Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is The All-American Business of Human Incarceration:
• Telling Trump’s story to children is tricky:
[P]ublishers and editors of children’s books are unaccustomed to weighing issues of partisan division and biased reporting, said Daniel Kraus, the books for youth editor at Booklist magazine in Chicago. Now, adults of different political persuasions are debating the veracity of basic facts. “Publishers are a little nervous about that,” Mr. Kraus said. “Parents can say, ‘This is not the reality I believe.’ It’s a reflection of where we are as a nation right now.”
•
• Coalition of cities, states and green groups asks court not to allow Trump regime to dodge Clean Power Plan:
A coalition of states, cities and environmental groups filed twin briefs on Wednesday accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of trying to "perpetually dodge" court decisions that could keep alive the Clean Power Plan, which the Trump Administration wants to dismantle.
They urged the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reject the administration's new petition to put the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's climate policies, into an indefinite state of limbo, while the EPA sends the rule back to the drawing board.
•
Unlike Pr*sident Trump, the NYT quickly ran the correction. When is the last time Trump himself corrected an error?
• Much-used farm pesticide found in drinking water:
After evidence of pesticides killing off pollinators surfaced in 2016, scientists went on a quest to see if pesticides were seeping into anything else. Now, in an unprecedented study, the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Iowa reported findings of neonicotinoids—a class of pesticide used to kill off insects—in treated drinking water, marking the first time these chemicals have ever been identified. [...]
There is not enough research on human health surrounding the ingestion of pesticides, especially over a prolonged period of time. But, in a 2015 study on the impacts of neonicotinoids on human health, scientists found that chronic exposure to high concentrations were not that harmful and showed weak findings. However, in smaller vertebrate animals, the effects can be severe. A 2015 study of the effects of neonicotinoids on wildlife concluded that they may cause neurological and developmental issues.
•
• Internet activists plot 2018 electoral revenge against GOP privacy sellouts:
[F]urious open internet advocates are developing political strategies and street-level tactics designed to hold Republicans accountable in the 2018 midterm elections for what privacy watchdogs are calling one of the most brazen corporate giveaways in recent US history.
"The FCC privacy rollback bill is going to be a big 2018 campaign issue," said Gigi Sohn, a Fellow at the Open Society Foundations who previously served as a top counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "You can't put lipstick on this pig. It's profoundly anti-consumer."
• Indiana House passes legislation to undermine rooftop solar:
If enacted, the bill would reduce the amount solar power users are compensated for routing unused electricity back on the grid.
Over the next five years, utilities would reduce net metering — a policy that ensures homeowners are compensated for electricity they add to the grid from solar generation — before bottoming out in 2022. Solar owners will then be compensated at much-reduced level, roughly around the wholesale price for electricity. The bill would also put a legislative cap on the amount of non-utility solar in the state.
• Arms deal with Bahrain waiving human rights considerations shows influence of Tillerson and some military. The U.S. is selling F-16s to the Sunni-ruled kingdom:
This policy, however, clearly shows the growing influence of Bahrain’s lobbyists in Washington and the cozy relationships that Tillerson, the former head of global giant Exxon, as well as Secretary of Defense James Mattis and some current and retired military officers and diplomats, have forged with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. These Sunni countries, the largest of which is Saudi Arabia, are ruled by tribal potentates who violate their citizens’ basic human rights blatantly, viciously, and systematically.
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin says polling says Americans hate the wall & love Obamacare. The Trump Country story to (hopefully) end all Trump Country stories. Armando notes Nunes nudged out; Bannon bounced. Gop goes nuclear. Why Congress may go silent on 4/28.
YouTube | iTunes | LibSyn | Support the show via Patreon or Square Cash