Chances are that even the lucky among us will see the inside of an emergency room at some point, for ourselves or our loved ones. More than 3 million such patients undergo a surgical procedure each year in the United States, and the costs of this care are soaring to the point where they have overtaken the costs of treating diabetes, heart attacks and new cancer diagnoses.
Obesity continues to plague American kids, with a new study finding rates of severe obesity climbing over a 15-year period.
Examining national data from 1999 through 2014, researchers found that one-third of American children aged 2 to 19 were overweight, nearly one-quarter were obese, and more than 2 percent were severely obese.
Source:Rates of severe obesity among U.S. kids still rising: study My Comments: Argue all you want but this is absolutely true. Black and brown females in particular – please get active. It is not genetic and we are dying of heart disease.
More to the point, why do we unquestioningly “love” certain actors and instinctively, almost reflexively, “hate” others? In the vortex of 24/7 celebrity infotainment, it’s now impossible to watch performers on screen without being aware of their off-screen lives. Although I approached “The Meddler” with hesitation because of Byrne, others might avoid it because they can’t stand the politics of her co-star, Susan Sarandon.
Both Democrats and Republicans are in this game together. They only differ in minor ways. That is why this year with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump having success, it is surprising to hear from candidates that are so far on both sides of the spectrum but both are echoing one similar message – the system is rigged. The public seems to know this and actually wants to hear this message from outsiders. It is funny how party insiders on both sides resent Trump and Sanders.Both Trump and Sanders say things that don’t fall in line with their party.
“My personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have made the Bible the state’s official book.
“In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text,” Haslam (R) wrote in a letter to the speaker of the statehouse.
Source:Tennessee governor vetoes bill making Bible the official state book My Comments: Thank you governor. This crap is excruciatingly annoying. It is full time we kick out these friggin’ yahoos who busy themselves with all kinds of bullshit instead of doing the people’s work. The problem is current politicians are all wicked or stupid (Republicans and Democrats alike).
Data suggests risky behaviors are working to defy modern trends of mortality, perhaps most starkly among middle-aged white women.
White women have been dying prematurely at higher rates since the turn of this century, passing away in their 30s, 40s and 50s in a slow-motion crisis driven by decaying health in small-town America, according to an analysis of national health and mortality statistics by The Washington Post.
Source:A new divide in American death: Statistics show widening… My Comments: This is about lack of governance. Some of our leaders (and lets not beat around the bush here – Republicans mainly) are busy pitting poor and uneducated whites against peoples of other color, while the poor and uneducated of all colors suffer and die at obscene rates. The same people dying are the ones who blindly, and dare I say ignorantly, support rich tricksters in high places, who couldn’t care any less about them.
Our country is in crisis because of moral bankruptcy and wickedness by a ruling class (some would argue that this has been an ingrained part of the American story) that is tone deaf to the misery of the ruled.
Preying on the ignorance of people with a false narrative is evil and will only continue unless we change our system. The current Republican and Democratic parties are NOT taking care of us and the leaders are only using their office to further their ends. Black and brown people have been and still continue to suffer at far higher rates (as the article affirms that mortality rates for both group are still higher than whites) due to structural wickedness, but we are waiting for the false narrative to continue (it has already started with Trump and others) that whites are dying because black and brown peoples are getting better treatment. As ridiculous as that might sound, worse and more absurd ideas have been peddled to the gullible minds of poor and uneducated whites, who have historically been used as pawn in a system that cedes very little advantage to them.
There is an ongoing perception that most of the workforce has a college degree. When we say college degree we mean at a minimum a bachelor’s degree. You would think that with $1.3 trillion in student debtoutstanding a good portion of the work force would be college educated.
Demonstrators are shown during a Black Lives Matter protest last year.
When several black celebrities refused to attend the Academy Awards this year, their protest was initially dismissed as a futile gesture. Yet their boycott succeeded in exposing Hollywood’s subtle but deeply ingrained form of racism.
Source:Corporate America supports the fight for LGBT rights… My Comments: Thank you so very much Ms Cohen for this piece. The nasty hypocrisy under which we move about our daily lives as a society is killing us. Your piece is well put and much appreciated.
Aiken, S.C., cops had no reasonable cause for even the traffic stop, much less to violate the man’s body.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on an investigative series about police abuse in South Carolina. I’ve found a dizzying number of cases, including illegal arrests, botched raids, fatal shootings and serious questions about how all those incidents are investigated.
Many of these cases were previously unreported, or if they were reported, the initial reports were a far cry from what actually happened. The series will run at some point in the next week. But in the meantime, I want to share one particularly horrifying incident that I came across this week while researching the series.
Source:Video shows white cops performing roadside cavity search of black man My Comments: This definitely a WHAT THE FUCK! Here we go – this what the black experience is under the New Jim Crow System in a Post Racial America. We will get this to stop. By the hook or the crook it will stop!
Dozens of prominent colleges fill a third or more of their incoming classes through early-decision applications, which prevent comparison shopping for the best financial deal and make it more difficult to get in during the regular admissions cycle.
