Monday, February 19, 2018
Links
Ozone at lower latitudes is not recovering, despite Antarctic ozone hole healing
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/icl-oal020218.php
New fuel standards will decrease childhood asthma cases
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uod-nfs020618.php
Increased UV from ozone depletion sterilizes trees
Evidence links volcanoes to Earth's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoc--iuf020118.php
Geologist James Kennett and colleagues provide evidence for a massive biomass burning event at the Younger Dryas Boundary
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoc--tbb020718.php
A combination of archival and experimental studies indicates that exposure to air pollution, either physically or mentally, is linked with unethical behavior such as crime and cheating. The experimental findings suggest that this association may be due, at least in part, to increased anxiety.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/afps-pam020718.php
Thousands of lives would be saved each year, and many more serious illnesses avoided, if U.S. counties met standards set by the American Thoracic Society for the two most important air pollutants
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/ats-tol020718.php
A major new study confirms that a diet high in fruit and vegetables is better for the planet than one high in animal products. The study also finds that organic food provides significant, additional climate benefits for plant-based diets, but not for diets with only moderate contribution from plant products
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/f-ofp020518.php
Small gold mines in Senegal create high mercury contamination
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/du-sgm020818.php
Global warming could cause key culinary crops to release seeds prematurely
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/cp-gwc020718.php
Twenty-five years of satellite data confirm rising sea levels
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uosf-2os020718.php
Lightning Helps Fertilize The Soil
https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/lightening-helps-fertilize-soil/
http://www.biology-pages.info/N/NitrogenCycle.html
Lightning storms less likely in a warming planet, study suggests
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoe-lsl021218.php
By 2100, arid cities will suffer from more severe heat waves than temperate cities
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/puww-b2a021318.php
This Lady Scientist Defined the Greenhouse Effect But Didn’t Get the Credit, Because of Sexism
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lady-scientist-helped-revolutionize-climate-science-didnt-get-credit-180961291/#dsyiJGVrwHkT3Pd6.99
Pride tops guilt as a motivator for environmental decisions
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/puww-ptg021318.php
Estrogens in treated wastewater that find their way into temporary wetlands known as vernal pools persist for weeks or even months, according to researchers, who suggest that persistence may have implications for these critical aquatic habitats.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/ps-ppo021318.php
Fracking tied to reduced songbird nesting success
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/aosp-ftt020718.php
A study by Indiana University researchers shows that excess emissions -- which occur with plant shut-downs, start-ups and malfunctions, and not just in connection with natural disasters -- can make serious contributions to overall air pollution.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/iu-em021318.php
Thermal blankets melt snow quickly
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/acs-tbm021418.php
Chemical products that contain compounds refined from petroleum, like household cleaners, pesticides, paints and perfumes, now rival motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoca-cai020718.php
Genetics makes Asians, Europeans susceptible to dengue shock syndrome
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/p-gma020718.php
Short kids may have higher future stroke risk
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/aha-skm020918.php
Rapid pollution increases may be as harmful to the heart as absolute levels
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/esoc-rpi021318.php
Eating yogurt may reduce cardiovascular disease risk
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/oupu-eym021418.php
New guideline warns pain benefits of medical cannabis overstated
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoaf-ngw021418.php
tags: drug abuse
Elementary school children who read below grade level may have challenges with their eyesight even if standard tests show they see 20/20,
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uow-eel021418.php
A drug commonly used to control high blood pressure may also help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes in up to 60 percent of those at risk for the disease, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University of Florida in Gainesville.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoca-rfe021518.php
Women with asthma who only use short-acting asthma relievers take longer to become pregnant than other women, according to international research led by the University of Adelaide.
However, the study of more than 5600 women in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland also shows that women with asthma who use long-acting asthma preventers conceive as quickly as other women.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoa-aml021518.php
Not being aware of memory problems predicts onset of Alzheimer's disease
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/mu-nba021518.php
Early introduction of peanuts into the diet can prevent the development of peanut allergy in high-risk infants
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/wkh-rpa021518.php
Affordable Care Act lowered uninsured rate for cancer survivors
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/wkh-aca021518.php
Romantic relationships buffer gay and lesbian youth from emotional distress
Romantic involvement was associated with higher psychological distress for bisexual individuals, however, the study also showed.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/nu-rrb021518.php
Hearing loss is common after infant heart surgery
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/chop-hli021518.php
New research in mice has found that a father's stress affects the brain development of his offspring. This stress changes the father's sperm, which can then alter the brain development of the child.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoms-nri021218.php
Women who work as cleaners or regularly use cleaning sprays or other cleaning products at home appear to experience a greater decline in lung function over time than women who do not clean
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/ats-wwc021318.php
High levels of microplastics found in Northwest Atlantic fish
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/f-hlo021618.php
Contemporary population estimates suggest that like cigarette-only smokers, current cigar-only and pipe-only smokers have a higher risk of dying from cancers known to be caused by tobacco, and cigarette and cigar smokers have a higher risk of death from any cause compared with people who never used tobacco.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/jn-aor021518.php
Biodiversity loss raises risk of 'extinction cascades'
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uoe-blr021618.php
Electrical implant reduces 'invisible' symptoms of man's spinal cord injury
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uobc-eir021618.php
In Jan. 2014, Russian predicted Trump would become president.
https://politics.myajc.com/news/opinion-blogs/opinion-here-curious-thing/m14AxcrUgHZNmB6y6kA6SO/
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Links
Intelligence Agencies Warn of Climate Risks in Worldwide Threat Assessment
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13022018/climate-change-conflict-disasters-worldwide-threat-assessment-intelligence-agencies-refugees
The Pain-Relieving Response to Being Rejected or Excluded
http://community.today.com/parentingteam/post/am-i-invisible-the-pain-relieving-response-to-being-rejected-or-excluded_1518190386?cid=sm_fbn_pt
Dog food brands recalled over possible euthanasia drug
The FDA said its preliminary evaluation of the testing results of Gravy Train samples indicated the low levels found were unlikely to pose a health risk to pets.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/18/health/dog-food-pentobarbital/index.html
Anger causes Violence
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/04/anger_causes_violence_treat_it_rather_than_mental_illness_to_stop_mass_murder.html
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Links
If We Want Kids to Stop Killing, the Adults Have to Stop, Too
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/taibbi-parkland-florida-school-shooting-gun-control-nra-w516850
The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/steven-pinker-media-negative-news
The chemicals in common cleaning sprays could be detrimental to your respiratory system, according to a new report.
[My health is much better since I retired and am not wxposed to the cleaners and "air fresheners" I was forced to breathe at work.]
http://www.ajc.com/news/study-common-household-chore-just-damaging-smoking-cigarettes-day/Chr8aAPKCZxx7COYFLiWwO/
West Virginia gov. declares State of Emergency after heavy rainfall
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-virginia-state-of-emergency-weather-rain-forecast-today-02-17-2018/
Flu vaccine works better than feared, but it's still not great
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-vaccine-works-better-feared-it-s-still-not-great-n848351
Covert Russian propaganda flooded Twitter after the Parkland shooting to stoke America's raw divides.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-trolls-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting-n848471
Friday, February 16, 2018
Links
Special counsel indicts Russian nationals for interfering with U.S. elections and political processes
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/16/special-counsel-indicts-russian-nationals-election-interference/345720002/
Parental Use of Corporal Punishment in Europe
[Behaviour and emotional probems are FAR higher in children whose parents frequently use physical punishment.]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4326463/
tags: child abuse
Bat Swarms Tracked by Weather Radar Reveal Earlier Migration as Planet Warms
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14022018/bat-migration-climate-change-texas-agriculture-weather-radar-global-warming-animal-impact
Trump's gas tax would wipe out 60% of tax cut benefit for individuals, analyst estimates
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/trumps-gas-tax-would-wipe-out-60-percent-of-tax-cut-benefit.html
Gas Tax Revenue Isn't What It Used to Be
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gas-taxes-aren-t-paying-the-bills-for-roads-anymore
We could choose to have a kinder, less mean society. Other societies do so. A sociologist who studied many countries said that the U.S. is the most personally competitive, with people feeling they have to be THE winner, or they are a loser. Trump exemplifies this. This affects how people relate to and treat children. And we have more violence, as well as more people in jail. (Although the rate of violence has been decreasing for a couple of decades.)
I feel very sad for the victims of the Florida school shooting. I also feel sad for the shooter. Someone who does this is miserable. If we cared about children and helped them, we and our children would be safer.
Trump Proposes Deep Cuts In Detecting Disease Outbreaks Worldwide
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/12/585119417/trump-proposes-deep-cuts-in-detecting-disease-outbreaks-worldwide
Florida school shooting suspect linked to white supremacist group: ADL
http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-school-shooting-suspect/story?id=53092753
Cuban embassy staff had concussion-like injuries, doctors say
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cuban-embassy-staff-had-concussion-injuries-doctors-say-n848291
Borneo Has Lost 100,000 Orangutans Since 1999
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/15/585983258/borneo-has-lost-100-000-orangutans-since-1999
FCC watchdog investigates chairman's role in easing way for Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune Media, congressman says
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-fcc-ajit-pai-sinclair-tribune-media-20180215-story.html
Ultra-processed foods 'linked to cancer'
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43064290
This new text bomb crashes most Mac and iOS apps with a single unicode symbol
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/15/iphone-text-bomb-ios-mac-crash-apple/?ncid=mobilenavtrend
Last February, Trump signed a bill making it easier for people with mental illness to buy guns
Republicans rolled back even the most modest gun regulations
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/15/17016036/trump-guns-mental-illness
Insider trading has been rife on Wall Street, academics conclude
https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21736561-one-study-suggests-insiders-profited-even-global-financial-crisis-another
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Spanking Children Leads to Domestic Violence?
Written by Leah Campbell on January 11, 2018
•••••
Over the years, spanking has been the topic of quite a few research studies.
Researchers have said the disciplinary tactic can increase mental illness, make children more aggressive later in life, and even lead to less gray matter in a child’s brain.
The latest research, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, concludes that children who have been spanked have an increased risk of becoming perpetrators of domestic violence in adulthood. This increase was found even when control
•••••
“physical violence typically results in fear. Which may stop a child from repeating the behavior. They’re afraid, so they avoid engaging in whatever challenging behavior it was that produced that fear. But you aren’t actually teaching the child anything. Even if you add a conversation after the spanking, as an adult, you’re modeling physical violence as a means to an end to get a child to change their behavior. We need to think about the message that sends kids: Hitting can be used to get someone else to do what you want.”
Instead, she says, “Parents need to teach their kids to have better emotional control. And they teach that by modeling it themselves.”
•••••
tags: child abuse
Successful weight loss could be hampered by chemical compounds lurking in everyday products in your house,
https://www.livescience.com/61768-chemicals-food-wrappers-nonstick-pans-weight-gain.html
By Tereza Pultarova, Live Science Contributor | February 15, 2018
Successful weight loss could be hampered by chemical compounds lurking in everyday products in your house, a new study finds.
The study, published Feb. 13 in the journal PLOS Medicine, focused on a group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, that are sometimes referred to as "obesogens" because of their effects on weight.
PFASs have been used for more than 60 years in various industries — including in non-stick pans and food packaging — and have since contaminated water resources and made their way into the food chain, according to the study. For example, many shellfish contain the chemicals, said Qi Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and senior author of the study. But they can also leach into food from wrappers and can even enter a person's body through contact with treated carpets and textiles.
Previous studies have shown that PFASs have been linked to obesity, among other health problems, the study said.
"What we observed is that those chemicals … may determine how much weight people regain after dieting," Sun told Live Science. "More specifically, we found that higher levels of those chemicals [in a person's body] were associated with faster weight regain after dieting."
•••••
Interestingly, the PFAS concentrations didn't affect the people's ability to lose weight, the study found. Once the trial ended, however, those with higher levels of PFASs in their system appeared to have a harder time keeping the pounds off, and the effect was worse in women. (The study, however, did not prove-and-effect; rather, it found an association between PFASs and weight gain.)
In addition, the researchers found that "PFAS levels were also associated with a lower resting metabolic rate," Sun said. "If you have a lower resting metabolic rate, your resting metabolism is slow, [so] you are not able to burn too much energy, [and] that's why you gain weight."
•••••
In addition to weight gain, PFASs have been linked to a number of other conditions, including cancer, hormone disruption, high cholesterol and immune system dysfunction, according to the study.
•••••
By Tereza Pultarova, Live Science Contributor | February 15, 2018
Successful weight loss could be hampered by chemical compounds lurking in everyday products in your house, a new study finds.
The study, published Feb. 13 in the journal PLOS Medicine, focused on a group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, that are sometimes referred to as "obesogens" because of their effects on weight.
PFASs have been used for more than 60 years in various industries — including in non-stick pans and food packaging — and have since contaminated water resources and made their way into the food chain, according to the study. For example, many shellfish contain the chemicals, said Qi Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and senior author of the study. But they can also leach into food from wrappers and can even enter a person's body through contact with treated carpets and textiles.
Previous studies have shown that PFASs have been linked to obesity, among other health problems, the study said.
"What we observed is that those chemicals … may determine how much weight people regain after dieting," Sun told Live Science. "More specifically, we found that higher levels of those chemicals [in a person's body] were associated with faster weight regain after dieting."
•••••
Interestingly, the PFAS concentrations didn't affect the people's ability to lose weight, the study found. Once the trial ended, however, those with higher levels of PFASs in their system appeared to have a harder time keeping the pounds off, and the effect was worse in women. (The study, however, did not prove-and-effect; rather, it found an association between PFASs and weight gain.)
In addition, the researchers found that "PFAS levels were also associated with a lower resting metabolic rate," Sun said. "If you have a lower resting metabolic rate, your resting metabolism is slow, [so] you are not able to burn too much energy, [and] that's why you gain weight."
•••••
In addition to weight gain, PFASs have been linked to a number of other conditions, including cancer, hormone disruption, high cholesterol and immune system dysfunction, according to the study.
•••••
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Links
3 Trump properties posted 144 openings for seasonal jobs. Only one went to a US worker.
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/13/16466542/trump-h-2b-guest-workers
Proposed Food Stamp Cuts Would Hit Military Families
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/05/24/proposed-food-stamp-cuts-would-hit-military-families.html#.WoDzjKYhIhg.facebook
Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/science/medicaid-cutbacks-elderly-nursing-homes.html
Ants Rescue Their Companions By Licking Their Wounds
https://www.i4u.com/2018/02/127173/ants-rescue-their-warriors-licking-their-wounds
ICE Lawyer Charged With Stealing Immigrants' Identities To Commit Bank Fraud
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/14/585768681/top-ice-lawyer-charged-with-stealing-immigrants-identities-to-commit-bank-fraud
Trump proposes eliminating federal funding for PBS, NPR
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-proposes-eliminating-federal-funding-for-pbs-npr/ar-BBJ2Jcb
Republicans in Nevada are seeking to recall two senators who were elected in 2016 -- without alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the senators.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/07/politics/nevada-senate-recall/index.html
By Eric Bradner
Feb. 7, 2018
Democrats are going to court in Nevada on Wednesday to try to stop a recall election that they fear could lead to new efforts to wipe out legislative majorities across the country.
Republicans in Nevada are seeking to recall two senators who were elected in 2016 -- without alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the senators.
Why oust Sens. Joyce Woodhouse and Nicole Cannizzaro? Because both are Democrats, and if the GOP can flip two seats, it will take control of the state Senate.
If the recall effort succeeds, it could provide a model to flip legislatures across the nation in the 20 states that allow the process, putting all narrowly divided legislative bodies in those states at risk.
•••••
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a popular Republican, has opposed the recall effort, telling The Nevada Independent it would set a "dangerous precedent."
"It's never happened before, but it probably will likely become another typical arrow in the quiver for both parties," Sandoval said. "I hope it doesn't, but again, if it's successful, and the voters do recall these individuals, I can't see why all of them wouldn't use it going forward."
•••••
By Eric Bradner
Feb. 7, 2018
Democrats are going to court in Nevada on Wednesday to try to stop a recall election that they fear could lead to new efforts to wipe out legislative majorities across the country.
Republicans in Nevada are seeking to recall two senators who were elected in 2016 -- without alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the senators.
Why oust Sens. Joyce Woodhouse and Nicole Cannizzaro? Because both are Democrats, and if the GOP can flip two seats, it will take control of the state Senate.
If the recall effort succeeds, it could provide a model to flip legislatures across the nation in the 20 states that allow the process, putting all narrowly divided legislative bodies in those states at risk.
•••••
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a popular Republican, has opposed the recall effort, telling The Nevada Independent it would set a "dangerous precedent."
"It's never happened before, but it probably will likely become another typical arrow in the quiver for both parties," Sandoval said. "I hope it doesn't, but again, if it's successful, and the voters do recall these individuals, I can't see why all of them wouldn't use it going forward."
•••••
Seniors will pay the price for Trump’s Medicare cuts
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/seniors-will-pay-the-price-for-trumps-medicare-cuts-2018-02-14
Ironic, since older people are the biggest supporters of Trump.
I suggest reading the whole article at the following link. I don't want to infringe on their copyright, or I would include the whole article. It is very informative.
Published: Feb 14, 2018
•••••
Trump’s plan includes $554 billion in cuts to Medicare, the federal health care program that provides insurance to 55 million Americans who are over age 65 or living with disabilities. The program helps ensure that every American can afford doctor’s appointments, medications, and life-saving treatments after they retire or when they are no longer able to work.
While some of the proposed changes to Medicare would target reimbursements for doctors to ensure they are not charging too much and would pass rebates along to beneficiaries directly, other program savings come from picking winners and losers around changes to the program’s prescription drug coverage.
•••••
The budget also includes billions in cuts to Social Security insurance and disability benefits, $1.4 trillion in Medicaid cuts, and drastic cuts to nutrition and housing assistance programs that help struggling families and seniors keep food on the table.
•••••
The president is proposing such deep cuts because he needs someone to pay for the massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and Wall Street in his tax bill that have increased the deficit by over $1 trillion.
•••••
Administration’s Budget Proposal Includes $1.4 Trillion in Medicaid Cuts
https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2018/02/12/administrations-budget-proposal-includes-1-4-trillion-in-medicaid-cuts/
Note that Medicaid pays for many people in nursing homes.
