ATTN:
America Versus
America Vs Japan: School Lunches
America Vs Japan: School Lunches
Japan's unbelievable school lunches are surprisingly educational.
Posted by ATTN: on Friday, March 23, 2018
Category: Veterans – Patriotism
March for Our Lives demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and around the world
Yahoo News
Live: March for Our Lives demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and around the world
Dylan Stableford, Senior Editor March 24, 2018
Hundreds of thousands of people are taking part in March for Our Lives demonstrations around the world on Saturday to call for an end to gun violence. The protests were sparked by a string of deadly school shootings, including the massacre in Parkland, Fla., last month. Organizers say they expect nearly a million in Washington, D.C., alone. Yahoo News is covering the events live from the nation’s Capitol and several other locations. Watch a livestream in the video player above and follow the blog below for the latest updates.
Protesters fill Pennsylvania Avenue during the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Kelli Grant
A protester displays a sign at the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)
The cover of next week’s @Time magazine. https://t.co/ee5AOww0Eo
Kelli Grant
Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney joins the “March For Our Lives” rally in New York City on Saturday. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Kelli Grant
Young girls wave down at marchers from the balcony of the Newseum building as students and gun control advocates hold the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
Kelli Grant
Protesters gather for the “March for Our Lives” rally along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Christina Gregg #MarchForOurLives protesters steadily funneling down Central Park West. https://t.co/xZvyw5PgZC
Kelli Grant
Protesters gather for a “March For Our Lives” rally outside the U.S. Embassy in London. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)
Kelli Grant
Activists wear red robes and white bonnets based on “The Handmaid’s Tale” before the “March for Our Lives” rally in downtown Houston, Texas, on Saturday. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)
Dylan Stableford: “My sister doesn’t have a voice anymore because she was slaughtered in her classroom.”
— Carlos Soto, whose sister, Victoria Soto, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was killed in the 2014 massacre in Newtown, Conn., speaks to CNN at the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C.
Kelli Grant
American students and expats hold signs in a solidarity rally with “March For Our Lives” in front of the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
The Companies Offshoring Jobs at a Record Pace Under Trump
The Companies Offshoring Jobs at a Record Pace Under Trump
Eric Schall March 23, 2018
Trump has not saved many U.S. jobs from outsourcing since taking office, the record shows. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
You may remember these words from Donald Trump when he was running for president: “A Trump administration will stop the jobs from leaving America.” But U.S. companies sent thousands of jobs overseas in his first year as president. And many of the companies responsible for offshoring jobs received fat government contracts. In fact, according to employment data charted by Good Jobs Nation and Public Citizen, federal contractors alone outsourced 10,269 jobs while taking over $19 billion in government money.
Never before in U.S. history have federal contractors sent so many jobs overseas. Here are the contractors that are offshoring the most jobs under Donald Trump, including parent company of Carrier (page 7).
1. General Motors
Auto executives won’t be adding U.S. plants any time soon. | Shawn Thew/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $323 million
- Outsourced jobs: 2,781
Trump carried Michigan in the 2016 election, largely on the hopes of a manufacturing revival there. The CEOs of the Detroit automakers went to the White House in January to discuss the many promises Trump made to the industry and they, in turn, made to their employees. Well, those three automakers eliminated over 9,000 jobs since Trump’s victory in November 2017.
GM offshored the most jobs of any top federal contractor in America. Considering the company landed $323 million in government money from Trump, we imagine someone needs to check the receipts.
2. Boeing
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks during a town hall with Boeing Company CEO Dennis Muilenburg and employees at the company’s plant on August 24, 2017. | Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $9.46 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 2,681
In terms of federal contracts under Trump, Boeing made about half what the rest of the top 100 did combined: $9.46 billion in less than a year. Maybe that’s why House Speaker Paul Ryan took time out of his schedule to visit the Boeing plant in Washington. Ryan was pushing the tax reform plan that would supposedly open up the floodgates for hiring. Apparently, Boeing really need such a tax break because it offshored 2,681 jobs since Trump’s election victory.
3. United Technologies
Donald Trump speaks to workers at Carrier air-conditioning and heating. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.07 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 1,414
In December 2016, Trump went to a Carrier plant in Indiana to boast of the 1,100 jobs he was saving in exchange for a $7 million tax credit to the company. A year later, several hundred workers in that plant had lost their jobs. Worse, United Technologies — the company that owns Carrier — basically laughed in the administration’s face by sending another 700 jobs to Mexico in 2017. All told, United Technologies offshored 1,414 jobs while raking in $1.07 billion in federal contracts. If that’s “the art of the deal,” America’s workers are worse off than we imagined.
