Voices, The Peoples News
February 16, 2023
Published by Jedi Selman Since March 2000 to Inform and Educate
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“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection
of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”
– Chris Maser
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This daily Voices, The Peoples News is posted through the blog function of www.MPEN-Ohio.net
# Indigenous
Gallup School Superintendent Says Changing a Label Explains Away Its Harsh Native Student Discipline. It Doesn’t. Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent Mike Hyatt told the Gallup Sun our findings about Native American student discipline are wrong. This is our response.
https://www.propublica.org/article/propublica-responds-to-gallup-sun-native-american-student-discipline
# Border / Immigration / Migrants
Border Patrol: Record number of Chinese nationals entering U.S. illegally: The number of Chinese nationals illegally entering the U.S. has significantly increased under the Biden administration, beginning around the 2020 election, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. In January 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says, it encountered 89 illegal aliens from the People’s Republic of China on the southern border. That number grew over tenfold last month, to 1,084.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/02/14/encounters-of-chinese-nationals-at-southern-border-outpace-past-2-years-combined/
# Covid / Pandemics / Biologicals
Eagles Are Falling, Bears Are Going Blind, Bird flu is already a tragedy: The bird-flu outbreak continues to rage. An estimated 58.4 million domestic birds have died in the United States alone. Farms with known outbreaks have had to cull their chickens en masse, sending the cost of eggs soaring; zoos have herded their birds indoors to shield them from encounters with infected waterfowl. The virus has been steadily trickling into mammalian populations, foxes, bears, mink, whales, seals, on both land and sea, fueling fears that humans could be next.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-bird-flu-outbreak-has-taken-an-ominous-turn/
Low-Income Americans Are Losing Yet Another Covid-Era Benefit as Prices Keep Rising: As the cost of living in the US has gone up, government subsidies to help people pay for basics have disappeared one-by-one. Up next on the chopping block: Emergency allotments of a food-assistance program that supports 30 million Americans living in 32 states. Food prices were up 10.1% in January from a year ago. A dozen eggs now cost more than a pound of ground beef for the first time on record.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-16/why-are-food-stamp-benefits-lower-snap-grocery-subsidies-decrease-in-march
# Economy / Finance / Trade / Banks
Lawmakers grill Biden’s IRS chief nominee over new army of agents, backlogs and more: President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Internal Revenue Service took a battery of tough questions from lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday as the agency he seeks to lead faces a series of controversies
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/lawmakers-grill-biden-s-irs-chief-nominee-over-new-army-of-agents-backlogs-more/article_6619f68e-ad81-11ed-acc1-3facd70c8412.html
Joe Biden boxes Republicans into a corner on Social Security, Medicare with an eye on 2024: Round one of the debt-ceiling standoff is going about as well as the White House hoped after President Joe Biden boxed Republicans into a corner on Social Security and Medicare, recasting the debate over spending cuts as a fight to protect two of the most popular government programs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/15/joe-biden-boxes-republicans-into-corner-social-security-medicare/11220664002/
Republicans take aim at food stamps in growing fight over federal debt: A top House Republican confirms they’re considering new work requirements or general cuts to federal food assistance in the brewing debt limit fight. The House GOP has talked about the idea behind closed doors for months, but has been coy about discussing the matter in public.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-agriculture/2023/02/06/federal-food-aid-in-gops-debt-limit-crosshairs-00081266
# Energy / Pipelines / Mining / Chemical
Trains that derailed in Ohio weren’t labeled as carrying toxic cargo: Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine calls for Congress to look into legality of trains not labeled as potentially hazardous when carrying toxic chemicals.
https://grist.org/accountability/derailed-train-cars-ohio-not-labeled-toxic-cargo/
A fossil fuel-funded advocacy group is paying to publish pro-natural gas content in Politico, Axios, and E&E News, including articles that cite industry-funded studies to make a climate case for the fossil fuel.
https://heated.world/p/these-natural-gas-ads-are-full-of?utm_medium=email
# Energy / Pipelines / Mining / Global
Putin is staring at defeat in his gas war with Europe: Mild weather this winter is set to help Europe shrug off Russia’s energy threats next year, too. A combination of mild weather, increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and a large drop in gas consumption means that more than 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas are estimated to remain in storage by the end of March. for the analysis of the commission.
