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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Use tax policy to promote socially-responsible behavior

By FRANK CARINI, ecoRI

Republicans cut them in time of war. Democrats view them as a panacea. And both parties have designed a convoluted system that allows the very rich to pay a lower tax percentage than everyone else — and there appears to be little chance this inequitable practice will be remedied anytime soon.

In fact, it’s no secret that many of the taxes that have been spewed forth by D.C. lawmakers for decades as ways to help the middle class are nothing more than a charade.

For example, as economist Joseph Stiglitz documents, the mortgage interest deduction provides more assistance to rich homeowners than to the middle class, because it “encourage excessive housing consumption and excessive borrowing — not surprising, given the political clout of our banks.”

Stiglitz, who received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, notes in a white paper recently published by the Roosevelt Institute that the U.S. government provides more housing assistance to the rich through an elaborate tax system than it does to the poor through public housing.

Our rigged tax system helps explain why middle-class incomes, adjusted for inflation, have barely increased in decades. From 1978 to 2013, a typical worker’s compensation rose just 10 percent. In that same 35-year period, CEO compensation, adjusted for inflation, increased 937 percent, a rise more than double stock-market growth, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Taxes are an integral part of a well-functioning economy, and society. After all, this country’s two most successful and innovative industries at the moment — high tech and biotech — were propped up by government research and funding.

Why we need to go to war in the Middle East again

Building Blocks of War
By Tom Tomorrow

Click here to learn why absolutely none of our past experience with fighting in the Middle East makes any difference.

DEM wants public involvement in new wildlife action plan

You’re invited to a workshop at URI on October 8

Baby Animals Cute Animals animated GIF

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management will hold its final scientific review workshop on the Rhode Island Wildlife Action Plan (RIWAP) on Wednesday, October 8 at the URI Coastal Institute in Narragansett.

The workshop will take place from 9:00 a.m. to noon in Corliss Auditorium at the University of Rhode Island's Bay Campus located at 215 South Ferry Road.

During the past year, many of the state's natural resource and wildlife specialists have worked diligently to determine the Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and their associated key habitats in Rhode Island, and develop species and habitat profiles outlining their distribution, threats, and proposed conservation actions. 

“Congressman Langevin delivered for kids.”

Rep. Jim Langevin Recognized as Champion for Children
Ed Walz, First Focus Campaign for Children

Washington – Today, the First Focus Campaign for Children, a national bipartisan children’s advocacy group, recognized Congressman Jim Langevin for his leadership on issues important to children during the 113th Congress (2013-2014).

“Lots of politicians talk about kids’ issues, but few back it up,” said Bruce Lesley, president of the Campaign for Children. “Congressman Langevin delivered for kids.”

In selecting Champions, the First Focus Campaign for Children noted leaders who introduced, co-sponsored, and voted for legislation to meet children’s needs. In addition, the organization considered Members who demonstrated extraordinary initiative by spearheading activities such as sponsoring hearings or garnering the support of their colleagues to improve the health and well-being of children. 

In recognizing Congressman Langevin as a Champion for Children, the advocacy group cited his leadership to protect and improve the future of America’s next generation.

Ted Cruz Dreams Up Assorted Fossil Fuel Favors

He's got a nifty plan to alleviate Native American poverty by opening up their tribal lands to oil drilling.

Let’s take a cruise down the narrow byways and twisting turns that form Senator Ted Cruz’s mind.

The first right turn on our road trip brings us to a sweeping view of the Texas Republican’s Energy Renaissance Act, a proposal so studded with fossil fuel favors that it ought be called the “Exxon Mobil Relief Act.”

His bill would prevent the federal government from ever imposing regulations on fracking. It also includes an edict to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, a requirement that any new EPA regulations get a congressional vote of approval, and a nifty plan to alleviate Native American poverty by opening up their tribal lands to oil drilling.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Recycling in Charlestown flops again

Last place, for the third year in a row
help animated GIFBy Will Collette

The state of Rhode Island’s Resource Recovery Center will actually pay us to recycle. In fact, every year at this time, they distribute checks to RhodeIsland municipalities to reflect the profits on selling the amount of waste they deliver to the Johnston landfill’s recycling center.

