Saturday, November 23rd, 2019
Julia Carrie Wong , - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: In my opinion social media platforms have become a strongy negative force degrading American democracy. Americans as a group are astonishingly ignorant about their government's structure. According the latest research about 64% of Americans cannot name the three branches of the federal government. This vast ignorance renders them gullible and easily influenced, by even the most blatant disinformation. Proof: FOX a deiberate disinformation operation is the most watched cable network and, as this story describes, Facebook is filled with racism and disinformation. The Russians used it to manipulate the 2016 election.
A body of law needs to be created that assures these outlets are fact based because the mass of disinformation that flows out of them constitutes a cancer on the body politic.
Mark Zuckerberg has called for a ‘diversity’ of views. Credit: Erin Scott/Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO — On 7 November, Lana Lokteff, an American white nationalist, introduced a “thought criminal and political prisoner and friend” as a featured guest on her internet talk show, Red Ice TV.
For about 90 minutes, Lokteff and her guest – Greg Johnson, a prominent white nationalist and editor-in-chief of the white nationalist publisher Counter-Currents – discussed Johnson’s recent arrest in Norway amid authorities’ concerns about his past expression of “respect” for the far-right mass murderer Anders Breivik. In 2012, Johnson wrote that he was angered by Breivik’s crimes because he feared they would harm the cause of white nationalism but had discovered a “strange new respect” for him during his trial; Breivik’s murder of 77 people has been cited as an inspiration by the suspected Christchurch killer, the man who murdered the British MP Jo Cox, and a US coast guard officer accused […]
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Saturday, November 23rd, 2019
Stephan: Make of this what you will.
Trump and Zuckerberg
President Trump had dinner with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and board member Peter Thiel during Zuckerberg’s October visit to Washington, NBC reported, the second meeting between Trump and the Facebook founder in recent months.
Though it’s not immediately clear what the president discussed with the Facebook founder, Zuckerberg at the time was in Washington to testify before Congress on Libra cryptocurrency. He also spoke at Georgetown University about his company’s hands-off approach to misinformation in political ads on its platform, NBC reported. The White House, which had not previously disclosed the meeting, declined to comment on the meeting.
Zuckerberg has generally kept his conversations with the president close to the vest. During the October hearing, the 35-year-old billionaire declined to detail much of what he and Trump talked about in a September meeting, though he did say broadly that antitrust issues weren’t raised then.
Facebook spent $4.8 […]
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Saturday, November 23rd, 2019
Jordan Davidson, - Nation of Change
Stephan: Yet another account of the ongoing failure of America's ecosystems, and the utter lack of acknowledgement and preparation to deal with it. It is perhaps history's greatest example of leadership stupidity and denierism.
One of the thousands of species under threat.
While the planet continues to heat up, almost every single one of the 459 species listed as endangered in the U.S. will struggle as the climate crisis intensifies, according to new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The researchers found that every animal on the list except for the Hawaiian Goose had one or more sensitivity that would leave them ill-equipped to handle a warming planet, meaning 99.8 percent is vulnerable to extinction caused by global warming. However, federal agencies that are mandated to protect endangered animals have a subpar response. The federal agencies consider that only 64 percent of the endangered animals will be affected by the climate crisis. To make matters worse, the federal agencies have only planned interventions for 18 percent of species, according to the study.
“This study confirms that the climate crisis could make it even harder for nearly all of our country’s endangered species to avoid extinction,” said […]
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Saturday, November 23rd, 2019
MARK HANRAHAN, - ABC News
Stephan: One of the unintended and not adequately discussed effects of the digital age is that an overwhelming number of people, particularly the young, are not getting enough exercise to stay healthy both mentally and physically. The long term consequences of this, particularly in light of the overwhelming stress health care systems will face as a result of climate change, are rarely even discussed let alone remediated. Here are some facts.
Fat kids playing video
A vast majority of adolescents around the world are not participating in enough exercise, putting their current and future health at risk, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by researchers from the World Health Organization and published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday, found that more than 80 percent of children aged 11 to 17 worldwide did not meet current recommendations of at least one hour of physical activity per day.
Researchers also found that girls were less active than boys in all but four of the 146 countries studied. Globally, 85% of girls were not physically active enough, compared to 78% of boys, according to the study, which is based on data from 1.6 million children.
The United States had one of the biggest gaps between girls and boys, with over 80% of girls surveyed failing to engage […]
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Friday, November 22nd, 2019
Stephan: When I read this story, even though I already knew its basic outlines, it left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. $6.4 trillion, a number so large most people could not write it as a number, gone and where? Why most of it into the American war machine which for the past 17 years has been practically minting money in its facilities. What do we have to show for this? Why countries one after another trashed in the Middle East to a level of suffering it is very hard for Americans to comprehend.
All I could think of what else could have been done with that $6.4 trillion? how about: Universal healthcare. Elimination of student debt, and free college education. Childcare. Eldercare.
A boy watches a U.S. convoy on patrol in Syria, Oct. 31.
Credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP/ Getty
American taxpayers so far spent $6.4 trillion on costs related to and caused by post-9/11 wars and conflicts in more than 80 countries, according to a new report by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
The big picture: The institute notes that because the conflicts have been largely paid for with deficit spending, their total cost will continue to rise from loan interest — even if the U.S. withdraws from major war zones by the end of fiscal year 2020. Ongoing care costs for veterans will also increase the eventual cost.
By the numbers: Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Pakistan — the longest war in U.S. history — has cost around $978 billion from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2020, an average of $49 billion each year.
- Appropriations for the Iraq and Syria wars have totaled about $880 billion from 2003 through 2020, averaging […]
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