February 12, 2018 Andy Schneider
The Administration today released a budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts on October 1 (FY 2019).
•••••
We don’t even have a federal budget for the fiscal year that ends on September 30; once that gets sorted out (hopefully by March 23, the next drop dead date), that FY 2018 budget will likely be the placeholder (via a Continuing Resolution) for FY 2019 until after the mid-term elections on November 6.
There is an important reason to understand the Administration’s Medicaid FY 2019 budget proposal: it could well be back in play next spring. To get ready, here’s what you need to know.
The Administration is proposing to cap federal Medicaid payments to states and to cut federal Medicaid spending by $1.439 trillion – that is trillion with a “t” – over the ten year period 2019 – 2028. [1] That is about 26% of what the Administration projects federal Medicaid spending would otherwise be, and within shouting distance of the $1.455 trillion cost of the tax cuts enacted in December.
Of course, you wouldn’t know it from reading the Administration’s budget narrative.
•••••
But let’s be clear: that’s just the opening bid. It assumes federal spending increases at the rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). Once a cap is in place, it can – and almost certainly will – be dialed down by future Congresses (CPI-U minus 0.5, CPI-U minus 1.0, etc.) to extract additional federal spending cuts at the expense of states and localities.
•••••
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Links
The foods that can help and harm your brain
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/12/its-not-just-in-the-genes-the-foods-that-can-help-and-harm-your-brain
Chemicals in packaging, carpets and non-stick pans 'may contribute to obesity'
Studies have also linked compounds called perfluoroalkyl substances to cancer, high cholesterol and immune problems
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/13/chemicals-in-packaging-carpets-and-non-stick-pans-may-contribute-to-obesity
Miami could be underwater in your kid’s lifetime as sea level rise accelerates
At the current rate of melting, the world's seas will be at least 2 feet higher by the end of the century compared to today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/02/13/sea-level-rise-accelerating-around-world/333140002/
Microplastics have been found in some of the most remote and uncharted regions of the oceans raising more concerns over the global scale of plastic pollution.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/12/microplastics-pollute-most-remote-and-uncharted-areas-of-the-ocean
Trump's Infrastructure Plan Is Actually Pence's—And It's All About Privatization
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/09/15/donald-trump-infrastructure-plan-mike-pence-privatization-658403.html
White House proposes 25 percent cut to EPA funding
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/373433-white-house-proposes-nearly-25-percent-in-cuts-to-epa
The EPA debunked Administrator Pruitt’s latest climate misinformation
Until Pruitt deleted the EPA climate webpages.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/feb/12/the-epa-debunked-administrator-pruitts-latest-climate-misinformation
Trump budget would cut health department by 21 percent
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/373452-health-department-would-see-21-percent-cut-under-trump-budget-proposal
US teacher dies after opting out of costly flu medicine
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43039036
Marijuana users' self-proclaimed holiday is linked with a slight increase in fatal U.S. car crashes, an analysis of 25 years of data found.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/marijuanas-420-holiday-tied-rise-fatal-car-crashes-53020612
tags: drug abuse
Sea Levels Are Surging at Faster and Faster Rates as Antarctica and Greenland Melt, Satellite Data Reveals
http://www.newsweek.com/sea-level-rise-has-rapidly-accelerated-1992-melting-ice-and-its-not-803326
The president proposes shifting large chunks of money from the space station, satellites studying a warming Earth and a major space telescope toward a multi-year $10.4 billion exploration plan aimed at returning astronauts to the moon in about five or six years.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-wants-nasa-out-of-space-station-by-2025-businesses-in/2018/02/12/33717d9e-101d-11e8-a68c-e9374188170e_story.html?utm_term=.97d53897269a
Trump Administration Wants To Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/12/585130274/trump-administration-wants-to-decide-what-food-snap-recipients-will-get
Top 5 Worst Religious Clichés for People in Pain
https://katebowler.com/top-5-worst-religious-cliches-people-pain/
Trump wants to privatize the International Space Station
Ted Cruz blames the idea on “numskulls” over at the Office of Management and Budget.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/11/17001610/international-space-station-privatize-trump-nasa
Trump Sold a $40 Million Estate to a Russian Oligarch for $100 Million—and a Democratic Senator Wants to Know Why
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-sold-40-million-estate-russian-oligarch-100-million-and-democratic-802613
Monday, February 12, 2018
Trump budget seeks cuts to domestic programs, Medicare, favors military and wall
Ginger Gibson, James Oliphant
Feb. 12, 2018
President Donald Trump proposed a budget on Monday that calls for cuts in domestic spending and social programs such as Medicare and seeks a sharp increase in military spending and funding for a wall on the Mexican border.
While running for president in 2016, Trump pledged to leave popular benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security untouched, but his new budget proposal would reduce Medicare spending by $236 billion over the next 10 years.
•••••
There is little chance of those cuts becoming real, as presidential budgets are rarely enacted by the U.S. Congress, which controls federal purse strings. Instead, the budget allows the White House to lay out its priorities for the year.
•••••
Trump takes aim at blue states in infrastructure plan
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/12/trump-infrastructure-blue-states-transit-405993
Another ploy to transfer wealth to the power elite.
State and local taxes are regressive, with people paying a larger percentage of income in taxes the smaller their income. Shifting the spending formula for infrastructure to 80% paid by state and local government will increase this unfairness.
And the proposal for "private" investment means toll roads and bridges, which is extremely regressive, and can make roads too expensive for lower-income people to afford to use.
And blue states tend to pay more federal taxes than they get back, the opposite is true for republican states that are largely rural. Trump's plan would increase this unfairness.
By DANA RUBINSTEIN and RYAN HUTCHINS
02/12/2018
Major transportation projects in blue states may be in jeopardy in President Donald Trump’s 10-year infrastructure plan, which critics say favors little-populated rural areas to the detriment of urban America.
The White House isn’t being coy about where its priorities lie in the $1.5 trillion proposal, released Monday: Of the $200 billion in actual federal investment called for in the 10-year plan, one-quarter would go to rural areas for purposes as diverse as sewers, highways, airports and broadband. But only 14 percent of people in the U.S. live in non-metropolitan areas.
•••••
"That's a very clear message that urban America is not of very much consequence, and, ironically, it's urban America that needs most of the infrastructure money," said Martin Robins, the founding director of Rutgers University's Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center in New Jersey.
•••••
And it emphasizes finding ways to augment government funding with private sector money, which detractors say would invariably result in more tolls or other passenger fees. It's a tough assignment for public-transit projects that have little prospect of making money.
•••••
he Trump administration wants to rely on local governments and private operators to do the heavy lifting, even as those same local governments — particularly in high-tax blue states — are grappling with the budgetary implications of Trump's tax code changes that took effect last month.
"The Republican tax bill was specifically designed to extract wealth from places that vote Democratic and shift it to places that vote Republican, and so that makes it extremely difficult for us to self-tax to make up for the cuts that are coming from the federal government," said Gabriel Metcalf, president and CEO of SPUR, a San Francisco Bay area-based urban policy think tank.
Trump's plan plays to his base in rural and small-town America, where nearly two thirds of voters chose him in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. He campaigned on promises of improving job prospects for the parts of the country where they have been dim.
•••••
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Koch-backed group fights paid sick leave laws as flu sweeps US
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/11/paid-sick-leave-koch-brothers-nfib
Please consider donating to The Guardian to help them continue their investigative reporting without a pay wall.
Renée Feltz
Sun 11 Feb 2018 06.00 EST
This week marks 25 years since Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which gives US workers the right to unpaid time off to care for themselves and close family members.
It took another decade for some to win paid sick leave, when San Franciscans approved a ballot initiative in 2006 for private employees to earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Similar measures now benefit 14 million workers in 32 municipalities and nine states.
Paid sick leave advocates cite studies showing flu infection rates decrease in cities where workers earn sick days, and that parents who cannot take leave are two times more likely to send their sick children to school. They also point to a 2012 poll of restaurant servers and cooks that revealed two-thirds had served or cooked food while ill, threatening the health of their co-workers, customers and the companies that employ them.
But with a flu epidemic currently raging across the US, potential new sick leave measures are facing opposition from the same Koch Brothers-backed lobbying group that led the legal assault on Obamacare.
When Maryland lawmakers moved last month to override the governor’s veto of a bill allowing 700,000 workers to earn sick leave, the state’s director of the National Federation of Independent Business – the Koch-backed group – complained it would create job-killing costs and mandate “devastating sanctions” for failure to comply.
On Thursday, the NFIB backed a failed attempt to delay the law, which went into effect on Sunday.
Now it wants Austin city council members to vote no this Thursday on an ordinance that would make the Texas liberal enclave the first city in the south to require paid sick leave from private employers.
Past tax records reveal most of the NFIB’s funding comes from Freedom Partners, whose nine-member board includes eight current or former key figures at Koch Industries and other Koch entities. More than 95% of the candidates it backs are Republican.
While its representatives are often quoted in the media as proponents of small businesses, the group refuses to release its donor list and tends to lobby for policies that benefit billionaires and corporate interests.
•••••
Upping the stakes, NFIB’s Texas Executive Director, Will Newton, has promised to pursue state-level a “pre-emptive” law against paid sick leave next year. Seven states have already enacted similar measures drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which critics call a corporate bill mill.
