Sunday, December 2, 2018

Week-end Wrap - December 1, 2018

Week-end Wrap - December 1, 2018
by Tony Wikrent
Economics Action Group, North Carolina Democratic Party Progressive Caucus

Worldwide the suicide rate is down by 29% since 2000. In America it’s up by 18%
[Washington Post, via Naked Capitalism 11-29-18]

Report: Death Rates Increase for 5 of the 12 Leading Causes of Mortality 
[Pharmacy Times, via Naked Capitalism 11-29-18] A useful summary.

[Washington Post, via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18]

Household debt hit a record high of $13.5 trillion last quarter
[Time, via Avedon's Sideshow 11-23-18]
Money really can buy happiness, as it turns out — but you might not need as much as you think. A large analysis published in the journal Nature Human Behavior used data from the Gallup World Poll, a survey of more than 1.7 million people from 164 countries, to put a price on optimal emotional well-being: between $60,000 and $75,000 a year. That aligns with past research on the topic, which found that people are happiest when they make about $75,000 a year. But while that may be the sweet spot for feeling positive emotions on a day-to-day basis, the researchers found that a higher figure — $95,000 — is ideal for 'life evaluation,' which takes into account long-term goals, peer comparisons and other macro-level metrics. [...] Money really can buy happiness, as it turns out — but you might not need as much as you think. A large analysis published in the journal Nature Human Behavior used data from the Gallup World Poll, a survey of more than 1.7 million people from 164 countries, to put a price on optimal emotional well-being: between $60,000 and $75,000 a year. That aligns with past research on the topic, which found that people are happiest when they make about $75,000 a year. But while that may be the sweet spot for feeling positive emotions on a day-to-day basis, the researchers found that a higher figure — $95,000 — is ideal for 'life evaluation,' which takes into account long-term goals, peer comparisons and other macro-level metrics."
[Bloomberg, via Naked Capitalism 11-27-18]

Economic Analysis of Medicare for All
[PERI - Political Economy Research Institute - UMASS Amherst (via Mike Norman Economics 11-30-18]
Abstract
This study by PERI researchers Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Peter Arno, Jeannette Wicks-Lim and Michael Ash presents a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for a Medicare for All health care system in the United States. The most fundamental goals of Medicare for All are to significantly improve health care outcomes for everyone living in the United States while also establishing effective cost controls throughout the health care system. These two purposes are both achievable. As of 2017, the U.S. was spending about $3.24 trillion on personal health care—about 17 percent of total U.S. GDP. 
Meanwhile, 9 percent of U.S. residents have no insurance and 26 percent are underinsured—they are unable to access needed care because of prohibitively high costs. Other high-income countries spend an average of about 40 percent less per person and produce better health outcomes. Medicare for All could reduce total health care spending in the U.S. by nearly 10 percent, to $2.93 trillion, while creating stable access to good care for all U.S. residents.
Lobbyist Documents Reveal Health Care Industry Battle Plan Against 'Medicare For All
[The Intercept, via Avedon's Sideshow 11-23-18]

Climate Concerns Increase; Most Republicans Now Acknowledge Change 
[Monmouth University Polling Institute, via Naked Capitalism 11-30-18]
Nearly 8-in-10 Americans (78%) believe the world’s climate is undergoing a change that is causing more extreme weather patterns and sea level rise, up from 70% in December 2015. Of note, nearly two-thirds of Republicans (64%) now believe in climate change, a 15 point jump from just under half (49%) three years ago. However, belief in climate change continues to be higher among Democrats (92%, up from 85% in 2015) and independents (78%, up from 74%). The poll was conducted before last week’s release of the federal government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment and President Donald Trump’s remarks this week questioning the report.
Economics of Climate Change: How to Stop Global Warming by 2030
[John Laurits, via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18]
“The good news is that scientists from across the world have analyzed over 6,000 studies and concluded that it is possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C using today’s technology — but there is a catch. Though it is possible within the laws of physics and chemistry, it would require unprecedented efforts at a planetary scale to pull off the greatest hustle in world-history (and probably galactic or even universal history) to transform the global energy-system, overhaul supply-chains, and replenish a pilfered ecosystem but — and here’s the kicker — it all needs to be halfway done in about 12 years…. The first thing would be to open the throttle on spending, mobilizing the idle workforce by funding a workers’ self-managed federal job-guarantee, as well as programs to assist workers in establishing construction co-ops capable of building new infrastructure for transportation and energy and to assemble movable labor-armies led by workers for large-scale reforestation and similar efforts.”
[Independent, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]

