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Tuesday, February 18, 2025

"Blow it up anyway"

Trump echoes his heroes

Surprising Science Behind What We Really Recall

False Memories Under Fire

By University College London

False memories are much harder to implant than previously believed, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and Royal Holloway, University of London.

The 1995 “Lost in the Mall” study has been widely referenced in criminal trials, especially in cases of historical sexual abuse — most notably by Harvey Weinstein’s defense team — to question the reliability of accusers’ memories.

This well-known study suggested that implanting false memories of events that never happened is relatively easy. In the original study, 25% of the 24 participants falsely remembered being lost in a supermarket at the age of five.

In 2023, psychologists from University College Cork and University College Dublin replicated the study using the same methods but with a larger sample of 123 participants. They reported a higher rate of false memories, claiming that 35% of participants recalled the fabricated event.

Clinical trials for nasal COVID vaccine to begin

Nasal COVID-19 vaccine based on WashU technology to enter U.S. clinical trials

by Tamara Schneider

A nasal vaccine for COVID-19 – based on technology developed at Washington University in St. Louis – is poised to enter a phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S.

A nasal vaccine for COVID-19 – based on technology developed at Washington University in St. Louis – is poised to enter a phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. after an investigational new drug application from Ocugen, Inc. was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ocugen, a U.S.-based biotechnology company, licensed the innovative technology from WashU in 2022.

The trial will be sponsored and conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The FDA’s action is a critical first step toward initiation of the phase 1 trial, planned for this spring.

While cases of COVID-19 have fallen dramatically since the early years of the pandemic, the virus continues to circulate and still causes significant illnesses and deaths. The nasal vaccine technology is designed to induce strong immunity in the nose and upper respiratory tract, right where the virus enters the body, thereby potentially stopping transmission of the virus in addition to reducing serious illness and death. Most COVID-19 vaccines are injected into the arm or leg, and while they are effective at reducing illness and death, they do not halt transmission. The new trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine administered via two routes: inhaled into the lungs and sprayed into the nose.

Gun safety advocates set sights again on passing an assault weapons ban

Rhode Island tries again to ban military-style weapons

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Mia Tretta cared more about her Spanish grade and who was going to ask her to the school dance than advocacy as a 15-year-old growing up in California. That changed on Nov. 14, 2019.

“An older student I had never met before entered my school with a gun in his backpack,” the Brown University sophomore told dozens of people gathered Tuesday afternoon in the State Room of the Rhode Island State House.

That was the day Tretta was airlifted to a hospital where doctors removed a bullet from her stomach. She was one of six students shot with a Colt 1911, which the perpetrator had assembled at home. The shooting lasted 16 seconds, killing two students and injuring three others before the perpetrator shot himself in the head.

Tretta was surprised to learn Rhode Island did not have a ban on semiautomatic weapons like the one used in the school shooting in which she was injured. Now a student leader for Brown University Students Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety, she joined Gov. Dan McKee, Rhode Island’s general officers, a slate of lawmakers and a crowd of gun legislation advocates — many wearing orange and red shirts —  for a press conference ahead of legislation that seeks to ban what the state calls assault weapons.  

Monday, February 17, 2025

Trump's Old-School Brand of Imperialism

MAGA-Fest Destiny

William Astore for the TomDispatch

A few years ago, I came across an old book at an estate sale. Its title caught my eye: “Our New Possessions.” Its cover featured the Statue of Liberty against stylized stars and stripes. 

What were those “new possessions”? The cover made it quite clear: Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The subtitle made it even clearer: “A graphic account, descriptive and historical, of the tropic islands of the sea which have fallen under our sway, their cities, peoples, and commerce, natural resources and the opportunities they offer to Americans.” 

What a mouthful! I’m still impressed with the notion that “tropical” peoples falling “under our sway” offered real Americans amazing opportunities, as did our (whoops — I meant their) lands. Consider that Manifest Destiny at its boldest, imperialism unapologetically being celebrated as a new basis for burgeoning American greatness.

The year that imperial celebration was published — 1898 — won’t surprise students of U.S. history. America had just won its splendid little imperial war with Spain, an old empire very much in the “decline and fall” stage of a rich, long, and rapacious history. And just then red-blooded Americans like “Rough Rider” Teddy Roosevelt were emerging as the inheritors of the conquistador tradition of an often murderously swashbuckling Spanish Empire.

Of course, freedom-loving Americans were supposed to know better than to follow in the tradition of “old world” imperial exploitation. Nevertheless, cheerleaders and mentors like storyteller Rudyard Kipling were then urging Americans to embrace Europe’s civilizing mission, to take up “the white man’s burden,” to spread enlightenment and civilization to the benighted darker-skinned peoples of the tropics. 

