Daily Archives: July 23, 2017

Doctor Began to Understand the Role of Racism In Organ Transplants After She Donated a Kidney to Then Boyfriend – Atlanta Black Star

Posted: July 23, 2017 at 1:07 am

Vanessa Grubbss 2017 book, Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers, discusses racial disparities in organ transplants.

Earlier this month, professor Vanessa Grubbs, M.D. visited Seattle, Wash., on the promotional tour for her new book, Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers: A Kidney Doctors Search for the Perfect Match. Grubbs details the romance with her now-husband, Robert, and his life-threatening battle with kidney failure. The book uses their courtship, they are both Black, to illustrate how racial bias prohibits Black people from getting equal access to life-saving organ transplants.

During the question-and-answer session, the doctor was askedto relate Interlaced Fingers to previous scholarship on medical racism such as the work of Harriet A. Washington and Rebecca Skloot, who both documented centuries of deliberate exploitation of Black bodies.

Gingerly, Grubbs told the mostly white onlookers that witnessing her husbands ordeal radically shifted her understanding of how Black patients experience health care. She referenced her 2007 report, Good For The Harvest, Bad For The Planting which provides a systemic explanation for why Blacks, like Robert, who are one in three of the candidates awaiting a kidney transplant, receive only one in five of donated kidneys. She contrasted this to whites, who represent a third of the kidney transplant waiting list, but receive every other donated kidney. White patients also enjoy half the wait time of Black patients in need of a transplant.

Statistics like this in the organ transplant industry bring to light the historic and current racism Blacks face in receiving equal medical treatment in America.

Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey was the executive producer and star of the HBO drama, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The film, based on the book of the same title, is Skloots 2010 bestseller, which explains how white health officials at Marylands Johns Hopkins University stole tissue samples from a Black cancer patient, Lacks, and used her genetic material to make countless advances in medical science.

Providing context for the exploitation of Lacks, Skloot incorporates the history of the white-dominated medical industrys relationship to Black citizens. This includes exposing celebrated scientists like French surgeon and Nobel Prize winner Alexis Carrel, who pioneered early 20th-century ideas on transplanting organs. Skloot writes that Carrel praised Hitler and was a eugenicist: organ transplantation and life extension were ways to preserve what he saw as the superior white race, which he believed was being polluted by less intelligent and inferior stock, namely the poor, uneducated and nonwhite.

Washingtons 2006 masterpiece, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, reveals that racist health professionals like Carrel saturated the U.S. medical industry at one point in history and, to an extent, still do to this day.

In fact, Washington begins with a conversation between herself and a nephrologist, a kidney doctor. When Washington struggled to accept the history and scope of medical abuse against Black people, her colleague looked at her as if she were not too bright and minced no words. Girl, Black people dont get organs; they give organs.

The remainder of Washingtons work unearths how, before and after death, Black people have had organs and other body parts stolen by the white-dominated medical industry. After describing the lucrative industry and longstanding practice of harvesting Black corpses for medical research, she pivots to the organ transplant enterprise. Washington writes, The troubling disproportionate prevalence of Black body parts such as organs, corneas and other tissues is suggestive that Blacks also make up a greatly disproportionate number of the entire bodies that are used in research, research that infrequently benefits Black people like Henrietta Lacks.

In Seattle, Grubbs attributed these disparities to conscious and unconscious bias that require policy changes and training to help health care professionals practice medicine in a socially just manner. This analysis may, however, fall short of curing the bias of medical professionals and the industry itself.

Historian Daina Ramey Berrys 2017 gem, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave in the Building of a Nation, makes whites willful consumption of Black bodies a central theme and explains how anti-Blackness and the theft of Black organs became a normalized part of our vocabulary.

Berry writes that in 1763, an African-American male became one of the first recorded cases of a dissection in the colonial territory. This marked the beginning of medical education, particularly the dissection of the dead. It also spurred the clandestine business of sending bodies and body parts to physicians and colleges, creating a traffic in human remains that still exists today in the form of an underground organ trade.

Sugarcoating centuries of white pathology masquerading as medical science maintains racism and is a central theme of John Hobermans 2012 book, Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism. He too resists the pattern of ignoring or downplaying centuries of racists wearing nurses caps and stethoscopes. Hoberman writes that many recoil at the charge that Blacks suffer disproportionate health problems because racism taints American medicine. Doctors and nurses are among the least likely candidates upon whom to pin the label of bigotry. Because of generations of racist doctors and nurses, Hoberman writes, Mainstream medicine devised racial interpretations that have been applied to every organ system of the human body.