•••••
Meanwhile, during a press conference on Tuesday to announce the death of two children from the flu this season in New York City, the health commissioner touted the city’s paid sick leave law as a way to get people with the virus to stay home.
The measure passed in 2014, but a report released last month found fewer than half of low-income workers had heard of it.
Trump unveils infrastructure plan to be paid for mostly by state and local governments
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/11/trump-to-unveil-165bn-infrastructure-proposal
So the tax bill penalizes people in states where they are willing to tax themselves for the public good, now Trump wants the states to be the ones to pay for infrastructure improvements.
AP
Feb. 11, 2018
Donald Trump on Monday will unveil his long-awaited infrastructure plan.
It is a $1.5tn proposal that fulfills a number of campaign goals but relies heavily on state and local governments to produce much of the funding.
'One big pothole’: will Trump fix America’s decaying infrastructure?
Read more
The administration’s plan is centered on using $200bn in federal money to leverage local and state tax dollars to fix America’s infrastructure, such as roads, highways, ports and airports.
“Every federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with state and local governments and where appropriate tapping into private sector investment to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit,” Trump said at last month’s State of the Union address.
The president has repeatedly blamed the “crumbling” state of the nation’s roads and highways for preventing the American economy from reaching its full potential.
•••••
Administration officials previewing the plan said it would feature two key components: an injection of funding for new investments and help speed up repairs of crumbling roads and airports, as well as a streamlined permitting process that would truncate the wait time to get projects underway. Officials said the $200bn in federal support would come from cuts to existing programs.
Half the money would go to grants for transportation, water, flood control, cleanup at some of the country’s most polluted sites and other projects.
States, local governments and other project sponsors could use the grants which administration officials view as incentives for no more than 20% of the cost. Transit agencies generally count on the federal government for half the cost of major construction projects, and federal dollars can make up as much as 80% of some highway projects.
About $50bn would go toward rural projects transportation, broadband, water, waste, power, flood management and ports. That is intended to address criticism from some Republican senators that the administration’s initial emphasis on public-private partnerships would do little to help rural, GOP-leaning states.
•••••
Links
President Trump said in an interview published Sunday that both Israelis and Palestinians are playing roles in hindering peace in the region.
[I agree with Trump on this.]
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/373350-trump-israel-and-palestinians-both-hindering-peace-plan
The Importance of Infants’ Exposure to Micro-Organisms
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/well/live/infant-microbiome-cesarean-childbirth-breastfeeding.html
Trump accuses Democrats of sending him Russia probe memo they knew he would reject
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-accuses-democrats-sending-russia-probe-memo-knew/story?id=52984087
Raw-meat pet food tainted with salmonella sickens 2 Minnesota children
http://www.startribune.com/pet-found-causes-two-child-illnesses/473614903/
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Equifax hack put more info at risk than consumers knew
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/02/10/equifax-hack-put-more-info-risk-than-consumers-knew/326260002/
Feb. 10, 2018
The Equifax data breach exposed more of consumers’ personal information than the company first disclosed last year, according to documents given to lawmakers.
The credit reporting company announced in September that the personal information of 145.5 million consumers had been compromised in a data breach. It originally said that the information accessed included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and – in some cases – driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers. It also said some consumers’ credit card numbers were among the information exposed, as well as the personal information from thousands of dispute documents.
However, Atlanta-based Equifax Inc. recently disclosed in a document submitted to the Senate Banking Committee, that a forensic investigation found criminals accessed other information from company records. According to the document, provided to The Associated Press by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, that included tax identification numbers, email addresses and phone numbers. Finer details, such as the expiration dates for credit cards or issuing states for driver’s licenses, were also included in the list.
•••••
Feb. 10, 2018
The Equifax data breach exposed more of consumers’ personal information than the company first disclosed last year, according to documents given to lawmakers.
The credit reporting company announced in September that the personal information of 145.5 million consumers had been compromised in a data breach. It originally said that the information accessed included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and – in some cases – driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers. It also said some consumers’ credit card numbers were among the information exposed, as well as the personal information from thousands of dispute documents.
However, Atlanta-based Equifax Inc. recently disclosed in a document submitted to the Senate Banking Committee, that a forensic investigation found criminals accessed other information from company records. According to the document, provided to The Associated Press by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, that included tax identification numbers, email addresses and phone numbers. Finer details, such as the expiration dates for credit cards or issuing states for driver’s licenses, were also included in the list.
•••••
Friday, February 09, 2018
Links
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche
It's shameful that people who benefited from adults willing to pay taxes for their college education now are unwilling to do the same for young people today.
If we gave everyone a decent standard of living, could we sustain it?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/a-basic-standard-of-living-could-be-environmentally-sustainable/
Climate disruption is increasing flood risks in Europe
[I guess Pruitt would say this is good, because the people who cleanup and repair after these events get more business.]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/feb/08/climate-change-is-increasing-flood-risks-in-europe
US flu season now as bad as 2009 swine flu epidemic
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/09/us-flu-season-epidemic
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that “Dreamers” serving in the military will not be deported, even if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program expires.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/373021-mattis-vows-dreamers-serving-in-military-will-not-be-deported
What 'Hillbilly Elegy' Won't Tell You About Appalachia
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/what-hillbilly-elegy-wont-tell-you-about-appalachia?akid=16697.215065.1nllmr&rd=1&src=newsletter1088443&t=6
Robert J. O'Neill, Navy SEAL who says he killed bin Laden: ‘A military parade is third world bullshit’
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372941-navy-seal-who-says-he-killed-bin-laden-a-military-parade-is-third
Former President George W. Bush on Thursday said that there is “clear evidence” of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/372879-george-w-bush-russia-meddled-in-election
The data indeed show that children who are spanked do not internalize a notion that their behavior was wrong. They do, however, become more likely to endorse aggression and physical means as acceptable forms of resolving conflicts.
http://quillette.com/2018/02/02/the-spanking-debate-is-over/
tags: child abuse
A National Park Service (NPS) senior official requested the Department of Interior (DOI) make $32,000 worth of design and construction upgrades to an agency-owned housing unit in an attempt to profit from renting out the space as if it were his personal residence, according to an internal report.
[I am guessing they were able to see info on what races people voted in, what primary they voted in, what party they registered with. This could have been used to target voters with fake news via social media.]
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/372806-nps-official-requested-thousands-in-upgrades-for-park-housing-unit
Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, says top U.S. official/ There is no evidence that any of the registration rolls were altered in any fashion, according to U.S. officials.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/russians-penetrated-u-s-voter-systems-says-top-u-s-n845721
Trained for the Culture Wars in Home School, Awaiting Someone Like Mike Pence as a Messiah
[I remember warning people about this decades ago and being considered paranoid. Liberals are so inept at working together and consistently over a long time, and not oriented to striving for power, that they are not able to understand people like this, and therefore unprepared to prevent them taking power and influence.]
https://www.autostraddle.com/i-was-trained-for-the-culture-wars-in-home-school-awaiting-someone-like-mike-pence-as-a-messiah-367057/
I saw a post on Facebook repeating the claim that immigration has no harmful effects on workers, just wonderful benefits to “the economy”.
Actually, large-scale immigration does hurt those they compete with. Saying it doesn't just causes them to more strongly doubt statements from outsiders. The fact that if one recounts a personal experience with this causes liberals to pile on and call you a racist makes it much worse.
Studies usually focus on immigration's favorable effects on "the economy". They may admit that it depresses wages for people with only a high-school education, and immigrants already here, but dismiss it as unimportant in relation to other effects. But these people whose wages are depressed are human beings, not statistics, not objects whose purpose in life is to make life comfortable for those who make good money. They are already making so little money that a "small" decrease in their wages has a large negative effect on their lives. Treating this as unimportant is neither moral nor useful in influencing them to more rational ways of thinking.
A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to the $25 million settlement that President Trump was ordered to pay to former students of the now-shuttered Trump University.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372552-appeals-court-upholds-25-million-trump-university-settlement
Scientists find massive reserves of mercury hidden in permafrost
https://news.agu.org/press-release/scientists-find-massive-reserves-of-mercury-hidden-in-permafrost/
Venus flytraps give insects that pollinate their flowers a break. They don't eat them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/02/07/venus-flytraps-give-insects-that-pollinate-their-flowers-a-break-they-dont-eat-them/?utm_term=.32decff717d9
DNA shows early Briton had dark skin
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42939192
Your smart TV may be prey for hackers and collecting more info than you realize, Consumer Reports warns
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/02/07/your-smart-tv-may-prey-hackers-and-collecting-more-info-than-you-realize-consumer-reports-warns/311903002/
Russians already meddling in US midterms, Tillerson says
[People on both sides of the political divide are still easy to dupe with fake news designed to provoke ill will toward each other.]
