Sunday, October 16, 2022

And another day easing voting rules (but for only Republican areas), expelling migrants, targeted killing of police officers, how Social Security works, radioactive waste, and an epidemic of cancer in people under 50 comes to a close:

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” -- Voltaire

Deaths

US: 1,090,536

World: 6,571,478

Cases

US: 98,850,125

World: 629,958,941

Anger as DeSantis eases voting rules in Republican areas hit by hurricane. Governor Ron DeSantis has made voting easier in certain Florida counties battered by Hurricane Ian – but only Republican-leaning ones. DeSantis signed an executive order on Thursday that eases voting rules for about 1 million voters in Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties, all areas that Hurricane Ian hit hard and that all reliably vote Republican. Meanwhile, Orange county, a Democratic-leaning area which experienced historic flooding from the storm, received no voting exceptions, reported the Washington Post.

Biden turning to Trump-era rule to expel Venezuelan migrants. Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced President Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted “cruelty and exclusion at every turn,” including toward those fleeing the “brutal” government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the Nov. 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor’s playbook. Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 -- which Biden’s own Justice Department is fighting in court — to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border.

Violent week a grim sign as targeted killings of police rise. The shooting deaths of two Connecticut officers and wounding of a third punctuated an especially violent week for police across the U.S. and fit into a grim pattern: Even as more officers left their jobs in the past two years, the number targeted and killed rose.

How Social Security works and what to know about its future. According to the latest Social Security and Medicare trustees report, released in June, the fund will no longer be able to pay full benefits beginning in 2035…That means, if nothing changes, future generations can expect to see a 20% across the board reduction in payments, with a 10% reduction in Medicare coverage…That said, Romig wishes younger people understood the system better — including the fact that Social Security isn’t going anywhere. “Almost everyone is touched by Social Security,” she said. “They’re either paying into it or receiving benefits or they will one day.” “I think young people have an extraordinarily important stake in the system,” she added.

UK leader Liz Truss goes from triumph to trouble in 6 weeks. When Liz Truss was running to lead Britain this summer, an ally predicted her first weeks in office would be turbulent. But few were prepared for the scale of the sound and fury -– least of all Truss herself. In just six weeks, the prime minister’s libertarian economic policies have triggered a financial crisis, emergency central bank intervention, multiple U-turns and the firing of her Treasury chief.

Death toll rises to 41 in Turkey coal mine explosion. There were 110 miners working several hundred meters below ground at the time of the explosion on Friday evening.

Radioactive waste found at Missouri elementary school. There is significant radioactive contamination at an elementary school in suburban St. Louis where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II, according to a new report by environmental investigation consultants.

A 33-year-old London-based physicist has written more than 1,600 Wikipedia entries for long-ignored women scientists. The 33-year-old London-based physicist has become something of a phenomenon herself in her very personal campaign to bring more girls to study and work in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Wade has written more than 1,600 Wikipedia entries for long-ignored women scientists, and she has firm beliefs on ideas of how to support girls interested in the field.

A global epidemic of cancer among people younger than 50 could be emerging. When cancer strikes an adult under the age of 50, doctors call it an early-onset case. These cancers at younger ages are becoming more common. A new review of cancer registry records from 44 countries found that the incidence of early-onset cancers is rising rapidly for colorectal and 13 other types of cancers, many of which affect the digestive system, and this increase is happening across many middle- and high-income nations.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.