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Climate Study: Farm Fertilizer Could Suck CO2 From the Atmosphere (Maria)
The author writes, “If humanity wants to avoid a climate catastrophe, sucking up the carbon dioxide (CO2) it has already spewed into the atmosphere may be its last hope. One approach is to use naturally abundant minerals as CO2 sponges, but the process is slow. Now, a study reported in Nature suggests a way to accelerate it: by converting those minerals to compounds that bind CO2 faster and are similar to others already widely used in farming. ‘This is a really great advance,’ says Yogesh Surendranath, a chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
The Democrats Have More Power Than They Realize. Here’s How to Use It. (DonkeyHotey)
From The New Republic: “As Indivisible’s co-founder Leah Greenberg takes pains to point out, the idea that Democrats have no parliamentary levers at their disposal isn’t actually true. ‘Our supporters are asking Democrats to demand specific red lines are met before they offer their vote to House Republicans on the budget, when Republicans inevitably fail to pass a bill on their own,’ said Greenberg, citing the fact that tight margins within the fractious GOP House caucus make it all but certain that Speaker Mike Johnson will need Democratic votes to keep things running. That means a parliamentary fight might, indeed, be in the offing.”
Tens of Millions of Dead People Aren’t Getting Social Security Checks, Despite Trump and Musk Claims (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “It is true that improper payments have been made, including some to dead people. But the numbers thrown out by Musk and the White House are overstated and misrepresent Social Security data. Here are the facts.”
Donald Trump Has Already Spent $10.7 Million of Taxpayer Money Playing Golf (Dana)
The author writes, “Donald Trump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money to play golf since retaking the White House last month, an expense that appears to have escaped the attention of his ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ waste, fraud and abuse hunters. The golf-related expenses — which are likely to recur most weekends while Trump is in office — have somehow flown below the radar of Elon Musk and his ‘high-IQ’ team, as Trump calls them, of programmers who are ransacking their way through the federal budget and labeling items they do not like or appear not to understand as ‘fraud.’”
How the Target Boycott Is Causing a Beef Between Black-Owned Businesses and Consumers (Russ)
From Fast Company: “Some Black consumers accused Black business owners of selling out the very racial community that contributed to their success.”
‘The Risk of Extinction Is Accelerating’: World’s Botanic Gardens Raise Alarm With Space to Protect Endangered Plants Running Out (Laura)
The author writes, “Botanic gardens around the world are failing to conserve the rarest and most threatened species growing in their living collections because they are running out of space, according to research from the University of Cambridge. Researchers analyzed a century’s worth of records from 50 botanic gardens and arboreta, collectively growing half-a-million plants, to see how the world’s living plant collections have changed since 1921.”
After Censorship, CA Students Write Their Own Play — and Take the Gold (Dana)
From KQED: “You can’t keep good kids down. After having their fall play suddenly canceled due to subject matter, and faced with continued monitoring by the administration, the students in Santa Rosa High School’s ArtQuest theater program refused to back away. Instead, they fought back the best way they know how: by co-writing a pointed, smart and hilarious one-act musical called [REDACTED], which satirized the school district and the impulse to censor content deemed ‘unsuitable.’ And you know what? Over the weekend, [REDACTED] won the gold medal at the Lenaea Festival, a statewide theater competition of over 70 high schools.”
