Joy Crane and Nick Tabor - Introduction by David Cay Johnston, - New York Magazine
Stephan: Donald Trump is a grifter, has always been a grifter, and the people with whom he associates are not surprisingly also grifters. The fact that about 35 per cent of Americans are okay having a grifter as president is a measure of the failing "profit above all" American culture.
But when I have said this I have done so concerned that many readers would think I was exaggerating, wouldn't understand how utterly corrupt Trump is, so I have been looking for someone with the funding to really dig out the facts beyond my ability to do so.
Finally, a team has done the heavy lifting and published a report on how bad the situation really is. It is much worse than even I thought. Trump is a mobster and, after I read this fact based piece, my main takeaway was: Why isn't this man in prison? Why aren't several of these people in prison? There are people serving life sentences who have done only a fraction of what Trump and his band of vampires are guilty of. Read it and make up your own mind.
Credit: Joe Darrow
On the day he took the oath of office, Donald Trump delivered two messages about what to expect from his administration. First came the lofty promise of his inaugural address. “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” he vowed. “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished — but the people did not share in its wealth.”
The second message, which Trump delivered without speaking a word, was aimed at a much smaller, but very rich, audience. As the new president’s motorcade left the Capitol, rolling past knots of supporters and protesters, it suddenly stopped three blocks short of the White House. Trump, the First Lady, and the rest of his family got out of their limos and took a three-minute turn in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Stephan: The state of American education is sharply defined by the teacher strikes that are going on. They are of course both taking place in states under Republican governance.
We are becoming a failed nation; our social outcome education data proclaim it. Children are the future of the country; it is an irrefutable statement. If we really cared about our future would this be happening? Ask yourself that question. Then ask, what is creating this failure?
Nothing is going to change this situation but we ourselves.
Teachers picket around the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday. Credit: Sue Ogrocki / AP
Heather Cody, an Oklahoma teacher and a single mother struggling to stretch her current paycheck, said she will be among the thousands of teachers walking off the job on Monday.
“I’m not walking out on my children or my students,” Cody said. “I’m walking out for my students.”
Approximately 30,000 people were expected to descend on the Oklahoma state Capitol to demand lawmakers approve more education funding days after the state Legislature approved educators’ first pay raise in 10 years.
Several educators at the Oklahoma rally said their greatest concern was more funding for their schools.
One teacher held a sign that simply read, “5,655” — the amount of money she’d raised over the last two years for basic supplies for her students.
Jason Simeroth, the superintendent for Canadian County’s Yukon public schools, told […]
Stephan: Here is some excellent news about transitioning out of the carbon energy era. This is particularly good news for Scotland, but buried deep in the story is this, "Worldwide, the REN21 Renewables 2017 report said: “By the end of 2016, the top countries for total installed renewable electric capacity continued to be China, the United States, Brazil, Germany and Canada.”
In spite of the Trump administration's commitment to carbon the U.S. is still moving forward thanks to the sheer force of collective intention. It is a confirmation of The 8 Laws.
Wind turbines near Stirling Castle: Scotland is creeping closer to being self-sufficient in energy Credit: Reuters
Scotland has become a world leader in sourcing its electricity from renewables, after a record year in 2017 for creating eco-friendly energy, figures show.
The nation got more than two-thirds – 68.1 per cent – of its electricity from green schemes last year – an increase of 26 per cent on the year before.
The figure was a rise of 14.1 percentage points from the 54 per cent reached in 2016.
Scottish government officials said it was 45 percentage points higher than the equivalent figure for the rest of the UK.
Wind generation increased by 34 per cent and hydro by 9 per cent last year.
Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “These figures show that Scotland’s renewable energy sector is stronger than ever.” Scotland has a number of projects still to be constructed, he added.
It is believed the new statistics make Scotland one of the world’s top countries for providing its own electricity […]
Stephan: Read and weep. I haven't had a milkshake in decades, but I certainly liked malts when I was a boy.
The study "A single high-fat meal provokes pathological erythrocyte remodeling and increases myeloperoxidase levels: implications for acute coronary syndrome" discussed in this report can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41374-018-0038-3#Fig2
Credit: EyeEm/Getty
A chocolate milkshake may be bliss for your taste buds, but it’s not so good for your blood vessels.
A small new study suggests that consuming just a single, high-fat meal or food item, like a milkshake, may lead to unhealthy changes in your blood vessels and red blood cells.
In the study, researchers had 10 healthy men drink a milkshake made with whole milk, whipped cream and ice cream; the shake contained 80 grams of fat and 1,000 calories. Four hours later, lab tests revealed evidence that the men’s blood vessels were less able to relax (or dilate) and that some of their red blood cells changed shaped, becoming “spiky” instead of smooth.
A chocolate milkshake may be bliss for your taste buds, but it’s not so good for your blood vessels.
A small new study suggests that consuming just a single, high-fat meal or food item, like a milkshake, may lead to unhealthy changes in your blood vessels and red […]
Stephan: Human greed, which is the cause of this story, seems to blind us to the fact that if we don't work with the earth's metasystems what we build will be destroyed.
Argentina river that appeared overnight
After a night of heavy rainfall, Ana Risatti woke to an ominous roar outside her home. Mistaking the noise for a continuation of the night’s downpour, she stepped outside to look.
“I nearly fainted when I saw what it really was,” said Risatti, 71. Instead of falling from the sky, the water she heard was rushing down a deep gully it had carved overnight just beyond the wire fence around her home.
The sudden appearance of a network of new rivers in Argentina’s central province of San Luis has puzzled scientists, worried environmentalists and disheartened farmers. It has also raised urgent questions over the environmental cost of Argentina’s dependence on soya beans, its main export crop.
“The roar was terrifying,” said Risatti, remembering that morning three years ago. “The land had opened up like a canyon. Water was pushing through as far as I could see. Huge mounds of earth, grass and trees were […]
