A new 'Kung Fu' debuts at a crucial time for Asian Americans

NEW YORK — Up-and-coming actors will sometimes claim to know a variety of skills to be considered for roles, but Olivia Liang set a boundary early in her career.

“When I started off in the industry, people would ask me why martial arts wasn’t on my resume because it was such a typecast for Asians to do martial arts roles," said Liang. "So I made a promise to myself. I was like, ‘I’ll never learn martial arts until someone pays me to learn martial arts.'"

Liang kept that promise. She learned martial arts as the lead of The CW's new series, “ Kung Fu ” — and she's getting paid for it.

“Kung Fu” is inspired by the 1972 series starring David Carradine. It stars Liang as Nicky Shen, who while visiting China, joins a monastery where she is taught Shaolin values and martial arts. When her mentor is killed, she returns home to find her community disrupted by a local gang. She must use the martial arts skills she learned to protect her neighbourhood and family, and soon discovers she's being targeted by the same assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor.

Liang says what makes “Kung Fu” different than the superhero shows The CW is known for is that Nicky is not a vigilante.

“Nicky is heroic, but she doesn’t see herself as a hero. She doesn’t have a hero complex where she is going out to find bad guys. She sees bad things happening and feels like she needs to do something about it.”

The series has a mostly Asian American cast with an Asian American showrunner and executive producer, Christina M. Kim. “I’m so excited that I get to give some people this opportunity to shine," said Kim.

“When I was on set for the first time, we did a camera test and I literally was staring at the monitor and it just hit me. I was like, ‘I’ve never seen the screen filled with Asian American faces like this is.’"

Kim says her writers room is also diverse. She has five writers of Asian descent on staff. Half of the writers are also women, which Kim says is a novelty. “Usually it's just me and one other woman in a room.”

“Kung Fu” premieres Wednesday on The CW and the pilot will be re-broadcast on TNT on Sunday.

Tzi Ma, who plays Nicky's father, Jin, says it's remarkable to have so many people with Asian backgrounds working on the show, because he doesn't have to explain the Asian experience to people who are making creative assumptions to what that's like.

“Not only is there representation on screen but we back it up from our writers room to all our guest directors. It is an amazing sight to behold. I’ve been doing this for a minute now and I have never seen this kind of make up,” said Ma.

Ma hopes the authenticity of the series will help to change the public consciousness at a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise.

“The camera is a very interesting instrument. I want the audience to have the opportunity finally to see what real reputation representation is like. And when they get educated... they will begin to develop their taste of what’s good, what’s real and what’s true.”

The Asian American community is also paying attention, not only to see their stories on TV but to see how they're told. Valerie Soe, a professor in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University, hopes the producers and writers will be careful with what imagery is presented to viewers.

“The tricky part will be for the folks who are in charge to make sure that the show doesn’t veer too much into older stereotypes and tropes." She cites the gang storyline as potentially problematic because it promotes the theory "that all Asian men are gangsters and villains."

Overall, Soe says the series is a win because it's one more example of an Asian American story being told.

“There’s a phrase called ‘narrative plentitude’ that Viet Thanh Nguyen the author uses — about having a lot of different stories out there to pick from so we don’t have to just like obsessively focus on one. Like, ‘Is ’Crazy Rich Asians' going to represent us accurately? Is 'Joy Luck Club' going to represent us accurately?' It’s like, ‘Well, if that one doesn’t, then we’ve got this other one,’" she said.

"The more the merrier. I think not everything’s going to be fabulous and not everything’s going to be exactly what we want. But, if you have a lot of different choices, then you don't expect everything from one."

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A new 'Kung Fu' debuts at a crucial time for Asian Americans

Follow Alicia Rancilio at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar

Alicia Rancilio, The Associated Press

I RECCOMEND WATCHING THE SERIES 'WARRIORS' ON NETFLIX, ASIAN VERSION OF GANGS OF NEW YORK MEETS KUNG FU

GOOD NEWS
Bulgaria's course unclear after fractured election result

THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PARTY IS ENDED

AFP 

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's centre-right party came first in the weekend's parliamentary elections, partial results showed Monday, but with protest parties surging it has no clear partner to form a governing coalition.

© Handout Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov faces an uphill battle to form a government after his party won just 25 percent in Sunday's election

Borisov's GERB party, undermined by scandals and protests after nearly a decade in power, won just 26 percent of Sunday's vote.

With the country facing an uncertain political period ahead as Borisov attempts to form a government, he pitched himself as a leader representing stability.

"You won't make it on your own... let's unite," the 61-year-old said in a live broadcast on Facebook Sunday night.

"Do you have someone more experienced than me?"

He also suggested a cabinet of "experts... to carry the responsibility and to make the maximum efforts for Bulgaria until December in order to exit the pandemic," after an election held at the peak of the country's third coronavirus wave.

