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n2doc's Journal

January 24, 2015

Weekend Toon Roundup 2- The rest

1%

Oil

Climate

Football

RIP

January 24, 2015

Weekend Toon roundup 1- Repubs

January 24, 2015

House Republicans Propose Bill Mandating Ultrasounds Before Abortions

Source: Huffington Post

Shortly after House Republicans had to cancel a vote on an anti-abortion bill that some members found to be too extreme, GOP congressmen on Thursday introduced three new abortion restrictions, including one that would require women to receive an ultrasound procedure before an abortion.

The mandatory ultrasound bill, introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and co-sponsored by 10 Republican men, compels women to "receive an ultrasound and the opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion."

One of the other bills prohibits federal education funds from going to schools with access to an abortion provider on campus, and the other requires states to report information on Medicaid payments to abortion providers.

The ultrasound measure is likely to be the most controversial. Nearly half of U.S. states have passed some kind of mandatory ultrasound bill, but the political backlash in some of those states has been significant.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/23/mandatory-ultrasound-_n_6535076.html

January 23, 2015

Senate Republicans Remove 'Civil Rights And Human Rights' From Subcommittee Name

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans revealed this week that they have eliminated the phrase “civil rights and human rights” from the title of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee charged with overseeing those issues.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee this month and announced the members of the six subcommittees this week. With Grassley’s announcement, the subcommittee formerly known as the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights suddenly became the Subcommittee on the Constitution.

The new chairman of the newly named subcommittee is Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). His office confirmed that it made the switch.

“We changed the name because the Constitution covers our most basic rights, including civil and human rights,” said Cornyn spokeswoman Megan Mitchell. “We will focus on these rights, along with other issues that fall under the broader umbrella of the Constitution.”

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/23/civil-rights_n_6534922.html

January 23, 2015

2014 was a real rhino-slaughtering bonanza

Poachers in South Africa killed 1,215 rhinos last year—an increase of more than 20% from 2013. What’s driving the country’s poaching crisis is the value of its horn, which is prized in Asia—particularly in Vietnam and China—for its supposed medicinal and narcotic purposes. Rhino horns can sell for more than $66,000 a kilogram (about $30,000 per pound) on the Chinese black market, according to Chatham House, a think tank.

Last year’s slaughter may have already pushed South Africa’s population into decline, says Traffic, a non-governmental wildlife crime monitoring group. On average, poachers killed more than three rhinos each day of 2014.

That’s a staggering rate considering only 18,000 South African white rhinos remain in the wild, according to a 2013 study (paywall)—so few that if poaching continues at current rates, Africa’s rhinos may be extinct in the wild within 20 years.

more

http://qz.com/331644/2014-was-a-real-rhino-slaughtering-bonanza/

January 23, 2015

Legalized marijuana might be the best thing to ever happen to heroin addicts

In the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, the first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, embarked on a fierce anti-marijuana campaign. Highlighted by the 1936 anti-marijuana film Reefer Madness—where marijuana is depicted as a dangerous narcotic that makes good kids become sex-crazed killers—his propaganda efforts also maliciously linked marijuana use to African Americans and ethnic minorities.

By 1970, legislation codified cannabis as one of the nation’s most dangerous drugs: the Controlled Substance Act classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it possessed high potential for abuse and had no acceptable medical use. Over 40 years later, the classification remains.

But research has shown that marijuana, while still criminalized at the federal level, can be effective as a substitute for treating opioid addicts and preventing overdoses. Massachusetts, which recently legalized medical marijuana—and where heroin overdoses have soared—could be a fertile testing ground for this potentially controversial treatment.

The medical case for marijuana

Before being criminalized, marijuana was used in the US to cure depression and a variety of other mental health ailments. Many studies have supported the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids, along with the ability of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredients to treat nausea, help with weight loss, alleviate chronic pain, and mitigate symptoms of neurological diseases.

more

http://qz.com/326045/legalized-marijuana-might-be-the-best-thing-to-ever-happen-to-heroin-addicts/

January 23, 2015

Study finds that Fast Food Restaurants can raise their hourly wages to $15 without hardship

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such increases.

Using data gathered from previous studies and U.S. Economic Census reports, economists Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim have found that at the standard rate of industry sales growth the savings from a decrease in workforce turnover added to revenue generated from moderate annual 3 percent price increases could support a two-stage increase in the minimum wage from its current level of $7.25, first to $10.50 and then to $15 three years later.

Published on the PERI website, the working paper, "A $15 U.S. Minimum Wage: How the Fast-Food Industry Could Adjust Without Shedding Jobs," describes how this increase in wages can be accomplished without generating employment losses within the industry and without these businesses facing a decline in profitability.

"We conclude that the fast-food industry could indeed absorb the increase in its overall wage bill without resorting to cuts in their employment levels at any point over the four-year adjustment period," explain Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst and Co-director of PERI, and Wicks-Lim, a PERI research assistant professor. "The fast-food industry could fully absorb these wage bill increases through a combination of turnover reductions, trend increases in sales growth and modest annual price increases over the four-year period. We also show that fast-food firms would not need to lower their average profit rate during this adjustment period. Nor would the fast food firms need to reallocate funds generated by revenues away from any other area of their overall operations, such as marketing."

more
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150120155027.htm

January 23, 2015