The country’s economic woes have multiplied since its invasion of Ukraine early last year. The conflict has triggered a wave of sanctions from the Western world. Some have even blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for inflicting so much pain on the nation, with Yale researchers saying he’s “cannibalizing” Russia’s economy in his urge to conquer Ukraine.
“The lion’s share of the economy is controlled by the state, the energy and financial sectors, and Putin is taking from the seed capital of those businesses to use as a cookie jar for his war chest,” researchers Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian said.
Russians are buying fewer cars
Russia’s car industry is one part of the economy that’s being squeezed.
Insider’s Phil Rosen reported that car sales in Moscow have tanked by nearly 75% since the Ukraine war broke out. The decline has been fueled by a mix of three factors: soaring prices, decreasing supply, and deteriorating consumer sentiment.
“Russians are just buying less cars, period,” Tian said. “That speaks to the weakness of the consumer in Russia. This is as close to a proxy to deteriorating consumer sentiment as there is, and the story it tells is profoundly distressing. Russians just aren’t spending money.”
At the same time, the number of Russians buying foreign-branded cars – typically viewed as luxury purchases – has neared a standstill. Instead, consumers are buying locally sourced cars, many of which are riddled with mechanical issues.
Moscow’s central bank posted a 93% year-on-year drop in its current-account surplus for the April-June quarter. it fell from a record $76.7 billion to $5.4 billion.
The rough financials show how badly Western sanctions are biting the country, particularly its key energy sector where its oil-and-gas exports have taken a huge hit after price caps and bans were imposed.
Energy export revenue
Moscow garners a big chunk of its revenue from sales of oil and gas products, but Western penalties have eroded that income stream.
In June, Russia’s Finance Ministry said that revenue from oil-and-gas taxes fell 36% compared to a year ago to about 571 billion rubles, and that profits from crude and petroleum products tumbled 31% to 426 billion rubles.
Ruble in freefall
Adding to Russia’s troubles is a tumbling ruble. The country’s currency slumped to a 15-month low of 94.48 against the dollar earlier in July, triggered by capital flight, shrinking tax revenues, and declining central-bank reserves.
“The ruble doesn’t have anywhere to go but down,” Konstantin Sonin, a University of Chicago economist, said in a tweet.
Concerns about the currency’s volatility have prompted a wave of domestic withdrawals from the country’s central bank, amounting to over $1 billion. The bank run was mainly fueled by the recent Wagner revolt.
Russia’s weakening currency has forced the country to take desperate measures. Recently, Russia’s foreign minister urged Southeast Asian countries to dump the dollar and use local currencies to conduct trade.
Federal judge rules Oregon’s tough new gun law is constitutional
July 15, 2023
FILE – Firearms are displayed at a gun shop in Salem, Ore., Feb. 19, 2021. A federal judge has ruled Oregon’s voter-approved gun control measure, one of the toughest in the nation, is constitutional. Oregon voters in November narrowly passed Measure 114, which requires residents to undergo safety training and a background check to obtain a permit to buy a gun. The Oregon measure’s fate has been carefully watched as one of the first new gun restrictions passed since the Supreme Court ruling last June. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled Oregon’s voter-approved gun control measure – one of the toughest in the nation – is constitutional.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut ruled that banning large capacity magazines and requiring a permit to purchase a gun falls in line with “the nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety,” Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
The decision comes after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Second Amendment that has upended gun laws across the country, dividing judges and sowing confusion over what firearm restrictions can remain on the books. It changed the test that lower courts had long used for evaluating challenges to firearm restrictions, telling judges that gun laws must be consistent with the “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
Oregon voters in November narrowly passed Measure 114, which requires residents to undergo safety training and a background check to obtain a permit to buy a gun.
The legislation also bans the sale, transfer or import of gun magazines with more than 10 rounds unless they are owned by law enforcement or a military member or were owned before the measure’s passage. Those who already own high-capacity magazines can only possess them at home or use them at a firing range, in shooting competitions or for hunting as allowed by state law after the measure takes effect.
Large capacity magazines “are not commonly used for self-defense, and are therefore not protected by the Second Amendment,” Immergut wrote. “The Second Amendment also allows governments to ensure that only law-abiding, responsible citizens keep and bear arms.”
The latest ruling in U.S. District Court is likely to be appealed, potentially moving all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Oregon measure’s fate has been carefully watched as one of the first new gun restrictions passed since the Supreme Court ruling last June.
Jack the Ripper’s identity ‘revealed’ by newly discovered medical records
Dalya Alberge – July 15, 2023
Hyam Hyams, photographed at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in 1899, has been named as a key suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders – London Metropolitan Archives
A former police volunteer claims to have discovered the identity of the figure behind some of the most shocking crimes in British history, unmasking the 19th-century murderer who terrorised the nation as Jack the Ripper.
