The FDA has, rather unexpectedly, issued two new regulations aimed at curbing antibiotic abuse on factory farms. One regulation would prevent drug manufacturers from listing the promotion of animal growth as an indication on its drug labels, and another would require factory farms to get a veterinarian to approve prescriptions in animal feed. These rules don't ban the misuse of nearly four out of five antibiotics produced in America on feed animals, but I expected nothing from the FDA, so I suppose our pressure amounted to something.
Teen who kills four innocent people while driving drunk gets probation because he's rich. No, I'm not exaggerating: the teen's defense lawyer literally argued that his client couldn't function in civilized society because years of suffering zero consequences of his actions due to his parents' wealth had made him "emotionally flat," and the judge agreed that, yes, expensive counseling would be better than jail. Thus does our three-decades-plus worship of "free market" ideology make us a less moral society.
Study finds that fossil fuel and cement production from just 90 corporate entities produce nearly two-thirds of all carbon emissions on Earth. So the next time right-wingers claim that climate change legislation would regulate your breathing or kill small businesses, you can remind them that the big polluters do most of the world's polluting.
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez comes up with a surprising reason why ALEC has such influence in state houses -- because legislators in many states don't have the resources to research initiatives on their own. Indeed, they may not even be working full-time or have full-time help. Mr. Hertel-Fernandez also finds that the "conservatism" of particular legislatures predicts ALEC's success. Still, while I'm sure ALEC reaches out to these legislators pretty well, nothing prevents a part-time legislator from seeking out help from, say, Public Citizen or Common Cause.
Finally, Fox News host Megyn Kelly finds it necessary to note on-air to "all you kids watching at home" that Santa is "just white." Why the children of America would need reassurance that a nonexistent person is white is beyond me. Only insecure adults need that sort of assurance. (She adds that Jesus, who at least did really exist, is also white, though the evidence suggests otherwise.)
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