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erronis
erronis's Journal
erronis's Journal
August 24, 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/aug/24/nonna-caterina-was-right-olive-oil-wastewater-heralded-as-new-superfood
Olive oil wastewater heralded as new superfood
‘Nonna Caterina was right’: olive oil wastewater heralded as new superfoodhttps://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/aug/24/nonna-caterina-was-right-olive-oil-wastewater-heralded-as-new-superfood
Olive oil – described as “liquid gold” in Homer’s Iliad – is renowned for its health benefits. Not only is it delicious, it is anti-inflammatory, good for the gut, beneficial for the heart, and may even help us feel happier and live longer.
Scientists are now turning their attention, however, to the murky, brown and previously discarded by-product of its production – olive mill wastewater (OMW) – and have discovered it may be an even more powerful superfood.
OMW is left over after olives have been ground and their oil separated – a watery residue squeezed out from the remaining mulch.
It was previously considered a bit of a nuisance as, if not properly managed, it can contaminate surrounding soil and water, but now it is being commended for its protective and anti-inflammatory potential.
Scientists are now turning their attention, however, to the murky, brown and previously discarded by-product of its production – olive mill wastewater (OMW) – and have discovered it may be an even more powerful superfood.
OMW is left over after olives have been ground and their oil separated – a watery residue squeezed out from the remaining mulch.
It was previously considered a bit of a nuisance as, if not properly managed, it can contaminate surrounding soil and water, but now it is being commended for its protective and anti-inflammatory potential.
August 24, 2024
A memo went out Thursday night
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts holds back tears Thursday night in Chicago.
...
Elizabeth Warren And The DFHs - Tom Sullivan
https://digbysblog.net/2024/08/24/elizabeth-warren-and-the-dfhs/A memo went out Thursday night
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts holds back tears Thursday night in Chicago.
An old speaker’s trick at the end introductory applause is to settle one’s hands on the sides of the podium to quiet an audience and signal time to begin speaking. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tried that on Thursday night, the cheers seemed for a moment as if they might subside. But Democratic National Convention delegates packed to the rafters in Chicago’s United Center were not having it. The cheers swelled anew, and louder still. Overcome with emotion, Warren pulled back from the podium a half step and wiped away a tear.
Warren’s ovation was the loudest and longest of any speaker save for President Joe Biden’s hero’s welcome late Monday night, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s on Thursday as the Democrats’ presidential nominee. President Barack Obama’s matched Warren’s welcome in length but not in intensity. It was immediate and rapturous, as if springing from delegates’ hearts and souls.
Joe Biden’s and Nancy Pelosi’s legacies will not be fully appreciated until historians weave together how their personal stories and battle scars, legislative accomplishments and deep political skills, built the country this generation’s children will inherit.
Nevertheless, what we witnessed in Chicago was not only a generational passing of the Democratic Party’s torch from Biden to Harris, but the passing of an entire generation of Democratic establishment, though they may not yet know it.
Warren’s ovation was the loudest and longest of any speaker save for President Joe Biden’s hero’s welcome late Monday night, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s on Thursday as the Democrats’ presidential nominee. President Barack Obama’s matched Warren’s welcome in length but not in intensity. It was immediate and rapturous, as if springing from delegates’ hearts and souls.
Joe Biden’s and Nancy Pelosi’s legacies will not be fully appreciated until historians weave together how their personal stories and battle scars, legislative accomplishments and deep political skills, built the country this generation’s children will inherit.
Nevertheless, what we witnessed in Chicago was not only a generational passing of the Democratic Party’s torch from Biden to Harris, but the passing of an entire generation of Democratic establishment, though they may not yet know it.
...
Democratic Socialists of America candidate, former bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then 28, came from nowhere in 2018 to upset Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in his Bronx and Queens district after outraising her 10-1. The veteran Crowley, leader of the local Democratic machine, was seen as possible next in line to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He’s gone. DNC delegates chanted A-O-C when she took the stage on Monday night.
