Category: Money, Class, and Poverty,

U.S. Court: Detroit students have no right to access to literacy

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

The lawsuit took pains to illustrate how Detroit’s schools — run under a state-appointed emergency manager — were a welter of dysfunction: overcrowded classrooms, lack of textbooks and basic materials, unqualified staff, leaking roofs, broken windows, black mold, contaminated drinking water, rodents, no pens, no paper, no toilet paper, and unsafe temperatures that had classes canceled due to 90-degree heat or classrooms so cold students could see their breath.

At times, without teachers or instructional materials, students were simply herded into rooms and asked to watch videos. …The lawsuit even mentions one eighth grade student who “taught” a seventh and eighth grade math class for a month because no teacher could be found. 

…[Defending not providing better educational opportunities for students, the state argued] that the 14th Amendment contains no reference to literacy. 

Then, last week, U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III agreed with the state.

Literacy is important, the judge noted. But students enjoy no right to access to being taught literacy. All the state has to do is make sure schools run. If they are unable to educate their students, that’s a shame, but court rulings have not established that “access to literacy” is “a fundamental right.”

U.S. Court: Detroit students have no right to access to literacy | News Hits

jesus-facepalm1

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigns as chairman of company’s board after apologizing for racial slur

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

Schnatter was on a call with marketing agency Laundry Service when he tried to downplay comments he made about the National Football League and allegedly said, “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s.”

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigns as chairman of company’s board after apologizing for racial slur

Guy’s a hateful ass. ‘Bout time he faced consequences for it.

Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution by U.S. Stuns World Health Officials

On By peanutgallerynhIn Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.

Based on decades of research, the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes.

Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.

Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution by U.S. Stuns World Health Officials – The New York Times

Good lord… is there any part of their own espoused values these people will not toss aside for money?

“Life is precious. Think of the children.”

White man blocks Atlanta doctor from entering her own home

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,1 Comment

 

“He [was] saying that I need to prove to him that I live here before he lets me into my own community,” a frustrated Aguocha says in the video. “He got out of the car and threatened to call the police on me because I was ‘trespassing.’

“This is racial profiling at it’s finest,” she adds. “I have lived here for eight years and I’ve never seen this guy. What kind of nonsense is this?”

…The video shows that he parked his car under the gate arm and refused to move forward to let her in, despite her repeated requests.

“He called the police, so I called the police as well,” she said.

….I used my gate clicker to click the gate open, and it was at that point where she [the officer] said, ‘Sir, you see, she actually does live here.’”

White man blocks Atlanta doctor from entering her own home – theGrio

sigh……..

Hawaii Passes Bill Banning Sunscreen That Can Harm Coral Reefs – The New York Times

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

An estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen is believed to be deposited in oceans annually with the greatest damage found in popular reef areas in Hawaii and the Caribbean. In 2015, the nonprofit Haereticus Environmental Laboratory surveyed Trunk Bay beach on St. John, wherevisitors ranged from 2,000 to 5,000 swimmers daily, and estimated over 6,000 pounds of sunscreen was deposited on the reef annually. The same year, it found an average of 412 pounds of sunscreen was deposited daily on the reef at Hanauma Bay, a popular snorkeling destination in Oahu that draws an average of 2,600 swimmers each day.

Sunscreen alternatives …[with] mineral sunblocks with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide ..must be “non-nano” in size to be considered reef-safe. If they are below 100 nanometers, the creams can be ingested by corals.

Hawaii Passes Bill Banning Sunscreen That Can Harm Coral Reefs – The New York Times

hmmmm

Don’t pack sunscreen on your next trip to Hawaii. These hotels will make sure you’re covered

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Before you pack for your next trip to Hawaii, be prepared to leave your favorite sunscreen at home. And don’t worry, your skin won’t fry.

Scientific research shows that oxybenzone – also known as BP-3, contained in many sunscreen lotions, cremes and sprays — is extremely harmful to the state’s fragile coral reefs

Check-in desks and towel supply stations at the company’s nearly 50 properties throughout the state will allow guests to swap their oxybenzone-containing sunscreen for a free bottle of Raw Elements, a reef-safe sunscreen.

Don’t pack sunscreen on your next trip to Hawaii. These hotels will make sure you’re covered

hmmm

Hawaii may ban sunscreen that kills coral reefs. What kind is safe?

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

State lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday banning sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, chemicals believed to cause harm to marine life and coral reefs.

..The bill …prohibit[s] the sale and distribution of sunscreen with those chemicals on the island “without prescription from a licensed healthcare provider.”

“Amazingly, this is a first-in-the-world law,” Gabbard, who introduced the bill, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “When you think about it, our island paradise, surrounded by coral reefs, is the perfect place to set the gold standard for the world to follow. This will make a huge difference in protecting our coral reefs, marine life, and human health.”

Hawaii may ban sunscreen that kills coral reefs. What kind is safe?

hmmm

Tom Steyer — you want Trump out? Buy Clear Channel

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The simple fact is that if Richard Nixon had had hundreds of radio stations in virtually every city or town in America of any consequence, with all of them running right-wing talk nonstop, it would have been difficult to impeach him.

If Nixon had had Fox News in addition to all that radio power, he could have safely and easily pulled an Andrew Jackson (who sneered at and ignored the Supreme Court’s order to stop the Trail of Tears) and refused to turn over his tapes when SCOTUS ordered it, thus avoiding both impeachment and resigning office.