© Nikolay DOYCHINOV The new party of singer and talk show host

 Slavi Trifonov came in a surprise second with 18 percent

Analysts predicted an uphill battle for Borisov to cobble together a new coalition after an unexpectedly strong performance by new populist and anti-government protest parties.

"The results show the profound fragmentation of society," political analyst Antony Galabov said.

"No clear majority is in view and GERB owes its win only on voters' concern for stability."

- 'Political crisis'? -

The new populist party There is Such a Nation of 54-year-old entertainer-turned-politician Slavi Trifonov came in a surprise second with 18.4 percent of the vote, according to Monday's official partial results.

The traditional main opposition Socialist party received a mere 14.9 percent, its lowest number in the Balkan country's post-communist history.

Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova said Monday the movement "will not support any government -- neither political, nor made up of experts -- put forward by GERB", predicting a "political crisis" ahead.

But political analyst Daniel Smilov said it was "too early to talk about a political crisis".

"Let's wait for the various coalition options, even if they unrealistic, to be examined," he said, while adding that "there are many unknowns".

Several other parties appear set to enter the 240-seat parliament, including two which led massive anti-government protests last summer, accusing Borisov of protecting oligarchs.

They are the right-wing Democratic Bulgaria coalition, which won around 10 percent of the vote, while new leftist coalition Stand up! Mafia out! -- which is close to President Rumen Radev, a sharp critic of Borisov -- took nearly five percent.

The kingmaker in a number of previous Bulgarian governments, the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, came fifth with nine percent.

GERB's current coalition partners VMRO meanwhile failed to pass the four-percent threshold to enter parliament.

- 'Don't know what to expect' -

Borisov's poor performance came despite observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe documenting that "massive use of state resources gave the ruling party a significant advantage" in a report published Monday.

The OSCE also complained of "lack of editorial diversity" in the media, with Bulgaria standing 111th in Reporters Without Borders' global press freedom ranking.

"Politicians now have to show wisdom because in this fragmented parliament it would be difficult to form a government if they don't show political will, desire and vision," 67-year-old software engineer Lyubomir Tsekov told AFP Monday in the capital Sofia, adding he hoped to avoid new elections.

Some elderly voters were puzzled by the rise of Trifonov, who has been quite popular for many years but mostly as a singer and talk show host.

But analyst Mira Radeva said Trifonov's main appeal was among "not very political young people aged 18 to 30".

"I have no opinion of Trifonov as a politician, he is just a showman!," 64-year-old Violeta Mihaylova said.

"I don't know what to expect," she said, adding that she was disappointed with the election results.

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The collapse of 'big steel' should be a warning for climate skeptics

R. David Harden and Eric Haxthausen, opinion contributor 

THE HILL

4/5/2021

For most of the last century, America was the king of steel. In 1900, the United States was the leading steel producer of the world. By the middle of the 20th century, the United States was producing roughly half of the world's supply. At the time, the U.S. ste

el industry employed up to 650,000 workers, with pay significantly above the national average wage. The U.S. dominance of the global steel industry contributed to the allied victory in two world wars. Steel was the symbol of American military strength and economic power.

SEE

1919

The great steel strike and its lessons : Foster, William Z., 1881-1961 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Report on the steel strike of 1919 : Interchurch World Movement of North America : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

1937

Unionizing steel : Foster, William Z., 1881-1961. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

What means a strike in steel, : Foster, William Z., 1881-1961. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

© Getty Images The collapse of 'big steel' should be a warning for climate skeptics

But by the late 1970s, the steel industry was under assault by rising economic powers. Fueled by low-cost labor and raw materials, government subsidies and investments in new technology, foreign producers rapidly gained market share. Yet, the U.S. government chose not to act on clear-eyed assessments of the need to invest in modernizing the American steel industry, opting for a laissez-faire approach that failed to connect industrial and manufacturing policies to national and economic security. Big Steel resorted to closing facilities and pressing the unions to accept lower wages and benefits, viewing profitability as a zero-sum battle between labor and management.

The result was foreseeable. Employment in the U.S. steel industry fell by more than 60 percent, and the American share of global production dropped even more. The collapse of the steel industry devastated communities across the United States. Generations later, cities like Baltimore and Cleveland have never fully recovered.

History often repeats itself. Today, climate change is the new market disruptor.

Across the world, technology, and capital flows are converging on climate opportunities. These trends will restructure energy, agriculture, transportation, and infrastructure as well as most of the global economy over the next decade. America will not be exempt; the U.S. will either innovate and lead - or buy from other nations that do.

Out-of-touch climate skepticism and fear of public investment will assure our decline in the face of these market forces. Our nation simply cannot fail to seize this moment. We learned our lesson 40 years ago.

