Hundreds attend Israeli funeral of Holocaust survivor from Canary … – Jerusalem Post Israel News

Posted on by

Breaking news. (photo credit:JPOST STAFF)

JERUSALEM More than 200 Israelis attended the funeral of a complete stranger a Holocaust survivor from the Canary Islands who was buried in a Tel Aviv cemetery.

Hilde Nathans final wish was to be laid to rest in Israel alongside her mother, the United With Israel organization said on its website.

Nathan, who did not have a husband or children, died alone last week in the Canary Islands at 90. Knowing of her wishes, the Canary Island Jewish community, which numbers about 20, raised the money to fly her body to Israel for burial. The community put out a call through the Israeli media for mourners at her funeral, which was held Monday morning.

Nathan always lived alone, but today it seems that the entire People of Israel has come to say goodbye. She lived alone but did not leave alone, an Israeli Holocaust survivor, the only person at the funeral who was acquainted with her when she was alive, told the United With Israel website.

Nathan, a native of Germany, was one of the few released from the Theresienstadt concentration camp by the Soviet army on May 8, 1945. Her father died shortly after the war and was buried in Germany, and she and her mother moved to the Canary Islands. Her mother died several years ago and was buried in Israel.

Link:

Hundreds attend Israeli funeral of Holocaust survivor from Canary ... - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Adidas promises to give island to NFL draft prospect who breaks 40-yard dash record – For The Win

Posted on by

The 40-yard-dash is always the marquee event at the NFL scouting combine. A dude running in shorts may not seem like compelling TV, but were watching young men winningor losing millions of dollars based on fractions of a second. And this year, the stakes have been raised even higher.

Adidas football will give away an island to any prospect whobeats Chris Johnsons 40-yard-dash record of 4.24 seconds.

There are stipulations, of course. The prospect must be wearinghe 2017 adizero 5-Star 40 cleats and accept an endorsement deal with the company before the 2017-18 NFL season.

The island, which will be chosen by adidas, will be worth up to $1 million. Adidas offered$1 million to anyone who broke the record in 2016, so the value hasnt really change. But its so much cooler to say, Yeah, I totally won this private island because Im super fast.

And for all you evil genius draft prospects out there, no, you cant win two islands by breaking the record withboth of your heats. Adidas has its bases covered there. The rules state

Further, Athlete is only eligible to win the One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) in connection with the NFL Scouting Combine one (1) Island (e.g., Athlete cannot break the Official Record in his first attempt and earn the One Million Dollars ($1,000,000), then break the record again in his second attempt and earn a second Island.

Anyone dreaming of winning a second island is out of luck. Islands dont grow on trees, you know. Its actually the other way around.

See the rest here:

Adidas promises to give island to NFL draft prospect who breaks 40-yard dash record - For The Win

Heavy rain, thunderstorms likely for all islands through Wednesday – KHON2

Posted on by

Click here for KHON2s Interactive Radar.

Unstable weather moved over the islands Monday and the threat of thunderstorms will remain over the islands through late Wednesday.

The combination of an approaching storm and a moist, unstable airmass over the state will lead to an increasing chance for heavy showers and thunderstorms.

Spotty activity will focus mainly windward and mauka Monday night, but will likely become more widespread by Tuesday as a surface low begins to develop in our vicinity.

The low will shift north of the islands by Thursday and showers will diminish, though a southerly kona flow will keep conditions rather humid and voggy for the rest of the week.

Flood Advisories

A flood advisory has been extended for the island of Kauai until 11:15 p.m.

At 7:45 p.m., satellite and radar indicated heavy rain and thunderstorms on the north side of Mount Waialeale. Rain was falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.

Locations in the advisory include but are not limited to Lihue, Kapaa, Kalaheo, Princeville, Kilauea, Omao, Wailua Homesteads, Na Pali State Park, Moloaa, Hanapepe, Hanalei, and Koloa.

A flood advisory is in effect for the island of Oahu until 11:15 p.m.

At 8:21 p.m., radar indicated heavy rain over and near the Koolau Mountains. Rain was falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Minor flooding of poor drainage and low lying areas can be expected.

Locations in the advisory include but are not limited to Honolulu, Maunawili, Kailua, Waikane, Mililani, Hawaii Kai, Salt Lake, Kahuku, Kaneohe, Waiahole, Moanalua and Halawa.

A flood advisory is in effect for West Maui until 11:15 p.m.

At 8:10 p.m., rain gage reports indicated heavy rain falling over the interior of the west Maui Mountains. Rain was falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Run-off from the rain may impact Iao Valley.

Locations in the advisory include but are not limited to Kahului, Lahaina, Kapalua, Waikapu, Maalaea, Honokohau, Wailuku, Kahakuloa, Olowalu, Waihee, Waiehu and Napili-Honokowai.

Stay away from streams, drainage ditches and low lying areas prone toflooding.

Rainfall and runoff will also cause hazardous driving conditions dueto ponding, reduced visibility and poor braking action.

A flash flood watch remains in effect for all islands through Wednesday afternoon.

East to east-southeast winds will strengthen slightly later Monday before weakening late Tuesday and Wednesday. High clouds are expected to spread over portions of the island chain later in the day and night, and then remain in place through Wednesday.

A surface low developing in the vicinity of the islands will result in wet and unsettled weather from late Monday night and Tuesday through the day on Wednesday, with the potential for locally heavy downpours and a chance of thunderstorms.

Any heavy showers will be spotty Monday afternoon, but could become more widespread by Tuesday.

Some streams and normally dry gulches are expected to run high and could quickly overflow their banks. Intense rainfall in poor drainage and urban areas could also lead to flash flooding.

See the article here:

Heavy rain, thunderstorms likely for all islands through Wednesday - KHON2

No pests on pest-free islands: Mana and Somes islands cleared by detection dogs – Scoop.co.nz (press release)

Posted on by

Press Release Department of Conservation

Two of Wellingtons predator-free islands have been combed by Conservation Dogs and given a clean bill of health by the Department of Conservation after biosecurity scares over the summer.

Mana Island, off the Porirua coast, and Matiu Somes Island in Wellington harbour are havens for rare wildlife such as tuatara and takah, and have been free from rats, mice, cats, possums and stoats for decades.

DOC received reports coincidentally, and within days of each other over the Christmas period of a cat seen on Mana Island and a rat seen on Matiu Somes.

The Departments response included deploying Conservation Dogs specially trained pest detection dogs to comb both islands, and they have not located any pests.

DOCs Conservation Dogs programme supported by Kiwibank are a squad of canines specially trained to sniff out specific species. These dogs can be trained to detect a variety of pest species such as cats, rodents, stoats and even argentine ants.

The Departments biodiversity supervisor for the Kapiti Wellington area, Colin Giddy, says sightings of any mammal on a predator-free island are taken very seriously.

A single rat would be a disaster for any of our precious islands, especially if it were a pregnant female.