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/06/russians-already-meddling-in-us-midterms-tillerson-says.html
Death toll rises, search effort continues after Taiwan quake
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taiwan-earthquake-update-death-toll-rises-search-missing-hualien/
Senate leaders reach agreement on two-year budget deal, adding billions of dollars in federal spending
[So republicans think it's fine to greatly increase the national debt for the sake of giving huge tax breaks to the very rich, but they are scared of increasing the budget to help the military, middle- and working-class people, aid to victims of the horrible disasters we have been having.]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/spending-deal-in-jeopardy-as-pelosi-issues-last-minute-demand-on-immigration/2018/02/07/a07e4e68-0c1b-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html?utm_term=.6ee683a40dfd
Pentagon considering Washington military parade at Trump’s request
[We can't afford to provide health care for poor people, but we can afford to pay for a big parade that takes soldiers away from their duties, to plan and implement this. ]
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pentagon-eyeing-military-parade-d-c-trump-s-request-n845331
America's poor subsidize wealthier consumers in a vicious income inequality cycle
[In addition to what the article discusses, banks will give things like free checks and safety deposit box to their larger depositors.]
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/america-s-poor-subsidize-wealthier-consumers-vicious-income-inequality-cycle-ncna845091
Wednesday, February 07, 2018
Links
After approving Medicaid work requirements, Trump’s HHS aims for lifetime coverage limits
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article198549039.html
Girl Scouts Storm Georgia State Capitol To Get Savannah Bridge Renamed for their founder
https://www.wabe.org/girl-scouts-lobby-rename-ga-bridge-now-named-segregationist/
January of 2018 began and ended with satellite-era record lows in Arctic sea ice extent, resulting in a new record low for the month. Combined with low ice extent in the Antarctic, global sea ice extent is also at a record low.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2018/02/sea-ice-tracking-low-in-both-hemispheres/
Cognitive Ability and Vulnerability to Fake News
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cognitive-ability-and-vulnerability-to-fake-news/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sa-editorial-social&utm_content&utm_term=mind_news_&sf181470453=1
Studies reveal looming shortage of rheumatologists
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/w-srl020118.php
Noise may disrupt the body on the cellular level in a way that increases the risk of common heart disease risk factors
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/acoc-tpa020118.php
For world's poorest, vaccines prevent deaths, medical impoverishment
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/htcs-fwp020218.php
Parental enrollment in Medicaid yields increase in preventive health care for children
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/jhm-pei020218.php
Regular physical activity is associated with better lung function among smokers
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/bifg-rpa020518.php
A study published in the February journal CHEST® suggests long-term inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with COPD may increase risk of bone fractures in both men and women.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/acoc-luo020518.php
A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that the same mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of exercise training on the brain also help to counteract fat and to strengthen the immune system.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/ki-het020518.php
Over-the-counter pain medicine such as Ibuprofen and acetaminophen may influence how people process information, experience hurt feelings, and react to emotionally evocative images, according to recent studies.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/s-cop020518.php
Outdoor instruction makes students more open to learning
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/tuom-soi020618.php
New fuel standards will decrease childhood asthma cases
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uod-nfs020618.php
Vietnam jails activist for 14 years for livestreaming pollution march
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/06/vietnam-jails-activist-for-14-years-for-livestreaming-pollution-march
Restaurants have no right to take employees' tips
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/06/restaurant-workers-tips-trump-administration
Far More U.S. Children than Previously Thought May Have Fetal Alcohol Disorders
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/health/pregnancy-drinking-fetal-alcohol.html
Forced Conversions
http://bio.sunyorange.edu/updated2/creationism/bad%20religion/3_forced_conversion.htm
Esmond Martin, a U.S. investigator who spent years going undercover to expose the worldwide ivory trade from slaughter to marketplace, was found stabbed to death Sunday in his Nairobi home.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/05/an-american-spent-decades-exposing-the-ivory-trade-he-was-just-found-dead-in-his-home/?utm_term=.ff0436921132
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Wind turbine blades contribution to total bird deaths is extremely low
http://theconversation.com/wind-farms-are-hardly-the-bird-slayers-theyre-made-out-to-be-heres-why-79567
Simon Chapman
Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of Sydney
June 16, 2017
People who oppose wind farms often claim wind turbine blades kill large numbers of birds, often referring to them as “bird choppers”. And claims of dangers to iconic or rare birds, especially raptors, have attracted a lot of attention.
Wind turbine blades do indeed kill birds and bats, but their contribution to total bird deaths is extremely low, as these three studies show.
A 2009 study using US and European data on bird deaths estimated the number of birds killed per unit of power generated by wind, fossil fuel and nuclear power systems.
It concluded:
wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible each for between 0.3 and 0.4 fatalities per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil-fuelled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh.
That’s nearly 15 times more.
•••••
Perhaps the final word on this topic should go to the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It built a wind turbine at its Bedfordshire headquarters to reduce its carbon emissions (and in doing so, aims to minimise species loss due to climate change). It recognised that wind power is far more beneficial to birds than it is harmful.
Simon Chapman
Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of Sydney
June 16, 2017
People who oppose wind farms often claim wind turbine blades kill large numbers of birds, often referring to them as “bird choppers”. And claims of dangers to iconic or rare birds, especially raptors, have attracted a lot of attention.
Wind turbine blades do indeed kill birds and bats, but their contribution to total bird deaths is extremely low, as these three studies show.
A 2009 study using US and European data on bird deaths estimated the number of birds killed per unit of power generated by wind, fossil fuel and nuclear power systems.
It concluded:
wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible each for between 0.3 and 0.4 fatalities per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil-fuelled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh.
That’s nearly 15 times more.
•••••
Perhaps the final word on this topic should go to the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It built a wind turbine at its Bedfordshire headquarters to reduce its carbon emissions (and in doing so, aims to minimise species loss due to climate change). It recognised that wind power is far more beneficial to birds than it is harmful.
We're Still Not at Full Employment
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/taking-issue-with-paul-krugman-we-re-still-not-at-full-employment
I suggest reading the whole article at the following link.
Feb. 5, 2018
•••••
There are a few points to be made here. First. Krugman rightly notes the aging of the population pushing down the overall labor force participation rates. However, employment-to-population rates for prime-age workers (ages 25 to 54) are still below pre-recession levels and well below 2000 levels. The falloff is pretty much across the board, applying to both men and women and both more educated and less educated workers (not all by the same amount) suggesting that a supply-side explanation is not likely. In other words, there is reason to believe that if there were more demand, more people would be working.
While the 4.1 percent unemployment rate is low by the standards of the last 45 years, it is worth noting that other major economies (e.g. Japan and Germany) now have far lower unemployment rates than almost any economist thought plausible just four or five years ago. I don't see any reason to believe that the US unemployment rate can't fall to 3.5 percent, and possibly even lower, without kicking off an inflationary spiral.
•••••
These figures give us good reason to believe that the labor markets can get considerably tighter before we start to see serious problems with inflation. This is an important issue because if we allow the Fed to crack down when there is still room for the economy to expand further we could be needlessly keeping millions of people from getting job and tens of millions from getting pay increases.
•••••
Google spent years studying effective teams — and one trait stood out
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-spent-years-studying-effective-teams-this-is-what-they-found-2018-1
Justin Bariso, Inc.
Feb. 3, 2018
•••••
not too long ago, Google set out on a quest to figure out what makes a team successful.
•••••
what was the most important factor contributing to a team's effectiveness?
It was psychological safety.
Simply put, psychological safety refers to an individual's perception of taking a risk, and the response his or her teammates will have to taking that risk.
Google describes it this way:
In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.
In other words, great teams thrive on trust.
•••••
Here's a glimpse at some of the actions that can help you build trust into your teams:
Listen first. ...
Show empathy.
Be authentic.
Authenticity creates trust. We're drawn to those who "keep it real," who realize that they aren't perfect, but are willing to show those imperfections because they know everyone else has them, too.
Authenticity doesn't mean sharing everything about yourself, to everyone, all of the time. It does mean saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and sticking to your values and principles above all else.
Set the example. ...
Be helpful. ...
Disagree and commit.
As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explains, to "disagree and commit" doesn't mean "thinking your team is wrong and missing the point," which will prevent you from offering true support. Rather, it's a genuine, sincere commitment to go the team's way, even if you disagree. ...
Be humble. ...
Be transparent. ...
Commend sincerely and specifically. ...
Justin Bariso, Inc.
Feb. 3, 2018
•••••
not too long ago, Google set out on a quest to figure out what makes a team successful.
•••••
what was the most important factor contributing to a team's effectiveness?
It was psychological safety.
Simply put, psychological safety refers to an individual's perception of taking a risk, and the response his or her teammates will have to taking that risk.
Google describes it this way:
In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.
In other words, great teams thrive on trust.
•••••
Here's a glimpse at some of the actions that can help you build trust into your teams:
Listen first. ...
Show empathy.
Be authentic.
Authenticity creates trust. We're drawn to those who "keep it real," who realize that they aren't perfect, but are willing to show those imperfections because they know everyone else has them, too.
Authenticity doesn't mean sharing everything about yourself, to everyone, all of the time. It does mean saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and sticking to your values and principles above all else.
Set the example. ...
Be helpful. ...
Disagree and commit.
As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explains, to "disagree and commit" doesn't mean "thinking your team is wrong and missing the point," which will prevent you from offering true support. Rather, it's a genuine, sincere commitment to go the team's way, even if you disagree. ...
Be humble. ...
Be transparent. ...
Commend sincerely and specifically. ...
