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:
Rat-bite fever is plaguing Russian soldiers and breeding discontent on the Kupiansk front, Pravda.com reported. Symptoms of the fever, triggered by inhaling dust from mouse excrement, include severe headache, rashes, decrease in blood pressure, eye problems, intense lower back pain, severe difficulty urinating, nausea and vomiting. It’s significantly reduced soldiers’ ability to fight.
“One of the least productive in U.S. history,” is the verdict on this year’s 118th Congress. Only 20 laws -- primarily non-controversial -- were passed, data from the data analytics firm Quorum showed. Axios noted that productivity was hampered by in-fighting amongst House Republican majority members, which routinely brought legislative business to a halt.
Additionally, ousting and attempting to replace the House Speaker added to delays. By comparison: the 104th, 112th and 113th Congresses, where Republicans controlled one or both chambers with Democrat presidents, passed over 70 laws.
How much Republican’s inactivity cost taxpayers? No figures were immediately available.
Inflation still falls, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Gross Domestic Product grew 4.9% in 2023’s third quarter. A decline in gas prices meant that, overall, November’s price drops were the first since April 2020.
President Joe Biden noted that a year ago forecasters said it would require “a spike in joblessness and a slowdown to get inflation down.” Instead unemployment has stayed below 4% for 22 months and more people have jobs than before the pandemic began.
But Biden’s administration sees more to be done, such as reducing prescription prices, tackling hidden junk fees, and “calling on large corporations to pass savings on to consumers as their costs moderate.”
Writer’s comment: The latter may likely prove futile, since corporate interests don’t favor Biden’s efforts to rein in corporate greed.
Recently the U.N. Security Council approved a surge in aid for people in Gaza, along with a pause in fighting for delivering the aid. The vote was 13-0, with the U.S. and Russia abstaining. Aid groups faulted the aid efforts as too weak for addressing the scope of Gaza’s suffering.
After Israel’s attack on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, under the claim that a Hamas command center was hidden there, The Washington Post found no proof of a command center at that location.
From Action Against Hunger, regarding Israel and Gaza: “We are experiencing an emergency like I have never seen before,” trying to help two million people. All aid is insufficient, people wait for weeks for surgery, those who get it risk infection due to lack of antibiotics and drugs, food is hard to get, and sanitation involves hours-long waits to use latrines and wash. The UN says 80% of households in northern Gaza and half of those displaced in the South are experiencing days without food
Colorado’s Supreme Court recently ruled that, under the 14th Amendment, due to his engagement in a political resurrection, Donald Trump is not eligible in that state to be on the 2024 election ballot there. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of Colorado’s decision.
People born around 1990 have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of colorectal cancer. It appears to be linked to consumption of sugary drinks. Women consuming less than one of those drinks per week had half the risk for colorectal cancer, as compared to those drinking two or more, The WEEK reported. For each additional drink per week the risk rose 16%.
This year more than 2,600 journalism jobs in the U.S. were lost, and since 2008 newsrooms have shrunk by at least half, Mother Jones wrote. They noted that “It’s no coincidence that during this same time disinformation and propaganda have come to dominate out politics.”
Recently the U.S. Senate passed a defense policy bill authorizing the biggest raise for troops “in more than two decades,” PBS reported.
Colorado’s Supreme Court recently ruled that, under the 14 th Amendment, due to his engagement in a political resurrection, Donald Trump is not eligible in that state to be on the 2024 election ballot there. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of Colorado’s decision.
Blast from the past: “During these short, dark days and long nights let’s remember that ancient knowledge that illumination always follows darkness, and that with love and compassion we will re-light our nations and lives.”
Excerpt from Thom Hartmann’s Radio and TV program.
And another blast: Fifty years ago President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law on Dec. 29. At the time only an estimated 400 bald eagles were left in the lower states, largely due to the use of DDT, which wakened the chicks’ eggshells.
One year before the ESA was signed, DDT was banned. That, with ESA protections, allowed the national bird population to soar to about 316,000. It was removed from the Endangered Species list in 2007. Other ESA accomplishments include preventing the extinction of 99% of the species on the ESA list, and helping over 50 other species to recover enough numbers to be taken off the ES list.
While ESA protections have been invaluable to some species survival, the new challenge is climate change and political conservatives’ efforts to weaken or even abolish the ESA.