Harris has moved left since arriving in Washington, but despite Donald Trump’s branding her far left, she is not. But if Warren’s stunning welcome was any indication, Harris may be lagging somewhat behind the party she now leads. If progressive politicos are DFHs, the United Center was filled to the brim with them on Thursday night.
This is no longer Sens. Chuck Schumer’s or Dick Durbin’s Democratic Party, nor even Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s. Did they get the memo?
Harris has moved left since arriving in Washington, but despite Donald Trump’s branding her far left, she is not. But if Warren’s stunning welcome was any indication, Harris may be lagging somewhat behind the party she now leads. If progressive politicos are DFHs, the United Center was filled to the brim with them on Thursday night.
This is no longer Sens. Chuck Schumer’s or Dick Durbin’s Democratic Party, nor even Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s. Did they get the memo?
August 16, 2024
Inside Conservative Activist Leonard Leo's Long Campaign To Gut Planned Parenthood
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/planned-parenthood-conservative-activist-leonard-leo/A federal lawsuit in Texas against Planned Parenthood has a web of ties to conservative activist Leonard Leo, whose decades-long effort to steer the U.S. court system to the right overturned Roe v. Wade, yielding the biggest rollback of reproductive health access in half a century.
Brought by an anonymous whistleblower and later joined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the suit alleges the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and three Planned Parenthood affiliates defrauded the Texas and Louisiana Medicaid programs by collecting $17 million for services provided while it fought state efforts to remove it as an approved provider.
The suit claims violations of the False Claims Act, an obscure but powerful law protecting the government from fraud, and seeks $1.8 billion in penalties from Planned Parenthood, according to a motion that lawyers for the whistleblower filed in federal court in 2023.
The lawsuit builds on efforts over years by the religious right and politicians who oppose abortion to deliver blows to Planned Parenthood — which provides sexual and reproductive health care at nearly 600 sites nationwide — now bolstered by Leo’s work reshaping the American judiciary.
Brought by an anonymous whistleblower and later joined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the suit alleges the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and three Planned Parenthood affiliates defrauded the Texas and Louisiana Medicaid programs by collecting $17 million for services provided while it fought state efforts to remove it as an approved provider.
The suit claims violations of the False Claims Act, an obscure but powerful law protecting the government from fraud, and seeks $1.8 billion in penalties from Planned Parenthood, according to a motion that lawyers for the whistleblower filed in federal court in 2023.
The lawsuit builds on efforts over years by the religious right and politicians who oppose abortion to deliver blows to Planned Parenthood — which provides sexual and reproductive health care at nearly 600 sites nationwide — now bolstered by Leo’s work reshaping the American judiciary.
They filed the case in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, where Matthew Kacsmaryk is the only judge. He is a longtime member of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal juggernaut for which Leo has worked for over 25 years in various capacities and currently serves as co-chair.
Kacsmaryk’s rulings have curtailed access to reproductive health since the Senate confirmed him in 2019. He suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion, propelling the issue to the Supreme Court, which ultimately threw out the case. In another case, Kacsmaryk ruled to limit young people’s access to birth control through a federal family planning program.
Kacsmaryk’s rulings have curtailed access to reproductive health since the Senate confirmed him in 2019. He suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion, propelling the issue to the Supreme Court, which ultimately threw out the case. In another case, Kacsmaryk ruled to limit young people’s access to birth control through a federal family planning program.
August 15, 2024
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/15/shell-oil-project-2025-climate-crisis
Revealed: Shell oil non-profit donated to anti-climate groups behind Project 2025
Source: The Guardian
Foundation says it ‘does not endorse any organizations’ while funneling hundreds of thousands to rightwing causes
A US foundation associated with oil company Shell has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to religious right and conservative organizations, many of which deny that climate change is a crisis, tax records reveal.
Fourteen of those groups are on the advisory board of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint proposing radical changes to the federal government, including severely limiting the Environment Protection Agency.
Shell USA Company Foundation sent $544,010 between 2013 and 2022 to organizations that broadly share an agenda of building conservative power, including advocating against LGBTQ+ rights, restricting access to abortions, creating school lesson plans that downplay climate change and drafting a suite of policies aimed at overhauling the federal government.
