NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, June 27, 2021
319th Weekly Edition
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6/27/2021 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA
NC |
Total
Cases |
New
Cases |
Total
Deaths |
New
Deaths |
Total
Recovered |
Active
Cases |
1,012,343 |
|
13,412 |
|
992,097 |
6,834 |
Track NC Covid Data Track NC Vaccine Data
Following are stories I hope you find interesting and useful. Click the story titles for more.
Please jump the fold, the floor is yours...
BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America, June 26th 2021
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Less than half of North Carolinians eligible for a COVID-19 shot are fully vaccinated, even though there are more than 2.1 million doses waiting on shelves for residents to take. In the two weeks since the state announced four $1 million prizes would be given out to vaccinated adults, less than 118,000 residents, about 1% of the state population, came in for a first dose.
North Carolina ranks 12th-worst in the nation in vaccines administered per capita, and second-worst among states with a Democratic governor, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those lagging numbers were the context under which President Joe Biden visited Raleigh on Thursday to urge North Carolinians to come in for a COVID-19 vaccine.
"Please, please get vaccinated," he begged, noting he was "preaching to the choir" at the Green Road Community Center.
Lisa Sorg, NCPW June 25th, 2021
Rep. Jimmy Dixon calls agriculture “a whipping boy,” says opposition is unfair
Mt. Zion AMEZ Church sits a ways off the road, flanked by farm fields near the Sampson County town of Magnolia. The small brick church, whose congregation is predominantly Black, is 100 years old. But its drinking water well is new.
Each of the past five years, the Sampson County Health Department has posted a sign on the church door warning people not to drink the water. Nor should the water be used to mix infant formula. Elderly people, the notice advised, should call their doctor.
High levels of nitrates had been detected in the water. Bottle-fed babies under six months old who drink high levels of nitrates can develop a serious, even fatal disorder that prevents the blood from carrying enough oxygen throughout the body. Adults who are exposed can develop anemia, heart and lung disease. Some studies suggest nitrates are associated with an increased risk of stomach cancer.
Greg Childress and Kyle Ingram, NCPW, June 24th, 2021
Conservatives warn of a conspiracy to indoctrinate schoolchildren, but critics dismiss claims as cynical political theater
A well-orchestrated and growing movement to ban Critical Race Theory from America’s classrooms has taken root in North Carolina, even though many educators say the concept is not taught in public schools. Critical Race Theory is an academic discipline that examines how American racism has shaped law and public policy. CRT emerged in the legal academy in the 1980s as an offshoot of critical legal studies.
Critics say they fear it will be used to teach young, impressionable students that America and white people are inherently and irredeemably racist. They often share stories about young white children who, after learning hard truths about American racism, return from school stung by the revelation that, historically, the nation has been imperfect in its treatment of Blacks and other people of color.
In recent months, attacks on CRT have fueled intense debates among educators, lawmakers and parents in conservative strongholds across the state. A recently organized nonprofit known as the Education First Alliance offers “bootcamps” to train parents how to fight against face mask mandates and other education policies deemed objectionable. But the primary target of the group’s complaints is CRT.
scharrison, BlueNC, June 25th, 2021
"Do no harm" is more than just a motto:
A bipartisan effort to legalize marijuana for medical use in North Carolina got a legislative committee hearing on Wednesday. But it's unclear whether enough legislators are ready now to alter their views on pot to make it law.
With nearly three-quarters of states already allowing medical marijuana, senators who unveiled their framework told colleagues the measure takes health and safety seriously while offering palliative care for those with painful or life-threatening illnesses such as cancer.
If you listen to NPR on a regular basis, you may have heard a segment recently about medical marijuana, where they talked about doctors not being exposed to education about the palliative properties of cannabis, even those physicians who were supportive of it. There is a misconception that research in this area is thin and/or not conclusive, but in fact the NIH has compiled the results from several studies:
In 1988, the first cannabinoid receptor was identified (CB1) (Howlett et al 1988) and in 1993, a second was described (CB2) (Munro et al 1993). Both are 7-domain G-protein coupled receptors affecting cyclic-AMP, but CB1 is more pervasive throughout the body, with particular predilection to nociceptive areas of the central nervous system and spinal cord (Herkenham et al 1990; Hohmann et al 1999), as well as the peripheral nervous system (Fox et al 2001; Dogrul et al 2003) wherein synergy of activity between peripheral and central cannabinoid receptor function has been demonstrated (Dogrul et al 2003). CB2, while commonly reported as confined to lymphoid and immune tissues, is also proving to be an important mediator for suppressing both pain and inflammatory processes (Mackie 2006).
Following the description of cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands for these were discovered: anandamide (arachidonylethanolamide, AEA) in 1992 in porcine brain (Devane et al 1992), and 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG) in 1995 in canine gut tissue (Mechoulam et al 1995) (Figure 1). These endocannabinoids both act as retrograde messengers on G-protein coupled receptors, are synthesized on demand, and are especially active on glutamatergic and GABA-ergic synapses. Together, the cannabinoid receptors, their endogenous ligands (“endocannabinoids”) and metabolizing enzymes comprise the endocannabinoid system (ECS) (Di Marzo et al 1998), whose functions have been prosaically termed to be “relax, eat, sleep, forget and protect” (p. 528).
Raw Story. Bob Brigham, June 24th, 2021
A Republican from North Carolina was ridiculed on Monday after making a hilarious blunder while attempting to lecture Democrats about facts.
Rep. Madison Cawthorne (R-NC) was homeschooled as a child and then attended a single semester of college, during which he "earned mostly D's." On Thursday, Cawthorn demonstrated his intelligence during a speech on the House floor about facts.
"It was Thomas Jefferson that said 'Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.' Let's cast our eyes over the facts, shall we," he said. The quote that Cawthorn misattributed to Jefferson is actually a famous quote by John Adams.
Here's some of what people were saying about Cawthorn and stubborn facts: (there are more)
That wasn’t Thomas Jefferson, it was John Adams. What an ignorant posturing jackweasel. https://t.co/7Yx4LwEW5t
— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson) 1624569939.0
Thanks for reading and contributing, I hope you have a safe week.