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The Food and Drug Administration ’ s lethargic regulation of dietary supplements containing a dangerous stimulant described in recent reports in The Times is a classic example of what happens when industry representatives infiltrate the agency that is supposed to regulate them . The worrisome ingredient is BMPEA , a chemical nearly identical to amphetamine that is added to weight-loss and workout products in an effort to enhance their effect . Whether it does so is unclear , since there have never been tests of its effectiveness and safety in humans .\nAs noted in The Times , the F.D.A . was actually the first agency to suspect that BMPEA had been added improperly to supplements that listed among their ingredients a little-known plant called acacia rigidula . Experts say that listings like this are often tip-offs that the manufacturer is trying to disguise a chemical additive as a natural botanical extract . The agency tested 21 popular supplements that listed acacia rigidula on their labels and found that nine of them contained BMPEA .\nThe F.D.A . did not , however , recall the products , name them or issue a health alert . By contrast , in December , Canadian health authorities found the chemical “ a serious health risk , ” issued a public health alert and forced a recall of JetFuel Superburn , which they found to contain BMPEA and another amphetamine-like stimulant .\nMuch of the responsibility for the F.D.A. ’ s sluggish response must fall on Dr. Daniel Fabricant , who left a senior position at the Natural Products Association , a trade group for supplement makers and sellers , to head the F.D.A. ’ s division of dietary supplement programs in early 2011 and who jumped back to the trade association as its chief executive in the spring of 2014 . He has been succeeded at the F.D.A . by several acting directors ; the current one is Cara Welch , from the same trade group . Both dragged their feet on BMPEA . | allsides-corpus-600 |
The Food and Drug Administration must go . And salt should be sown where once it stood . This organization is costly , is a gargantuan waste of time and causes needless deaths by slowing down innovation . The sooner is it disbanded , the better .\nThis seems a bit harsh . Ok , excessively severe . Does not the FDA stand between us and pharmaceutical firms that would exploit us but for its heroic efforts ? Does not the FDA ensure the quality of , wait for it , food and drugs ? Does not the FDA serve as an excellent traffic cop in this field ? No , no and no . Rather , this bureaucracy stands in the path of the very assurance with which they presumably provide us .\nTheir mandate is to ascertain that any products brought to market must pass a two stage test . One , they must be safe , and two , they must be effective . Some commentators argue that while the first mandate may be a reasonable one , the second is unnecessary and only slows down the rate of progress . As long as a new offering is safe , it addresses the foundational medical requirement , “ First , do no harm. ” Whether or not it is also effective should be up to the patients and their doctors . To insist upon the second as well as the first necessarily slows down new development .\nThis is all well and good , but we should also question the second test , safety . The FDA is a monopoly . It , and it alone , makes all such determinations . But one of the most basic discoveries of the dismal science it that monopolies lead to extra costs , poor service and lack of accountability .\nHow else , then , can these functions of safety and effectiveness be attained . Milton Friedman hit the nail on the head in his book Capitalism and Freedom ; he proposed , instead , a certification industry . The problem with the FDA is that it constitutes a licensing arrangement . Go ahead without its imprimatur , and you go to jail ( and do not collect that proverbial $ 200 ) . In contrast , without a certification , you may still bring your goods to the consumer , but without official approval . This system works in a myriad of other contexts . There are Certified Public Accountants ; but any old book keeper can help you with your tax returns . For stocks and bonds there are Moodys , Standard and Poor and Fitch . The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and Consumers ’ Reports serve similar functions as do commercial testing laboratories . Why not , also , have a group of private firms independently evaluating food and drugs ? We rely on competition as the bulwark of our free economy . Why not here also ?\nNot only is the FDA a monopoly , it is also a governmental institution . That means no matter how many mistakes it makes , it can never , at least not automatically , go out of business . Its employees are human beings , and we are the mistake making animal . At least private monopolies are somewhat subject to market forces . Without bailouts , or the “ too big to fail ” philosophy , it is possible for them to no longer darken our doorsteps . Not so for the FDA ( nor for the Post Office , the Motor Vehicle Bureau , the Departments of Agriculture , Education , etc. ) . Any private certification company approving of Thalidomide ( great for morning sickness , but created birth defects ) would quickly enough be bankrupted .\nThis brings us to Louis Falo and Andrea Gambotto . These gentlemen , both Professors at the University of Pittsburgh , are hot on the trail of a Covid 19 vaccine . The former , a dermatologist , the latter a surgeon , have concocted a medicine called PittCoVac . It is to be administered to the skin via a patch exhibiting 400 tiny needles . One of its benefits is that it need not be continually refrigerated , a consideration very important especially in the underdeveloped world . I asked Dr. Andrea Gambotto for the earliest date on which he concluded he and his team had success with this new drug on mice regarding a disease biologically related to the coronavirus . His response : March 5 , 2018 . My follow up question to him was for the date on which he applied for FDA approval for use on human subjects . He gave me a one word response : “ Confidential. ” I don ’ t know about him , but if I were in his shoes , I would have applied for this permission as soon as Covid 19 reared its ugly head . When was that ? Some date this as of November 2019 . Certainly , it was well entrenched , and recognized as such , by February 2020 .\nDoctors Falo and Gambotto are now only waiting FDA approval for use with human subjects . Let me repeat that : this experimental drug is now waiting FDA approval for use with human subjects . Anyone see anything wrong with that ? The FDA is now fiddling while Rome is burning .\nSurely , there are some people , then at death ’ s door , who would have given their eye teeth and more , to be the first human subjects for PittCoVac . Safety and effectiveness be damned , in their view . They just wanted one last roll of the dice before meeting their mortal coil . Several of them have now passed beyond human care , thanks to the FDA ! It is now not days , not mere weeks , but perhaps several months since Falo and Gambotto have applied for an FDA license for use on human subjects . That is far too long . Is it totally unjust to think of Agency bureaucrats holding up the works as being guilty of manslaughter ? Only if PittCoVac really works , and we will not know that for quite a while yet .\nWith a private certification agency overseeing matters , human beings , on an informed consent voluntary basis might have already determined whether or not PittCoVac would be one of our answers .\nYes , this government bureaucracy has in its power the ability to in effect temporarily cancel its always unwarranted control . Right now , it has given the go-ahead to Remdesivir , a product of Gilead Sciences , under its Emergency Use Authorization policy . Thank goodness for this , as it may well save precious human lives , even though , I suspect , the motivation for this was more political than scientific . At present , some are calling for a packing of the Supreme Court . No one is mentioning setting up a governmental alternative to the FDA , hence in effect “ packing ” it . It is to head off any moves in this direction that might well explain its decision via Remdesivir .\nBut this humane decision undercuts the very case for its existence ! One would think that now with the dire threat of a pandemic we would need the safety and efficiency provided by the FDA even the more . But it now lays down its “ weapons ” when they are presumably needed the most . What would we think of soldiers who disarmed in the face of the enemy ? We would surmise they were not needed . “ Emergencies ” occur all the time . There are always a few patients , with no other options in sight , who would like to take a chance on a non-FDA approved remedy . If the FDA utilized its Emergency Use Authorization in all these cases , there would be in effect no FDA ; it would be converted from a licensing agency into one properly limited to certification .\nSays Michael Milken in this regard : “ We send 19-year-olds into war zones knowing that no matter what we do , some number – greater than zero – will lose their lives or their limbs . But we tell a patient who is going to die not to try something because it could be dangerous . ”\nHenry I. Miller , writing in the Wall Street Journal ( April 23 , 2020 ) , has a very different suggestion in mind to meet this challenge : streamline the FDA process . To wit , he urges :\n* animal studies to be allowed to take place at the same time as Phase I clinical trials\n* lower wait times from 30 to 10 days from application to start of Phase I\n* “ publish a template ‘ master protocol ’ for streamlined Covid 19 vaccine development ”\n* allow approval for only parts of Biologics License Applications\nNone of these proposals are counterproductive . Mr. Miller is to be congratulated for making them . But none have so far been effected by that dinosaur , the FDA . Why is it that in reading this list , “ rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic ” comes to mind ? The reason is that these suggestions leave in charge the very people responsible for not implementing them in the first place . What else can be expected from a governmental bureaucratic monopoly ? | allsides-corpus-601 |
“ To market a product as less harmful than cigarettes is to damn it with faint praise… As stories pile up of sicknesses , side effects , and the potential for long-term consequences , it ’ s clear that ‘ safe ’ and ‘ safer than smoking cigarettes ’ are vastly different things . ”\n“ One in five high school students used e-cigarettes in 2018 , an increase of 78 percent over 2017 . E-cigarette use was up by nearly 50 percent among middle schoolers in the same period . More than three and a half million American children now use e-cigarettes , with 97 percent of users aged 12 to 17 choosing flavored products… E-cigarette companies insist their goal is to help people quit smoking . But 13-year-olds don ’ t start using cotton-candy-flavored pods for Juul devices to kick a cigarette habit . Much more often , e-cigarettes lead kids directly to nicotine addiction…\n“ To those of us on the front lines of the fight against tobacco use , the tactics companies are employing to sell e-cigarettes — flavorings , unfounded health claims and the hiring of celebrity promoters — are all too familiar . They are the same strategies that tobacco companies have long used to get kids to try cigarettes . There ’ s still much we don ’ t know about the connection between lung illness and vaping . But we do know that one Juul pod contains about as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes , and that nicotine harms brain development… Banning flavored e-cigarettes is the most important thing we can do to reduce use among young people . ”\n“ There is no reason vaping products should be available in bubble-gum flavor except to induce young people who are most at risk . The FDA sent a warning letter on Monday to the most popular vaping manufacturer , Juul Labs , complaining the company has made claims in school presentations that its products are less dangerous than tobacco without an appropriate FDA order . The FDA must remain vigilant against marketing to and use of vaping by young people . Overall , this is a complex problem of science , business , technology , culture and public health . Vaping began with very little regulation . Whatever the outcome of the current spate of illness , it is now clear that in the public interest , it must be rigorously scrutinized and controlled . ”\nIt ’ s worth noting that “ evidence that these products help people avoid combustible cigarettes is limited . [ On the other hand ] the fact that they ’ ve introduced a whole new generation of young people to a highly addictive and possibly dangerous habit is indisputable… A ban on flavored products will help curb the teen vaping epidemic , but stricter age restrictions and a more aggressive clampdown on deceptive marketing should follow . Then there ’ s the black market : The devices people are buying on the street and the liquids used in them demand more attention . Finally , this crisis makes it even more clear that marijuana products shouldn ’ t continue to exist in confusing regulatory limbo . ”\nSome point out that “ fifty-three people died from mass shootings in August alone and there have been more than 9,000 gun deaths so far in 2019 . Still , the Trump administration , willing to act fast when it comes to mango-flavored vaping liquid , has backed away several times from the idea of passing universal background checks on gun purchases . Trump wrote in a 2000 book that he supported an assault weapons ban but has n't embraced the idea in office . The Odessa , Texas , shooter who killed seven people in August and wounded 22 others had previously failed a background check and purchased the AR-style rifle used in the attack through a private sale , avoiding a background check… The administration says vaping is a deeply concerning epidemic but is turning a blind eye to another , much more deadly health crisis : gun violence . ”\n“ Trump ’ s defenders will say this evidence is all circumstantial . But circumstantial evidence is not weak evidence : it ’ s simply evidence based on the circumstances in which an act of wrongdoing is committed — such as the license plate of a car that speeds away from a bank just after that bank is robbed . Criminals are convicted on such evidence all the time . They will also say that there ’ s no explicit quid pro quo proposal here . But… ‘ even when a corrupt deal is struck implicitly , the government can still prosecute extortion on a quid pro quo basis . Circumstantial evidence can be enough to prove a criminal exchange. ’ … “ In the absence of an explicit quid pro quo over restarting aid , the context and circumstances are what will become the focus of the investigation . There is enough here to support impeachment . Whether it is also enough to convince Republicans and lead to removal is another matter . ” | allsides-corpus-602 |
For the first time , the Obama administration posted Tuesday data outlining months of consulting fees , grants , travel expenses and other gifts that companies paid to America ’ s doctors .\nMandated by the health care law , the Open Payments program so far lists $ 3.5 billions in disbursements from pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers to more than 546,000 physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals from August 2013 to December 2013 .\nBeginning in June , the reports will be published annually and include 12 months of data , the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced .\n“ CMS is committed to transparency and this is an opportunity for the public to learn about the relationships among health care providers , and pharmaceutical and device companies , ” CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said . “ This initial public posting of data is only the first phase of the Open Payments program . In coming weeks , we will be adding additional data and tools that will give consumers , researchers , and others a detailed look into this industry and its financial arrangements . ”\nThe move is being hailed by some as a win for transparency , as public interest groups warn doctors ’ prescribing behavior could be affected by financial influence by the companies .\nOthers warn , however , the data is incomplete or could be inaccurate in some cases . During testing , some physicians found they had been linked to payments that went to doctors who have the same name .\nCMS said payments do not necessarily signal wrongdoing on the part of doctors and teaching hospitals , and that they did not parse out which payments may be beneficial or imply underhanded dealing .\n“ We are simply making the data available to the public , ” Shantanu Agrawal , deputy administrator and director of CMS ’ s Center for Program Integrity , told reporters in a conference call .\nAmerica ’ s Health Insurance Plans , the main lobby group for insurers , said “ the payments , while not nefarious in every case , are a perfect symbol for the misaligned incentives in our health care system . ”\n“ While most health care stakeholders are working together to find ways to lower costs , drugmakers remain focused on strategies to keep them inflated , ” AHIP spokesman Brendan Buck said .\nAbout 40 percent of the records do not name the people involved in the payments , at least for now , while parties cross-check the information .\nThe agency did not publish more than 190,000 payments , which is stipulated by law because the transactions involved research and disclosure must be withheld for four years or until the product at hand is approved by the FDA , officials said .\nSen. Chuck Grassley , Iowa Republican , spearheaded the movement to release the data through his Physician Payments Sunshine Act , which passed as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 .\nIn an op-ed for the Des Moines Register , Mr. Grassley said Tuesday he pushed the legislation because several years ago because “ it started to become clear how little public information exists on the financial relationships between doctors and pharmaceutical and medical device companies . ”\nHe acknowledged that the database was incomplete and would improve over time , as well as the debate around the data ’ s release .\n“ The doctors rightly point out that such payments are perfectly legal , unlike kickbacks to steer prescribers toward certain drugs , ” he wrote . “ But studies have shown that exposure to a prescription drug on the lecture circuit or in the lab leads to more prescriptions for that drug , whether the doctor feels influenced or not . ” | allsides-corpus-603 |
Presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway suggested yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) may decide to exempt vape shops from its pending ban on flavored e-cigarettes . There is a certain logic to that , since those shops , unlike other retailers , do not admit minors , and curbing underage vaping is the rationale for the ban . But it 's not clear that approach would be legal . Furthermore , Conway 's assertion that the FDA `` do [ es ] not have jurisdiction over vaping and vape shops '' is puzzling , given how the agency understands its regulatory authority .\nThe FDA derives its authority over vaping products from the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act , which allows it to regulate `` any product made or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumption , including any component , part , or accessory of a tobacco product . '' Although e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco , they typically deliver nicotine that is derived from tobacco , and in 2010 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C . Circuit agreed that is enough to make them subject to FDA regulation .\nBut the Tobacco Control Act also says the FDA may not `` prohibit the sale of any tobacco product in face-to-face transactions by a specific category of retail outlets . '' On its face , that provision means the FDA may not ban sales of flavored vaping products in convenience stores while allowing them in vape shops .\nThat is how the National Association of Convenience Stores reads the law . `` The Tobacco Control Act is clear that the FDA ca n't discriminate against one type of retail outlet , and that 's what they 're trying to do here , '' Doug Kantor , a lawyer for the trade group , told The New York Times when the issue came up last year . `` There is a very good chance this will end up in litigation . ''\nConway seems to be suggesting a way around that obstacle by arguing that the FDA simply does not have jurisdiction over open-system vaporizers ( as opposed to cartridge-based products such as Juul ) and the e-liquids used in them . But that is plainly inconsistent with the way the FDA has interpreted its regulatory authority under the Tobacco Control Act .\nAccording to the FDA , any device that can be used to deliver tobacco-derived nicotine qualifies as a tobacco product , and so do the e-liquids used with such devices . The agency says even a nicotine-free e-liquid ( NFL ) can count as a `` component or part '' of a tobacco product . `` Assuming an NFL is not made or derived from tobacco , '' the FDA says , it is still subject to the agency 's e-cigarette regulations `` if it is 'intended or reasonably expected ' either ' ( 1 ) To alter or affect [ a ] tobacco product 's performance , composition , constituents , or characteristics ; or ( 2 ) To be used with or for the human consumption of a tobacco product ; and is not an accessory . ' '' Hence `` an NFL that is intended or reasonably expected to be mixed with liquid nicotine would qualify as a 'component or part . ' ''\nContrary to Conway 's comments , the FDA plainly believes it does `` have jurisdiction over vaping and vape shops , '' which is consistent with the interpretation upheld by the D.C . Circuit . And if open-system vaping devices and the e-liquids used in them are indeed tobacco products subject to FDA regulation , the Tobacco Control Act seems to preclude a flavor ban that is selectively applied to `` a specific category of retail outlets . ''\nPerhaps what the FDA plans to do is ban flavored cartridges everywhere , based on the premise that Juul-like products are the ones preferred by teenaged vapers , while allowing flavored e-liquids used in open-system devices . But that distinction would not draw a line between different categories of retailers , and it would not rely on a new understanding of the agency 's authority .\nLast year the FDA proposed a rule that would allow sales of flavored e-liquids in stores that do not admit minors ( i.e. , vape shops ) or that put those products in `` a section '' that `` adequately prevents entry of persons under the age of 18 , '' as long as the products `` are not visible or accessible to persons under the age of 18 at any time . '' Although that approach notionally allows convenience stores to continue selling flavored e-liquids , the segregation requirement probably would be prohibitive in practice . It is therefore not clear such a rule would pass muster under the Tobacco Control Act . While allowing adults to continue buying flavored e-liquids from some sources is certainly preferable to a blanket ban , I 'm not sure how that policy can be reconciled with the law . | allsides-corpus-604 |
Alongside perennial concerns like “ work ” and “ money , ” sociocultural issues including mass shootings , access to health care and the 2020 presidential election now cause the most stress for American citizens , according to the annual “ Stress in America ” survey from the American Psychological Association ( APA ) .\nThe survey was conducted between Aug. 1 and Sept. 3 and polled 3,617 adults across the U.S. , according to an APA press release . “ While overall stress levels have not changed significantly over the past few years , the proportion of Americans who say they are experiencing stress about specific issues has risen over the past year , ” the survey explains .\nAmong those surveyed , 56 % of adults said the 2020 election is already a “ significant stressor , ” a year out from Election Day — an increase from the 52 % who said the 2016 presidential election was stressful . ( The election is proving to be a more stressful topic for survey respondents identifying as Democrats , versus those identifying as Republicans , by almost 25 % . ) This year ’ s survey also cites 69 % of adults pointing to health care , specifically the costs thereof , as a notable point of stress . And 71 % cited mass shootings as stressful — the most common source of stress among those surveyed , with a rise of almost 10 % from the APA ’ s 2018 survey .\nRead more : A Third of Americans Avoid Certain Places Because They Fear Mass Shootings\nOther stressful topics cited include climate change , immigration , national security and abortion . These topics presence as “ hot-button ” issues in the news cycle is likely not a coincidence , the APA found — of keeping up with the news cycle in 2019 , 54 % of those surveyed said they “ want to stay informed , ” but that the news is stressful . 39 % of respondents said they have “ taken steps over the past year to reduce their news consumption . ”\nThe impact of discrimination was also deemed stressful by a majority of survey respondents identifying as part of a minority community . 63 % of people of color surveyed said that discrimination has kept them from having a fully productive life . 64 % of LGBT adults surveyed said the same thing .\nStress levels as a whole decreased drastically across respondents categorized by age group , the survey found . Members of the baby boomer generation and “ older adults ” were found to have to “ significantly lower average stress levels ” and their younger Gen X , Gen Z and millennial peers . ( These stress levels were drawn on a scale of 1 to 10 , with Gen X and younger all reporting stress levels above the median point , while boomers and older were below . )\n“ There is a lot of uncertainty in our world right now , ” Arthur C. Evans Jr. , APA ’ s chief executive officer , said in a statement accompanying the survey ’ s release . “ While [ there ] are important societal issues that need to be addressed , the results also reinforce the need to have more open conversations about the impact of stress and stress management , especially with groups that are experiencing high levels of stress , ” Evans said , according to the press statement .\n“ Research shows us that over time , prolonged feelings of anxiety and stress can affect our overall physical and mental health , ” he noted , in correlation with findings that 59 % of those surveyed felt they had not received enough emotional support to mitigate their stress levels .\nAccording to the APA , the best ways to manage stress are to get a good amount of sleep every night , exercise regularly and maintain a healthy network of social support .\nGet our Health Newsletter . 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Yesterday , Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an Executive Order striking down mask requirements in at least fifteen local jurisdictions .\nWhile the governor has encouraged Georgians to mask up to prevent the spread of coronavirus , he has called mandates “ a bridge too far. ” So despite growing evidence that masks work , and Kemp ’ s own exhortation that people should mask up if they want to watch college football this fall , the newest order explicitly makes them optional .\n[ A ] ny state , county , or municipal law , order , ordinance , rule , or regulation that requires persons to wear face coverings , masks , face shields , or any other Personal Protective Equipment while in places of public accommodation or on public property are suspended to the extent that they are more restrictive than this Executive Order .\nThe ordinance also caps indoor gatherings at fifty persons and suspends the requirement that Georgians renew their gun permits during the pandemic . So if anyone needs to shoot a virus , they ’ ll be able to do it . Phew !\nNext door in Alabama , Republican Governor Kay Ivey instituted a mask mandate yesterday . Mississippi ’ s governor Tate Reeves tweeted a long thread on dangers of a herd immunity approach , encouraging his constituents to wear masks , and allowing municipalities to enact their own mask regulations . But in Georgia , this abridgment of personal liberty will not stand !\nSavannah Mayor Van Johnson , who was gearing up to enforce his city ’ s mask ordinance with warnings and fines , was outraged .\nIt is officially official . Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us . Every man and woman for himself/herself . Ignore the science and survive the best you can . In # Savannah , we will continue to keep the faith and follow the science . Masks will continue to be available ! — Mayor Van Johnson ( @ MayorJohnsonSAV ) July 16 , 2020\n“ We ’ ve been clear in previous orders and statements that local mask mandates are unenforceable , ” Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce told the Savannah Morning News yesterday , when the state reported 3,871 new COVID infections . “ The Governor has encouraged Georgians to wear them voluntarily for months now . ”\nBecause Brian Kemp really wants to protect his constituents ’ health and stop this pandemic in its tracks . Just not enough to actually do anything at all about it .\nElizabeth Dye ( @ 5DollarFeminist ) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics . | allsides-corpus-606 |
Democrat Andrew Yang recently tweeted about something that most national politicians have avoided for years : pornography .\nAs a parent of young kids I believe rampant access to pornography is a real problem . We need to empower families to be able to moderate what our kids see and when . — Andrew Yang ( @ AndrewYang ) September 20 , 2019\nYang is right , despite the protestations of a thousand pornography consumers in his replies . ( RELATED : Andrew Yang : ‘ Rampant Access To Pornography Is A Real Problem ’ )\nJust because neither party has touched this issue on a national level in decades , and civil libertarians have a stranglehold on the debate , doesn ’ t make him any less right . In those decades that national politicians have ignored pornography , the internet pornography industry has grown to tens of billions of dollars , the average age of hardcore pornography exposure in the United States has plummeted , and tens of thousands of young people express serious concerns about pornography addiction .\nPornography undermines the need for and trust in the family at nearly every level – marriage , parental relations , and dating .\nFor the first time in years , acting on pornography is within the Overton Window as even democratic lawmakers at the federal level talk about it and Republican lawmakers at the state level consider declaring it a public health crisis . Serious proponents of pro-family policy can nuke the industry .\nFirst , though , porn is not speech . It is fundamentally different than media protected as speech . When free speech libertarians and the pornography lobby fight back against pro-family policy , pro-family advocates should not cede the free speech ground to them .\nUnlike a Scorsese film or a newspaper , both of which are consumed for artistic enjoyment or enlightenment , pornography is consumed with an outside end in mind : orgasm and masturbation . Its primary purpose is not entertainment ( in any colloquial sense of the word ) or enlightenment . In this sense , pornography is just a tool , like any other product , and can be regulated like any other product .\nDon ’ t let the pornography lobby and libertarians frame this as a free speech issue . It isn ’ t one .\nPornography use is a health and human services issue , not a free speech issue . This is true across the spectrum – for young viewers and older viewers alike , and for viewers and actors alike . Pornography directly undermines the family and the foundation family life lays for mental health and connectedness in society .\nDespite better access to transportation and communication than previous generations , younger Americans are lonelier and more anxious . Increased pornography use is closely associated with increases in loneliness and the myriad mental health issues and addictions that accompany that . Lonelier individuals use more pornography , and pornography use makes people withdraw more from society and feel lonelier . The cycle continues as the individual withdraws more from healthy human interaction and distorts their views on healthy human relationships .\nMarried Americans who begin viewing pornography after getting married are roughly twice as likely to divorce . This is especially true for those who are younger and less religious .\nBoth loneliness and divorce are fundamentally health and human services issues . They ’ re associated with higher risk of “ deaths of despair ” – suicide and drug overdose . And broken families impose greater costs on society as a whole .\nAnd that ’ s to say nothing of the pornography industry ’ s history of manipulating and mistreating actors . Despite the best efforts of the pornography industry to portray its actors as sex-loving nymphomaniacs who are merely asserting their right to individualism , most are young people ( usually women ) motivated by money or fame ( a poor substitute for connection ) .\nFor every one actor saying how great the industry is , there are thousands of sons and daughters , mothers and fathers eaten up and spat out by an industry run by people profiting from our basest desires .\nRashida Jones ’ 2015 documentary “ Hot Girls Wanted ” captures this well . Many of the young women featured in pornography are recruited via Craigslist , flown to Miami or Los Angeles ( without informing their families ) , and paid pennies on the dollar for every shoot . They get pushed into more-and-more perverted performances as audiences get used to them and need greater stimulation to get their dopamine rushes . Most girls burn out quickly . Many admit that they really just were looking for money or fame . Some , like at least 22 young women recruited through Craigslist , are never told they ’ ll be plastered across the Internet . ( RELATED : Mia Khalifa Says She Only Made $ 12,000 In The Porn Industry )\nThese performers are victims of the industry , too , and pro-family policy should be so substantive that they never feel the need to explore acting in pornography . Nobody should have to sacrifice their family ’ s dignity at the altar of the dollar .\nGiven the negative externalities associated with pornography , it looks more like a controlled substance and should be treated like a controlled substance .\nProfessionally produced , with actors who are paid to have sex on camera ;\nThe professional pornography industry is institutionalized prostitution . Should one pay two or more actors ( one of whom is often softly coerced or manipulated into participating ) to have sex without a camera , the payer would be arrested for sex trafficking and prostitution . Introducing a camera and distributing a recording so lonely individuals can vicariously participate online should not atone for the act – it should make it worse .\nRather than setting up jack-booted sting operations , which will be costly in terms of both liquid and human capital , the federal government should take a lesson from the regulation of alcohol sales and deny federal funding to jurisdictions where professional pornography is filmed and distributed ( including where tech companies that host pornography are headquartered or rent server space ) .\nThe Department of Health and Human services can use Medicare funding as a carrot for states to implement pro-family policy regarding pornography . Most pornography is produced in California or Florida , so tying Medicare funding to cracking down on pornography production and distribution would be no small incentive for states with such large aging populations . ( RELATED : Porn Is An Environmental Hazard , Produces As Much CO2 As 72 Countries Combined )\nI want to emphasize that pro-family policy should focus first on helping people , including performers who see few better options than doing pornography . States should seize and liquidate the assets of professional pornography studios and use the funds to support family programs and work assistance helping former performers reintegrate into the workforce .\nShutting down an industry predicated on preying on lust and vulnerable young people should be a bare minimum for pro-family policy . A pro-family regime should not and could not extend the privileges of business to such a sector .\nOf course , that wouldn ’ t stop pornographers overseas or amateur pornographers working out of homes . But just because amateur , fake , and black market pornography would still exist doesn ’ t mean that it shouldn ’ t be combated . A pro-family regime should look to internalize the negative externalities of pornography , from wherever it comes .\nDomestically , this can take the form of placing a massive Value Added Tax on vendors that do business with remnants of the pornography sector . Requiring ISPs to de facto offer internet and data plans that have pornography websites automatically blacklisted would further limit young Americans ’ exposure to pornography and return a semblance of control to the family .\nThe United States Trade Representative can impose punitive tariffs on countries that allow their pornographers to pump family-undermining smut onto the readily accessible Internet . This would likely lead pornography websites to block access from U.S.-based IP addresses .\nPhilosopher Robert Nozick presented a thought experiment in “ Anarchy , State & Utopia ” known as the Experience Machine . If offered the opportunity to , would you choose to plug into a machine that gave you carnal bliss through simulations ?\nNozick believes most people would be appalled at the idea . The point of the thought experiment is to show that we often value more than just carnal hedonism . We value real experiences with real people . We value more than just carnal feelings . We value what it takes to achieve those feelings .\nYet widespread pornography use and the atomization that comes with it shows that Nozick may have been wrong about how people may choose . Many people do choose hedonism , though they may later regret it . Spend any amount of time on r/nofap and you meet hundreds of young men who regret stepping into an early version of the Experience Machine . ( RELATED : Pirates Player Arrested On Charges Of Pornography , Soliciting A Child And Sexual Assault Of A Teen )\nThe global virtual reality pornography market is expected to reach $ 1 billion by 2025 , and pornographers are major investors in the space . Most venture investors voluntarily include sin clauses in their partnership agreements . These clauses prohibit them from investing in drugs , pornography , weaponry , and other vices . With the looming reality of a Nozickian Experience Machine at the fingertips of every curious 15-year-old on the Internet , the Securities and Exchange Commission should consider codifying these sin clauses in law , prohibiting American investors from investing in virtual reality pornography .\nThese are just a few steps that serious pro-family candidates should consider proposing to stem the tide of pornography over the minds of increasingly atomized Americans .\nZak Slayback is a venture capital and private equity professional living in the United States . He tweets at @ zslayback .\nThe views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of ███ . | allsides-corpus-607 |
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox . Sign up here .\nIf you ’ re following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s ( CDC 's ) recently updated guidelines on face masks amid the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S. , you likely already know to wear either a homemade mask , bandanna or some other cloth face covering when running essential errands , namely as a way to protect others from developing a COVID-19 infection .\nBut equally as important as wearing a face covering is cleaning it properly after you ’ re back home . To make sure you ’ re following protocol as recommended by infectious disease and other medical specialists across the nation , read on for a look at some of the tips below .\nThe first and most obvious method of cleaning a facial covering is by throwing it in a washing machine .\n“ A washing machine should suffice in properly washing a face covering , ” says the CDC , noting the mask should be “ routinely washed depending on the frequency of use . ”\nViruses on clothes and fabrics are typically inactivated when washed in water at 140 degrees Fahrenheit , as per the World Health Organization 's ( WHO 's ) guidelines . But most at-home water heaters only reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit . This means it is extra important to use detergent , as well as chlorine or color-safe bleach to help decontaminate the fabric as best as possible , according to Popular Science .\nThen , after washing , make sure to dry to mask at high heat in the dryer .\nPlacing the face mask in boiling water is also an option , namely if a washing machine is not available .\n“ Use a large pot and enough water to make sure it doesn ’ t all evaporate away . Leave the mask in the water for several minutes and swirl it around occasionally with tongs , ” explained Digital Trends .\nIroning the face mask at high heat can also be helpful when attempting to disinfect it , Dimitar Marinov , an assistant professor in the department of hygiene at the Medical University of Varna , told the Huffington Post .\nMAKING A CORONAVIRUS FACE MASK : DERMATOLOGIST OFFERS ADVICE ON BEST MATERIALS , HOW TO SOOTHE IRRITATED SKIN\nHand washing the mask is also a possibility . Lather the fabric with hot water and soap and scrub it vigorously for at least 20 seconds , and use hot air to dry it . | allsides-corpus-608 |
The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders , 78 , has cancelled campaign events after undergoing a heart procedure .\nMr Sanders was treated in hospital for an arterial blockage after having chest pain at an event in Nevada on Tuesday .\nThe Vermont senator tweeted that he was `` feeling good '' . An aide said Mr Sanders would rest over the next few days .\nIf Mr Sanders were to win the US presidency , he would become the oldest person to hold the office .\nThe presidential hopeful tweeted that he was recovering , taking the opportunity to promote his healthcare policy inspired by Britain 's National Health Service .\nSenior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement : `` Following medical evaluation and testing he was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stents were successfully inserted . ''\nMr Weaver said Mr Sanders is `` conversing and in good spirits '' and will be `` resting up over the next few days '' . He is recovering at a hospital in Las Vegas .\nA stent is a small mesh tube used to help keep arteries open . Receiving stents is `` a minimally invasive procedure '' , typically with a short recovery time , the US National Heart , Lung and Blood Institute says .\nMr Sanders ' wife , Jane , released a statement on Thursday saying he was doing well .\n`` Yesterday , he spent much of the day talking with staff about policies , cracking jokes with the nurses and doctors , and speaking with his family on the phone , '' she said .\n`` His doctors are pleased with his progress , and there has been no need for any additional procedures . We expect Bernie will be discharged and on a plane back to Burlington before the end of the weekend . ''\nMrs Sanders also confirmed that he still plans to attend the 15 October Democratic debate .\nPolls show Mr Sanders is third in the Democratic race behind Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice-President Joe Biden .\nMr Sanders recently announced his campaign raised over $ 25.3m ( £20.5m ) from July through September , the largest of any Democratic candidate in a quarter so far .\nMs Warren and Mr Biden have not released their most recent fundraising totals . But in the previous quarter , April through June , they each raised $ 19.1m and $ 21.5m respectively .\nMr Sanders had been in Las Vegas to participate in a gun safety forum on Wednesday , along with some other 2020 candidates .\nMany of his presidential rivals wished him a `` speedy recovery '' .\nMr Sanders on Tuesday announced a $ 1.3m television advertising purchase in Iowa , but US media report that on Wednesday , his campaign began cancelling the ads . It is unclear why . Iowa hosts the first voting contest in the US presidential race .\nThe senator 's health made headlines last month as well , when he cancelled three events in South Carolina after losing his voice , taking two days to recover .\nMr Sanders labels himself a Democratic socialist , which he has defined as someone who seeks to `` create an economy that works for all , not just the very wealthy '' .\nHe is the longest-serving independent in congressional history , but competes for the Democratic nomination as he says standing as a third-party candidate would diminish his chances of winning the presidency .\nWhen he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016 , he was Hillary Clinton 's closest rival .\nHis 2020 platform has focused largely on his universal health coverage plan , Medicare for All . The policy has also become a key point of contention between Democrats during the last debates , with moderates like Mr Biden criticising it as unfeasible and too expensive . | allsides-corpus-609 |
Georgia Gov . Brian Kemp is overruling local government mandates requiring people to wear masks in public to stop the spread of COVID-19 , insisting that the state 's less-stringent guidelines take precedence .\nKemp on Wednesday extended the state 's COVID-19 restrictions , which strongly encourage the wearing of masks , but stopped short of requiring them in public , calling such a measure `` a bridge too far . ''\nHis order explicitly rescinds mask orders in such key cities as Atlanta , Savannah , Athens and Augusta , along with more than a dozen other local jurisdictions where similar directives have been issued .\nKemp , a Republican , has been at odds with mayors and city administrators over the issue in recent days . Last week , for instance , Atlanta 's Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a return to tough measures to control an ongoing spike in coronavirus infections in the capital , but Kemp 's office insisted that her order was `` non-binding and legally unenforceable . ''\nGeorgia on Wednesday reported its second-highest new coronavirus case count to date , with 3,871 new confirmed cases and 37 COVID-19 deaths . Since the start of the pandemic , nearly 128,000 people in Georgia have tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 3,000 have died . Half of all new cases are being reported in Atlanta , the capital and largest city .\nThe @ FultonHealth released their latest # COVID19 epidemiology report on July 13 .\nThe full report ( which includes data for hospitalizations , long-term care facilities , demographics , and maps ) can be found on our @ FultonInfo website at https : //t.co/pqVzMBaLq3 . pic.twitter.com/M52PcPXScY — Atlanta-Fulton EMA ( @ AFCEMA ) July 14 , 2020\nEarlier this month , some 1,400 health care workers signed a letter to Kemp warning that Georgia `` is simply not prepared '' for an upsurge in COVID-19 cases .\nThe letter said the rising number of confirmed infections in the state `` can not be accounted for by increased testing . ''\nKemp 's new order requires people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 , such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions , to shelter in place . It also requires restaurants and other businesses to follow social distancing precautions and restricts public gatherings to no more than 50 people .\nBut in their letter , the health care workers called for stricter measures — a statewide mask requirement , reinstating the closing of bars and nightclubs and prohibiting indoor gatherings of more than 25 people , including in churches , synagogues and mosques .\n`` To close down when they need to close down , to mandate masks even if the governor 's not willing to mandate masks . It could make a huge difference , '' Dr. Melanie Thompson , who helped write the letter , said , according to 11Alive News .\nThe governor 's new order , which expires at the end of the month , came on the same day that President Trump visited a UPS hub in Atlanta . The president thanked `` every driver , worker and employee '' who has worked through the pandemic .\nTrump has sought to deflect criticism of his administration 's handling of the crisis , at times using racist , anti-Asian language to describe the coronavirus . In his speech at the UPS facility , the president praised the carrier 's workers and referred to `` our battle against the China virus . '' | allsides-corpus-610 |
Speaking from one of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic , President Trump on Monday laid out a battle plan that calls for harsher sentences - and even the death penalty - for traffickers .\nTrump called for expanded treatment options for victims in the Manchester , N.H. , speech , but leveled most of his emphasis on beefed-up enforcement . And he heaped plenty of scorn on the people he believes are responsible for as many as 42,000 U.S. deaths per year .\n`` These are terrible people and we have to get tough with those people , '' Trump said of traffickers and dealers . `` This isn ’ t about committees ... this is about winning a very tough problem . ''\n`` The ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty , '' Trump said , before musing , `` maybe our country is not ready for that . ''\nTrump wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids . The death penalty would be pursued where appropriate under current law . Justice Department says the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses , including violations of the `` drug kingpin '' provisions in federal law .\nTrump reiterated an observation he has shared several times before -- that a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person , but that a drug dealer whose actions could lead to thousands of overdoses can spend little or no time in jail .\nThe president said the federal government may consider aggressive litigation against pharmaceutical companies deemed complicit in the crisis .\n`` Whether you are a dealer or doctor or trafficker or a manufacturer , if you break the law and illegally peddle these deadly poisons , we will find you and we will arrest you and we will hold you accountable , '' Trump said .\nTrump singled out Mexico and China as main sources of illicit opioids . A Drug Enforcement Administration report last year said : `` Seizures indicated that China supplies lower volumes of high-purity fentanyl , whereas fentanyl seizures from Mexico are higher volume but lower in purity . ''\nSmuggling operations in both countries constantly try to elude U.S. officials by selling through the Internet and sending the substances – which chemists for these traffickers often alter to avoid detection – through the U.S. postal service , U.S. officials have said .\nTrump also announced a nationwide public awareness campaign , as well as increased research and development through public-private partnerships between the federal National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies .\nHe announced a new website , Crisisnextdoor.gov , where people can share their stories about addiction . The hope is that horror stories will scare people away from behavior that could lead to addiction .\nThe Trump administration aims to see the number of filled opioid prescriptions cut by one-third within three years .\nA third part of the plan addresses improving access to treatment and recovery programs that have proven effective . Many health professionals , relatives of those who have died of overdoses and people who have experienced addiction to opioids have been pushing for treatment to be a key component of any campaign to fight the epidemic .\n`` Failure is not an option , '' the president said . `` Addiction is not our future . We will liberate our country from this crisis . ''\nOpioids , including prescription opioids , heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl , killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016 , more than any year on record , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .\nAnd a recent CDC report said that the number of people checking into the emergency room after overdosing rose by 30 percent between July 2016 and September 2017 .\n`` Drug dealers show no respect for human dignity and put their own greed ahead of the safety and even the lives of others . Drug trafficking is an inherently violent and deadly business : if you want to collect a drug debt , you collect it with the barrel of a gun . As surely as night follows day , violence and death follow drug trafficking , and murder is often a tool of drug traffickers , '' Attorney General Jeff Sessions reacted . `` At the Department of Justice , we have made ending the drug epidemic a priority . We will continue to aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and we will use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate . ''\n`` We can not arrest our way out of the opioid epidemic—we tried that and ended up with an even bigger addiction problem and the world ’ s largest prison population , '' Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin , R-Ill. , responded . `` The war on drugs didn ’ t work in the 80 ’ s , and it won ’ t work now by reviving failed deterrence measures like the death penalty for drug dealers . We must instead crack down on the over-production and over-prescribing of painkillers , and increase treatment for those suffering from addiction—both of which have bipartisan support in Congress . ''\nLast October , Trump declared the crisis a national public health emergency , short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue .\nMeanwhile , Congress plans to weigh a range of bills targeted at curbing the epidemic . The bills cover everything from improving access to treatment to intercepting shipments of illicit opioids en route to the United States .\n`` Our recommendations will be urgent and bipartisan , and they will come very quickly , '' said Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn. , chairman of the Senate Health , Education , Labor and Pensions Committee , according to published reports . | allsides-corpus-611 |
Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign in San Diego , Calif. ( Mike Blake/Reuters )\nGavin Newsom , the newly inaugurated governor of California , would very much like to be president of the United States someday . It is fitting , then , that Newsom has begun his audition for the role by engaging in the sort of brazen executive overreach that we have become accustomed to seeing from White Houses .\nOn Tuesday , Newsom confirmed that no executions will be performed in California while he is governor . This change , he explained , will be made unilaterally , without reference to either the legislature or the judiciary , by applying his gubernatorial reprieve power on a wholesale basis . There are 737 people on death row in California . Should their execution dates coincide with his tenure , Newsom will automatically grant a commutation . “ I can not , ” Newsom insisted , “ sign off on executing hundreds and hundreds of human beings . ”\nIf that is the case , then Newsom should not have run for governor of California , and nor should he have sworn an oath to “ see that the law is faithfully executed . ”\nThe reprieve power that Newsom wields is intended to be applied on a case-by-case basis , as a final check against judicial error or egregious injustice . It is not intended to be invoked indiscriminately as a means by which to nullify or thwart well-established laws that the executive happens not to like . During his press conference , Newsom repeatedly used the word “ moratorium. ” Perhaps this was an attempt to cast minds back to that brief period in the 1970s during which the death penalty was ruled nationally unconstitutional . But , in truth , Newsom ’ s recalcitrance has little in common with that moment . There exists no pending litigation or constitutional challenge to California ’ s arrangement , and there exists no confusion as to the integrity or meaning of the underlying statute . Newsom just dislikes the status quo and so has resolved to change it by force .\nThe arrogance of his position is remarkable . Californians were asked as recently as 2016 whether they wanted to abolish capital punishment in the state and not only answered “ No ” by a margin of six points but voted to speed up the appeals process in concert with that refusal . It is entirely reasonable for Newsom to have been disappointed by that result ; in California , as everywhere else , the death penalty is a topic of considerable debate . It is not reasonable , however , for Newsom to seek to undermine that result in its entirety . What , Californians might well ask , is the purpose of having a system of legally binding propositions if the executive branch can reverse them on a whim ? What , by the same token , is the California legislature for ? And why convene juries — and guide them in painstaking detail through complex and difficult questions — if their judgment is to be summarily replaced by a single officer in Sacramento ?\nDuring the debate over the merits of the federal Constitution , many prominent anti-Federalists worried that to give the president the power to pardon was , in effect , to make him a king . For most of American history , this fear proved unfounded . In recent years , however , the ghost of Patrick Henry has begun to rattle his chains , as a growing number of executives have begun to transmute their pardon power into a general veto . This is what Barack Obama did in pursuit of DACA ; it is what Governor Terry McAuliffe did , against the will of the Virginia legislature , in order to re-enfranchise felons who he believed had paid their debts to society ; and — perhaps this is where Newsom got the idea ? — it is what former Illinois governor George Ryan did back in 1999 when he responded to the failure of a death-penalty moratorium in the legislature by issuing his own . When Gavin Newsom announced his run for governor , he suggested that “ California has a responsibility and opportunity to show the country and the world what inclusive , progressive government can achieve. ” If this is what he meant , the country should say , “ No , thank you . ” | allsides-corpus-612 |
It 's almost hard to remember how dominant an issue the death penalty was a generation ago .\nCrime and drugs were the top issues for voters in 1994 . Not coincidentally , support for the death penalty peaked that year , at 80 percent , according to Gallup polling .\nOpposition to the death penalty once cost prominent politicians their jobs , from New York Democratic Gov . Mario Cuomo to California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird .\nBut all that has changed . Contemporary politicians appear to have paid very little price , if any , for supporting recent moratoriums on capital punishment , or for voting to abolish it altogether .\n`` It just has n't been a salient issue here , despite the governor declaring a moratorium on the death penalty , '' says Travis Ridout , a professor of government and public policy at Washington State University , referring to Democratic Gov . Jay Inslee 's announcement earlier this year .\nThe death penalty was a centerpiece of the 1988 presidential campaign . Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis was widely criticized that fall for not reacting emotionally when a debate moderator asked him if he would favor execution if his wife were raped and murdered .\nFour years later , Democratic front-runner and eventual winner Bill Clinton burnished his credibility on the crime issue by returning from the campaign trail to Arkansas and presiding as governor over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector , a cop killer who was brain damaged .\nBut crime has declined steadily and dramatically since the 1990s , when the death penalty peaked both in popularity and in practice . A majority of Americans still favor the death penalty , but its support reached a 40-year low in a Gallup poll conducted last fall .\nAs violent crime and murder rates have dropped over the past couple of decades , so has political support for capital punishment .\nCalifornia voters in 2012 rejected a ballot measure that would have ended the death penalty in that state . It lost by only a 4-percentage-point margin , however — a big change from the 71 percent to 29 percent result when a similar vote took place back in 1978 .\n`` We are at a point today where the number of people in strong support of the death penalty has declined , '' says Elizabeth Theiss Smith , a death penalty expert at the University of South Dakota .\nMeanwhile , the death penalty itself has come to seem more problematic . DNA evidence and other methods have helped exonerate 144 individuals who had been sentenced to death row , according to the Death Penalty Information Center .\nA study released Monday by a team of legal scholars and statisticians found that more than 4 percent of all those condemned to death over the past 40 years had likely been wrongfully convicted .\nThe Supreme Court , with a series of recent decisions , has pretty much limited the death penalty to cases involving murders committed by mentally sound adults . Although many people would like to see the most heinous criminals `` get what they deserve , '' says Smith , statistics show that death sentences have more to do with race , class and the quality of the defense attorneys involved than with the crime itself .\nWhere a life sentence might once have meant a criminal would spend only 15 years behind bars , jurors now know that life without the possibility of parole is a sentence that will stick . They 've increasingly embraced it as an option .\nAs the death penalty has declined in use , some politicians are less convinced of its value as a deterrent . Instead , as states seek to trim their corrections costs , the sheer amount of money spent on death penalty cases has become a concern .\n`` We have a responsibility to stop doing the things that are wasteful and ineffective , '' Democratic Gov . Martin O'Malley said last year as he signed a bill abolishing the practice in Maryland .\nConcerns about this week 's botched execution in Oklahoma will fit with the pragmatic line of argument politicians are now using to oppose the death penalty , says Frank Baumgartner , co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence .\n`` There is a new way a politician can move away from it , '' he says . `` No matter how angry you might be about the horrific crime that occurred , we ca n't trust the government to handle it appropriately . ''\nMaryland was the sixth state to abolish the death penalty in as many years . Inslee 's moratorium in February followed a similar move taken in 2011 by Oregon Gov . John Kitzhaber and a de facto moratorium imposed last year by Colorado Gov . John Hickenlooper .\nAll these politicians are Democrats . The states that are getting rid of the death penalty are blue , while the practice continues most regularly in Republican-dominated states such as Texas , Florida , Ohio and Missouri .\nIt 's no wonder . Opinions about the death penalty , as with so many issues , are split along partisan lines . According to Gallup , 80 percent of Republicans support capital punishment , compared with 47 percent of Democrats .\nSome Republican politicians have sought to make the death penalty an issue when running against abolitionist Democrats . It 's not a strategy that meets with great success anymore .\n`` The people who primarily support the death penalty are Republicans — men , whites and the wealthy , '' says Matt Manweller , a political scientist and GOP state legislator in Washington . `` Those are not groups that vote for Jay Inslee anyway . ''\nThose political dynamics could change , if the murder rate spikes upward and crime becomes more of a concern . Political support for the death penalty has undergone a long decline , but such trends can often reverse themselves .\n`` There is still substantial support for the death penalty , '' says Smith , the South Dakota professor . `` Nobody loses an election by being tough on crime . '' | allsides-corpus-613 |
Drug dealers kill people , destroy families and might deserve the death penalty or life in prison for their crimes , President Trump says .\nTrump , speaking at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania for congressional candidate Rick Saccone , said he got the idea from the leaders of China and Singapore . The U.S. criminal justice system , Trump said , is too soft on drugs .\n“ You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you ’ re smuggling them in and you are making a lot of money and people are dying . And they don ’ t even put you in jail , ” Trump said . “ That ’ s why we have a problem , folks . I don ’ t think we should play games . ”\nTrump said he recently asked the president of Singapore if that country has a drug problem .\n`` He said 'We have a zero tolerance policy . That means if we catch a drug dealer , death penalty , ' '' Trump said .\nMore : Trump stumps for GOP candidate in Pennsylvania : 'We have to win '\nMore : This week in Trump : The full Nunberg , porn star lawsuit and North Korea\nTrump said he was n't sure whether the nation would be accepting of such a harsh penalty . But he said drug dealers destroy families .\n`` We ca n't just keep setting up blue ribbon committees '' that do nothing but `` talk , talk , talk , '' Trump said .\nTrump has floated the idea before . Less than two weeks ago , Trump suggested `` very strong '' penalties to help address the nation 's growing problem with opioid addiction .\n`` Some countries have a very , very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty , '' Trump said . `` And , by the way , they have much less of a drug problem than we do . ''\nLast May , Trump congratulated Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte for a `` great job '' in his crackdown on drugs . Duterte has boasted about personally shooting and killing at least three crime suspects . Human rights groups and the United Nations have condemned Duterte 's vigilante-style campaign that has left thousands of suspected drug dealers and users dead .\n`` Probably you 'll have some people who say 'Oh , that 's not nice , '' Trump said . `` But we have to do something . '' | allsides-corpus-614 |
Another week , another botched killing under the legal euphemism of capital punishment . After macabre screw-ups in Oklahoma and Ohio , it was Arizona 's turn last week , when double-murderer Joseph Rudolph Wood III took about two hours to die . The specific problem this time around was an apparently unreliable “ cocktail ” of the drugs used in the lethal injection process .\nBut let ’ s face it : There ’ s no good way to kill a person , even one as completely unsympathetic as Wood ( he killed his ex-girlfriend and her father , shooting them at point-blank range ) . As a libertarian , I ’ m not surprised that the state is so incompetent that it can ’ t even kill people efficiently . But I ’ m far more outraged by the idea that anyone anywhere seriously thinks the death penalty passes for good politics or sane policy . It ’ s expensive , ineffective , and most of all , deeply offensive to ideals of truly limited government .\nConsider that between 1980 and 2012 , California spent $ 4 billion administering death penalty cases while actually executing just 13 individuals , according to a study produced by Loyola Marymount Law Professor Paula Mitchell . What ’ s more , Mitchell told Reason TV ’ s Tracy Oppenheimer , when the death penalty is in play , “ the legal costs [ per case ] skyrocket to an extra $ 134 million per year , well above the cost to implement life without possibility of parole. ” Given the severity and finality of the punishment , it makes all the sense in the world to make sure due process was followed in all death penalty cases . I ’ m sure death costs more in California ( everything else does ) than in other states , but there ’ s just never going to be a way to make it less than a huge waste of taxpayer money . And there ’ s no question that innocent people end up Death Row . The Innocence Project has documented that at least 18 innocent people , who served a combined 229 years in prison before being exonerated , have been saved from possible execution over the past 15 years .\nWell , maybe you can ’ t put a price tag on the law and order that is instilled by the death penalty , right ? A 2009 study by University of Colorado scholars published in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology concludes flatly “ the consensus among criminologists is that the death penalty does not add any significant deterrent effect above that of long-term imprisonment. ” It ’ s not even close , actually , with fully 88 percent of criminal-justice experts responding to a poll saying the death penalty does not act as a deterrent of murder , a percentage that was up slightly from a similar 1996 survey of scholars and law-enforcement analysts . Michael L. Ladelet and Traci L. Lacock also show how minor tweaks to assumptions embedded in studies that claim to show deterrent effects radically alter the results .\nPart of the reason is that so few executions take place in a given year . Since the Supreme Court re-allowed executions in 1976 , about 1,400 people have been executed ( and never more than 100 in a given year ) , which is just too small a sample from which to draw definitive proof . However , the murder rate per 100,000 residents in non-death-penalty states has been consistently lower than the rate in states with executions .\nThat ’ s because the vast majority of murders aren ’ t planned-out crimes of the century or CSI-style serial killings , but opportunistic tragedies fueled by drugs , booze , and mental illness . “ The threat of execution at some future date is unlikely to enter the minds of those acting under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol , those who are in the grip of fear or rage , those who are panicking while committing another crime ( such as a robbery ) , or those who suffer from mental illness or mental retardation and do not fully understand the gravity of their crime , ” explains Amnesty International .\nSo the death penalty wastes money , has no effect on murder rates , and is sometimes tossed at innocent people . Those three reasons are more than enough to end it once and for all .\nHere ’ s one more that would hold true even if through some miracle the government could make the finances work , guarantee absolute accuracy in convicting only guilty perps , and show that executions significantly deterred crime : The state ’ s first role—and arguably its only one—is protecting the lives and property of its citizens . In everything it does—from collecting taxes to seizing property for public works to incentivizing “ good ” behaviors and habits—it should use the least violence or coercion possible . No matter how despicable murderers can be , the state can make sure we ’ re safe by locking them up behind bars for the rest of their—and our—lives . That ’ s not only a cheaper answer than state-sanctioned murder , it ’ s a more moral one , too . | allsides-corpus-615 |
She should have gone much further and followed other governors and legislatures in banning executions , recognizing that the American administration of death does not function . Mr. Lockett ’ s ordeal , along with the botched deaths of other inmates around the country , showed there is no reliable and humane method of execution . As Gov . John Kitzhaber of Oregon said in 2011 : “ I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer ; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor . ”\nSeven states have put the death penalty on hold over the last five years because of issues of fairness or methods ; another 11 states are debating the issue . Even in states where the death penalty is applied , the number of executions has fallen sharply since 2009 . Republicans in Oklahoma seemed so eager to buck this tide that they ignored what happened during a January execution , when an inmate named Michael Lee Wilson said “ I feel my whole body burning ” just before the drugs killed him .\nMany drug companies , fearful of political attack , have stopped supplying the means of execution , and states determined to inflict the maximum punishment have turned to questionable sources like compounding pharmacies for lethal chemicals . Oklahoma , among other states , won ’ t say where it is getting the drugs , leading one state judge to say “ I do not think this is even a close call ” that the execution procedures are unconstitutional .\nThe medieval mechanics of death , though , are hardly the only reason that states are abandoning the practice . There is growing evidence that capital sentences are handed out in an arbitrary and racially biased way , often to innocent victims . A new study published by the National Academy of Sciences estimated that more than 4 percent of all death-row defendants are innocent .\nThe authors reached that figure by extrapolating from the growing number of exonerations of death-row inmates . They accused Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of miscalculating when he wrote in 2007 that convictions in American courts have only a 0.027 percent error rate . “ That would be comforting , if true , ” the study says . “ In fact , the claim is silly. ” Even more disturbing , the report says , is the stark reality for innocent people sentenced to death : most will never be exonerated . | allsides-corpus-616 |
███ News first broke the news on Friday that the Trump administration is proposing a move that would allow faith-based adoption and foster care providers to receive federal money without compromising their beliefs on traditional marriage .\nA senior White House Official confirmed to us that Health and Human Services would be introducing new federal rules detailing that faith-based groups only need to adhere to nondiscrimination provisions passed by Congress , not any previous agency regulations . Back in 2016 , the Obama Administration added sexual orientation language to an HHS rule , forcing faith-based groups to choose between their biblical beliefs on marriage or receiving federal money to serve their communities .\n`` This Administration is committed to doing rule-making right , and to removing regulatory barriers that prevent non-profits from doing what they do best—serving the needy and vulnerable in their communities , '' according to this Senior White House Official . `` The Administration is also fully committed to preserving the religious freedom rights of faith-based organizations , and we are proud to announce this proposed rule today doing just that . ''\nSince the new rule would apply to only laws passed by Congress , that means faith-based groups would have to comply with the three main federal laws on equality : the 1964 Civil Rights Act , the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act . All of them protect citizens against religious discrimination but none of them mention sexual orientation .\nIn the days before President Obama left office , HHS added the controversial regulation with language covering sexual orientation . The Trump Administration rule would make that regulation null and void . Currently , if faith-based groups want to apply for federal funds , they must request a waiver from the Obama rule . The proposal , that will be announced Friday , is the first step in the regulatory process . There will be a time for public comment before it goes into effect . It is expected to be challenged in court .\nThis move should not come as a shock to those who have followed President Trump 's directives closely . The White House has moved to protect medical workers who , due to their religious beliefs , want to opt-out of procedures such as abortion and assisted suicide . They also took action to make sure religious businesses can choose to not enroll in health insurance plans that cover contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs .\nAs for protecting the rights of faith-based adoption and foster care providers , Trump has been very clear . At the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year in Washington , Trump gave a hint of things to come . `` My administration is working to ensure that faith-based adoption agencies are able to help vulnerable children find their forever families while following their deeply held beliefs , '' the president remarked . It 's a controversial issue as lawmakers , think tanks , and advocacy groups grapple over whether faith-based groups should be funded by the federal government if they choose not to place children in the homes of same-sex couples .\nWhat is n't controversial is that there is a foster care crisis in America – 443,000 children are in foster care and about 100,000 are waiting to be adopted . For the last five years , the foster care crisis has continued to get worse . The Trump administration believes the new rule will make it easier for faith-based agencies to stay in business and with this crisis boiling over , that 's vital to the well being of hundreds of thousands of children . In the past , the administration has pointed to certain cities that saw foster care problems increase substantially after prohibiting faith-based agencies from taking part in their efforts . | allsides-corpus-617 |
Has it finally happened that when a man says he is making job decisions around his family we can finally believe him , as opposed to wondering when the email exchanges with his outside honey are going to come out ?\nThis past week , two of this country 's most powerful men — who work in a city where power is everything and work is king — both made career decisions with personal and family needs at the center .\nIn case you missed it , Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan , chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee , laid down some conditions for seeking the position of House Speaker — and one of them was that his caucus accept that he would be spending less time on the road , because he needs to spend time with his three young children .\nThen , Vice President Joe Biden announced this week that he will forgo a third try at the presidency , in part because he and his family had needed time to recover from the death of his son Beau .\nIt is a new day if these two men — one a Democrat , one a Republican ; one in the final chapters of a storied career and one smack in the middle of one — can each say , without hesitation or ridicule , that he needs to be home for dinner and not just on Thanksgiving .\nIt 's hard to describe what a big deal that is unless you are up close and personal with the lifestyle , not just of politics , but of many jobs in the current era : the 24/7 on-call expectation , the constant deadlines , the schmoozing and networking that go on and on into the wee hours , night after night .\nLet 's set aside a certain presidential candidate who is said to have derided a female lawyer as `` disgusting '' when she requested a break from a deposition to go use her breast pump ; let 's talk about how hard it is even when people want things to be different .\nBack in 2009 , the New York Times wrote about how the newly elected President Obama spoke about making the White House more `` family-friendly . '' His chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is said to have replied , with his characteristic candor , that it was `` family-friendly to your family . ''\nThe piece went on to describe the absolutely typical 60- to 70-hour weeks , with aides taking work calls on school field trips and scheduling classroom visits at 10 p.m .\nAnd of course politics has particular features that make life hard on families : The New Yorker 's Amy Davidson makes a powerful case in a piece this week that Paul Ryan is demanding relief not from the demands of legislating , but from relentless fundraising trips .\nEither way , it 's always been the case that the most talented and most sought-after do what they will , and the rest of us do what we must . How could it be otherwise in an environment where workers in many companies get their schedules handed to them just a few days or even hours ahead of time ?\nThat might be why , when Working Mother magazine recently surveyed more than 1,500 mothers on their work-life balance issues — they called it the `` juggle struggle '' — they found that two-thirds of the respondents actually valued job security as the most important factor in choosing a place to work . Fewer than half cited flexibility or even pay and benefits . It sounds to me that in the current environment , a lot of women have given up hope that their jobs will help them live their lives .\nThey just want some stability , and they will work the rest out for themselves .\nStill , it does mean something when powerful , public figures — and , let 's face it , not just the women who have been driving the work-life balance conversation — are out , loud and proud about their family responsibilities , and not just the photo op but the actual people .\nIt 's often the case that the rest of us learn to seek what celebrities get first . And if that means time to take care of ourselves and our families , bring it on . | allsides-corpus-618 |
Why Paid Family Leave Has Become A Major Campaign Issue\nLance Mercier knows his job gets harder when a co-worker goes out on leave . But he recently also learned that raising a newborn involves , as he puts it , an `` insurmountable '' amount of work .\nThe 39-year-old bank manager from Silver Spring , Md. , is currently on leave from work taking care of his newborn son with his wife , Luz .\n`` As a manager who has had a lot of people go out on leave of absence , it absolutely sucks when they go out on leave , '' he said . `` This puts everything back into perspective for me . ''\nIn fact , he will likely end up taking more time off from work than his wife will . Lance 's job provides full pay for three months . Luz , meanwhile , gets eight weeks off at 60 percent pay . She can take extra eight weeks of unpaid leave if she wants .\nLance has a new appreciation for family leave , and he 's not the only one . For the first time , paid leave has a prominent place in a presidential election . In this week 's Democratic presidential debate , for example , Hillary Clinton took a swipe at California Republican Carly Fiorina 's opposition to paid family leave .\n`` California has had a paid-leave program for a number of years , '' Clinton said , adding , `` and it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have . We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small business . ''\nNPR has tackled the question of why the U.S. stands virtually alone in not mandating paid family leave , but here 's another perplexing one — why now ? New parents have needed leave for , well , for as long as there have been working parents . And it 's true that workers did get unpaid leave in the 1990s . But what happened in the last few years to nudge paid family leave onto the national political stage ?\nHere is a list of factors that brought the policy into the spotlight :\nNo , paid leave is n't purely a women 's issue , but it is true that with more moms working ( not to mention the rise of single parenting , usually by moms ) , families need someone to mind the kids . Two-thirds of children live in homes where all parents work , as the White House reported last year , up from 40 percent in 1970 .\nWomen are also one-third more likely to take leave from work than men are , according to the Labor Department , and the gap is greater for women taking time off to care for family members . Indeed , moms are far more often the caregivers to sick children than dads are .\nMoreover , it 's an issue that spans all sorts of divides — race , education and class , for example . The conversation surrounding women and work may have been loud among the white-collar set ( think Sheryl Sandberg and Anne-Marie Slaughter ) , but the women with the least access to paid leave of any kind are , in fact , the least-educated and lowest-paid women .\nFinally , women are increasingly better-educated than men — we just learned recently that for the first time , more American women have bachelor 's degrees than men . As women 's economic potential catches up to men 's , it makes sense that they 'd also push for a policy that allows them to hold onto that power .\nNot only do women use paid leave ; they also turn out to vote in greater numbers than men — a gap that has only widened over the years , according to data compiled by Rutgers University .\nIt 's only a 4-percentage-point gap , but it has grown considerably , and in presidential elections , small shifts in voter participation can make a huge difference .\nOnce again , paid leave is n't purely a women 's issue ( see No . 3 below for proof ) , but it is still something women take more advantage of than men , thanks to both access and cultural values . Women are twice as likely as men to get paid leave , according to one Labor Department study . And to the extent that that drives their votes , it could drive women to candidates that support paid leave policies .\nQuite simply , it appears that men have been changing how they feel about work-life issues . Men are increasingly minding the kids — the number of stay-at-home dads is on the rise , as is the amount of time men are spending with the kids .\nOne 2014 study showed that Millennial men are less traditional in their views than their older counterparts ( and those older men 's views have also shifted substantially ) , overwhelmingly rejecting the notion that it 's the woman 's job to stay home with the kids , while the man goes to work .\n`` As the conversation becomes less gendered , the number of people interested in this issue increases , '' said Linda Houser , a professor at Widener University , who has studied the economic effect of paid leave . And she adds it 's not just about having kids . `` It 's also becoming care-giving neutral , as well . The care-giving support needs of aging adults are also becoming more prominent . ''\nYou could look at this cynically — more men wanted paid leave , so we started talking about it . And you would n't be entirely wrong . Men are , after all , still overwhelmingly the ones running the country .\nBut when you consider how many men are now supporting their families alongside wives with equal ( or higher ) earning potential — and working alongside an increasingly better-educated female workforce — it makes sense that men would start wanting to help women stay on an upward career ( and earnings ) trajectory .\nThink back to 2008 , when paid leave just was n't a big issue on the presidential campaign trail . Fast forward to today — President Obama hosts summits on working families , brought paid family leave into the State of the Union for the first time and mandated it for federal workers .\nAnd when the leader of the country drags an issue into the spotlight , that makes it fair game .\n`` Support from Obama is important in this most recent wave , '' said Ruth Milkman , professor of sociology at The Graduate Center at City University of New York . `` He 's not in a position to do anything at the federal level , but I think using the bully pulpit of the presidency has helped . ''\nBut then , what nudged Obama to finally make this a policy priority ? His second-term `` bucket list '' might be one answer . You could also argue it was people like Sandberg and Slaughter and other activists for paid leave expanding the conversation around work-life balance . Or the three states ( New Jersey , California , and Rhode Island ) that have paid-leave programs . ( Washington has also passed a paid leave law but its implementation has been delayed . )\nTo be clear , President Obama was n't — by a long shot — the first politician to push paid family leave . But raising its profile almost certainly made more room for other politicians to talk about it as well .\nOf course , it does n't hurt that family-friendly policies like paid leave are popular . A recent poll from pro-leave group Make it Work found that 81 percent of likely 2016 voters thought policies like paid sick and family leave are a good idea .\nBut then there 's a catch : people like paid leave , but it 's not at the very top of their priority lists .\n`` I think when you talk about some of these policies that we think can really provide some relief for working families ... generally , people think about these policies , and they make sense , '' as Democratic strategist Karen Hicks told NPR 's Tamara Keith last week . `` But I think people tend to have a narrow view of it . And so if everything 's going OK for them right now , this is not a top-of-the-list kind of priority . ''\nAnd that brings us back to Lance Mercier . Paid leave just was n't something he thought much about — until he had a kid to take care of .\n`` My mindset was different , '' he said of when he was in his 20s . `` It was all about work , work , work , work , '' he said . `` But now , as soon as that baby comes out , your life changes . I know you 've heard that time and time again , but everything changes . '' | allsides-corpus-619 |
The White House is pushing back against claims that First Lady Melania Trump is being hypocritical for criticizing attacks on her teenage son Barron , but not her husband 's attack on 16-year-old Greta Thunberg\nWhite House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said Friday that Barron was in a different category from Thunberg because she 's a climate activist `` who travels the world giving speeches . ''\nGrisham 's statement came one day after President Trump attacked TIME Magazine 's decision to dub Thunberg `` Person of the Year . ''\n`` So ridiculous , '' Trump tweeted . `` Greta must work on her Anger Management problem , then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend ! Chill Greta , Chill ! ''\nMEGHAN MCCAIN : TIME 'S 'PERSON OF THE YEAR ' SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE WHISTLEBLOWER , NOT GRETA THUNBERG\nAfter Trump 's attack , some accused Melania Trump of hypocrisy given that she had just defended her son Barron against a Stanford University law professor who mentioned him during a House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing .\n`` A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics . Pamela Karlan , you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering , and using a child to do it , '' the first lady said in response to a quip by Pamela Karlan .\nTIME NAMES GRETA THUNBERG ITS 2019 PERSON OF THE YEAR\nThe first lady frequently receives criticism over the apparent irony in her fronting the `` Be Best '' anti-cyber-bullying campaign given her husband 's habit of mocking political opponents and others on Twitter .\n“ It is no secret that the president and first lady often communicate differently — as most married couples do , ” Grisham said .\nFormer first lady Michelle Obama encouraged Thunberg while traveling in Vietnam this week , saying , “ don ’ t let anyone dim your light , ”\nMrs. Obama added : “ Like the girls I ’ ve met in Vietnam and all over the world , you have so much to offer us all . Ignore the doubters and know that millions of people are cheering you on . ”\nThunberg responded to Trump 's attack by changing her Twitter profile description to describe herself as a `` teenager working on her anger management problem . '' | allsides-corpus-620 |
