Medical Debt, Tesla Protests, & AI Gets Into Biology
May 9, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Thursday! Today, we’ll be talking about medical debt forgiveness, the Olympics, war in Ukraine, Tesla’s protests, Biden trolling Trump (just a little bit, though), a short-lived attempt to remove Speaker Johnson, and AI discovering the building blocks of life.
Here’s some good news: musician Randy Travis suffered a stroke in 2013 and hasn’t been able to make music since. With the help of AI (and the consent of Travis and his wife), a new song, called “Where That Came From,” was released with Travis’ voice. See, AI isn’t all bad, folks! Also, six years after Brazil’s national museum went up in flames, the museum has received a donation of more than a thousand fossils as part of a campaign to help rebuild the collection.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard
Bernie Bets On Medical Debt

Progressive lawmakers Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna have unveiled a new bill aimed at eliminating American medical debts. The bill would create a federal grant program to eliminate all existing medical debt for patients, and would also revise the Consumer Credit Reporting Act to prevent medical debt from impacting credit scores.
“This is the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world. People in our country should not be going bankrupt because they got cancer and could not afford to pay their medical bills,” said Sanders, adding, “The time has come to cancel all medical debt and guarantee health care to all as a human right, not a privilege.”
According to a 2022 report by NPR and KFF Health News, over 100 million Americans have some sort of healthcare debt, and another KFF analysis found that that debt totals about $220 billion. While you’d normally expect such a sweeping debt-forgiveness program to struggle to pass in the GOP-held House, medical debt forgiveness is a relatively bipartisan issue – 66% of all Americans (56% of Republicans and 85% of Democrats) support some form of healthcare debt relief. Maybe we can get a win-win here, Congress? Pretty please?
Franc-ly, This Is Concerning
French President Emmanuel Macron promised to build facilities for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris without the construction hazards and worker abuses that plagued the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Unfortunately, records show that he wasn’t able to keep that promise. While government records show just 200 workplace injuries (and zero deaths!) at construction sites for the Olympic games, interviews and documents show that’s not the whole story.
When two workers died on a subway project which one French minister described as “the lifeline of the Olympics,” their deaths were not included in the incident total. Another man died while constructing a wastewater basin needed to hold swimming events in the River Seine, but his death was also “put in another category,” according to a French official.
Many workers interviewed by the New York Times said their bosses normally had advance notice of workplace inspections, giving them ample time to shuffle away their undocumented employees. Other workers say they’ve been made to operate a jackhammer for over eight hours (well above the legal limit), and others have complained about a lack of basic safety equipment. Those who are injured are encouraged to keep from officially reporting any incidents to keep them out of the headlines.
Lights Out In Lviv

- On Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said the country would begin electricity-rationing measures in response to a series of Russian airstrikes that hit Ukrainian power infrastructure overnight. State energy provider Ukrenergo said that brownouts “are possible throughout Ukraine” overnight due to a “shortage of electricity in the power system.”
- “Restrictions will be evenly distributed across all regions,” said the power provider. According to DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private energy company, the shelling marked “the fifth massive shelling of the company’s energy facilities in the last one and a half months.” Some 16 Russian missiles hit energy infrastructure as part of the attacks, though Ukrainian air defenses were able to shoot down 39 missiles and 20 drones.
The Show Musk Not Go On
- Tesla has announced that it plans to temporarily shut down its factory outside of Berlin on Friday in response to a protest scheduled for tomorrow, which is expected to draw large crowds of demonstrators opposed to Tesla’s plans to expand the facility. Elon Musk wants to more than double the Berlin plant’s production capacity, but groups say the plans will require Tesla to clear large swathes of nearby forests and further strain the local water supply.
- The temporary shutdown will see the Berlin plant closed off from all employees. The protests against Tesla’s expansion are being led by Disrupt, a coalition of anti-capitalist protest groups. Local police said they are “prepared for both a peaceful and non-peaceful outcome, adding, “If crimes are committed, the police will intervene resolutely.”