Yet to cite just one example, U.S. troops dispatched to the Philippines on their “civilizing” mission quickly resorted to widespread murder and torture, methods of “pacification” that might even have made Spanish inquisitors blush. That grim reality wasn’t lost on Mark Twain and other critics who spoke out against imperialism, American-style, with its murderous suppression of Filipino “guerrillas” and bottomless hypocrisy about its “civilizing” motives.

After his exposure to “enlightened” all-American empire-building, retired Major General Smedley Butler, twice awarded the Medal of Honor, would bluntly write in the 1930s of war as a “racket” and insist his long career as a Marine had been spent largely in the service of “gangster” capitalism. Now there was a plain-speaking American hero.

And speaking of plain-speaking, or perhaps plain-boasting, I suggest that we think of Donald Trump as America’s retro president from 1898. Isn’t it time, America, to reach for our destiny once again? Isn’t it time for more tropical (and Arctic) peoples to be put “under our sway”? Greenland! Canada! The Panama Canal! 

These and other regions of the globe offer Donald Trump’s America so many “opportunities.” And if we can’t occupy an area like the Gulf of Mexico, the least we can do is rebrand it the Gulf of America! A lexigraphic “mission accomplished” moment bought with no casualties, which sure beats the calamitous wars of George W. Bush and Barack Obama in this century!

Now, here’s what I appreciate about Trump: the transparent nature of his greed. He doesn’t shroud American imperialism in happy talk. He says it just like they did in 1898. It’s about resources and profits. 

As the dedication page to that old book from 1898 put it: “To all Americans who go a-pioneering in our new possessions and to the people who are there before them.” Oh, and pay no attention to that “before” caveat. 

We Americans clearly came first then and, at least to Donald Trump, come first now, and — yes! — we come to rule. The world is our possession and our beneficence will certainly serve the peoples who were there before us in Greenland or anywhere else (the “hellhole” of Gaza included), even if we have to torture or kill them in the process of winning their hearts and minds.

Move fast and break things

The Washington Post refused to run this ad from Common Cause

We need more bonobos in Washington

Great apes know when you're full of crap

Johns Hopkins University

To get treats, apes eagerly pointed them out to humans who didn't know where they were, a seemingly simple experiment that demonstrated for the first time that apes will communicate unknown information in the name of teamwork. 

The study also provides the clearest evidence to date that apes can intuit another's ignorance, an ability thought to be uniquely human.

The work by researchers with Johns Hopkins University's Social and Cognitive Origins Group published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The ability to sense gaps in one another's knowledge is at the heart of our most sophisticated social behaviors, central to the ways we cooperate, communicate and work together strategically," said co-author Chris Krupenye a Johns Hopkins assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences who studies how animals think. 

"Because this so-called theory of mind supports many of the capacities that make humans unique, like teaching and language, many believe it is absent from animals. But this work demonstrates the rich mental foundations that humans and other apes share -- and suggests that these abilities evolved millions of years ago in our common ancestors."

Is Your Drinking Water Safe?

Common Chemicals Linked to Rising Cancer Risk

By Keck School of Medicine of USC

New research from the Keck School of Medicine at USC reveals that communities with drinking water contaminated by manufactured chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) face up to a 33% higher risk of developing certain cancers.

Published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology and funded by the National Institutes of Health, this is the first U.S.-based study to directly examine the link between PFAS contamination in drinking water and cancer.

PFAS are widely used in consumer products like furniture and food packaging and have been detected in approximately 45% of drinking water supplies across the United States. These chemicals are slow to degrade and accumulate in the body over time. Previous studies have connected PFAS exposure to several health issues, including kidney, breast, and testicular cancers.

To paint a more comprehensive picture of PFAS and cancer risk, Keck School of Medicine researchers conducted an ecological study, which uses large population-level datasets to identify patterns of exposure and associated risk. 

They found that between 2016 and 2021, counties across the U.S. with PFAS-contaminated drinking water had a higher incidence of certain types of cancer, which differed by sex. Overall, PFAS in drinking water are estimated to contribute to more than 6,800 cancer cases each year, based on the most recent data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

OF NOTE: you should read this article on Trump's decision to rescind proposed regulations on PFAS - "Amid series of rapid-fire policy reversals, Trump quietly withdraws proposed limits on PFAS"

Try to imagine a Category Four hurricane hitting Rhode Island

If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone?

Photo by another Trump-Musk endangered agency,
the National Weather Service
Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid and temporary housing assistance.

Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own?

Normally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is prepared to marshal supplies within hours of a disaster and begin distributing financial aid to residents who need help.

However, with Donald Trump questioning FEMA’s future and suggesting states take over recovery instead, and climate change causing more frequent and severe disasters, it’s worth asking how prepared states are to face these growing challenges without help.

