The huge concenctration of wealth destroys our freedom

 

I suggest reading the whole post at the following link: 

http://angrybearselect.blogspot.com/2011/04/robert-reichs-after-shock-and-corey.html

 

Robert Reich's After Shock and Corey Robin's Freedom Arguments

 

Posted by Linda Beale | 4:28 PM

In earlier posts on ataxingmatter (here and here), I reviewed Robert Reich's 2010 book, After Shock, and wrote about his suggested cures for the problems made most visible in the 2007 crash and the Great Depression that followed.

The gist of the book is summed up in the following quote:


    "[L]eft to its own devices, the market concentrates wealth and income--which is
    disastrous to an economy as well as to a society."

•••••

Because the problem we are facing today, with corporate lobbying and campaign contributions reinforcing the elite class's wining and dining of politicians, is more than the dysfunction of the economy. Yes, there is too much money at the top where there is not enough ability to spend it. Yes, there is too little money at the bottom where there is no way to provide for basic needs. Yes, there is barely enough in the middle, resulting in stagnation in local businesses who don't have enough customers to sell to and can't afford to give credit to those who want to buy.

•••••

Our very freedom is threatened. When we are economically powerless, we are also powerless in our lives because we lose our freedom to make choices that are right for us.


    we lose our rights to bargain with our employers (look at how Wisconsin and Ohio have treated their public employees or how WalMart treats its workers and anyone who talks unions),


    we lose the power to improve ourselves by pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps through publicly funded education from grade school through university,


    we are dominated in the marketplace by powerful businesses that use automated systems to turn us off, ignore our calls and letters seeking redress for a mischarge or a poorly done job,


    we lose our jobs, are forced to accept paycuts or furloughs, when the company claims times are tought, yet we watch the same public companies to pay their CEOs millions more

•••••

The reason we need a progressive tax policy--including at the least progressive tax rates with brackets that reach much higher into the stratosphers of the ultra rich (55% for those making $1 million or more annually) ; elimination of the capital gains preference (so that all income is taxed under the same rate structure); and an estate tax with bite (meaning a graduated rate that protects a reasonable nest egg for the next generation while serving as one method of limiting the concentration of wealth)-- is to ensure the freedom of each and every one of us, from rich to poor, from newly arrived immigrant to elderly Native American.

 

New hope for treating chronic pain without opioids

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uom-nhf021521.php

 

News Release 15-Feb-2021
University of Michigan

 

According to some estimates, chronic pain affects up to 40% of Americans, and treating it frustrates both clinicians and patients--a frustration that's often compounded by a hesitation to prescribe opioids for pain.

A new study from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry confirms that a low dose of a drug called naltrexone is a good option for patients with orofacial and chronic pain, without the risk of addiction, said first author Elizabeth Hatfield, a clinical lecturer in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry.


•••••

Low-dose naltrexone has been used off-label for years to treat chronic pain, but Hatfield said this is the first in-depth, systematic review of the literature to determine if the drug is indeed a good option for patients and deserving of more formal study.

"We found a reduction in pain intensity and improvement in quality of life, and a reduction in opioid use for patients with chronic pain," said Hatfield, who hopes to initiate a randomized control trial of low dose naltrexone.

Low doses of naltrexone (0.1-4.5 mg) works by acting on a unique cellular pathway in the nervous system through which it delivers chronic pain relief without opioids, Hatfield said. If patients are working with a physician to treat pain, it's appropriate for them to raise the topic of low-dose naltrexone as a possible alternative.

•••••

It is best used on centralized pain disorders, conditions where the nervous system is in that hyperexcited state, Hatfield said. Those conditions include myalgia, complex regional pain syndrome and temporomandibular joint disorders, commonly called TMJ, among others. Low-dose naltrexone is inexpensive and has few side effects. However, it's not an option for people who use alcohol or opioids regularly.

•••••

Common weed killers favour antibiotic resistant bacteria, new study shows

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoy-cwk021221.php

 

News Release 16-Feb-2021
University of York

 

The use of weed killers can increase the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in soil, a new study from the University of York shows.

Herbicides are one of the most widely used chemicals in agriculture and while these compounds are used to target weeds, they can cause damage to soil microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, potentially changing the ecological properties of microbial communities.


•••••

Using soil microcosms, researchers discovered that herbicides increased the relative abundance of bacterial species that carried antibiotic resistance genes. This was because mutations that improved growth in the presence of herbicides also increased bacterial tolerance to antibiotics. Herbicide exposure also led to more frequent movement of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria.

•••••

Delayed surgical intervention of injuries may improve outcome.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/bu-dmt021621.php

 

News Release 16-Feb-2021Delayed medical treatment of high-impact injuries: A lesson from the Syrian civil war
In providing humanitarian medical treatment to victims of the Syrian civil war, Israeli researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University and Galilee Medical Center found that delayed surgical intervention may improve outcome.
Bar-Ilan University

 

Following the civil war outbreak in Syria nearly ten years ago, Israel began admitting wounded Syrians into the country for humanitarian medical treatment.


•••••

Most of the wounded were brought to the Galilee Medical Center (GMC) in northern Israel. Some were admitted within 24 hours of injury. For others, it took as long as 14-28 days to reach Israel from the combat zone.

The delay in the commencement of treatment provided medical professionals and researchers from GMC's Ear, Nose, and Throat Ward and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with a rare window of opportunity to observe and evaluate how this lapse in time impacted the outcome of treatment.

In a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers report, quite surprisingly, that patients injured in the facial bones by high-speed fire and operated on approximately 2-4 weeks after the injury suffered fewer post-operative complications compared to wounded who underwent immediate surgical treatment (within 72 hours). The researchers hypothesize that this is due to a critical period of time before surgery, which facilitates healing and formation of new blood vessels in the area of the injury and, subsequently, an improvement in the blood and oxygen supply and a reduction in the incidence of complications.

•••••

How healthy lifestyle behaviours can improve cholesterol profiles

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/e-hhl021621.php

 

News Release 16-Feb-2021
eLife 

Combining healthy lifestyle interventions reduces heart disease through beneficial effects on different lipoproteins and associated cholesterols, according to a study published February 9 in eLife.

Having a healthy lifestyle has long been associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease. The new study provides more detailed information on how healthy lifestyles improve cholesterol, and suggests that combining cholesterol-lowering medications and lifestyle interventions may yield the greatest benefits to heart health.


•••••

Overall, they found that taking cholesterol-lowering medications and engaging in multiple healthy lifestyles would likely help individuals to achieve the greatest heart-protecting benefits because of the complementary effects of the drugs and healthy behaviours.

"Lifestyle interventions and lipid-lowering medications may affect different components of the lipid profile, suggesting they are not redundant strategies but could be combined for improved benefits," concludes co-senior author Jun Lv, Professor at the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.

Neandertal gene variants both increase and decrease the risk for severe COVID-19

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/ki-ngv021621.php

 

News Release 16-Feb-2021
Karolinska Institutet

 

Last year, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany showed that a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neandertals. Now the same researchers show, in a study published in PNAS, that Neandertals also contributed a protective variant. Half of all people outside Africa carry a Neandertal gene variant that reduces the risk of needing intensive care for COVID-19 by 20 percent.


•••••

The study also shows that the protective variant from Neandertals has increased in frequency since the last Ice Age so that it is now carried by about half of all people outside Africa.

"It is striking that this Neandertal gene variant has become so common in many parts of the world. This suggests that it has been favourable in the past," says Svante Pääbo, director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "It is also striking that two genetic variants inherited from Neandertals influence COVID-19 outcomes in opposite directions. Their immune system obviously influences us in both positive and negative ways today."

Teens may be more likely to use marijuana after legalization for adult recreational use

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/joso-tmb020821.php

 

News Release 15-Feb-2021
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

 

Adolescents who live in California may be more likely to use marijuana since adult recreational marijuana use was legalized in 2016, according to a new report in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

"The apparent increase in marijuana use among California adolescents after recreational marijuana legalization for adult use in 2016 is surprising given the steady downward trend in marijuana use during years before legalization," says lead researcher Mallie J. Paschall, Ph.D., senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, California.


•••••

The researchers observed significant increases in the prevalence of lifetime and past-30-day marijuana use among nearly all demographic groups from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019 school years, after legalization of adult recreational use: an 18% increase in the likelihood of lifetime use and a 23% increase in past-30-day use. These numbers may reflect greater use of vaping products, and the overall increase was even more likely among those in demographic groups with historically lower rates of marijuana use.

