[mpen-dayton] FW: Ask Gov. Kasich to Veto HB 48 & FW: Will Congress Destroy Healthcare? & FW: Our Stories Must Be Heard

FYI.   Best, Munsup

P.S. Please reply back to me with ‘unsubscribe’ added to the subject line if you no longer want to receive my e-Newsletters. The convenient link to unsubscribe is no longer available due to security reasons to protect my email servers.

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·         FW: Ask Gov. Kasich to Veto HB 48

·         FW: Will Congress Destroy Healthcare?

·         FW: Our Stories Must Be Heard

·         FW: Act now: Host a speak-out to stop repeal of Obamacare

·         FW: Rex Tillerson, Trump's appointee for State, ExxonMobile and climate change denial

·         FW: WATCH: Democrats united to hold Trump accountable!

·         FW: What a College Grad Learned Working as a Debt Collector

·         FW: PEERS: "Top 25 Stories of 2016 Subjected to Press Censorship"

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From: AAUP - Ohio Conference
Subject: Ask Gov. Kasich to Veto HB 48

Ask Gov. Kasich to Veto HB 48

House Bill 48, known as the "guns everywhere" bill, passed the Ohio Senate on Wednesday, December 7, and is being sent to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.

Please call and e-mail Gov. Kasich asking him to veto HB 48:

Phone: (614) 466-3555
Click here to send an e-mail.

HB 48 would reduce the offense for unauthorized carrying of a concealed handgun on the premises of an institution of higher education from a felony to a minor misdemeanor, if the offender produces a valid conceal/carry license within ten days of arrest. This is the equivalent of a first time speeding ticket or failure to register a dog.

The bill also would allow Ohio colleges and universities to develop a policy for allowing conceal/carry of handguns on campus and grant institutions immunity from liability caused by a conceal/carry licensee bringing a gun on to campus.

Gov. Kasich has a mixed record on gun control issues. While it may be unlikely, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Gov. Kasich could veto HB 48. Please contact Gov. Kasich right away.

*Note: We understand that not every member of our association opposes this legislation or agrees with the position statements we have passed on the issue. However, just like everything the Conference decides to support or oppose, this matter has gone through a rigorous discussion and democratic process that involved our state leadership and membership.

 

 

From: Single Payer Action Network (SPAN) Ohio
Subject: Will Congress Destroy Healthcare?

What Will Congress Do to Healthcare?
What Can You Do About It?

It is impossible to tell exactly what Congress will do with Healthcare at this point.  We do know what they are talking about and can make some educated guesses on what they will do and how.  Do not look for bills that directly repeal healthcare programs.  A straight repeal of the ACA would be subject to filibuster in the Senate and would require 60 votes for passage.  They don't have 60 votes for any of their scheduled mayhem.  Instead, look for attacks on healthcare in the Budget Reconciliation process.  Congress cannot change policy through Budget Reconciliation, but they can change funding.  Budget Reconciliation is not subject to filibuster and will get a straight up and down vote.  In the Senate, it will only take 51 votes to pass, which they are counting on.   In the event of a tie, Mike Pence would cast the deciding vote and I think we all know how he'd vote.

The Senate is where the fight will take place.   In the House, they have the votes needed and members can vote almost without consequence due to highly gerrymandered safe districts.  Expect this legislation to pass easily there.   Senators don't have that luxury as you cannot gerrymander state lines.   For Senators who are up for re-election in 2018, this process could be very detrimental to them.  

The ACA

The ACA will most likely be the first area that is attacked.   So far there have been 62 attempts to repeal the law, so it is no surprise that the majority party would like to see this gone.  While they cannot get rid of the ACA in its entirety, they can inflict great damage in the funding.   The following are possible under Budget Reconciliation:

• Reducing the penalty for not having insurance to 0.  This would effectively do away with the individual mandate without repealing it.  This would throw the Marketplace Exchanges into chaos and cause a high increase in premiums as mostly those with chronic illnesses would purchase insurance.
• Reduce or eliminate the subsidies to purchase insurance through the exchanges for those between 100-400% of poverty.  This would effectively get rid of the exchanges.
• Reduce the penalty on large employers that do not offer insurance to 0. 
• Reduce or eliminate the funding for the Medicaid expansion.

Any combination of the above will result in large numbers of people losing coverage.  Congress knows the backlash would be huge on this, so they are considering a delay approach, making these provisions effective in two or three years.  They don't want to jeopardize the 2018 mid-term elections. 

Possible Replacements:

• The sale of insurance across state lines.  This is actually allowable now through the ACA, but HHS has not issued rules on it because insurance companies are not interested.   Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota came out against this proposal and said it would increase prices, not lower them.  The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also opposed this.
• Health Savings Accounts:  These are really only advantageous to the wealthy.  They allow the money put into them to be tax sheltered and it is still tax free when taken out and used for health care expenses, but the amount of tax saved is greatest by the wealthy.   Most people who have them now are in the upper income bracket.   Low and middle income earners will have a difficult time funding these as they live paycheck to paycheck.  By law, these are available to those with high deductible plans, so it does not negate the need for insurance. 
• Tax credits for individuals to purchase insurance:   Again, the greatest benefit is to the wealthy.  The amounts being talked about are woefully inadequate to help any low or middle income earner to purchase insurance.   

