Annalisa Merelli, - Quartz
Stephan: Study after study has shown that restricting abortion does not reduce abortion it only makes it more dangerous and more likely to kill the woman who has the abortion. But christofascists don't live in a world where actual facts have any weight. They operate from the stupidity of fantasy and blind religious obsession.
The Founders went to great lengths to separate church and state precisely because they knew from their own personal experience that nations run by religion always fail, and multitudes suffer as a result of that failure. American has forgotten that lesson, so we are paying the price. Unfortunately, as this article describes, our failure is going to harm millions.
Family planning services are being cut around the world because of the global gag rule.
Credit: AP/Stephen Wandera
Like George Bush and George W. Bush before him, Donald Trump wasted no time reinstating the 1984 Mexico City Policy, or Global Gag Rule (GGR). Under the pleased eyes of a group of male advisors, he signed the proclamation on his second day as US president, cutting funding to international organizations that offer abortion services, referrals to abortion providers, or information about abortions. Ironically, one of the most striking consequences of the rule is a rise in number of abortions—and overwhelmingly illegal ones.
On June 5, the Center for Gender and Health Equity (CHANGE) published an evaluation of the policy’s impact, comparing it to prior iterations of the same rule. Its analysis shows that Trump’s version of the rule is the furthest-reaching in history; in addition to cutting funds for reproductive health organizations, the new rule also cuts funding to other types of health organizations.
A large number of international organizations rely primarily or exclusively on USAID […]
No Comments
Torrey Kim, - Smart Brief
Stephan: I have begun to notice an increasing number vegetable meat substitutes in the stores, so I did some research and here is a example of what came up. I take this as good news.
Consumers are shifting away from strictly carnivorous diets, increasingly expanding into plant-based, flexitarian, vegetarian and omnivorous lifestyles. As Americans cut down on their meat intake, several companies are leading the charge in helping to ease that transition, ensuring that consumers have access to delicious foods while still cutting down on the amount of meat they eat.
Product launches worldwide featuring plant-based claims rose 63% between 2011 and 2015, and some 38% of US consumers spend at least one day a week eating meat-free, said Innova Market Insights’ Kara Nielsen during the Institute of Food Technologists’ recent annual meeting. Further, one out of every ten millennial consumers self-identifies as vegetarian or vegan, and with $1 trillion in buying power, millennials are responsible for a large slice of the American food purchasing landscape, Kate Good writes.
Food businesses respond with new products
Technological innovations among food entrepreneurs have helped create new offerings for those who want meatless options, and grocers are starting to expand their plant-based portfolios to cater to this growing trend. For instance, The Beyond Burger, a plant-based meat alternative from Beyond […]
2 Comments
CASEY QUINLAN, - Think Progress
Stephan: I have been following the U.S. Government from the inside and the outside for half a century and have taken particular note of the quality of the people appointed to high ranking posts. Nixon, and Reagan had some real doozies, John Mitchell, and James Watt came to mind as I was writing this. But when it comes to corruption, incompetence, and disregard for social wellbeing nothing matches the Trump administration.
Indeed, I think a case can be made that the Trump administration is the most corrupt and incompetent in American history. And one of the negative stand outs is Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, whose performance has made it clear that she has no idea what public education is about. But this really takes it to a new level. See what you think.
Education secretary Betsy DeVos
Credit: Mark Wilson
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told members of Congress that her school safety commission will not focus on guns specifically in their role in school shootings.
DeVos appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on Tuesday. She said the role of guns will not be considered in her work as chair of a school safety commission that was created after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida in February that left 17 people dead.
DeVos was asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) whether her commission would look at the “role of firearms as it relates to gun violence in our schools.”
DeVos began to answer, but Leahy interrupted and asked the question again.
“That is not part of the commission’s charge per se,” DeVos answered.
DeVos said the commission is focused on a “culture of violence.” The White House said the commission’s work has included the consideration of video games and how it affects violence from young people, […]
2 Comments
Molly Gott and Derek Seidman, Jacobin, - Reader Support News
Stephan: Amongst Republicans Trump currently has an approval rating of 87%. It's amazing really. Apparently if you're a Republican you don't care about the climate, you don't care whether your kids get a decent education, nor whether you have real healthcare. You say you do, of course, but your vote says something different. America no longer cares about children, citizen or immigrant, and if you vote Republican you are part of the problem. Consider the implications of this story.
Thousands of Arizona teachers march through downtown Phoenix on their way to the State Capitol as part of a rally for the #REDforED movement on April 26, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. Teachers state-wide staged a walkout strike on Thursday in support of better wages and state funding for public schools. Credit Ralph Freso/Getty
The ongoing wave of teacher strikes across the US is changing the conversation about public education in this country. From West Virginia to Arizona, Kentucky to Oklahoma, Colorado to North Carolina, tens of thousands of teachers have taken to the streets and filled state capitals, garnering public support and racking up victories in some of the nation’s most hostile political terrain.
Even though the teachers who have gone on strike are paid well below the national average, their demands have gone beyond better salary and benefits for themselves. They have also struck for their students’ needs — to improve classroom quality and to increase classroom resources. Teachers are calling for greater investment […]
No Comments
Chris Sellers and Lindsey Dillon, - The Conversation
Stephan: Scott Pruitt is such an obvious grifter that even by Trump standards he stands out. However, as long as Trump is president he will probably survive anything he does because Trump is committed to go backwards and reinvigorate the carbon energy industries who gave his campaign so much money.
Anyone with any integrity though knows what's going on; the EPA staff is now talking about it openly, as this report describes.
Protesters hold up signs and shirts behind EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, accompanied by Holly Greaves, EPA chief financial officer, as they testify on the department’s budget during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Capitol Hill, in Washington.
Credit: Alex Brandon/AP/REX/Shutterstock
The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like this are symptoms of a larger problem: an ongoing, broad-scale takeover of the agency by industries it regulates.
We are social scientists with interests in environmental health, environmental justice and inequality and democracy. We recently published a study, conducted under the auspices of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative and based on interviews with 45 current and retired EPA employees, which concludes that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the Trump administration have steered the agency to the verge of what scholars call “regulatory capture.”
By this we mean that they are aggressively reorganizing the EPA to promote interests of regulated industries, at the expense of its official mission to “
No Comments
