LyrArc Article Gist
Germany's DW.com looks at the influence of money in US elections. The Supreme Court decision in 2010 for Citizens United said First Amendment rights of free speech enshrined in the US Constitution were not based on the identity of the speaker as an individual or other entity. Corporations and unions were allowed the same rights of free speech. No limit was placed on contributions of companies. This has increased the influence of companies and corporate interests in US elections. This undermines public confidence in the election process. In one instance a billionaire said he would contribute $45 million a month to the former president's campaign. In one talk show the former president offered a position in his administration to that billionaire. In another instance a large Silicon Valley contributor offered large contributions to Harris-Walz and yet remained critical of Biden's choice of regulator Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission.  This shows the influence of companies in financing after 2010 is becoming more direct and blatant. Yet US has never had the kind of strict laws existing in Europe on election financing and not setup a public financing mechanism as in Europe. Even before Citizens United SC decision tech, pharmaceutical and oil companies lobbied heavily using the existing laws to their advantage to buy influence.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Much of this report concentrates on big name schools ignoring the facts about student debt and value delivered, and the shifts in perceptions in companies that see big name schools as not necessarily an asset as inthe past. In this new situation looking objectively at value delivered the US state university system is its strongest asset and the state universities offer higher value for local students without the unneeded debt loads of big ticket institutions with a lot of debt overhang, and little additional value. In the end education is about persistence, hard work, grit and determination. A  Kamala Harris at Hastings in San Francisco can do as well or better than someone from the big name schools. After the Supreme Court decision opposing quotas for affirmative action the first results of enrollment by ethnic group and race are mixed and sometimes confusing. Some colleges and universities are seeing the same enrollment and some are moving in opposite directions for ethnic groups and race. This NYT report says if universities can get to a fair enrollment for different groups without racial quotas then these quotas may not be essential to achieve their purpose. Schools are looking at students from rural areas in ways they did not in the past, and trying innovative approaches to building a better America after the pandemic because they think it is the right way. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
EIA says half of the benefit of higher fuel efficiency standards for Automobiles 2010-2020 in US was lost because of SUV's and the incentivizing of SUV's in the 2006 CAFE standards have made things worse. The first SUV's came in the 1980's. By 2004 SUV's made up half of car sales and by 2025 outsold cars 2 to 1. What if we took all SUV's and large cars off the roads, or even some of these SUV's by deincentivizing of SUV's in the US CAFE corporate fuel efficiency standards? What would be the savings in crude oil and in carbon footprint? Would it be about the same as releasing an additional 400 million barrels of oil into the markets in addition to the 400 million barrels that are now released through EIA and member countries? This New Yorker essay touches on this idea. During the Iran war the volatile Middle East as a source of oil supplies is a major problem for countries. Some are rationing supplies and in one country 40 million children are not going to school for 2 weeks starting this week because of the sources of oil are so precarious, government offices will only have half of the employees, the rest working from home (almost like Covid pandemic). Many other countries face that situation. The International Energy Agency recently reported that, if “SUVs were an individual country, they would rank sixth in the world for absolute emissions in 2021, emitting over 900 million tonnes of CO2.” The agency says governments must redesign their CAFE standards and their policies so that it would reduce S.U.V. sales, tax gas guzzling vehicles. EIA cites governments in the EU doing this- “Some governments have already started introducing relevant measures, such as France and Germany, which have put a tax on large and high-emissions cars.” Within SUV's also there is an opportunity to reduce the size and make more efficient space utilization designs. Small savings also add up. One has to realize that the current freedom to use energy freely in places like the US with self sufficiency in oil comes with a sense of responsibility for using it wisely so that it can be exported to cut the trade deficit, precisely what the president is doing with India, to cut a trade deficit of $58 billion before it gets to $100 billion. Section 301 is already in place for investigations by the US of 18 countries for a new basis to use tariffs after the Supreme Court decision. A similar approach is taken with EU for hundreds of billions of reductions in