Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Millions of Americans’ Medical Information Is Available on the Internet, Where Anyone Can Take a Peek

This story was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, and co-reported with the German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Medical images and health data belonging to millions of Americans, including X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, are sitting unprotected […]

Tortillas tell the story of folate deficiency in Mexico

A new study hat accounts for folic acid fortification in staple foods made from wheat and corn, such as bakery bread and tortillas, found that large proportion of women of childbearing age have FA intake below levels recommended by the World Health Organization, potentially raising the risk for neural tube defects in their offspring. The study is one of a few to investigate FA intake after fortification.

Saudi Arabia Denies Its Key Role in Climate Change Even As It Prepares for the Worst

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, remains a principal funder of climate denialism even as it prepares for climate extremes.

The post Saudi Arabia Denies Its Key Role in Climate Change Even As It Prepares for the Worst appeared first on The Intercept.

We Can Dream

Assume we live in a healthy, functioning Democracy for this one.

Committing to the Bit

The bigoted-comedian-to-right-wing-welfare pipeline gets a new applicant.

GM Can Take Away Our Health Insurance, But They Can’t Stop Our Strike

Just after midnight on September 15, nearly 50,000 members of The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) walked off their jobs at 33 General Motors (GM) plants across the Midwest and South. For two days, workers have been picketing against GM’s dismal wages and two-tier contracts. Steve Frisque was among them. Frisque is a full-time union steward and committee lead at the GM parts plant in Hudson, Wisconsin.

The Trump Administration Will Prevent California From Setting Its Own Fuel Efficiency Standards

The Trump administration is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will strip California from having any legal authority to require stricter tailpipe pollution standards than the federal government, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The Times reports: The formal revocation of California’s authority to set its own rules on tailpipe pollution—the United States’ largest […]

Trump’s Junk Insurance Is a Windfall for Scammy Insurance Companies

Back in 2017 Republicans did their level best to destroy Obamacare. They failed, and in a final act of pique Donald Trump issued an executive order related to junk insurance plans. These were bare-bones plans limited to three months and meant as a short bridge for emergencies. Trump’s order allowed them to last as long […]

Saudi First: Trump Wants to Start a War With Iran When MBS Gives the Order

Why is Trump deferring to Riyadh? Questions need to be asked about his financial ties with Saudis who bailed him out during the 1990s.

The post Saudi First: Trump Wants to Start a War With Iran When MBS Gives the Order appeared first on The Intercept.

Billions of license plate scans are part of a private surveillance database
https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/17/repo-drivers-scan-license-plates/ #privacy #security

49,000 Striking Auto Workers Should Vote No on “Two-Tier.” Here’s Why.

Auto workers on strike since midnight at General Motors are between a rock and a hard place—a hugely profitable company making outrageous demands for concessions and a union leadership that made no plan for winning a strike and has not even told members what they’re going out for. Picket signs say simply “UAW on Strike.”

Researchers see need for action on forest fire risk

How do humans affect forest fires? An international team of researchers has now shown for a region in north-eastern Poland that forest fires increasingly occurred there after the end of the 18th century with the change to organized forestry. The increased number of fires subsequently made it necessary to manage and maintain the forests differently. In the wake of climate change, the researchers suggest new strategies for the fight against forest fires.

Every time you think: "But what about all the good things he did", consider: "What about all the people and potentially great contributions we lost because of him."

#RMS #FreeSoftware

We don't need leaders any more. We never did.

Do you have an idea for a Librem 5 app? Here’s a guide to setup your local development environment https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Development_Environment/Boards/emulators.html and an app design tutorial to get you started https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-app-design-tutorial-naming-your-app/ #purism #linuxphone #mobilelinux

New models show that the earth is warming faster than first thought
https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/17/new-models-earth-warming-faster-climate-change/ #climatechange #climatecrisis

Whose Grid? Our Grid! Chicago’s Campaign To Put Electricity Under Public Control

This article is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. 

CHICAGO—Among the many vendors at the Logan Square Farmers Market on August 18 sat three young people peddling neither organic vegetables, gourmet cheese nor handmade crafts. Instead, they offered liberation from capitalism.

Representatives of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) engaged marketgoers in discussions about the campaigns they are involved in, from lifting the ban on rent con- trol to establishing single-pay- er healthcare. But one effort in particular seemed to catch the most attention.

