weisselberg-has-more-documents-for-prosecutors-2021-4">says Weisselberg has more documents to hand over to prosecutors. </a></li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-is-facing-legal-risk-on-many-fronts-meet-the-lawyers-in-his-corner-2021-4">Read the rest of our exclusive report on Trump's team.</a><hr />2. Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly sought a blanket pardon from Trump:<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/us/politics/matt-gaetz-trump-pardon.html?action=click&amp;module=Top%20Stories&amp;pgtype=HomepageHomepage"> The Florida Republican privately asked the White House for pardons</a> for himself and other members of Congress just before Trump left office, The New York Times reports. It's unclear if the White House knew about the Justice Department's probe into whether Gaetz engaged in sex trafficking. Gaetz's office denies that he had sex with a 17-year-old or that he specifically requested a pardon related to the investigation. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-sought-preemptive-pardon-from-trump-nyt-2021-4">More on the latest development in Gaetz's scandal.</a><hr />3. Biden shifts the vaccine goalposts again: He announced that<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-to-announce-us-adults-eligible-covid-vaccine-april-19-2021-4"> all American adults will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine</a> by April 19. This comes after Biden already shifted his original goal from 100 million to 200 million shots - and had given states a May deadline to open eligibility.<ul><li>Fauci said vaccines likely work against variants. In an exclusive interview with Insider, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that concerns about vaccines' efficacy with new variants are overblown: "I don't believe that there's anything to panic about at this point." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-coronavirus-vaccines-work-variants-t-cells-2021-4">These studies have Fauci feeling confident.</a></li></ul>Other pandemic news:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-covid19-vaccine-restrictions-immunity-pfizer-2021-04">Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 </a>- one week after getting his first shot. Immunity isn't immediate. The CDC reports that the vaccine Gianforte was given is 80% effective after two weeks. </li><li>So is your governor vaccinated yet? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-covid19-vaccine-restrictions-immunity-pfizer-2021-04">Check our running list of which governors are - or aren't - vaccinated here.</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-covid19-vaccine-restrictions-immunity-pfizer-2021-04"><div type="image" title="Screen Shot 2021 04 07 at 3.11.02 AM" height="1204" width="1488" msid="81949348" hostid="261"></div></a><hr />4. These 17 Gen Z climate activists are ready to challenge Biden: The pandemic forced young climate activists off the streets to Zoom calls and TikTok. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-climate-activists-biden-climate-change-school-strike-2021-4">Here's a peek at names you should be watching.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-climate-activists-biden-climate-change-school-strike-2021-4"><div type="image" title="Climate Gen Zers" height="1000" width="2000" msid="81949349" hostid="261"></div></a><ul><li>Naina Agrawal-Hardin, 18, spokesperson at Sunrise Movement: "Part of the amazing thing about movements and especially movements led by young people is that we can think on our feet and we can adapt to new environments, and new contexts," she said.</li><li>Benji Backer, 23, founder and president of American Conservation Coalition: He sees the organization's mission in the Biden years as twofold: moving the Republican Party fully away from climate denial, and pressuring Biden to embrace bipartisan solutions on climate change.</li><li>Maya Lazzaro, 25, youth council member at Earth Guardians' Indigenous Youth Committee: Lazzaro is a strong supporter of Indigenous sovereignty, and while she supports activism at the national level, she said that "with our Indigenous youth training our intention is to create our own spaces by us and for us."</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-climate-activists-biden-climate-change-school-strike-2021-4">Read the rest of our exclusive list here.</a><hr />5. White House says no to vaccine passports: Press Secretary Jen Psaki made it clear that Americans won't be required to carry proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status. These so-called vaccination passports have garnered momentum lately as the US prepares to open up, and some states - including Texas and Florida - have already banned them. Psaki said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-federal-government-wont-mandate-covid-19-vaccine-passports-2021-4">"there will be no federal vaccinations database."</a><hr />6. More of Derek Chauvin's former colleagues testified against him: Prosecutors called three Minneapolis police officers, some of whom trained Chauvin directly, as they sought to drive home that he violated department policy by not taking his knee off of George Floyd's neck. But the defense did get a concession when Lt. Johnny Mercil, who is a use-of-force instructor for the department, said some images appeared to show Chauvin with his knee on Floyd's shoulder. <a href="https://www.insider.com/derek-chauvin-trial-takeaways-day-7-crisis-intervention-excessive-force-2021-4">More key moments from day 7 of the landmark trial.</a><hr />7. Mitch McConnell wants corporations to stay out of <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> ... except when they donate: McConnell, the Senate minority leader, made clear that his order to CEOs to stay out of politics is not about political contributions. His clarification isn't surprising - McConnell has spent decades fighting limits on campaign contributions. But his comments make clear the odd juxtaposition of CEOs criticizing Republican efforts to pass restrictive voting laws while many of their' political arms support both parties. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-not-talking-contributions-told-ceos-to-stay-out-politics-2021-4">More on the fallout here.</a><hr />8. The top things for your calendar, all times Eastern:<ul><li>10:15 a.m.: Chauvin's trial resumes </li><li>10:30 a.m.: Fauci and other members of the White House pandemic team hold a news briefing</li><li>12:15 p.m.: Psaki holds the White House daily news briefing with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo</li><li>1:45 p.m.: Biden speaks about his infrastructure plan. Vice President Harris will also attend.</li></ul><hr /><div type="image" title="Alcee Hastings" height="1333" width="2000" msid="81949350" hostid="261"></div>9. Remembering Rep. Alcee Hastings: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-rep-alcee-hastings-dies-at-84-was-impeached-as-judge-2021-4">Hastings, a 15-term congressman, died at 84</a> after a career that saw him appointed as Florida's first Black federal judge since reconstruction, then being impeached on corruption charges. He staged a comeback as a congressman who focused on advancing a progressive agenda in the Democratic Party. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/alcee-hastings-dead/2021/04/06/1bbd3e38-18da-11e9-8813-cb9dec761e73_story.html">More on his legacy here.</a><hr />10. Want to be like Mike? Here's what it's like at Michael Jordan's secret golf course: Even though the NBA star has sworn his guests to secrecy, stories about the course are starting to emerge. The exclusive club has fewer than 100 members and invite-only tee times. Guests are saying the course was designed by Jordan, for Jordan, and aimed at maximizing his style of play against his opponents - <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-jordan-golf-course-grove-xxiii-tour-2021-4">earning it the nickname "Slaughterhouse 23."</a><hr />Today's trivia question: This president was such a regular at Augusta National, home to the Masters, that a cabin was built for him. Who was it?<ul><li>Yesterday's answer: The secret message that accelerated America's entry into WWI was the Zimmerman Telegram or note. British cryptographers deciphered the message from a top German official <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/zimmermann">offering Mexico US land in return for joining the German cause. </a></li></ul>

10 Things in Politics: Inside Trump's stable of lawyers

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5adfe95b19ee864e008b48bd-1786/ronny jackson.jpg" border="0" alt="Ronny Jackson" data-mce-source="Alex Wong/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Physician to U.S. President Donald Trump Dr. Ronny Jackson speaks during the daily White House press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House January 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. Dr. Jackson discussed the details of President Trumpõs physical check-up from last week." />Alex Wong/Getty ImagesPhysician to U.S. President Donald Trump Dr. Ronny Jackson speaks during the daily White House press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House January 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. Dr. Jackson discussed the details of President TrumpÕs physical check-up from last week.</div></div></div><ul><li>Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump's nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary, has come under intense scrutiny over allegations of workplace misconduct.</li><li>In one incident in 2015, Jackson allegedly became intoxicated and banged on the hotel door of a female employee.</li><li>Jackson had allegedly caused such a scene that the Secret Service intervened out of concern that he might wake up then-President Barack Obama.