Source:A college-admissions edge for the wealthy: Early decision My Comments: My boy got into Cornell on Early Decision. I absolutely agree that you have to know and work the system a bit. Thee is definitely a game to be played and a secrecy to the sauce.
The real unemployment rate is nearly twice as high as the stated headline unemployment rate. Only 44 percent of the adult population is engaged in full-time employment. This is also reflected in the 94 million Americans that are part of the “not in the labor force” category. When you have 1 out of 3 Americans being unable to afford rent, food, or transportation then it is understandable that you are going to have anger.
My Comments: The nastiest cut is that less fortunate black, white and brown people are being pitted against each through racist dog whistling, in order to deflect.
White people listen –
black and brown people want the same things that you want for you and your families. We do understand the territorial imperatives and the primal need to gravitate towards your own – believe me we do. But in this – the most powerful and richest country in all of time – there is more than enough for all of us (you and the not yous*) to go around. Stop being manipulated by the ruling elite into believing otherwise. They are nothing but wolves in sheep clothing. Just because they might look like you, doesn’t mean they give a shit about you.
Why are so many of you/us suffering while our government leaders corruptly curry favor with banks, large corporation and industries to put policies in place that hurt us, and from which they profit. Stop having them manipulate you through your religious and social beliefs, they could give a fat baby’s ass if you are for abortion or gay rights. They – really – don’t – care.
I know many before have called for another way, but it is not easy. It is not easy because we are lazy – lazy is just what we do. We like the familiar, change is scary and too uncertain. But anything short, of uniting in a fundamental way to change our society, will only continue to move us towards that which is not-great. So put away the demagogues and race-baiters and Unite with all for our country and declare a movement for prosperity for all races. A house divided will never ever stand – we continue this charade to our peril.
Peering deep into the dusty heart of our Milky Way galaxy using infrared vision, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals a rich tapestry of more than half a million stars. Except for a few blue foreground stars, the stars are part of the Milky Way’s nuclear star cluster, the most massive and densest star cluster in our galaxy.
It is possible to use your 401K for a down payment, but borrowing from a 401k isn’t a great idea. Find out why you shouldn’t use your 401k for down payment assistance.
What’s more, even young black people who follow the rules and are never incarcerated are less likely than similar white people to accumulate wealth as they get older. As of 2012, the median household wealth of black participants in the study who had never been incarcerated at some point in their lives was $16,200. Those who had been incarcerated had zero wealth at the median. Among white participants who had never been incarcerated, however, median household wealth was $192,000 by 2012. The median white pa
My Comments: The New Jim Crow – The Incarceration of Black and Brown People in a post-racial America – Read it!!! This shit is so painful to read it almost beyond words. When and where will we get solace in the friggin’ world.
While very sexy, this video pulls back from the brink of going overboard. The Weeknd nails it with awesome vocal over a well produced video that leave quite a bit to the imagination.
Why scientists are worried about the growing epidemic and its effects on pregnant women, and advice on how to avoid the infection
The World Health Organization has declared the Zika virus an international public health emergency, prompted by growing concern that it could cause birth defects. As many as four million people could be infected by the end of the year. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women against travel to about two dozen countries, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America, where the outbreak is growing.
The infection appears to be linked to the development of unusually small heads and brain damage in newborns. Some pregnant women who have been to these regions should be tested for the infection, the agency said. Here are some answers and advice about the outbreak.
You’ve been lied to about inflation. That is the truth. The banking apparatus wants you to believe that there is little to no inflation so they can continue with their money expanding ways but all you need to do is look at your spending and income and you will realize that yes, life is getting
Researchers can assess your odds based on just four key factors
The odds of striking it rich by playing the Powerball are 1 in 292 million — worse than the odds of being struck by lightning — yet that doesn’t stop us from daydreaming about being flooded with wealth and sailing off to Bali.
The opposite, however, doesn’t appear to be true: Most of us spend relatively little time imagining what it would be like to be plunged into poverty, even though the odds of that happening are far, far greater.
The press is somewhat baffled as to why Americans are so angry this year. The stock market seems to be doing fine (too bad most Americans don’t own stock). Jobs are being added (too bad most jobs are in the low wage service sector). Housing values are up (too bad the homeownership rate is
My Comments: Really illuminating data that zones in on some of the issues that might be driving the “so called” anger problem in America today. The ironic part here is that black and brown folks are unquestionable affected disproportionately, but we don’t hear about the “Black and Brown Anger”. The other issue I have is how gullible the white underclass (poor and working class) is in believing that the problem is really with the current Obama administration. If anything, look at the total and absolute ineptitude across all three branches (probably a bit harsh on the SC). Then again, fear mongering has been with us for most of “our” history and sadly enough it still drive our society today.
People recognize the seriousness of Alzheimer’s disease, but they aren’t taking steps to learn about their personal chances of getting the disease or to prepare for it financially, according to a new survey.
The WebMD and Shriver Report Snapshot: “Insight Into Alzheimer’s Attitudes and Behaviors,” asked more than 4,200 WebMD readers their beliefs and experiences regarding the disease.