•••••

Paschall says he can only speculate as to the reason, but that the greater increases in these normally low-risk groups may be attributed to marijuana use becoming more normative due to legalization, along with relatively greater overall declines in marijuana use among youth in historically 'high-risk' groups during the study period.

The study also indicated greater increases in the frequency of past-30-day marijuana use among older adolescents, males, African American and Asian youth who were regular users. There were notable increases in marijuana use frequency among adolescents in 2018-19, which may reflect national increases in the use of vaping products.

•••••

tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Drinking, smoking, and drug use linked to premature heart disease in the young

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/b-dsa021121.php

 

News Release 15-Feb-2021
BMJ

 

Recreational drinking, smoking, and drug use is linked to premature heart disease in young people, particularly younger women, finds research published online in the journal Heart.

Those who regularly use 4 or more substances are 9 times as likely to be affected, the findings indicate.

The numbers of new cases of heart disease (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) have been increasing in young adults, but the potential role of recreational substance use isn't entirely clear.


•••••

tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Mid-life cardiovascular disease prevention may protect against later dementia

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/acoc-mcd_1021121.php

 

News Release 15-Feb-2021
Study results show atherosclerosis in mid-life can impact areas of the brain impacted by dementia
American College of Cardiology

 

Employing cardiovascular disease prevention strategies in mid-life may delay or stop the brain alterations that can lead to dementia later in life, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Atherosclerosis, or buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on artery walls, is the underlying cause of most cardiovascular diseases, which is the leading cause of death around the world. Dementia is also among the top causes of death and disability around the world, with 50 million people currently living with dementia. The presence of atherosclerosis has been linked to cognitive impairment in advanced stages of the disease, but little is known about how they influence each other, especially since both can be asymptomatic for long periods of time earlier in life.


•••••

Commuters are inhaling unacceptably high levels of carcinogens

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoc--cai021221.php

 

News Release 15-Feb-2021
Twenty minutes or longer in the car also raises risk of birth defects
University of California - Riverside

 

A new study finds that California's commuters are likely inhaling chemicals at levels that increase the risk for cancer and birth defects.

As with most chemicals, the poison is in the amount. Under a certain threshold of exposure, even known carcinogens are not likely to cause cancer. Once you cross that threshold, the risk for disease increases.


•••••

Benzene and formaldehyde -- both used in automobile manufacturing -- are known to cause cancer at or above certain levels of exposure and are Prop. 65-listed chemicals.

New UC Riverside research shows that the average commuter in California is exceeding the threshold for exposure, breathing in unsustainably high levels of both chemicals.

Both benzene and formaldehyde are carcinogens, and benzene carries the additional risk of reproductive and developmental toxicity.

•••••

Reddam advises commuters to keep the windows open during their rides if possible. "At least with some air flow, you'd be diluting the concentration of these chemicals inside your car," she said.

Benzene is used to produce synthetic fibers, and formaldehyde is a binder in plastics. "There should be alternatives to these chemicals to achieve the same goals during vehicle manufacturing," Volz said. "If so, these should be used." 

Publix is 80% employee owned

I have seen figures of 20 or 25 members of the Jenkins family heirs who own the 20% of Publix that is not owned by employees, who own 80%.

I have seen people on Facebook blaming Publix for the actions of one of its family members.  But some of them shop at WalMart and Amazon, who mistreat their employees get some of their stuff from forced labor.  I would hate to be judged by the actions of some of my family members.

https://www.johnpatrick.com/who-owns-publix/

John Patrick Posted on February 5, 2021

•••••

The company is the largest employee-owned company in the United States and is one of the 10 largest-volume supermarket chains in the country. Retail sales in 2019 reached $38.1 billion. Publix employs over 225,000 people. They get quarterly dividends just like a public company.

•••••

Randall Todd Jones, Chief Executive Officer at Publix Super Markets Inc., received compensation of $2.48 million in 2017. The average of U.S. CEO compensation was $14.5 million.

•••••

“I Don’t Trust the People Above Me”: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection

https://www.propublica.org/article/i-dont-trust-the-people-above-me-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection

by Joaquin Sapien and Joshua Kaplan
Feb. 12, 1:30 p.m. EST

The riot squad defending the embattled entrance to the west side of the U.S. Capitol was surrounded by violence. Rioters had clambered up the scaffolding by the stage erected for the inauguration of President Joseph Biden. They hurled everything they could get their hands on at the cops beneath: rebar, plywood, power tools, even cans of food they had frozen for extra damage.

•••••

One officer in the middle of the scrum, a combat veteran, thought the rioters were so vicious, so relentless, that they seemed fueled by methamphetamine. To his left, he watched a chunk of steel strike a fellow officer above the eye, setting off a geyser of blood. A pepper ball tore through the air over his shoulder and exploded against the jaw of a man in front of him. The round, filled with chemical irritant, ripped the rioter’s face open. His teeth were now visible through a hole in his cheek. Blood poured out, puddling on the pavement surrounding the building. But the man kept coming.

•••••

Over the last several weeks, ProPublica has interviewed 19 current and former U.S. Capitol Police officers about the assault on the Capitol. Following on the dramatic video of officers defending the building that House lawmakers showed during the first day of the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, the interviews provide the most detailed account to date of a most extraordinary battle.

The enemies on Jan. 6 were Americans: thousands of people from across the country who had descended on the Capitol, intent on stopping Congress from certifying an election they believed was stolen from Trump. They had been urged to attend by Trump himself, with extremist right-wing and militia leaders calling for violence.

Many of the officers were speaking to reporters for the first time about the day’s events, almost all anonymously for fear of retribution. That they spoke at all is an indication of the depth of their frustration over the botched response. ProPublica also obtained confidential intelligence bulletins and previously unreported planning documents.

•••••

Did Trump want Pence eliminated?

I've been wondering if Trump wanted Pence eliminated on Jan. 6, during the insurrection on the day of the election certification.  Trump was president until Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20.  We don't know what he planned.  If it appeared Trump was about to succeed in the coup, Pence could have invoked the 25th amendment to replace Trump until Biden took office.

 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv

 

25th Amendment

Section 4.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Hong Kong: alarm over proposed law that could ban anyone from leaving

If a  country has to have a law against its citizens leaving, except real criminals fleeing true justice, it is proof it is a lousy place to live.

Repressive governments like Russia and China have to keep expanding because their repression also represses creativity and productivity, so they have to keep expanding to maintain their economy.  And they have to force people to stay to keep the most creative and productive from leaving.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/13/hong-kong-alarm-over-proposed-law-that-could-ban-anyone-from-leaving

Agence France-Presse
Sat 13 Feb 2021 00.13 EST

The influential Hong Kong Bar Association has spoken out against a government proposal that could give “apparently unfettered power” to the immigration director to stop anyone leaving the city.

The Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) expressed alarm on Friday in a paper submitted to the city’s legislative council about the proposed law, which could bar any individual – whether resident or not – from boarding a carrier out of the financial hub.

“It is particularly troubling that the grounds on which such an intrusive power may be exercised are not stated in the proposed legislation, and no explanation for why such a power is necessary, or even how it is intended to be used, is set out,” HKBA said in the submission.

•••••

Since the imposition of a new national security law in June last year, an increasing number of democracy activists and politicians have fled into exile, as China tightens its grip on the semi-autonomous city.

The political situation has also prompted a broader exodus of Hongkongers, many of whom are taking up immigration plans offered by places including the UK, Canada and nearby Taiwan.

•••••

Since Beijing’s imposition of the national security law to snuff out huge democracy protests, nearly 100 people, including democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and prominent activist Joshua Wong, have been arrested.

Four of them have been charged with crimes that could bring them life imprisonment if convicted.

Pigs show potential for 'remarkable' level of behavioral, mental flexibility in new study

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/f-psp020321.php

 

News Release 11-Feb-2021
Researchers teach four animals how to play a rudimentary joystick-enabled video game that demonstrates conceptual understanding beyond simple chance
Frontiers

 

Pigs will probably never be able to fly, but new research is revealing that some species within the genus Sus may possess a remarkable level of behavioral and mental flexibility. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology tested the ability of four pigs to play a simple joystick-enabled video game. Each animal demonstrated some conceptual understanding despite limited dexterity on tasks normally given to non-human primates to analyze intelligence.


