“What News was in My In-Box”

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Latest mixed bag of articles for the week touching on many topics.

The very first article implies there was a grant to the Wuhan, China facility. Not sure why that would occur considering all the ruckus which occurred in the past. There is also an article on the Jacksom Mississippi water issues. Jackson is a fair size town. Kind of wonder why that is even occurring. There is also an article about the Boy Scouts selling off their land to pay for court penalties for child abuse. Links also from Infidel and Homeless on the High Desert too.

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Economy, Politics, News

“New NIH Grant Awarded to Group Central to Lab Leak Theory,” (theintercept.com), Ryan Grim. In August, an EcoHealth Alliance award was terminated after the organization failed to turn over records critical to the Covid origin probe. The next month, it got a new grant. This article “implies” a new grant has been awarded to Wuhan. I can not find any direct language stating such.

“Wall Street Is Behind The Jackson, Mississippi, Water Crisis,” (levernews.com), Matthew Cunningham-Cook & Ricardo Gomez. A major credit rating agency jacked up interest rates in Jackson, Mississippi, curtailing infrastructure investments in the years leading up to the city’s recent disaster.

“Biden Heads for the Midterms with Ten Million New Jobs,” The New Yorker, John Cassidy. Inflation is still a cause for concern, but no other President has had this pace of job growth in their first two years in office.

“Joe Biden’s Midterm Marijuana Gambit,” The Atlantic, David A. Graham. Ahead of the midterm elections, the president issues a blanket pardon for those convicted of the federal offense of simple possession of marijuana.

“Herschel Walker’s Candidacy Is Just Insulting,” The Atlantic, Jemele Hill. Warnock didn’t generate a single juicy or humiliating headline. Articles about the Democratic incumbent dutifully describe his issue positions and his campaign strategies. Meanwhile, the Daily Beast reported recently the staunchly anti-abortion challenger had paid for an abortion that the mother of one of his children underwent.

“A New Era for Worker Power: Labor Wins during the Pandemic. and the Policies We Need to Sustain the Momentum. ” Roosevelt Institute. Alí R. Bustamante. Labor-management bargaining helped sustain employment levels throughout the COVID-19 pandemic while a hot labor market—driven by full employment policies—led to real wage growth for workers at the bottom half of the income distribution. However, the reluctance of employers to renegotiate the terms of compensation in existing collective bargaining agreements caused real wages for union workers to decline.

“Treasury Department Announces Inaugural Members of Formal Advisory Committee on Racial Equity.” U.S. Department of the Treasury. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen announced the inaugural members of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. The first-of-its-kind committee will provide advice and recommendations to Secretary Yellen and Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo on efforts to advance racial equity in the economy and address acute disparities for communities of color.  

“The IMF’s global growth downgrade comes with a warning about recession,” (qz.com), Sofia Lotto Persio. As anticipated by IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva last week, the organization will downgrade its global growth forecast for 2022 and 2023—the fourth downward revision to take place this year. Georgieva blamed the combined effect of lingering covid disruptions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and climate disasters for adding uncertainty to the global economy.

“The US labor market is resisting Fed rate hikes,” (qz.com), Nate DiCamillo. For the seventh month in a row, the US labor market added more jobs than economists expected, defying the Federal Reserve’s attempts to slow it down.

“Welcome to inflation chaos,” The one-handed economist (one-handed-economist.com), David Zetland. Price inflation happens on the “pull” side when people demand a product with limited supply, which leads to higher prices. Asset inflation happens on the “push” side when too much money is chasing too little product. 

“CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978: CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021’,” | Economic Policy Institute (epi.org), Josh Bivens and Jori Kandra. Corporate boards running America’s largest public firms are giving top executives outsize compensation packages that have grown much faster than the stock market and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1%.

“Developers Loom As Boy Scouts Sell Thousands of Acres to Compensate Sexual Assault Victims,” The Revelator, Jordan Gass-Poore’. g’da. “Homeless in the High Desert” had this up on his site. Maine’s Androscoggin Land Trust just achieved a goal some thought it wouldn’t be able to achieve: It purchased the 95-acre Camp Gustin, located about 30 miles southwest of the state capital.

“Election Beat 2022: How state laws threating voting rights in the US,” (journalistsresource.org), Thomas E. Patterson. For the first time in our nation’s history, nearly every U.S. citizen who wanted to vote could do so without facing an undue burden, such as passing a literacy test. That era has ended.

Ukraine

“Joshua Yaffa on What’s Next for Ukraine,” The New Yorker, David Remnick. the latest news from Russia—including threats of nuclear attack and reports of political upheaval—has been treated with near-indifference. 

“The War in Ukraine Launches a New Battle for the Russian Soul,” The New Yorker, Masha Gessen. On September 30th, President Vladimir Putin signed a document that ostensibly accepted four Ukrainian regions as members of the Russian Federation. The residents of those regions, Putin said in a speech, “have become our citizens forever.”

