Heroic student who protected American flag unleashes on ‘Marist horde’

Urgent warning for dog owners over potentially lethal ripple effect

High levels of E. coli were found in uncooked meats and raw dog food sold in grocery stores in the U.K., according to research presented last week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global Congress in Barcelona.

Researchers from ​the University of Bristol examined 58 samples of raw beef, chicken, pork and lamb sold at grocery stores in the U.K., along with 15 samples of raw dog food sold at “specialty pet stores,” according to a press release.

Eighty-one percent of the meat samples and 87% of the dog food samples were found to contain E. coli (Escherichia coli) that was resistant to antibiotics.

E.COLI BACTERIA DETECTED IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK’S WATER SUPPLY

The raw chicken had the highest levels of the resistant intestinal bacteria.

“E. coli is an intestinal bacteria that may propagate in cows and chickens used for meat, especially when they are raised in squalor or close together,” Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital.

“Since poultry and meat cows are often fed antibiotics to help them grow and to ward off infections, this helps to breed resistant strains, which emerge amid antibiotic overuse.”

MEAT CONTAMINATED WITH E. COLI COULD CAUSE HALF A MILLION URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS EACH YEAR, STUDY FINDS

Siegel was not involved in the study.  

“This study confirms that uncooked meat carries multiple resistant E. coli, commonly including resistance to critically important antibiotics important for human health,” the study authors said in a press release from ESCMID.

If ingested, the bacteria could colonize the intestines and cause resistant infections, according to study author Matthew B. Avison, a professor at the School of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol.

“They can sit in your gut for years without causing sickness, and in some cases the bacteria will cause different types of disease later on, including urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections that can kill,” Avison told Fox News Digital. 

“Infections with resistant bacteria are more difficult to treat and so are more likely to get worse.”

RAW DIET FOR DOGS IS TAKING OVER TIKTOK, BUT WHAT DOES YOUR VETERINARIAN THINK OF THE LATEST TREND?

Uncooked meat sold to be eaten by people after cooking is “commonly contaminated” with antibiotic-resistant E. coli, Avison noted.

The study results weren’t surprising, he said, as there have been “numerous reports” of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in uncooked meat and some studies showing this in raw dog food.

“In some cases, the bacteria will cause different types of disease later on, including urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections.”

“People often believe that because raw dog food is sold frozen, the freezing kills the bacteria, but we have shown that it does not,” Avison told Fox News Digital.

“There were just as many samples of chicken-based raw dog food contaminated with resistant E. coli than there were samples of raw chicken meat. If you feed your dog raw meat, therefore, you are likely feeding it antibiotic resistant E. coli.”

These findings explain why researchers previously found a strong link between feeding dogs raw meat and the dogs excreting resistant E. coli in their feces, Avison noted.

Most people are not aware of the risk of these antibiotic-resistant pathogens, the researchers stated in the release.

They emphasized the importance of cooking meat thoroughly before eating, and using “appropriate hygiene practices” while preparing it.

“Cooking the meat properly will kill those bacteria,” Avison advised.

‘GENTLE GIANT’ DOG, AT 250 POUNDS, EATS AN ENTIRE CHICKEN DAILY AS OWNER SPENDS NEARLY $5K A YEAR ON FOOD

“Treat all raw meat as if it were contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and assume dogs fed raw meat will be excreting resistant bacteria,” he went on.

“Use appropriate hand-washing and general hygiene practices to minimize the risk that you and other people will accidentally ingest these bacteria.”

“If you feed your dog raw meat, you are likely feeding it antibiotic resistant E. coli.”

Dog owners who feed raw meat to their pets should dispose of the animals’ waste hygienically, Avison said.

“Don’t let your dog lick your face or share your bed, and wash your hands after petting it,” he recommended. “These are all common sense practices anyway, but even more important if you raw-feed your dog.”

“And, of course, treat raw dog food as if it were any raw meat, in terms of hygiene and cleaning practices.”

The study raises a “red flag,” Siegel said, underscoring the importance of making sure that poultry and meat is fully cooked prior to human consumption, and that dog food is also cooked. 

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Andre Delattre, chief operating officer of Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) in Washington, D.C., said the study “underscores the importance of ending the practice of routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.”

“An inevitable byproduct of antibiotic overuse is resistance to these drugs,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“Studies have also shown that meat raised without antibiotics is less likely to be contaminated with resistant bacteria.”

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The University of Bristol study was published on a pre-print server and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for comment.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.

