Climate Crisis Pushes Migratory Monarch Butterflies Onto Endangered List

Climate, habitat loss hammer Monarchs

JAKE JOHNSON for Common Dreams

The International Union for Conservation of Nature on Thursday formally listed the beloved migratory monarch butterfly as endangered, citing dire threats to the subspecies posed by the climate crisis, deforestation, pesticide use, and logging.

Dr. Bruno Oberle, the director-general of IUCN—the world's leading scientific authority on species conservation—said the new listing "highlights the fragility of nature's wonders, such as the unique spectacle of monarch butterflies migrating across thousands of kilometers," a reference to the insects' remarkable biannual journey across North America.

"To preserve the rich diversity of nature, we need effective, fairly governed protected and conserved areas, alongside decisive action to tackle climate change and restore ecosystems," Oberle added. "In turn, conserving biodiversity supports communities by providing essential services such as food, water, and sustainable jobs."

The population of monarch butterflies in North America has been falling rapidly in recent years, a decline largely unabated by government action to protect the imperiled insects or to fight the climate crisis that is pushing them to the brink of extinction.

Food expiration dates don’t have much science behind them

How to know what’s REALLY too old to eat

Jill Roberts, University of South Florida

Without obvious signs of contamination like the mold in this jam,
 consumers use expiration dates to decide whether to keep or throw away
food.  Ralf Geithe via iStock/Getty Images

Florida’s outbreak of listeria has so far led to at least one death, 22 hospitalizations and an ice cream recall since January. 

Humans get sick with listeria infections, or listeriosis, from eating soil-contaminated food, undercooked meat or dairy products that are raw, or unpasteurized. Listeria can cause convulsions, coma, miscarriage and birth defects. And it’s the third leading cause of food poisoning deaths in the U.S.

Avoiding unseen food hazards is the reason people often check the dates on food packaging. And printed with the month and year is often one of a dizzying array of phrases: “best by,” “use by,” “best if used before,” “best if used by,” “guaranteed fresh until,” “freeze by” and even a “born on” label applied to some beer.

People think of them as expiration dates, or the date at which a food should go in the trash. But the dates have little to do with when food expires, or becomes less safe to eat. 

I am a microbiologist and public health researcher, and I have used molecular epidemiology to study the spread of bacteria in food. A more science-based product dating system could make it easier for people to differentiate foods they can safely eat from those that could be hazardous.

Calculating the odds of flood and fire risk.

Translating risk ratings into future costs can help homebuyers and renters grasp the odds – and act on them

Melanie Gall, Arizona State University; Christopher Emrich, University of Central Florida, and Marie Aquilino, Arizona State University

Repairing storm damage is expensive, and insurance covers less than
many people realize. Sean Rayford/Getty Images

If you look at homes on real estate websites today, you’ll likely see risk ratings for flooding, hurricanes and even wildfires.

In theory, summarizing risk information like this should help homebuyers and renters make more informed housing choices. 

But surveys show it isn’t working that way, at least not yet. Housing developments and home sales are still expanding in flood- and wildfire-prone areas.

The problem isn’t necessarily that consumers are ignoring the numbers. In our view, as experts in hazards geography, it’s that the way risk information is being presented ignores long-established lessons from behavioral science.

These ratings tend to appear as a single number for each hazard and lack an intuitive interpretation. What does it mean to have a heat risk of 84 (“extreme”) with 52 hot days in 2050, or a flood risk of 10 (“extreme”)?

We believe that current and future hazard and climate risks can more effectively be translated as costs, savings and trade-offs.

UPDATED: Who is on the September 13 primary ballot?

UPDATED: Party primaries matter, especially in Congress Second District, RI Senate District 38

By Will Collette

UPDATED: Well-known Westerly politico Caswell Cooke DID finally squeek his way onto the November ballot as an independent candidate for Senate District 38 (Dennis Algiere's former sear). The final tally shows Cooke with 108 validated signatures to meet the 100 minimum.

Stephanie Beute was a virtual unknown until she qualified to run against Greg Amore in the Democratic Primary for Secretary of State. She remedied that with a flurry of news articles describing her candidacy. Links below.

The Board of Elections has finished its count of signatures submitted by candidates; Friday was the last day for signature challenges. This article summarizes the offices and candidates who will be on Charlestown’s Primary ballot on September 13.

None of the candidates for Charlestown’s municipal offices face primary challenges so their first and only test with the voters will be at the November 8 General Election. I’ll run down the list of who is running locally in another article coming soon.

There also is no primary for House District 36 to replace scared rabbit Flip Filippi who ran for cover when Tina Spears announced her bid to unseat him. She does have a Republican opponent in November but we'll get to that later.