We Can Pay For A Green New Deal
[Stephanie Kelton, et al., Huffington Post, via Naked Capitalism 12-1-18] 
“We need a mass mobilization of people and resources, something not unlike the U.S. involvement in World War II or the Apollo moon missions ― but even bigger. We must transform our energy system, transportation, housing, agriculture and more…. Here’s the good news: Anything that is technically feasible is financially affordable. And it won’t be a drag on the economy ― unlike the climate crisis itself, which will cause tens of billions of dollars worth of damage to American homes, communities and infrastructure each year. A Green New Deal will actually help the economy by stimulating productivity, job growth and consumer spending, as government spending has often done. (You don’t have to go back to the original New Deal for evidence of that.) In fact, a Green New Deal can create good-paying jobs while redressing economic and environmental inequities.”
....To save the planet and fix historical inequities, however, we must change the way we approach the federal budget. We must give up our obsession with trying to “pay for” everything with new revenue or spending cuts.
The federal government can spend money on public priorities without raising revenue, and it won’t wreck the nation’s economy to do so. That may sound radical, but it’s not. It’s how the U.S. economy has been functioning for nearly half a century. That’s the power of the public purse.... This is precisely how we paid for the first New Deal. The government didn’t go out and collect money ― by taxing and borrowing ― because the economy had collapsed and no one had any money (except the oligarchs). The government hired millions of people across various New Deal programs and paid them with a massive infusion of new spending that Congress authorized in the budget. FDR didn’t need to “find the money,” he needed to find the votes. We can do the same for a Green New Deal.
Climate Shocks and Humanitarian Crises: Which Countries Are Most at Risk?
By Joshua Busby and Nina von Uexkull, November 29, 2018 [Foreign Affairs]

How Inequality Increases Environmental Damage for Everyone (But Not Equally)
[Real News Network 11-27-18]
James Boyce of PERI discusses how inequalities in power encourage the creation of environmental damage. Inequality disempowers some communities while allowing the powerful to profit at the environment’s and everyone else’s expense
The Climate Apocalypse Is Now, and It’s Happening to You 
[New York Times, via Naked Capitalism 12-1-18] 
“California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims. It hasn’t gotten any better this year…. ‘We’re not in a crisis yet, but all of the trends are in a bad direction,’ said Dave Jones, who is completing his eighth and final year as California’s insurance commissioner. ‘We’re slowly marching toward a world that’s uninsurable.’”
Top fund managers sue top banks in global forex manipulation scandal 
[Handelsblatt, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]
The Forex Scandal was probably the largest financial crime ever committed, because of the size of the foreign exchange markets. Here is the Wikipedia entry:
The forex scandal (also known as the forex probe) is a financial scandal that involves the revelation, and subsequent investigation, that banks colluded for at least a decade to manipulate exchange rates for their own financial gain. Market regulators in Asia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States began to investigate the $4.7 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market (forex) after Bloomberg News reported in June 2013 that currency dealers said they had been front-running client orders and rigging the foreign exchange benchmark WM/Reuters rates by colluding with counterparts and pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmark rates are set. The behavior occurred daily in the spot foreign-exchange market and went on for at least a decade according to currency traders.
Yes, you read that right: the $4.7 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market. You must grasp the size of this: USA GDP was $19.4 trillion for the entire year of 2017. Only about a third of Americans now living were alive at a time when there was no speculative foreign exchange trading at all. (For more, see the section on the Forex Scandal in my Wall Street's Fraud and Illusion of Social Utility from July 2016.) When opponents of government spending and investment say there is no money, they're lying. Imagine if the world was spending just one tenth of the forex market - $470 billion a day - on solving the problem of climate change. Do you think we would be making any progress?

