September 18, 2022

Ughh, Barnes (D) was neck-and-neck a few days ago (U.S. Senate, WI, running against Ron Johnson)

Barnes was neck and neck a few days ago in 538, but now it is 56-44 in simulations favoring Johnson, 3 most recent polls are for Johnson, 9/18 920 AM ET visit,
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/senate/wisconsin/

Edit: I'm no 538 methodology expert, but this isn't the same as the odds of winning ... the most recent polls (all favoring Johnson unfortunately) are Johnson +4, Johnson +1, Johnson +1. Following a string of polls favoring Barnes ( +2, +7, +4, +2)

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538 Still shows this the closest of the Senate races.
Scroll half way down the page to the table
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/senate/?cid=rrpromo


There's a DU link to contribute:   https://secure.actblue.com/donate/duforbarnes22

September 16, 2022

Migrants were promised jobs, free housing before being taken to Martha's Vineyard

Source: USA Today via MSN

MARTHA'S VINEYARD - The migrants were approached as they crossed the street to go to McDonald's. Many got their first taste of the United States while staying at a shelter in San Antonio.

An unidentified man and woman walked up to them and offered what sounded too good to be true: well-paying jobs, free housing, transportation. As an added incentive, the migrants were handed $50 gift cards.

The offer was, in fact, too good to be true. By day's end, they had all been flown to Martha's Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts' coast unfamiliar to the migrants. They were abandoned with no jobs, no housing, no explanation.

(snip)

Outside the San Antonio center, they were given the offer of jobs and free housing and the $50 gift cards, he said. They were handed red folders with what proved to be fake documents promising jobs and housing, then flown to Martha's Vineyard in private charter planes, stopping at least once along the way, Garcia said.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/migrants-were-promised-jobs-free-housing-before-being-taken-to-martha-s-vineyard/ar-AA11V9PT

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Through July of this fiscal year, 128,556 Venezuelans have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border, a steep increase from last year's total of 48,678 and just 2,787 in 2020. (The article featured a group of Venezuelan men).

Yet another new ethical low point.

No paywall in this MSN-hosted article.

September 5, 2022

As midterms approach, election deniers are hampering some election preparations,

ABC News, August 30, 2022

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/as-midterms-approach-election-deniers-are-hampering-some-election-preparations/ar-AA11gAdF?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=0eb0076e1e9de1492453d6d613a1b11d

Various excerpts:

In Colorado, supporters of Donald Trump seeking evidence of 2020 election fraud have flooded some county offices with so many records requests that officials say they have been unable to perform their primary duties. ((That's happening all across the country, in huge quantities, according to the article, but I've run out of excerpts -Progree))

In Nevada, some election workers have been followed to their cars and harassed with threats.

And in Philadelphia, concerns about the potential for violence around Election Day have prompted officials to install bulletproof glass at their ballot-processing center.

MORE: False accusations of election fraud prompt some election workers across the US to quit ahead of Election Day

With ten weeks to go until the 2022 midterms, dozens of state and local officials across the country tell ABC News that preparations for the election are being hampered by onerous public information requests, ongoing threats against election workers, and dangerous misinformation campaigns being waged by activists still intent on contesting the 2020 presidential election.

The efforts, many of which are being coordinated at both the national and local level, range from confronting election officials at local government meetings to training volunteers to challenge the vote-counting process on Election Day, according to election officials.

At the "Moment of Truth Summit," a two-day meeting of election deniers hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell last week in Springfield, Missouri, activists instructed attendees on how to request election-related records, and pointed them to templates to make it easier to submit the forms.

,,, Askin has had to report several death threats to the FBI, and she said the vitriol she's receiving from election denial groups is becoming the new normal.'

A very depressing article. I hate to post it, but feel that I should.

September 4, 2022

An economic perfect storm is battering emerging markets. Debt crises loom

NPR, September 2, 2022
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/09/02/npr-global-economy-emerging-markets-inflation-debt
Various excerpts:

The U.S. dollar strengthened to a 20-year high against a collection of foreign currencies this week, spelling more trouble for heavily indebted smaller nations around the world. The stronger dollar makes payments on loans owed in U.S. currency more expensive. This comes as some lower-income countries face mounting economic problems and others — including Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Zambia — have already defaulted on their international debts.

Last week, Argentina slapped sweeping new restrictions on imports of everything from whiskey to software to consulting services to try to contain inflation that's running at over 70 percent. The South American nation has been hemorrhaging foreign currency and the strengthening U.S. dollar threatens to make that worse. In July, the value of the Argentine peso fell to a record low against the dollar on the black market.

"If you look at the history of emerging markets from the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s, the Mexican peso crisis in 1994, to the different Argentine defaults, to the Brazilian crisis in the early 2000," Balcells ticks through a list of the most recent emerging market meltdowns, including the Asian financial crisis in the late '90s. "All of those periods always coincide with periods of interest rate hikes in the U.S."

Not only do poorer countries have larger debts in U.S. currency, now they are having to pay even more for imports bought in dollars as the currency strengthens. And this time around, global prices for fuel and food were already surging, due to currency fluctuations and significant supply shortfalls caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Bloomberg: the number of emerging market borrowers that have debt trading at distressed levels has doubled over the last six months.

"the worst food security crisis any of us have ever seen," ... food makes up about 40% of consumer purchases in sub-Saharan Africa, so an increase in food prices weighs very heavily.

Countries mentioned: Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Argentina, Lebanon, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia,

September 1, 2022

2021 saw record-high greenhouse gases, sea levels and ocean heat, new report shows

Source: ABC News via MSN

Last year saw record levels of major greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, released into the Earth's atmosphere, according to an international climate report. The annual State of the Climate report, published Wednesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information, also found that global sea level and ocean heat reached record highs in 2021.

. . . In 2021, the global annual average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 414.7 parts per million (ppm) -- 2.3 ppm greater than the amounts measured in 2020, according to the latest State of the Climate report. That marks the highest amount measured since 1958 -- the start of the instrumental record -- and in at least the last million years, based on paleoclimatic records, the report found. It was also the fifth-highest growth rate in the modern record.

Two other major greenhouse gases -- methane and nitrous oxide -- also saw record concentrations last year, according to the report. The annual increase in methane was the highest in the modern record, and the growth rate of nitrous oxide the third-highest, it found.

. . . Last year was the fifth- or sixth-warmest on record, depending on the dataset referenced, with the last seven years (2015-2021) the seven warmest years on record, according to the report.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/2021-saw-record-high-greenhouse-gases-sea-levels-and-ocean-heat-new-report-shows/ar-AA11kk6Z

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Hmmm, the 7 warmest years on record occurred in the last 7 years.

Global average ocean temperature down to more than 6,000 feet also set a record, even though La Nina cooled the surface.

The climate report, now in its 32nd issuance, is based on contributions from more than 530 scientists in over 60 countries.

What's sad is that none of this is surprising.

Happy September First Day