“We are a justice-seeking people,
and we are singing, singing for our lives.”
Singer-Songwriter & social activist
Holly Near
*****
Hi Folks, It's part of my personal spiritual practice both to keep an eye on the world's suffering, doing what I can to ease it, while at the same time envisioning the world I wish to inhabit and doing what I can to bring that world about. A foot in both worlds.
Do read the July 29th, 2024 issue of the brilliant investigative reporting online publication called The Lever Daily [levernews.com] and consider subscribing to them. It's one of the few things I read every day.
Taking The Climate Killers To Court
By Lois Parshley
July 29,2024
This piece contains so many little known facts that we should be aware of in our efforts to put a stop to corporate abuses with regard to climate change.
"As deaths mount from extreme summer heat and other climate disasters, scientists and legal experts are joining forces on a bold new effort to try to hold fossil fuel companies accountable: charging them with climate homicide."
My friend and colleague, Jim Lemon, has created a valuable website to help folks find a U.S. organization to join and donate to, and get involved with, on behalf of the upcoming election. You'll find helpful information about the various organizations. Please do share this link and its information with others.
giveblue.net
Here's a 9-minute Ted Talks Daily show definitely worth listening to. It's about the Palestinian-Israeli Youth Choir, which embodies both a positive vision for the future AND hope. It's called "An anthem for peace and justice from Israeli and Palestinian youth."
The show aired August 9th; you can find it by going to The Ted Talks Daily site.
https://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/ted-talks/ted-talks-daily
Super good news you may already have heard/read…As reported in the COMMON DREAMS August 5th online newsletter
by Julia Conley
A federal judge left no room for ambiguity Monday in a landmark ruling in a case brought by the Justice Department and states against tech giant Google, in which the government argued the company had illegally monopolized the search engine and advertising market.
"Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," said Judge Amit Mehta, who sits of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
In U.S. et al. v. Google, Mehta found that Google has "violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by maintaining its monopoly in two product markets in the United States-general services and general text advertising-through its exclusive distribution agreements."
The American Economic Liberties Project (ALEP) called the ruling a "tremendous win for consumers, innovation, and the entire tech industry."
This is groundbreaking! Of course, Google's team will do everything it can to have this ruling wiped out…
A valuable and very interesting science online publication that I subscribe to and read most days is Live Science [smartbrief.com]
It is a fascinating read of advances in scientific knowledge, from physics to astronomy to archeology and more. Refreshing too, because there's so much promise in each issue.
This from the advocacy and activist organization Common Cause that I happily send $ to [commoncause.org]
From their July 9, 2024 issue
4 Major Wins Common Cause has fought for and secured:
1. "In Ohio, we gathered enough signatures to put the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment on the ballot!
"This means voters in Ohio - notoriously one of the worst-gerrymandered states in the country - will FINALLY get to put an end to this shameful practice in November. Our volunteers tirelessly collected signatures all over Ohio-through winter, heat, Pride celebrations, and even during the solar eclipse, to make this happen. Our volunteers tirelessly collected signatures all over Ohio-through winter, heat, Pride celebrations, and even during the solar eclipse, to make this happen.
2. "In Minnesota, we helped pass a state-level Voting Rights Act to combat racial discrimination at the ballot box. It also expands polling places on campus, making it easier for students to vote, and allows voters to describe where they live to register to vote, benefiting those on Tribal lands and the unhoused."
3. In New Mexico, Common Cause played a crucial role in securing the veto of a dangerous resolution that could have allowed candidates to win without majority support. Thanks to our efforts and the leadership of Mayor Tim Keller, we successfully prevented this proposal from advancing. But our work isn't done yet-we're continuing to lobby the City Council to uphold the veto and prevent this damaging proposal from appearing on the ballot in November.
4. And in Connecticut, we passed a bill that can set a national example for election security! This new law protects sensitive voter information, extends the time for verifying election results, ensures officials track where drop boxes are and how absentee ballots are collected, and so much more. Thanks to our efforts, elections in Connecticut this November will be more secure than ever.
For a weekly and mid-weekly dose of pure inspiration I highly recommend the brilliant and beautifully illustrated The Marginalia by Maria Popova. I can't believe it's the work of just one woman! It contains a blend of art, poetry, music science and more, always with links to those she writes so eloquently about. This newsletter never fails to leave me grateful, inspired, and wanting more! And wanting to be a better writer.
One recent newsletter included a piece on the French philosopher and author, Albert Camus titled "How To Live Whole in a Broken World". mmm.
The Marginalia is free to subscribe to but well worth a donation to its sole author! A deep bow of gratitude to you, Maria Popova.
