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The environmental awakening of Tucker Carlson [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen
In [Popular Information]
February 15, 2023
285 views
T

• On February 3, a freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in Ohio near the small town of East Palestine, releasing toxic fumes and causing a massive fire.
• Residents were ordered to evacuate and there are ongoing concerns about the safety of their air, soil, and water.
• Far-right pundit Tucker Carlson expressed concern that the EPA was not aggressive enough in exercising its regulatory authority to protect residents.
• It would take regulations and reining in corporate greed to minimize the risk of train derailments and protect communities from environmental disasters.
• Rail companies have vehemently opposed federal safety initiatives for years, especially when it comes to the transport of hazardous materials.
• The Trump administration authorized the transport of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by rail and the Biden administration has yet to reinstate the brake rule or expand the kinds of trains subjected to tougher safety regulations.
• Freight rail has become more dangerous due to cost-cutting systems like Precision Scheduled Railroading, which has resulted in job cuts and reduced inspection times.
• Norfolk Southern has used the higher profits from Precision Scheduled Railroading to repurchase shares of its own stock, benefiting executives and investors.

Published February 15, 2023
Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post The environmental awakening of Tucker Carlson

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Peter Zeihan – Next on the Chopping Block: Moldova [Peter Zeihan, Zeihan on Geopolitics]

By William McClain
In Peter Zeihan [Zeihan on Geopolitics]
February 15, 2023
245 views
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  • Moldova is a small country located between the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea that has been used as a training ground for Russian intelligence agencies.
  • The Russians have used their political influence in the country to engineer the fall of the government.
  • Whoever controls Moldova has been able to determine which way the armies can flow.
  • The Eastern edge of Moldova, called Transnistra, declared independence in 1992 with Russian sponsorship and has maintained independence ever since.
  • Russia has maintained a strong presence in the country and has worked to make sure that the government of Moldova is as non-functional as possible.
  • During the Ukraine war, Russia has tried to use Moldova as a wedge either to manipulate refugees coming out of Ukraine or to launch missiles into Ukrainian targets.
  • If Ukraine falls, Moldova is the next target.
  • If Ukraine wins, Ukrainian or NATO military action against the Russian troops in Transnistra could fold Moldova into the European and the NATO family of countries.

Published February 15, 2023

Visit YouTube to read Peter Zeihan’s original vlog Peter Zeihan – Next on the Chopping Block: Moldova

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February 14, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen
In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]
February 15, 2023
249 views
F

• On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Theodore Roosevelt lost both his wife and his mother.
• Four years before, Roosevelt had married Alice Hathaway Lee and they had a daughter.
• Alice was suffering from Bright’s Disease and his mother from typhoid.
• Roosevelt escaped to Dakota Territory to become a rancher, but his cattle died in a brutal winter.
• He returned to politics with a cowboy image and eventually became President of the United States.
• As President, he worked to clean up the cities and stop the exploitation of workers.

Published February 15, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 14, 2023

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Peter Zeihan – How Stable Is the Russian Oil Industry? [Peter Zeihan, Zeihan on Geopolitics]

By William McClain
In Peter Zeihan [Zeihan on Geopolitics]
February 14, 2023
240 views
P
  • Russian oil production – 500,000 barrels/day, 1/2 of 1% of global production, 10% of Russian exports
  • Permafrost – Damage to wells takes 30 years to repair, without oil services firms
  • European oil & refined products ban – Reduces demand for Russian product, break-even price for Russian crude is between $40 & $60/barrel
  • Friday seminar – Covers economic impacts of war one year out, including oil & disruptions, natural gas, raw Commodities, Agriculture, & entire supply chain

Published February 14, 2023

Visit YouTube to read Peter Zeihan’s original vlog Peter Zeihan – How Stable Is the Russian Oil Industry?

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The truth about Biden, the GOP, Social Security, and Medicare [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen
In [Popular Information]
February 14, 2023
252 views
T

• President Joe Biden has been criticized by major media outlets and Republican officials for his claims that Republicans are proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
• The Republican Study Committee (RSC) proposed a 2023 budget that would cut Social Security and Medicare benefits by increasing the retirement age and changing the benefit formula.
• Congressman Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Senator John Thune (R-ND) have both called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
• Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) proposed a plan to “sunset” all programs after five years, including Social Security and Medicare.
• Biden’s real vulnerability on the issue stems from his own efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare years ago.
• However, Biden has since changed his position and proposed to increase Social Security benefits, not freeze them.

