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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Penguin Random House is suing a Florida school district and board after it banned certain books.</li><li> The publisher claimed that Escambia County targeted books with race and LGBTQ themes.</li></ul>Penguin Random House has joined forces with an authors' group to sue a Florida school district after it banned a number of books.In a <a href="https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/1-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed in a Florida district court, Penguin – along with the nonprofit <a href="https://pen.org/pen-america-v-escambia-county/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PEN America</a>, several authors, and two parents – claimed that Escambia Country School District and School Board had violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by removing or restricting books from school libraries. The plaintiffs argue the district disproportionately targeted books "by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people." Books removed or restricted by Escambia include "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The five authors involved in the suit are Sarah Brannen, David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, and Kyle Lukoff. All have had books removed from libraries or had student access restricted by the district, PEN America said in a <a href="https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-files-lawsuit-against-florida-school-district-over-unconstitutional-book-bans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>."The disproportionate focus of the removal efforts is not an accident," the lawsuit stated. "The book removals and restrictions enacted by the School District and School Board are denying students access to books they would like to read, or chilling such access."Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a <a href="https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-files-lawsuit-against-florida-school-district-over-unconstitutional-book-bans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>: "Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our constitutional rights."It was the first time that the world's largest book publisher had taken such legal action.The lawsuit cites PEN analysis that found more than 40% of books temporarily or permanently removed from school libraries nationwide last year had LGBTQ themes or prominent LGBTQ characters. More than a fifth directly addressed issues of race or racism, per the analysis.Penguin and PEN are seeking an injunction to get the books returned to libraries. PEN said its <a href="https://pen.org/index-of-school-book-bans-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Index of School Book Bans</a> indicated that Florida had one of the highest rates of book removals and restrictions in America. The lawsuit follows Disney's ongoing dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that began when the company publicly criticized the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which bans discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.Disney's objections sparked a feud with DeSantis that culminated in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-sues-gov-ron-desantis-alleges-weaponizing-government-power-florida-2023-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">a lawsuit in late April.</a> Disney accused DeSantis of trying to "weaponize government power" by threatening its business operations. A DeSantis-appointed board then <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-appointed-board-counter-sues-walt-disney-world-2023-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">countersued the media giant</a>.The removal of books from public libraries gained attention in late 2021, when a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-lawmaker-says-850-books-ranging-race-sexuality-cause-discomfort-rcna3953" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas state legislator compiled and sent to the Texas Education Agency</a> a list of 850 books he believed schools should review for objectionable content. They mostly covered issues around sexuality, gender, and race.In April an Idaho library <a href="https://www.insider.com/idaho-public-library-book-ban-lgbtq-queer-harmful-to-children-2023-4">banned six books it deemed "harmful" to children</a>. Several, including "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, involved LGBTQ+ themes.

The world's biggest publisher is suing a Florida school district for banning books by writers including Toni Morrison and Khaled Hosseini

Uttar Pradsh CM <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/people/uttar-pradesh-cm-yogi-adityanath-had-a-muslim-gurubhai-heres-who-he-was/articleshow/57874105.cms">Yogi </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/people/uttar-pradesh-cm-yogi-adityanath-had-a-muslim-gurubhai-heres-who-he-was/articleshow/57874105.cms">Adityanath</a>’s decision to ban <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/politics/slaughter-houses-closed-cow-smuggling-banned-yogi-adityanath-is-keeping-up-bjp-promises-and-how/articleshow/57772806.cms">all illegal slaughterhouses </a>in the state has severely affected the state's meat export business, while also posing a threat in the form of increasing unemployment amongst people who used to work at these places. 
 
As per meat exporters from India’ biggest state, so far, export orders worth Rs 4,000 crore have been cancelled and 30,000 workers have lost their jobs. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://http://www.businessinsider.in/careers/heres-how-bans-in-india-are-affecting-the-job-market/articleshow/58079839.cms">Here’s how bans in India are affecting the job market</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/finance/nifty-hits-record-after-big-modi-win-in-uttar-pradesh/articleshow/57625747.cms">Uttar Pradesh </a>makes up a major part of the meat export units from India, having exported Rs 7,285 crore worth of buffalo meat from April to December 2016. These units also employ lakhs of people. 
 
Export of Indian buffalo meat goes to 70 countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia along with the Middle East. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/amu-students-cant-digest-the-change-from-meat-to-vegetables/articleshow/57917885.cms">AMU students seek vice chancellor’s intervention in ‘pure vegetarian’ menu</a> 
 
"Before the new government came to power, we were supplying 200 tonnes of meat from our Aligarh unit, worth Rs 40 crore per day, to various countries. Daily supplies have fallen to 35 tonnes now," said Ayaz Siddiqui, GM, Aligarh's Allana Exports. 
 
(Image source Two Circles)