One litter can produce 22 offspring and a pair of rats can multiply to 2000 in a single year, which is more than enough to overrun the island and decimate bird and lizard numbers.

A single cat would be notoriously hard to catch and could kill birds as large as takah. Pest detection dogs are a great surveillance method to have in the tool box.

The reports prompted DOC to immediately put emergency procedures in place to confirm or deny the presence of mammalian pests.

In addition to the pest detection dogs, tracking tunnels, traps and motion detection cameras were also put in place. As none of these tools have shown any indication of pest presence, both reports are thought to be a case of mistaken identity.

Colin says, Its the best result, and great to test our response protocols and keep us on our toes.

Working together with Kiwibank allows DOC to unleash the potential of these incredible dogs. Conservation dogs are a highly effective tool for conservation and this partnership means DOC is able to make the programme more sustainable and better coordinated nationally.

Colin says, Gary and his dog Abby patrolled Mana Island for several days. Abby is a cat tracking dog and the good news is she showed no interest which means it is very unlikely that a cat is present.

Leona and her dogs Bail and Chase scoured Matiu Somes Island for the reported rat, and again, the dogs found no trace. Monitoring has continued for the past few months but we are now pleased to confirm that both these islands continue to be safe sanctuaries for our native flora and fauna.

Visitors to any of Wellingtons predator free islands are reminded to check their gear well to prevent any stow-a-ways.

Check your bags for animals including mice, rats, ants and lizards. Clean all soil and plant materials from your footwear and other gear, as they can carry disease and seeds.

Preventing pests getting to predator-free islands is one of DOCs top priorities.

DOC would like the public to contact rangers on predator free islands immediately if they think they see rats, cats or anything else suspicious or dangerous to wildlife. It is far more cost effective to remove pests if they have just arrived than to remove an established population.

Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz Original url

Excerpt from:

No pests on pest-free islands: Mana and Somes islands cleared by detection dogs - Scoop.co.nz (press release)

2017 Artists in the Schools Grants Available for Neighbor Islands – Maui Now

Posted on by

N Wao Ola A`o Pi`ilani (The Life Giving Forests of Maui) at Pukalani Elementary School / Calley ONeill / stained glass mural / 2017

The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts is now accepting Artists in the Schools grant applications for the 2017-2018 school year. There is a new category of funding for Neighbor Island schools.

All public schools, including public charter schools, may apply for grants of up to $6,000 per school for artist residencies to be conducted during the 2017-2018 school year. Schools must contribute 10% of the grant amount received, in cash, towards residency expenses. AITS grants are meant to enhance a schools fine arts curriculum, not supplant it.

We are excited to announce a new category of AITS funding specifically for Neighbor Island schools that have an HSFCA Art in Public Places commissioned work of art on campus that was installed after 1993, organization leaders said.

The list of eligible schools, along with FAQs about this new pilot project: Artists in the Schools is available online.

The AITS Program provides students with an engaging, creative and fun learning experience based on the Fine Arts standards through residencies with teaching artists from the Artistic Teaching Partners Roster. Many of these artists integrate their art form with other core curriculum areas, such as language arts, math, social studies and science, meeting both Fine Arts and other core standards.

The grant application must be completed online. The application is due no later than May 2, 2017 at 4 p.m.

Here is the original post:

2017 Artists in the Schools Grants Available for Neighbor Islands - Maui Now

UCLA researchers describe methods for diagnosing diseases using genetics – Daily Bruin

Posted on by

Two researchers from a UCLA clinical site explained the genetic approach to diagnosing rare diseases to about 50 UCLA students and faculty members Monday.

In honor of Rare Disease Day, Stanley Nelson and Christina Palmer, principal investigators of a UCLA clinical site, discussed how UCLA participates in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network. UCLA is one of seven clinical sites in the UDN, a network of researchers who study rare diseases and introduce further research possibilities based on a team science approach.

Team science is a collaborative research approach that is based on the overall contribution of the network, which includes clinicians, scientists, genetic counselors and other experts, Palmer said. For example, clinical sites such as UCLA provide patient evaluations while other sites act as laboratory cores that provide DNA sequencing.

Under the UDN, UCLA has worked with 63 patients with rare diseases. The network approach allows patients and physicians to seek out other individuals within the network who may be working with the same disease, Nelson said.

Lab investigations can also address a broad spectrum of rare diseases and increase the speed of testing for disease-specific concerns, Nelson said.

Palmer said patients must go through a comprehensive application process to be evaluated by the UDN. Each patient has to demonstrate that their rare disease has gone through extensive prior evaluation and submit other medical information.

Palmer added some diseases the UCLA researchers study include neurological diseases.

Nelson said the UDN uses genome sequencing in their research, which is done at UCLA prior to clinical evaluation. Sequencing patients DNA before evaluating them can present ethical limitations.

This can overwhelm patients with variants that might not be clinically relevant, Palmer said. There exists a potential for unnecessary tests and possible risks with related procedures, (and) patients wait longer for clinical visit.

Researchers gather phenotypes physical characteristics of participants from medical records, not in-person evaluations, Nelson said. Unlike other disorder researchers, who group patients with similar characteristics, UCLA researchers do not intentionally gather patients with similar phenotypes.

Palmer said clinical evaluations start after genome sequencing. Evaluations take one to five days and may include consultations with specialists and other medical tests.

As a clinical site, UCLA does not focus on treatment or symptom management of rare diseases, Nelson said. Although UCLA researchers aim to diagnose patients, doing so is difficult and not necessarily included in the patient follow-up.

About 70 percent of the patients UCLA is working with are children. Researchers have diagnosed five of 35 completed cases.

Siena Salgado, a third-year human biology and society student who attended the talk, said she had previously studied the sociological impacts of the UDNs structure. She said she was interested in the possible ethical implications of the UDNs genetic-based approach.

Michael Gorin, an ophthalmology and human genetics professor who attended the event, said he thinks the UDN becomes a compensatory process that catches up to other countries with health care systems that already have vested interests in genetic diseases.

The psychological benefit for patients to know why they have a disease is powerful, Gorin said. To be able to tell someone we know what genetic variance is causing this disease, even if we cant treat it removes guilt, uncertainty (and) gives people hope.

Visit link:

UCLA researchers describe methods for diagnosing diseases using genetics - Daily Bruin

Striking Number of Genetic Changes Can Occur Early in Human Development – Laboratory Equipment

Posted on by

The genetic material of an organism encodes the instructions that guide its development. These codes are not written in stone; they can change or mutate any time during the life of the organism. Single changes in the code can occur spontaneously, as a mutation, causing developmental problems.

Others, as an international team of researchers has discovered, are too numerous to be explained by random mutation processes present in the general population. When such multiple genetic changes occur before or early after conception, they may inform scientists about fundamental knowledge underlying many diseases. The study appears in Cell.