Our Position:   SPAN Ohio recognizes that many people have gained coverage through the ACA.  The Medicaid expansion was a lifesaver to many.  We do not wish to see anyone lose access to care through reckless acts by Congress.  However, we do feel this is a time to push the agenda for a truly just system.   Repeal and Replace with HR 676, the Improved and Expanded Medicare for All Act, introduced by Congressman John Conyers.  Those two actions must come together.  Congressman Conyers will be re-introducing this bill again in the new Congress.

Medicaid

Besides eliminating funding for the Medicaid expansion, Congress and Trump have both shown support for turning Medicaid into a block grant program.  

Block grants give greater flexibility to the states in setting the rules.  States can be very restrictive in their criteria for eligibility.   In Ohio, look for the premium provisions to take place.   Also, don't be surprised if a work requirement is added. 

Block grants traditionally do not keep up with inflation, so the money dwindles with inflation until the program covers almost nothing.   This is a method to use for eventual elimination of the program. 
 
Even without the block grants, look for Ohio to request their Healthy Ohio 1115 waivers again, requiring premiums and health savings accounts for Medicaid recipients.   With the change in leadership at HHS, there is a greater chance of it being approved.

Our Position:   Oppose.   We would only support the elimination of Medicaid if it was replaced with an Improved and Expanded Medicare for All.  

Medicare

Both Paul Ryan and Tom Price, Trump's nominee for HHS, have voiced their desire to turn the Medicare program into a voucher program.  "Premium Support" is a term that means voucher.   Trump promised to protect Medicare during the campaign, but his website now says he will modernize Medicare, code speak for privatize.  Ryan says Medicare will be gone by next Thanksgiving and Price says it will occur during the second round of Budget Reconciliation next summer. 

While they cannot eliminate the program through Budget Reconciliation they can change the funding to make it a voucher program for seniors to purchase Medicare plans through an exchange.  A past analysis of this proposal by Paul Ryan showed the vouchers to be inadequate for the purchase of a quality health plan.  Most seniors will pay significantly more, with some estimates showing low income seniors could spend 50% of their income on health care.

There is talk about grandfathering those 57 and older into traditional Medicare and only forcing those under 57 to the voucher program.   The idea is to not anger those who already have Medicare or who are close to Medicare eligibility.  Of course, none of us in that category have children or grandchildren that we care about, so we'd be ok with it.  And, they can change payment amounts to make Medicare less attractive to providers and thus, harder for seniors to find a doctor who will take it.  The grandfather provision will not protect seniors from harm.

Our Position:   Oppose.   The only changes to Medicare that we support are improvement in coverage and expansion to all. 

Employer Sponsored Insurance

Yes, even this is up for attack.   What has been discussed in the past is making the cost of insurance benefits provided by employers taxable.  Currently, neither employer nor employee pays taxes on this cost.  But, it could be considered taxable income and the employee would have to pay taxes on it.

One proposal was to phase this in by putting caps on the non-taxable part and requiring employees to pay tax on any amount above the cap.  This is similar to the Cadillac Tax in the ACA as better policies, which are more expensive, are penalized. 

Our Position:   Oppose.   Instead, enact HR 676, the Improved and Expanded Medicare for All Act.

Overall:

When one looks at the extent of change that could occur, it becomes evident that the ultimate goal is to force everyone into the individual market.   This is not based on good health policy or methodology, but rather market ideology.  

What Can You Do?

It is up to us to provide the backlash to these proposals.  We can't rely on anyone else but ourselves.   It will take every one of us to get this job done!   The best way is to make phone calls.

Phone calls are more effective than email or letters.   Congressional staffers have told us that letters are simply sorted into piles of broad categories and a form letter is sent in response.  Email is handled the same way.   A phone call makes office staff stop what they are doing and listen to you.  We've had reports of being put on hold for long periods, which does show that the phone calls are working - we are disrupting businesses as usual.  Disrupting business as usual is a critical step in getting the response we want. 

It is important to have a strong offense and not just play defense.   We need to change the conversation in Washington, DC.  Simply opposing action is not enough.  We need to offer the solution and focus the conversation on our solution.  Shut down their rhetoric and make the conversation about Medicare for All. 

Pick up the phone and call!  If you get put on hold, wait a few minutes, hang up and call again.   Generally, the phone call is a quick and easy thing to do.
 
Tell them:  

• You oppose their efforts to take healthcare coverage away from 22 million Americans.
• You support an Expanded and Improved Medicare for All system. 
• Use HR 676 as your example of what should be done.
• You expect your elected representatives to do the right thing and create a fair and just healthcare system that meets human rights standards - an Expanded and Improved Medicare for All system.  