Trump’s strategy forced to change as ‘conflicted’ judge is poised to intensify next moves

The judge presiding over former President Trump’s unprecedented criminal trial will hold a hearing Thursday morning to consider the remaining alleged gag order violations after fining the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee $9,000 and threatening him with jail time.

Trump’s criminal trial is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Court does not meet on Wednesdays. 

JUDGE FINES TRUMP THOUSANDS OVER VIOLATING GAG ORDER, WARNS ‘INCARCERATORY PUNISHMENT’ COULD BE NEXT

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors from his office alleged the former president violated the gag order that Judge Juan Merchan imposed upon him 14 times. 

The gag order bans Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses, court staff and their families. 

Merchan on Tuesday found that Trump violated the order on nine separate occasions, with each violation resulting in a $1,000 fine.

The judge detailed in the order that if Trump carries out “continued willful violations” of the gag order, he could face “incarceratory punishment” if “necessary and appropriate.”

During a hearing on the gag order last week, Merchan said the Trump legal team was “losing all credibility” while defending the 45th president’s comments on social media that violated the order.

“I’ve asked you eight or nine times, ‘Show me the exact post that he was responding to,’ and you haven’t been able to do that once,” Merchan told the Trump team last week.

NY V TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL BEGINS ITS 3RD WEEK AS FORMER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

The defense team argued in the hearing that Trump was responding to attacks made against him when he posted comments that allegedly violated the order. 

Trump, in response to the ruling, said on social media that Merchan has “taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH.”

“I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“This whole ‘Trial’ is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!” he continued.

Trump on Tuesday morning again called on “conflicted” Merchan to recuse himself from the case.

“This is a hoax. This is a judge who is conflicted – badly, badly, badly conflicted. I’ve never seen a judge so conflicted and giving us virtually no rulings,” Trump said outside the courtroom before the trial kicked off its ninth day.

NY PROSECUTORS REVEAL ‘ANOTHER CRIME’ TRUMP ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO CONCEAL WITH FALSIFIED BUSINESS RECORDS

In Merchan’s ruling with regard to the gag order on Tuesday, the judge lamented not being able to fine Trump more than $1,000 per violation. He wrote in the order that it would be “preferable” if the court “could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor.”

“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment,” he wrote, highlighting again that Trump could face time behind bars if he continues violating the order.

Meanwhile, at 10 a.m., Merchan will invite the jury into the courtroom to resume witness testimony.

So far, prosecutors have called former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker, former assistant and senior VP of the Trump Organization Rhona Graff, former senior managing director at First Republic Bank Gary Farro, and former lawyer for Stormy Daniels Dylan Howard to the stand to testify.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels about an alleged extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 election. 

TRUMP TRIAL: FORMER PRESIDENT ‘INNOCENT,’ DEFENSE SAYS AS DA ALLEGES ‘CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY’

Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to hush money payments but also that he did so in furtherance of another crime: conspiracy to promote or prevent election.

Prosecutors will try to prove that the alleged conspiracy was to conceal a plot to unlawfully promote his candidacy in 2016. 

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Typically, on their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are viewed as misdemeanors.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

HUGH HEWITT: The railroading of the former president is in plain sight

First things first: The most important thing you can read this week, if you are an American concerned with the rule of law, is Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy’s essay, “How Judge Merchan Is Orchestrating Trump’s Conviction.” 

What McCarthy chronicles is the absolutely shocking attempt by trial judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to secure, by any means necessary, a conviction of former President Donald Trump. Only mind-readers can discern the real motives behind Justice Merchan’s incomprehensible abuse of his powers. 

(The trial court judges in New York are denominated “justices,” so don’t confuse Merchan with the state’s equivalent of one of the nine justices on our federal Surpeme Court. He is not one of the seven highest judges in the Empire State which together comprise the state’s highest court. He is not even an appeals court judge. Merchan is just an ordinary trial court judge who is never going to be confused with a great legal mind, or, in my view, even an average fair-minded criminal court “hanging judge.”)

NY VS. TRUMP: A TRIAL IN SEARCH OF AN IMAGINARY CRIME

Merchan seems to me to be a partisan who has gone rogue, but who is still entitled to the respect due anyone wearing a robe in any court. It is necessary to note that Merchan made nominal contributions to the 2020 United States presidential election, donating $15 to Joe Biden’s campaign, $10 to the “Progressive Turnout Project,” and $10 to “Stop Republicans.” 