Sarah Bax Horton – whose great-great-grandfather was a policeman at the heart of the Ripper investigation – has unearthed compelling evidence that matches witness descriptions of the man seen with female victims shortly before they were stabbed to death in 1888 in the East End of London.
Her detective work has led her to Hyam Hyams, who lived in an area at the centre of the murders and who, as a cigar-maker, knew how to use a knife. He was an epileptic and an alcoholic who was in and out of mental asylums, his condition worsening after he was injured in an accident and unable to work. He repeatedly assaulted his wife, paranoid that she was cheating on him, and was eventually arrested after he attacked her and his mother with “a chopper”.
Significantly, Ms Bax Horton gained access to his medical records and discovered dramatic details. She told The Telegraph: “For the first time in history, Jack the Ripper can be identified as Hyam Hyams using distinctive physical characteristics.”
Sarah Bax Horton has researched medical records in her quest to find Jack the Ripper – HENRY HARRISON
Witnesses described a man in his mid-thirties with a stiff arm and an irregular gait with bent knees, and Ms Bax Horton discovered that the medical notes of Hyams – who was 35 in 1888 – recorded an injury that left him unable to “bend or extend” his left arm as well as an irregular gait and an inability to straighten his knees, with asymmetric foot dragging. He also had the most severe form of epilepsy, with regular seizures.
The victims were prostitutes or destitute. Their throats were cut and their bodies butchered in frenzied attacks with the authorities received taunting anonymous notes from someone calling himself Jack the Ripper. They are some of the most infamous unsolved crimes.
At least six women Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly – were killed in or near Whitechapel between August and November 1888.
Hyams’ medical notes, taken from various infirmaries and asylums, reveal that his mental and physical decline coincided with the Ripper’s killing period, escalating between his breaking his left arm in February 1888 and his permanent committal in September 1889.
“That escalation path matched the increasing violence of the murders,” said Ms Bax Horton. “He was particularly violent after his severe epileptic fits, which explains the periodicity of the murders.”
She added: “In the files, it said what the eyewitnesses said – that he had a peculiar gait. He was weak at the knees and wasn’t fully extending his legs. When he walked, he had a kind of shuffling gait, which was probably a side-effect of some brain damage as a result of his epilepsy.”
An 1888 Illustrated Police News front page reports on the murders – alamy
Witness accounts of the man’s height and weight were similar to the details in Hyams’ medical files, Ms Bax Horton discovered.
“They saw a man of medium height and build, between 5ft 5in. and 5ft 8in. Tall, stout and broad-shouldered. Hyams was 5 foot 7 and a half inches, and weighed 10 stone 7 lbs… His photograph demonstrates that he was noticeably broad-shouldered,” she said.
She has concluded that Hyams’ physical and mental decline – exacerbated by his alcoholism – triggered him to kill. The murders stopped at the end of 1888, around the time Hyams was picked up by the police as “a wandering lunatic”. In 1889, he was incarcerated in the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, north London, until his death in 1913. Jack the Ripper never struck again.
Various suspects have previously been suggested as the man behind the killings, including the artist Walter Sickert, who painted gruesome pictures of a murdered prostitute.
Hyams had been on a “long list” of around 100 culprits, but Ms Bax Horton said he had been discounted because he had been misidentified. “When I was trying to identify the correct Hyam Hyams, I found about five. It took quite a lot of work to identify his correct biographical data. Hyam Hyams has never before been fully explored as a Ripper suspect. To protect the confidentiality of living individuals, two of the Colney Hatch Asylum files on patients, including Hyams, were closed to public view until 2013 and 2015.”
What makes her research particularly extraordinary is that it was prompted by her chance discovery in 2017 that her own great-great-grandfather, Harry Garrett, had been a Metropolitan Police sergeant at Leman Street Police Station, headquarters of the Ripper investigation. He was posted there from January 1888 – the murders’ fateful year – until 1896.
Sergeant Harry Garrett, who worked on theJack the Ripper case
Ms Bax Horton, who read English and modern languages at Oxford University, is a retired civil servant who volunteered with the City of London Police for almost two decades until 2020. She had no idea of her ancestor’s history until she began researching her family and found herself studying the Ripper case.
She will now present her extensive evidence in a forthcoming book, titled One-Armed Jack: Uncovering the Real Jack the Ripper, to be published by Michael O’Mara Books next month.
It is written in tribute to her ancestor and his police colleagues.
Paul Begg, a leading Ripper authority, has endorsed it. “This is a well-researched, well-written, and long-needed book-length examination of a likely suspect. If you have an idea of the sort of man Jack the Ripper might have been, Hyam Hyams could be it,” he said.