•••••

Scientists already know that pigs are capable of various types of learning, from the same sort of basic obedience commands taught to dogs like "come" and "sit" to more complex behaviors that require them to change behaviors when the rules of the game change. One study has even shown that pigs can use mirrors to find hidden food in an enclosure, Croney noted.

In the current study, the team used food to teach and reinforce behaviors, but also found that social contact could strongly influence their persistence. For instance, when the machine dispensing treats failed to work, the pigs continued to make correct responses using only verbal and tactile cues. And only verbal encouragement seemed to help the animals during the most challenging tasks.

"This sort of study is important because, as with any sentient beings, how we interact with pigs and what we do to them impacts and matters to them," Croney said. "We therefore have an ethical obligation to understand how pigs acquire information, and what they are capable of learning and remembering, because it ultimately has implications for how they perceive their interactions with us and their environments."

•••••

To help keep cats from killing wildlife, add more meat and play to their day

From the standpoint of humaneness, it seems like feeding meat from domestic animals who have led miserable lives, and may have been tortured at the end, is not better than if the cat kills an animal which has been able to live its life in freedom?

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/cp-thk020321.php

 

News Release 11-Feb-2021
Cell Press

Domestic cats are a major threat to wild species, including birds and small mammals. But researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 11 now have evidence that some simple strategies can help to reduce cats' environmental impact without restricting their freedom. Their studies show that domestic cats hunt less when owners feed them a diet including plenty of meat proteins. Equally, it helps to play with them each day in ways that allow cats to mimic hunting.

Domestic cats are a major threat to wild species, including birds and small mammals. But researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 11 now have evidence that some simple strategies can help to reduce cats' environmental impact without restricting their freedom. Their studies show that domestic cats hunt less when owners feed them a diet including plenty of meat proteins. Equally, it helps to play with them each day in ways that allow cats to mimic hunting.


•••••

The evidence shows that diets where proteins were derived from meat reduced the number of prey animals brought home to cat owners by 36 percent.

"Some cat foods contain protein from plant sources such as soy, and it is possible that despite forming a 'complete diet' these foods leave some cats deficient in one or more micronutrients--prompting them to hunt," said Martina Cecchetti, the PhD student who conducted the experiments.

In the "play" group, cats could stalk, chase, and pounce on a feather toy dangled by their owner on a string and wand. Owners also gave cats a mouse-like toy to play with after each "hunt," mimicking a real kill. As little as five to ten minutes a day of such play reduced predation by 25 percent, the study reports.

Use of puzzle feeders didn't have the desired effect. In fact, owners found that their cats brought home even more prey animals than before. The reasons for that aren't yet clear. It's possible that in a short trial, cats and owners struggled to use the puzzle feeders and that the cats simply may have been hungrier, the researchers say.

•••••

20 Women Inventors You Should Know

https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12223&fbclid=IwAR2nEUYmYoLcY2KsRIvmlpJ3gSEIvpTKp8PLE6lbN2zwFY4xziLaGQxaSas

Posted on November 9, 2020

[Some of the woman inventors listed at the link above]

•••••

Margaret E. Knight (1838 - 1914)

If you've ever used a paper bag, you can thank Margaret "Mattie" Knight, the 19th century's most famous woman inventor! Born in York, Maine, Knight was most well-known for a machine she built when she was 30 which folded and glued paper to create a flat-bottomed paper bag. The product was popular — so popular, in fact, that a man stole the idea to patent himself. When Knight took him to court for patent interference, he argued that a woman "could not possibly understand the mechanical complexities." Knight won her case by providing proof that she had designed the machine, earning herself the right to patent her machine. Over the course of her career, Knight invented over 100 different machines and patented 20 of them, including a rotary engine, a shoe-cutting machine, and a window frame with a sash. But if the true test of an invention is its staying power, then Knight's paper bag — still used today — is proof of her incredible gifts.


•••••

Grace Hopper (1906 - 1992)

Any time you type a command on your computer, you can thank programming pioneer Grace Hopper! The mathematician and US Navy reserve officer began her computer science career when all programs were written in numerical code. Hopper realized that programming would be more accessible if people could code in their own language; she invented the first compiler in 1952, essentially teaching computers to "talk." It took some time for her colleagues to realize that she had succeeded: "Nobody believed that...They told me computers could only do arithmetic." She later co-invented the COBOL computer language, the first universal programming language used in business and government. During Hopper's long career with the Navy — during which she achieved the rank of Rear Admiral by special Presidential appointment and was nicknamed "Amazing Grace" — she took particular pride in teaching: "The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people," she said. "I keep track of them as they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to take chances."

•••••

Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000)

She was one of the most glamorous stars of the black and white film era — and she was also one of the minds behind an invention that provided the foundation for GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi technology! Austrian-American actress Hedy Lamarr was also a gifted mathematician and engineer, and when World War II broke out, she wanted to make a contribution to the war effort by improving torpedo technology. Working with musician and composer George Antheil, Lamarr developed the idea of "frequency hopping," which could encrypt torpedo control signals, preventing enemies from jamming them and sending the torpedoes off course. Although Lamarr and Antheil were granted a patent for the idea in 1942, the US Navy ignored their technology for 20 years, finally putting it to use during a 1962 blockade of Cuba. Since then, though, Lamarr's spread-spectrum technology has become the foundation for the portable devices that we use every day, for which she was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2014.


•••••

Sign of inequality: US salaries recover even as jobs haven’t

It shows how little lower income workers make compared to others, that such a big loss of income for them affects the total so little.
 

https://apnews.com/article/inequality-us-salaries-recover-jobs-02ce81649c9e6518d6bd2c6c96f5ead8

 

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

Feb. 12, 2021

In a stark sign of the economic inequality that has marked the pandemic recession and recovery, Americans as a whole are now earning the same amount in wages and salaries that they did before the virus struck — even with nearly 9 million fewer people working.

The turnaround in total wages underscores how disproportionately America’s job losses have afflicted workers in lower-income occupations rather than in higher-paying industries, where employees have actually gained jobs as well as income since early last year.

In February 2020, Americans earned $9.66 trillion in wages and salaries, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the Commerce Department data. By April, after the virus had flattened the U.S. economy, that figure had shrunk by 10%. It then gradually recovered before reaching $9.67 trillion in December, the latest period for which data is available.

Those dollar figures include only wages and salaries that people earned from jobs. They don’t include money that tens of millions of Americans have received from unemployment benefits or the Social Security and other aid that goes to many other households. The figures also don’t include investment income.

That is “pretty remarkable,” given the sharp drop in employment, said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase.

The figures document that the vanished earnings from 8.9 million Americans who have lost jobs to the pandemic remain less than the combined salaries of new hires and the pay raises that the 150 million Americans who have kept their jobs have received.

The job cuts resulting from the pandemic recession have fallen heavily on lower-income workers across the service sector — from restaurants and hotels to retail stores and entertainment venues. By contrast, tens of millions of higher-income Americans, especially those able to work from home, have managed to keep or acquire jobs and continue to receive pay increases.

“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Richard Deitz, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, referring to the concentration of job losses. “It’s a totally different kind of downturn than we’ve experienced in modern times.”

Of the nearly 10 million jobs that have been eliminated by the pandemic, 40% have been in restaurants, bars, hotels, arts, and entertainment. Retailers have lost nearly 400,000 jobs and many low-paying health care workers, such as nursing home attendants and home health care aides, have also been laid off.

On average, restaurant workers make just below $13 an hour, according to Labor Department data. Retail cashier pay is about the same. That’s less than half the economy-wide average of nearly $30 an hour. 

•••••

This week, the New York Fed released research that underscored how focused the job losses have been. For people making less than $30,000 a year, employment has fallen 14% as of December. For those earning more than $85,000, it has actually risen slightly. For those in-between, employment has fallen 4%

•••••

New report details devastating impact of the Trump administration's health-harming policies, calls for sweeping reforms

 

I suggest reading the whole article.  If I didn't try to respect intellectual property rights, I would put the whole article in this post, a lot of valuable information.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/tl-pss020921.php

 

News Release 11-Feb-2021
The Lancet

 

The first comprehensive assessment of the health effects of Donald Trump's presidency is published today in The Lancet revealing devastating impacts on every aspect of health in the USA. The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era [1] also traces the policy failures that preceded and fueled Trump's ascent and left the USA lagging behind other high-income nations on life expectancy.

