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:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is faced with the possibility of taking to court a company that has refused to recall 67 million air bag inflators. The devices can explode and hurl shrapnel, according to NPR. At least two people have been killed and seven hurt by the defective inflators.

Almost 6 million jobs have been added to the U.S. economy since 2021, and unemployment has fallen from 3.9% to 3.4% (the latter last seen in the 1960s), The New York Times reported. Inflation is now at 3.3%, as compared to 9.6% last June. Last October, 20% of Americans polled regarded inflation as the nation’s most significant problem, but now 9% say it is.

According to the BBC, a New York judge recently denied Trump’s lawsuit filed in 2021 against The New York Times, following the paper’s investigation into his finances. The judge said The Times’ reporting was protected by the First Amendment, and ordered Trump to pay attorneys fees, legal expenses and associated costs.

A new study published in Environmental Research: Health puts a price tag on the human cost of domestic oil and gas activity, Axios reported, showing the industry’s costs go beyond climate and air pollution. The study found that oil and gas production alone was responsible for 7,500 premature deaths, 410,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new childhood asthma cases in 2016. The cost of health impacts, including hospitalization and emergency room care, was estimated at $77 billion annually.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on May 11 ended the COVID-19 health emergency. But, as various media pointed out, people — especially seniors — are still vulnerable to and dying from the virus.

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

detract from investments in research and development, and in measures that allow corporations to stay competitive. Another use for buyback funds could be to pay the same tax rate as other Americans, helping reduce the federal debt.

The Guardian recently posted the report, “American Torturers: FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantanamo,” which includes 40 drawings, sketched from a detainee’s memory, depicting torture that he and others experienced. The drawings include “gruesome acts” of violence, sexual and religious humiliation and “prolonged psychological terror.”

President Joe Biden has been meeting with House Republicans about raising the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on paying the nation’s debt. Action is needed before June 1 to avoid default and expected economic calamity. The ceiling was raised three times under former-President Donald Trump. Under Trump the nation’s debt rose to nearly $7.8 trillion and was in “crisis” mode pre-pandemic, according to ProPublica. So far, Biden has been able to reduce the debt by $1.7 billion, while to further reduce federal debt, Biden wants $3 trillion in cuts. Avenues for that include permitting Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies (a $200 billion savings), and $30 billion in tax subsidy cuts for oil companies. Biden also supports further funding for the IRS for pursuing wealthy tax cheats, which the Congressional Budget Office said will raise $200 billion.

Another Biden plan: increase spending on inspectors general who look for waste by tracking government spending, which is expected to render $10 saved for every dollar spent. But, Biden said, all these actions are opposed by House Republicans, causing some in the media to doubt their real aim is to address the nation’s finances, and is instead meant to crash Biden’s successes and re-election chances.

Lands and the U.S. Forest Service using the Good Neighbor Authority. The Forest Service provided engineering and contract administration support to complete the complex project.

“This project is another example of the meaningful partnership the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands have in completing projects for land and resource management,” stated Rick Driggs, zone engineering staff officer with the Forest Service.

The contractor for the project was C.E. Kramer.

The EPA has proposed emission caps on existing power plants, NBC reported. Close to all of the nation’s coal and large gas plants would need to reduce or capture 90% of carbon dioxide emissions by 2038, while lack of compliance would force plant closures. According to Food and Water Watch, such efforts have a track record of failure and carbon capture creates more emissions than are captured.

Ban stock buybacks, the Harvard Business Review wrote, arguing that they

A recent CBS poll asked if the nation’s debt ceiling should be lifted. Forty-six percent said yes, 54% said no. But when informed that failure to raise the debt ceiling meant the likelihood of defaulting on current national debts, only 30% said it should not be increased.

Blast from the past: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” — Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. president (1743-1826)