Tellingly, near the end of her Seattle visit, Grubbs admitted that honestly addressing these issues does get hard, and that she often takes flak for illuminating how the medical industry fails Black patients. In a monumental display of courage and love, Grubbs donated a kidney to save then-boyfriend Robert. The two celebrated the 12-year anniversary of the surgery this past April and will enjoy a dozen years married next month. The bravery that helped Grubbss share a life-saving organ must also inspire us discuss and call out racism as the primary obstacle to Black health and prosperity.

Gus T. Renegade hosts The Context of White Supremacy radio program, a platform designed to dissect and counter racism. For nearly a decade, he has interviewed and studied authors, filmmakers and scholars from around the globe.

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Doctor Began to Understand the Role of Racism In Organ Transplants After She Donated a Kidney to Then Boyfriend - Atlanta Black Star

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Russian cities court Indian tourists – Daily Pioneer

Posted: at 1:06 am

Sunday, 23 July 2017 | Rinku Ghosh | St Petersburg

The Runwals are not like the dysfunctional Mehras on a fancy cruise in the Mediterranean as embodied in Dil Dhadakne Do. If anything, they are conventional. But they are quite a merry bunch, choosing to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary in the family along the Gulf of Finland, blazing through the white nights of the North Pole, cruising along the rivers and canals of St Petersburg. They booked a premier floor of the Four Seasons, had the ballroom for the celebrations done up with classic floral arrangements and harps and had flown in their chefs for the event. Not only that. As part of a weekend of extended family revelry and bonding, they even watched The Swan Lake at the Ballet Palace Theatre, teary-eyed and fulfilled.

We caught up with Indian students, who had invited their peers for a group summer outing, techies and 30-plus professionals with associative memories of the Soviet times from Bengal, some of whom were doing a recce for a luxurious trans-Siberian Railway tour spanning the Orient and the Occident. That is precisely where St Petersburgs appeal lies as a city of 342 bridges. Besides the mechanical ones, the city bridges eras, the imperial grandeur of Tsarist Russia with its modernist reinvention, the Oriental sweep with Occidental interpretations, refined European heritage with contemporary sub-cultures, opulence with functionality.

Russia, particularly St Petersburg, is increasingly figuring as a must-do hotspot in the Indian travellers itinerary as that country has been aggressively courting the top travel markets of the world since last year. That has largely been prompted by Russias re-prioritisation post the Western worlds sanctions over Ukraine, falling oil prices and over-dependence on a resource-based economy. Asian countries, like China, are moving in with new investment in infrastructure thats having an inevitable spinoff in emergent sectors like tourism. No country can beat China when it comes to boosting Russias tourism industry, and the country has topped the list since 2014. Yes, the airports have Chinese signages and announcements, there are brochures in Chinese at tourist kiosks and dedicated hotels for Chinese tourists.

Indians still have to notch up the numbers to get specialised attention at this point but tourist officials are now targetting them, what with Indian companies investing in businesses and tourism officials keen to tap into Indian visitors with their highest spending traits.

We are increasing accommodation options, expanding schedules at heritage sites, easing visa and transit norms, allowing pitstop experiences by extending visas up to 72 hours and setting up friendly trouble-shooting kiosks. We know Indians like their micro-staples, like tea in the morning, and are making sure our hotel rooms stock beverage packs and kettles. We are profiling their interest areas and working out tour specials. We hope that Indians can rank second among Asian arrivals, says Evgeny Pankevich, Director-General, City Tourist Information Bureau.

Customisation has begun with tourism officials surveying Indian tourist behaviour, hotels allowing chefs for group tours and city officials considering destination reunions and wedding shoots though not the wedding fire rituals as yet. Indian restaurants like Oh Mumbai, whose Bengali chef is becoming a hot favourite among expats and locals, are quickly climbing up the fine-dining charts and endorsed by the city tourist board. On their part Indians have begun classifying St Petersburg with the A-category European experience, that is the London-Paris-Milan club class, according to Prashant Chaudhary of Salvia Promoters, the official partner of the Visit St Petersburg campaign and office in India. Ever since the Russian Tourism Board began aggressively wooing the Indian traveller over the last year, Indian interest and arrivals on the Moscow-St Petersburg circuit have gone up by 100 per cent, he says.