“We’re trying to bring ComEd under municipal control,” CDSA member Matthew Cason told Patrick Petranek, a Logan Square resident whose eyes lit up at the prospect of Chicago’s largest electricity provider, Com- monwealth Edison, being taken over by the city. Petranek said he supports more transparency around fees and signed a petition in support of the campaign.

ComEd’s franchise agreement with Chicago is up for renegotiation at the end of 2020. The agreement, established in 1947, allows ComEd to access the city’s public areas to build electric infrastructure—and form a practical monopoly over Chicago’s electricity.

“Electric power is a critical function in everyday life, and we can’t go without it,” Cason tells In These Times. “Yet, it’s controlled by a private monopoly, and that private monopoly is minimally accountable, not transparent and just is outside of our public control.”

Cason argues that a democratically controlled utility would help Chicago reach its goal of 100-percent clean and renewable energy by 2035, which City Council set in April. If the city— not a profit-driven corporation— is responsible for sourcing its own energy, Cason says, it will make decisions to satisfy its residents instead of investors.

CDSA launched its #DemocratizeComEd campaign in June, part of a wave of municipalization efforts heating up across the country. DSA and other grassroots organizations are mounting campaigns from San Francisco to Maine. In July, after a heat wave forced two power shutdowns in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio floated the idea of taking over ConEd, the city’s investor-owned electric utility.

In late July, Chicago alderman and CDSA member Daniel La Spata introduced a City Council order calling for a feasibility study to examine the potential impacts—environmental, social and economic—of bringing ComEd under public control. Cason expects the proposal to easily pass through the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, after which it would be up for review by the whole Council. The study, due to come out in December if authorized, would then outline paths to municipalization.

Twenty-two of Chicago’s 50 aldermen have indicated support for the study so far. While a plan for Chicago’s potential ComEd takeover would be detailed in the study, Cason points out that Illinois makes it particularly easy for local governments to municipalize utilities. One way is through a Public Utility Certificate, a special low-interest bond that enables cities to purchase utility assets, including equipment and infrastructure, while paying back the loan only with revenue generated from the utility. ComEd’s assets would then be managed by a board of elected officials, rather than answering to profit-driven shareholders.

Johanna Bozuwa, co-manager of the climate and energy program at The Democracy Collaborative and an advocate for municipalization, allows that “publicly owned utilities have [not] always been perfect”—for instance, poor power infrastructure will cause blackouts regardless of who owns the utility. But, she adds, democratizing utilities creates “many more levers in order to enact change in a way that we can’t do in a corporate monopoly entity.” Public utilities can prioritize community over profit, she says. “We have agency in a way that we may not otherwise.”

Burlington, Vt., for instance, used its public power grid to become the first U.S. city to be powered by 100% renewable energy. Red-state Nebraska is currently the only U.S. state with a completely publicly owned power system—and has been since the 1940s, when private utilities thought powering rural areas was too expensive. Today, Nebraska residents pay some of the lowest electric rates in the country.

Chicago Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, also a CDSA member, made a case for municipalization on the public TV show Chicago Tonight in early July, noting there is local precedent: In 1947, Chicago took ownership of the private train lines that made up its famous “L” mass transit system, democratizing public transit.

“We want to make sure we’re pushing forward the socialist cause,” Ramirez-Rosa said. In addition to tabling at the farmers market, CDSA is canvassing neighborhoods and talking to City Council members to generate support for municipalization. Cason says talking to Chicagoans about the effort has been surprisingly easy. “Everyone knows what ComEd is,” Cason says. “Everyone knows what electricity is. Everyone has a power bill.”

But what most speaks to people he canvasses, Cason says, is the principle of having a basic necessity managed by an entity beholden to Chicago residents, rather than profit.

“We believe that critical public and social functions should be under public control,” he tells In These Times. “You don’t want to leave something you need up to the whims of private shareholders, private investors ... things that are not accountable to the public.”

The Untold Story: Joe Biden Pushed Ronald Reagan to Ramp Up Incarceration — Not the Other Way Around

Biden has argued that the focus on his 1994 Crime Bill as a driver of mass incarceration is misplaced. He's right -- it was his earlier push that was responsible.

The post The Untold Story: Joe Biden Pushed Ronald Reagan to Ramp Up Incarceration — Not the Other Way Around appeared first on The Intercept.

Party Animals

We’re stuck with Brett Kavanaugh. And we know who to thank.

As the Dumb World Turns...

Time for another installment of LIFE IN THE STUPIDVERSE

Up in Smoke

America’s children are unsafe. It’s time to take serious action to ban what’s killing our kids.