*****
Great news, The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has SPLC launched Alabama Advocacy Institute to train, inspire grassroots activists! Look it up online. This is the premier U.S. organization that effectively fights the good fight - against corporations and organization doing wrong - and often wins for the little guy (us!)
This, within the last month:
A jury has unanimously decided to hold Monsanto accountable for its egregious actions, awarding $2.24 billion in damages. The fight against Roundup continues, and lawyers are still accepting new claims.
This, from Whistleblower [whistleblower.org]
Winter edition newsletter
This year marks the 20th annual Ridenhour Prizes, which recognize those who persevere in acts that" protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society". Four prizes - given forCourage, Truth-telling, Book and Documentary Film - honor the spirit the whistleblower and investigative journalist Ron Ridenhouser exemplified throughout his life and career.
On March 29, 1969, Ridenhour, then a 23-year-old recently returned vet from Vietnam wrote a letter he sent to U.S. then-president Nixon, and Defense Secretary Melvin Lair sharing his finding of the horrors of the village of Mai Lai, Vietnam that occurred in Aril 1968 and was the worst atrocity of the Vietnam War. He went on to become an honored investigative journalist. He sought out soldiers who had witnessed or participated in the massacre and got them to tell their stories.
One man singlehandedly changed the way Americans viewed the war in Vietnam.
Here’s a powerful, inspiring, provocative 20-minute visionary film worth watching that's been around for a while but which I only now saw:
THE OPENING
To view it, just click on the image.
Here's good news from science…Razor-thin Silk Dampens Noise 75%
Live Science June 8, 2024
Researchers have engineered a sound-suppressing silk fabric that can suppress noise by either generating sound waves that interfere with the noise or by blocking vibrations that are key to the transmission of sound. It has many potential uses: e.g. creating quiet spaces in homes, offices, hospitals, etc.
The fabric contains a "piezoelectric" material woven through the silk that produces an electrical signal when the material is deformed - with the fibers reacting to movements as small as the vibrations caused by sound waves.
This, reprinted from Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American
Aug. 9th
President Biden "designated the new Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument - today, President Biden explained that protecting the approximately 1,552 square miles-4,046 square kilometers, or almost a million acres-of land to the north and south of the Grand Canyon "is good not only for Arizona, but for the planet. It's good for the economy. It's good for the soul of the nation. And I believe…in my core it's the right thing to do."
The administration has been working to fulfill a promise he made when he first took office to protect 30% of all the nation's lands and waters by 2030. The Biden administration has already protected 9 million acres in Alaska, 225,000 acres in Minnesota, 50,000 acres in Colorado, 500,000 acres in Nevada, and 6,600 acres in Texas. It's restored protections for three national monuments the previous administration had gutted: Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears in Utah and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts off the New England coast. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (a Native American) is working on creating a maritime sanctuary by protecting 770,000 square miles in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii.
The Biden administration is also honoring his commitment "to prioritize respect for the Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, to honor the solemn promises the United States made to Tribal nations to fulfill federal trust and treaty obligations."
The protected land is home to 3,000 [Ancient Puebloan] cliff houses, cave paintings, and other Indigenous cultural sites, as this had been Indigenous homelands.
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This, from Democratic Left [The Magazine of the Democratic Socialists of America]
DSA.org
At the University of Louisville (Kentucky USA) the Youth Democratic Socialists of America pushed their school to take a stand again Kentucky's SB 150, a bill touted as "parents' rights" that targets trans kids at schools and amps Florida's "Don't Say Gay" and bans gender-affirming medical services for those under 18. The YDSA held town halls, got signatures on a campus-wide petition and continued to rally on campus, even after the bill was passed into law. Their demands succeeded in getting more funding for the LGBTQ+ center on camps.
At the University of North Texas, YDSA students did the same, resulting in the on-campus health center committing to train its employees in transgender health care and consider experience in such care when hiring staff.
NOTE: The Democratic Socialists of America [of which I'm a proud member] compares itself to a union in its complexity. "Like a union it has to act like an army when necessary, swiftly and in unison, to win concrete victories. Yet it also must act like a debating society, promoting the exploration of new ideas and strategies within its membership. Democratic "town squares" used to be the forum for that kind of public debate and it needs to be brought back." A paradox embraced by the DSA and similar progressive organization is that they have to both operate in the real world and simultaneously work to raise expectations in the public about our ability to create a transformed world.
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It's now old news that Tennessee Representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, who became heroes as members of the "Tennessee Three," when they were expelled from the State House for participating in a protest on the House floor about gun control in Tennessee, reclaimed their legislative seats soon after, in a special election. What you may not have read is that Justin Pearson stressed that his victory was largely possible due to Black women and the organizing work they had done to make him and other politicians successful.
As reported in the DSA's
Democratic Left Newsletter, in an article by Edmund Kord:
Unions are making a comeback across the U.S.! The positive trend began at the end of 2022, when 48,000 striking academic workers at the University of California won a landmark agreement and also ousted much of that union's entrenched leadership.
"The UC strike was both the largest U.S. strike of 2022 AND the largest strike ever by academic workers! For more than 5 weeks, grad student instructors and researchers, postdoctoral researchers and academic researchers in 4 separate bargaining groups struck in coordination across all 10 UC campuses, PLUS Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, an important federal government research facility. DSA members raised more than $26,000 for the union's strike fund.
The outcome of the strike was that there will be substantial pay raised by 2024. This strike represents a current wave of unionization in higher education."
What was the biggest union news in the media in 2023 turned out to be the huge United Auto Workers Union (UAW), representing 57,000 UAW workers and their families. The strikes at those 3 automakers gained much better contracts at the Big 3 automakers - GM, Ford and Stellantic (formerly called Chrysler). You might not recall that autoworkers agreed to big pay cuts back several years ago when the industry was failing. The industry went on to make huge profits over the past few years, but refused to share any of that with their workers.
Across various strikes this year, one common theme was the push to raise the pay of the lowest-paid workers. UPS employees threatened a nationwide shutdown and won their strongest contract in decades this summer, forcing the company to abolish a lower-paid tier of workers and securing an average raise of 48% for part-time UPS workers over the next 5 years.
About 75,000 Kaiser health-care workers also won big won big wage increases. And, striking Hollywood actors won the biggest increase in minimum wages in 40 years.
Note: Meanwhile, Starbucks and Amazon workers continue their struggles, even as the huge corporations continue to do anything they can to stop their workers from unionizing.
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Who do you know who is having, planning to have, or recently had had, a baby (or several)? Please share this with them. It's about a practice that costs no $ and confers both immediate and lifelong benefits, including creating humans who can regulate their own emotions and self-calm!
From consumer advocate and researcher, Henci Goer, an old colleague of mine, my recommended go-to person for up-to-date wisdom and evidence about virtually anything to do with childbirth. Henci began reading scientific journals way back in the 1970s, and synthesizing them in ordinary English for anyone to understand.
December 21st Newsletter [hencigoer.com]
Many of you know that birth has been my primary field of interest since 1975 - not merely the process of labor and birth, but everything to do with bringing a human into the world and caring for the mother and mother-baby system, starting pre-conception to age one, including attachment, breastfeeding, ending circumcision, preventing and healing trauma and creating policies and practices that promote full brain and immune system development.
I've long known about "kangaroo care", also known as "skin-to-skin" care and its importance for any baby, but especially high-needs babies or mothers and babies who are suffering from attachment [bonding] difficulties, maternal mood disorders, infant digestive, crying or sleep problems, etc.
The World Health Organization recently published a position paper: "Kangaroo mother care: a transformative innovation in health care" defining kangaroo mother care as:
"The care of preterm or [low-birth-weight] infants in continuous and prolonged (8-24 hours per day, for as many hours as possible) skin-to-skin contact recommended to be initiated immediately after birth…with support for exclusive breastfeeding or breast-milk feeding."
WHO states:
"Strong evidence now supports KMC [kangaroo mother care] for routine care of all preterm or LBW [low-birth-weight] newborns born in healthcare facilities and at home, immediately after birth. . . . KMC should be implemented in national maternal, newborn and child health programs as the foundation of small and/or sick newborn care."
Henci writes: I can't help but note that the benefits of kangaroo mother care are well established and have been for quite some time, as a 2016 systematic review in the prestigious Cochrane Library attests. Given the weight of the evidence in its favor, any special care or intensive care nursery that hasn't made kangaroo mother care the default for preterm and low-birth-weight babies is, to be blunt, practicing substandard care.
This is no small thing, especially in the U.S., where 1 out of every 8 babies is born prematurely and another high percentage are born at term but "low birthweight".
I recommend it to all new mothers, especially those who had drugs in labor and those who had a Cesarean birth.
This, from LIVE SCIENCE [smartbrief.com]
NASA engineers finally fix Voyager 1 spacecraft - from 15 billion miles away!
June 18, 2024
by Sascha Pare
"Two of Voyager 1's four science instruments resumed returning usable date in May; and after some further tinkering, all four are now back in business, the agency said. The instruments are responsible for gathering information about plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles in interstellar space.