https://biz.crast.net/putin-is-staring-at-defeat-in-his-gas-war-with-europe/
# Environment / Climate / Interior
The changing climate of our planet: Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, mainly caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VyunmhA_tc
Water shortages threaten to increase violence and disappearances in Mexico: The U.S. government must fund water-saving efforts in Mexico if it wants to quell Mexico’s drug violence. The U.S. government must fund water-saving efforts in Mexico if it wants to quell Mexico’s drug violence
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/water-shortages-threaten-to-increase-violence-and-disappearances-in-mexico/
Private well owners stuck with costs to treat ‘forever chemicals’: The results, however, shocked and scared Wachur. His water tested at 52 parts per trillion, more than twice the state’s public drinking water standard.
https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/02/15/pfas-massachusetts-wells-drinking-water-testing
Kentucky Flooding Deaths Linked to Coal Strip Mining: The locations of the 36 drowning deaths during the catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky last summer are closely correlated with large-scale coal strip mines, and a local non-profit is calling on the DOI to investigate further. A social justice group asks the Interior Department to review the adequacy of federal law as climate change supercharges storms and turns coal hollows into dangerous chutes of water.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14022023/kentucky-flood-coal-strip-mine-reclamation/
# Environment / Climate / Global
A skinny robot documents the forces eroding a massive Antarctic glacier; it’s both good and bad news: The robot named Icefin lowered down a slender 1,925-foot (587-meter) hole, they saw how important crevasses are in the fracturing of the ice, which takes the heaviest toll on the glacier, even more than melting. ” That’s how the glacier is falling apart. It’s not thinning and going away. It shatters,”
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/1157398431/robot-documents-forces-eroding-doomsday-glacier
# Gov / Politics / Global
Here’s why Ukraine’s Zelensky wants a long war with Russia: It is unlikely that President Vladimir Zelensky expects to win militarily. But it seems that he genuinely believes that he will succeed in turning Ukraine into something like Israel – a paramilitary state living with a sense of constant military threat. Here’s why Ukraine’s Zelensky wants a long war with Russia
https://www.rt.com/russia/571525-zelensky-wants-long-war/
The EU project to support the massacres of NATO and the Weapons Lobby encounters more and more opposition every day in Europe due to the concrete fear of a Third World War: EU Parliament Member Rebukes Zelensky for a War without Truce. The Ukrainian leader is “feeding his people into carnage,” MEP Mick Wallace said
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2023/02/15/eu-parliament-member-rebukes-zelensky-for-a-war-without-truce/
Momentum Grows on Special Tribunal to Prosecute Putin’s Aggression in Ukraine: European nations are nearing a consensus on an interim prosecutor’s office to gather evidence for a future trial.
https://theintercept.com/2023/02/13/russia-ukraine-war-crimes/
Kim Jong Un’s Kid Threatens Death Blow to Aunt’s Succession: North Korea’s aggressive publicity campaign for Kim Jong Un’s 10-year-old daughter could be bad news for the dictator’s notorious sister.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kim-jong-uns-daughter-ju-ae-could-knock-out-his-sister-yo-jong-in-north-korea-succession-feud
Inside Kim Jong-un’s Bloody Scramble to Kill Off His Family: While the world watches North Korea launch missiles, the very paranoid supreme leader has been busy eliminating anyone in his family who might knock him off the throne.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a56628/kings-of-communism/
# Gov / Politics / US
Ron DeSantis requested the medical records of all trans students in Florida’s public universities. Now students are planning a statewide walkout. DeSantis asked to see the records of any student who has experienced gender dysphoria in the past five years. In addition, he wants their ages and the dates they received gender-affirming care. The deadline to submit those records was February 10.
https://www.insider.com/ron-desantis-trans-college-students-medical-records-florida-medical-care-2023-2
Despite Decades of Mass Shootings in Texas, Legislators Have Failed to Pass Meaningful Gun Control Laws:
State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them.