Keep calling.  One phone call won't do it.   We need to be relentless in our strategy.  Make an appointment with yourself each week to make a phone call.   Call every week until this is settled. 

Phone numbers:

Paul Ryan - 202-225-3031

Mitch McConnell - 202-224-2541

Rob Portman - 202-224- 3353

Your Congressperson:   You can find the number for your congressperson here. 

Armchair Advocacy:  If you are on Twitter, follow Speaker Paul Ryan.   Paul Ryan @SpeakerRyan
Send him a daily tweet that says #MedicareForAll or #HR676. 
 
Rob Portman:   Rob Portman @senrobportman

Mitch McConnell:   Leader McConnell @SenateMajLdr

Your congressperson can be found by doing a simple Twitter Search.

 

 

From: Doctors for America HQ
Subject: Our Stories Must Be Heard

Our stories and the stories of our patients will be heard.

The new Congress will be sworn in on January 3. They are making plans to repeal major components of the Affordable Care Act - including individual subsidies, Medicaid expansion, employer and individual mandates, and more. They could have it on the new President's desk to sign on Inauguration Day - just 39 days from now.

According to a study released this week by the Urban Institute (1), this would cause a collapse of the individual insurance market, and the number of uninsured people would rise by 28.9 million, which is a larger number of uninsured than before the ACA.

We wanted to work on more affordable and better quality coverage. But now millions of our patients are scared that they will lose the coverage they have. Our patients need to know that we will keep fighting for them.

That's why we are calling on everyone in the Doctors for America movement to stand up and tell the human impact of these political conversations in whatever way you can - through newspapers, radio, TV, blogs, social media, and in your community. 

We are teaming up with medical and public health organizations from across the country this Monday, December 12th, on a Digital Day of Action with two fast ways you can speak up:

1.       Join our social media Thunderclap by signing up before 3pm ET on Monday. In case you're not familiar, a Thunderclap allows a single message to be mass-shared, flash mob-style, so it rises above the noise of social networks.

2.       The Thunderclap will link to a Tumblr page where you can share your patients' stories. From there, you can share the story with your Senators and member of Congress. You can find the sign to print and share your story here.

Let's use our collective power and make the voices of doctors and medical students heard before it's too late.

P.S. Even as we work to keep America covered in the long run, it's important for everyone to know that the insurance marketplaces is open for 2017 coverage!  People need to sign up by December 15th for coverage starting January 1. Most people will qualify for a subsidy to lower their costs. No matter what happens in Congress, we expect coverage to be there for the year. They can& shop, sign up, or find an in person assister at healthcare.gov.

References:
(1) Urban Institute: Implications of Partial ACA Repeal Through Reconciliation

 

 

From: Katharine, Victoria, Gabriela, Chris and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Act now: Host a speak-out to stop repeal of Obamacare

Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, America has seen the largest drop in the number of underinsured persons in over 40 years. Yet, before Trump is even sworn into office, Republicans are already conspiring to make good on his promise to take away health care for tens of millions of Americans.

Paul Ryan and Trump's pick as Secretary of Health and Human Services want to privatize and cut Medicare and Medicaid. The GOP Congress also wants to use a maneuver in the Senate to pass a repeal of Obamacare before January 20 so that the new president has a bill to sign the day he is sworn in—kicking almost 30 million people off their current insurance through the ACA.¹

Not on our watch!

We're working with allies to organize public speak-outs at Republican senators' and representatives' local offices as soon as they come home for their December recess. We'll share our stories of the life-threatening impacts that taking away our health care would have, so they have to grapple with the reality of what they're considering.

Will you sign up now to host a "Don't Take Away Our Health Care" speak-out outside of Representative Chabot's district office on Tuesday, December 20, as part of a MoveOn national day of action?
To sign up to host, just click here.

We'll help you plan your event, recruit others to join you, invite you to a special strategy briefing, and provide all the materials you'll need to be successful. This moment calls on all of us to step up and speak out.

Earlier this week, MoveOn stood shoulder to shoulder with Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi, along with dozens of allies, as we turned in the signatures of nearly 1 million Americans who don't want to see Medicare slashed and privatized. It was a first step in our larger fight to keep Republicans from attacking the health care programs that benefit all Americans, from all states, of all backgrounds, and from all walks of life.

Here's more background on what Republicans are trying to do and how we can stop them. Usually in the Senate you need 60 votes to pass a bill because of the filibuster. But when it comes to the budget, and any bills related to the budget, you need only 50 votes. Republicans are expected to have 51 or 52 seats in the new Senate which begins on January 3.

To stop this, we need two things to happen—we need Democrats to stand together to defend our health care, and we need three Senate Republicans to do the right thing. And we have a path to victory, as several Republicans, like Senators Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander, are—appropriately—publicly expressing doubts that taking away people's health care is a good idea.

And in the House, where Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare dozens of times, we expect more of the same. But with Trump headed to the White House, they're closer than ever before to taking away our health care. Now it's not posturing; it's real.

In years past, we've seen Congress turn on a dime on health care issues when they face an outpouring from righteously angry constituents.

