The indian

MIAMI — Dalia Carmeli, who drives a trolley in downtown Miami, voted for Donald J. Trump on Election Day. A week later, she stopped in to see the enrollment counselor who will help her sign up for another year of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. “I hope it still stays the same,” said Ms. Carmeli, 64, who has Crohn’s disease and relies on her insurance to cover frequent doctor’s appointments and an array of medications. Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress are vowing to repeal much or all of the health law, a target of their party’s contempt since the day it passed with only Democratic votes in 2010. If they succeed, they will set in motion an extraordinary dismantling of a major social program in the United States. But for now, with open enrollment for 2017 underway, people are steadily signing up or renewing their coverage, and in conversations last week in South Florida, many refused to believe that a benefit they count on would actually be taken away. … [Read more...] about Many in Florida Count on Obama’s Health Law, Even Amid Talk of Its Demise

In 1980 an ecologist and an economist chose a refreshingly unacademic way to resolve their differences. They bet $1,000. Specifically, the bet was over the future price of five metals, but at stake was much more -- a view of the planet's ultimate limits, a vision of humanity's destiny. It was a bet between the Cassandra and the Dr. Pangloss of our era. They lead two intellectual schools -- sometimes called the Malthusians and the Cornucopians, sometimes simply the doomsters and the boomsters -- that use the latest in computer-generated graphs and foundation-generated funds to debate whether the world is getting better or going to the dogs. The argument has generally been as fruitless as it is old, since the two sides never seem to be looking at the same part of the world at the same time. Dr. Pangloss sees farm silos brimming with record harvests; Cassandra sees topsoil eroding and pesticide seeping into ground water. Dr. Pangloss sees people living longer; Cassandra sees rain … [Read more...] about Betting on the Planet

A Middle Eastern mini-market sells produce from Syria, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. A Methodist Church sits alongside Afro-Caribbean Mr B’s Hair Products. Not far away a Polish cafe sells peasant pork chop and dumplings. Then there’s an Indian tailor and an African food shop. Welcome to Barton Street, Gloucester, which with residents who speak 70 languages is being called the most diverse road in the country. The area was a traditionally Jewish quarter when a Jewish cemetery was built in the 18th century, but over the years there has been a large influx of Muslim and Eastern European families - and then from other parts of the world. Now it’s no wonder there’s a graffiti stencil of Martin Luther King and his very appropriate words: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Marta Puchala says she loves the street ( Image: Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror) Many newcomers set up businesses here, creating a lively street full of … [Read more...] about Inside ‘UK’s most diverse road’ where happy residents speak 70 different languages