https://www.propublica.org/article/mass-shootings-texas-gun-control
America is exceptional in the nature of its political divide: The studies we’ve conducted at Pew Research Center over the past few years illustrate the increasingly stark disagreement between Democrats and Republicans on the economy, racial justice, climate change, law enforcement, international engagement and a long list of other issues.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/13/america-is-exceptional-in-the-nature-of-its-political-divide/
America’s deepest and most dangerous divide isn’t between Democrats and Republicans: Americans long for personal and social transformation, but mainstream politics and media are trapped in the past
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/16/americas-deep-and-divide-isnt-between-democrats-and/
Senate Democrats Warn GOP Budget Cuts Would “Deny 1 Million Babies Access to Formula”: “This report makes clear when House Republicans throw out ideas like ‘going back to 2022 funding levels,’ which Speaker McCarthy and MAGA Republicans in the House want to do, they aren’t actually proposing a ‘freeze,” Murray said Wednesday. “They are calling for drastic, draconian cuts that will hurt families in every corner of the country, undermine our economy, jeopardize our national security, and limit our future.”
https://truthout.org/articles/senate-dems-warn-gop-budget-cuts-would-deny-1-million-babies-access-to-formula/
Pennsylvania Guv Vows Not to Sign Any Death Penalty Warrants: “The Commonwealth shouldn’t be in the business of putting people to death. Period,” he said as he called for the state to end the death penalty altogether.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3861852-pennsylvania-governor-wont-sign-execution-warrants-calls-for-death-penalty-to-be-abolished/
Marco Rubio Moves to Bring Back Trump’s Trans Military Ban: The Florida senator and Rep. Jim Banks have introduced a bill that would “build on” the former president’s discriminatory policy
https://thehill.com/homenews/3861704-rubio-banks-introduce-measure-to-ban-some-transgender-people-from-military-service/
# Law Enforcement
No Reparations for St. Louis Man Wrongfully Imprisoned for Three Decades: A Missouri judge recently overturned the conviction of Lamar Johnson, a man falsely accused of murder 28 years ago. After three decades in prison, Johnson has finally found his freedom, but hasn’t been offered any financial compensation for the lost time and the new life he now has to build, according to CBS4 News.
https://localtoday.news/mo/no-redemption-for-a-st-louis-man-wrongfully-imprisoned-for-three-decades-144308.html
Alabama man froze to death in jail after officers put him in freezer as possible ‘punishment,’ lawsuit alleges: “While Tony languished naked and dying of hypothermia in the early morning hours of Jan. 26 and his chances for survival trickled away, numerous corrections officers and medical staff wandered over to his open cell door to spectate and be entertained by his condition,” the bombshell complaint claims. When Mitchell was taken to a local hospital, his internal body temperature was only 72 degrees. While an autopsy has not been released, “it is clear that Tony’s death was wrongful, the result of horrific, malicious abuse and mountains of deliberate indifference,” the lawsuit states.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/anthony-tony-mitchell-froze-to-death-in-alabama-jail-freezer-lawsuit/
Hoping to Prevent Repeat of Botched Response to Uvalde, Lawmaker Calls for Improved Training for Police, EMTs: The proposed legislation comes after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and The Washington Post revealed that communication lapses among medical crews further delayed treatment for victims at Robb Elementary.
https://www.propublica.org/article/uvalde-police-emt-emergency-response-training
# Legal / DOJ
Dissent Episode Five: The Death Penalty, Deadlines, and DNA: Rodney Reed has spent 25 years fighting Texas for the right to DNA testing that could prove his innocence. Now the Supreme Court will weigh in.