</li></ul><hr /> New details about the alleged conduct of White House physician Ronny Jackson emerged on Tuesday night, nearly 24 hours after the first public allegations against him came to light. including a claim that he banged on the hotel-room door of a female employee while intoxicated.According to four people familiar with a 2015 incident involving Jackson, the doctor allegedly caused a ruckus by banging on the door of one employee's hotel room during an overseas trip, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/24/politics/ronny-jackson-door-allegations/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN reported</a>. Jackson reportedly caused so much of a scene that the Secret Service intervened out of concern that he would wake then-President Barack Obama.A former staffer said that the "middle-of-the-night" incident made the employee uncomfortable and that it was "definitely inappropriate," CNN reported.The incident adds to a series of other allegations against Jackson, who was scheduled to go before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on Wednesday. The hearing was postponed on Monday, amid multiple allegations stemming from his time as the White House physician.Some of those allegations include claims of excessive drinking at work, creating a hostile work environment, and improperly dispensing medication, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-senate-dem-on-veterans-affairs-asks-for-delay-in-ronny-jacksons-confirmation-hearing/">according to a CBS News report</a> published Monday night.Jackson had already been under fire from some lawmakers who expressed doubt over his ability to lead the nation's second-largest agency. After serving as the White House physician under George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Trump, Jackson was thrust into the spotlight after performing Trump's first physical as president, and later <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-doctor-god-gave-him-incredible-genes-2018-1">delivering an glowing report on Trump's health</a>.But despite being well-perceived in the White House, questions over his lack of sufficient management experience have clouded Jackson's nomination, which came shortly after the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/david-shulkin-fired-va-secretary-politics-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the controversy</a> surrounding the ouster of former VA secretary David Shulkin.Earlier on Tuesday, Trump appeared to express some doubt over his nominee: "I know there's an experience problem, because lack of experience," Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ronny-jackson-drop-out-withdraw-va-secretary-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a press conference."I don't want to put a man through a process like this," Trump continued, adding: "The fact is I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians?"Jackson did not deny the allegations and <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/988821557295439874" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he was "looking forward to the hearing so we can sit down and I can explain everything to everyone." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ian-bremmer-why-nikki-haley-fighting-trump-over-russia-2018-4">Ian Bremmer: Why Nikki Haley is fighting Trump over Russia</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/uNh7S0AV-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Trump's VA nominee allegedly banged on the hotel-room door of a female employee while intoxicated during an official trip

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e6fbe90c485405bc722bab2-2000/jerome adams.jpg" alt="Jerome Adams" />Alex Brandon/APUS Surgeon General Jerome Adams speaks during a briefing on coronavirus in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Saturday, March 14, 2020, in Washington, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin listens.<ul class="summary-list"><li>US Surgeon General Jerome Adams adopted a positive note Tuesday, saying he felt "a lot more optimistic" that the United States would emerge "stronger" from its battle with the coronavirus.</li><li>On Sunday, he said he expected the virus "to be our Pearl Harbor moment and our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country."</li><li>Adams credited social distancing for his hopeful demeanor, stressing that Americans "have the power to change the trajectory of this epidemic if we come together like we have after past tragedies in this country."</li><li>He said that state-level officials are better equipped to enforce stay-at-home orders, but predicted that the country will be looking at a "different normal" even once restrictions are lifted. That's only likely to change once testing is more readily available, as well as a vaccine.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Tuesday he's feeling "a lot more optimistic" about the coronavirus pandemic, believing there's "light at the end of this tunnel.""I absolutely believe this is going to be an incredibly sad and an incredibly hard week for our country, but we've had tough times in this country before and we always come out stronger," <a href="https://www.abccolumbia.com/2020/04/07/light-at-the-end-of-this-tunnel-us-surgeon-general-says/">Adams told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America."</a>Adams did, however, say he still believed "the hardest and saddest week of most Americans' lives" was imminent - comments he made to Chris Wallace on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/surgeon-general-warns-this-week-will-be-our-pearl-harbor-moment-as-coronavirus-death-toll-rises">"Fox News Sunday."</a> He painted an ominous picture about the United States' battle with the coronavirus."This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment and our 9/11 moment only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country," Adams told Wallace.The US is not in the clear: <a href="https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6">More than 378,200 coronavirus cases and 11,800 deaths</a> have been reported as of Tuesday.But, Adams said, people have the ability to change the trajectory of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US by maintaining social distance."The good news is that when you look at Italy, when you look at Spain, when you look at Washington and California, and even New York and New Jersey, they have truly started to flatten their curves," he said. "They've seen cases level off and start to come down, and that's what I want people to understand - that it's going to be a hard and tough week, but the American people have the power to change the trajectory of this epidemic if we come together like we have after past tragedies in this country."<h2>Adams said recent data shows good signs</h2>Adams also highlighted the latest data from states like California and Washington that have been "aggressively mitigating from the start.""Their public health officials should be applauded because they've given us the blueprint for how we should deal with this in the rest of the country," he said. "And I really do believe we will come in under those projections as long as we can continue to do our part for 30 days."The projections Adams is referring to are from March 29, when the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-projects-100k-to-240k-us-deaths-from-virus-2020-3">White House coronavirus task force</a> estimated that the coronavirus could kill <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-expects-100k-us-deaths-after-downplaying-for-weeks-2020-3">100,000 to 24,000 people</a> in the US. Without any mitigation efforts, like social distancing, the number of fatalities could be as high as 2 million. "The most important thing for the American people now is to really focus on these 30-days-to-slow-the-spread guidelines because we have proof that they work," Adams said. "But we need you all to cooperate, we need you to continue doing your part. And most people actually are. Over 90% of the country is actually doing the right thing right now."The US has not enforced a national lockdown, with President Donald Trump leaving it to state authorities to issue piecemeal shelter-in-place orders.As of Thursday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-map-stay-at-home-orders-lockdowns-2020-3">38 US states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico</a> had asked residents to only leave their homes only for essential services, like buying food and medicine. Some 297 million people, or about 90% of the US population, are following such containment measures. Many experts, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, say the restrictions <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-lockdown-united-states-entire-country-anthony-fauci-cdc-2020-4">should be</a> nationwide, considering the US is dealing with the largest coronavirus outbreak on earth.According to Adams, the federal government doesn't have "a good mechanism" to enforce stay-at-home orders - unlike state officials."We're working with governors, talking with them every single day, working with states to give them the information they need to make the right choices," he said. "And that's really what this comes down to, it's got to happen at the community level."Asked what the US might look like once the existing restrictions begin to be lifted, Adams, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-us-going-back-to-pre-coronavirus-state-may-never-happen-2020-4">like Fauci</a>, predicted a "different normal" than the nation's residents are accustomed to. That won't change until testing is ramped up and a vaccine is available, he said."But I want the American people to know that there is a light at the end of this tunnel," Adams added, "and we feel confident that if we keep doing the right thing for the rest of this month, that we can start to slowly reopen in some places."Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email <a href="mailto:covidtips@businessinsider.com">covidtips@businessinsider.com</a> and tell us your story.And get the latest <a href="/coronavirus-business-impact">coronavirus analysis and research</a> from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/london-streets-left-deserted-during-covid-19-lockdown-2020-3">Inside London during COVID-19 lockdown</a></h3> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/rrF2sMJM-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>

Surgeon General says he's 'optimistic' the coronavirus impact can be slowed if US keeps up social distancing for 30 days