"As a part of the clinical evaluation of young patients with a variety of developmental issues, we performed clinical genomic studies and analyzed the genetic material of more than 60,000 individuals. Most of the samples were analyzed at Baylor Genetics laboratories," said lead author Pengfei Liu, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics Baylor College of Medicine and assistant laboratory director of Baylor Genetics. "Of these samples, five had extreme numbers of genetic changes that could not be explained by random events alone."

The researchers looked at a type of genetic change called copy number variants, which refers to the number of copies of genes in human DNA. Normally we each have two copies of each gene located on a pair of homologous chromosomes.

"Copy number variants in human DNA can be compared to repeated or missing paragraphs or pages of text in a book," said senior author James R. Lupski, Cullen Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor. "For instance, if one or two pages are duplicated in a book it could be explained by random mistakes. On the other hand, if 10 different pages are duplicated, you have to suspect that it did not happen by chance. We want to understand the basic mechanism underlying these multiple new copy number variant mutations in the human genome."

The researchers call this phenomenon multiple de novo copy number variants. As the name indicates, the copy number variants are many and new (de novo). The latter means that the patients carrying the genetic changes did not inherit them from their parents because neither the mother nor the father carries the changes.

In this rare phenomenon, the copy number variants are predominantly gains duplications and triplications rather than losses of genetic material, and are present in all the cells of the child. The last piece of evidence together with the fact that the parents do not carry the alterations suggest that the extra copies of genes may have occurred either in the sperm or the egg, the parent's germ cells, and before or very early after fertilization.

"This burst of genetic changes happens only during the early stages of embryonic development and then it stops," Liu said. "Interestingly, despite having a large number of mutations, the young patients present with relatively mild neurological problems."

The researchers are analyzing more patient samples looking for additional cases of multiple copy number variants to continue their investigation of what may trigger this rare phenomenon.

"We hope that as more researchers around the world learn about this and confirm it, the number of cases will increase," Liu said. "This will improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism and of why and how pathogenic copy number variants arise not only in developmental disorders but in cancers."

This discovery was made possible in great measure thanks to the breadth of genetic testing performed and genomic data available at Baylor Genetics laboratory.

"The diagnostics lab Baylor Genetics is one of the pioneers in this new era of clinical genomics-supported medical practice and disease gene discovery research," Lupski said. "They are developing the clinical genomics necessary to foster and support the Precision Medicine Initiative of the National Institutes of Health, and generating the genomics data that further drives human genome research."

Using state-of-the art technologies and highly-trained personnel, Baylor Genetics analyzes hundreds of samples daily for genetic evaluation of patients with conditions suspected to have underlying genetic factors potentially contributing to their disease. Having this wealth of information and insight into the genetic mechanisms of disease offers now the possibility of advancing medicine and basic research in ways that were not available before.

See the article here:

Striking Number of Genetic Changes Can Occur Early in Human Development - Laboratory Equipment

‘Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases’ Announces Updates – Broadway World

Posted on by

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the publication of an updated edition of its valuable reference, Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases, edited by Michel Tibayrenc. This book is aimed at controlling and preventing neglected and emerging worldwide diseases that are a major cause of global morbidity, disability and mortality. Using an integrated approach, the book discusses the constantly evolving field of infectious diseases and their continued impact on the health of populations, especially in resource-limited areas of the world. At the same time, Elsevier announced five additional immunology, virology and microbiology books.

Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases, Second Edition looks at the worldwide human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic, increasing antimicrobial resistance, and the emergence of many new bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral pathogens. With contributions from leading authorities, the book includes developments in the field of infectious disease since it was last published in 2010. It demonstrates how the economic, social and political burden of infectious diseases is most evident in developing countries which must confront the dual burden of death and disability due to infectious and chronic illnesses.

Learn more about infectious disease genomics in this sample chapter.

Michel Tibayrenc, M.D., Ph.D., has worked on the evolution of infectious diseases for more than 35 years. He is a director of research emeritus at the French Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement (IRD) Montpellier, France, and the founder and principal organizer of the international congresses MEEGID (molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics of infectious diseases). The author of more than 200 international papers, Dr, Tibayrenc has been the head of the unit of research "genetics and evolution of infectious diseases" at the IRD research center for 20 years. With his collaborator, Jenny Telleria, he is the founder and scientific adviser of the Bolivian Society of Human Genetics. Dr. Tibayrenc has won the prize of the Belgian Society of Tropical Medicine (1985), and the medal of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro (2000), for his work on Chagas disease. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Elsevier journal, "Infection, Genetics and Evolution."

The six new immunology, virology and microbiology titles are:

In order to meet content needs in immunology, virology and microbiology, Elsevier uses proprietary tools to identify the gaps in coverage of the topics. Editorial teams strategically fill those gaps with content written by key influencers in the field, giving students, faculty and researchers the content they need to answer challenging questions and improve outcomes. These new books, which will educate the next generation of immunologists and virologists, and provide critical foundational content for information professionals, are key examples of how Elsevier is enabling science to drive innovation.

Read the original:

'Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases' Announces Updates - Broadway World

Matching up fruit flies, mushroom toxins and human health – Phys.Org

Posted on by

February 27, 2017 by Allison Mills Drosophila guttifera is another species Thomas Werner studies in his genetics lab. Credit: Thomas Werner

Pulling data from 180 different lines of fruit flies, researchers from Michigan Technological University compared resistance to a toxin found in mushrooms like the Death Cap and Destroying Angel. Their results were published by PLOS ONE this week.

The team's main finding is the genetic mechanisms that control the toxin resistance correspond to the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway that regulates cell physiology and metabolism in humans and other mammals. The findings could open up new possibilities for studying cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, depression and neurodegenerative diseases.

Alpha-amanitin Resistance

Not all fruit flies come into the kitchen on grocery store bananas; not all fruit flies like mushrooms. With a surprising amount of diversity, fruit fly species have adapted many niche preferences, such as a tolerance for alpha-amanitin, or alpha-amanitin, a toxin found in the Amanita genus of poisonous mushrooms.

Thomas Werner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Michigan Tech, is the corresponding author of the new PLOS ONE paper, and the study builds on his previous work showing how alpha-amanitin resistance may be related to pesticide resistance in Asian fruit fly strains. Ever since, he and his team have worked on figuring out how fruit flies build resistance to the toxins and the resistance's effects on longevity.

"We found that there are multiple mechanisms that make sense," Werner says, explaining that the mechanisms focused on the genetic regulation of detoxification enzymes. "And the more resistant the fruit flies were, the longer they lived."

Initially, the team looked at a single, highly resistant strain of Drosophila melanogaster from Taiwan. Then they pulled in 180 lines of fruit flies collected at a Raleigh, North Carolina farmer's market for comparison. The crew relied on nearly 30 undergraduates to help do prep in the lab; eight are co-authors on the paper.

mTOR Pathway

Werner's team used genome-wide association mapping to help connect the dots between varying levels of fruit fly resistance. By putting big data techniques to work, they were able to screen genetic traits and nucleotide sequences to better discern candidate genes that control the toxin resistance.

