Sunday, April 13, 2025
America's big addiction problem and it's not fentanyl
“Plastics addiction” is killing us, experts say, but hope remains
“We have, I think, a plastics addiction,” said Shanna Swan,
a professor and epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,
said in a livestreamed conference hosted by Moms Clean Air
Force.
“The regulatory system is broken, in the way it fails to
protect us,” Swan said.
Plastic contamination harms everybody, the panelists said:
Microplastics have been found in human organs, plastics additives are linked to
heart disease and death, and air pollution from manufacturing causes
respiratory illness and contributes to climate change. These issues are all
particularly urgent now as the Trump Administration slashes rules and agencies
meant to protect people from plastic-associated air and water pollution.
URI Cooperative Extension hosts Food Safety conference on April 24
The state of the plate: Food protection and safety subject of URI conference
.webp)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety
Modernization Act requires the Food and Drug Administration to designate
high-risk foods for which additional recordkeeping requirements are needed to
protect public health. The component Food Traceability Rule aims to monitor and
regulate foods which can pose a public health threat if contaminated and
distributed, spreading items no one wants to see on the menu: E. coli,
Norovirus, Salmonella or more.
URI’s food safety specialist Nicole Richard says the Food
Traceability Rule protects food safety and protects public health; URI
Cooperative Extension can help business owners adhere to the rules in place to
protect consumers.
“Having this list and the traceability rules in place
increases response in the event of an outbreak,” Richard says, “reducing
illness by decreasing response time. Traceability recordkeeping requirements in
regulations apply to anyone who manufactures, processes, packs, or holds foods
on the Food Traceability List. The final rule requires a higher degree of
coordination between members of the food industry than has been required in the
past. Entities must be in compliance: we’re here to help them do that, for
public health.”
The Food Traceability List calls for recordkeeping for several foods, whether sold individually or as an ingredient, which rank high for risk of foodborne illness in case of contamination:
AARP reports that Trump may have backed down on crazy Social Security plan
Social Security Drops Most Restrictions on Benefit Claims by Phone
We'll see if it lasts
Also: why the hell is Social Security using Musk's "X" (a.k.a. Twitter) to make the announcement?
By Andy Markowitz, AARP
“Beginning on April 14, #SocialSecurity will perform an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the telephone and flag claims that have fraud risk indicators,” the SSA announced April 8 in a series of posts on X.
An SSA spokesperson confirmed in an email statement on April
9 that the agency “will allow all claim types to be completed over the
telephone.”
“This is great news for older Americans,” said Nancy
LeaMond, AARP’s chief advocacy and engagement officer, in an April 9 statement.
“We appreciate SSA listening to AARP and millions of Americans about the impact
on their lives and providing better access to customer service for Social
Security benefits.”
AARP and other advocates for older Americans and people with
disabilities opposed the plan to restrict phone service for benefit
applications since the SSA announced it in mid-March.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
How Trump and Musk are marching America into fascism
When Fascism Comes to America
Bill Durston for Common Dreams
Although no one’s actually sure that Sinclair Lewis ever wrote or said this, his 1935 novel, It Can't Happen Here, centers around a flag-hugging, Bible-thumping politician named Berzelius (”Buzz”) Windrip.
Despite having no particular leadership skills other than the ability to mesmerize large audiences by appealing to their baser instincts (and to bully those people who aren’t so easily mesmerized), Windrip is elected President of the United States.
Shortly after Windrip takes office, through a flurry of executive orders, appointments of unqualified cronies to key governmental positions, and then a declaration of martial law, Windrip quickly makes the transition from a democratically elected president to a brutal, fascist dictator. The novel’s title, It Can’t Happen Here, refers to the mindset of key characters in the novel who fail to recognize Windrip’s fascist agenda before it’s too late.
Written almost a century ago during the rise of fascism in
Europe prior to World War II, It Can’t Happen Here is
disturbingly prescient today. Buzz Windrip’s personal traits, his rhetoric, and
the path through which he initially becomes the democratically elected U.S.
president, and soon afterward, the country’s first full-fledged fascist
dictator, bear an uncanny resemblance to the personality traits and rhetoric
of Donald Trump and
the path through which he has come thus far to be the 47th President of the
United States, and through which he appears to be on course to become our
country’s first full-fledged…. But no! It can’t happen here! Or can it?
Trump’s uncanny resemblance to the fictional dictator in
Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel is disconcerting. The far more important concern,
though, is the degree to which Trump resembles real-life fascist dictators,
past and present. A study of notorious 20th- century fascist dictators,
including Hitler and Mussolini, concluded that they and their regimes all had
several characteristics in common. (The current regimes of Vladimir Putin in
Russia, Xi Jinping in China, and Kim Jong Un in North Korea also share these
characteristics.)
