Category Archives: cannabis

Breaking: Pop Megastar Prince Has Died at 57

by BrookeAvelar Posted on April 21, 2016

Mother Jones

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Prince, the legendary pop icon, was found dead at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota, a publicist told the Associated Press on Thursday. He was 57. TMZ first reported the death.

The police were investigating a death at Prince’s estate on Thursday morning but have not made the identity of the deceased person public. Last week, the musician’s private plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois, after performances in Atlanta. A representative for Prince told TMZ that the musician had been battling the flu for several weeks, though the exact cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

Prince’s publicist Yvette Noel-Schure noted in a statement that there were “no further details as to the cause of death at this time.”

Fellow musicians, artists, and celebrities took to social media to mourn the soulful singer’s death.

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Breaking: Pop Megastar Prince Has Died at 57

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A "Staggering Number" of Vets End Up Homeless After Experiencing Sexual Violence in the Military

by VictorinaGifford Posted on April 21, 2016

Mother Jones

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Researchers have identified a new risk factor for homelessness among veterans: military sexual trauma. Nearly 1 in 10 veterans who experienced sexual assault or harassment in the military became homeless within five years—a “staggering number,” noted an editorial in JAMA Psychiatry, which published the study Wednesday.

The research, funded by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, drew on a national sample of 601,892 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who were discharged between 2001 and 2011. Those who reported experiencing sexual assault or harassment while they were in the military were twice as likely to become homeless within five years as those who did not, and the results held true even after controlling for PTSD, alcohol and drug addiction, and serious mental illnesses.

The trauma of violence during a military deployment can make returning to civilian life more difficult, the study’s authors point out, with homelessness exemplifying “an extreme case of poor reintegration.” Military sexual trauma, or MST, includes forcible and coerced sexual assault, as well as harassment (uninvited or unwanted sexual attention, including cornering, touching, pressure for sexual favors, or verbal remarks). According to the VA, around 22 percent of women and 1 percent of men in the military have experienced some form of MST.

Interestingly, the researchers found a slightly higher rate of homelessness among male veterans who experienced sexual violence as compared to women. “Men with a positive MST screen are a particularly vulnerable group,” the authors wrote. “In addition to the burden of issues regarding masculinity, sexuality, and self-concept among males who have experienced sexual trauma,” they also may be less likely to seek mental-health treatment than women—potentially leading to worsening psychiatric symptoms and homelessness.

The link between homelessness and the experience of different kinds of traumatic events—childhood abuse, domestic violence, even homelessness itself—is well documented. The study also adds homelessness to an already long list of MST’s public health consequences. Past research has found that experiencing MST increased a person’s odds of mental illness by two to three times—most notably post-traumatic stress disorder, but also alcohol and drug addiction, anxiety disorders, depression, dissociative disorders. That’s not to mention the links between MST and certain medical conditions: liver disease, chronic pulmonary disease, obesity, hypothyroidism, and HIV/AIDS.

According to researcher Adi Gundlapalli, an associate professor at the University of Utah medical school, potential consequences of military sexual violence include low social support, poor interpersonal relationships, and revictimization. “These types of problems may compromise employment and put one at risk for financial instability,” Gundlapalli says. “Ultimately, this may lead to homelessness.”

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A "Staggering Number" of Vets End Up Homeless After Experiencing Sexual Violence in the Military

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The Congressional Hearing on Fetal Tissue Turned Nasty. Here Are the Top 5 Moments.

by CleoTbh54677 Posted on April 21, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, a House committee formed in the wake of last summer’s Planned Parenthood sting videos, convened on Wednesday to discuss “the pricing of fetal tissue.”

This marked the fifth time Congress has held a hearing to discuss the allegations that Planned Parenthood is selling fetal tissue for a profit—a practice that is illegal according to federal law. Last summer, the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress released secretly recorded, deceptively edited videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal tissue. Four separate congressional hearings found no such wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. Unsatisfied, House Republicans, led by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), formed this investigative panel last October to continue looking into the possibility that the women’s health provider is selling fetal tissue and breaking the law.