"To do the analysis, we decide on a trait, which we will test in all 180 lines," Werner says. "We selected mushroom toxin resistance and found continuous variation in the lines."

From there, the data are sorted into two columns. Werner and his team then had to look for corresponding sequences of genetic codelike an elaborate children's matching game. The result: the matches kept pointing to the mTOR pathway, which is shared among mammals and insects.

"It's a central metabolic pathway that is very complicatedit's a key hub that is being widely researched right now," Werner says.

This initial connection to mTOR opens up many new lines of study, particularly in human health. Werner also says digging deeper into why fruit flies evolve this resistance could shed light on its advantage as a pre-adaptation device. A better understanding of the resistance's evolution mechanisms could offer insight into many diseases including cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, depression and neurodegenerative diseases.

Explore further: Fruit fly genetics reveal pesticide resistance and insight into cancer

More information: PLOS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173162

For being so small, fruit flies have had a large impact on genetic research. Thomas Werner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University, has bridged the miniscule and the massive in ...

To understand genetic mechanisms underlying insecticide resistance, scientists employed fruit flies and caffeine, a stimulant surrogate for xenobiotics in lab studies on resistance.

(Phys.org)Spots on the butts of fruit flies are really, really small. But what a researcher and his graduate student are discovering about them could be gigantic.

The so-called spotted-wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) was first described from Japan in the 1930s. In 2008 it was recognized as an emerging global pest of soft-fruit crops. Among commercially important fruits, D. suzukii ...

Scientists searching for the genomics version of the holy grail more insight into predicting how an animal's genes affect physical or behavioral traits now have a reference manual that should speed gene discoveries ...

Heather Hallen spent eight years looking for poison in all the wrong places. Alpha-amanitin is the poison of the death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides. The Michigan State University plant biology research associate was looking ...

Gang warfare is not unique to humans - banded mongooses do it too.

Wolbachia is the most successful parasite the world has ever known. You've never heard of it because it only infects bugs: millions upon millions of species of insects, spiders, centipedes and other arthropods all around ...

Most dog owners will tell you they consider their beloved pets to be members of their families. Now new research suggests that dogs may be even more like us than previously thought.

If you build it, they will come. That's historically been a common approach to species recovery: Grow the prey population first and predators will quickly return. As it turns out, that's not quite the case. A new study has ...

The iron-containing molecule heme is necessary for life. Cells require heme to perform the chemical reactions that produce energy, among other critical tasks.

Bringing back extinct species could lead to biodiversity loss rather than gain, according to work featuring University of Queensland researchers.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Read the rest here:

Matching up fruit flies, mushroom toxins and human health - Phys.Org

Yes, Mr. President, Health Care Is ‘Complicated.’ Now What Are You Going To Do About It? – Huffington Post

Posted on by

Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.

That was President Donald Trump speaking at the White House Monday, and if anything can encapsulate the dilemma facing Republicans as they haltingly try to keep their campaign promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Actaka Obamacare its that.

The idea that nobody knew health care is complicated is, of course, nonsense as literally anyone whos ever visited a doctor or used health insurance could tell you. But the realization seems to have come belatedly to Trump.

Perhaps Trump will use his address before a joint session of Congress Tuesday to lay out a detailed plan for how to remake the health care system. But the presidents own shifting and contradictory statements about health care reform suggest that he remains unclear about what to do and how much ownership to take of the consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

At a recent meeting with Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), for example, Trump seemed to be swayed by appeals to keep much of the laws coverage expansion in place. The governor drew charts on pieces of paper on the presidents desk outlining the potential costs of repeal, an aide familiar with the exchange told The Huffington Post.

He responded very positively to a number of the ideas I had, Kasich, who used the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid, said on CBS News Face the Nation Sunday.

Trump went over the charts three separate times, and even got his newly installed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on the phone to discuss it further, according to the aide. Other aides had to remind the president that the congressional Republican plans are far less generous, after which Trump expressed preference for Kasichs approach, as The Washington Post reported.

At a separate meeting with a bipartisan group of governors, meanwhile, Trump largely punted on details for his health care plan when pressed by attendees, a source familiar with the session who was not authorized to speak publicly about it told HuffPost. But when Price said that there would be a replacement plan in place about four weeks after repeal was enacted, Trump did chime in, saying it needed to be done in two or three weeks.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell(R-Ky.) seem to have a better sense of where they want to go with repeal perhaps because they, especially Ryan, have spent more time focusing on the issue.

But these congressional leaders havent been able to bridge the divides in their own skittish caucuses about the timing or scope of the repeal and replace effort. Meanwhile, there has been agroundswell of anger over the prospect of killing the increasingly popular law.

Ryan appears desperate enough to advance Affordable Care Act repeal that hes considering pushing legislation to the floor and essentially daring reluctant and unsatisfied members to vote against it, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The bet is that few Republicans would pass up a chance to damage the Affordable Care Act, lest their supporters see them breaking their promise to do so. This trial balloon didnt soar long: On Monday, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus,said that he would vote against a forthcoming GOP leadership proposal if, like a version that leaked to Politicolast week, it still had elements of an entitlement program.

That underscores Republicans risky bid. Additionally, legislators would have to be on record calling for millions of people to lose health care with no guarantee that the Senate would follow suit, or that Congress as a whole would eventually come up with something better than the Affordable Care Act.

Aude Guerrucci/AFP/Getty Images

This disarray is new although, in hindsight, it was to be expected. In the years since Democrats in Congress and then-President Barack Obama began putting together the Affordable Care Act and working to implement it, Republicans have had the luxury of sitting in the backseat, criticizing the law and talking about how much better they could do.

Now theyre in the drivers seat, and they cant even agree on a destination, much less a route to get there.

Republicans are trying to square their promises to, as Trump put it, offer great health carethats much less expensive and much betterwhile still eliminating the taxes on wealthy people and health care companies.

Thats pretty much impossible, because those taxes pay for about half of what the Affordable Care Act does and theres no enthusiasm for alternative ways to raise the money.

Republicans also cant square their promises of great health care with the partys ideological commitment to smaller government, since without regulations, insurers will offer policies that cover fewer services and offer even less financial protection. And without generous government subsidies, poor people and many middle-class people wont have enough money to buy coverage.

That draft legislation that leaked to Politicomakes clear how leaders intend to resolve the inconsistencies in their rhetoric. They would weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions and dramatically slash federal spending on health care for the poor and the middle class, while proposing a new tax on the job-based health benefit plans that cover the majority of Americans.

The result would be many more people without insurance and much greater exposure to medical bills for those who have coverage, according to an analysis of the plan that Axios and Vox obtained.

This approach isnt surprising. Ryans philosophical idol is the objectivist writer Ayn Rand, and he believes that high taxation of the wealthy is morally wrong and that the government should provide far less help to the indigent than it currently does. McConnell has a more flexible ideology, but hes never had much of an appetite for preserving big government programs when he can kill them instead.

