There’s been so much said by people in the GOP about banning Muslims and rounding up and kicking out those that are here. We ask that you take a few moments to watch this TED Talk and see how you feel about those actions after viewing it.
Category: Latest News
Scientists Are More Confident Than Ever In Troubling Sea Level Rise Projections
The following article by Aleandro Davila Fragoso appeared on the ThinkProgress.org website Februar 23, 2016:
Charles Warsinske has a daunting and unusual task for a city planner: move a town out of the way of climate change.
“If you think about it too long it’s somewhat overwhelming,” said Warsinske, manager of the Quinault Indian Nation Community Development Planning Department. “It seems like the climate change thing is certainly on everybody’s minds right now and it’s a very, very complicated thing.”
For the Quinault Nation, which has lived next to the Quinault River and the Pacific coast just west of Seattle for generations, climate change raises more issues than for most communities. Their culture and economy depend on the bounty of the land, forests, rivers, and oceans that are behaving as differently as any tribal elder can remember. The glaciers that feed the rivers and support the salmon population — so integral to their livelihood — are disappearing. Forests on tribal lands are changing, too, as invasive species threaten critical resources. Continue reading “Scientists Are More Confident Than Ever In Troubling Sea Level Rise Projections”
Conservative commentators rip GOP over SCOTUS vacancy
‘Browning Of America’ Is Tearing The GOP Apart
The following article by Cynthia Tucker Haynes appears on the National Memo website February 20, 2016:
Before Pope Francis spoke a single word at the Mexican border, Donald Trump had — quite predictably — denounced the pontiff’s message. The real estate mogul and former reality-TV star has built his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination on an ugly nativism, so the moment was tailor-made for him.
The counter-messaging only escalated after the pontiff told reporters that anyone who wants to build a border wall, as Trump has infamously proposed, “is not Christian.” That prompted a retort from Trump, of course: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” he said.
(If the pontiff’s remarks were recorded correctly, he didn’t say Trump isn’t “a” Christian. In other words, he didn’t question the faith to which Trump ascribes; rather, the pope described Trump’s behavior as failing to follow Christian principles.) Continue reading “‘Browning Of America’ Is Tearing The GOP Apart”
Follow the line: Does raising the minimum wage hurt the economy?
Great video from ThinkProgress:
What Do Unions Do for the Middle Class?
The following article by Richard Freeman, Eunice Han, Brendan Duke and David Madland appeared on the Center for American Progress website on January 13, 2016:
The United States has long called itself a middle-class nation. But that statement is less true today than it was 30 years ago.
The most widely used barometer of the financial health of the middle class—real median household income as published by the U.S. Census Bureau—has barely grown over the last thirty years. At the same time, the middle class has been hollowed out as incomes have polarized, with more households at the top and the bottom and fewer in the middle of the income distribution. A recent report by the Pew Research Center showed that the share of adults in the middle class—defined as adults whose households make between 67 percent and 200 percent of median U.S. income—fell from 61 percent in 1971 to just 50 percent in 2014.
Unsurprisingly, the same trends of slow growth and rapid polarization are also found in the main source of middle-class income: wage and salary earnings. Median weekly earnings of full-time workers grew 18 percent between 1984 and 2014 despite a 79 percent increase in labor productivity
Immunizing the Gun Industry: The Harmful Effect of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
The following article appeared on the Center for American Progress website on January 15, 2016:
What is the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act?
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA, is a federal law enacted in 2005 that grants broad immunity from liability to gun manufacturers and dealers in federal and state courts. PLCAA prevents plaintiffs from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers or dealers in many cases when these parties have been negligent and there has been “criminal or unlawful misuse” of a firearm or ammunition—regardless of whether plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages or injunctive relief.
The law includes some narrow exceptions for permissible civil lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers, including for knowingly transferring a gun to a person with the knowledge that they intended to use it in a crime of violence; violating state or federal laws governing the conduct of the Continue reading “Immunizing the Gun Industry: The Harmful Effect of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act”
Most Americans Lack Reserve Cash to Cover $500 Emergency: Survey
The following post by Kristin Wong appeared on the NBC News website on January 8, 2016:
Minor emergencies like a busted pipe, flat tire or a root canal happen all the time. But for the majority of Americans, such inconveniences are potential recipes for financial ruin, according to a new survey by finance site Bankrate.com.
In the survey released on Wednesday, Bankrate found that 63 percent of Americans don’t have enough saved to cover even a $500 financial setback. And just half of higher income respondents (defined as $75,000 or more in annual earnings) said they have enough cash to handle such an emergency.
About a quarter of respondents said they would cut back their spending in the event of such an emergency, and 15 percent would be able to borrow money from family or friends. Another 15 Continue reading “Most Americans Lack Reserve Cash to Cover $500 Emergency: Survey”
How tackling climate change will pay off
Much of Minnesota has experienced springlike temperatures this December, often in the 40s. Warmer weather has become the norm; since 1998, the Earth has experienced 10 of the warmest years on record. And 2015 is expected to break last year’s record as the warmest yet.
This is why we all should be celebrating that nearly 200 countries have reached consensus on a plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The Paris Climate Agreement puts the world on a path Continue reading “How tackling climate change will pay off”
Superior is one of the more rapidly warming lakes, study finds
It’s among the more rapidly warming lakes, scientists warn in study.
The following article by Jennifer Brooks appeared in the December 17, 2015, StarTribune:
The world’s lakes are warming up — even frigid Lake Superior — scientists warn.
Dozens of researchers pooled decades’ worth of data from hundreds of lakes and concluded that the world’s lakes are warming even more rapidly than the oceans or the atmosphere. The warmer waters threaten fish populations, ecosystems and fresh water supplies around the globe.
Closer to home, University of Minnesota Duluth Professor Jay Austin says the thick sheets of ice that blanketed Lake Superior for the past two winters did nothing to change the fact that Superior, like the other Great Lakes, is growing ever warmer.
“Lake Superior is one of the more rapidly warming lakes” among the 235 lakes in the study, Austin said. A two-degree temperature shift can mean the difference between an iced-over Superior or an ice-free Continue reading “Superior is one of the more rapidly warming lakes, study finds”