To forge the next American century, Congress must enact legislation to implement President Biden's infrastructure plan. This should not be a partisan issue. The United States increasingly lags in the quality of its infrastructure, and risks falling behind its strategic competitors. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently assessed that failing to address the $2.6 trillion gap in infrastructure funding would cost the United States $10 trillion in economic growth and more than 3 million jobs in the next two decades.

Climate change is placing new demands on physical infrastructure. More frequent extreme weather events and warmer temperatures put added stress on roads and structures. Rising sea levels threaten coastal communities, which will need to elevate roadways, develop defenses, manage coastal erosion and flooding, or make tough decisions to relocate homes and facilities. There is widespread recognition that our roadways, transit systems, rail, ports, airports, water systems, schools and other buildings need modernization to handle the effects of climate change and to support a net-zero carbon emissions future. These upgrades, along with a modern and resilient electric grid, affordable and universal broadband internet access, and secure 5G telecommunications technology, are essential to our economic future.

As part of this effort, Congress should grow federal investments in clean energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) five-fold by 2030 to assure America's leadership position. The United States spends just .04 percent of GDP on energy RD&D, a mere one-tenth of the peak outlays for the Apollo Program and the Manhattan Project, and about half of what China currently invests.

Such investments will yield breakout returns. Earlier federal investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy delivered more than a 27 percent annual return. Strengthening support for emerging technologies will help assure a pathway to commercialization. For instance, by improving energy efficiency in the manufacturing and the building sectors, U.S. firms can capture new markets and reduce carbon emissions.

Pairing these investments with "demand-pull" strategies, including incentives, federal procurement commitments, and clean energy standards, will ensure that American innovations capture commercial opportunities both at home and abroad.

Critically, these investments should also be integrated with regional economic development strategies and proven workforce development programs, particularly in rural and other underserved communities to create jobs in those parts of the country most affected by this energy transition.

How will we pay for this big vision?

Climate innovation is a long-term investment. Adjusted for inflation, it currently costs the government less to borrow than to hold cash: real interest rates on all but the longest term bonds are negative. This is the moment to make bold commitments that will pay themselves back over time. These investments will unleash broad based economic opportunity, create jobs, accelerate innovation, and expand American trade to new climate markets overseas, all of which will grow the tax base and spur economic growth. Federal dollars will leverage private capital through project financing, equity investment and licensing fees. State and local governments can raise capital with matching federal support using revolving funds and climate impact bonds to build community infrastructure.

America has a bipartisan history of building big infrastructure at a time of national crisis. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln connected the nation and secured a century of progress by launching the transcontinental railroad. Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the Works Progress Administration that built the roads, dams, airports and water systems to help America climb out of the Great Depression. Eisenhower championed the interstate highway system during the height of the Cold War to open unprecedented American travel, trade and prosperity in the late 20th Century.

Now is our time. Tackling climate change and renewing our infrastructure is our opportunity. Like Lincoln, Roosevelt and Eisenhower before, President Biden can seize the future by building the infrastructure, innovating the technology, securing energy independence, and unlocking talent and capital for generations to come. Congress just needs to act.

R. David Harden is managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group and former assistant administrator at USAID's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, where he oversaw U.S. assistance to all global crises. Follow him on Twitter at @Dave_Harden.

Eric Haxthausen is an independent consultant advising on climate policy and strategy. He has served in the Federal government under four presidential administrations, and as an economist and U.S. climate change policy director for leading environmental organizations.

Why Native American children have higher rates of disability

The rates of disability among U.S. children are increasing, with the highest rate of disability among Native American children, according to a newly released brief by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Video COVID-19’s toll on the Navajo Nation

More than 3 million children in the U.S. had a disability in 2019, slightly up from data collected more than a decade ago.

But a disproportionate number of Native American children (5.9%) had a disability, followed by children of more than one race (5.2%) and Black children (5.1%). Household income also appeared to play a role, with 6.5% of children living below the poverty line having a disability, as compared to 3.8% of children living in families with incomes above the poverty threshold.

"There are decades of evidence that these particular racial and ethnic groups, especially American Indian, Native American groups and Black Americans, have poor access to care, and also may not have access to the same quality of health care services," said Dr. Regan Bergmark, an otolaryngologist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital with an interest in addressing health care disparities.

© John Locher/AP, FILE Students walk between buildings at the Little Singer Community School in Birdsprings, Ariz. on the Navajo Nation, Sept. 25, 2014.

MORE: Despite mistrust, Native Americans’ participation in vaccine development proves vital

Bergmark said screening programs can be an important first step in identifying disabilities that may benefit from early intervention and treatment. A disability includes problems with seeing or hearing, thinking, walking and other disabilities that affect day-to-day living. But these conditions also negatively impact a child's future employment and socialization.

A lack of access to high-quality care can be a major contributor to the higher rates of disability. Native American children and their families have historically had inadequate prenatal care, higher rates of premature birth and exposure to environmental stressors. Some live in rural or remote communities where they may experience difficulty with transportation to appointments and higher wait times. Finding primary care providers and pediatricians who understand the unique cultural needs of these children can also pose a challenge.