Americans are widely pessimistic about democracy in the United States, an AP-NORC poll finds
Nicholas Riccardi and Linley Saunders – July 14, 2023
Protester David Barrows carries a sign during a rally to press Congress to pass voting rights protections and the “Build Back Better Act,” Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, in Washington. A new poll finds that only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) In this Jan. 26, 2020, file photo, people cheer as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa. A new poll finds that only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)A Republican supporter holds a “Save America” sign at a rally for former President Donald Trump at the Minden Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nev., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. A new poll finds that only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans.(AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, Pool, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Majorities of adults say U.S. laws and policies do a poor job of representing what most Americans want on issues ranging from the economy and government spending to gun policy, immigration and abortion. The poll shows 53% say Congress is doing a bad job of upholding democratic values, compared with just 16% who say it’s doing a good job.
The findings illustrate widespread political alienation as a polarized country limps out of the pandemic and into a recovery haunted by inflation and fears of a recession. In interviews, respondents worried less about the machinery of democracy — voting laws and the tabulation of ballots — and more about the outputs.
Overall, about half the country — 49% — say democracy is not working well in the United States, compared with 10% who say it’s working very or extremely well and 40% only somewhat well. About half also say each of the political parties is doing a bad job of upholding democracy, including 47% who say that about Democrats and even more — 56% — about Republicans.
“I don’t think either of them is doing a good job just because of the state of the economy — inflation is killing us,” said Michael Brown, a 45-year-old worker’s compensation adjuster and father of two in Bristol, Connecticut. “Right now I’m making as much as I ever have, and I’m struggling as much as I ever have.”
A self-described moderate Republican, Brown has seen the United States falling short of its democratic promise ever since learning in high school that the Electoral College allows someone to become president while not winning the majority of national votes. But he’s especially disappointed with Congress now, seeing its obsessions as not reflective of the people’s will.
“They’re fighting over something, and it has nothing to do with the economy,” Brown said, singling out the GOP-controlled House’s investigation of President Joe Biden’s son.
“Hunter Biden — what does that have to do with us?” he asked.
The poll shows 53% of Americans say views of “people like you” are not represented well by the government, with 35% saying they’re represented somewhat well and 12% very or extremely well. About 6 in 10 Republicans and independents feel like the government is not representing people like them well, compared with about 4 in 10 Democrats.
Karalyn Kiessling, a researcher at the University of Michigan who participated in the poll, sees troubling signs all around her. A Democrat, she recently moved to a conservative area outside the liberal campus hub of Ann Arbor, and worried that conspiracy theorists who believe former President Donald Trump’s lies that he won the 2020 election would show up as poll watchers. Her Republican family members no longer identify with the party and are limiting their political engagement.
Kiessling researches the intersection of public health and politics and sees many other ways to participate in a democracy in addition to voting — from being active in a political party to speaking at a local government meeting. But she fears increased partisan nastiness is scaring people away from these crucial outlets.
“I think people are less willing to get involved because it’s become more contentious,” Kiessling, 29, said.
That leads to alienation at the national level, she said — something she certainly feels when she sees what comes out of Washington. “When you have a base that’s a minority of what general Americans think, but they’re the loudest voices in the room, that’s who politicians listen to,” Kiessling said.
Polarization has transformed some states into single-party dominions, further alienating people like Mark Short, a Republican who lives in Dana Point, California.
“In California, I kind of feel that I throw my vote away every time, and this is just what you get,” said Short, 63, a retired businessman.
The poll shows that the vast majority of Americans — 71% — think what most Americans want should be highly important when laws and policies are made, but only 48% think that’s actually true in practice.
And views are even more negative when it comes to specific issues: About two-thirds of adults say policies on immigration, government spending, abortion policy and gun policy are not representative of most Americans’ views, and nearly that many say the same about the economy as well as gender identity and LGBTQ+ issues. More than half also say policies poorly reflect what Americans want on health care and the environment.
Joseph Derito, an 81-year-old retired baker in Elmyra, New York, sees immigration policy as not representing the views of most Americans. “The government today is all for the people who have nothing — a lot of them are capable of working but get help,” said Derito, a white political independent who leans Republican and voted for Trump. “They just want to give these people everything.”
Sandra Wyatt, a 68-year-old retired data collection worker and Democrat in Cincinnati, blames Trump for what she sees as an erosion in democracy. “When he got in there, it was like, man, you’re trying to take us back to the day, before all the rights and privileges everybody fought for,” said Wyatt, who is Black, adding that she’s voted previously for Republicans as well.
She sees those bad dynamics as lingering after Trump’s presidency. “We always knew there was racism but now they’re emboldened enough to go around and shoot people because of the color of their skin,” Wyatt said.
Stanley Hobbs, a retired autoworker in Detroit and a Democrat, blames “a few Republicans” for what he sees as democracy’s erosion in the U.S. He sees those GOP politicians as beholden to a cabal of big businesses and points to issues like abortion as examples of how the laws no longer represent the views of the majority of Americans.
He’s trying to stay optimistic.
“It seems like this always happens in the U.S. and we always prevail,” Hobbs said, recalling how American politicians sympathetic to Nazi Germany gained prominence before World War II. “I just hope we prevail this time.”
