The Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 12,000 people die each year in the US from asbestos exposure and 255,000 people all over the world. The most significant toll is on the people who have to work with asbestos on the job, accounting for 90% of the total number of deaths.
Health hazards regarding this mineral emerged 40 years ago when it became known that asbestos causes mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and cancer of the larynx and ovaries.… [Read more]
This summer, I got the chance to work remote in Mexico. I am staying with my family in Guadalajara, a large city in the state of Jalisco. While I had been expecting to enjoy life in Mexico, including the food, the activities, and the company of my wonderful family, I had not realized until the week that I left that I would be there to witness an historic election.… [Read more]
Despite efforts by members of the Republican party and President Trump to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this legislation is still in effect. However, some changes are on the way, which may have major impacts on those enrolled in ACA-based insurance policies. Perhaps the most notable development involves the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to keep a minimum level of health coverage or else face a tax penalty.… [Read more]
We live in the age of Trump. What this means will vary from individual to individual, but for every person who thinks he represents straightforward business, there is another that believes he represents an affront to American intellectualism.
Perhaps it’s because of comments like this, spoken by Trump at a campaign rally in 2016:
“You know, I’ve always wanted to say this—I’ve never said this before with all the talking we all do, all of these experts, ‘Oh we need an expert’—the experts are terrible!”
Nicholas Baer, Harper-Schmidt Fellow in the University of Chicago’s Society of Fellows at the rank of Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Humanities, mentions as much in his article, “American Idiot: Rethinking Anti-Intellectualism in the Age of Trump.” He draws heavily upon the work of Tom Nichols, a book titled The Death of Expertise.… [Read more]
The New York Times recently reported that Donald Trump said he did not use vulgarity to describe Haiti and African countries late last week. Yet according to lawmakers, some confirm the comments the president made in a meeting regarding immigration reform and others “do not recall” the comments referring to these countries as “s***holes”. This story will likely remain a “he said” “she said” debate until another prevalent or infuriating news article surfaces and steals its glory.… [Read more]
Ex-DEA whistleblower Joe Rannazzisi recently shocked the nation during an interview with 60 Minutes in which he revealed that America’s opioid crisis exists and is “fueled by” the greedy actions of the pharmaceutical industry and Congress.
“His greatest ire is reserved for the distributors, some of them multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 companies. They are the middle-men that ship pain pills from manufacturers, like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, to drug stores all over the country,” explains 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker.… [Read more]
It’s been a trend since the beginning of the 2016 election — medical professionals expressing their concerns about the health, both physical and mental, of our now Commander-in-Chief. From a distance, he’s been diagnosed with everything from clinical narcissism to being a full-fledged sociopath. Is it possible Donald Trump is truly a sociopath?
What Is a Sociopath?… [Read more]
Marijuana legalization has been a hot topic in the US for decades, however it was only during the Obama period when states began to legalize its use for recreational rather than medicinal purposes, with states like Washington and Colorado opting to try and find a way to make cannabis a legal commodity. Since those revolutionary moves, more and more states have voted to make recreational marijuana legal, including California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona, who all passed the vote on election day.… [Read more]
“Turn nothing into something – make a drawing, make a mark. Connect with others through this space of imagination. Look at other people’s drawings and share them with the world. Be part of the growing community to celebrate how creative expression transcends external borders and internal constraints. We are in this world together.
Ideas, wind, and air no one can stop.” -Ai Weiwei
The power of words, language and art have been a venomous tool in protest for ages.… [Read more]
There is no question about the fact that healthcare is broken in the United States and really has been for many years. It was largely on the issue of unaffordable healthcare that Obama won the presidency in 2008, and it is still largely due to an unaffordable and broken healthcare system that led Donald J. Trump to victory in 2016.… [Read more]
Politics aren’t as easy as the 1800s when you could ply your voters by providing enough booze to kill them and hope they hit your name on the ballot box. It involves complex branding and image control. There are degrees based around setting up a good political image. It’s a serious business.
The real question is how much of your vote is based around branding and not candidates?… [Read more]
With Donald Trump now officially the president-elect in the United States, there are a lot of questions regarding what his administration will do in a number of key areas, including health care. With so many people all over the country struggling with rising health insurance premiums and the rising cost of prescriptions, everyone is looking for a solution that will work for all people, regardless of income level.… [Read more]
So far, this year’s presidential race has been anything but traditional. Studded with arguably unnecessary drama, twists and turns, the “politics” in this year’s race almost resemble a cliched high school story.
Playing off this fact, networking and reconnecting company Classmates decided to conduct their own presidential poll. Users were asked to assign non-traditional superlatives, much like in the senior year of high school, to all presidential candidates based on their old high-school yearbook photos and general characteristics as portrayed through their campaign.… [Read more]
Millennials (people born around 1983-2000) and their parents got along better than any generation measured before (many millennials even partially support their parents) and yet there is a fundamental difference in the political actions of millennials and the generations before them. I know, I stereotyped a whole generation, but we are talking trends (instead of individuals) and the trend says that the political ideal of the young and old are rapidly rupturing. … [Read more]
American culture is hardwired to exalt the small business owner, and with good reason: small businesses added two-thirds of the three million new jobs created in 2014.
As a result, any cogent political philosophy will pay close attention to the needs of America’s legion of entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The 2016 race is no different.… [Read more]
There are few things that drive top-hatted monopoly men more crazy than a skinny unioner with their demand to enter the middle class, excel at their job, and get paid a fair wage like some greedy fox stealing rabbits out of your own personal hen house.In case you haven’t guessed yet, I am adamantly pro-union. There are some silly things that have demanded, and there are some silly things that are now law, like 15 dollars an hour for fast-food workers.… [Read more]
Dear Mrs. Vera,
How will we ever do without Michele Bachmann in Congress? Does her time there really need to end? Fondest regards… and PS: you are my favorite Autumn! I can totally see you in this pale persimmon silk blouse with cream-colored Peter Pan collar under a pale, not too minty green/nut-brown pin-striped pencil skirt business suit ensemble, and I’m thinking: Jimmy Choos for you, I am!… [Read more]
“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” –Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
By the Chinese calendar, 2013 ought to have been a banner year for conservatives. As crestfallen Ann Romney soaks up tears with Kleenex bought by the carload at Costco, and Karl Rove squirms at megadonor angst over Crossroads GPS’ lame batting average in November’s election, Republican delusions of a 2010 redux string of victories evaporated almost as quickly as Sarah Palin’s and Dick Morris’ fat Fox News paychecks.… [Read more]
Following a hard-fought battle, such as the recent Presidential election, the winners are inclined to indulge in a bit of schadenfreude for the losers. In case you haven’t heard, “schadenfreude” is a German word meaning, loosely, glee in the misfortune of others.… [Read more]
Most assuredly, my partner is going to want to kill me but this week I will be hijacking the flat screen in the living room to watch the hottest band in the country strut its stuff in Tampa, Florida – Hurricane Isaac and the Birther Brigade. There will be several days of birth certificate blundering, Jesus-loving, and personhood pontificating.… [Read more]
