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Month: May 2018

Women on the 2018 ballot are busting perceptions of motherhood and leadership

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United States (Conversation) – Motherhood is taking center stage in U.S. politics. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the first United States senator to give birth while in office has been seen on Capitol Hill with her newborn nestled in her lap. Screenshot of ‘Our Girls – Kelda Roys for Governor’ video.Kelda for Governor 2018 Two Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Maryland’s Krish Vignarajah and Wisconsin’s Kelda Roys, made waves with campaign ads that, in addition to touting their capabilities as leaders, also show them nursing their babies. A Democratic congressional candidate in New York,…

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Social media platforms are ablaze as Turks say “enough” to President Erdogan

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Thousands protest in Istanbul against corruption and Erdogan’s government, December 2013. A banner with Fethullah Gulen and PM Erdogan’s pictures reads “one is no better than the other”. Fulya Atalay for Demotix. (GV) – It took just a few hours for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to realise the mistake he made while speaking to the members of his party in Ankara on May 8. Referring to himself first in the third person, President Erodgan said: “his foes have just one care – to destroy Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” He continued: “If…

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Banks Defend Their Right to Be Dishonest

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US (OtherWords) – “Greed is good,” proclaimed Gordon Gekko, lead character in a 1987 film lampooning the low ethics of the high finance barons of Wall Street. You might think that, surely, this Hollywood portrayal is a gross exaggeration. But check out an egregious example of Gekko-level greed being pushed by today’s Wall Street sharks. Big shot financiers have been going all out to kill a sensible Labor Department rule meant to protect people’s retirement accounts from the self-serving guile of financial manipulators. The rule simply requires firms that manage these accounts…

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Why are Women Accused of Witchcraft? Study in Rural China Gives Clue

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China (Conversation) – From medieval witch hunts in Europe to contemporary “witch doctors” in Tanzania, belief in witchcraft has existed across human societies throughout history. Anthropologists have long been fascinated by the phenomenon, but have struggled to study it with quantitative methods – our understanding of how and why it arises is therefore poor. But a study we conducted of one Chinese region provided an opportunity to test the most common hypothesis – that witchcraft accusations act as punishment for those who do not cooperate with local norms. According to…

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Get an Inside Look at the Department of Defense’s Struggle to Fix Pollution at More Than 39,000 Sites

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US (ProPublica) – For much of the past two years I’ve been digging into a vast, $70 billion environmental cleanup program run by the U.S. Department of Defense that tracks tens of thousands of polluted sites across the United States. In some places, old missiles and munitions were left buried beneath school grounds. In others, former test sites for chemical weapons have been re-purposed for day care centers and housing developments. The oldest, dating to World War I, have faded into history, making it difficult to keep track of the pollution that was left…

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40 Things You Can Cook in Aluminum Foil on Coals

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(SurvivalSullivan) – When the power goes out, whether short-term or for an indefinite amount of time, one of the first things you’ll need to figure out is how to cook without using your stove. If you have a charcoal grill or the ability to build a fire and get it going, there are many different types of food you can cook in aluminum foil on coals. If you have a BBQ grill, life is a bit easier, just spread the aluminum foil over the grate and poke a few random…

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The Iran Nuclear Deal Isn’t Just a Good Idea — It’s the Law

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(Garrison) – On May 8, President Donald Trump announced US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, colloquially known as “the Iran nuclear deal.” While that decision has come under criticism for being both a really bad idea and a severe betrayal of trust, both of which are true, it’s worth noting that the US withdrawal is also a breach of treaty obligations, and that such obligations are, per the US Constitution and co-equal with it, “the Supreme Law of the Land.” But wait — aren’t defenders of the…

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“I wanted my grandchildren to grow up in that house”: testimony of a 61-year-old Syrian woman from Zamalka

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(GV) – This is the testimony of Um Mohammed; a kind 61 years old lady from Zamalka. Um Mohammed’s kindness reflects of her face with its childish features. Her cheeks would still turn red when agitated. Um Mohammed loves old songs and memorizes quite a few. As a loving grandmother, she adores little children and could play with them for hours. Um Mohammed used to live in Zamalka, a town of Eastern Ghouta’s. Its population was estimated at 150 thousand in the last census. Zamalka fell out of the regime’s…

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Judge says Texas death row inmate’s sentence should be reduced due to false evidence at trial

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Texas (TT) – A Tarrant County judge has recommended that a death row inmate’s sentence be changed to life without parole after reviewing evidence that there was false evidence introduced at his trial. Paul Storey was sentenced to death in September 2008 for the 2006 murder of Jonas Cherry, the assistant manager at a miniature golf course near Fort Worth that Storey and another man were robbing. Storey was set for execution in April 2017, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Storey’s execution less than a week before it was set to…

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The Carbon Footprint of Tourism Revealed (It’s Bigger Than We Thought)

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(Conversation) – The carbon footprint of tourism is about four times larger than previously thought, according to a world-first study published today in Nature Climate Change. Researchers from the University of Sydney, University of Queensland and National Cheng Kung University – including ourselves – worked together to assess the entire supply chain of tourism. This includes transportation, accommodation, food and beverages, souvenirs, clothing, cosmetics and other goods. Put together, global tourism produces about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, much more than previous estimates. Adding it all up Tourism is…

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