LyrArc Article Gist
Omar Ashmawy was an Air Force officer and a war crimes prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He moans the fact that 10 years after 9/11 there is the same lack of knowledge and understanding of the Arab world, its language, culture and history. This showed in the surprise with which the movement for democracy and self-expression in Arab countries was received in the U.S. He points to the lack of language and cultural training in the military 10 years after America fought 2 wars in the Arab world and now finds itself thrust into the events of the Arab Spring. He says this is a weakness that really hurts America in coming up with productive interaction and partnership with people in the Arab and Muslim world. That productive interaction requires an insightful understanding of their needs and aspirations, and their own unique problems and history.

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Note this comment by the head of the U.S. National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration in the Bush Administration. NHTSA Administrator Jackie Glassman says the average mileage for the fleet today is 30 miles per gallon and raising the current standard of 27.5 mpg for an automakers passenger fleet by 2.5 mpg won't put much pressure on automakers. The Bush administration- and the prior Clinton administration- has not committed to making major improvements to the national mileage standards, with the current standards of 27.5 mpg not having changed since 1990! Glassman says the NHTSA starts with the manufacturers product plans and then sees whether it can get additional fuel savings with these plans. This suggests an NHTSA that is more follower to the auto industry rather than a leader in setting the standards that the auto industry then tries to achieve to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Also note that it takes 2 years for things to change, as it will take months for rule changes, and 18 months have to be given to automakers to implement the new rules. By 2008 the fuel efficiency based on market competition and Toyota focussing on hybrids and higher fuel efficiency across the whole car lines, might well exceed any new standards that are watered down, especially if crude prices hold up. Lawsuits by attorney generals of different states and the Lugar-Obama bipartisan bill pushing the adminsitration to mandate higher standards are intended to put pressure on the Bush administration to come up with new higher standards. The failure of Democrats and Republicans in the Clinton and Bush years to raise standards and require the auto companies to use new technology to meet these standards with government assistance is one of the significant failures. This will affect the prospects for the U.S. economy in the years ahead....

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Gujarat has a mortality rate of 6.2% compared to 2.8% for India. In total number of confirmed cases Gujarat comes fourth after Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Delhi, with 21,500 cases. Most of the deaths are in the city of Ahmedabad and mostly at the city's large Civil Hospital. This report in the BBC says the deaths can be attributed to the reluctance of people in the city to go to the Government Civil Hospital because the quality of care is not good. Many patients come to the Civil Hospital only after failing to find a bed at other private hospitals. This means the patients condition is getting worse as he is not admitted rightaway but days afterwards when his condition has deteriorated. The weak health infrastructure of the state and the lack of quality care at the Ahmedabad Government Civil Hospital say experts has led to increasing number of deaths in Gujarat from coronavirus. Gujarat has been known for its improvements in transportation and roads infrastructure. This has not happened with health infrastructure. This situation is being seen also in China where not enough money is being invested for quality health care. Ahmedabad's Government Civil Hospital is one of the largest in Asia providing low cost care to a large population. ...

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It is a major step to cut carbon missions in half by 2030. The Biden plan is to have majority of cars to be electric by 2032. It does not require a certain number of cars to be electric only requires carmakers to meet certain emission requirements overall and the carmakers then choose what the mix of gas, electric, hybrid would be. It also has concessions to workers unions and carmakers, and an understanding that there is resistance to buying electric when charging stations don't exist in adequate numbers and costs are high for electric. It does this by allowing accelerated development in 2030, 2031 2032 to do the job, as by 2030 enough capital investment and research will have happened to make this possible. This also seeks to not politicize climate change in the way the former president seeks to do as a realistic plan is needed and simply having no plan and eliminating the political opponent's plan and denying climate change is not possible in 2024 as in 2016, there is just too much happening in terms of floods and fires for people to not believe. Automakers and workers themselves believe that a plan is needed to fight climate change in 2024 even though these same automakers such as VW and large automakers in the US had a wait and see attitude in 2016. For the Biden administration listening to carbuyers, carmakers, auto workers and the general public to make the plan workable and meet real concerns is the best way forward in 2024. ...

