Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 October 2016
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Global
Tick bites that trigger severe meat allergy on rise around the world (The Guardian) People living in tick-endemic areas around the world are being warned of an increasingly prevalent, potentially life-threatening side effect to being bitten: developing a severe allergy to meat. The link between tick bites and meat allergies was first described in 2007, and has since been confirmed around the world. Sufferers of “tick-induced mammalian meat allergy” will experience a delayed reaction between two and 10 hours after eating red meat. Almost invariably, they are found to have been bitten by a tick – sometimes as much as six months before. See also Tick populations booming due to climate change.
U.S.
A modest proposal to replace Trump with Pence – with or without Trump’s consent (Vox) A constitutional law professor explains how Trump could be elected president and Pence could assume the office on inauguration day:
Sober Republicans understand that Donald Trump is unfit to wield the awesome power of the presidency, power that in his unsteady hands could imperil the republic and perhaps – given his cavalier discussion of nuclear weapons and generally reckless approach to foreign relations – doom the planet. But even now, at this very late date in the election season, there is one last chance for the Republican establishment to dump Trump: by flipping the ticket and putting the plodding, but at least plausible, Mike Pence in charge.
Mike Pence has own woes with women (CNN) Mike Pence has emerged as a popular alternative for top Republicans looking to replace Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, but the Indiana governor’s own record with women could make it a short-lived courtship that doesn’t change the result in November. Pence’s record on hot-button items from vowing to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding to graphic protests over his recent crackdown on abortion access, would make it difficult for Republicans to peel away suburban women voters from Hillary Clinton.
Hurricane’s blow was less than feared; ‘We are blessed’ (Associated Press) A weakening Hurricane Matthew lashed Georgia and the Carolinas on Saturday in what appeared to be the last leg of its march up the East Coast, leaving in its wake millions of Americans relieved that one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S. wasn’t that bad after all. Sig Silber is providing continuously updated storm reports at GEI.
Hurricane Matthew could help Zika fight (CNN) Adult mosquitoes get washed away by heavy rain. This includes Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit the Zika virus. In the short term, from the first few days to about a week after the storm, the mosquito cycle is naturally interrupted — and that can have a beneficial effect on Zika transmission. In fact, initially after a big storm, there can be a decrease in all mosquitoes.
Sanders supporters seethe over Clinton’s leaked remarks to Wall St. (Reuters) Supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday expressed anger and vindication over leaked comments made by Hillary Clinton to banks and big business that appeared to confirm their fears about her support for global trade and tendency to cozy up to Wall Street. Clinton, who needs Sanders’ coalition of young and left-leaning voters to propel her to the presidency, pushes for open trade and open borders in one of the speeches, and takes a conciliatory approach to Wall Street, both positions she later backed away from in an effort to capture the popular appeal of Sanders’ attacks on trade deals and powerful banks. The excerpts of remarks by the former secretary of state, made in 2013 and 2014 in closed-door meetings where audiences paid to attend, were published online on Friday by WikiLeaks, which sourced them to the email account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman.
We’ve been totally wrong about Hillary Clinton’s young voter problem (Vox) Jon Rogowski, a political scientist at Harvard, makes a pretty convincing case that the idea that Hillary Clinton has weak appeal among young voters is wrong – or at least vastly overstated. Earlier this week, he and the researchers at GenForward (a partnership between the Black Youth Project and AP-NORC at the University of Chicago) released a thorough study of young voters and the 2016 presidential election:​
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Bernie Sanders: Focus Wells Fargo criminal probe on senior execs (CNN) Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and their colleagues urged Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a new letter to “thoroughly investigate the culpability of senior executives” at Wells Fargo (WFC) in the fake account scandal that shocked America. As CNN previously reported, the Department of Justice has already launched a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo. The 14 U.S. Senators warned Lynch on Monday, that Wells Fargo is a “critical test” of the DOJ’s recent push to pursue bad behavior of individual executives, rather than just impose fines on the corporations they represent.
A Trump collapse could give Democrats back the House. Here’s the math. (Vox) Econintersect: This argument is difficult to follow because of extensive gerrymandering. How can a small percentage change in the national popular vote map into a shift in house seats? An example of this problem is presented in the 2012 analysis The Gerrymander Triumph (Paul Hanley, GEI Analysis):
In Ohio 52% of the total vote cast gained Republicans 80% of the seats. In Pennsylvania 49% of the vote gave Republicans 72% of the seats.
UK
Britain ‘ignored plea by France’ to aid stranded Calais child refugees (The Guardian) The Home Office has refused to respond to official requests from the French authorities to accept unaccompanied child refugees stranded in Calais who are eligible to come to Britain, the British Red Cross has said. With the planned demolition of Calais’s refugee camp only weeks away, the Red Cross says the Home Office is turning down “take charge” requests by the French on often pedantic grounds. Once such a request has been accepted by the UK government it is in effect responsible for a child who is seeking asylum.
Welsh tidal lagoon project could open way for £15bn revolution in UK energy (The Guardian) Backers of an ambitious proposal to transform the UK’s power supply will learn in the next few weeks if they are to be given the go-ahead to build tidal lagoons to generate electricity. The green light could see a series of major lagoon projects costing more than £15 billion being constructed around the coast of Britain. A tidal lagoon generates electricity from the natural rise and fall of the tides. Rising water flows into dams many miles in length, driving turbines. It is then held back behind walls as the tide recedes before being released to drive the turbines again, generating thousands of megawatts of power. A prototype is set for construction in Swansea Bay in the next few years – but only if it is given the go-ahead by a government review of tidal lagoon technology, chaired by the former energy minister Charles Hendry, which is scheduled to release its recommendation early next month.
Germany
Innogy to push windfarms, electric car charging in U.S.: paper (Reuters) Innogy IGY.TG, Germany’s largest energy group, is looking at the United States market to expand its renewable energy and electric car charging business, its chief executive told German weekly Welt am Sonntag. “We want to invest around 6.5 billion euros between 2016 and 2018,” Chief Executive Peter Terium told the paper, adding that investments will include grid networks and infrastructure but also wind farms in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and electric car charging stations in the United States.
India
Despite anti-India protests, Kashmiris seek police jobs (Associated Press) When massive anti-India protests erupted in Indian-control Kashmir three months ago after the killing of a charismatic militant leader, Aqib Mir was among tens of thousands of Kashmiris who defied curfew and clashed with government forces. He chanted for freedom from Indian rule. He hurled abuses and sometimes rocks at police and paramilitary soldiers. Three months later, he joined thousands of other young Kashmiris to try and get a job with the local police. When asked why he had lined up inside a soccer stadium in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar to appear for a physical fitness test to become a cop, the 24-years-old Mir said:
“Unemployment, what else. We want freedom from India, that’s our fundamental right. But we also have to earn livelihood.”
Japan
Japan: Mount Aso volcano belches out 11,000-meter ash cloud (CNN) The largest active volcano in Japan has erupted, sending a column of smoke and ash more than 11,000 meters (nearly 7 miles) into the air, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported early Saturday. This is an extremely rare height for such an eruption from this mountain. Mount Aso, which stands 1,592 meters (a little over 5,200 feet) tall, is in Kumamoto Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu. Images from the area showed a layer of volcanic ash coating streets, roofs and vehicles. No injuries have been reported, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It raised the alert level for the area to 3, with 5 being the highest level, and warned members of the public not to approach Mount Aso and to beware of falling rocks. Picture below is not of the current eruption.