Ecology

“The Ultimate Tiger Mom,” The New Yorker, Susan Orlean. Unlike most tiger mothers, Collarwali was, in fact, a tiger. Her life (2005-2022) was characterized by unusualness. She was unusually large for a female (so big, observers often mistook her for a male, and other tigers were scared to fight with her). 

“Buckle up! Gas prices are about to go higher,” (consumeraffairs.com), Mark Huffman. This week the group of major oil-producing nations, known as OPEC + because it includes non-OPEC members like Russia, announced member nations will cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day by the end of October. The cuts come at a time that the world is already experiencing tight supplies.

“EasyJet Ditches Carbon Offsetting in Favor of Actually Cutting Emissions,” (treehugger.com), Sami Grover. “Today, we’re the first airline to outline an ambitious roadmap in which zero carbon emission technology plays a key role to take us to net-zero emissions by 2050 and ultimately to zero carbon emission flying across our entire fleet,”

“Food insecurity in the US: An explainer and research roundup,” (journalistsresource.org), Naseem S. Miller. Among the drivers of the national strategy are food insecurity, which affects millions of Americans, and the increasing rates of diet-related diseases like obesity and diabetes.

Healthcare

“I Won’t Be Tossing My Mask Any Time Soon,” MedPage Today, Anastasia Wasylyshyn. As we have watched the rest of the world adapt to the pandemic and slowly reopen, many healthcare workers have wondered when it will be our turn. When will things finally “return to normal?”

“Insurer report on Medicare Advantage savings is misleading, experts say,” (statnews.com), Bob Herman. The health insurance industry is continuing its campaign to convince the public that Medicare Advantage saves taxpayers money, but experts say federal data still concludes the exact opposite — and that the program as currently designed is a drain on Medicare’s trust fund.

“Experts urge Medicare: Overhaul secretive panel advising on doctor pay,” (statnews.com), Bob Herman. A heavyweight group of former Medicare officials and payment experts are calling on the federal government to overhaul how Medicare pays physicians, which they say has morphed into a system that is “mind-numbingly complex and nontransparent.”

“Global Disability Justice In Climate Disasters: Mobilizing People With Disabilities As Change Agents,” Health Affairs, Alina Engelman, Leyla Craig, and Alastair Iles. Policy makers, humanitarian agencies, and governments need to address the climate-related vulnerabilities that disabled people encounter during acute events and in the course of more creeping forms of climate change.

“Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Coverage for Children,” Center For Children and Families (georgetown.edu). States have the option under current law to provide 12 months of continuous health coverage for children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) so that children can maintain coverage throughout the year even as their family income fluctuates from month to month.

“Has Patient Service Gone to the Dogs?” MedPage Today, Fred N. Pelzman. As we were preparing lunch yesterday, my wife called the boarding facility where he occasionally stays, and left a message on their voicemail with the dates and times we wanted to drop him off and pick him up. Literally walking from the kitchen over to the table to eat our lunch, my watch buzzed with an email from the boarding facility, confirming his appointment. That was fast, that was easy, that worked out just fine, just the way we hoped it would.

“Lowest US Life Expectancy Since 1996 Linked to COVID-19,” JAMA Network, Bridget Kuehn. Life expectancy dropped by 3 years for US men and 2.3 years for US women between 2019 and 2021, according to provisional life expectancy data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

“Firearm Violence in the US,” Adolescent Medicine | JAMA | JAMA Network, Kristin Walter. In 2020, there were 45 222 firearm-related deaths in the US. This amounts to ~124 people dying from gun violence each day. More than 50% of these firearm-related deaths were due to suicide and more than 40% were homicides. Nonfatal firearm injuries are more common than firearm-related deaths.

“Two Cats Looking At The Same Bird.” Weldon Berger, (substack.com). The press has made themselves the perfect patsies for Trump before he was more than a blip on the national radar. Never mind a presidential candidate, and their evident frailties went far beyond what Alterman mistakes as casual corruption in his encounter with Dowd.

“A $21 Million Anti-Abortion Ad Blitz In Michigan,” (levernews.com), Andrew Perez. Michigan is set to vote next month on a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, Anti-abortion forces are flooding the airwaves with more than $13 million worth of negative ads. They are outspending pro-choice groups in the state by nearly two to one. Abortion opponents will spend more than $21 million on TV ads by Election Day, according to advertising data from AdImpact.

“September 28, 2022,” Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, (substack.com). Since the 1980s, the argument for dismantling the government has been that federal regulations hamper the operation of the free market. Thus the slowing economic growth, while the taxes required to maintain a bureaucratic system take money away from those who otherwise would invest in businesses. The avowed theory is that a freely operating market will free up money on the “supply side” of the economy.

Other Site and Past Links to great Articles:

“What News was in My In-Box,” Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com), October 4, 2022.

“What News was in My In-Box.” Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com), September 28, 2022.

Infidel753: “Link round-up for 9 October 2022.”

“Tuesday’s Trials and Tribulations …,” Homeless on the High Desert, g’da.