Monday Charlestown Town Council meeting will include long-overdue action to give residents a Homestead property tax credit
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South Kingstown residents are going to get a Homestead Tax Credit
Will Charlestown be next? First steps this Monday
“South Kingstown’s housing market is pricing out our current and future
homeowners. Out-of-state buyers and corporations are driving up the cost
of home ownership by buying up properties and turning them into rentals, and
our residents are then being squeezed with rising home evaluations. The
year-round residents of South Kingstown have been asking for a homestead
exemption for quite some time and this legislation will finally grant our
hard-working year-round residents the tax relief that they deserve and that
will help keep them in their homes,” said Representative McEntee (D-Dist. 33,
South Kingstown, Narragansett).
Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, Brown University study finds
Trump regime will resolve this problem by wiping out funding for this kind of research as well as collection of data
By Juan Siliezar, Associate Director of Media Relations and Leadership Communications, School of Public Health, Brown University
The
findings were detailed in a new study in the New England Journal of
Medicine by a team led by researchers at the Brown University School of Public
Health.
The analysis compared data from more than 73,000 adults in
the U.S. and different regions of Europe who were age 50 to 85 in 2010 to
determine how wealth affects a person’s chances of dying. The results revealed
that people with more wealth tend to live longer than those with less wealth,
especially in the U.S., where the gap between the rich and poor is much larger
than in Europe.
Comparison data also showed that at every wealth level in
the U.S., mortality rates were higher than those in the parts of Europe the
researchers studied. The nation’s wealthiest Americans have shorter lifespans
on average than the wealthiest Europeans; in some cases, the wealthiest
Americans have survival rates on par with the poorest Europeans in western
parts of Europe such as Germany, France and the Netherlands.
U.S. life expectancy has been declining in recent years,
said study author Irene Papanicolas, a professor of health services, policy and
practice at Brown. The study provides a more detailed picture of life
expectancy across demographics in the U.S. compared to different parts of
Europe, she said.
How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China
While also taking billions from US taxpayers
By Joshua Kaplan and Justin Elliott for ProPublica
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| Kyle Ellingson for ProPublica |
The rare picture of SpaceX’s approach recently emerged in an under-the-radar corporate dispute in Delaware. Both SpaceX’s chief financial officer and Iqbaljit Kahlon, a major investor, were forced to testify in the case.
In December, Kahlon testified that SpaceX prefers to avoid investors from China because it is a defense contractor. There is a major exception though, he said: SpaceX finds it “acceptable” for Chinese investors to buy into the company through offshore vehicles.
“The primary mechanism is that those investors would come through intermediate entities that they would create or others would create,” Kahlon said. “Typically they would set up BVI structures or Cayman structures or Hong Kong structures and various other ones,” he added, using the acronym for the British Virgin Islands. Offshore vehicles are often used to keep investors anonymous.
Experts called SpaceX’s approach unusual, saying they were troubled by the possibility that a defense contractor would take active steps to conceal foreign ownership interests.
Friday, April 11, 2025
Trump's National Security Advisor Has Used Personal Email and 20 Other Signal Threads for Government Affairs
Despite relentless attacks on Hilary Clinton, Trump tolerates far worse breech by his own guy
By Sharon Zhang, Truthout
In at least one instance, a senior aide to Waltz used Gmail
to discuss “sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating
to an ongoing conflict,” according to The Washington Post, which
viewed the emails. In other instances, Waltz himself used his personal email to
review documents and discuss matters like his work schedule.
Government officials have secure, encrypted services for
communications that are less vulnerable to hacking and other cyber attacks.
Gmail is not one of those services, and “the contents of a message can be
intercepted and read at many points,” Electronic Frontier Foundation
cybersecurity director Eva Galperin told The Washington Post.
The news also adds to a growing picture of a seemingly blasé attitude toward secure communications within the office of a U.S. security official. These lax security practices leave the U.S. vulnerable to hacks, while also potentially breaking federal laws regarding archival of federal communications, experts have said.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that Waltz and his team “regularly” use Signal to coordinate issues relating to foreign affairs. This includes issues regarding Gaza, the Middle East, Ukraine, China, Africa, and other places — with sensitive information often shared. Citing four people who have been added to the chats, Politico said that there are at least 20 such chats.Sources said that the use of Signal isn’t just common with
Waltz and his office — it’s effectively standard practice.
Burlingame, Charlestown Breachway campgrounds open tomorrow
Four State Campgrounds Open April 12
Fishermen’s Memorial, George Washington, and Burlingame
State Campgrounds offer a pre-check-in process to help campers “Camp More, Wait
Less.” After booking through Reserve America system, they will receive
an email to pre-register, which must be completed at least two days before
arrival. Campers needing a second car pass can select and pay for it up to one
day before their registration.
