All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Can’t Win Honestly? Then Cheat!

According to Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida …

“The legislation has a deliberate and disproportionate impact on elderly voters, voters with disabilities, students and communities of color. It’s a despicable attempt by a one party ruled legislature to choose who can vote in our state and who cannot. It’s undemocratic, unconstitutional, and un-American.”

Do you remember when you were in school and each morning you had to stand and recite that ‘pledge of allegiance’ to the flag? Being the rebel I am and have always been, I stopped doing that by about 2nd grade, and no matter what they threatened me with, I refused to stand or say the words that even back then rang false. I followed the example of Colin Kaepernick, before he was even born! One line in that pledge calls the United States “one nation, indivisible …”. Apparently, they were wrong. I think they better be re-thinking that one and calling it “one nation, deeply divided”.

Within minutes of DeSantis signing the bill into law, lawsuits were filed. The League of Women Voters of Florida joined the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, and others in assailing the new law in a federal lawsuit filed minutes after the signing. A separate lawsuit by the NAACP and Common Cause alleges that the new law makes it more difficult for people who are Black, Latino or disabled to vote.

My hope is that the courts will strike down all these restrictive measures too many states are taking to try to disenfranchise us, to shove their will down our throats, but sadly I’m not as confident of that as I once was.

Filosofa's Word

It’s a sad statement when one of the two political parties is so certain they cannot win in a fair and honest election that rather than change their ways, they do everything in their power (and some things that really are not in their legitimate power) to ensure half the people in the nation will not be able to cast a ballot in upcoming elections.  It is the equivalent of a child sneaking a cookie before supper, for he knows if he asks, he will be told “No, not until after supper.”  Only with much more serious and far-reaching consequences.

Today, Florida Governor and 2024 presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis signed into law an extremely restrictive voter suppression law that he claims will place guardrails against fraud, even as he acknowledged there were no serious signs of voting irregularities last November.  But, DeSantis and the entirety of the Republican Party feel…

View original post 411 more words

COVID-19 Worries in Vietnam as Hospital Spawns New Round of Cases — Radio Free Asia

Vietnamese health experts said the carriers could have been infected at the quarantine facilities in hotels where they stayed, or they could have contracted the virus abroad and have had an incubation period of more than 14 days, or they could have become infected after leaving the centers, according to the publication.

But they acknowledged that errors in the testing process with the poor handling of samples, collection of unqualified samples, or errors with the testing equipment could have resulted in the negative results.

The experts also recommended that hotels in particular put in place stricter isolation measures to prevent infections.

The Health Ministry said that the supervision of positive cases after 14 days of mandatory quarantine recently had been loosened. But on Tuesday, the ministry sent an urgent notice to all Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention nationwide to hold people who had completed their 14-day isolation periods and had tested negative twice.

The following day, the Health Ministry announced that mandatory 21-day quarantine periods would go into effect the same day for people entering Vietnam from another country and those having been in close contact with others who tested positive for the virus.

Source: COVID-19 Worries in Vietnam as Hospital Spawns New Round of Cases — Radio Free Asia

Doctors first to treat rare blood clotting side-effect of Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine with Heparin alternative – Study Finds

In a report by the American College of Emergency Physicians, doctors say the drug bivalirudin appears to be a useful alternative to heparin, the common anticoagulant hospitals use to treat blood clots.  Source: Doctors first to treat rare blood clotting side-effect of Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine with Heparin alternative – Study Finds

Three Months After Coup, Myanmar Returns to the ‘Bad Old Days’ – The New York Times – (Me: Shameful greed and lust for power must not be tolerated by world)

Three months after Myanmar’s experiment in democracy was strangled by the generals’ power grab, the sense of foreboding has returned. There is no indication that it will ease. For the better part of 60 years, the military’s rule over Myanmar was animated not by grand ideology but by fear. Today, with much of the population determined to resist the coup-makers, a new junta is consolidating its grip by resorting, yet again, to a reign of terror.

“Myanmar is going back to the bad old days when people were so scared that their neighbors would inform on them and they could get arrested for no reason at all,” said Ko Moe Yan Naing, a former police officer who is now in hiding after opposing the coup.

Prisons are once again filled with poets, Buddhist monks and politicians. Hundreds more, many young men, have disappeared, their families ignorant of their whereabouts, according to a group that tracks the military’s detentions. More than 770 civilians have been killed by security forces since the putsch, among them dozens of children.

New study: Pesticides harm organisms critical to soil health | Pesticide Action Network

Farm soil Soil: A living ecosystem

It’s clear that pesticides pose a grave threat to organisms critical to healthy food and farm systems. Yet U.S. regulators, including the Environmental Protection Agency, aren’t required to consider risk to soil-dwelling organisms and the broader ecosystem of soil in their regulatory decisions.

But scientists know that soil isn’t just “dirt”. Instead, it’s a vast ecosystem, home to a wide range of organisms, from earthworms and bees, to microscopic fungi and bacteria. These organisms cycle nutrients and water critical for plant growth and carbon sequestration —  both of which are necessary for ecosystem function — and for agriculture in its entirety. From the regulation of pests and diseases, to decomposing dead plants and animals to nourish new plant growth, we need healthy soils to grow food.

Without a healthy soil ecosystem, productivity suffers — and farmers must turn to more synthetic inputs, including pesticides and fertilizers, to maintain yields. Industry’s answer to problems caused by pesticides? More pesticides. This is the pesticide treadmill, and it’s not sustainable.

Source: New study: Pesticides harm organisms critical to soil health | Pesticide Action Network

With Idaho case, AP counts 109 statehouse #MeToo allegations | News | phillytrib.com

Since 2017, at least 109 state lawmakers in 40 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment, according to an Associated Press tally. Of those, 43 have resigned or been expelled and 42 have faced other repercussions such as the loss of committee chair or party leadership positions. Source: With Idaho case, AP counts 109 statehouse #MeToo allegations | News | phillytrib.com

Intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment – The Lancet Public Health

The study found that 36·7% of mothers had some CPS involvement during childhood: depending on their level of CPS involvement, 41·3%–74·7% of their children were involved with CPS, compared with 16·9% of children whose mothers had no CPS involvement. Children of mothers with more intensive CPS involvement—a proxy for severity of maltreatment—had a higher risk of CPS involvement themselves. Associations between maternal maltreatment and time to the first maltreatment event in the child were measured using hazard ratios, adjusted for a range of key confounders. Compared with mothers with no CPS notifications, the risk of CPS involvement increased 2·47 times in children of mothers with CPS notifier-only concerns, and 6·25 times for mothers who had substantiated maltreatment and spent time in out-of-home care. Risks of CPS involvement for the child were higher with earlier age (<1 year) at first maternal record of CPS contact and in mothers with ongoing CPS contact after age 13 years.

Source: Intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment – The Lancet Public Health

L’astronaute Français a décollé pour l’ISS – Le journal des Jum’s

Thomas Pesquet on his way to the ISS  (there now) The Falcon-9 rocket liftoff, scheduled for 11:49 a.m. from Florida, went as planned. The French astronaut took off for the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Accompanied by two Americans and a Japanese, he will stay there again for six months, after a first mission in 2017.

Le décollage de la fusée Falcon-9. L’astronaute français a décollé pour l’ISS à bord de la capsule Crew Dragon de SpaceX

Source: L’astronaute Français a décollé pour l’ISS – Le journal des Jum’s