In addition to the four congressional hearings, 12 states have so far investigated the allegations of fetal tissue sales by Planned Parenthood and turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. In Texas, a grand jury that began with the intent of investigating Planned Parenthood instead indicted CMP’s David Daleiden, the creator of the videos, and absolved the women’s health care provider. None of these exonerations, however, has derailed this House committee. Wednesday’s hearing didn’t make much headway in separating fact from fiction, but it made for some great political theater. Here are a few highlights:

1) A fight over sources: As Blackburn was about to begin her opening statement, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) cut in to pose a fundamental question. In advance of the hearing, the committee had released a set of exhibits purporting to show that procurement companies are working with abortion clinics so both players can derive a profit from selling fetal tissue. DeGette requested that she be allowed to question the committee staff that created the packet, in large part because the sourcing for many of the most incendiary pieces of evidence—including a draft contract between a procurement company and an abortion clinic and several charts implying the growing profitability of fetal tissue procurement—is not noted anywhere in the exhibits.

Blackburn declined to make the staff available, answering that the source was the “investigative work” of the committee, as well as materials obtained through the committee’s “whistleblower portal,” a form on its website. Unsatisfied by this answer, DeGette asked the committee to exclude the use of these exhibits until their origins are ascertained. “If you won’t let me find out what the basis is for these exhibits, then I object to their use,” she said. The committee rejected her request.

2) Déjà vu: The first witness to testify was Fay Clayton, a Chicago attorney. Clayton recalled how in 2000 she represented a nonprofit that donated fetal tissue to medical researchers in a case strikingly similar to the Planned Parenthood one. In her case, a different anti-abortion group, Life Dynamics, made a video in which a former employee of the Anatomical Gift Foundation alleged that the group was selling—not donating—fetal tissue. The videos led to sensational media coverage and House hearings, until the former employee was deposed under oath. At that point, he made clear that the accusations he’d made on video were false. He was paid by Life Dynamics to say these things on camera, and he agreed to do so because he needed the money. “What was for sale wasn’t fetal tissue; it was a phony witness statement,” said Clayton at Wednesday’s hearing.

She wondered aloud why the panel has subpoenaed a number of medical researchers and health care providers, but has not subpoenaed the creator of the videos. “Unless this Select Panel is willing to put Mr. Daleiden and his associates under oath and get to the bottom of what they did, it should terminate these proceedings now and return to doing the people’s business,” Clayton concluded.

3) Internal contradictions: At the beginning of the question-and-answer session, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) sought clarification. One of the committee’s exhibits concludes that an abortion clinic incurs no costs in the process of procuring fetal tissue. But other exhibits contradict that, Nadler said, and show that the process requires employee time and equipment for drawing blood, discussing consent forms, and more—all costs that federal law considers reimbursable.

Nadler asked the panel to explain the discrepancy in their materials. Blackburn answered simply, “There is no discrepancy.” Nadler and Blackburn then went through several more rounds of back-and-forth, with Nadler repeating his question and Blackburn avoiding a direct answer, saying that the exhibits are based on the committee’s “investigatory work.” A frustrated Nadler called out her vague answers. “Can you explain how using a chart that draws conclusions that have no objective basis in fact other than your statement that somebody investigated does not violate House rules?” he asked.

4) An episode of House of Cards, and a kangaroo court: When it came time for Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) to speak, she did not mince words. “This hearing belongs in a bad episode of House of Cards,” Speier said. “In fact, this hearing is literally based on a house of cards, and the exhibits being used as a foundation are, in all likelihood, the product of a theft carried out by someone who is now under indictment in Texas.” Speier was referring to an ongoing line of questioning by various members of the panel who had asked for a clear explanation of the sourcing for the investigative panel’s exhibits. “Is this hearing really going to proceed based on stolen and misleading documents? Even Frank Underwood would be blushing at this point.”

Speier chided the committee for wasting time on this issue in pursuit of a political agenda: “This so-called committee is the very definition of a kangaroo court,” she said, “a mock court that disregards the rules of law and justice to validate a predetermined conclusion.” She also criticized the panel for expending effort on “what goes on inside a woman’s uterus” while “ignoring what happens to babies and children outside of them.” She pointed to the health implications for children in stifling fetal tissue research, and specifically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent research that has used fetal tissue to investigate the connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly. You can watch her incensed testimony below:

5) A shoddy investigation: After the witnesses completed their testimony, DeGette repeated her disapproval of the shoddy sourcing for the committee’s exhibits and her puzzlement as to why the committee refused to be more transparent, particularly given the severity of their allegations. “The reason I’m kind of stuck on this,” she said, “is because if people are selling fetal tissue in violation of the law, then we need to have an investigation. But we can’t have some witch hunt based off some things that were taken off of screenshots and charts created by staff.” She continued, “Even though 12 states have investigated and found there was nothing, if you want to send it to the Department of Justice for investigation, I’ll guarantee you, they won’t make up little charts with their staffs. They will get to the bottom of it with original documents, and I suggest that’s what you should do if you think there is a criminal violation.”