We have a chance to stop the Republicans' sneak attack, but we have to act fast. If we wait until January, it could be too late.

On Tuesday, December 20, MoveOn members and allies across the country will show up in front the offices of their members of Congress to sound the alarm "Don't take away our health care" for the media and all to hear.

Will you sign up to organize an event outside of Representative Chabot's district office?
Yes. I’ll sign up to host now.

If we do this, we’ll not only save life-saving health care for millions of Americans around the holidays. We’ll also demonstrate that when we stand together, we can win. Even in the face of an impending Trump presidency.

Every single one of us has something to lose in this fight. Either we get our health coverage through Obamacare, Medicaid, or Medicare, or we have loved ones who do. Democrats and Republicans. Trump voters, Clinton voters, third-party voters, nonvoters. It’s a political gamble to take away people’s health care, and it's one that Republicans think they can get away with.

They won’t, if we speak up.

—
P.S. We'll support you every step of the way. Click here to sign up to host a "Don't Take Away Our Health Care" speak-out now.

P.P.S. This week MoveOn members stood with Democratic leaders in Congress to defend our rights to healthcare and resisting any attempt to cut Medicare. Check out this video, and then sign up to host a "Don't Take Away Our Health Care" speak-out near you on Tuesday, December 20. We are building momentum in this fight, and we all need to be involved.

Source:

1.       "Study: Uninsured Rate Could Rise Above Pre-ObamaCare Levels Under Repeal," The Hill, December 7, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/7056?t=7&akid=174370.1195276.e6rdYN

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to contain the damage of Donald Trump's presidency, to defeat hate with love, and to begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity and decency and the future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
Click here to chip in $100, or whatever you can afford.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

 

From: Andrew Tierman
Subject: Rex Tillerson, Trump's appointee for State, ExxonMobile and climate change denial

Today was it announced that the President-Elect has selected Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobile for Secretary of State. Tillerson's personal relationship to Russia's Putin and business interests in Russia are one topic of concern. Likely to be ignored is another: Exxon-Mobile's decades long self-serving promotion of climate-change denial, while itself engaging for near half a century in the most sophisticated scientific studies of climate change and its deleterious effects.

A two-part review article, on 8 investigative sources, by David Kaiser and Lee Wasserman in the New York Review of Books provides excellent background. In the 12-8-2016 issue, the first part is entitled "The Rockefeller Family Fund vs. Exxon. The second part appears in the 12-22-2016 issue, and is entitled "The Rockefeller Family Fund Takes on ExxonMobile.

Tillerson became CEO in 2016. The authors write (in Part II) that, soon after, Tillerson "created a secret task force to reconsider the company's approach to climate change --'so that it would be more sustainable and less exposed,' according to one participant. Tillerson may have been afraid that the company's aggressive denial campaign had made it vulnerable to lawsuits.' [page 60]

The articles can be found online at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/the-rockefeller-family-fund-vs-exxon/ and  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/22/rockefeller-family-fund-takes-on-exxon-mobil/

Please distribute this information so that as many people as possible can read about the detailed history of this powerful corporation's campaign against science, contrary to its own expert studies, similar to the denial of the harmful effects of smoking for decades by the tobacco industry.

Whether or not Tillerson is confirmed, holding him to a truthful view of the role of Exxon-Mobile can have a seismic effect upon the political-economy of denying science for profit, promoting harm to the Earth we depend upon for the short-term gain of some of the wealthiest persons. Sunshine on this egregious history can impede the continuation of the status quo, in the actions and representations of the energy industry and its apologists.

 

 

From: Alex Lawson, Social Security Works
Subject: WATCH: Democrats united to hold Trump accountable!

This week, Social Security Works delivered one million of your petition signatures to House Speaker Paul Ryan and sent him a very clear message: Hands off Medicare!

Click here to watch highlights from the press conference and petition delivery featuring U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and more. And then donate to our fight to stop Republican attacks on our earned benefits.

On Election Day, Americans did not vote to destroy Medicare or Social Security. But that is exactly what Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Republicans in Washington are attempting to do.

As soon as Congress convenes in January, Republican leaders will unleash a plan to dismantle Medicare in the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

“This is the greatest threat the program has ever faced.” – Nancy Altman, Social Security Works Co-Founder

We’re going to tell the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate to forget about all their plans to 'voucherize' and privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!” – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

“Between the nomination of an avowed Medicare opponent, Congressman Price, to serve as HHS Secretary and Republicans here in Washington threatening to privatize Medicare, it’s clear that Republicans are plotting a war on seniors next year. Every senior and every American should hear this loudly and clearly: Democrats will not let them win that fight.” – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

We must stand united to protect Americans’ hard-earned benefits.

Watch the video of our recent petition delivery and then donate to Social Security Works to stop the Republican plan to destroy Medicare

Paid for and Authorized by Social Security Works

 

 

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: What a College Grad Learned Working as a Debt Collector

What this college grad with $90K in debt learned while working as a debt collector

What this college grad with $90K in debt learned while working as a debt co...