Meat ban has hit UP’s meat export business harder than you can imagine

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk hosted RFK Jr. in a bizarre Twitter Spaces conversation littered with falsehoods and conspiracy theories.</li><li>Kennedy compared Musk to patriots who died in the Revolutionary War.</li></ul>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked Elon Musk for his service to the nation and compared him to the thousands of patriots who died fighting in the American Revolution today in a bizarre Twitter Spaces conversation littered with falsehoods and conspiracy theories."Thank you for your service to our country, Elon," Kennedy said. "We lost between 25,000 and 70,000 people during the Revolution who died to give us our Constitution. And those people also put their livelihoods on the line, they put their property on the line, they put their financial status and their social status on the line for principles. I've watched you do the same thing."Kennedy, the son of former attorney general and liberal icon Robert F. Kennedy, announced last month that he intends to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.Musk, who is attempting to turn his flailing social media platform into a political launching pad for candidates who oppose the Biden Administration, hosted Kennedy for a two-hour-plus conversation designed to promote his candidacy. Unlike the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-campaign-launch-on-twitter-spaces-off-to-gltichy-start-2023-5">disastrous Ron DeSantis campaign launch on Twitter last month</a>, during which the platform repeatedly collapsed, today's conversation went relatively smoothly, garnering a manageable 64,000 listeners. Which may be just as well for Kennedy's campaign, given the odd and occasionally incoherent policy positions he announced during the conversation. Kennedy finished heaping praise on his right-wing billionaire host with a backward compliment of sorts, framing Musk as a foreigner whose purchase of Twitter was more of a public-minded sacrifice than a wise financial move."What is it in your background that you think gave you such firm convictions," Kennedy asked Musk, "where you'd be willing to take this huge, massive, unspeakable economic hit on behalf of a principle for a country in which you weren't even born?" Musk, who is South African but has American citizenship, bought Twitter last year for $44 billion. A <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-is-now-worth-a-third-of-what-musk-paid-for-it-fidelity-says-e66f61db" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent estimate</a> puts the company's current value at $15 billion."Well," Musk replied after a long pause, "I should say I do very much consider myself an American."After he was done thanking his host, Kennedy unleashed a string of seemingly off-the-cuff policy pronouncements in conversation with a gaggle of right-wing Twitter stars, including Tulse Gabbard, Balaji Srinivasan, and Michael Shellenberger. Most of them seemed unlikely to inspire much support in the Democratic electorate.Kennedy repeated his opposition to U.S. support for Ukrainians — who, he said, are "almost equally" as victimized by American policies as they are by the Russian invasion.Musk agreed that the deaths on both sides of the war in Ukraine should be laid at the feet of America: "We are sending the flower of Ukrainian youth and Russian youth to die in the trenches, and it's morally reprehensible," he said.Gabbard said that the U.S. had turned Ukraine into a "slaughterhouse" and blamed the conflict on an "elitist cabal of war-mongers" who had seized control of the Democratic Party.Those war-mongers, Kennedy warned, hadn't just taken control of the Democratic party: They were in control of the Deep State as well. He recalled a conversation with former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, in which the Trump ally told him, "The top layer of that agency is made up almost entirely of people who do not believe in the American institutions of democracy."Kennedy also sought to portray Biden as seeking conflict with China, claiming that he has forbidden meetings with senior Chinese officials. (China's foreign minister met with the American ambassador to China <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/world/asia/china-us-meeting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last month</a>.)While there may be traction in the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party, some of Kennedy's other positions are unlikely to play well. He pronounced himself a "free-market absolutist," and announced a willingness to install metal detectors, bag screeners, and bans on sharp objects at schools rather than pursue gun control."If it comes down to protecting schools the way we protect our airlines," he said, "I will do that."He also laid the blame for the massive increase in mass shootings not on guns, but on pharmaceutical companies for marketing antidepressants. "Prior to the introduction of Prozac we had almost none of these events in our country," he said.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compares Elon Musk to patriots who died fighting in the American Revolution, blames anti-depressants for mass shootings

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Animal rights groups in China found more than 1,400 dogs and cats on a "death truck."</li><li>Around 370 of the dogs and cats had died by the time they were discovered, said activists.</li></ul>More than 1,400 dead or dying dogs and cats were discovered on a truck headed for slaughterhouses in Yulin, south China, said animal rights activists who intercepted the vehicle last week.Out of the 1,408 animals found, 378 dogs and cats were already dead by the time the truck was stopped, <a href="https://www.hsi.org/news-media/tragedy-as-370-dogs-and-cats-die-on-board-death-truck-in-china-headed-for-brutal-meat-trade/">Humane Society International, or HSI, said on October 10.</a>The rescuers, comprising local animal groups and anti-dog meat trade campaigners, said they saved the remaining 1,000 or so dogs and cats from what they called the "death truck."Some of these animals had to be given emergency treatment on the roadside, and many suffered open wounds, broken bones, respiratory disease, and severe dehydration, HSI said.They're now being treated and cared for by staff at local shelters, the organization added."The smell of death, diarrhea and vomit was overwhelming," said Hao Dayue, an activist with the Capital Animal Welfare Association, speaking to HSI."I saw a number of dogs and cats die on the roadside despite desperate attempts to help them, there was nothing that could be done but hold them as they passed away," Hao said.Hao estimated that most of the 718 dogs on the truck were stolen pets, and that the 690 cats were likely strays.Police stopped the "death truck" on a highway in Hubei province, about halfway along the transport's 745-mile journey from Fucheng county to Yulin county, HSI said.<div type="image" title="The truck traveled from Fucheng county in the north until it was intercepted in Hubei province. Its intended destination was Yulin county in southern China." height="1007" width="1475" msid="94983220" hostid="261" sizebytes="223116"></div>The truck's two drivers were detained by police and reported to officials at Xiantao, a city in Hubei province, per HSI.The trader who hired them and acquired the dogs and cats also faces investigation by China's Agriculture Bureau on charges of transporting sick animals across provinces without the proper documentation, the organization said.The Ministry of Agriculture did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.China does not have nationwide animal protection laws that prohibit cruel treatment of animals. Beijing banned the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-bans-wildlife-trade-consumption-coronavirus-2020-2">trade and consumption of wildlife in February 2020</a>, following speculation that COVID-19 may have spread to humans from live animals at Chinese wet markets.However, only two cities in mainland China, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52131940">Shenzhen</a> and <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1185725.shtml">Zhuhai,</a> have banned the dog and cat meat trade.The eating of dogs and cats is typically only found in a select few places in China, but the practice can be prevalent in those limited locations.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-chinas-dog-meat-festival-raises-hackles-of-fans-and-opponents-2015-6">The Yulin Dog Meat Festival</a> is one of China's best-known events that involves the consumption of dog meat, and it often faces opposition from animal rights groups in the region.<a href="https://www.hsi.org/news-media/saving-dogs-from-chinas-dog-meat-trade/">HSI estimated</a> that 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are killed for human consumption each year in China.