The White House, though, is another story. Trump certainly isnt an orthodox conservative, and hes barely a Republican in the traditional sense.

On the one hand, Trump chose Price, an ideological conservative, to be secretary of health and human services. And at various points during his candidacy and the presidential transition, he embraced reforms consistent with Ryans.

On the other hand, Trump also keeps pledging insurance for everybody,a pledge utterly inconsistent with Ryans and Prices proposals, and with decades of GOP health care policies.

The simplest explanation for the inconsistency is ignorance Trump doesnt really understand the trade-offs of health policy, and cant be bothered to learn. His comment at the White House Monday supports that theory.

But its also possible that Trump has genuinely mixed feelings. The abstract notion of snatching away health coverage from millions of poor and working-class families may not trouble the presidents sleep, but some of those folks are his voters, and theyre growing increasingly worried that when Republicans promised to repeal Obamacare, it meant their Obamacare, too.

We also know that Trumps advisers are divided, as The Washington Post reported over the weekend.

Vice President Mike Pence and others are urging the president to forge ahead with repeal. But chief strategist Steve Bannon, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner (whose brother runs a health insurance company) and National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn dont want the president mired in the health care mess, according to the report.

This is the dawning realization that repeal is politically riskier than GOP lawmakers allowed themselves to acknowledge during the past eight years.

The health care fight is also sucking up time and political capital, creating higher hurdles for Trump and the GOP to advance the rest of their agenda, including tax cuts for the rich and infrastructure spending.

The question is whether at some point Trump decides to steer this debate in one direction or the other. He may not. He may just remain hands-off, or continue to send conflicting signals. But at some point the fate of reform may hang on his actions whether its giving up, lobbying legislators or, ultimately, signing a bill. In other words, he cant duck the choice forever.

And so it will be interesting to see whether, on Tuesday night, Trump decides to start weighing in more forcefully. Like the man said: Its complicated.

Sam Stein contributed reporting.

Sign up for the HuffPost Must Reads newsletter. Each Sunday, we will bring you the best original reporting, long form writing and breaking news from The Huffington Post and around the web, plus behind-the-scenes looks at how its all made. Click here to sign up!

More:

Yes, Mr. President, Health Care Is 'Complicated.' Now What Are You Going To Do About It? - Huffington Post

Trump Calls Health Care ‘So Complicated,’ But Vows to Replace Law – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Posted on by

Slate Magazine (blog)
Trump Calls Health Care 'So Complicated,' But Vows to Replace Law
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump, heading into a critical stretch of Republicans' push to rewrite the Affordable Care Act, acknowledged Monday the effort would be complex and politically risky, but said he is determined to forge ahead because the ...
Trump Says Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So ComplicatedSlate Magazine (blog)
Trump: 'Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated'The Hill
Why it matters that there are no women in this photo of Trump's health care meeting.Upworthy
AZCentral.com -ModernHealthcare.com -Globalnews.ca -Pew Research Center
all 322 news articles »

View post:

Trump Calls Health Care 'So Complicated,' But Vows to Replace Law - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

EMBRACE single system healthcare reform – The Hill (blog)

Posted on by

With the ObamaCare-repeal efforts by Congressional Republicans under way (even in the absence of a coherent alternative) and thetown-hall pushback from voters all over the country, it is easy to lose track of the ultimate goals of a healthcare system: universal coverage and good evidence-based care. Instead, lawmakers are preoccupied with legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act and modify other federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

We believe that Congress can achieve the fiscal goals they seek, while offering free basic universal healthcare and affordable private insurance. This can be done with a plan that would create a modern, efficient and science based American healthcare system that would please most of their constituents. It is time for Congress to consider a single system healthcare-reform plan named EMBRACE (Expanding Medical and Behavioral Resources with Access to Care for Everyone).

THE NATIONAL MEDICAL BOARD

The NMB, the main component of EMBRACEs infrastructure, will be an independent non-governmental body like the US Federal Reserve. It would be chaired by a physician appointed by the president and approved by the Senate, and comprised of physicians, nurses, experts in public health and healthcare administration. Under EMBRACE, all healthcare related federal agencies and programs related to healthcare delivery and payment, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration, will either be eliminated or integrated into the NMB.

THE TIERED BENEFITS SYSTEM

The Tiered Benefits System is comprised of three levels: A basic tier (Tier 1) that covers all life-threatening conditions and all life extending or preventive services. A second tier (Tier 2) will cover conditions that affect quality of life, and Tier 3 would cover luxury services.

The benefit tiers are separated in this manner to determine coverage. Because Tier 1 conditions are the most serious in terms of both personal and public health, they are covered by a form of public insurance that is managed by the National Medical Board. This coverage is automatic and universal and does not depend on age, gender, employment status, preexisting conditions, or even military service; it covers the entire population from cradle to grave. Tier 2 is covered by private insurance or paid out of pocket and Tier 3 services would generally not be covered by insurance, which is typical of the current system.

THE HEALTHCARE INFORMATION PLATFORM

Although the three tiers provide separate coverage, they are all connected by a centralized platform called the Healthcare Information Platform: a secure web-based system available to every licensed healthcare provider.

Funding for all NMB activities will come from an annual congressional appropriation. This funding will cover all the nations anticipated healthcare related expenses, including payment for Tier 1 services and NMB commissioned studies.

The benefits of EMBRACE would be profound and far reaching. For consumers, it will provide free basic healthcare services from cradle to grave with automatic enrollment, no out-of-pocket expenses and identical access to every licensed clinician and every hospital. Consumers can upgrade their basic (Tier 1) coverage through private insurance offering easily comparable private plans which would be significantly less expensive than current private plans. It would allow for universal portability of all coverage from job to job and state to state and would have significantly lower out of pocket costs.

For government, EMBRACE would provide a patient/consumer-friendly system with universal coverage, hold in check or even reduce public healthcare expenditures, eliminate healthcare-related federal agencies, stop the impending bankruptcy of the Medicare Trust Fund, free businesses from the need to provide healthcare insurance, enable full participation of for-profit health insurance companies with some free-market features without compromising the patients health or adversely affecting the publicly funded system.

For Congress, EMBRACE offers a bipartisan method to accomplish truly universal health coverage while eliminating some of the politically incendiary programs such as Medicare and Medicaid- and the ACA.

Dr. Lancaster is a co-founder of Healthcare Professionals for Healthcare Reform, a former member of the American College of Cardiologys Board of Governors and author of EMBRACE: A Revolutionary New Healthcare System for the Twenty-First Century. Dr. Drozda is Director of Outcomes Research at Mercy Health, is a past chair of the American College of Cardiologys Clinical Quality Committee, and is an emeritus member of the ACCs National Cardiovascular Data Registry Management Board.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

Read more here:

EMBRACE single system healthcare reform - The Hill (blog)

Scott pushes health care reform to pal Trump – Florida Today

Posted on by

Ledyard King, USA TODAY Published 8:07 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2017 | Updated 11 hours ago

Florida Gov. discusses "flexibility" when it comes to residents getting affordable care.

