Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is A Calvinesque and Hobbesian look at a magical journey from President to Dictator:
• Candidates Warren, Sanders vow to leave fossil fuels on public land in the ground: That would reverse the Trump regime’s policy of “energy dominance” with its emphasis on expanding extraction of fossil fuels from public lands. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Monday that she would issue an executive order on her first day as president to halt new leases for fossil fuel development on federal land, including offshore. Such a ban is also part of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ climate platform. Like several other Democratic candidates for the presidency, Warren and Sanders favor the passage of a Green New Deal that, among other things, emphasizes the expansion of renewable energy sources. Since taking office, Donald Trump has dumped several Obama era restrictions on which lands can be leased and on greenhouse gas emissions. About 40% of the nation’s coal production, 25% of its oil production, and 12-13% of its natural gas production currently come from federal lands. Emissions from producing and burning those fuels equal about a fifth of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.
• North Korea wants Mike Pompeo out of any future nuclear negotiations: The nation’s foreign minister said Thursday it wants Secretary of State Mike Pompeo involved in nuclear disarmament talks. Just hours after Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un was on hand for what the regime said was the launching of a new tactical guided weapon, Pyongyang released a statement saying that if Pompeo continues participating on nuclear discussions, “the table will be lousy” and “talks will become entangled” and they want him out of the talks. That statement seems to reflect anger over Pompeo’s comments in testimony to the Senate last week when he responded to a question about whether he considered Kim a “tyrant.” Pompeo answered: “Sure. I’m sure I’ve said that.” Those remarks were “reckless” and “hurt the dignity” of North Korea’s leadership, the foreign minister said.
MIDDAY TWEET
• Canadian doctor says one way to attack opioid drug deaths is with high-tech vending machines: In Vancouver since 2016, six so-called overdose prevention sites also known as supervised consumption sites have allowed people to get a clean needle and inject heroin they’ve bought on the street. A trained staff is on hand to intervene if the heroin turns out to be lethal.
• Scientists tap into DNA to create machines with the properties of living things:
Using what they call DASH (DNA-based Assembly and Synthesis of Hierarchical) materials, engineers constructed a DNA material with capabilities of metabolism, in addition to self-assembly and organization—three key traits of life.
"We are introducing a brand-new, lifelike material concept powered by its very own artificial metabolism. We are not making something that's alive, but we are creating materials that are much more lifelike than have ever been seen before," said Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering.
The paper published in Science Robotics.
• U.S. church membership has plunged: Since 1999, U.S. adults who belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque has fallen by 20%, according to the latest Gallup Poll. Twenty years ago, membership was at 70%, a figure that it was close to or higher for much of the 20th Century. In that same two-decade-long period, the percentage of U.S. adults with no religious affiliation rose from 8% to 19%. Among Catholics, membership fell from 76% to 63% and membership among Protestants fell from 73% to 67% percent. The drop in church membership among Latinos—from 68% to 45% since 2000—was steeper than for non-Latino white and black Americans. Church membership among Democrats fell from 71% to 48%, while it fell from 77% to 69% among Republicans.
• Thieves managed somehow to steal 100 of car-sharing company Cars2Go’s cars in Chicago:
Car2Go confirmed in a statement to Motherboard that 100 cars were taken and added that the company is working with law enforcement to “neutralize a fraud issue.” The company also clarified that this was not a “hack,” but did not elaborate about how the cars were stolen. Car2Go offers Smart cars and Mercedes Benz vehicles in Chicago. Normally, the cars are unlocked with an app. We don’t yet know whether the thieves found a vulnerability in the app that allowed them to unlock the cars en masse.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Come on. What do you think it's about today? OK, well, Greg Dworkin did also have some polls. And some interesting analysis of the real "Kavanaugh effect," (the opposite of what pundits and consultants said it would be). But then Armando came on, and well...