Thursday, August 9th, 2018
Jen Schwartz, - Scientific American
Stephan: If you read SR regularly you know that for over a decade I have been warning my readers about the submergence of coastal property on both sides of America as a result of climate change. Initially, people made fun of my predictions and called me an alarmist. Now, looking back, I can see I was too conservative.
If you own coastal property, and 52 percent of Americans live in coastal counties if not immediately proximate to the coast, by my estimation you have about 10 years before the value of your property collapses. You will know you are in the bubble when you can no longer get insurance.
In some areas like Florida, the Outerbanks or the Delmarva peninsula it may be only 5-7 years depending on how close to the shore you are, and at what height.
On New Jersey’s Delaware Bay, the remains of a house await demolition. The land will be converted into open space.
Credit: Grant Delin
Monique Coleman’s Basement was still wet with saltwater when the rallying began. Just days after Superstorm Sandy churned into the mid-Atlantic region, pushing a record-breaking surge into the country’s most densely populated corridor, the governor of New Jersey promised to put the sand back on the beaches.
The “build it back stronger” sentiment never resonated with Coleman, who lived not on the state’s iconic barrier islands but in a suburban tidal floodplain bisected by 12 lanes of interstate highway. Sandy was being billed as an unusual “Frankenstorm,” a one-in-500-year hurricane that also dropped feet of snow. But for Coleman and many residents of the Watson-Crampton neighborhood in Woodbridge Township, the disaster marked the third time their houses had been inundated by floodwaters in just three years. Taxed by the repetitive assault of hydrodynamic pressure, some foundations had collapsed.
As evacuees returned home for another round of sump pumps and mold, Coleman considered her […]
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Thursday, August 9th, 2018
Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan - truthdig
Stephan: This isn't getting much attention in the media because the endless stories of the Republican presidential and congressional corruption and mafia-like behavior just devour all media attention. But I see this as a big deal, because it is yet another example of how Trump is diminishing the standing of the United States in the world community.
Basically, we are now being seen as a second-rate culture notable mainly for having a very big army, and a propensity for bullying. China, which is a serious economic powerhouse and nuclear power, and Russia which is a failed kleptocracy with an economy smaller than New York, and just a bit bigger than Florida, but is nuclear-armed, are both moving quickly to replace the U.S. on the world stage. Historians are going to see Trump as geopolitically the worse president in American history.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
A further round of sanctions by Donald Trump against Iran went into effect Tuesday, but the president is failing to get buy-in from allies and rivals, who pledge to keep dealing with Iran.
Chinese automakers are flooding into Iran to replace French car companies there. China has pledged to pay no attention to the Trump threats.
VOAnews writes:
State-owned and private auto companies currently assembling or importing Chinese models have a nearly 10 percent share of the Iranian market, which analysts say will likely expand rapidly in the wake of the French departure. Chinese enterprises currently command a 50 percent share of auto parts imported into Iran.
The European Union has signaled that it may impose substantial fines on European firms that pull out of Iran deals over fear of Trump’s unilateral U.S. Treasury Department sanctions.
It is likely that smaller European companies that trade with Iran but have no relationship with the U.S. will continue their relationship with the Islamic republic, using euros and non-U.S. banks. But large firms, such […]
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Thursday, August 9th, 2018
Joanna Blythman, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: This is the best article I have read on the gluten hysteria. It will give you some real data, and an excellent interpretation as to what that data means.
Gluten-free breads.
Credit: minoandriani/Getty /iStockphoto
In the UK, one in 10 people now avoid gluten, and they can increasingly choose from a wide array of food products to help them do so. Last year, the “free-from” market, with gluten-free as its anchor, showed a 27% rise in sales. Gluten-free bread, cakes and pasta have become a staple of supermarkets – in recent weeks, Warburtons launched a range of gluten-free wraps, including one made from beetroot, while Stella Artois launched a gluten-free beer, certified by Coeliac UK. In the lucrative cookbook sector, there are gluten-free offerings by everyone from Ella Woodward to Novak Djokovic, with the tennis star crediting the diet with turning his health around. He is not alone in believing a gluten-free diet is healthier: 15% of British households prefer not to put foods with gluten and wheat in their shopping basket, more than half of them on health […]
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Thursday, August 9th, 2018
Stephan: Yet another example of police thuggery. We have a serious problem in this country brought on by low IQ racist cops. So far this year 519 people have been killed by police. That is several multiples more than every country in Europe combined during the same period. Why is it that American police are so murderous compared with law enforcement in the rest of the developed world? Why aren't we having a national active discussion about this?
Many of these victims are Black men, and I am running this story not only because of the police and racial issues but also because it makes a very important point. In states that permit concealed carry, like Tennessee, the usual rationale the police advance to justify these killings, "he was carrying a gun" takes on a new dimension.
Daniel Hambrick gunned down by police.
On Wednesday, the district attorney in Nashville, Tennessee released a video of the fatal shooting of a black man by a white cop, the Tennessean reported.
In the surveillance footage, you can see 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick running as the officer chases him down. Hambrick was 40 feet from the officer when he shot him in the back and he collapsed on a lawn.
The police department previously claimed that Hambrick had a gun. That’s not clear from the footage, but it should be noted that guns are legal in Tennessee.
A woman who recorded the video cried out for someone to call the family of “Dan Dan” to inform them he’d been shot, the Tennessean observed.
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Wednesday, August 8th, 2018
Stephan: The other day I ran a report showing that 40% of Americans haven't a clue what the First Amendment is about. That horrifying data is now supported by a second survey, with results that are equally alarming.
The IPSOS organization ran a survey of just over 1,000 people and discovered, "a quarter of Americans (26%) say... they agree “the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior,” including a plurality of Republicans (43%). Likewise, most Americans (72%) think “it should be easier to sue reporters who knowingly publish false information.”
Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with the First Amendment which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The bitter truth, in my opinion, is that about 40% of Americans are too dumb, or too ignorant, to understand how American democracy works, and they don't care to learn. What they like is racist White supremacist christian authoritarian fascism. (Note I do not capitalize christianity because what is believed by these people has nothing to do with Jesus' teachings, although they constantly spout carefully selected little quotes from the Bible mostly from the Old Testament, i.e., pre-Jesus. They like Trump because he makes simple authoritarian pronouncements using small words that speak to their fears and racism.
My takeaway from all this is that the 60% of the country who are appalled by what is happening had better, each and everyone, vote, and vote Democratic. Not because the Democrats are great, they aren't, but because they do still operate in a world based on facts. If this doesn't happen I think there is a very real possibility that by 2020, while the forms of democracy may exist, the substance will be gone.
Washington, D.C. — Even if they are not “fake news” or “the enemy of the people”, it is clear that the reputation of the news media is under siege. According to the General Social Survey, the number of Americans with some or a great deal of trust in the press has dropped 30 percentage points since the late 1970s. Ipsos recently conducted a survey with the American public to better understand how Americans currently view the press and public support for efforts to restrict journalism. While we found that the large majority of Americans support the concept of the 1st Amendment, there are worrying signs that freedom of the press might be conditional to many people.
First off, the good news. The large majority of Americans, 85%, agree that the “Freedom of the press is essential for American democracy.” Additionally, two-thirds (68%) say that “reporters should be protected from pressure from government or big business interests.” Majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agree with these two statements signaling deep support for the concept of freedom of the press.
Some of the limits of public support for freedom of the press are made stark […]
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