August 2019 - Page 22 of 26

Tuesday, August 6th, 2019

Ethiopia plants 350m trees in a day to help tackle climate crisis

Anna Ploszajski, - The Guardian (U.K.)

Stephan: Here is some lovely good news from Ethiopia. The large scale planting of trees has the potential to affect the onrushing climate change. As I read this report I asked myself: Could you imagine Trump doing something like this, sponsoring this sort of policy. The answer was clear to me. No. I could not. Trump is already trying to do the opposite by reducing and destroying public land.

The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, plants a tree in Addis Ababa.
Credit: Aron Simeneh

About 350m trees have been planted in a single day in Ethiopia, according to a government minister.

The planting is part of a national “green legacy ” initiative to grow 4bn trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. Public offices have reportedly been shut down in order for civil servants to take part.

The project aims to tackle the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone country. According to the UN, Ethiopia’s forest coverage was just 4% in the 2000s, down from 35% a century earlier.

Ethiopia’s minister of innovation and technology, Dr Getahun Mekuria, tweeted estimates of the number of trees planted throughout the day. By early evening on Monday, he put the number at 353m.

The previous world record for the most trees planted in one day stood at 50

Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis, the head […]

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Republicans’ Rendezvous With Reality — Their Plan is to Cut Social Security

JOHN LARSON , Democratic Representative from Connecticut and Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. - The Hill

Stephan: This is about the sixth article I have read in a responsible publication in the last few weeks arguing that if Trump is re-elected and the Republicans hold the Senate that they are... well read the article. I chose to publish this piece because the author, Representative Larson is chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, and is as knowledgeable as anyone can be who is not in the Republican cabal planning this scheme. Should the Republicans pull this off it would be a catastrophe for millions of Americans whose lives hinge on their social security. How this turns out is up to you, and how you vote.

Credit: Getty

Let’s be real. Social Security benefits will be cut by 20 percent in 2035 unless Congress acts, according to Social Security Chief Actuary Steve Goss. The Social Security 2100 Act, co-sponsored by 210 Members of the House of Representatives, not only prevents those devastating cuts but also expands benefits across the board, improves the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and cuts taxes for millions of workers. Last week, House Ways and Means Committee ranking members Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) criticized the Social Security 2100 Act, claiming it is too expensive. They also declared that they would like to work with Democrats on a long-term solution to Social Security. However, for the eight years the Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, they did nothing to address the looming 20 percent across-the-board benefits cut in 2035. For those eight years, not only did they never work with us, but they would not even hold a hearing on legislative proposals to improve Social Security’s solvency. The hard truth of the matter is that […]

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Gun Violence in 2019: There Have Been 251 Mass Shootings in the U.S. in 216 Days

DANIEL POLITI, - Slate

Stephan: I spent some time today going through the English language world press. Something has happened, is happening, something very precious is being lost. What America has meant to the world for all of my life is fading. The stories now are not of opportunity, technological breakthroughs, leadership in civil rights. They are of child concentration camps, White supremacy, nativism, and danger. Down to advice that if you are going to the United States, and plan to attend public events, that you rate safety with what the president has recently said. What else is there to be said. As this report lays out, since 1 January, today the 4th of August, the 216th day of the year there have been 251 mass gun murders in the country. In a week we have had three such mass killings, Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton.

St Pius X Church held a vigil for victims after the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty

It was a particularly deadly 24 hours in the United States as a shooting spree early Sunday morning in Dayton, Ohio, which left at least 10 dead, including the gunman, took place less than a day after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and killed at least 20 people. The violence in Dayton, which took place on the 216th day of the year, marked the 251stmass shooting of 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit organization counts as a mass shooting any incident in which four or more people were shot or killed, without including the shooter.

Monday, August 5th, 2019

Tainted Pork, Ill Consumers and an Investigation Thwarted

Matt Richtel, Staff Writer - The New York Times

Stephan: The collapse of regulatory oversight as a result of government corruption is a growing threat to the wellbeing of Americans. I seem to do a story on this at least once a week. Here is the latest. Guide your life accordingly.

Mikayla Porter, center, with her father, Roger Porter, right, and sister, Maliya. Mikayla was sickened by a tainted pork roast in 2015 that nearly killed her. Credit:Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Drug-resistant infections from food are growing. But powerful industry interests are blocking scientists and investigators from getting information they need to combat the problem.

It was 7 a.m. on Independence Day when a doctor told Rose and Roger Porter Jr. that their daughter could die within hours. For nearly a week, Mikayla, 10, had suffered intensifying bouts of fever, diarrhea and stabbing stomach pains.

That morning, the Porters rushed her to a clinic where a doctor called for a helicopter to airlift her to a major medical center.

The gravity of the girl’s illness was remarkable given its commonplace source. She had gotten food poisoning at a pig roast from meat her parents had bought at a local butcher in McKenna, Wash., and spit-roasted, as recommended, for 13 hours.

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Interior secretary will be allowed to meet with former fossil fuel clients starting this weekend

KYLA MANDEL, - Think Progress

Stephan: Ask yourself this question: Do you have to be a corrupt former corporate lobbyist to get a senior post in the Trump administration? It clearly helps, but is it an absolute requirement?

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt
Credit: Zach Gibson/Getty

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s ethics recusal will expire on Saturday. The ethics pledge banned Bernhardt from decisions involving his former firm’s clients for two years.

Bernhardt was also not able to meet with these companies, unless five or more other stakeholders were present and nothing relating specifically to the companies was discussed.

But all of this is set to change on August 3.

Prior to joining the Interior Department in 2017, Bernhardt worked as a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry via the Colorado law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Among the firm’s 22 clients that Bernhardt was prohibited from engaging with for two years under his ethics recusal were energy companies Halliburton, Eni, and Statoil (now known as Equinor). Other clients included industry groups such as the U.S. Oil and Gas Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA).