Mark Sumner

At one time, the United Mine Workers of America boasted more than 800,000 members. When the union went on strike, it brought the nation to its knees, got U.S. presidents involved in negotiations with mine owners—and became the target of mercenary armies, federal troops, and military bombers sent by the Army.

But that was then. Today the UMWA still counts 80,000 members, but fewer than 20,000 are actually working coal miners.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a specific classification for what is known as a “rare pediatric disease.” Every condition that meets that designation is, by definition, horrible. These are the diseases that most families are blissfully unaware of, while for others the names of these diseases—Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, CANDLE Syndrome, Pompe Disease—become a dark drumbeat that sounds behind each moment of their lives.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a specific classification for what is known as a “rare pediatric disease.” Every condition that meets that designation is, by definition, horrible. These are the diseases that most families are blissfully unaware of, while for others the names of these diseases—Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, CANDLE Syndrome, Pompe Disease—become a dark drumbeat that sounds behind each moment of their lives.

Editor’s note: This is Part II of a two-part story. You can read Part I, which was originally published on April 14, by clicking here.

A rare childhood disorder, Niemann-Pick Disease type C (NPC), affects just a few dozen children in the United States each year. One of a number of lysosomal storage disorders, the disease affects the ability to metabolize cholesterol, and results in widespread damage over time.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a specific classification for what is known as a “rare pediatric disease.” Every condition that meets that designation is, by definition, horrible. These are the diseases that most families are blissfully unaware of, while for others the names of these diseases—Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, CANDLE Syndrome, Pompe Disease—become a dark drumbeat that sounds behind each moment of their lives.

Last December, Army Lieutenant Caron Nazario was on his way home with a new SUV when the lights of a police car appeared behind him. Rather than pull over on a narrow, darkened street, he proceeded just over one minute, and less than one mile, down the road and pull into the parking lot of a gas station. There he was confronted by two police officers who proceeded to hold him at gun point, pepper spray him through the window of his vehicle, and threaten him with death.

The U.S. is now averaging over 3 million vaccinations a day. That would be enough to vaccinate more than 90% of the population in 100 days, so it’s not surprising that the percentage of Americans who have received at least one jab jumped from 33% on Thursday, to 34% on Friday. And since the vaccine is currently not currently available to children, the percentage of the adult population which has been vaccinated is now at 44%.

The prospect of Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz being hoisted by his own “family values” petard is certainly enticing.

On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement saying that the company met its commitment to deliver 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the United States by the end of March, and still expects to produce an astounding billion doses around the world before the end of 2021. However, there was definitely some bad news mixed with the good. As in millions of doses of vaccine had to be destroyed, and shipments of new vaccine have been temporarily halted.

Earlier this month, Future Human hosted a fascinating look at how largely forgotten, native language Hawaiian newspapers have become an invaluable source of climate change data. The over 100 papers that once existed have weather information on the islands that goes back to the first half of the 19th century, including detailed stories on a massive hurricane in 1871.

Earlier this month, Future Human hosted a fascinating look at how largely forgotten, native language Hawaiian newspapers have become an invaluable source of climate change data. The over 100 papers that once existed have weather information on the islands that goes back to the first half of the 19th century, including detailed stories on a massive hurricane in 1871.

For anyone who has ever visited the Navajo Nation—a sprawling 27,000 square mile territory that spreads across Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico—some of the pictures being sent back from Mars may look … a little familiar. That’s especially true of the area around Jezero Crater where the Perseverance rover made its astounding landing in February.

When the first QAnon posts jumped in to leverage the ugly Pizzagate conspiracy theory with a whole new level of destructive, divisive hate, the person behind those first cryptic notes was something of a mystery. But when it comes to the Big Lie—the claim that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election—the source of the disinformation, distortions, and big juicy whoppers isn’t difficult to pin down. It was Trump. And Trump’s lawyers.

Congratulations! You have a fresh SpongeBob Band-Aid on your off arm; a dose of Pfizer, or Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccine sunk deep into your muscle tissue; and the rabbit is … sorry, rabbits have nothing to do with this. However, if your first inclination is to climb onto a table in the middle of the nearest Applebee’s and belt out a chorus of “Climb Every Mountain,” there are several reasons why you really shouldn’t.

When the first QAnon posts jumped in to leverage the ugly Pizzagate conspiracy theory with a whole new level of destructive, divisive hate, the person behind those first cryptic notes was something of a mystery. But when it comes to the Big Lie—the claim that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election—the source of the disinformation, distortions, and big juicy whoppers isn’t difficult to pin down. It was Trump. And Trump’s lawyers.

Congratulations! You have a fresh SpongeBob Band-Aid on your off arm; a dose of Pfizer, or Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccine sunk deep into your muscle tissue; and the rabbit is … sorry, rabbits have nothing to do with this. However, if your first inclination is to climb onto a table in the middle of the nearest Applebee’s and belt out a chorus of “Climb Every Mountain,” there are several reasons why you really shouldn’t.

On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided to toss a big fat distraction on how Republicans turned that state’s energy market into a scheme that generates billions in instant profit from pure human misery. Abbott was just one of several Republican governors who have decided that, now that there’s reasonable leadership in Washington, there’s no longer any need for them to even pretend to be reasonable back at home.

At a joint Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, an array of intelligence and defense officials—including the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard—gave testimony concerning events leading up to and during the Jan. 6 insurgency. Much of the focus of the questions and answers remained around the timing of events, including when the National Guard was authorized, and on the clear failures of intelligence to anticipate the violent events of that day.

On Friday, the FDA’s team of outside expert sat down in front of their cameras to participate in something that’s becoming almost routine—the review of a new COVID-19 vaccine. This time they were looking at the single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. At the end of the discussion, the panel voted unanimously to recommend approval of the vaccine’s use in the current emergency.

It’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) time, and Sen. Ted Cruz is knocking them dead—both metaphorically and literally—with jokes about how wearing a mask during a pandemic is “dumb.

John “Bull” Durham announced on Friday afternoon that he is stepping down from his position in the Department of Justice. Presumably this also means an end to his role as special counsel investigating the origins of the Russia investigation. (Note: latest reporting indicates he’s not dropping the probe.)  In the announcement of Durham’s resignation, there is no mention of any further indictments or report upcoming from that investigation.

When it came time to write a platform for the 2020 election, Republicans either could not be bothered, or could not think of anything beyond “whatever Trump says now.” In any case, they took the extraordinary move of simply discarding their platform and moving forward with no declared plan at all.  Which at least means they can’t be accused of breaking promises, since they didn’t make any.

This is a week for remembrance. Some of those remembrances are for millions who died because of intolerance and cruel hate in a tragedy the world cannot afford to forget. Some are for the thousands dying every day in a disaster that is still unfolding. But today is also the day for remembering a relative handful of people who lost their lives in extraordinary circumstances.

A generation of Americans remember where they were when they heard the news that John F.

This is a week for remembrance. Some of those remembrances are for millions who died because of intolerance and cruel hate in a tragedy the world cannot afford to forget. Some are for the thousands dying every day in a disaster that is still unfolding. But today is also the day for remembering a relative handful of people who lost their lives in extraordinary circumstances.

A generation of Americans remember where they were when they heard the news that John F.

Donald Trump driving a crowd into a violent attack on the Capitol may be the defining image that will remain in the minds of most Americans. But that assault on Jan. 6 wasn’t the only coup Trump planned. After his ridiculous legal ploys had all floundered; after his attempts to strong arm governors and secretaries of state had failed; after he had wined and dined state legislators in an attempt to prevent the certification of votes … Trump had another scheme.

Over the last four years, Donald Trump did everything possible to help the world unravel. Sometimes that meant withdrawing from organizations like the World Health Organization, or dropping out of the Paris agreement. It also meant flat-out breaking trade agreements or even the six-party nuclear agreement on Iran. Trump has also moved to simply allow existing treaties to expire, including major arms agreements that have (had) existed for decades.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley always wanted national attention, and he’s certainly been in the spotlight over the last two weeks. However, being the poster boy for supporting a deadly insurgency in which violent white nationalists attempted to overthrow the government of the United States is probably not what he was looking for. Probably. Because in a far-too-large segment of the Republican Party, cheering on extremists out to kill members of Congress is a good thing.

On the same day that Donald Trump sent his followers to capture the Capitol and threaten the lives of lawmakers in an attempt to overthrow the nation, COVID-19 killed over 4,000 American in a single day. The 4,100 who were tallied at WorldOMeters by the end of Wednesday was, by far, a new record. That record held all the way until Thursday, when 4,200 died. Thursday also brought 261,000 new cases in a single day, also a new record.

Impeachment, removal, indictment, prosecution, imprisonment: that should be the order of Donald Trump’s future. The problem is that at the moment Trump has his hand on the nearly unlimited power of the White House, which includes a military he might use to strike at anyone—with or without justification.

At this point, Republicans might as well just open fire on Fort Sumter and be done with it. That’s the only way they could show more evidence of their “patriotism” and love for the Constitution.