Chaudhary, who has been developing this market over the last 14 years, considers St Petersburg an experiential destination. It is clearly the worlds culture capital with its history, palaces, museums, cathedrals, gilded baroque art, its pavilions, parks and literary retreats. But theres much more more. This is one city that is fiercely protective of its facades and architecture discipline as it looks out to the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea the same way it has done through centuries. Climb the Issac Cathedral and there are no jarring outcrops. Commercial or residential district, the facades have a contiguity of design depending on the imperial or Soviet blocks. The city has a vibrant night life, day and night river cruises, jazz bars, sailing and yachting prospects for the adventurous and fascinating activities for children. It is called Venice of the North and is much cleaner than the original. And the polar white nights are spectacular, the summer twilight extending into dawn and the waters of the Neva river a bright cerulean even at midnight.

As a river civilisation and with a maritime history of our own, St Petersburg is an example of how water tourism can be developed. With its founder Peter The Great developing grid-like embankments along the citys rivers and canals leading up to the gulf of Finland, portside pleasures abound. There are day/night cruises that let you float past the panoramic skyline of the city, while sipping wine or having dinner, halt-and-go boats at key banks besides conversations and music gigs at riverside cafes. Of course, there are the commercial cruiseliners on the Baltic, which can dock well into the bay and the deep Neva delta and offer such on-board entertainment like water surfing and bars tended by robots and Disney characters. Eighteen new ships are to be built and commissioned over the next few years.

The waterworld museum at the port is an interactive 4D experience of the creative and destructive forces of the earths primal element on giant LED screens and simulated chambers. Touch a pre-historic fish swimming by and watch it become the first amphibian! Or perform an experiment to understand the properties of water.

The city administration has even turned the rather mundane function of raising drawbridges across the city for letting cargo ships through into a midnight tourism event, taking advantage of the extended diurnal phase of the sun. Around seven drawbridges are lit up in national colours and raised up to the notes of Tchaikovsky in a rhythmic manner as cruise boats and jet skis pass under history and the earliest engineering feats of the modern world. With all heritage buildings lit up, the bay is garlanded by a string of jewels as it were and makes for a profoundly cinematic experience. Then there are sea festivals and fireworks. But given the activist citizens, there is strict compliance of environmental and sanitary norms and restricted licences for yachting clubs.

St Petersburg is the home ground of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is actively encouraging soft and cultural diplomacy to make it the most coveted postcard brand. So there is peaceful co-existence of the Lenin-Stalin legacy, be it in terms of Soviet tours of architectural blocks or outposts, a sign that the city has matured into taking the middle path. Youngsters at speakeasies even talk of the good and bad of both open and socialist economies.

Interestingly, the tourism offices are manned and headed by young, dynamic, English-speaking Russians, who are recasting the image of St Petes as a happening destination. Midnight walking tours, fusion food (Russian fine-diners are a treasure trove of soups and salads), vodka tasting tours, Russian alternative rock and adventure sports are all on offer.

The city administration is offering cost-effective packages for the value-conscious Indian traveller. St Petersburg will provide bang for the buck to the Indian traveller. The rouble and rupee are almost equivalent i.e. 1 rouble = 1.09 rupee. Compared to the other tourist destinations, the Russian experience is going to be light on the pockets, says Chaudhary. Which is why Russian tourism officials are looking to penetrate not just metro cities but Tier II and Tier III cities as well.

Then theres the FIFA world cup next year that is expected to change the scenario for Indians visiting Russia. Many have booked their tickets already to the host country.

There are nationalist T-shirts and souvenirs of a bare-chested or covered Putin astride a bear in the wilds. As the tenth most visited nation worldwide, Russia is heaving out of its bearish days and charging ahead like a bull.

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Groups see ATV trails as anchor to economy – Huntington Herald Dispatch

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More initiatives to build upon the tourist draw fostered by the Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trails in the southern part of West Virginia are taking shape.

One involves the West Virginia Community Development Hub, a nonprofit group based in Clarksburg, working with several communities in the southern coalfields to develop strategies for gaining economically from the trail system. Also stepping up is Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College, which has launched two new programs aimed at boosting the economy in that region and providing training that could yield related job opportunities.

The Hatfield-McCoy Trails system is made up of over 700 miles of trails in southern West Virginia. As one of the largest off-highway vehicle trail systems in the world, Hatfield-McCoy Trails is open 365 days a year and offers something for every skill level. It already has a sizable economic impact on that region and the state as a whole, and the recent and new efforts are aimed at expanding that.

