XCR1250

Biden student loan giveaway costs $400B, budget office finds By Steven Nelson September 26, 2022 7:11pm The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday that President Biden’s attempt to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of borrowers would cost taxpayers $400 billion — while another estimate indicated the total cost could climb above $600 billion. Biden last month said he would use emergency powers triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic to set aside $10,000 in federally owned student debt per borrower making under $125,000 per year — or $20,000 per Pell Grant recipient with the same income. The CBO estimate will provide new impetus to legislators and some state officials who are exploring options to block the initiative on constitutional grounds. The budget office said in a memo that it “estimates that the cost of student loans [to the government] will increase by about an additional $400 billion in present value as a result of the action canceling up to $10,000 of debt issued on or before June 30, 2022, for borrowers with income below specified limits and an additional $10,000 for such borrowers who also received at least one Pell grant.” In addition to the loan forgiveness, the CBO estimated Biden’s August decision to again defer payments and interest accrual on student loans through December would cost taxpayers another $20 billion. “This isn’t constitutional. A President can’t just give away $400 billion,” tweeted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in response. President Biden said he would use emergency powers triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic to set aside $10,000 in federally owned student debt. AP Photo/Evan Vucci “Joe Biden isn’t ‘cancelling’ student loan debt. He’s just forcing us to pay for it,” wrote Abigail Marone, a spokeswoman for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget noted Monday that the CBO estimate did not take into account another part of Biden’s plan that caps the amount borrowers must pay monthly on undergraduate loans at 5% of their earnings, down from the current 10%. The organization estimated last month that the so-called “income driven repayment” (IDR) policy would cost taxpayers another $120 billion. On Monday, the CRFB estimated the cost of IDR at between $90 billion and $190 billion — driving the true cost to the US over $500 billion on the low end and more than $600 billion on the high end. CRFB President Maya MacGuineas said in a statement that Biden’s student debt plan “would wipe out the ten-year savings from the Inflation Reduction Act twice over, worsen inflationary pressures, and deliver benefits to millions of Americans with advanced degrees in upper-income households” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office ballparks that President Biden’s attempt to forgive student loan debt would cost taxpayers $400 billion. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images “This might be the most costly executive action in history,” MacGuineas added. “It’s unacceptable that the President would implement it without offsets and without Congressional approval.” Biden invoked emergency powers to authorize the loan forgiveness following a pressure campaign from the Democratic Party’s left wing. The Education Department’s legal department cited a 2003 law that allows the president to “alleviate hardship” for student loan recipients during a national emergency. Former President Donald Trump previously allowed borrowers to defer student loan payments because of the pandemic. However, Biden appeared to undercut his own justification for the handout earlier this month, when he said in a “60 Minutes” interview that “the pandemic is over” — before any loans actually are forgiven.

