Al Jaffee, and so it goes.
"NPR said Wednesday it will stop sharing content on Twitter after the social media company labeled NPR “state-affiliated media,” a term also used for Russia- and China-based propaganda outlets… The news outlet’s organizational accounts will no longer post new content on its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major U.S. news organization to do so since Elon Musk took over Twitter late last year."
"U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland in Bismarck, North Dakota, halted the regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the 24 states, most of which are led by Republicans. The regulations were finalized in December 2022, repealing a rule implemented during President Donald Trump’s administration but thrown out by federal courts." Who needs clean water anyway?
And who needs clean air anyway? "The EPA says its proposal will reduce ethylene oxide emissions by roughly 80% by targeting 86 medical sterilization facilities across the United States. The companies will also have to test for the antimicrobial chemical in the air and make sure their pollution controls are working properly."
"An evacuation order affecting more than 1,000 people remained in place Wednesday night around a large industrial fire in an Indiana city near the Ohio border where crews worked to douse piles of burning plastics."
"Several hundred people rallied against plans for a large-scale wind energy project in southern Idaho, hoping to convince federal agencies to reject the proposal by Magic Valley Energy… Rancher David Looper… told the crowd he loves living in Idaho because the state has few regulations, but said the lack of rules has also drawn national corporations looking to make a buck." Also, it's so nice to see Idahoans so concerned about (checks notes) "their minorities."
"The Biden administration will propose strict new automobile pollution limits this week that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030 and as many as two of every three by 2032, according to industry and environmental officials briefed on the plan."
"For the last four decades, Medicare has covered hospice services – including grief counseling, spiritual support and pain management – for terminally ill people. The benefit has helped more than 25 million Americans die more on their own terms, often at home, with the support of chaplains, social workers, nurses and others… Research shows hospice can reduce unwanted medical interventions, improve families' satisfaction and, in some cases, save Medicare thousands of dollars." So let's privatize it. Ugh. No, how about instead of throwing up our hands and saying, "you handle it" we actually fix the program, update it for the current needs and concerns, and then fully fund it. Privatizing care has never reduced costs or increased patient satisfaction.
"Downing a spoonful of bubblegum pink amoxicillin is a regular part of being a kid, but a nationwide shortage of the antibiotic is making a particularly bad season of strep throat tougher." I can't remember all the times we've had difficulty finding prescriptions, and now it seems like every other day I overhear a conversation about this in the hospital.
"Now lawmakers in at least a dozen states and the U.S. Congress have pushed legislation to curtail the financial burden that’s pushed many into untenable situations: forgoing needed care for fear of added debt, taking a second mortgage to pay for cancer treatment or slashing grocery budgets to keep up with payments… Some of the bills would create medical debt relief programs or protect personal property from collections, while others would lower interest rates, keep medical debt from tanking credit scores or require greater transparency in the costs of care." I'm sure all this is cheaper than having single-payor.
"This week on Throughline, we explore the origins of federal student loans, the promises the government made, and how an idealistic vision transformed into what some have called a monster."
"Thousands of professors, part-time lecturers and graduate student workers at New Jersey’s flagship university went on strike Monday — the first such job action in the school’s 257-year history."
"The Biden administration is urging U.S. meat processors to make sure children aren’t being illegally hired to perform dangerous jobs at their plants… The call comes after an investigation found more than 100 kids working overnight for a company that cleans slaughterhouses, handling dangerous equipment like skull splitters and razor-sharp bone saws." How about we start putting executives in jail?
"U.S. consumer inflation eased in March, with less expensive gas and food providing some relief to households that have struggled under the weight of surging prices. Yet prices are still rising fast enough to keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates at least once more, beginning in May."
"Weeks after the collapse of two big banks, small business owners are feeling the pinch… Bank lending has dropped sharply since the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature Banks. That not only hits businesses. It also threatens a further slowdown in economic growth while raising the risk of recession… Credit, after all, is the grease that helps keep the wheels of the economy spinning. When credit gets harder to come by, businesses start to squeak." As a reminder, 2007-2008 started when liquidity dried up and banks stoped lending to each other. So much for our "intrepid and brave" business leaders.