When Jessie Suren, 29, started her college education at La Salle University in Philadelphia in 2006, her overall...

 

 

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: PEERS: "Top 25 Stories of 2016 Subjected to Press Censorship" [Vital information that corporate mainstream media doesn't want you to know...]

Top Censored News Stories of 2016

Note: To find the top censored news stories of any year from 2003 to present, click here.

Project Censored specializes in covering the top news stories which were censored either by being ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media each year. Project Censored is a research team composed of more than 200 university faculty, students, and community experts who annually review many hundreds of news story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources, and national significance.

The top 25 news stories selected are submitted to a distinguished panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. The results are published each year in an excellent book available for purchase at their website, amazon.com, and most major book stores.

A summary of the top 25 censored news stories of 2016 provided below proves quite revealing and most informative. Each summary has a link for those who want to read the entire article.

For whatever reason the mainstream media won't report these stories. Yet thanks to the Internet and wonderful, committed groups like Project Censored, the news is getting out. By revealing these examples of media censorship, we can stop the excessive secrecy and work together for a brighter future. Please help to spread the word, and take care.

Note: To find all of these stories and their sources on the Project Censored website, click here. The stories below actually cover a 12-month period spanning 2015 and 2016.

---

Top 25 Stories of 2016 Subjected to Press Censorship

1.       U.S. Military Forces Deployed in 70 Percent of World’s Nations (For full story, click here)

According to a spokesperson for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), in 2015 Special Operations Forces (SOF) deployed in 147 of the world’s 195 recognized nations, an increase of eighty percent since 2010. The SOCOM budget has more than tripled since 2001. By 2015, SOCOM funding had risen to nearly ten billion dollars. Additional funding from specific military branches amounted to another eight billion dollars annually. Between 2012–2014, Special Operations Forces carried out 500 Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) missions in as many as sixty-seven countries per year. In addition to training, Special Operations Forces also engage in “direct action.” Counterterrorism missions, including “low-profile drone assassinations and kill/capture raids by muscled-up, high-octane operators,” are the specific domains of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) forces, such as the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 and the Army’s Delta Force. Africa has seen the greatest increase in SOCOM deployments since 2006. This has gone all but completely unreported by the corporate press.

Sources:
Turse, Nick, “A Secret War in 135 Countries,” Tomdispatch, Sept. 24, 2015.
Turse, Nick, “The Stealth Expansion of a Secret U.S. Drone Base in Africa,” Intercept, Oct. 21, 2015.
"American Special Operations Forces Have a Very Funny Definition of Success,” The Nation, Oct. 26, 2015.
    

2.       Crisis in Evidence-Based Medicine (For full story, click here)

In April 2015, the Lancet’s editor, Richard Horton, wrote, “Something has gone fundamentally wrong with one of our greatest human creations.” Horton summarized the “case against science”: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue.” Horton is not the first editor of a prominent medical journal to raise these concerns. In 2009, Marcia Angell, a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, made comparable claims: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines.” Study 329, a now notorious clinical trial published in 2001 epitomizes the corruption and conflicts of interest noted by insider critics like Angell and Horton. Study 329 reported that paroxetine - marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK as Paxil in the US and as Seroxat in the UK - was safe and effective for treating depressed children and adolescents. A 2015 re-analysis of Study 329 found that paroxetine’s beneficial effects were far less, and its harmful effects far greater, than the original study reported.

Sources:
Lancet 385, No. 9976, April 11, 2015.
Cooper, Charlie, “Anti-Depressant was Given to Millions of Young People ‘After Trials Showed It was Dangerous,’” Independent, Sept. 16, 2015.
"Seroxat Study Under-Reported Harmful Effects on Young People, Say Scientists,” Guardian, 2015.
   

3.       Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Threaten to Permanently Disrupt Vital Ocean Bacteria (For full story, click here)

Imagine a car heading toward a cliff’s edge with its gas pedal stuck to the floor. That is a metaphor for what rising CO2 levels will do to the key group of ocean bacteria known as Trichodesmium, according to a study published in the September 2015 issue of Nature Communications. The process of “nitrogen fixation” makes Trichodesmium “the fertilising agent of the open ocean.” The study tested the effects of elevated levels of carbon dioxide by subjecting hundreds of generations of Trichodesmium bred over a five-year period to CO2 levels predicted for the year 2100. Responding to increased ocean acidification, the bacteria went into “reproductive overdrive,” evolving to grow faster and to produce 50 percent more nitrogen. One consequence of this is that Trichodesmium could consume significant quantities of nutrients that are in limited supply in the ocean, such as iron and phosphorous, leaving other organisms that depend on the same nutrients without enough to survive. The effects of elevated CO2 levels on the bacteria could trigger catastrophic effects up the marine food chain.

Source:
Harvey, Chelsea, "Climate change could push these tiny marine organisms to evolve – irreversibly," Washington Post, Sept. 1, 2015
Perkins, Robert, “Climate Change Will Irreversibly Force Key Ocean Bacteria into Overdrive,” USC News, 2015.
"Climate Change Will Alter Ocean Bacteria Crucial to Food Chain—Study,” Guardian, 2015.
    