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="246359" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Surgeon-General">Surgeon General</keyword> Jerome Adams says "structural racism" and social determinants of <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword>, including poverty, are to blame for why the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> has caused more hospitalizations and deaths among communities of color.</li><li>Communities of color already had worse health outcomes than white people before the <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword>, but the coronavirus brought renewed attention to the disparities.</li><li>The surgeon general plans to roll out two calls to action in the coming months, one on high blood pressure and the other on maternal mortality.</li><li>Adams told Business Insider that <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> providers needed to partner with community groups so people could turn to someone they trusted.</li></ul>Surgeon General Jerome Adams says that "structural racism" has played a role in why communities of color have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.In an interview with Business Insider on Friday, Adams reflected on federal data <a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/trump-administration-issues-call-action-based-new-data-detailing-covid-19-impacts-medicare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released last week</a> that found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-americans-disproportionately-hospitalized-with-coronavirus-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Black seniors</a> were nearly four times as likely as white seniors to be hospitalized because of the coronavirus pandemic and that Latino seniors were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized.He said some of the outbreaks among communities of color could be attributed to what are known as "<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-10-14/in-ferguson-a-picture-of-health-disparities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social determinants of health</a>" — including that they were more likely to have lower incomes and live in households where grandparents, parents, and children all lived together. They were also more likely to have jobs where they couldn't work from home, making it more likely that they'd be exposed to the coronavirus."But there are also factors that we don't measure, and those include things like structural racism," Adams said. "We have to acknowledge that these things are occurring and that they are occurring to people in many cases because of the color of their skin."Before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/daily-on-healthcare-a-look-at-us-health-disparities-on-mlk-day-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it was already well known</a> that Black and Latino people in the US were more likely to have health conditions such as <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&amp;lvlid=63#:~:text=Hispanic%20adults%20are%201.7%20times,compared%20to%20non%2DHispanic%20whites.tes." target="_blank" rel="noopener">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/hispanics-kd#:~:text=Hispanics%20are%20at%20greater%20risk,failure%20compared%20to%20other%20Americans." target="_blank" rel="noopener">kidney disease</a>. There's been renewed national attention to these health inequities as data shows these communities have been harder hit by the coronavirus.<h2>Adams plans to draw national attention to health issues</h2>Congressional Democrats had criticized the lack of data on race in the Trump administration's reporting on coronavirus cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0604-new-lab-data-reporting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced June 4</a> that states must start collecting data about race, ethnicity, gender, and ZIP code for coronavirus cases, and the agency's website now <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html">displays the data</a>.The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html">CDC's data</a> shows the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on communities of color. More than half of cases have been reported in Black or Latino Americans.In response to health disparities in America, Adams is readying two calls to action in the coming months on hypertension and maternal mortality — both issues that disproportionately affect communities of color.A "call to action" from a surgeon general involves publishing and publicizing a document that's supposed to encourage businesses, local governments, healthcare providers, and private citizens to take action on an urgent public-health problem. The last call to action <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/11/05/surgeon-general-murthy-more-walking-is-a-key-to-good-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged people to walk</a> at least 20 minutes a day and came from Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was surgeon general under President Barack Obama.<div type="image" title="Vivek Murthy Surgeon General" height="2197" width="2929" msid="76691174" hostid="261"></div>The hypertension and maternal-mortality calls to action have been in the works for a while, even before the pandemic, but have renewed relevancy, the surgeon general's office said. Adams said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asked him to move up the call to action on hypertension, given that it's one of the top health issues that puts people at higher risk for hospitalization and deaths from the coronavirus."We really need to focus on making sure we're paying attention to these disparities, because they're only going to widen after COVID if we don't focus on them," he said, using the shortened name for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Hypertension, or high blood pressure, leads to heart disease, strokes, heart attacks, and kidney disease, and <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/why-high-blood-pressure-is-a-silent-killer/high-blood-pressure-and-african-americans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affects 40%</a> of Black Americans.Adams said he was concerned about how women had to put off prenatal checkups during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, data showed Black women were more than three times <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/lawmakers-want-to-solve-mysterious-maternal-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as likely</a> to die during or after childbirth than white women were.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-next-ceos-future-leaders-200-healthcare-covid-19-2020-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How the coronavirus will permanently reshape the healthcare industry, according to 26 top industry leaders.</a><h2>Adams stressed the importance of community partnerships</h2>As the nation's top doctor, Adams is responsible for getting the word out about how people can improve their health. He also oversees 6,000 public-health service members who work throughout the government.Last week, he called up <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrity-chef-jose-andres-success-podcast-interview-2017-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the celebrity chef José Andrés</a>, who he said had a "unique megaphone within the Latinx community."<div type="image" title="chef Jose Andres" height="3403" width="4537" msid="76691179" hostid="261"></div>He said they spoke about how to encourage people to wear masks and about how to protect restaurant workers, such as the people in Andrés' kitchens."We talked about the fact that many of his frontline workers in restaurants are at particularly high risk and the measures that he's taking to protect them, because we know that we can face things from a scientific point of view and from a governmental point of view," he said. "But in some cases we just aren't going to have that trust with certain communities who were at risk, and so we need to find intermediaries."Adams <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-general-george-floyd-could-have-been-me-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has talked openly</a> about being a Black man in America. Last week he told <a href="https://politicos-pulse-check.simplecast.com/episodes/that-could-have-been-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico's "Pulse Check" podcast</a> that he felt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/june-7-protests-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-photos-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">George Floyd's death</a> at the hands of the police "could have been me." At a White House press briefing in April, he <a href="https://www.blackengineer.com/article/we-will-get-through-this-says-nations-doctor-dr-jerome-adams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> growing up as a poor Black child in America predisposed him to having asthma and high blood pressure.<h2>The surgeon general's plans to take on hypertension and maternal health</h2>His office plans to recommend <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-blood-pressure-monitor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">home blood-pressure monitoring</a> and will stress to patients why it's important to stay on top of their hypertension medications.On maternal mortality, Adams says he will recommend hospitals work with community groups so women have someone they trust to turn to "so that a Black woman doesn't have to go in and feel that her only option to talk about some of her concerns is with an older white man who she can't relate to and who may know nothing about her community.""Black women don't feel welcomed into the healthcare settings that are often available," Adams continued. "They feel stigmatized, they feel not heard, they feel disregarded."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-executives-avoid-giving-money-for-trumps-reelection-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We combed through the political donations of 75 healthcare companies. They reveal execs are making a surprising choice in how they give their cash.</a>Adams, who used to run Indiana's health department when Vice President Mike Pence was governor of the state, said he believed his attention to racial disparities in his role would make a difference in people's lives."I'm a Christian, and I believe God doesn't put you where you're going to be comfy and where it's going to be easy," he said. "God puts you where you're needed. And so I just continue to have faith in the fact that I am where I'm needed. I really do feel like I am making a difference, particularly in terms of outreach to minority populations and communities, and also to public-health departments."

