Earth Day’s Gone Digital. Here’s Where to Find It.
The End of Public Education ; The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019 ; and More Picks
The End of Public Education ; The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019 ; and More Picks 4/22
‘It Was Impossible. It’s Still Impossible.’ (Russ)
From the Washington Post: “Mikaela Sakal, on being an ER nurse in an overwhelmed hospital and the decision she had to make.”
People Who Watch Hannity Are More Likely to Die of COVID-19: Study (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “A new study published by the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics makes a claim that will strike many as incendiary: ‘Greater viewership of Hannity relative to Tucker Carlson Tonight is strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic,’ says the paper. The working paper is called ‘Misinformation During a Pandemic,’ and it derives from the authors’ finding that Carlson and Sean Hannity, the two most popular hosts on the right-wing Fox News Network, initially treated coronavirus very differently.”
The End of Public Education (Chris)
From On Contact: “Chris Hedges talks to Cornell University Professor Noliwe Rooks about how America’s public education system, under successive administrations, continues to be segregated along racial lines, and what is taught is often shaped by business goals and ideas. With the rise of charter schools, a cover for privatization, steering public money towards corporate profits, the most disturbing trends are cyber charter schools where children only have to check-in with teachers three times a week, term papers outsourced and graded in India, and the advent of cyber classes for pre-K children.”
The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019 (Gerry)
The author writes, “Every year, the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The lists are based on information from media stories and voluntary reports sent to OIF from communities across the U.S. The Top 10 lists are only a snapshot of book challenges. Surveys indicate that 82–97% of book challenges — documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries — remain unreported and receive no media.”
Museums Hold Twitter Showdown to Find World’s Creepiest Object (Dana)
The author writes, “A zombie blowfish, a hideous mermaid and a lucky charm made out of a dead man’s finger are all competing to be crowned the creepiest exhibits in the world after an archaeological museum in the north of England challenged curators during the lockdown to showcase their most sinister objects.”
