Wednesday, March 29th, 2017
Victoria Herrmann, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: The aggressive anti-science posture of the Trump administration is not a theoretical problem. As this report explains it is highly personal and very pervasive.
‘In the waning days of 2016 we were warned: save the data.’
Credit: Andrew Stewart / SpecialistStock
As an Arctic researcher, I’m used to gaps in data. Just over 1% of US Arctic waters have been surveyed to modern standards. In truth, some of the maps we use today haven’t been updated since the second world war. Navigating uncharted waters can prove difficult, but it comes with the territory of working in such a remote part of the world.
Over the past two months though, I’ve been navigating a different type of uncharted territory: the deleting of what little data we have by the Trump administration.
At first, the distress flare of lost data came as a surge of defunct links on 21 January. The US National Strategy for the Arctic, the Implementation Plan for the Strategy, and the report on our progress all gone within a matter of minutes. As I watched more and more links turned red, I frantically combed the internet for archived versions of our country’s most important polar […]
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Wednesday, March 29th, 2017
Emery P. Dalaesio and Johnathon Drew, - Associated Press/Time
Stephan: Social policies that foster wellbeing are always and universally cheaper, more productive, more efficient, easier to implement, nicer to live under, and more enduring. And here is the counter proof. Republicans told the people of North Carolina that their bathroom bill would have no financial impact of consequence. Surprise... surprise. It has cost North Carolina almost $4 billion dollars, which is to say ordinary working people took a big hit. Here is the sorry tale and, as you will see, it is an ongoing wound.
The only good news is that it seems former Republican governor Pat McCrory can't find a job, no one wants to employ him.
Credit: Al Drago/CQ Roll Call
Despite Republican assurances that North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” isn’t hurting the economy, the law limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Over the past year, North Carolina has suffered financial hits ranging from scuttled plans for a PayPal facility that would have added an estimated $2.66 billion to the state’s economy to a canceled Ringo Starr concert that deprived a town’s amphitheater of about $33,000 in revenue. The blows have landed in the state’s biggest cities as well as towns surrounding its flagship university, and from the mountains to the coast.
North Carolina could lose hundreds of millions more because the NCAA is avoiding the state, usually a favored host. The group is set to announce sites for various championships […]
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Tuesday, March 28th, 2017
ledyard king, - USA TODAY
Stephan: In the swirling cesspit of the Trump administration we seem to be lost in the unending business of how corrupt the new administration is, the unanswered questions about the role of Russia, and on and on. The video media has largely not had the time, space or will to cover what is really going on in the real world. When a reporter has a choice between a story on treason and one on the impact of airborne toxins, treason is always going to win.
SR though is about trends and here's a doozy.
A view of a power plant in New York City. The Trump administration is considering doing away with the Clean Power Plan, which requires states to find methods to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Credit: Justin Lane, European Pressphoto Agency
WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday to roll back the Clean Power Plan rule, keeping a campaign vow to undo the Obama administration’s aggressive attempts to reduce carbon emissions.
Trump frequently promised last year to undo the rule, which the Supreme Court blocked from implementation last year while legal challenges are heard.
He told friendly crowds in coal-producing states that lifting carbon restrictions would not only keep energy costs affordable but also help revitalize the coal industry and the communities economically ravaged by environmental regulations.
Trump has called climate change a “hoax” perpetrated by China to gain a competitive advantage. He’s also said he wants to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, the international accord on global warming Obama embraced through his power plan rule.
The budget outline the White […]
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Tuesday, March 28th, 2017
Thomas Hedges, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: Very few people seem to realize that 54% of the federal budget goes to the Department of Defense, and even fewer that hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent with no auditing at all. Nobody really knows where the money goes, and no one is really looking. Here's the story.
The gap between lawmakers’ calls to blindly increase spending at DoD versus those of internal auditors to curtail its waste isn’t a new problem.’ President Trump’s budget proposals focusing on the Department of Defense.
Credit: Jon Elswick/AP
On Thursday, Donald Trump released a preliminary budget proposal that calls for a $52bn increase in military spending. But just last December, a Washington Post investigation found that the Pentagon had buried a report that outlines $125bn in waste at the Department of Defense. That gap between lawmakers’ calls to blindly increase spending at DoD versus those of internal auditors to curtail its waste isn’t a new problem, and it’s one that, without pressure, won’t be resolved any time soon.
That’s because although it’s required to by law, the DoD has never had an audit, something every American person, every company and every other government agency is subject to. The result is an astounding $10tn in taxpayer money that has gone unaccounted for since 1996.
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Tuesday, March 28th, 2017
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor - The Telegraph
Stephan: Here is some more good medical news. Always welcome.
Normally cancer is picked up through scans after people report symptoms
Credit: Press Association
A blood test which not only detects cancer but identifies where it is in the body, has been developed by scientists.
The breakthrough could allow doctors to diagnose specific cancers much earlier, even before signs such as a lump, begin to show.
It is simple enough to be included in routine annual health checks alongside other tests such as for high blood pressure or cholesterol.
The test, called CancerLocator, has been developed by the University of California, and works by hunting for the DNA from tumours which circulates in the blood of cancer patients.
The team discovered that tumours which arise in different parts of the body hold a distinctive ‘footprint’ which a computer can spot.
“Non-invasive diagnosis of cancer is important, as it allows the early diagnosis of cancer, and the earlier the cancer is caught, the higher chance a patient has of beating the disease,” said Professor Jasmine Zhou, co-lead author from the University of California at Los Angeles.
“We […]
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