Today’s comic by Matt Bors is The long slog:
• State Department issues warning on traveling to Europe:
The State Department is warning Americans about the risk of potential terrorist attacks throughout Europe as law enforcement waits on heightened alert for possible ISIS-inspired attacks.
The department on Tuesday issued a travel alert for the continent. There isn't a new, specific threat, but the warning comes ahead of big events this summer with large crowds. Venues in France will host the European Soccer Championship beginning on June 10, and the Catholic Church's World Youth Day will be held in Krakow, Poland.
Both events are expected to draw massive crowds, and concerns are particularly high over the soccer tournament.
• A peek at why news websites suck.
• Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez warns players that he contracted Zika virus:
Detroit Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez says he contracted the Zika virus over the offseason in his home country of Venezuela and advises potential Olympic athletes to educate themselves about the virus before heading to Rio de Janeiro.
Rodriguez told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he wouldn't blame athletes for skipping the Olympics, and that "if they have plans to have kids in the future, you've got to think about it."
• Mark Thoma explores whether higher taxes on the wealth good or bad for growth:
Increasing taxes on the wealthy will harm economic growth: This argument is made frequently, along with the claim that increasing growth will lift all boats, but the evidence doesn't support either claim. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond and John Bates Clark medalist Emmanuel Saez have noted, since the 1970s no clear correlation exists between economic growth and top tax-rate cuts across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
As for the trickle-down argument, this claim falls apart when you examine what happened to the distribution of income after tax cuts for the wealthy enacted during the Bush administration. Income of those at the top went up substantially, with no corresponding gain for those lower in the income distribution.
• Arguments against applying privacy rule to broadband are wrong.
• Study shows tar sands operations produce as much air pollution as a major city:
We find that the evaporation and atmospheric oxidation of low-volatility organic vapours from the mined oil sands material is directly responsible for the majority of the observed secondary organic aerosol mass. The resultant production
rates of 45–84 tonnes per day make the oil sands one of the largest
sources of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosols in North
America. Heavy oil and bitumen account for over ten per cent of global
oil production today, and this figure continues to grow. Our findings
suggest that the production of the more viscous crude oils could be
a large source of secondary organic aerosols in many production
and refining regions worldwide, and that such production should be
considered when assessing the environmental impacts of current and
planned bitumen and heavy oil extraction projects globally.
• A record 147 gigawatts of renewable energy installations were added globally in 2015. According to the annual report of Paris-based REN21, a renewables policy organization comprising energy experts, NGOs and governments:
The year 2015 was an extraordinary one for renewable energy, with the largest global capacity additions seen to date, although challenges remain, particularly beyond the power sector. The year saw several developments that all have a bearing on renewable energy, including a dramatic decline in global fossil fuel prices; a series of announcements regarding the lowest-ever prices for renewable power long-term contracts; a significant increase in attention to energy storage; and a historic climate agreement in Paris that brought together the global community.
Renewables are now established around the world as mainstream sources of energy. Rapid growth, particularly in the power sector, is driven by several factors, including the improving cost-competiveness of renewable technologies, dedicated policy initiatives, better access to financing, energy security and environmental concerns, growing demand for energy in developing and emerging economies, and the need for access to modern energy. Consequently, new markets for both centralised and distributed renewable energy are emerging in all regions.
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: First, the Frenchmentum. Then we dive headlong into the Trump trap. The psychology of Trumpism. The depravity of his scams. His inability to respect boundaries. From Trump “University,” to vets “charities,” to his tax-subsidized lifestyle and campaign props.
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