ll across the U.S., rural communities’ residents are being left out of modern society and the 21st century economy. I’ve traveled to Kansas, Maine, Texas and other states studying internet access and use — and I […]
Sunday, January 21st, 2018
ALFRED W. MCCOY, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: The United States has been in a state of continuous war for almost three decades, and the only thing we have to show for it is a chain of destroyed dysfunctional nations, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, particularly. As I write this the BBC News is telling me the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul is under siege with foreign guests captive, dead, or at risk.
These wars have been very profitable for the war merchants and the military but for the millions of people in those nations they have been unmitigated disasters. In none of those countries has there been anything approaching a win for the U.S.. Here is the latest on Afghanistan, the oldest longest running war in American history where the American military is being defeated by the heroin poppy.
American troops in a heroin poppy field in Afghanistan Credit: The Guardian
After fighting the longest war in its history, the US stands at the brink of defeat in Afghanistan. How could this be possible? How could the world’s sole superpower have battled continuously for more than 16 years – deploying more than 100,000 troops at the conflict’s peak, sacrificing the lives of nearly 2,300 soldiers, spending more than $1tn (£740bn) on its military operations, lavishing a record $100bn more on “nation-building”, helping fund and train an army of 350,000 Afghan allies – and still not be able to pacify one of the world’s most impoverished nations? So dismal is the prospect of stability in Afghanistan that, in 2016, the Obama White House cancelled a planned withdrawal of its forces, ordering more than 8,000 troops to remain in the country indefinitely.
In the American failure lies a paradox: Washington’s massive military juggernaut has been stopped in its steel tracks by a small pink flower – the opium […]
1 Comment
Sunday, January 21st, 2018
Abigail Klein Leichman, Associate Editor - Israel 21c
Stephan: Here is some fascinating good news and a paint with very interesting thermal properties.
The double-layered SolCold paint re-emits solar radiation in the form of cold.
Credit: SolCold
Coating materials that protect against fire, water or extreme temperatures are nothing new. But an Israeli high-tech paint doesn’t just protect surfaces from the sun. SolCold actually uses the sun’s power to activate a cooling mechanism, effectively providing air conditioning without electricity.
You read that right: This double-layered coating absorbs the hot rays of the sun and re-emits that energy in the form of cold. The hotter the solar radiation the more the coating cools down, making SolCold’s paint a potentially game-changing electricity-free solution for intensely sunny climates such as Africa and Central and South America.
The Herzliya-based startup is raising funds and plans to begin trials within 18 months of closing the Series A round in the first quarter of 2018. Two commercial and one residential building in Israel and Cyprus are waiting to get the trial SolCold treatment.
Coating materials that protect against fire, water or extreme temperatures are nothing new. But an Israeli high-tech paint […]
3 Comments
Sunday, January 21st, 2018
JUDD LEGUM, - Think Progress
Stephan: Because Republicans don't operate from a fact based world view they routinely engage in social nonsense that wastes buckets of taxpayer dollars. Nothing illustrates the point better than urine testing welfare recipients. Here is the latest; it is a sorry tale of West Virginia.
A doctor examining a fresh urine specimen. Credit: Getty
In 2015, West Virginia passed legislation requiring some applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to submit to drug testing. The state estimated that over the first year, the program would identify 390 people as drug users at a cost of $50,000.
The program has now been in place for three months and just four people, less than one-half of a percent of all applicants, tested positive. In the general population, the rate of drug use is 9.4%.
Not all applicants take the test. Courts have required such testing to be based on reasonable suspicion, so those applying for TANF are required to fill out a questionnaire designed to flag potential users. 107 applicants were drug tested.
The program was derided by substance abuse experts as counterproductive. “[T]he Legislature wants to punish people for having a medical condition. The way to punish them is to take away those benefits. You’re further destabilizing a family that’s already at risk,” Kim Miller, an addiction treatment specialist, […]
No Comments
