197 Matching Annotations
  1. Jun 2017
    1. EC aerosol can contain some of the toxicants present in tobacco smoke, but at levels which are much lower. Long-term health effects of EC use are unknown but compared with cigarettes, EC are likely to be much less, if at all, harmful to users or bystanders.
    1. E-cigarettes may contain harmful substances. However, the types or concentrations of chemicals, including nicotine, vary based on the brand. Because e-cigarettes have only been readily available in the United States since 2006, there is limited research on their health risks.
  2. ostaustria.org ostaustria.org
  3. Apr 2017
    1. Most climatologists agree that, while the warming to date is already causing environmental problems, another 0.4 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature, representing a global average atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) of 450 parts per million (ppm), could set in motion unprecedented changes in global climate and a significant increase in the severity of natural disasters—and as such could represent the dreaded point of no return.
  4. paa2015.princeton.edu paa2015.princeton.edu
    1. havinghighorlowexpectations about the teenager’s likelihoodof attending Higher Education, translates intohighorlowperceived opportunity costsofthose alternatives not related to schooling (such as early motherhood or early employment).9This mechanism directly impacts teenagers’ behaviour.
    2. Using the Longitudinal Study of YoungPeople in England (LSYPE) and the National Pupil Data (NPD), I model the likelihood ofbecoming pregnant and having a child conditional on several socio-demographic factors andparental expectations.
    1. A child diagnosed with thyroid cancer after the Fukushima nuclear accident is missing from government checkup records, an aid group said Friday, raising questions about the thoroughness and transparency of the screenings.
  5. Feb 2017
    1. Most of the characteristics in Britt's list are not specific to fascism but are shared by many conservative governments: nationalism, militarism, scapegoating of enemies, "rampant" sexism, obsession with national security and with crime, protecting the power of corporations and suppressing the power of labor, and close ties between religion and the ruling elite. Other features seem at first to be more specific to fascism, or at least a dictatorship of some kind: disdain for human rights and intellectual freedom, controlled mass media, corruption and cronyism, and fraudulent elections. But even these characteristics are defined so broadly as to blur all major differences between classic fascism and the U.S. political system today
    1. For example, 65% of transgender 14- to 18-year olds seriously considered suicide in the past year compared with 13% in the British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey, and only a quarter of participants reported their mental health was good or excellent.
    1. Our findings provide evidence that social inclusion (social support, gender-specific support from parents, identity documents), protection from transphobia (interpersonal, violence), and undergoing medical transition have the potential for sizeable effects on the high rates of suicide ideation and attempts in trans communities. In contrast, we did not find statistically significant effects for social transition, gender support from sources other than parents, or religiosity/spirituality, other than an unexpected finding regarding strong gender support from leaders.
    1. The National Comorbity Survey, a nationally representative survey, found that probing for intent to die through in-person interviews reduced the prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts from 4.6 percent to 2.7 percent of the adult sample (Kessler et al., 1999; Nock & Kessler, 2006).
    2. Further, the survey’s focus on discrimination may have resulted in wider participation by persons who had suffered negative life experiences due to anti-transgender bias.1 As the relationship between minority stress and mental health would suggest (Meyer, 2003), this may have contributed to a higher prevalence of negative outcomes, including lifetime suicide attempts,
    3. While the NTDS provides a wealth of information about the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming people, the survey instrument and methodology posed some limitations for this study. First, the NTDS questionnaire included only a single item about suicidal behavior that asked, “Have you ever attempted suicide?” with dichotomized responses of Yes/No. Researchers have found that using this question alone in surveys can inflate the percentage of affirmative responses, since some respondents may use it to communicate self-harm behavior that is not a “suicide attempt,” such as seriously considering suicide, planning for suicide, or engaging in self-harm behavior without the intent to die (Bongiovi-Garcia et al., 2009). The National Comorbity Survey, a nationally representative survey, found that probing for intent to die through in-person interviews reduced the prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts from 4.6 percent to 2.7 percent of the adult sample (Kessler et al., 1999; Nock & Kessler, 2006). Without such probes, we were unable to determine the extent to which the 41 percent of NTDS participants who reported ever attempting suicide may overestimate the actual prevalence of attempts in the sample. In addition, the analysis was limited due to a lack of follow-up questions asked of respondents who reported having attempted suicide about such things as age and transgender/gender non-conforming status at the time of the attempt.