Over the past year, the West Virginia Community Development Hub has been working to foster entrepreneurship in communities throughout West Virginia, and one place where it's throwing its efforts is the southern part of the state.

Among the targeted areas are the communities of Alderson and Madison and the counties of McDowell, Lincoln and Wyoming.

"Here at The Hub, we've seen energy around new business in the recreation and tourism sectors skyrocket," said Dan Taylor, entrepreneurial communities program coordinator for the group, which has been around more than 10 years.

"We have been working all over the state to help communities that may not have the capacity or resources to do community type projects," he said.

Taylor works in the coalfield communities in southern West Virginia to help diversify their economies by working with community folks.

One of The Hub's projects involves the Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trails.

"As people come to ride the trail, they are also looking for other recreational activities," Taylor said. "So we are working with communities in southern West Virginia with natural assets like trails and waterways to create these recreational opportunities for visitors."

Taylor says The Hub's Innovation Acceleration Strategy (IAS) program is a year-long, community-based economic diversification planning process.

"The West Virginia Community Development Hub will be working with five communities in Southern West Virginia who are ready, willing and able to start identifying what they want to see in their community and planning on how to grow and build these sectors," he explained.

The Hatfield-McCoy Trails range from the scenic mountain views of Pinnacle Creek, to the tight and twisting trails of Bearwallow. Many trails connect to West Virginia's "ATV friendly towns" where visitors can grab a bite to eat and add to the local economy, Taylor said.

Taylor says his group also has seen land-based trail projects around hiking and biking from The Hub's previous innovation acceleration program in communities from Boone County to Wyoming County.

"With an uptick in resources available to communities as well as through things like the Appalachian Regional Commission's POWER program, which has put $92 million within the past year into the region for economic development, it is important for residents here to know about what is available and be able to connect with these opportunities to grow not only their local economy but their own prosperity," Taylor added.

Just last month at a convening of POWER grantees in Huntington, Jeff Lusk, director of the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority, which operates the Hatfield-McCoy Trails system, said the ARC's $1.3 million POWER grant to that organization will be used to help expand tourism-related business opportunities along the Hatfield-McCoy Trail.

"We look forward to seeing what additional helpful resources are on the horizon for our region when it comes to growing our recreation and tourism economy," Taylor said.

In the summer of 2014, Marshall University's Center for Business and Economic Research completed an updated economic impact study for the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority.

Hatfield-McCoy Trails for day-to-day operations generated an additional $1.6 million in economic activity within the state, for a total operational impact of $3.3 million, according to the report.

Even more notably, the Hatfield-McCoy Trails bring non-local visitors to the area whose spending is estimated to generate an additional $19 million in economic activity in West Virginia.

Together, the total estimated economic impact of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails is more than $22 million.

The economic activity generated by the Hatfield-McCoy Trails' operations and visitors also yields tax revenues. The trails impact the state and local tax base by nearly $120,000 annually, the report stated.

When considering the estimated total employment sustained by the presence of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, an annual state and local tax benefit of more than $455,500 is estimated.

An additional fiscal benefit to the state of more than $1.5 million is estimated as a result of non-local visitor spending while visiting the Hatfield-McCoy Trails.

In addition to providing data for estimating the visitor spending impact of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, the rider survey included in the report indicated largely positive experiences among riders.

"The vast majority of respondents reported a good or excellent experience with the Hatfield-McCoy Trails overall, and more than 97 percent of riders surveyed would recommend the trails to others," the report stated.

Also with an eye toward partnering with the Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trails system is Kristina Oliver, who this month accepted the position of program administrator for Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College's new Entrepreneurship and Business Coaching Center.

"I am reaching out to businesses, West Virginia small-business champions, economic developers, resource partners and service providers regarding a new initiative that I am excited to lead," she said.

Oliver said the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in partnership with Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College, the Natural Capital Investment Fund and West Virginia State University have created an entrepreneurial training and business coaching program in the coalfields of southern West Virginia.

"The project, which was funded by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission through the Power Plus initiative, will increase tourism and entrepreneurship in southern West Virginia to create a sustainable tourism-based economy," Oliver explained.

She said this initiative focuses on a nine-county region of the state, including Boone, Logan, Mingo, Wyoming, Lincoln, Wayne, Kanawha, McDowell and Mercer counties.

"I have much respect and admiration for the great work being done by many organizations and entities throughout West Virginia to help increase small-business success," she said. "With this new center, we will offer business coaching, targeted consulting and impactful training to help existing businesses and to help encourage new business growth."