In new analyses, the Commission finds that 461,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2018, and 40% of US deaths during 2020 from COVID-19 would have been averted if the USA had death rates equivalent to those of the other G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom). The report also estimates that Trump's rollbacks of environmental protections led to 22,000 excess deaths in 2019 alone.

The Commission finds that US life expectancy began trailing other high-income nations' in about 1980 as President Ronald Reagan initiated anti-government, wealth-concentrating policies that reversed many of the advances of the New Deal and Civil Rights eras. Reagan's political philosophy, known as neo-liberalism, has continued to influence US health and economic policy under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Many Trump policies, including tax cuts and deregulation that benefit the wealthy and corporations, austerity for the poor, and privatization of Medicare, emulate Reagan's.

•••••

The report also condemns Trump's withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and defunding of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) - bodies critical for pandemic response globally - and his undermining of global health efforts prior to the pandemic.

•••••

While the Commission initially intended to focus narrowly on the health effects of the Trump administration, its analyses revealed that deep-seated problems that preceded Trump had undermined health and set the stage for his political ascent. Trump gained his largest 2016 electoral margins in counties with the worst economic and mortality trends; in counties where Trump got more than 60% of the vote, life expectancy had been better in 1980 than in those where he was soundly defeated. By the time of his presidential run, life expectancy in the pro-Trump counties was 2 years shorter than in counties where he was defeated.

 

The Commission concludes that Trump exploited low- and middle-income white people's anger over their deteriorating life prospects to mobilize racial animus and xenophobia; he then enlisted their support for policies that benefit wealthy individuals and corporations and threaten the health of most Americans, including Trump's supporters.

•••••

The Commission found that Trump's actions added 2.3 million to the 28 million US residents who were uninsured when he took office, with coverage losses concentrated in minority communities and among children. An additional 726,000 children became uninsured during his time in office. Meanwhile, he augmented the flow of public funds through private insurers, who now derive most of their revenues from government programs, raise Medicare's costs by an estimated $24 billion annually, and have garnered record profits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

•••••

The Commission cites Trump's acceleration of global warming through encouragement of fossil fuel combustion and withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement as perhaps his longest lasting harm. It details his roll back of at least 84 separate environmental and workplace protections. Ironically, US states that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 have suffered the greatest increases in pollution and in deaths from environmental and occupational causes. In 2019 alone, the Commission estimates that 22,000 more Americans died from environmental and occupationally related causes than in 2016, the first time such deaths have increased after 15 years of steady progress.

•••••

"Our ICU is the last stop for many patients harmed by Trump's disdain for facts, science, and compassion," says Commission member Dr Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School "But decades of health care inequality, privatization and profiteering set the stage for these tragedies. Our Commission has concluded that single payer, Medicare for All reform is the only way forward."

•••••

 

One dose of COVID-19 vaccine provokes strong immune response in those previously infected

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/bu-odo021121.php

 

News Release 11-Feb-2021
Strong response detected regardless of duration between infection and vaccination; multi-ethnic groups exhibit similar response
Bar-Ilan University

 

Although clinical trial data are encouraging, real-world evidence with regard to the COVID-19 vaccine remains scarce. In particular, response to the vaccine among those previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 is still not completely understood.

Researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Ziv Medical Center now report preliminary evidence that people previously infected with the virus responded very strongly to one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, regardless of when they were infected and whether or not they had detectable antibodies against COVID-19 prior to receiving the vaccine.


•••••

Instant death from heart attack more common in people who do not exercise

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/esoc-idf021221.php

 

News Release 12-Feb-2021
European Society of Cardiology

 

An active lifestyle is linked with a lower chance of dying immediately from a heart attack, according to a study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally and prevention is a major public health priority. The beneficial impact of physical activity in stopping heart disease and sudden death on a population level is well documented. This study focused on the effect of an active versus sedentary lifestyle on the immediate course of a heart attack - an area with little information.


•••••

Researchers propose that humidity from masks may lessen severity of COVID-19

When I was wearing a mask a few days ago, I wondered if this might be the case.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/niod-rpt021221.php

 

News Release 12-Feb-2021
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

 

Masks help protect the people wearing them from getting or spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but now researchers from the National Institutes of Health have added evidence for yet another potential benefit for wearers: The humidity created inside the mask may help combat respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.

The study, led by researchers in the NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), found that face masks substantially increase the humidity in the air that the mask-wearer breathes in. This higher level of humidity in inhaled air, the researchers suggest, could help explain why wearing masks has been linked to lower disease severity in people infected with SARS-CoV-2, because hydration of the respiratory tract is known to benefit the immune system. The study published in the Biophysical Journal.

"We found that face masks strongly increase the humidity in inhaled air and propose that the resulting hydration of the respiratory tract could be responsible for the documented finding that links lower COVID-19 disease severity to wearing a mask," said the study's lead author, Adriaan Bax, Ph.D., NIH Distinguished Investigator. "High levels of humidity have been shown to mitigate severity of the flu, and it may be applicable to severity of COVID-19 through a similar mechanism."


•••••

"Even as more people nationwide begin to get vaccinated, we must remain vigilant about doing our part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19," said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. "This research supports the importance of mask-wearing as a simple, yet effective, way to protect the people around us and to protect ourselves from respiratory infection, especially during these winter months when susceptibility to these viruses increases."

Indigenous leaders warn of missionaries turning Amazon villages against vaccines

https://news.yahoo.com/indigenous-leaders-warn-missionaries-turning-201329453.html

https://www.reuters.com/

Anthony Boadle
Thu, February 11, 2021, 3:13 PM

Medical teams working to immunize Brazil's remote indigenous villages against the coronavirus have encountered fierce resistance in some communities where evangelical missionaries are stoking fears of the vaccine, say tribal leaders and advocates.

On the São Francisco reservation in the state of Amazonas, Jamamadi villagers sent health workers packing with bows and arrows when they visited by helicopter this month, said Claudemir da Silva, an Apurinã leader representing indigenous communities on the Purus river, a tributary of the Amazon.

"It's not happening in all villages, just in those that have missionaries or evangelical chapels where pastors are convincing the people not to receive the vaccine, that they will turn into an alligator and other crazy ideas," he said by phone.

•••••

The impeachment

Feb. 12, 2021

 Trump's defense team threatened that if Trump were convicted, it would lead to Democratic presidents being impeached.  This is amusing because, of course, in fact it was the republicans that impeached Clinton for having oral sex with consent, an impeachment pushed by Congress men who were themselves debauched.

 

They said that Trump's bullying call to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger demanding that he "find" enough votes to reverse Georgia's vote for Biden was fine because a much larger percentage of mail-in ballots had been rejected two years before.  Of course, they didn't mention that two years ago, the Secretary of State was Brian Kemp, who threw out those votes when he was running for governor while remaining in his position as Secretary of State.  There was a very obvious conflict of interest.  Raffensperger is a republican, and if he had wanted to cheat, it would be expected to be in favor of republicans.  In fact, Raffensperger appears to have worked for a fair election.  In some districts where Biden won the presidential vote, republicans won other races.

I missed most of the impeachment trial defense because I'm a Tax-Aide volunteer, and my team did our dry run today.  But I heard enough to make a few comments.

The defense claimed that some of the people in the mob were members of groups that had planned the insurrection ahead of time, and started doing so before Trump spoke to them.  They said the FBI had known about this and reported it.  So I want to know why Trump did not prepare adequate defenses before hand?  Why did he delay so long to call in the National Guard, when the police were calling for help?  Why did he wait to speak to the mob, and when he did, did not tell them to go home?  In the question and answer part, republicans and Democrats asked when Trump that the mob was intent on breaking into the Capitol and doing violence, and the defense did not answer either of them.

Feb. 11, 2021

Trump planned this insurrection long before the election.  The polls indicated that he would lose the popular vote soundly, could very well lose the electoral college.  So he downplayed the Covid virus to his followers, encouraging them to risk their lives going to his rallies.  He encouraged his followers to risk catching Covid by voting in person, knowing that many Democrats who knew the dangers would vote by mail.  He railed against voting by mail, caused his followers to disbelieve the results of the election.   He deliberately set the stage for the insurrection, not caring about the health and lives of his followers.  This also, inadvertently or on purpose, helped Russia by weakening our own country.

 republicans claim to be for "law and order", they love harsh punishment, including the death penalty.  But now they are saying we should put Trump's insurrection behind us!  WTF!  If a mob boss directed a mob to attack your home with the intent to kill some people who live there, killed a police officer and beat up others severely who were protecting you;  stole and damaged your possessions;  if afterward you were told to let the boss go, put this behind you, what would be your reaction?