For example, some children might benefit from therapy that incorporates their tribes' historical connection to horses.

"In many tribes, horses are connected to the land and to ceremony, and using them to help children with walking, with emotional and social therapy and even mental health therapy has been really effective," said Dr. Shaquita Bell, a pediatrician at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic in Seattle and past chair of the Committee on Native American Child Health, in describing how culturally sensitive therapies can benefit children.

The Indian Health Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to promote health at local, regional and national levels for members of more than 500 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their descendants. However, the IHS remains underfunded, limiting the services it can provide, according to Bell and Bergmark.MORE: To Native Americans, reparations can vary from having sovereignty to just being heard

Experts say that it's important for doctors and other health care providers to learn as much as they can about Native American history and customs, so they can provide culturally competent care.

"You are probably caring for native children; your kids are probably going to school with them; you're probably grocery shopping with folks, so awareness ... of the unique needs of American Indian and Alaskan Native children are really important so that we can help them achieve their health goals," Bell emphasized.

Sara Yumeen, M.D., is a preliminary-year internal medicine resident at Hartford Healthcare St. Vincent's Medical Center in Connecticut and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

EV'S ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE NOR ARE THEY GREEN

Mining executives warn Ottawa about dependence on China for strategic minerals amid deteriorating relations

Jesse Snyder 

POSTMEDIA

4/5/2021

OTTAWA — Mining executives and national security experts are warning the federal government about China’s domination of strategic mineral supplies, saying Ottawa needs to better protect supply chains for modern technology that relies on them like electric vehicles and smart phones.

© Provided by National Post Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada, is urging federal policymakers to create a framework to develop and then protect Canadian supply chains for batteries and other products, and recommended the federal government establish a $250-million program over five years to incentivize investment in demonstration projects.

In testimony before the House of Commons natural resources committee this month, experts described China’s decades-long efforts to control the market for critical minerals — including the 17 rare earth elements — by rapidly expanding its processing capacity or by acquiring foreign assets to dominate supply chains. The minerals, which include magnesium, lithium and scandium, are used to develop such strategic products as solar panels, wind turbines, electric car batteries, mobile phone components and guided missiles.

Canada sits atop an abundance of such minerals, from a large deposit of neodymium in northern Saskatchewan (used in the manufacture of magnets) to the sizeable pockets of lithium found in Quebec. That strategic advantage, experts said, makes it incumbent on Ottawa to help strengthen Canada’s supply chain and protect against China’s coercive foreign policy tactics.

The witnesses are sounding the alarm as Canada-China relations deteriorate over the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The impasse has revealed China’s willingness to inflict economic pain by restricting Canadian exports.

Robert Fung, chairman of Canadian mining firm Torngat Metals, said China has over the years amassed around 80 per cent of global processing capacity for strategic minerals, and has used that position to manipulate prices as a way to punish competitors.

“We all know that is not a geopolitically acceptable situation,” he said in testimony earlier this month.

Fung and others stressed that Canada’s abundance of natural deposits of minerals like lithium, nickel and others could give Canada a significant strategic edge in coming years. Minerals used in the manufacture of magnets for electric cars, for example, are almost exclusively located in Canada and in Australia, which has already taken the lead over Canada in their development.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot at being in a position to have a degree of control in a very large market,” Fung said.

Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada, described an “increasingly uncomfortable reliance” on China for commodities, particularly for rare earths and other critical minerals. He said China declines to “play by our rules” in the development of those minerals, effectively undercutting the free market.

“For decades, China has held monopoly-like control over critical minerals production and distribution, rendering the rest of the world reliant on procurement and creating a level of risk that deters investors from entering these markets,” he said.

Gratton urged policymakers to create a framework to develop and then protect Canadian supply chains for batteries and other products, and recommended the federal government establish a $250-million program over five years to incentivize investment in demonstration projects.

“If we can get to it and create the right conditions, we could be in a very, very strong place going forward.”

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne last week updated the federal government’s foreign takeover guidelines involving rare earths and critical minerals, effectively lowering the threshold for what would trigger a national security review.

Earlier this month, Natural Resources Canada released a list of 31 minerals now designated as strategic, everything from copper to cobalt to tellurium.

Ottawa more broadly has faced criticism for failing to set out clear national security thresholds to guide proposed takeovers of Canadian natural resource assets, including by state-owned Chinese enterprises.

Those criticisms effectively prompted Ottawa last year to bring “enhanced scrutiny” to proposed takeovers from Chinese and other firms. In December, the Industry Department rejected the proposed $207-million takeover of TMAC Resources, a small company developing an Arctic gold mine, by Shandong Gold Mining, a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

Committee witnesses also warned that competition to secure critical minerals will only intensify as demand for electric vehicles and electronics grows.

Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said China is likely to possess 67 per cent of global capacity to build lithium-ion batteries by 2030, due in large part to significant investments the country has made, including in so-called “mega factories.” North America, by comparison, will have just 12 per cent of the market, according to BMI research.

“We are in the midst of a global battery arms race, where the world’s major economies are building a base to the energy storage revolution,” Moores said.

But developing strategic assets in Canada has proved challenging. Jamie Deith, chief executive of mining firm Eagle Graphite, described to the committee the struggles he has had raising capital to develop his graphite quarry in British Columbia, largely due to China’s stranglehold on the market.

China in the past has flooded markets with supply as a way to lower prices, making it less economically feasible for competitors to develop rare minerals.

“Natural graphite is the poster child for minerals dominated by China and, in the face of a near monopoly wielded by one of the most powerful governments in the world, no combination of attributes could convince prospective sources of capital to invest in required expansion,” Deith said. “Supply chains around the world seemed mostly content with heavy reliance on a single nation.”

The Chinese government has also restricted output in order to hike prices or to cut off foreign countries from strategic supply. China in 2010 cut Japan’s supply of rare earths in response to a dispute over the Diayou Islands, restricting its ability to manufacture hybrid cars and other products.

Witnesses pressed Ottawa to release a national strategy on the development of critical minerals and to deepen ties with Europe, the U.S. and Japan to strengthen its non-Chinese supply chains.

Nancy Concepcion, an executive manager at Vale Canada, proposed that government work with industry to develop “battery hubs” as a way to ensure Canada has a piece of the market through the entire supply chain.

“We will definitely have to expand. Not only do we need to promote the auto industries into making EVs, which means promoting them with consumers, but we also have to support the development of that supply chain,” she said. “The processing of the minerals, the development of the battery cells, the battery materials, all need to be brought together and incentivized.”

'Allergic reaction to US religious right' fueling decline of religion, experts say
Adam Gabbatt 

THE GUARDIAN

4/5/2021

Fewer than half of Americans belong to a house of worship, a new study shows, but religion – and Christianity in particular – continues to have an outsize influence in US politics, especially because it is declining faster among Democrats than Republicans.

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Donald Trump with religious leaders for a national day of prayer in September 2017.

Just 47% of the US population are members of a church, mosque or synagogue, according to a survey by Gallup, down from 70% two decades ago – in part a result of millennials turning away from religion but also, experts say, a reaction to the swirling mix of rightwing politics and Christianity pursued by the Republican party.

Related: I thought I was over my Catholic guilt about being gay. Maybe I was wrong? | Antoun Issa


The evidence comes as Republicans in some states have pursued extreme “Christian nationalist” policies, attempting to force their version of Christianity on an increasingly uninterested public.

This week the governor of Arkansas signed a law allowing doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ people on religious grounds, and other states are exploring similar legislation.

Gallup began asking Americans about their church membership in 1937 – and for decades the number was always above 70%. That began to change in 2000, and the number has steadily dropped ever since.

Some of the decline is attributable to changing generations, with about 66% of people born before 1946 are still members of a church, compared to just 36% of millennials.

Among other groups Gallup reported, the decline in church membership stands out among self-identified Democrats and independents. The number of Democratic church members dropped by 25% over the 20 year period, with independents decreasing by 18%. Republican church members declined too, but only by 12%.

David Campbell, professor and chair of the University of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, said a reason for the decline among those groups is political – an “allergic reaction to the religious right”.

“Many Americans – especially young people – see religion as bound up with political conservatism, and the Republican party specifically,” Campbell said.

“Since that is not their party, or their politics, they do not want to identify as being religious. Young people are especially allergic to the perception that many – but by no means all – American religions are hostile to LGBTQ rights.”

Research by Campbell shows that a growing number of Americans have turned away from religion as politicians – particularly Republicans – have mixed religion with their politics. Campbell says there has always been an ebb and flow in American adherence to religion, but he thinks the current decline is likely to continue.

“I see no sign that the religious right, and Christian nationalism, is fading. Which in turn suggests that the allergic reaction will continue to be seen – and thus more and more Americans will turn away from religion,” he said.

The number of people who identify as non-religious has grown steadily in recent decades, according to Michele Margolis, associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of From Politics to the Pews. More than 20% of all Americans are classed as “nones”, Margolis said, and more than a third of Americans under 30.

“That means non-identification is going to continue becoming a larger share of population over time as cohort replacement continues to occur,” Margolis said. But she agreed another factor is the rightwing’s infusion of politics with theism.

“As religion has been closed linked with conservative politics, we’ve had Democrats opting out of organized religion, or being less involved, and Republicans opting in,” she said.

Christian nationalists – who believe America was established as, and should remain, a Christian country – have pushed a range of measures to thrust their version of religion into American life.