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The Congressional Hearing on Fetal Tissue Turned Nasty. Here Are the Top 5 Moments.

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Jeb Bush’s Campaign, Once Flush With Cash, Is Now $260,000 in Debt

by marekso65 Posted on April 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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Jeb Bush, once considered the prohibitive front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination due to his nine-figure war chest, has now revealed that his defunct campaign is more than a quarter of a million dollars in debt.

Bush ended his campaign almost two months ago amid poor poll numbers, but the extent of its wreckage is only now becoming clear. In a filing made over the weekend, Bush revealed that his presidential campaign is more than $260,000 in debt and has just $31,000 in cash on hand. That’s a stunning admission from the candidate who once sat on a pile of more than $115 million in cash, and a demonstration of just how far Bush fell.

A year ago, before Bush was even a declared candidate, he was working closely to wring dollars out of big donors for the benefit of his super-PAC, Right to Rise, which vacuumed up more than $100 million in its first six months of existence. Bush aides talked of a “shock and awe” campaign that would wow and cow his rivals.

According to Right so Rise’s filing from last summer, on April 15, 2015, exactly a year before the new report of the campaign’s debt, the super-PAC raised $852,000—just on that one day alone. The single biggest donor that day, James C. Flores, the CEO of mining giant Freeport-McMoran’s oil operation, gave $250,000. That would now be nearly enough to wipe out the campaign’s remaining debt. (Not that it could: Super-PAC money isn’t legally available for the direct use of the candidate it backs.)

Last April, Bush was actually worried about being seen as having too much money, and he asked his super-PAC donors not to write such big checks. This April, the Bush team is just trying to keep the lights on while it finishes winding down.

As if that weren’t bad enough for Bush, the biggest outstanding debt comes from a $250,000 loan issued during the campaign’s dying days—by Bush himself.

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Jeb Bush’s Campaign, Once Flush With Cash, Is Now $260,000 in Debt

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Harriet Tubman to Replace Andrew Jackson on the $20

by ChanelIreland46 Posted on April 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will reportedly announce on Wednesday the decision to replace the image of former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with an image of Harriet Tubman.

Politico reports Lew will also announce that the image of Alexander Hamilton will remain on the $10 bill, but that the back of that bill will feature members of the suffragist movement. Last month, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the Broadway musical Hamilton, met with Lew to discuss keeping the former president on the $10 bill.

The movement to replace Jackson’s image with Tubman’s image started with the “Women on 20’s” group, which advocated featuring a woman on the $20 bill because of Jackson’s controversial support of the Indian Removal Act.

This is a breaking news post. We will update once the announcement is made.

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Harriet Tubman to Replace Andrew Jackson on the $20

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Supreme Court Upholds Arizona’s Right to Ensure Minority Representation

by FelicaSlavin924 Posted on April 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Supreme Court upheld an Arizona redistricting commission’s right to draw legislative districts in a way that ensures minority representation, delivering a crushing rebuke on Wednesday to a group of Arizona tea party activists who’d sought to strike down the state’s redistricting maps in order to increase the voting power of rural white voters.

In Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the plaintiffs were taking on Arizona’s Independent Election Commission, a body created through a 2000 ballot initiative intended to make redistricting less partisan. The commission produced its first legislative maps after the 2010 census. Its work came under fire almost immediately, primarily by Republicans. At one point, then-Gov. Jan Brewer (R) attempted to impeach the commission’s chair in what was seen as a power grab. When that failed, in 2012, the Republican-led state legislature filed a lawsuit arguing that the ballot measure that created the commission was unconstitutional because it deprived the legislature of its redistricting power. The lawsuit went all the way to the US Supreme Court, which last June ruled 5-4 in the commission’s favor.