    1. In his 2010 decision striking down California’s Proposition 8, U.S. district judge Vaughn R. Walker said that one purported scholar and anti–gay marriage figure’s testimony amounted to “inadmissible opinion testimony that should be given essentially no weight.” Meanwhile, Walker cited Williams research more than 30 times in his 136-page opinion. And in a July court brief arguing why the Defense of Marriage Act should be struck down as unconstitutional, the Justice Department cited the institute’s exhaustive report on the history of discrimination against LGBT individuals in state employment (Williams Institute executive director Brad Sears presented the findings at a 2009 House hearing).
    1. Beyond the overall number of suicide attempts, the rates are consistently high from respondents ages 18 to 65, when they begin to recede. Trans men are the most impacted, with 46 percent reporting an attempt in their lifetime. Trans women are close behind at 42 percent, and female-assigned cross-dressers report rates of 44 percent.
    1. Cox also cited troubling statistics, namely that 77% of trans children experience bullying or harassment in schools while nearly 50% attempt suicide, in highlighting why it is so important to offer trans students the support they need.
  6. Jan 2017
    1. Research indicates that children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009). Initial academic skills are correlated with the home environment, where low literacy environments and chronic stress negatively affect a child’s preacademic skills. The school systems in low-SES communities are often underresourced, negatively affecting students’ academic progress (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008). Inadequate education and increased dropout rates affect children’s academic achievement, perpetuating the low-SES status of the community. Improving school systems and early intervention programs may help to reduce these risk factors, and thus increased research on the correlation between SES and education is essential.
  7. Dec 2016
    1. Here in the United States, acts perpetrated by violent extremists can have far-reaching consequences. Countering violent extremism (CVE) has therefore become a key focus of DHS’s work to secure the homeland. CVE aims to address the root causes of violent extremism by providing resources to communities to build and sustain local prevention efforts and promote the use of counter-narratives to confront violent extremist messaging online.  Building relationships based on trust with communities is essential to this effort.
    1. The Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Sarah Sewall, leads State Department efforts to prevent and counter threats to civilian security, such as violent extremism, mass atrocities, and weak governance and the rule of law. The seven bureaus and offices reporting to the Under Secretary advance the security of the American people by assisting countries around the world to build more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies.
    1. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has asked two Cabinet departments for the names of government officials working on programs to counter violent extremism, according to a document seen by Reuters and U.S. officials.
    1. Just how California's electric power system broke and how it may get fixed are being watched closely by some two dozen states moving toward various forms of deregulation of their power industries. States such as Iowa and Nebraska are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
    1. Perry issued his so-called fast-tracking order Oct. 27, 2005, "to encourage diversity of energy supply." The order told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is responsible for judging requests for permits to pollute the air, to "prioritize and expedite the processing of environmental permit applications that are protective of the public health and environment and propose to use Texas' natural resources to generate electrical power."
    1. Back in 2005, Dallas-based TXU Corporation wanted to build 11 new coal-fired power plants in Texas. To speed up the delivery of coal pollution into our air, then-Gov. Perry signed an executive order fast-tracking the permits, reducing a process that would normally require between one and four years to a mere six months.
    1. President-elect Donald Trump picked Rick Perry to head the Energy Department on Wednesday, seeking to put the former Texas governor in control of an agency whose name he forgot during a presidential debate even as he vowed to abolish it.
    1. Although there have been several estimates over the years, the number that helped fuel the congressional response -- 50,000 victims a year -- was an unscientific estimate by a CIA analyst who relied mainly on clippings from foreign newspapers, according to government sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agency's methods. Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales told Congress last year that a much lower estimate in 2004 -- 14,500 to 17,500 a year -- might also have been overstated.

