In this time of national crisis, the Trump administration announced that it was lowering federal fuel economy standards.
This move reverses many years of efforts to fight air pollution.
People with emphysema, asthma, and other lung conditions, already at risk for coronavirus, will suffer even more risk as the air is dirtied by emissions from cars and trucks.
This change to lower standards may satisfy the fossil fuel industry and some in the transportation industry, at least those who put profits above lives, but it is a deadly blow to public health.
It is a curious time to take steps to further endanger public health and poison the air we breathe.
Is there a bottom to the heartlessness of the Trump administration and its callous indifference to our lives?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Somehow a good crisis is always an excuse for Disaster Capitalists to do stuff they always wanted to do.
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I read about this, and there is more to the story. Because of California and other countries like China that have higher fuel economy standards, the auto industry in the U.S. cannot afford to cut back. GM and Ford both sell more cars in China than in the U.S.
Of course, Trump is in court trying to strip California of its emissions standards.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/california-climate-change-auto-emission-standards-886535/
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Trump hates himself and thus he hates everyone else…honest.
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With the help of the Family Research Council and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Trump is also using the crisis to reward his base, the religious, by denying the right to abortions.
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. . . and Trump cannot let anything Obama did stand. CBK
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The Auto industry had been prepared to comply with the new standards. For them, the most important thing was to have certainty as to what the rules were. The pressure to relax the rules came from the fossil fuel industry and from conservatives who believe that an increase in air pollution most be a good thing because it upsets liberals!
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Yet another reason to vote this monster out of office. There was absolutely no need to lower the standards, great masses of people are not using their cars except to get food, medicine or other essentials. There are far fewer cars on the road and the air is getting a little bit cleaner as a result, no thanks to Trump and the fossil fuel industry.
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I made a comment on another post about Bill Gates’s “bodies in the corner” remark and this fits the argument perfectly. I’ve worked in cancer education much longer than I did in the classroom and in working with patients, doctors and nurses has affected how I look at the world. On the evening of September 11, I told a colleague, based on what I understood, that the long-term death toll would be much higher than it was on that day. One of the first acts the Orange Catastrophe announced after taking office was the reduction in coal waste standards for rivers, effectively allowing operators to dump more toxins in public water supplies and directly into the region’s food chain. It was the first of at least 95 actions to date as compiled by the NYT. Every one of them will have the effect of increasing disease and disability among various segments of the population. The numbers will be estimated and aggregated and somewhere in the corner of the room. And the more the future profits are celebrated, the more these actions will be forgotten or sped up.
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In response to slowed demand during the pandemic, oil producers “asked Texas regulators to impose mandatory production curbs”. You described deregulation that harms people and profits business. The flip side of the coin is regulation that profits business and harms consumers. In other words, both free markets and socialism for the rich.
And poverty and disease for the poor and middle class.
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Meanwhile Devos is promoting microgrants–rebranding vouchers. Here is a discussion of how that concept was set in motion. I do not think the USDE program has been rolled out but enthusiasms for are predictable and evident in your key-word searches.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardwhitmire/2019/05/02/microgrants-education-philanthropy-for-the-everyman/#48d3839e273a
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Also just found in my mailbox, some terrible provisions in the just passed National Federal Emergency Act pertaining to schools. There is no letup on the idea that every student is neglected by educators if the student in not doing grade level on time. Money is there for tech, of course. This is summary is from the Education Law Center.
https://edlawcenter.org/news/archives/school-funding-national/federal-emergency-relief-for-schools-is-a-start,-but-states-and-congress-must-do-much-more.html
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Trumpism is run out of little Stevie Miller’s mind who I think has a death wish for the country. BMurphy
Sent from my iPad
>
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It’s been speculated that the Koch network has its foundation in a death wish for modernism in the country, preferring colonialism.
Paul Weyrich’s training manual posted at Theocracy Watch, does nothing to dispel the notion. Weyrich founded ALEC and is credited with the origins of the religious right.
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Better fuel economy – more single use plastic, as simple as that. Also, blaming businesses or Trump personally is facetious seeing how many people prefer humongous SUVs to small fuel-efficient cars or use disposable cutlery instead of metal utensils.
Sometimes consumers can do nothing – have you tried buying 100% cotton socks lately? I only found ones that contain at least 20% polyester.
The only reasonable action the fed can do is nationalize oil and gas companies and reduce production of gasoline and single-use plastic. As long as these businesses remain private, they will do anything to sell their stuff. They don’t care about the planet.
