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Americans born into poverty are more likely than ever before to stay that way, according to a United Nations report on poverty and inequality in the US.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/22/us/america-poverty-un-report/index.html


Heard on the radio that last week had record low unemployment claims. As usual, no mention was made of the numerous fires in the western U.S., and the storms in the middle that are keeping people from being able to get to unemployment offices to apply. We need time to see if this truly reflects reality..


Making no mention of the values of equality and democracy, Israel has passed into law a highly controversial bill that serves to define the nature of the state of Israel, with critics slamming it as the "nail in the coffin" of Israeli democracy.
The nation-state bill passed in its second and third readings following an hours-long debate in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The law establishes Israel as the historic home of the Jewish people with a "united" Jerusalem as its capital and declares that the Jewish people "have an exclusive right to national self-determination" in Israel.
But the law fails to mention either equality or minority rights -- both of which were integral parts of Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, which explicitly states that Israel "will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture."
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed for segregated Jewish-only communities, but that clause sparked criticism from multiple directions. Some of Israel's most prominent current and former politicians -- including President Reuven Rivlin, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the former chair of the prominent nonprofit the Jewish Agency for Israel, Natan Sharansky, all expressed reservations about that clause, saying it would damage Israel's international standing and would likely be struck down by the High Court.
An updated clause instead promotes "Jewish settlement as a national value" and commits the government to further its establishment.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/middleeast/israel-nation-state-legislation-intl/index.html


we learned of the arrest of Maria Butina, who is accused of being a Russian agent who infiltrated the National Rifle Association, the most important outside organization in the Republican firmament. Legal filings in the case outline a plan to use the N.R.A. to push the Republican Party in a more pro-Russian direction.
If the N.R.A. as an organization turns out to be compromised, it would shake conservative politics to its foundation. And this is no longer a far-fetched possibility. “I serve on both the Intelligence Committee and the Finance Committee,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, told me. “So I have a chance to really look at this through the periscope of both committees. And what I have wondered about for some time is this whole issue of whether the N.R.A. is getting subverted as a Russian asset.”
This is not a question that Republicans are eager to answer. Before Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee abruptly closed their investigation into Russian election interference, committee Democrats wanted to interview both Butina and Erickson. Their Republican colleagues refused. “If there were efforts towards a back channel towards the N.R.A., they didn’t want to know,” Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is the ranking member on the committee, told me. “It was too hot to handle.”
On Monday, a few hours after news broke of Butina’s arrest, the Treasury Department announced a new rule sparing some tax-exempt groups, including the N.R.A., from having to report their large donors to the I.R.S. Wyden called the move “truly grotesque,” saying it would “make it easier for Russian dark money” to flow into American politics. You might ask who benefits. The answer is: not just Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/opinion/republican-party-national-rifle-association-trump-russia.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage


As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.
As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.
The delays have infuriated some members of Congress, which approved the funding transfer with bipartisan support.
[Congress ss can pass laws and set the budget, but the president appoints the heads of agencies actually carry out the laws.]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/world/europe/state-department-russia-global-engagement-center.html


Prices rose at their highest clip since 2012 over the past year, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The 2.9 percent inflation for the 12-month period ending in June is a sign of a growing economy, but it's also a painful development for workers, whose tepid wage gains have failed to keep pace with the rising prices.
The cost of food, shelter and gas have all risen significantly in the past year. Gas skyrocketed more than 24 percent, rent for a primary residence jumped 3.6 percent and meals at restaurants and cafeterias rose 2.8 percent.
Prices have risen roughly at the same rate as wages, erasing any gains workers may have hoped to realize via bigger paychecks.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-inflation-rates-20180713-story.html


Inflation-adjusted wages have fallen for three straight quarters on a year-over-year basis, according to data released by the Labor Department Tuesday. MarketWatch’s Steve Goldstein provided a chart that shows a dismal picture for real wages this year:
The only thing that’s booming is stock buybacks, while business investment is only moderately higher and wages are falling.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/gop-tax-cuts-arent-boosting-wages/ar-AAAgLtL?ocid=mailsignout


One of the most destructive tornado outbreaks of this relatively quiet 2018 tornado season hit Iowa on Thursday, causing severe damage and up to 17 injuries.
The Marshalltown tornado was just one of many tornadoes that raked Iowa on Thursday. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) logged 28 preliminary reports of tornadoes on Thursday--27 in Iowa and 1 in Minnesota. Minutes before the Marshalltown tornado hit, a separate tornado heavily damaged Bondurant, Iowa (population 3,900), then demolished two buildings at the Vermeer Corp. plant, a farm and construction equipment manufacturer near Pella.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Tornadoes-Rake-Iowa-Dangerous-Severe-Weather-Outbreak-Expected-Friday


Science fiction sometimes paints a bleak vision of the future, with wrecked landscapes where technology runs amok and humans struggle to survive.
But Sarena Ulibarri, editor-in-chief of World Weaver Press, says science fiction is not limited to dystopic visions.
Ulibarri: “Science fiction is not only a literature of warning. It can also be a literature of inspiration.”
She says there’s a growing subgenre that’s been dubbed “solarpunk.” In solarpunk stories, people work together to develop creative, innovative responses to a changing climate.
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/07/solarpunk-the-antidote-to-gloom-and-doom/


Feb 14, 2018
Despite increasing scrutiny of Georgia’s voting technology ahead of the 2018 midterms, the state will not join more than a dozen others asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for special help protecting its election system from hacks, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed this week.
Russia views the upcoming midterms as a potential target for interference, top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-says-no-thanks-election-security-help-feds/