Sanders: Senate Rebuked Yemen War After Americans Learned of the Saudi’s Brutality
[Real News Network 11-30-18]
Dr. Cornel West and Senator Bernie Sanders launched the Sanders Institute Gathering by highlighting progressive fights against corporate power and for a more just society
The Virtues and Limits of Markets
[Real News Network 11-25-18]
Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, presents at the forum, “Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism,” held in Washington DC, on October 19, 2018
Systematized Tax Evasion: Cheating Competition
[Real News Network 11-26-18]
James Henry, economist and tax attorney, speaks at the forum, “Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism,” held in Washington DC, on October 19, 2018
Corporate Tax-Break Subsidies: Boosting Monopolies, Fueling Inequality
[Real News Network 11-26-18]
Greg Leroy, Executive Director of Good jobs First, speaks at the forum, “Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism,” held in Washington DC, on October 19, 2018
How Market Fundamentalism Corrupts the Political Process
[Real News Network 11-29-18]
Rob Weissman, president of Public Citizen speaks at the forum, “Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism,” held in Washington DC, on October 19, 2018
The Assault on Regulation (And the Case for it)
[Real News Network 12-1-18]
Tom McGarity, law professor at the University of Texas-Austin, and Rena Steinzor, law professor at the University of Maryland, speak at the forum, “Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism,” held in Washington DC, on October 19, 2018
The Supreme Court Could Restore Millions of Acres in Tribal Lands in an Oklahoma Murder Case
[SplinterNews 11-27-18]
If the Supreme Court rules in Murphy’s favor instead of the state’s, Murphy would need to be retried by a federal court, as they hold jurisdiction for homicides on tribal lands. That, and the fact that he would no longer face the death penalty, are somehow the smallest ramifications in this case. 
The larger issue is the understanding that a decision upholding the Circuit Court’s decision would grant the land back to the Muscogee. This would open the door for the rest of Oklahoma’s Five Tribes to follow the Muscogee’s path and reclaim their tribal lands, which total roughly 19 million acres and include parts of the city of Tulsa. Of course, the state of Oklahoma is none too interested in having this happen.
Labour plans to give customers of big firms vote on boardroom pay 
[Guardian, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]
Customers of Britain’s 7,000 biggest companies would be given the right to vote on the pay of top executives under plans for a clampdown on boardroom pay being considered by Labour. 
A report commissioned by Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, calls for an annual binding vote on executive packages to include all stakeholders – including employees and consumers. 
Other suggestions include scrapping all forms of share options so that executives are paid only in cash, a ban on golden handshakes and punitive fines for directors of companies that persistently fail to pay the minimum wage. The report also proposes that all companies in Britain with more than 250 staff would have to reveal the names of employees paid more than £150,000 a year.
North Carolina Labor History Exhibit Available for Show from North Carolina AFL-CIO
[North Carolina State AFL-CIO]
North Carolina’s low union density today belies its rich history of worker organizing since the birth of the American labor movement in the 1800s, but a new project by North Carolina’s labor federation aims to bring that history to light.

The North Carolina Labor History Exhibit is a collection of 13 panels that illustrate the struggles and victories of people working in unions to secure their fair share of the wealth they create in North Carolina from the days of the Knights of Labor in the 19th Century to the formation of the Duke Faculty Union in 2016.


Here are the panel titles. Go to the link to click thumbnails at the bottom to get a closer look at each panel.
  1. Early Unions in North Carolina
  2. 1929 Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia
  3. 1929 Tragedy in Marion
  4. 1934 Textile General Strike
  5. Local 22: Civil Rights Unionism
  6. Operation Dixie
  7. J.P. Stevens Boycott
  8. 25 Years of Struggle: Cannon Mills Union Victory
  9. Victory at Smithfield
  10. Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott
  11. United Automobile Workers of North Carolina
  12. Faculty Forward!
  13. The Future of the Labor Movement
In 1970s, workers at this GM plant tried to reinvent the American Dream. Instead, they watched it fade away
[Will Bunch, The Inquirer, via Naked Capitalism 12-1-18]
“The young lords of Lordstown found the assembly line — 35 second bursts of a dull, repetitive task, and a 5-second break before the next Impala or Vega rolled up — to be soul-crushing work. Botched cars — some of them slashed, deliberately sabotaged by angry workers — piled up in the giant lot outside the factory. A good chunk of the labor force had little fear of conflict with their bosses because they’d recently returned from the front lines in Vietnam.”
After Wasting $14 billion on Share-Buybacks, GM Prepares for Carmageddon and Shift to EVs, Cuts Employees, Closes 8 Plants 
[Wolf Street, via Naked Capitalism 11-27-18]