Riccardi reported from Denver.
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The poll of 1,220 adults was conducted June 22-26 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Americans haven’t felt this good about the economy in almost two years
Josh Schafer, Reporter – July 14, 2023
A commonly followed measure of consumer confidence in the US economy just increased to the highest level since September 2021.
The first July reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index showed a reading of 72.6 on Friday. The print came in significantly higher than the 65.5 economists had expected and reflected a 13% increase from the month prior. That marks the fastest pace since December 2005, when the economy was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“The sharp rise in sentiment was largely attributable to the continued slowdown in inflation along with stability in labor markets,” Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said in the release.
A 19% surge in long-term business conditions and a 16% increase in short-run business conditions were the primary drivers behind Friday’s surprise print, according to the University of Michigan. The report did, however, include a slight uptick in consumers’ inflation expectations.
The expectations for inflation over the next year are now at 3.4%, up from 3.3% in June but down from the highs of 5.4% in April 2022. Analysts had anticipated one-year inflation expectations to tick down to 3.1%
“Easing concerns about a recession, which had been garnering a ton of headlines in the media for most of the year, may have helped push sentiment and expectation higher,” Oxford Economics chief US economist Ryan Sweet wrote on Friday.
Consumers have had plenty to be bullish about recently, including strong June jobs numbers and data showing that inflation eased during the month. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
The Friday release follows a week of upbeat economic data. On Wednesday, the Consumer Price Index for June came in cooler than projected, rising at its slowest pace since March 2021. On Thursday, the Producer Price Index painted a similar picture. The labor market, meanwhile, continued to show resilience with weekly jobless claims of 237,000 coming in lower than expectations for 250,000 claims and below the week prior’s 249,000 claims.
Last week’s June jobs report showed the labor market is cooling with nonfarm payroll additions coming in short of expectations for the first time in 15 months. But economists were quick to note that the economy still added 209,000 jobs, the unemployment ticked lower to 3.6%, and average hourly earnings grew 4.4% from the year prior.
At scale, that data paints a picture of a tight labor market where Americans have jobs while prices for goods continue to decrease.
Death Valley visitors drawn to the hottest spot on Earth during ongoing US heat wave
TY O’NEIL – July 14, 2023
A sign stands warning of extreme heat Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)Hikers turn back to their vehicles in Golden Canyon on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)People run to get sunset photos at Zabriskie Point on Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)A man explores the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)A sign warns people of extreme heat in multiple languages on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons.
Even as the already extreme temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.
Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.
“I was really noticing, you know, I didn’t feel so hot, but my body was working really hard to cool myself,” said Jusehus, an active runner who was visiting from Germany. His photo showed the thermometer reading at 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius).
Most visitors at this time of year make it only a short distance to any site in the park — which bills itself as the lowest, hottest and driest place on Earth — before returning to the sanctuary of an air-conditioned vehicle.
This weekend, the temperatures could climb past 130 F (54.4 C), but that likely won’t deter some willing to brave the heat. Signs at hiking trails advise against venturing out after 10 a.m., though nighttime temperatures are still expected to be over 90 F (32.2 C). The hottest temperature recorded at Death Valley was 134 F (56.6 C) in July 1913, according to the National Park Service.
Other parks have long-standing warnings for hikers. At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, officials are cautioning people to stay off the trails for most of the day in the inner canyon, where temperatures can be 20 degrees hotter than the rim.
In west Texas, Big Bend National Park near the Rio Grande is expected to be at least 110 F (43.3 C). The National Weather Service has said it’s best to just stay off the trails in the afternoon.
The precautions vary across parks and landscapes, said Cynthia Hernandez, a park service spokesperson. Certain trails might be closed if conditions are too dangerous. Alerts and restrictions are posted on websites for individual parks, Hernandez said.
Preliminary information form the park service shows at least four people have died this year from heat-related causes across the 424 national park sites. That includes a 65-year-old man from San Diego who was found dead in his vehicle at Death Valley earlier this month, according to a news release.
Death Valley National Park emphasizes self-reliance over expectations of rescue. While rangers patrol park roads and can assist motorists in distress, there’s no guarantee lost tourists will get aid in time.
More than 1.1 million people annually visit the desert park, which sits over a portion of the California-Nevada border west of Las Vegas. At 5,346 square miles (13,848 square kilometers), it’s the largest national park in the Lower 48. About one-fifth of the visitors come in June, July and August.
Many are tempted to explore, even after the suggested cutoff times. Physical activity can make the heat even more unbearable and leave people feeling exhausted. Sunbaked rocks, sand and soil still radiate after sunset.
“It does feel like the sun has gone through your skin and is getting into your bones,” said park Ranger Nichole Andler.
Others mentioned feeling their eyes drying out from the hot wind sweeping through the valley.