You virtually have to wear religion on your sleeve in order to be electedAnnie Laurie Gaylor

In states including Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida, Republicans have introduced legislation which would variously hack away at LGTBQ rights, reproductive rights, challenge the ability of couples to adopt children, and see religion forced into classrooms.

The governor of Arkansas recently signed into law a bill that allows medical workers to refuse to treat LGBTQ people on religious grounds. Montana is set to pass a law which would allow people or businesses to discriminate, based on religion, against the LGBTQ community.

“Do not make me NOT do what my God tells me I have to do,” said Republican Montana congressman John Fuller, a supporter of the law.

Alison Gill, vice-president for legal and policy at American Atheists, who authored a report into the creep of Christian extremism in the US, warned that the drop-off in religious adherence in America could actually accelerate that effort, rather than slow it down.

“Surveys of those who identify with Christian nationalist beliefs consistently show that this group feels that they are subject to more discrimination and marginalization than any other group in society, including Islamic people, Black people, atheists, [and] Jewish people,” Gill said.

“They are experiencing their loss of prominence in American culture as an unacceptable attack on their beliefs -- and this is driving much of the efforts we are seeing to cling onto power, undermine democracy, and fight for ‘religious freedom’ protections that apply only to them.”

The influence of religion over politics is stark, Gill said.

“America perceives itself to be a predominantly religious society, even if the facts no longer agree. Politicians often feel beholden to pronounce their religious faith – and are attacked for a perceived lack of it,” she said.

While the danger of a right-wing backlash is real, Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said that the Gallup data suggests the US is moving in a positive direction.

“We have this constitutional separation of church and state in America, and our constitution is godless, and it says you can’t have a religious test for public office, and yet you virtually have to wear religion on your sleeve in order to be elected,” Gaylor said.

“There is movement [away from religion], and we’re just delighted to see this. We think it’s great that Americans are finally waking up.”

Satellite images show large Russian military build up in Arctic: report

THEY HAVE A FLOATING NUKE POWER PLANT

Ellen Mitchell 

4/5/2021


Russia is building up military equipment in the Arctic and testing new weapons there as it looks to assert dominance of the region, CNN reported.

© Getty Images Russian Arctic anti-aircraft missile systems "Pantsir-SA" move through Red Square during a military parade

Russia is building upon military bases, hardware and underground storage facilities on its Arctic coastline, with bombers, MiG31BM jets and new radar systems close to the Alaskan coast, according to satellite images provided to CNN by space technology company Maxar.

Included in the buildup is the Poseidon 2M39 unmanned stealth torpedo, a so-called super-weapon powered by a nuclear reactor. Russia is quickly developing the armament and tested it in February, with further tests planned this year, according to Russian state media.

Moscow intends for the torpedo to be able to elude U.S. and NATO coastal defenses and is "part of the new type of nuclear deterrent weapons," the head of Norwegian intelligence, Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes, told CNN.

To counter the buildup, NATO and the U.S. have also moved equipment into the area in the past year, including the U.S. military's stealth Seawolf submarine as well as its B-1 Lancer bombers, which recently flew over the eastern Barents Sea.

"There's clearly a military challenge from the Russians in the Arctic," a senior State Department official told CNN. "That has implications for the United States and its allies, not least because it creates the capacity to project power up to the North Atlantic."

While the increase of Russian military assets has taken place inside Russian territory, U.S. officials are worried Moscow may move use its forces to take over areas of the Arctic outside its borders.

The buildup has been all the more apparent in recent days with Russia holding military flights near Alaskan airspace and submarine activity in the Arctic.

In late March, three Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarines simultaneously broke through several feet of ice in the Arctic in a military drill. And last week, Russia flew jets and bombers near Alaskan airspace, including 10 times on Monday alone.

"I think we've been very clear about the threats that we see from Russia across domains. ... We're taking them very, very seriously," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said last week.

In addition, Moscow is regularly testing high-tech weapons, including the Poseidon 2M39 and the "Tsirkon" anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile.

Russia also is attempting to influence a shipping lane that runs from between Norway and Alaska known as the "Northern Sea Route." The route cuts in half shipping times to move containers from Europe to Asia.

Amazon illegally fired 2 activist employees, labor board reportedly finds

mfriel@businessinsider.com (Mikhaila Friel) 4/5/2021

© Karen Ducey/Getty Images Employees of Amazon and other tech companies at the Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2019, in Seattle. Karen Ducey/Getty Images

Amazon illegally fired two employees who had criticized it, the National Labor Relations Board found.

The employees had complained about working conditions and the company's impact on climate change.

Amazon maintains that the employees were fired for violating internal policies.

Amazon acted illegally by firing two employees who publicly criticized it last year, the National Labor Relations Board found, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa were fired in April 2020 after discussing their concerns about the company's impact on climate change and its treatment of warehouse workers during the pandemic. At the time, Amazon said they had violated internal policies.