The coronavirus is devastating communities of color. The Trump administration's top doctor blames 'structural racism' and shares his plans to take action.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>American <keyword id="11098" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="police">police</keyword> violence has come under renewed focus, and a debate has opened up on the nature of policing and how to fix it.</li><li>Some say that police need stricter oversight, more training, and better education.</li><li>Others argue that procedural and piecemeal maintenance will not fix the American policing system, calling for the system to be abolished wholesale.</li></ul>Rayshard Brooks was running away from two police officers, having grabbed one of their Tasers, when then-officer Garrett Rolfe shot Brooks in the back twice, killing him.<a href="https://www.insider.com/who-is-rayshard-brooks-family-shooting-death-atlanta-police-2020-6">The June 12 killing in Atlanta, Georgia, caused an uproar</a>: The fast-food property where Rolfe killed Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was reduced to ash and rubble a day later, torched by protesters. Others blocked a highway for hours. It also renewed the questions about American policing that were already on the top of mind since George Floyd died in Minneapolis, in late May, <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-non-responsive-before-officer-took-knee-off-neck-2020-5">as a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes</a>. What will it take to stop police from killing Black men at disproportionately high rates? What must be done to keep all communities safe?Over the past few weeks, Insider has spoken to a range of experts who've suggested a range of options for fixing policing — from better types of training to abolishing the police altogether. Here's what they came up with.<h2>1. Create a uniform code of policing</h2>Among the most frequently cited problems with American police forces, at least among reformists, is that police trainings vary by department. <a href="https://www.insider.com/national-standards-for-police-training-could-help-reduce-biases-2020-6">There is no standardized code of police education</a>. Los Angeles police officers, for example, receive 960 hours of training before hitting the streets, including implicit-bias courses. On the other coast, New York police get 700, and the NYPD website does not mention bias training. Some 36 states allow police officers to start working <a href="https://www.insider.com/some-police-academies-require-fewer-hours-of-training-plumbing-2020-6">before they've attended basic training</a>, and the average police officer spent about how as much time training as a licensed barber.<div type="image" title="police training" height="1334" width="1779" msid="76451651" hostid="261"></div>The divergence in training protocols is a national problem. "Honestly, it's not even like apples to oranges," Dr. Rashawn Ray, a fellow at the Brookings Institute, <a href="https://www.insider.com/national-standards-for-police-training-could-help-reduce-biases-2020-6">told Insider's Connor Perrett</a>."It's more like fruit to vegetables. That's just how different they are," Ray, who is also executive director of the University of Maryland's Lab for Applied Social Science Research, added. "That is something that definitely needs to change."Such a program could also help limit the spread of misinformation in police training programs. Currently, <a href="https://www.insider.com/police-training-programs-have-a-pseudoscience-problem-experts-say-2020-6">many programs include strategies that lack a basis in research</a>, and there's no central body to regulate them.<h2>2. Focus on recruiting the right people instead of relying on implicit bias training</h2>In the wake of so many police shootings of Black Americans, some politicians have called for a renewed focus on anti-bias training. Police departments should be trained for "racial and religious bias," <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/06/10/biden-root-out-systemic-racism-not-just-divisive-trump-talk-column/5327631002/">Biden opined in USA Today</a>, adding that chokeholds should be banned and officers should be tracked for their use of force.But many police forces already receive such training, and bias training does not work, <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/dv8tu/">according to a scholarly review of 492 studies</a> on such training."It's not actually going to threaten any entrenched interests or cause any significant change in policing," Dave Bicking, vice president of the Minneapolis-based Communities United Against <keyword id="53374" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Police-Brutality">Police Brutality</keyword>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/police-defensive-deescalation-techniques-implicit-bias-training-2020-6">told Insider's Rhea Mahbubani</a>.<div type="image" title="police recruit program" height="1732" width="2310" msid="76451658" hostid="261"></div>Jacinta Gau, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida, instead <a href="https://www.insider.com/police-defensive-deescalation-techniques-implicit-bias-training-2020-6">proposed establishing programs that recruit a more diverse set of officers</a>, helping local police forces integrate into the communities they're supposed to serve."We cannot train our way out of the current problems," she told Insider. "Cadet programs can get teens involved in the department and start them on the path toward eventually becoming sworn officers," she added. "Establishing relationships with Black clergy can be a productive way for police to improve their image as well, and possibly reach out to Black youth."<h2>3. De-militarize the police</h2>Since the September 11 attacks, <a href="https://www.dla.mil/DispositionServices/Offers/Reutilization/LawEnforcement/JoinTheProgram.aspx">the Pentagon</a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/20/police-billions-homeland-security-military-equipment">Department of Homeland Security</a> have struck deals with local and state police departments, giving them low-cost military-grade weaponry and equipment. The proliferation of military gear has had a noticeable impact on American policing – and the communities they operate in. Ryan Welch and Jack Mewhirter, the authors of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2053168017712885">a 2017 study</a> on the militarization of police found a direct correlation between the rise of militarization and more police killings.<div type="image" title="police mine car militarization military" height="1728" width="2304" msid="76451661" hostid="261"></div>"Even controlling for other possible factors in police violence (such as household income, overall and black population, violent-crime levels and drug use), more-militarized law enforcement agencies were associated with more civilians killed each year by police," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/06/30/does-military-equipment-lead-police-officers-to-be-more-violent-we-did-the-research/">they wrote in the Washington Post</a>. "When a county goes from receiving no military equipment to $2,539,767 worth (the largest figure that went to one agency in our data), more than twice as many civilians are likely to die in that county the following year."And it's not just the equipment. Military-style training causes unneeded deaths, Craig Atkinson, a documentarian who covers police training, <a href="https://www.insider.com/bulletproof-dave-grossman-police-trainer-teaching-officers-how-to-kill-2020-6">told Insider's Kelly McLaughlin</a>."Obviously not all cops are bad, but you take good cops and you give them warrior training and you quickly have an outcome that we see moving across this country right now," Atkinson said.<h2>4. Stop training officers like warriors</h2>Part of the trend of militarizing police includes training them like they're in a warzone.It's common for police officers involved in killings to have a record of violence. Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-man-george-floyd-dies-after-police-officer-kneels-neck-2020-5">for nearly nine minutes</a>, had been the subject of numerous complaints and internal investigations. Tao Thao, who stood guard as Chauvin killed Floyd, <a href="https://www.insider.com/derek-chauvin-police-history-shootings-violence-george-floyd-2020-5">settled an excessive use-of-force lawsuit out of court</a> in 2018 for $25,000.And existing de-escalation trainings aren't always effective. <a href="https://www.insider.com/atlanta-rayshard-brooks-police-garrett-rolfe-training-deescalation-cultural-awareness-2020-6">Rolfe</a>, for his part, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/breaking-atlanta-officer-who-killed-rayshard-brooks-identified/hBd198BmRV9Rgt7uSjvoZP/">completed a nine-hour training course on de-escalation</a> 49 days before he killed Brooks.<div type="image" title="police training recruitment long beach" height="1714" width="2285" msid="76451663" hostid="261"></div>That culture is embodied by the teachings of Dave Grossman, an Army-veteran-turned-police-trainer who describes himself as a "killologist.""He doesn't see the separation between Fallujah and Ferguson," Atkinson told Insider. "And so he thinks of the police as the first line of defense to Al Qaeda, and there's no difference."What does he teach the hundreds of police departments he's instructed since 1995? "<a href="https://www.insider.com/bulletproof-dave-grossman-police-trainer-teaching-officers-how-to-kill-2020-6">Killology</a>," a doctrine that dispels with the idea that police should feel shame for killing Americans."Are you emotionally, spiritually, psychologically prepared to snuff out a human life in defense of innocent lives?" Grossman asked one group of trainees. "If you can't make that decision, you need to find another job."<div type="image" title="Dave Grossman." height="1584" width="2113" msid="76451667" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.policeforum.org/assets/guidingprinciples1.pdf">According to a 2016 survey</a>, police departments spend an average of 58 hours on gun training, 49 hours on defensive tactics, and eight hours on de-escalation, crisis intervention, and electronic control weapons like Tasers.Communities United Against Police Brutality railed against the "warrior-cop" style of policing."Officers routinely hear that 'every single traffic stop could be, might be, the last stop you ever make in your life,'" <a href="https://www.insider.com/bulletproof-dave-grossman-police-trainer-teaching-officers-how-to-kill-2020-6">the organization wrote in a 2018 pamphlet shared with Insider</a>. "Awakening officers' fear that their work continually puts them in lethal danger, Grossman begins cultivating fear of the public and a readiness to kill."<h2>5. End the stigma around seeking help for mental health</h2>Police forces' self-understanding as warriors may also contribute to a culture of silence, where getting mental-health treatment is taboo. Ninety percent of police officers in the LA police union said seeking therapy was stigmatized, <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/los-angeles-lapd-police-officer-ptsd-law-enforcement-survey/49206/">NBC News found in a 2018 poll</a>."It's the 'stiff upper lip, don't show any emotion, don't let anything bother you' mentality, but, of course, internally, the stress of the job is impacting you," Risdon Slate, a criminologist at Florida Southern College, <a href="https://www.insider.com/police-officers-stress-mental-health-stigma-impacting-public-2020-6">told Insider</a>. "The problem is, traditionally, if police officers were to ask for help, they ended up being placed on what we call the 'bow-and-arrow squadron' — their service revolver was taken away and they were given a desk job."That kind of attitude is going to have an effect on the communities officers are supposed to serve, <a href="https://www.insider.com/police-officers-stress-mental-health-stigma-impacting-public-2020-6">according to Thomas E. Coghlan, a psychologist and retired New York City Police Department detective</a>."It's going to show itself at work and show itself in social interactions out in the community," Coghlan told Insider. "You're putting an officer on the street and out into the public with the right to enforce the law and make an arrest and use lethal force, who's not operating at an optimal capacity and is potentially impaired by some sort of mental health issue."