n2doc
n2doc's JournalGlobal sea ice is at lowest level ever recorded
By Michael Le Page
It’s a new low point. The area of the world’s oceans covered by floating sea ice is the smallest recorded since satellite monitoring began in the 1970s. That means it is also probably the lowest it has been for thousands of years.
The latest observations from the US National Snow & Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, show how the ice extent has fallen to a new low this year (bright red trace in the graph below).
more
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2118093-global-sea-ice-is-at-lowest-level-ever-recorded/
Senator Warren Op Ed: The GOPs strategy for Obamacare? Repeal and run.
By Elizabeth Warren
FOR EIGHT YEARS, Republicans in Congress have complained about health care in America, heaping most of the blame on President Obama. Meanwhile, they’ve hung out on the sidelines making doomsday predictions and cheering every stumble, but refusing to lift a finger to actually improve our health care system.
The GOP is about to control the White House, Senate, and House. So what’s the first thing on their agenda? Are they working to bring down premiums and deductibles? Are they making fixes to expand the network of doctors and the number of plans people can choose from? Nope. The number one priority for congressional Republicans is repealing the Affordable Care Act and breaking up our health care system while offering zero solutions.
Their strategy? Repeal and run.
Many Massachusetts families are watching this play out, worried about what will happen — including thousands from across the Commonwealth that I joined at Faneuil Hall on Sunday to rally in support of the ACA. Hospitals and insurers are watching too, concerned that repealing the ACA will create chaos in the health insurance market and send costs spiraling out of control.
more
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/01/15/gop-strategy-for-aca-repeal-and-run/aCcjrJWQDjx4r4aRxkMCaL/story.html
Obamacares Demise Is a Looming Disaster for Mental Health
Look at a map of states president-elect Donald Trump won in November alongside a map of states with the highest rates of opioid prescriptions, and you’ll see they mostly overlap. Look more closely at the data, as one Penn State professor recently did, and you’ll find that Trump outperformed his Republican predecessor Mitt Romney the most in counties where opiate and suicide mortality rates are highest.
It’s little wonder, then, that mental health and substance abuse issues have become a key talking point for Trump, who has promised to crack down on drug cartels and called America’s mass shootings an issue of mental health—not guns.
He’s not the only Republican to adopt behavioral health as a priority. House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed for mental health legislation in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose home state of Kentucky is a leader in opioid deaths, recently penned an op-ed titled “More Must Be Done on Heroin – soon.” And the Republican-authored 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in December, will set aside $1 billion over two years to fight opioid abuse.
And yet, late last week, Senate and House Republicans set in motion the first steps of a plan that researchers warn could cut mental health and substance abuse treatment off at the knees: the repeal of Obamacare.
more
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/obamacares-demise-looming-disaster-mental-health/
To understand Obama's legacy, walk in his shoes on the day it all began
by Rick Hampson , USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — We try to assess Barack Obama’s legacy by squinting into the murky future — debating the durability of his policies and programs, wondering what the new president will do to them.
But when we measure the 44th president’s accomplishments, do we recall where and when he started? Remember what the nation and world were like the day he took office? Imagine what might have been without him?
In his farewell this week, Obama himself cited the advice of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.'’
So go back to the hours before Obama became president. Walk in his shoes, sit in his pew, ride in his limousine. Then, judge.
more
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/15/barack-obama-legacy-donald-trump-presidency/96102710/
Trump first president in 150 years to not have a pet in WH?
Washington: Donald Trump might be the first US President in 150 years to not have a pet in the White House after a plan to have him adopt a goldendoodle dog fell through.
With Trump's inauguration on January 20, many are left wondering if his family will have a pet residing with them at the White House. If not, he could be the first president in 150 years without a pet.
The Trump family does not have a history of keeping animals around the house and there is not any indication, at least, not yet.
more
http://www.news18.com/news/world/petless-white-house-in-150-years-when-donald-trump-moves-in-1336149.html
Slaughtered Minke Whale Found On Ship In Antarctic; Crew Attempted To Cover It With Tarpaulin
A slaughtered minke whale was found on a Japanese ship in the Antarctic in an act being perceived as a defiance of an international court ruling against the country's whaling activities, activist group Sea Shepherd said Sunday. The group found the dead whale on the Nisshin Maru vessel in the Australian whale sanctuary around the country’s Antarctic region.
“The whale killers from the Nisshin Maru were caught red-handed slaughtering whales in the Australian Whale sanctuary,” Captain Adam Meyerson of the Ocean Warrior, Sea Shepherd’s Southern Ocean patrol ship, said in a statement. “The Steve Irwin [the group’s helicopter] has shut down their illegal operations and caught them trying to hide the evidence.”
more
http://www.ibtimes.com/japan-whaling-2017-slaughtered-minke-whale-found-ship-antarctic-crew-attempted-cover-2475740
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Tue Feb 10, 2004, 01:08 PM
Number of posts: 47,953