The city of Somerville , Massachusetts , has passed an ordinance making it one of the first cities in the nation to officially recognize polyamorous relationships . The city no longer limits the number of people included in a partnership .\nThe change , which was unanimously passed by the city council last week , required only a minor shift in language . Instead of defining a relationship as an `` entity formed by two persons , '' Somerville now legally defines it as `` entity formed by people . ''\nThe Somerville Journal reports that the momentous revision actually came about as a last-minute addition .\nCouncilor Lance Davis , chair of the Legislative Matters committee , was drafting new legislation to recognize domestic partnerships — something the city had yet to do . According to Davis , that ordinance was revised to bring requirements for domestic partnerships in line with those of other marriages .\n`` During our initial conversations , a couple things jumped out , '' Davis said . `` The first draft required domestic partners to notify the city of any change of address , which struck me as not in line with what married folks have to do , and required that they reside together , which again struck me as something I 'm not required to do as a married person , so we got rid of those provisions . ''\nThen , only an hour before the ordinance was set to be voted on , Councilor J.T . Scott asked why its wording confined a partnership to just two people .\n″ [ He ] reached out and said , 'Why is this two ? ' And I said , ' I do n't have a good answer , ' '' Davis told the Journal . `` I tripped over my words a bit , and played devil 's advocate , but I had no good reason . So , I pulled it out , went through quickly making whatever word changes necessary to make it not gendered or limited to two people . ''\nThe new language went before the council on June 25 , and was signed into law by the city 's mayor four days later .\nIt 's estimated that 4 % to 5 % of people living in the U.S. are currently participating in polyamorous relationships , or what 's otherwise known as consensual or ethical non-monogamy , a practice in which partners maintain more than one sexual or romantic relationship with each others ' knowledge and consent . For comparison , that means non-monogamy is about as prevalent as the number of Americans who identify as LGBTQ , which is estimated to be about 4.5 % of the American population .\nDavis said that he 's `` consistently felt that when society and government tries to define what is or is not a family , we 've historically done a very poor job of doing so ... It has n't gone well , and it 's not a business that government should be in , so that guided my thinking on this . ''\nIt is illegal in all 50 states to be married to more than one person — which is known as polygamy , not polyamory . Polyamorous people who try different kinds of arrangements — such as a married couple with steady outside partners — run into their own legal problems .\nThere is no legal framework for polyamorous families to share finances , custody of children or the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage . Likewise , there are no legal protections against people facing discrimination for being in a non-monogamous relationship .\nAndy Izenson , senior legal director of Chosen Family Law Center in New York , told the Journal that Somerville 's ordinance is a step in the right direction .\n`` I think it 's pretty amazing — strategies like this are the best chance we have of moving towards a legal understanding of family that 's as comprehensive as it needs to be to serve all families , '' Izenson said .\n`` I 've seen a few other small-scale or local entities that have taken steps towards recognizing that relationships between adults are not only between two adults , but this is the first time I have seen this strategy brought to fruition . '' | allsides-corpus-621 |
Joanna Maxon , a 53-year-old Christian mother of two , was searching for ways to advance in her career as a supervisor and began looking into graduate schools .\nShe decided on Fuller Theological Seminary , a religious graduate school based in Pasadena , because it combined things she valued : her faith and her studies . So in 2015 , she started taking classes online and at the school ’ s regional campus in Texas and worked toward a master of arts in theology degree .\nThree years into her degree program and just a few classes away from graduating , Maxon received a letter notifying her she had been expelled from the school .\nNow , Maxon , who lives with her wife Tonya Minton in Fort Worth , is suing Fuller , alleging the college violated Title IX rules that forbid educational institutions from discriminating against students on the basis of sex .\nJoanna Maxon , left , and her wife , Tonya Minton ( Joanna Maxon )\nPaul Southwick , Maxon ’ s attorney , alleges the school also violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act and is seeking compensation of at least $ 500,000 to cover attorney fees and Maxon ’ s federally funded student loans , according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in a U.S. District Court in Central California .\nSouthwick said that because Fuller accepted federal aid and had not received a religious exemption , it must adhere to federal laws , including Title IX .\n“ Mrs . Maxon is a Christian woman who took her studies seriously , ” the lawsuit states . “ She worked diligently on the courses in her program . Her peers and professors respected and admired her . She deserved more than a cold letter dismissing her . ”\nOn its website , the Fuller Theological Seminary states : “ With a seminary community that comes from hundreds of traditions and backgrounds , we listen , wrestle , dialogue , and come away strong. ” Its Title IX and community guidelines are also listed on the website .\nMaxon ’ s background , however , was apparently not acceptable to an employee in the school ’ s financial aid department , who noticed on Maxon ’ s tax filings that she was married to a woman and alerted school officials , according to the lawsuit .\nPartway into her studies at Fuller , Maxon and her husband divorced and she began a relationship with a woman . After same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. , the two married in 2016 .\nThe campus ’ Title IX coordinator , Nicole Boymook , notified Maxon she was being investigated after the marriage was brought to school administrators ’ attention and said she could respond by writing a letter to the dean , according to the lawsuit .\nIn her letter , Maxon explained her relationship , saying she had made a “ financial , emotional and legal commitment to the person I love , ” and said she ’ d like to discuss her case over coffee .\nDean Marianne Meye Thompson responded to her letter on Oct. 9 , 2018 : “ Whenever violations of our sexual standards are brought to Fuller ’ s leadership ’ s attention , we address them as dictated by our policies and procedures . I am instructing the registrar to dismiss you from the seminary , effective immediately . ”\nMaxon ’ s expulsion came as a surprise , Southwick said . While there may have been bumps in the road for other LGBTQ students attending Christian schools , Maxon said she had received only love from Fuller , her attorney said . According to the lawsuit , Maxon spoke openly about her marriage and her family and felt supported by classmates and professors .\nSouthwick said the Fuller Theological Seminary doesn ’ t prohibit same-sex relationships or require students to adhere to a specific statement of faith , like other Christian schools in California . Around the same time that Maxon was expelled , Azusa Pacific University students were incensed when the university announced it had reinstated a ban on same-sex relationships after quietly removing the prohibition from its policies .\nFor Maxon , the love and support from her peers gave her a false sense of safety , Southwick said .\nA portrait of school founder Charles E. Fuller , second from right , hangs inside the seminary ’ s library . ( Brian van der Brug/███ )\nThough the college does allow same-sex relationships , it does not allow “ homosexual forms of explicit sexual conduct ” and has made clear that it believes sexual intimacy is reserved for a marriage between a man and a woman , Southwick said .\nAccording to the lawsuit , at no point in Maxon ’ s time at Fuller did administrators ask whether she engaged in “ homosexual forms of explicit sexual conduct . ”\nThe dean didn ’ t explain why the school had expelled her , the lawsuit says . Maxon and Southwick tried to settle the issue with the seminary for several months before the lawsuit was filed , but they couldn ’ t come to an agreement , the attorney said .\n“ I didn ’ t expect them to expel me , ” Maxon told The Times . “ It was almost a surreal experience . I couldn ’ t even talk about it for months . I really felt like I lost a connection to a community that supported me . ”\nFuller Theological Seminary officials said they could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit because it relates to a student , but did say they followed community standards and a statement of faith that students agree to when applying to the school .\n“ As a historically multi-denominational seminary and a convening place for civil dialogue — with a commitment to academic freedom — we strive to serve the global Christian church in its various perspectives , ” school officials said in an emailed statement . “ We remain committed to these relationships in all their complexities while maintaining community standards and a statement of faith that apply to various areas of beliefs and behavior . Students are informed of and explicitly agree to abide by these standards when applying to the institution . ”\nSouthwick said he thought this was the first lawsuit filed against a college accused of expelling a student because of a same-sex relationship — but it ’ s not the first time someone has been kicked out of school for that reason .\nThe lawyer said he hopes the suit will help change discriminatory policies so more LGBTQ individuals can pursue an education at Christian schools .\n“ It wasn ’ t just about money , ” Southwick said . “ It was about Fuller ’ s treating [ LGBTQ students ] with transparency . What ’ s happening with Joanna is going to keep happening more and more . Policies at these institutions have a real impact on people . ” | allsides-corpus-622 |
‘ By 2034 , the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 77 percent of scheduled benefits . ’\nSadly , America ’ s forthcoming “ economic tsunami ” is so predictable that our government issues an annual warning forecasting the year when — absent real reform — the monster waves will overtake all Social Security recipients and substantially reduce payments .\nAm I an alarmist ? No , just a realist , because once again I read the annual Social Security statement that arrived in the mail . The year 2015 was the first time I noticed and wrote about the government-issued warning , shown below , that appears on page two under “ Your Estimated Benefits. ” Three years have transpired , and it ’ s no surprise that Congress still has taken no action to solve this impending crisis — scheduled for 2034 , only 16 years from now .\n“ Your estimated benefits are based on current law . Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time . ”\nTranslation : Wishful thinking that is politically almost impossible . No member of Congress , from either party , will vote to reduce the monthly Social Security payments received by their constituents knowing how that is a permanent one-way ticket back to their home district .\n“ The law governing benefit amounts may change because , by 2034 , the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 77 percent of scheduled benefits . ”\nTranslation : Because Congress refuses to confront this problem , we regret to inform you that in 16 years your monthly payment will be reduced by about 23 percent . If you now receive $ 2,000 monthly , in 2034 your payment will be $ 1,540 . Don ’ t complain that we didn ’ t warn you !\nCue the legions of gray-haired protest marchers with walkers and canes ! Cue the heartbreaking stories of seniors who can no longer afford their rent .\nThe harsh reality is that even though the government admits that it will soon be able to “ pay only about 77 percent of scheduled benefits , ” the reduction could be even greater and sooner . The following projections show trends from four of my annual Social Security benefit statements :\nAccording to the Trustees of Social Security , the problem is fueled by two factors : First , from now until 2034 , “ the ratio of workers paying taxes to support each Social Security beneficiary will decline significantly from 3:1 to 2:1 . In 1970 , this ratio was nearly 4:1. ” Second , by 2034 the total number of beneficiaries “ is projected to reach 87 million — 41 percent more than the number in 2017 . ”\nOf course , aging Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are central to the issue . Pew Research reports that in 2019 there will be 72 million of us .\nUnfortunately , time is running out for Social Security to be drastically reformed . Beginning in 2026 we ’ ll see what I call the Social Security “ bulge years. ” This is when all Boomers , including the youngest born in 1964 , will have turned 62 and be eligible to collect retirement benefits .\nThen , eight years later in 2034 , when the 1964 crop celebrates their 70th birthdays and the oldest Boomers turn 88 , the “ bulge ” is projected to burst , and only 77 percent of benefits can be paid . Sixteen years from now — if the problem is not properly addressed — such a drastic reduction has the potential to shake this nation to its very core .\nMeanwhile , the cost of Social Security is staggering as displayed on the U.S. Debt Clock . ( What I often refer to as the U.S. government ’ s “ ticking time bomb . ” )\nToday , Social Security is the government ’ s second-largest annual budget expense at $ 967.5 billion . ( It ’ s surpassed only by Medicare/Medicaid at $ 1.085 trillion . )\nBut in 2022 , the Debt Clock ’ s furthest future year , the cost of Social Security is projected to be $ 1.166 trillion — the largest budget expense — surpassing Medicare/Medicaid at $ 1.138 trillion . Remember , 2022 is still four years from the beginning of the “ bulge years ” that start in 2026 , when Social Security costs will significantly escalate .\nNow get ready for some numbers that should spur Congress into action — but won ’ t .\nCurrently , per the Debt Clock , Social Security ’ s liability is $ 17 trillion , but that will grow to $ 24 trillion by 2022 . Even worse by comparison is Medicare/Medicaid with its current liability at $ 27.8 trillion and slowly rising to $ 28.4 trillion by 2022 .\nThe answer is bold leadership while the economic tsunami is still offshore .\nMoreover , both Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid , along with federal-employee and veterans benefits and debt held by the public , feed into the “ mother of all numbers ” — the U.S. government ’ s total unfunded liabilities . The cost of benefits that the U.S. government is obligated to pay its citizens now stands at $ 113 trillion , but increases to $ 140 trillion by 2022 .\nContrast those immense unfunded liabilities with the U.S . Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) and federal tax revenue :\n• GDP , now at $ 20 trillion , is projected to increase to only $ 22 trillion by 2022 .\n• Federal tax revenue , currently at $ 3.33 trillion , rises to $ 3.4 trillion by 2022 .\nIt does not take a math genius to recognize that sitting in drab Washington , D.C. , federal buildings are teams of budget analysts who know that Social Security retirement is not the only government benefit program that will be forced to cut smaller monthly checks in the ensuing decades . According to the Social Security Trustees , for example , “ Without legislative action , approximately 11 million disabled people and their families could face across-the-board benefit cuts of 7 percent in 2028 . ”\nThe question is when and how will our elected leaders break that news to the American people , since Congress refuses to take any action reforming any part of Social Security .\nThe answer is bold leadership while the economic tsunami is still offshore . | allsides-corpus-623 |
The tide may be turning against those who 'd advocate cuts to Social Security — and Paul Krugman could n't be happier .\nIn his latest column for the New York Times , Krugman celebrates the growing chorus in favor of expanding Social Security benefits and explains why America 's looming retirement crisis makes an expansion such a good idea .\nBefore he gets there , however , he takes on two popular arguments against expansion . The first comes from those who say that life expectancy has gone up since Social Security was created , and the retirement age should go up too . Krugman notes that while life expectancy has increased , the uptick is among educated and affluent workers . For low-income and low-education laborers , life expectancy has actually decreased . `` So this common argument amounts , in effect , to the notion that we can ’ t let janitors retire because lawyers are living longer , '' Krugman writes .\nThe second argument Krugman tackles , put forward recently by the Washington Post , is that the poverty rate for seniors is low — the implication being that they do n't need further assistance , anyway . Krugman 's response is to note that the official measurement of poverty among seniors is widely seen as flawed , and flawed in a way that underestimates levels of senior poverty . While many believe the poverty rate among seniors to be 9 percent , Krugman says it 's more likely around 15 percent . And what 's more , it 's likely to increase in the years ahead as more struggling retirees enter the system .\nBut the biggest reason to expand Social Security , Krugman says , is the failure of 401 ( k ) s. `` At this point , '' Krugman writes , `` it 's clear that the shift to 401 ( k ) s was a gigantic failure . Employers took advantage of the switch to surreptitiously cut benefits ; investment returns have been far lower than workers were told to expect ; and , to be fair , many people haven ’ t managed their money wisely . ''\nAs a result , we ’ re looking at a looming retirement crisis , with tens of millions of Americans facing a sharp decline in living standards at the end of their working lives . For many , the only thing protecting them from abject penury will be Social Security . Aren ’ t you glad we didn ’ t privatize the program ? So there ’ s a strong case for expanding , not contracting , Social Security . Yes , this would cost money , and it would require additional taxes — a suggestion that will horrify the fiscal scolds , who have been insisting that if we raise taxes at all , the proceeds must go to deficit reduction , not to making our lives better . But the fiscal scolds have been wrong about everything , and it ’ s time to start thinking outside their box .\nUltimately , he concludes , an expansion of Social Security is unlikely in the near-term . Nevertheless , Krugman writes , `` it ’ s an idea that deserves to be on the table — and it ’ s a very good sign that it finally is . '' | allsides-corpus-624 |
The underlying financial condition of Social Security and Medicare did not change greatly in 2012 and both are still on borrowed time , trustees of the massive , politically sensitive programs said in separate annual reports issued Friday .\nThe longer Congress waits to deal with the financial shortfalls both programs face due to an aging population , the more painful the solutions will need to be , the trustees said . The window for effective action “ is in the process of closing ... as we speak , ” public trustee Charles Blahous warned at a briefing for reporters . “ The primary story this year for Social Security is the cost of another year ’ s delay , ” he added .\nProjections for Social Security ’ s financial health are “ essentially unchanged , ” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said . The trust funds for retirement and survivors benefits and a separate fund for disability payments , when considered together , have a projected depletion date of 2033 , unchanged from last year ’ s annual report . After the reserves were depleted , continuing payroll tax receipts would be sufficient to pay three quarters of promised benefits through 2087 .\nMedicare trust funds run out of money sooner than those for Social Security . The trustees say the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund – one of two funds that support the program – will have enough money to cover its obligations fully until 2026 – which is two years longer than predicted in last year ’ s report . After that , the share of hospital costs that could be financed with payroll tax revenues would decline from 87 percent in 2033 to 70 percent in 2050 and later , the trustees said .\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius , one of the trustees , said that President Obama ’ s Affordable Care Act “ has helped put Medicare on more stable ground , ” without eliminating services to recipients through various cost-reducing measures .\nIn a White House blog post , National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling noted that the Medicare trustees project that the Part B premium , which pays to cover doctors ’ services , would not increase between 2013 and 2014 .\n“ Clearly we have one near-term forcing event ” in terms of prompting congressional action , said public trustee Blahous , a research fellow at Stanford University ’ s Hoover Institution . The disability insurance trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2016 . Beyond that date , payroll tax receipts would be able to pay only 80 percent of scheduled disability benefits . One option for dealing with the shortfall would be to divert funds from the retirement benefit trust fund , but Mr. Blahous notes that would only add to the long-term problems facing the retirement fund .\nThe political and financial stakes are huge in attempting to address Social Security ’ s and Medicare ’ s financial woes . Some 58 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits , the Associated Press says . And as Acting Labor Secretary Seth Harris said at Friday ’ s briefing , many employers have stopped paying pensions where the benefits are set in advance .\n“ This is not your grandfather ’ s retirement , ” he said , making Social Security and Medicare even more important to seniors .\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy\nThe public trustees warned that “ each passing year of legislative inaction reduces the likelihood that a solution can be found that is acceptable to lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle. ” Waiting until 2033 , when the retirement trust fund runs out , would require huge cuts in benefits to keep the system solvent .\nBenefits would have to be cut 23 percent across the board – including those already being received by retirees . If an effort was made to confine the cuts to those newly eligible for retirement but not those already getting benefits , “ even wiping out 100 percent of their benefits would be insufficient ” to close the system ’ s funding gap , Blahous said . | allsides-corpus-625 |
Think of all that 's happened since the start of the new year — the Oscars , March Madness , failed resolutions . Now imagine if throughout that time , all the men in the US had taken vacation while all the women worked — but the women did n't get paid any more than the men .\nThat 's the concept behind Equal Pay Day , which this year is happening today . Women 's equality advocates use Equal Pay Day to symbolize how wide the national gender wage gap is . Last year , the median full-time year-round working US woman earned 78 percent of what a comparable man earned . At that rate of pay , she 'd have had to work until today to make up for that gap .\nHowever , the wage gap is n't just about the 22 fewer cents women earn for every man 's dollar . When it comes to investing for retirement , the financial difference between being a man and a woman spirals into the hundreds of thousands of dollars .\nLet 's consider a man and a woman getting started saving for retirement . Let 's assume they start saving at age 25 . The median 25- to 34-year-old man earns $ 40,000 , according to the Education Department , compared with $ 35,000 for a woman . A Bankrate retirement calculator shows that given those early salaries , the savings difference at retirement is nearly $ 200,000 .\nA lot of assumptions go into the calculations here — I gave them both 3 percent raises each year ( just above inflation ) , and also had them contribute 10 percent every year , with modest employer matching . Also , it assumes both the man and woman work without stopping ( for , say , having children ) and get the same percentage-level raises .\nYou can tweak these assumptions for yourself on Bankrate 's calculator and test out people of different education levels — the gap grows to nearly $ 300,000 with college graduates , for example — but the point here is n't an exact measure so much as magnitude , and that magnitude is huge .\nI 've done the hypothetical math above , but in the real world , American men and women also have some huge retirement savings differences . The average IRA balance for men in 2012 was nearly $ 140,000 , compared with less than $ 82,000 for women , according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute .\nAdd on top of that the fact that US women live nearly five years longer than men , and the retirement gap seems all the more yawning . Women simply need to plan for longer retirements , on average , but we systemically pay them less throughout their working lives .\nConsider the guy or lady who sits next to you at the office . A minor differential in your pay right now could make a world of difference between how the two of you fare in retirement .\nRetirement is n't the only place this wage gap plays out . Even one year out of college , that woman is earning substantially less than the man — 82 percent of what he earns , according to one 2012 study from the American Association of University Women . Using Education Department wage data and assuming the man and woman both go to public four-year colleges and end up with an average debt load ( just under $ 27,000 ) , the young man will end up paying around $ 1,000 less than the woman in interest and spend nearly two years less than she does paying off loans .\nA woman 's lower pay does n't just mean she can afford a lower-rent apartment or have less disposable income now . It gives her a lot less freedom to make that money work for her . Consider what that young college-grad man could do with that extra $ 400 each month once he finishes paying off his loans . He could buy a house earlier ( likely a bigger one than the woman will be able to afford , by the way ) or sock it away for retirement , making that already wide retirement gulf even wider .\nAnd of course , lots of Americans do n't even have college degrees or 401 ( k ) s , but they 're just two examples of the bigger problems the wage gap creates . Whether it 's those things , buying a house , or saving up for kids ' college , women simply have far fewer resources for longer-run investments . Add in the premium women pay for basic hygiene and all the unpaid work they do , and equal pay does n't seem like such a huge thing to ask for . | allsides-corpus-626 |
Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie proposed pushing back the age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare for future retirees on Tuesday as part of a plan to cut deficits by $ 1 trillion over a decade , an approach he said would confront the nation 's `` biggest challenges in an honest way . `` In a speech in New Hampshire , site of the first 2016 presidential primary , the New Jersey governor also proposed cutting off Social Security benefits in the future for retirees with annual incomes of $ 200,000 or more . He said seniors who wish to work after age 62 should be exempt from the payroll tax . `` Through its unwillingness to address our biggest challenges in an honest way , the Obama administration has put us on a perilous course for both our short-term and our long-term futures , '' Christie told the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College . `` See , I think it 's time to tell the truth about what we need to do in order to solve our problems and put our country back on the path to greater prosperity . `` The proposal marked an attempt to establish Christie 's deficit-cutting credentials in a race that has three other Republicans as declared presidential candidates , with more to come . Christie says he will decide in May or June whether to launch a campaign for the nomination.The speech tackled cherished benefit programs often considered untouchable in politics . It comes as Christie faces an uphill battle for a pension overhaul in New Jersey , where he has been sued by more than a dozen public workers ' unions for scaling back promised payments into pension funds as part of a deal that was hailed as a landmark during his first term.Now Christie says those changes did n't go far enough.The speech was Christie 's first major policy address of the 2016 season and offered more specifics than he 's typically offered on national issues . He proposed increasing the retirement age for Social Security to 69 , beginning with gradual increases in 2022 . He also proposed raising the early retirement age to 64 from 62 . The Medicare eligibility age would be increased gradually to 67 by 2040.He also proposed turning Medicaid into a block grant program to the states , which Republicans have long proposed and critics say could mean reduced benefits over time.Christie portrayed himself as a no-nonsense Washington outsider who is `` not afraid to tell you the truth as I see it , where you like it or not . `` `` This is a conversation Washington politicians do n't have because they do n't believe that the American people have the appetite for hard truths , '' he said . `` Once again , they underestimate the people that they serve . Americans not only deserve fairness , they deserve the honesty of their leaders . '' | allsides-corpus-627 |
Social Security is one of the most contentious issues in American politics , and as the 2020 presidential campaign continues to ramp up , candidates have looked at ways to change the program . In particular , an increasing number of proposals have looked for ways to expand Social Security to extend larger benefits to some recipients , especially those in demographic groups who have greater financial needs .\nSen. Elizabeth Warren , D-Mass. , has long been a proponent of expanding Social Security . She recently revealed her latest proposal about the program . Warren 's strategy would make major changes to Social Security , boosting benefits for all and imposing new taxes on high-income earners to finance them .\nIs Social Security going bankrupt ? :3 facts most people get wrong on retirement income\nWarren 's proposal focuses on the financial straits that many Social Security recipients are in right now . According to her numbers , more than 7 million senior citizens live under the poverty line . With costs of living on the rise , especially in key areas for seniors like health care , it 's hard to make ends meet . Few older Americans have significant retirement savings , and many even still have considerable debt to repay .\nWarren also notes that younger workers have even greater challenges . Between tough economic conditions in the labor market and high debt , it 's been hard for typical Gen Xers and millennials to make much headway toward financial security .\nLastly , Social Security 's financial condition poses an approaching threat . Current expectations have the Social Security trust funds running out of money in 2035 , and that could bring about benefit cuts of roughly 20 % .\nSocial Security:3 things that determine how much money you get\nIn response , Warren offers a simple remedy : a higher Social Security benefit for all . Under the proposal , everyone would get a $ 200 increase in monthly payments from Social Security , including both retirement and disability benefits . It would also tie future cost of living adjustments to a measure of inflation that 's tailored toward the basket of goods and services that older Americans have to pay .\nCertain groups would see even larger increases . Family caregivers would have the value of their work recognized for Social Security eligibility and benefit calculation purposes , which Warren says will especially help women and people of color . Disabled widows and widowers would be able to claim survivor benefits earlier , and Warren 's plan would reinstate special minimum benefit rules that would ensure an annual benefit of at least 125 % of the federal poverty line . Public-sector employees would avoid negative adjustments from provisions like the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset .\nIn order to cover these benefits and shore up Social Security 's future finances , Warren would impose two new taxes . First , a new payroll tax would apply to wages above $ 250,000 , with employees paying 7.4 % and employers matching with 7.4 % of their own . This is above the 6.2 % employee rate that applies to current wages up to $ 132,900 in 2019 , under the rationale that Social Security should have a similarly progressive tax rate structure as the regular income tax system does . Warren notes that the current payroll tax scheme for Social Security is regressive as it charges no tax on earnings above the wage base limit .\nSecond , individual filers making more than $ 250,000 or joint filers above $ 400,000 would owe a heightened net investment income tax at a rate of 14.8 % . That would be in addition to the current 2.9 % net investment income tax , which is based on the Medicare payroll tax withholding rate .\nElizabeth Warren at NYC rally : 'Donald Trump is corruption in the flesh '\nWarren argues that the new taxes would simply be `` asking the top 2 % to contribute their fair share to the program . '' It 's not the first time that the presidential candidate has targeted the rich , with a previous proposal seeking to impose a wealth tax on those with a net worth above $ 50 million .\nCritics of that wealth tax were quick to note ways that wealthy taxpayers could potentially avoid paying it . With the payroll tax system already having the collection infrastructure in place across millions for employers throughout the nation , the new Social Security taxes would avoid some of the enforcement problems that the wealth tax would have faced .\nThe Warren proposal breaks new ground by largely disconnecting the benefits that Social Security pays from the wages on which the program collects taxes . That 's sure to draw the ire of opponents , and regardless of what happens in the 2020 election , the issue of Social Security will remain a contentious one well into the future .\nThe Motley Fool is a ███ content partner offering financial news , analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives . Its content is produced independently of ███ . | allsides-corpus-628 |
A boy 's desperate call from aboard a doomed South Korean ferry captured the horror on the ship as it sank in the Yellow Sea last Wednesday , killing at least 104 and leaving hundreds more missing .\n`` Save us ! We 're on a ship and I think it 's sinking , '' Yonhap news agency quoted the boy , who is among the hundreds missing , as saying . His phone call to emergency dispatchers , believed to be the first made from the ship , was initially routed to fire officials before being patched through to the coast guard some two minutes later .\nWord of the plaintive call came as investigators said their earlier conclusion that the sunken ferry had made a sharp turn shortly before the disaster was incorrect , and that the vessel changed course much more gradually .\nThe fire service official asked him to switch the phone to the captain , and the boy reportedly responded , `` Do you mean teacher ? '' The pronunciation of the words for `` captain '' and `` teacher '' is similar in Korean , according to Reuters .\nThe boy 's frantic call was followed by about 20 other calls from children on board the ship to the emergency number , the fire service officer said . The boy who made the first call is among the missing , according to the report .\nAbout 250 of the more than 300 missing or dead are students from a single high school , in Ansan near Seoul , who were on their way to the southern tourist island of Jeju .\nWhile data from the ferry , named Sewol , initially indicated the ship made a J-shaped turn before listing heavily and ultimately sinking , a ministry of ocean and fisheries official said Tuesday the data had been incomplete and that the true path of the ship became clear when the data was fully restored .\nOn Tuesday , dozens of police officers in neon green jackets formed a cordon around the dock of Jindo island as bodies pulled from the sea were brought in . Since divers found a way over the weekend to enter the submerged ferry , the death count has shot up .\nOfficials said Tuesday that confirmed fatalities had reached 104 , with nearly 200 people still missing . If a body lacks identification , details such as height , hair length and clothing are posted on a white signboard for families waiting on the island for news .\nThe ship 's captain , Lee Joon-seok , and two crew members have been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need . Prosecutors detained six other crew members -- four on Monday and two on Tuesday -- but have yet to obtain arrest warrants for them .\nBodies are being identified visually , but family members have been providing DNA samples in case decomposition makes that impossible .\nThe bodies are then driven in ambulances to two tents : one for men and boys , the other for women and girls . Families listen quietly outside as an official briefs them , then line up and file in . Only relatives are allowed inside .\nThis heartbreak awaits many families of those still missing from the submerged ferry Sewol , or at least those whose relatives ' bodies are ultimately recovered . Families who once dreamed of miraculous rescues now simply hope their loved ones ' remains are recovered soon , before the ocean does much more damage .\n`` At first , I was just very sad , but now it 's like an endless wait , '' said Woo Dong-suk , a construction worker and uncle of one of the students . `` It 's been too long already . The bodies must be decayed . The parents ' only wish right now is to find the bodies before they are badly decomposed . ''\nIn Ansan , funerals were held for more than 10 of the teens Tuesday , and education officials were building a temporary memorial that they expected to complete by Wednesday .\nAt the city education office , parents issued a letter pleading for more government help in the rescue , and condemning its response so far . The letter also criticized media for reporting false rumors , and for doggedly pursuing interviews with surviving children .\n`` The children say that when they look at the window , sudden fear of water seizes them . What the children need is utmost stability , '' said Jang Dong-won , father of a rescued female student .\nThe families , and South Koreans more broadly , have at times responded with fury . The captain initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and waited more than half an hour to issue an evacuation order as the Sewol sank . By then , the ship had tilted so much it is believed that many passengers were trapped inside .\nAt a Cabinet briefing Monday , President Park Geun-hye said , `` What the captain and part of the crew did is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense . Unforgivable , murderous behavior . '' The comments were posted online by the presidential Blue House .\nLee , 68 , has said he waited to issue an evacuation order because the current was strong , the water was cold and passengers could have drifted away before help arrived . But maritime experts said he could have ordered passengers to the deck -- where they would have had a greater chance of survival -- without telling them to abandon ship .\nA transcript of ship-to-shore communications released Sunday revealed a ship that was crippled with indecision . A crew member asked repeatedly whether passengers would be rescued after abandoning ship even as the ferry tilted so sharply that it became impossible to escape .\nEmergency task force spokesman Koh Myung-seok said bodies have mostly been found on the third and fourth floor of the ferries , where many passengers seemed to have gathered . Many students were also housed in cabins on the fourth floor , near the stern of the ship , Koh said . | allsides-corpus-629 |
Moon Jae-in was elected South Korea ’ s President on Tuesday upon promises to reengage with North Korea . He says that building economic cooperation with the regime of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un would help raise living standards , reducing tensions as well as the economic burden of any future reunification . And even before Moon had delivered his victory speech , this key campaign pledge was already whirring into action .\nOn May 2 , South Korea ’ s Ministry of Land , Infrastructure and Transport ( MOLIT ) issued an “ emergency notice ” to invite firms to submit bids on potential infrastructure projects in North Korea , particularly regarding the mining sector .\n“ [ Seoul ] will develop … mines and establish power generation facilities and transportation infrastructure around mines , ” the MOLIT said , according to a translation by NK News . “ Profitability will be secured by owning the development rights of resources or exploiting mineral resources . ”\nGet The Brief . 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Please select your country . I can confirm I have read and accept the Terms Of Use . Please check to proceed . Sign Up Now You may unsubscribe from email communication at any time . See our Privacy Policy for further details . Thank you ! For your security , we 've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered . Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters . If you do n't get the confirmation within 10 minutes , please check your spam folder .\nThe MOLIT was not acting under the direction of the then unelected Moon , but clearly saw the changing tenor of South Korean policy toward the Kim regime . It is , of course , politically expedient for government officials to endear themselves to an incoming administration by exploring policies it might like . And there are also powerful South Korean business interests that would benefit from reengagement with the North , and have stepped up lobbying officials and lawmakers since the December impeachment of outgoing conservative President Park Geun-hye .\nThere ’ s little doubt Moon would be receptive to the idea . He told the National Assembly shortly after his election victory , “ If the conditions shape up , I will go to Pyongyang. ” He also named Suh Hoon as his pick to head the National Intelligence Service , subject to National Assembly approval . Suh has already indicated he would be willing to go to Pyongyang with a view to holding another inter-Korean summit , similar to those he was involved in organizing in 2000 and 2007 . It is easy to see why .\n“ These steps reduce both Koreas ’ interstate war risks , providing the sides with communication and non-military options to de-escalate in the case of a provocative incident such as a sixth nuclear test by North Korea , ” writes Alison Evans of the IHS Markit analysis firm .\nStill , the shift presents a challenge for U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump , who has looked to squeeze the Kim regime in response to its escalating missile and nuclear tests . Projects like that proposed by the MOLIT would undermine the economic pressure put on the regime by China , which in March suspended North Korean coal imports for the rest of the year in line with tough new U.N. sanctions .\nRead More : TIME Exclusive : Will South Korean Presidential Hopeful Moon Jae-in Pull the World Back From Nuclear War ?\nMore intriguingly , though , those same U.N. sanctions also ban collaborating in coal , copper , gold , iron , magnesite and zinc — some of the specific industries listed in the MOLIT “ emergency notice . ”\n“ Put another way , MOLIT is putting out a call for bids to violate sanctions , ” write Marcus Noland and Kent Boydston in an analysis blog for the Peterson Institute for International Economics .\nExploring the possibility of violating sanctions is not the same as actually violating them , though it demonstrates some of the logistical hurdles of Moon ’ s vow to rekindle the “ Sunshine Policy ” of engagement with the North . Other than international economic measures , which Moon would either have to flout or renegotiate , angering Washington and Tokyo among others , there is domestic legislation to navigate . Last year ’ s North Korean Human Rights Act , for example , requires vulnerable groups to be prioritized for any aid . To make sure of that , you need independent monitoring of the North Korean populace , which has historically made the regime extremely uncomfortable .\nOf course , any engagement would be welcomed by China , which has long advocated trying to change the regime ’ s bad behavior through the Chinese Communist Party ’ s favorite panacea of economic development . On Tuesday , a spokesperson for China ’ s Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that a North Korean delegation would even attend next week ’ s summit on the Belt and Road Initiative — President Xi Jinping ’ s signature transnational trade and infrastructure development project along the route of the old Silk Road .\nThe idea of winning the hearts and minds of North Korean through their pockets isn ’ t revolutionary , of course . In 2006 , former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak trumpeted a similar economic engagement policy dubbed Vision 3000 , owing to its aim to raise North Korea ’ s per capita income to $ 3,000 in order to lessen the pain of eventual reunification . ( Last year , South Korean GDP was $ 1.38 trillion ; North Korea ’ s was 1 % of that at $ 16 billion . ) The caveat , of course , was that North Korea would have had to take concrete measures to denuclearize .\nBut Vision 3000 suffered from other problems that also undermine the new MOLIT proposal : “ It ’ s tantamount to neocolonialism and that really angers the North Koreans , ” says Christopher Green , a North Korea expert at Leiden University in the Netherlands .\n“ Saying to North Korea , ‘ we ’ re going to take control over your economy ’ may make perfect sense from a mercantile South Korean perspective , ” adds Green . “ But it ’ s going to be like a red rag to a bull for the North Koreans . You have to be a lot stealthier than that . ”\nOwing not least to founding father Kim Il Sung ’ s principle of juche — or “ patriotic self-reliance ” — the biggest barrier to economic engagement with North Korea is the regime itself . Previous attempts to coax the Kim clan to embrace liberal economic polices have all failed dismally . A large free trade zone adjacent to the Chinese city of Dandong , at the southern edge of the 880-mile shared border , lies empty . The key architect of the project was Kim Jong Un ’ s uncle Jang Song-thaek , who was executed in December 2013 .\nEven small steps like reopening the Kaesong Joint Industrial Complex near the DMZ — where South Korean firms had access to cheap North Korean labor — depends on North Korean acquiescence . ( The complex was shuttered by Seoul in February 2016 following a North Korean satellite launch . )\nIn 2013 , 123 South Korean companies were paying 53,000 North Korean workers annual wages amounting to $ 90 million , which were directly collected by the North Korean government . One might think that the regime would welcome the reopening of the plant , as well as Moon ’ s expressed desire to expand it to 20 times the size — presuming the regime would then collect 20 times the wages .\nHowever , an expanded Kaesong was always the plan signed off by Kim Jong Un ’ s father , Kim Jong Il . It ’ s just that phase one of the original project was all that opened , because North Korea was wary of the potential destabilizing effect of too many of its citizens having so much exposure to affluent South Koreans .\nThe North Korean leadership knows that it would be risky to embrace full economic liberalization , given the loosening of societal controls that would entail . The presence of a democratic , thriving and culturally homogeneous South Korea across the DMZ means any loosening of controls could prompt agitation for reunification , spelling the end of the regime .\nRestrained reengagement is , of course , very possible , especially if China keeps up economic pressure . But anything more , especially involving a binding agreement to denuclearize , is as fraught a prospect now as it ever was . | allsides-corpus-630 |
The United States has sent two F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea to join Seoul forces in military exercises after North Korea warned the Korean Peninsula has entered `` a state of war . ''\nA Pentagon spokesman confirms to Fox News that the F-22 Raptors were deployed to Osan Air Base in South Korea from Japan on Sunday to support ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills .\n`` This exercise has been planned for some time and is part of the air component of the Foal Eagle exercise , '' spokesman George Little told reporters Monday .\nMeanwhile , North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gathered legislators Monday for an annual spring parliamentary session that followed a ruling party declaration that nuclear bomb building and a stronger economy were the nation 's top priorities .\nThe meeting of the Supreme People 's Assembly follows near-daily threats from Pyongyang , including vows of nuclear strikes on South Korea and the U.S . In a statement released Sunday , U.S. military in South Korea urged North Korea to restrain itself .\n`` ( North Korea ) will achieve nothing by threats or provocations , which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia , '' the statement said .\nMeanwhile , North Korea said Saturday its armed forces , `` will blow up U.S. bases for aggression in its mainland and in the Pacific operational theatres including Hawaii and Guam . ''\nKim also threatened to shut down a border factory complex that is the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation , according to the Associated Press .\nThe threats are seen as part of an effort to provoke the new government in Seoul to change its policies toward Pyongyang and to win diplomatic talks with Washington in order to gain more aid .\nThe White House says the U.S. is taking North Korea 's threats seriously , but has also noted Pyongyang 's history of `` bellicose rhetoric . ''\nOn Thursday , U.S. military officials revealed that two B-2 stealth bombers dropped dummy munitions on an uninhabited South Korean island as part of annual defense drills that Pyongyang sees as rehearsals for invasion . Hours later , Kim ordered his generals to put rockets on standby and threatened to strike American targets if provoked .\nMilitary analysts have said a full-scale conflict between North and South Korea is extremely unlikely , noting that the Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war for 60 years . But the North 's continued threats toward South Korea and the United States have raised worries that a misjudgment between the sides could lead to a clash .\nIn addition to the military exercise , the U.S. will fortify its defenses against a potential North Korean missile attack by adding more than a dozen missile interceptors to the 26 already in place at Fort Greely , Alaska , Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has also announced . | allsides-corpus-631 |
Story highlights U.S. deploys F-22s to South Korea as part of joint military exercises\nNorth Korea said it was entering a `` state of war '' with the South\nSeoul views the threat from Pyongyang in `` a serious manner ''\nThe South Korean president on Monday warned North Korea that any provocative moves will be met with `` a strong response '' as the United States deployed stealth fighter jets in the tense region as part of joint military exercises .\n`` If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people , there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations , '' President Park Geun-hye said at a meeting with senior defense and security officials , according to her office .\nHer comments came after North Korea rattled off fresh volleys of bombastic rhetoric over the weekend , declaring that it had entered a `` state of war '' with the South and labeling the U.S. mainland a `` boiled pumpkin , '' vulnerable to attack .\nThe two Koreas are technically still at war after their conflict in the early 1950s ended in a truce not a peace treaty .\nJUST WATCHED South Korea returns rhetorical fire Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH South Korea returns rhetorical fire 02:24\nJUST WATCHED Business as usual in Korean econ zone Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Business as usual in Korean econ zone 02:35\nJUST WATCHED Public sentiment in North , South Korea Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Public sentiment in North , South Korea 02:28\nJUST WATCHED North Korean war map targets Texas Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH North Korean war map targets Texas 02:43\nThe secretive regime of Kim Jong Un has delivered a steady stream of verbal attacks against South Korea and the United States in recent weeks , including the threat of a nuclear strike .\nIt has lashed out at the U.S.-South Korean military drills currently under way and at the tougher U.N. sanctions that were slapped on it after its latest nuclear test in February .\nAnalysts have expressed heavy skepticism that the North has the military capabilities to follow through on many of its melodramatic threats .\nBut concerns remain that it could carry out a localized attack on South Korea , as it did in November 2010 when it shelled Yeongpyeong Island , killing four people .\nThe United States has sought to show its willingness to defend its South Korean ally by drawing attention to displays of its military strength during the drills taking place in South Korea .\nWashington 's recent announcements concerning practice flights over South Korea by B-52 bombers and B-2 stealth bombers , both of which can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons , have not been lost on Pyongyang , which has described them as acts of U.S. hostility .\nThere was no immediate reaction on North Korean state media Monday to the U.S. statement saying the stealth fighters , F-22 Raptors , were sent to the main U.S. Air Force Base in South Korea to support air drills in the annual Foal Eagle training exercises there .\nU.S. and South Korean officials have been trying to strike a balance between acknowledging that the North 's rhetoric is cause for concern and at the same time playing down the severity of the threat .\nPark said Monday that she was `` viewing the threat from North Korea in a serious manner . ''\nBut a senior U.S. Defense Department official said late last week that there were `` no indications at this point that it 's anything more than warmongering rhetoric . ''\nSouth Korea has noted that scores of its workers have continued in recent days to enter and leave the Kaesong Industrial Complex , a joint economic cooperation zone between the two Koreas situated on the North 's side of the border .\nJUST WATCHED North Korea ready for war ? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH North Korea ready for war ? 02:32\nJUST WATCHED How far can North Korean missiles go ? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH How far can North Korean missiles go ? 01:10\nJUST WATCHED U.S. B-2 exercise over Korean peninsula Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH U.S. B-2 exercise over Korean peninsula 02:31\nThat is despite Pyongyang cutting a key military hotline on the border and threatening to shut down the complex .\nThe heightened tensions have prompted North Korea 's traditional allies , China and Russia , to urge the different sides to keep a lid on the situation .\n`` Moscow expects all parties to exercise as much responsibility and restraint as possible in light of North Korea 's latest statements , '' the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday according to Russian state broadcaster Russia Today .\nChina , which expressed frustration over Pyongyang 's most recent nuclear test , also called for calm .\n`` We hope relevant parties can work together to turn around the tense situation in the region , '' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday , describing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as `` a joint responsibility . ''\nBut the coming weeks appear laced with potential for more bouts of saber-rattling .\nNorth Korean delegates are currently gathered in Pyongyang for the Supreme People 's Assembly , the country 's rubber stamp parliament .\nAnd April 15 is the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung , the nation 's founder and the grandfather of Kim Jong Un . That day , the biggest national holiday in North Korea , is usually marked by large-scale parades .\nMeanwhile , the U.S.-South Korean military exercises that have already stirred so much ire from the North are due to continue until the end of the month .\nFinally , some analysts have noted that Pyongyang has carried out some sort of military provocation within weeks of every South Korean presidential inauguration .\nPark , the current president , took office on February 25 , five weeks ago . | allsides-corpus-632 |
