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Welcome to the official home for discussions related to US politics! 2020 US Presidential Election (op will be under construction for a little bit) Please, remember to be courteous to other members because not everyone will see every issue in the same way. Flame bait, name calling, trolling, and other disruptions will not be tolerated. Friendly debate is welcome and encouraged

A Tyson Foods plant in New Holland, Lancaster County, released more than 38 million pounds of pollutants into local waterways between 2018 and 2022, according to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The facility is one of several Tyson meat and poultry processing plants in the U.S. that researchers say discharged pollutants, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, by piping wastewater into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. Tyson Foods released more than 371.7 million pounds of pollutants nationwide over four years, according to the study, which relied on effluent data reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "We were not expecting pollution at that level to almost go unchecked and be given a free pass to pollute," said researcher Omanjana Goswamim. "That is an insane amount of wastewater to pipe into clean surface water sources and contaminate pristine waters that people use for recreation, and that are home to flora, fauna, aquatic plants and animals, and are often habitats for endangered species." Tyson Foods did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Meat and poultry processing plants produce wastewater when they wash animals, meat and equipment. The wastewater is taken to treatment plants, sprayed onto fields or piped into waterways. Often, contaminants impact water quality for aquatic species and can seep into groundwater that makes its way to peoples' taps. Tyson Foods' New Holland plant, which is part of the Mill Creek watershed that flows into the Chesapeake Bay, discharged millions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus over four years. These contaminants can significantly increase algae, which can impact water quality, food resources and habitats and decrease oxygen that fish rely on to survive. Pollutants from wastewater can also impact drinking water supplies. Exposure to high levels of nitrates, a form of nitrogen, in drinking water has been linked to some cancers, as well as blue baby syndrome among infants. Nitrates from animal waste have impacted drinking water supplies in several rural communities across the U.S. Private wells have been particularly impacted because they are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Full article: https://whyy.org/articles/tyson-chicken-pollution-waterways-nitrogen-phosphorus/

'Sex is biological fact, NHS declares in landmark shift against gender ideology Campaigners welcome change to constitution, which will ban trans women from female-only wards, as 'return to common sense'' The Telegraph: https://archive.is/hEdp5

ATRL supports a free Palestine. We are also sympathetic to innocent citizens of both nations during this conflict. We hope members understand that criticism of the Israeli government is not criticism of the Jewish religion and that criticism of Hamas is not criticism of the Free Palestine movement itself. Posts that cross the line and drift into criticism of Jewish and/or Muslim religion and people as a whole will be properly warned. ATRL reserves the right to close this thread at any point and create post restrictions, thread bans, or complete bans to members who break the rules in this thread.

Can't wait for him to call American students Nazis on US soil now that Schumer is inviting him to do so

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraq-criminalises-same-sex-relationships-with-maximum-15-years-prison-2024-04-27/ Thanks Shias and Iran

Source At least 29 people (updated to 32 by the end of the day) have been killed and 60 are missing after heavy rains drenched southern Brazil, prompting a state government to send rescue helicopters in search of stranded residents, the authorities said on Thursday. The torrential rains that poured over the state of Rio Grande do Sul in recent days were well above normal for this time of year, according to experts. In the last four days of April, the state received about 70 percent of the precipitation it typically records for the entire month, according to National Institute of Meteorology data analyzed by The New York Times. The rains swelled rivers across the state's low-lying central valley region, flooding towns, causing a bridge to collapse, blocking roads and setting off mudslides. One town, Canudos do Vale, was left isolated with no electricity or communication. In the town of Candelária, residents awaited rescue helicopters on the roofs of their flooded homes. Nearly 10,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, the civil defense agency in Rio Grande do Sul said in a statement. The crisis prompted Grande do Sul's governor, Eduardo Leite, to declare a state of emergency late on Wednesday. "We are experiencing, in Rio Grande do Sul, the worst moment — the worst disaster in our history," Mr. Leite said at a news conference on Wednesday. "And unfortunately, it will get worse." Authorities have struggled to reach isolated residents, with search-and-rescue teams unable to travel to some areas because of high river levels and heavy flooding. With nowhere to land, some helicopters have used winches to pull up residents from flooded areas. "We will not be able to make all the rescues," Mr. Leite said on Wednesday.

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-shiraz-protesters-palestinian-1896011

Georgia (the country) is currently experiencing massive protests against their pro-Kremlin government that has implemented an authoritarian law against "foreign agents". Anti-West/pro-Kremlin/pro-China Twitter has assumed that these protests are happening in Georgia (the US), accidently endorsing pro-West/pro-EU protesters.

The South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) has significantly changed the names of the country's geographic entities. The council aims to ensure that the names of places reflect the diverse cultures and languages of South Africa rather than remnants of colonial and apartheid pasts. The SAGNC was established by the South African Geographical Names Council Act of 1998, and since then, it has approved changes for 1,505 place names, including 85 towns. This initiative has led to renaming various geographical locations such as towns, rivers, mountains, and streets. The council aims to make public spaces' names resonate more with the local inhabitants' identity and heritage. The SAGNC's efforts have significantly shifted towards a more inclusive and respectful naming system that celebrates the country's rich cultural diversity. Some of the changes: Port Elizabeth → Gqeberha Morgan's Bay → Gxarha Cradock → Nxuba Uitenhage → Kariega King Williamstown → Qonce Queenstown → Komani Grahamstown → Makhanda Fort Beaufort → KwaMaqoma Somerset East → KwaNojoli Graaff-Reinet → Robert Sobkwe or Fred Hufkie Adendorp → Kwa Mseki Bishop Limba Aberdeen → Camdeboo Nieu-Bethesda → Kwa Noheleni https://www.nrclitchi.org/south-africa-renamed-85-cities/