But first, let’s look at the primary races where party voters will make critical choices about who will face off in November. NOTE: I make no apology for the fairly obvious bias in my remarks.

Congressional District 2

Rep, Jim Langevin’s surprise announcement that he is retiring set off a frenzy of activity to replace him. In Rhode Island, it is rare for any one of its four seats in Congress to fall open so this is a rare opportunity for a Democrat to move up or for the Republicans to flip a long-time Democratic House seat.

Term-limited General Treasurer Seth Magaziner 👉 leads the pack, followed by former aide to Rep. Langevin Joy Fox, gazillionaire Sarah Morgenthau (who may or may not actually live in Rhode Island) and progressive David Segal.

Two long-shots remain in the race: Omar Bah who squeaked into the primary with only 5 signatures to spare and comeback kid and long-time South Kingstown state legislator Spencer Dickenson hoping for a political comeback. Two contenders dropped out: Donald Keith and Cameron Moquin.

Six Democrats in the primary makes it pretty likely that the primary will be messy. Hopefully, that will not harm the winner from beating Allan Fung in November.

Fung gets a pass from a primary challenge now that we know his fellow Republican Donald Frederick Robbio fell short of the required 500 signatures on his nomination papers by 82.

Fung who lost his last two statewide races (and lost in Charlestown) will face the winner of the Democratic primary. For reasons unknown, ethical or otherwise, Charlestown hired Fung to advise it on how to spend American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money even though every Republican in Congress voted against it. Fung has not said whether he actually supports ARPA, but Charlestown is paying him anyway.

There were also four independents who declared for the House Second District but three of the four failed to qualify for lack of signatures. Only William Gilbert, representing what’s left of the Moderate Party, had enough signature to make it onto the November ballot.

Senate District 38 

(Westerly, southern half of Charlestown, part of South Kingstown)

Sharon Ahern, Victoria Gu and Michael Niemeyer

We now know that one local race, the contest to replace retiring state Senator Dennis Algiere, District 38, will go to a primary on September 13 to determine the Democratic candidate. Three Democrats are competing: Sharon Ahern of Westerly who chaired the Westerly Town Council, political newcomer Victoria Gu of Charlestown and Michael  Niemeyer of Westerly who is running under the auspices Matt Brown’s RI Political Collective.

Victoria picked up two major endorsements in the past few days, one from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence and the other from the RI Working Families Party.

The winner will face Republican Westin Place who has no primary challenger.

There won’t be any independents for Senate 38 on the November 8 General Election ballot since neither of two contenders got enough signatures to make the cut. One was conservative Robert deVilliers and the other was well-known Westerly politician Caswell Cooke. Cooke’s failure to qualify is quite a surprise given his long prominence in Westerly politics. Cooke finally did manage to get 8 more signatures than the required 100 after the BOE finished its tally. De Villiers did not with a final count of 81.

Senate District 35

 (East Greenwich to Wakefield)

Here's Costa taking photos of people
attending an anti-gun rally and
flipping the finger at journalist Steve Ahlquist
who took this photo

Two potential Republican primaries fizzled. In Senate District
35, Republican Nadine Swanson dropped out allowing radical nutcase Doreen Costa 👈who seeks to make a political comeback now that crazy is the norm in the Republican Party to skip the primary and go straight to the General Election. Costa will face incumbent progressive Democrat Bridget Valverde.

Though I loved writing Doreen Costa stories, I was glad to see her go in 2016 and am sorry to see her trying to come back.

Wikipedia described the incident that best describes what a terrible legislator she was:

In 2013, Costa, a North Kingston resident, advocated for the recall of the Exeter town council over a firearm background check rule that would allow electronic background checks to be facilitated by the state. Exeter did not have the resources to conduct the checks and relied on the state. The recall failed, ultimately, costing the town of Exeter close to $10,000. 

Senate District 35 👉 is shaped like a descending colon that stretches from East Greenwich to Wakefield. Before it’s re-districting colectomy, it stretched to Point Judith.

House District 39 (Richmond, Hopkinton, Exeter)

Right-wing radical nut Rep. Justin Price escaped a primary when fellow Republican and controversial former Hopkinton Town Council President Frank Landolfi failed to turn in any signatures to get on the ballot. 

Price took over Doreen Costa's ecological niche as dumbest, most radical Republican in the General Assembly and has been embarrassing his district since 2014.

Now Price will face a rematch with progressive Democrat Megan Cotter in the November 8 General Election unless Price is arrested by the feds for his role in Trump’s attempted coup on January 6.

Governor

McKee, the accidental incumbent

Six Democrats and five Republicans filed Declarations of Candidacy for Governor. Now that the count of signatures on nominations are almost complete (some signatures are under challenge), four of the eleven failed to make the cut, though none were deemed to be serious contenders.

That makes the Democratic primary for Governor a five-person race pitting woeful incumbent Dan McKee against term-limited Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, RI Political Coop guru Matt Smith, former CVS exec Helena Foulkes and immigration advocate Dr. Luis Munoz.

Nellie Gorbea whose been a great Secretary of State

On the Republican side, Republican endorsee and carpetbagger Ashley Kalus (whose most admired politician is fascist Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) faces Jonathan Riccitelli. I’d love to see Riccitelli upset Kalus in the September 13 primary because I can’t imagine Rhode Island turning into another Florida. Senior political analyst Scott McKay remarked that Kalus “can't find Pawtucket without a GPS. Or maybe she thinks it is Pawtuxet.”

Six no-hopers filed Declarations as independents or third party. Only one of the six has qualified for the ballot: Zachary Hurwitz, a Narragansett
18-year old who got a nice puff piece in the ProJo.

Hurwitz told the ProJo:

"During my sophomore year [at North Kingstown High], during COVID, while people were sitting around and watching 'Tiger King,' I was researching the topic, and I realized I could do it. Politics has always been a big part of my life."

He’ll be on the ballot in November.

Lieutenant Governor

Former state Representative Larry Valencia from Richmond failed to make the ballot in his campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Larry was a fine member of the General Assembly until he lost his seat to aforementioned jerk Justin Price in 2014.

Unfortunately, Larry ran kind of a joke campaign that picked up from the late Bob Healey’s Cool Moose Party raison d’etre that the office of the Lieutenant Governor should be abolished. It’s hard to get signatures for an “I don’t give a shit” campaign…unless you’re Bob Healey.

Lack of interest in the office allowed Dan McKee to squeak out a win over progressive Aaron Regunberg in 2018 election. And by winning, McKee became our inept accidental Governor when Gina Raimondo got her gig with the Biden Administration.

Thinking about how close we came to having a Governor Regunberg makes me appreciate the job of Lieutenant Governor all the more. And besides, Liz Roberts and Charlie Fogarty used the office well during their terms, with Liz championing health care and Charlie stumping the state to promote jobs and the economy.

Larry, I’d love to see you back in office, but your L-G campaign this year was a big mistake.

So on September 13, Democrats will choose from incumbent Sabina Matos (Dan McKee’s running mate), Cynthia Mendes (Matt Smith’s running mate) and Rep. Deb Ruggiero who is running on her distinguished record.

In November, one of two independents who filed Declarations will also be on the ballot: Ross McCurdy, a chemistry teacher at Ponagansett High School.

General Treasurer

The Treasurer’s seat is open due to term limits that pushed Seth Magaziner out and into the race for Congress District 2. The pundits are unanimous in calling the Democratic primary pitting former Central Falls Mayor James Diossa against former state Commerce Grand High Poo-bah Stefan Pryor the hottest primary of the year. 

Pryor is getting lots of endorsements and raising tons of money. Diossa is also getting endorsements and donations but not enough to keep up with Pryor.

I’ve met them both. James Diossa is a modest, good soul who has the distinction of having lifted the city of Central Falls out of the depths of municipal Hell. Central Falls was so bad that the state offered money to Pawtucket to absorb them, but Pawtucket refused because they thought Central Falls was beyond hope.

Then came James Diossa who was Central Falls’ first Latino mayor and at age 24, the youngest in Rhode Island history. He bootstrapped the city out of despair. Not only that, but he built a great municipal team that is continuing to help Central Falls become a livable city again under his successor Mayor Maria Rivera. She was among the first to endorse James for General Treasurer.

Now James could have claimed he’s the guy who saved Central Falls. He won’t do that – he's too modest – so I will.

His challenger Stefan Pryor has no problem with modesty. If you’re willing to sit through one of his lecture-speeches, you’ll hear how he single-handedly saved lower Manhattan after 9/11, single-handedly saved the Connecticut public school system as CT Education Commissioner and, under both Gina Raimondo and Dan McKee, has been the single most important driving force behind Rhode Island’s economy recovery such that it is.

During Pryor’s meeting with the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee, Pryor made what I considered to be some cheap shots at his predecessors. I wanted to make sure I heard it right so I asked him in a July 1 e-mail:

When you spoke before the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee recently, you made some remarks that I want to follow-up for clarification.