Electric car charging costs nearing petrol prices for some - RAC Michael Race - Business reporter Mon, September 26, 2022 at 4:43 AM Electric car being charged The cost of charging an electric car has surged due to the rise in energy prices, prompting fears it will put off drivers from buying them, the RAC said. It said electric car (EV) owners who use "rapid" public charging points were paying almost the same for electricity as they would for petrol per mile. Charging the cars at home is cheaper, but domestic bills are also rising. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been blamed for much of the recent rise in electricity and gas prices. The RAC said its research showed the cost to charge an electric car on a pay-as-you-go basis at a publicly accessible rapid charger had increased by 42% since May to an average of 63.29p per kWh. The hike in price means drivers who only use the public network to charge vehicles pay around 18p per mile for electricity. That is just 1p less per mile for a petrol car, based on someone driving at an average of 40 miles to the gallon, the motoring group said. The cost per mile for charging electric vehicles at home is around 9p per mile for the average-sized car. The BBC has been told most EV drivers charge at home overnight. "For those that have already made the switch to an electric car or are thinking of doing so, it remains the case that charging away from home costs less than refuelling a petrol or diesel car, but these figures show that the gap is narrowing as a result of the enormous increases in the cost of electricity," RAC spokesman Simon Williams said. "These figures very clearly show that it's drivers who use public rapid and ultra-rapid chargers the most who are being hit the hardest." Mr Williams said the government's support package for household bills, which will see typical bills limited to about £2,500 per year until 2024, would benefit drivers charging vehicles at home. However, he warned for those relying on public charge points and without driveways would face a "much bleaker picture". He said the cap on wholesale energy prices for businesses, which will see bills cut by around half their expected level this winter, "should lead to some price reductions by charge point operators in the coming weeks". "But what EV drivers don't want to see is operators having to hike their charges next spring if wholesale costs keep climbing," he said. Man using smart phone while charging electric car in front yard Charging vehicles at home can be cheaper than public chargers due to the way electricity is taxed, with the RAC calling for to reduce VAT at public chargers from 20% to 5%, the level it is in the home. "That would reduce the cost of an 80% rapid charge by 7.91p to 55.38p per kWh, and an ultra-rapid charge by 7.99p to 55.95p per kWh and would not unfairly penalise those drivers who can't charge their cars at home," Mr Williams said. Quentin Willson, founder of the FairCharge campaign, said the government needed to "act" on charging costs by capping rises of public charging costs and lowering VAT. "If they don't, all those years of promises of a zero-emission future, clean air and energy independence will have come to nothing," he added. The Department for Transport said that electric vehicles continued to "offer opportunities for savings against their petrol and diesel counterparts, with lower overall running costs thanks to cheaper charging, lower maintenance costs and tax incentives". "We want consumers to have the confidence to make the switch to cleaner, zero emissions cars, and that is why we continue to support the growth of our world-leading charging network and have pledged £1.6bn since 2020 to delivering chargepoints across the country," a statement added. Electric cars also usually cost thousands of pounds more than their petrol or diesel counterparts. This is because EV batteries are expensive to make and a high level of investment is needed to transform existing factory production lines to manufacture the new technology. However, costs are expected to come down in the near future: industry group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders forecasts electric and internal combustion engine cars should cost roughly the same "by the end of this decade".

MC is Brain dead, he can't help but post constant DU talking points as that's all he has.

MC asked if he's "missing somthing" LOL, try brain cells.

BLM= Burn, Loot, Murder

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash ENVIRONMENT Electric cars being charged at night making America’s power grid unstable 4 HOURS AGO by Jocelyn Solis-Moreira ShareTweet STANFORD, Cali — Leaving your electric car charging overnight to have it ready in the morning seems like a good idea in theory. But in reality, research suggests doing so does more harm in the long run. Stanford scientists say that it costs more to charge your electric car at night and it could stress out your local electric grid. Instead, researchers suggest drivers should switch to charging their vehicle at work or in public charging stations. Another added benefit to charging in the daytime at a public station is that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions. With the effects of climate change more apparent than ever—frequent forest fires, widespread flooding, and stronger hurricanes—car companies are expecting people to start investing in electric-powered cars in the future. For example, California residents are expected to buy more electric cars as the state is planning to ban sales of gasoline-powered cars and light trucks in 2035. “We encourage policymakers to consider utility rates that encourage day charging and incentivize investment in charging infrastructure to shift drivers from home to work for charging,” says study’s co-senior author, Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, in a statement.. So far, electric cars make up one million or 6% of automobile sales in California. The state’s goal is to increase that number to five million electric vehicles by 2030. However, the study authors say that the change from gas to electric will cause a strain in the electric grid when there’s 30% too 40% of cars on the road. “We were able to show that with less home charging and more daytime charging, the Western U.S. would need less generating capacity and storage, and it would not waste as much solar and wind power,” explains Siobhan Powell, a doctor of mechanical engineering and lead study author. “And it’s not just California and Western states. All states may need to rethink electricity pricing structures as their EV charging needs increase and their grid changes.” If half of vehicles in the western United States are electric, the team estimates it would take over 5.4 gigawatts of energy storage—equivalent to five large nuclear power reactors—to charge the cars. However, if people charged their electric cars at work instead of home, the electric demand is expected to go down to 4.2 gigawatts. California currently uses time-of-use rates to encourage people to use electricity at night such as running the dishwasher and charging cars. However, the authors argue that with growing demand of electric cars, this strategy is outdated and will soon incur high demand with low supply. More specifically, the teams says if a third of homes were to charge their electric cars at 11 PM or whenever electricity rates go down, the local grid would become unstable. “The findings from this paper have two profound implications: the first is that the price signals are not aligned with what would be best for the grid – and for ratepayers. The second is that it calls for considering investments in a charging infrastructure for where people work,” says Ines Azevedo, associate professor of energy science and engineering and co-senior author. “We need to move quickly toward decarbonizing the transportation sector, which accounts for the bulk of emissions in California,” Azevedo adds. “This work provides insight on how to get there. Let’s ensure that we pursue policies and investment strategies that allow us to do so in a way that is sustainable.” The study is published in Nature Energy.