Last year, the college launched a Powersports Technology Program to teach students to service, repair and maintain a variety of power sports equipment such as motorcycles, ATVs UTVs and personal watercraft.

"The program graduates are prepared to be entry-level technicians and most often work as service technicians, but may also find employment as service writers, parts department personnel and sales staff," Oliver said.

The full Powersports Technology Program is available on the Boone/Lincoln Campus. The Logan, Williamson and Wyoming/McDowell campuses offer the general education/program support courses only.

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Democratisation of Knowledge-Based Economy – eGov Magazine | Elets

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eGov Magazine | Elets
Democratisation of Knowledge-Based Economy
eGov Magazine | Elets
There is an abundance of capital all over the world, but the skilled human resource is scarce. Here, India's demographic dividend is going to play a crucial role. Therefore, Digital Skilling is going to become a great potential for growth in the ...

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How the social gospel movement explains the roots of today’s religious left – Maryville Daily Times

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Throughout American history, religion has played a significant role in promoting social reform. From the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century to the civil rights movement of the 20th century, religious leaders have championed progressive political causes.

This legacy is evident today in the group called religious progressives, or the religious left.

The social gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as I have explored in my research, has had a particularly significant impact on the development of the religious left.

The social gospels origins are often traced to the rise of late 19th-century urban industrialization, immediately following the Civil War. Largely, but not exclusively, rooted in Protestant churches, the social gospel emphasized how Jesus ethical teachings could remedy the problems caused by Gilded Age capitalism.

Movement leaders took Jesus message love thy neighbor into pulpits, published books and lectured across the country. Other leaders, mostly women, ran settlement houses designed to alleviate the sufferings of immigrants living in cities like Boston, New York and Chicago. Their mission was to draw attention to the problems of poverty and inequality especially in Americas growing cities.

Charles Sheldon, a minister in the city of Topeka, Kan., explained the idea behind the social gospel in his 1897 novel In His Steps. To be a Christian, he argued, one needed to walk in Jesuss footsteps.

The books slogan, What would Jesus do? became a central theme of the social gospel movement which also became tied to a belief in what Ohio minister Washington Gladden called social salvation. This concept emphasized that religions fundamental purpose was to create systemic changes in American political structures.

Consequently, social gospel leaders supported legislation for an eight-hour work day, the abolition of child labor and government regulation of business monopolies.

While the social gospel produced many important figures, its most influential leader was a Baptist minister, Walter Rauschenbusch.

Rauschenbusch began his career in the 1880s as minister of an immigrant church in the Hells Kitchen section of New York. His 1907 book, Christianity and the Social Crisis asserted that religions chief purpose was to create the highest quality of life for all citizens.

Rauschenbusch linked Christianity to emerging theories of democratic socialism which, he believed, would lead to equality and a just society.

Rauschenbuschs writings had a major impact on the development of the religious left in the 20th century. After World War I, several religious leaders expanded upon his ideas to address issues of economic justice, racism and militarism.

Among them was A.J. Muste, known as the American Gandhi, who helped popularize the tactics of nonviolent direct action. His example inspired many mid-20th century activists, including Martin Luther King Jr.

The intellectual influences on King were extensive. However, it was Rauschenbusch who first made King aware of faith-based activism. As King wrote in 1958, It has been my conviction ever since reading Rauschenbusch that any religion which professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the social and economic conditions that scar the soul, is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried.

Kings statement highlights the importance of the social gospel concept of social salvation for todays religious left.

Although many of its primary leaders come out of liberal Protestant denominations, the religious left is not a monolithic movement. Its leaders include prominent clergy, such as the Lutheran minister Nadia Boltz-Weber, as well as academics such as Cornel West. Some of the movements major figures, notably Rev. Jim Wallis, are evangelicals who identify with what is often called progressive evangelicalism.

Others come from outside of Christianity. Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the organization Network of Spiritual Progressives, seeks not only to promote interfaith activism but also to attract persons unaffiliated with any religious institutions.

These leaders often focus on different issues. However, they unite around the social gospel belief that religious faith must be committed to the transformation of social structures.

The Network for Spiritual Progressives mission statement, for example, affirms its desire

To build a social change movement guided by and infused with spiritual and ethical values to transform our society to one that prioritizes and promotes the well-being of the people and the planet, as well as love, justice, peace, and compassion over money, power and profit.