===============================

https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-trial-live-updates/2021/02/09/965590112/i-said-the-opposite-criticism-of-trumps-impeachment-defense-intensifies

'I Said The Opposite': Criticism Of Trump's Impeachment Defense Intensifies

February 9, 20215:00 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
Nina Totenberg at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2019

A constitutional law professor whose work is cited extensively by former President Donald Trump's lawyers in their impeachment defense brief says his work has been seriously misrepresented.

In a 78-page brief filed in the U.S. Senate Monday, Trump's lawyers rely heavily on the work of Michigan State University professor Brian Kalt, author of the seminal article about impeachment of a former president. His work is cited 15 times in the Trump brief, often for the proposition that the Senate does not have the authority under the Constitution to try an impeached ex-president.

The problem is that Kalt's 2001 book-length law review article concluded that, on balance, the historical evidence is against Trump's legal argument.

"The worst part is the three places where they said I said something when, in fact, I said the opposite," Kalt said in an interview with NPR.

Trump's lawyers argue that the Senate lacks jurisdiction because the president is already out of office, making an impeachment trial pointless. Kalt argues that impeachment is about more than removal; it's about accountability and deterrence. "The framers worried about people abusing their power to keep themselves in office," he adds. "The point is the timing of the conduct, not the timing of the legal proceeding."

Kalt is among more than 170 leading constitutional scholars who have formally weighed in on this issue, telling the Senate that contrary to Trump's assertion, it does have the authority to try Trump.

==========================================

Feb. 9l 2021

 

So far, I think my favorite part of the Trump defense is the claim that if we don't allow Trump to get away with trying to overthrow the government, it will lead to someone in the future overthrowing the government. 🤣

 

What nerve to characterize the incitement to insurrection as a partisan issue that will cause republican retribution in the future, and bring up Clinton, which was extremely partisan, with the republicans trying to remove Clinton with the excuse of his sex life.  So it's ok for republicans to try to impeach Democrats for partisan reasons with trivial excuses, but not to impeach republicans for treason and excitement to violence, resulting in death of a police office and severe injuries to other, and planned attacks on Congress and their staff.

Trump's defense is buttering up Senators, saying they care about the country. We know from when Obama was president that many republican Senators do NOT care about our country, because they deliberately blocked most of Obama's efforts to stimulate the economy to recover from the Great Recession, in hopes of turning people against Obama and getting someone from their own party as president.

Some vaccinated people exposed to the virus don’t need to quarantine, C.D.C. says.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/11/world/covid-19-coronavirus#some-vaccinated-people-exposed-to-the-virus-dont-need-to-quarantine-cdc-says

 

Feb. 11, 2021

 

Some people who have been fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine if they are exposed to the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The advice, published in the C.D.C.’s revised Covid-19 guidelines, applies only to those who were vaccinated more than two weeks and less than three months ago, and who have shown no symptoms of Covid infection.

The new guidance covers those who have received both shots of a two-dose vaccine or one shot of a single-dose vaccine, should one be approved, the agency said. It effectively puts vaccinated people in the same category as people who have had Covid-19 and gained natural immunity, and also are not advised to quarantine.

•••••

Biden administration steps in to get millions of available N95 masks to the frontline workers who need them.

 

Feb. 11, 2021

 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/11/world/covid-19-coronavirus#biden-administration-steps-in-to-get-millions-of-available-n95-masks-to-the-frontline-workers-who-need-them

The White House on Thursday stepped into the fragmented market for disposable, virus-filtering N95 masks, moving to connect medical supply companies with mask manufacturers who say they are loaded with inventory but can’t find buyers — even in the midst of a pandemic in which doctors and nurses are desperate for the protective gear.

President Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, Jeffrey D. Zients, intervened after reading about the mask manufacturers’ dilemma on Thursday in an article in The New York Times.

“We will do all we can to get frontline workers the personal protective equipment they need, including breaking down barriers for N95 manufacturers,” Mr. Zients said in a statement, adding that he had already “reached out to all of the major medical distributors to start connecting them with these new N95 mask manufacturers.”


•••••

Covid-19 Live Updates: Biden Announces a Big Vaccine Deal, but Warns of Hurdles

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/11/world/covid-19-coronavirus#biden-says-the-us-will-soon-have-enough-vaccine-for-all-americans-but-logistical-hurdles-remain

 

Feb. 11, 2021

The Biden administration says it has now secured enough vaccine to inoculate every American adult, but President Biden warned that logistical hurdles would most likely mean that many Americans will still not have been vaccinated by the end of the summer.

Officials said Thursday that they had arranged to get 200 million more doses of vaccine by the end of summer, which amounts to a 50 percent increase. That should be enough vaccine to cover 300 million people.

But it will still be difficult to get those shots into people’s arms, and Mr. Biden lamented the “gigantic” logistical challenge his administration faces during an appearance at the National Institutes of Health.

“It’s one thing to have the vaccine, it’s another thing to have vaccinators,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden also expressed open frustration with the former administration.

“It was a big mess,” he said. “It’s going to take time to fix, to be blunt with you.”

•••••

The deal for 200 million additional doses of vaccine announced Thursday helps fulfill a promise Mr. Biden made in January to ramp up supply to cover more of the population. He said then that the administration was closing in on that deal with the two manufacturers as part of his larger pledge that some 300 million Americans could receive a dose of the vaccine by the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall.

On Thursday, Mr. Biden said his administration had “now purchased enough vaccine to vaccinate all Americans.”

And earlier in the day, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, predicted that as early as April, any American could begin seeking a vaccine in an “open season” that would extend availability beyond priority categories.

•••••

Double standards

Saw this in a Facebook post, dated yesterday  Feb. 10, 2021

I share more brilliance from the desk of Jim Wright.
Republicans: PRESIDENTS CAN'T APPOINT SUPREME COURT JUDGES DURING THEIR LAST YEAR IN OFFICE!
Also Republicans: <appoints SCOTUS justice during Trump's last year in office>
Republicans: THE NUCLEAR OPTION IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
Also Republicans: <Uses nuclear option 3 times>
Republicans: ALL OBAMA DOES IS SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND GOLF!
Also Republicans: Trump uses executive orders because he has a mandate from the people to implement our agenda. Also he works, like, really super extra hard and totally deserves to relax on the golf course.
Republicans: YOU CAN'T FORCE A BUSINESS TO MAKE GAY WEDDING CAKES! BUSINESS HAS A RIGHT TO DECIDE! ALSO NET NEUTRALITY IS A SOCIALIST PLOT TO DESTROY CAPITALISM!
Also Republicans: How dare business ban us from their platforms. What about freedom?
Republicans: THE PRESIDENT'S CHILDREN HAVE A RIGHT TO EARN A LIVING AND ADVISE THE PRESIDENT AND TOTALLY GO TO ISRAEL AND DO STATE DEPARTMENT STUFF! IT'S NOT NEPOTISM! BUY THEIR BOOKS, IT'S TOTALLY IN THERE!
Also Republicans: OMG! What about Hunter?!!
Republicans: WE NEED GUNS TO DEFEND OUR RIGHT TO HAVE GUNS SO WE CAN OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT WITH OUR GUNS BECAUSE TYRANNY! THAT'S WHY TRUMP, BECAUSE GUNS!
Also Republicans: Who even knows how this insurrection happened!?!? It's like a spontaneous random thing, I guess?
Republicans: FUCK YOU[R] FEELINGS!
Also Republicans: But what about OUR feelings?
Republicans: YOU CAN'T PUT AN ELECTED OFFICIAL LIKE TRUMP ON TRIAL AFTER HE'S OUT OF OFFICE, THAT'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
Also Republicans: <to Hillary Clinton> Yeah, we're gonna need you to testify in front of congress again. So if you could do that, that would be great. Mmmmkay.
Republicans: DEMOCRACY! THE VOTERS WILL DECIDE!
Also Republicans: Not like that. Also it's a republic, not a democracy. Also, by "voters" we meant white people <waves Confederate flag>
Republicans: YOU CAN'T IMPEACH TRUMP WHILE HE'S IN OFFICE BECAUSE THERE'S ONLY, LIKE, A COUPLE OF WEEKS LEFT IN HIS TERM!
Also Republicans: YOU CAN'T IMPEACH TRUMP AFTER HE'S OUT OF OFFICE EITHER. JUST BE COOL. FORGET ABOUT IT. BYGONES BE BYGONES. <waves Confederate flag, also some swastikas>
Republicans: Why is everyone so mean to us? Have you seen their tweets? What is hypocrisy anyway really? What about unity? We're the real victims...