<h2>6. Defund the police</h2>In response to militarization and a level of police violence that disproportionately impacts Black communities, numerous experts have advocated limiting police departments' operational capacity, by defunding them and shoring up social and community services with the newfound cash.<div type="image" title="police protest nypd" height="1000" width="1333" msid="76451669" hostid="261"></div>"When we talk about defunding the police, what we're saying is 'invest in the resources that our communities need,'" <a href="https://www.insider.com/calls-for-defund-the-police-budget-cuts-duty-changes-2020-6">Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza told NBC's "Meet the Press."</a>The idea has found some success. Last week, San Francisco Mayor London Breed <a href="https://www.insider.com/san-francisco-outlaws-tear-gas-non-criminal-calls-george-floyd-2020-6">proposed redirecting police-budget money</a> to "programs and organizations that serve communities that have been systematically harmed by past City policies." New York City will slash its $6 trillion police budget by $1 trillion, and Los Angeles is considering up to $150 million in cuts to its $2 trillion police budget. <h2>7. Maybe we should just abolish the police altogether</h2>While reformists believe that police need better education and more oversight. Abolitionists believe that the essential function of policing begets racialized violence, originating as it did in "slave patrols and social control, where human property of enslavers was 'protected' with violence and impunity against people of African descent," as <a href="https://www.insider.com/united-nations-experts-slam-racial-terror-lynchings-united-states-2020-6">United Nations experts wrote</a>.After defunding the police, they must eventually be abolished, the abolitionists say. "It's time instead to have a complete rethink about why we're using police in the United States to solve every problem under the sun," Alex Vitale, a sociologist at Brooklyn College and author of "The End of Policing," <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-protests-police-violence-reform-change-2020-6">told Insider</a>.<div type="image" title="A woman faces off against San Francisco police, May 31, 2020, in California. (Karl Mondon_Digital First Media_East Bay Times via Getty Images)" height="851" width="1135" msid="76451670" hostid="261"></div>This proposal has little purchase so far. In fact, none of the abolitionists' demands have been taken up on the national stage."Nobody is going to defund the police," <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/14/politics/james-clyburn-defund-police-cnntv/index.html">said Rep. James Clyburn</a>, the House Majority Whip. Last week, Biden called for an additional $300 million to police departments to "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-300-million-for-reshaped-police-departments-in-op-ed-2020-6">reinvigorate community policing</a>."But in places like Minneapolis, where police officers killed George Floyd in late May, the conversation about policing strikes a different tone. "We can send a city response that makes situations better. We can resolve confusion over a $20 grocery transaction without drawing a weapon, or pulling out handcuffs," Minneapolis City Councilmember Steve Fletcher said in early June, announcing that <a href="https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-city-council-members-look-to-disband-police-department-2020-6">the body will disband its police department</a>."The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future," Fletcher added. "It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city."Expanded Coverage Module: black-lives-matter-module

American policing is broken. Here's what's wrong and 7 ways experts say we can fix it.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aa7fcc33be59f19008b45a0-1778/5516f59269bedd9247343a7b.jpg" alt="pandemic disease ebola" data-mce-source="John Moore/Getty" data-mce-caption="Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staffer Alex Eilert Paulsen watches as mattresses and bed frames burn at the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) on January 31, 2015 in Paynesville, Liberia." />John Moore/GettyDoctors Without Borders (MSF) staffer Alex Eilert Paulsen watches as mattresses and bed frames burn at the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) on January 31, 2015 in Paynesville, Liberia.</div></div></div><ul><li>The World Health Organization recently updated their blueprint for research that lists the diseases most likely to cause a global pandemic that could kill millions.</li><li>Along with hemorrhagic viruses like Ebola and mosquito-borne diseases like Zika, they added a mysterious new condition: "Disease X."</li><li>Disease X represents the unknown disease that's quite likely to cause the next pandemic.</li></ul><hr />The inescapable truth for those who study disease outbreaks, new viruses, and the spread of illness is a haunting one.The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/disease-dangers-pandemic-influenza-ebola-2017-5">next pandemic is coming</a>.Known, incurable diseases lurk in hidden reservoirs all over the world. Thousands of unknown viruses circulate around the globe. And in labs, both <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nih-lifts-ban-on-flu-mers-sars-virus-gain-of-function-research-2017-12">for the sake of experimentation</a> and potentially also for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-risk-to-humanity-2017-9">nefarious purposes</a>, research is conducted on biological agents to see if it's possible to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/plague-biological-weapon-2017-7">make them more deadly</a>.In their <a href="http://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/en/">recent blueprint for research on priority diseases</a> that could cause this pandemic, <a href="http://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/en/">the World Health Organization</a> (WHO) added a new potential threat: Disease X."Disease X" stands for the unknown.The rest of the diseases on that list are already-known conditions. These include <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/diseases.html">hemorrhagic fevers</a> like Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, Rift Valley fever, Nipah, and henipaviral diseases. Other priority illnesses include coronaviruses like MERS and SARS and the mosquito-borne disease Zika.Viruses and bacteria can mutate and become more infectious or deadly (or both), and there's a constant risk that new illnesses could find ways to jump from their hosts to humans.It's likely that whatever pathogen causes the next pandemic, it'll be something we don't know how to react to. And as we've seen when new diseases like Zika first emerge, we're not able to stop these illnesses from rapidly spreading with devastating results.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b665ee5124c993065dc489-800/china-detains-five-after-unearthing-tonnes-of-pig-carcasses-2017-9.jpg" alt="FILE PHOTO: A worker walks past pens containing pigs at a farm located on the outskirts of Beijing September 7, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="FILE PHOTO: A worker walks past pens containing pigs at a farm located on the outskirts of Beijing" />Thomson ReutersPigs in a factory farm could pick up a bird virus.</div></div></div><h2>What to expect from an unknown disease</h2>As the WHO's description explains, the disease that turns out to be "Disease X" could be one that we don't yet know is dangerous.Seemingly non-threatening diseases have changed course before. As Dr. Michael Kurilla, director of the Office of Biodefense Research Resources and Translational Research at the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/zika-virus-shows-why-emerging-diseases-are-so-dangerous-2016-1">told Business Insider in 2016</a>, for years we thought certain viruses known as coronaviruses were relatively innocuous."But then SARS came around," he said then, referring to the 2002-2003 outbreak of the coronavirus that infected more than 8,000 and killed approximately 10% of those infected. Ten years later came MERS. Both of these ended up on the WHO blueprint for research on diseases that could cause the next pandemic - as did Zika, which until recently hadn't been considered a disease of major concern.A pandemic could also come from a mutated version of an existing pathogen.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aa821db3be59f1e008b474a-600/165-ww-269b-5-nurse-l.jpg" alt="1918 pandemic" data-mce-source="National Archives" data-link="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html" /><a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html">National Archives</a>It's almost certain that we'll eventually see a disease like the 1918 pandemic influenza that was one of the deadliest events in human history.</div></div></div><h2>A deadly flu</h2>A mutated flu has long been a contender for the source of our next pandemic, according to virologists and epidemiologists."We are coming up on the centenary of the 1918 influenza pandemic," George Poste, a member of the <a href="http://www.biodefensestudy.org/">Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense</a>, a group created to assess the state of biodefense in the US, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-risk-to-humanity-2017-9">previously told Business Insider</a>. "We've been fortunately spared anything on that scale for the past 100 years, but it is inevitable that a pandemic strain of equal virulence will emerge."Writing in the Daily Mail, Dr. Jonathan Quick, a faculty member of Harvard Medical School and chair of the Global Health Council, recently said that our factory farm system could be the perfect incubator for a pandemic flu. There are thousands of close-together pigs potentially exposed to chickens or wild birds, which creates the perfect opportunity for a bird flu to acquire the genes needed to start infecting mammals like pigs - and humans."The renegade influenza viruses they spawn could one day annihilate the people they feed," <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5465241/Why-believe-killer-flu-pandemic-just-corner.html">he wrote</a>.And there's always the possibility that someone intentionally could create and spread a pandemic disease. That's the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-risk-to-humanity-2017-9">scariest global disaster that Melinda Gates can imagine</a> happening within the next ten years, she recently said in an interview at South By Southwest.For preparations sake, she said we should have the equivalent of a disease-monitoring organization like the CDC solely focused on bioterrorism.As journalist David Quammen explained in his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spillover-Animal-Infections-Human-Pandemic/dp/0393066800?tag=bisafetynet2-20">Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic</a>," a deadly new virus will inevitably appear: "If you're a thriving population, living at high density but exposed to new bugs, it's just a matter of time until the [Next Big One] arrives." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-diamandis-how-silicon-valley-can-make-100-new-60-2018-2">What Silicon Valley is doing to make humans live longer</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/kPPOD3rk-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