More Mixed Nuts
- AstraZeneca withdraws Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, citing surplus of newer vaccines (Guardian)
- A cargo plane makes an emergency landing in Istanbul after front landing gear fails (ABC)
- Berlin senator attacked in library amid spate of violence against German politicians (CNN)
- US and Philippine forces sink a ship during largescale drills in the disputed South China Sea (AP)
- U.K. Supreme Court makes ruling over $43 million in treasure from World War II ship sunk by Japanese torpedoes (CBS)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- UN denounces ‘onslaught of violence against women’ by Israel, notes mass graves in Gaza (Politico)
- Rafah hospitals in danger of being overwhelmed, say Gaza doctors (Guardian)
- US report on Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza delayed, aides say (Politico)
- Netanyahu’s political survival in hands of far-right ministers (Guardian)
- Macklemore criticizes Biden in new song supporting pro-Palestinian student protests (CNN)
The 8th Blunder Of The Trump Presidency
- Six years ago, former President Trump stood at the groundbreaking of a $10 billion high-tech campus planned by electronics manufacturer Foxconn in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, calling it the “eighth wonder of the world.” The project, which was supposed to create 13,000 jobs, never came to fruition, even though homes were demolished to make room for it.
- On Wednesday, President Biden visited the same spot to celebrate his administration’s role in a $3.3 billion Microsoft artificial intelligence data center. The endeavor is expected to create 2,000 tech jobs and 2,300 construction jobs. If you’re wondering whether Biden decided to forgive and forget his opponent’s blunder, he did not – “Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it. Foxconn turned out to be just that − a con. Go figure.”
Greene Gets The Red Light
- Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene triggered her motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday, but the effort was short-lived…like, really short-lived. There were audible boos from lawmakers in the chamber as Greene called for a vote and listed out her reasoning.
- Even though MTG wasn’t totally alone in her grievances – the bill was co-sponsored by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie – House Majority Leader Steve Scalise requested the vote on tabling Greene’s resolution immediately, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in minutes. The final vote was 359-43, with seven lawmakers voting present.
More Nuts In America
- Georgia appeals court agrees to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Trump election case (AP)
- Public school district leaders face questions from Congress on antisemitism school policies (CBS)
- Man who tried to shoot pastor during service livestream is charged in cousin’s death that same day (NBC)
- Bipartisan opposition builds to Biden’s plan for military space personnel (Politico)
- Major storms continue across the country following devastating overnight tornadoes in Michigan (NBC)
The 1’s And 0’s Of Life
- It looks like computer algorithms are going to be teaching us a thing or two about life. According to researchers working on Deepmind, an AI research laboratory that operates under Google, the latest version of their AlphaFold program will bring about a massive “leap forward” in our understanding of how proteins interact with different molecules and ions. Using AlphaFold’s predictions will help streamline the process for researchers looking to create different molecules for things like vaccines or cancer therapies.
- While previous iterations of AlphaFold were focused on predicting the forms of proteins based on their chemical makeup, the latest version uses that information to predict what forms the proteins will take when they interact with a given molecule. “We can start testing hypotheses before we even go to the lab and this will really be transformative,” said one structural biologist. Another professor added, “it will bring huge benefits across biology, and help address major research challenges from food security to the design of drugs and vaccines.”
More Loose Nuts
- Robert F Kennedy Jr says health issue caused by dead worm in his brain (Guardian)
- New telescope images reveal ghostly ‘God’s Hand’ in Milky Way reaching across the cosmos (CNN)
- Venezuela loses its last glacier as it shrinks down to an ice field (Guardian)
- Unprecedented evidence humans occupied ‘lava tubes’ could fill in gaps in the archaeological record, scientists say (CNN)
- Megaraptor discovered in China may have rivaled velociraptors of ‘Jurassic Park:’ Study (USA Today)