Links

https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/11/common-plastics-emit-global-warming-pollution/
Nov. 7, 2018
Plastic products like six-pack rings and plastic bags can pollute waterways and harm wildlife. They also contribute to climate change.
Producing plastic generates carbon pollution. And new research shows that plastic releases greenhouse gases when it breaks down, too.


I notice that NPR is saying that Democrats won the House, republicans won the Senate, without mentioning that the popular vote for the Senate was Democratic. In an interview with a Republican about the election, he was the one that mentioned this.
Regular commercial news is reporting this on their internet sites, which is how I found out about it yesterday.


I couldn't find a way to send get well soon greetings to Supreme Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I'm sure she would get too many to read anyway.


https://weather.com/news/news/2018-11-08-northern-california-wildfire-camp-fire-evacuations/
Nov. 8, 2018
A fast-moving wildfire sparked Thursday morning in Northern California prompted numerous evacuations, including several entire towns.
Citing the California Highway Patrol, CBS Sacramento said at least five injuries were reported, and the Associated Press reported an unknown number of structures were destroyed by the so-called Camp Fire.
The Butte County Sheriff's Office told the AP that a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the entire town of Paradise, which is home to about 27,000 people and is north of Sacramento. Other towns being evacuated include Centerville and Butte Creek, northwest of Paradise.
Officials confirmed to the AP that some residents who attempted to escape the fire in their vehicles were then forced to flee on foot – some holding pets and even babies in their grasp – as the flames drew closer. With few options out of Paradise, roads quickly became gridlocked, and abandoned cars left in the middle of the road only made problems worse.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/08/cnn-jim-acosta-white-house-defends-decision-revoke-press-pass
Nov. 8, 2018
The White House has stood by its decision to revoke the access of CNN reporter Jim Acosta after a fiery standoff with the president, and defended sharing a video on social media that had been altered to make Acosta’s actions towards an intern look more aggressive.
The video, originally made by an employee of Infowars, a far-right conspiracy website, shows Acosta’s reaction to a White House employee who tried to grab a microphone from him while he attempted to question Donald Trump at a press conference on Wednesday.
The video is cut so that it appears that Acosta tries to forcefully use his arm to push away the White House staffer’s arm, rather than use his arm to pull back the microphone.
The White House has stood by its decision to revoke the access of CNN reporter Jim Acosta after a fiery standoff with the president, and defended sharing a video on social media that had been altered to make Acosta’s actions towards an intern look more aggressive.
The video, originally made by an employee of Infowars, a far-right conspiracy website, shows Acosta’s reaction to a White House employee who tried to grab a microphone from him while he attempted to question Donald Trump at a press conference on Wednesday.
The video is cut so that it appears that Acosta tries to forcefully use his arm to push away the White House staffer’s arm, rather than use his arm to pull back the microphone.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/08/cnn-jim-acosta-white-house-defends-decision-revoke-press-pass
Nov. 8, 2018
Donald Trump’s new attorney general once said that judges should be Christian and proposed blocking non-religious people from judicial appointments.
Matthew Whitaker, who was made acting attorney general on Wednesday after Trump fired Jeff Sessions, said judges needed a “biblical view of justice” and questioned the judgment of secular lawyers.
Whitaker made the remarks at a conservative forum in April 2014
Whitaker was previously a paid adviser to an invention-promotion company in Florida that was accused by the US government of running a multimillion-dollar scam. Court records show Whitaker sent a threatening email to one of the alleged scam’s victims who tried to complain.


results of gerrymandering in North Carolina:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article221282920.html
Nov. 7, 2018
Results of gerrymandering.
Across the state, [North Carolina], Republican candidates for Congress won 50.3 percent of the vote and Democrats won 48.4 percent of the vote, according to a News & Observer analysis of vote totals. Democrats did not have a candidate in Eastern North Carolina’s 3rd district, won by Republican incumbent Rep. Walter Jones.
But Republicans kept their 10-3 edge in the state’s House delegation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/08/how-gerrymandering-kept-democrats-winning-even-more-seats-tuesday/


results of gerrymandering in Wisconsin:
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/courts/election-results-strengthen-partisan-gerrymandering-case-says-group-that-sued/article_90ce0609-91a7-557b-85c2-e5831f84e5a3.html
Nov. 8, 2018
Tuesday’s election, in which Democrats won every statewide race but failed to gain any ground in the state Legislature, illustrates again the degree to which legislative maps are rigged against Democratic voters, according to a group suing over the fairness of those maps.
For the fourth state election in a row, despite votes that are close to evenly divided between statewide Republican and Democratic candidates, Republican majorities in the state Assembly and Senate have held fast or grown.