BUSINESS Stock markets drop as Wall Street takes a gloomy view of the economy Updated September 23, 20224:56 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered DAVID GURA Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on September 21, 2022 in New York City. Stocks dropped in the final hour of trading after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in an attempt to continue to tame inflation. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Stock markets continued their weeklong plunge on Friday, with all three major indices falling more than 1%, as investors who are losing faith in the global economy rushed for the exits. Wall Street has been developing a gloomy view of the economy's future, where a recession seems more likely, as it digests the Federal Reserve's warnings about what it will take to cool the country's overheated inflation. The Dow fell more than 486 points, or 1.6%, to close at 29,590 on Friday, the lowest in nearly two years. The Dow was down 4% for the week, and also closed 19.59% from its most recent peak in January - bringing it right up to the demarcation line for bear markets of 20%. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have now both entered into bear markets. The Nasdaq fell 1.8% to 10,868, or 32.3% below its most recent peak 10 months ago. The S&P dropped 1.72% to 3,693, down 23% from its January peak. Stock markets, as well as those for bonds and commodities, have been reckoning with the Fed's announcement this week that it will continue to raise interest rates until inflation is under control, regardless of the risks of a recession. Already this year, the central bank has hiked rates at a speed and magnitude not seen for a generation, in the hopes of slowing down the worst inflation the country has experienced in 40 years. Most Americans have hoped for a "soft landing," where the Fed's steps to stabilize prices would bring about only a slight economic decline. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it clear on Wednesday that the economy could experience the "hard landing" of a severe downturn. ECONOMY "No one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or if so, how significant that recession would be," Powell said at a news conference after the Fed announced it was raising interest rates by 0.75% for the third time in a row. "Nonetheless, we're committed to getting inflation back down to 2% because we think that a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain later on. " Powell's comments and a bleak outlook from FedEx, the multinational company heavily connected to the world's supply chains, have created confusion about the future, with Goldman Sachs analyst David Kostin describing the economic outlook as "unusually murky." BUSINESS "The forward paths of inflation, economic growth, interest rates, earnings, and valuations are all in flux," Kostin wrote on Friday. "Based on our client discussions, a majority of equity investors have adopted the view that a hard landing scenario is inevitable and their focus is on the timing, magnitude, and duration of a potential recession and investment strategies for that outlook," he also wrote.

Scientists discovered a mineral that’s even stronger than diamond Home › Science › News By Joshua Hawkins September 21st, 2022 at 9:09 PM Scientists have discovered a mineral stronger than a diamond called lonsdaleite. The mineral, which has been theorized about for years, was recently found in Africa after meteorites landed in the region. It’s also believed to exist on Earth in some form, though scientists are unsure how much is available on our planet. For centuries, humanity believed that diamonds were the hardest minerals on Earth. However, a new discovery has put this belief into doubt. Instead, this mineral, called lonsdaleite, is believed to be around 58 percent stronger than diamonds, according to NPR. Much like the diamonds we know and love, lonsdaleite is also made of carbon. However, it includes a hexagonal design instead of the cubic atomic structure that diamonds sport. This hexagonal design allows for a much stronger structure. This newest discovery is based around a grouping of lonsdaleite discovered in a meteor that landed in Africa. The meteors left behind mineral deposits, which scientists say helped prove it is stronger than diamonds. The meteors are believed to have come from a dwarf planet, though scientists are unsure exactly which planet birthed it. Scientists published a study on lonsdaleite in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences earlier this month. Pieces of the asteroid could have created bright meteors in the sky. Image source: Mopic / Adobe It seems like space has been throwing a lot of what we thought we knew into disarray lately. Not only is James Webb baffling scientists with its discoveries, but we’ve finally managed to take images of the Sun’s chromosphere for the first time, too. All of these advancements are helping us learn more about our universe and even turning some of the things we thought we knew on their head. Now that scientists have proven there is a mineral stronger than diamonds, it does make one wonder what else might be out there waiting to be discovered. What other minerals might await us on the exoplanets James Webb is observing? Do these proclaimed “space diamonds” come from planets made of diamonds? And, what of our knowledge will the next discoveries challenge?