“It’s very hot. I mean, especially when there’s a breeze, you would think that maybe that would give you some slight relief from the heat, but it just really does feel like an air blow dryer just going back in your face,” said Alessia Dempster, who was visiting from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Death Valley is a narrow, 282-foot (86-meter) basin that is below sea level but situated among high, steep mountain ranges, according to the park service’s website. The bone-dry air and meager plant coverage allows sunlight to heat up the desert surface. The rocks and the soil emit all that heat in turn, which then becomes trapped in the depths of the valley.
The park’s brownish hills feature signage saying “heat kills” and other messaging, such as a Stovepipe Wells sign warning travelers of the “Savage Summer Sun.”
Still, there are several awe-inspiring sites that draw tourists. Badwater Basin, made up of salt flats, is considered the lowest point in all of North America. The eye-opening 600-foot (183-meter) Ubehebe Crater dates back over 2,000 years. And Zabriskie Point is a prime sunrise viewing spot.
Eugen Chen from Taiwan called the park “beautiful” and an “iconic … very special place.”
Josh Miller, a visitor from Indianapolis who has been to 20 national parks so far, shared that sentiment.
“It’s hot, but the scenery is awesome,” he said. ___ Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this story.
House Republicans push through defense bill limiting abortion access and halting diversity efforts
Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking – July 14, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber.
Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week.
The final vote was 219-210, with four Democrats siding with the GOP and four Republicans opposed. The bill, as written, is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate.
Efforts to halt U.S. funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia were turned back, but Republicans added provisions to stem the Defense Department’s diversity initiatives and to restrict access to abortions. The abortion issue has been championed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who is singularly stalling Senate confirmation of military officers, including the new commandant of the Marine Corps.
“We are continuing to block the Biden administration’s ‘woke’ agenda,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
Turning the must-pass defense bill into a partisan battleground shows how deeply the nation’s military has been unexpectedly swept up in disputes over race, equity and women’s health care that are now driving the Republican Party’s priorities in America’s widening national divide.
During one particularly tense moment in the debate, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke of how difficult it was to look across the aisle as Republicans chip away at gains for women, Black people and others in the military.
“You are setting us back,” she said about an amendment from Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., that would prevent the Defense Department from requiring participation in race-based training for hiring, promotions or retention.
Crane argued that Russia and China do not mandate diversity measures in their military operations and neither should the United States. “We don’t want our military to be a social experiment,” he said. “We want the best of the best.”
When Crane used the pejorative phrase “colored people” for Black military personnel, Beatty asked for his words to be stricken from the record.
Friday’s voted capped a tumultuous week for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as conservatives essentially drove the agenda, forcing their colleagues to consider their ideas for the annual bill that has been approved by Congress unfailingly since World War II.
“I think he’s doing great because we are moving through — it was like over 1,500 amendments — and we’re moving through them,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. She told reporters she changed her mind to support the bill after McCarthy offered her a seat on the committee that will be negotiating the final version with the Senate.
Democrats, in a joint leadership statement, said they were voting against the bill because Republicans “turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride.”
“Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” said the statement from Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California.
The defense bill authorizes $874.2 billion in the coming year for the defense spending, keeping with President Joe Biden’s budget request. The funding itself is to be allocated later, when Congress handles the appropriation bills, as is the normal process.
The package sets policy across the Defense Department, as well as in aspects of the Energy Department, and this year focuses particularly on the U.S. stance toward China, Russia and other national security fronts.
Republican opposition to U.S. support for the war in Ukraine drew a number of amendments, including one to block the use of cluster munitions that Biden just sent to help Ukraine battle Russia. It was a controversial move because the weapons, which can leave behind unexploded munitions endangering civilians, are banned by many other countries.
Most of those efforts to stop U.S. support for Ukraine failed. Proposals to roll back the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion measures and block some medical care for transgender personnel were approved.
GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as a White House physician, pushed forward the abortion measure that would prohibit the defense secretary from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services.
Jackson and other Republicans praised Tuberville for his stand against the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which was thrust into prominence as states started banning the procedure after the Supreme Court decision last summer overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade law.
“Now he’s got support, he’s got back up here in the House,” Jackson said.
But it’s not at all certain that the House position will stand as the legislation moves to the Senate, which is preparing its own version of the bill. Senate Democrats have the majority but will need to work with Republicans on a bipartisan measure to ensure enough support for passage in their chamber.
McCarthy lauded the House for gutting “radical programs” that he said distract from the military’s purpose.
Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, led by Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, dropped their support due to the social policy amendments.
Smith, who is white, tried to explain to Crane and other colleagues why the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives were important in America, drawing on his own experience as a businessman trying to reach outside his own circle of contacts to be able to hire and gain deeper understanding of other people.
Smith lamented that the bill that the committee passed overwhelmingly “no longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance.”