370 dogs and cats died in a Chinese 'death truck' heading to a meat market, animals rights group says

One of the first major steps taken by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/no-surprises-here-hindu-hardliner-up-cm-yogi-adityanath-clears-20-acres-of-land-for-ramayana-museum/articleshow/57752201.cms">Yogi Adityanath</a> after he took over as Chief Minister of <keyword id="6357713" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword> was to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/slaughter-houses-closed-cow-smuggling-banned-yogi-adityanath-is-keeping-up-bjp-promises-and-how/articleshow/57772806.cms">ban all the "illegal" slaughterhouses</a>. This essentially shut down almost all such abattoirs, leading to meat going off from UP residents’ menus. 
 <keyword id="44216" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aligarh-Muslim-University">Aligarh Muslim University</keyword> (AMU) hostels too were forced to serve the students a <keyword id="4358878" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="pure-vegetarian-menu">pure vegetarian menu</keyword>, which became difficult to digest, since they were being served meat every day in their hostel mess earlier. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/uttar-pradesh-cm-yogi-adityanath-had-a-muslim-gurubhai-heres-who-he-was/articleshow/57874105.cms">Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had a Muslim ‘gurubhai’. Here’s who he was</a> 
 
Fed up of this sudden change, students of AMU have written to the Zameer Uddin Shah, the vice-chancellor of the university, seeking his intervention. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/These-students-of-Aligarh-Muslim-Univ-built-a-racing-car-which-made-its-debut-at-a-UK-racing-event/articleshow/55224035.cms">These students of Aligarh Muslim Univ built a racing car which made its debut at a UK racing event</a> 
 The issue also caught the attention of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader <keyword id="189230" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asaduddin-Owaisi">Asaduddin Owaisi</keyword>, who tweeted, "15000 students in Aligarh Muslim University have not been served meat (buffalo) since 26 March and BJP says we are not targeting?" 
 
In response to the letter, the management has said that the hostels require over 500 kg meat (buffalo) every day for their 19 dining halls, and the management is unable to arrange this quantity because of lack of operational slaughterhouses in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Aligarh-movie-on-AMU-professor-Dr-Siras/articleshow/50816657.cms">Aligarh</a>. 
 
To this, Kalika Singh, regional officer of UP Pollution Control Board, said, "Of the seven slaughterhouses in Aligarh, four are operational at present. But due to non-availability of animals, they, too, are not providing any meat." 
 
(Image source: AMU)

AMU students seek vice chancellor’s intervention in ‘pure vegetarian’ menu

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.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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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><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>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>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"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Many Chinese tech firms are equipping the country's farms with artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and blockchain technologies to monitor their pigs' health.</li><li>But none of this has managed to curb the biggest epidemic facing Chinese farms today - the outbreak of the African swine flu, a gruesome and deadly disease that's poised to leave 200 million pigs dead.</li><li>It shows the limit to China's technological ambitions, which many observers consider dystopian and Orwellian.</li><li>China is the world's largest consumer and producer of pork, and the swine flu is expected to affect the world's supply, demand, and price of pork.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>China is rolling out artificial intelligence, facial recognition and blockchain technology across its rural farms to protect its pigs - but it still isn't enough to curb a deadly swine flu that's spread across the country and is killing a third of its hogs.Tech firms, from small to large, have been developing various technologies to monitor the health and whereabouts of Chinese pigs. China is the world's largest pork producer and consumer.Chinese tech giants like e-commerce company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/alibaba?r=US&amp;IR=T">Alibaba</a>, its rival <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jdcom">JD.com</a>, and gaming company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/netease?r=UK">NetEase</a> have already been developing advanced technologies to monitor the health and whereabouts of the country's pigs, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/business/china-pig-technology-facial-recognition.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-chinese-saga-of-swine-surveillance-and-sanctions?ref=scroll">The Daily Beast</a> reported.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Alibaba has already developed voice recognition software to monitor pigs' coughs as well as cameras to monitor hogs' faces, the Times reported in February.AI systems on some farms determine how fast each pig is growing, and monitor whether it is healthy. Farms can then use that data to control the animals' feed and environmental factors, the Daily Beast reported.The sound sensors pick up on pigs' coughs and flag potential illnesses to farm operators, it added. Some farmers are also using blockchain technology to track pigs from their birth all the way to their slaughter and selling in the market.Here's how Jackson He, the CEO of Yingzi Technology, small facial and voice recognition company, sketched out his vision of a "future pig farm" to the Times: "If they are not happy, and not eating well, in some cases you can predict whether the pig is sick."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>But the advanced technologies have still not managed to curb the biggest epidemic facing Chinese farms today - the outbreak of the African swine flu (ASF), a gruesome and incurable disease afflicting the country's pigs.Pigs that contract ASF can experience high fevers, diarrhea, depression, and bluish skin, and pregnant sows can lose their babies, <a href="http://www.oie.int/en/animal-health-in-the-world/animal-diseases/african-swine-fever/">according to the World Organisation for Animal Health</a>. Animals with acute ASF typically die within days.Some 1.02 million Chinese pigs have already been culled this year because of the disease, according to the <a href="http://www.moa.gov.cn/xw/tpxw/201904/t20190423_6212532.htm">agricultural ministry</a>. The country is expected to kill about a third of all its pigs this year alone, <a href="https://research.rabobank.com/far/en/sectors/animal-protein/rising-african-swine-fever-losses-to-lift-all-protein.html">Dutch bank Rabobank estimated</a> last month.The country is expected to produce 150 million to 200 million fewer pigs, amounting to a 25% to 35% drop in production, Rabobank said. This fall in pork production is likely to push up the global demand for pork, which could result in supply shortfalls and price rises.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-culls-pigs-over-african-swine-fever-global-pork-prices-to-rise-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">China is killing a third of its pigs because of a gruesome and incurable fever, which could drive up the price of pork around the</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-culls-pigs-over-african-swine-fever-global-pork-prices-to-rise-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T"> world</a> <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Beijing is desperately trying to stem the outbreak - which has spread to almost the entire country, and to Vietnam and Cambodia - by <a href="http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/ASF/Situation_update.html">setting up buffer zones</a> around infected areas, making slaughterhouse inspections more stringent, and <a href="http://www.ivdc.org.cn/tzgg01/tz/201901/t20190121_50243.htm">threatening to punish</a> farmers who don't report outbreaks.But many farmers and producers are still failing to detect infections and aren't taking the correct safety precautions, with many adding that local officials were taking too long to respond to potential outbreaks, the Times and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/15/business/african-swine-fever-hebei-pork-scn-intl/index.html">CNN</a> reported.Some farmers have also been disposing of their pigs in an unhygienic way, in some cases <a href="https://twitter.com/amlivemon/status/1129169787240755201">burying dozens of them alive</a>, or piling them in rivers and ditches.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><h2>Limits of China's 'Big Brother' technology</h2>The ASF epidemic is an example of how, despite the Chinese government's grand claims about its technological advances, there are still severe limits to what it can achieve.The country has over the past few years poured billions of dollars into AI, facial recognition, and blockchain research, with <a href="https://medium.com/ai2-blog/china-to-overtake-us-in-ai-research-8b6b1fe30595">experts saying</a> that the country's output of AI research could soon overtake the US.Many news outlets have likened China's technology, which the government claims is all-seeing and all-knowing, to "<a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion">Big Brother,"</a> the all-seeing government in <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/19/962492-orwell-china-socialcredit-surveillance/">George Orwell's novel 1984</a>.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-phones-have-dial-tone-encouraging-you-to-make-debtors-pay-up-2019-5">In China you get a special warning before you call people who owe money, telling you to get them to pay up</a>But much of the technology remains fairly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-bumbling-police-state-11545869066">limited</a> and <a href="https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003759/camera-above-the-classroom">unreliable</a> at this point.The country has dozens of datasets and systems containing citizens' - and perhaps even animals' - personal information, but many of the officials tasked with updating the systems are often too lax or overworked to maintain them, Human Rights Watch senior China researcher Maya Wang <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-bumbling-police-state-11545869066">wrote in The Wall Street Journal</a>.Data sharing across local governments also remains a problem in China, with some ministries and municipalities distrusting each other so much that they won't share information, New York Times China tech reporter <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/technology/personaltech/digital-footprint-surveillance.html">Paul Mozur noted earlier this year</a>.President Donald Trump's administration is <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-news-us-china-trade-war-huawei-hikvision-blacklist-2019-5-1028220845">reportedly considering a ban on exports of US components to Hikvision</a>, a giant Chinese surveillance company.