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The unemployment rate declines to 7.8% from 8.1% based on the Labor Department's survey of households. The larger and more reliable survey of businesses of the Labor Department shows 104,000 jobs added in the private sector and a revision of July and August jobs estimates to show 86,000 additional jobs created. About 150,000 jobs a month are needed just to keep up with population growth. Most of the 104,000 jobs added by the private sector in the larger survey of businesses were in health care, fewer public sector jobs were lost. However the survey shows 16,000 jobs lost in manufacturing which means there are problems in manufacturing which creates higher wage jobs and benefits relative to other sectors and which is a vitally important sector.

LyrArc Article Gist
The CBO annual report on the budget and economic outlook shows a deficit of $1.1 trillion for the current fiscal year, a decline of $200 billion from the prior year. Health care spending is a key factor driving the deficit. Cost of spending on healthcare programs is expected to double in the next 10 years, increasing by 8% a year and reaching $1.8 trillion in 2022.

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Studies have shown that the root causes of the obesity epidemic are lack of education and cultural lift in the food intake and lifestyle of Americans, Europeans, with just moderate adjustments in the food and in exercize routines yielding as much or more than the 15%-30% improvement from weight loss drugs that when withdrawn for the low income demographic leads to further deterioration. For men these simple improvements also lead to improvements in the prostate and a healthier happier lifestyle reducing significantly the number one cause of cancer for men.  Yet pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare industrial complex in the US continues on its course like a mighty Mississippi roaring America into oblivion. This report says companies that dominated the weight loss industry are now facing knockoffs that wipe out a large part of the market of a Danish maker of weight loss drugs, with the panic facing obesity hit America hitting the healthcare complex that cares little about lifestyle education. ...

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To make it possible to for the sale of Paramount with its CBS subsidiary to Ellison's Skydance for $8 billion, the company has stepped back from its confrontation with president DJT in a lawsuit. The 60's commentator Walter Cronkite was from CBS News, and Edward Murrow broadcast on  World War II on CBS News.  Somehow this has gone awry with recent coverage in 2024. DJT objected to CBS head Wendy McMahon's handling of news coverage on programs such as -60 Minutes, Face the Nation on Sundays, that he said was tailored to present Democrats candidate Kamala Harris in a certain way, that affected DJT's chances with voters. 

For the sale to Skydance to go ahead to Paramount which owns CBS, needed te cooperation of the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr. Paramount settled the DJT lawsuit for $16 million with Wendy McMahon departing CBS News, the money going directly to DJT Presidential Library. 

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UK's Guardian shows Hope Not Hate detailed analysis of 11342 Reform UK 2025 voters split into 5 categories- Working Right 26% Squeezed Stewards 29% Reluctant Reformers 19% Contrarian youth 9% hardline Conservatives 18%. Squeezed Stewards are middle income voters who have lost patience with illegal migration and UK Conservatives and Labour slow to wake up to how it is having a corrosive effect on UK society. They are a crucial swing vote that could decide the next election in UK if a Labour government falters. These voters care about nature, fairness and local control. It also shows how as Lyrarc shows patience is wearing thin in UK on illegal migration when Denmark's Mette Frederiksen of a socialist Nordic party called for an end to illegal migration 10 years back- Wilders in Netherlands 5 years back. The Working Right and Hard line Conservatives form the core 44% of the vote- the part of workers who are conservative and religion conscious, and the part of the Conservative party's core base shifting to Reform UK. ...

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The significance of the economic relationship of UAE and India with the visit of prime minister Modi to Abu Dhabhi on June 28 on the way back from the G7 Summit from Germany. Under recent trade agreements trade with UAE will increase to $100 billion in 5 years. 8 million Indians live in the Gulf region with remittances of over $50 billion a year. During Biden's visit to the region there will be a meeting of a new grouping called 2I2U referring to Israel, India, US and UAE.

Mohamed Bin Zayed or MBZ is a clear proponent of a strong leadership by the US in the region and in Asia and maintaining peace in the region after so many disastrous wars.

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The Chief Minister of Kerala writes about the Kochi Water Metro project to be inaugurated by pm Modi. The project was built at a cost of about $150 million with state funding and a loan from KfW, a German development bank that funds climate green infrastructure. 78 electric boats powered by batteries will transport people in Kochi between 38 terminals spanning 10 islands on the Arabian Sea.

The boats are built at Cochin shipyard with cutting edge design, light weight boats of aluminium hull and FRP superstructure. High court to Vypin on the first phase takes 20 minutes with tickets costing Rs. 20. Kochi One cards can enable seamless travel on Kochi Water Metro to Kochi Metro with weekly and monthly passes,