Read About The Tarbaby Story under the Category: About the Tarbaby Blog
March 21, 2019
There’s a ticking time bomb stored deep in the ice and climate change is thawing it out. via The Years Project
There's a ticking time bomb stored deep in the ice and climate change is thawing it out. via The Years Project
Posted by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday, March 21, 2019
March 20, 2019
Democratic socialism is how capitalism is SUPPOSED to work… what we have now is unfettered, predatory capitalism.
March 20, 2019
16 years ago, the United States invaded Iraq. I opposed it at the time, warning of unintended consequences. We are still dealing with those disastrous consequences today and will be for many years. We need a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not war.
FLASHBACK: Bernie Opposes Iraq War
16 years ago, the United States invaded Iraq. I opposed it at the time, warning of unintended consequences. We are still dealing with those disastrous consequences today and will be for many years. We need a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not war.
Posted by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Wildlife – Biodiversity – Human Population
February 2019
Here are 3 terrifying facts that show how much we’re damaging the earth
Wildlife: ⬇️ Biodiversity: ⬇️ Human population: ⬆️ 📖 Read more: https://wef.ch/2U32fU6
Posted by World Economic Forum on Friday, February 22, 2019
This explorer says we’re treating climate change like we’re in the casino on the Titanic
Life on earth is being wiped out at 1000 times the natural rate. Read more: https://wef.ch/2Ws8pyC
Posted by World Economic Forum on Friday, February 1, 2019
After new recommendations reversed years-old advice on daily aspirin use, doctors tell older adults that lifestyle changes can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Sunday, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association said a daily 75 to 100 milligrams of aspirin should no longer be given as a way to prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in people older than 70 or any adult at an increased risk of bleeding. Research suggests continued aspirin use can cause severe bleeding and hemorrhaging.
“Clinicians should be very selective in prescribing aspirin for people without known cardiovascular disease,” cardiologist Roger Blumenthal said in a statement. “It’s much more important to optimize lifestyle habits and control blood pressure and cholesterol as opposed to recommending aspirin.”
Older adults taking a daily low-dose aspirin should contact their health care provider before stopping or altering their regimen, Blumenthal told USA TODAY.
Select people with high risk of cardiovascular disease and a “very low risk of bleeding” might still be advised by their doctor to take aspirin, Blumenthal said. Aspirin will still be recommended to some people who’ve had a heart attack, stroke, open-heart surgery or stents.
More: Don’t take an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks and strokes: Doctors reverse recommendation
The ACC and AHA say these are the best ways to avoid heart attacks and strokes:
A diet full of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains and fish is best for overall cardiovascular health, according to the ACC. Limit eating salt, saturated fats, fried foods, processed meats and drinking sweetened beverages.
More: Sugary drinks linked to increased risk of early death, study suggests
Adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. This could include brisk walking, swimming, dancing or cycling.
More: 1.4 billion people aren’t exercising, WHO reveals. Here’s why that’s a big problem
For people who are obese or overweight, losing 5 to 10 percent of body weight can decrease their risk of heart disease, stroke and other health issues, according to the ACC.
Avoid tobacco by not smoking, vaping or breathing in smoke. One in every three deaths from heart disease are linked to smoking or secondhand smoke.
March 20, 2019
Today, Finland was ranked the happiest place in the world.
But its citizens beg to differ.
Finland Is Ranked as the Happiest Place in the World
Today, Finland was ranked the happiest place in the world.But its citizens beg to differ.
Posted by VICE News on Wednesday, March 20, 2019
For the second year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report . What’s more, the Nordic nation has pulled “significantly ahead” of the other top 10 countries in the report, which ranks the happiness levels of 156 countries using data from Gallup World Poll surveys.
The U.S., by contrast, has continued its downward trend. This year it’s in 19th place for overall happiness. Last year it was 18, down from 14 the year before.
It’s not hard to understand why Finland is doing so well. The northern European country has a strong social safety net, including a progressive, successful approach to ending homelessness. It also has a high-quality education system, and its commitment to closing the gender gap is paying off. With a population of just over 5.5 million people, it’s the only country in the developed world where fathers spend more time with school-aged children than mothers.
Finnish society has been built in such a way that people are supported but still feel like they have control over their lives, said Anu Partanen, the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything, who recently moved back to her native Finland after a decade in New York.