Five days after losing her daughter to a drug overdose in a South Florida sober home , Jennifer Flory found herself standing before a task force set up to investigate sober homes .\n“ My daughter passed away on Thursday night and I ’ m coming here to get her stuff – and her – and to find out why she died , ” the grieving mother from Illinois told the assembled group in West Palm Beach .\nMonths later , she said her public appearance so soon after her daughter ’ s passing was aimed at helping other parents and other addicts avoid the pitfalls that took her daughter ’ s life .\n“ Alison knows that I love her and care about her and miss her terribly . But that can wait , ” she said in an interview with the Monitor . “ Right now there is an urgent need for people to be helped and saved . ”\nWith more than 140 people dying every day in the US from drug overdoses , addiction treatment has become a growth industry across the country . South Florida , in particular , is a national destination for those seeking treatment .\nIt isn ’ t just Florida ’ s warm and sunny weather . Those suffering under addiction are targeted by aggressive marketing tactics featuring national advertising and patient recruiters .\nIn the process , Florida has also become a prime location for unscrupulous drug treatment centers that seek to recruit young addicts covered by their parents ’ insurance policies . Many of the “ patients ” are allowed to continue to use drugs while the treatment center overcharges their parents ’ insurance policy for unnecessary drug tests and other unneeded services .\nFederal , state , and local authorities are cracking down , but the insurance scams continue .\nFlory says chief among her mistakes was assuming that everyone in the drug treatment industry was honest and actually cared about the well-being of her daughter .\n“ I think people need to know , there are scam artists out there , ” she says . “ Don ’ t just send your kid to Florida and expect a miracle . ”\n“ I didn ’ t know the industry wasn ’ t [ closely ] regulated . I didn ’ t know that addiction treatment wasn ’ t under the supervision of a doctor at all times , ” Flory says . “ I was picturing white lab coats and stuff like that . I didn ’ t know . I didn ’ t know any of it . ”\nInstead of being helped along a road to recovery to a new life , Flory ’ s daughter was recruited away from an effective drug treatment program and lured into a sham program .\nAs reported in the first part of this two-part series , the program , Reflections Treatment Center in Margate , Fla. , was set up largely as a mechanism to overcharge health insurance policies for unnecessary tests and treatments at inflated prices . As the operators of the treatment center grew richer , Flory ’ s daughter experienced relapse after relapse while living in a fake “ sober home ” where illicit drug use was permitted .\nIt was in one such sober home where , on Oct. 14 , Alison and one of her housemates , Nicole De La Pena , smoked crack cocaine laced with the synthetic opiate carfentanil . Alison passed out and never woke up . Nicole spent a week in the hospital and is suffering from memory loss .\nAlthough Reflections was later raided by the FBI and shut down , many other treatment centers and sober homes in South Florida are continuing to operate under a similar business model based on insurance fraud .\nCriminal investigations are ongoing . And a special task force is exploring how to reform the sober home industry to weed out bad actors .\nIn the meantime , parents are continuing to struggle to identify legitimate and effective treatment centers and recovery residences . Flory and other mothers of addicts are part of an informal support network that offers help and advice to those seeking to identify quality treatment centers and avoid the fraudsters .\nFlory and Johanna De La Pena , Nicole ’ s mother , both offer the same essential piece of advice to parents or loved ones of an addict seeking treatment : Talk to other moms of addicts .\nBoth of them say that parents and others researching rehab programs are at a significant disadvantage when trying to differentiate legitimate treatment centers and recovery residences from the bad actors in the industry .\nThe issue of selecting a treatment center and recovery residence arises at a time of crisis not only in the life of the addict , but also in the lives of those affected family members who are attempting to help the addict . In other words , the addict isn ’ t the only one whose life is in turmoil .\nThese vulnerable family members are confronted by a well-organized , well-funded , and in some cases highly deceptive marketing effort designed to attract and recruit new patients . Sometimes they offer free airfare to Florida , a tactic that experts say should raise red flags to family members .\n“ I would have never sent her [ to Florida ] if I knew then what I know now , ” Ms. De La Pena said in an interview . “ I would have picked a different state . I would have researched the facilities more . I would have gotten references . ”\nShe says when her daughter agreed to enter treatment in Florida , she was so desperate to do something to help her daughter that she did not fully investigate the drug treatment industry .\n“ At the time my daughter was sent off to Florida I was still kind of in denial about her addiction , ” De La Pena says . “ In my hometown , we don ’ t really talk about this . ”\nExperts stress that not all drug treatment centers in Florida are engaged in health-care fraud . There are many long-established , reputable , and effective treatment facilities in the state . One key piece of advice offered by many experts and many parents of addicts : Find a reputable treatment center and stay there . Resist patient recruiters , they say .\nThe difficulty is being able to ignore fancy advertisements and slick website presentations to identify a truly reputable treatment center . Equally important is the ability to identify legitimate recovery residences and bypass fake sober homes , flop houses , and drug dens .\nAddiction recovery specialists suggest parents and other loved ones ask a few key questions :\nIs the recovery residence certified by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences ? If not , look elsewhere .\nDoes the sober home offer residents free rent and money for food ? Experts say residents should pay their own way . Offers of free rent or other benefits can be evidence of illegal patient brokering .\nIs the recovery residence coed ? Experts say sober homes should be segregated by gender and not facilitate dating-type relationships between patients , which in the early stages of drug treatment can take the focus off recovery and make relapse more likely .\nIs the staff of the sober home trained in CPR ? Do they have a supply of naloxone in the house for use as an emergency antidote in the event of an overdose ?\nAre random drug tests performed ? How much do they cost ? Such tests should cost $ 5 to $ 10 .\nAre referral fees paid to the sober home from a drug treatment center if residents enroll at that center ? If so , it suggests the presence of an illegal kickback scheme , specialists say .\nFor some parents , dealing with a child who is an addict requires not only fortitude but strategy and cunning .\nAfter spending a week at her daughter ’ s bedside at a South Florida hospital following Nicole ’ s overdose in October , De La Pena decided it would be best to take her daughter home to Texas .\nShe arranged for security officers to accompany them from the hospital to the airport until they safely boarded their flight . As they entered the line for TSA screening , Nicole saw an opening .\n“ She just started running and I couldn ’ t get to her , ” De La Pena says . Nicole apparently wanted to be with her boyfriend , who was also in a drug treatment program .\nIt took two months of pleading on the telephone before Nicole agreed to return to her mother ’ s house in Texas . Soon , Nicole began plotting her return to Florida .\nDe La Pena refused to pay for a flight to Florida . But that didn ’ t stop Nicole ’ s boyfriend from pulling strings to arrange a “ free ” Texas-Florida flight .\n“ These kids already know that they can get free flights back to Florida , so when she was here she was already planning it , ” De La Pena says .\nThe mother says she was able to intercept and stop attempts by two different treatment centers to send a free ticket to Nicole . It is a common recruitment tactic to offer to pay for airfare to Florida if the would-be patient has health insurance and is willing to enroll in their treatment program .\nMaureen Kielian is the Florida director of the anti-drug group Steered Straight and a member of the Sober Homes Task Force . She says there is a relatively easy way to determine if a treatment center is engaging in an illegal activity such as patient brokering – offering something to a prospective patient in exchange for their agreement to enroll in a particular treatment program .\n“ If they are being offered anything free , they are being brokered , ” she says . “ The way to think about it is if my son had leukemia , would this be happening ? ” she says . “ Would they be flying you in for treatment ? Would they be offering you free anything ? No . ”\nAfter dealing with her daughter ’ s overdose , De La Pena knew about patient brokering and was twice able to intercept and block free plane tickets meant for Nicole .\n“ Then one of them did purchase her a ticket , ” she says . “ It was late at night when I saw it and I personally contacted the person and told them they better cancel . They were really ugly and rude . So I told them I am canceling my insurance because I know that is the only reason they wanted her out there . They said , no , we ’ ve already verified the coverage. ” De La Pena upped the pressure . She told them what they were doing was illegal . They disagreed .\nAfter the telephone call ended , De La Pena sent them a text message with the business card of an official with an anti-fraud task force in South Florida . She repeated her statement that what they were doing was illegal . “ Within minutes he texted me back , saying that he had canceled the flight , ” she says .\n“ The next morning , my daughter did not know that I had canceled the flight , ” she says . “ I was asleep at six in the morning when she got a ride to the airport . ”\nDe La Pena sent a text message to her daughter who , by then , was stranded at the airport . The message : Give your mom a call when you are ready for a ride home . Nicole called her grandmother for a ride .\nThe time away from Florida has been good for her daughter , De La Pena says . Nicole has a job and has been drug-free for three months . The mother says it is easier to fight off patient recruiters when they think there is no insurance policy to fleece .\nFlory says she believes any chance her daughter Alison had for recovery was lost amid the ongoing fraud in South Florida . “ I think she was doomed by the people who were supposed to help her , ” she says .\nFlory has hired a lawyer to investigate a possible lawsuit against one or more of the drug treatment centers Alison attended .\nThe lawyer , Susan Ramsey of West Palm Beach , says the increased law enforcement scrutiny of the treatment industry in recent months is causing some people to close their doors and move on .\n“ There are those who are going to pull up their shingle and go find some other scam . I think that is happening , ” she says . “ But the struggle is going to continue for some years . ”\nOne development that Ms. Ramsey says might trigger a rapid cleansing of the treatment industry would be if insurance companies launched their own investigation into past practices and demanded their money back from shady treatment centers and laboratories that overbilled .\n“ That is what they need to do , ” she says . “ That would stop this pretty darned fast . ”\nAt one point De La Pena got the same idea . She called her insurance company and asked them to block a South Florida treatment center from billing more charges to her health insurance plan . “ They declined to do that , ” she says .\nShe called a fraud investigator with the insurance company . He never called back .\nFlory says she will always feel an emptiness from the loss of Alison , her oldest child . But in a cruel twist , her struggle dealing with an addicted child is not over yet .\nFour months after Alison ’ s fatal overdose , her 20-year-old son came to her with a heart-breaking admission .\n“ I ’ m doing heroin and I need help or else I ’ m going to die , ” she says he told her . That ’ s not all . “ He wanted to go to Florida . That wasn ’ t my idea , but he said that ’ s where he wanted to be . ”\n“ So at first it looks like I ’ m doing the same thing all over again , expecting a different result , ” Flory says . “ But now that I know how it works… I have people watching out for him . If I knew then what I know now , I would have seen what Alison was falling into . ”\nThis time will be different , she says . “ I know what to expect . If he is going to get into trouble , I know what the warning signs are and I am going to have him watched like a hawk by all the people I have met . I have a big network of people now who live ( in South Florida ) because I ’ ve made it my business to know them . ”\nIf there is any one rule she will enforce with her son that she did not enforce with Alison it is that he will enroll in a legitimate , high-quality program and remain in it .\n“ You don ’ t move , ” Flory says . “ You don ’ t make any decisions about that . He knows that he is not allowed to make those decisions . ”\nThis is Part 2 of 2 . You can read Part 1 , `` Alison 's story : How $ 750,000 in drug treatment destroyed her life , '' by clicking here . | allsides-corpus-633 |
The United States and South Korea bolstered their alliance this week as Seoul announced that Washington has agreed to deploy so-called “ strategic assets ” to the peninsula .\nLawmakers who have pressed for action to rein in North Korea ’ s thriving nuclear and missile programs applauded the move . They called it a prudent step that will help defend the United States and its allies .\nExperts , though , said the deployment is mostly intended to reassure South Korea .\n“ From an optics standpoint , it sounds really good that we ’ re going to enhance that alliance , ” said Harry Kazianis , director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest . “ Really , what this is , is to reinforce the alliance so Seoul feels comfortable that if there was any contingency , we ’ d be there . ”\nThis week , the South Korean president ’ s national security advisor told lawmakers in Seoul that the United States will begin deploying “ strategic assets ” on a rotational basis as early as late this year .\nThe announcement came after North Korea threatened to shoot down U.S. bombers . It said it has the right to do so because President Trump ’ s recent comments on the country amount to a “ declaration of war . ”\nTrump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the agreement on the sidelines of this month ’ s United Nations General Assembly . Chung Eui-young , the South Korean advisor , told lawmakers about it after he was asked if there ’ s “ any crack ” in the U.S.-South Korean alliance , according to Yonhap news agency .\nThe assets that are being deployed have been not specified , but South Korea typically uses the term to refer to B-52 bombers , stealth warplanes , nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers .\nThe United States already has similar capabilities in the region , including F-22 and F-35 stealth aircraft stationed in Japan , and has sent them to South Korea from time to time for military exercises or shows of force . But the latest announcement goes beyond that .\nSenate Armed Services Chairman John McCain John Sidney McCain2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes The Memo : Democrats confront prospect of long primary Defending their honor as we hear their testimony MORE ( R-Ariz. ) said moving strategic assets onto South Korea could help improve intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance ( ISR ) capabilities there .\n“ Part of that is ISR capabilities so we can monitor what they ’ re doing , ” he said . “ Most of our ISR , as you know , is in the Middle East . ”\nAsked if he ’ s worried North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will see that as a provocation , McCain said he ’ s not .\n“ And if he does , it doesn ’ t concern me , ” he added . “ An ISR has never attacked anybody . … With all the stuff that he ’ s doing , we have to make sure that we are doing everything we can to defend our closest ally . All of this is not meant for offense . It ’ s meant to show them that if we ’ re engaged , that the price of their attack would be extremely high . ”\nThe Senate Armed Services Committee received a classified briefing Thursday on North Korea from representatives of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence .\nMcCain declined to detail what he learned , but described the briefing as alarming .\n“ That ’ s some pretty alarming information , ” he said . “ Most of it , of course , has been out in the media , but they are — it ’ s a very serious situation . ”\nSen. Dan Sullivan Daniel Scott SullivanRomney , Collins , Murkowski only Senate GOP holdouts on Graham 's impeachment resolution GOP worries it 's losing impeachment fight Senate GOP introduces resolution condemning House impeachment inquiry MORE ( D-Alaska ) , an Armed Services member who has been vocal about missile defense to counter North Korea , said positioning strategic assets in South Korea could help the diplomatic effort to curb North Korea .\n“ The one thing I ’ ve been saying all along is that as part of the strategy that the administration has been putting forward is putting forward credible military options helps with making your diplomacy more effective , ” he said Thursday . “ I think that the combination of credible military options … and effective diplomacy are kind of a continuum , and they ’ re related . ”\nRetired Col. Richard Klass , a board member at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation , said the United States would have to send significantly more equipment to South Korea is the North attacked .\nAs such , Klass predicted Kim would feign outrage about the move , but otherwise accept it .\n“ I think anything we do , he will pretend to be really be pissed off , ” Klass said . “ I don ’ t think he thinks it ’ s going to make a whole lot of difference . ”\nKlass said he sees the announcement as signal of commitment to South Korea more than a change in defense capabilities .\n“ It ’ s our way of showing we ’ re doing something rather than just sitting here and throwing verbal jabs , ” he said , in a knock at Trump ’ s rhetoric .\nKazianis , of the Center for the National Interest , likewise said the United States would have to bring in “ a lot more firepower ” for an all-out war with North Korea .\nWhat would really upset Pyongyang , he added , is permanently basing that much firepower in South Korea .\n“ That would really spook North Korea , ” he said . “ They might see that as a precursor to regime change . ” | allsides-corpus-634 |
The chamber declined to say if it supported any measures to curb smoking .\nThe chamber , a private nonprofit that has more than three million members and annual revenue of $ 165 million , spends more on lobbying than any other interest group in America . For decades , it has taken positions aimed at bolstering its members ’ fortunes .\nWhile the chamber has local outposts across the United States , it also has more than 100 affiliates around the world . Foreign branches pay dues and typically hew to the U.S. Chamber ’ s strategy , often advancing it on the ground . Members include both American and foreign businesses , a symbiotic relationship that magnifies the chamber ’ s clout .\nFor foreign companies , membership comes with “ access to the U.S. Embassy ” according to the Cambodian branch , and entree to “ the U.S. government , ” according to the Azerbaijan branch . Members in Hanoi get an invitation to an annual trip to “ lobby Congress and the administration ” in Washington .\nSince Mr. Donohue took over in 1997 , he has steered the chamber into positions that have alienated some members . In 2009 , the chamber threatened to sue if the Environmental Protection Agency regulated greenhouse gas emissions , disputing its authority to act on climate change . That led Nike to step down from the chamber ’ s board , and to Apple ’ s departure from the group . In 2013 , the American arm of the Swedish construction giant Skanska resigned , protesting the chamber ’ s support for what Skanska called a “ chemical industry-led initiative ” to lobby against green building codes .\nThe chamber ’ s tobacco lobbying has led to confusion for many countries , Dr. da Costa e Silva said , adding “ there is a misconception that the American chamber of commerce represents the government of the U.S. ” In some places like Estonia , the lines are blurred . The United States ambassador there , Jeffrey Levine , serves as honorary president of the chamber ’ s local affiliate ; the affiliate quoted Philip Morris in a publication outlining its priorities .\nThe tobacco industry has increasingly turned to international courts to challenge antismoking laws that countries have enacted after the passage of the W.H.O . treaty . Early this year , Michael R. Bloomberg and Bill Gates set up an international fund to fight such suits . Matthew L. Myers , president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids , an advocacy group that administers the fund , called the chamber “ the tobacco industry ’ s most formidable front group , ” adding , “ it pops up everywhere . ” | allsides-corpus-635 |
As America debates drug policy reforms and marijuana legalization , there 's one aspect of the war on drugs that remains perplexingly contradictory : Some of the most dangerous drugs in the US are legal .\nDo n't believe it ? The best available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) , and National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA ) shows tobacco , alcohol , and opioid painkillers were responsible for more direct deaths in one year than any other drug . This chart compares those drug deaths with the best available data for cocaine , heroin , and marijuana deaths :\nNow , this chart is n't a perfect comparison across the board . One driver of tobacco and alcohol deaths is that both substances are legal and easily available . Other substances would likely be far deadlier if they were as available as tobacco and alcohol . And federal data excludes some deaths , such as drugged driving deaths , which is why the chart focuses on direct health complications for all drugs .\nDeaths also are n't the only way to compare drugs ' harms . Some drugs , such as alcohol and cocaine , may induce dangerous behavior that makes someone more predisposed to violence or crime . Other drugs , like psychedelics , may trigger underlying mental health problems or psychotic episodes . When evaluating the overall harm caused by drugs , all of these factors should be taken into account .\nBut the high total number of deaths is still a major concern for public health policy . And according to experts and researchers , lawmakers could do more to curb deaths caused by the three deadliest drugs — if only they paid more attention to legal drug policy .\nWhen it comes to deadliness , no single substance comes close to tobacco . To put its risk in perspective , more Americans die from tobacco-caused health problems like lung cancer and heart disease than from reported drug overdoses , car crashes , and homicides combined .\nThe chart at the top of this article actually understates the number of tobacco deaths , since it only considers the most direct causes of deaths and excludes secondhand smoking , perinatal conditions , and residential fires .\nOverall , cigarette smoking is linked to one in five deaths in the US each year , according to CDC estimates for average annual fatalities based on deaths between 2005 and 2009 . Nearly 42,000 of the total 480,000 deaths from smoking are caused by secondhand smoke .\nUS tobacco use has greatly declined in the past several decades , although nearly one in six high school students and adults still smoked cigarettes in 2013 and 2014 . Experts attribute the decline to various factors , including education campaigns , mandatory warning labels , public and workplace smoking bans , and higher taxes on tobacco products . Continuing these efforts , public health officials hope , will continue pushing down the rate of smoking in the US . But states could also take additional steps , like increasing the smoking age .\nAlcohol-induced health problems , such as liver disease , led to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015 . But that actually undercounts the number of deaths caused by alcohol : When including other causes of death like drunk driving and homicides , the toll rises to 88,000 per year . ( This number might be an undercount too , since it 's an estimate for 2006 to 2010 and alcohol-linked deaths have steadily risen over the past several years . )\nThe death toll may understate the more general risk of alcohol . A 2010 analysis , led by British researcher David Nutt and published in The Lancet , took a comprehensive look at 20 of the world 's most popular drugs and the risks they pose in the UK . A conference of drug experts measured all the factors involved — mortality , other physical damage , chance of developing dependence , impairment of mental function , effect on crime , and so on — and assigned each drug a score . They concluded alcohol is by far the most dangerous drug to society as a whole .\nWhat makes alcohol so dangerous ? The health effects of excessive drinking and drunk driving are two obvious problems . But there are other major issues rooted in alcohol-induced aggression and erratic behavior : injuries , economic productivity costs , family adversities , and crime . ( Alcohol is a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes , according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence . )\nStill , The Lancet 's report has come under some major criticisms . Although drug policy experts generally agree that alcohol is dangerous — and definitely more dangerous than marijuana — they argue the report misses some of the nuance behind each drug 's harms . For one , it does n't entirely control for the availability of these drugs , so it 's possible heroin and crack cocaine in particular would be ranked higher if they were as readily available as alcohol . And the findings are based on the UK , so the specific scores would likely differ to some extent for the US — particularly for meth , which is more widely available in the states .\nTo show the Nutt analysis 's flaws , Jon Caulkins , a drug policy expert at Carnegie Mellon University , gave the example of an alien race visiting Earth and asking which land animal is the biggest . If the question is about weight , the African elephant is the biggest land animal . But if it 's about height , the giraffe is the biggest . And if the question is about length , the reticulated python is the biggest .\n`` You can always create some composite , but composites are fraught with problems , '' Caulkins said . `` I think it 's more misleading than useful . ''\nThe blunt measures of drug harms present similar issues . Alcohol , tobacco , and opioid painkillers are likely deadlier than other drugs because they are legal , so comparing their aggregate effects to illegal drugs is difficult . Some drugs are very harmful to individuals , but they 're so rarely used that they may not be a major public health threat . A few drugs pose more short-term than long-term risks through overdose ( heroin ) , while others are more dangerous in the long term due to chronic health problems ( tobacco ) . And looking at deaths or other harms caused by certain drugs does n't always account for substances , such as prescription medications , that are often mixed with others , making them more deadly or harmful than they would be alone .\nStill , experts acknowledge , it 's clear alcohol is dangerous and deadly . To curb the deaths and risks linked to alcohol , they often suggest tighter regulations , higher taxes , more education , and even taking away some people 's right to drink .\nA previous analysis by the RAND Corporation found that states that sold alcohol through tightly regulated , state-run establishments kept prices higher , reduced access for youth , and decreased drinking overall . Studies show that higher alcohol taxes could reduce consumption and , as a result , the problems the drug causes . And the 24/7 Sobriety Program , which effectively revokes people 's right to drink if their drinking gets them in trouble with the law , has been linked to decreases in mortality , DUI arrests , and domestic violence arrests .\nHighly addictive opioid painkillers are now part of a national epidemic of overdose deaths .\nIn the 1990s , drug companies , such as Purdue Pharma , pushed opioid painkillers on doctors and patients through an aggressive , misleading marketing campaign . Doctors , who were under pressure from advocates and government agencies to treat pain as a serious medical issue , prescribed the drugs in huge droves , letting them proliferate — not just to patients , but to the patients ' family and friends and the black market . As a result , opioid painkiller deaths skyrocketed .\nOpioid overdose deaths sometimes involve multiple drugs . Benzodiazepines and alcohol , for instance , can increase the risk of an opioid overdose . But without opioids , these deaths may have been avoided entirely .\nPolicymakers have responded to the rise in deaths by putting tighter restrictions on the distribution of opioid painkillers and cracking down on `` pill mills , '' which are doctors , clinics , and pharmacies that dispense opioid painkillers unscrupulously or for nonmedical reasons .\nIn part as a response to the crackdown , some opioid users turned to other opioids that are more potent and potentially more easily accessible — notably , heroin and fentanyl . For public health officials , this has emphasized the need to increase prevention and treatment programs , particularly medication-assisted treatments such as methadone and Suboxone , to try to get people off opioids for good . After all , unless people overcome their addiction , cuts in the supply are only going to lead people to try to get their fix somewhere else .\nThere 's also concerns that restricting painkillers too much makes it more difficult for people to get the medicine they genuinely need for chronic , debilitating pain . A 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine found that many Americans are undertreated for acute and chronic pain . And multiple reports suggest doctors have avoided working in chronic pain treatment because the legal and regulatory hurdles are so big . ( Still , the evidence on whether opioid painkillers can even treat chronic pain is weak at best , even as it 's clear that prolonged use can result in very bad risks and complications . )\nOne way to fill this need for treatment without resorting to dangerous opioids may be medical marijuana . Several studies have found that states that allow pot for medicinal purposes — particularly states that allow dispensaries , where marijuana is sold — have fewer prescription painkiller deaths than one would otherwise expect . Intuitively , this makes sense : Marijuana is a potent painkiller for some types of pain , so it can potentially substitute deadlier and more addictive opioids in some cases .\nStill , while marijuana may work for some patients , it may not for many others . This leaves opioid painkillers as one of the few medications for some pain patients , which requires doctors and regulators to balance out patients ' needs with the risk these addictive , deadly drugs present .\nThere 's admittedly no good federal mortality data on the less direct and long-term impacts of illicit drug use . But there 's reason to think the scale of overall deadliness in the chart at the top of this article would n't change much with additional data .\nThe deadliness of the harder drugs , like crack and cocaine , is severely limited in part because very few people use such substances , especially in the long term . About 0.1 percent of the US population 12 and older reported using heroin and roughly 0.7 percent reported using cocaine in the previous month , according to a 2015 federal survey . ( This could change if the illicit drugs were legal and more accessible . )\nStill , these harder drugs are dangerous . Cocaine and crack can lead to heart attack and stroke , and they can cause violent behaviors that make someone more prone to crime . And heroin poses a massive risk of deadly overdose — a risk that only gets worse as someone uses heroin more and more .\n`` The main risk of cannabis is losing control of your cannabis intake ''\nMarijuana is more widely used , but it 's never been definitively linked to direct deaths or even other medical conditions . The most thorough review of the research yet , from the National Academies of Sciences , Engineering , and Medicine , found that pot poses a variety of possible downsides — including respiratory problems if smoked , schizophrenia and psychosis , car crashes , general social achievement in life , and potentially babies in the womb .\nBut pot does n't appear to pose a high risk , if any , of deadliness ( outside of car crashes and other accidental deaths ) . The research review found smoking pot does n't even seem to cause some of the major health problems that are typically linked to tobacco , particularly lung cancer and head and neck cancers .\nAnd the studies reviewed also suggest marijuana carries several benefits , particularly for chronic pain , multiple sclerosis , and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting . ( There was n't enough research to gauge if pot is truly good for some of the other ailments people say it 's good for , such as epilepsy and irritable bowel syndrome . )\n`` The main risk of cannabis is losing control of your cannabis intake , '' Mark Kleiman , a drug policy expert at New York University 's Marron Institute , previously told me . `` That 's going to have consequences in terms of the amount of time you spend not fully functional . When that 's hours per day times years , that 's bad . ''\nCaulkins of Carnegie Mellon University put it another way : `` At some level , we know that spending more than half of your waking hours intoxicated for years and years on end is not increasing the likelihood that you 'll win a Pulitzer Prize or discover the cure for cancer . ''\nSo a drug 's deadliness is n't everything we need to know about its harms . But deadliness is still a powerful measure — and it suggests that the public and policymakers should n't assume that a substance is more dangerous to society as a whole just because it 's illegal . In fact , based on the numbers , it 's legal drugs that may require more policy attention . | allsides-corpus-636 |
