All posts by nedhamson

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

The wrong kind of trees: Ireland’s afforestation meets resistance | World news | The Guardian

Coillte, a state-owned commercial forestry business, started buying land and planting here in the 1960s. Private companies, encouraged by tax breaks, followed. Farm land vanished as Sitkas multiplied. They now number an estimated 34.5m – more than 1,000 for each inhabitant. The trees mature in about 30 years – exponentially faster than oak – and are then felled, making way for a fresh plantation. “The forest closed in bit by bit,” said McCaffrey, a farmer, who now feels surrounded. The trees eclipse sunlight, exude mist and block wifi and phone networks, inducing isolation, he said. “It’s a death sentence for the townlands.” These non-native trees carpet the soil with acidic needles and smother wildlife, said Natalia Beylis, an artist. “A lot of people find them spooky because they don’t have life in them. They’re silent except on the edges.”

Source: The wrong kind of trees: Ireland’s afforestation meets resistance | World news | The Guardian

Breaking: Jeffrey Epstein arrested for sex trafficking of minors | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005, and will appear in court in New York on Monday, acco…

Source: Breaking: Jeffrey Epstein arrested for sex trafficking of minors | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Alaska’s governor is trying to destroy its universities. The state may never recover | Cas Mudde

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Mike Dunleavy wants to cut the Alaskan university system by $130m – a staggering 41% of its budget

We rarely devote much attention to what happens in the largest state of the US. No, not Texas – Alaska, which is bigger, geographically, than the next three states combined (Texas, California and Montana). Separated from the mainland by Canada, Alaska is the biggest state yet has fewer inhabitants than the smallest (Rhode Island). This creates enormous challenges for governance, including in higher education. And Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy’s new budget will make these challenges far, far worse.

In a shocking example of political overreach, Dunleavy announced 182 line-item vetoes to his state’s 2020 budget last week. He thereby cut the budget proposed by the Alaska legislature by almost $410m in general funds. Almost one-third of the cuts will come from the University of Alaska system, which will see its budget cut by $130m – a staggering 41%.

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Prevalence of Zika virus in blood donations: a systematic review and meta-analysis | BMC Infectious Diseases | Full Text

The pooled prevalence of Zika infection in blood donations was 1.02%. The prevalence varied greatly and reached to high-risk level in most of the situations. The results suggest that nucleic acid tests (NAT) for blood screening and pathogen reduction/inactivation technology (PRT) should be implemented in Zika-endemic areas and appropriate strategies should be designed according to different conditions.

Source: Prevalence of Zika virus in blood donations: a systematic review and meta-analysis | BMC Infectious Diseases | Full Text

Johnson pledges to make all immigrants learn English

Liar and pimping to bigots!

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Tory leadership contender says English is not first language in ‘too many parts of our country’

Boris Johnson has said there are “too many parts of our country” where English is not spoken as a first language and that he would require all immigrants to Britain to learn English.

At a hustings event for the Conservative leadership race in Darlington on Friday, the former mayor of London praised the capital’s diversity but suggested some communities were not doing enough to integrate into society.

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