‘Registering voters at medical facilities would be a good Rx for democracy’
Trey Grayson, Miles Rapoport and Dr. Ali Raja at USA Today
If “policies impacting health are shaped without the voices of health care professionals and patients, we risk undermining the very foundation of public health and community well-being,” say Trey Grayson, Miles Rapoport and Dr. Ali Raja. Medical facilities are “uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between health care and voter engagement.” By “integrating nonpartisan voter registration into health care,” America “can implement an elegant solution to strengthen democracy, empower patient voices and improve public health outcomes.”
‘The Satanic Temple is taking on the Christian right. It’s fun to watch.’
Arwa Mahdawi at The Guardian
The Satanic Temple is “about raising hell to fight for freedom,” says Arwa Mahdawi. The temple “uses the religious right’s tactics, and their victories, against them,” and has “taken on issues like prayer in the classroom, after-class Bible study groups, and the distribution of Bibles in schools. This has had the “desired effect of driving the satanists’ adversaries bonkers.” The “devil works hard, but the Republican party works harder,” so the Satanic Temple is “doing the Lord’s work.”
‘The risks of sharing your DNA with online companies aren’t a future concern. They’re here now.’
Nila Bala at the Los Angeles Times
The “implications of genetic data breaches are staggering: This information can reveal sensitive information about a person’s health and other characteristics,” says Nila Bala. In the “wrong hands, it carries profound risks.” This “DNA commodification is no longer a future concern; it’s a present reality.” These “risks demand a response.” Americans “need a paradigm shift for genetic privacy,” and we “should be able to depend on the government to regulate unsafe data practices.”
‘Banning books isn’t just morally wrong. It’s also unhealthy.’
Dr. Sayantani DasGupta at Time
Reading aloud “bonds families together — it promotes attachment,” and “books help build young people’s imagination,” says Dr. Sayantani DasGupta. It is “partially for this reason that children’s and YA fiction is under such intense assault from book banners.” Banning books is an “assault on our individual and collective health — our imaginative health, our intellectual health, our physical health, and the health of our society.” Americans “must ensure young readers have access to the books that will open their minds.”