Information Literacy / Politics

Russia Still Spreading Disinformation about 2024 Election

“The Kremlin is turning to unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said Monday, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.

“Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly using private public relations firms or unwitting social media users to spread their false claims as a way to hide their tracks.

“The warning comes after a tumultuous few weeks in U.S. politics that have forced Russia, Iran and China to revise some of the details of their propaganda playbook. What hasn’t changed, intelligence officials said, is the determination of these nations to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims about American democracy to undermine faith in the election.

“The American public should know that content that they read online — especially on social media — could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” said an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the office of the director.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-trump-biden-harris-china-election-disinformation-54d7e44de370f016e87ab7df33fd11c8

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2024-07-30
Economy / Society

Barcelona Ends Short-Term Rentals

When housing becomes less available in a tourism-driven city, decisions have to be made. Short-term rentals (like Airbnb) are harder to justify when local housing is scarce or increasingly expensive. And hotels are still available.

Barcelona, Spain, is dealing with this situation. “Barcelona City Hall announced last month that it would not renew any tourist apartment licenses after they expire in 2028. Deputy Mayor Laia Bonet said the city wants tourism, which accounts for 15% of the local economy, but must help residents cope with skyrocketing rents and real estate prices.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/barcelona-spain-tourist-apartments-154cf293078aa14c299e3539d90e9350

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2024-07-28
Language / Politics / Society

First Name or Last Name?

I’ve been noticing that people tend to refer to Kamala Harris as “Kamala” but use other politicians’ last names. It made me wonder if this was a kind of discrimination, not showing the same respect for her as for the men, or maybe it was an attempt to make her seem more relatable or approachable.

In video clips I’ve seen, people in the crowd behind her when she’s giving a speech have signs that say KAMALA and the crowd has chanted her first name. If they’re printing up signs, that’s pretty intentional.

Below is a link to an interview on NPR this week that discusses this very phenomenon. Here are a couple quotes from the interview:

“Strategically, politicians often try to seem relatable, which a first name can help achieve. And at the same time, they try to present themselves as leadership figures of authority, which a last name can help achieve.”

“I do actually think it is a sign of disrespect in an environment where you have multiple candidates, and you’re referring to one by her first name and then all of the men by their last name. You are making her the exception and not giving her that very small piece of respect that we give people in positions of power.”

“I do think that this election provides an environment where this might be more positive than negative for Harris. And that’s because we’re looking at an election where almost all the major issues are domestic policy issues. These are things that voters might actually think women are going to be better at handling.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/24/nx-s1-5049773/powerful-women-tend-to-be-called-by-their-first-name-its-not-an-accident

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2024-07-27
Politics

Obama Endorses Harris

Contrary to news from the NY Post, Obama has indeed endorsed Kamala Harris for president. So has the entire Democratic party. And even some Republicans who are brave enough to oppose Trump.

During the first 24 hours of Harris’s campaign, she raised $126 million! A record! And what’s more informative is that 896,000 of those donors were making their first donations during this election. That means they weren’t giving anything when it was Biden vs Trump, but when Harris became the candidate, they were motivated to give and get involved.

Trump posted yesterday that Obama thinks that “Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump.” He is so full of excrement! And that was the reason he put forward as to why he wouldn’t schedule a debate for Harris. He’s actually just afraid.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/26/politics/barack-michelle-obama-kamala-harris-endorsement/index.html

Source: https://apnews.com/video/2024-united-states-presidential-election-barack-obama-michelle-obama-joe-biden-government-appointments-and-nominations-c3e863d0b27e455a9e3cd9427a6d677e

Source: https://youtu.be/EDD3mJcfb5g?si=6qlWuZD_D8sqnbm5

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2024-07-26
Information Literacy / Politics / Society

Most Reliable News Sources

As we move closer and closer to the election, we will be hearing tons of conflicting, biased, and even false stories. It is important to get your news from an unbiased, reliable source.

Using the rating system of Media Bias / Fact Check, I have created a list of the 13 least-biased news sources that have been given a Very High rating for factual reporting.