China uses AI, facial recognition, and blockchain to monitor its farms - but it still can't stop the gruesome swine fever that will leave 200 million pigs dead

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The sleepy town of <keyword id="3046866" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sturgis">Sturgis</keyword>, <keyword id="822151" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="South-Dakota">South Dakota</keyword>, draws nearly one million people for its 10-day <keyword id="6359451" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="motorcycle">motorcycle</keyword> rally each year.</li><li>There were calls to cancel the event this year as the US is gripped by a still-raging coronavirus pandemic, but officials knew <keyword id="7517" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bikers">bikers</keyword> would show up in their community, and those surrounding it, no matter what.</li><li>The local hospital, public safety entities, and the city are bracing for massive crowds, and the possibility of a surge in coronavirus cases to follow.</li></ul>For more than 10 days every year, the sleepy city of Sturgis, South Dakota, is inundated with up to 700,000 bikers from around the world for its annual motorcycle rally. Bikers from around the US and abroad mount their bikes and ride through the Black Hills mountain range, visiting national parks and campgrounds within a 100-mile radius of the city.When they arrive in Sturgis for the main events, the men and women flood the streets, renting homes or front yards from residents so they can park their bikes and trailers, or pitch their tents.They fill the local bars, restaurants, and, in some cases, the emergency room. Their presence brings more than $1 million in revenue to the city where it houses its own full-time, year-round department dedicated to planning for the event. For some people this year, the rally brings less excitement and more fear as the coronavirus pandemic rages on in the US, where more than 4.8 million people have tested positive for the virus, and more than 160,000 people have died from it.Officials, residents, and healthcare providers are bracing for what could end up being a dangerous situation in a community that, until now, had kept its coronavirus infection rate low. "There was really very little we could do to stop them from coming. It's not a gated event where we can just lock the doors and not allow people to come in," City Manager Daniel Ainslie told Insider. "Given all that, there was a realization that no matter what the city decided, there were going to be an awful lot of people that came to the rally."More than half of the households in Sturgis responded to city surveys saying they didn't want the rally to go on, but city and hospital officials found that even if they were to cancel the event, revelers would still show up in their community, Ainslie explained.Businesses depend on the dollars that tourists bring into the community, so some local associations were opposed to calling off the event. Knowing this, organizers threw their efforts behind preparations for a modified rally.Earlier this year, the city canceled all advertising for the event and urged concerned callers from states with high infection rates, or those who are part of a high-risk group, to consider skipping the rally this year, Ainslie said.They created a program where city employees and volunteers do the shopping for seniors and those with compromised immune systems who may be more susceptible to catching COVID-19. The city has constructed handwashing stations, sanitizing stands, and is providing free face masks to visitors. There will also be sidewalk sanitation every evening, according to Ainslie. "As a city, we canceled we just about every city event we did," he said. "Every day we would have various events, contests, parades. But every time we would hold something like that, there would be crowds of thousands of people that would gather." <h2>There is only so much the city can do to encourage visitors to be safe</h2>Ainslie said the city is doing its best to encourage people to wear masks, which are known to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but it really has no enforcement power. In order to enact an ordinance requiring that masks be worn, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mount-rushmore-event-no-mask-social-distancing-requirement-2020-7">South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem</a> must order it.During opening weekend, most people flouted the advice and went maskless even in packed bars and restaurants.For months, Noem, a Republican, has been vocally opposed to stay-at-home orders. As for masks, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-dakota/articles/2020-07-31/noems-campaign-email-discourages-masks-in-school">Noem discourages their use</a>, even at schools which she has pushed to reopen, despite concerns nationwide about the potential for the virus to spread there.When the Sturgis officials talked with Noem about the motorcycle rally, she told them she had no plan to issue a mask order, Ainslee said."Being in South Dakota, our authority as a municipality is quite different than other states,"Ainslie said. "We are not able to pass any ordinance or requirements for masking. The only way we can do that is if there is an executive order from the governor. Since that hasn't occurred, we don't have required masking, it's just something legally we can't do." "It does come down to personal responsibility and personal freedom," he said. People need to realize, Ainslie said, that if they ignore safety guidelines, "there may be consequences." It's not just the city of Sturgis that will be affected by the sound of roaring motorcycles and the riders who might be carrying COVID-19.Visitors are coming from all over to get to the area, some of them passing through surrounding communities, including Native American lands, or places of worship. The <a href="https://gfp.sd.gov/parks/detail/bear-butte-state-park/">Bear Butte National Park,</a> for example, is a geological laccolith feature a few miles outside Sturgis, and is considered a sacred site. With the Cheyenne River Reservation less than a two-hour drive from the area, Lakota, Cheyenne, and other tribes frequent Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.Members of the local tribes have for years opposed the rally and the raucous gatherings it tends to bring.Starting in May, in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe began operating checkpoints at the reservation borders to prevent outsiders from crossing though. <div type="image" title="Sturgis Rally, Reservation check points" height="3184" width="4728" msid="77473586" hostid="261"></div>Native Americans, particularly those living on reservations, are at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/native-americans-coronavirus-data.html">The New York Times reported.</a>Noem sent letters to two Sioux tribes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/south-dakota-governor-demands-sioux-tribes-remove-covid-19-checkpoints-2020-5">demanding that the checkpoints be removed,</a> but they remain. Sturgis rally visitors will not be allowed through, the <a href="https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/sturgis-rally-visitors-not-allowed-through-cheyenne-river-reservation-checkpoints/article_1173f388-0bbe-5eaa-9519-57ab440ef231.html">Rapid City Journal reported this week. </a>Insider requested an interview with Noem, but a spokesman instead referred a reporter to comments the governor previously <a href="https://video.foxnews.com/v/6178249739001#sp=show-clips">made to Fox News.