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo insists that the narcotics officers who shot and killed a middle-aged couple on January 28 after breaking into their home `` had probable cause to be there , '' even though they were executing a search warrant that was based on a fraudulent affidavit . Acevedo 's position is pretty puzzling , since the sole basis for the no-knock search warrant , which led to a deadly raid that found no evidence of drug dealing , was a `` controlled buy '' of heroin that he says never happened .\nGerald Goines , the veteran narcotics officer who wrote the affidavit seeking a no-knock search warrant for the house at 7815 Harding Street , was recently charged with two counts of felony murder based on the allegation that his lies led to the deaths of the home 's owners , Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas . Goines claimed in the affidavit that a confidential informant had bought black-tar heroin at the Harding Street house the day before the raid . After the operation went horribly wrong , setting off a gun battle that injured Goines and three other officers as well as killing Tuttle and Nicholas , he admitted that no such transaction had occurred . Steven Bryant , a narcotics officer who backed up Goines ' story , faces a felony charge of tampering with a government document .\n`` We did n't need to lie , '' Acevedo said on August 23 , the day that Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced the charges against Goines and Bryant . `` We could have done this right….When somebody lies to obtain a search warrant , that 's a problem . '' When KPRC , the NBC station in Houston , asked him about his claim , a few weeks after the raid , that `` we still had a ███ to be at that home , '' Acevedo replied , `` I stand by that . We had probable cause to be there . ''\nIt is hard to see how that can be true . According to Acevedo , Goines ' investigation of alleged drug dealing at the Harding Street house was triggered by a tip from a patrol officer who had responded to a January 8 call in which an unnamed woman reported that her daughter `` was in there doing heroin . '' At a press conference three days after the raid , Acevedo described the call this way : `` The caller wanted to remain anonymous but said that her daughter was inside the residence 'doing drugs , and they have a lot of guns in the residence . ' She stated there was also a female in the house . '' The woman said she had looked through a window , and she saw that `` her daughter was in the house , and there were guns and heroin . ''\nWhen two patrol officers arrived in response to that call , the woman was nowhere to be found . According to Acevedo , they questioned a passer-by and afterward heard her say into her cellphone , `` Hey , the police are at the dope house . '' When the officers called the woman who had made the report , Acevedo said , `` She stated she did not want to give any information because they were drug dealers and they would kill her . She wanted the officers to go into the house and get her daughter . '' The officers explained that they had no authority to enter the house .\nThe tip about that incident seems to have been the only basis for suspecting that Tuttle and Nicholas were selling heroin . In his affidavit , Goines , who supposedly had been investigating them for two weeks , cited no suspicious activity consistent with drug dealing . ( Nor was any noticed by neighbors who spoke to reporters after the raid , notwithstanding Acevedo 's claim that the home was known locally as a `` drug house '' and `` problem location . '' ) Goines apparently had not even bothered to look up the names of the home 's owners ; he described the middle-aged man who supposedly had sold heroin to the nonexistent confidential informant as a `` white male , whose name is unknown . ''\nIf Goines had developed evidence to support a search warrant , as Acevedo suggests , why did he feel a need to invent a transaction by a fictitious confidential informant ? Why was that fantasy the only evidence cited in the affidavit ? Goines ' behavior makes no sense if police had an independent basis for probable cause .\n`` Our government should not have intervened in that home , and two people are dead as a result , '' Ogg told KPRC . `` The probable cause to obtain the search warrant was false . ''\nThe initial tip did not provide probable cause for a search . Neither did the phony controlled buy . But according to Acevedo , police could have obtained a warrant based on other , unspecified evidence that Goines for some mysterious ███ failed to cite .\nThat claim is of a piece with the way Acevedo described the officers who killed Tuttle and Nicholas after starting a gunfight by breaking into the house without warning and using a shotgun to kill the couple 's dog . `` I still think they 're heroes , '' Acevedo said after Goines and Bryant were charged . While those two officers may be bad apples , Acevedo said , their colleagues `` acted in good faith '' and appropriately used deadly force to defend themselves . The first claim is debatable based on what we know so far , and the second is highly dubious given the raid 's recklessness . Acevedo 's assertion of probable cause based on evidence that was never presented to a judge is even harder to believe . It does not inspire confidence in his ability to recognize , let alone correct , the supervisory deficiencies that made this fiasco possible . | allsides-corpus-637 |
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that a national moratorium on lethal injection `` would be appropriate '' until the Supreme Court completes its latest review of the execution process as part of a case initially brought by Oklahoma death row inmates .\nAt the National Press Club , Holder said he was speaking `` personally '' on the issue and not as a member of the administration , though the death penalty is the subject of a review by the Justice Department .\nThe Justice review , directed by President Obama after a botched execution last year in Oklahoma , will probably not be completed before Holder leaves office in the next several weeks . His likely successor , Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch , awaits a confirmation vote .\n`` There are fundamental questions that we need to ask about the death penalty , '' said Holder , who restated his opposition to capital punishment . `` There is always the possibility that mistakes will be made . ... It is for that reason that I am opposed to the death penalty . ''\nHolder described a scenario in which an innocent person may be wrongly executed as the `` ultimate nightmare . '' He said it is `` inevitable '' that such a case has occurred .\nLast month , the Supreme Court announced it was considering whether a drug protocol used in recent lethal injections violates the Constitution 's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment .\nThe justices agreed to review the case brought by four death row prisoners , one of whom was put to death after the court refused to block his execution using a three-drug combination that has apparently caused some prisoners pain .\nHolder 's comments on a moratorium do not require any response from states that use lethal injection . And the federal government remains engaged in a lawsuit challenging its lethal injection process , which has not been used in more than a decade .\nBut Richard Dieter , executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center , said Holder 's voice is important to the debate . `` All of this has symbolic impact '' on a landscape where questions also have been raised about defendants ' access to counsel and mounting numbers of wrongful convictions involving death row prisoners .\nHolder 's remarks on the death penalty came in response to questions after a speech related to the administration 's efforts on another pressing criminal justice issue : sentencing changes .\nHe said the rate at which federal prosecutors sought mandatory minimum prison terms for non-violent drug offenders dropped to record lows in 2014 .\nAccording to data released by the U.S . Sentencing Commission , prosecutors sought harsh mandatory-minimum punishments 51 % of the time in 2014 , down from nearly 64 % in the previous year .\nSentencing changes have become the centerpiece of Holder 's criminal justice strategy , part of an effort to reduce the overcrowded federal prison population . About 30 % of the Justice Department budget has been consumed by federal prison operations .\nOverall , the number of drug prosecutions declined by 6 % during the same period .\n`` For years prior to this administration , federal prosecutors were not only encouraged but required to always seek the most severe prison sentence possible for all drug cases , no matter the relative risk they posed to public safety , '' Holder said . `` I have made a break from that philosophy . While old habits are hard to break , these numbers show that a dramatic shift is underway in the mind-set of prosecutors handling non-violent offenses . ''\nIn the last two years of Holder 's tenure , the attorney general has sought to revamp a criminal justice system he described as `` broken . '' | allsides-corpus-638 |
Federal food programs are now feeding more than 100 million Americans . The number of recipients has soared in recent years , thanks in part to Barack Obama ’ s 2008 campaign pledge to abolish childhood hunger by 2015 . The food-aid explosion is worsening the nation ’ s obesity epidemic , though , and making a mockery of Michelle Obama ’ s “ Let ’ s Move ” campaign .\nThe Obama administration is aggressively expanding the largest federal food program , bankrolling food-stamp recruiting drives and swaying states to waive asset and income limits for applicants . The result is a boost in enrollment to almost 48 million .\nNumerous studies going back to the 1970s have linked food stamps to poor eating habits . Baruch College professor Diane Gibson estimated that participation in the food-stamp program for five years boosted the odds of young girls being overweight by 43 percent . Professor Charles Baum , writing in the Southern Economic Journal , estimated that food-stamp recipients are far more likely to be obese than eligible nonrecipients and warned that “ chronic food-stamp receipt may promote lifestyle changes that lead to weight gain . ”\nThe Obama administration portrays food stamps as a nutrition program while blocking reforms to exclude purchases of the worst kinds of junk food . The administration did not support an amendment to the farm bill by Rep. Tom Marino , Pennsylvania Republican , to compel the U.S. Department of Agriculuture to disclose how recipients spend their food stamps . Most food stamps are redeemed at large grocery chains or big-box stores such as Wal-Mart , which could easily provide itemized receipts for all food-stamp purchases . The Obama administration is also fighting a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from The Argus Leader , a South Dakota newspaper , seeking food-stamp expenditure data . The administration apparently feels entitled to treat such information as a “ state secret . ”\nIn 2010 , President Obama swayed Congress to enact the Healthy , Hunger-Free Kids Act . Thanks to this law , far more free breakfasts and lunches are being given to schoolchildren , regardless of their family ’ s income levels .\nWhile politicians tout such programs to prove their benevolence , school meals have long subverted children ’ s health . The Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) has lambasted the federal school lunch program for 35 years for its high fat and poor nutrient content . A University of Michigan study published in 2010 found that students who regularly eat school lunches are 29 percent more likely to be overweight , and that consumption of school lunches is the strongest single predictor of childhood obesity .\nSchool breakfasts have long been renowned for doughnuts , chocolate milk and other sugar bombs . Parents in Houston , Las Vegas and elsewhere have been outraged that there is no opt-out provision to block schools from giving kids a second breakfast after their child has been fed at home . New York City in 2012 suspended expansion of its Breakfast in the Classrooms after discovering that 20 percent of pupils were eating two breakfasts — one at home and another at school .\nThe most damning evidence comes from Uncle Sam . The Department of Agriculture ’ s 2012 School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study found that the typical school breakfast included almost the entire maximum recommended daily intake for sugar and fat . The number of calories from solid fats and added sugars in the average elementary-school lunch “ was 15 percent above the maximum recommended for the entire day. ” Any young child who ate both a school breakfast and lunch would likely far exceed the recommended daily thresholds for sugar — even before consuming any snacks or dinner .\nCongress has enacted numerous laws commanding the Agriculture Department and schools to serve healthier meals , most recently in 2010 . As in the past , though , such reforms are policy wonks ’ pipe dreams . The GAO reported in June that the latest federal lunch standards are “ making it difficult for some schools to meet minimum calorie requirements for lunches without adding items , such as gelatin , that generally do not improve the nutritional quality of lunches. ” In almost half the districts the GAO visited , schools added “ pudding to certain high-school menus to bring the menus into compliance with the calorie minimum. ” Such menus help explain why the rate of diabetes and prediabetes has more than doubled among American teenagers since 1999 .\nThe Obama administration may be relying on a headcount measure of benevolence , presuming that the more people the government feeds , the better America becomes . However , this numbers game is having catastrophic public health consequences .\nA commentary last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that “ seven times as many [ low-income ] children are obese as are underweight. ” The National Survey of Children ’ s Health , conducted in 2011-12 , revealed that children in lower-income families were more than twice as likely to be overweight or obese as children from families in higher-income families . In Maine , Georgia , Kentucky , North Dakota , Texas , Arizona , South Carolina , Mississippi and Louisiana , more than half of the children from low-income families are obese . In Vermont and Massachusetts , children from low-income households are more than three times as likely to be obese than kids for higher-income homes , as The Washington Post recently reported .\nMr. Obama certainly has no intent to worsen the obesity epidemic , yet he has championed the expansion of federal programs that undermine tens of millions of Americans ’ diets . Unfortunately , politicians can reap applause for fighting hunger regardless of the collateral damage that food programs inflict . Children may one day recognize those free school breakfasts and lunches as the worst bargain they ever received .\nJames Bovard is author of “ Public Policy Hooligan ” ( Sixth Street Books , 2012 ) . | allsides-corpus-639 |
Diabetes , Cost Of Care Top Health Concerns For U.S. Latinos\nDiabetes , Cost Of Care Top Health Concerns For U.S. Latinos Listen · 5:30 5:30\nLatino immigrants in the U.S. say the quality and affordability of health care is better in the U.S. than in the countries they came from , according to the latest survey by NPR , the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health . But many report having health care problems .\nAbout a third of immigrant respondents ( 31 percent ) said they 'd had a serious problem with being able to pay for health insurance in the past 12 months . And more than 1 in 4 had a serious problem affording doctor and hospital bills and prescription medicines .\nBut the health issue that Latinos said is most concerning for them and their families — whether they were born in the U.S. or immigrated here — is diabetes . Last year , in another poll , Latinos said cancer was the biggest problem facing the country .\nHispanic populations have a high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes . About 10 percent of Latino adults have been diagnosed with it or have `` prediabetes , '' a stage of the disease that often goes undetected .\nOne important factor : Latinos may be genetically predisposed to the disease — a risk that can be aggravated by environment and diet .\nTake the example of East Los Angeles , an area heavily populated by Mexican-Americans .\nLike many of her friends and family members , Rebecca Martinez-Rocha says she struggles with her weight . At one point , she weighed more than 320 pounds .\n`` I do n't think I realized it at the time , whether it was denial or I stopped getting on a scale , '' she says , `` but I was morbidly obese . ''\nAnd , as it turns out , Martinez-Rocha was prediabetic , a diagnosis she received at a local health clinic .\n`` I was n't aware of the fact that I was ill ; I figured that I was relatively young , in my 20s and early 30s , '' she says . `` It was kind of one of those 'aha ' moments in life , where you look at it and put it all together and you think , 'How did I get here ? ' ``\nThe doctor who diagnosed Martinez-Rocha 's condition is Anne Peters , a diabetes specialist and professor at University of Southern California 's Keck School of Medicine . She 's also the director of a diabetes program at Roybal Comprehensive Health Center .\nPeters says Type 2 diabetes is the `` plague '' of the Latino community she treats : `` Individuals here are getting diabetes at rates we 've not seen before . ''\nAbout 12 percent of the Latino population she sees has diabetes . Peters projects that number will climb to nearly 30 percent over the next few decades if nothing changes in the environment or diet of local residents .\nPeters told Martinez-Rocha she was on her way to getting insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes . Martinez-Rocha says she got very scared and made major changes . She lost 160 pounds .\nBut many patients do n't do that , in large part because prediabetes is often `` silent . '' Unless people go to a doctor and get their blood sugar measured , they 'll never know they have it .\nAnd that 's a shame , Peters says , because prediabetes can be turned around . `` If somebody has prediabetes , they need to lose weight — not a lot of weight , maybe only 10 to 15 pounds , '' she says .\nThey `` do n't have to become skinny '' to benefit , she adds . Studies show that moderate weight loss can reduce diabetes risk by half .\nLosing weight is hard for many people . But Martinez-Rocha says it 's even harder when you live in a neighborhood that offers lots of high-fat , high-salt and high-sugar food .\n`` If you drive around my neighborhood , every corner you 'll see a taco stand , a fast-food restaurant , a sweet-bread store , places selling tamales or fried food , '' Martinez-Rocha says .\nIn NPR 's poll with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health , 1 in 5 Mexican-Americans rated the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhoods as fair or poor .\nAlex Ortega , a public health researcher and professor of public health at UCLA , calls neighborhoods like this , where healthy food is hard to come by , `` food swamps . ''\nWalk into the typical corner market , he says , and the first things you 'll see are signs for liquor and lottery tickets , cigarettes , soda and chips . `` They might sell some fruits and vegetables , but they 're typically in the back of the store and in very poor quality , '' Ortega says .\nOur survey found that Latino immigrants generally do not perceive their diets as less healthy in the U.S. : 38 percent see their diet as healthier in the United States , and about the same number ( 39 percent ) say it 's about as healthy . One in 5 ( 21 percent ) see their diet as less healthy .\nPrevious studies have shown that obesity rates among immigrants increase as their duration of residence in the U.S. increases . They suggest this might be attributable in part to changes in lifestyle , including an unhealthy diet .\nOrtega is committed to turning the Latino diet around . As director of the UCLA-USC Center for Population Health and Health Disparities , Ortega is heading a project to convert corner stores in low-income neighborhoods .\nAbout a month ago , Ortega , along with community activists , local high school students and store owner Maria Avila , transformed the Euclid Market in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles . They added windows and a new paint job , and rearranged and organized shelving . But most importantly , Ortega says , they added healthful foods .\nThe newly converted store opened to the public in December . Today , when you walk in the door , the first things you see are n't cigarettes and junk food — they 're fresh fruits and vegetables .\nThis is the fourth corner store in the area to be converted . Ortega is still collecting data , but anecdotally , he says , store owners tell him they have more customers , they 're selling more fruits and vegetables , and they 're making more money .\nBut the big question is whether the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables will make a difference in the health of the neighborhood and the epidemic of diabetes .\nFor college freshman DeeDee Barba , it has made a difference . She has taken part in the store conversion project for two years . Not only has she learned about marketing and sales , but she 's also learned about nutrition . As a result , she says , her family now eats more healthfully . Part of that includes no dressing on salads .\n`` We now eat our salads with olive oil and lemon , and it 's actually good , '' she says . `` We eat a lot of fish and chicken ; we rarely eat red meat . We eat rice , but we have whole-wheat rice . We do n't drink soda anymore — we drink mostly water . ''\nHigh school senior Steven Cardona , 17 , has worked with the store conversion project for the past year . Learning about nutrition , he says , has changed his family 's diet dramatically .\n`` Before , we would eat lots of fast food , but now we eat mostly steamed vegetables , rice , chicken and lean meats , '' he says . Family members have lost a lot of weight , and everybody reports feeling `` better , '' he says .\nOrtega says that 's exactly what 's hoped for : that the availability of healthy food in low-income neighborhoods like this will make a difference in what residents buy , cook and eat . And that it will mean changing diets and reducing the high rates of obesity and diabetes in the Latino community in East L.A . | allsides-corpus-640 |
A California state senator wants to make his state the first in the nation to require warning labels on soda and other sugary drinks , a proposal called “ misleading ” by beverage industry officials .\nDemocratic Sen. William Monning ’ s bill proposed Thursday would require the warning on the front of all beverage containers with added sweeteners that have 75 or more calories in every 12 ounces . The label would read : `` STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING : Drinking beverages with added sugar ( s ) contributes to obesity , diabetes , and tooth decay . ''\nMonning says there is overwhelming research showing the link between sugary drinks and those health problems , adding that the wording was developed by a national panel of nutrition and public health experts .\n`` When the science is this conclusive , the state of California has a responsibility to take steps to protect consumers , '' Monning said in a press release . `` As with tobacco and alcohol warnings , this legislation will give Californians essential information they need to make healthier choices . ''\nThe bill has the backing of the California Medical Association and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy . The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California and the California Black Health Network also are sponsoring the legislation , citing the heavy consumption of sugary drinks and associated health problems among minorities .\nA bill similar to Monning 's was introduced last year in Vermont , but it has been held in the Committee on Human Services since April . The Vermont bill would require manufacturers to put warning labels on beverages that contain sugar or other artificial additives .\nCalBev , the California arm of the Washington , D.C.-based American Beverage Association , noted that the industry already posts calorie counts on the front of many beverage containers as part of its `` Clear on Calories '' campaign that began in 2010 . Also , drink bottles already have detailed ingredient lists and nutritional information .\n`` We agree that obesity is a serious and complex issue , '' the group said in a statement , but it called Monning 's bill `` misleading '' because it said just 6 percent of calories in the average American 's diet come from soda , fruit , sports and energy drinks , compared with 11 percent in sweets and deserts . Moreover , it said most calories are consumed in the form of fats , oils and starches in food .\nThe group would not put a price tag on complying with the proposed legislation but said the measure would increase the cost of doing business in California .\nThe medical groups backing Monning 's bill countered with their own data , saying sugary drinks are the largest source of added calories in American 's diet in the last three decades . They also said one soda a day boosts an adult 's chances of being overweight by 27 percent and a child 's by 55 percent , and it can increase the risk of diabetes by 26 percent .\nMonning dismissed suggestions that the labeling would be another example of nanny government .\n`` It is not the responsibility of industry to protect the public health . It is the responsibility of government , '' he told the Associated Press , noting that consumers could still choose to drink the beverages . `` We believe it 's an appropriate role for government to play . ''\nThe warning labels would mesh , he said , with health campaigns and proposed ordinances in several California cities and elsewhere to discourage sugar consumption . San Francisco , for instance , is considering asking voters to approve a tax on soda and other sweetened drinks , while former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg unsuccessfully pushed proposals to tax soda and ban the sale of large soda containers .\nMonning said warning labels can make a difference in consumers ' choices , particularly when paired with other public health campaigns warning of the dangers of obesity .\n`` We do n't underestimate what we 're up against , '' he said . `` We 're up against $ 100 million advertising campaigns . ''\nHe said the labeling would be consistent with the industry 's own stated goal of providing consumers with the information to make an intelligent choice . | allsides-corpus-641 |
Sugar bashing is all the rage these days , and with good cause . Studies over many years have pointed to sugar as , at the very least , an accomplice , if not the perp , behind many of the health ills of modern civilization . Obesity and diabetes are the obvious candidates caused by over-consumption of the sweet stuff . The obesity epidemic has been written about exhaustively for years , and obesity ’ s good friend , Type 2 diabetes , has increased threefold in the past three decades , coinciding with the explosion of sugary products ( both obvious and hidden ) . However , there are a cornucopia of other illnesses and conditions that have lesser-known connections to sugar . The list is long : high blood pressure , hypoglycemia , depression , acne , headaches , hardening of the arteries , fatigue , violent behavior , hyperactivity , aching extremities , and of course , tooth decay .\nIt seems we pay a heavy price for our sweet tooth . Not only do we eat a lot of sugar and make ourselves ill , but it has no nutritional value at all . No vitamins , no minerals , no enzymes , no fiber . ( Honey and molasses lovers could make a teeny tiny case for their sweeteners , since they do have trace amounts of a few nutrients . )\nSugar tastes good . Humans crave sugar right down to their DNA . `` Sugar is a deep , deep ancient craving , '' Daniel Lieberman , an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University recently told Business Insider . Early humans looked for sweet fruits and vegetables because they contained the natural sugars that give us energy . Of course , cavemen were never tempted by Ring Dings or Snickers bars . How badly do we crave sugar ? Here are ( some of ) the shocking statistics :\n1 . Americans consume , on average , 765 grams of sugar every five days . To put that in perspective , in 1822 we consumed on average 45 grams every five days . That is equal to one can of soda . Now we consume 17 times that , or the equivalent of 17 cans of soda .\n2 . Americans consume 130 pounds of sugar every year . Our 1822 predecessors ate under 10 pounds of sugar a year . 130 pounds a year means about three pounds a week . That equals about 3,550 pounds in an average lifetime—approaching two tons of sugar .\n3 . More on that last one : 130 pounds of sugar equals about 1,767,900 Skittles . Or just fill an industrial a dumpster with Skittles .\n4 . The American Heart Association recommends we consume less than 10 teaspoons of sugar a day . The average adult American misses that mark by a lot . Like about 12 teaspoons . The average American gobbles down on average 22 teaspoons a day . And the average child ? 32 teaspoons . Pretty sure none of us needs that much to make the medicine go down . Mary Poppins , it seems , was an enabler .\n5 . Our sugar consumption is both in plain sight and hidden , ingested from the most unlikely places . Sugar in cookies seems obvious . Sugar in potato chips not so much . And ketchup and TV dinners and soup and crackers and just about every other processed food out there . Who are the biggest baddies ? Soft drinks lead the list at 33 % of our sugar consumption ( drink water instead of coke and you ’ ve already made a huge dent ) . Candy and other obvious sweets , 16 % . Baked goods like cookies and cakes , 13 % . Fruit drinks 10 % . Sweetened yogurt , ice cream and milk almost 9 % .\n6 . One can of Coke , 12 ounces , contains 10 teaspoons of sugary goodness . That ’ s more sugar than two Frosted Pop Tarts with a Twinkie thrown in .\n7 . The average American consumes 53 gallons of soda a year . Let ’ s do the math . 128 ounces in a gallon times 53 . That ’ s 6,784 ounces . Or just to simplify it , that ’ s 565 cans of soda a year .\n8 . If you took away all the sugar in an average American diet , you would subtract 500 calories a day . Of course , since we are not taking it away , that means sugar adds 500 calories a day to our diet ( and waistlines ) . That is like eating 10 strips of bacon a day . Even bacon-loving Americans might stop short of that .\n9 . So , given all the bad stuff : Diseases , bad teeth , expanding waistlines . Zero nutrition . Why do we keep consuming sugar ? Well , there is that DNA connection . Sugar is how we are wired for energy , but evolution never took processed sugar into account . Sweets eaters survived because they ate more energy-efficient fruit and veggie sugar that metabolizes slowly and doesn ’ t kill us .\nSugar is as addictive as cocaine . Brain scans after sugar consumption , are very similar to when we do blow . Dopamine floods the brain and , boy , do we feel good . And of course it is a lot easier on the nostrils…unless you ’ re snorting your sugar… Hello . My name is Larry , and I ’ m a sugar addict .\nSo what does a poor American do ? We can start by being conscious of the sugar we are consuming . The stuff comes in many disguises . It ’ s like the Peter Sellers of ingredients . Sugar , cane juice , cane syrup , high-fructose corn syrup , fruit juice concentrate , honey , molasses , malt syrup . Those are its favorite masks . If we are at least aware of what we are chowing down or chugging , we have a fighting chance . Increase the water intake , decrease the soda intake . Check out the ingredients on the labels . Opt for reduced sugar products . Awareness is a good start . As Daniel Lieberman said : `` We need to realize that our bodies are not adapted to the amount of sugar that we are pouring into them and it 's making us sick . '' | allsides-corpus-642 |
