The bus wars are over. Electricity — and China — won.

Stephan:  While the United States dithers over dealing with the madman in the presidency, and the corrupt incompetents he has put into positions of power, China is shaping the future. Is this polemics or fact? Consider this report.

Electric buses stand at a BYD’s production base on January 23, 2018
Credit: VCG

The bus wars are over and electricity has won — thanks to a big boost from China.

In fact, when it comes to electric bus purchases, China is outpacing the United States by an astounding 421,000 to 300 as of the end of 2018.

Thanks to China’s massive investment in and support for electric buses, electrics are now racing past a 50% share of new bus sales worldwide, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg NEF (BNEF).

Electric vehicle (EV) share of new vehicle sales worldwide. CREDIT: BNEF.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) SHARE OF NEW VEHICLE SALES WORLDWIDE. CREDIT: BNEF.

For decades, cities and countries have been trying to replace dirty diesel buses, which not only emit staggering amounts of urban air pollution and greenhouse gases, but they also routinely break down and need major repairs.

Cities around the world have tried buses running on a variety of cleaner alternatives to diesel, including natural gas, hydrogen, biodiesel, […]

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Trump Administration Plans To Close Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers

Stephan:  Yet another ugly, stupid, policy decision from a man and an administration that should never have come to power. When I was reading Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire as a young man I kept thinking why were the leaders so spineless and stupid? Couldn't they see what was happening, and where it would end? Now I am living the same process and I have the same questions. The utter bored ignorance of the American public -- Trump's approval rating has hardly changed, it is 41.2% today -- the weakness of the Democratic Party, and the corruption of the Republic Party are so similar to the end of the Roman empire's demise that I feel like we ought to be wearing togas.

Credit: Anaconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center

Officials at the Forest Service informed staffers on Friday that at least nine of the agency’s 25 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers would be closing.

The conservation centers, which are run by federal employees, help train youth in wildland firefighting, forestry, disaster recovery and other outdoor jobs. Their official mission is to educate 16- to 24-year-olds, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds, while helping U.S. conservation efforts on public lands.

Many kids end up with vocational and GED certificates as a result of the program. Working in different units of the Forest Service, apprentices in the program also help first responders during national emergencies and disasters.

Most of the centers are clustered in the South and West on national forest lands. Those slated to close are in Montana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Virginia, Washington, Kentucky, North Carolina and Oregon.

A union representing workers at the sites said […]

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Trump administration rolls back Obama-era health care protections for transgender people

Stephan:  The sheer hateful ugliness and sexual dysfunction of Trump and his party just knows no bounds. Am I exaggerating? Read this.

The Trump administration moved Friday to roll back Obama-era protections for transgender patients, the third rule change issued this month that LGBTQ advocates say will sanction discrimination against transgender people.

The Health and Human Services Department’s proposed new rule, released Friday, says in effect that federal laws banning sex discrimination in health care don’t apply to people’s “gender identity.” The proposed rule from HHS reverses President Barack Obama’s administration, which found that the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination section does indeed protect transgender people seeking health care services.

The rule can be finalized after a 60-day public comment period.

“When Congress prohibited sex discrimination, it did so according to the plain meaning of the term, and we are making our regulations conform,” HHS’ director of the Office of Civil Rights, Roger Severino, said in a statement announcing the proposed change.

LGBTQ rights groups denounced the move, as did Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., a vocal advocate for transgender equality.

“By repealing a regulation clarifying that LGBT people are protected against health care discrimination under the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination provisions, the Trump Administration seeks to deny life-saving health care to LGBT people and others and replaces these critical […]

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A Major Coal Company Went Bust. Its Bankruptcy Filing Shows That It Was Funding Climate Change Denialism

Stephan:  Here is some good news about coal. In spite of everything Trump and his administration, and the company itself have done, and are doing, to keep coal alive and polluting, the industry's days are numbered.

Coal is loaded onto hopper cars at Cloud Peak Energy’s Spring Creek Mine near Decker, Mont.
Credit: Matthew Brown/AP

The Bankruptcy of one of the largest domestic coal producers in the country has revealed that the company maintains financial ties to many of the leading groups that have sowed doubt over the human causes of global warming.

The disclosures are from Cloud Peak Energy, a Wyoming-based coal mining corporation that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 10. The company had been battered by low coal prices, including in international markets cultivated by the firm.

The documents in the court docket show that the coal giant gave contributions to leading think tanks that have attacked the link between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change, as well as to several conservative advocacy groups that have attempted to undermine policies intended to shift the economy toward renewable energy. The documents do not include information on the size of the contributions, yet, taken as a whole, the list of groups Cloud Peak Energy helped fund are […]

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Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $25M in baby powder cancer verdict

Stephan:  Here is some good news about Johnson & Johnson being held responsible for something they knew caused health problems but sold anyway because money was more important than healthy customers.

Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty

Johnson & Johnson was recently ordered to pay $25 million in compensatory damages to a 66-year-old woman who contracted a rare asbestos-related cancer after decades of using J&J’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products. Next week, the New York jury will determine whether J&J is also liable for punitive damages in this case.

According to Donna Olson’s deposition, her mother used J&J’s Baby Powder during her daily baths since her birth in 1953 until 1961. At the age of eight, Olson continued using the product on her own and even used the product on her own daughter when she was born in 1991.

In 1995, Olson switched to J&J’s Shower to Shower after daily baths. She finally discontinued using the product after hearing about a possible link to ovarian cancer cases in 2015.

In May 2016, Olson was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. During her deposition, she recalled repeatedly breathing in J&J talc products that bore no labels warning of potential risks to cancer.

Olson alleges […]

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