Bad Buybacks
Barry Ritholtz, November 29, 2018 [The Big Picture]
I was working on my regular Bloomberg column, taking a closer look at some companies in the news (GE, GM, Apple, etc.) who coincidentally were doing big buybacks. In the process of trying to put together an objective, data-driven, dispassionate discussion, I found myself continually getting angry. These are modern examples of really bad stock buybacks by mediocre management — so much so that my research kept derailing my attempts at creating an even-handed analysis on the pros and cons of buybacks.
My solution in keeping that column from becoming the blog version of road rage was to move those frustrations here.... 
General Motors... bought $14 billion worth of stock back from 2015-17... Over that same time period, Tesla’s model 3 was released, becoming not only the best selling electric in the USA, but one of the best selling sedans, too. Porsche/VW/Audi rolled out several new e cars (Taycan and Audi e-Tron) that achieve 80% full charge in 20 minutes. The Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV won all sorts of Car of Year the awards (see, this, this, this and this). One cannot avoid the conclusion that the company would have been much better off using that capital for something other than buybacks — like R&D.... While GM was spending billions on buybacks, its competition was spending billions innovating: building out a nationwide electric charging station infrastructure, developing autonomous driving technologies, creating the latest generation battery technologies. GM has fallen behind its competition in technological innovation.... 
Why Automation Needs Apprenticeships 
[Industry Week], via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18]
“I think it is fair to say that American companies rushed to invest in automation, but did not make a similar commitment or investment in the training needed to operate, maintain, troubleshoot, and repair all of the automation they purchased… I don’t think that America’s public corporations have bought into the idea of long-term apprentice training, for several reasons. First, public corporations today are financially driven by short-term results—and 8,000-hour training programs would probably not meet their return-on-investment objectives. Second, it is pretty obvious they thought they could get by with short-term and on-the-job training. Third, I think these corporations would also be resistant to the idea of investing in years of training for a worker to obtain a journeyman certificate that allows them the credentials to then shop their skills to the highest bidder.”
What is the business case for autonomous vehicles in the supply chain? (roundtable discussion) [Supply Chain Dive, via Naked Capitalism 11-27-18]  
Mike Ramsey, Senior Research Director, Automotive and Smart Mobility, Gartner: “In practice, however, autonomy already exists and is saving companies money in the supply chain. Rio Tinto is operating more than 80 autonomous mining trucks in Australia. In 2016, on average, each of Rio Tinto’s autonomous haul trucks operated an additional 1,000 hours and at 15% lower load and haul unit cost than conventional haul trucks. As the technology improves and comes down in cost, businesses will find that moving goods inside of factories and between factories and warehouses makes financial sense. This return-on-investment-based thinking of automation isn’t as sexy as a fleet of 80,000 Waymo cabs picking up passengers around the globe, but it is a more likely future. Companies such as Einride, in Sweden, believe there is a $1 trillion market for autonomous logistics aimed precisely at this market. That company’s electric truck has begun running pallets on a 10 km stretch between warehouses owned by German logistics company, Schenker, in the Swedish city of Jönköping.”
[The Hill, via The Big Picture 11-30-18]
Analysis by Menzie Chinn, a professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that after the enactment of the tax cuts, economic growth in Kansas fell well below its pre-Brownback trend and, by the spring of 2017, the rate of job growth in Kansas was not only lower than the rates in most of its neighboring states but less than half of the national average. 
Brownback’s experiment was such a failure that his party turned against him. In 2017, the Republican-dominated legislature, overriding the governor’s veto, rolled back the tax cuts. 
But some were not convinced, including Kris Kobach, who made a resumption of the Brownback experiment (with even deeper spending cuts) a fundamental part of his platform in the just-ended campaign. The voters of Kansas, however, had had enough, and his advocacy of the tax and spending cuts was critical to his defeat.
Exclusive: The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed 
[The Nation, via Naked Capitalism 11-29-18]
“The firms concluded, however, that the DoD’s financial records were riddled with so many bookkeeping deficiencies, irregularities, and errors that a reliable audit was simply impossible.”
[MarketWatch, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]
Farm bankruptcies have jumped in the Upper Midwest, according to a new analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota. 
Some 84 farm operations filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana in the 12 months ended in June. That’s above a prior peak in 2010, which followed the 2008-09 recession, and it’s more than double the number of bankruptcies in 2014, as shown in the chart above from the Minneapolis Fed. 
The rise in bankruptcy filings has been driven by low commodity pricesBCOM, +0.76% in recent years, as well as by U.S. disputes with trading partners that have led to tariffs, according to Ron Wirtz, the Minneapolis Fed’s regional outreach director. 
“That nagging economic strain of low commodity prices on farmers and ranchers — compounded for some by recent tariffs — is starting to show up not just in bottom-line profitability, but in simple viability,” he wrote in the bank’s Fedgazette publication.
Trump Administration Ponies Up $449M for New California Dam
[Courthouse News], via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]. 
“In an effort to boost California’s water infrastructure and alleviate the state’s perpetual drought worries, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Tuesday his department will spend more than $449 million to help fund projects to increase the reliability and efficiency of the water supply across the state. Perdue joined Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, three Central Valley congressmen and others in making the announcement at the proposed Sites Reservoir. The $449 million would be used to build a pipeline connecting two canals that will eventually pipe runoff from the Sacramento River to fill the 1.8 million acre-foot reservoir. In addition to the money pledged by the Trump administration, California will pony up over $800 million in voter-approved bonds for the project…. The visit by Perdue and Zinke follows Trump’s creation of the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in April 2017, which the president tasked with finding ways to promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities.”
Pistachio Wars: Killing California for a Snack Food
[KickStarter, via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18] 
“For the past three years, I’ve been working with filmmaker Rowan Wernham on a documentary that investigates how a small group of billionaires have taken control of California’s water — they have used that control to drain rivers, fuel real estate bubbles, build vast plantations in the middle of a desert, and left a trail of abuse, pollution, and environmental collapse behind them.”
[Truthout, via Naked Capitalism 11-27-18] 

