Tag: California

U.S. Schools Are Buying Phone-Hacking Tech That the FBI Uses to Investigate Terrorists

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. Schools Are Buying Phone-Hacking Tech That the FBI Uses to Investigate Terrorists

In the case New Jersey v. T.L.O, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools do not necessarily need a warrant to search students so long as officials have a reasonable belief a student has broken the law or school policy, and the search is not unnecessarily intrusive and reasonably related in scope to the circumstances under which the search was originally justified. The “reasonableness” standard is extremely broad, largely deferential to the whims of school officials, and can serve as the basis for fishing expeditions; courts have only rarely ruled that school searches violate the Fourth Amendment.

Xavier Becerra, Biden Nominee to Lead HHS, Said in 2017 That He ‘Absolutely’ Supports Medicare for All

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Xavier Becerra, Biden Nominee to Lead HHS, Said in 2017 That He ‘Absolutely’ Supports Medicare for All

As the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, “Although Mr. Becerra has endorsed Medicare for All… people familiar with the process said he supports Mr. Biden’s plan to expand healthcare access through a public option.”

The New York Times similarly reported that “a source familiar with the selection said Mr. Becerra would support the president-elect’s call for strengthening and preserving the ACA and would not be pushing Medicare for All while in office.”

Cultured meat has been approved for consumers for the first time

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Cultured meat has been approved for consumers for the first time

Most cultured meat is made in a similar way. Cells are taken from an animal, often via a biopsy or from an established animal cell line. These cells are then fed a nutrient broth and placed in a bioreactor, where they multiply until there are enough to harvest for use in meatballs or nuggets. A slew of startups have been founded using variations on this approach, in the belief that cultured meat will appeal to flexitarians—people who want to reduce the amount of meat they eat for ethical or environmental reasons, but don’t want to give it up entirely.

…

Memphis Meats, which counts Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and traditional meat manufacturer Tyson Foods among its many investors, has teamed up with a number of other firms, including Just and cultured-seafood makers BlueNalu and Finless Foods, to form a lobbying group that is working with US regulators to get their products approved.

Covid-19 Likely in U.S. in Mid-December 2019, CDC Scientists Report

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Covid-19 Likely in U.S. in Mid-December 2019, CDC Scientists Report

In analyzing the blood samples, the CDC scientists found antibodies in 39 samples from California, Oregon and Washington state collected between Dec. 13 and Dec. 16.

The findings suggest there were isolated cases of coronavirus infection on the U.S. West Coast in mid-December, the scientists wrote.

They also found 67 samples with antibodies in Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin or Iowa, and Connecticut or Rhode Island collected between Dec. 30 and Jan. 17.

Research:

Serologic testing of U.S. blood donations to identify SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies: December 2019-January 2020

Corporate America’s deal with the Devil

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Corporate America’s deal with the Devil

I suspect that when those people read about a bunch of multinational CEOs getting together to throw around their political weight, a good chunk of them would likely think something along the lines of: “It’s true! There is a cabal of wealthy and powerful people running the country and they have influence that I don’t. They are the ones thwarting democracy.”

Sadly, they wouldn’t be delusional to think so. Anyone with a pulse knows that in the US today the system is rigged in favour of the wealthy and powerful. One particularly illuminating paper published this month by the Institute for New Economic Thinking quantifies the problem. Building on a persuasive 2014 data set, it shows that when opinion shifts among the wealthiest top 10 per cent of the US population, changes in policy become far more likely.