Link Roundup Febuary 2023

Trump outlines plan to attack trans rights if re-elected, vows to ‘protect children from left-wing gender insanity’

Trump said he would sign an executive order instructing federal agencies “to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age,” and vowed to punish healthcare professionals who provide gender-affirming care to minors.

YouTube Music contractors strike over alleged unfair labor practices

“Right now, the vast majority of our department is ready to vote yes in a [National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)] election,” said YouTube Music generalist Sam Regan at a strike in Austin, Texas, viewed via Facebook livestream. “In an act of retaliation against our organizing efforts, our employer is forcing an end to remote work before the vote, which would dramatically interfere with the fair voting conditions mandated by federal law.” YouTube Music’s content operations team is expected to return to the Austin office on Monday. But according to the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), the majority of workers were hired remotely, and almost one quarter are not even based in Texas.

‘We’re Google’s lowest-paid workers, but we play a vital role’ — Google search raters protest pay of less than $15 an hour

On Jan. 1, Curtis received a raise to $14.50 an hour, which is still lower than the $15 minimum hourly wage that Alphabet Inc. has established for its temporary, contractor and vendor workforce, commonly referred to as TVCs. Despite the raise, which was granted after raters combined forces and talked with their direct employer, Appen Ltd., her work hours are capped at 26 a week. That falls short of the required 30 hours a week that workers must make to be considered a Google TVC.

The escalating costs of being single in America

And then there are the thousands of people who would like to be married but can’t afford to be because additional income from a spouse would result in taking away the disability, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or child support benefits that make life sustainable. For them, marriage might be financially stabilizing down the line but not stabilizing enough to make up for the loss of other safety nets in the short term. Marriage is stabilizing, then, but largely for people who are already stable or on the route to it. It’s become a tool of class reproduction, benefiting those who’ve always benefited within the American class hierarchy: financially stable white men and the women married to them.

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong

Since 1959, research has shown that 95 to 98 percent of attempts to lose weight fail and that two-thirds of dieters gain back more than they lost. The reasons are biological and irreversible. As early as 1969, research showed that losing just 3 percent of your body weight resulted in a 17 percent slowdown in your metabolism—a body-wide starvation response that blasts you with hunger hormones and drops your internal temperature until you rise back to your highest weight. Keeping weight off means fighting your body’s energy-regulation system and battling hunger all day, every day, for the rest of your life.

British Gas sorry its agents broke into customers’ homes

The Times of London reported that debt collectors obtained court warrants to enter the homes of people who had fallen behind on their energy bills. They installed meters that make customers pay upfront for their gas supply — if they don’t, they are cut off. The practice allows firms to get around rules that limit the circumstances in which they can cut off supplies to customers who are in debt.

Explosion possible in wake of Ohio train derailment involving hazardous materials

Federal investigators probing the derailment have focused in part on the role of a possible mechanical malfunction, officials said Sunday. The train's crew said an alarm indicating such a malfunction sounded just before the accident, National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said at a news conference. Additionally, two videos of the train obtained by NTSB investigators show one of the rail cars may have had a broken or malfunctioning axle, Graham said Sunday.

Why the toxins from the Ohio train derailment could have posed deadly threats for residents nearby

An air quality disaster resulted on Friday night after about 50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Ten of those cars contained hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses.

Ohio AG Dave Yost's office to handle case of reporter arrested at DeWine news conference

NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was pushed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for trespassing Wednesday while covering a news conference by Gov. Mike DeWine on the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals. The media outlet posted a video of the incident and later reported that Lambert was held for five hours before being released.

Temple University cuts tuition and health benefits for striking graduate students

Some research and teaching assistants at the public school in Philadelphia received an email notice on Wednesday that their tuition remission had been revoked for the spring semester, "as a result of your participation in the [Temple University Graduate Students' Association union] strike." Tuition remission, a benefit offered by many schools to help finance employees' tuition costs, covers an average of $20,000 at Temple, according to the university. Temple is now requiring the graduate students to pay their tuition balance by March 9 to stay enrolled in classes, or else accrue a $100 late fee.

The Fading Battlefields of World War I

Sheep graze among the craters and regrown woods on the World War I battleground at Vimy Ridge, France. Unexploded ordnance remains a constant danger.

Spain parliament approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and transgender protections

Spain's constitutional court last week rejected a challenge by the right-wing Popular Party against allowing abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Red Lake considers a future without blood quantum

To be enrolled at Red Lake an individual must have at least a quarter Red Lake blood. As time passes that's increasingly difficult to maintain. Critics say that's deliberate as the U.S. government has used blood quantum to limit tribal benefits.

Dozen Grenfell firefighters diagnosed with terminal cancer

Up to a dozen firefighters who tackled the blaze at Grenfell Tower have been diagnosed with terminal cancer. According to reports, the cancers are understood to be mainly digestive cancers and leukaemia. Firefighters and survivors from the disaster have called for medical screenings as a list of rescuers who went to the west London fire in 2017 and have cancer is being drawn up.