I find these gestures —and they are just that, gestures intended as symbolic acts, of what I do not know— astonishing. In my opinion, they ought to have disqualified him from the jump because they are intended to tell you who he is: a partisan, even if not a particularly deep-pocketed partisan. He wanted it known. He wanted it on the record. So, notice it and ask: Why did he do that save to signal to one and all what he thought of the 2020 election?

This trial is the sowing of the wind. Other political judges and prosecutors will reap the whirlwind. Everyone will lose. It is, for those who profess to love the rule of law, a disaster. 

Bragg is, by contrast, just another political prosecutor, a political animal feeding his base voters, and we have grown used to their appearances on the public stage. Perhaps Merchan is suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” We don’t know and can’t know because questioning him is beyond anyone’s ability, unless somehow Trump down the road can bring a Section 1983 action against both Merchan and Bragg for violation of his constitutional rights under color of state law.  

But unless one or more brave souls on that jury see through this fraud of a Soviet-style show trial and hangs the jury, many convictions are coming Trump’s way, and the Merchan/Bragg combo is going down in American legal history along with the names of every other disreputable judge and prosecutor you can recall from American history. 

TRUMP ACCUSES MANHATTAN JUDGE OF ‘RIGGING’ 2024 ELECTION FOLLOWING GAG ORDER RULING: ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’

It is very unlikely that such a juror will emerge given Merchan’s outlandish manipulations of the ordinary process due any criminal defendant, but we can pray someone rescues America’s reputation from this circus. It will take a “12 Angry Men” sequence of deliberations inside the jury room after the jurors have received their instructions. 

Given the rulings that Merchan has already made and that McCarthy recounts, it is hard to imagine any juror save one of the two lawyers on the jury seeing through the parade of prosecution witnesses and the greatly circumscribed ability of the defense to impeach their credibility and thus present Trump’s defense. 

The former president will eventually see all convictions that arrive after this circus concludes overturned, but by then the impact on our elections will be permanent. Merchan seems bent on seeing Trump handcuffed and photographed, detained if only for a day or even one single photograph. In his single-minded quest, Merchan has done everyone in the country a grave disservice. 

To fully appreciate what damage Merchan is doing, you would need to have taken both Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure, and from a good professor or two. In brief: Every Constitutional Law class in every law school in America should begin with an obvious question to the class that is in fact two questions: How did you get here? (Every Criminal Procedure class should continually raise the question: Why do we make it so hard to convict the accused? But let’s stick with the average “good” ConLaw class.)

Part one of that “obvious question” to new ConLaw students concerns the individual law student. He or she is at the end of a long line of their personal decisions as well as decisions by their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on down their genealogical tree until it passes into the mists. We are all sitting where we are sitting and reading what we are reading today because of hundreds of thousands of choices made over tens of thousands of years. Even the law students with the best grasp on their family history will eventually run into a wall beyond which they cannot see, but appreciating the path they actually do know is crucial to them feeling gratitude towards whomever propelled them forward, and not just in their youth, but in the youths of their parents, etc. To be a law student in America should mean to be extremely grateful to a combination of fate and forebears. And to resolve to uphold the rule of law as a consequence of that gratitude.

NY VS. TRUMP: CROSS EXAMINATION OF DA BRAGG’S FIRST WITNESS UNRAVELS IMPORTANT TRUTHS

The not-so-obvious part two of the “obvious question” is: Where did this Constitution and all these decisions in this very thick casebook come from? Many professors begin their classes with the opinion of then-Chief Justice John Marshall in the 1803 decision of Marbury v. Madison which established the doctrine of judicial review. Even with a moment’s thought, though, the student should intuit that this should not be the beginning point because there is quite a gap of years between 1803 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, it’s drafting in 1787, and the even earlier —yet still central to the story— Declaration of Independence in 1776.

That’s just the first and second layer of the “obvious question” though. To learn Constitutional Law well requires that students understand, at a minimum, the general outline of the civilizations that produced the generation of the Framers. That means knowing at least the rough outline of the history of the Jews, the ancient Greeks, the Romans and of Great Britain, for those four civilizations are the direct ancestors of our general Western and our specifically American legal cultures. 

It is not necessary to actually know these things to pass a state Bar Exam. To do that, it is only necessary to know the rough outlines of the still binding precedents of the United States Supreme Court. That minimum deposit of knowledge should make it possible to win through to a law license if that state’s bar examiners choose to test, say, the limits of the Commerce Clause. 