Also let RFK Jr. where he can find his lunch
Reporting ‘Rhode Kill:’ New study calls on citizen scientists
DEM issues new rules to allow you to eat what you find
Anna Gray, URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences.
Kathleen Carroll,
assistant professor of applied quantitative ecology in the University of Rhode
Island’s Department of Natural
Resources Science, is working on a solution to make roads safer for both
wildlife and humans that will utilize the help of citizen scientists.
Rhode Islanders can now report roadkill that they hit or
observe using a QR-code generated survey, also
available online. The public’s participation will ultimately inform
research efforts to mitigate risks for both drivers and animals.
Vaccines Don't Cause Autism. Why Do Some People Think They Do?
How a retracted study from the 1990s undermined trust in vaccines and led to a persistent myth.
By Public Health On Call, Johns Hopkins University
But in 1998, a paper describing 12 children who received the
MMR and later developed autism or other disorders planted seeds of doubt about
the vaccine’s safety. The paper was later retracted, and several large studies
have since shown no association between vaccines and autism, but the idea
persists among some groups that vaccines cause autism.
In the March 14 episode of Public
Health On Call, vaccinologist Daniel Salmon,
PhD ’03, MPH, director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for
Vaccine Safety, spoke with Josh
Sharfstein, MD, about how this idea took hold and why it’s been so hard to
dispel. This Q&A is adapted from that conversation.
Thursday, April 10, 2025
King Donald’s tariffs are all about his fragile ego and his need to assert power
All The Damage Trump’s Tariffs Are Doing
What Donald really wants is submission to his imagined
greatness, everything else be damned.
Let me count the ways, or at least a few of them.
- Consumer
prices will rise not only for imported goods, but domestic manufacturing
products as well. That’s because one of the basic points of tariffs is to
give domestic manufacturers the ability to raise prices to just below the
competing tariffed good, as I explained
here last September.
- The
other major global economies could form a free trade zone that excludes
the United States. Imagine a trading alliance among the European Union,
United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New
Zealand, and perhaps China and India. That would spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R for
most Americans, especially the millions of factory workers whose ranks
shrank during Trump’s first term, but grew significantly under Biden.
- Even
worse, these countries could also stop using the greenback as the world
reserve currency, ending a massive and subtle subsidy to Americans.
About 60%
of global financial reserves are in dollars.
- China’s
patient but persistent drive to lead trade and economic policy, as well as
exert military power, in Asia and Oceana is likely to grow, especially
since Trump in his first term withdrew the U.S. from the proposed
Trans-Pacific Partnership trading zone (parts of which I criticized here, here,
and here as
damaging personal liberty, discouraging competitive market capitalism, and
expanding corporate power).
- Inflation
must worsen. Joe Biden got America’s inflation rate down to 2.9% in
December, well below the post-World War II average of 3.65%. When the data
comes in for March and April expect inflation to be up.
- The
risk of a recession is 45%. Goldman
Sachs estimates. On this, Goldman is one of the more optimistic
Wall Street firms.
- Countries
that allow American military bases — more than 800 are known publicly —
could pare back or even expel our military, refuse to dock our Navy ships
for refueling or repairs, and even end our positioning of Air Force
bomber, fighter, and surveillance aircraft on their soil.
- Countries
could stop honoring monopoly patents owned by American companies, a policy
shift that could devastate America’s extraordinarily profitable
pharmaceutical and digital enterprises.
- Over
time other countries could develop their own fiber optic cables
crisscrossing the oceans, hampering the gathering of signals intelligence,
or SIGINT, which is now easier because most global digital traffic flows
through the U.S., and is easily accessed by our allies, especially our
Five Eyes partners: Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
- The
rest of the world could join China in reducing purchases of American farm
products from beef and corn to poultry and soybeans. Trump’s first term
caused a massive shift in soybean sales to China. Midwest farmers lost out
to Brazil and that business hasn’t come back. Trump covered that over with
billions (note that B) in subsidies. During Trump’s first term these
subsidies nearly tripled from $11.5 billion to $32 billion.
Wood River Health and WARM team up to fight homelessness
Go team!
Wood River Health
is working to combat homelessness by expanding its service delivery systems to
offer housing stabilization services to residents of Washington County.
For many, this is housing for the
homeless in South County
Wood River Health is helping those at risk of homelessness
by becoming a certified provider of home stabilization services for Rhode
Island Medicaid clients. Home stabilization programs connect recipients of
Medicaid to programs and services that help them find a residence and
transition into housing. Services include home tenancy support, life skills
training, and other modeling and teaching services to ensure participants can
become or stay permanently housed.
“Our providers understand that it takes more than seeing a
health care provider to maintain a person’s health,” stated Wood River Health’s
President and CEO Alison L. Croke. “Our providers and staff are
committed to helping our community meet their basic needs that span beyond the
scope of health care. One of the ways we can contribute to this is by
collaborating with community partners to improve access to safe and affordable
housing for Washington County residents.”