      Common number on sex-trafficking largely a fiction.

    1. In the 1998 reissuance, EPA Region 6 authorized new discharges of seawater and freshwater to which treatment chemicals, such as biocides and corrosion inhibitors, have been added. The maximum discharge rate limit for produced water was removed and the critical dilutions required to be met for the produced water toxicity limit were updated based on the new discharge rates and more current models. To account for advances in drilling fluid technology, the permit was modified on December 18, 2001 (66 FR 65209), to authorize discharges associated with the use of synthetic based drilling fluids.

      This suggests that there is indeed no limit on discharges "associated with use of synthetic drilling fluids."

    1. Some scientists, including Dr Gavin Schmidt, head of Nasa’s climate division, have claimed that the recent highs were mainly the result of long-term global warming.Others have argued that the records were caused by El Nino, a complex natural phenomenon that takes place every few years, and has nothing to do with greenhouse gas emissions by humans.The new fall in temperatures suggests they were right.
    1. Pinpointing exactly how often guns are used to settle road-rage disputes, however, is a difficult proposition. The National Highway Traffic Safety Foundation does not keep road-rage-specific statistics in its database of fatal traffic accidents, and if it did, altercations like the one that killed Lomax would not be counted, as his death did not occur in a crash.

      No official stats on road rage are kept.

    1. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013, there were 73,505 nonfatal firearm injuries (23.23 per 100,000 U.S. citizens);[2] 11,208 homicides (3.5 per 100,000);[3] 21,175 suicides;[4] 505 deaths due to accidental/negligent discharge of a firearm; and 281 deaths due to firearms-use with "undetermined intent",[4] included in a total of 33,636 deaths due to "Injury by firearms",[4] or 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people.[4] Of the 2,596,993 total deaths in the US in 2013, 1.3% were related to firearms.[1][5]

      In 2013, there were 11,208 gun-based homicides, approximately 31 per day.

    1. The incident happened around 11:15 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot outside the food court area on the south side of the shopping center. Witnesses say the suspect fired several shots then drove off in a red Ford Mustang. Police initially believed no one was injured but a victim later showed up with a gunshot wound at Baptist Memorial Hospital. The 21-year-old victim is listed in non-critical condition.

      In Tennessee one person was injured in a shooting outside a mall in Tennessee, but the motive of the shooting is not known.

    1. The incident started about 6:05 p.m. at the Walmart at 2425 E 2nd St., Shaw said. There was apparently a dispute over a parking spot. The homicide happened in the driveway leaving the Walmart going to East Second Street. Several agencies responded and the westbound lane East Second Street will remain closed until late Thanksgiving night for the investigation. One person died, Shaw said.

      In Reno, there appears to have been Black Friday 2016 violence related to the stress of shopping, A road rage incident over a parking spot escalated into a fatal shooting.

    1. Cottman, 21, of Atlantic City, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Hamilton Mall outside Macy’s department store about 1 a.m. Friday morning. His brother, Shadi Cottman, 26, of Clayton, was wounded in the leg, said acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Diane Ruberton.

      One man was shot and another injured in a parking lot outside of Macy's on Black Friday 2016. The motive of this shooting is not clear.

    1. Several hours later in New Jersey, two brothers, ages 20 and 26, were outside a Black Friday sale at the Macy’s in New Jersey’s Hamilton Mall around 1 a.m. on Friday when someone opened fire on them, killing one and wounding the other. The unnamed 20-year-old was shot to death in the Macy’s parking lot, while his brother is in stable condition at a nearby hospital after being shot in the leg, the Press of Atlantic City reported. Police have yet to release the victims’ names, or any information on the shooter’s motives.

      The shooter's motives in the New Jersey slaying are not known, and likely have little to do with Black Friday.

    1. The 21-year-old allegedly fired multiple shots, one of which struck another woman who was near the scene. She was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.Juarez then fled the scene and attempted to evade police, but a helicopter followed him for about 15 miles before he was stopped and arrested. 

      The San Antonio Black Friday shooter injured one woman in addition to killing a man intervening in a domestic abuse incident.