Gov. Rick Scott addresses the media.(Photo: Ledyard King/USA TODAY Network)

WASHINGTON - After years battling Obama administration directives on health care, the environment and other federal programs, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has been treated like a close pal by President Donald Trump the past few days.

Which he is.

They had lunch. They had dinner. They even took in the hit film La La Land together. Tuesday, hell be attending the presidents address to a joint session of Congress.

For a guy who grew up in public housing to be able to have lunch at the White House, watch a movie and go to dinner with the president at his hotel is pretty amazing, Scott, one of Trumps early campaign backers last year, told reporters Monday afternoon.

The governors trip to Washington has helped cement his buddy status with the leader of the free world. Whats less clear is how much the governor is helping to shape the presidents thinking on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.

Repeating earlier assertions that the health care law is a mess, Scott, the former CEO of the nations largest hospital company, said the time he spent discussing health care policy with Trump centered on big-picture themes, such as more flexibility for states and consumers.

I talked to him about the free market, the governor told reporters. You need to let people compete, let people buy the insurance that they believe works for them. You might have different health issues than I have so you want to buy a different policy. You dont want the federal government tell you what policies you have to buy.

Scott was asked whether he had discussed with the president specific ideas he has proposed in Florida, such as changes to hospital reimbursement rates or increased transparency in medical costs.

We more talked about the overall system, and how you fix that, the governor said.

Scott is one of several governors who have been in town to share their views on what to do about the health care law, which Trump called a disaster on the campaign trail.

On Friday, Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who has largely defended the law as good for his state, met with the president to push back against the laws full dismantling.

He said Trump was very responsive to his concerns about the GOP push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which has allowed 700,000 Ohioans to gain insurance since its enactment. Kasich has publicly called on Republicans in Congress to preserve the Medicaid expansion, which he says has helped improve health outcomes for low-income Ohioans.

He was very open to it and asked a number of questions, Kasich said.

Scott did not seem fazed by angry constituents who have packed congressional town halls across Florida and the nation in recent weeks to denounce Republican efforts to undo the health care law.

We all want people to get health care, Scott said. But Obamacare is a disaster. President Trump inherited an absolute mess.

Contributing Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY

Contact Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com; Twitter: @ledgeking

Read or Share this story: http://on.flatoday.com/2mxVJV7

Read the rest here:

Scott pushes health care reform to pal Trump - Florida Today

Inslee now ‘more concerned’ after meeting with Trump on health care, immigration – The Seattle Times

Posted on by

Gov. Jay Inslee met with President Donald Trump for the first time Monday and says he came away more worried than ever about the new administrations plans for health care and immigration.

Seattle Times political reporter

Gov. Jay Inslee says he walked away from his first in-person encounter with President Donald Trump feeling even grimmer about the new administrations plans for health care and immigration.

Inslee and other governors met with the president Monday morning at the White House as part of a National Governors Association (NGA) gathering.

In a teleconference with reporters afterward, Inslee said he heard nothing that gave him assurance that Trump was making policy in a thoughtful, nonchaotic, rational basis based on facts and evidence rather than just tweets.

I feel more concerned about that now than when I landed Thursday night, Inslee said.

Inslee pronounced himself shocked by Trumps comment at the meeting that, Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.

The Democratic governor, whose national profile has been rising as an anti-Trump voice, called the presidents statement irresponsible given the GOPs sweeping plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans have argued their private-sector-focused replacement will maintain or even expand health insurance. I think youre going to see something very special, Trump said of his plan at a Republican Governors Association event on Sunday.

Inslee rejected that, saying Republicans simply want to slash spending on health care.

They try to paper that over to say weve got some, you know, Dr. Feelgoods Magic Elixir thats going to allow us to spend billions of dollars less money and nobody gets hurt its an hallucination.

Inslee said governors received no assurances about the future of so-called Dreamers brought here illegally as children but granted work permits under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

It would be very simple for him to say, but he did not say it, Inslee said.

In a reversal from Obama-era policies, the Trump administration has signaled plans to deport millions of people living illegally in the country. A Department of Homeland Security directive would target undocumented immigrants who have been charged or convicted of any crime, including minor offenses.

Inslee said he did not get a chance himself to ask Trump a question during the meeting with governors, as the president mostly called on Republicans.

The trip to Washington, D.C., for the bipartisan NGA meetings was paid for by the state as part of his official duties, said Jaime Smith, a governors office spokeswoman.

On Monday, Inslee was traveling from Washington, D.C., to New York for a Democratic Governors Association event. Costs for those partisan events will paid for by Inslees campaign, Smith said.

Inslee was scheduled to return to Washington state Tuesday evening.

More:

Inslee now 'more concerned' after meeting with Trump on health care, immigration - The Seattle Times

BioMarin building CA plant to support Factor VIII gene therapy candidate – BioPharma-Reporter.com

Posted on by

A Californian manufacturing facility to support clinical development of a haemophilia A gene therapy will be completed this year, says BioMarin.

Last year , BioMarin Pharmaceutical released proof-of-concept data to support BMN 270, a gene therapy candidate using an AAV-Factor VIII vector intended to treat patients deficient in the blood clotting protein Factor VIII.

And with plans to begin a Phase IIb study later this year, the firm has said it is constructing a facility in California to manufacture clinical batches.

Our new gene therapy manufacturing facility is expected to be completed by mid-year, enabling us to move the BMN 270 program forward, without constraints on materials needed for the Phase 2b registration enabling study in the third quarter, CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaim told investors on a call Friday.

Henry Fuchs, president of worldwide R&D, added making the investment in-house ensures has control of its supply chain for the upcoming trials, heading towards a commercial launch.

The facility design was recently reviewed with US health authorities and the feedback was consistent with our plans for construction and operational control. The approach laid out was well received and discussed in depth with industry, academic and health authority representatives.

Yet while the design of the facility gave consideration to the potential for use with other gene therapies in BioMarins pipeline, management did not want to get the cart before the horse, and wanted to await BMN 270s success before making any decisions, according to EVP Jeff Ajer.

The investment made in the site was not divulged, but capital expenditure for 2016 stood at $168m (159m), though this included the buildout of a manufacturing facility in Shanbally, Ireland , to support commercial supply of the firms enzyme replacement drug Vimizim (elosulfase alfa).

For the full year, the firm saw revenues of $1.12bn up 26% on 2015 though reported a net loss of $630m (up from $155m) attributed in part to higher operating expenses.

Read the original here:

BioMarin building CA plant to support Factor VIII gene therapy candidate - BioPharma-Reporter.com

Muscle-wasting disease in dogs cured using gene therapy, offering hope to suffering boys – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted on by

For decades, some unluckydog lovers have [witnessed their puppies] seemingly healthy muscles literally waste awayuntil they could no longer stand and breathe.

