Politics Plus

Yesterday, I basically tried to keep things slow and calm. It was a pill-organizing weekend, and everything runs out at different times, so there is literally never an occasion when I don’t have to run to another room for a new bottle of something OTC or order a prescription renewal – I generally do that in advance for the following fortnight so I can at least get the bottles filled and capped without interruption (otherwise this klutz would be knocking them over and using choice language.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – Magnolia Mother’s Trust marks a history-making three cycles of paying Black mothers $1,000 a month
Quote – The Magnolia Mother’s Trust is now the longest-running guaranteed income program in the United States. But the program, which gives Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi, $1,000 a month for one year, no strings attached, was never meant to last forever. “I don’t think that’s the systems change we need,” said Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard Opportunities, which runs Magnolia Mother’s Trust and provides programs and services to families that live in federally subsidized affordable housing. Instead, the goal of the trust is to model what could be, in a more just and fair society.
CLick through for story. If Republians really wanted a world with more happy and healthy people, this is what they would be doing (which of coursethey don’t.) Likewise, if they really wanted a world of people who would fall easily into categories and be content with that, they should be emulating Brave New World  – the ohly dystopia I’m aware of in which the characters aren’t aware that it’s a dystopia. But Republicans don’t want that either. They aren’t happy unless someone is getting hurt.

Vice – Scientists Achieve the Impossible, Safely Destroy Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
Quote – In a new paper published [this month] in the journal Science, a team of researchers have uncovered a new way to dispose of a class of these chemicals under comparatively mild conditions, including ambient pressure and temperatures as low as 176 degrees Fahrenheit. William Dichtel is a lead author on the paper and a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. He said in a press conference about the work on Tuesday that one of the exciting benefits of this discovery is that the reaction leaves no damaging products in its wake. “We were pleased to find a relatively low temperature, low energy input method where the one specific portion of these molecules falls off and sets off a cascade of reactions that ultimately breaks these PFAS compounds down to relatively benign products including fluoride ions… that are in many cases found in nature already and do not pose serious health concerns.”
Click through for background and more info. Nobody saw this coming – even the scientists were pleasantly surprised. And good news is always welcome.

Food For Thought