However, it’s becoming a regular annual story that, like the past two years, Charlestown got the smallest check. Four years ago, the only town to do worse than Charlestown was West Greenwich.

With town leadership dominated by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) who claim the mantle of environmentalism for their own, why is it that we suck so badly at recycling? We’ll get back to that, but let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

What makes this year different is the new lengths the town, with the help of the RIRRC, has been trying to gloss over its dismal performance. They want you to use a different measure of comparison, rather than the simplest and most obvious by noting that Charlestown’s record is not really so terrible.

If you turn the numbers so that you look at them in a certain light at a certain angle, “You’ll see that Charlestown actually fairs [SIC] extremely well when compared to other communities. It is *this* measure-waste generation-that is important, not a town’s recycling rate, which is dependent on many variables.”

That’s what RIRRC public relations officer Sarah Kite wrote to me in an e-mail. Sure you can. Indeed, you can torture any data to make it tell you just about anything you want. When her agency first issued their “new and improved” way of looking at municipal recycling, it was pretty easy to tear that analysis to shreds, as I did here.


Visit Depressionland

The crappiest place on earth
By Gemma Correll

If you can work up the energy, click here.

VIDEO: Just seven?

Kitty of the week

Meet Barry
From the Animal Rescue League of Southern RI

Hello, I am Barry. 

I am a long-haired grey wonder who is looking for a nice comfy spot in a new forever home. 

In my free time I love to relax and watch the birds from the window. 

By night my goal is to be your best friend and sit next to you while you relax after a long day. 

I am a mild mannered cat that is rather low maintenance...although I will admit a nice brush running through my fur would be splendid every now and again. 

Other than that, I just want a family to love and call my own. 

Who can resist a stunning male grey cat with a handsome coat? 

If you can let me into your home I will let you into my heart!

For the last of your tomatoes - Mozzarella and Tomato

Photo and text by KARA DiCAMILLO/ecoRI.org News contributor
One of the things that I love is cheese and, for me, there’s nothing like fresh mozzarella. I’ve wanted to learn how to make it for quite some time now, so I decided to attend a cooking class at Trio Restaurant in Narragansett. While chef Kevin Gaudreau made it look incredibly easy, what I learned is that it actually is, and not as time consuming as I had thought.
Using local curd from Narragansett Creamery, Gaudreau explained that there are just a few simple ingredients to mozzarella: milk, acidity (such as lemon juice, vinegar or rennet), water and salt. The technique of forming the mozzarella is really what’s key to it, because, as I learned, if it’s overworked it becomes too dense.

Opening Pandora’s Box

Congressional Republicans can’t bring themselves to support Obama even when he does what they want him to do

Isn’t it interesting how, up until now, Republicans have been clamoring for ramping up the war effort in Iraq – calling Obama weak because he pulled out of that country? Of course, the entire Iraq withdrawal plan was signed, sealed and rightly delivered by the Bush administration. If you will recall, back in 2011, Republicans were outraged that President Obama was actually abiding by the agreement made by his predecessor and bringing the last of the American troops home.

Remember just over a year ago when Republicans were happy to side with the president about bombing Syria? Senator John McCain was almost giddy at the prospect.

But now, when the president is asking Congress to vote on giving him the power to do what they have long been wanting him to do – go back to Iraq and into Syria so he can bomb ISIS terrorists into eternity – well, they aren’t so up for doing their job.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Attorney General cites Charlestown for open government violation – AGAIN

For all their talk about transparent government, the CCA Party does not practice what it preaches
By Will Collette

Platner and the CCA Party are taught, once again, that you can't run
government cloaked in secrecy
Since the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) was formed in 2006 to battle then Town Council President Jim Mageau, they have preached the virtues of open and transparent government. 

Maybe they only meant that to apply to Mageau because they sure haven’t practiced it themselves during these past six years that they’ve been running Charlestown government.

The state Attorney General’s office has just handed down yet another decision that cites the CCA Party town leadership for two violations of the open government law. This time, it’s Ruth Platner’s Planning Commission that broke the Open Meetings Act by holding a secret ballot during an open meeting.