trade deficit that will only strengthen the US dollar and the US economy in the long run , and be good for stock markets and jobs as it reduces oil prices and increases the manufacturing capacity/cost for the Nation. Europe, India and China can do the same. Remember that in 2010 SUV's made up 17% of total world sales, and by 2025 SUV's made up 46% of world vehicle sales. This would create another 400 million barrels for the oil markets, which would triple what was released through EIA  this week to 1.2 billion barrels and this would create 120 days of supply replacement for the 10 million b/d lost from Straits of Hormuz, and effectively end the Iran War as it would be clear that prices can be kept low even in the $50's. Essentially buying time till the SU can get more production in Venezuela and other parts of the world to replace much of the Middle Eastern oil that is ending up in a quagmire. This is the best way for the US and Europe, India, China to ensure jobs growth, economic growth with low cost crude oil in the $50 range and ensure much of the poorer countries like Egypt and Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, have access to oil at prices they can afford and eliminate poverty. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
 Nikki Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina in 1972, her father became US citizen 1978, her mother 2003, according to her autobiography. She was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and served as the US ambassador at the United Nations under president Trump. Article 2 of the US Constitution sets out that only natural born citizens can be president of the US. Commentators have opined that the natural born citizen requirement was put in to mean that the citizen was not naturalized at some later date. During the 1730's under British Common Law and under the Naturalization Act of 1790 of the First US Congress children of Ameircan citizens born overseas were considered to be American citizens. This was true of Barry Goldwater born in Arizona before it became a US state, and Romney born in Mexico, Senator McCain born in the Panama Canal Zone. This is why when one parent is an American citizen as for Obama and Cruz this law prevails. When a child is born in the US he is considered to be a citizen at birth under the laws of the US and natural born under Article 2 of the US Constitution. Supporting US literacy about civics  knowledge for children is the best way to get the best outcomes for the civic life of the United States as promoted by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor through iCivics site, and by Lyrarc under the Movement for Global Literacy. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
For the largest electorate in the world India is relying entirely on electronic voting machines. It is massive - 970 million voters over several phases in different regions taking place in May 2024. The Election Commission is monitoring the election and India's Supreme Court gives it's ruling to protect the democratic process. It is unlike anything in the world. It all started in 1945 with the negotiations begun by Labour's Attlee government - the most successful British government of the 20th century, Clement Attlee's government created the Bank of England and the NHS, and brought freedom to India and started decolonization in European empires. A new Constitution was written by 1947 with the guidance of Gandhiji (Mohandas Gandhi) who led the struggle for Hind Swaraj in 1905. The democratic process was established with elections that elected Nehru, a series of coaltiion governments and since 2014 a government focused on Vikshit Bharat, modernization similar to Japan and China that is taking place in India. Already 250 million people have been lifted out of poverty. And free food rations have ended hunger in India, Swacch Bharat has made sanitation modern and available everywhere, water and gas connections are now down to the last household to fulfill Gandhi's dream of reaching the last person in the line. Solar and renewable energy are being undertaken, along with fast modern transportation and cost effective digital connections. A target is set for 2047 for Vikshit Bharat. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Irin Carmon, author of "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg," says Ginsburg and Scalia showed that working together at the U.S. Supreme Court was possible, even with very different opinions in interpreting the law. Ginsburg and Scalia were friends, and shared similiar background, coming from boroughs of New York, both law professors, and both judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Both loved Opera performances. On issues such as women's rights, rights of minorities, gay rights, Scalia and Ginsburg were on opposite sides. Yet both enjoyed a long friendship. Scalia went so far as to say that if one disagreed with a colleague on interpretation of the law but could not be a friend, one should get another job. This kind of spirit of working together is now missing in Congress, says Ginsburg, and hopes someday that will happen. At the nation's highest court Ginsburg says Scalia was nice enough to provide her with his dissenting opinion, so that Ginsburg would have more time in preparing her rebuttal....