Published February 14, 2023
Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post The truth about Biden, the GOP, Social Security, and Medicare

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Peter Zeihan – It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Chinese Spy Balloon… [Peter Zeihan, Zeihan on Geopolitics]

By William McClain
In Peter Zeihan [Zeihan on Geopolitics], Politics
February 13, 2023
286 views
P
  • Chinese were attempting to conduct surveillance on US military facilities, specifically ICBM launch facilities, using a balloon.
  • Chinese leadership has been making catastrophic mistakes in various areas due to lack of dissent and surrounding themselves with yes-men.
  • US detected the balloon and tracked it, gathering digital renderings of the structure and its emissions.
  • Chinese got little to no information from the effort, while US got a better look at Chinese spy technology and capabilities.
  • Incident has exposed the dysfunction and stupidity of Chinese National Security Experts.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit YouTube to watch Peter Zeihan’s original vlog Peter Zeihan – It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Chinese Spy Balloon…

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Inside the push for a nationwide ban on abortion medication [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen
In [Popular Information]
February 13, 2023
275 views
I

• Right-wing officials have been pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade, claiming it is an effort to respect states’ rights and the democratic process.
• Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) submitted an amicus brief in the Northern District of Texas in support of the plaintiffs in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, which seeks to ban mifepristone, a drug used to induce abortions.
• The lawsuit is about prohibiting the use of mifepristone in the 31 states where abortion remains mostly legal.
• The case is assigned to Matthew Kacsmaryk, a radical Trump-appointed federal judge who is an impassioned critic of the “”sexual revolution.””
• The plaintiffs are relying on the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that has been ignored or limited by federal courts for decades, to support their argument.
• Major corporations, including Comcast, AT&T, T-Mobile, Uber, Mastercard, and Bank of America, are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars backing the politicians bolstering the effort to ban abortion medication.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post Inside the push for a nationwide ban on abortion medication

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February 12, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen
In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]
February 13, 2023
240 views
F

• On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and 100 years later, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on the anniversary of his birth.
• The spark for the organization of the NAACP was a race riot in Springfield, Illinois, on August 14 and 15, 1908.
• William English Walling, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moskowitz met in New York City in January 1909 to create a new civil rights organization.
• The group noted that Black Americans had lost their right to vote and were segregated from white Americans in schools, railroad cars, and public gatherings.
• W. E. B. Du Bois, a founding member of the Niagara Movement, became the NAACP’s director of publicity and research and edited the organization’s flagship journal *The Crisis*.
• The NAACP challenged racial inequality by calling popular attention to racial atrocities and demanding that officials treat people equally before the law.
• In 1946, NAACP leader Walter Francis White brought the story of World War II veteran Isaac Woodard, blinded by a police officers after talking back to a bus driver, to President Harry S. Truman.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 12, 2023

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February 11, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen
In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]
February 12, 2023
268 views
F

• President Biden’s statement during the State of the Union address that some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years was true.
• This statement was based on Florida senator Rick Scott’s 11-point plan, which promised that all federal legislation would sunset in 5 years.
• Republicans have a long history of calling for cuts to Social Security, including Trump, Mike Pence, Ron Johnson, and the Republican Study Committee.
• Biden’s statement comes from the “reality-based community,” which was famously dubbed in 2002 by a senior advisor to George W. Bush.
• Trump’s campaign hired a consulting firm to try to prove that the election had been stolen, but the firm could not find anything that would have changed the outcome.
• Representative George Santos and Anna Paulina Luna have both been accused of fabricating their biographies.
• Political decisions that are not based on reality rob us of our right to make informed decisions about our government and what it will do.
• Social Security and Medicare can be stabilized by cutting benefits, raising taxes, rearranging government funding, or by some combination of the three.
• Voters need fact-based information to elect people who will enact the policies a majority of us want.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 11, 2023

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February 10, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen
In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]
February 11, 2023
276 views
F

• The article discusses the current struggle between democracy and strongman governments, and how this struggle is playing out in Turkey, Syria, Russia, Moldova, and Brazil.
• In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been criticized for his government’s slow response to the devastating earthquake that occurred on Monday, and for his attempts to shut down media coverage of the crisis.
• In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has blocked western aid to areas controlled by his opposition, and the US has issued a six-month sanctions exemption for relief in Syria.
• In Russia, Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has spoken openly of attacking Poland after conquering Ukraine.
• In Moldova, the government has resigned and the new prime minister intends to continue orienting the country toward Europe.
• In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with President Joe Biden at the White House and emphasized democracy, rejecting political violence and putting great value in our democratic institutions.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX has blocked the ability of Ukrainian troops to use the Starlink satellite system to advance against Russia.

Published February 11, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 10, 2023

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