Stephan: If you read me regularly you know about the plastic waste crisis that plagues the world. Well here is a possible solution, for at least some of it, and it was invented by an African woman! Bravo. This is just a wonderful story and a trend changer.
Nzambi Matee told reporters she was “tired of being on the sidelines,” and decided to create a solution of her own for commercial plastic waste. Credit: Gjenge Makers Ltd.
Nzambi Matee is an entrepreneur with an incredible goal — to turn plastic destined for the landfill into sustainable, strong building material. Her company, Gjenge Makers, uses the plastic waste of commercial facilities to create bricks that can withstand twice the weight threshold of concrete.
Gjenge Makers is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where plastic waste pollution has become a severe problem. A study supported by the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) found that more than 50% of cattle near urban areas in Kenya had plastic in their stomachs. To combat this issue, the Kenyan government outlawed the use of plastic bags in 2017, and imposed a ban on all single-use plastic in protected natural areas last year. However, these bans only address the issue of consumer single-use plastic. Commercial waste is still a deep-seated problem within the country.
Stephan: Over the last few days, I have been thinking about what medicine, and medical schools, have learned from this pandemic, and began looking for research that would answer this question. Here is the best general audience piece I have found so far, and it is a good news story. I am beginning to think that between what the medical establishment has learned, and what Biden is committed to doing we may finally see a change that is oriented towards fostering wellbeing, not just making profit from illness.
Geisinger’s Dr. Anthony Wylie and student Kaiya Flemons, at screen bottom, pay a virtual house call to a Pennsylvania patient. Photo-illustration by Eva O’Leary for TIME
In February 2019, the Kaiser Permanente health system announced a new kind of medical school. The school would be built “from the ground up” to prepare students for the complexities of the U.S. medical system. The curriculum would emphasize cultural competency, patient and provider well-being, and the elimination of socioeconomic disparities in the medical system. Students would see patients right away, and hands-on learning would replace many lectures. What’s more, the first five graduating classes would pay nothing to attend; Kaiser hoped this would attract a student body more diverse than the typical U.S. medical school.
“The school will help shape the future of medical education,” promised Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson, who died unexpectedly, reportedly of a heart attack, about nine months after the announcement.
That future felt a good deal more urgent by the time the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine opened its doors in Pasadena, Calif., in July. […]
Stephan: When I look at Texas and listen to the news reports covering what is going on there, what I see is a state governed for the past two decades by Republicans and Republican policies. It seems abundantly clear to me that once again those policies have produced wealth for rich investors, and corporations, and an unmitigated disaster for ordinary Americans. Based on facts, not ideology it should be obvious that Republicans by plan and choice do not govern to produce wellbeing, and those states governed by Republicans consistently do worse than those governed by Democrats. If you vote Republican you are voting to produce misery in your life.
Some Texans have received devastating electric bills after a winter storm inflated the price of electricity. Here, snow covers the ground of a neighborhood school in Waco, Texas as severe winter weather conditions over the last few days has forced road closures and power outages over the state on February 17, 2021.MATTHEW BUSCH/GETTY
Across Texas, some residents are facing devastating electric charges worth thousands of dollars, after a week of power outages and severe winter weather inflated the price of electricity.
Among Texans who use wholesale electric providers, which fluctuates based on real-time market changes and can skyrocket during times of scarcity, some customers are seeing bills as high as $14,000.
Scott Willoughby, a resident of Royce City, Texas, told NBC 5 that he owes the power company Griddy $13,926.89 for the month February.
“It would take almost all of my savings if I were to pay that bill,” Willoughby told the news outlet.
He said he signed up for Griddy, a wholesale provider, after moving into a new home in November. Griddy members pay a $9.99 monthly fee and then pay the direct cost of the electricity on Texas’s power grid based on the time of day […]
Stephan: As Republicans realize people are leaving their party in droves, and in any case, they are doomed to be a permanent minority on racial terms, they are attempting with increasing ferocity to rig democracy with gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics. And, as this article lays out, it is going to get worse before it gets better. What is the solution? Vote Republicans out of all office at every level.
The next round of congressional redistricting is shaping up to be a mess, beset by even more complications and lawsuits than usual.
Why it matters: This process will likely help Republicans pick up seats in the House in 2022. Beyond that, though, the pandemic and the Trump administration’s handling of the Census have made this round of redistricting especially fraught — and states will be locked into the results for a decade.
Huge states with diversifying and expanding populations — including Texas, Florida and North Carolina — will likely feel some of the most significant impacts.
Census delays are a big part of the problem this year. The Census Bureau announced last week that it will not release the data states use to draw their legislative maps until the end of September — months later than the usual springtime release.
That gives states less time to draw maps, get feedback, resolve the ensuing lawsuits and enact their new plans in time for elections.
In Ohio, for example, two deadlines for the state’s brand-new process will already have passed by […]
Stephan: Racist fascism is a growing problem in the United States, and one of the most alarming manifestations of this ideological cancer is the invasion of these people into the military. Here is a good story in a publication oriented towards the armed forces that describes what is going on. This is very scary stuff.
White nationalist demonstrators use shields as they clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. Crredit: AP/Steve Helber
Brandon Russell had a tattoo of a radiation symbol on his arm when he enlisted in the Florida National Guard in 2016.
The three-bladed symbol didn’t raise alarms at the time, but should have been a warning sign. Russell was the co-founder of a dangerous neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division, considered one of the deadliest in the country. The tattoo represented “atomwaffen,” which means “atomic weapon” in German.Advertisement
The soldier was later sentenced to five years in prison after bomb-making materials were found in his Florida apartment. But when he was asked while chatting on the now-defunct Iron March website in 2016 whether he was worried about being “found out” during Army basic training, he gave a troubling response.
“I was 100% open about everything with the friends I made at training,” Russell wrote on Iron March, which has been linked to violence worldwide. “They know all about it. They love me too cause im [sic] a […]