Donees include the Heartland Institute, a longtime purveyor of climate disinformation, which published a video on YouTube in May stating incorrectly that “the scientific data continue to show there is no climate crisis”. Other groups that have received donations include the American Family Association, which claims that the “climate change agenda is an attack on God’s creation”, as well as the Heritage Foundation, the lead organization behind Project 2025.
Fourteen of those groups are on the advisory board of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint proposing radical changes to the federal government, including severely limiting the Environment Protection Agency.
Shell USA Company Foundation sent $544,010 between 2013 and 2022 to organizations that broadly share an agenda of building conservative power, including advocating against LGBTQ+ rights, restricting access to abortions, creating school lesson plans that downplay climate change and drafting a suite of policies aimed at overhauling the federal government.
Donees include the Heartland Institute, a longtime purveyor of climate disinformation, which published a video on YouTube in May stating incorrectly that “the scientific data continue to show there is no climate crisis”. Other groups that have received donations include the American Family Association, which claims that the “climate change agenda is an attack on God’s creation”, as well as the Heritage Foundation, the lead organization behind Project 2025.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/15/shell-oil-project-2025-climate-crisis
August 14, 2024
I hope the NYTimes has cashed the check that pays for their horrific reporting. If djt and ilk get into power, that money will be worthless.
WTF is going on at The Times?
https://digbysblog.net/2024/08/14/leader-of-what/I hope the NYTimes has cashed the check that pays for their horrific reporting. If djt and ilk get into power, that money will be worthless.
The spouse’s sharp eyes picked out a detail in a New York Times account of Ukraine’s surprise counterattack last week that sent its forces over the border into Russia:
You take some of our land, Vlad? Fine, we’ll take some of yours.
But that account from Monday is not what raised the wife’s ire. It was the story in Tuesday’s The Morning briefing by German Lopez on what Ukraine hoped to gain from the incursion: to “divert Russian troops from strategic locations,” to improve Ukrainian morale, to impress Washington, and “to shore up support abroad“:
“Some leaders, including Donald Trump”? And Trump is the leader of what?
Which leaders want to cut off aid?
Whose voters are “no longer as enthusiastic”?
Ukrainian troops sliced easily through a thinly defended border, pushing tens of miles into Russia and shifting the narrative of the war after a glum year in which Ukraine had struggled, often in vain, to hold back Russian advances across its eastern front.
By Monday, Ukraine’s commanding general had told President Volodymyr Zelensky that his troops held 390 square miles of territory in Russia’s southeastern Kursk region. Two dozen settlements were overrun.
You take some of our land, Vlad? Fine, we’ll take some of yours.
But that account from Monday is not what raised the wife’s ire. It was the story in Tuesday’s The Morning briefing by German Lopez on what Ukraine hoped to gain from the incursion: to “divert Russian troops from strategic locations,” to improve Ukrainian morale, to impress Washington, and “to shore up support abroad“:
Kyiv has relied on aid from Western nations to defend itself. But voters in those countries are no longer as enthusiastic about supplying Ukraine with weapons. Some leaders, including Donald Trump, have suggested they want to cut off the aid. A battlefield victory against Russia, even if it’s not strategically important, could get skittish supporters back on board.
“Some leaders, including Donald Trump”? And Trump is the leader of what?
Which leaders want to cut off aid?
Whose voters are “no longer as enthusiastic”?
August 9, 2024
Flying Clean and Green: Hydrogen Flights Set to Revolutionize Air Travel
https://scitechdaily.com/flying-clean-and-green-hydrogen-flights-set-to-revolutionize-air-travel/Hydrogen-powered flight would offer new opportunities for fossil-free travel, and technological advancements in the field are moving fast. New studies from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden indicate that by 2045, almost all air travel within a 750-mile radius could be made with hydrogen-powered aircraft. Additionally, with a novel heat exchanger currently in development, this range could be even further.
“If everything falls into place, the commercialization of hydrogen flight can go really fast now. As early as 2028, the first commercial hydrogen flights in Sweden could be in the air,” says Tomas Grönstedt, Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, and Director of the competence center TechForH2* at Chalmers.