Remember how pro-Kremlin ATRL users told us that Europe would freeze to death without russian gas, and russia would do just fine because it would be able to pivot to China? Well, they were terribly wrong. Russia's Gazprom has recorded enormous losses after being dumped by Europe, and there is no demand for russian gas in China. To put this into context, Gazprom used to be the world's third-biggest company in 2008 when Germany's ruling elites were still busy gaslighting us about how Europe needed russian gas. Russian energy giant Gazprom plunged to its biggest loss in at least a quarter of a century after gas sales more than halved in the fallout from Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The loss of Rbs629bn ($6.9bn) in 2023 underlines how the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine has ravaged the state-owned natural gas monopoly, leading to plummeting sales in Europe, its main source of income. The Kremlin and Gazprom have trumpeted growing Chinese purchases of Russian gas as an eventual replacement. Those exports, however, were only 22bn cubic metres last year against the 230bn cubic metres a year Russia exported on average in the decade before the Ukraine invasion. https://www.ft.com/content/f6ba327b-5200-4deb-ba95-fba3bbd6536a

Full Article

"Growing concerns" that Ozempic will disrupt big tobacco, candy companies, and alcohol brands, according to Morgan Stanley Are GLP-1 drugs the first real threat to the hyper-processed food and alcohol industries? Until recently, the dominance of ultra-processed food and alcohol companies has seemed unassailable. With corporate food engineers cranking out more and more hyper-palatable products, the negative health impacts seemed to only be moving in one direction. The tide might be about to turn. Morgan Stanley recently did a survey of people taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic or Mounjaro. CNBC and Quartz got private looks at the survey results. Quartz wrote: full article: https://curingaddiction.substack.com/p/growing-concerns-that-ozempic-will

Russian Invasion of Ukraine PLEASE NOTE: Want a resource link to send funds to besides the armed forces? Please check out the tweet below. I try to update this OP at least weekly with new Ukraine war maps from Al-Jazeera further below. This OP was originally oriented around an original thread on Five Eyes intelligence of an upcoming invasion first posted here in November 2021 that was changed to reflect the invasion that officially began in February 2022 and then subsequent posts were deleted as a result of the April 2022 forum reset. Al-Jazeera Live Daily Tracker Before the war - Maps in Context RESOURCE CONTEXT Sourcing: Shorter source list (English only) Verified and/or Highly Cited: CLICK NAMES FOR LINKS No endorsement of any of their other positions or those of their employers; news focused only Phil Stewart (Military correspondent, Reuters) Christo Grozev (Executive Director, Bellingcat) Eliot Higgins (Founder/Creative Director, Bellingcat) The Kyiv Independent (Ukrainian independent outlet) Kyiv Post (Ukrainian newspaper) Kevin Rothrock (Editor, Meduza English) Andrei Soldatov (Senior Fellow, CEPA) Liveuamap (Global independent outlet) Andrew Roth (Moscow correspondent, The Guardian) Liubov Tsybulska (Stratcom Ukraine Information/Hybrid Warfare Security Center Founder) Stratcom Centre (Ukraine Ministry of Culture's Strategic Comms / Info Warfare) Oleg Shakirov (Russian Center for Advanced Governance, consultant at PIR Center) Daria Kaleniuk (Executive Director, Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Centre) Paula Chertok (Kyiv's Mohyla Journalism School; Writer, Euromaiden Press) Nataliya Gumenyuk (Kyiv-based founder of Public Interest Journalism Lab) Myroslava Petsa (BBC Ukraine reporter) NEXTA (Former Belarusian-based outlet covering Eastern Europe, now based in Poland) SUSPILNE NEWS (Ukrainian Public Broadcaster) Max Seddon (Moscow Bureau Chief, Financial Times) Michael Kofman (Director, Russian Studies at CNA) Maria Shagina (Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Sanctions in post-Soviet regions) Polina Ivanova (Financial Times Ukraine/Russia correspondent) Illia Ponomarenko (Defense reporter, The Kyiv Independent) Euromaiden Press (Ukrainian independent outlet) Maria Avdeeva (Research Director at Euro Expert Association, Security Ops/Disinfo in Ukraine) Michael Horowitz (Le Beck International Geopolitical Consulting Firm) Anton Troianovski (Moscow Bureau Chief, New York Times) Mary Ilyushina (Washington Post/CBS Russia correspondent) Olga Tokariuk (EFEnoticias freelance correspondent in Kyiv) Julia Davis (Russian Media Analyst, The Daily Beast) Shaun Walker (Eastern Europe reporter, The Guardian) Samuel Ramani (Bylines in Washington Post/Foreign Policy, Fellow, RUSI) Neil Hauer (BNEIntellinews independent journalist in Ukraine) Jack Detsch (National Security Reporter, Foreign Policy magazine) Christopher Miller (BuzzFeedNews, reporting on Ukraine) Shashank Joshi (Defence Editor, The Economist) Unofficial OSINTtechnical The Intel Crab Caucasus War Report

The Biden administration is set to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance, marking a significant shift in U.S. drug policy. This move would acknowledge marijuana’s potential medical benefits and reduce restrictions on its research and pharmaceutical use. The Department of Health and Human Services supports this change, highlighting marijuana’s lower health risks compared to other controlled substances. The rescheduling could benefit the $34 billion cannabis industry by easing tax burdens and potentially reducing the black market. However, some critics argue that it could lead to increased marketing targeted at children and ignore the risks associated with high-potency marijuana. The decision is still subject to a public review period and potential congressional intervention. Source