4.       Search Engine Algorithms and Electronic Voting Machines Could Swing Elections (For full story, click here)

Technology provides opportunities for manipulation of voters and their votes. Half of US presidential elections have been won by margins under 7.6 percent. These narrow but consequential victory margins underscore the importance of understanding how secret, proprietary technologies potentially swing election results. The latest research focuses on the powerful role played by the secret algorithms (including Google’s PageRank and Facebook’s EdgeRank) that determine the contents of our Internet search results and social media news feeds. It showed that biased search rankings “could shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more.” The effect “could be masked so that people show no awareness of the manipulation.” Hidden algorithms shape online content in significantly different ways from more widely recognized concerns about editorial censorship. Electronic voting machines present similar challenges. In 2016, about 80 percent of the US electorate voted using outdated electronic voting machines that rely on proprietary software, which prevents the public from getting access to the actual vote count.

Sources:
Goldman, David, "Google could 'rig the 2016 election,' researcher says," CNN, Aug. 20, 2015
Epstein, Robert, “How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election,” Politico, 2015.
Frary, Mark, “Whose World are You Watching? The Secret Algorithms Controlling the News We See,” Index on Censorship 44, no. 4 (2015), 69–73.
   

5.       Corporate Exploitation of Global Refugee Crisis Masked as Humanitarianism (For full story, click here)

According to a June 2015 United Nations report, sixty million people worldwide are now refugees due to conflict in their home nations. While Syrian refugees account for the largest number (an estimated 11.5 million people), other places such as Colombia, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia also have large refugee populations. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at the time of the report, “The scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before.” Although the extent of the global refugee crisis has been covered in the corporate media, the exploitation of refugees has been less well covered. Corporate exploitation of the global refugee crisis is underreported and often subject to distorted pro-business coverage, as in a September 2015 Wall Street Journal article on the number of corporations that are finding ways to profit from the flood of migrants. According to the Journal, private equity groups across Europe were pursuing a new investment opportunity with “promising ... growth potential,” the management of camps and services for refugees.

Sources:
Lazare, Sarah, “World Bank Woos Western Corporations to Profit from Labor of Stranded Syrian Refugees,” AlterNet, 2016.
"Turkey and Europe: Human Trafficking on a Scale Not Seen Since the Atlantic Slave Trade,” Black Agenda Radio, Black Agenda Report, 2016.
    

6.       Over 1.5 Million American Families Live on Two Dollars Per Person Per Day (For full story, click here)

According to Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, sociologists and authors of the book $2.00 per Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, in 2011 more than 1.5 million US families - including three million children - lived on as little as two dollars per person per day in any given month. US media often neglect the experiences of the poor, making the findings “startling for many.” Edin and Shaefer documented family households living “from crisis to crisis.” In addition to providing a vivid account of what it’s like to live in extreme poverty, Edin and Shaefer’s research also offers a policy critique that highlights the long-term consequences of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform initiative. Since then, the number of families living on less than two dollars per person per day has more than doubled. A “huge flaw” in welfare reform is the “insistence on work without regard to job availability.” The rise of such absolute poverty since the passage of welfare reform belies all the categorical talk about opportunity and the American dream.

Sources:
Green, Marcus Harrison, “1.5 Million American Families Live on $2 a Day—These Authors Spent Years Finding Out Why,” YES! Magazine, 2015.
America’s Poorest are Getting Virtually No Assistance,” Atlantic, 2015.
   

7.       No End in Sight for Fukushima Disaster (For full story, click here)

Five years after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed the nuclear power plant at Fukushima Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) officials in charge of the plant continue to release large quantities of radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean. Experts continue warning officials and the public that this problem is not going away. Although the Fukushima plant has been offline since the disaster, uncontrolled fission continues to generate heat and require cooling. The cooling process has produced “hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tons” of highly radioactive water. TEPCO has no backup safety systems or proactive plan for dealing with the accumulation of contaminated water, so much of it is released into the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese government has kept its citizens “in the dark” from the start of the disaster about high radiation levels and dangers to health. Government policy is to tell the Japanese people that everything is all right, despite medical or scientific evidence to the contrary. US corporate media coverage consistently reported the disaster to be of little consequence.

Sources:
Jamail, Dahr, “Radioactive Water from Fukushima is Leaking into the Pacific,” Truthout, 2016.
Pentz Gunter, Linda, “No Bliss in This Ignorance: The Great Fukushima Nuclear Cover-Up,” Ecologist, 2016.
Vernacular Epistemologies of Risk: The Crisis in Fukushima,” Current Sociology, 2016.
   