Links
Hot tea linked to esophageal cancer in smokers, drinkers
[True for any hot liquid or food. ]
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/health/hot-tea-esophageal-cancer-risk-study/index.html
7-year-old Indiana Girl Dies After Being Diagnosed With Flu, Scarlet Fever and Strep Throat
http://time.com/5133825/indiana-flu-death-savanna-jessie/
Democrats lash out at consumer watchdog amid reports the agency is dropping Equifax investigation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/02/05/democrats-lash-out-at-consumer-watchdog-amid-reports-the-agency-is-dropping-equifax-investigation/?utm_term=.a885c84daee0
Supreme Court Justice Alito denies stay in Pa. redistricting case
[I don't like Alito, but I think it is wrong that media and people are posting that "the Supreme Court" ruled against a stay in the Pennsylvania redistricting case, when it was Alito who did so.]
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/02/supreme_court_justice_alito_de.html
Why He Is Leaving the F.B.I.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/opinion/leaving-the-fbi.html
More than 50,000 American bridges are falling apart
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/01/30/more-than-50000-american-bridges-are-falling-apart/23347759/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook
Polar Vortex: How the Jet Stream and Climate Change Bring on Cold Snaps
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02022018/cold-weather-polar-vortex-jet-stream-explained-global-warming-arctic-ice-climate-change?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said in a Sunday show interview that he does not believe the controversial GOP memo released last week "vindicates" President Trump in the Russia probe.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/372216-gop-rep-i-dont-think-memo-vindicates-trump
Government set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-spending-debt-analysis-20180203-story.html
Air pollution: black, Hispanic and poor students most at risk from toxins
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/feb/01/schools-across-the-us-exposed-to-air-pollution-hildren-are-facing-risks
Polar bears could become extinct faster than was feared, study says
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/01/polar-bears-climate-change
Scientists have found evidence that a gigantic comet measuring 62 miles in diameter smashed into Earth about 12,800 years ago, causing the planet to erupt into flames and threatening the survival of mankind.
https://www.morningticker.com/2018/02/scientists-shocked-by-massive-comet-discovery/
Early Facebook and Google Employees Form Coalition to Fight What They Built
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/technology/early-facebook-google-employees-fight-tech.html
Authorities say a good Samaritan with a handgun thwarted a savage attack on a police officer in Utah.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/02/04/he-bought-a-gun-to-protect-his-family-then-he-saw-someone-beating-up-a-cop/?utm_term=.d7c973409af3
Man carrying concealed pistol stops attack on Utah police officer
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/04/man-carrying-concealed-pistol-stops-attack-on-utah-police-officer.html
House committee passes bill that cuts Amtrak funding after crash due to republicans
Wed May 13, 2015
https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/politics/congress-amtrak-funding-crash/index.html
President Trump Sought To Cut Funding To Amtrak last year
http://www.newsweek.com/amtrak-derailment-trump-infrastructure-washington-751664
How democracies die, explained
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/2/16929764/how-democracies-die-trump-boosk-levitsky-ziblatt
GOP considers letting tax cuts for families expire sooner
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gop-consider-plan-to-make-individual-tax-cuts-expire-sooner-shrinking-plans-benefits-for-working-class/2017/12/14/9d83b1ac-e0f2-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.77e5ee9ca1fc
Why economic inequality leads to collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/feb/05/inequality-leads-to-economic-collapse
Sunday, February 04, 2018
Bonuses After Tax Cut Don’t Always Live Up to Their Billing
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/business/bonus-tax.html
By PATRICIA COHEN FEB. 2, 2018
What’s not to like? Scores of companies, including some of the country’s biggest employers, are handing out bonuses, announcing with a flourish that they are sharing the windfall from corporate tax cuts with their workers.
A look at the fine print, though, shows that some of the largess is not nearly as large as company news releases suggest.
Consider retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. They’ve tied the size of bonuses to tenure, so that only employees who have been with the company for 20 years or more will receive the $1,000 maximum that was highlighted in their announcements. Few employees meet that requirement.
The median tenure for retail workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is three years. At Walmart and Home Depot, that work history results in a $250 bonus, and at Lowe’s, $200. And nearly a quarter of American wage and salary workers have logged less than a year with their current employer. For them, bonuses at these big retailers will range from $150 to $200.
•••••
What’s not to like? Scores of companies, including some of the country’s biggest employers, are handing out bonuses, announcing with a flourish that they are sharing the windfall from corporate tax cuts with their workers.
A look at the fine print, though, shows that some of the largess is not nearly as large as company news releases suggest.
Consider retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. They’ve tied the size of bonuses to tenure, so that only employees who have been with the company for 20 years or more will receive the $1,000 maximum that was highlighted in their announcements. Few employees meet that requirement.
The median tenure for retail workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is three years. At Walmart and Home Depot, that work history results in a $250 bonus, and at Lowe’s, $200. And nearly a quarter of American wage and salary workers have logged less than a year with their current employer. For them, bonuses at these big retailers will range from $150 to $200.
•••••
At the same time, some corporations offering bonuses will be able to subsidize their payouts with taxpayer funds. If they announced their plan before the end of 2017, they will be allowed to deduct the cost of the bonuses at last year’s 35 percent corporate rate, even if they pay employees in the early months of 2018, after the rate dropped to 21 percent.
•••••
By PATRICIA COHEN FEB. 2, 2018
What’s not to like? Scores of companies, including some of the country’s biggest employers, are handing out bonuses, announcing with a flourish that they are sharing the windfall from corporate tax cuts with their workers.
A look at the fine print, though, shows that some of the largess is not nearly as large as company news releases suggest.
Consider retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. They’ve tied the size of bonuses to tenure, so that only employees who have been with the company for 20 years or more will receive the $1,000 maximum that was highlighted in their announcements. Few employees meet that requirement.
The median tenure for retail workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is three years. At Walmart and Home Depot, that work history results in a $250 bonus, and at Lowe’s, $200. And nearly a quarter of American wage and salary workers have logged less than a year with their current employer. For them, bonuses at these big retailers will range from $150 to $200.
•••••
What’s not to like? Scores of companies, including some of the country’s biggest employers, are handing out bonuses, announcing with a flourish that they are sharing the windfall from corporate tax cuts with their workers.
A look at the fine print, though, shows that some of the largess is not nearly as large as company news releases suggest.
Consider retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. They’ve tied the size of bonuses to tenure, so that only employees who have been with the company for 20 years or more will receive the $1,000 maximum that was highlighted in their announcements. Few employees meet that requirement.
The median tenure for retail workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is three years. At Walmart and Home Depot, that work history results in a $250 bonus, and at Lowe’s, $200. And nearly a quarter of American wage and salary workers have logged less than a year with their current employer. For them, bonuses at these big retailers will range from $150 to $200.
•••••
At the same time, some corporations offering bonuses will be able to subsidize their payouts with taxpayer funds. If they announced their plan before the end of 2017, they will be allowed to deduct the cost of the bonuses at last year’s 35 percent corporate rate, even if they pay employees in the early months of 2018, after the rate dropped to 21 percent.
•••••
Saturday, February 03, 2018
Why Cape Town Is Running Out of Water, and Who’s Next
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/cape-town-running-out-of-water-drought-taps-shutoff-other-cities/
By Craig Welch
PUBLISHED February 2, 2018
By late spring, four million people in the city of Cape Town—one of Africa's most affluent metropolises—may have to stand in line surrounded by armed guards to collect rations of the region's most precious commodity: drinking water.
Population growth and a record drought, perhaps exacerbated by climate change, is sparking one of the world's most dramatic urban water crises, as South African leaders warn that residents are increasingly likely to face "Day Zero." That's the day, now projected for mid-April, when the city says it will be forced to shut off taps to homes and businesses because reservoirs have gotten perilously low—a possibility officials now consider almost inevitable.
•••••
For years, a shutdown of this magnitude in such a cosmopolitan city had been almost inconceivable. But as overdevelopment, population growth, and climate change upset the balance between water use and supply, urban centers from North America to South America and from Australia to Asia increasingly face threats of severe drinking-water shortages.
•••••
The city is prepping 200 emergency water stations outside groceries and other gathering spots. Each would have to serve almost 20,000 residents. Cape Town officials are making plans to store emergency water at military installations, and say using taps to fill pools, water gardens, or wash cars is now illegal. Just this week, authorities stepped up water-theft patrols at natural springs where fights broke out, according to local press reports. They're being asked to crack down on "unscrupulous traders" who have driven up the price of bottled water.
For months, citizens have been urged to consume less, but more than half of residents ignored those volunteer restrictions. So earlier in January, the city requested even steeper cuts, asking residents to consume just 50 liters per day—less than one-sixth of what the average American uses. If consumption doesn't drop steeply and quickly, city officials warned this week, everyone will be forced into Day Zero, where all will have to live on far less—about 25 liters a day, less than typically used in four minutes of showering.
•••••
Says David Olivier, a research fellow at the Global Change Institute at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, "The fundamental problem is the kind of lifestyle we're living. There's almost a sense of entitlement that we have a right to consume as much as we want. The attitude and reaction of most posts on social media is indignation. It's 'we pay our taxes' and therefore we should be as comfortable as possible.”
•••••
Over the last 20 years, the city recognized some of the increased threat. It made strides in reducing water use from its six major reservoirs, which hold up to 230 billion gallons of water. Per capita consumption declined, the city reduced leaks, it forced large users to pay more, and generally promoted water efficiency, says Winter. Cape Town won several international water management awards. It even tries to shame top water users by publishing their names.