</a>In that interview, Noem said there have been several large gatherings already held in the state — including a bull-riding event and an Independence Day celebration — and they didn't cause an outbreak, according to Noem. "We've been back to normal for over three months here in South Dakota, so we know we can have these events, give people information, let people protect their <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword>, but let them still enjoy their way of life, and events like the <keyword id="3257539" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sturgis-Motorcycle-Rally">Sturgis Motorcycle Rally</keyword>," she said. "We hope people come. Our economy benefits when people visit us."<div type="image" title="Sturgis Rally, Trump 2020" height="4480" width="6720" msid="77473595" hostid="261"></div><h2>Officials anticipated decreased attendence, but pre-rally crowds were larger than ever </h2>This year's rally, which kicked off Friday and lasts through August 16, is the 80th anniversary of the event and was expected to be a blowout. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up last weekend, packing bars and restaurants.Every five years, attendence at the rally spikes, Ainslie said."Our 75th anniversary was the biggest we've ever had. There were almost three-quarters of a million people there," Ainslie told Insider. "And given how good the economy was doing, it was looking like we would have easily matched that or surpassed that this year." With the pandemic, related stay-at-home orders, travel bans, and a recession, the city estimated that there would be at least a 20% reduction in crowds, up 10% due to the absence of international guests this year."That being said, our pre-rally numbers have been just about the highest we've ever seen, so maybe everything I said is completely out the window," Ainslie said.Not knowing what to expect, the city went on with its normal public-safety preparations.That includes boosting its 12-person year-round police force by hiring outside officers from nine states, Ainslie said.Additionally, the city pays the volunteer fire department, which goes from handling a call every three days, to responding to two or three calls per day during the motorcycle rally, Ainslie said. While the city maintains a large EMS team year-round, the men and women usually go on a call only once or twice a month. During the rally, they work 60 to 80 hours per week for two weeks, Ainslie said. The annual event also transforms the local hospital, a small 25-bed facility.<div type="image" title="Sturgis Rally" height="3920" width="6007" msid="77473602" hostid="261"></div>Mark Schulte, President of the local Monument Health Sturgis Hospital, told Insider the health system was never under the impression that the rally could be called off and knew from the beginning it, and the city itself, needed to brace itself for the crowds as normal. "While Sturgis is the name, a lot of the activity that goes on happens outside the city limits ... Not one entity has the ability to cancel this type of event," he said. "There's so many pieces that go with the event, it's literally impossible to stop."In an average month, the hospital will see around 450 patients. During the 10-day rally, the hospital will treat that many patients in ER visits alone, said Schulte, who has experienced the last seven seasons."The demographic of the biker have obviously aged over the years. Prior to me coming here, 10-20 years go, there was a lot of fighting, those kinds of trauma injuries," he said. "Now we take care of a lot of medical conditions that people who are 50, 60, 70 years old might see: exhaustion, dehydration, cardiac problems." The health system itself, which covers all of the Black Hills area, will likely see an uptick in trauma injuries too, especially those from motorcycle accidents that might occur miles outside of Sturgis. In preparation, the system increases staffing, bed capacity, and many providers work extra hours, he said.As for the coronavirus, there have only been around 80 cases in Meade County, where Sturgis is located, so far, according to Ainslie. The numbers have seen a slight uptick over the last three weeks, which is "worrying," but expected, he said.Schulte said the hospital has implemented face mask requirements, increased capacity to treat those who fall seriously ill, and implemented restrictions on visitors. Every visitor is screened for coronavirus symptoms before they come into the hospital."We work within the confines with knowing how the virus spreads, and anytime there is a gathering of folks like this, they run the risk of having an outbreak so to speak," he said. "I'm not going to make a prediction on whether we're going to see a spike. I can tell you we're prepared for what's to come." <h2><div type="image" title="Sturgis Rally" height="4349" width="6048" msid="77473606" hostid="261"></div></h2><h2>While outsiders are there to party, local residents are encouraged to stay home </h2>About 15 to 20% of year-round residents rent their homes or yards to bikers each year, Ainslie told Insider. Many will leave the community entirely to visit family or friends in other parts of the country. People who work in local businesses, and those who are elderly, don't have that option. "We do have a very sizable retiree population. We have a lot of veterans who have served our country honorably and they've located here bc they're right next to their (VA) health care," Ainslie said. "We have a lot of those people who are very concerned about it, very understandably so, and that's why we are encouraging them not to come out and part-take in any of the activities." The number of people using the city-run delivery service has gone up, as some residents are hunkering down in their homes. Crowds don't show up overnight. In fact, this year tourists started flocking to the Black Hills in droves as early as May."Everytime a state would have a lockdown, it would seem like half that state would relocate to the Black Hills for a month or so," Ainslie said. "We're trying to keep people who are vulnerable away from the crowds who are here now." Of course many residents, especially essential workers, can't avoid the crowds. To track the spread of coronavirus, the city and Monument Health have teamed up to host a mass testing event that will be held after the motorcycle rally ends."We will take a percentage of the population of Sturgis that are asymptotic and provide free testing," Schulte said. "It's meant to determine, post rally, how much of the virus did or didnt spread." As for how Monument Health providers feel about the rally landing in the middle of a pandemic, Schulte said there were fears at first and said he has tried to do his best to mitigate those concerns and make sure his staff remains safe. "Our staff wondered what was to come. They, like most folks during this pandemic, have had fears," he said. "It seems like, as it is with a lot of rallies regardless of a pandemic, they kind of want it to get here and get over with so we can get back to our daily lives." <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more: </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/over-a-million-bikers-have-descended-on-a-sleepy-south-dakota-town-2015-12">This is what it's like when almost 750,000 bikers descend on a sleepy South Dakota town</a></li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/the-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-moves-forward-with-city-and-rally-venues-unified-after-public-confusion-and-concern-1029318002">The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Moves Forward with City and Rally Venues Unified After Public Confusion and Concern</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/south-dakota-gov-continues-resist-covid-stay-at-home-order-2020-4">Almost half of the coronavirus cases in South Dakota are from one slaughterhouse. The governor insists the state doesn't need a stay-at-home order as cases rise.</a></li></ul>