“These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources, and they use proper sourcing and have a clean fact check record.”

There are many that have a High rating for factual reporting, but I kept this list to the Very High.

Source: https://www.listobsession.com/news-sources/

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2024-07-25
Nature / Science

Cocaine Sharks

“It might sound like science fiction, but researchers have discovered real ‘cocaine sharks’ off the coast of Brazil.

Photo of Sharpnose Shark by Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis

“Thirteen wild Brazilian sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) caught near Rio de Janeiro tested positive for the drug, according to a study published last week in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The team is still teasing out the implications of this finding, but they say it adds to the growing body of evidence that humans’ illegal drug consumption is affecting wildlife and the environment.

“Previous research has detected cocaine in wastewater and rivers. Last year, researchers in England identified a chemical produced by the liver after cocaine use in seawater. Studies have also found the drug in other marine creatures, including shrimp, mussels and eels.

“But researchers were curious to know whether cocaine might be affecting sharpnose sharks that spend their entire lives in coastal waters near Brazil, which is a major exporter of the drug to Europe. In addition, people in Brazil and elsewhere often eat sharks, which raises questions about possible contamination up the food chain.”

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thirteen-sharks-test-positive-for-cocaine-off-the-coast-of-brazil-180984765

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2024-07-25
Politics

Kamala Harris Leads Polls

These surveys don’t mean much at this point in time — only the vote matters — and they say there is a 3-point margin of error. But it’s a swing of 4 percent toward Harris in just a week or so.

“Vice President Kamala Harris opened up a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and passed the torch to her, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

“That compares with a marginal two-point deficit Biden faced against Trump in last week’s poll before his Sunday exit from the race.

“The new poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, followed both the Republican National Convention where Trump on Thursday formally accepted the nomination and Biden’s announcement on Sunday he was leaving the race and endorsing Harris.

“Harris, whose campaign says she has secured the Democratic nomination, led Trump 44% to 42% in the national poll, a difference within the 3-percentage-point margin of error.

“Harris and Trump were tied at 44% in a July 15-16 poll, and Trump led by one percentage point in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.

“While nationwide surveys give important signals of American support for political candidates, a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the U.S. Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harris-leads-trump-44-42-us-presidential-race-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2024-07-23/

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2024-07-24
Politics / Society

North Korea Continues Sending Trash Balloons to South Korea

“Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound on Wednesday, raising worries about the security of key South Korean facilities during North Korean provocations.

“The rubbish that landed on the presidential compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt, South Korea’s presidential security service said. While North Korea likely lacks sophisticated technology to drop balloons on specific targets, some experts say South Korea should shoot down incoming North Korean balloons next time to protect major facilities because they might contain hazardous substances in the future.

“North Korea’s latest balloon launches came days after South Korea boosted its broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the two countries’ heavily armed border. Their tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are inflaming tensions, with the rivals threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-trash-balloons-south-22b2eb516f7fa5670a3c6c27f25d3182

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2024-07-24
General / Society

Hottest Day Ever

“Monday was recorded as the hottest day ever, beating a record set the day before, as countries across the globe from Japan to Bolivia to the United States continue to feel the heat, according to the European climate change service.

Why this matters:
“Without human-caused climate change, records would be broken nowhere near as frequently, and new cold records would be set as often as hot ones. Copernicus’ preliminary data show the global average temperature Monday was 17.15 degrees Celsius, or 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit. The first six months of 2024 have even broken the record highs from last year, which Copernicus records had noted as the hottest the planet had been in about 120,000 years.”

“Climate scientists say the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago because of human-caused climate change. While scientists cannot be certain that Monday was the very hottest day throughout that period, average temperatures have not been this high since long before humans developed agriculture.

“The temperature rise in recent decades is in line with what climate scientists projected would happen if humans kept burning fossil fuels at an increasing rate.”
Source: https://apnews.com/article/hottest-day-ever-climate-change-weather-heat-extreme-global-warming-8e2b0b7fa0360ecb931ca333a832c694

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2024-07-24