Some insurance companies haven’t been shy about their criticisms of Obamacare lately, giving conservatives 
Credit: www.vernkummersplumbing.com
The lead poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan, was a surprise, an emergency that occurred after the city switched to a new, cheaper water source.
But there are at least six cities in the United States where we should, in theory, have really good data on lead exposure. In fiscal year 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent almost $2 million as part of a three-year funding commitment to help some of the biggest cities in the country monitor lead exposure.
I spent the past week looking at these cities, and came away with three main findings. The first is that the rate of lead exposure in Pennsylvania is incredibly alarming. Nearly 10 percent of the more than 140,000 kids tested had levels of 5 or more micrograms per deciliter of lead in the blood (5 µg/dL) — this is the threshold the government uses to identify children with dangerously elevated blood lead levels. One percent tested positive for blood lead levels greater than 10 µg/dL.
Compare that to Flint, where state data shows the rate of lead exposure for […]
F-35 fighter jet
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is possibly one of the most useless jets and biggest waste of taxpayer money ever conceived by the US military. In fact, according to Pierre Sprey, one of the three men that created the F-16, the point of this plane is “to spend money.” He clarifies, “that is the mission of the airplane, is for the US Congress to send money to Lockheed [Martin].”
The airplane is a gross example of exorbitant spending on an overblown military budget. Three different services have had their hands in what this airplane is supposed to do (the US Air Force, Navy and Marines) and as a result, it is overloaded and does nothing well. It’s too bulky to function as an air-to-air combat jet, can’t function in support due to its lack of fuel and is “inherently a terrible airplane,” says Sprey, “because it’s an airplane built for a dumb idea. As soon as you go to design a multi-mission airplane, you’re sunk.”
He explains that when a plane tries to do too much, it does nothing well.
So the […]
