#Parkinsons #Paraquat "Thousands of U.S. farmers have Parkinson’s. They blame a deadly pesticide. Paul Friday remembers when his hand started flopping in the cold weather – the first sign nerve cells in his brain were dying. He was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a brain disease that gets worse over time. His limbs got stiffer. He struggled to walk. He couldn’t keep living on his family farm. Shortly afterward, Friday came to believe that decades of spraying a pesticide called paraquat at his peach orchard in southwestern Michigan may be the culprit. 'It explained to me why I have Parkinson’s disease,' said Friday, who is now 83, and makes that claim in a pending lawsuit. The pesticide, a weed killer, is extremely toxic. With evidence of its harms stacking up, it’s already been banned in dozens of countries all over the world, including the United Kingdom and China, where it’s made. Yet last year, its manufacturer Syngenta, a subsidiary of a company owned by the Chinese government, continued selling paraquat in the United States and other nations that haven’t banned it."

mlive

Thousands of U.S. farmers have Parkinson’s. They blame a deadly pesticide.

Paraquat is banned in more than 70 countries, but still legal in the United States. Now, a growing number of U.S. farmers are blaming the toxic pes...

#Verizon #iPhone "Verizon refused to unlock man’s iPhone, so he sued the carrier and won Verizon changed policy after he bought the phone, wouldn’t unlock it despite FCC rule. When Verizon refused to unlock an iPhone purchased by Kansas resident Patrick Roach, he had no intention of giving up without a fight. Roach sued the wireless carrier in small claims court and won. Roach bought a discounted iPhone 16e from Verizon’s Straight Talk brand on February 28, 2025, as a gift for his wife’s birthday. He intended to pay for one month of service, cancel, and then switch the phone to the US Mobile service plan that the couple uses. Under federal rules that apply to Verizon and a Verizon unlocking policy that was in place when Roach bought the phone, this strategy should have worked. 'The best deals tend to be buying it from one of these MVNOs [Mobile Virtual Network Operators] and then activating it until it unlocks and then switching it to whatever you are planning to use it with. It usually saves you about half the value of the phone,' Roach said in a phone interview. Unlocking a phone allows it to be used with another carrier. Verizon, unlike other carriers, is required by the Federal Communications Commission to unlock phones shortly after they are activated on its network. Verizon gained significant benefits in exchange for agreeing to the unlocking requirement, first in 2008 when it purchased licenses to use 700 MHz spectrum that came with open access requirements and then in 2021 when it agreed to merger conditions to obtain approval for its purchase of TracFone. Verizon is thus required to unlock handsets 60 days after they are activated on its network. This applies to Verizon’s flagship brand and TracFone brands such as Straight Talk. 'That was the compromise. For their competitive advantage of acquiring the spectrum, they had to give up the ability to lock down phones for an extended period of time,' Roach said."

Ars Technica

Verizon refused to unlock man’s iPhone, so he sued the carrier and won

Verizon changed policy after he bought the phone, wouldn't unlock it despite FCC rule.

#SanFrancisco #corruption #unhoused "RV dwellers say S.F. outreach worker is selling parking permits for cash The matter is ‘being investigated,’ say city officials. In text messages shared with Mission Local, an RV user begs for his money back. In mid-November, 19 days after the RV ban went into effect, a homeless outreach worker knocked on her RV window and offered to sell her the coveted permit — for $500 in cash, she said. Two other RV dwellers reported the same, saying a man dressed in a Homelessness Outreach Team uniform offered a permit in exchange for hundreds in cash. One, concerned by the offer, called the Coalition on Homelessness, a local homelessness advocacy organization, and asked for advice. Jennifer Friedenbach, the group’s director, reported the allegation to the city."

Mission Local

RV dwellers say S.F. outreach worker is selling parking permits for cash

The city is investigating allegations into a man dressed as an outreach worker. In text exchanges, an RV dweller begs for his money back.

#TrumpRegime "The president of the United States just barged into America’s living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps. When a president asks for network time, it’s usually to announce something important. But tonight, Donald Trump did not give anything like a normal speech or address. He was clearly working from a prepared text, but it sounded like one he’d written—or dictated angrily—himself, because it was full of bizarre howlers that even Trump’s second-rate speech-writing shop would probably have avoided, such as his assertion that inflation when he took office was the worst it had been in 48 years. (Why did he pick 1977 as a benchmark? Who knows. But he’s wrong.) He read the speech quickly, his voice rising in frustration as he hurled one lie after another into the camera." https://archive.ph/pUava

Quote of the day. “He who does not increase his knowledge decreases it.” -- Hillel the Elder