https://interestingengineering.com/science/zero-electricity-cooling-system

WORLD Undersea volcano eruption in Tonga was a "once-in-a-lifetime event" that could warm Earth's surface, scientists say GET THE FREE APP SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 / 7:02 AM / CBS/AP When an undersea volcano erupted in Tonga in January, its watery blast was huge and unusual — and scientists are still trying to understand its impacts. The volcano, known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, shot millions of tons of water vapor high up into the atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The researchers estimate the eruption, which dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, raised the amount of water in the stratosphere - the second layer of the atmosphere, above the range where humans live and breathe - by around 5%. Now, scientists are trying to figure out how all that water could affect the atmosphere, and whether it might warm Earth's surface over the next few years. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime event," said lead author Holger Voemel, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. The eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga is seen in an image from a NOAA GOES-West satellite taken on January 15, 2022.CIRA / NOAA / HANDOUT VIA REUTERS Big eruptions usually cool the planet. Most volcanoes send up large amounts of sulfur, which blocks the sun's rays, explained Matthew Toohey, a climate researcher at the University of Saskatchewan who was not involved in the study. The Tongan blast was much soggier: The eruption started under the ocean, so it shot up a plume with much more water than usual. And since water vapor acts as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, the eruption will probably raise temperatures instead of lowering them, Toohey said. It's unclear just how much warming could be in store. Karen Rosenlof, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved with the study, said she expects the effects to be minimal and temporary. "This amount of increase might warm the surface a small amount for a short amount of time," Rosenlof said in an email. In August, scientists said it broke "all records" for the injection of water vapor since satellites began recording such data -- enough water vapor to fill 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The water vapor will stick around the upper atmosphere for a few years before making its way into the lower atmosphere, Toohey said. In the meantime, the extra water might also speed up ozone loss in the atmosphere, Rosenlof added. But it's hard for scientists to say for sure, because they've never seen an eruption like this one. The stratosphere stretches from around 7.5 miles to 31 miles above Earth and is usually very dry, Voemel explained. Voemel's team estimated the volcano's plume using a network of instruments suspended from weather balloons. Usually, these tools can't even measure water levels in the stratosphere because the amounts are so low, Voemel said. Another research group monitored the blast using an instrument on a NASA satellite. In their study, published earlier this summer, they estimated the eruption to be even bigger, adding around 150 million metric tons of water vapor to the stratosphere - three times as much as Voemel's study found. In that study, scientists also concluded that the unprecedented plume could temporarily affect Earth's global average temperature. Voemel acknowledged that the satellite imaging might have observed parts of the plume that the balloon instruments couldn't catch, making its estimate higher. Either way, he said, the Tongan blast was unlike anything seen in recent history, and studying its aftermath may hold new insights into our atmosphere.

With all the Lakes in Wisconsin you would think everyone would have a boat of some kind.

Russia partners like China and India expressing concerns over Ukraine may have forced Putin's hand and driven him to try and end the war quickly, Russia scholar says Kelsey Vlamis Thu, September 22, 2022 at 7:46 PM In this article: Vladimir Putin President of Russia Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India since 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a photo shaking hands prior to their talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.Alexandr Demyanchuk, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/Associated Press More Some of Putin's global partners expressed concerns about his war in Ukraine last week. Days later, Putin escalated the war by announcing military mobilization and threatening nuclear warfare. A Russia expert told Insider Putin may have acted out of fear of straining relationships with nations like China and India. Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his unprovoked war on Ukraine this week, just days after some of his supposed partners publicly expressed doubt over it — and the events may well be related. Since invading Ukraine in February, Russia has been shunned by much of the world and faced crippling sanctions from the West. But as Russia grew more isolated, some nations have either stood by Putin or avoided directly condemning him. Both China and India have been powerful partners of Russia throughout the war, declining to institute sanctions and continuing to purchase the country's energy products. However, leaders of both countries recently took the rare step of speaking against the war. During a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on September 15, Putin acknowledged Xi had "questions and concerns" regarding the war. The following day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the war during a face-to-face meeting with Putin. "I know that today's era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this," Modi told Putin, Reuters reported. Putin responded: "I know about your position on the conflict in Ukraine, and I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible." Less than a week later, on Wednesday, Putin said he was calling up 300,000 reservists to join the fight, something he had avoided doing for fear of backlash among the Russian people. The announcement, in which he also threatened to use nuclear weapons, came after the Ukrainian military made major gains in recent weeks. Experts told Insider it would be weeks or months before the mobilized troops are trained, equipped, and deployed. They also said Putin's decision to take this step now showed how poorly the war was going for Russia and how desperate the Russian leader was to turn the tide. "That Putin would do this shows how badly he feels the need right now to change the momentum, which has been all in Ukraine's favor," Daniel Treisman, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose work focuses on Russian politics and economics, told Insider. In addition to fearing another potential counteroffensive by Ukraine, Putin was likely also driven by Xi's and Modi's concerns — and his fear of losing key partners — according to Robert English, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. "The evidence of criticism of allies like China or neutral states like India clearly put more pressure on him," English told Insider. He added that leaders of those nations seem to have told Putin they did not approve of the situation in Ukraine because it was harming their reputations on the world stage and costing them economically and politically. English said what he suspects Putin heard was: "'Find some way to settle this quick, to wind this war down, because we will not remain at your side for another six months of this brutality.'" "He heard a message like that, so he's trying to up the ante," English said. "He's trying to change the military balance the best way he can." If Putin has mobilized troops in an effort to end the war as quickly as possible, as he assured Modi he would seek to do, it's not at all clear if it will be successful. "It's an unsatisfactory and inadequate response to the motivation, manpower, and materiel on the Ukrainian side," English said, explaining that military aide and intelligence from the West has given Ukraine an advantage on the battlefield. "It's not going to do the job." Read the original article on Business Insider

