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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:34:17 GMT -8
These are things people actually said in court.
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ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: getting laid
The QOP Thinks Drunk Kids is the Answer to Our Problems
As the federal government cracks down on child labor violations, some state lawmakers are embracing legislation to let children work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations.
The legislators, mostly Republicans, argue that relaxing child labor laws could ease nationwide labor shortages.
But child welfare advocates worry the measures represent a coordinated push to scale back hard-won protections for minors.
“The consequences are potentially disastrous,” said Reid Maki, director of the Child Labor Coalition, which advocates against exploitative labor policies. “You can't balance a perceived labor shortage on the backs of teen workers.”
Lawmakers proposed loosening child labor laws in at least 10 states over the past two years, according to a report published last month by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Some bills became law, while others were withdrawn or vetoed.
Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa are actively considering relaxing child labor laws to address worker shortages. Employers have struggled to fill open positions after a spike in retirements, deaths and illnesses from COVID-19, decreases in legal immigration and other factors.
Wisconsin lawmakers back a proposal to allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants. If passed, Wisconsin would have the lowest such limit nationwide, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The Ohio Legislature is on track to pass a bill allowing students ages 14 and 15 to work until 9 p.m. during the school year with their parents’ permission. That's later than federal law allows, so a companion measure asks the U.S. Congress to amend its own laws.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, students that age can only work until 7 p.m. during the school year. Congress passed the law in 1938 to stop children from being exposed to dangerous conditions and abusive practices in mines, factories, farms and street trades.
Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in March eliminating permits that required employers to verify a child’s age and their parent's consent. Without work permit requirements, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance. Other measures to loosen child labor laws have been passed into law in New Jersey, New Hampshire and Iowa.
Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law last year allowing teens aged 16 and 17 to work unsupervised in child care centers. The state Legislature approved a bill this month to allow teens of that age to serve alcohol in restaurants. It would also expand the hours minors can work. Reynolds, who said in April she supports more youth employment, has until June 3 to sign or veto the measure.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:37:35 GMT -8
Segregation is BackA federal civil rights office will investigate a retaliation complaint filed by an Atlanta Public Schools parent against the district, the office confirmed. The dispute began in July 2021 when Kila Posey, a Mary Lin Elementary School parent, filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Posey said she requested a specific second-grade teacher for her daughter, but the principal, Sharyn Briscoe, said the class wasn’t one of two second-grade classes designated for Black students. Briscoe and Posey are both Black. About 10% of students at Mary Lin are Black. Feds to investigate mom’s retaliation claim against Atlanta Public Schools
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:41:51 GMT -8
You Don't Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression
You have to imagine that someone somewhere has been fired. Maybe more than one person.
Elon Musk will be looking for scapegoats to blame for the fact that Ron DeSantis's campaign launch was technically a laughable farce. With the sound cutting out and the link repeatedly crashing it took 20 minutes to get going.
Ron DeSantis must be regretting listening to the adviser who thought this was the way to launch a campaign that needs rocket boosters to propel him to the level of support the polls suggest his biggest rival Donald Trump currently enjoys.
In the Four Seasons hotel in Miami, where campaign volunteers were gathered for the launch, people were trying to put a brave face on - dismissing the technical difficulties as "unimportant" and "insignificant".
"More embarrassing for Elon Musk than for Ron DeSantis," one told me. "Find me one voter in Iowa who remembers this in January and I will give a hundred bucks," he said.
Once the Twitter session got going, Mr DeSantis talked about his "war on woke", his legal battle with the Walt Disney Company, and how he would reduce immigration.
With Mr Musk and the other contributors all agreeing with him, it was certainly not a challenging forum.