But to understand the genius of the Constitution, it is necessary to grasp just how unlikely was its emergence in 1787 and its ratification in 1789. To know why the rulings of the trial judge in Manhattan are so egregious, an observer would have to have at least a handle on what the Star Chamber was, how it functioned and why the ratification of the Constitution was premised on a promise of amendments, one of which, the Fifth, guaranteed to every citizen of the United States the following:

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

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The Fourteenth Amendment, because of its guarantee that “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” binds the courts of New York to the requirement of due process of law first stated in the Fifth Amendment. 

Former President Donald Trump is not receiving the process owed him by the Constitution of the United States, which is why the conviction will be reversed down the road. (McCarthy argues elsewhere that Trump is also being denied his rights under the New York State constitution, specifically a “due-process provision meant to prevent exactly what Bragg has done here: force a defendant to go to trial without being put on notice of the charge.” 

Why should political opponents of Trump care? Why should even those most distraught over the increasing likelihood of a second and final Trump term be distressed?

Simply put: That which gets rewarded gets repeated. Humpty Dumpty and all that. The “Roman Revolution” and the erosion and eventual collapse of the Roman Republic’s mos maiorum. Having to sleep in the bed you made. Add in any cliché or historical reference you care to throw in, the point is the same. Unless firmly and quickly ended, this abuse of process by a partisan judge and a partisan prosecutor is going to continue —against candidates of both major parties, and perhaps against all future “former presidents.” 

In short, this trial is the sowing of the wind. Other political judges and prosecutors will reap the whirlwind. Everyone will lose. It is, for those who profess to love the rule of law, a disaster. 

If a former president and current nominee of an out-of-power party can be put through such a circus within six months of an election, do you really think this is the last time that will happen? 

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I don’t expect or, of course, condone violence in the aftermath of this trial or the fall’s election. Prophets of such doom are themselves likely to hold extreme views. But Juan Merchan and Alvin Bragg and their colleagues in this off-the-rails proceeding will have injected such deep bitterness into the country’s politics that it will take at least a few election cycles to purge the anger and perhaps as much as a generation or two to forget and recover from this abuse of process.

We will not know this side of heaven what Merchan and Bragg thought they were doing. But what they have already done is enough to put them down in the column of those who put politics ahead of law, to the great and lasting detriment of the Republic. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT

Hugh Hewitt is host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Brett Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his forty years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

Prosecutor ruthlessly crushes Idaho murder suspect’s weak claim of innocence

Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger’s “alibi” that he was driving around looking at “the moon and stars,” is too vague, according to prosecutors.

Now, they are asking the judge to deny any further requests from his defense to call witnesses other than the defendant himself in an attempt to prove he wasn’t at the King Road home at the time of the stabbings that killed University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and her visiting boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.

“With the exception of the reference to Wawawai Park (which is new), the defendant is offering nothing new to his initial ‘alibi’ that he was simply driving around during the morning hours of November 13, 2022,” Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson wrote in a court filing.

IDAHO MURDERS: BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE ‘FIRMLY BELIEVES’ IN SUSPECT’S INNOCENCE

“As the State noted during the August 2023 hearing, the State is aware that the defendant was driving around rural areas of Whitman County, Washington, and Latah County, Idaho, during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. In fact, the defendant’s travels during that time are described in the original Probable Cause Affidavit supporting the Criminal Complaint in this case.”

Read the prosecution’s filing:

The prosecution’s concerns may not be enough to convince the judge, however, according to Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented the “cult mom” killer Lori Vallow.

“It is not up to the State to determine what is or is not relevant to the defense,” she told Fox News Digital. “Try as they may to control the narrative.”

She noted that Kohberger has a constitutional right to mount a defense and called the latest filing “the prosecution’s equivalent of a temper tantrum.”

“It has now been approximately 11 months since the State filed its ‘Request for Discovery Disclosure; Alibi Demand’ on May 23, 2023, and almost a year and a half since the homicides occurred. The defendant has been given more time than he is legally entitled in order to provide his alibi.”

— Bill Thompson, prosecutor

More than a year after the murders, Kohberger’s lawyers filed an alibi with the court claiming he was simply driving around.

“Mr. Kohberger was out driving in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022; as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars,” his lawyers wrote. “He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho, including Wawawai Park.”

Other experts agree with Thompson’s claim that the alibi is a little lacking.

“The state’s response is short, sweet and to the point: What has been offered by the defendant as an ‘alibi’ is nothing of the sort,” said David Gelman, a former prosecutor and now a New Jersey-based defense attorney.