There ’ s a surprisingly big disconnect between how obesity researchers think about the causes of and treatments for obesity and how the American public does .\nResearchers think some people have genetic and hormonal traits that make them more susceptible to obesity . They view obesity as a complex , chronic disease , like cancer , with many causes and subtypes . They ’ re also losing faith in dieting and exercise , neither of which is very helpful for weight loss in the long term .\nThe public , on the other hand , generally believes obesity is caused by a lack of willpower , and that it can be fixed with gym memberships and trendy diets . In one 2016 survey of more than 1,500 Americans , 60 percent of the participants said dieting and exercise were even more effective than surgery for long-term weight loss .\nHere ’ s the thing , though : Weight loss surgery is far and away medicine ’ s best treatment for severe obesity .\nThe medical case for bariatric surgery has grown much stronger in recent years . High quality studies on the long-term health outcomes of people with obesity who got surgery show , on average , that they ’ re able to lose dramatic amounts of weight , and even reverse or prevent their obesity-related health conditions , like diabetes and high cholesterol . A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated this once again . That ’ s why Medicaid now covers the procedure in 46 states , and so do national health systems in countries like Israel , Brazil , and Canada . It ’ s also why the American Academy of Pediatrics is now endorsing the operation as a “ safe and effective ” option for adolescents with severe obesity .\nYet out of the 20 million people who are eligible in the US , fewer than 1 percent get bariatric surgery for weight loss , according to the Obesity Society .\nWhy ? Polling data shows that many Americans still think it ’ s dangerous and ineffective .\nTo be clear , not all weight loss surgeries are created equal : The gastric bypass and gastric sleeve operations are considered superior to the lap band , for example . And surgery isn ’ t for people with a few pounds to lose ; it ’ s reserved for those with severe obesity . Even the best surgeries don ’ t work in some people and can cause disturbing side effects in rare cases . But bariatric surgery ’ s benefits appear to vastly outweigh its harms on average , and it is shaping up to be a genuine help for people struggling through one of the most urgent health crises of our time . It ’ s time we started paying attention .\nWeight loss surgeries work by reducing the size of the stomach and suppressing hormones related to hunger and satiety\nThe obesity crisis in America really began to take off in the 1970s . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates from 2016 show that 40 percent of US adults and 19 percent of youth are obese .\nBut long before that , doctors were searching for ways to alter people ’ s bodies to help them eat less food .\nJaw wiring , which involved literally wiring the jaws shut to stop people from eating , was among the early approaches . In the 1950s , researchers noticed that shortening the small intestines of dogs hampered their ability to absorb calories and caused them to lose weight . By the late 1960s , bariatric surgery was being tried in humans . Surgeons ’ methods were crude at first but have vastly improved over the years . And some kinds of bariatric surgery ( most recently , the lap band approach ) have fallen out of favor .\nNow researchers are generating longer-term data showing some of the current surgical methods that can lead to dramatic and durable weight loss , and , even more remarkably , improvements in people ’ s long-term health outcomes .\nThe majority of bariatric procedures in America today involve the gastric sleeve and the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass . Both of these methods permanently alter the digestive tract to help people lose an average of about 30 percent of their original bodyweight ( and keep most of it off — more on that later ) .\nWith the sleeve , which now makes up more than 50 percent of weight loss surgeries in the US , surgeons staple off and remove about 80 percent of the stomach , transforming the organ from a wide football shape into a slim banana ( or sleeve ) shape . By reducing the size of the stomach , people can ’ t eat as much as they used to , so they consume fewer calories .\nWith the gastric bypass , surgeons use staples to make the stomach smaller by creating a small pouch , which can only hold about an ounce ( or walnut ’ s worth ) of food . Next , they reconnect the small intestine to a hole in the new pouch , so food flows into the pouch , bypassing most of the stomach , and then into the latter part of the small intestine , bypassing the first half of the intestine . Like the sleeve , the surgery also restricts the amount of food people can eat , but because food no longer passes through most of the stomach , people also can ’ t absorb as many calories and nutrients as they used to .\nBut an additional reason both the sleeve and gastric bypass surgeries lead to long-term weight loss is likely because of the changes in hormones that occur after these procedures . The sleeve , and especially the bypass , seems to suppress hormones that affect hunger and satiety , like the “ hunger hormone ” ghrelin — something no diet will ever do .\nAnother interesting possible reason for why the surgery works is that it may readjust the body ’ s metabolic rate , making maintaining weight loss easier .\nIn a 2014 study , published in the journal Obesity , researchers compared participants from the Biggest Loser reality TV show who had gone on crash diets and exercise programs to rapidly lose as much weight as possible to people who had gastric bypass surgery . ( They jumped on the chance to study reality show contestants because it ’ s so rare to see people with severe obesity lose vast amounts of weight in real life . ) The bypass surgery patients saw their metabolisms normalize within a year , to a rate that matched their new body size , while the TV show contestants saw their metabolisms slow down and stay that way — even six years after losing the weight and , on average , regaining much of it back .\nResearchers suspect this is because surgery may reset the “ set point , ” or the body ’ s habit of vigorously defending a certain weight range . Once a person gains weight and keeps that weight on for a period of time , the body gets used to its new , larger size . When a person loses weight , a bunch of subtle changes kick in — to the hormone levels , the brain — increasing appetite and slowing the metabolism , all in a seeming conspiracy to get back up to that set point weight .\nAmazingly , surgery seems to lower the set point , and even weaken the body ’ s desire to defend it . And that seems to make keeping weight off a little easier .\nNot all weight loss surgeries are equally effective . The lap band surgery is not a great weight loss surgery .\nThe third most common weight loss procedure in America is the lap band , though it has dramatically fallen out of favor in recent years and now only makes up about 5 percent of surgeries . The problem is the surgery doesn ’ t work as well for weight loss as the other procedures on offer , and it leads to many complications and more surgery .\nLap banding involves placing an inflatable band around the upper portion of the stomach to create a small pouch . When the lap band operation was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001 , it seemed like a safe option for weight loss surgery that could be adjusted or removed at the patient ’ s behest . ( Unlike the gastric bypass or sleeve operations , it didn ’ t involve permanently altering the stomach or intestines — and it could be reversed by simply removing the device . )\nBut long-term data suggest lap band patients lose about half the amount of weight as bypass or sleeve patients . To be clear , even losing 10 percent of one ’ s bodyweight ( the average weight loss with lap banding ) can improve health outcomes , but it ’ s a lot less than the other weight loss surgeries . The lap band also turned out to be riskier than it seemed at first , often requiring additional surgeries .\nIn the best study we have on just how problematic lap band surgeries can be , published in JAMA , researchers from the University of Michigan looked at 16 years of Medicare data to see how common “ re-operations ” were after the first lap band procedure . These involved everything from removing the band to replacing it , fixing it , or following the initial procedure with another weight loss operation ( i.e. , the gastric bypass ) . They found 20 percent — or one in five — of the 25,000 lap band patients needed an additional procedure . That ’ s much higher than the 3 to 9 percent re-operation rate for the gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgeries .\nResearchers think one reason the lap bands can fail is that they only restrict the size of the stomach , without producing the hormone and metabolic changes the sleeve and bypass do .\nPeople who get bypass or sleeve operations lose about a third of their original bodyweight on average — and keep most of it off\nIn the longer-term studies of both teens and adults who got sleeve and bypass surgeries , researchers found that people lose about a third of their original bodyweight on average and keep most of it off . So if someone weighs 300 pounds going into surgery , after a year they ’ ll probably weigh about 200 . But not all surgeries are created equal : The lap band is dramatically less effective than the sleeve or bypass . Let ’ s look at the evidence .\nAccording to a recent study , published in JAMA Surgery , researchers followed more than 1,000 adults for up to seven years and found bypass patients lost 28 percent of their original bodyweight ( including regaining about 4 percent of their weight loss between three and seven years ) . Band patients lost only 15 percent of their original bodyweight after seven years .\nIn another 2016 JAMA study , looking at the four-year weight change in veterans who underwent weight loss surgery , the bypass patients lost 27 percent of their original bodyweight , the gastric sleeve patients lost 17 percent , and again , lap band patients lost 10 percent .\nAnother systematic review from 2015 pooled the results of many studies on different weight loss operations and found the same trend : Band patients fared the worst when it came to weight loss , and gastric bypass patients the best .\nThe data on adolescents who get bariatric surgery looks similar . In a 2016 New England Journal of Medicine study , researchers followed 242 adolescents who got either gastric bypass surgery or the sleeve . After three years , sleeve patients lost 26 percent of their original bodyweight while bypass patients lost 28 percent . For a 2019 paper , also in NEJM , researchers compared the health outcomes of 161 teens and 396 adults for five years after their gastric bypass surgeries . Both groups lost around a third of their original bodyweight .\nAnother 2017 Lancet study followed 58 American teens for eight years who underwent gastric bypass . Again , teens lost an average of 30 percent of their bodyweight . That ’ s a similar finding to a study out of Sweden which tracked 81 teenagers with obesity who had a gastric bypass for five years . They lost about 28 percent of their original bodyweight .\nSo the data we have now suggests the surgery can be both safe and effective on average . But there ’ s still more researchers need to learn about the current surgical methods being used , in particular , their very long-term effects on people after more than a decade or two , and whether surgery continues to mitigate the effects of obesity ’ s toll .\nThere ’ s some variation in how much weight people lose after surgery , and no one knows why\nAs with every health intervention , there are some big caveats with weight loss surgery , too . One is that there ’ s some real variability in how people respond to it , and researchers have no way of predicting who will fare well and who won ’ t .\nThis 2018 JAMA Surgery study is a great example . The average weight loss after bypass was about 30 percent , and the majority of the study participants had lost and kept off between 20 and 30 percent of their bodyweight seven years after a bypass surgery . But there were outliers : 5 percent of the participants in the study lost as little as 10 percent of their original bodyweight , while 13 percent lost as much as 45 percent of their original weight .\nWhile researchers can ’ t tell who will succeed and who will fail before a surgery , they are learning people who do well have a few things in common . In the paper , the researchers found that people who lost more weight tended to be younger when they got the surgery . They also tended to be female and white , and had a higher body mass at the start of the study .\nIn another 2016 paper , looking at the variables that affected weight change after surgery , researchers found that people who adopted healthier eating habits lost the most weight . So it wasn ’ t just the surgery that helped people ; it was changes to their diet , too .\n“ Everyone is quite different in terms of how they lose weight and how much they lose over time , ” said Anita Courcoulas , a bariatric surgeon who was an author on both of these papers .\nShe thinks the reason is that there ’ s variability in the causes and subtypes of obesity among people , and that different people may need to be treated differently to get the best results . “ I think the important next step is figuring out how to understand the different subtypes of obesity , ” she said , “ instead of treating people like they ’ re one homogenous group. ” But we ’ re not there yet .\nThe other health benefits of surgery can be dramatic , including driving Type 2 diabetes into remission\nAside from the weight loss , the reason doctors get excited about bariatric surgery is that it seems to reduce the risk of a bunch of obesity-related diseases .\nCompared to obese adults who don ’ t get the surgery , bariatric patients live longer , have a lower risk of cancer , have less high blood pressure , have lower rates of Type 2 diabetes , and weigh significantly less .\nThe JAMA Surgery study offers some of the best evidence that these effects are durable over time . The study came out of LABS , the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery , a rigorous , multi-center study of bariatric patients that ’ s funded by the National Institutes of Health . Many bariatric studies have issues with people dropping out over time , which may bias the results . But the LABS researchers were able to follow up with more than 80 percent of the participants over seven years , which is rare in clinical medicine .\nAnd they found that all of the patients ’ health conditions — diabetes , high blood pressure , high cholesterol — were less prevalent seven years after surgery than they were before surgery . Sixty percent of the patients with Type 2 diabetes going in were still in remission seven years later . ( The same wasn ’ t true for the group that got the lap band . )\nThe newest NEJM study suggests teens may see these benefits even more : They were much more likely to experience remission of their diabetes and high blood pressure than adults .\nSurgery can cause complications and carry rare but disturbing side effects\nToday ’ s weight loss surgical techniques are a lot safer than they used to be — there ’ s a low rate of complications that ’ s similar to other abdominal operations , like gallbladder surgery . But the operations still carry a 0.3 percent mortality risk and other potential harms .\nThe most common long-term issue bariatric surgery patients face is nutritional deficiencies . Surgeries can hamper the body ’ s ability to absorb nutrients , so many of the people go on to develop iron , B12 , calcium , folate , and thiamine deficiencies . That ’ s why bariatric patients need to be closely monitored for the rest of their lives , to make sure they ’ re getting the vitamins they need and that they ’ re not developing any other health issues as a result .\nMany patients also need additional surgeries for surgical complications , or “ revision ” operations to address problems with their original surgeries . For example , patients who got the lap band may go back for a bypass after finding out the lap band didn ’ t work . And between 6 and 20 percent of bypass patients need to get treatment for stomal stenosis , which is when the new connection between the small stomach pouch and the intestine narrows and doctors have to go back in a stretch it out .\nThe sleeve is a simpler procedure and there tend to be fewer complications requiring surgery , but they can still happen . Up to 5 percent of sleeve patients experience gastric leaks , or a hole along the staple line of the newly created stomach , which allows stomach juices to leak into the abdominal cavity . Up to 17 percent of adults who have undergone a sleeve operation are later diagnosed with Barrett 's esophagus , a complication of acid reflux disease that can lead to cancer .\nFinally , some patients may opt for plastic surgery for loose , hanging skin — extra procedures that often aren ’ t covered by insurance .\nThen there are the rare but disturbing psychological effects that have surfaced in adults after bariatric surgery , including a slightly elevated post-surgical risk of self-harm , suicide , and drug and alcohol use disorders .\nResearchers still don ’ t understand why this happens , but they have some ideas they ’ re exploring . Because of the changes in the gut after bypass and sleeve operations , patients are more sensitive to the effects of drugs and alcohol .\n“ Any drug that peaks more quickly is more prone to abuse , ” said James Mitchell , a psychiatrist who studies bariatric surgery at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences . So it ’ s possible that bariatric surgery may make alcohol and other drugs more addicting for some people .\nJunaid Bhatti , a Toronto-based researcher who has studied the link between suicide and bariatric surgery , said researchers are exploring whether this increased risk is caused by stress after surgery — the pressure to lose weight , the disappointment if you don ’ t . “ There is a subgroup of patients that may not be able to adjust well to the restrictions that come after surgery and if they have any previous mental health issue that may be provoked because of that stress following surgery , ” he explained . Or maybe there ’ s some other yet-to-be-discovered physiological change after surgery that explains it .\nThese two effects — the drug abuse and mental health issues — may work together in dangerous ways , Mitchell added . “ When people are intoxicated , they are disinhibited . If they are depressed and thinking about suicide , that ’ s not an uncommon time for them to act . So those two things may converge in a bad way that needs to be looked at in more detail . ”\nThere ’ s another nonmedical — but important — side effect of going under the knife for weight loss surgery : experiencing a change in relationship status . A study out of Sweden , published in JAMA Surgery , found people with spouses or live-in partners were more likely to separate or divorce after surgery compared to control groups who didn ’ t get surgery , while single patients were more likely to get into a relationship .\nThe new NEJM paper found these serious complications — nutrient deficiencies , self-harm , additional operations — may be more common in teens than adults . So there ’ s an urgent need to understand them .\nThen there are the important cost considerations . Without insurance , bariatric surgery can cost more than $ 20,000 . And that doesn ’ t include the cost of additional operations and follow-up care . So bariatric surgery isn ’ t necessarily going to make a big dent in America ’ s obesity-related costs , which add up to about $ 210 billion per year .\n“ The expectation is bariatric erases these obesity-associated costs , ” said David Arterburn , an obesity expert at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute , “ but because of the small complication rate and because complications are expensive — requiring hospitalization , reoperation — my take on the literature is that there ’ s no cost savings that happens from bariatric surgery . ”\nThe average patient with severe obesity uses between $ 5,000 and $ 10,000 in medical care per year , he said . Out of those total costs , about a third are associated with their obesity . The rest is related to other problems , like arthritis or high blood pressure that ’ s brought on by aging . Bariatric surgery can help cut the obesity-related costs , but not necessarily these other costs or the follow-up .\nEven so , bariatric surgery is considered “ cost-effective , ” meaning it ’ s as effective or better than similarly expensive interventions .\n“ Cost-effective treatments are considered somewhere between less than $ 50,000 to $ 100,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved [ QALY ] , ” explained Scott Kahan , director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness and a professor at George Washington University . “ Bariatric surgery is in the range of $ 50,000 per QALY. ” By comparison , annual Pap smear screenings are estimated at $ 800,000 per QALY , kidney dialysis $ 50,000 to $ 100,000 per QALY , and spinal fusion $ 250,000 per QALY .\n“ This is right in that sweet spot of we are spending a reasonable amount of money and getting a reasonable return , ” Kahan added .\nResearchers think the surgery could be even more cost-effective in adolescents — not only because they ’ ll likely experience greater health gains than adults ( since they ’ re young and many of their health problems are more reversible ) , but also because they ’ ll be better positioned to contribute to the economy if they ’ re unencumbered by severe obesity .\nPeople who want surgeries aren ’ t always able to get them\nAgain , fewer than 1 percent of people get bariatric surgery for weight loss . And researchers and obesity experts think there are several reasons for that .\nA lack of understanding about obesity and obesity-related stigma may hold both doctors and patients back from considering surgery . “ There ’ s an attitude that people are at fault for their obesity , that it ’ s failure or personal responsibility , ” said Joe Nadglowski of the Obesity Action Coalition , a membership organization for people with obesity . “ Not only is having obesity something you ’ re stigmatized for but if you need a medical intervention , there ’ s a stigma around needing help to deal with it. ” So doctors may think patients can exercise their way out of the problem , and patients may feel they should be able to , too .\nIn a seminal 1991 study , researchers asked patients who had lost about 100 pounds after surgery to choose between regaining their weight or maintaining their new body size at the cost of living with another disability . The patients opted for deafness , blindness , heart disease , even losing a limb , instead of returning to their morbid obesity .\nInsurance coverage is “ all over the place , ” Kahan said . Though many providers cover the surgery , copays can be high , and insurers often don ’ t pay for follow-up operations or plastic surgeries that are needed later . “ Even when there is coverage , it ’ s quasi-coverage , ” he added . “ Copays can range from hundreds of dollars to over $ 10,000 in some policies . For some patients , surgeries are exempt from out-of-pocket maximums . ”\nMany doctors still don ’ t know the basic requirements for bariatric surgery recommendation and may not be referring patients who could benefit from surgery , he added . In a 2007 survey of nearly 500 doctors , 91 percent referred their severely obese patients to exercise , with diet following closely behind . The least recommended weight loss treatment was bariatric surgery , prescribed for only 15 of the doctors ’ morbidly obese patients .\nWe can ’ t cut our way out of the obesity epidemic\nAlmost all the researchers I spoke to for this story said they hoped to one day find a pill that could do for obesity what surgery does . But until then , surgery is the best thing we have for the treatment of obesity . That doesn ’ t mean it ’ s the answer to the obesity epidemic , however .\n“ The obesity epidemic did not occur because we don ’ t have enough surgery , ” said National Institutes of Health obesity researcher Kevin Hall . “ The obesity epidemic occurred because the food environment has changed remarkably . ”\nThere ’ s no question that our food landscape has increased the opportunities for obesity-related genes and traits to express themselves . Preventing future obesity cases will require making it easier for people to eat healthfully and be more active . But there ’ s still the problem about what to do for the people who are struggling with severe obesity right now .\n“ [ Surgery ] is an incredibly valuable tool right now for treating adults with [ severe ] obesity , ” Hall added , “ but we ’ re not going to cut our way out of the obesity epidemic . ” | allsides-corpus-643 |
The United Nations is calling for a united effort among member countries to tackle the “ largest humanitarian crisis ” in more than 70 years .\nStephen O ’ Brien , the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs , said on Friday that more than 20 million people in Yemen , Somalia , South Sudan , and Nigeria are facing the threat of starvation and famine . Urging more financial support from member countries , Mr. O ’ Brien said $ 4.4 billion is needed by July to avert this disaster .\n`` We stand at a critical point in history , '' O'Brien told the Security Council on Friday . “ Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations . ''\n“ Collective and coordinated global efforts ” are crucial to save those in need , O'Brien said . With the ongoing conflicts in the region , 12 million people in Yemen , 7.5 million in South Sudan , 6.2 million in Somalia , and 10.7 million in Nigeria need immediate assistance , with most of them facing severe food insecurity and a real risk of starving to death .\n“ Children stunted and out of school . Livelihoods , futures and hope will be lost . Communities ’ resilience rapidly wilting away . Development gains reversed , ” he said in his appeal to the president and members of the Security Council . “ Many will be displaced and will continue to move in search for survival , creating ever more instability across entire regions . ”\nAnd despite pledges of help , only six percent of the promised funds have been received so far . While 14 donors pledged a total of $ 672 million for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region , including $ 458 million for humanitarian action , it is still far from the $ 1.5 billion the region requires , he said .\nCiting the dire situation in these countries , he pleaded for donations .\n`` To be precise , '' he said , `` We need $ 4.4 billion by July , and that ’ s a detailed cost , not a negotiating number . ''\nUN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made similar appeals last month , saying that the UN had only received $ 90 million so far in 2017 .\nO'Brien proposed three additional actions for the international community to prevent widespread starvation : Restore the normal access to food in these countries , guarantee unimpeded humanitarian access to people in need , and come up with a political solution to end the fighting that has displaced millions and very often led to food deprivation of the public .\n“ All four countries have one thing in common : conflict , ” he said . “ This means we – you – have the possibility to prevent , and end , further misery and suffering . ”\nThe Humanitarian Affairs Office is not the first one to point out this humanitarian crisis . The United Nations International Children 's Fund on Feb. 21 announced that nearly 1.4 million African children are “ at imminent risk ” of death due to famine in these four countries , as The ███ reported .\n`` Time is running out for more than a million children , '' UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said at the time .\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy\nOn Friday , O ’ Brien said the UN and its humanitarian partners have the coordination and personnel to confront this challenge , but without `` sufficient and timely financial support , '' it is difficult to expand their work .\n`` The situation for people in each country is dire , and without a major international response , the situation will get worse , '' he said in conclusion . `` The UN and its partners are ready to scale up . But we need the access and the funds to do more . It is all preventable . It is possible to avert this crisis , to avert these famines , to avert these looming human catastrophes . '' | allsides-corpus-644 |
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