Libraries aren’t the only group that is recognizing the racist or derogatory roots of some of their terms.
“An international group of researchers has voted to modify the scientific names of more than 200 plant species whose names carry a derogatory word.”
“The community of plant, algae, and fungi researchers has acknowledged that some of the names are problematic, demeaning, or even racist and took a series of steps to start tackling these issues.”
There are many true believers working as county election officials who have denied that Biden won in 2020 and are poised to refrain from certifying the elections this fall.
“At least 70 pro–Donald Trump election denialists are working as election officials in key swing states, according to a report published Monday from Rolling Stone and the right-wing extremism research newsletter American Doom.
“Officials who had promoted election conspiracy theories were identified in at least 16 counties in six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
“These individuals were identified through scouring coverage of refusals to certify 2020 election results and other denialist behavior, as well as sifting through the social media profiles of election officials in these states.
“Across these swing states, Trump loyalists stand ready to disrupt the results of democratically held elections—at least 22 of them have already refused or delayed certification in recent years, indicating likely chaos in November.”
“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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
“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.
“It might sound like science fiction, but researchers have discovered real ‘cocaine sharks’ off the coast of Brazil.
“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.”
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.”