One of the most important voices of the religious left is North Carolina minister William Barber. Barbers organization, Repairers of the Breach, seeks to train clergy and laity from a variety of faith traditions in grassroots activism. Barbers hope is that grassroots activists will be committed to social change by rebuilding, raising up and repairing our moral infrastructure.

Other organizations associated with the religious left express similar goals. Often embracing democratic socialism, these groups engage issues of racial justice (including support for the Black Lives Matter movement), LGBT equality and the defense of religious minorities.

Despite the public visibility of activists like Barber, some question whether the religious left can become a potent political force.

Sociologist James Wellman observes that often religious progressives lack the social infrastructure that creates and sustains a social movement; its leaders are spiritual entrepreneurs rather than institution builders.

Another challenge is the growing secularization of the political left. Only 30 percent of Americans who identify with the political left view religion as a positive force for social change.

At the same time, the religious lefts progressive agenda in particular, its focus on serving societys poor might be an attractive option for younger Americans who seek alternatives to the perceived dogmatism of the religious right. As an activist connected with Jim Walliss Sojourners organization noted, I think the focus on the person of Jesus is birthing a younger generation. ... Their political agenda is shaped by Jesus call to feed the hungry, make sure the thirsty have clean water, make sure all have access to health care, transform America into a welcoming place for immigrants, fix our inequitable penal system, and end abject poverty abroad and in the forgotten corners of our urban and rural communities.

This statement not only circles back to Charles Sheldons 19th century question, what would Jesus do? It illustrates, I argue, the continued resiliency of the core social gospel belief in social salvation for a new generation of activists.

Can the religious left achieve the public status of the religious right? The theme of social salvation that was critical to Walter Rauschenbusch, A.J. Muste and Martin Luther King Jr. might, I believe, very well galvanize the activism of a new generation of religious progressives.

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How the social gospel movement explains the roots of today's religious left - Maryville Daily Times

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Raising the age of the state pension makes perfect sense – The Independent

Posted: at 1:04 am

The Governments proposal to raise the age at which people qualify for a state pension produced predictable responses. But none of them seemed to want to recognise the elephant sitting in the room.

In 1948, when the welfare state was effectively born, the retirement age was 60 for women and 65 for men, and the average life expectancy was 71 and 66 respectively.

Today average life expectancy for women is 81 and for men 77. That is a huge difference. If you combine this with extended good health and the abolition of any compulsory retirement age, you can see that later life looks totally different today from that envisaged in 1948.

People now have choices. For many reasons, not the least of which will be economic, people will choose to work beyond the current and future state retirement ages, maybe with a different employer, maybe part-time. Perhaps people will take later-life gap years. There will also be people unable to work for reasons of ill health, but that will require a different form of support.

All of this makes the recent commentary on pension ages by politicians and the media completely meaningless because it is based on the 1948 premise. The debate now needs to be around what form any future state provided support for later life should look like. Younger people today deserve to be able to look forward to a decent period of healthy retirement. Right now it looks bleak, with nobody addressing the real issues.

Bernard Cudd Address supplied

Your article titled Ten female presenters set to sue public broadcaster over gender pay gap reflects the situation women face worldwide.

Research by ActionAid shows that women in developing countries could be $9 (6.9 trillion) trillion better off if their pay and access to paid work were equal to that of men. Whenever they can, these women fight for this change too.

In Cambodia, women garment workers have conducted nationwide strikes in exasperation of years of low pay. The gender wage gap in the country more than doubled between 2004 and 2009, for example. Several companies have since expressed their willingness to support a living wage but the figure is paltry in comparison to those higher up the chain.

We must ensure womens work is valued and rewarded fairly. It is a key factor in fighting poverty and driving prosperity and goes hand in hand with sustainable business and economic returns.

Sarah Carson, senior womens rights campaign manager, ActionAid UK LondonEC1R

Its been two years since Cecil, one of Zimbabwes best-known lions, was callously snuffed out by a trophy hunter. Yet the global condemnation of his death didnt diminish hunters thirst for blood, and Xanda, Cecils 6-year-old son, has become the latest victim of this cruel sport.

Majestic wild animals will continue being slaughtered to boost hunters egos and perverse sense of fun as long as wildlife slayers with something to prove can ship heads, tails, and skins back home. More than 40 airlines have banned shipment of these grisly trophies, and Peta is calling on all others join them.

Jennifer White, Peta London N1

1.1m [wasted] in defending the Article 50 Court case was one of yesterdays sneaked-out announcements.

Has anyone estimated just how much the Brexit debacle has cost so far? Not just in tax-payer money (maybe calculated in how many nurses it would have trained), but as a massive distraction of resources and time taken from other things. Like running the country.