LyrArc Article Gist
A Vermont musician could not practice her livelihood after her arm was amputated because of gangrene. The gangrene developed as a result of a physician's assistant at a clinic using a a wrong technique for adminstering Phergan for nausea. The PA used IV Push instead of an IV drip or intravenous which is the right method. He missed the vein and and hit an artery causing the gangrene to develop. A Vermont state court awarded Ms Levine $6 million from Wyeth Pharmaceutical. Now the Supreme Court upheld the Vermont Court, with Justices Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and Breyer joining Justice Stevens. Justice Thomas concurred. Scalia, Roberts and Alito were in dissent. Wyeth had a FDA approved label that warned against "inadvertent intra-arterial injection," but it did not say do not use IV Push. Justice Stevens writing the majority opinion said Wyeth's reading of the regulation was "cramped" and based on a "fundamental misundrstanding." He said "the manufacturer bears responsibility for the label at all times," and affirmed the Vermont Court's opinion that Federal law provides afloor not a ceiling for state regulation." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor, who has done extensive modeling of U.S. health care systems. Gruber advised Massachusetts Governor Romney in crafting the health care law in that state. He also advised the Obama administration in crafting the health care mandate that requires all Americans to buy health insurance to keep costs down. Gruber estimates the number of newly insured Americans could drop to 8 million from an estimated 32 million if the Supreme Court strikes down the health care law mandate. The result he believes will drive insurance premium prices even higher.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Supreme Court ruling on EPA mercury regulations gives smaller plants with coal fired plants more leeway in installing scrubbers. Large companies have already committed to installing scrubbers for coal fired plants. Regulations are only one reason for the shift to natural gas from coal. Lower prices of natural gas and increasing supplies are a major reason. The U.S. will reduce dependence on coal for energy from 39% to 36% in 2015, with natural gas increasing from 27% to 31%, and renewable solar wind energy making up about 13%, according to EIA.

LyrArc Article Gist
Simon Denyer's interview with Vinod Rai, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Rai has persisted in uncovering corruption in India. He was appointed by prime minister Manmohan Singh from India's Finance ministry five years ago, and runs an organization with 63,000 employees with accountants in all Indian states. Reports by his agency have uncovered giving away of natural resources and telecom licenses worth billions of dollars. He describes the amounts involved as huge and attributes the increase in accountability of politicians and ministers to active citizens groups. The Indian media and Supreme Court have supported efforts to increase accountability. The CAG has constitutional protection. Rai sees the CAG's role as examining government spending to uncover irregularities and make it accountable to parliament. India is rare in this respect compared to China, Russia and other emerging market countries because of its vibrant media and democracy. A 2010 report uncovered corruption in giving away mobile phone network licenses and a 2012 report uncovered allocation of coal land without a competitive auction, with loss in government revenues estimated at $30 billion. The reports showed prime minister Singh aware of the irregularities but unable or unwilling to call for transparency and proper process. Rai's six year term expires in May 2013. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT 50% tariff on Brazil called Moraes tariff after Brazil Supreme Court  judge Moraes who put restrictions on social media to clear hate speech on the internet. DJT says the tariff is intended to stop the trial of former president Bolsanaro who lost the election to Lula da Silva a trade unionist, in an extremely close runoff election 50.9% to 49.1% margin of 1.8 percentage points. DJT's margin over Kamala Harris in 2024 was 49.9% to 48.4%-margin of 1.5 percentage points. DJT compares Democratic prosecutors who prosecuted him in the US after his election loss to prosecutors in Brazil who are prosecuting Bolsonaro.

Brazil imports about $50 billion from the states and exports $42 billion with a trade deficit of about $8 billion with the US.