How Global Warming Can Cause Europe's Harsh Winter Weather

 

 Climate denialists say "weather goes up and down", but they don't seem to be able to understand that when average global temperatures are going, temperatures will still go up and down.  The rising sea level won't keep the tides from happening.

 

https://www.ecowatch.com/global-warming-extreme-cold-weather-2650480603.html

 

Deutsche Welle
Feb. 11, 2021 12:40PM EST

By Jeannette Cwienk

As Germans shiver through double-digit negative temperatures and more than 80 centimeters (30 inches) of snow in parts of the country, climate science deniers have taken to social media to argue that global warming is a hoax.

Their claim — which has been repeatedly debunked by climate scientists — is that extremely cold weather shows that carbon dioxide emissions are not warming the Earth.

In fact, the effects of global warming may even have favored the extremely cold temperature.

The past week's sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfalls are more than just a cold winter. They are made more likely by the collapse of the polar vortex — a huge ring of cold winds raging in the Earth's stratosphere — at the North Pole.

The polar vortex is closely connected to the jet stream, a band of strong winds about 10 kilometers [6 miles] above the ground. At the polar front, this flows between warm air from the tropics and subtropics, and cold polar air. The pressure extremes that form in this transitional area at lower layers are sometimes referred to in weather reports as the Icelandic low or the Azores high.

The jet stream usually determines the winter weather in Europe: if it is strong and flows from west to east, it brings mild, windy and rainy weather from the Atlantic, and holds the cold air from the Arctic.

But if the jet stream is weak and wavy, the polar vortex also weakens, and sometimes breaks down completely. The cold snap across Europe is the result of a weak jet stream — more precisely a dip — that has caused a strong and long-lasting collapse of the polar vortex.

•••••

Arctic warming is particularly strong in winter, said Dörthe Handorf, who researches the physics of the atmosphere at the Alfred Wegener Institute of the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). "As many studies show, this weakens the jet stream."

The wind stream begins to fray, said Handorf, which could lead to more dips that affect temperatures in Europe.

•••••

Climate change won't necessarily make European winters colder because the outbreaks of cold air from the polar vortex are sometimes milder than the current cold snap. The Arctic is also not the only part of the world where air currents are changing because of rising temperatures.

Strong warming over the subtropics also affects the jet stream, said Handorf. While the Arctic warming tends to direct the jet stream southwards and cause cold spells in Europe, the subtropical warming generally sends the band northwards. If this is the case, she said, the winter weather in Europe will be milder. Climate models do not yet know which warming trend will dominate in the future, she added.

•••••

Snow forms when warm, moist air meets very cold air. Over the flatlands in western Europe, the air is rarely cold enough for the volume of snowfall that has blanketed the region this winter.

But on this occasion, an area of high-pressure air called Gisela brought cold Arctic winds to the center of Germany, where it collided with two low-pressure areas called Tristan and Reinhard. As they were carrying warm sea air, the moisture was turned into snow.

Because warmer air holds more moisture, rising temperatures mean air masses will transport more water. This moisture can then become snow wherever it gets cold enough — typically at higher altitudes

•••••

Changes in local weather can be different to changes in the global climate. This can cause confusion.

While average temperatures have warmed to record-breaking levels — making regional heatwaves and wildfires more intense — climate change does not make temperatures everywhere rise. In the past 20 years, for example, winters in many areas of temperate latitudes have not been much warmer than the long-term average, said Handorf.

•••••

The changing jet stream also affects summer temperatures, she added. "There are studies that show we also have a more meandering jet stream in summer. And these meanders, these bulges, tend to remain more stationary." In other words, just like a cold spell in winter, the heat can last for an unusually long time in summer.

•••••

Idaho man pleads guilty to rape and murder after innocent suspect spent 20 years behind bars J

https://news.yahoo.com/idaho-man-pleads-guilty-rape-213334882.html

James Crump
Wed, February 10, 2021, 4:33 PM

A man from Idaho has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of a teenage neighbour, after an innocent suspect spent 20 years in prison for the crimes.

During an appearance in a Bonneville County Courtroom on Tuesday, Brian Dripps, 55, admitted to raping and killing 18-year-old Angie Dodge inside her apartment in 1996.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors will recommend that Mr Dripps serves life in prison, but be granted parole in 20 years, according to CBS News.

Another man, Christopher Tapp, served 20 years of a 30-year prison sentence for the crimes after he wrongly confessed to them in 1997.

Mr Tapp later claimed he was innocent, but was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in 1998.

He was released in 2017 and finally exonerated in 2019 based on a genetic family tree, which many of Mr Dripps' relatives had uploaded DNA to.

Dripps confessed after officers matched his DNA to that of a cigarette butt he had thrown away close to the crime scene.

•••••

Study finds fewer older people are having strokes

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/aaon-sff020421.php

News Release 10-Feb-2021
American Academy of Neurology

A new study has found that people age 70 and older are having fewer strokes, and fewer people of all ages are dying from the disease. The study, which examined the population of Denmark, is published in the February 10, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. In older people, researchers found declines in both ischemic stroke, caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain, and intracerebral hemorrhage, when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain.

"Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the world," said study author Henrik Toft Sørensen, M.D., Ph.D., D.M.Sc., of Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark. "Recent research on the incidence of stroke has been mixed, and some studies have reported an increase among young people. However, our research found no increase in stroke among young people, and it also found the incidence of stroke declining among older people, which is encouraging."

........

"The decrease we found may be associated with better treatment of stroke risk factors, such as hypertension and atrial fibrillation, as well as falling smoking rates in the population," said Sørensen."

........

"The improvements we found in survival rates are consistent with improvements in stroke care," said Sørensen. "We also examined stroke severity and found while mild strokes increased, the most severe cases declined. These changes could be related to improvements in stroke awareness in the general population as well as the care people receive for stroke, including in the ambulance and emergency department prior to hospitalization. Such care has led to faster and improved diagnostics, particularly regarding the mildest of cases."

A limitation of the study was that the data did not allow researchers to examine trends in some subtypes of stroke. Another limitation was that the study was conducted in Denmark so the results may not be the same for populations in other countries.

Mediterranean-style diet linked to better thinking skills in later life

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoe-mdl021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
University of Edinburgh

People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet--particularly one rich in green leafy vegetables and low in meat--are more likely to stay mentally sharp in later life, a study shows.

Closely adhering to a Mediterranean diet was associated with higher scores on a range of memory and thinking tests among adults in their late 70s, the research found.

The study found no link, however, between the Mediterranean-style diet and better brain health.

Markers of healthy brain ageing - such as greater grey or white matter volume, or fewer white matter lesions--did not differ between those regularly eating a Mediterranean diet and those who did not.

These latest findings suggest that this primarily plant-based diet may have benefits for cognitive functioning as we get older, researchers say.



•••••

Long-term stress linked to increased risk of heart attack

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/lu-lsl021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
Linköping University

 

Can long-term stress lead to heart attacks? Most people would probably answer in the affirmative, but the scientific evidence of this is scarce. A new study by researchers from Linköping University in Sweden reveals that the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were increased in the months preceding a heart attack. The results, published in Scientific Reports, suggest that long-term stress is a risk factor for heart attacks.


•••••

Choir singing can improve cognitive functioning among the elderly

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoh-csc021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
University of Helsinki

 

Alongside the effects of lifestyle, including physical exercise and diet, on ageing, research has increasingly turned its attention to the potential cognitive benefits of musical hobbies. However, such research has mainly concentrated on hobbies involving musical instruments.

The cognitive benefits of playing an instrument are already fairly well known: such activity can improve cognitive flexibility, or the ability to regulate and switch focus between different thought processes. However, the cognitive benefits of choir singing have so far been investigated very little.