The World Health Organization has listed 'Disease X' as the next potential pandemic - here's how worried you should be

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c09d756c6117f0e6c078502-1205/divide%20and%20conquer%202%20magnolia.jpg" border="0" alt="Divide and Conquer 2 Magnolia" data-mce-source="Magnolia">Magnolia"Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes."</img></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>"Divide and Conquer" is a new documentary about the life and career of ousted Fox News chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes.</li><li>Director Alexis Bloom talked to Business Insider about trying to push away the myth of Ailes to show who the real man was (Ailes died within a year of resigning from heading Fox News in 2016 after sexual misconduct allegations).</li><li>But the movie also highlights Ailes' ego-driven life that included a fortified office and the need to embellish everything.</li></ul>&#xa0;Exploring the life and times of Roger Ailes, the ousted CEO of Fox News, is important because it shows how one man single-handedly shaped the way many of us view <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> and news in today's world. But how Ailes actually became a titan in <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> is split two ways: the truth, and how Ailes spun it.In "Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes," director Alexis Bloom ("Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds") took on the task of pushing away the spin for an unfiltered telling of Ailes' life - from his political days as the force behind the presidential elections of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, to becoming the most powerful man in media.Bloom only knew Ailes by reputation during the rise of Fox News in the 2000s.&#xa0;"I was fascinated because he seemed to be this mixture of being thuggish and charming," Bloom told Business Insider. "Sort of a genius and also depraved."And this was before former "Fox &amp; Friends" co-host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes.&#xa0;Bloom began getting financing for "Divide and Conquer" (opening in theaters on Friday) around the time the titan was about to freefall. The Carlson lawsuit was followed by other sexual misconduct allegations against Ailes, including by one of the network's biggest names, Megyn Kelly. Ailes resigned in July of 2016 (in the movie numerous women give detailed accounts about Ailes' alleged sexual misconduct toward them).<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c09d641965aa00f35438022-1202/divide%20and%20conquer%20magnolia.jpg" border="0" alt="Divide and Conquer Magnolia" data-mce-source="Magnolia">MagnoliaRoger Ailes was the chairman and CEO of Fox News until he resigned in 2016 over sexual misconduct allegations.</img></div></div></div>By the time Bloom began filming the documentary, Ailes had died (within a year of leaving Fox News). Though the director was disappointed at the time she wouldn't get a chance to interview him for the movie, she quickly realized that Ailes' death led to more opportunities.&#xa0;"There were people who told me, 'We wouldn't be having this conversation if Roger was alive,'" Bloom said."Divide and Conquer" explores many of the defining moments in Ailes' life, starting with his challenging childhood, in which suffering from hemophilia made him live in constant fear that at any moment he could die. Ailes' father also never showed much affection for him, and a classic Ailes story involves his father playing trick on young Ailes by not catching him after telling him to jump off the top bunk (more on that later). After his childhood, the doc looks at Ailes becoming, as one reporter called him, the "Ernest Hemingway of campaign advisors," as he created the political strategist profession. And then comes Ailes' first foray into 24 hour news, America's Talking.Launched in 1994 by NBC, the cable channel gave birth to many of the programming styles (and on-air personalities) that Ailes would perfect at Fox News. Ailes even hosted a celebrity-focused talk show called "Straight Forward," which showed his showman side, a trait he had all the way back to his younger days when he would tap dance to stay in shape. &#xa0;But the good times ended two years later when Bill Gates and Microsoft stepped in and made a deal with NBC to launch cable network MSNBC. Ailes and America's Talking was shown the door. &#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c09d869293b710e581fdd16-1209/divide%20and%20conquer%203%20magnolia.jpg" border="0" alt="Divide and Conquer 3 Magnolia" data-mce-source="Magnolia">MagnoliaRoger Ailes (R) talking to President Ronald Regan and Nancy Reagan.</img></div></div></div>"America's Talking is crucial in understanding what happened afterwards," Bloom said. "He absolutely hated the suits at NBC. He wanted to, in his words, 'F--k' them. It was a huge motivator for him."Filled with anger for NBC, Ailes went to Rupert Murdoch looking for payback by fulfilling a dream he had since the Nixon administration: making a dedicated conservative-focused news channel. And Fox News was born.Bloom highlights what led to the growth of the channel, from the explosive personalities of its hosts like Bill O'Reilly and later Glenn Beck, to the constant theme of division and fear. These elements worked perfectly when covering major moments in American history like the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal and the down-to-the-wire election of George W. Bush against Al Gore, which led to huge ratings.But even as one of the most powerful figures in media, the movie shows Ailes lived in fear.&#xa0;According to the doc, Ailes' office at Fox News was something out of a James Bond movie. It had a steel reinforced door, bulletproof glass windows looking out over Manhattan, monitors to security cameras he had stationed outside his office, and multiple hand guns stashed away. In fact, Bloom said Ailes always carried a gun everywhere he went as he was afraid Al-Qaeda, Osama bin-Laden, or the gay community were out to kill him.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c09dd771486fd0f71190987-1820/roger%20ailes%20office%20magnolia%20pictures%20final.jpg" border="0" alt="Roger Ailes office Magnolia Pictures final" data-mce-source="Magnolia">MagnoliaLayout of Roger Ailes' office at Fox News, according to "Divide and Conquer."</img></div></div></div>"It has an almost 'Dr. Strangelove' aspect to it," Bloom said of Ailes' life. "If it wasn't so mortally serious it would be funny, but it's not because this is a real person not an actor."One of the most chilling aspects of Ailes' personality that's shown in the movie is how easily he could lie and embellish to lift his own mythology. The best example is that story about his father letting him fall from the top bunk when he was a kid.&#xa0;In "Divide and Conquer," Stephen Rosenfield, who worked with Ailes in the 1970s, told the story of how one day Ailes confided in him a memory of his childhood when while on the top bunk in his bedroom, his father walked in and told Roger to jump from the bunk, assuring Roger he would catch him. But when Roger jumped, his father moved and Roger fell to the ground. His father then told him that was a lesson to never trust anybody.But later in the movie we learn that moment never happened. On a chance conversation with her cousin, Bloom found out that Roger's seminal childhood moment was something that has been used in literature numerous times. Doing some digging, Bloom found a <a href="https://gawker.com/roger-ailes-rosebud-story-is-a-transparent-lie-1501060818" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gawker story</a> that noted the father-son episode in hundreds of books, including the biographies of John D. Rockefeller and legendary actor Peter O'Toole. Then she spoke to Roger's brother, Robert.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c09d7e8d5000c0df340988a-2250/alexis%20bloom%20magnolia.jpg" border="0" alt="Alexis Bloom Magnolia" data-mce-source="Magnolia">Magnolia"Divide and Conquer" director Alexis Bloom.</img></div></div></div>"He said there was absolutely no way that his father would ever have done that," Bloom said Robert Ailes told her. "He shared a room with Roger and he would have known about it."But Bloom said this was what Ailes did most of his professional life: build myths about himself and America. It reminded her of some of the traits of another man full of himself that she did a documentary on.She was the producer on the 2013 Alex Gibney documentary, "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" (Gibney is an executive producer on "Divide and Conquer"), and had many conversations with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about being in the movie (he eventually declined)."They both have weaponized information," Bloom said when comparing the two. "They both know the power of information, they both are incredibly thin-skinned, and they are both egomaniacal. But there are significant differences. Assange thinks of himself as an anarchist, Roger first and foremost thought of himself as a patriot."<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hoQ5dZkMETs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pokemon-characters-detective-pikachu-movie-deviantart-realistic-artist-2018-11">How Pokémon were transformed into lifelike creatures for 'Detective Pikachu'</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/sn4Njo6Q-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Tap dancing, lies, and handguns: Inside the new Roger Ailes documentary that is both fascinating and terrifying