Read the decision here

The decision comes from the complaint filed by former Town Council President Deb Carney that charged the Planning Commission with violating the law at its May 7 meeting by holding a secret vote of the Commission members on their preference for which consultant to hire to help rewrite the town’s Comprehensive Plan. Carney also charged the Commission with failing to record the actual vote.

She also asked the Attorney General to deem the violation “intentional” and thus subject to penalties because this is the second time in a year that a CCA Party-controlled Charlestown town body used a secret ballot during an open meeting. 


Should you go to college?

If it's "culture," then that "culture" needs to go


“I can’t take it anymore!”

Burnout caused by more than just job stress

Impossible deadlines, demanding bosses, abusive colleagues, unpaid overtime: all factors that can lead to a burnout. But when it comes to mental health in the workplace, the influence of home life must also be considered to get the full picture.

That's about to change thanks to new research from Concordia University and the University of Montreal, which proves that having an understanding partner is just as important as having a supportive boss.

Is the Bishop taking sides in the 2014 Election?

 animated GIF
When Bishop Thomas Tobin cracks his whip on Catholic politicians, it doesn’t serve his cause well. Remember when he managed to make a martyr out of even Congressman Patrick Kennedy?

Tobin hasn’t denied Democratic nominee Gina Raimondo communion, but the Republican bishop did offer a passive rebuke to the Catholic candidate for governor after she won the endorsement of Planned Parenthood. He didn’t mention her by name, but the timing left little doubt.

The very reason Catholics were distrusted in this country in the 1800s and the early 1900s is because Catholics were presumed to be anti-democratic in their allegiance to a foreign king (the Pope) and it was assumed that they would attempt to impose their Catholic values on everyone in the event that they achieved political power. 

Trying to save us from ourselves

By ecoRI News staff
Amazing Animated Gif animated GIF

Rapid climate change and an increasing range of climate impacts are already being felt along the U.S. coast, and new research suggests that Northeast coastal waters may be more vulnerable to climate change and ocean acidification than previously thought.

A team of scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently received a $1 million grant from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to develop science-based climate-change adaptation solutions for coastal communities and to partner with organizations to help these communities anticipate change and prepare to adapt.

The multi-pronged research project pairs WHOI scientists with regional organizations actively involved in three interrelated coastal ocean climate impacts areas that are affecting many coastal communities in southern New England: sea-level rise and coastal flooding; coastal water quality and ocean acidification; and ocean climate warming and fisheries.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

'Her day was getting up, eating if she could, then crawling back to bed'

By Marianne Lavelle, The Daily Climate
Lyme Probability-768
Editor's Note: "Climate at Your Doorstep" is an effort by The Daily Climate to highlight stories about climate change impacts happening now. Find more stories like this here.

Richard Gardiner had no option but to shut down his law practice in Fairfax, Va. in the summer of 2012. A fit 60 year-old, he came down with a high fever and the worst chills he had known in his life. He spent a miserable summer bedridden with aches and debilitating fatigue.

At around the same time in Bozeman, Mont., 12-year-old Noelle Freeburg – described by her mother as a "healthy-as-a-horse" tween who enjoyed dancing, swimming and skiing – became feverish, dizzy, and doubled over with stomach aches every time she tried to exert herself.

In different corners of the United States, this middle-aged man and middle school girl were embarking on the same frustrating, costly journey. It took both of them months to learn why their health was deteriorating. They were patients on the frontiers of North America's expanding Lyme disease epidemic.

Leading vector-borne disease in the U.S.

Less than four decades ago, scientists identified a spiral-shaped bacteria transmitted by the bite of a tiny hard-bodied tick as the cause of an arthritis outbreak among children in southern Connecticut. Since then, Lyme disease has emerged from obscurity to become the leading vector-borne disease in the United States. The 27,203 confirmed new cases reported to federal health authorities in 2013 marked nearly a 25 percent jump over the previous year.


They're everywhere

Guide to E-Holes
By Jen Sorenson

Click here, although you already know who they are.