I’ll never forget my first speech. It was 1964 in Cooperstown, NY, and I was a 29-year-old project manager at GE who’d been asked to present a new plastics venture to a group of 300 high-level corporate types. Weeks beforehand, I meticulously wrote out every word I was going to say, and practiced reading it out loud what felt like a thousand times.
Source: https://mbno.com/rLH/a-v
My Comments: Pretty sage piece; just thought I’d share
A prominent young Ohio activist killed himself on the steps of the statehouse Monday.
MarShawn M. McCarrel II, a leading member of the state’s Black Lives Matter movement, shot himself outside the capitol’s entrance at around 6 p.m. The 23-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene, State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Craig Cvetan told the Columbus Dispatch.
“We don’t have any evidence to know the reason why he did it,” Cvetan said.
Source: https://mbno.com/rLH/a-p My Comments: A sad day – hellishness of the black experience.
The financial media is abuzz with the soundbite that the stock market is off to “the worst start in history” in 2016. That is both absolutely true, and completely misleading. The fact is, corrections similar in size to the one we saw the first few weeks of the year happen on average once a year, they just haven’t happened to coincide with the first few weeks of the year in the past. So the fact that this is the worst start ever is an interesting anecdote, but is also fairly meaningless for our Thrift Savings Plan investing. (See also, Debunking the January Myth in case you were concerned by the annual beginning of February onslaught of click-bait headlines suggesting that a poor market performance in January portends of a bad year.)
Source: https://mbno.com/rLH/a-o Comments: Pretty insightful analysis from the TSP Allocation Guide. I have been following it now for sometime; dude knows what he is talking about.
How are black Americans represented and what does it mean to be black in America today? Rajini Vaidyanathan discusses with those involved in politics, culture and activism.
Travelling widely across the country she hears from families in Atlanta, activists in Missouri and academics in New York City. She speaks to the artist Kehinde Wiley about his subversive attempts to literally paint power differently; to the poet Tracy K. Smith about the vital role stories can play in encouraging empathy and hears from the civil rights icon John Lewis why he is using comic books to tell his story.
Rajini discusses what is taught in schools, what is shown on TV, and how the reality of being black in America means new black migrants to the United States are increasingly retaining their immigrant identity to avoid being considered ‘African American’. She discusses the next generation of leadership, who can authentically lead the Black Lives Matter movement, and attends a remarkable convention in Baltimore encouraging Americans to have ‘courageous conversations about race.’
Rajini Vaidyanathan examines segregation. The Brown versus the Board of Education case and the civil rights movement were supposed to have brought Americans together, but in Kansas City Rajini sees for herself the much more complicated legacy of desegregation. On the one hand, splintering solidarity in the black community; on the other a city where white and black Americans still live quite separate lives.
Demographers suggest America is becoming less segregated, but in Atlanta, one of the big southern cities supposedly driving the desegregation, she finds the reality doesn’t quite match the statistics. Catching up with a family featured throughout the series, she finds estate agents steering black families away from white neighbourhoods.
She discusses that with Julian Castro, the US Housing Secretary, and hears about his new rules to get communities integrating. And in Connecticut she sees a community which has spent 20 years integrating its schools, without requiring it of anyone.
Rajini Vaidyanathan explores economic opportunity – or lack of it – amongst black Americans. She speaks to the academic whose study suggests employers think being black is as bad as having a criminal record but that they weren’t trying to be racist, and hears from senior corporate executives who have witnessed the subtle ways racial prejudice operates in the workplace.
In Kansas City she explains how government rules established during the New Deal locked black Americans out of home ownership for a generation, in west Philadelphia she meets the civic leaders with a comprehensive plan to improve the city’s poor, black neighbourhoods, and she hears from the San Francisco non-profit trying to reduce the very high cost of being poor.
Rajini investigates the criminal justice system. In Nebraska she visits the conservative politician promoting laws to reduce the number of people behind bars. Will that help black Americans? “I hope so” he answers.
Elsewhere she hears from critics who argue that the system can never be reformed, only broken; that the system is not fair, the police need to be disarmed. She visits the police chief advising President Obama on the way forward, who acknowledges the problem but argues that “all black lives matter”, including those killed by crime, and that protesters must accept that the police are part of the solution. Rajini also spends time with the police force teaching all its officers how to be ‘ethical protectors’.
Protests against shootings of young black men by the police have pushed the issue of race to the top of the public agenda in the United States. Now BBC Washington correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan, who has covered many of the recent protests, sets out to examine some of the deep, underlying structural issues which America still has with race.
That truth is something that children seem to understand almost intuitively at a young age. However, the path through which they develop a sense of what’s fair and what isn’t — and how they act on injustices — is something that has been a puzzle for social scientists.
Fairness is a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of equality. It is an ideal that supports cooperation, sharing and sacrifice. But it also can lead to competition and greed.
Source:Newsela My Comments: Pretty interesting stuff…
Delayed Post:
Got a really good laugh at this the evening when the Early Decisions came out for Cornell. We could only properly laugh because Mark got accepted, but it is funny nonetheless; I probably would laugh regardless…mabye:
Data suggests risky behaviors are working to defy modern trends of mortality, perhaps most starkly among middle-aged white women.
