Monday, November 4, 2024
CMG Market Watch - Monday, November 4, 2024 - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail
Friday, November 1, 2024
Thursday, October 31, 2024
A Conversation with Chris Wood and Dr. Michael Roizen Transformative Age - Transcript - Mauldin Economics
A Conversation with Chris Wood and Patrick Cox The Transcript Transformative Age - Transcript - Mauldin Economics
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Exclusive: Dem super PAC unleashes $100M in new ads - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The pro-KAMALA HARRIS super PAC Future Forward is launching another huge $100 million flight of ads to broadcast her closing message to voters across every major platform in the campaign’s final week. The record-breaking messaging deluge leans heavily into voters’ economic concerns and Harris’ effort to contrast her plans to improve people’s lives with those of DONALD TRUMP.
The two national spots are focused on helping Americans get ahead:
- “Plans” argues, in line with Harris’ speech tonight, that Trump will seek personal revenge while Harris “fights for you.”
- “Get By” targets Black voters with specific dollar promises on home-buying and small businesses, while making sure to needle Trump’s viral “Black jobs” comment.
Across the swing states, Future Forward’s other ads seek to shore up the various parts of the coalition Democrats need, from Spanish speakers to football fans to pro-abortion-rights women, with a heavy dose of economic populism.
“Kay” slams Trump over Social Security and Medicare. … “Jackie” shows a former Trump voter drawing an economic contrast between the candidates. … “Steven - Elon” highlights a steelworker who criticizes Trump for palling around with billionaires like ELON MUSK. … “Who You Trust” pairs a tax-cut message with an abortion focus in an overall freedom message. … “Backs” inverts one of Trump’s most famous ads by concluding, “She’s with us, not with them.” (This time, “them” is Trump and Musk, instead of people who are transgender or non-binary.) … “Right” emphasizes no new taxes for the vast majority of Americans under Harris.
On Spanish-language radio, the musical “Puro EngaƱo” spot ties Trump to Project 2025 and health care cuts. On English-language radio, “Sales Tax of Doom” warns specifically that Trump’s tariffs would cost people $4,000 to $5,000 annually. And Future Forward also has a slate of digital ads focused on the economy: “Always,” “Tax Hikes,” “Beyond - Taxes,” “Beyond - Social Security,” “Amanda” and “Fight.”
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
MabLab's improved drug and drink testing strips could make for safer streets and venues | TechCrunch
MabLab’s improved drug and drink testing strips could make for safer streets and venues
For anyone who parties or goes out dancing, the risk of accidentally taking adulterated drugs is a real one. MabLab, presenting today on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, has created a testing strip that detects the five most common and dangerous additives in minutes.
Co-founders Vienna Sparks and Skye Lam met in high school, and during college the pair lost a friend to overdose. It’s a story that, sadly, many people (including myself) can identify with. Thankfully, testing strips are a common sight now at venues and health centers, with hundreds of millions shipping yearly.
If you haven’t seen them, the strips work like this: You dissolve a bit of the substance to be tested in a provided buffer solution, then dip the strip in. The liquid travels up the paper, reaching a treated area that changes color in the presence of an unwanted additive. They’re simple and effective, but limited in that they only detect one thing, most commonly fentanyl.
“We have an opportunity to replace that with a better version,” said Lam — one that detects five common lacing chemicals simultaneously: fentanyl, methamphetamine, benzodiazepine, xylazine, and methadone.
The company’s innovation is “a mix of physical and chemical,” said Sparks: “There’s a zone specifically designed for each agent, and we’re using novel treatments and materials on the strip to allow capillary action to occur without incurring cross-reactivity.”
That is to say, the different zones and chemical sensitivities won’t set each other off or prevent the others from activating.