…A progressive billionaire or two could own a nationwide radio network with virtually 100 percent penetration, and restore progressive voices to the nation’s largest stations.

….Those of great wealth aligned with the left in America, however, have always largely ignored media, probably because they grew up in an America with the Fairness Doctrine and before the 1996 Telecommunications Act and they always just assumed that “the truth will eventually be known.”

…The analysis looked at the vote from 1996 to 2004 in 9,256 American cities and towns where Fox was available on basic cable.

“They found,” reports Morin, “clear evidence of a Fox Effect among non-Republicans in the presidential and senate races, even after controlling for other factors including vote trends in similar nearby towns without access to Fox.”

The researchers added, Morin wrote, that, “[T]he Fox effect seems to [be] permanent and may be increasing.” And that was in 2006.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1786 to his close friend Dr. James Currie, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

…Literally hundreds of right-wing talk show hosts, both local and national, are broadcasting every day, all day, in every town or city in America.

Progressive voices, on the other hand, are few and far between; in most parts of America (and virtually all of rural America), the only radio signal that carries any progressive programming whatsoever is SiriusXM, which requires a subscription and special receiver — costs that are hard to bear among voters in the reddest states where Republican policies have destroyed unions and exported jobs overseas, thus leading to widespread poverty.

…If Tom Steyer wants to see Trump impeached, wants to see a semblance of balance on our airwaves, and wants a positive, healing, life-affirming progressive message available in every town in America, he should buy iHeartMedia tomorrow

Tom Steyer — you want Trump out? Buy Clear Channel | Salon.com

mmmhmmm

Scott Pruitt’s Replacement Is Even Worse

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Just one year ago, Andrew Wheeler worked as one of the coal industry’s most powerful lobbyists, serving as coal baron Bob Murray’s Capitol Hill muscle, challenging environmental regulations and casting doubt on the science behind climate change.

…Pruitt left behind a considerable legacy of halting critical regulations, reshaping the EPA’s science advisory boards and provoking an exodus of talent from the agency that could take decades to reverse. Yet roughly one-third of the regulatory rollbacks Pruitt attempted were halted by legal challenges ― setbacks widely attributed to his brash style and overeagerness to antagonize environmentalists. Still, he proposed some of the most drastic changes to the agency in his final months.

In April he proposed gutting auto emissions standards, which would essentially eliminate the only remaining major federal rule to curb greenhouse gases. Weeks later, he put forward a “transparency” rule that would dramatically limit the public health studies the EPA may use when writing regulations. By June, Pruitt kicked the effort up a notch, issuing a formal notice to solicit ideas on how the agency performs regulatory cost-benefit analyses, in a move widely seen as a giveaway to industry polluters, and proposed a regulation to replace a landmark Obama-era rule protecting drinking water for 117 million Americans

Last year, Wheeler served as a lobbyist for Energy Fuels Resources, a uranium mining company with operations just outside Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Last July, Wheeler and a top executive from the firm met with top Interior Department officials to discuss Bears Ears the same week Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that President Donald Trump dramatically shrink the monument, according to agency calendars. Pruitt’s flashy efforts to bolster the coal industry came after repeated meetings with Murray, the outspoken mining magnate who runs Murray Energy. Wheeler, by contrast, worked for him until mid-2017, helping deliver the Trump administration a so-called action plan that included a federal bailout of coal-fired plants, the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and a challenge to the 2009 EPA endangerment finding that determined carbon dioxide pollution poses a risk to public health.

Scott Pruitt’s Replacement Is Even Worse

sigh…

‘Keep the test!’ A debate flares over exam-based public high schools.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

While New York is unique in relying solely on one test, the long-simmering disagreements over definitions of merit, excellence, and equity resonate more broadly. Selective public high schools exist in dozens of states from Virginia to Illinois.

…The consideration of racial diversity in admissions is front and center again on the national stage as well. Harvard University is facing a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Asian-Americans. And on Tuesday, the US Departments of Education and Justice announced a rollback of a variety of Obama-era guidance around affirmative action.

…Some in New York have suggested adding more specialized high schools, as well as changing the approach to gifted education. Similar questions in Boston have led the district to begin phasing out third-grade testing and tracking of students into “advanced work” classes – in favor of a system called Excellence for All.

‘Keep the test!’ A debate flares over exam-based public high schools. – CSMonitor.com

hmmm

NOAA’s Research Just Shifted from Climate Change to “Empowering the Economy” and “National Security” –

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

One of the country’s major federal science agencies seems to have been forced to abandon climate change research as a key organizational focus, the New York Times revealed this week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization is responsible for managing the National Weather Service and using its network of satellites to forecast the effects of climate change. Rather than concentrate on resiliency efforts, NOAA is now charged with prioritizing “a safe, secure and growing economy.”

…The presentation also included a new emphasis: “To protect lives and property, empower the economy, and support homeland and national security.”

NOAA, whose mandate includes forecasting for hurricanes and cyclical storms like El Niño, had remained relatively immune so far from the influence of climate change skeptics within the Trump administration. Just last month, NOAA researchers recorded the highest-ever levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a historic result that an agency scientist called “a whole lot of bad news.”

….Previous government interventions into NOAA affairs suggest the White House would be unlikely not to intervene with an agency under its watch that continues to publicly discuss the potentially devastating effects of climate change.

NOAA’s Research Just Shifted from Climate Change to “Empowering the Economy” and “National Security” – Mother Jones

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr