Suicidal move

Texas Implements a New Ban on Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates

BY NEELAM BOHRA, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE 

A SWEEPING BAN ON 

Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill which bans Covid-19 vaccine
requirements for all private businesses at the Governor’s
Mansion in Austin on Nov. 10, 2023.
Visual: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune

Covid-19 vaccine requirements for all private businesses, including hospitals, is the latest blow to medically vulnerable Texans who rely on others’ immunization to shield themselves from highly transmissible viruses.

Tamer coronavirus variants and a soft vaccine booster rollout have contributed to a lessened sense of urgency around the virus. But the new measure, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on Friday, could risk the health of groups like organ transplant recipients, cancer patients, and those with underlying conditions as common as severe asthma. 

These risks led to some bipartisan dissent during original Senate discussions of the bill, especially from state Sens. Borris Miles, D-Houston and Kelly Hancock, R-Fort Worth, who both take immunosuppressants for their respective kidney transplants.

“I live a pretty normal life and am not fearful, but it does make you think about others,” Hancock said. “There’s just a balance we have to keep in mind — just try to always think of others and the positions they may be in.”

For one, vaccines are less effective in some of these patients because their conditions prevent their bodies from manufacturing the white blood cells that can recognize and fight off viruses. But even with protection, the virus can exacerbate underlying conditions and lead to long-term symptoms of the virus, known as long Covid.

Scientists and health experts agree that the vaccine is safe and effective for most people with functioning immune systems, in reducing both transmission and severity of the virus.

How to stop phony health news

Study identifies urgent need for improved research on how to respond to misleading health information

Brown University

A study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health on ways to mitigate the impacts of misleading COVID-19 information found that variations in the designs of prior studies have complicated efforts at drawing strong conclusions about what worked and what did not.

The study, published in Health Affairs on Wednesday, Nov. 15, shows where existing research is lacking and how it can be improved. For example, when studies tested the impact of COVID-19 misinformation interventions, they used significantly different examples of misinformation, assessed 47 outcomes yet rarely measured public health outcomes such as intent to vaccinate.

The authors recommend that the research community makes evidence comparable and actionable, and includes public health experts in the design and delivery of health misinformation interventions.

Finally, the truth about Trump's dementia is coming out

Trump's decline has flown under the radar

By Kerry Eleveld for Daily Kos

Many polls in recent months have suggested that while voters are concerned about President Joe Biden's ability to handle a second term at age 80, they are not proportionally as concerned about Donald Trump's age.

The dynamic turned up in the Daily Kos/Civiqs poll in September, with 75% of voters expressing concern about Biden's age, while just 49% said the same of Trump.

As I have noted before, part of the differential is simply a product of the fact that Democratic voters are more willing to question Biden than Republicans are willing to question Trump. 

In the Civiqs survey, only half of Democrats brushed off concerns about Biden's age, while 71% of Republicans dismissed age-related worries about Trump.  

But another reason for the discrepancy in perception is the fact that far fewer Americans have been confronted with Trump's declining mental acuity. That's partly because Biden has a press corps that covers his every utterance 24/7 and reporters have fixated on anything that plays into voters' perception, so it's a self-reinforcing loop.

Trump, on the other hand, has typically not drawn as much scrutiny, partly because he isn't surrounded by reporters every minute of every day and journalists haven't obsessed over his verbal slips and gaffes in the same way.

Puppies! Yeah, that'll work

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE

Stuff that we ALL should know

Also spelling - home REPAIR, not "repaire"

 

URI’s Holiday Extravaganza kicks off the season in a big way

Concerts bring together more than 180 musicians, vocalists on Dec. 2, 3

Tony LaRoche

The URI Jazz Big Band members get into the spirit
of the season with their holiday concert in 2022.
 (URI Photo/Marian Goldsmith)

If you like your holidays big and bold, you’ll want to check out the University of Rhode Island Music Department’s Holiday Extravaganza.

For two concerts, the extravaganza will bring together six of the University’s main music ensembles—more than 180 musicians and vocalists, all on one stage—for a show featuring a collection of traditional holiday standards (and some not so traditional).

The concerts are Saturday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston. Tickets—$25 for adults and $15 for students and seniors—can be purchased through Eventbrite. 

The extravaganza is the brainchild of David Gilliland, associate teaching professor of collaborative piano at URI, who oversaw a similar holiday show when he was at Davidson College. The format is new to URI, which has traditionally hosted holiday shows by individual ensembles or smaller collaborations.

New report shows record highs for hunger in Rhode Island

Hunger in Rhode Island is too pervasive

by Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Food insecurity is at an all time high in the Ocean State, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank released Tuesday.

In the last year, over 77,000 Rhode Islanders received some form of food assistance — up 30% from 2022. Of those seeking help from food pantries in Rhode Island, 72% are families with children and senior adult households.

The food bank’s report also found that about 29% of Rhode Island households reported this year they cannot afford adequate food. That number is down from last year, but is 11% higher than in 2021.

“People need help,” Rhode Island Food Bank CEO Andrew Schiff said in an interview.

Schiff attributes the increase in Rhode Islanders accessing food pantries to two major factors: high living costs and the end of pandemic-era food programs and benefits.

During the pandemic, 88,000 Rhode Island families enrolled in the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cover the cost of groceries, Schiff said.

After Congress ended the emergency allocation in March 2023, Schiff said SNAP benefits in Rhode Island were reduced by $13.4 million per month. The average household lost $155 a month in food benefits.

“That’s a week’s worth of groceries,” Schiff said.

Meanwhile, the cost of food rose by 11% while the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment grew 14% to an average of $1,444 per month. Those costs leave people with choices: either pay for shelter or for food.

“And you can’t live without food,” Schiff said. “So people turn to food pantries to ensure there’s some food on the table.”

Revolution Wind receives final federal permit

Large scale off-shore wind project moves forward

by Janine L. Weisman, Rhode Island Current

The first utility-scale offshore wind farm serving Rhode Island and Connecticut has passed another major milestone in securing the final approval needed from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to move the project toward the start of offshore construction. 

Onshore construction work is already underway on Revolution Wind’s 704-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Block Island. Offshore construction activities will ramp up in 2024 and the project is expected to be operational in 2025.  

Revolution Wind received approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) on Nov. 17 along with a 108-page list of conditions. The plan outlines the project’s 1 nautical mile turbine spacing, requirements on the construction methodology for all work occurring in federal ocean waters, and mitigation measures to protect marine habitats and species. 

BOEM’s final approval of the COP follows the agency’s August 2023 issuance of its Record of Decision, which concluded the thorough BOEM-led environmental review of the project. 

When completed, the project will deliver 400 megawatts of offshore wind power to Rhode Island and 304 megawatts of the same to Connecticut, powering more than 350,000 homes across the two states.

Why your free plane ticket probably isn't

The airlines don't care. They don't have to

Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University and H. Sami Karaca, Boston University

A boom time for airlines can a bust for loyal passengers.
 Martin-dm/E+/Getty Images

As the U.S. holiday travel season picks up, many people are noticing that their frequent flyer benefits aren’t going as far as they used to.

In September 2023, Delta Air Lines revamped its frequent flyer program to make it tougher to earn status — a tiered system offering travel privileges based on the reward points earned — only to partially reverse course a month later and make it easier. 

American Airlines also made big changes to its loyalty scheme in 2022 and minor changes in spring 2023. And British Airways recently announced that it is adjusting the way it awards points for travel.

We are business school professors who study rewards programs. Many people think flying is a miserable experience, and having status sometimes makes flights better. So it’s only fair that frequent flyers are asking why it’s seemingly harder to obtain such status.

Hope your family dinner went well

 

Donald Trump's actual Thanksgiving message to the nation. Did not make this up.

From the former guy on his Truth Social website: 

The actual picture Trump included with
his message which was posted at 2:03 AM

"Happy Thanksgiving to ALL, including the Racist & Incompetent Attorney General of New York State, Letitia 'Peekaboo' James, who has let Murder & Violent Crime FLOURISH, & Businesses FLEE; the Radical Left Trump Hating Judge, a 'Psycho,' Arthur Engoron, who Criminally Defrauded the State of New York, & ME, by purposely Valuing my Assets at a 'tiny' Fraction of what they are really worth in order to convict me of Fraud before even a Trial, or seeing any PROOF, & used his Politically Biased & Corrupt Campaign Finance Violator, Chief Clerk Alison Greenfield, to sit by his side on the 'Bench' & tell him what to do; & Crooked Joe Biden, who has WEAPONIZED his Department of Injustice against his Political Opponent, & allowed our Country to go to HELL; & all of the other Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, Fascists, Marxists, Democrats, & RINOS, who are seriously looking to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY. Have no fear, however, we will WIN the Presidential Election of 2024, & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

 New articles appear starting tonight

Thanksgiving stories gloss over the history of US settlement on Native lands

Not everyone is feeling thankful

Lisa Michelle King, University of Tennessee

Native Americans depicted at the first Thanksgiving feast,
in a 1960 film about the Pilgrims’ first year in America. 
AP Photo

Too often, K-12 social studies classes in the U.S. teach a mostly glossed-over story of U.S. settlement. Textbooks tell the stories of adventurous European explorers founding colonies in the “New World,” and stories of the “first Thanksgiving” frequently portray happy colonists and Native Americans feasting together. 

Accounts of the colonies’ battle for independence frame it as a righteous victory. Native American removal might be mentioned as a sad footnote, but the triumph of the pioneer spirit takes center stage.

As a scholar of Native American and Indigenous rhetorics, I argue that this superficial story hides the realities of what many historians and activists call “settler colonialism.” Historian Lorenzo Veracini asserts that colonial activity isn’t just about a nation sending out explorers and bringing back resources, or what scholars refer to as “classical colonialism.” 

It’s also about what happens when a new people moves in and attempts to establish itself as the “superior” community whose culture, language and rights to resources and land supersede those of the Indigenous people who already live there.

When U.S. history, culture and politics are understood through the lens of settler colonialism, it’s easier to understand how, as historian Patrick Wolfe wrote, “settler colonizers come to stay: invasion is a structure, not an event.”

Not guilty by reason of his brain

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE

Absolutely right

A cartoon by Clay Bennett.