'It's literally impossible to stop': Sturgis, South Dakota, braces as hundreds of thousands of bikers arrived in the middle of a pandemic

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The world's largest fly farm is about to open in South Africa as part of an initiative to produce sustainable feed for chicken and fish.Industrial farmed chicken and fish eat fish meal, which is bad for the environment because it depletes already fragile fish resources.&#xa0;To create 1 kilogram of high-protein fish meal, for example,&#xa0;<a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1663604,00.html">it takes 4.5 kilogrammes of smaller pelagic fish such as anchovies and sardines, according to Time Magazine</a>.The cost of fish meal is also rising with increased demand for fish.&#xa0;Fish meal&#xa0;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-18/peru-fish-meal-reaches-highest-in-decade-as-anchovy-stocks-drop">sold for less than $500 (£325 ) a tonne in the early 2000s, but last year it peaked at $2,400 (£1,562) a tonne, according to Bloomberg</a>.But&#xa0;<a href="http://agriprotein.com">AgriProtein</a>, a South African farming company, has a solution. AgriProtein produces MagMeal - animal feed that is made from fly larvae that feeds on waste. The benefit of MagMeal is two-fold: It offers a sustainable (there's no shortage of flies), natural source of protein for farmed animals and provides another way to eliminate garbage.&#xa0;In 2012,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.agriprotein.com/partnerships.html">AgriProtein received funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a>&#xa0;to support its insect-based protein product and the company's commitment to waste solutions. &#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"It is not different from what already happens in nature," Jason Drew, the founder and director of AgriProtein told Business Insider <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword>. "The anomaly is what we do now - 30% of the fish we take is not consumed by humans, but rather fed to fishes or chickens. I mean, if a chicken was meant to eat fish it would be called a seagull."AgriProtein, founded in 2009, started building its first industrial-scale factory in May 2014. The plant, which can house more than&#xa0;8 billion flies and produce 22 tons of larvae every day, is set to open next month, according to Drew.&#xa0;How it worksCommon flies are harvested with organic waste, such as food leftovers from supermarkets and restaurants and remains from slaughterhouses. The flies lay their eggs in the waste, and these eggs rapidly turn into larvae, eating the waste as they grow.&#xa0;<a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140603-are-maggots-the-future-of-food">The BBC calculated that one kilogram of eggs becomes 380 kilogrammes of larvae in just three days</a>.After a few days, before they become flies, the larvae are collected, washed, and pressurised into&#xa0;<a href="http://agriprotein.com/products.html">MagMeal</a>, which can be delivered to chicken barns and fish farms.<div><div></div></div> Opening a new fly farm costs about £5.2 million ($8 million), but the investment would be amortised very quickly since the operational costs are low. AgriProtein already has an agreement with Cape Town's waste disposal agency, helping them to sort out what to do with the garbage of a city of four million.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>AgriProtein raised £7.15 million ($11 million) from private backers like <a href="http://www.twynam.com/">Twynam</a> and <a href="http://company.soliver.com/">s.Oliver</a>&#xa0;to help build its latest commercial farm.The future of the food industryEnvironment and sustainability are important issues for Drew, who calls himself a "environmental capitalist."A native Yorkshireman, Drew moved to South Africa in 2003. Five years later, he quit his job as manager to dedicate his career to the environment."The industrial revolution is over, and the sustainability revolution has begun. During the industrial revolution you either were environmentalist or a capitalist, and you couldn't be both. But I am a capitalist and an environmentalist the same time," Drew said. "I am in the business to make millions, but I want to defend the environment. The sustainability revolution can be both: the environmentalists needs to understand that they must follow the market, or otherwise they will fail, and the markets need to understand that if you are a businessman who doesn't understand the environment you will fail."He has written <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jason-Drew/e/B004T7UMU8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1423833553&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank">two books</a> with one more, "The Environmental Capitalist," set to arrive in April. Drew also spoke about his flies at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxeuQtFbwZo" target="_blank">TEDx</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-X0kN6yi4E" target="_blank">Creative Innovation</a>.<div><div><div class="vimeo-embed-container"></div></div></div> Drew's aim is to feed a growing world population without further depleting the planet's natural resources. <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/">Every day, there are 200,000 more people in the world</a>. This growth, combined with an increase demand for protein from the developing world, means that <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/3_foodconsumption/en/index4.html">the world's annual production of meat will have to increase to 376 million tonnes by 2030, according to the World Health Organization</a>. Fifteen years ago, it was little more than 200 million tonnes.Although AgriProtein has approval in South Africa, it is still banned in Europe due to a regulation introduced during the mad cow disease epidemic that prohibits the feeding of livestock with processed meat. MagMeal falls into this category.The new farm, located about 120 kilometres north of Cape Town, will be joined by another South African facility later this year.&#xa0;"We are in talks to license our technology abroad. We want to bring fly farming to the US, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. In 15 years, we could have 40 to 45 of these farms worldwide." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-earth-would-look-like-if-ice-melted-world-map-animation-2015-2">Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="5xam5iczrSx4Ibx8MvarDsu3zOG88omE" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

This Bill Gates supported company makes ground-up larvae to feed chicken and fish