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/561527749dd7cc70408b4d1f-1895/screen%20shot%202015-10-07%20at%20100731%20am.png" alt="alex jones" /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2495&amp;v=hxbvYWKhX48">YouTube/screengrab</a>InfoWars' Alex Jones was one of the far-right conspiracy theorists peddling the #SyriaHoax hashtag last week.A conspiracy alleging a chemical weapons attack carried out in northwestern Syria last week was a "false flag" operation orchestrated by "terrorists" opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad quickly made its way from a pro-Assad propaganda outlet to leading members of the far-right media in the US.The trail leading directly from Al-Masdar News to far-right entities like the conspiracy-trafficking site InfoWars <a href="https://medium.com/dfrlab/how-the-alt-right-brought-syriahoax-to-america-47745118d1c9" target="_blank">was documented by the Atlantic Council's </a><a href="https://medium.com/dfrlab/how-the-alt-right-brought-syriahoax-to-america-47745118d1c9" target="_blank">Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab,</a> which uses open-source information to trace patterns of disinformation and hybrid warfare. Al-Masdar is run by Assad loyalist Leith Abou Fadel, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/world/europe/syrian-refugee-tripped-in-hungary-denies-extremist-ties.html" target="_blank">pushed a conspiracy theory</a> in 2015 that a refugee tripped by a Hungarian camerawoman while holding his young son was a "supporter of Al Qaeda.""Using 21st-century technology, we can capture the 20th-century horrors and crimes that Assad is committing," said Maks Czuperski, the director of DFR Lab and special advisor to the president at the Atlantic Council. "It is impossible to go unnoticed." The Syrian government has denied dropping chemical weapons on civilians in Idlib province early last week. Russia, an Assad ally, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-trump-assad-attack-syria-2017-4" target="_blank">has argued that</a> a Syrian airstrike targeting terrorists in the area accidentally hit a warehouse controlled by rebel forces that had been stockpiling nerve agents, which dispersed and killed dozens of civilians when it was bombed.But US defense officials monitoring Syrian warplanes on military radar say they saw the planes take off and drop the chemical weapons, NBC News reported. And the Pentagon is now looking into whether Russia was complicit: A Russian drone <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/syria-gas-attack-russia-2017-4" target="_blank">was reportedly hovering</a> above a hospital treating gas victims, and then turned off, just before it was bombed by a Russian warplane. Officials are examining whether the strike aimed to hide evidence of the chemical attack.President Donald Trump directly blamed Assad for the attack in explaining why he responded by launching missile strikes aimed at Syrian government targets. <h2>Assad's 'grim logic'</h2>Shortly after the gas attack occurred on April 4, Al-Masdar <a href="https://mobile.almasdarnews.com/article/jumping-conclusions-something-not-adding-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/" target="_blank">published an op-ed</a> arguing that it "defies any logic" why Assad would drop chemical weapons on civilians and that "terrorist forces have once again created a false flag scenario" baring a "resemblance to the Ghouta chemical weapons attack in 2013."(The Ghouta attack left more than 1,000 civilians dead and resulted in a deal brokered by the US and Russia to destroy Assad's chemical weapons arsenal. The bulk of Assad's "declared" arsenal was shipped out of the country, but American officials "repeatedly returned to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons with intelligence reports on remaining chemical stocks," The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/world/middleeast/werent-syrias-chemical-weapons-destroyed-its-complicated.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fscott-shane&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=undefined&amp;region=stream&amp;module=stream_unit&amp;version=latest&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=collection" target="_blank">has reported.</a>)As many analysts have suggested over the past week, however, for the Assad regime to drop chemical weapons on the town of Khan Sheikhoun - which lies in rebel-held Idlib province - does not "defy logic" at all. "Idlib, in general, remains the one piece of northwestern Syria that lies beyond the control of the Assad regime," Fred Hof, the director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and former US special adviser on Syria, told reporters in a conference call on Friday."Idlib houses a really volatile mix of actors, including fairly heavily armed rebel militias and the former [Al Qaeda-linked] Nusra Front," Hof said. He continued: <blockquote>"To launch a deliberate, conventional military campaign there would be way beyond the capability of Assad's army, which is essentially broken, and would be a huge slog for the [pro-Assad] Iranian militias. So it is&#xa0;possible Assad calculated that a return to the use of sarin gas would&#xa0;allow him to shortcut this process, by introducing an element of sheer terror that he believed the West would not respond to." </blockquote>Dr. Monzer Khalil, Idlib Province's health director, echoed that analysis in an interview with the New York Times' Anne Barnard <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/middleeast/syria-bashar-al-assad-russia-sarin-attack.html" target="_blank">in an article </a>outlining "The Grim Logic Behind Syria's Chemical Weapons Attack.""It makes us feel that we are defeated," he said. "We are aware that we are in this Qaeda trap. But in Idlib we have 2.2 million people, and how many Qaeda fighters? You cannot kill the two million for their sake."The attack was launched days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said removing Assad was no longer a "priority" for the US, before the administration reversed this week and launched missile strikes at Syrian government targets.<h2>From Al-Masdar to InfoWars</h2>The Al-Masdar piece was quickly "reproduced verbatim by at least three conspiracy sites: <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/jumping-to-conclusions-something-is-not-adding-up-in-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/5583500?print=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">globalresearch.ca</a>, <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46801.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">informationclearinghouse.info</a> and <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1491425158.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Lifeboat News</a>," according to DFR Lab. It was also quoted extensively in an article titled, "This is why CNN and all mainstream media must apologize for FAKE NEWS Syria chemical attack," which was published by the pro-Russia site <a href="http://theduran.com/cnn-mainstream-media-must-apologize-fake-news-syria-chemical-attack/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Duran</a>.On April 5, <a href="https://www.infowars.com/report-soros-linked-group-behind-chemical-attack-in-syria/" target="_blank">InfoWars, a far-right site known for peddling conspiracy theories, picked it up</a>. It ran an article claiming the gas attack was a false-flag operation funded by the liberal business magnate George Soros and carried out by the White Helmets - a civil defense organization comprised of volunteer first responders that detractors have attempted to brand as a tool of Al Qaeda-aligned rebel forces.The InfoWars article, DFR Lab wrote, "made the same claims, and used the same sources, as the al-Masdar story," merely "reversing their order."Once the theory <a href="https://twitter.com/RealAlexJones/status/849701171367464960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2Fmedia%2Fa70d3b78c7ad2d4d5d78c1bbe8cb1925%3FpostId%3D47745118d1c9" target="_blank">was in the crosshairs</a> of one of the country's most notorious conspiracy theorists - InfoWars founder Alex Jones - it got help from one of <a href="https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/837418690341527552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2Fmedia%2F2efc7f34b6179bd8b3c2019214fb2b17%3FpostId%3D47745118d1c9">Jones' biggest</a> fans: Mike Cernovich, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/deploraball-gop-alt-right-2017-1" target="_blank">self-described "new right"</a> commentator whose <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-cernovich-kellyanne-conway-donald-trump-jr-2017-4" target="_blank">work has been praised by the Trump administration</a>."<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SyriaHoax?src=hash" rel="tag">#SyriaHoax</a> is hash tag of the day! Don't fall for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SyriaHoax?src=hash" rel="tag">#SyriaHoax</a>!," Cernovich tweeted to his nearly 250,000 followers on April 6. The hashtag was retweeted approximately 3,000 times by some 40-odd Twitter accounts - including fake accounts operated by Twitter "bots" programmed to aggressively pump out propaganda. DFR Lab suggested the idea for the hashtag may have originated with<a href="https://twitter.com/Magicpoledancer" target="_blank"> a month-old, pro-Russia account with 18 followers</a>. Much of the hashtag's "initial viral appeal appears to have come from suspiciously hyperactive accounts that tweeted it dozens or hundreds of times in the space of a few hours," DFR Lab wrote.<h2>'I'm officially OFF the Trump train'</h2>Ultimately, Trump - a consumer and promoter of conspiracy theories <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/donald-trump-praises-9-11-truther-alex-jones/" target="_blank">who has praised</a> Jones in the past - and his administration blamed the Assad regime for the attack. And the US responded.On Thursday night, Trump ordered the US Navy to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a government-controlled airfield where the planes used to drop the chemicals are believed to have taken off. He then delivered a public statement placing the blame squarely on Assad."My fellow Americans, on Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians," Trump said on Thursday. "Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the life of innocent men, women, and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many - even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack."His most fervent hardline supporters, including <a href="https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/850175807540441088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Ftrump-syria-srike-media-supporters-split-2017-4" target="_blank">Cernovich</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RealAlexJones/status/850098741000380416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Ftrump-syria-srike-media-supporters-split-2017-4" target="_blank">Jones</a>, quickly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-syria-srike-media-supporters-split-2017-4" target="_blank">lambasted his decision</a>, while continuing to push the broader conspiracy theory that the attack was a false flag using the #SyriaHoax hashtag.Paul Joseph Watson, a blogger for InfoWars who tweeted last week that Assad had would have had "no motive" for a gas attack, was so upset with Trump's decision that he took himself "OFF the Trump train.""I guess Trump wasn't "Putin's puppet" after all, he was just another deep state/Neo-Con puppet," he tweeted. "I'm officially OFF the Trump train." He later <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/850384758874001409" target="_blank">clarified</a> that he was only "off the Trump train in terms of Syria."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Did McCain give "moderate rebels" (ISIS) in Syria poison gas and Hollywood style film equipment?- Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/850175807540441088">April 7, 2017</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">LIVE: Evidence Mounts That Syrian Gas Attack Is False Flag - <a href="https://t.co/zuyd0W0ONy">https://t.co/zuyd0W0ONy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/InfowarsLIVE?src=hash">#InfowarsLIVE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SyriaHoax?src=hash">#SyriaHoax</a>- Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/850098741000380416">April 6, 2017</a></blockquote> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-state-department-collusion-trump-russia-constitutional-crisis-2017-3">Former State Department official: Evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia would create a 'constitutional crisis'</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