https://theintercept.com/2023/02/15/dissent-episode-five-rodney-reed-death-penalty/
Trump’s Ex-Chief of Staff Meadows Subpoenaed in Jan. 6 Probe: The request for testimony comes after Mike Pence was also slapped with a subpoena. Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and Meadows received the subpoena sometime in January, the source said. An attorney for Meadows declined to comment. The Justice Department did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the subpoena.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/politics/mark-meadows-subpoena/index.html
Donald Trump Could Be Indicted for These 10 Crimes in Georgia: The probe has widened significantly and is also looking into allegations the Trump campaign plotted to send a group of fake electors to falsely claim that Trump had won the state in 2020, as well as claims of intimidation of election workers.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-possible-charges-crimes-georgia-1781705
Donald Trump’s Lawyers Are in Trouble Now: Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran has invoked the attorney-client privilege in an attempt to avoid providing additional testimony in the DOJ investigation of the Mar-a-Lago affair may seem like another potential impediment to the special counsel’s ability to complete that probe. The DOJ response, moving to compel Corcoran’s testimony based on the “crime fraud exception” to the attorney-client privilege, indicates not only that the end may be getting near, but that the eventual charges will focus on obstruction of justice.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/02/donald-trump-lawyers-special-counsel-trouble-evan-corcoran.html
# LGBTQ / Gender
DeSantis-Stacked Medical Boards Ramp Up Bans on Care for Trans Youth: Last Friday’s public hearing featured impassioned pleas from trans kids, who stand to lose access to lifesaving care in Florida.
https://theintercept.com/2023/02/14/florida-trans-health-care/
Armed Community Groups Are Defending Texas Drag Queens From Christian Fascists: LGBTQ defenders in Texas are mobilizing to protect their communities amid sustained far right attacks on drag shows. About a half-dozen Princeton police officers stood watch. Neidert is the head of the so-called Protect Texas Kids (PTK) group, which baselessly claims to be defending children from “grooming.” In reality, advocates point out, the group is using false narratives to stoke hatred and violence against the LGBTQ community.
https://truthout.org/articles/armed-community-groups-are-defending-texas-drag-queens-from-christian-fascists/
Human Rights Campaign Slams Marco Rubio, Jim Banks Effort to Reinstate Trump-Era Ban on Military Service by Transgender People: Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued the following statement today: “We should be honoring anyone who chooses to serve our country in the United States Armed Forces. They are our heroes. They deserve our gratitude and respect. It is despicable that Senator Rubio and Congressman Banks are harkening back to an unpopular, Trump-era policy that would make it impossible for nearly every transgender American to serve openly in the military. The current policy is working and makes our military stronger. This is nothing more than a political stunt, aimed at riling up an extremist base at the expense of what is best for our military, and it will fail.”
https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-slams-marco-rubio-jim-banks-effort-to-reinstate-trump-era-ban-on-military-service-by-transgender-people
# Medical
Steak Dinners, Sales Reps and Risky Procedures: Inside the Big Business of Clogged Arteries: Text messages, a whistleblower lawsuit and an internal investigation reveal the lengths to which Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company, allegedly “groomed” doctors to overuse its vascular products in patients at a veterans’ hospital.
https://www.propublica.org/article/medtronic-medical-device-kickbacks-lawsuit-kansas
# Military / DOD
Military Justice Reforms Still Leave Some Criminal Cases to Commanders With No Legal Expertise: The military resisted reforming its justice system for decades. Major congressional changes passed in 2021 promised to overhaul that system, but experts say they may have just made it more complicated.
https://www.propublica.org/article/military-justice-reforms-pretrial-confinement
# Planetary
Research shows there are little-known chapters in that history, deep within Earth’s past. In fact, Earth’s inner core appears to have another even more inner core within it. Our knowledge of what lies beneath Earth’s crust has been inferred mostly from what volcanoes have divulged and what seismic waves have whispered.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-detect-signs-of-hidden-structure-inside-earths-core
# Science
Scientists make hydrogen straight from seawater: The process saves a lot of energy and money normally spent on desalination. Over 99% of all the hydrogen produced by mankind is actually made from and using fossil fuels. The most common method for producing hydrogen is natural gas reforming, a process in which methane from natural gas is heated, with steam, usually with a catalyst, to produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Overall, fossil fuel-derived hydrogen accounts for 830 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is more than the annual emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/scientists-make-hydrogen-straight-from-seawater/
# Technology
AI is causing disruption now, not tomorrow. Here are just 6 examples: In the past year or two, AI stopped being a games-only technology and moved up into the real world, promising to shake things up in fields ranging from writing to biochemistry. Here are just a few of the big impacts AI has made very recently.
https://www.zmescience.com/future/impact-of-ai-042332/
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