The NLRB, an independent federal agency to protect the rights of private-sector employees in the US, said it would accuse Amazon of unfair labor practices if Amazon did not settle the case with the women, Cunningham told The Times.

Cunningham told the publication that the agency's finding was a "moral victory" that "really shows that we are on the right side of history and the right side of the law."

Amazon again denied that the women were fired for criticizing the company publicly, repeating its statement that they had violated internal policies.

"We support every employee's right to criticize their employer's working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against our internal policies, all of which are lawful," Jaci Anderson, an Amazon spokesperson, told The Times.

"We terminated these employees not for talking publicly about working conditions, safety or sustainability but, rather, for repeatedly violating internal policies," she added.

NLRB complaints about Amazon have more than tripled in the past year, NBC News reported last week. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 37 complaints have accused Amazon of infringing on workers' rights to organize, the report said.

Last month, the NLRB accused Amazon of illegally intimidating and threatening a worker in New York City who led a walkout in March 2020.

The nearly 6,000 employees at an Amazon warehouse in Birmingham, Alabama, voted last week on whether to form the firm's first union. The employees have said the vote was prompted by difficult working conditions, long hours, and a lack of job security.

Amazon has publicly opposed the campaign from the beginning with anti-union ads and signs.

The news rounds out a tough week for Amazon, which apologized on Friday for snarky tweets targeted at Rep. Mark Pocan that denied that its workers peed in bottles. After the firm's original tweets, Amazon drivers told journalists - including at Insider - that time pressure meant they peed in bottles, pooped in bags, and struggled to change menstrual pads in their vans.

Representatives for Amazon and the NLRB did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Scientists Discover Weird 'Falgae' in Cornwall That Are Genetically Unique

David Nield 

4/5/2021


The mesmerizing red algal species Phymatolithon calcareum clumps together to form habitats called maerl beds in coastal regions across the northeast Atlantic, but researchers have discovered a pocket of the algae near Cornwall in the UK that's genetically distinct from the rest of the region.

© Mark Milburn, Atlantic Scuba Falgae in the Fal Estuary.

It's been dubbed 'falgae', likely because of its location in the Fal Estuary – a busy waterway used by both commercial and naval ships sailing to and from Falmouth port.

These maerl beds are important habitats for many marine species – like coral reefs – and play an important role in the storage of carbon. The researchers are hoping that the new findings will help in efforts to protect these beds from numerous threats.

"It appears that the unique diversity in the Fal Estuary has likely been shaped over time by geographical isolation of this maerl bed and a lack of genetic exchange with other P. calcareum populations," says marine biologist Tom Jenkins, from the University of Exeter in the UK.

Even the algae at the Manacles reef, just 13 kilometers (8 miles) away, across Falmouth Bay, have a different genetic make-up, the team found. They used a whole-genome genotyping process to study the DNA from 12 separate maerl bed sites stretching from Norway to Portugal.

Genetic variations could be found in different geographical spots, but it was only the Fal Estuary sample that was completely genetically distinct – and it doesn't appear to be a hybrid of other types of algae either, at least based on the samples the research team used.

The researchers suggest that it's the isolation of this batch of red algae that has caused it to be genetically distinct. Algae that form maerl beds grow very slowly, even over thousands of years, and aren't easily dispersed.

"The wider genetic differences we found across north-east Atlantic are probably explained by the low dispersal capacity of this species, which limits connectivity between particular populations separated by large distances," says Jenkins.

Maerl beds can provide safe harbor for thousands of fish and invertebrates, but their existence is threatened by climate change, the dredging required to maintain waterways, and the shipping traffic that travels to and from ports.

The danger from marine pollution is a particular problem for the algae in the Fal Estuary because it is so busy. In many ways, the day-to-day activity on waterways is at odds with the conditions maerl beds need to survive.

Knowing more about the genetics of these maerl beds should help preserve them, the team behind the new study says: knowing how these batches of red algae are different is going to be important for conservation efforts.

"There are several large maerl beds around the coast of south and southwest England, and the genetic differences we identified show that these need to be managed on a site-by-site basis, as separate and distinct populations," says evolutionary biologist Jamie Stevens, from the University of Exeter.

The research has been published in Evolutionary Applications.

Japan just recorded its earliest cherry blossom bloom in 1,200 years. scientists warn it's a symptom of the larger climate crisis

By Jessie Yeung, Selina Wang and Derek Van Dam, CNN 

4/5/2021

Think of Japan in the spring, and the image that comes to mind is likely the country's famous cherry blossoms, also known as "sakura" -- white and pink flowers, bursting across cities and mountains, petals covering the ground.

A woman takes a selfie with cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Meguro river in Tokyo on March 26, 2021. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP) (Photo by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images)

The flowers, which experience a "peak bloom" that only lasts a few days, have been revered in Japan for more than a thousand years. Crowds celebrate with viewing parties, flocking to the most popular locations to take photos and have picnics underneath the branches.