Fauci says the Chinese government is 'probably' hiding something about the origins of COVID, but he's not sure it's a lab leak Hilary Brueck Thu, September 22, 2022 at 11:07 AM In this article: Anthony Fauci American immunologist and head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, on April 17, 2020.HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images Dr. Anthony Fauci said he's "keeping a completely open mind" about the origins of the pandemic. Fauci told an audience the Chinese government is "probably" hiding something about the origins of the virus. But evidence so far "strongly favors a natural occurrence" over a lab leak. Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's dedicated to "keeping a completely open mind" about how the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019, but he still wishes he had more information to go on from the Chinese government. Scientists and conspiracy theorists alike have been eager to find clear answers to the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for years now. Still, no satisfactory nail-in-the-coffin evidence is pointing to one single, bulletproof explanation for where this pandemic began. Did the virus emerge naturally in a bat or some other animal host, then hop from animals into people in a spillover event, possibly at a wet market? Many scientists say that's a strong possibility. Might it have leaked out of a lab somewhere? Also possible, but less likely. "You wanna keep an open mind that it could have been anything that happened," Fauci said Wednesday during a conversation with Atlantic editor Ross Andersen. "But the evidence that they have been working on for years strongly favors a natural occurrence." Fauci says the Chinese government could 'clear this up' if they really wanted to Andersen also asked Fauci whether he thought the Chinese government could help "clear this up" once and for all. "Yeah," Fauci said. But the doctor was careful to note that he was only referring to "Chinese authorities" stonewalling, and not average Chinese citizens, nor his scientific colleagues in China, who he said "have made major contributions to our knowledge." "The fact is, as a society, when something occurs that looks like — even if it's naturally coming out of China — they will be secretive about it," Fauci said of the Chinese government. "Because of this feeling that they're gonna get blamed for something." The same style of secretive cover-up happened in the early 2000s, during the first SARS outbreak. Even though "everybody agrees" that virus "unequivocally, beyond the shadow of a doubt" emerged from a bat, which passed the disease on to another animal (likely, at a wet market), before it got into to a human. Fauci recalls the painstaking efforts it took to get information on that outbreak from Chinese officials. "They were as reticent to be open and truthful about things, because that's the way the leadership of the society is," he said. As it happens, advisers to the National Institutes of Health, where Fauci works, met this week to discuss stricter oversight of lab experiments involving deadly viruses. Hiding information creates a perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories, Fauci said "It's natural, totally natural for conspiracy people who are thinking it's a conspiracy to say, 'see? they're hiding something.'" And, "they probably are," Fauci said, but it may not have anything to do with a lab leak at all. A woman walks in front of the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market in Wuhan, China on January 12, 2020.NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images Perhaps the virus hopped from animals into humans at the wet market in Wuhan where clusters of illnesses first made news in late 2019. Giving investigators access to those markets early on would have been invaluable to the quest for clear answers on where and how the pandemic began. "Animals which were outlawed and not allowed to be in a market where people can be in contact with them were actually brought there because they bring in a lot of money," Fauci said. "That's the thing that you really want them to come clean on." "If we were able to go and do surveillance easily in China, we would get a lot more information than we have now," he added. Read the original article on Business Insider

