A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control concludes that Lyme Disease is vastly more common than previously supposed. Yet, in California, Lyme Disease levels remain very low, despite large deer populations. California’s detox secret is the humble Western Fence Lizard, which picks up the bacteria from tics and kills the germ before it can spread:

The CDC report might lead health authorities to accelerate the research and approval of a Lyme vaccine. Promising results were found earlier this year on one vaccine under development. That would be a popular item in prime Lyme disease territory, largely the Northeast and northern Midwest states where up to 30% of deer ticks carry the infection. Almost all cases of the disease — 96% – occur in 13 states.

California isn’t among them, and one reason for that is that we have, in a sense, our own little natural vaccine program going. In this state, nymphal ticks’ favorite host is the common western fence lizard, which has a protein in it blood that kills the bacterium responsible for Lyme. As a result, few adult ticks are carriers. [LAT]

Three cheers for the Western Fence Lizard!

[Photo credit: Western Fence Lizard, K Schneider, Creative Commons.]

When it comes to attracting twitter followers, it’s better to be confident than right, according to a recent analysis of 1 billion sports punditry tweets.

Follow the preternaturally self-assured Sidney Hillman Foundation today! @sidneyhillman 

[Image credit: Slava Murava Kiss, Creative Commons.]

Combat service in the U.S. military is one way to earn a coveted Green Card, which confers permanent residence in the United States after the soldier’s tour of duty ends. However, as Kevin Sullivan reports in the Washington Post, Green Cards earnd in combat can be revoked even for minor crimes:

As a deported veteran, Tepeyac is one of a little-known cadre of warriors who served in the U.S. military as green-card holders — permanent legal residents but not U.S. citizens — then committed a crime after returning to civilian life, were convicted and punished, then were permanently expelled from the United States.

No one knows how many there are. U.S. officials said they do not keep track, but immigration lawyers and Banished Veterans, a group formed to help the deportees, said that at least hundreds, and perhaps thousands, have been deported in recent years.

Advocates for deported veterans say that they should be treated like American citizens, rather than banished. 

A judge has struck down New York’s notorious “Stop and Frisk” regime. Scott Lemieux explains the reasoning behind the decision in The American Prospect:

In a major victory for civil rights and civil liberties, a United States District Court Judge has held that the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) stop-and-frisk policies are unconstitutional. Judge Shira Scheindlin’s opinion justifying the ruling is a tour de force. Carefully assessing both systematic evidence and the cases of individual litigants, Judge Scheindlin leaves no serious doubt that the NYPD’s policies are inconsistent with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The judge’s drew heavily on research in making up her mind. Stop-and-frisks are justified based on an officier’s reasonable suspicion that the target is up to no good, but statistics show that nearly 90% of stop-and-frisks come up empty. If cops guess wrong nearly 90% of the time, how well-founded could their suspicions possibly be? Not strong enough to justify impinging on the rights of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, the judge decided.