Now, a study recently published in the PLOS ONE journal provides evidence according to which choir singing may engender benefits similar to playing an instrument.

The results show that elderly singers had better verbal flexibility than those in the control group, who did not have choir singing as a hobby. Verbal flexibility reflects better cognitive flexibility.

"This supports findings previously gained on the effects of playing an instrument on the cognitive functioning of elderly people and gives some indications that choir singing too may potentially have similar beneficial effects. These findings increase our understanding of how different activities can shape cognition later in life, too," says doctoral student Emmi Pentikäinen.

Those with a longer history of singing in a choir experience a greater feeling of togetherness

The study also looked into the potential benefits of choir singing for the emotional and social wellbeing of the elderly. Questionnaires used in the study demonstrated that those who had sung in a choir for a longer period, more than 10 years, felt greater social togetherness than those with less or no experience of choir singing.

Furthermore, study subjects who had started choir singing less than 10 years ago were happier with their overall health than those with longer singing experience and those who did not sing in a choir.

"It's possible that the people who have joined a choir later in life have thus found the motivation to maintain their health by adhering to an active and healthy lifestyle. Then again, the relationships and social networks provided by being in a choir among those who have done it for longer may have become established as an integral part of their lives, therefore appearing as a greater feeling of social togetherness," Pentikäinen assesses.


•••••

Definitely not the flu: risk of death from COVID-19 3.5 times higher than from flu

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/cmaj-dnt021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
Canadian Medical Association Journal

 

A new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) found that the risk of death from COVID-19 was 3.5 times higher than from influenza.

"We can now say definitively that COVID-19 is much more severe than seasonal influenza," says Dr. Amol Verma, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, and the University of Toronto. "Patients admitted to hospital in Ontario with COVID-19 had a 3.5 times greater risk of death, 1.5 times greater use of the ICU, and 1.5 times longer hospital stays than patients admitted with influenza."

These findings are similar to study results recently reported in France and the United States.


•••••

Texas A&M researchers discover energy drinks' harmful effects on heart

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/tau-tar021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
Popular energy drinks may give you a boost, but they may also contribute to possible serious heart conditions, findings show
Texas A&M University

 

A team of researchers, led by a Texas A&M University professor, has found that some energy drinks have adverse effects on the muscle cells of the heart.

The study, led by Dr. Ivan Rusyn, a professor in the Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS) Department at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS), was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology. In it, researchers observed cardiomyocytes - human heart cells grown in a laboratory - exposed to some energy drinks showed an increased beat rate and other factors affecting cardiac function.

When placed in the context of the human body, consumption of these beverages has been linked to improper beating of the heart, cardiomyopathy (disease of the heart muscle which makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood), increased blood pressure, and other heart conditions.



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Infant and toddler food product names may not accurately reflect ingredient amounts

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/ps-iat021021.php

 

News Release 10-Feb-2021
Penn State

 

The descriptions on the fronts of infant and toddler food packages may not accurately reflect the actual ingredient amounts, according to new research. The team found that vegetables in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "dark green" category were very likely to appear in the product name, but their average order in the ingredient list was close to fourth. In contrast, juice and juice concentrates that came earlier on the ingredient list were less likely to appear in product names.

"Early experiences with food can mold children's preferences and contribute to building healthful, or unhealthful, eating habits that last a lifetime," said author Alyssa Bakke, staff sensory scientist, Penn State. "Our previous work found combining vegetables with fruits reduced the amount of vegetable flavor adults perceived, as the fruit flavors were more pronounced. Other research has also indicated that parents predominantly use front-of-package information to make purchasing decisions. This means that when children are given commercial foods, they may be receiving less exposure to vegetable flavors than their parents assume based on the way the products are labeled and marketed."


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Tax tips - updated 1/21/2021

Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) and Recovery Rebate Credits - Eligible individuals with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for head of household filers and $150,000 for married filing jointly are eligible for the full $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 married filing jointly. In addition, they are eligible for an additional $500 per qualifying child.

- Eligible taxpayers who received a smaller-than-expected EIP may qualify to receive an additional amount when they file their 2020 federal income tax return. EIPs are technically an advance payment of a new temporary tax credit (recovery rebate credit) that eligible taxpayers can claim on their 2020 return.

- If eligible, taxpayers may claim an additional credit on their 2020 tax return, for example, if a child was born, adopted, or placed into foster care in 2020.

- The EIP will not reduce a taxpayer’s refund or increase the amount they owe when they file a tax return. It is also not taxable and therefore should not be included in income on a 2020 return.

- An individual who may be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s tax return is not eligible for a payment.

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CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security)

Changes are summarized below:

Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) and Recovery Rebate Credits - Eligible individuals with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for head of household filers and $150,000 for married filing jointly are eligible for the full $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 married filing jointly. In addition, they are eligible for an additional $500 per qualifying child.

- Eligible taxpayers who received a smaller-than-expected EIP may qualify to receive an additional amount when they file their 2020 federal income tax return. EIPs are technically an advance payment of a new temporary tax credit (recovery rebate credit) that eligible taxpayers can claim on their 2020 return.

- If eligible, taxpayers may claim an additional credit on their 2020 tax return, for example, if a child was born, adopted, or placed into foster care in 2020.

- The EIP will not reduce a taxpayer’s refund or increase the amount they owe when they file a tax return. It is also not taxable and therefore should not be included in income on a 2020 return.

- An individual who may be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s tax return is not eligible for a payment.

Temporary waiver of required minimum distribution rules for certain retirement plans and accounts - waives the required minimum distribution rules for certain defined contribution plans and IRAs for calendar year 2020.

Allowance of partial above-the-line deduction for charitable contributions – permits taxpayers who do not itemize deductions to deduct up to $300 of cash contributions to charitable organizations per return. This provision applies to tax year 2020.

Modification of limitations on charitable contributions during 2020 – increases the limitations on deductions for charitable contributions by individuals who itemize. For individuals, the 60% of adjusted gross income limitation is suspended for 2020.

Deferred payment of the employer share of the Social Security tax allows self-employed individuals to defer payment of the employer share of Social Security tax. Half of the deferred amount is due by December 31, 2021 and the other half by December 31, 2022.

Exclusion for certain employer payments of student loans – enables employers to provide a student loan repayment benefit to employees on a tax-free basis. Under the provision, an employer may contribute up to $5,250 annually toward an employee’s student loans, and such payment would be excluded from the employee’s income. The $5,250 cap applies to both the new student loan repayment benefit as well as other educational assistance (e.g., tuition, fees, books) provided by the employer. This provision applies to any student loan payments made by an employer on behalf of an employee after March 27, 2020 and before January 1, 2021.

Higher education emergency financial aid grants Emergency financial aid grants under the CARES Act for unexpected expenses, unmet financial need, or expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as unexpected expenses for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, or childcare, are qualified disaster relief payments under section 139 of the Internal Revenue Code. This grant is not includible in gross income. Because the emergency financial aid grant is not includible in gross income, taxpayers cannot claim any deduction or credit for expenses paid with the grant including the tuition and fees deduction, the American opportunity credit, or the lifetime learning credit.

 tags: tax hints,

A majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble

It seems to me that something that makes this more of a problem is that we are told that if we are good people who work hard, we will be successful, and disparaging of people who are not successful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/10/capitol-insurrectionists-jenna-ryan-financial-problems/

 

By Todd C. Frankel
Feb. 10, 2021 at 6:29 a.m. EST


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Nearly 60 percent of the people facing charges related to the Capitol riot showed signs of prior money troubles, including bankruptcies, notices of eviction or foreclosure, bad debts, or unpaid taxes over the past two decades, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records for 125 defendants with sufficient information to detail their financial histories.

The group’s bankruptcy rate — 18 percent — was nearly twice as high as that of the American public, The Post found. A quarter of them had been sued for money owed to a creditor. And 1 in 5 of them faced losing their home at one point, according to court filings.

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While no single factor explains why someone decided to join in, experts say, Donald Trump and his brand of grievance politics tapped into something that resonated with the hundreds of people who descended on the Capitol in a historic burst of violence.

“I think what you’re finding is more than just economic insecurity but a deep-seated feeling of precarity about their personal situation,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a political science professor who helps run the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University, reacting to The Post’s findings. “And that precarity — combined with a sense of betrayal or anger that someone is taking something away — mobilized a lot of people that day.”

