Links

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/16/ceo-versus-worker-wage-american-companies-pay-gap-study-2018
Aug. 16, 2018
The chief executives of America’s top 350 companies earned 312 times more than their workers on average last year, according to a new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute.
The rise came after the bosses of America’s largest companies got an average pay rise of 17.6% in 2017, taking home an average of $18.9m in compensation while their employees’ wages stalled, rising just 0.3% over the year.
The pay gap has risen dramatically, with some fluctuations, since the 1990s. In 1965 the ratio of CEO to worker pay was 20 to one; that figure had risen to 58 to one by in 1989 and peaked in 2000 when CEOs earned 344 times the wage of their average worker.


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/16/both-low-and-high-carb-diets-can-raise-risk-of-early-death-study-finds
Eating either a low-carb diet or a high-carb diet raises the risk of an early death, according to a major new study which will dismay the many people who have ditched the likes of bread, rice and potatoes for weight loss or health reasons.
Researchers who pooled the results of eight large studies have found that eating a moderate amount of carbohydrates is best for a healthy lifespan. Less than 40% or more than 70% of calories from carbohydrates carried a higher risk of mortality.
Not all low-carb diets are equal, however. People who ate a lot of meat and fats instead of carbohydrates, such as lamb, chicken, steak, butter and cheese, had a higher mortality risk than those who got their protein and fats from plant-based foods such as avocados, legumes and nuts. Popular weight loss diets such as Atkins and Dukan include a substantial amount of meat-based foods.
They found that 50-year-olds eating a moderate carb diet, with half their energy coming from carbohydrates, had a further life expectancy of 33 years, which was four years longer than those on low-carb diets and one year longer than those who ate a high-carb diet.


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/16/weedkiller-cereal-monsanto-roundup-childrens-food
Aug. 16, 2018
Significant levels of the weedkilling chemical glyphosate have been found in an array of popular breakfast cereals, oats and snack bars marketed to US children, a new study has found.
Tests revealed glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular weedkiller brand Roundup, present in all but two of the 45 oat-derived products that were sampled by the Environmental Working Group, a public health organization.
Nearly three in four of the products exceeded what the EWG classes safe for children to consume. Products with some of the highest levels of glyphosate include granola, oats and snack bars made by leading industry names Quaker, Kellogg’s and General Mills, which makes Cheerios.
The EWG said the federal limits are outdated and that most of the products it tested exceed a more stringent definition of safe glyphosate levels.
the World Health Organization has called glyphosate a “probable carcinogen” and authorities in California list it as a chemical “known to the state to cause cancer”.
In April, internal emails obtained from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that scientists have found glyphosate on a wide range of commonly consumed food, to the point that they were finding it difficult to identify a food without the chemical on it. The FDA has yet to release any official results from this process.


https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/08/in-dry-weather-mosquitoes-want-blood/
Aug. 16, 2018
You probably know that mosquitoes love wet places. They lay their eggs in puddles, birdbaths, and anywhere else they can find standing water. But new research finds that dry weather can cause mosquito problems, too.
Benoit: “A lot of people consider wet periods critical for having more mosquitoes. Yes, they may be critical for having more mosquitoes, but there’s all these other factors that are related to their ability to act in transmission of diseases.”
Joshua Benoit of the University of Cincinnati says dry weather can leave mosquitoes dehydrated. And thirst changes how they act.
Benoit: “When they’re dehydrated, they actually blood feed more often.”
His team recently found that thirst makes some species of mosquito as much as five times more likely to bite.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/402267-trumps-military-parade-planned-for-veterans-day-pushed-back-until-at-least
Aug. 16, 2018
President Trump's military parade planned for Veterans Day has been postponed until at least next year, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The announcement came hours after the Defense Department released an updated cost estimate for the planned parade, which pegged the price tag for the event at $92 million, including $50 million from the Pentagon and $42 million from interagency partners.
That figure is significantly higher than an initial estimate that three U.S. defense officials provided CNN with last month. That estimate pegged the cost of the parade at closer to $12 million, raising new questions about the overall cost of the event.