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Stephen Groves and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
The #1 Sign You Aren’t Drinking Enough Water—Plus, How To Tell if You’re *Overhydrated*
Emily Laurence – July 13, 2023
There are times when nothing sounds better than gulping down a big glass of water, like after an intense workout or coming inside after spending hours in the sun. But if you only drink water when you’re sweating, your body isn’t going to function properly. Staying properly hydrated is immensely important—playing a role in body temperature control, delivering nutrients to cells, keeping organs functioning and staying mentally sharp. Even when fluid loss is just 1% of body weight, it will negatively impact brain function and mood.
This is exactly why it’s important to drink enough water continuously, even before signs of dehydration start to show. But how can you make sure you’re drinking enough? Doctors share the tell-tale signs that you need to up your water intake.
How To Tell You Aren’t Drinking Enough Water: The Number One Sign
According to integrative medicine doctor and Cure medical advisor Dr. Dana Cohen, MD, the number one sign you aren’t drinking enough water is if it’s been more than three hours since you went to the bathroom last and when you do go, your pee is dark yellow. “The best way to measure your hydration levels is super easy: the frequency and color of your pee. You should be getting up to pee every two to three waking hours, and if you’re not, you’re probably dehydrated,” she says.
Dr. Cohen says that urine that’s pale yellow is a good indicator that you’re drinking enough. If it’s dark yellow, orange or brown, that means you’re not drinking enough. If your urine is clear, she says that’s a sign that you’re actually overhydrated, drinking more water than you need.
The one caveat to this, she says, is if you’ve eaten foods linked to discoloring urine, such as asparagus or beets. If you have, there’s another easy way to know you aren’t drinking enough water: if you’re thirsty. “The most common sign of inadequate hydration is feeling thirsty. If you consistently feel thirsty, it’s an indication that your body needs more fluids,” says Dr. Patrick Carter, DO, a board-certified family practitioner and the medical advisor for Prime IV Hydration & Wellness. However, he adds that there are other reasons someone may feel thirsty unrelated to hydration, including having certain medical conditions (like diabetes or sickle cell anemia).
Both doctors say that if you feel dizzy, fatigued, have a headache, or are experiencing muscle cramps and weakness, these are all signs of dehydration. Dr. Cohen says that signs of extreme hydration include anuria (no urine output), dizziness rendering the person unable to stand or walk normally, low blood pressure, fast heart rate, fever, lethargy, confusion and can lead to seizures, shock or coma. “These symptoms require immediate medical attention,” she says.
Both doctors say hydration needs vary from person to person, but Dr. Carter says a good general guideline to follow is aiming to drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day. However, he adds that it’s important to take into account your individual needs, such as how active of a lifestyle you lead. “It’s always a good idea to consult with a healthcare professional to determine the appropriate amount of water for your specific needs,” Dr. Carter says.
When it comes to staying hydrated, both doctors say that while drinking water is important, drinking other liquids can help you meet your hydration goals. This includes herbal tea, unsweetened fruit juices, milk and electrolyte drinks. “I also recommend a green smoothie with chia seeds, as the fiber in the green smoothie acts like a sponge and holds onto hydration longer, while the minerals help move fluids into the center of your body more efficiently than plain bulk water,” Dr. Cohen explains. She adds that chia seeds hold up to 30 times their weight in water, which allows fluids and electrolytes to be held in the body longer.
If you struggle with remembering to drink enough water, Dr. Carter recommends setting reminders using your phone or an app like Waterllama, My Water, or Aqualert. He also recommends carrying a reusable water bottle with you wherever you go, which serves as both a visual reminder and a way to meet your hydration needs.
Remember: It’s important to hydrate before you notice any symptoms of dehydration. Be mindful of your intake throughout the day and use your urine color and frequency as a hydration monitor. That way, you can function at your absolute best.
Florida orange harvest sees worst season since before World War II
Andrew Wulfeck – July 13, 2023
Florida orange harvest sees worst season since before World War II
MIAMI – Growers of the official fruit of the Sunshine State are continuing to struggle with orange production, which has reached its lowest levels since before World War II.
The figure was in line with previous expectations and, like many other fruits, saw a significant drop in production from levels reported just one year ago.
During the 2021-22 season, over 41 million boxes were harvested, which was just a fraction of amounts produced during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to the USDA, orange production peaked in 1998 at 240 million boxes but saw a significant decline after the historic 2004 hurricane season.
In addition to weather disasters, citrus greening from an Asian bug discovered in the Lower 48 back in 1998 has been rampant.
According to university experts, once a tree becomes infected, its nutrient flow will slow and eventually impair its ability to produce fruit.
There is no known cure for citrus greening, meaning that a plant with the disease will deteriorate until it dies.
Trees producing grapefruits, lemons, tangerines, tangelos and other fruits are also susceptible to the disease.
According to USDA estimates, harvesters produced around 45% fewer boxes of grapefruit than last season and tangerines and tangelos saw a decline of around 36%.