VIDEO: For some reason, Sarah Palin is looking forward to conservatives moving into the Willard Hotel

Sarah Palin Wants Conservatives to Live At ‘1400 Pennsylvania Avenue’
Map of 1400 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004Sarah Palin gave a speech at the Values Voter Summit to a somewhat less than enthusiastic audience on Friday afternoon. 

She told the extreme righties in the room that they were the most slandered people in the country. And she blathered on about how she was sick and tired of the Liberals using the race card.

Palin did manage to come up with a few names of minority Conservatives but somehow the address of the White House totally confused her. 

I’m not sure where 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue is (see map), but according to Caribou Barbie, it’s where the liars live. I guess we should be grateful that at least she can locate Russia from her house.

Click "continue" to see the video.


Cleaning recyclables makes them more recyclable

Why It's Important to Rinse Recyclables
Bottle Octopus animated GIF
We all know it's important to recycle and not toss things into the trash or the environment, but how carefully do we need to rinse containers before sending them on their way to the recycling center? 

Some argue that recycling is a total waste of water when you factor in the amount people are using to get their cans, bottles, and jars squeaky-clean, while others claim containers don't need to be rinsed at all, and some say that the reality lies in the middle ground.

The real answer is that the rinsing requirements can vary depending on where you are, but the bottom line is this: Yes, you still need to rinse recyclables. However, you can do it in an energy-efficient way.

Another diet study challenges assumptions

Study shows eating high-fat dairy lowers diabetes risk
From: Diabetologia via EurekAlert 

New research presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria, shows that people with the highest consumption of high-fat dairy products (8 or more portions per day) have a 23% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest consumption (1 or less per day). 

The research is by Dr Ulrika Ericson, Lund University Diabetes Center, Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues.

Dietary fats could affect glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity and may therefore have a crucial role in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Studies have indicated that replacing saturated fat with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats might be favourable in the prevention of T2D.


Legal Marijuana Has Created a Conundrum for Law Enforcement

Like its liquid counterpart alcohol, marijuana is a drug. Unlike alcohol, however, there are no clear-cut means of determining whether or not one is too intoxicated by the herb to drive safely.

Two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Four more states — Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon — and the District of Columbia, may be close to doing the same. Moreover, medical marijuana is currently available in 22 states and Washington D.C.
In the wake of the widespread move to remove the boundaries against marijuana use, states are scrambling to figure out how to detect and deal with drugged drivers.

DUID Laws: The Times, They are Changing

Friday, September 26, 2014

They can bail but you can’t


Thirty years ago, on its opening day in 1984, Donald Trump stood in a dark topcoat on the casino floor at Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza, celebrating his new investment as the finest building in Atlantic City and possibly the nation.

Last week, the Trump Plaza folded and the Trump Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy, leaving some 1,000 employees without jobs.

Trump, meanwhile, was on twitter claiming he had “nothing to do with Atlantic City,” and praising himself for his “great timing” in getting out of the investment.

In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble.

The laws protect them through limited liability and bankruptcy.

But workers who move to a place like Atlantic City for a job, invest in a home there, and build their skills, have no such protection. Jobs vanish, skills are suddenly irrelevant, and home values plummet.
They’re stuck with the mess.

Bankruptcy was designed so people could start over. But these days, the only ones starting over are big corporations, wealthy moguls, and Wall Street.

"We won't try to buy your vote"

The progressive comic about GOP campaign promises.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Supernova Remnant Puppis A 

Driven by the explosion of a massive star, supernova remnant Puppis A is blasting into the surrounding interstellar medium about 7,000 light-years away.

At that distance, this remarkable false-color exploration of its complex expansion is about 180 light-years wide. It is based on the most complete X-ray data set so far from the Chandra and XMM/Newton observations, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

In blue hues, the filamentary X-ray glow is from gas heated by the supernova's shock wave, while the infrared emission shown in red and green is from warm dust.

The bright pastel tones trace the regions where shocked gas and warmed dust mingle. Light from the initial supernova itself, triggered by the collapse of the massive star's core, would have reached Earth about 3,700 years ago, though the Puppis A supernova remnant remains a strong source in the X-ray sky.