https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/05/nfl-49ers-colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protest-nate-boyer
May 24, 2018
After talking with Army vet and former Seahawks long snapper Nate Boyer, Kaepernick decided that, in order to show respect for those who have served, he would no longer sit during the anthem. Boyer suggested a new form of protest…
“I expressed to him, maybe there’s a different way of demonstrating, where you’re showing more respect for those who laid down their lives for what that flag and anthem stand for,” Boyer said of his conversation with Kaepernick. “I suggested kneeling, because people kneel to pray; we’ll kneel in front of a fallen brother’s grave.”


https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-psychology-of-taking-a-knee/
Sept. 29, 2018
Kneeling is a sign of reverence, submissiveness, deference—and sometimes mourning and vulnerability. But with a single, graceful act, Kaepernick invested it with a double meaning. He didn’t turn his back as the anthem was played, which would have been a true sign of disrespect. Nor did he rely on the now-conventionalized black-power fist.
Rather, he transformed a collective ritual—the playing of the national anthem—into something somber, a reminder of how far we still have to go to realize the high ideal of equal protection under the law that the flag represents. The athletes who followed him are showing reverence for the song and the flag, but they are simultaneously deviating from cultural norms at the moment their knees hit the grass.
By transforming this ritual, the players woke us up. Our amygdalae activate as soon as our brains spot deviations from routine, social norms, and in-group tendencies. We want to know what’s happening and why. We need to know if the deviation poses a threat to us or our group. This may start to explain why so many Americans reacted with such fear and rage to a few athletes kneeling on the field in the midst of a national ritual.


In case anybody wants to know, I'm an army brat. My grandfather was in the army in WWI. My father was in the army in WWII and Korea, and retired from the army. My mother was a WAC in WWII. By brother and brother-in-law retired from the Navy. My nephew served a term in the Navy. I tried to join the Marines when I was in college, but couldn't get in because of a medical problem.


https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-william-mcraven-trump-security-clearance-2018-8
Aug. 16, 2018
The man who oversaw the raid that took out al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden delivered a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump amid the White House's decision to revoke former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance.
In an opinion column published by The Washington Post on Thursday, retired US Navy admiral William McRaven, a former US Navy SEAL and commander of the US Joint Special Operations Command, described Brennan as "one of the finest public servants."
"He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don't know him."
"It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out," Brennan said on Twitter. "My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent."
McRaven appeared to concur with Brennan in his brief, but critical, column.
"Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency," McRaven wrote.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/economy-won-apos-t-save-130314004.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb
Aug. 13, 2018
Donald Trump keeps bragging about the economy — an unemployment rate of just 3.9 percent, 3.7 million jobs created since he took office, consumer confidence up. Will this help the Republicans in the 2018 midterms? Probably not.
If anything, the good economic performance paradoxically will hurt the GOP. Why? Because it’s not trickling down to ordinary people. Voters hear news reports and claims about the strong economy but know that their own wages are still lousy. This reinforces their sense that someone else is making off with the gains. And the statistics bear them out. Because of structural changes in the job market, real wages adjusted for inflation are actually flat.
What structural changes? A shift in power from the worker to the boss. A shift to part-time, temp and contract work. An escalation in the war against unions.
This the first time in modern economic history that very low unemployment rates and tight labor markets have not led to higher worker earnings. Regular people may not grasp the finer nuances of labor market theory, but they know when the boss is giving them a good screwing.
Same story with the tax cut. Republicans thought it would give them bragging rights with voters. But so little of it actually trickles down that Republican candidates have stopped bragging about it. Rather, Democrats hit pay dirt when they emphasize that the immense deficit created by the 10-year cuts have become the excuse for Republicans to target cuts in Social Security and Medicare.


I notice that Trump's proposed Space Force is separate from the existing armed forces, which have many career people who have served many years in a culture of loyalty to our country, and the importance of laws, out-numbering the right-wing extremists who have joined. A new branch would allow the selection of right-wing leaders who select right-wing subordinates loyal to Trump or whoever is leader then. And having weapons in space capable of blasting those on earth would give them power over our country.