But officials also made an increasingly common mistake: They assumed future rainfall patterns would resemble the past, or at least not change too quickly.
•••••
A decade ago, the city was told that population growth and shifts projected to come with climate change—drier, hotter weather, with less winter rainfall, and reduced stream flows—would require it find additional water sources.
"They were warned, but those warnings were not enough to shift attention from schools or hospitals or all the other things on the agenda," Winter says.
•••••
While it's not clear how much of the current dry spell is driven by natural variability as opposed to climate change, "it's clear our current system is no longer reliable enough," Olivier says. "We may not have another drought like this for a few decades. But extreme events are only going to become more common."
•••••
Already, droughts in recent years have helped spark famine and unrest in rural nations around the Arabian Sea, from Iran to Somalia. But water crises are also threatening massive cities around the world.
Already, many of the 21 million residents of Mexico City only have running water part of the day, while one in five get just a few hours from their taps a week. Several major cities in India don't have enough. Water managers in Melbourne, Australia, reported last summer that they could run out of water in little more than a decade. Jakarta is running so dry that the city is sinking faster than seas are rising, as residents suck up groundwater from below the surface.
Much like Cape Town's fiasco, reservoirs in Sao Paulo, Brazil, dropped so low in 2015 that pipes drew in mud, emergency water trucks were looted, and the flow of water to taps in many homes was cut to just a few hours twice a week. Only last-minute rains prevented Brazilian authorities from having to close taps completely.
•••••
Meanwhile, climate change is causing wider swings in weather, with more intense storms and more extreme events. "Think of southern California's record snowpack after five years of drought followed by more drought—such swings are likely to be the new normal," she says.
•••••
For the moment, the region is scrambling to bring new supplies on line. Four new desalination plants are under construction. New water wells are being drilled and a plant that would reuse effluent is being built. Most of those projects are more than half completed.
All but one, however, is behind schedule, as city leaders push to at least get something up and running soon.
•••••
By Craig Welch
PUBLISHED February 2, 2018
By late spring, four million people in the city of Cape Town—one of Africa's most affluent metropolises—may have to stand in line surrounded by armed guards to collect rations of the region's most precious commodity: drinking water.
Population growth and a record drought, perhaps exacerbated by climate change, is sparking one of the world's most dramatic urban water crises, as South African leaders warn that residents are increasingly likely to face "Day Zero." That's the day, now projected for mid-April, when the city says it will be forced to shut off taps to homes and businesses because reservoirs have gotten perilously low—a possibility officials now consider almost inevitable.
•••••
For years, a shutdown of this magnitude in such a cosmopolitan city had been almost inconceivable. But as overdevelopment, population growth, and climate change upset the balance between water use and supply, urban centers from North America to South America and from Australia to Asia increasingly face threats of severe drinking-water shortages.
•••••
The city is prepping 200 emergency water stations outside groceries and other gathering spots. Each would have to serve almost 20,000 residents. Cape Town officials are making plans to store emergency water at military installations, and say using taps to fill pools, water gardens, or wash cars is now illegal. Just this week, authorities stepped up water-theft patrols at natural springs where fights broke out, according to local press reports. They're being asked to crack down on "unscrupulous traders" who have driven up the price of bottled water.
For months, citizens have been urged to consume less, but more than half of residents ignored those volunteer restrictions. So earlier in January, the city requested even steeper cuts, asking residents to consume just 50 liters per day—less than one-sixth of what the average American uses. If consumption doesn't drop steeply and quickly, city officials warned this week, everyone will be forced into Day Zero, where all will have to live on far less—about 25 liters a day, less than typically used in four minutes of showering.
•••••
Says David Olivier, a research fellow at the Global Change Institute at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, "The fundamental problem is the kind of lifestyle we're living. There's almost a sense of entitlement that we have a right to consume as much as we want. The attitude and reaction of most posts on social media is indignation. It's 'we pay our taxes' and therefore we should be as comfortable as possible.”
•••••
Over the last 20 years, the city recognized some of the increased threat. It made strides in reducing water use from its six major reservoirs, which hold up to 230 billion gallons of water. Per capita consumption declined, the city reduced leaks, it forced large users to pay more, and generally promoted water efficiency, says Winter. Cape Town won several international water management awards. It even tries to shame top water users by publishing their names.
But officials also made an increasingly common mistake: They assumed future rainfall patterns would resemble the past, or at least not change too quickly.
•••••
A decade ago, the city was told that population growth and shifts projected to come with climate change—drier, hotter weather, with less winter rainfall, and reduced stream flows—would require it find additional water sources.
"They were warned, but those warnings were not enough to shift attention from schools or hospitals or all the other things on the agenda," Winter says.
•••••
While it's not clear how much of the current dry spell is driven by natural variability as opposed to climate change, "it's clear our current system is no longer reliable enough," Olivier says. "We may not have another drought like this for a few decades. But extreme events are only going to become more common."
•••••
Already, droughts in recent years have helped spark famine and unrest in rural nations around the Arabian Sea, from Iran to Somalia. But water crises are also threatening massive cities around the world.
Already, many of the 21 million residents of Mexico City only have running water part of the day, while one in five get just a few hours from their taps a week. Several major cities in India don't have enough. Water managers in Melbourne, Australia, reported last summer that they could run out of water in little more than a decade. Jakarta is running so dry that the city is sinking faster than seas are rising, as residents suck up groundwater from below the surface.
Much like Cape Town's fiasco, reservoirs in Sao Paulo, Brazil, dropped so low in 2015 that pipes drew in mud, emergency water trucks were looted, and the flow of water to taps in many homes was cut to just a few hours twice a week. Only last-minute rains prevented Brazilian authorities from having to close taps completely.
•••••
Meanwhile, climate change is causing wider swings in weather, with more intense storms and more extreme events. "Think of southern California's record snowpack after five years of drought followed by more drought—such swings are likely to be the new normal," she says.
•••••
For the moment, the region is scrambling to bring new supplies on line. Four new desalination plants are under construction. New water wells are being drilled and a plant that would reuse effluent is being built. Most of those projects are more than half completed.
All but one, however, is behind schedule, as city leaders push to at least get something up and running soon.
•••••
Links
I Dropped My Phone In Water! Now What?
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-business/ci_31639335/i-dropped-my-phone-water-now-what
2 women accused of burning 5-year-old girl in voodoo ceremony, police say
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/trending-now/2-women-accused-of-burning-5yearold-girl-in-voodoo-ceremony-police-say/693855190
Paul Ryan deletes tweet about $1.50 tax cut after backlash
http://www.cnn.com/2018/02/03/politics/paul-ryan-tweet-tax-cut-backlash/index.htmler
Medicaid work requirements will reduce care for mentally ill
http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/372181-medicaid-work-requirements-will-reduce-care-for-mentally-ill
50 dead in flash floods in Argentina
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-22022965/argentina-floods-claim-50-lives-amid-torrential-rain?SThisFB
http://floodlist.com/america/argentina-flooding-chaco-january-2018
Spotify has addressed a long-standing complaint about its service by adding songwriter, producer and musician credits for tracks on its desktop platform, effective today. Users can right-click on a track and select “Show Credits” from the menu of options to view information on performers, songwriters and producers.
http://send.ascap.com/link.cfm?r=xfeR1wKCwFw4gyUQ3fcpug~~&pe=yVpupQBMLKBVYdcL-Hq9kfd-LfkVBwtcMuJ7w4yjrb6B2L-CeWXf5HbTt8ujpTRC8dqPZ-bn_err57zBAUdMsg~~
Some states are requiring people on Medicaid to work, which will lead to children left at home by themselves, which will lead to children being injured and dying, which will lead to criticism about why they left their children at home by themselves.
Hundreds of tonnes of an “antibiotic of last resort” – only used in the most extreme cases of sickness - are shipped to India each year to be used, without medical supervision, on animals that may not require the drugs but are being dosed with them nevertheless to promote the growth of healthy animals.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/01/indias-farmed-chickens-dosed-with-worlds-strongest-antibiotics-study-finds
Researchers using a high-tech aerial mapping technique have found tens of thousands of previously undetected Mayan houses, buildings, defence works and pyramids in the dense jungle of Guatemala’s Peten region, suggesting that millions more people lived there than previously thought.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/03/scientists-discover-ancient-mayan-city-hidden-under-guatemalan-jungle
How (not) to refute a lie
https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/how-to-refute-a-lie-bb315d3b93fc
Something I have seen rarely if at all is the fact that lower wages for women than men means that women are less able to save for retirement, and have less Social Security income.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Friday said that a memo compiled by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee appeared to be released without regard for bipartisanship or proper vetting, despite concerns from Justice Department and FBI officials about the document's accuracy.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/372079-collins-gop-intel-disregards-law-enforcement-concerns-bipartisanship
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) is slamming House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) as a “partisan hack” and accusing him of acting like “the chairman of the president’s reelection campaign” by pushing release a classified intelligence memo.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/371991-ex-gop-lawmaker-slams-nunes-in-op-ed-hes-a-partisan-hack
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Friday criticized Republicans pushing to release a classified memo created by House Republicans, calling it a “blatant political act.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/371986-ex-intel-chief-release-of-gop-memo-a-blatant-political-act
It's a relief to see that there are still some republicans who are loyal to our country, and are not working for the Russians to damage our country.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Friday delivered a subtle but stinging rebuke to House Republicans over their move to release a classified memo alleging misconduct at the FBI, urging President Donald Trump and other Republicans to stop "manufacturing partisan sideshows" that benefit Russia.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/02/mccain-nunes-memo-putin-385547?cid=apn
President Trump said Friday he is withdrawing former top adviser K.T. McFarland’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Singapore, which ran aground over her involvement in the Russia investigation.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372068-kt-mcfarland-asks-trump-to-withdraw-her-nomination-for-ambassador
Republican Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) on Friday condemned the release of a republican House Intelligence Committee memo which alleges the Justice Department abused its powers to hurt President Trump's campaign.