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Getty/Paul Hawthorne</div></div></div>Shawn Usher beautifully sets the context in <a href="http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&amp;it=farstrblo0a-21&amp;fr=farstrblo08-21&amp;de=farstrblo07-21&amp;uk=farstrblo-21&amp;ca=farst-20&amp;com=farnamstreet-20&amp;asin-es=1782112235&amp;asin-it=1782112235&amp;asin-fr=1782112235&amp;asin-de=1782112235&amp;asin-uk=1782112235&amp;asin-ca=1782112235&amp;asin-com=1452134251" target="_blank">Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience</a>:
Since first being published in 1967- and despite being considered one of the great modern novels-Kurt Vonnegut's time-hopping, semiauto-biographical, antiwar classic, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/0440180295">Slaughterhouse-Five</a>, has been and continues to be banned from classrooms and libraries the world over. This is due to what is often described by those who censor it as its "obscene" content. A different view was held by Bruce Severy, a twenty-six-year-old English teacher at Drake High School, North Dakota, in 1973, who decided to use the novel as a teaching aid in his classroom, much to the delight of his students. The head of the school board, Charles McCarthy, had other ideas, however: He demanded that all thirty-two copies be burned in the school's furnace. Many of the students protested the decision; some even refused to hand their books back. Their admirable stance was ignored. On November 16, 1973, an angry and disappointed Vonnegut wrote to McCarthy to make his feelings known. His powerful letter failed to generate a reply.
Here's the letter. I've highlighted some of the more interesting parts.
November 16, 1973
Dear Mr. McCarthy:
I am writing to you in your capacity as chairman of the Drake School Board. I am among those American writers whose books have been destroyed in the now famous furnace of your school.
Certain members of your community have suggested that my work is evil. This is extraordinarily insulting to me. The news from Drake indicates to me that books and writers are very unreal to you people. I am writing this letter to let you know how real I am.
I want you to know, too, that my publisher and I have done absolutely nothing to exploit the disgusting news from Drake. We are not clapping each other on the back, crowing about all the books we will sell because of the news. We have declined to go on television, have written no fiery letters to editorial pages, have granted no lengthy interviews. We are angered and sickened and saddened. And no copies of this letter have been sent to anybody else. You now hold the only copy in your hands. It is a strictly private letter from me to the people of Drake, who have done so much to damage my reputation in the eyes of their children and then in the eyes of the world. Do you have the courage and ordinary decency to show this letter to the people, or will it, too, be consigned to the fires of your furnace?
I gather from what I read in the papers and hear on television that you imagine me, and some other writers, too, as being sort of ratlike people who enjoy making money from poisoning the minds of young people. I am in fact a large, strong person, fifty-one years old, who did a lot of farm work as a boy, who is good with tools. I have raised six children, three my own and three adopted. They have all turned out well. Two of them are farmers. I am a combat infantry veteran from World War II, and hold a Purple Heart. I have earned whatever I own by hard work. I have never been arrested or sued for anything. I am so much trusted with young people and by young people that I have served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, Harvard, and the City College of New York. Every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be commencement speaker at colleges and high schools. My books are probably more widely used in schools than those of any other living American fiction writer.
If you were to bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy, and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are. It is true that some of the characters speak coarsely. That is because people speak coarsely in real life. Especially soldiers and hardworking men speak coarsely, and even our most sheltered children know that. And we all know, too, that those words really don't damage children much. They didn't damage us when we were young. It was evil deeds and lying that hurt us.
After I have said all this, I am sure you are still ready to respond, in effect, "Yes, yes- but it still remains our right and our responsibility to decide what books our children are going to be made to read in our community." This is surely so. But it is also true that if you exercise that right and fulfill that responsibility in an ignorant, harsh, un-American manner, then people are entitled to call you bad citizens and fools. Even your own children are entitled to call you that.
I read in the newspaper that your community is mystified by the outcry from all over the country about what you have done. Well, you have discovered that Drake is a part of American civilization, and your fellow Americans can't stand it that you have behaved in such an uncivilized way. Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.
If you and your board are now determined to show that you in fact have wisdom and maturity when you exercise your powers over the education of your young, then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books- books you hadn't even read. You should also resolve to expose your children to all sorts of opinions and information, in order that they will be better equipped to make decisions and to survive.
Again: you have insulted me, and I am a good citizen, and I am very real.
Kurt Vonnegut
***
Still curious? Read Hunter S. Thompson on <a href="http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/05/hunter-s-thompson-to-hume-logan/" target="_blank">living a meaningful life</a>, Eudora Welty's <a href="http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/05/eudora-welty-to-the-new-yorker-the-best-job-application-ever/" target="_blank">amazing cover letter</a> to The New Yorker, and Sol LeWitt on <a href="http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/05/sol-lewitt-on-the-power-of-doing/" target="_blank">the power of doing</a>.

