Today’s comic by Jen Sorensen is Radical cleric vs. Trump:
• Greening of the Arctic tundra ain’t a good thing: The region is showing the fastest warming in the northern hemisphere. Grassy tundra is changing to shrubland, product of a warmer ecosystem.
In a separate study, the USGS reports that roughly 53% of America’s carbon – material that could stay in the permafrost or, in a warming world, escape into the atmosphere to accelerate climate change even further – is stored in the forests, wetlands and permafrost of Alaska.
The finding, which is explained in detail in a new study, means that Alaska’s carbon potential is greater than that of all the other 49 states put together. And it’s a cause for worry.
• Republicans really are awful: Thanks to Sen. Tom Cotton, Cassandra Butts waited 835 days for Senate confirmation of her nomination to be ambassador to the Bahamas. And then she died suddenly, age 50. Before she died, she told Frank Bruni at The New York Times that Cotton had told her when she went to see him that he had placed a hold on her nomination not because of her qualifications but because he knew she was President Obama’s long-time friend. As if this guy didn’t already qualify as a creep.
• Bretagne, the last 9/11search and rescue dog honored, euthanized:
It was the end of the 16-year-old dog’s lifetime of service, and in some ways, the closing of a devastating chapter in the nation’s history. Bretagne was the oldest known surviving dog that scoured Ground Zero in 2001 during search-and-rescue efforts after the Twin Towers fell in New York City, said the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, where the golden retriever was a member of the crew. Old age led Bretagne’s longtime handler, Denise Corliss, to make the difficult decision to euthanize the dog Monday.
“Some may say that the most a dog could be is a pet,” the fire department statement said. “However, to the over 400 members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, Bretagne was a civil servant, a hero and is family. We will remember her fondly, and continue serving the community with her as inspiration.”
• Big growth in new for-profit pipelines, and with it, more fights over eminent domain.
• Republicans keep claiming that assistance to low-income people discourages work. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities begs to differ:
In the overwhelming majority of cases, adults in poverty are significantly better off if they take a job, work more hours, or receive a wage hike, we found in our recent comprehensive analysis of the data and research related to work and the safety net. Further, various changes in the safety net over the past two decades (including health reform, or the Affordable Care Act) have substantially increased incentives to work for people in poverty.
Nevertheless, leading up to the release of their forthcoming plan to address poverty, House Republicans continue to claim that the low-income assistance system strongly discourages work. They have said that people receiving assistance from these programs often receive more, or nearly as much, from not working — and receiving government aid — than from working. Or they’ve argued that low-paid workers have little incentive to work more hours or seek higher wages because losses in government aid will cancel out the earnings gains. They may repeat such claims in the coming days. But our research has found that these assertions don’t withstand scrutiny.
• Honey bee extinction will change life as we know it:
As Life Noggin illustrates, approximately every third bite of food we eat exists because of honey bee pollination. Bees and plants that depend on pollen to reproduce are locked in a state of symbiosis that evolved over the course of millennia. The US alone faces a loss of more than $14 billion dollars in agricultural revenue, should this mutualistic relationship be allowed to vanish. Where we once had access to lush fruits and vegetables, only corn, wheat, and oats will remain, as these crops are pollinated by the wind.
Cotton, which makes up about 40 percent of the world’s fibers, will also suffer.
• Doctor, patient sue Washington state over marijuana law:
A doctor and patient claim Washington's new medical marijuana regulations merging the industry with recreational pot markets violate their right to doctor-patient confidentiality.
The law, which requires existing dispensaries to operate from a licensed retail pot shop and reduce patient possession amounts, will go in effect July 1.
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin and David Waldman discuss the AP’s big “spoiler.” Surprising data on just who some of those Bernie voters really were. Kossack Corey Foister runs in today’s OH-08 special election. Are changes needed in the pledged delegate system, too?
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