4. Pfizer
Donald Trump shakes hands with Pfizer CEO Ian Read during a Made in America Week event in July 2017. | Saul Loeb//AFP/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.07 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 1,200
You may recall the eventful “Made in America Week” at the White House over the summer. During that week in July, America’s CEOs touted their companies’ achievements in getting things done in the U.S. One business leader on hand was Pfizer CEO Ian Read, whose firm received $1.07 billion in federal contracts under Trump. Despite that windfall, the company offshored 1,200 jobs and faced no consequences.
5. General Electric
General Motors CEO Marya Barra sits with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt at a an event for Trump administration job efforts in June 2017. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.2 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 921
After leaving Trump’s Economic Advisory Council in August, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt made a strong statement. “The Committee I joined had the intention to foster policies that promote American manufacturing and growth,” he said. With $1.2 billion from the Trump administration, we’re guessing the company had the cash to make it happen, too.
Instead, GE outsourced 921 jobs while Immelt blew $250,000 on personal air travel. We’re not sure you can put workers any further down on the priority list while benefiting more from taxpayer-funded contracts. But hey, the administration and the companies it deals with have several years to go.
6. IBM
A sign outside IBM corporate headquarters in Armonk, New York | Chris Hondros/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.55 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 527
While the Trump administration may not be able to reverse global trends, the people in his Cabinet and Congressional majority certainly can control who gets federal contracts. Sadly, that power of the purse has not been used by Trump and his team. In the case of New York-based IBM, 527 jobs already left America since Trump won the election. Meanwhile, the fabulously wealthy corporation racked up $1.55 billion in federal contracts.
7. Merck
More jobs left New Jersey-based Merck despite the $1.6 billion in federal contracts from the Trump administration. | Marko Georgiev/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.62 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 254
Things are about the same, only worse, for the workers at the second U.S. company with New Jersey headquarters on this list. Merck won $1.62 billion in federal contacts since Trump took office. Unfortunately, there were no guarantees about keeping that money — or the U.S. jobs it would theoretically create — in the country. According to jobs data, at least 254 Merck jobs left America since Trump’s election.
8. Honeywell
Shipping jobs overseas? | Aneese/iStock/Getty Images
- Trump administration contracts: $1.65 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 202
If you look at the mission statement of New Jersey-based Honeywell, you will read about the company’s “global focus to achieve double-digit earnings growth.” Part of that process involves sending work overseas in order to keep the returns coming for investors.The math worked out pretty well in 2017. For the $1.65 billion in federal contracts, Honeywell offshored 202 jobs.
9. Hewlett Packard
- Trump administration contracts: $1.04 billion
- Outsourced jobs: 125
Hewlett Packard is a multinational computer company, with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. It struggled to keep pace with the ever-changing tech world over the past decade and continues to cut expenses when possible. In September 2017, Bloomberg reported Hewlett Packard plans to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 10% of its job force. It’s also No. 9 in terms of federal contractors offshoring jobs.
These veterans want assault-style weapons off the streets
March 23, 2018
These veterans have seen what assault-style weapons can do in combat, and they want them off the streets
These veterans have seen what assault-style weapons can do in combat, and they want them off the streets
Posted by NowThis Politics on Friday, March 23, 2018
Keep a beehive in your house.
February 22, 2018
Keep a beehive in your house.
Keep a beehive in your house.
Posted by Thrillist on Thursday, February 22, 2018
Would the world be better off if money didn’t exist?
IF
By Hashem Al-Ghaili
What If Money Didn’t Exist?
Would the world be better off if money didn’t exist?
Would the world be better off if money didn't exist?
Posted by What.If on Friday, March 23, 2018
Russia Hacked U.S. Power Grid — So What Will The Trump Administration Do About It?
NPR – Politics
Russia Hacked U.S. Power Grid — So What Will The Trump Administration Do About It?
By Brian Naylor March 23, 2018
The U.S. government says Russian government hackers have targeted and gained access to U.S energy computer networks. Rich Pedroncelli/AP
When President Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his re-election Wednesday, Trump made no mention of one of the latest irritants between Russia and the West — his administration’s announcement that Russia successfully hacked the U.S. power grid.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint alert last week: “Russian government cyber actors” have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear and commercial facilities, since at least March 2016.