Even before the fiasco began Mr DeSantis was being criticised for launching this way. One Trump loyalist noted that the Twitter event was typical for Mr DeSantis - because he didn't have to face either journalists' questions or a live audience.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:43:55 GMT -8
Trouble in ParadiseGov. Ron DeSantis’ “free state of Florida” isn’t so cheap to live in. As DeSantis sells his “Florida Blueprint” as a reason for conservatives and Republicans to back him for president, everything is not picture-perfect back home. And his opponents are ready to use it against him. Florida, where unemployment remains at 2.6 percent and jobs are relatively plentiful, is also dealing with a persistent affordability crisis that keeps driving up cost-of-living expenses, especially when it comes to housing and insurance. It’s just one example of how DeSantis’ record on those kitchen-table issues, coupled with his stance on national flashpoints like abortion and gun safety, is providing his Democratic foes and even some conservatives fodder for a well-funded opposition campaign launching in tandem with his presidential race. Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison previewed the Democratic case against the rising Republican star, noting his roots in Congress’ conservative Freedom Caucus and past support for plans that proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Harrison also focused attacks on the governor’s handling of Florida, the country’s third most-populous state and a battleground in presidential politics. “Now, as Floridians suffer under some of the highest housing and health care costs in the nation, DeSantis has tripled down on a MAGA agenda — including banning abortion, making it easier for criminals to carry guns, signing laws that allowed book bans, parroting Putin’s talking points, and bailing out huge corporations while Florida families foot the bill,” Harrison said. In DeSantis’ Sunshine State, life is not all sunny
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:47:22 GMT -8
Here It Comes to Save the Day! I Means that Might AI-Drug is on the Way!
Scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to discover a new antibiotic that can kill a deadly species of superbug.
The AI helped narrow down thousands of potential chemicals to a handful that could be tested in the laboratory.
The result was a potent, experimental antibiotic called abaucin, which will need further tests before being used.
The researchers in Canada and the US say AI has the power to massively accelerate the discovery of new drugs.
It is the latest example of how the tools of artificial intelligence can be a revolutionary force in science and medicine.
Antibiotics kill bacteria. However, there has been a lack of new drugs for decades and bacteria are becoming harder to treat, as they evolve resistance to the ones we have.
More than a million people a year are estimated to die from infections that resist treatment with antibiotics.
The researchers focused on one of the most problematic species of bacteria - Acinetobacter baumannii, which can infect wounds and cause pneumonia.
You may not have heard of it, but it is one of the three superbugs the World Health Organization has identified as a "critical" threat.
It is often able to shrug off multiple antibiotics and is a problem in hospitals and care homes, where it can survive on surfaces and medical equipment.
Dr Jonathan Stokes, from McMaster University, describes the bug as "public enemy number one" as it's "really common" to find cases where it is "resistant to nearly every antibiotic".
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:49:22 GMT -8
Game Over for Previous Guy?Donald Trump would be in serious legal trouble if speculation that his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is co-operating with Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation turned out to be correct, a legal expert has said. Former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman was reacting to a CNN report on how Meadows is continuing to work his influence in Washington D.C., including by advising GOP lawmakers on the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiation. The report adds that Meadows is no longer in communication with the former president, even though he is considered a key figure in Smith's criminal probe into Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. An unnamed source connected to Trump told CNN they are in the dark about whether Meadows is cooperating with the federal investigation, or if Meadows is a target of a criminal probe himself. Mark Meadows Flipping on Donald Trump Is 'Game Over'—Legal Expert
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:50:41 GMT -8
SCOTUS Continues Down the Path to Ending Government Regulations
The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution in a decision that strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water.
It's the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority of the court narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.
The justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near Priest Lake in the state’s panhandle. They objected when federal officials identified a soggy portion of the property as a wetlands that required them to get a permit before building.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said that wetlands can only be regulated if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.