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The poor and uneducated are not more likely to join extremist movements, according to experts. Two professors a couple of years ago found the opposite in one example: an unexpectedly high number of engineers who became Islamist radicals.

In the Capitol attack, business owners and white-collar workers made up 40 percent of the people accused of taking part, according to a study by the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago. Only 9 percent appeared to be unemployed.

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Miller-Idriss said she was struck by a 2011 study that found household income was not a factor in whether a young person supported the extreme far right in Germany. But a highly significant predictor was whether they had lived through a parent’s unemployment.

“These are people who feel like they’ve lost something,” Miller-Idriss said.

Going through a bankruptcy or falling behind on taxes, even years earlier, could provoke a similar response.

“They know it can be lost. They have that history — and then someone comes along and tells you this election has been stolen,” Miller-Idriss said. “It taps into the same thing.”

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Georgia prosecutors open criminal investigation into Trump phone call

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/trump-georgia-prosecutors-criminal-investigation

Wed 10 Feb 2021 12.02 EST

Last modified on Wed 10 Fe

Prosecutors in Fulton county, Georgia, are investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the southern state’s 2020 presidential election results, according to a letter, in the second criminal investigation faced by the former president.

The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has sent a letter asking state government officials to preserve documents, including those related to the then president’s call to the Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to “find” more votes.

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History repeating

Feb. 10, 2021

I'm reading a couple of books that remind me of current affairs.

 

"A Woman of No Importance", by Sonia Purnell, is the biography of a remarkable woman who was largely responsible for organizing the resistance to the Nazis in France, helping the Allies defeat the Nazis during WWII. Her courage and honor contrasts strongly with the republican politicians who are too cowardly and desirous of power to oppose Trump. Most of the republican politicians remind me of the French government officials who cooperated with the German occupiers.

 

In "The Rise of Skywalker", by Rae Carson, Trump reminds me of the Sith, and his followers remind me of the First Order.

 

There is evidence that the virus survives for a shorter time in normal conditions than in laboratory experiments such as this.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/aiop-pmu020321.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
Porous materials unfavorable for coronavirus survival

Why coronavirus survives for less time on porous materials and the implications for the safety of different materials in schools, workplaces, and public spaces

American Institute of Physics

As COVID-19 spreads via respiratory droplets, researchers have become increasingly interested in the drying of droplets on impermeable and porous surfaces. Surfaces that accelerate evaporation can decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from IIT Bombay show a droplet remains liquid for a much shorter time on a porous surface, making it less favorable to survival of the virus.

The researchers found the coronavirus can survive for four days on glass, seven days on plastic, and seven days on stainless steel. But on paper and cloth, the virus survived for only three hours and two days, respectively.

"Based on our study, we recommend that furniture in hospitals and offices, made of impermeable material, such as glass, stainless steel, or laminated wood, be covered with porous material, such as cloth, to reduce the risk of infection upon touch," said author Sanghamitro Chatterjee.

Similarly, the researchers suggest seats in public places, such as parks, shopping malls, restaurants, and railway or airport waiting halls, could be covered with cloth to alleviate the risk of disease spread.

For both impermeable and porous surfaces, 99.9% of the droplet's liquid content is evaporated within the first few minutes. After this initial state, a microscopic thin residual liquid film remains on the exposed solid parts, where the virus can still survive. 

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The invisible killer lurking in our consumer products

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoef-tik020521.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
University of Eastern Finland

 

Our consumer products, such as food, cosmetics and clothes, might be filled with nanomaterials - unbeknownst to us. The use of nanomaterials remains unregulated and they do not show up in lists of ingredients. This is a cause of concern since nanomaterials can be more dangerous than COVID-19 in the long term if no safety action is taken: they are tricky to measure, they enter our food chain and, most alarmingly, they can penetrate cells and accumulate in our organs.


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An international team of researchers developed a sensitive method to find and trace nanomaterials in blood and tissues, and traced nanomaterials across an aquatic food chain, from microorganisms to fish, which is a major source of food in many countries. This method can open new horizons for taking safety actions.

"We found that that nanomaterials bind strongly to microorganisms, which are a source of food for other organisms, and this is the way they can enter our food chain. Once inside an organism, nanomaterials can change their shape and size and turn into a more dangerous material that can easily penetrate cells and spread to other organs. When looking at different organs of an organism, we found that nanomaterials tend to accumulate especially in the brain," lead author Dr Fazel A. Monikh from the University of Eastern Finland says.

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"It could be that you are already using nanomaterials in your food, clothes, cosmetic products, etc., but you still don't see any mention of them in the ingredient list. Why? Because they are still unregulated and because they are so small that we simply can't measure them once they're in your products," Dr Fazel A. Monikh says.

"People have the right to know what they are using and buying for their families. This is a global problem which needs a global solution. Many questions about nanomaterials still need to be answered. Are they safe for us and the environment? Where will they end up after we're done using them? How can we assess their possible risk?" Dr Fazel A. Monikh concludes. 

The Lancet Planetary Health: Millions of lives saved annually by 2040 if countries raise their climate ambitions to meet Paris Agreement targets, modelling study suggests

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/tl-pss_1020821.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
The Lancet

 

Adopting policies that are consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement and prioritise health, could save 6.4 million lives due to better diet, 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air, and 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise, per year, across nine countries.

New research from The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change published in a special issue of The Lancet Planetary Health journal highlights the benefits to health if countries adopt climate plans - Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) - that are consistent with the Paris Agreement aim of limiting warming to "well below 2°C". [1,2]

The countries considered in the study represent 50% of the world's population and 70% of the world's emissions - Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US.Adopting policies that are consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement and prioritise health, could save 6.4 million lives due to better diet, 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air, and 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise, per year, across nine countries.

New research from The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change published in a special issue of The Lancet Planetary Health journal highlights the benefits to health if countries adopt climate plans - Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) - that are consistent with the Paris Agreement aim of limiting warming to "well below 2°C". [1,2]

The countries considered in the study represent 50% of the world's population and 70% of the world's emissions - Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US.

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Traumatic stress in childhood can lead to brain changes in adulthood: study

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoaf-tsi020821.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

A new study from University of Alberta researchers has shown that traumatic or stressful events in childhood may lead to tiny changes in key brain structures that can now be identified decades later.

The study is the first to show that trauma or maltreatment during a child's early years--a well-known risk factor for developing mental health conditions such as major depressive disorder in adulthood--triggers changes in specific subregions of the amygdala and the hippocampus.

Once these changes occur, researchers believe the affected regions of the brain may not function as well, potentially increasing the risk of developing mental health disorders as adults during times of stress.


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tags: child abuse,

Nitrate in maternal drinking water may impair fetal growth

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoia-nim020821.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
University of Illinois at Chicago

Women whose household drinking water contained nitrate had babies that weighed, on average, 10 grams less than babies born to mothers where household water had no detectible nitrate, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago and Aarhus University.

The study, which is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, followed pregnant women living in Denmark. The researchers found that even low nitrate levels -- about half of the allowable level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA -- caused an adverse effect.



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Paid maternity leave has long-term health benefits

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uog-pml020921.php

 

News Release 9-Feb-2021
Study shows positive effects after more generous leave became law in Norway
University of Georgia

 

A study of women who were new mothers in the late 1970s found that those who were given longer, paid maternity leave lived healthier lives as they entered middle age.

While universal paid maternity leave is now available in many Western European nations, this has not always been the case. A new study by University of Georgia economist Meghan Skira looked at the health of Norwegian mothers before and after paid maternity leave became law in 1977. She found that the health benefits of leave continued for years after their children were born.

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The women who gave birth after July 1977 were in better health across the board as they hit middle age, but the biggest gains in health were seen among low-income women who may not have been able to afford to take the full amount of unpaid leave available before the change.

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The women who had access to paid leave had 2.5% to 3.7% lower BMI than those who did not have access. They were 10% less likely to have high blood pressure. They were 16% to 18% less likely to smoke and 14% to 20% more likely to exercise regularly.

"We know that women are healthier at 40, but we don't know exactly why. We did not find significant changes in income or employment among the women who had access to the reform, so the health improvements are unlikely due to income effects. We speculate that a reduction in stress, more time to recover from childbirth, and perhaps breastfeeding played a role," she said. "More research on exactly why maternal health improved would be valuable."

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