Kurt Vonnegut's Powerful 1973 Letter To The Man Burning His Books

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/larimdame/24466124/in/photostream/">Flickr / LarimdaME</a></div></div>It is the biggest food fraud of the 21st century; it led to the withdrawal of tens of millions of burgers and beef products across Europe and a promise from David Cameron that everything possible would be done to get a grip on a "very shocking" crime. 
However, 10 months on, the details of how horsemeat came to adulterate large parts of the British and Irish food chain are still being kept from the public.
Now a Guardian investigation has unpicked one strand of this complex supply chain.
Behind beef products sold by famous high-street names we have uncovered a labyrinth of murky meat brokerage that stretches across borders, and takes in drug and horse smuggling, animal welfare abuses, and one of Europe's richest beef tycoons.
At one point in the chain, there is testimony from migrant workers paid cash in hand to process defrosted meat that was "green" and years old. The Guardian has established that some meat from the plant was sent via a trader to the leading European supplier that manufactured adulterated beefburgers sold in several high street stores.
The shadow environment minister Barry Gardiner said that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/10/horsemeat-scandal-fear-culprits-justice" title="">so long after the fraud came to light</a>, it was a scandal that leading players in the industry had succeeded in shifting the blame and avoiding responsibility and that there had so far been no criminal proceedings.
"The extraordinary thing is that because of its clout, industry has been able to commit what appears to be a criminal offence - selling the public horsemeat falsely labelled as beef - and just say they are sorry and didn't know. If every petty crook could get off by saying I didn't mean to and I didn't know, then our criminal justice system would be in a very sorry state."
One reason prosecution is so difficult is that retail supply chains have become so complex that pinning down the point at which the crime of mislabelling took place has proved difficult. The factory that supplied Tesco with its 29% horse "beefburgers", for example, was using "multiple ingredients from some 40 suppliers in production batches, and the mixture could vary in every half-hour", according to the Irish department of agriculture.
The Tesco burgers and those at Burger King, Co-op and Aldi that also tested positive for horse DNA were all made by the ABP group in its Silvercrest factory, in the border area of Ireland. ABP - the initials derive from Anglo-Irish Beef Processors - is the leading processor of cattle in Europe.
The company is owned by the Dundalk-born beef baron and property magnate Larry Goodman. The septuagenarian multimillionaire is famous for hard work, a love of private jets, high-level connections in the Irish government and keeping his business affairs secret.
His business employs 2,500 people in the Republic and 8,000 in total in Britain, the Netherlands and Poland, in divisions which also include pet food, rendering and renewable energy from fat. About 50 million Europeans are thought to buy ABP products each week.
Goodman is no stranger to controversy. His companies were at the heart of allegations of fraud and political corruption that led to a public inquiry in Ireland in the early 1990s and helped bring down the Irish government. The report of the inquiry, known as the Beef Tribunal, found that there had been several incidents of fraud and an attempt to cover it up, as well as tax evasion.
The judge also concluded that illegality in the company had involved the faking of documents, commissioning of bogus official stamps, passing off of inferior beef trimmings as higher grade meat and cheating of customs officers in the 1980s.
Goodman said he had been unaware of the illegal activity and blamed subcontractors operating without head office knowledge. The inquiry found no evidence that he had known.
Where did the horsemeat in burgers made by ABP come from? The Guardian has discovered that the company bought some of its meat from a Dutch businessman called Willy Selten via a trader who could have been a source. Selten ran a meat cutting plant in the town of Oss, south of Rotterdam.
In May, he was arrested by the Dutch authorities on suspicion of fraud and false accounting, when official tests on boxes of meat labelled as beef taken from his factory found horse DNA in 21% of them.
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/24/horsemeat-beef-meat-dutch-factory" title="">Polish workers for Selten interviewed by the Guardian</a> and Dutch TV have claimed they were cutting up and mixing horsemeat, delivered from slaughterers in the UK and Germany, with defrosted beef that was several years old - so old it was sometimes "green".
They had to tie towels around their faces to stop themselves being sick. The workers described out-of-hours shifts paid in cash during which they mixed the different meats, and said relabelling of horsemeat had been going on for up to five years.
In the early days of the horsemeat investigation <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/10/netherlands-recalls-meat" title="">Selten was ordered to recall 50,000 tonnes of meat</a> - enough for 100m packs of burgers - sold in the previous two years across Europe because he was unable to show where it came from.
Selten, who supplies numerous outlets around Europe, has denied fraud and false accounting. He told us through his lawyer that horse had been mixed with beef to order for only 10 months, and claimed that where old meat was being cleaned up and mixed with horsemeat he intended it for pet food.
ABP has blamed the adulteration in its chain on rogue managers at the Silvercrest site in County Monaghan, who, without the knowledge of head office, were buying in frozen meat for burger-making from traders who were not on the list of suppliers approved by its customers.
It admits they breached contracts and strayed out of supermarket and fast food specifications but insists no one in the company knowingly processed horsemeat.
The company told us meat from Selten was sourced for ABP not directly but on occasion by a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/feb/14/cheshire-firm-investigated-horsemeat-norwest" title="">Cheshire-based trading company called Norwest Foods</a>. That company was set up by Ray MacSharry Jr, son of the former Irish agriculture minister and European commissioner and, the Guardian has established, a former employee of Goodman. Norwest's business interests include an abattoir in Spain, an office in Poland and an animal feed business in Ireland.
Last month both companies announced that they had reached a confidential financial settlement, and Norwest apologised for selling horsemeat to ABP Silvercrest unwittingly. ABP refused to answer questions about where the Selten meat had ended up.
So meat from Selten ended up at ABP for making burgers, but what were Selten's sources? The Guardian has managed to follow a trail from Selten's Dutch factory back to a key source of its horsemeat in the UK. Selten took deliveries from a Cheshire-based slaughterhouse known as Red Lion. It is owned by the Turner family, who slaughter and cut horsemeat and who own a cargo handling company in Dundalk, Ireland.
Before the horsemeat scandal broke, an animal sanctuary planted hidden cameras in key parts of the plant and filmed its Polish slaughtermen apparently abusing horses, and it became the subject of protests. By scouring data from campaigners about lorry movements from the abattoir, we were able to establish that it had delivered to the Dutch business.
Polish workers at Selten's factory confirmed that Red Lion lorries arrived once a week. The Red Lion slaughtermen's licences were suspended and they are still being investigated by the authorities.
There is evidence that suggests horsemeat at the Red Lion abattoir came via a route involving organised crime. Two separate sources involved with enforcement have told us that Red Lion was the final destination of deliveries of animals from a loyalist Northern Irish horse dealer, Laurence McAllister.
He was tracked transporting unfit horses and donkeys, some without passports, from Northern Ireland via Scotland for disposal in the UK. His return load on one journey to Belfast was a quantity of cannabis worth more than £500,000, which was concealed in horse lorries.
He was found guilty in October 2012 of drug smuggling and later of animal cruelty offences. Some of the horses he had been transporting were sick with chest infections, wounds, diarrhoea and sepsis.
A spokesman for the Turner family insisted that all their horsemeat deliveries to Selten had been properly labelled as horse and were legal. He at first denied but later acknowledged that one horse sent to Selten had been the subject of a recall having tested positive for 'bute', the horsemeat drug banned from the food chain. Tests for bute were taking three weeks at the time, so carcasses were often only recalled once they had already been sold on.
The family through their lawyer, initially denied that horse had ever been bought by the abattoir from McAllister. Their lawyer later clarified the family's position, saying said that while they had never knowingly received horses from McAllister, it was possible they had bought from him indirectly without knowing.
They had never knowingly slaughtered unfit horses or horses without proper passports, he added, pointing out that horses were only processed once they and their documents had been passed by official inspectors. There is no suggestion that the Turner family or employees at Red Lion had any involvement in drug smuggling.
Tesco, Burger King, Aldi and the Co-op have all apologised to customers and said they had been unwitting victims of fraud at some point in their supply chain. They also say the authorities have confirmed there was no food safety issue raised by the adulteration. They refused to answer the Guardian's questions about where the horsemeat in their beef products had originally come from, and whether Norwest or Selten were involved in their supply chains.
An ABP spokesperson said it had not engaged in any illegal activity and that there had been no breaches of law or food safety at Silvercrest. "We have made it clear we have never knowingly bought horsemeat … if equine was deliberately introduced into the food chain, then we are among those who have suffered as a result of such activity."

This article originally appeared on <a>guardian.co.uk</a>

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