A denial of the defendant’s presence at the crime scene isn’t enough to establish he was somewhere else, Gelman argued.

“He has offered no specifics as to his location at the time in question, nor has he offered the names of those witnesses upon whom he will rely on to establish the defense,” he said. “That is not an alibi as contemplated by the law. The trial court should not permit the defense to pursue an alibi defense, based on the scant information provided.”

Defense lawyers had planned to call an expert on cellphone data to support their alibi claim. Prosecutors are arguing that since the alibi is so vague, that shouldn’t be allowed.

It’s the latest in a legal tug-of-war between prosecutors and Kohberger’s team.

Last month, Judge allowed the defense to resume its survey of potential jurors after a temporary order to halt activities. Alarmed county residents had been so bothered by the survey that they called police, according to court filings. But Judge ultimately found that the survey could continue as part of Kohberger’s attempt to prove jury bias and argue for a change of venue.

Prosecutors allege that Kohberger is the masked man who entered a house just steps from the University of Idaho campus around 4 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022.

IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER WAS UNKNOWN TO VICTIMS, LAWYER SAYS

The following morning, police arrived to find four undergrad students dead in the house.

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Kohberger, who was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University, faces four charges of first-degree murder and a felony burglary count.

According to a probable cause affidavit connected to his arrest warrant, police allegedly found his DNA on a knife sheath under Mogen’s body.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

Chris Hemsworth fires back at memory loss allegation about why actor quit Hollywood

Chris Hemsworth is fighting back against rumors about his health.

The Marvel star learned in 2022 that he has a high genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s, and shortly after the news was made public, he took a break from acting. Together, the two bits of news led to rumors that he was retiring, or that he’d already developed the disease, which he now says was very upsetting to hear.

“It really kind of p—ed me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this,” he admitted in an interview with Vanity Fair. 

CHRIS HEMSWORTH, BRAD PITT, BEN AFFLECK ARE AMONG MALE STARS GETTING BETTER WITH AGE: PHOTOS

“No matter how much I said, ‘This is not a death sentence,’ the story became that I have dementia and I’m reconsidering life and retiring and so on.”

He then joked, “I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: ‘I hope Chris forgets he’s retiring and comes back.’”

Hemsworth originally discovered the higher likelihood of him developing Alzheimer’s on his Disney+ series, “Limitless,” a show about health and longevity. In one episode, he underwent a number of blood tests by Dr. Peter Attia.

“We’ve got every blood test one can get,” Attia told Hemsworth. “And you’ve got two copies of APOE4. A set from your mom and a set from your dad.”

APOE4 is the gene that has the strongest correlation to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, however, not much is known about it. Having two copies of the gene, according to Attia, means Hemsworth is 8 to 10 times more likely to develop the disease than the average individual.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH SAYS HE’S TAKING A BREAK FROM ACTING TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY AFTER FACING HIS OWN MORTALITY

“The idea that I won’t be able to remember the life I experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear,” the “Thor” star candidly shared in the episode.

The actor also revealed that his grandfather suffered from the disease. “He either doesn’t remember who we are, you know, his grandkids, but also even his own children, for years. It’s heartbreaking.”

After the episode was filmed, his grandfather died from Alzheimer’s, and as he explained to Vanity Fair, his father is currently experiencing early signs.

“I know my dad is going through a transition of acceptance around ‘I’m not this big, strong man with all the answers who everybody looks to for guidance now,’” he said.

“He’s much more the observer now, rather than leading the pack. It’s a reminder to me because those are exactly the qualities I need: stillness, observation, absorption, a respect for the present moment.”

He also spoke about stillness in an October 2023 interview with Men’s Health, explaining that he’d placed an importance on it after learning that he’s more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

“I’ve always been pretty consistent with my exercise commitments, but lately I’ve really felt the importance of taking time for yourself without any outside voice or stimulation and making time for stillness,” he said.

“I do a lot of meditation and breath work, mostly during sauna and ice bath routines. For me, my favorite mindfulness work comes from the immersion in physical activities that allow me to be fully present and force me out of my head and into my body, in particular surfing.”

Hemsworth lives in Australia with wife Elsa Pataky and their three children, daughter India and twin sons Sasha and Tristan – and he told Vanity Fair that Tristan is named after Brad Pitt’s character in “Legends of the Fall.”