FDA promised a ‘lower-cost option’ to EpiPen, but the price isn’t any lower
[Rolling Stone, via Naked Capitalism 11-25-18]
“As part of her joint contract with the label, UMG must promise to hand over to artists, on a non-recoupable basis, a portion of the windfall from its Spotify shares in the future. Not just to Swift, but to all its artists.”
At Elon University, some professors move to unionize
[Greensboro News & Record 11-29-18, via NC AFL-CIO]
 Elon Faculty Forward — a group of non-tenured professors at the university — filed papers Thursday with the federal National Labor Relations Board to start the formal process of creating a union. Organizers announced their intent to join the Service Employees International Union at a rally on campus Thursday morning.... They spelled out their demands in more detail in a column published Wednesday in Elon’s student newspaper.

Home Routers Under Attack by NSA-Spawned Malware: What to Do
[TomGuide, via Naked Capitalism 11-30-18]
The bottom line is clear enough: Your router is the gateway to every connected device in your home, from your computer, to your phone, to your smart TV, to your smart light bulbs. If your router has been compromised, it’s possible that every other device in your home has followed suit. 
Unfortunately, checking to see if you’ve been infected is hard, as antivirus software doesn’t normally scan routers. (A few products have begun to do so.) If malware makes it as far as your computer or game console, though, it’ll be easier to notice. 
Cryptocurrency mining is a common cybercriminal tactic, as is drafting a system into a botnet. Either one will have a significant impact on performance, and will indicate that it’s time to back up your data and factory-reset the device.