"While Voyager 1's data systems are back up and running, further work is needed to fully restore the spacecraft, according to the statement. Engineers still need to resynchronize timekeeping software that enables all three onboard computers to execute commands at the same time, for example.
"Voyager 1 is zooming through interstellar space more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth. Interstellar space is the region outside the heliosphere - the protective bubble created by the sun's magnetic fields and winds. The spacecraft is so far away, engineers have to wait 22.5 hours for their commands to reach it and another 22.5 hours for the response.
"Voyager 1 and its twin probe, Voyager 2, have been cruising through space for nearly 47 years. They are NASA's longest-running spacecraft and the most distant human-made objects in existence.
"Voyager 1 and its twin probe, Voyager 2, have been cruising through space for nearly 47 years. They are NASA's longest-running spacecraft and the most distant human-made objects in existence.
WOW!
*****
AI Has at least one valuable use: Recognizing deep fakes!
Also from LIVE SCIENCE
June 25, 2024
by Drew Turney
With the release of artificial intelligence (AI) video generation products like Sora and Luma, we're on the verge of a flood of AI-generated video content, and policymakers, public figures and software engineers are already warning about a deluge of deepfakes. Now it seems that AI itself might be our best defense against AI fakery after an algorithm has identified telltale markers of AI videos with over 98% accuracy.
The irony of AI protecting us against AI-generated content is hard to miss, but as project lead Matthew Stamm, associate professor of engineering at Drexel University, said in a statement: "It's more than a bit unnerving that [AI-generated video] could be released before there is a good system for detecting fakes created by bad actors."
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Helsinki Has Built a Library That Brings a Whole City Together
from Reasons to be Cheerful
December 1, 2022
When Andy Johansen first visited Helsinki's Oodi Library, in early 2020, he was struck with amazement by the elegant three-story mass of wood, steel and glass, and the labyrinth of wonders within it. wo steel arches span over 100 meters to create a fully enclosed, column-free public entrance space; the timber facade is clad with 33-millimeter-thick Finnish spruce planks. There are all manner of curious, Alice in Wonderland-like places to sit - or indeed, lie down - while leafing through a book.
Among the vast number of amenities, are 3D printers, laser cutters and equipment to digitally sculpt wood.
And, there’s a more radical, and increasingly rare, service that this public library provides: a free and egalitarian public space. Instead of being merely a repository for books, this library is a working and learning space, a cultural and community center, and a platform for democracy and citizen initiatives.
Anyone can enter and use this city library’s facilities, many of which are free, without needing to provide ID.
Wow! A Device That Will Generate Electricity Out of Thin Air
Excerpted from The Pulse, October 20, 2022
Researchers have found a way to use humidity from our air and protein "nanowires" (thin-film devices made from "nanometre-scale" protein wires harvested from the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens) to harvest energy, creating the potential for another clean power generating system that is self-sustaining. It can generate continuous electric power! The product is called "Air-Gen".he driving force behind this energy generation is a self-maintained moisture gradient that forms within the film when the film is exposed to the humidity naturally present in air. The results show that it's feasible to create a continuous form of energy that is less restricted by location or environmental conditions than other sustainable approaches.
From The Week magazine's July 29, 2022 edition
A Swedish startup company is preparing to launch an emission-free, "flying ferry boat".
This ferry does not use heavy batteries but hydrofoils, which are legs that extend down into the water and propel the boat up into the air as it picks up speed, like a plane. This e-ferry leave no wake and can go up to 30mph. It also has sensors that feed into a control system that adjusts the height, roll and pitch of the ferry to ensure passengers have a smooth ride.
Another piece of good news from Common Dreams
by Jake Johnson
June 18, 2024
In a near-unanimous vote, members of the grassroots Amazon Labor Union decided to formally affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, as they work to secure a contract at a Staten Island facility that won an historic union election more than two years ago.
The Teamsters announced the result early Tuesday morning and said that 98.3% of voting ALU members came down in favor of affiliating with the Teamsters, which has 1.3 million members.
Chris Smalls, president of the ALU, said in a statement that he is proud of his group's members for "choosing a path to victory" and argued the decision would leave the union better-positioned to organize additional Amazon facilities.
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This, from Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American
June 7, 2024
Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued five new reports showing that thanks in part to the administration's outreach efforts about the Affordable Care Act, the rate of Black Americans without health insurance dropped from 20.9% in 2010 to 10.8% in 2022. The same rate among Latinos dropped from 32.7% to 18%. For Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, the rate of uninsured dropped from 16.6% to 6.2%. And for American Indians and Alaska Natives, the rate dropped from 32.4% to 19.9%. More than 45 million people in total are enrolled in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
There's an brilliant nature photographer out there whose work I think you'd enjoy. His name is Dan Zafra. He takes photographs (and leads tours) all around the world, visiting places that few of us have ever heard of. It's a joy just to be reminded how beautiful this earth is. I don't know how I ended up on Dan's mailing list, but I'm grateful and I bought a large photographic calendar this year from him. It’s on my wall alongside my little desk, which is located in our dining room/kitchen.
