'America's coming smoke epidemic'
Zoë Schlanger at The Atlantic
Until "recently, wildfires that exposed large populations to smoke were a relatively rare occurrence," says Zoë Schlanger. But "more frequent and intense wildfires are erasing or even reversing decades of gains made in American air quality." Now that "more people are regularly breathing smoky air over their lifetime," the "relevant concern may no longer be what happens when a person gets one big dose of smoke; rather, it may be what happens when they are exposed many times."
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'The Supreme Court's deference to Trump is astounding'
Jackie Calmes at the Los Angeles Times
Federal judges "have been the bulwark against Trump's reign of lawlessness," says Jackie Calmes. You'd "think the Supreme Court — in particular Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the overseer of the judicial branch — would have the lower courts' backs. But no." Their "decision in one of many deportation challenges wasn't the court's first such display of deference to a president who doesn't reciprocate." It "undermines the rule of law as fully as the Trump administration's lawlessness."
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'My daughter died from CMV, a virus we all need to learn more from'
Arissa Viering at The Dallas Morning News
Cytomegalovirus is the "most common infectious cause of birth defects in the United States" but "often goes unnoticed," says Arissa Viering. Despite "these staggering numbers, more than 80% of women" have "never heard of CMV," and "even more troubling: many healthcare providers aren't equipped to address it either." This "needs to change." We "need widespread awareness — and we need continued support for scientific research that could one day prevent this heartbreak for other families."
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'Ranked choice at the movies'
Armond White at the National Review
Ranked-choice voting "appeals to the simple-minded vanity of political do-gooders; it allows them to overlook their actual inclination toward favoritism, authoritarian dictates, and absolute control," says Armond White. "Ranked-choice voting was implemented" in Hollywood "as a stop-loss remedy — a move to camouflage the practices of an industry devoted to meretricious, often nihilistic entertainments." Since "adopting ranked-choice voting, the Oscars have merely awarded more junk." It's "nearly impossible to get an informed or artistically sound Oscar choice."
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