“Most people would like a life where they can get health care if they get sick, where their children get a good education, where they can work and hopefully feel fulfilled in that work, while still being able to spend time with loved ones,” Partanen told HuffPost. “It’s not that Finns are necessarily looking to become immensely rich. I think Finland just does a pretty good job of helping people achieve this lovely, ordinary life.”
The top 10 happiest countries are, as in previous years, dominated by the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Sweden, as well as Finland. And all but two of them, New Zealand and Canada, are in Europe.
The picture is much less positive in other parts of the world, particularly South Asia, where a sustained drop in India’s well-being (now ranked 140th) is responsible for driving the region’s well-being decline. In fact, India performed so poorly and its population is so significant that it dragged down the entire global happiness levels.
More research needs to be done to understand what’s going on in India, but it’s a stark reminder that rapid economic development and social change can impose costs as well as bring benefits, said report co-editor John F. Helliwell, a senior fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
“High economic growth does not necessarily go along with improvements in happiness,” he told HuffPost. “Indeed, it can often come at the expense of people’s social connections and the happiness of their daily lives.”
The U.S. government would do well to take this message on board, said co-editor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. “We keep chasing economic growth as the holy grail, but it’s not bringing well-being for our country. We should … stop our addiction to GDP growth as our sole or primary indicator of how we’re doing.”
Partanen, who returned to Finland with her American husband and year-old daughter in search of a “more sane” family life, said their time in the U.S. was defined by anxiety. “It takes immense energy to find the right day care, find the right school, find the right doctor, then figure out the right insurance plan and how you’re going to pay for everything, as it’s so expensive.”
As U.S. well-being continues to deteriorate and inequality rises, the country’s social fabric is being put under increasing stress, said Sachs, creating a society that is acutely vulnerable to exploitation and what the economist calls “an epidemic of addictions,” including substance abuse, overwork and gambling. To address this, the government needs to rein in the companies driving these addictions, said Sachs, but the opposite is happening.
“This is the worst administration we’ve ever had in terms of unleashing lobbying power and handing over the regulatory system to the corporate interests,” he said. “[The Trump administration is] working overtime for a very small group of rich and powerful people doing a huge amount of damage to the overall public good.”
Community and social connections are a central theme of the 2019 report, which details how face-to-face activities, such as sports and volunteering, contribute to positive well-being, while online connectivity can undermine it.
This is particularly the case when it comes to younger people. Over the last decade, the amount of time adolescents (ages 13 to 18) spent on screen activities, such as gaming, social media and texting, has steadily increased. By 2018, 95 percent of adolescents in the U.S. had access to a smartphone and 45 percent said they were online almost constantly. Several studies have found a correlation between the time young adults spend online and a reduction in well-being. For example, girls who spent five or more hours a day on social media were found to be three times more likely to be depressed than non-users.
The report concludes that, although burgeoning information technologies have increased the scale and complexities of human connectivity, they risk the quality of social connections in ways not yet fully understood and for which remedies do not yet exist.
Countries should be as concerned by unhappiness as they are by any other public health threat, said Laurie Santos, professor of psychology at Yale University. We might think of the goal of becoming happier as only something rich countries have the luxury of worrying about, she told HuffPost, but happiness goes much deeper than that. “Being happy is correlated with job performance, resilience in the face of disease, and even longer life.”
Ultimately, the World Happiness Report aims to encourage governments and individuals to shape policies and life choices with greater well-being in mind. Some countries are already making strides to incorporate well-being into their governance. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, for example, has called for a different kind of economy that brings well-being and environmental principles more systemically into its policies.
“It’s the government’s job to provide higher quality of life for its citizens,” said Partanen. “In the U.S., there’s a lot of focus on achieving happiness, but often the solution is to do more yoga or to meditate ― happiness is what you make of it. For governments, happiness shouldn’t be some sort of internal thing that a person has or doesn’t have, or that they have to figure out for themselves. It’s about helping citizens gain better quality of life … Of course we want to achieve things, but what are we achieving them for if not for better quality of life for all of us?”
For more content and to be part of the “This New World”’community, follow our Facebook page.
HuffPost’s “This New World” series is funded by Partners for a New Economy and the Kendeda Fund. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the foundations. If you have an idea or tip for the editorial series, send an email to thisnewworld@huffpost.com
The worst agricultural downturn since the 1980’s is taking its toll on the emotional well-being of American farmers.