The announcement came the same day that the U.S. imposed sanctions against 19 Russian individuals and five entities for interfering in the 2016 election and for other cyber-intrusions.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert and vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the news that Russia penetrated the energy grid does not exactly come as a surprise.
“The Russians have been doing this for years,” Lewis said. “The change is that the U.S. government came out and said the Russians hacked the utilities.”
The government informed electric companies last summer that Russia undertook what DHS calls a “multistage intrusion campaign” against the utilities, using common hacking techniques such as malware and spear-phishing. The hackers were able to gain access to at least one power plant’s control system.
The Department of Homeland Security was able to reconstruct screenshot fragments of a human machine interface that was accessed. US-CERT/Department of Homeland Security
“They were not simply looking around that system and reconnoitering it,” Joel Brenner, head of counterintelligence under the Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration, told NPR. “They were placing the tools that they would have to place in order to turn off the power. That’s a serious vulnerability for us, and we’re not anywhere near ready to deal with it.”
The Russians have targeted other countries’ electrical grids, most notably Ukraine in 2015, disrupting power for more than 200,000 people.
Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute, which represents the nation’s electric companies, said U.S. power companies have tried to learn from that attack.
Can Americans feel confident the U.S. grid is protected?
“Very much so,” Aaronson said. “The electric power sector takes a lot of different measures to protect our systems.”
That includes operating power plants without digital controls, just like in the old days, he said.
“I tell people one of the best ways to protect against a cyberthreat is to not rely on cyber assets,” Aaronson said, adding that the U.S. power grid “operated for the better part of the last century” without digital controls.
He also said utilities can “go back to a less-efficient means of operating but still keep the lights on.”
Some power companies also block emails and other Internet traffic from outside the country.
But protecting the grid is complicated because of its decentralized nature, with public utility commissions in 50 states exercising some control.
Critics say the Trump administration needs to take stronger steps to block these kinds of attacks from Russia. At a hearing Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., called the DHS alert a siren.
“Our energy infrastructure is under attack,” Cantwell said. “It’s under cyberattack, and we need to do much more to protect it as a national critical asset.”
Cantwell wants the Trump administration to do an assessment of Russian cyberattacks against the electric grid. The Department of Energy is establishing an Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, which will focus on energy infrastructure security.
But any retaliation in response to Russia’s cyber-incursion would be up to Trump.
But, as Brenner points out: “The president has not so far shown any inclination or any backbone in confronting repeated Russian provocations. And one can only ask why that is.”
Brenner added that Putin is “playing jiu-jitsu with us.”
“Nobody wants a war,” he said, adding the hostilities taking place now “are in the gray space between war and peace.”
CSIS’ Lewis said that absent a strong U.S. response to the Russian cyber-incursions though, Russia is likely to continue its behavior.
“The problem here is if we don’t give the Russians the idea that doing something to us is bad, they may be tempted to do it,” Lewis said.
And while sanctions can function as somewhat of a deterrent to further intrusions, they may not be enough.
Right-to-work agenda that has its roots in the Jim Crow South
March 20, 2018
The wealthy corporations and billionaires behind Janus v. AFSCME are pushing a dangerous right-to-work agenda that has its roots in the Jim Crow South.
The False Slogan: Racist Roots of Right-To-Work
The wealthy corporations and billionaires behind Janus v. AFSCME are pushing a dangerous right-to-work agenda that has its roots in the Jim Crow South of the 1940s. Vance Muse, who invented right to work, once told a U.S. Senate committee, “I am a Southerner and I am for white supremacy.”Read more: https://afscme.org/racist-roots
Posted by AFSCME on Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Drillers snap up federal leases near Utah’s wilderness monuments
Reuters – Environment
Drillers snap up federal leases near Utah’s wilderness monuments
Valerie Volcovici March 20, 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday auctioned off more than 51,000 acres (21,000 hectares) in southeastern Utah for oil and gas development, a sign of strong industry demand in a region conservationists have vowed to protect.
Wind Whistle Rock, in the northeast section of the Bears Ears region. Photo by Tim D. Peterson.
The Utah lease sale included terrain near the former boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument, whose size was scaled back by the Trump administration last year, as well as the Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients monuments, according to the bureau.
Results of the online auction, posted on Tuesday afternoon, showed that all 43 parcels up for sale received winning bids, which averaged $28.68 per acre and ranged between $2 and $93 per acre. Total proceeds from the auction were $1.56 million, according to the BLM.
“This means drilling in these parcels poses a more serious and immediate threat to the landscape and archaeological resources,” Aaron Weiss, media director for the Center for Western Priorities, said about the apparent strong demand.