One was that if you become Treasurer, RI pension investments will be made strictly “on the data” and “on the merits” to get the highest returns. The second was related to the first that you guaranteed there would be “no cronyism,” no “I know a guy” influence on investment decisions.

First, I’d like to confirm you made those statements.

Second, I’d like to know more about what you meant. For example, did you mean that RI will not apply any social responsibility criteria to its investments? Will you continue Treasurer Magaziner’s practice of shareholder activism on social justice issues? If you go for the highest returns, does that leave open investments in hedge funds, venture capital and vulture funds that Gina Raimondo was fond of? Maybe Bitcoin or the next Ponzi scheme?

The cronyism remark made me wonder who you were referring to. Seth? Gina? Seth has been in office for 8 years and if he engaged in any cronyism, I’d like to hear about it. Or Gina, although she was criticized for her investment choices? I’d also be interested in hearing about what practices Seth Magaziner put into place that you intend to continue, or those you intend to reverse or change.

No response. I doubt if it’s hard for you to guess who I support.

There is no primary for Attorney General. AG Peter Neronha does face a token Republican challenge in the November 8 General election. Greg Amore, an overwhelming favorite to become term-limited Nellie Gorbea’s successor as Secretary of State faces one primary challenger. Stephanie Beute. I tried to find out whatever I could about Ms. Beaute but only found a photo with no context. Update: Ms Boute finally emerged with a flurry of news articles describing her candidacy. CLICK HERE for ProJo coverage. CLICK HERE for the Boston Globe. CLICK HERE for WPRI.

Vote by mail: application deadline is August 23 for the Primary

Under the newly enacted Rhode Island Votes Act, you no longer have to give an excuse for voting by mail. Nor do you have to have your ballot notarized.

But you probably will not have your ballot automatically mailed to you so you should ask for one.

You can download the application form. You can either fill it in on-line and then print it out ready for signing, or print out the blank and fill it in my hand. Either way, you then sign it using either the name on your driver’s license or your new voter registration cards that were mailed last week. It is important that you use the name that appears on your voter registration. You can check that HERE.

Then mail or deliver the completed application to:

Charlestown Board of Canvassers
Charlestown Town Hall
4540 South County Trail.
Charlestown, RI 02813

Deadline for the application is August 23. Once you receive your primary ballot, you must either mail it or deliver it to the Board of Canvassers so they have it in their hands by the September 13 primary day. Of course, you can go to Town Hall to vote either on the day or earlier.

Here’s the link to download the application form for the November 8 General Election. The deadline to apply for a mail-in General Election ballot is October 18,

Nothing says it like flowers

 

Election 2022: voting options, schedule

 

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea reminds Rhode Islanders they have until Sunday, August 14 to register to vote or update their voter information for the September 13 Primary Election. Changes to your party affiliation must be made by Monday, August 15 at 4 p.m.  Rhode Islanders with a license or state ID card can register to vote online by going to vote.ri.gov and following the prompts onscreen. Rhode Islanders without a license or state ID card can register to vote using a paper form. Forms can be downloaded from our website or picked up at a local library. They must be received by August 14 at your local board of canvassers office. Rhode Islanders who have moved or changed their names since they last voted are also reminded to update their information to avoid difficulties on Election Day.  Vote.ri.gov is the one-stop shop for Rhode Islanders to get trusted information on upcoming elections. There, Rhode Islanders can learn more about voting from home with a mail ballot, voting early, upcoming community events with the Elections Division, and other civic engagement resources.  Contact the Rhode Island Department of State's Elections Division at elections@sos.ri.gov, or call (401) 222-2340 with questions you may have.

 

Robot mutt for grandma?

Introducing a protocol for using robotic pets in memory care

University of Utah

Here's a memory test: On what TV show did Muffit the daggit appear?

You might think it was a typical therapy session at a long-term care facility. In a quiet room, a therapist sets down a pet carrier, brings out a cat, and sets it on a resident's lap. As the resident gently strokes the cat's fur, it purrs, and the therapist asks the resident questions about their childhood pets, accessing long-ago memories.

The resident's enjoyment of the session and the benefit for their well-being is real. But the animal is not. It's a robotic pet with synthetic fur and programmed movements and sounds. But researchers are finding that robotic pets can be useful in therapy, without some of the disadvantages and unpredictability of real animals.

In a paper published in the Canadian Journal of Recreation Therapy, University of Utah researcher Rhonda Nelson and graduate student Rebecca Westenskow developed a protocol for using robotic pets with older adults with dementia. The protocol uses a low-cost robotic pet, establishes ideal session lengths, and identifies common participant responses to the pets to aid in future research.

