Sunspots 728

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Finance: Catherine Rampell doesn't think President Trump's bashing of the Federal Reserve, or his apparent eagerness to get into a trade war with China, are good ideas. She says that these two mistakes will work together to hurt the US economy more than either, by itself.

Food: Relevant reports that a Rhode Island school district is going to give students who owe lunch money jelly sandwiches. In a later report, NPR reports that this policy has been rolled back. Some school districts are giving meals to children whose parents/guardians who haven't paid for lunches, when, apparently, they could do so, and have spent many thousands of dollars to feed these children.

Politics: Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, Jr., says that President Trump should be awarded two extra years in office, because of the attacks on him during the first two years.

Relevant also reports that a Georgia politician believes that intermarriage between whites and non-whites is against the Bible's teaching.

Gizmodo, and other news outlets, report that the US refused to sign a declaration that climate change is endangering the Arctic environment.

S. E. Cupp reports that the Obama administration used drones in conflicts in some questionable ways, and that the Trump administration is using even more drones as deadly weapons.

Science: (or something) Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, and the richest man on the planet, says we need to move some of us off of the earth, in order to save humanity. The editor of Earther begs to differ.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 723

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

 
Christianity: The He Lives blog on what theistic evolution (aka evolutionary creationism) is, and is not.


Finance: Catherine Rampell hopes that President Trump does not appoint Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve.

Food: The Trump administration is being sued by some states, because of roll-backs in standards for school lunches.

Health: FiveThirtyEight discusses the unfairness of the organ donation system.

Politics: S. E. Cupp says that Democrats have repeatedly made errors in reacting to President Trump, and they are doing it again on the Muller Report.

The Associated Press on the recent shake-up at the Department of Homeland Security.

The Associated Press has fact-checked many of President Donald Trump's recent utterances. He has gotten a lot wrong, including where his father was born (!). And he also has been far from the truth on immigration, healthcare, hurricane aid for Puerto Rico, and other issues.

Science: Scientific American reports that cats recognize their names (although the reaction is often not what the owner wants.)

Gizmodo reports that gorillas may grieve for their dead.

Sports: (and race) Kyle Korver, long-time NBA player, who is white, has written an essay on racism.

Sports Illustrated on the struggles, and triumph, of the NCAA women's champion basketball team, Baylor.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.

Thanks for looking!

Keeping the U. S. schoolchild fat and unfit

Fox News, and a number of other outlets, report that a conference committee of the U. S. Congress removed several excellent suggestions from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, relating to school lunches.

Among other provisions removed were some which would have lowered the amount of french fries and pizza served, made it illegal to count the tomato sauce on a pizza as a vegetable, and lowered the salt content. All these provisions would have made school lunches, and our school kids, healthier.

As Fox News reported: "A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. The group, called Mission: Readiness has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service." The statement by the retired generals (and other military types) is here.

Oh, dear. And why did the conference committee do this? One reason given by legislators was to stay away from adding regulations to local school districts. One reason not given was pressure from food companies that would have been affected by the changes proposed by the USDA.