NTSB wants all new vehicles to check drivers for alcohol use TOM KRISHER September 20, 2022, 6:29 PM Automobile Breathalyzers FILE - A row of crosses form a memorial along Highway 33 as police officers survey the scene a day after a crash killed nine people south of Coalinga, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. Investigators said the driver of an SUV involved in the crash was drunk and didn't have a license. The National Transportation Safety Board will use a final report on the crash to launch an effort to lobby for regulations requiring alcohol breath testing devices on all new vehicles. (Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be equipped with blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving. The recommendation, if enacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, one of the biggest causes of highway deaths in the U.S. The new push to make roads safer was included in a report released Tuesday about a horrific crash last year in which a drunk driver collided head-on with another vehicle near Fresno, California, killing both adult drivers and seven children. NHTSA said this week that roadway deaths in the U.S. are at crisis levels. Nearly 43,000 people were killed last year, the greatest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to roads after pandemic stay-at-home orders. Early estimates show fatalities rising again through the first half of this year, but they declined from April through June, which authorities are hoping is a trend. The NTSB, which has no regulatory authority and can only ask other agencies to act, said the recommendation is designed to put pressure on NHTSA to move. It could be effective as early as three years from now. “We need NHTSA to act. We see the numbers,” NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said. “We need to make sure that we’re doing all we can to save lives.” The NTSB, she said, has been pushing NHTSA to explore alcohol monitoring technology since 2012. “The faster the technology is implemented the more lives that will be saved,” she said. The recommendation also calls for systems to monitor a driver’s behavior, making sure they’re alert. She said many cars now have cameras pointed at the driver, which have the potential to limit impaired driving. But Homendy says she also understands that perfecting the alcohol tests will take time. “We also know that it’s going to take time for NHTSA to evaluate what technologies are available and how to develop a standard.” A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from NHTSA. The agency and a group of 16 automakers have been jointly funding research on alcohol monitoring since 2008, forming a group called Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety. The group has hired a Swedish company to research technology that would automatically test a driver’s breath for alcohol and stop a vehicle from moving if the driver is impaired, said Jake McCook, spokesman for the group. The driver wouldn’t have to blow into a tube, and a sensor would check the driver’s breath, McCook said. Another company is working on light technology that could test for blood alcohol in a person’s finger, he said. Breath technology could be ready by the end of 2024, while the touch technology would come about a year later. It could take one or two more model years after automakers get the technology for it to be in new vehicles, McCook said. Once the technology is ready, it will take years for it to be in most of the roughly 280 million vehicles on U.S. roads. Under last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress required NHTSA to make automakers install alcohol monitoring systems within three years. The agency can seek an extension. In the past it has been slow to enact such requirements. The legislation doesn’t specify the technology, only that it must “passively monitor” a driver to determine if they are impaired. In 2020, the most recent figures available, 11,654 people died in alcohol-related crashes, according to NHTSA data. That’s about 30% of all U.S. traffic deaths, and a 14% increase over 2019 figures, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic, the NTSB said. In the fatal crash included in the report, a 28-year-old driver of an SUV was headed home from a 2021 New Year’s Day party where he had been drinking. The SUV went off the right side of State Route 33, crossed the center line and hit a Ford F-150 pickup truck head-on near Avenal, California. The pickup was carrying 34-year-old Gabriela Pulido and seven children ages 6 to 15 home after a trip to Pismo Beach. The truck quickly caught fire and bystanders couldn’t save the passengers, the NTSB said. The SUV driver’s blood alcohol level was 0.21%, nearly three times California’s legal limit. He also had marijuana in his system, but the agency said the alcohol was more than enough to severely impair his driving. The SUV was traveling 88-to-98 miles per hour (142 to 158 kilometers per hour), the report said. The crash happened less than a second from when the Journey re-entered the road, giving Pulido no time to avoid the collision, the NTSB said. Juan Pulido, 37, whose wife and four children were killed in the crash, said he’s happy the NTSB is pushing for alcohol monitoring because it could stop another person from losing loved ones. “It’s something that their families have to live with,” he said. “It doesn’t go away tomorrow.” Pulido’s lawyer, Paul Kiesel, says driver monitoring systems also could stop crashes caused by medical problems or drowsiness, saving anguish and billions in hospital treatment costs.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/8-a-gallon-gas-brace-for-higher-oil-prices-as-russia-escalates-ukraine-conflict-rbc-energy-guru-says-11663795883?siteid=yhoof2

Sold my Hein Werner years ago after one of my trucks came crashing down as I was jacking it up, guy wanted to rebuild it so I sold it to him. I have 3 other floor jacks so 1 less was no big deal.