    2. A Good Samaritan who tried to break up a domestic violence incident outside a shopping center has been shot dead during Black Friday madness, in the latest incident of shoppers turning violent across the country during the record-breaking sales day.The unidentified man was killed when a gunman opened fire on fire while sat in his car in the parking lot of a Walmart in San Antonio, Texas, about 4pm local time.Telles Juarez, 21, allegedly was grabbing a woman by the hair and punching her inside his car, when the Good Samaritan shouted from his car to let the woman go.

      A man was shot during Black Friday in San Antonio while intervening in a domestic abuse incident.

    1. Jill Stein's bid to seek a vote recount in three key Rust Belt states is gaining steam as pressure builds among liberals to challenge the presidential election results.The Stein campaign said it needed to raise over $2 million by Friday to pay for recounts -- a goal it quickly met. The fundrasing goal was then upped to $4.5 million, which it also met. The current goal is $7 million.

      Jill Stein announes bid, money flows in.

    1. A day after an NYPD officer died from injuries sustained while responding to a Brooklyn fire, a pair of fearless cops rushed into another burning building Thursday to save an elderly man and a baby girl, sources said. The hero cops were then rushed to a hospital after they complained of difficulty breathing.

      Elsokary rushed into a burning building to save residents, getting them out of the building until she could no longer breathe.

    1. Her path to joining the NYPD began on September 11. As both a Muslim and a native New Yorker, she knew she needed to get involved. She sought to show people that the terrible acts of that day contradicted the teachings of Islam. And so she became a police officer. Because she wanted to demonstrate her faith through service.

      Elsokary joined the police force after 9/11 to demonstrate faith through service.

  8. www.pressandguide.com www.pressandguide.com
    1. In almost all federal government contracts, the government reserves the right to terminate the contract “for the convenience of the government” (with appropriate compensation due to the contractor), whenever “it is in the Government’s interest.” Unfortunately, the Trump hotel lease explicitly prohibits GSA from exercising that longstanding, well-established, Congressionally-mandated right.
    1. David Drabkin, once the GSA's senior procurement officer, said he thinks the clause doesn't apply to Trump because it only prohibits adding elected officials to the lease after it was signed, not banning original parties to it who subsequently get elected to office. He adds, though, that a president leasing the building is "absolutely untenable" because of other conflicts of interest issues.
    1. (b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall apply in any State or in any political subdivision of a state which (1) the Attorney General determines maintained on November 1, 1964, any test or device, and with respect to which (2) the Director of the Census determines that less than 50 percentum of the persons of voting age residing therein were registered on November 1, 1964, or that less than 50 percentum of such persons voted in the presidential election of November 1964.
    1. Within months of McCrory's victory, emails show, the state election board began receiving requests for demographic data from a group of GOP lawmakers, including Lewis, a top aide to Tillis named Ray Starling, and state Reps. Tim Moore and Harry Warren.They asked for statistics on voter behavior broken down by race: Who voted early, and who voted on Election Day? Who voted out of precinct?They asked about what kinds of people were registered to vote but did not have a driver's license. They asked about student ID cards - which some states allow as a form of voter ID - and how many African-Americans had them.
    2. The new bill shortened early voting by half, cutting one of the Sundays when black churches held their "Souls to Polls" drives. It eliminated same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting.It also proposed changes that, to Stein and other opponents, made no sense unless you were purposely trying to discourage voting. For example, it canceled an existing rule that let 16- and 17-year-old high schoolers to pre-register to vote in civics classes or when they got driver's licenses. And it took away counties' ability to extend poll hours on Election Day during extraordinary circumstances such as long lines.
    1. many additional provisions, including the following that are being challenged in this litigation: (1) the reduction of the period for so-called “early voting”9from 17to ten days; (2) the elimination of same-day registration (“SDR”), which permitted voters to register and then vote at the same time during the early-voting period; (3) the prohibition on the counting of provisional ballots cast outside of a voter’s correct voting precinct on Election Day (“out-of-precinct” ballots); (4) the expansion of allowable poll observers and voter challenges; (5) the elimination of the discretion of county boards of election (“CBOEs”) to keep the polls open an additional hour on Election Day in “extraordinary circumstances”; and (6) the elimination of “pre-registration” of 16-and 17-year-olds who will not be 18by the next general election.1
  9. Nov 2016
    1. Some Chinese media outlets have unfortunately fallen in the latter group. Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald has become the second such victim in months to be mercilessly duped by the “mysterious Western art of satire”. The newspaper, one of China’s leading business newspapers, was fooled after it reported on the the Currant's Krugman story, on Sunday, on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with the headline (in Chinese): “Krugman, Nobel laureate, files for personal bankruptcy”.
    1. Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, we will take the same approach in those states as well. We do so fully aware that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states — Michigan — well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount. But regardless of the potential to change the outcome in any of the states, we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself.
    1. Although Trump's advisers had since tried to undo some of the ill-feeling, saying that campaign rhetoric was not to meant be taken literally, some damage had already been done, which Abe was now trying to repair, according to Kingston. "Many people in Asia think the Americans are unreliable allies," he said. "Trump has reinforced that perception. He has also introduced a lot of uncertainty into diplomacy in a region where there is a lot of tensions, so I think Abe is there to show there is solidarity."