In Kentucky, Montana and Florida, operators at Farm Aid’s hotline have seen a doubling of contacts for everything from financial counseling to crisis assistance. In Wisconsin, Dale Meyer has started holding monthly forums in the basement of his Loganville church following the suicide of a fellow parishioner, a farmer who’d fallen on hard times. In Minnesota, rural counselor Ted Matthews says he’s getting more and more calls.
“Can you imagine doing your job and having your boss say ‘well you know things are bad this year, so not only are we not going to pay you, but you owe us’,” Matthews said by telephone. “That’s what’s happened with farmers.’’
Glutted grain markets have sparked a years-long price slump made worse by a trade war with top buyer China. As their revenues decline, farmers have piled on record debt — to the tune of $427 billion. The industry’s debt-to-income ratio is the highest since the mid 1980’s, when Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert.
So dire are conditions in farm country that Senator Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, and Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, pushed for mental-health provisions to be included in the 2018 Farm Bill. The legislation allocated $50 million over five years to address the shortfall of such services in rural areas.
Ernst said she spoke with a woman whose farmer husband died by suicide. While there’s been progress on a trade resolution, the ruckus “has been very, very hard on our farmers,” she said in a telephone interview. “We’ve had such a depressed farm economy.”
Few agricultural states have been hit harder than Baldwin’s Wisconsin, whose state license plates proclaim it as “America’s Dairyland.” Wisconsin lost almost 1,200 dairy farms between 2016 and 2018, government data show.
Smaller operators have been the most affected, she said by telephone. The mental-health provisions in the farm bill aren’t for a “free trip to the psychiatrist,” but rather about “community looking out for each other.”
There was a similar legislative effort in 2008 during the financial crisis, but the program was never funded because prices recovered, said Jennifer Fahy, communications director for Farm Aid, which advocated for the measures.
Two-thirds of the calls to Farm Aid’s hotline originated from growers who have been farming for a decade or more. They were evenly distributed among fruit and vegetable producers, livestock, grain and oilseed and dairy, the data show.
In 2018, the number of calls rose 109 percent to 1,034, increasing in the last five months of the year. In November, crisis assistance accounted for 78 percent of contacts to the hotline.
“The peak of the crisis was in 1986,” said Allen Featherstone, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University in Manhattan. “It is the worst since then by far.”
Mike Rosmann, another of the few mental health counselors in rural America, echoed the sentiments. A partially retired fourth-generation farmer, Rosmann rents out his Iowa property and maintains land under the conservation reserve program.
During the 1980’s farm crisis, the hotlines, counseling and other services that he participated in became the template for the provisions in the farm bill that Baldwin and Ernst advocated for, he said.
“The retaliatory tariffs by China have hurt soybean exports,” Rosmann said. “They’ve hurt our relations with other countries as well to a lesser extent, partly just because of the skepticism that surrounds the reliability of what the U.S. is doing.”
Still, farmers support Trump, in part due to his public support for corn-based ethanol, Rosmann said. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency advanced a plan meant to expand the U.S. ethanol market, the first step in fulfilling a promise Trump made in Iowa last fall. About $8 billion in farmer aid has also taken some of the sting out of the trade war.
Some of that goodwill may be eroded by a 2020 budget proposal that would cut “overly generous” Department of Agriculture subsidies. The 35-day partial government shutdown earlier this year slowed implementation of the program.
Farmers have accrued so much debt because by nature they are optimistic, said Scott Marlow, senior policy specialist at the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Their fierce independence and deep connection with the land can become an economic disadvantage, Marlow said. “They can be driven far further than most of us would be before they would call it quits, to the point of getting off-farm jobs to be able to continue farming, subsidizing the farming operation with off-farm income, driving themselves extremely hard.”
Sue Judd in Wisconsin set up a suicide prevention group for farmers and those in the rural community after her brother, a hobby farmer, killed himself, she said. Her group’s aim is to convince farmers that it’s all right to seek help and that they’re not alone.
Meyer, 71, who retired from law enforcement, was on the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church dart team with the parishioner who died by suicide. He says another parishioner who’s a farmer confided to him that he also struggled with stress. Meyer says that his aim with the groups is to “give them some hope if we can.” In the last meeting, 59 people showed up to share food, stories and hear financial advice and how to deal with stress compared with 45 in January.