Vestas' Brown: Wind demand will peak in 2020, continue to grow
[Reuters (11/29) , via American Wind Energy Association 11-30-18]
"I think that 2020 is going to be the peak of where the demand is and you're going to see it fall off a little bit as you lose the PTC (production tax credit). And then you're probably going to see it come back," says Vestas North America President Chris Brown. Brown adds that utilities and corporations will continue to be major buyers for the industry.
[The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) (11/24) , via American Wind Energy Association 11-26-18]
Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino and other California counties need to reconsider policies that hinder wind development, writes the editorial board of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo. "When weighed against the benefits of switching to renewable energy, some of the reasons for banning wind turbines are ridiculously flimsy, unreasonable and selfish," they argue.
Developing nations are leading the clean energy charge, says BNEF
[North American Windpower online (11/27) , via American Wind Energy Association 11-28-18]
Clean energy is taking off in developing nations faster than anywhere else in the world, says BloombergNEF, noting they added 114 gigawatts of zero-carbon generating capacity in 2017. Stable policies, declining costs and other factors have put these nations in a unique position to leverage the technology, and doing so is leading to further gains, the company reports.
Developing Nations Are Stepping Up Into Global Clean Energy Leadership
[Real Economics, November 29, 2018]
[The Loadstar, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]
“Renault has signed a three-year deal with French developer Neoline to construct two wind-powered ro-ro vessels to operate on a transatlantic route from 2020… The ship design features a loading ramp at the rear to 1,700 linear metres of cargo space – equating to 478 vehicles.” • However, Car carrier ships haul “up to 8,500 vehicles in a layer cake of 13 decks.”
How car sharing will impact US economy and what car makers can do about it 
[Automotive IQ, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18] 
“In the last year, total revenue of car sharing business in the country has reached the point of $28.6 billion…. [T]ake a thorough look at the reasons making car borrowing undeniably popular. First, shared mobility is an exceptionally effective solution for the challenges associated with rapid urbanization…. The second reason[:] Affordability, as well as high maintenance costs, are enough for [Generation Z*] to dissuade from owning a vehicle and opt for a shared mobility alternative… The recent research highlights that more and more people in the United States are willing to share ride in a fully or partially autonomous vehicle… [S]hared vehicles are expected to be utilized more often compared to the private fleet cars. It means that the US car sharing providers will have to consistently renew their fleets.”
Are We Building the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure We Need? 
[Industry Week, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]  
“Currently, 55,000 public charging points in 19,300 stations (including 8,800 DCFC) are available across the United States, and more are added every week. These numbers, however, are not nearly enough to support the EV growth predicted for the next decades. A Department of Energy study estimates that if, in 2030, we will have 15 million EVs in the United States, then we will need 27,000 DCFC and 600,000 Level 2 outlets in public locations. The bulk of that EV supply equipment would be needed in cities, as well as in smaller towns, rural areas, and interstate corridors. To encourage EV adoption, it is essential to increase the supply of both public charging geared towards long distance trips on highways and charging in residential and office areas.”
Anatomy Of Aurora Flight Sciences' Odysseus
Graham Warwick [Aviation Week & Space Technology 11-26-18]
Details of the solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft's technology. Aurora Flight Sciences’ Odysseus solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft is designed to stay aloft above 65,000 ft., day and night for up to three months, year round, at latitudes up to 20 deg., carrying a payload of more than 55 lb. First flight is planned for April 2019 in Puerto Rico. The initial application will be to investigate ozone depletion over the U.S. Midwest in the summer months.
With New York Tunnel Project Stalled, Cuomo Will Meet With Trump 
[Governing, via Naked Capitalism 11-28-18]  
“The governor several weeks ago sent Trump a video of the current two aging and crumbling tunnels used by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit that he says threatens commerce in the northeast corridor should it collapse…. ‘These tunnels are federally-owned by the Amtrak Corporation and must be replaced,’ Cuomo said in a statement later Thursday. ‘If only one of the two 100-year-old tunnels becomes unusable, it would pose a serious economic hardship for New York City and the entire Northeast corridor.'”
[Smithsonian, via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18] 
 “In the sugar parishes arcing through the southern part of the state from Berwick Bay to the Mississippi River, African-American men voted. The Republican Party, which supported black civil rights, was stronger in sugar country than anywhere else in the state. By the late 1860s, African-Americans became legislators or sheriffs, and black volunteer militias drilled, despite living and working conditions still bearing the marks of slavery. In 1874, nine years after slavery ended in the United States, cane cutters demanded a second emancipation. They wanted a living wage, or at least the chance to rent on shares…. Then the killings started.”
Here’s how Republicans hijacked a bill designed to ‘Help America Vote’ — and used it to block people from voting 
[Greg Palast, via Naked Capitalism 11-26-18] 
“It started with the 2000 election ‘debacle’ in Florida…. Maryland Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer reached out to Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney to collaboratively write legislation that would ensure that our elections could, after 200-plus years of mostly race-based ‘shenanigans,’ actually make it easy and convenient for every eligible voter in America to both vote and have their vote counted. The result was the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, aka HR 3295.” • This is well worth a read. While HAVA instigated the wave of horrid e-voting mahines, Palast also shows that voter purges (which also took place in Florida) are a real problem. (HAVA is an excellent proof-by-example that bipartisan legislation is often to be feared.

Posted by Tony Wikrent at 8:56 AM

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