Big Abortion Rate Drops Seen in States That Didn't Restrict Access to Abortion Clinics →

The U.S. has seen a 12 percent decrease in its abortion rate since 2010, a survey by the Associated Press found. Among the states that saw the greatest drops were Hawaii (30 percent), New Mexico (24), Nevada (22), Rhode Island (22) and Connecticut (21). Notably, none of these states have recently passed laws limiting access to abortion clinics or medical practitioners who provide abortion services.
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The exact reason for the overall U.S. decrease in abortions is unclear. Anti-abortion advocates assert that the country has experienced a cultural shift against abortion, whereas abortion rights advocates believe it is a sign of improved access to contraceptives and sex education, leading to fewer pregnancies to begin with. 
Tamar noted that Planned Parenthood nationwide has seen a 91 percent increase in the use of long-term contraceptives, like implants and IUDs, at its health centers since 2009.

Once again: police work is NOT getting more dangerous →

Because policing in America has become a hot topic, anything related is more likely to be published, including of violence against police. But it's only a perceived trend, not a real one:

We’re continuing to see stories alleging that police work is gettingincreasingly dangerous. I suspect we’ll see even more of this as the search foraccused Pennsylvania cop killer Eric Frein continues, and then again as the year winds down. December usually brings a slew of stories about police officers killed over the last 12 months, and this year, unfortunately, we’ll see an increase in that figure over last year.
But as I’ve written at length (and generally in vain),  it’s important to include context when reporting these figures. Policing has been getting safer for 20 years. In terms of raw number of deaths, 2013 was the safest year for cops since World War II. If we look at the rate of deaths, 2013 was the safest year for police in well over a century. At the current pace, we can expect to see a 17 percent increase in on the job law enforcement fatalities this year over last year. That would put the total number of police officers who die on the job this year at 117, making 2014 the second safest year for cops in terms of raw fatalities since 1959. It would also put 2014 as the safest year for fatality rates in over a century. You’re more likely to be murdered simply by living in about half of the largest cities in America than you are while working as a police officer.

NIMBYism Is a Huge Drag on America's Economic Growth →

Fascinating. Of course, some amount of this is perfectly fine; not everything should be a purely economic decision, but about our values as well (which we have to be careful with; see also: redlining).

Silicon Valley enjoys sky-high labor demand and soaring wages. Yet for such a significant global nexus of economic activity, the population density in San Jose and San Francisco is incredibly low. Incumbent homeowners don’t want to share the wealth, so they enact housing policies that keep new workers out.
Protectionist housing policies are bad for people who’d like to work in Silicon Valley, of course. But NIMBYism is also bad for the nation as a whole. Even though labor productivity has grown the most over the last few decades in three specific U.S. cities—New York, San Francisco, and San Jose—that local growth hasn’t translated to greater national growth at all, thanks to a lack of housing.
In fact, NIMBY policies that restrict the supply of housing in those cities are a drag on the national economy. That’s the finding in a new paper by Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti released by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The researchers show that increased “wage dispersion” from 1964 to 2009 has held back U.S. GDP growth by a whopping 13.5 percent of what it could be.
“This amounts to an annual wage increase of $8,775 for the average worker,” the paper reads.

Why is the TPP Deal Such a Big Secret? →

I've wondered about this; I keep hearing people say "It's entirely secret!" and others say "No, it's not secret at all!" We finally have some insight; it seems like the White House has put up as many onerous barriers as possible, to make an end-run around Congress:

DESVARIEUX: But who else has been able to see this deal? The USTR released names of about 600 trade advisors who have access to the text. Eighty-five percent of these advisors represent trade associations and corporations. The rest of the groups, like labor, are clearly in the minority. Members of Congress like Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro has come out strongly against the secrecy around the TPP. Congress can only read one section at a time in a secret location in the Capitol's basement, and they are forbidden from taking notes, and only staff with special clearance can see the text.
DeLauro says getting information out to the public has been an uphill battle.
REP. ROSE DELAURO (D-CT): And it's taken us a very, very long time to get, to be able to see, to see, three or four chapters of this agreement. We have been unable to do that for months and months and months.
DESVARIEUX: As of April, only 43 members of Congress had actually asked to see the text, according to the Hill. President Obama stands by his assertion that the text is available, and that there is no secret deal.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: You got some critics saying that any deal would be rushed through. It's a secret deal. People don't know what's in it. This is not true. Any agreement that we finalize with the other 11 countries will have to be posted online for at least 60 days before I even sign it. Then it would go to Congress, and you know they're not going to do anything fast.
DESVARIEUX: But critics say that once fast-track is passed the TPP is pretty much a done deal because it guarantees that Congress cannot amend or filibuster a deal, meaning the final deal will simply get an up or down vote. So the logic goes that if the Obama administration can get enough votes to pass fast-track they'll get enough votes for the agreement, and history has proven that to be true.
It happened with the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement under President Reagan, with NAFTA under President Clinton, and CAFTA under President George W. Bush, in addition to many others.
DELAURO: What we're asking on fast-track is that we allow there to be congressional input into the process of the negotiations. That's what we're asking for, and that has not happened.
DESVARIEUX: But is this level of secrecy around a trade agreement really unprecedented?
DAMON SILVERS, DIR. OF POLICY, AFL-CIO: [Inaud.] have been personally involved in trade negotiations for the last 20 years or so are universally of the opinion that this is the most secretive process that they've ever experienced.

Getting ahead of the spin on the pope’s environmental encyclical →

In truth, Francis is neither a political conservative nor a liberal, which are Western categories that arose during the French Revolution. If you asked, he’d probably tell you he comes out of the moderate wing of Argentina’s Peronist movement. (I have yet to meet anyone, however, including any of the Argentines I know, who can clearly define what exactly that means.)
Basically, Francis appears to sees himself as a Latin American pastor who takes Church teaching and tradition for granted, and who tries to bring it to bear on situations of suffering he’s seen with his own eyes.
Attempting to read his agenda, including Laudato Sii, as a boost for any political alignment thus is destined to get him wrong.

I Went to Church with Bruce Jenner and Here’s What Caitlyn Taught Me About Jesus. →

Jesus wasn’t one to turn away from those the world had labeled broken. He was the one  who would walk towards them with open arms.  
As we continue this conversation (some would call it an argument) about the LGBTQ community and the church, I pray we can remember our God, read His word, and most of all, pray before we speak. I know plenty of other church leaders who don’t feel comfortable affirming the LGBTQ community. I also know their hearts.
May your heart break for those who are struggling or hurting. May you see what God is doing in the world he has promised to transform. May we live in hope and love.

Flu-Driven Mass Slaughter of Midwest Poultry Conveys the Scale of Our Meat Habit →

Here’s a brief look behind headlines from the Midwest about the scope of the poultry slaughter necessitated by the spread, since last December, of the H5N2 strain of bird flu.
You can keep track of the impact on chicken and turkey farms at an avian influenza web page maintained by the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. (The Poultry Site, an industry news site, is also tracking the latest developments.)
The combined toll in chickens and turkeys is approaching 50 million dead or slaughtered birds.
That is a huge number. But gauge it against the scale of the mass-meat industry and it becomes more like a rounding error. Just one company, Tyson Foods (one of the biggest chicken vendors on the planet) processes 41,000,000 chickens a week.