OIl prices jump as Putin says he'll mobilize more troops for Ukraine and hints Russia is ready to use nuclear force Tetra Images - Dan Bannister/Getty Images Oil prices jumped Wednesday as Vladimir Putin mobilized more troops for Russia's Ukraine invasion. He made a thinly veiled threat that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons to hold onto territory. Brent crude and WTI were both up over 2% thanks to concerns the conflict could squeeze supply. Oil prices jumped Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin hinted Russia is ready to use nuclear force to hold onto its territory in Ukraine. In a televised address, Putin also said Moscow is calling up more troops to join the forces in Ukraine, via a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists with military experience. "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to defend Russia and our people, we will use all means we have. This is not a bluff," Putin said in his address to the nation, according a translation by the BBC. "The territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence and freedom will be secured, I repeat, with all the means we have. "Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction." Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, rose 2.57% to $92.95 a barrel as of 5:30 a.m. ET. WTI crude, the US benchmark, rose 2.08% to trade at $86.21 a barrel. Russia's war with Ukraine has roiled global oil markets, as Western allies imposed sanctions and bans on Moscow and its energy exports. Brent crude surged above $120 a barrel in early March not long after Russia began its invasion. The tightness in markets has helped drive an energy crisis in Europe, forcing countries like Germany and France to seek alternative sources of fuel before the winter months. There are concerns that a drawn-out conflict will put more pressure on supplies of oil and natural gas. Worries about a hit to demand from a slowdown in China's economy are also weighing on crude oil prices. Beijing has imposed a series of restrictions and lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19 that have hampered businesses. JP Morgan said oil could shoot past $150 a barrel as demand outpaces supply. That's partly because companies haven't invested enough in future production, raising the prospect of a major supply deficit ahead. Meanwhile, investors are bracing or the Federal Reserve to make another outsized interest-rate hike of 75 basis points at the conclusion of its two-day meeting later Wednesday. Oil prices have been weighed down by concerns the Fed's aggressive monetary policy could trigger a recession, which would hurt demand. Read the original article on Business Insider

IMPOSSIBLE, just look how stupid MC is.

Was almost 33,000 awhile back.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Published September 18, 2022 7:38pm EDT Texas Democrat slams Kamala Harris’ border claim: ‘If you call that secure, I don’t know what secure is’ Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, called out the vice president's assessment of the southern border Video Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, dismissed Vice President Kamala Harris’ assessment that America’s southern border is secure during a weekend appearance on CNN. CNN host Michael Smerconish spoke with Cuellar about the state of the southern border and played a clip of Harris claiming it was under control. "The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system and in particular over the last four years before we came in and it needs to be fixed," Harris claimed in the clip. "We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration." Smerconish appeared to balk at the claim, asking his guest, who is from the area in question, whether the border is actually secure. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is seen after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) BORDER AGENTS BLAST KAMALA HARRIS' BORDER CLAIM, SAY IT'S ‘FAR FROM SECURE’ "Congressman, that’s just not true, right?" Smerconish asked. "You’re on the front line. You’ve spent your whole life in Laredo. The border is not secure, is it?" Cuellar affirmed Smerconish was correct. "The border is not secure, with all due respect to the VP. This — look, we get thousands of people along the border, from 6,000 to 8,000 people a day. They’re releasing people, and we can send you pictures and videos of what’s happened in Del Rio, the valley, El Paso and other places. People are coming in," he said. Cuellar followed up by offering devastating numbers. "We have 1.7 million people that were encountered last year. We’re going to have 2 or maybe 2.2 [million] by the end of this fiscal year in about two more weeks. That’s almost 4 million people," he warned. "That doesn’t even include the getaways. Getaways are the people that border patrol has a good idea that evaded them. So you’re talking about almost 4 plus, maybe 4.4 million individuals in two years." US Vice President Kamala Harris has been slammed for her rhetoric on America's southern border. Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The congressman then called out Harris assessment, "If you call that ‘secure,’ I don’t know what ‘secure’ is."

https://bgr.com/science/scientists-create-matter-from-nothing-in-groundbreaking-experiment/

Why does the UK even have a Queen/King anymore?

