The global increase in eating mammals and processed meats is producing a dramatic increase in diet-related deaths. If you have such a diet, please do yourself a favor and change it.
Citation: To read the British Medical Journal (BMJ_ research paper upon which this report is based click on:
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN — Red meat and processed foods like bacon, sausage, and burgers are contributing to a “sharp increase” in diet-related deaths, a new study warns.
Researchers from Michigan State University say the worldwide increase in processed meat consumption over the last three decades appears to have a connection to over 10,000 more deaths from preventable illnesses related to what people eat in recent years. These conditions include bowel cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Their findings reveal the impact has been greatest in Europe and island nations in the Caribbean and Oceania. Study authors believe health policies should be integrated with agricultural and trade policies among importing and exporting nations “as a matter of urgency” to reduce further preventable deaths.
They explained that the global red and processed meat trade has risen “exponentially” over the last 30 years to meet demand created by factors including continuous urbanization and income growth. However, this trend has implications for the environment because of the impact it has on land use and biodiversity loss.
AL WEAVER AND KARL EVERS-HILLSTROM, Staff Writers - The Hill
Stephan:
The Republicans block rail safety regulation. This is what corporate lobbying achieves with what amounts to political whores in Congress.
A burning train forced evacuations in the East Palestine, Ohio, area on Feb. 3, 2023. Credit: Channel 19 News, Cleveland
A bipartisan push to bolster railroad safety is turning into a slog as top Senate Republicans indicate they are not yet on board with the main legislative response to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
Ohio Sens. J.D. Vance (R) and Sherrod Brown (D) unveiled a rail safety proposal last week that has already won over the White House and top Democrats. But winning support from Republicans is proving to be harder as some question if it is too soon to move on a bill that could have unintended consequences.
“We’ll take a look at what’s being proposed, but an immediate quick response heavy on regulation needs to be thoughtful and targeted,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, told The Hill.
“Let’s define the problem. Let’s figure out what the solutions are and if there are things we need to fix, we’ll fix them,” Thune continued.
Vance and Brown’s Railway Safety Act would boost safety requirements for […]
Nicola Davis, Science Correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
A woman, who I suspect is a MAGAt, wrote to chastise me about my support for individuals who want to enter into same-sex marriages and even worse, in her opinion, want to have children. "Stephan, you are so predictably liberal and you don't live in the real world. Surely you understand that same-sex parents raising a child are harming those children. That's why people like me who oppose same-sex marriages oppose such marriages. Why do you think Jesus condemned such relationships?"
Well, I understand that christofascists believe all kinds of nonsense about Jesus. That didn't surprise me. But she raised something about the children raised in same-sex marriages that I thought could be answered with real data so I went looking. Here's what I found.
Citation: To read the research paper published in the British Medical Journal go to:
Researchers found most outcomes were similar between those of same-sex and heterosexual parents, and some sexual minority families had ‘even better outcomes in some domains’. Credit: Getty
The children of same-sex couples fare just as well, if not better, than those of heterosexual couples, research has shown.
While data on so-called “sexual minority families” is limited, the UK’s Office for National Statistics recorded 212,000 same-sex families in the UK in 2019, a 40% rise since 2015. The number of same-sex parents rose from 4,000 in 2010 to 12,000 in 2013.
A new study backs up previous research, concluding that a child’s development has little to do with their parents’ sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Contrary to many concerns, our review found most family outcomes were similar between these two family types, and sexual minority families have even better outcomes in some domains, such as child psychological adjustment and child-parent relationships,” the researchers wrote.
The findings chime with several other studies, including three decades of research from Australia that revealed children raised by same-sex parents do as well emotionally, socially and educationally […]
BINYAMIN APPELBAUM, Editorial Board Member - The New York Tiimes
Stephan:
The treatment of children in the United States is one of the country's defining characteristics, and it is shamefully bad. I have written about this for years, it stands out so strongly to me, the data is appalling but irrefutable. I agree with Appelbaum, speaking for The New York Times Editorial board. The Biden Administration has not made this enough of a priority. Not fostering wellbeing amongst your children is defining what that future will be like. Russia, for instance, had hundreds of thousands of its best and brightest emigrate to other countries. All Russians will pay a price for this that will be one of the things that will define at least the next generation. Whatever happens on the battlefield Putin's lust for power makes him remarkably short-sighted and stupid.
A Capitol Hill demonstration in favor of extending the child tax credit in 2022. Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
President Biden’s most significant failure during his first two years in office is the lack of progress on the truly domestic portion of his domestic agenda.
Earlier in the pandemic, the federal government did more to help parents than it ever did before. Washington temporarily mandated paid leave for many workers, it gave billions of dollars in aid to child care businesses, and for several glorious months in 2021, it even expanded the child tax credit to provide assistance to most families with children.
But the aid has faded away. Mr. Biden has persuaded Congress to invest in the nation’s roads and bridges but not in making child care available and affordable. He has presided over a big expansion in federal support for manufacturing — and a sharp drop in federal support for working parents.
At the end of 2022, despite continued economic growth, roughly 3.7 million more American children were living in poverty than at the end […]
The sexual dysfunction of the right, and its obsession with the LGBTQ community of Americans is radically changing the Red state environment against LGBTQ people. Alaska is just the beginning. I think the result is going to be that many of this community will move to a Blue state, and that this is going to have a negative effect on the societal quality of life, much like the emigration out of Russia. Two trends I will track.
Alaskan Governor Mike Dunleavy at event hosted by the Alaska Republican Party on November 06, 2022 in Anchorage, Alaska. Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty
In June 2020, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity was illegal, Alaska quickly moved to follow suit.
It published new guidelines in 2021 saying Alaska’s LGBTQ protections now extended beyond the workplace to housing, government practices, finance and “public accommodation.” It updated the website of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights to explicitly say it was illegal to discriminate against someone because of that person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The executive director for the state commission co-wrote an essay describing the ruling as a “sea change under Alaska law for LGBTQ+ individuals’ rights to be free from discrimination.”
But a year later, the commission quietly reversed that position. It deleted language from the state website promising equal protections for transgender and gay Alaskans against most categories of discrimination, and it began refusing to investigate complaints. Only employment-related complaints […]
