Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Thom Hartmann, - The Raw Story/Alternet
Stephan: This may read like something out of some dark novel of a coup. Sadly, it is all too real. Are Americans engaged enough with their democracy to resist this? I'm not sure. We are going down a dangerous road, and seem unable to stop.
Imagine if the U.S. Constitution barred the EPA and Department of Education from existing. All union protections are dead, there are no more federal workplace safety standards, and even child-labor laws are struck down, along with a national minimum wage.
Imagine that the Constitution makes it illegal for the federal government to protect you from big polluters, big banks and even big food and pharma—all are free to rip you off or poison you all they want, and your only remedy is in state courts and legislatures, because the Constitution prevents Congress from doing anything about any of it. The federal government can’t even enforce voting or civil rights laws.
To add injury to insult, the federal government has to shut down Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, because all of these programs (along with food stamps, housing supports and any programs that help the middle class, the less fortunate or disabled) are “beyond the reach” of what the federal government can do.
A few years ago, it would have been a thought experiment; now it’s nearly reality. Billionaires and the groups they […]
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Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Nicholas Kristof, Op-ed Columnist - The New York Times
Stephan: How unhealthy are Americans? We know that we don't live as long as people in other developed nations. We have more obesity, heart disease, type II diabetes, and a host of other problems than other countries. But sperm? This report raises this little discussed issue noting, "“Semen quality and fertility in men have decreased. Not everyone who wants to reproduce will be able to. And the costs of male disorders to quality of life, and the economic burden to society, are inestimable.” This is not laughable, even though that may be your first response.
Credit: The New York Times/Donnelly
Let’s begin with sex.
As a couple finishes its business, millions of sperm begin theirs: rushing toward an egg to fertilize it. But these days, scientists say, an increasing proportion of sperm — now about 90 percent in a typical young man — are misshapen, sometimes with two heads or two tails.
Even when properly shaped, today’s sperm are often pathetic swimmers, veering like drunks or paddling crazily in circles. Sperm counts also appear to have dropped sharply in the last 75 years, in ways that affect our ability to reproduce.
“There’s been a decrease not only in sperm numbers, but also in their quality and swimming capacity, their ability to deliver the goods,” said Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who notes that researchers have also linked semen problems to shorter life expectancy.
Perhaps you were expecting another column about political missteps in Washington, and instead you’ve been walloped with talk of […]
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Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Rob Verger, - Popular Science
Stephan: You're not going to hear about this in any of the major media, but in my view this is a game changing scientific break through, and you should be aware of it.
View of a holmium atom.
Credit: IBM Research/Almaden
In the quest to shrink data storage down into tinier and tinier forms, scientists have scored a very, very small triumph.
They did it by creating what’s essentially an incredibly diminutive magnet: It’s just one atom in size, and while it’s not going to be holding birthday cards up on your refrigerator anytime soon, it can do something else: store a data point.
Described in the journal Nature, the experiment involved atoms of a rare earth element called holmium. Physicists working at an IBM research facility in California found that when the holmium atoms were placed on a special surface made of magnesium oxide, they naturally oriented themselves with a magnetic north and south pole—just like regular magnets have—pointing either straight up or down, and remained that way in a stable condition. What’s more, they could make the atoms flip by giving them a zap with a scanning tunneling microscope that has a needle with a tip just one […]
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Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Avery Thompson, - Popular Mechanics
Stephan: Here is the latest in Elon Musk's push to create 24 hour solar installations. If this is the success it looks like it will be expect to see replications of this installation in other locales. The transition out of carbon is gathering momentum, in spite of the Trump administration and its morally weak and corrupt Republican federal and state legislators
Tesla 13 Megawatt solar farm with 52 megawatt-hours of battery storage.
Energy from the sun will now be powering homes on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, even in the middle of the night. This is thanks to a recently-completed Tesla project that installed Tesla Powerpack batteries next to a 13 megawatt solar farm to help power the homes of the island’s inhabitants day or night.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, which provides electricity to more than 20,000 islanders, initially contracted with SolarCity back in 2015 to construct a solar farm on their Kapaia facility. When Tesla merged with SolarCity in November it took over completion of the project.
The finished solar farm can generate 13 megawatts of power during the day, and also has 52 megawatt-hours of battery storage for supplying power at night. The Powerpack installation is designed to output around 13 megawatts of power during peak evening times.
The completion of the solar farm makes Kapaia the first utility-scale […]
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Jessica Contrera, - The Washington Post
Stephan: One of the most poignant aspects of Ryan/Trumpcare is that the people who voted for Paul Ryan and Donald Trump are the ones who will be most harmfully impacted by what these two bozoes are doing.
The nasty truth which no one is willing to say is that all of this health care nonsense arises from one basic truth: The United States of America does not have a healthcare system, we have an illness profit system. The whole purpose of our system is not to produce healthcare and wellness amongst the population, but to protect and foster opportunities for profit. That's what makes it complicated.
How is it possible that all the other developed societies on earth, whether large or small, can do something we have been unable to accomplish? The answer is that their systems are designed to produce wellness. That's why their systems cost fractions of what U.S. healthcare does. Why their people are healthier, live longer, and are happier. In contrast we have the heartless mess described in this report.
Nurse practitioner Keisha Saunders examines Clarence Workman at the Tug River health clinic in Northfork, W.Va.
Credit: The Washington Post
NORTHFORK, WEST VIRGINIA — Another morning, another list of patients and problems in the hands of 35-year-old Keisha Saunders. Diabetes, depression, heart disease. Robert needs lower blood pressure. Buffy needs prescriptions filled. Mary needs to lose 50 pounds, so she can get what she really needs, a new hip.
Again, the list extends to the bottom of Keisha’s notepad, as it has so many days since the Affordable Care Act mandated that everyone have health insurance. Unlike in Washington, where health care is a contentious policy debate, health care where Keisha is a nurse practitioner is a daily need to be filled. The high rates of chronic diseases in McDowell County have made it the county with the shortest life expectancy in the nation.
It’s also a place that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump, whose promise to repeal the ACA will soon affect nearly every patient Keisha treats at […]
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