6 lupus patients effectively cured by a cancer therapy, and doctors say they are 'blown away' 6 lupus patients effectively cured by a cancer therapy, and doctors say they are 'blown away' Hilary Brueck Fri, September 16, 2022 at 1:06 PM Blood samples taken from a patient receiving CAR-T immunotherapy.AP Photo/Elaine Thompson A half dozen patients in Germany have been functionally cured of lupus — for now, at least. Their doctors used a blood-engineering technique that's usually reserved for fighting aggressive cancers (CAR-T). It's unlikely that such a technique could become widespread for lupus-sufferers, because of the cost and lab work required for each patient. Doctors in Germany have found a way to effectively cure the most common form of lupus using a novel and pricey blood-infusion technique typically reserved for treating cancer. A group of immunologists based in Erlangen, Germany announced in the journal Nature Medicine on Thursday that all five systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who they treated with CAR-T cells during an investigational, compassionate use trial were in remission by three months after their treatment, and remained so for at least eight months longer. Lead researcher Georg Schett told STAT that the treatment outcomes were "miraculous," and the fact that such a therapy course could be used so effectively to combat lupus "blew us away." "We were really surprised how effective it was," he said. The find, though still preliminary, suggests that the CAR-T method could one day have a major impact curing the inflammatory, autoimmune disease — if the fix holds in these patients long-term. For now, the research team is still waiting to see whether the six patients remain "basically healthy" without any more treatments, and "whether there's really no relapse," Schett told Insider. His latest work builds on an initial research letter that Schett and his colleagues published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing how one other 20-year-old woman was functionally cured of lupus in the same way. She's been feeling good for at least 18 months. In CAR-T, a patient's blood is trained to fight disease CAR-T for lupus isn't without drawbacks. It's both pricey and labor-intensive to produce, meaning this strategy will likely never be a viable treatment option for all 200,000 Americans living with the disease. Still, "if you fail on the conventional drugs, and you have severe disease, I think this will be — in the future — the time to intervene with CAR-T cell therapy," Schett explained to Insider, adding that the same strategy could potentially be used to treat other severe autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Today, CAR-T immunotherapy is usually reserved for treating aggressive cancers like lymphomas, and can cost around $450,000, according to the National Cancer Institute. Part of the reason the treatment is so expensive is because it is highly bespoke, specific to each patient and their disease. First, blood is extracted from the patient, then it is taken to a lab to have the immune-boosting T cells inside re-engineered with special proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). Finally, those protein-infused T cells are re-injected into the patient, where they work to kill a target disease (for lupus, the T cells were engineered to fight back against CD19.) Remarkably, these German patients' immune systems remained robust during their CAR-T therapy, with no serious infections or toxic side effects reported. That's unlike what can happen in cancer patients given CAR-T, who may develop neurological issues, or life-threatening cytokine storms. "This would seem to be the holy grail of treatment," Dr. Mark Leick, who was not involved in this lupus study, but who works on CAR-T therapies at Massachusetts General Hospital, told STAT. The patients are back to riding horses, dancing, and studying Schett said one of his young patients is riding horses again, another is DJing in clubs, and a third has resumed her studies — activities they all had to largely forgo when they had lupus, as a result of chronic, debilitating fatigue. For now, CAR-T remains a highly investigational, pricey, experimental fix for just a lucky few lupus sufferers. The typical recommended treatments for the millions of other people with lupus around the world without access to these kinds of special blood-engineering programs are still limited to steroids, anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen to ease symptoms, or, in the most serious cases, expensive monoclonal antibodies. But, "if you can really wipe out the disease with a single shot of CAR-T cells and have remission for a long time, I think it's not that expensive," Schett said, explaining that in his non-commercial trial doctors spent tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, treating every sick patient (they saved on costs by manufacturing their CAR-T cells in house.) "It's a young person having their whole life in front of them," he said. "If you can wipe out a disease when you're 20 and you don't get it again, well, then it can cost a little bit and still be economical over the long run." Read the original article on Insider

Huh?