[T]he genetic cause of this specific muscle-wasting disease[is] a single mutation that left them unable to produce an essential protein known asmyotubularin.Whats more, it was the exact kind of mutation and disease also long found in male human babies, too.

[Researchers gave 10-week-old puppies]a treatment that repaired their defectivemyotubularin gene, [causing them to avoid] the crippling muscle degeneration that killed the placebo-treated dogs by week 17. And by the ninth month of study, the saved puppies muscle and neurological function continued to match readings from healthy dogs, particularly forthose that got the highest doses.

The findingssignal that a scaled-up treatment could save the lives of boys with the same sort of genetic flaw.

The changes seen after a single treatment have lasted for several years in the small sample of dogs the team has raised. So its possible that people wont need repeated doses or they would be infrequent, said Dr. Martin Childers of the University of Washington a big positive, given how expensive gene therapy is today.

[The study can be found here.]

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Gene Therapy Saves Puppies From A Fatal DiseaseAnd Maybe Us Next

View post:

Muscle-wasting disease in dogs cured using gene therapy, offering hope to suffering boys - Genetic Literacy Project

BREAKING: Elon Musk And SpaceX Are Sending Humans to the Moon – Futurism

Posted on by

The Age of Commercial Spaceflight

Rocket science isnt easy. Ask any engineer. Rocket science isnt cheap. Just ask NASA. Fortunately, in recent years, a number of commercial spaceflight companies have stepped up to the plate in order to help national space agencies extend their reach into the final frontier.

Innovative companies like Elon Musks SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin have accelerated the development of reusable rockets exponentially. In so doing, they have dramatically reduced the cost of leaving our pale blue dot, improving both our ability to explore the cosmos and scientists capacity to conduct research beyondEarth.

To be more specific, in 2012, SpaceX became the first private space company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). Previously, this monumental feat was something that had only been achieved by world governments.

At the present time, the company is working on the Crew Dragon, a next-generation spacecraft that is designed to ferry humans to the ISS. One day, SpaceX even plans to land on Mars, and if Musk has anything to say about it, humans will be on the Red Planetpossibly living there for goodin the next decade or so.

Ultimately, private spaceflight companies are leading our charge into the cosmos. This is because successfully reusing boosters is a critical part of bringing down the cost of launchesand its something that the worlds governments have failed to produce.

With this technology, we wont have to build a completely new rocket for every single mission. According to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell,reusability could lower the cost of rocket launches by a staggering 30 percent.

Likewise, Musk asserts that such rockets are the key to a truly economically viable space industry: A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space. If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.

And Blue Origin echoes these sentiments, with Bezos calling such technologies the Holy Grail of rocketry. After the first landing of Blue Origins New Shepard resuablerocket, Bezos wrote, I believe this is a new Golden Age of space exploration. The first Golden Age was the 60s. We have been treading water for a long time. We are on the verge of a new Golden Age in rocketry. I believe one day all rockets will have landing gear.

This means that we can have more frequent and cheaper launches. This, in turn, means faster progress in both commercial spaceflight and our off-world research and exploration. In short, private spaceflight is ushering in a new age in our voyage into the cosmos.

Yesterday, Musk stated that SpaceX would have a breaking announcement today at 4pm EST (1pm GMT). And he just revealed thatSpaceX will be sending two private citizens around the Moon.

The space company said in a statement that the two individuals have already paid a significant deposit to do a Moon mission. Initial training, along with health and fitness tests, are set to occur later this year, SpaceX continued.

Ultimately, this is the first flight to the Moon with a crew in more than 45 years, and SpaceX went to lengths to point out the significance of this work: Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration.

SpaceX also outlined the nature of the project and clarified the timeline:

SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission.We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.

To break this down, to begin, SpaceX plans to launch the Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the ISS without people on board this year, and then a subsequent mission with crew will fly in the second quarter of 2018. From there, the company will head to the Moon, an important milestone as they work towards the ultimate goaltransporting humans to Mars.

Visit link:

BREAKING: Elon Musk And SpaceX Are Sending Humans to the Moon - Futurism

The Price of Solar Has Dropped 58% in the Last 5 Years – Futurism

Posted on by

58 Percent Cheaper

According to a recent report by Australian non-profitthe Climate Council, solar energy is now cheaper than retail power in most capital cities in Australia, with prices dropping 58 percent globally in the past five years. With costs expected to drop between 40 to 70 percent more by 2040, we can only expect a rise in adoption and usage in that country and others around the globe.

We are seeing more and more industrial-scale solar coming online across the country and the world. Hospitals, airports, farms and a variety of other businesses have embraced smarter and cleaner power, Greg Bourne, expert Councillor with the Climate Council, told SBS.

Nearly 7,000 solar batteries were installed in Australian homes last year, and that number is expected to triple in 2017. The Council adds in its report that industrial-scale solar plants are now providing cheaper power versus traditional coal plants. Twenty solar power plants are scheduled to be built around Australia, which will see an additional 3,700 megawatts of solar energy thats enough to power 600,000 homes. This will no doubt helpAustralia achieve its goal of reaching 20 gigawatts of solar generation in the next two decades.

Transitioning to renewable energy is not only necessary as we continue to see and feel the effects of climate change, it also makes economic sense.

For a country like Australia, where sunshine is abundant, supporting the growth of solar energy can create new jobs and new industries.More than 8,000 Australians already hold jobs in the solar industry, ranging from salespeople and manufacturers to electricians and installers. Projections expect that with renewable energy reaching 50 percent by 2030, Australia alonewill benefit from 28,000 new jobs.

Globally, 2.8 million people have jobs in the industry, which is more than those with coal jobs. In fact, in the United States, solar accounts for double the number of jobs as coal. The era of coal is over and global investment has moved firmly to renewable energy, added the Climate Council in a statement. Solar power is cheaper, has no fuel costs, is non-polluting and it is clear that it will be a key of Australias future.

Along with Australia, countries like China, the U.S., and Japan are at the forefront of renewable energy, with many other countries around the globe following suit. In 2015, a study showed that the U.S. could be completely powered by renewable energy by 2050. In 2016, almost all ofCosta Ricas electricity was generated using renewable sources. Germany, in an effort to phase out nuclear energy, is also well on its way to making other renewable energy sources more viable. As these individual efforts and global ones like the Paris Agreement take shape, we will hopefully see a tangible impact on our environment.

Read more from the original source:

The Price of Solar Has Dropped 58% in the Last 5 Years - Futurism

In Religious Freedom Debate, 2 American Values Clash – NPR

Posted on by

Protestors and LGBT activists rally outside of Trump International Hotel, this month in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

Protestors and LGBT activists rally outside of Trump International Hotel, this month in Washington, DC.

The collision of two core American values freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination is prompting a showdown in legislatures and courts across the country.