LyrArc Article Gist
On Jan 19, 2023 the US hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. Republicans control the House of Representatives by only a few votes after a strong showing in midterms by Democrats who control the Senate. A small section of the Republican party insists that raising the debt ceiling- a task performed by the House of Representatives- should only be done with serious cuts to Biden programs to help workers and families during a cost of living crisis. Biden says he will not negotiate, simply won't.  This report in NYT by Jim Tankersley, says president Biden in the last resort could resort to the 14th Amendment which says: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions shall not be questioned." What this means is that in the last resort if Republicans insist on serious cuts because of a faction within the party, and not because the whole party supports it, Mr. Biden could continue public borrowings to pay social security and make other payments. Moody's says this would lead to a rise in borrowing costs temporarily but would not lead to a recession, and have long term benefits as the debt ceiling could not be applied in the future. It would be challenged by Republicans and go to the Supreme Court which would have to decide on the issue: "the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned." This drew 1338 comments on NYT. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
His full statement, which he posted on X, is below: "My Fellow Americans, over the past three-and-a-half years, we have made great progress as a nation. "Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. "We've provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today. "I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We've protected and preserved our democracy. And we've revitalised and strengthened our alliances around the world. "It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term. "I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Harris tells a rally in Atlanta that abortion bans pay no attention to maternal health. "One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the south except Virginia. Think about that, when you also combine that with what we know has been longstanding neglect around an issue like maternal mortality. Think about that, when you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for healthcare, prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that, and these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children?" Harris points out that some states have prison for life or ten year sentences for doctors and nurses, under their abortion bans. “We all know how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States supreme court, the court of Thurgood and RBG, with the intention that they would overturn the protections of Roe v Wade."                   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India's Supreme court endorses the decision to abrogate Article 370 made in 2019. The Indian Express looks at the decision and the response of different countries leading to the Supreme Court decision in December 2023.

LyrArc Article Gist
It is about the fighting spirit of FDR and reviving and renewing the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy that was muddled by the Vietnam War. As Frank Bruni in NYT, and many others are saying US president Biden seen along with the team of Jake Sullivan at NSA, Anthony Blinken at State, Janet Yellen at Treasury, and Katherine Tsai at USTR, Pat Schumer Majority Leader in the US Senate and other cabinet members may be the best team in terms of experience and talent that the US has had in many decades, combining relative youth (Sullivan and Tsai) with many years of experience (Schumer, Yellen and the president). The president's experience in US Congress for about 40 years was invaluable in getting through Congress the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the assistance to families during the pandemic. Only LBJ in recent post war American history had this kind of experience in getting Medicare and Social Security legislation through Congress. Combining this with the experience and negotiating skill for legislation of Pat Schumer Senate Majority Leader is something not seen since the 1960's. This team comes with a clear dedication and plan to restore democracy to the people by building infrastructure, rebuilding American manufacturing and protecting workers and families through cost of living action and higher wages. As Jake Sullivan NSA, a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice, and one who with the advice of the president has put domestic policy at the heart of foreign policy, puts it for workers and families in the US, these are goals he said at Brookings, "we must, we will achieve." Compare that with every other administration since FDR and Kennedy/LBJ for workers and families everything pales in comparison.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
10% tariff on Canada's exports to the US after Ontario Reagan ad misrepresenting trade facts is aired on television. The ad seeks to show US tariffs in the light of the Smoot Hawley tariffs of the 1930's, when the tariffs today date back to Reagan's use of tariffs when Asian partners (at that time Japan in the 1980's) followed unfair trade practices to the detriment of American workers and industry. The US Trade Representative who acted for Reagan was Lighthizer, the same USTR who worked for DJT in the first term to fight the unfair trading practices of China, and whose deputy USTR Jamieson is now the USTR in DJT second term negotiating with Asian partners. Tariffs ae being used as an additional tookl in the toolbox by DJT and Lighthizer/Jamieson to counter the unfair trading practices of other nations, which includes partners of the US such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and EU. It also includes nations such as Switzerland who ignored US interests in trade whie having open access to the US market. Most of these nations know that these practices harmful to world trade exist, only Canada, China and some other countries have pretended they do not exist and they are the so called "champions of free trade." These nations attempt to make DJT appear to be doing this on whim when this is an issue in trade relations between the US and Asian partners, the EU, and Canada/Mexico for the last 50 years. DJT pointed this out- “The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their “rescue” on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post Saturday afternoon. “Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Former Attorney General of Ohio, Richard Cordray, is nominated to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray was the first attorney general to file a lawsuit against a loan servicer for violation of state consumer laws. He also sued Merrill Lynch, Ally Financial, AIG and credit rating firms for actions relating to the mortgage financial crisis of 2008. He was editor in chief of the University of Chicago Law Review and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He is a graduate of Michigan State University, Oxford University and the University of Chicago Law School. He is also a five time champion in 1987 on the quiz show Jeopardy.

