Rising Seas Will Disrupt Millions of US lives by 2050, Study Finds

Stephan: 

The evidence for climate change and sea rise is so irrefutable and the response to the damage it is going to do is so pathetically inadequate. Do you think this issue will even come up in this afternoon’s debate?

Jim Comunale and Pam Mervos walk in Hollywood, Florida as heavy rain floods their neighborhood.
Credit: Matias J. Ocner / Miami Herald / ZUMA Press Wire

Sea Level Rise driven by global heating will disrupt the daily life of millions of Americans, as hundreds of homes, schools and government buildings face frequent and repeated flooding by 2050, a new study has found.

Almost 1,100 critical infrastructure assets that sustain coastal communities will be at risk of monthly flooding by 2050, according to the new research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The vast majority of the assets—934 of them—face the risk of flood disruption every other week, which could make some coastal neighborhoods unlivable within two to three decades.

Almost 3 million people currently live in the 703 US coastal communities with critical infrastructure at risk of monthly disruptive flooding by 2050, including affordable and subsidized housing, wastewater treatment facilities, toxic industrial sites, power plants, fire stations, schools, kindergartens and hospitals.

The number of critical infrastructure assets at risk of disruptive flooding is expected to […]

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Multivitamin myth: Study shows no benefit to long-term health, longevity

Stephan: 

If you take multivitamins with the intent it will help your health, you should read this.

Credit: Pixelbliss

Key Takeaways

  1. For generally healthy adults, taking a daily multivitamin doesn’t appear to help you live longer.
  2. The study found no benefit for multivitamin use in preventing death from major causes like heart disease and cancer.
  3. These findings held true across different groups, regardless of age, sex, or overall diet quality.
  4. The researchers emphasize that eating a healthy diet, exercising, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight are much more important for longevity than taking a multivitamin.
  5. Some groups (like pregnant women) may still benefit from specific vitamin supplements as recommended by their doctor, but for most adults, getting nutrients from a balanced diet is likely sufficient.
  6. This study challenges the common belief that multivitamins are a simple way to improve health and prevent chronic diseases.

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND  For decades, multivitamins have been a staple in medicine cabinets across America. Nearly one in three adults pops these colorful pills daily, hoping to fill nutritional gaps and boost their overall health. But do these supplements actually help us live longer? A new study […]

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More Than 20,000 Children Are Missing in Gaza, New Report Finds

Stephan: 

Hamas exists because Israel was not wise enough to realize that a two-state solution would have allowed the Palestinians to create a functioning culture. I want to be clear that doesn’t excuse or justify what they have done. But fascist Netanyahu and his government are committing genocide, and as an American, I wouldn’t give them a single bullet to expedite the slaughter of children, let alone support them with truckloads of bombs.

A Palestinian man waits for news of his daughter as rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a building hit in an overnight Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on April 21, 2024. Credit: Mohammed Abed / AFP / Getty

As the death toll in Gaza continues to grow amid Israel’s punishing bombardment of the Strip, so too does another statistic: the missing children. To date, at least 21,000 children are missing amid the chaos of the war, according to a new report by Save the Children—a figure the charity says includes 17,000 children who are unaccompanied or separated from their families as a result of the war and the 4,000 children who are thought to be missing under the rubble, as well as the untold number of children who have either been detained by Israeli forces or have been recently discovered in mass graves.

As with all of the statistics coming out of Gaza—including the more than 37,000-person death toll, a figure that is tracked by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry and which is […]

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Born from the tragedy of gun violence, this program teaches children how to stop a wound from bleeding out

Stephan: 

This morning when I was doing my first search through media for SR I came across this article, about teaching elementary school children how to to deal with gun wounds to stop someone from bleeding out. As I was reading the article I also saw on CNN a video on the same thing. I told my wife, a former elementary school teacher what I had seen and read. Her response, “You’re telling me we are now living in a war zone.” As I thought about what she had said I realized, yes we are in a war zone. Bullet wounds are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Yet, despite that the christofascist cabal on the Supreme Court has just relegalized bump stocks, and we have more guns than people in the country. We also have a growing problem with White terrorism amongst the MAGAt population. So, I thought, that teaching little boys and girls how to take off a sock or their shirt and stuff it into a bullet wound, and press down to stop the bleeding, might actually save some lives given that there so many children are shot each year

In case of heavy bleeding, children are taught to use anything that’s available to pack a wound, even a “dirty, smelly sock. Credit: CNN

ROCKLIN, CALIFORNIA — When I visited Rocklin Elementary school, I sat in on a lesson with a third-grade class – a lesson I would never have imagined as a father, a journalist or a trauma surgeon.

“Chances are, you’re never ever going to have to use this. If you do, it’s gonna be scary,” Kate Carleton told the 20 or so 8- and 9-year-olds. “But because we’ve taught you what to do, it makes it a little less scary.”

She spent the next 30 minutes teaching them how to stop a wound from bleeding out. The lesson is appropriately titled “Stop the Bleed.”

Carleton is a trauma nurse at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, a level 2 trauma center in Rocklin, California, a northern suburb of Sacramento. At the beginning of her 17-year career, she saw a lot of car crashes, motorcycle accidents and falls. More recently, the number of gunshot wounds coming through her hospital has increased, most often from […]

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The surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis. What does that do?

Stephan: 

Finally, someone in a position of authority speaks the truth about the gun violence in this country. Now we will see whether the Surgeon General is more powerful than the weapons corporations and the NRA.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks during an event on the White House in April. The nation’s top doctor has issued an advisory about the public health risks of widespread gun violence.
Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

America’s top doctor issued a first-of-its-kind advisory on Tuesday declaring gun violence a national public health crisis and recommending it be treated as such.

The 40-page publication from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy outlines the scope of firearm violence, its impact on victims and communities and a slew of policy suggestions for lawmakers, community leaders and health systems.

A public health approach, Murthy said in the report, can guide the nation’s strategy and actions “as it has done in the past with successful efforts to address tobacco-related disease and motor vehicle crashes.”

“It is up to us to take on this generational challenge with the urgency and clarity the moment demands,” he added. “The safety and well‑being of our children and future generations are at stake.”

The advisory notes that firearm-related injury has been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents since 2020 […]

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