For some conservatives, religious freedom means the right to act on their opposition to same-sex marriage and other practices that go against their beliefs. LGBT advocates and their allies, meanwhile, say no one in the United States should face discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

President Trump is said to be considering an executive order to bar the federal government from punishing people or institutions that support marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman. The language is similar to a bill expected to be reintroduced by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah called the First Amendment Defense Act.

After a widely circulated draft order aroused considerable opposition from the LGBT community, no further action was taken. Asked recently whether such an order might still get signed, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said only that Trump "will continue to fulfill" commitments he had made. Advocates for executive action say they do not expect new developments until Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, has been confirmed.

The debate's heart: What "exercising" one's religion means

Under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Congress is barred from enacting "an establishment of religion," but neither can it prohibit "the free exercise thereof." The question under current debate is what it means to "exercise" one's religion.

If a football coach is not allowed to lead his team in a public prayer, or a high school valedictorian is not given permission to read a Bible passage for her graduation speech, or the owner of a private chapel is told he cannot refuse to accommodate a same-sex wedding, they might claim their religious freedom has been infringed. Others might argue that such claims go against the principle of church-state separation, or that they undermine the rights of LGBT people to be free from discrimination.

Legislation either to uphold LGBT rights or to limit them in the name of protecting religious freedom has advanced in several states, and further court battles are likely.

One of the thorniest cases involves Catholic Charities, whose agencies long have provided adoption and foster care services to children in need, including orphans. Under Catholic doctrine, the sacrament of marriage is defined as the union of a man and a woman, and Catholic adoption agencies therefore have declined to place children with same-sex couples.

When Massachusetts (and other jurisdictions) redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, making it illegal to deny adoption to them., the Catholic agencies closed down their adoption services and argued that their religious freedom had been infringed.

"One of the major activities of the [Catholic] church, going way back, was to look after the orphans," says Stanley Carlson-Thies, founder of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance. "For that to be illegal unless the religious people change their standard, seems to me ... unfortunate."

But to the LGBT community and its supporters, a refusal to place a child for adoption with a same-sex couple is unacceptable discrimination against people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Those who oppose anti-discrimination efforts are often portrayed as out of step with the growing public acceptance of same-sex unions.

"I can't think of a single civil rights law that doesn't have some people who are unhappy about it," says Karen Narasaki, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "But once the country has said, 'Well, we believe that people who are LGBT need to be protected from discrimination, then how do you make sure that happens?"

The commission's report on the religious freedom vs. anti-discrimination debate, published last September, came down squarely on the anti-discrimination side. The commission recommended that "civil rights protections ensuring nondiscrimination" were of "preeminent" importance and that religious exemptions to such policies "must be weighed carefully and defined narrowly on a fact-specific basis."

When you have two important American principles coming into conflict with one another, our goal as Americans is to sit down and try to see if we can uphold both.

Charles Haynes of the Newseum's Religious Freedom Center

The commission chairman at the time, Martin R. Castro, went further with a statement of his own, saying, "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance."

The commission report sparked a protest letter signed by 17 faith leaders, arguing that the report "stigmatizes tens of millions of religious Americans, their communities and their faith-based institutions, and threatens the religious freedom of all our citizens."

One of the signers, Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Center at the Newseum Institute in Washington, says religious conservatives are entitled to make claims of conscience.

"We may not like the claim of conscience," Haynes says, "but you know, we don't judge claims of conscience on whether we like the content of the claim. We are trying to protect the right of people to do what they feel they must do according to their God. That is a very high value."

Haynes himself says LGBT rights and same-sex marriage "are very important" but that supporters of those causes "cannot simply declare that one side wins all."

"Nondiscrimination is a great American principle it's a core American principle as is religious freedom," Haynes says. "When you have two important American principles coming into tension, into conflict with one another, our goal as Americans is to sit down and try to see if we can uphold both."

Exercising "freedom to worship" in life

Not all faith leaders are convinced, however, that the push for LGBT rights is jeopardizing the religious freedom of people who hold conservative beliefs about sexuality and marriage.

During a recent appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations, Bishop Michael Curry, leader of the Episcopal Church in the United States, said he has witnessed the persecution of Christians in other parts of the world and doesn't see anything comparable in the United States.

"I'm not worried about my religious freedom," Curry said. "I get up and go to church on Sunday morning, ain't nobody stopping me. My freedom to worship is protected in this country, and that's not going to get taken away. I have been in places where that's been infringed. That's not what we're talking about."

Curry's reference only to "freedom to worship," however, missed the point, according to some religious freedom advocates. They say they want the freedom to exercise their faith every day of the week, wherever they are even if it means occasionally challenging the principle of absolute equality for all.

"We can't use equality to just wipe out one of the [First Amendment] rights," Carlson-Thies says, "or say you can have the right, as long as you just exercise it in church, but not out in life."

Carlson-Thies is one of several conservatives who support a "Fairness For All" initiative to forge a compromise between advocates for LGBT rights and religious freedom, but the effort has had little success so far. The LGBT community and their allies have been cool to the notion of compromising their cause, while a group of more strident religious freedom advocates made clear their own opposition to the recognition of sexual orientation as a status worthy of civil rights protection.

Legal analysts are divided in their assessment of the debate. A federal judge, ruling on a Mississippi religious freedom law, concluded that by protecting specific beliefs, the bill "constitutes an official preference for certain religious tenets," and may therefore be unconstitutional. Other laws and proposals, however, are written in support of beliefs held by several different religions and thus may not run afoul of the First Amendment's bar on "an establishment of religion."

John Inazu, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis whose book Confident Pluralism lays out an approach that might help bridge differences between LGBT and religious freedom advocates, says efforts at reconciliation face long odds.

"There were efforts early on about some kind of compromise," he tells NPR in a recent interview. "I think those are less and less plausible as time goes on and as sides get factionalized. It's hard to see in some of these cases how there would be an outcome that is amenable to everyone, and so I think we're seeing these cases with us for a long time."

View original post here:

In Religious Freedom Debate, 2 American Values Clash - NPR

Freedom Caucus chair says he’d vote against draft ObamaCare … – The Hill

Posted on by

The chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus told CNN Monday he would vote against any ObamaCare replacement bill that includes refundable tax credits, calling them another "entitlement program."

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) was referring to a draft of an ObamaCare replacement bill created Feb. 10 and leaked last week.

It's unclear how much it has changed since two weeks ago, but the draft includes a refundable tax credit, based on age and not income, to help people buy health insurance.

"A new Republican president signs a new entitlement and a new tax increase as his first major piece of legislation? I don't know how you support that do you?"

Meadows's comments represent the difficulty Republicans face in coalescing around an ObamaCare replacement. He indicated that other members of the caucus may vote against the repeal bill if it contains the refundable tax credit.

The caucus has asked leadership to take up a 2015 ObamaCare repeal bill that was vetoed by President Obama. They have said they won't vote for any bill that is "weaker" than the 2015 bill.

Read the original:

Freedom Caucus chair says he'd vote against draft ObamaCare ... - The Hill