Most major citrus operations have reached the end of the harvest season and won’t start up in earnest again until the fall and winter.
Ticks take multiple hours, sometimes up to two days, to transmit any diseases to their hosts.
Everything we know about tick bite symptoms seems to have been watered down to a single telltale warning sign: the bullseye rash. If no red rings show up around the site of your tick bite, then you’re fine, right? Not necessarily, according to the experts.
There are plenty of tick bite symptoms that warrant a visit to your doctor’s office. While increasingly common (and now of concern year-round in some parts of the country), tick bites are not something to take lightly. The health consequences can range from an irritated bite mark that lasts a few weeks to a serious illness that lands you in the hospital or with chronic complaints.
We spoke with public health entomology expert Phurchhoki Sherpa, coordinator for the Purdue University Public Health Entomology Program. Medical entomology is a fancy term for the area of medicine concerning insect-borne diseases like Lyme and malaria. Sherpa has spent countless hours in the field collecting ticks for research purposes, and she knows more than her fair share about what can happen when a tick bites you.
A bullseye rash might emerge around a tick bite. It could also show up on other parts of the body where the bite didn’t occur.
What to Do When a Tick Bites You
If you find a tick latched onto your skin, first you should review how to remove a tick and follow that procedure. (Quick refresher: grab your tweezers or tick removal tool, grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, and pull until it releases.) The best immediate tick bite treatment options involve cleaning the bite with some sort of disinfectant—hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol are good options—and applying an antibiotic ointment of your choosing. Your tick bite may look and feel like any other bug bite in the days that follow, or you may find that an angry, itchy bump persists for weeks as it heals.
“It can look as benign as a mosquito bite, like a little itchy welt, especially if the tick has fallen off without you realizing you had it,” Sherpa tells Outdoor Life. She notes that such circumstances are common with tiny, immature ticks that are hard to see. “It can also look kind of scary, with a scab on the bite mark. It varies.”
A tick bite might start out looking and feeling like any average bug bite.
Common Tick Bite Symptoms
Sherpa is referring to the rashes, scabs, and swelling that can accompany a tick bite. Always keep an eye out for a bullseye rash (the traditional symptom that is present in some, though not all, Lyme disease cases). A bullseye rash can appear not just around the bite mark, but anywhere on the body. Small, hard scabs might form around the bite. If they’re dark and crusty, this might be an early sign of a type of tick-borne disease known as spotted fever (more on this in a minute). If the bite mark exhibits other signs of infection, like extreme swelling, pustules, blistering, or anything else abnormal, seek medical treatment immediately.
Beyond the early, visible symptoms of a tick bite, be on the lookout for these more systemic symptoms that most or all tick-borne illnesses share. These symptoms might pop up anywhere from a day to a few weeks after the bite:
Fever
Chills
Headache
Muscle ache
Fatigue
Nausea/vomiting
Joint aches/arthritic pain
Tick-Borne Illnesses You Should Know About
Most tick bites will not cause you any further trauma than a mosquito bite would. After all, half or fewer of all ticks are infected with transmissible diseases. If the tick wasn’t latched deep into your skin or wasn’t engorged with blood yet, it probably didn’t get the chance to transmit anything. For example, it usually takes at least 36 hours for an attached tick to transmit Lyme disease to its human host.
But if your tick bite does transform into something of concern, it’s good to know about the various tick-borne illnesses you could develop. The risk of each tick-borne illness changes depending on where in North America you picked up the tick, Sherpa says. This is because different types of ticks carry different diseases.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever can cause a dotted, patchy rash once the disease has progressed. The rash is especially common in children.
This is not an exhaustive list of all possible tick-borne illnesses. But here are eight tick-borne diseases that you should absolutely know about.
Regions: Most common in East and Upper Midwest, some cases along Pacific Coast and portions of Southwest Ticks that carry it: Black-legged ticks, Eastern and Western Symptoms:
Chills
Headache/muscle aches
Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
Respiratory issues
Bleeding issues
Organ failure
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Regions: Northeast and Upper Midwest Ticks that carry it: Black-legged ticks, especially nymphs (tiny, immature ticks that are hard to see) Symptoms:
Fever
Chills/sweats
Headache/body aches
Nausea/loss of appetite
Fatigue
Type of disease: Parasitic Treatment: Unnecessary if asymptomatic. For symptomatic patients, a combination of anti-parasitic/antifungal drugs and antibiotics.
