A good list of current problems with integrating combat units. And,...
A final piece of advise (sic)
Should you find yourself in command of a combat unit with woman in it my advice would be:
Relax – don’t look upon your soldiers as men and women. Look upon them as soldiers. Treat them all differently but make sure you measure them by the same standards. It is not OK to discriminate.
Federal prosecutors plan to sue New York City over widespread civil rights violations in the handling of adolescent inmates at Rikers Island, making clear their dissatisfaction with the city’s progress in reining in brutality by guards and improving conditions at the jail complex, a new court filing shows.
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The report found rampant use of excessive force by correction officers, the overuse of solitary confinement and an ineffectual system of investigating assaults by guards. Weeks earlier, an investigation by The New York Times documented the cases of 129 inmates who had been seriously injured in altercations with guards last year.
There was a moment, early in the event, when long-burning tension between Sharpton and the newer, younger activists flared into the open. At the focal point of the gathering were speakers, many with connections to Sharpton and the NAN. The younger activists were disgusted, angry with Sharpton and convinced that this was a march for his aggrandizement, not a protest for justice and radical change. Some took to the stage to demand the microphone, and one woman—Johnetta Elzie, who said she was tear-gassed while protesting in Ferguson—gave a sharp critique. “This movement was started by the young people. We started this. It should be young people all over this stage. It should be young people all up here.” The mic was cut, and the activists folded back into the crowd. The march began, with thousands listening to Sharpton and other approved voices.
It’s noteworthy that Selma had a similar—if quieter—moment between SNCC representatives James Forman and John Lewis and the on-site leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, including King. Forman, in particular, was frustrated with King’s attempt to claim leadership and displace SNCC activities. King’s argument—the reason he thought he was right to take control—was that he and the SCLC had a record of getting results. And while they didn’t have the grassroots connections of the SNCC activists, they knew how to channel anger into action and action into accomplishment.
Seeking to make a dent in the intractable problem of obesity—a condition affecting roughly one-third of U.S. adults and costing companies more than $73 billion a year, according to researchers from Duke University—businesses are experimenting with new measures to encourage workers to slim down.
They are moving beyond healthy snacks in vending machines or discounted gym memberships and taking an aggressive, personalized approach to workers’ weight.
Some are offering employees wearable fitness trackers and competitions on social apps, covering weight-loss surgeries and drugs, and providing mental-health counseling designed to get at the emotions that may underlie eating issues.
I wonder if things really have gotten this bad, overall. I wouldn't be surprised: US food portions are enormous, are filled with sugars, fats, and salts... The people harmed the most by this trend also tend to be the poorest, who rely on cheaper (worse) foods, and can't afford the time or money investment on nutrition education or exercise. But that's where this article is a tad surprising: these are more-affluent corporations, with their more-affluent employees. Will this turn into a societal trend? or just be a fad?
This is, of course, also insane. As stated, a large part of this is our norms and politics: the large food portions we're used, and the corn and sugar lobbies which push inclusion of ever more corn syrup. So we waste incredible amounts of money engineering our foods to make us fat, only to spend even more money to stay healthy.
The main reason, Turner has found, is simple — adding road capacity spurs people to drive more miles, either by taking more trips by car or taking longer trips than they otherwise would have. He and University of Pennsylvania economist Gilles Duranton call this the "fundamental rule" of road congestion: adding road capacity just increases the total number of miles traveled by all vehicles.
After years of gauging the environmental, medical, economic and political risks of hydraulic fracturing, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is moving to ban this method of extracting natural gas from shale deposits in New York State.
[Update, 9:30 p.m. | See the end of the post for an excerpt from the state health study that underpinned the decision.]
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The natural gas news is nicely summarized by The New York Times and Associated Press. The A.P. story had this excellent section laying out how the decision was unveiled, with the prime factors being “red flag” issues described by the state health commissioner, Howard Zucker, and scant signs of an economic benefit described by Joe Martens, the environmental conservation commissioner:...
Russia's economy has been hurt by two big things: the falling price of oil and economic sanctions. (Remember Crimea?) The oil and gas industry generates about half of Russia's revenue, so when a combination of the shale boom in the U.S. and weaker demand worldwide pushed the price from $110 per barrel earlier this year to $60, Russia got hammered. The sanctions imposed by Europe and the U.S., designed to punish Russia's companies for President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine, have hurt, too.
The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention act, named for a Marine veteran activist who took his own life in 2011, would create new peer support programs for troubled veterans, mandate new online mental health resources, repay student loans for psychiatrists willing to work at Veterans Affairs facilities, and evaluate existing suicide prevention programs to insure their effectiveness.
Veterans groups have touted the measure as a key step forward in veterans mental health care, and blasted the delay in its passage as potentially costing lives.
House lawmakers easily approved the measure earlier this week, but Coburn blocked quick passage in the Senate over concerns about costs and program redundancy.
The measure costs $22 million over five years. Supporters have said VA can absorb those costs within existing budget parameters, creating no new funding need. But Coburn disputed that, saying at best the new effort will drain funds from existing programs.