Surely it is time to admit we got it massively wrong. We werent ready, we still arent ready, and we need to stop this Yes Minister episode now and end the damage and waste.

Then announce another referendum in 10 years, this time properly thought-through with both possible results prepared for and a two-thirds majority required so the losing side dont whinge on afterwards.

Paul Keeble Manchester

When I watch a TV programme, I do it because of the content of the programme, not because of the personality or ability of the presenter.

Sadly, in a high proportion of cases, the quality of the presenters performance, possibly following stage instructions, appals me so much that I turn off. Why does the BBC keep them so long, with annual increments to their high salaries?

I imagine that many could nominate lots of people who would be prepared to do the job at a lower salary for a shorter period without seeking stardom.

Ian Turnbull Cumbria

The talented be they media presenters, sports stars or banking chief executives apparently are mainly motivated by higher and higher remuneration packages and are talented at securing them and usually at hiding them.

Might we not prefer people who are not so motivated and not so talented, but who have a sense of fairness and who would feel ashamed at receiving such vast sums compared with those of nurses, carers, cleaners and teachers?

Peter Cave London W1

The answer to unequal salaries seems to be to pay men less, as the BBC suggest. This is totally illogical; surely it is to pay women the same as men for doing the same job.

Equal pay should mean women getting paid more, not men less just to equalise injustice.

Gary Martin London E17

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What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle – Sacramento Bee

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Sacramento Bee
What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle
Sacramento Bee
The goal of his Burning Man on water was to tickle the imagination of like-minded free-thinkers and generate interest in seasteading floating colonies free from existing governments. With funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, the young ...

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What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle - Sacramento Bee

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Editorial: Foundation of our freedom – Daily Press

Posted: at 1:03 am

Our Founding Fathers considered a free press so instrinsic to the democratic ideal that they wrote it into the very first amendment of the document that launched our nation. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the only security of all is in a free press." Subsequent statesmen have had their ups and downs with the fourth estate, but have always understood and respected the need for a truly independent media.

President Donald Trump, as he so often does, stands as an exception and the tone he chooses to set in the Oval Office poses a clear threat not only to the press, but to American citizens in general.

What is at risk here is your access to information.

The president has hurled many epithets at the media "scum" and "sleaze" are among the more tame ones. But those words are the smokescreen that distracts the public's attention, and sometimes even the media's attention, from the more alarming pattern of behavior in which he is methodically chipping away at the very institution of a free press.

Mr. Trump has vowed, both before and after his election, to gut the First Amendment and "open up" libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations for critical coverage. This spring he suggested the White House could dispense with press briefings and instead simply hand out written statements for the media to publish, unquestioned. It hasn't gotten to that point yet, but the White House has taken the rather stunning step of excluding TV cameras from briefings.

This attempt to undermine the fundamental institution of a free press are nothing short of insidious. The First Amendment, which also covers freedom of speech and religion, states that neither an individual nor a news organization can be prosecuted for criticizing the government. It seems so obvious now, but it was a revolutionary thought at the time.

The crucial watchdog role implicitly bestowed upon a free press has been instrumental in the continued development of our nation. The free press, unheard of in King George III's England, rallied colonists behind the revolution. It played a role in the abolition of slavery and a century later in the success of the Civil Rights movement.

Racers came to practice and run the track before race day tomorrow at the Langley Speedway in Hampton.

Racers came to practice and run the track before race day tomorrow at the Langley Speedway in Hampton.

Investigations that were only possible under the protections of the First Amendment have challenged unethical industries and fought for the rights and safety of workers and other American citizens. The free press has uncovered government corruption and held the offenders responsible.

Here on the Peninsula, reporting by the Daily Press uncovered a police sting operation that churned $4 million through its coffers without a single arrest; parsed crime and sentencing statistics to see if all of our citizens are treated farily by the legal system; and most recently, called out the Peninsula Airport Commission for throwing away millions of your tax dollars to pay off someone else's bad loan as part of a back room deal.

None of this would have been possible without the First Amendment freedoms that are now being threatened.

President Trump's ascent to the White House came at a time when the public's right to know was already under attack. Government bodies at all levels have been working to punch holes in the Freedom of Information Act, which guarantees the media and citizens access to public information and details about how your tax dollars are spent.

We find ourselves fighting these battles more and more these days battling a state clerk's office in an attempt to see a database of crime and sentencing statistics culled from public records around the state, or dealing with a judge who wanted to close a county supervisor's domestic violence trial to the media (but allow the public to attend).