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Gee, I found 100% cotton socks for sale with a Google search in seconds.
https://www.amazon.com/100-cotton-socks/s?k=100%25+cotton+socks
All I had to do is type in “100 percent cotton socks”
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Lloyd Be careful that the label doesn’t say something like “Cottonelle,” or some such derivative. The tip-off is that they don’t absorb water but (as with washcloths) repell it, or just push it around the sink or counter-top. CBK
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What about this one from Costco?
https://www.costco.com/unitex-100%25-cotton-towel%2C-white%2C-14-in-x-17-in%2C-52-count.product.100460088.html
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Thank you for responding to the most important point in my message and finding an error. I stand corrected: it is still possible to buy 100% cotton socks.
But just to be sure, let us drill down several items listed on the page returned by your search, because you did not suggest a particular brand and model, you just gave me some keywords.
Champion Men’s Low Cut Socks – 100% Cotton – Fabric: 69% Ringspun cotton/27% polyester/2% spandex/1% naturalrubber/1% other fibers. Hmm.
WANDER Men’s Athletic Ankle Socks – 92.5% Cotton+6.7% Polyester+0.8% Spandex. At least these don’t say “100% cotton”.
Maggie’s Organic Cotton Crew Sock – Contents: 98% Certified Organic Cotton, 2% Spandex
CelerSport Ankle Athletic Running Socks – 88.3% COMBED COTTON,10.7% POLYESTER, 1% SPANDEX.
Amazon Essentials Kids’ 14-Pack Cotton Low Cut Sock – 73% Cotton, 19% Polyester, 6% Nylon, 2% Elastane
This is getting boring. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Maybe if I refine my search with “cotton only”, “no polyester”, “no spandex”, “no elastane”, “no freaking plastic whatsoever” I will be able to find 100% cotton socks.
See, this is the difference between accountability as you understand it and as I understand it. Paraphrasing what you said about teaching, you demonstrated that you could create a search query in our “subject area” of searching for socks, and after building such query you felt that you’ve been observed and held accountable.
In my understanding, being accountable in this particular case meant providing a specific link to a specific product that satisfies the search criteria – socks that contain nothing but cotton. Mind you, I did not ask you for help, you volunteered it.
Eager to help, but utterly useless – typical.
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the words we use in search engines like Google are important if we want a chance to find what we are looking for.
Sometimes I have to submit revised search terms several times to finally find what I’m looking for. And, occasionally, I can’t find anything and stop until I can think up other words or phrases that might lead me to what I’m looking for.
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Diane,
Another issue appearing is Planned Parenthood and its real purpose as a. organization.
“To ensure the health and safety of our patients, staff, and community, Planned Parenthood Keystone has temporarily closed all of its health centers for family planning visits effective March 23, 2020,” read one notice from a Pennsylvania branch. “At this time, Planned Parenthood Keystone is serving patients in Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, Warminster, Reading, York, and Harrisburg for abortion services only.”
Planned Parenthood of southeastern Pennsylvania posted a notice saying: “Effective March 25, 2020, we have temporarily closed our Health Centers to ensure the health and safety of our patients, staff, and community.” However, above that notice, a banner appears, declaring, “COVID-19 UPDATE: Our Abortion Centers are open!”
The company’s health centers could have legally remained open in most states since they focus almost exclusively on providing basic medical resources — STD testing, pregnancy services, and vaccines. They even could have aided the fight against COVID-19 by sharing basic protective equipment with local hospitals. But the abortion giant chose to shut down its health centers and has even tried to fundraise off this cynical move, which reveals its true priorities for the umpteenth time.
Is abortion the central part of the organization’s mission not primarily focused on women’s health.
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jscheidell,
I know you are a MAGA man, but really it is not up to you whether Planned Parenthood provides abortion services to women who need them.
Truly, it is none of your business.
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In 2014, Planned Parenthood conducted 324,000 abortions out of 9.5 million medical services that year.
In 2014, there were 664,435 abortions throughout the United States.
For Planned Parenthood, that translates to 48.76% of the known abortions in the U.S.
Those numbers are the legal ones that are documented. No telling how many illegal abortions take place in states where it is illegal or difficult to find.
Worldwide it is estimated that 25 million unsafe abortions occur.
https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2017/worldwide-estimated-25-million-unsafe-abortions-occur-each-year
The Atlantic Reports “When Abortion Is Illegal, Women Rarely Die. But they Still Suffer”
… “In parts of the world where abortion is illegal, botched abortions still cause about 8 to 11 percent of all maternal deaths, or about 30,000 each year.” …
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/how-many-women-die-illegal-abortions/572638/
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