These technological advances can be seen inside the Chalmers wind tunnels, where researchers test airflow conditions in cutting-edge facilities. Here, more energy-efficient engines are being developed that pave the way for safe and efficient hydrogen flight for heavy-duty vehicles.
“If everything falls into place, the commercialization of hydrogen flight can go really fast now. As early as 2028, the first commercial hydrogen flights in Sweden could be in the air,” says Tomas Grönstedt, Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, and Director of the competence center TechForH2* at Chalmers.
These technological advances can be seen inside the Chalmers wind tunnels, where researchers test airflow conditions in cutting-edge facilities. Here, more energy-efficient engines are being developed that pave the way for safe and efficient hydrogen flight for heavy-duty vehicles.
August 8, 2024
Fifty years after Nixon resigned, a key player is still angry about his pardon
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/08/elizabeth-holtzman-nixon-watergate-impeachment-pardon-trump-bidenElizabeth Holtzman, House committee member who reviewed impeachment articles, recalls ‘gross political act’
A sombre US president addresses the nation from the Oval Office. Despite all he has achieved, he will relinquish power and pass the torch to his vice-president. It is clear that he is bowing to pressure from his own party and leaving against his will.
This was Joe Biden in 2024. It was also Richard Nixon in very different circumstances 50 years ago on Thursday. Disgraced by the Watergate break-in and cover-up, Nixon would claim an unwanted place in history as the first – and still only – person to resign the American presidency.
For Elizabeth Holtzman, who at the time was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, it was a day of hope – an affirmation of America’s system of checks and balances holding Nixon to account for his role in the Watergate scandal. But her optimism did not last long. A month later, Nixon was granted a full pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford.
“The pardon was unpardonable,” Holtzman, who turns 83 this week, says by phone from her home in Brooklyn, New York. “The pardon created a double standard of justice: one for the high and mighty in this country and another for everybody else.”
Half a century later, she still suspects that Ford’s motives were less noble than are often portrayed and worries that he set a dangerous precedent for the likes of Donald Trump. But as she reflects on a long career as a trailblazer, Holtzman is optimistic about the potential for America to elect its first female president in November.
This was Joe Biden in 2024. It was also Richard Nixon in very different circumstances 50 years ago on Thursday. Disgraced by the Watergate break-in and cover-up, Nixon would claim an unwanted place in history as the first – and still only – person to resign the American presidency.
For Elizabeth Holtzman, who at the time was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, it was a day of hope – an affirmation of America’s system of checks and balances holding Nixon to account for his role in the Watergate scandal. But her optimism did not last long. A month later, Nixon was granted a full pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford.
“The pardon was unpardonable,” Holtzman, who turns 83 this week, says by phone from her home in Brooklyn, New York. “The pardon created a double standard of justice: one for the high and mighty in this country and another for everybody else.”
Half a century later, she still suspects that Ford’s motives were less noble than are often portrayed and worries that he set a dangerous precedent for the likes of Donald Trump. But as she reflects on a long career as a trailblazer, Holtzman is optimistic about the potential for America to elect its first female president in November.
August 6, 2024
This is just a start - I had to get it off my chest so I could sleep a bit tonight. I still don't trust many, many of them.
Questions for all those Republicans who are now saying we should get rid of trump
Are you just wanting a new figurehead with a little less baggage? Someone with an ounce or two of personality? Are you hoping for a Ronnie Reagan 2.0?
Are you still hoping that the "repuglican" platform(s) (whatever they are) will become the guiding light for some new administration and your party? Can you even enunciate what your platform(s) state?
Will you help to reform the Supreme Court? Will you work to get term limits and an enforceable code of ethics? Can you state how this would best work?
Are you still in favor of letting the states decide what happens for women's rights? Are you still in favor of letting state legislatures control the allocation of congressional boundaries with no regard to fairness?
If you are in a position of power, will you help or hinder the prosecution of all people that tried to overthrow this government before and after the November 2020 election?
