Salvador Rizzo, Crime and Justice Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan:
Here is the latest manifestation of the obsessive gun psychosis that plagues America. Consider this judge’s decision in the following context: 18-to-20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older.
Handguns and firearms are displayed during a statewide gun buyback event held by the office of the New York state attorney general in April. Credit: Yuki Iwamura/ AFP / Getty
A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a set of laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds, finding that the measures violated the Second Amendment.
“Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation’s history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand,” U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne, who sits in Richmond, concluded in a 71-page opinion.
Gun-control advocates say the decision, if allowed to stand, would significantly increase gun access for a population that research shows is more impulsive and responsible for a disproportionate number of fatal shootings. But attorneys on both sides of the case said they expected the Justice Department to appeal and request a stay, which would prevent Payne’s ruling from taking effect while higher courts weigh the case.
Elliott M. Harding, the attorney who argued to nullify the laws and regulations, […]
I think we are in the middle of a slow civil war. It has been gathering force for years, but with January 6th, the mass killings, Dobbs, and, well you know the list, this war is reaching a new level of intensity, open warfare. The Republicans are openly, proudly, trying to create a christofascist White Supremacy, heterosexual male-dominant America in which MAGAts rule. And to assure their continuity of power they want to turn our education system into an indoctrination system because they fear youth and want to reprogram them because now they tend to vote Democratic. They are very serious about this, and willing to do whatever it takes. The only thing that is going to stop this is if the other two-thirds of us vote Democratic and give the Democrats a strong majority in the House and Senate, and a second term for Biden. This may sound partisan but when you look at it from the perspective of fostering wellbeing it is not.
Great Oak High School students leave campus in protest of the district’s ban on “critical race theory” curriculum at Patricia H. Birdsall Sports Park in Temecula, California, on December 16, 2022. Credit: Watchara Phomicinda / The Press-Enterprise / Getty
In the present political and ideological climate, far right political leaders, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) have declared a war on institutions of public and higher education, which they’ve identified as centers of “unpatriotic education.” Most far right Republicans fear higher education as a bulwark against their authoritarianism and hence see students as a threat to their propaganda machines and fascist politics. As a result, the right wing has kicked into overdrive in an attempt to target educational institutions as a site for policing dissent, eliminating unions, indoctrinating faculty and students, and for normalizing white Christian nationalism, white supremacy and pedagogies of repression.
How many ways do we have to be told that we must make fostering wellbeing our first priority. That means we must make changing our technologies to that purpose.
A new study has found a relationship between ambient air pollution and the mental health of those living in the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that when individuals are exposed to air pollution, even below the standards for air quality in the United Kingdom, they are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.
The study, which was published in JAMA Psychiatry, offers insight into the potential consequences of long-term air pollution.
Mental disorders are a growing cause of disability. Public health priorities include identifying modifiable risk factors of anxiety and depression and developing prevention interventions. A growing body of research is linking ambient air pollutants to mental disorders. Multiple studies have found that exposure to air pollutants for a short time is linked with increased depression and anxiety.
Evidence of long-term impacts is contradictory, and few studies have examined the effects of air pollutants on depression and anxiety. Previous studies focused on air pollutants individually, despite ambient pollution consisting of particulate matter (PM) and gaseous pollutants.
In order to assess the consequences of long-term exposure […]
I have been telling you for years now that climate change was going to cost untold billions, was going to be devastating to real estate, and profoundly disruptive to communities. Here are some facts. We are going to see a lot of this.
Residents are cleaning up after the devastating tornadoes. Credit: Peter Zay / Anadolu Agency / Getty
The numbers come as the nation has experienced 60 such disasters in the past three years, the most in that timeframe since record-keeping began in 1980.
Seven different billion-dollar or more extreme weather events struck the U.S. during the first four months of 2023.
That’s one of the “notable” findings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) April State of the Climate report, released Monday.
“The number of billion dollar disasters so far in 2023 is significant,” NOAA wrote. “Only 2017 and 2020 had more during this timeframe, with eight separate disasters recorded in the January-April period.”
In total, the extreme weather events killed 97 people and caused more than $19 billion in damages. They come as the nation has seen 60 such disasters in the past three years, the most in that timeframe since record-keeping began in 1980, The Weather Channel reported.
The costliest and deadliest events so far this year were two severe weather outbreaks in […]
Here is some more good news from the Biden administration. Not enough by a long shot, but moving in the right direction.
NREL’s new 19.9 MW substation, used for ARIES utility-scale grid integration research. Credit: Dennis Schroeder / NREL.
As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $26 million for eight selected projects to demonstrate how solar, wind, storage, and other clean energy resources can support a reliable and efficient U.S. power grid. Funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the projects will deploy innovative clean energy technologies at 15 sites across the country to build and support a resilient grid that automatically adjusts to changing demands, providing Americans everywhere peace of mind in the event of interruptions to the power grid. The projects announced today support the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic efforts to accelerate the development of a decarbonized grid, expand the adoption of affordable clean energy, and strengthen America’s energy security while combating the climate crisis.
“As threats and climate risks to America’s energy infrastructure continue to evolve, DOE is laser-focused on ensuring our power grid is strong and reliable as it incorporates a historic level of renewable […]