A Bright Idea

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb animated GIFBy ecoRI News staff

The Clean Water Fund (CWF) and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) have joined forces with small businesses to collect mercury-containing lighting elements, such as compact fluorescent bulbs (CLFs).

Hardware stores in 12 communities across the Ocean State that sell the bulbs are offering residents a free collection service for burned-out CFLs and linear lamps up to 4 feet in length. The stores will ship the bulbs to a proper recycling facility.

This collection service will help prevent one source of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, from finding its way into the environment. The program makes it convenient for consumers to return spent bulbs for recycling.

“The project will demonstrate that when businesses and environmental advocates work together, efficient and economical solutions can be found to limit the health hazards of toxic materials in our communities,” said David Gerraughty, CWF’s mercury program coordinator.

Mercury can cause damage to the brain, kidneys and nervous system, and is of particular concern for pregnant women and children because of its effects on childhood development. Most people contact mercury through fish consumption.

Here are locations (including some in South County) where you can recycle fluorescent bulbs:

High protein diets lead to lower blood pressure, study finds

Adding fiber boosts the results even more
Infinite Loop animated GIF

Adults who consume a high-protein diet may be at a lower risk for developing high blood pressure (HBP). The study, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), found participants consuming the highest amount of protein (an average of 100 g protein/day) had a 40 percent lower risk of having high blood pressure compared to the lowest intake level.

One of three U.S. adults has hypertension and 78.6 million are clinically obese, a risk factor for the development of hypertension. Because of the strain that it puts on blood vessel walls, HBP is one of the most common risk factors of stroke and an accelerator of multiple forms of heart disease, especially when paired with excess body weight.

Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you power

The Koch Brothers Control of America
Charles and David Koch are brothers and oil billionaires who have a long history of political interference and climate misinformation. 

Their multifarious support for fossil fuels has helped to slow America’s adoption of renewable energy. 

They have also undermined efforts to pass climate and energy legislation at both the state and national levels. 

They have even managed to influence the Supreme Court and help sour American attitudes on the veracity of global warming.


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Charlestown Tapas

Eleven quick takes for busy readers
By Will Collette

Jobs – where they are, where they’re not

Generate Radiation animated GIFI’m going to lead this edition of Charlestown Tapas with jobs because it affords the opportunity to link several recurring topics. 

First, Charlestown’s overall unemployment rate is beginning to creep upward again. After a very encouraging drop to only 5.7% in June (a pre-Recession level), we’ve now had two straight months of increases in the rate which went up by 0.1% in August to 7.2%.

The actual increase in the number of Charlestown residents collecting unemployment benefits only grew by one person from July to August, but the number of people seeking employment (but not finding it) increased by 16. Our chronic unemployment figure has been running between 300 and 400 people for most of the year.

There continue to be non-profit jobs opening up. The best source for finding out about non-profit openings is RI Community Jobs, a free service of Brown University’s Swearer Center – click here to sign up for their daily e-mail).

The Literacy volunteers of Washington County in Westerly are looking for a part-time development and marketing officer. Click here for details. 

While I don’t normally list jobs in Providence, I happened to notice that Rhode Island Housing, an agency much hated by Planning Commissar Ruth Platner and her Charlestown Citizens Alliance colleagues, is posting two job openings. What a great opportunity for the CCA Party to gather intelligence on Rhode Island’s lead agency on affordable housing that also happens to be its blood enemy.

One opening is for a KeepSpace Coordinator (click here for details) and the other is for an administrative assistant (click here).

But the job opportunity that really grabbed my interest is for an “equipment operator” at the Millstone Nuclear Power plant, just over 20 miles to the west of Charlestown in Waterford, CT. I swear I am not making this up.

If you are a high school graduation or hold a GED, you can get hired to run equipment around the two operating nuclear reactors, start up and shut-down their radioactive waste storage system, read all those little tiny gauges, dials and switches, and respond to plant emergencies.

You will have to pass a test, but don’t worry, they even provide you with a sample test so you can practice (click here). Again, I am not making any of this up.