From Al-Masdar to InfoWars: How a pro-Assad conspiracy theory got picked up by the far-right

100 Mystery Novels Everyone Should Read In Their Lifetime

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58fe31ae0ba0b8ac008b59c8-1775/undefined" alt="Guests attend the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York." />KairosGuests attend the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York.There's a particular kind of people that get onto helicopters in New York City and fly to the Rockefeller estate about an hour's drive away. There, they attend a 200-person dinner with former heads of state, Admirals, CEOs, media elite and billionaire investors - shmoozing, chatting about business ideas, having a few glasses of wine. The next morning, they wake up and talk about the newest innovations in jet engine technology with some kids from MIT.I will use a word to describe them - a word that has been thrown around with a negative connotation it simply does not deserve. These people are globalists.And last weekend a number of these people - most of them young Silicon Valley types with an entrepreneurial bent - gathered for a meeting of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-kairos-society-2017-3">Kairos Society in New York City</a> and talked about what these people always talk about when they're together: fixing things and making money. But these days, a global and entrepreneurial mindset means so much more than that.We live in a world where the prevailing ideology in the White House is that the richest country in the world is a nation of losers who should be afraid of their own shadows. In the face of challenges, leaders around the world are increasingly telling their people that they can and should retreat. The young entrepreneurs of the Kairos Society reject all that. And beyond the buzz words like "innovation" and "disruption," beyond the energetic speeches about changing the world, and the private discussions about venture capital allocation, there was a far more powerful underlying message at this meeting.The globalists are coming, and whether you like it or not, they're here to help.<h2>The kids are alright</h2>The Kairos Society is a fellowship program for the best and brightest young entrepeneurs in the world. Founded in 2008, the group's co-founders Ryan Bloomer, Alex Fiance, and Ankur Jain have since expanded the program to over 50 countries, and have also opened a venture fund. You must apply to be a part of Kairos, and referrals are ideal.The idea, as Bloomer and his colleagues said over and over again during the three-day affair, is to tackle "the big problems the next generation should be focusing on." Of course, after you've pinpointed the problems you need to find the capital to set about solving them.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58fe30917522ca89008b5c5e-1597/undefined" alt="CEO and Founder at Me Salva! Miguel Andorffy attends the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York." />KairosCEO and Founder at Me Salva! Miguel Andorffy attends the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York.Once you're in Kairos, you get access to the Kairos Rolodex, which - aside from a bunch of fresh faced, young brains from the Ivy League, Stanford and MIT - also includes a host of global leaders and investors you might run into at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They attend meetings like this one in New York City to explain the nuances of these problems the young entrepeneurs are turning their attention to. Those problems run the gamut from fake news in media to climate change. Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, for instance, showed up to discuss lowering the cost of healthcare. Later, Papandreou, like everyone else in attendance, clapped at dinner when young Kairos fellow and Brazilian CEO Miguel Andorffy told the story of his education company, Me Salva.Me Salva puts video classes on the internet, and as of now 400,000 classes are being watched a day. Four classes are being watched per second. Andorffy is looking for more capital to expand his business all over the world. Thus, the applause.And thus, the appeal of Kairos. Entrepreneurship is in large part about seizing one's circumstances, but if the market isn't ready to receive your idea (i.e. you can't find enough capital), it doesn't matter how good it is. The point of organizations like Kairos is to move the invisible hand of the market just an inch in another direction.And, in that sense, what people like nationalist White House advisor Steve Bannon say about globalists is true. There are only a few tens of thousands of people on the planet who get to move the hand, even just a little bit. Everyone else just has to deal with the consequences.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58fe32647522ca1b008b5c90-1792/dr oz and sorkin.jpg" alt="Dr. Oz and Andrew Ross Sorkin" />KairosDr. Oz and the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin bowling at the Rockefeller mansion<h2>Globalist Gary</h2>What would also likely upset Bannon and his ilk about Kairos is that the finest minds in the country are generally set about fixing the entire world's problems, rather than worrying about the concerns of their home nation. Thinking beyond borders is not just encouraged, it's basically a given.On the second day of the conference, at the top of 1 World Trade Center, Kyle Nel, founder &amp; executive director of Lowe's Innovation Labs, challenged the Kairos kids to do something seemingly simple - make paint healthier and cheaper."Suggesting that something healthy is going to cost more is an old way of thinking," Nel said. "It's only helping people where they live globally if everyone can afford it... What we [at Lowes] don't have is the materials science. What we don't have is the new thinking."Nel's "new thinking," in addition to maintaining a global rather than national focus, represents moving away from traditional national and global institutions because, after all, the problems Kairos fellows are trying to solve have been left unfixed by "broken, old industries and government" (Jain's words).In that way, and in that way alone, the Kairos kids and the nationalists that have taken hold of global politics are in agreement. Ankur Jain and Marine Le Pen could shake hands and agree that government has failed the people. Even Steve Bannon, who reportedly insults his White House colleague Gary Cohn by calling him "globalist Gary," would likely nod his head if he heard Periscope founder Keyvon Beykpor say the most important thing for entrepeneurs is that they "build stuff."But that's where the similarities end.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58fe2e797522cafa078b5b21-684/screen shot 2017-04-24 at 125421 pm.png" alt="Gerard Baker, Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal; Former Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou; Naveen Jain founder of Viome; and Werner Vogels CTO and President of Amazon" />Kairos(Left to Right) Gerard Baker, Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal; Former Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou; Naveen Jain founder of Viome; and Werner Vogels CTO and President of AmazonIf you want to fly far out into the future of a Kairos mind then you need look no further than Jain's father, Naveen Jain. An entrepreneur himself, he spoke on a panel with Papandreou and Werner Vogels, CTO &amp; President of Amazon.The elder Jain described a world of entrepeneurs solving problems through private enterprise so successfully that the nation-state becomes irrelevant. Something like that would give the Le Pens, Bannons, and Trumps of the world a migraine. Take away the nation and people like them are also irrelevant; take away the nation and everything they know is gone.<h2>Places</h2><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58fe2cc37522ca68008b5bb7-2400/undefined" alt="BenBen check Kairos" />Kairos, Getty ImagesCo-Founder at Kairos Society Ryan Bloomer presents a check to Ben Biron at the Kairos Society Global Summit at the New York Stock Exchange on April 22, 2017 in New York City.It was fitting that on Saturday, the last day of the conference, Kairos members presented their "Kairos 50" companies (the 50 most promising start-ups in the Society) on the floor of the venerable but almost-useless floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Now that trading has gone from an open-outcry system to the digital world, the place is a glorified TV set.It is a reminder that even the most powerful institutions must bend a knee to the force of technological change. It is a reminder that, no matter what Steve Bannon or Trump or anyone says, there is no going backward in time.Which means the world will continue getting smaller and closer and more interconnected, regardless of hiccups along the way. Kairos' entrepeneurs plan with that in mind.Nationalists would not like that the winner of the $100,000 "Kairos 50" prize (from venture capital firm Draper Associates) was a company called Benben, which seeks to streamline land and property administration in Africa using blockchain technology.They would not like that the $50,000 prize went to Neolight, a company that seeks to revolutionize neonatal care. That company is especially focused on finding ways to prevent infants from dying of hypothermia or suffering from jaundice. These are problems one is more likely to encounter in the developing world than in say, Des Moines, Iowa.In other words, the Kairos kids don't put America first. No one involved with the Society would ever ask them to. No one there thinks that small. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-passenger-forcibly-dragged-off-united-airlines-plane-2017-4">People are outraged by this shocking video showing a passenger forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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