Maya Rossin-Slater, Research Scientist - Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Stephan:
This paper was published in 2022, but is the latest I could find, in the academic literature, and I doubt very much its conclusions have changed in the subsquent months. Fear of being shot while in school, according to Pew Research Center is now a top concern of American students. My wife and I were talking about this having tea this afternoon, trying to imagine what it would be like to be afraid of being shot in school, something unheard of when we were in school. Or how we would counsel and comfort our children if we had young children today. I just don’t, can’t, comprehend how this continues with nothing being done.
School shooting survivors Credit: ABC News
Key Takeaways
More than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019.
Research indicates a higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence.
School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores.
School shootings also lead to an increase in student absenteeism and the likelihood of needing to repeat a grade in the two following years.
Students exposed to shootings at their schools are less likely to graduate high school, go to college, and graduate college, and they are less likely to be employed and have lower earnings in their mid-20s.
s America reels from yet another school shooting — this one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — much of the public discussion has centered on the lives lost: 19 children and 2 teachers. The Uvalde massacre is the second deadliest on record, following the 2012 shooting at […]
What I see new in this DOJ report is not that Putin and his Russian government are trying to get criminal Trump elected, it is the blatant treasonous involvement in his schemes of MAGAt Republicans lobbyists and media, and politicians for that matter. We have a portion of the U.S. political system who are openly traitors as this report and public comments by these individuals confirms.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice on August 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it is seizing 32 domains tied to a Russian influence campaign accused of spreading propaganda to influence voters in U.S. and foreign elections.
Why it matters: Members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle directed Russian companies to promote disinformation as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 election, the Justice Department alleged.
“The sites we are seizing today were filled with Russian government propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to reduce international support for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian policies and interests, and influence voters in the United States and other countries,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Wednesday.
Driving the news: The DOJ also announced charges Wednesday against Russian nationals connected to an alleged scheme to influence U.S. audiences with content that included hidden […]
Andy Kroll and Nick Surgey, Staff Writers - ProPublica
Stephan:
The corruption of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and his MAGAt lobbyist wife Ginni is astounding to me. How is it possible a man this corrupt and dishonorable can be one of the six people, the christofascist Trump majority on the Supreme Court, who determine how the laws that shape the lives of over 300 million American are defined? Why is nothing being done to clean the scum from the Court?
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and his MAGAt lobbyist wife Ginni Thomas. Credit: CNBC
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on a major religious-rights group for fighting efforts to reform the nation’s highest court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses.
Thomas expressed her appreciation in an email sent to Kelly Shackelford, an influential litigator whose clients have won cases at the Supreme Court. Shackelford runs the First Liberty Institute, a $25 million-a-year organization that describes itself as “the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans.”
Shackelford read Thomas’ email aloud on a July 31 private call with his group’s top donors.
Thomas wrote that First Liberty’s opposition to court-reform proposals gave a boost to certain judges. According to Shackelford, Thomas wrote in all caps: “YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.”
Here is what I think is some important good news coming out of California: A path to controlling the pollution and environmental damage produced by manufacturing corporations, particularly those involved with carbon energy. I am going to follow this and see if it emerges as a trend.
The Chevron Richmond Refinery is seen in 2023. In the summer of 2012, a massive blaze broke out at the refinery. Credit: Eric Risberg/AP
RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA — In mid-August, this Northern California city extracted a half-billion dollar payout from Chevron, one of the most powerful companies in the world. It didn’t require a lawsuit, or a refinery disaster, or years of negotiations.
Instead, Chevron caved in the face of a local initiative that would have taxed every barrel it produced within Richmond’s city limits at its century-old, 3,000-acre plant just north of San Francisco. Within weeks of the tax being placed on the ballot, the oil and gas giant offered an unprecedented $550 million settlement to make it go away.
The local activists and city council who initiated the process had not set out to win a compromise, but they have revealed a new source of leverage that can be used to win concessions from large corporations with little political bloodshed. […]
Jules Feeney, Contributing Writer - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
More good news from Blue state California, presaging what I hope will become the dominant trend in rail. It is interesting that California has led the country in innovations for many years, and this pre-eminence seems to continue. This is an example of what I mean when I say to prepare for what climate change is going to do we need new technologies, and must not allow ourselves to be trapped by carbon energy corporations that care only for their short-term profit and nothing for social wellbeing.
The new zero-emission train, known as Zemu. One of the biggest challenges was proving the lightweight Zemu design could safely operate on the same tracks as heavier freight trains. Credit: Benjamin Ackle / Courtesy of Stadler Inc
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA –here’s a new train pulling into the station in San Bernardino, a southern California city about 60 miles from Los Angeles. From the outside, it looks like any other commuter train, with three passenger carriages, blocky windows and a colourful blue exterior.
But inside, it’s unlike anything the region – or the country – has seen before. The $20m Zero-Emission Multiple Unit, known as Zemu, uses a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery system to propel the train and run other onboard electrical systems. The only byproduct of the fuel cell is water vapour, a welcome change in an area known as the Inland Empire that suffers from some of the worst air quality rates in the country.
The new technology will make Zemu the first hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions passenger train in North America to meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements when it goes into […]
And here we have the reason developing new technologies is so critical. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone lives in Phoenix anymore.
Credit: KTAR News
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — This summer, Phoenix has set a new benchmark for extreme heat, with the temperature reaching at least 100 degrees for the 100th consecutive day on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service uses its station at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for the city’s official readings. It hit 100 there around 11 a.m.
The last day the thermometer at the airport didn’t reach 100 degrees was May 26, when the high was 99 degrees.
The current streak has obliterated the city’s previous record of 76 consecutive days at or above 100 degrees from 1993.
Gabriel Lojero, a meteorologist with the NWS, said there is no immediate relief to the string of hot temperatures in sight.
The heat wave is still going strong with new records around the corner
Phoenix will set another heat standard the next time it reaches 110 degrees.