Rhode Island has the second highest percentage of chronic
homelessness in the United States. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development recently reported that homelessness rose by nearly 35% from 2023 to
2024 in the Ocean State; the nationwide level is 18%.
RI Health Dept. warns against eating some locally caught fish
Especially the Grills Preserve Pond in Bradford
Fish caught
in these areas have had high levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances).
RIDOH is issuing the following fish consumption
recommendations to protect public health:
- Do not eat any fish caught from the Grills Preserve Pond.
- Eat no more than 1 meal per month of native fish (i.e.,
perch, bass, and pickerel) caught from the Pawcatuck River downstream of
Burdickville Road in Hopkinton.
- Since PFAS tend to accumulate more in organs compared to
muscle tissue, do not eat the organs of fish caught from the Pawcatuck River
downstream of Burdickville Road in Hopkinton.
- RIDOH does not currently have the data needed to make a
health-based recommendation on the safety of consuming stocked trout in this
section of the Pawcatuck River. Individuals concerned about PFAS should know
that these species can accumulate PFAS. People can be exposed to PFAS from a
variety of sources and can lower their intake from one or more sources by
limiting or replacing them.
EDITOR'S NOTE: While the hazards associated with PFAS contamination become better known, the Musk-Trump administration are cancelling federal efforts to better assess those risks and their sources. Even though what you know (or don't know) can hurt you, the Trump regime thinks you're better off not knowing. - Will Collette.
April 14 start-up: Abruptly Eliminating Social Security Phone Services Threatens Access to Benefits
Trump's Social Security Catch-22
By Kathleen Romig, Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities
The Trump Administration is making it harder for eligible Social Security beneficiaries to access their benefits by eliminating phone services, forcing millions more people to seek in-person help even as it cuts thousands of Social Security Administration (SSA) staff. At the same time, increasingly frequent website outages are making it harder to seek service online. These abrupt and unjustified changes will worsen customer service delays and strain capacity at local field offices throughout the country.
Trump has repeatedly promised not to cut Social
Security benefits — but his Administration’s actions will effectively do just
that, by making it harder or even impossible for people to access their earned
benefits.
Starting April 14, phone service will no longer be an option
for retirees and survivors applying for benefits, or for beneficiaries making
direct deposit changes. Instead, these services will only be available in
person at an SSA field office — a 45-mile trip for some 6 million seniors
nationwide, a new CBPP analysis finds — or online, if an online application
exists and if a person is able to access SSA’s online tools. Many seniors and
people with disabilities lack internet service, computers or smartphones, or
the technological savvy to navigate a multi-step, multi-factor online
verification process. Even as SSA is encouraging people to do business online,
the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is making changes to online
identity authentication that are triggering system outages and access problems.[1]
SSA
itself says this will lead to “longer wait times and processing time” and
“increased challenges for vulnerable populations” as the demand for office
appointments rises. And it comes when SSA is reportedly pursuing other[5] policies
that will increase the number of weekly field office visits by thousands. This
will compound wait times and competition for an already limited number of
appointments, which are required for most in-person services.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Trump—Seeking Revenge for His Mortality—Wages War on Everything That Lives
When a narcissist dies, he wants to take us all with him
Rebecca Gordon for the TomDispatch
I’m
opposed to it in general. (In wiser moments, I know that this is silly and that
all life feeds on life. There is no life without the death of other beings,
indeed, no planets without the death of stars.)
Nonetheless, I’m also opposed to mortality on a personal level. I get too much pleasure out of being alive to want to give it up. And I’m curious enough that I don’t want to die before I learn how it all comes out (or, for that matter, ends). I don’t want to leave the theater when the movie’s only partway over—or even after the credits have rolled.
In fact, my antipathy
to death is so extreme that I think it’s fair to say I’m a coward. That’s
probably why, in hopes of combatting that cowardice, I’ve occasionally done
silly things like running around in
a war zone, trying to stop a U.S. intervention. As Aristotle once wrote, we become brave by doing brave
things.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Trump's second term conduct only make sense if you remember he is a malignant narcissist. As such, he cannot conceive of a world beyond his lifespan. When Hitler realized he was about to die, he ordered all vital infrastructure destroyed (an order not obeyed). He blamed the German people for his impending doom and decided they did not deserve to live. Trump also has nothing but contempt for the world and no desire for it to go on after he is dead and buried on one of his golf courses. Thus, the destruction of Social Security, Medicare, health programs, foreign aid, the environment, the economy and world peace are required to appease his ego. Who knows? Maybe on his deathbed or the end of his term, whichever comes first, Trump will grab the nuclear football and press the button. - Will Collette
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association has three upcoming events
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