LyrArc Article Gist
Brazil's Supreme Court bans BIllionaire Elon Musk's app X in Brazil for repeatedly violating court orders and spreading racist and fascist speech ahead of local elections in October.

LyrArc Article Gist
Prof. Lasson of the law school at the University of Maryland, teaches civil liberties. He provides perspective on the situation in Baltimore by giving a brief history of the city, and going over the history of Catholics, Jews and black people in the city as they struggled to assert their rights. Thurgood Marshall did not apply to the University's law school because he feared he would not be accepted. He went on to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967. The 1857 Dred Scott decision before the Civil War was written by Roger Tany, who was from Baltimore. Maryland was a slave state before 1865. The law library at the law school of the University of Maryland now has Marshall's name.

LyrArc Article Gist
The 2016 Republican platform is written to express the ideas in the Republican Party for family values, child rearing using the Bible and traditional values, calling pornography a "public health crisis."  The Family Research Council and tradition or family focussed groups played an important role in writing it, with Mr. Trump playing less of a role. Instead of "physical barrier" with Mexico, it says "a wall"  should be built in a taking up Trump's idea, but in general it is a clear expressing of traditional family values that Republicans have supported for years and expressed frustration with the movement of social lives in an opposite direction. The same sex marraige decision by the Supreme Court and transgender debate were not present in 2012 election, so in that sense the Republicans see the country as moving in a different direction. More of the pendulum having swung too far in another direction is how Republicans perceive it, and their response is to go back to how things used to be and the world they knew, based on what they see as positive outcomes for the whole of society. Hence language that encourages teaching of the Bible in public schools, condemning pornography as a menace particularly for children, and insisting on "man made laws being consistent with God given natural rights." A good understanding of the Bible is considered "indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry."   Amendments opposing gay and transgender are being added. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
From now on the vaccination program in India will be run nationally by the federal government. This will ensure fair access to vaccines to all parts of the Indian population. Earlier vaccine costs were bid up as states and private hospitals bid up prices. Under the new national program 75% of vaccines will be given out by the federal government and 25%  by private hospitals and other private health institutions. The government in New Delhi under prime minister Modi will offer adults free vaccinations. Modi said "We will increase the speed of procuring vaccines and also increase the pace of the vaccination program." Even in private hospitals the cost of vaccine will be kept at Rupees 150 or $2.06. Experts say this is the right policy and the government has learned from errors in letting states and other private institutions run vaccine policy, which made it too fragmented and subject to too many variables, resulting in inequity, and slowing vaccination drives. The Supreme Court stepped in asking for clarity, leading to the clear policy from the federal government announced today.  Advantage of the new policy is that the responsibility lies in one place, and the federal government also has the clout to make things happen, to negotiate with companies and other parties involved effectively. India has vaccinated 222 million people but because of the population being so large at 1.2 billion this comes out to be a small fraction of the population. This puts the task of getting vaccine supplies and getting the vaccination drives to work in the only place that has the determination and the resources to deliver results by vaccinating 1.2 billion people by December 2021. It has never been done before in history says Mr. Modi, and it is a challenge that India is now taking up for itself and for the global community. It also lays the ground for India to help its neighbors in Asia and in Africa, Latin America in 2022.   ...