In the current lawsuit, filed in 2014, the plaintiffs, all Republicans, argued that the commission diluted their voting power by packing more people into Republican districts while underpopulating Democratic ones. They wanted the court to mandate that all district have almost exactly equal populations; the current ones vary by 4 to 8 percent. The commission, in turn, responded that it drew the districts in such a way as to win approval from the Justice Department, in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Due to Arizona’s long history of suppressing minority voting, it was one of the jurisdictions required under the Voting Rights Act to clear any changes to legislative districts with the Justice Department before implementing them. The Supreme Court gutted this requirement in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, but it was in place when Arizona redrew its legislative maps.

If the Harris plaintiffs had been successful, the case could have opened the floodgates to lawsuits challenging how states around the country draw their legislative districts. But in an opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court ruled unanimously that Arizona’s maps were indeed designed to comply with federal law in ensuring minority representation, and that the minor population deviations were acceptable.

It’s the second time this term the court has rejected challenges to state redistricting plans from tea party conservatives upset about the growing clout of Latino voters. In Evenwel v. Abbott, decided earlier this month, a pair of Texas plaintiffs argued that states should create state legislative districts based on the number of eligible voters in them, as opposed to total population. The move would have granted more power to rural, white areas that lean Republican over more populated urban areas that are home to large minority (and Democratic-leaning) populations. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the Evenwel plaintiffs.

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Supreme Court Upholds Arizona’s Right to Ensure Minority Representation

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Can Bernie Sanders Ride Fracking to Victory in New York?

by Myrna Posted on April 18, 2016

The Democratic presidential candidates have divergent views on the controversial natural gas drilling technique. New Yorkers protest against fracking in 2014 a katz/shutterstock In this week’s tight New York Democratic primary, the fight over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is one issue of contention between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And it could be a deciding factor for some voters. Sanders says he would ban all fracking everywhere. Clinton says the practice should be regulated and restricted, but natural gas is helping the U.S. move away from coal-fired power. Sanders’ campaign has capitalized on that difference, noting in an ad released on Monday that he “is the only candidate for president who opposes fracking everywhere.” Fracking uses a high-pressure stream of water, sand and chemicals to tap into shale formations to release natural gas. The practice has been highly contentious in New York, which contains a lot of natural gas in the Marcellus formation. A number of communities in upstate New York banned the practice, worried about potential impacts on groundwater, along with other health and safety concerns. In December 2014, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would ban the practice entirely. (Sanders’ home state of Vermont banned fracking in 2012.) Read the rest at The Huffington Post. Link:   Can Bernie Sanders Ride Fracking to Victory in New York? ; ; ;

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Can Bernie Sanders Ride Fracking to Victory in New York?

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Study: Miami Can Expect 380 Instances of Flooding a Year by 2045

by Myrna Posted on April 18, 2016

Thanks to climate change. Flooding in South Beach after Hurricane Sandy meunierd/Shutterstock A new study says much of Miami-Dade County will see the number of projected floods rise from 45 a year to 80 with a 10-inch rise in sea levels by 2030, and then accelerate to 380 instances of flooding a year by 2045. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) came up with the projections using new data compiled by the Army Corps of Engineers. “In 2045, given normal variations in the tides, while some days would be flood-free, many days would see one or even two flood events—one with each high tide,” UCS said in its report. The findings jibe with another recent report from the University of Miami that since 2006, flooding in Miami Beach has soared 400 percent from high tides and 33 percent from rain. Read the rest at Fusion. View original post here: Study: Miami Can Expect 380 Instances of Flooding a Year by 2045 ; ; ;

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Study: Miami Can Expect 380 Instances of Flooding a Year by 2045

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A Student of ‘Cultural Environmentalism’ Explores the Many Views of Earth’s Anthropocene ‘Age of Us’

by Myrna Posted on April 3, 2016

A writer who explores the meanings of nature takes a tour of the growing array of views of the proposed Anthropocene epoch of Earth history. View original article:   A Student of ‘Cultural Environmentalism’ Explores the Many Views of Earth’s Anthropocene ‘Age of Us’ ; ; ;

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A Student of ‘Cultural Environmentalism’ Explores the Many Views of Earth’s Anthropocene ‘Age of Us’

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‘Humanity’s Final Exam’ – Distinguishing Between Momentary and Millennial Risks

by Myrna Posted on March 24, 2016

Weighing threats: terrorism now and a transformed planet and flooded cities in centuries to come. See original article here:  ‘Humanity’s Final Exam’ – Distinguishing Between Momentary and Millennial Risks ; ; ;

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‘Humanity’s Final Exam’ – Distinguishing Between Momentary and Millennial Risks

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