What FEMA does

FEMA was created in 1979 with the job of coordinating national responses to disasters, but the federal government has played important roles in disaster relief since the 1800s.

During a disaster, FEMA’s assistance can begin only after a state requests an emergency declaration and the U.S. president approves it. The request has to show that the disaster is so severe that the state can’t handle the response on its own.

FEMA’s role is to support state and local governments by coordinating federal agencies and providing financial aid and recovery assistance that states would otherwise struggle to supply on their own. FEMA doesn’t “take over,” as a misinformation campaign launched during Hurricane Helene claimed. Instead, it pools federal resources to allow states to recover faster from expensive disasters.

During a disaster, FEMA:

  • Coordinates federal resources. For example, during Hurricane Ian in 2022, FEMA coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Defense and search-and-rescue teams to conduct rescue operations, organized utility crews to begin restoring power and also delivered water and millions of meals.

  • Provides financial assistance. FEMA distributes billions of dollars in disaster relief funds to help individuals, businesses and local governments recover. As of Feb. 3, 2025, FEMA aid from 2024 storms included US$1.04 billion related to Hurricane Milton, $416.1 million for Hurricane Helene and $112.6 million for Hurricane Debby.

  • Provides logistical support. FEMA coordinates with state and local governments, nonprofits such as the American Red Cross and federal agencies to supply cots, blankets and hygiene supplies for emergency shelters. It also works with state and local partners to distribute critical supplies such as food, water and medical aid.

The agency also manages the National Flood Insurance Program, offers disaster preparedness training and helps states develop response plans to improve their overall responses systems.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Yes, Trump is a malignant narcissist and sadist with an insatiable lust for power who gets pleasure out of making others squirm. But there’s something else.

Trump's Trade War, Authoritarian Power, and the Oligarchs

Robert Reich in Inequality Media

Understand this: The reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is not to have more bargaining leverage to get better deals for the United States from Canada or from Mexico.

Hours before the Canadian tariffs went into effect, Trump was asked if there was anything Canada could do to stop them. “We’re not looking for a concession,” Trump said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. “We’ll just see what happens, we’ll see what happens.”

The real reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is to show the world that he’s willing to harm (smaller) economies even at the cost of harming America’s (very large) economy.

The point is the show — so the world knows it’s dealing with someone who’s willing to mete out big punishments. Trump increases his power by demonstrating he has the power and is willing to use it.

The same with deporting, say, Colombians or Brazilians in military planes, handcuffed and shackled. If, say, Colombia or Brazil complains about their treatment, so much the better. Trump says, without any basis in fact, that they’re criminals. Then he threatens tariffs. If Colombia backs down, Trump has once again demonstrated his power.

Why did Trump stop foreign aid? Not because it’s wasteful. In fact, it helps stabilize the world and reduces the spread of communicable diseases. The real reason Trump stopped foreign aid is he wants to show he can.

Why is he disregarding (or threatening to tear up) treaties and agreements (the Paris Agreement, NATO, whatever)? Not because such treaties and agreements are bad for America. To the contrary, they’re in America’s best interest.

The real reason Trump is tearing up treaties is they tie Trump’s hands and thereby limit his discretion to mete out punishments and rewards.

Thoughts and prayers

This is how it works

Rhode Island progressive legislators call for action on the challenges ahead

RI lawmakers introduce the Working Families Agenda to tackle issues impacting working families, including threats from the White House

Steve Ahlquist

From a press release:

A diverse group of over 20 legislators came together Wednesday to announce their Working Families Agenda, a list of top priorities for the 2025 legislative session. The group, which included representatives from across Rhode Island, presented a list of policies that will address the major issues affecting working people and that lawmakers agree should be prioritized to protect Rhode Islanders from the chaos and cruelty of the White House.

"It’s well-known—no matter your party or politics—that this State is staring down a crisis: President Trump looks hell-bent on cutting hundreds of million dollars or more to Rhode Island in particular,” said Representative David Morales, who spoke at the press conference. “So our Working Families agenda is about protecting families. But it’s also a call to action: For every Democrat in the Rhode Island State House, fighting Trump and Musk’s agenda starts in this building."

The Working Families Agenda includes proposals to raise wages, ensure Rhode Islanders don’t lose their healthcare, protect against Medicaid and federal funding cuts, eliminate barriers to life-saving emergency medication, expand access to quality affordable childcare, protect tenants from eviction and rising rents, and generate more revenue through fair taxation to be re-invested into working people’s priorities.

During the press conference, lawmakers emphasized the importance of a State government that stands firmly on the side of working people, calling attention to the State House’s role in fighting for ‘local solutions to national crises.’