“A brinkman seeing how far he can go, he is too preoccupied with his survival,” writes Tanya Gold in a guest essay for The New York Times.
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“A brinkman seeing how far he can go, he is too preoccupied with his survival,” writes Tanya Gold in a guest essay for The New York Times.
Launch“What started in 2013 as a hyperlocal network of ‘circular gift economies’ in Bainbridge Island, Washington, has ballooned into a constellation of Buy Nothing groups with 4.3 million members in 44 countries,” Taylor Telford reports. “Members can request or offer any item or service as long as it’s legal; however buying, selling and bartering are prohibited.”
Launch“Markets don’t exist in nature. They’re created and enforced by governments,” Robert Reich points out, echoing what George Lakoff has previously written about all markets being constructed for someone’s benefit.
Launch“A deadly virus can’t be ignored, jailed, exiled or co-opted — nor can it be locked down without great economic cost. That puts President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a bind. The pandemic, perhaps his hardiest foe to date, has starkly revealed the limits of his power,” writes Alexey Kovalev, the investigations editor at Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet.
LaunchFor decades, most gas sold in the U.S. contained a lead additive. Historian Bill Kovarik sees this anniversary as a time to reflect on the role of public health advocates and environmental journalists in preventing profit-driven tragedy.
LaunchThe weather cooperated, allowing NASA to offer a livestream of the eclipse courtesy of the Theo Boris and Christian Lockwood of the JM Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition.
Launch“He clearly doesn’t care about being labeled a hypocrite. It just doesn’t bother him. He is brazen about it. That’s one of the cynical sides of Mitch. He doesn’t care. If it’s expedient, he’ll do it,” U.S. Representative John Yarmuth said.
Launch“High-quality respirators such as N95s and KN95s are now widely available and provide the best protection against COVID, according to experts. Why aren’t more people wearing them?” Tanya Lewis asks.
Launch“It seems Republicans have taken a divisive issue and created an enormous bipartisan coalition against themselves, uniting pro-choice and even some antiabortion voters who don’t like the vigilante mechanism,” Jennifer Rubin writes.
LaunchIn a lengthy Facebook post, Joohn Choe explains why the extremist, militant Georgia member of Congress is a poseur rather than a legit shooter. As Choe puts it: “Trashy weapon, threatening posture, and always, a thin veneer of Instagram ‘gun-bunny’ posturing overlaying stark ignorance and rank mediocrity.”
Launch“For decades, the rangers at Denali National Park in Alaska were easily winning their battle against a slow-moving landslide underneath the park’s only road. Now, due in part to the effects of climate change, they are losing very badly,” Andrew R. Chow reports.
Launch“The betrayal of America’s professed principles was the friendly fire of the war on terror,” Carlos Lozada writes.
Launch“After years of ignoring Afghanistan, many close to the Biden White House — and the president himself — feel some major outlets are adopting a pro-war stance,” Huffington Post’s Daniel Marans writes.
Launch“The burden of this pandemic now rests on the shoulders of the unvaccinated,” writes Anita Sircar. “On those who are eligible to get vaccinated, but choose not to, a decision they defend by declaring, ‘vaccination is a deeply personal choice.’ But perhaps never in history has anyone’s personal choice impacted the world as a whole as it does right now.”
Launch“The United States remains among nations with the highest rate of new Covid-19 cases, driven mostly by a surge in the South, where many states are lagging in getting people vaccinated against the coronavirus,” Aya Elamroussi reports.
Launch“It’s been a summer of sweltering heat waves and raging wildfires, and now it’s confirmed: July 2021 was the hottest month on Earth since record-keeping began,” Li Cohen reports.
Launch“Idaho’s population has reached about 1.8 million and rose 17.3% in the past decade, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. That spike makes it the second-fastest-growing state in the U.S., trailing only a neighbor to the south, Utah,” Hayat Norimine reports.
Launch“He’s describing what we would now call a ‘trophic cascade,’ and for me, as a scientist, I just find that genius that he anticipated that concept by a decade or more,” anthropologist and evolutionary biologist Nathaniel Dominy told NPR.
Launch“Siberia is so vast that huge fires can burn without threatening any major settlements, transportation systems or infrastructure — but are still part of a swath of infernos that together are larger than all the other blazes around the world,” Robyn Dixon reports.
Launch“Bush has led a one-woman protest on the Capitol steps over the last several days that forced the eviction crisis to the top of the nation’s agenda even after the House left town without taking action on the issue,” Politico notes.
Launch“People who once rejected the vaccine or simply waited too long are now grappling with the consequences, often in raw, public way,” The New York Times’ Jack Healy reports.
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