The family lived in Los Angeles until making the move back to his home country in 2015. The “Thor” star explained that while living in Hollywood, his thoughts consisted of things like, “I’m sick of my face. Why isn’t it on a billboard? I’m too famous. Why are there paparazzi here? Wait, why aren’t there any paparazzi here? Well, which do you want, Chris?”

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Now, he lives next to his parents.

While he isn’t living in Hollywood anymore, he’s still dedicated to making films – but he isn’t sure how much longer he’ll do it.

“I think for the first time in my career I’ve started thinking, ‘S—, how many years do I have left that I can do this?’” he said. “I went through a sort of list of films with my production partner yesterday, a bit of a wish list, and then I was like, ‘Well, that’s six films. That could be the next decade. That could be it.’ Who knows where I am at that point?”

In a December 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Hemsworth admitted that he didn’t think his kids “could have grasped the concept” of being genetically predisposed to an illness, so he hadn’t told them about the likelihood that he’ll eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

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“It’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation and this is what it is – and it’s up in a few months,” he explained. “It’s not quite that situation, thankfully. One day I’m sure I’ll bring it up. They probably want to test themselves and [find out,] ‘Are you in the category that’s going to be sensitive to this or not?'”

He was asked about the reaction of his parents and brothers, fellow actor Liam Hemsworth and older brother Luke. He answered, “It was confronting initially, but very quickly it became a self-deprecating sort of joke, if you will. It’s just the way I am, my family, there’s a sense of humor. And such is life, so…”

In his latest conversation with the publication, Hemsworth said, “We don’t want anyone we love to suffer, but what we can focus on is our attitude and perspective.”

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He continued, “I have a great sense of nostalgia for how life is changing. But I don’t look at any of this like, ‘Oh no, time is running out, what a tragedy.’ I feel like, ‘Well, then, get going! Be involved and stay present and don’t get caught up in all the rubbish’ that I may have spent a large chunk of my adult life doing. What a gift it is to be able to love so deeply and be loved. What else is there really that we’re here for?”

Fox News Digital’s Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.

Marilyn Monroe’s affair with JFK confirmed on wiretap, in explosive claim

For decades, Fred Otash was alleged to have kept the darkest secrets of Hollywood stars, including America’s most famous sex symbol.

Tinseltown’s most notorious private detective died in 1992 at age 70. The World War II Marine veteran is the subject of a new book, “The Fixer: Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn.” 

It delves into shocking revelations from his never-before-seen investigative files.

For the book, co-author Manfred Westphal was given access to Otash’s archives with the blessing of his daughter Colleen. Westphal, who first met Colleen at Otash’s funeral, developed a close friendship with her over the years.

MARILYN MONROE’S JFK PHONE CALL HAUNTED JACKIE KENNEDY YEARS AFTER STAR’S DEATH, AUTHOR CLAIMS

“One of the driving forces was to tell the story of his life, the cases he was involved in and what really happened — what actually happened,” co-author Josh Young told Fox News Digital. 

“Not only was this a chance to do that, but also a chance to delve into this fascinating world of this extraordinary … larger-than-life character who walked out of a Raymond Chandler novel,” Young shared. “He was involved in the golden heyday period of Hollywood in the ‘50s and ‘60s with all the biggest stars, mobsters and studio executives.”

“[Colleen] granted us unfettered access to his never-before-seen personal archives, which served as the primary source for the book,” Westphal told Fox News Digital. 

“In essence, he’s speaking from the grave.”

According to the authors, Otash was the son of Lebanese rug merchants whose life was marked by tragedy. 

He lost his father and only brother during the Great Depression, prompting him to drop out of high school at age 16 to join the Civil Conservation Corps to support his mother and sisters. He went on to volunteer for the Marine Corps and, at the outset of WWII, fought in the South Pacific. 

Otash landed in Los Angeles in 1945, where he signed up for the LAPD. There, he made a name for himself as a renegade cop before launching his own detective bureau in 1955 that, thanks to his access to emerging technology, eclipsed his contemporaries. He served as a freelancer for the LA tabloid Confidential.

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“Fred equalized the playing field for a lot of people,” Young explained. “The LAPD and the FBI were wiretapping celebrities and getting information that way. But Fred had his own wiretapping system that was just as sophisticated as theirs, if not more. … He busted a Hollywood casting couch early on in his career where a producer was taking advantage of a young [girl] who came to town.

“He came to the aid of many celebrities during that time when they had nowhere else to go and conventional law enforcement was not an option.”

In 1985, Otash alleged to the Los Angeles Times he was hired by Peter Lawford to “do anything to remove anything incriminating” about the actor’s brothers-in-law, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Both Kennedys had been rumored to have romantic liaisons with Monroe. 