Regions: Southeastern and South-central U.S., from East Coast to West Texas Ticks that carry it: Lone Star tick, some Eastern black-legged ticks Symptoms:
Fever
Chills
Severe headache/muscle aches
Splotchy or dotted rash (especially in children)
Confusion
Nausea/diarrhea/loss of appetite
Brain swelling and damage to nervous system
Respiratory failure
Uncontrolled bleeding
Organ failure
Death
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Regions: Northeast, Great Lakes region Ticks that carry it: Black-legged tick, Groundhog tick, Squirrel tick Symptoms:
Often asymptomatic
Fever
Headache
Vomiting
Weakness
Encephalitis (Brain infection)
Meningitis (Swelling of brain and spinal cord)
Type of disease: Viral Treatment: Fluids and pain medication, severe cases should seek hospitalization for IV fluids, meds, and support with any brain/spinal cord swelling or respiratory issues
Regions: Nationwide, most common in Mid-Atlantic and lower Appalachia Ticks that carry it: American dog tick, Rocky Mountain wood tick, Brown dog tick Symptoms:
Fever
Headache
Rash (splotchy or dotted)
Nausea/vomiting
Stomach pain
Muscle pain
RMSF develops quickly and can cause moderate to severe damage to tissues and extremities if left untreated. Amputations might be necessary. Hearing loss, paralysis, and loss of mental function are also possible.
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Tick Bite Prevention
Fortunately, with proper tick bite prevention, there’s no reason to avoid the outdoors—especially not during the most enjoyable months of the year.
Dress, Treat, and Check
Tick bite prevention goes beyond simply drowning yourself in the best tick repellent. It also involves wearing the right clothes, treating your gear with permethrin, and doing multiple tick checks in the field and after the day is over.
“I tell [hikers] to wear light-colored clothing so they can detect ticks earlier and faster, especially the ones that would go unnoticed if we wore patterns or dark clothing,” Sherpa says. “Tuck your shirt into your pants, tuck your pant legs into your socks, always wear close-toed shoes with long socks when you’re outdoors.”
Sherpa also acknowledges that hunters have to do things a little differently if they want to avoid tick bites and the scary symptoms that can come with them. We spend more time bushwhacking than we do on trails, we wear dark and patterned clothing (hello camouflage), and we’re outside for a long time.
“When you’re hunting, you’re in the field for a while. You’re waiting, walking around. So do a tick check every few hours. The faster you can find the tick and get rid of it, the better,” she says. “When you get home, check yourself and your camo clothing. If you have a dryer, put your clothes in the dryer on high heat for about 20 minutes. The heat will decimate the ticks. And the sooner you can take a shower, the better.”
If showers and dryers are unavailable back at camp, or you refuse to put your expensive merino wool or rain gear in a dryer, treating your clothes with permethrin is the best line of defense. Make sure to follow the instructions on the bottle and wear gloves to avoid getting any on your skin.
Parts of the Body Likely to Get Tick Bites
When it comes to tick checks, close attention to detail makes all the difference. Check under your armpits, behind your ears, along your hairline, in your groin area, between your toes, behind your knees, and even in your belly button. Sherpa highlights all these spots as dark, easy-to-overlook hiding holes for ticks of all sizes.
If your legs and arms are bare, not only is there a chance they bite your ankles or inside your elbows, but they could also crawl under your shirt or shorts. By wearing long sleeves and pants and tucking in all your layers, you limit a tick’s chances of accessing any skin, let alone skin in a hard-to-reach place.
Tick Bite FAQs
What happens to a tick after it bites you?
Once a tick latches on and starts feeding, it will suck blood for several days before eventually becoming fully engorged and falling off. This “blood meal” gives the tick the nutrition it needs to develop into its next life phase.
What kills ticks on humans?
The only way to kill a tick on a human is by removing it properly and disposing of it by crushing it between tweezers and throwing it away. Don’t listen to any advice that involves burning the tick, dousing it in nail polish remover, or squirting hand sanitizer all over it. None of these tricks will get the tick to detach.
How do you treat a tick bite?
The best immediate tick bite treatment involves disinfecting the small wound and putting an antibiotic ointment on it. Hydrogen peroxide, antiseptic wipes, and rubbing alcohol are all great options for quick disinfecting. If you’re in a serious pinch, you can use an alcohol-based mouthwash or even a few drops from your flask of campfire whiskey. After that, apply an antibiotic ointment. To treat underlying symptoms of a tick-borne disease, see your doctor.
If your hike or hunt will take you through tall grass, take the necessary preventative measures to avoid tick bites.
Final Thoughts
Tick bite symptoms can range from a small, itchy welt to a series of flu-like ailments that could land you in the hospital if left untreated. That’s why it’s crucial to know what types of ticks live in your area and what diseases they might carry.
The good news is that these scary tick-borne diseases with their array of side effects are all avoidable, thanks to the time-tested prevention strategies outdoorswomen and men now swear by. The age-old adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure holds true, Sherpa says.
“We as humans are lazy. We don’t like dealing with that extra work. But prevention goes a long way when it comes to tick bites and tick-borne diseases. It is really important to take preventative measures when you go out,” Sherpa says. “If people aren’t sure about the worthiness of prevention measures, they should talk to someone who has had a tick-borne disease before.”