So now there's an ap to help you get happy

Harvard Developed AI Identifies the Shortest Path to Human Happiness

By DEEP LONGEVITY LTD 

The researchers created a digital model of psychology aimed to improve mental health. The system offers superior personalization and identifies the shortest path toward a cluster of mental stability for any individual.

Deep Longevity, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, presents a deep learning approach to mental health.

Deep Longevity has published a paper in Aging-US outlining a machine learning approach to human psychology in collaboration with Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, an authority on happiness and beauty.

The authors created two digital models of human psychology based on data from the Midlife in the United States study.

Medical debt is a rip-off

Health care giants aren’t just making care more expensive. They’re putting Americans in debt bondage.

By Jim Hightower 

Many big business CEOs turn out to be grifters who rip off consumers, workers, and others. But the corporate con artists I consider most vile are those who profiteer from people’s health care needs.

We’ve had such infamous, high-profile scammers as Medicare fraudster (and now Florida Senator) Rick Scott, Big Pharma price gouger Martin Shkreli, and the Sackler family of opioid pushers. 

Even worse, we now face an industry-wide epidemic of insurers, hospitals, and others that are pushing higher costs onto patients and then systematically pushing those who can’t pay the full inflated tab into debt schemes.

With bloated interest charges, payments go on for years. Now wonder medical bankruptcies are soaring.

The most significant statistic in today’s avaricious world of health care finance is this: Half of U.S. adults don’t have the money to cover a $500 medical bill.

Three Things About the Abortion Debate That Many People Get Wrong

To attack this problem, let's look at the facts.

Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News 

By David Horsey

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to abortion, things are more than a little confused.

As lower courts grapple with rapidly changing state laws, patients wonder from day to day if abortion is still legal and, even if legal, whether it is still available in their state. 

Health professionals in states with abortion bans fear prosecution by state authorities for performing abortions or by federal authorities for not performing them in life- or health-threatening situations.

Even employers are caught between conflicting state and federal rules about what can, cannot, and must be covered by insurance.

But amid all the confusion, some things are simply not true. Here are three myths going around about the abortion debate:

The continuing adventures of little Donald

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE.

 

She's buried right near the first tee. Seriously.

 

Smarter Than You Think

Scientists Find That Dogs Have Complex Mental Images of Familiar Things

By EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY (ELTE), FACULTY OF SCIENCE 

How do dogs think of toys? Credit: Genius Dog Challenge

Many dog lovers are curious about what goes on in the minds of their furry pals. Fortunately, the answer is now within reach for scientists. Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest’s Family Dog Project discovered that dogs have a “multi-modal mental image” of their familiar objects in a new study that was recently published in the journal Animal Cognition. This implies that dogs visualize the many sensory aspects of an item when they think about it. For instance, taking into account how it looks or smells.

Scientists made the assumption that the senses that dogs employ to recognize items, such as their toys, correspond to how those objects are conceptualized in their brains. “If we can understand which senses dogs use while searching for a toy, this may reveal how they think about it” explains Shany Dror, one of the leading researchers of this study. “When dogs use olfaction or sight while searching for a toy, this indicates that they know how that toy smells or looks like.”

Farewell to two icons

R.I.P. Bill Russell and Nichelle Nichols

 Nichelle on the line. AP/Damian Dovarganes

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Yes, you are being watched, even if no one is looking for you

Surveillance is pervasive

Peter Krapp, University of California, Irvine

Video cameras on city streets are only the most visible way
your movements can be tracked. AP Photo/Mel Evans

The U.S. has the largest number of surveillance cameras per person in the world. Cameras are omnipresent on city streets and in hotels, restaurants, malls and offices. They’re also used to screen passengers for the Transportation Security Administration. And then there are smart doorbells and other home security cameras.

Most Americans are aware of video surveillance of public spaces. Likewise, most people know about online tracking – and want Congress to do something about it. But as a researcher who studies digital culture and secret communications, I believe that to understand how pervasive surveillance is, it’s important to recognize how physical and digital tracking work together.

Databases can correlate location data from smartphones, the growing number of private cameras, license plate readers on police cruisers and toll roads, and facial recognition technology, so if law enforcement wants to track where you are and where you’ve been, they can. They need a warrant to use cellphone search equipment: Connecting your device to a mobile device forensic tool lets them extract and analyze all your data if they have a warrant.

However, private data brokers also track this kind of data and help surveil citizens – without a warrant. There is a large market for personal data, compiled from information people volunteer, information people unwittingly yield – for example, via mobile apps – and information that is stolen in data breaches. Among the customers for this largely unregulated data are federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.