In the book, Otash alleged that he heard the president having “sexual congress” with the blonde bombshell.

“Yes, these were audio recordings,” Young alleged. “Those were made at Peter Lawford’s Santa Monica beach house. And they were made through a series of circumstances that I’ll let the readers delve into in the book.”

The book alleged that Monroe’s affair with Kennedy was a secret that Lawford was determined to keep from the hungry press. Otash described Lawford as “Jack Kennedy’s sexual archivist.” 

Lawford’s beach house, the book alleged, was known as Kennedy’s crash pad for having affairs with numerous women, including sought-after actresses.

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“Marilyn Monroe was certainly the most famous movie star ever recorded having sex with Kennedy, but she wasn’t the first,” the book alleged. “That dubious honor went to fellow bottle blonde actress Jayne Mansfield. A close friend of Lawford, ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ star was considered by some to be Monroe’s competition at 20th Century Fox.”

In his own recordings, Otash noted, as quoted by the book, “Monroe became the central figure. The original electronics surveillance had nothing to do with her. But now, it was established that Monroe was f—— Jack Kennedy. She became the one, the main figure, because she was the best known.”

Young claimed the audio recordings proving that Kennedy and Monroe had an affair went missing.

“We believe that they were destroyed,” he explained. “No one knows for certain but … they were turned over to one of Fred’s confidants in the LAPD. We detail in the book what he thinks might have happened to them, but he was never actually certain where they ended up. He wondered if they possibly ended up in the attorney general’s office. But, again, that was something he didn’t know.”

According to the book, Monroe first met Kennedy in 1955 at a party at the home of Charles Feldman, producer of her blockbuster film “The Seven Year Itch.” Joe DiMaggio, her husband at the time, had no desire to attend the bash, nor did he want his wife there. 

While Kennedy was in town to visit his sister and brother-in-law, his wife Jackie Kennedy stayed behind in Boston. The book described how Kennedy would allegedly “go hunting,” or “bed Hollywood starlets” while his wife was away. Kennedy’s meeting with Monroe that evening was platonic, and it was allegedly two years later that they had an affair at Lawford’s home.

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Otash, who kept private surveillance on Monroe, also alleged that he heard the blonde bombshell die. He claimed that Monroe called Lawford twice, then Kennedy once, from her home in August 1962. She then called Lawford once more and purportedly said, “Say goodbye to [your wife] Pat. Say goodbye to the president and say goodbye to yourself because you’re a nice guy.” 

After the call, Lawford rushed over to Monroe, where he found her dead. Otash alleged that instead of calling the police, Lawford “started rummaging around, trying to pick all the s— he could that would implicate anyone.” Otash later told friends he “always knew Lawford was weak, but to do nothing to help a so-called dear friend that might still be alive was beyond imagination.”

“Fred had Marilyn’s house on Fifth Helena Drive tapped for a variety of reasons that we go into in the book,” Young explained. “And on the night that she died, the wires were active. We reveal what Fred heard on those audio tapes, which goes into the mystery of what happened the night that Marilyn died.

“I think, for me, it adds another piece to the puzzle,” Young admitted. “Marilyn’s death is one of those things that has been mythologized, misconstrued and written about … even many of the people who were involved at the time. And those who claimed they went to her house after she died later changed their stories for profit. 

“I think it was nice to have a little bit of a slice of what may have gone on. Fred himself made recordings of his experiences. It was through those tapes that we were able to glean his quotes of what he said happened that night.”

Young believed Otash may have had regrets about Monroe’s demise.

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“Ultimately, he saw how she was swallowed up by the system,” Young explained. “He saw what it did to her. … I don’t know if ‘regret’ is the exact word. … But what happened to her affected him. … And those feelings evolved not only over the time that he knew Marilyn but also after her death.”

Monroe died in 1962 from a barbiturate overdose in her home. She was 36.

Teacher captures images of ‘very rare’ bird never before seen in US

An amateur photographer in Oregon captured a subject last week that has bird lovers chirping — as it’s said to be the first U.S. sighting of this particular species.

Some experts are calling it the “bird of the century.”

“It’s just a very rare thing to have a country-first record in Oregon,” Brodie Cass Talbott, senior educator and trips specialist for the Bird Alliance of Oregon, told Fox News Digital. “It might not happen again for decades.”