8.           Syria’s War Spurred by Contest for Gas Delivery to Europe, Not Muslim Sectarianism (For full story, click here)

In 2011–12, after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad refused to cooperate with Turkey’s proposal to create a natural gas pipeline between Qatar and Turkey through Syria, Turkey and its allies became “the major architects of Syria’s ‘civil war.’” The proposed pipeline would have bypassed Russia to reach European markets currently dominated by Russian gas giant Gazprom. In 2012, the US, UK, France, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, along with Turkey, began to organize, arm, and finance rebels to form the Free Syrian Army, consistent with long-standing US plans to destabilize Syria. Access to oil and gas – not sectarian differences – is the underlying cause of the violent conflict and humanitarian disaster in Syria. Foreign meddling in Syria began several years before the Syrian revolt erupted. US State Department cables from 2006 revealed by WikiLeaks documented plans to instigate civil strife that would lead to the overthrow of Assad’s government. The leaks revealed the United States partnering with nations including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt to fuel Sunni-Shiite sectarianism to divide Syria.

Source:
Refugee Crisis & Syria War Fueled by Competing Gas Pipelines,” MintPress News, 2015.
  

9.           Big Pharma Political Lobbying Not Limited to Presidential Campaigns (For full story, click here)

Large pharmaceutical companies made over $51 million in campaign donations during the 2012 presidential election and nearly $32 million in the 2014 elections. During the 2014 elections, Pfizer led drug companies with $1.5 million in federal campaign donations, followed by Amgen ($1.3 million) and McKesson ($1.1 million). Campaign donations by large pharmaceutical companies pale in comparison to how much they spent on lobbying politicians and influencing policies outside of elections. According to data gathered on the 2014 election, the industry spent seven dollars on lobbying for every dollar spent on the election. The $229 million spent by drug companies and their lobbying groups that year was down from a peak of $273 million in 2009, the year that Congress debated the Affordable Care Act. Lobbying allows Big Pharma to take advantage of Washington’s revolving door and directly influence legislation. Collectively, pharmaceutical and health product lobbying for the first months of 2016 (through April 25) totaled over $63.1 million.

Source:
"How Much of Big Pharma’s Massive Profits are Used to Influence Politicians?,” Truthout, 2015.

10.    CISA: The Internet Surveillance Act No One is Discussing (For full story, click here)

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) into law as part of a 2,000 page omnibus spending bill. The act authorized the creation of a system for corporate informants to provide customers’ data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which, in turn, would share this information with other federal agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense (which includes the NSA), Energy, Justice (which includes the FBI), the Treasury (which oversees the IRS), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Congress used the omnibus spending bill to advance some of the legislation’s “most invasive” components. In July 2015, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had attempted to attach the bill as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, but the Senate blocked this by a vote of 56-40. The final Senate version of the bill removed personal information protections that privacy advocates had fought successfully to have included in a previous version.

Sources:
Greenberg, Andy, “Congress Slips CISA into a Budget Bill That’s Sure to Pass,” Wired, 2015.
Thielman, Sam, “Congress Adds Contested Cybersecurity Measures to ‘Must-Pass’ Spending Bill,” The Guardian, 2015.
Edgecombe, Jason R. “Interim Guidelines to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act,” TechCrunch, 2016.

11.    CIA Warned Bush Administration of Terrorist Attack Prior to 9/11 (For full story, click here)

Based on new interviews with Cofer Black, the former director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, and George Tenet, the former director of the CIA, the George W. Bush administration ignored CIA warnings in the months before 9/11. Starting in spring 2001, the CIA “repeatedly and urgently” warned the White House that an attack was imminent. Tenet testified about the warnings before the 9/11 Commission, but this was not included in the Commission’s final report.

12.    Why Our Lives Depend on Keeping 80 Percent of Fossil Fuels in the Ground (For full story, click here)

The world’s remaining concentrations of fossil fuels can be understood as “money pits”—untapped coal, gas, and oil could be worth $20 trillion—or as “carbon bombs,” which will wreck the planet if they are used. A scientific report published in the journal Nature found that 80 percent of coal reserves, half of gas, and one-third of oil reserves should not be used if the world is to avoid global temperatures rising more than two degrees Celsius.
   

13.      US “Vaccine Court” Has Paid over Three Billion Dollars to Vaccine-Injured Families (For full story, click here)

Since 1988, the US government has paid $3.2 billion to 4,150 individuals and families for injuries and deaths attributed to shots for flu, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other conditions. In the 1980s, drug companies threatened to stop producing vaccines for the US market because litigation risks were too great unless the government provided them with “no-fault” protection. In 1986, Congress established the little-known Office of Special Masters of the US Court of Federal Claims (known informally as the vaccine court) to “shield the vaccine makers from liability.
   

14.      FBI’s New Plan to Spy on High School Students across the Country (For full story, click here)

Under new guidelines issued in January 2016, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and “western corruption” as potential future terrorists. The FBI’s “Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools” guidelines encourage school officials to identify students who “engage in communications indicating support for extreme ideologies” or who are “curious about” subject matter that could be deemed extreme.
   