      Abe remarks more about Abe's needs than trump.

    1. “Alliances cannot function without trust. I am now confident that President-elect Trump is a trustworthy leader,” said Abe, describing the talks as “candid” and held in a “warm atmosphere”.

      Shinzo Abe stated feels he can build a relationship of trust with Donald Trump.

    1. At 6:05 p.m., just after Walmart doors opened, two drivers attempted to pull into the same parking space. In the ensuing argument, one driver allegedly pulled a gun on the other, shooting him outside the store. The victim, an unnamed 33-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooter allegedly fled the scene, leaving his victim behind in the Walmart parking lot.
    1. The project has shrunk since the Halls proposed it in 2007. The latest version calls for 209 acres of vineyards within 316 acres of graded areas—including roads and other features — scattered across the 2,300-acre Walt Ranch. No winery is proposed. The original project was for 397 acres of vineyards within a 538-acre development area.
    1. Notice is given that thePBES Directorhas approvedAgriculturalErosionControl Plan No. P11-00205-ECPA which generally conforms to theReduced Intensity Alternative described in the Final EIR and consists ofapproximately 209 netacresof vineyard (±316grossacres).
    1. The 2,300-acre Walt Ranch is located in the mountains between the city of Napa and Lake Berryessa along Highway 121. The Hall family — owners of Hall Wines in St. Helena — asked to create 356 acres of vineyards with a 507-acre total development area. The development area includes such things as roads.

      Not finding a source yet for the 209-acre statement in the subject article.

    1. The gross value of winegrape production was $546,933,900. Overall winegrape values decreased nearly 24% compared to the record setting 2014 values. Total tonnage dropped nearly 29% compared to the record yields of the previous years. The total value of all agricultural production was $553,346,300.
    1. The Clinton campaign has remained mum about any potential recount or election audit; Hillary Clinton herself urged unity after the surprising results of two weeks ago. But since Clinton made her concession speech November 9, her lead in the popular vote has ballooned; she's now ahead of Donald Trump by over 2 million votes. Trump won the election by doing well in the Electoral College, sweeping the South and notching shocking wins in the three states Stein wants recounted.
    1. Now, Perry said he wants people to respect his son and the sacrifice he made, and called out President-elect Donald Trump for his comments about the Khan family. “One example would be Donald Trump speaking badly about a Gold Star family, who I now am, but it also bothers me that people don’t want to talk about the terrorism that killed my kid,” he told CBS. “My kid was over there to help put a stop to this garbage, and he died.”

      Father called out Trump, cited Khan incident.

      The soldier:

    1. "One example would be Donald Trump speaking badly about a gold star family, who I now am, and it also bothers me that people don't want to talk about the terrorism that killed my kid," he said.

      Father is upset at some of Donald Trump's rhetoric.