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It was Michael Sanchez, a middle school band director from Vancouver, Oregon, who was snapping photos of a waterfall at Hug Point State Recreation Site, just south of Cannon Beach, at sunrise on April 21.

“I got all the pictures that I could of the waterfall and then I just turned around and happened to see this little black bird,” Sanchez told Fox News Digital, who said he later realized the bird was in fact blue in color.

“I’m a new photographer, so I thought ‘I’ve got to catch anything interesting.’ I snapped some pictures of the bird. It was a really good little model for me.”

The little bird lingered, allowing Sanchez to adjust his camera settings, he said.

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“It stayed there on the sand, and it was all by itself,” he said. 

“I got my camera settings all figured out and took some pictures. Then, it flew up to some rocks after about a minute or two. I took some more pictures of it on the rocks and then, after a few moments, it flew away.” 

Sanchez said he didn’t think too much of the bird, but after reviewing his photos, noticed that “the little black bird” was actually more colorful than he thought — blue with orange underparts to be exact. 

After posting his photos to social media, Sanchez quickly found out he had encountered something quite rare.

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“It all kind of took off from there,” he said. “I was excited because what a fun turn of luck for a brand new photographer…seeing this amazingly rare bird. It’s been wild.”

Birders from all over the country began reaching out to Sanchez to let him know the significance of his sighting — one of them letting him know that he had photographed “an extraordinarily rare bird, quite possibly the first sighting in the lower 48 states and, one of only two sightings ever on the continent,” Sanchez said.

The bird causing all the commotion: the blue rock thrush, a mostly solitary bird that is native to Europe and Asia.

“It’s exceptionally rare,” Cass Talbott said. 

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“It’s about as rare as they come because it’s the first one ever photographed in the United States,” Cass Talbott added.

There’s only one previous record in North America, which was in British Columbia in 1997, according to Cass Talbott.

Cass Talbott said he had the opportunity to observe the species while living in Asia.

“They hang out on the ground a lot,” Cass Talbott said. “You’ll usually see them sitting on a pile of rock somewhere, or a big rocky cliff. They’re cute and sort of plucky and they just hop around a lot and eat a variety of bugs and other stuff.”

RARE ANIMAL’S ARRIVAL WILL HELP REVEAL SECRETS ‘OF ONE OF LEAST-KNOWN SPECIES ON THE PLANET’

How a blue rock thrush may have arrived on the shores of Oregon is unclear, according to Tim Janzen, secretary of the Oregon Birding Records committee, the state organization that certifies bird sightings. 

“My belief about this particular bird is that it is a vagrant,” Janzen said. “I think it is going to be very likely accepted as a wild bird because it’s not really near a shipping lane or anything else where we could say for sure that it came off of a ship. And even if it did make its way here, at least partly by ship, we’re never going to know that.”

Birder watchers flocked to Hug Point in the days that followed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue rock thrush — but to no avail.

“The thing that’s unfortunate about this particular bird is that it didn’t hang around,” Janzen said. 

RARE SPOTLESS GIRAFFE BORN AT TENNESSEE ZOO BELIEVED TO BE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD

He went on, “Michael [Sanchez] took photos of it and then it up and disappeared — and nobody knows where it went.”

A few days after Sanchez’s sighting, the American Birding Association issued a “rare bird alert,” reporting that researchers on Southeast Farallon Island in San Francisco, California, photographed what may be a blue rock thrush. 

It’s unknown if that bird, spotted around 500 miles from Hug Point, is the same one photographed by Sanchez.

It’s peak migration season currently, Cass Talbott said, and sometimes that could throw birds off-course.

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“Most songbirds migrate alone,” he explained. “One potential thought was that it was migrating north, got blown off course by a heavy storm and either got blown so off course that it flew and flew until it landed [in] Oregon, or it got blown out into the ocean, it found a boat, it landed on the boat and it stayed there until the boat got to the west coast of the United States. That seems to be a leading theory.”

Cass Talbot said sometimes birds land somewhere they’re not supposed to, and never make it back home. But the public can help, he added.

“We like to remind folks that we can help these birds make sure they do get back to where they’re supposed to be going by doing things like turning out the lights during migration, keeping cats indoors and making windows bird-safe,” Cass Talbot said.

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Sanchez said his students are excited about his bird photos — and he’s encouraging them to look for beauty all around them.

“I’m a musician, so that’s where my artistic background comes from,” he said.

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“It might be really hard [in] some places to find it, but there’s nothing wrong with looking for the beauty no matter where you are — and to keep our eyes and hearts open.”

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