15.      Understanding Climate Change and Gender Inequality (For full story, click here)

Climate change has different impacts on men and women, based on preexisting social and economic inequalities. Because most international efforts to address climate change do not include women, the resulting policies do not take into account the particular challenges that climate change poses for women and girls. This is ironic because, according to a 2014 European Union study, women are more likely than men to be concerned about climate change, and are “uniquely placed” to share knowledge about climate impacts and to implement solutions.
   

16.      Over Three-Quarters of Freedom of Information Act Requests Not Fully Answered (For full story, click here)

On his election, President Obama promised greater governmental transparency to the American people. In practice, the Obama administration has set a record for failures to find and produce government documents in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77 percent of requests. Censorship and refusal to disclose are only two parts of a three-piece puzzle. The procedures federal workers use to retrieve requested files also contribute to the problem.
   

17.      Deadly Medical Neglect for Immigrants in Privatized US Jails (For full story, click here)

Over one hundred inmates in privatized, immigrant-only prisons have died, many in disturbing circumstances involving negligent medical and mental health care. In twenty-five cases, multiple reviewers found evidence of inadequate care that likely contributed to an inmate’s premature death. By contrast, in just thirty-nine cases did the reviewers find that care had likely been in accordance with recognized medical standards. Seven of the thirteen privatized facilities were not compliant with the standards for adequate mental health care.

18.      Women’s Movements Offer Global Paradigm Shift toward Social Justice (For full story, click here)

From LGBTQ movements and indigenous farming struggles to Black Lives Matter and efforts to create sustainable development, women around the world are leading the way toward greater social justice. Women-led movements have redefined leadership and development models, connected the dots between issues and oppression, prioritized collective power and movement-building, and critically examined how issues of gender, race, caste, class, sexuality, and ability disproportionately exclude and marginalize.
   

19.      Global Epidemic of Electronic Waste (For full story, click here)

Consumers in the US generate an estimated 3.14 million tons of electronic waste annually, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. About 40 percent of this goes to be recycled. A 2016 study by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a nonprofit that aims to end the global trade in toxic electronic waste, found that nearly one-third of these devices is exported to developing countries, where the low-tech dismantling of the recycled equipment contaminates the environment and endangers workers, many of whom are children.
   

20.      The Walmarting of American Education (For full story, click here)

In January 2016, Walmart publicized a plan to close 269 of its retail stores. At the same time, the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) announced a five-year strategic plan to spend a billion dollars to support and expand charter schools in thirteen US cities and states. WFF’s commitment to charter schools is a product of the Walton family having been “fully inculcated” in the educational philosophy of libertarian economist Milton Friedman. Central to Friedman’s ideology was that schools should be thought of as businesses, and their students understood as customers.

21.      Little Guantanamos: Secretive “Communication Management Units” in the US (For full story, click here)

In March 2016, inmates from two highly secretive US prisons, known as Communication Management Units (CMUs), appealed a previous summary judgment for the government in their case against the Federal Bureau of Prisons. CMUs have strict regulations against outside communication. Beginning in 2006, the Federal Bureau of Prisons created CMUs without any written conditions or procedures. Journalist Will Potter, who has visited a CMU, revealed that CMUs are effectively “political prisons for political prisoners.”
   

22.      Department of Education Cooperates with ALEC to Privatize Education (For full story, click here)

The Department of Education and school districts throughout the US are working with billionaire families such as the Waltons and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to undermine public education. Instead of defending public education in pursuit of equity for all students, the Department of Education (DoE) is working with organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—an alliance of corporate lobbyists and state legislators—as well as local chambers of commerce to encourage the conversion of public institutions into private charter schools.
   

23.      Modern-Day Child Slavery: Sex Trafficking of Underage Girls in the US (For full story, click here)

Sex trafficking in the US is pervasive. According to the US Department of Justice, human trafficking is the second-fastest-growing criminal enterprise after drug trafficking, with minors constituting roughly half the victims in the US. In 2015, over 4,100 of the 5,544 trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline involved sex trafficking. While safe harbor laws, which criminalize adults who purchase sex with a minor, have been passed in thirty-four states, these laws leave many girls treated as criminals rather than as victims.
    

24.      India’s Solar Plans Blocked by US Interests, WTO (For full story, click here)

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held in December 2015 in Paris, featured lofty rhetoric about international cooperation to tackle climate change. However, in February 2016, the WTO ruled against India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. In a case initiated by the US in 2013, the WTO found that India’s solar initiative, which required that 10 percent of solar cells be produced locally, violated international trade laws. The WTO ruling sets a dangerous precedent for countries wanting to support homegrown renewable energy initiatives.
    

25.      NYPD Editing Wikipedia on Police Brutality (For full story, click here)

Computers operating at One Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department (NYPD), have been used to alter Wikipedia pages containing details of alleged police brutality” including the entries for Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo. The pages have been edited to cast the NYPD in a more favorable light. Revisions and counter-revisions are typical of Wikipedia’s self-policing user community. However, those made with NYPD IP addresses seemed to violate Wikipedia’s conflict of interest policy.

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Important: Top 20 Articles Ever Published Revealing Media Censorship

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