Here is the actual list of working conditions you might be subjected to if you get the gig: confined spaces, cold. dust/grease/oil, energized wires, fumes, heat, loud noise, operating machinery, outdoors, office work environment, pressurized lines & valves, and last on their list but hardly the least, radiation.

Texas textbooks

Science? We don't need no stinkin' science?
By the First Dog on the Moon, the Guardian

Click here and be amazed how a cartoonist for one of Britain's leading newspapers totally nails it.

Learn about composting with worms

The Worm Ladies of Charlestown, Inc.


Fall Newsletter 2014
from Funny Times May 2014


Welcome to our Fall Newsletter. 
  • The Worm Ladies will begin Vermicomposting in Cafeterias and will continue to visit classrooms with our worms. 
  • The Worm Ladies are planning to start a Coop of Rhody Worm Growers. 
  •  Now is the time to take advantage of the castings in your worm bin. Learn how.
URI Master Composting Class to begin October 18, 2014.




Helping to relieve kids' pain

Chariho High School club donates fun hot-cold packs for kids to Wood River Health Services
Wood River Health Services Medical Director Dr. Chris Campagnari 
accepts children’s gel packs donated by the Chariho High School 
Interact Club, Jillian Delasanta (center), president.
By David Henley

HOPE VALLEY, RI  – The Chariho High School’s Interact Club recently donated $390 raised through its spring floor hockey tournament  fundraiser to Wood River Health Services in Hope Valley to purchase gel packs for children.

The colorful, cartoon shaped gel packs, in the shape of a penguin for medical or a tooth for dental patients, can be frozen or heated as needed to help relieve a child’s pain in a fun way.

Not a cure for cataracts

Vitamin E, selenium supplements unlikely to affect age-related cataracts in men

Taking daily supplements of selenium and/or vitamin E appears to have no significant effect on the development of age-related cataracts in men, writes Author William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues.

Some research, including animal studies, has suggested that dietary nutrients can have an effect on the onset and progression of cataracts. Vitamin E and selenium are of particular interest.

The authors report the findings for cataracts from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) Eye Endpoints (SEE) Study. The SEE study was an ancillary study of SELECT, a randomized placebo-controlled trial of selenium, vitamin E and a combination of the two in prostate cancer prevention among 35,533 men (50 years and older for black men and 55 years and older for all other men). Men were asked to report cataract diagnosis or removal since entering the SELECT trial. A total of 11,267 SELECT participants took part in the SEE study.

A dollar here, a dollar there...pretty soon you're talking about real money

Business Success and Economic Failure
By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

What does it say that an all-out takeover battle is being waged for a chain of no-frills stores selling cheap merchandise at outlets typically located in the most downscale parts of town? 

The answer is that deep-discount retailing, which entered the mainstream during the recession of the late 2000s, remains a lucrative business as much of the country struggles with stagnating income levels.

The focus of the current bidding war is Family Dollar Stores, the second largest chain of deep discounters, also known as dollar stores. A couple of months ago, Dollar Tree, the third largest chain, announced plans for an $8.5 billion purchase of Family Dollar, which had been targeted by several corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn, who bought a 9 percent stake in the firm.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Assault rifles are not the real problem

While assault rifles look scary, they are not the guns that kill the most people?
by Lois Beckett, at ProPublicaThis story was co-published with the New York Times.


Over the past two decades, the majority of Americans in a country deeply divided over gun control have coalesced behind a single proposition: The sale of assault weapons should be banned.

That idea was one of the pillars of the Obama administration's plan to curb gun violence, and it remains popular with the public. In a poll last December, 59 percent of likely voters said they favor a ban.

But in the 10 years since the previous ban lapsed, even gun control advocates acknowledge a larger truth: The law that barred the sale of assault weapons from 1994 to 2004 made little difference.

It turns out that big, scary military rifles don't kill the vast majority of the 11,000 Americans murdered with guns each year. Little handguns do.


Now that we know all-powerful ISIS is coming

Things we should do to prep our bomb shelters before they strike
By Fake Science

Follow These Tips For Your Backyard Bomb Shelter

It's one of the things we do best