Farmers’ spirits may lift if U.S. negotiators can broker a favorable deal with China soon. For now though, they’re having to cope with soybean prices of about $9 a bushel, almost half of what they were getting in the heyday of 2012. Chicago corn futures have followed a similar path to be trading at about $3.70 from a peak of $8.49 in 2012.
“If the corn price went up $3 a bushel and beans went up $5 my phone would ring a fourth as much as it is now,” Matthews said during a road trip. “Prices are really low and they’re waiting for what are they are going to do. Are they going to lift the tariffs? And so all of those things they’re constantly looking at.”
With assistance from Reg Gale and Cynthia Koons.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Jeffrey Taylor
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
March 15, 2019
BREAKING: The Ninth Circuit court just DENIED TransCanada’s motion to begin construction on Keystone XL!
“TransCanada keeps losing in the courts because facts m…
He ranted and raved about Jeanine Pirro and went on a Retweet Spree featuring a Qanon account.
By Jack Holmes March 18, 2019
At some point, maintaining your own grip on reality means accepting that the President of the United States has lost his. The man’s brain is not good, you see. One way you can tell is that he spent his Sunday going absolutely intergalactic on the Tweet Machine, offering his considered opinion on Fox News’ weekend programming, decrying the scourge of Saturday Night Live—which he seemed to accuse of colluding with Russia—and, of course, forwarding some caps-heavy ruminations on the many investigations into him and his associates. Oh, and he also wished folks a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, shortly before the party he leads tweeted an attack on Beto O’Rourke linking his 1998 DUI arrest to his Irish ancestry—you know, because the Irish are alcoholic criminals. Some throwback bigotry!
But the cornerstone of the weekend meltdown from Donald Trump, American president, were his complaints about what was coming to him through the TV—the medium that is, without exaggeration, the governing force of his own private reality. He kicked things off with a high-pitched whine about SNL, a comedy show that makes fun of political figures by putting makeup on famous actors and having them read a transcript of what the real person said the week before.
But then it was time to attend to the core matters of state: why aren’t my favorite TV people on my TV saying nice things about me?
After tweeting a Fox clip directly, the United States president proceeded to attack a local Union leader, seeming to blame him for G.M.’s decision to close a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, at the cost of 5,400 jobs.
Then it was back to the president’s main duty as outlined in the Constitution, to serve as the nation’s top television critic.
The president then went on a Retweet Spree. He retweeted one of those professional MAGA fan accounts that, shockingly, agreed with his take on Fox News Anchors Offering Insufficient Praise for the Leader. Trump shared a message from a definitely real account assuring him that millions of Americans like Trump more than John McCain. The president shared multiple articles from “ilovemyfreedom.org.” And finally, he retweeted a supporter of QAnon, a loopy conspiracy theory based on anonymous posts on an Internet forum.
This was apparently a huge boost to the followers of “Q”. An authorless book associated with this “movement” was already in the top 75 books on Amazon. The book claims, among other things, that prominent Democrats murder and eat children.
After the Retweetapalooza, it was almost over. But not before Trump bragged he’d talked to Mary Barra, the GM CEO, about the Lordstown plant closure—once again suggesting the union was to blame. He did not bother to claim the call had accomplished anything. Then he said Democrats tried to steal the 2016 election. And then there was this:
Once again, we’ve been subjected to an extended public presidential meltdown. It appears the World’s Most Powerful Man spent his Sunday watching Fox News and reacting explosively to whatever came on screen. It might seem like this is no way to run your life, much less the country, but that’s why you’re not an Artful Dealmaker and The Leader America Needs.
Throughout, we were also subjected to feeble pushbacks like the one from Senator Lindsey Graham, who piggybacked on John McCain to smuggle himself into political prominence. Now Graham, who once maintained Trump was a “kook” who’s unfit for office, has now attached himself at the hip to the man who dragged McCain’s name through the mud in life, in severe sickness, and in death.
What a nice encapsulation of the kind of moral and political decay of this nation, a collapse that has given this president the time and space to trample our republic. The Mad King rants and raves as the messages filter into his brain from the TV, while the cowards in Congress tell us all in Very Serious Tones that, while it may appear he has no clothes, he merely takes an unconventional approach to dressing himself each morning. Meanwhile, he continues to ratchet up the talk of political violence.