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/372056-kasich-memo-release-does-a-disservice-to-our-country
I see a lot of sources pointing out the fact that the Nunes memo is a dud. Trump knows it doesn't matter what the Nunes memo actually says. By his repeated comments ahead of time, he placed an opinion in his followers minds, and once someone has an opinion, it is very hard to change. I don't think most of them will read the actual memo. They will continue to rely on what Trump is saying about it.
'Fiction is outperforming reality': how YouTube's algorithm distorts truth
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/02/how-youtubes-algorithm-distorts-truth
US job numbers and wage growth are up – but inequality is also on the rise
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/02/us-job-numbers-and-wage-growth-are-up-but-inequality-is-also-on-the-rise
Innocent on death row: The day I got the call that set me free
https://www.salon.com/2018/01/27/innocent-on-death-row-the-day-i-got-the-call-that-set-me-free/
Tackling the Internet’s Central Villain: The Advertising Business
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/technology/internet-advertising-business.html
Spring Coming Earlier
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/groundhog-day-spring-coming-earlier
In the city of Cape Town, there is only one topic of conversation: water
[Normal human behaviour, which is leading to grave results. Eg., overuse of antibiotics, global warming, die-off of insects including honeybees, declining sperm counts.]
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/01/opinions/cape-town-water-crisis-opinion-joseph/index.html
More than 12,000 stores are expected to close in 2018 — up from roughly 9,000 in 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
http://www.businessinsider.com/store-closures-in-2018-will-eclipse-2017-2018-1
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/oceans-suffocating-dead-zones-oxygen-starved
Life on Death Row as an Innocent Man
https://www.aclu.org/blog/capital-punishment/innocence-and-death-penalty/my-first-night-death-row-innocent-man
By Anthony Graves, Smart Justice Initiatives Manager, ACLU of Texas
January 29, 2018
Anthony Graves was convicted in 1994 for killing six people in 1992. He was exonerated in 2010 after having served 18 and a half years in prison, 16 of which were spent in solitary confinement and 12 of which were on death row. The prosecutor in Graves’ case was eventually disbarred for misconduct, and Texas had to pay Graves $1.45 million in compensation for the damage the state had done to him. Graves now works at the ACLU of Texas as the Smart Justice Initiatives Manager. Below is an excerpt from Graves’ recently published book, “Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul” (Beacon Press, 2018).
•••••
People typically focus on the death part of a death sentence. What they don’t tell you is that life on death row is a torture all its own. I had no idea that I’d be living in a six-by-nine-foot cage, or that I’d do my business in a steel toilet in plain view of male and female officers alike.
•••••
On the weekdays, we’d spend 22 hours alone in a small cage, only a few feet long and wide. Weekends brought 24 hours of solitary confinement because many officers took the weekends off. To save money, the prison would simply reduce manpower and keep us in our cells all day Saturday and Sunday. We weren’t worth the substitute guards’ wages that would be required to move us to the rec yard and back.
•••••
I later found out she [prison guard] wasn’t as innocent as I thought. She was trafficking in all the ordinary contraband that took on greater value in prison. Inmates paid her hundreds of dollars to deliver cigarettes and weed. One guy even arranged for her to bring him $500 from a friend on the outside. She had taken the money for herself.
•••••
By Anthony Graves, Smart Justice Initiatives Manager, ACLU of Texas
January 29, 2018
Anthony Graves was convicted in 1994 for killing six people in 1992. He was exonerated in 2010 after having served 18 and a half years in prison, 16 of which were spent in solitary confinement and 12 of which were on death row. The prosecutor in Graves’ case was eventually disbarred for misconduct, and Texas had to pay Graves $1.45 million in compensation for the damage the state had done to him. Graves now works at the ACLU of Texas as the Smart Justice Initiatives Manager. Below is an excerpt from Graves’ recently published book, “Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul” (Beacon Press, 2018).
•••••
People typically focus on the death part of a death sentence. What they don’t tell you is that life on death row is a torture all its own. I had no idea that I’d be living in a six-by-nine-foot cage, or that I’d do my business in a steel toilet in plain view of male and female officers alike.
•••••
On the weekdays, we’d spend 22 hours alone in a small cage, only a few feet long and wide. Weekends brought 24 hours of solitary confinement because many officers took the weekends off. To save money, the prison would simply reduce manpower and keep us in our cells all day Saturday and Sunday. We weren’t worth the substitute guards’ wages that would be required to move us to the rec yard and back.
•••••
I later found out she [prison guard] wasn’t as innocent as I thought. She was trafficking in all the ordinary contraband that took on greater value in prison. Inmates paid her hundreds of dollars to deliver cigarettes and weed. One guy even arranged for her to bring him $500 from a friend on the outside. She had taken the money for herself.
•••••
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Links
An African country reckons with its history of selling slaves
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/an-african-country-reckons-with-its-history-of-selling-slaves/2018/01/29/5234f5aa-ff9a-11e7-86b9-8908743c79dd_story.html?utm_term=.ee384d255bbe
Labor Department hiding unfavorable report on impacts of tip-pooling rule
[When NPR areported on this, they interviewed someone who talked about it allowing cooks, etc. to share in the tips. They said NOTHING about the fact that the minimum wage for tipped employees is well below $3/hour. So this proposal would allow employers to reduce wages. Typical NPR pandering to their corporate donors. ]
http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/371798-report-labor-department-hiding-unfavorable-report-on-impacts-of-tip-pooling
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has read the Nunes memo, and he says that it is nothing more than a pretext for Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/02/01/nunes-memo-confirmed-congressman-cover-story-fire-rod-rosenstein.html
Hatch didn't say Trump was the greatest president ever, he said he 'could be'
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/371884-office-hatch-didnt-say-trump-was-the-greatest-president-ever-he-said
Justice Dept sidelines office dedicated to expanding legal aid to poor citizens
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/371895-justice-dept-sidelines-office-dedicated-to-expanding-legal-aid-to
Hawaiian island is now a solar paradise
On clear days, Kauai can generate 100 percent of its electricity from the sun.
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/01/hawaiian-island-is-now-a-solar-paradise/
CIA Director Has 'Every Expectation' Russia Will Try To Influence Midterm Elections
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/30/581767028/cia-director-has-every-expectation-russia-will-try-to-influence-mid-term-electio?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180130
The head of Russia's foreign spy service reportedly traveled to the U.S. earlier this month and met with top Trump administration intelligence officials, despite being on a U.S. sanctions blacklist.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/31/582059134/russian-spy-chief-reportedly-met-with-u-s-intelligence-officials-despite-sanctio?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social
Global temperatures could break through the internationally agreed upper 1.5C [2.7F] limit within the next five years
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/31/met-office-warns-of-global-temperature-rise-exceeding-15c-limit
An Innovative New Children’s Hospital Uses a Mix of Technology, Nature and Playtime to Help Patients Heal
https://paidpost.nytimes.com/stanford/an-innovative-new-childrens-hospital-uses-a-mix-of-technology-nature-and-playtime-to-help-patients-heal.html?tbs_nyt=2017-jan-nytnative_hpmod&cpv_dsm_id=188726832
A FEMA Error Drove Fears That Food and Water Aid to Puerto Rico Was Ending. It’s Not.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/us/puerto-rico-fema-aid.html
The German scientist behind the controversial experiments on monkeys to test the harmful effects of diesel exhaust fumes says there is no way senior management at the carmakers including BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler did not know about the trials.
https://www.politico.eu/article/lead-scientist-in-monkey-tests-automakers-fully-aware-of-trials/
Press Freedom Group Saves Archives of Gawker and LA Weekly
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/business/media/gawker-archives-press-freedom.html
Climate change threatens half of US bases worldwide, Pentagon report finds
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/31/climate-change-threatens-us-military-bases-pentagon
Amazon fulfillment centers don't boost employment, analysis finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/01/amazon-fulfillment-centers-dont-boost-employment-analysis-finds
CDC to cut global disease outbreak prevention by 80 percent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/01/cdc-to-cut-global-disease-outbreak-prevention-by-80-percent/?utm_term=.c293ebec02f1
Bipartisan senators warn of Russian interference in Mexican election
https://www.axios.com/marco-rubio-bob-menendez-russia-interference-mexico-f1c117d4-d693-42bf-8dc7-07ba247efb78.html
Teenage property crime, assault, pregnancy, and dropout rates all plummeted to record low levels over the last decade, while educational attainment rose rapidly.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/30/the-truth-about-teen-suicide/
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