But this year, cherry blossom season has come and gone in the blink of an eye, in one of the earliest blooms on record -- and scientists warn it's a symptom of the larger climate crisis threatening ecosystems everywhere.

Yasuyuki Aono, a researcher at Osaka Prefecture University, has gathered records from Kyoto back to 812 AD from historical documents and diaries. In the central city of Kyoto, cherry blossoms peaked on March 26, the earliest in more than 1,200 years, Aono said.

And in the capital Tokyo, cherry blossoms reached full bloom on March 22, the second-earliest date on record.

"As global temperatures warm, the last spring frosts are occurring earlier and flowering is occurring sooner," said Dr. Lewis Ziska from Columbia Universities Environmental Health Sciences.

The peak bloom dates shift every year, depending on numerous factors including weather and rainfall, but have shown a general trend of moving earlier and earlier. In Kyoto, the peak date hovered around mid-April for centuries, according to Aono's data, but began moving into early April during the 1800s. The date has only dipped into late March a handful of times in recorded history.

"Sakura blooms are very temperature sensitive," said Aono. "Flowering and full bloom could be earlier or later depending on the temperature alone," he said. "The temperature was low in the 1820s, but it has risen by about 3.5 degrees Celsius (6.3 degrees Fahrenheit) to this day."

This year's seasons in particular influenced the blossom dates, he added. The winter was very cold, but the spring came fast and unusually warm, so "the buds are completely awake after enough rest."

Their early bloom, however, is just the tip of the iceberg of a worldwide phenomenon that could destabilize natural systems and countries' economies, said Amos Tai, assistant professor of earth science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

There are two sources of increased heat, which is the main factor making the flowers bloom earlier: urbanization and climate change. With increased urbanization, cities tend to get warmer than the surrounding rural area, in what is called the heat island effect. But a bigger reason is climate change, which has caused rising temperatures across the region and the world.

And these earlier dates aren't just a matter of tourists scrambling to catch peak bloom before the petals all fall -- it could have a lasting impact on entire ecosystems, and threaten the survival of many species.

© Clive Rose/Getty Images People flock to Tokyo city parks to view the blooming cherry blossoms on March 21.


For every action there is a reaction

Plants and insects rely heavily on each other, and both use environmental cues to "regulate the timing of different stages of their life cycles," said Tai. For instance, plants sense the temperature around them and if it's warm enough for a consistent period, they start to flower and their leaves start to emerge. Similarly, insects and other animals depend on temperature for their life cycles, meaning higher heat can cause faster growth.

"The relationship between plants and insects and other organisms have developed over many years -- thousands to millions of years," said Tai. "But in the recent century, climate change is really wrecking everything and perturbing all of these relationships."

© Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images A bird next to cherry blossoms at a park in Tokyo, Japan, on March 23.

Different plants and insects may respond to the rise in heat at different paces, throwing their life cycles out of sync. Whereas they once timed their growth simultaneously each spring, now flowers may bloom before insects are ready, and vice versa -- meaning "the insects may not find enough food to eat from the plants, and the plants don't have enough pollinators (to reproduce)," he said.

Over the past decade, some plant and animal populations have already begun shifting to both "higher altitudes" and "higher latitudes" to escape the effects of climate change, according to a 2009 study in Biological Conservation. But it's becoming harder for ecosystems to adapt, with climate change making the weather more and more unpredictable. Though the trend of flowering dates is generally moving earlier, unexpected and extreme weather means that there is still huge variability year-by-year.

"Ecosystems are not accustomed to these kinds of large fluctuations, it causes them a lot of stress," said Tai. "Productivity may be reduced, and ecosystems may even collapse in the future."

Not limited to cherry blossoms

This year's change in flowering dates isn't limited to just Japan; the cherry blossoms that adorn the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, have also bloomed early. According to the National Park Service, the peak bloom date of the Washington cherry blossoms has advanced forward by nearly a week from April 5th to March 31.

And the effects of climate change aren't just limited to cherry blossoms."Cherry blossoms catch the eye, people love to go see them, but lots of other plants are experiencing changes in their life cycle as well, and may have even stronger influence on the stability of their ecosystems," said Tai.

The same phenomenon is already happening to many crops and economically valuable plants, he said -- posing big problems for food security and farmers' livelihoods. Food supplies in some of the most vulnerable regions in the world are being directly affected by droughts, crop failures and locust swarms.

In some regions, farmers may be forced to change the types of crops they grow. Some climates will become too hot for what they are growing now, while other climates will see more flooding, more snow, more moisture in the air, which will also limit what can be grown.

"(Farmers) have a much harder time predicting when they will have a good year, when they will have a bad year," Tai added. "Agriculture now is more like a gamble, because climate change is randomizing the things happening in our ecological systems."

© Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images Cherry blossoms at Kitanomaru Park in Tokyo, Japan, on March 23.