The tone set by the president encourages this kind of response, making it easier for millions of citizens to shrug (or even cheer) when the press is denied access to important information that pertains to your tax dollars, your laws and your lives.

When we seek access to public records, when we use FOIA to investigate public officials and agencies, it is part of our job as the eyes and ears of the readers whom we represent and serve. It is our duty to keep a close watch on how your tax dollars are spent and on how the public's business is being conducted.

The free press is one of the critical pillars that supports any democracy. An attack on that foundation is an attack on the entire democratic system.

When someone wants to limit the press' freedom, they are really limiting your freedom. When they keep information from us, they are keeping it from you.

That notion offends us. It should offend you.

Excerpt from:

Editorial: Foundation of our freedom - Daily Press

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Freedom of movement in Europe will end. But will it be orderly or chaotic? – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: at 1:03 am

Cars crossing from Italy into France are being stopped and searched. Their drivers and passengers are being interrogated and made to show their national identity documents. So much for open borders. Presumably France is being permitted to puncture the spirit of the Schengen agreement because Emmanuel Macron is the current darling of European Union optimists.

He is taking apparent liberties with what Michel Barnier constantly reminds us is the sacred EU principle of free movement of people, for which the leaders of countries such as Poland and Hungary would be castigated.

MrMacron and his border enforcement teams would, of course, argue that these procedures are not designed to prevent the populations of member states from exercising their right to live and work anywhere within the EU, but to prevent an unlimited influx of migrants from the rest of the world being transported across the continentillegally....

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Freedom of movement in Europe will end. But will it be orderly or chaotic? - Telegraph.co.uk

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Editorial: Elected officials should respect planning commission’s work on Freedom plan – Carroll County Times

Posted: at 1:03 am

After nearly two years of work, the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the Freedom Area Comprehensive Plan this week after making a few changes based on feedback it received from the public involving two large tracts of land, the Beatty and Gibson properties.

The residential portion of the Beatty property is designated high density residential. Gibson, meanwhile, which at one point during the planning process was designated for high density residential, was approved as medium density. This is still higher than the low density designation of the previous 2001 Freedom Plan.

While citizens of the Freedom area had argued against the so-called up-zoning of these properties, it makes sense to include some higher density development in this area of the county, one of few places where water and sewer infrastructure exist to support it. Future development here also balances agricultural preservation efforts elsewhere in Carroll.

Of course, the process isnt over quite yet. The plan now moves to the Board of County Commissioners, who have the ability to make significant changes to it prior to final approval, thanks to a state law that went into effect in 2015.

The law gives elected officials in non-charter governments, like Carroll, the ability to modify the plans themselves and remand master planning documents back to the planning commission for specific changes. Previously , county commissioners could only adopt or reject plans, with the latter choice restarting the process.

Thats what happened back in 2009 when the previous board of commissioners rejected the countywide master plan, known as the Pathways Plan. It wasnt until five years later, in 2014, that the countys master plan was finally sent to the commissioners and adopted.

Now, the commissioners have the ability to make minor changes they could simply substitute one word for another or major ones striking the entire document and rewriting it themselves. The planning commission has no power to counter any changes the commissioners may make to the plan, although any modifications would have to go through a public hearing process.

When the law was passed, there was some consternation from planning commission members that giving the county commissioners so much latitude could not only render the planning commissions work futile, but it would also allow elected officials to interject politics into what should be an apolitical document.

One of the final changes the planning commission made prior to approving the 2014 county master plan was to remove a letter outlining the Board of County Commissioners stance on property rights, after speakers at the final public hearing vehemently spoke out against its inclusion, saying it politicized the growth plan.

Theres no question the Freedom Plan was controversial, with hundreds of public comments submitted to the planning commission, many opposing land-use changes included in the plan.

Since Doug Howard, the commissioner who represents the Freedom area, has declared he is not seeking re-election, and presumably the constituents of the four other districts wont be swayed much by what happens in the Eldersburg/Sykesville area, there arent many brownie points to be gained with voters by politicizing the plan.

Still, we are hopeful that even with their newfound powers our elected officials leave politics out of the plan and, save for some minor alterations, respect the months of work of the planning commission in developing a blueprint for growth that is good for both the Freedom area and the county as a whole without making sweeping changes.

Link:

Editorial: Elected officials should respect planning commission's work on Freedom plan - Carroll County Times

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