The court jettisoned the 17-year-old opinion by their former colleague, Anthony Kennedy, that allowed regulation of wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to the larger waterways.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:51:46 GMT -8
Russian Version of Liberation
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 7:53:49 GMT -8
What is Ukraine Waiting For? Where's the Counteroffensive? Some Dry Weather and ThisAccording to the Danish minister, the transfer of 80 [Leopard 1A5] tanks should take place by June 1.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:00:22 GMT -8
In the Tradition of Robert E. Lee's Lost OrderLeft-behind polling memo shows abortion hurting outlook for GOP One party’s trash is another party’s treasure. In the latest chapter of what seems to be a long-running series about Roll Call getting ahold of things people shouldn’t leave behind, a binder from a conference an outside group held for top GOP Senate staffers at a West Virginia resort had some cautionary signs about the 2024 climate. The generic ballot has shifted toward Democrats, with Republicans losing ground among independents on the abortion issue, according to a new polling memo from a GOP firm that fell into Democratic hands. “There has been a 6 point swing in the last year on the Generic Senate ballot from R+3 to D+3. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” according to a “National Issue Study” by co/efficient, which was in the news recently as one of the pollsters for Kentucky Republican gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron. The poll, conducted April 20-24, had similar findings on the House side. “There has been a 10 point swing in the last year on the Generic House Ballot from R+6 to D+4. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” it said on slide seven. “Reproductive Freedom is the #1 issue among those that DID NOT vote in 2020.” Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:03:47 GMT -8
The Sky is Falling!! ReallyThere is a paradox at the heart of our changing climate. While the blanket of air close to the Earth’s surface is warming, most of the atmosphere above is becoming dramatically colder. The same gases that are warming the bottom few miles of air are cooling the much greater expanses above that stretch to the edge of space. This paradox has long been predicted by climate modelers, but only recently quantified in detail by satellite sensors. The new findings are providing a definitive confirmation on one important issue, but at the same time raising other questions. The good news for climate scientists is that the data on cooling aloft do more than confirm the accuracy of the models that identify surface warming as human-made. A new study published this month in the journal PNAS by veteran climate modeler Ben Santer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that it increased the strength of the “signal” of the human fingerprint of climate change fivefold, by reducing the interference “noise” from background natural variability. Sander says the finding is “incontrovertible.” But the new discoveries about the scale of cooling aloft are leaving atmospheric physicists with new worries — about the safety of orbiting satellites, about the fate of the ozone layer, and about the potential of these rapid changes aloft to visit sudden and unanticipated turmoil on our weather below. The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns"This interest arises because the cooling of the upper air also causes it to contract. The sky is falling — literally."
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:05:15 GMT -8
65 Million Cases a Week
China is bracing for a new wave of Covid-19 infections that could see as many as 65 million cases per week by the time the surge peaks at the end of June.
It’s a startling prediction in a country that only months ago had enforced some of the harshest Covid control protocols on the planet. Now, with the latest omicron variant, XBB, fueling a resurgence in cases, the response from China’s government and public is muted at best.
The surge comes about six months after Beijing dismantled its sprawling infrastructure for dealing with Covid here, including harsh lockdowns, mass testing, stifling quarantines and strict mask requirements.
“People feel differently about this wave,” said Qi Zhang, 30, who works at a finance company in the northern city of Tianjin. “The last time everyone was terrified, but now they don’t think it’s a big deal,” she told NBC News on Thursday.
The data was revealed by respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan at a medical conference this week in the southern city of Guangzhou. According to state media, Zhong told the audience that the wave that started in late April was “anticipated,” and that his modeling suggested China could be approaching 40 million infections per week. By the end of June, he said, the weekly number of infections will peak at 65 million.
The United States, by comparison, was reporting more than 5 million cases a week at their peak in January 2022. Like the U.S., China stopped providing weekly case updates this month, making it difficult to know the true extent of the current outbreak.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:07:01 GMT -8
If All Else Fails, Try to Block the Bullets with This Book.
Texas schoolchildren as young as four years old are being given Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon books, teaching them to “run, hide, fight” if a gunman enters their building.
Parents and teachers in the Dallas area have expressed alarm and concern that the Stay Safe book, produced by a law enforcement consulting firm in Houston, has been sent home in the backpacks of children in pre-kindergarten and elementary classes.
The book features the honey-loving bear created by AA Milne and illustrator EH Shepard instructing kids about how to react to a mass shooting. It is not an official production, Winnie-the-Pooh has been in the public domain since 1 January 2022.
The subtitle to the Stay Safe book is: “If there is danger, let Winnie-the-Pooh and his Crew show you what to do: Run Hide Fight.”
How Long Before the QOP Bans This Book?
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:08:06 GMT -8
This is Big News In Japan, Because It is So Rare
Three people have been killed in a stabbing and shooting attack in central Japan, local media say.
A man in camouflage is said to have stabbed a woman and then used a hunting rifle in the city of Nakano, Nagano prefecture. Two policemen were also killed, and another person was injured.
The alleged attacker is holed inside an office building, Japanese media report.
Gun violence remains extremely rare in Japan, despite the killing of ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July last year.
Abe was Japan's longest-serving prime minister and his death profoundly shocked a country where handguns are banned and incidents of political violence are almost unheard of.
In 2014, there were just six incidents of gun deaths in Japan, compared to 33,599 in the US.
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Post by mhbruin on May 25, 2023 8:11:52 GMT -8
Simply the Best
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