The Monticello area received some of the highest bids, with Context Energy LLC bidding $145,600 for a 1,600-acre parcel, according to the BLM. Other bidders included Ayers Energy LLC, Wasatch Energy LLC and Kirkwood Oil and Gas Inc, according to the data.
The auction comes as the administration of President Donald Trump seeks to boost domestic energy production by expanding federal leasing and rolling back land protections.
Local officials have been eager to open up the areas, administered by the BLM, saying resource extraction is one of few economic opportunities for rural San Juan county, one of Utah’s poorest areas.
“Oil and gas operations are an important contributor to a diversified county economy and the county supports leasing as a necessary step toward realizing economic benefits,” county planner Nick Sanberg said in comments to the BLM.
Along Comb Ridge, a 120-mile-long sandstone fold running through the southwest section of Bears Ears. Photo by Tim D. Peterson/LightHawk.
But conservation groups fumed, threatening lawsuits.
“We won’t sit idly by while President Trump and Interior Secretary (Ryan) Zinke auction off America’s cultural and public lands heritage to the oil and gas industry,” said Stephen Bloch, legal director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. The alliance argued that the BLM did not adequately study potential impacts on wilderness and cultural sites.
Southeastern Utah’s dramatic landscapes are rich in Native American artifacts, historical sites and dinosaur fossils.
A 360 acre-parcel near Bears Ears received a winning bid of $28 per acre, while 13 parcels near the nearby Hovenweep monument sold at an average of $29 per acre. A bid of $7 per acre won a 965-acre parcel next to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
The results were more competitive than those of a lease sale last week in which a 200-acre parcel near the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument sold for the minimum $2 per acre.
Zinke this month deferred or scaled back two other lease sales near archaeological and tourist sites in New Mexico and his home state of Montana amid local outcry and opposition from state lawmakers.
The BLM was not immediately available for comment but said it would post results of the sale, including names of winning bidders, by Wednesday morning.
Other recent lease sales have yielded relatively low bids, a reflection of soft demand for federal property as the oil and gas industry taps vast reserves on private lands.
Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Richard Valdmanis, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Now Three Times The Size Of France And Keeps Growing
BuzzFeed News
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Now Three Times The Size Of France And Keeps Growing
The massive accumulation of plastic and other debris in the Pacific Ocean continues to grow as global consumption of the material remains high.
Michelle Broder, BuzzFeed Reporter March 22, 2018.
The giant floating mass of plastic and other debris in the Pacific Ocean is now three times the size of France and growing exponentially, scientists warned in a new report Thursday.
The Ocean Cleanup
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or GPGP, is not a solid mass, but instead a large area between Hawaii and California where ocean currents have brought together a massive amount of debris that grows denser toward the center of the area.
The Ocean Cleanup
Some of the plastic pieces are very large, while others are tiny fragments called microplastics.
The Ocean Cleanup
About 60% of the plastic produced in the world is less dense than seawater, so when it’s introduced to the marine environment, buoyant pieces are often transported by surface currents and winds, researchers say. Some of the debris gets broken down by sun, wind, and waves and sink. But a lot of it remains on the surface.
The mapping study took three years and employed 30 boats and two aircraft to survey the pollution, which was 16 times larger than previously thought, or three times the size of France. It is also estimated to weigh the equivalent of 500 jumbo jets.
The Ocean Cleanup
The study was conducted by the Ocean Cleanup foundation, which was founded by a Dutch teenager Boyan Slat, now 23, in conjunction with researchers in the US, New Zealand, Britain, France, Germany, and Denmark, and published in Scientific Reports.
Peter Dejong / AP
Slat said the data “underlines the urgency of dealing with the plastic pollution problem. Since the results indicate that the amount of hazardous microplastics is set to increase more than tenfold if left to fragment, the time to start is now.”
The trash travels on currents across the ocean, but much of it comes from Asia and fishing activity in the Pacific Ocean, the study found.
The Ocean Cleanup
The study also found that 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of discarded fishing nets, which are known to entangle whales, seals, and other marine life.
\
Peter Dejong / AP
Up to 20% of the debris in the GPGP also came from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, according to the report.
Peter Dejong / AP
Researchers said the data show “plastic pollution levels are increasing exponentially” inside the patch, “and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.”
Ocean Cleanup is working on a system to remove the trash and fishing nets, which is set to launch this year.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke is a reporter and night editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Hawaii.
Contact Michelle Broder Van Dyke at michelle@buzzfeed.com.