Bits n’ pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.

A recent sampling:

Anticipating more climate-driven heat waves, National Public Radio said Oregon has passed a law requiring installation of air conditioning in at least one room in all new housing built after April of 2024.

The 2021 June-July Pacific Northwest heat wave killed about 800 people in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is faced with the possibility of taking to court a company that has refused to recall 67 million air bag inflators.

The devices can explode and hurl shrapnel, NPR says. At least two people have been killed and seven hurt by the defective inflators.

A dog in Portugal recently celebrated his 31st birthday, CNN said. The dog’s owner, who says the dog has had a low-stress life, was 8 years old when his dog was born.

Almost six million jobs have been added to the U.S. economy since 2021, and unemployment has fallen from 3.9% to 3.4% (the latter last seen in the 1960’s), The New York Times reported.

As well, inflation is now at 3.3%, as compared to 9.6% last June. Last October 20% of Americans polled regarded inflation as the nation’s most significant problem, but now 9% say it is.

Correction: Last week it was reported here that the woman who sued Donald Trump for rape and defamation was awarded $2 million; that was for sexual abuse. The total amount was $5 million.

BBC: A New York judge recently denied Trump’s lawsuit filed in 2021 against The New York Times, following the paper’s investigation into his finances. The judge said the Times action was protected by the First Amendment and ordered Trump to pay attorneys fees, legal expenses and associated costs.

A new study published in Environmental Research: Health, puts a price tag on the human cost of domestic oil and gas activity, Axios reported, showing the industry’s costs go beyond climate and air pollution. The study found that oil and gas production alone was responsible for 7,500 premature deaths, 410,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new childhood asthma cases in 2016.

The cost of health impacts, including hospitalization and emergency room care, was estimated at $77 billion annually.

Last week the Dept. of Health and Human Services ended the Covid-19 health emergency. But, as various media pointed out, people, especially seniors, are still vulnerable to and dying from the virus.

The EPA has proposed emission caps on existing power plants, NBC reported. Close to all of the nation’s coal and large gas plants would need to reduce or capture 90% of carbon dioxide emissions by 2038; lack of compliance would force plant closures. Food and Water Watch said such efforts have a track record of failure and carbon capture creates more emissions than are captured.

Ban stock buybacks, the Harvard Business Review wrote: they detract from investments in research and development, and in measures that allow corporations to stay competitive. Another use for buyback funds could be to pay the same tax rate as other Americans, helping reduce the federal debt.

The Guardian recently posted the report, “American Torturers: FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantanamo” that includes 40 drawings, sketched from a detainee’s memory, depicting torture that he and others experienced. The drawings include “gruesome acts” of violence, sexual and religious humiliation and “prolonged psychological terror.”

The illustrator was the first to be approved for torture by the Dept. of Justice, with approval based on information the CIA fabricated, according to an attorney involved with the man’s case. The man has never been charged with a crime.

Debt default: President Biden has been meeting with House Republicans about raising the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on paying the nation’s debt. Action is needed before June 1 to avoid default and expected economic calamity. The ceiling was raised three times under former President Donald Trump. Under Trump the nation’s debt rose to nearly $7.8 trillion and was in “crisis” mode pre-pandemic (ProPublica).

So far, Biden has been able to reduce the debt by $1.7 billion. To further reduce federal debt Biden wants $3 trillion in cuts. Avenues for that include permitting Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies (a $200 billion savings) and $30 billion in tax subsidy cuts for oil companies (Biden said they earned $200 billion in profits last year).

He also supports further funding for the IRS for pursuing wealthy tax cheats, which the Congressional Budget Office says will raise $200 billion. Another Biden plan is to increase spending on inspectors general who look for waste by tracking government spending; that is expected to render $10 saved for every dollar spent.

But, Biden said, all these actions are opposed by House Republicans, causing some in media to doubt their real aim is to address the nation’s finances and is instead meant to crash Biden’s successes and re-election chances.

A recent CBS poll asked if the nation’s debt ceiling should be lifted. Forty-six percent said yes, 54% said no.

But when informed that failure to raise the debt ceiling meant the likelihood of defaulting on current national debts, only 30% said it should not be increased.

Blast from the past: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, third U.S. President.