Wednesday Toon Roundup 1- The tRump Signal

Wednesday Bernie Group Toon Roundup

How is this possible? Mysterious microbe is missing mitochondria

Imagine meeting another human who lacks a heart, lungs or some other crucial organ, and yet seems to be functioning completely normally. An international team of scientists has discovered the single-celled version of this conundrum: a eukaryotic microbe that has lost its mitochondrion, which scientists long thought was essential for these complex cellular organisms.

The microbe Monocercomonoides sp., described in the journal Current Biology, upends the long-held assumption that mitochondria are essential to eukaryotic cells as we know them. The findings also shed light on the evolutionary pressures that have made the partnership between cells and their mitochondria so profoundly successful – and reveal the situations when that relationship may fall apart.

The discovery showcases “an example of the amazing evolutionary plasticity of eukaryotic cells,” said first author Anna Karnkowska, a protistologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who performed the research while she was a post-doctoral fellow at Charles University in Prague.

more
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-eukaryote-microbe-missing-mitochondria-20160513-story.html

When the oil boom went bust, Oklahoma protected drillers and squeezed schools

By Luc Cohen and Joshua Schneyer

Filed May 17, 2016, 1:37 p.m. GMT
Oilmen won a big victory when legislators made permanent one of the juiciest tax breaks in the United States. Schools, meanwhile, are having to cut classes, administrators and teachers to make up a growing revenue shortfall.

NEWCASTLE, Oklahoma – After intense lobbying, Oklahoma’s oilmen scored a victory two years ago. State lawmakers voted to keep in place some of lowest taxes on oil and gas production in the United States - a break worth $470 million in fiscal year 2015 alone.

The state’s schools haven’t been so fortunate. In Newcastle, 23 miles from the capital of Oklahoma City, John Cerny recently learned that the school attended by his five-year-old granddaughter, Adelynn, will open just four days a week next year. The Bridge Creek school district will slash spending because of a projected $1.3 billion state budget shortfall next year.

Beth Lawton teaches first grade at Broadmoore Elementary in Moore, a city of 59,000 bordering the capital. In April, she and several colleagues were told their contracts won’t be renewed because of funding cuts. Broadmoore’s class sizes are expected to rise next year as a result.

“I think our lawmakers have failed us, and I don’t understand how little they value education,” Lawton said.

more
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oklahoma-bust/

Meet Brazil’s new cabinet:science minister is a creationist

Simon Romero, The New York Times


BRASÍLIA, Brazil — The new Brazilian president’s first pick for science minister was a creationist. He chose a soybean tycoon who has deforested large tracts of the Amazon rain forest to be his agriculture minister. And he is the first leader in decades to have no women in his Cabinet.

The new government of President Michel Temer — the 75-year-old lawyer who took the helm of Brazil on Thursday after his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was suspended by the Senate to face an impeachment trial — could cause a significant shift to the political right in Latin America’s largest country.

“Temer’s government is starting out well,” Silas Malafaia, a television evangelist and author of best-selling books like “How to Defeat Satan’s Strategies,” wrote on Twitter.

“He’ll be able to sweep away the ideology of pathological leftists,” Malafaia added of a conservative lawmaker whom Temer chose as education minister.

more

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/news/meet-brazils-new-cabinet-the-science-minister-is-a-creationist-agriculture-minister-deforested-the-amazon

Sounds like Reagan and Bush would have been proud of these guys

Tuesday Toon Roundup 2: The Rest

Bigots








Icons


Pope


Spies


Brazil



Health



Beer


McD’s



Schools


CONgress


Primaries


Mr. Fish

Tuesday Toon Roundup 1- The Lyin' King

Tuesday Bernie Group Toons

Study: States are losing out on billions of dollars by keeping pot illegal

By Christopher Ingraham


The federal government and most states are throwing away $28 billion in yearly tax revenue by not legalizing marijuana, according to a new analysis from the Tax Foundation, an independent think tank.

The bulk of that revenue -- $20.5 billion of it -- would accrue to states through the collection of excise taxes on marijuana sales, general sales taxes, and income and payroll taxes levied on workers and businesses in a mature legal marijuana industry.

The federal government would take in another $7.5 billion, primarily from income and payroll taxes, and $500 million in excise taxes if marijuana were to be taxed the same way tobacco is.

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more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/16/study-states-are-losing-out-on-billions-by-keeping-pot-illegal/

Oklahoma Senate approves proposal to do away with earned income tax credit

OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite pleas by religious leaders across the state, Oklahoma lawmakers approved a bill that would do away with a tax credit to help the poorest Oklahomans.

On Thursday, the Oklahoma Senate passed a proposal to do away with the earned income tax credit.

The credit gives money back to the poorest Oklahomans who don’t make enough to even pay taxes.

The proposal was passed 31 to 7.

Senators will also consider two other proposals that would do away with the child tax credit and the sales tax relief credit.

more

http://kfor.com/2016/05/12/oklahoma-senate-approves-proposal-to-do-away-with-earned-income-tax-credit/

I am sure American Jesus Approves.