Do you agree that no person, even a President, is above the rule of law? Do you think Donald J. Trump should be prosecuted according to the established rule of law without the interference of his hand-picked SC justices and the RW hold-overs? Would you go on the record to support this, or would you just voice your "concerns"?
Do you think that it is OK for corporations to have more power than citizens? That money trumps individual rights? Have you ever demonstrated your position in public in the past?
This is just a start - I had to get it off my chest so I could sleep a bit tonight. I still don't trust many, many of them.
August 4, 2024
I think he was using the royal "We" and talking about his RW partners on the Court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch: Americans are 'getting whacked' by too many laws
Source: The Guardian
US supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch has said ordinary Americans are “getting whacked” by too many laws and regulations in a new book that underscores his skepticism of federal agencies and the power they wield.
“Too little law and we’re not safe, and our liberties aren’t protected,” Gorsuch told the Associated Press in an interview in his supreme court office. “But too much law and you actually impair those same things.”
Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law is being published Tuesday by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Gorsuch has received a $500,000 advance for the book, according to his annual financial disclosure reports.
In the interview, Gorsuch refused to be drawn into discussions about term limits or an enforceable code of ethics for the justices, both recently proposed by Joe Biden at a time of diminished public trust in the court.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/04/supreme-court-justice-neil-gorsuch
But Gorsuch did talk about the importance of judicial independence. “I’m not saying that there aren’t ways to improve what we have. I’m simply saying that we’ve been given something very special. It’s the envy of the world, the United States judiciary,” he said.
I think he was using the royal "We" and talking about his RW partners on the Court.
August 4, 2024
Good column.
I just had to vacate my house of 15 years and fit everything I needed in my car. That process was wrenching but ultimately useful - my kids won't have to worry about cleaning up after me.
Reuse that teabag! Ignore that special offer! It's time to join the underconsumer revolution
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/04/reuse-that-teabag-ignore-that-special-offer-its-time-to-join-the-underconsumer-revolutionMost of us already have more than enough stuff. No wonder so many young people are turning their backs on the marketers and influencers
"I never want to own anything again,” messaged my son, packing up after a year abroad. He was experiencing the self-loathing rite of passage that is confronting your acquisitive tendencies; next year, he vowed, he will “live like a spartan”.
I know how he feels. I tell myself I don’t buy much, but as I tidied for a houseguest recently, the bathroom told a different story. How many nail varnishes (I never varnish my nails), micellar waters (my face doesn’t need watering) and oils promising sleep (lies) have I accumulated over the past decade, then dumped in a drawer? Most of us succumb to the unconscious – sometimes wilfully ignored – creep of stuff, only realising how grossly unnecessary it all is when forced to tackle it.
Enter “underconsumption core”. It’s the latest slightly earnest TikTok trend, in which young people extoll the virtues of buying only what you need. Underconsumers come in various flavours. Some present basic frugality tips (cutting up tubes to use the last dregs of product or repurposing jars). Others introduce revolutionary concepts such as “just having one of a thing” (shampoo, handbag), “looking for secondhand alternatives” or “not replacing stuff unless it’s broken”.
I know how he feels. I tell myself I don’t buy much, but as I tidied for a houseguest recently, the bathroom told a different story. How many nail varnishes (I never varnish my nails), micellar waters (my face doesn’t need watering) and oils promising sleep (lies) have I accumulated over the past decade, then dumped in a drawer? Most of us succumb to the unconscious – sometimes wilfully ignored – creep of stuff, only realising how grossly unnecessary it all is when forced to tackle it.
Enter “underconsumption core”. It’s the latest slightly earnest TikTok trend, in which young people extoll the virtues of buying only what you need. Underconsumers come in various flavours. Some present basic frugality tips (cutting up tubes to use the last dregs of product or repurposing jars). Others introduce revolutionary concepts such as “just having one of a thing” (shampoo, handbag), “looking for secondhand alternatives” or “not replacing stuff unless it’s broken”.
Good column.
I just had to vacate my house of 15 years and fit everything I needed in my car. That process was wrenching but ultimately useful - my kids won't have to worry about cleaning up after me.
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