Record-Breaking Heat in Alaska Wreaks Havoc on Communities and Ecosystems
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
Friday, June 07, 2019
Ever heard of it? Have you ever been sitting at home watching CNN, BBC, or Fox News and heard the news anchor mention West Papua?
It’s strange that this oppression receives little to no media coverage considering a recent fact-finding mission conducted by the Brisbane Archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission reported that West Papua was experiencing a “slow motion genocide.” The report warned West Papua’s indigenous population is at risk of becoming “an anthropological museum exhibit of a bygone culture.”...
THELASTAMERICANVAGABOND.COM
THANKS TO US SANCTIONS CIA OPERATIONS TO UNDERMINE MADURO
Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say
Butchers have stopped selling meat cuts in favor of offal, fat shavings and cow hooves, the only animal protein many of their customers can afford.
NYTIMES.COM
Butchers have stopped selling meat cuts in favor of offal, fat shavings and cow hooves, the only animal protein many of their customers can afford.
NYTIMES.COM
8-10 million Iranians died over Great Famine caused by the British in late 1910s, documents reveal
The document in the American Archives, reporting the widespread famine and spread of epidemic disease in Iran, estimates the number of the deceased due to the famine to be about 8-10 million.
Native American actor to get Oscar, a first, at honorary awards
Date created : 04/06/2019
The Academy praised Wes Studi's activism and involvement in Native American politics in announcing that he would receive an honorary Oscar
Date created : 04/06/2019
The Academy praised Wes Studi's activism and involvement in Native American politics in announcing that he would receive an honorary Oscar
Los Angeles (AFP)
A Native American actor will receive an Oscar for the first time, organizers said Monday, as the Academy published a list of honorary prizes following years of controversy over the awards' diversity.
Wes Studi, who is best known for his roles in "Dances with Wolves" and "The Last of the Mohicans" -- is one of three industry veterans who will receive honorary prizes at the glitzy Governors Awards ceremony on October 27, along with filmmakers David Lynch and Lina Wertmuller.
Actress Geena Davis, already an Academy Award winner, will receive a special prize for her humanitarian work.
Studi, 71, has appeared in more than 30 films and is "known for portraying strong Native American characters with poignancy and authenticity," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement.
It also praised Studi's activism and involvement in Native American politics.
"I am deeply honored and humbled. I finally get to say 'I'd like to thank the Academy...'," tweeted Studi, who is of Cherokee descent.
The award comes almost half a century after Marlon Brando memorably declined his best actor Oscar for "The Godfather" in protest at the movie industry's treatment of Native Americans.
Canadian indigenous musician Buffy Sainte-Marie shared a best original song Oscar in 1982.
Academy president John Bailey said the recipients of this year's honorary Oscars were chosen for their "lifetime of artistic accomplishment" and had "brought outstanding contributions to our industry, and beyond."
Lynch, regarded as one of the greatest American filmmakers of his generation, is the enigmatic director of cult classics such as "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive," as well as television's "Twin Peaks."
He has been nominated four times for competitive Oscars but never won.
The third honorary prize will go to Wertmuller, who in 1977 became the first woman ever nominated for best director for "Seven Beauties."
The Governors Awards ceremony was created as a separate event in 2009 to allow more time for the honorees to accept their prizes and to declutter the main show's packed schedule.
Davis, who won an Oscar for "The Accidental Tourist," will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her work promoting gender equality in media.
The "Thelma & Louise" star founded an institute to tackle gender bias and stereotypes in film.
Previous winners of that award include Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey and Elizabeth Taylor.
D-DAY STORIES
For all the Star Trek geeks who didn't know this about "Scotty"...(2016 article). Jimmy Doohan was a WWII war hero.
Photos of D-Day 75-year memorials show World War II jeeps, fighter planes, and parachuting veterans in Normandy
Canada has been ranked third-to-last in a detailed new study comparing health-care systems in 11 developed nations, managing to beat out only France and the bottom-ranked United States.
The study, published this week by a New York-based private research foundation called the Commonwealth Fund, focuses largely on America’s dismal performance, but also reveals stubborn weaknesses in Canada’s system that keep us lagging behind top-ranked countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
According to the study, which relies on 72 metrics grouped into five distinct categories (Care Process, Access, Administrative Efficiency, Equity, and Health Care Outcomes), those weaknesses include Canada’s comparatively higher infant mortality rate, the prevalence of chronic conditions, long wait times in emergency rooms and to see specialists, poor availability of after-hours care, and a lack of reliable coverage for things like dental work and many prescription drugs.
The report’s authors cite the “markedly lower performance of Canada, France and the United States compared to the other countries, which all group relatively closely above the 11-country average performance score.”
The document makes it clear Canadians are not getting value for money, spending the equivalent of 10 per cent of our GDP on health care in 2014. Meanwhile, many higher-ranked countries spent less and still managed to come out on top.
It’s certainly not all bad news, however.
Canada performed quite well on many metrics. The country has some of the lowest mortality rates for patients who end up in hospital following a heart attack, for example, and survival rates for certain types of cancer are also comparatively high. Unlike their peers abroad, Canadian doctors were unlikely to say that they wasted too much time on administrative tasks.
The survey results were drawn from a few sources. First, there are the Commonwealth Fund’s own international surveys of patients and doctors, conducted using widely accepted sampling and survey methods. Data was also drawn from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The Commonwealth Fund’s last review of the health-care systems across the 11 affluent countries, conducted in 2014, saw Canada ranked second-to-last, meaning we have jumped up one spot this time around.
But the authors themselves note that extremely small differences between scores and rankings on various metrics can easily bump a country up or down on the list. Results are often clustered closely together, with only a few percentage points separating Canada from all the countries above it on the list.
There were other limitations as well. In spite of improvements in recent years, the report notes, the availability of data on health system performance across nations “remains highly variable,” and the survey does not capture important information drawn directly from things like medical records or administrative data.
“Furthermore, patients’ and physicians’ assessments might be affected by their expectations, which could differ by country and culture … in general, the report relies predominantly on patient experience measures.”
© 2017 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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