Capturetheatlas.com
*****
With breastfeeding rates very low in many post-industrialized societies, including the U.S., it's important to show the public and professionals alike just how important breastfeeding is to longterm health and wellbeing of children, and therefore also of adults. Here's a recent valuable study that is both "longitudinal"(long-term) and of a large population:
from Science Daily [sciencedaily.com]
May 22, 2024
Researchers looked at 3 important data points for 502,948 babies born in Scotland between 1997 and 2009:
whether or not infants were breastfed during their first 6-8 weeks
the occurrence of ten common childhood conditions from birth to 27 months,
and the details of hospital admissions, primary care consultations and prescriptions.
Among all infants included in the study, 27% were exclusively breastfed (which is much higher than for the U.S.), 9% mixed fed and 64% formula fed during the first 6-8 weeks of life.
The rates of exclusively breastfed infants ranged from 45% in the least deprived areas to 13% in the most deprived areas.
The researchers found that, within each quintile of deprivation, exclusively breastfed infants used fewer healthcare services and incurred lower costs compared to infants fed any formula milk.
On average, breastfed infants had lower average costs of hospital care per admission (£42) compared to formula-fed infants (£79) in the first six months of life and fewer GP consultations (1.72, 95% CI: 1.66 -- 1.79) than formula-fed infants (1.92 95% CI: 1.88 -- 1.94). At least £10 million of healthcare costs could have been avoided if all formula-fed infants had instead been exclusively breastfed for the first 6-8 weeks of life, the researchers calculated.
Money talks; so a study such as this one can result in governmental policies that promote breastfeeding.
Please tell anyone you know who is having a baby how necessary and valuable breastfeeding will be for that child and for them.
Revolutionary Music Therapy Helps Paralyzed Man Walk and Talk Again - It 'Unlocked the Brain'
from Good News Network
A patient who was left almost completely paralyzed from a rare disease is now walking and talking again, after a music therapist prescribed mindful listening to his favorite song every night-in this case, a tune by The Carpenters. 71 year-old Ian Palmer was struck down with Guillain-Barre syndrome last June, forcing him to spend seven months in a hospital where he was unable to walk or speak properly. The rare condition happens when a person's own immune system attacks their body's motor nerves, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. But when Ian was transferred to Sue Ryder Neurological Care Centre, a state-of-the-art care unit in Lancashire, England, clinicians used music therapy techniques to overcome 'near total paralysis of his body'.
Palmer's specialist taught him mindfulness techniques using his favorite records-and he began listening to The Carpenters each night. Ian was admittedly skeptical, but he can now walk 2 miles a day (3k) and have conversations with his family after the exercises "opened up" his brain. He's never been very musical, so when Sue Ryder first suggested music therapy he said, 'What good is that going to do?'
"I'm a typical Northern man, and I thought, 'What's a girl with a guitar going to do for me-get me to the gym.'" "But it really worked. Clare sat me down and explained the process. I learned that music is very unlike other therapies, as it opens up all of the brain."
FINALLY… because Good News is never too old to pass along:
From PEERS
Jan 28, 2022
Look for heroes in the most ordinary, everyday situations
In South Carolina, a high school principal works the night shift at a local Walmart, stocking shelves, and donating his earnings to his struggling students.
In Florida, when a retired FBI boss and Fortune 500 company executive learned his county's school district was short on bus drivers, he began driving kids to school himself.
In Louisiana, when violence repeatedly escalated at a troubled high school, a group of dads began showing up in school hallways and their very presence - without guns - transformed the school.
A monk in China is caring for 8,000 stray dogs.
In Cameroon, Africa, refugees have turned their desert refugee camp into a thriving forest.
In Assam, India: a "blessing hut" invites anyone to "take what you need, leave what you can."
In Vancouver, Canada, a pay-what-you-want grocery store engages food surplus by offering up over 30,000 kilograms of food monthly. Community fridges have also opened in upstate New York, Philadelphia, and Miami.
In New York City, a woman who lost her job leads a pantry that that feeds thousands.
Who will you notice doing an unselfish good deed today?
Thanks for reading.
May you be well. May you find inner peace in the midst of life’s turmoil and distressing news.
And may each of us, in our own way, take action on behalf of those who suffer.
With Love, Suzanne Arms