"Turmoil in the banking system after two major banks collapsed led many Federal Reserve officials to envision fewer rate increases this year out of concern that banks will reduce their lending and weaken the economy."
"After acquiring (Twitter), Musk carried out mass layoffs as part of cost-cutting efforts. He said Twitter’s workforce has been slashed to about 1,500 employees from about 8,000 previously, describing it as something that had to be done… Asked if he regretted buying the company, he said it was something that 'needed to be done.'" As someone who has been on twitter, the majority of this pain has been self-inflicted wounds. And given that one of Musk's "goals" was to reduce the bots, the exact opposite has happened, so I'm not sure what he means by "needed to be done." Needed by whom and for what purpose? Before the last month this was idle speculation. Lately it's become more relevent. And the question should be asked, did Musk go on to purchase Twitter as part of a foreign intelligence operation?
"Norway’s government said Thursday that it was expelling 15 Russian diplomats from the country, saying they were suspected of spying while working at the Russian Embassy in Oslo."
"The father of a a Russian girl sent to an orphanage after drawing an antiwar sketch at school has been extradited from Belarus back to Russia, a human rights group reported Wednesday. He faces two years in prison there." You know you're winning when you have to put kids in jail for a drawing.
"U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates 'to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies,' according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach."
"Sudan’s military warned Thursday of potential clashes with the country’s powerful paramilitary force, which it said deployed troops in the capital and other cities." You know, the powerful paramilitary force that Sudan's military stood up to attack Darfur and then used to bolster their coup.
"Llano County commissioners in the Texas Hill Country are weighing whether they will shut down their library system instead of complying with a federal judge’s order that they must return 17 banned books to the library shelves… Officials scheduled a special meeting on Thursday during which they will discuss shutting down the three library branches." And people are talking about it like this wasn't the actual plan by conservatives for all these years.
"A federal appeals court preserved access to the abortion pill mifepristone for now but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be used and said it could not be dispensed by mail."
"(Iowa) Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office said it has suspended payment for emergency contraception for sexual assault victims while they are reviewing state policy… 'While not required by Iowa law, the victim compensation fund has previously paid for Plan B and abortions…' Under Iowa law, the state is required to pay for medical examinations for sexual assault victims."
"A Texas man says three women helped his now-ex-wife obtain pills for an abortion last year 'without his knowledge,' and he's suing them for $1 million each… The wrongful death lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed abortion rights last summer, highlights concerns about digital privacy and reproductive health. And it comes as a battle over the future of access to medication abortion plays out in the federal court system."
"But a fight between the two is brewing in the Florida Senate. An existing state law, supported and promoted by the Miami-based A Safe Haven, allows parents to surrender newborns to firefighters and hospital workers without giving their names. A new bill, supported by the Indiana-based Safe Haven Baby Boxes, would give fire stations and hospitals the option to install the group’s ventilated and climate-controlled boxes, where parents could drop off their babies without interacting with fire or hospital employees."
"An alternate juror in the trial of a U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder said Wednesday that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s rush for a pardon is an 'egregious overreach' to wipe aside the jury’s unanimous decision over a 2020 shooting during a Black Lives Matter protest." It wouldn't be political theater if it wasn't overreach.
"A woman believed to be one of the 20 wives of a polygamous sect leader jailed in Arizona faces federal charges for allegedly sending threatening emails to child welfare workers in a bid to get her two daughters released from state foster care."
"A ProPublica report on a railroad cost-cutting approach called Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) concludes that a strategy that employs longer trains with fewer employees puts profits ahead of safety in the freight rail industry." We all knew this. Didn't we all know this?
"Pearson and Jones are returning to the legislature on an interim basis, but they can both run in a special election to regain the seat until the next general election, in 2024… Pearson and Jones were kicked out of the House on April 6. Jones was reinstated to his seat on Monday."
"Recuperating U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked Wednesday to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee, shortly after two House Democrats called on her to resign after her extended absence from Washington."
"At today's pre-trial hearings in the billion-dollar Fox defamation lawsuit, the Delaware judge overseeing the case declared he would sanction Fox News and launch an investigation into Fox's apparent repeated failures to disclose information, including about the role of Fox founder Rupert Murdoch."
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