Trump Supporter Who Gave $2.5M to Fight Election Fraud Wants Money Back ; Publisher Apologizes for ‘Auditory Blackface’ ; and More Picks 12/1
Trump Supporter Who Gave $2.5M to Fight Election Fraud Wants Money Back (Sue)
The author writes, “A Donald Trump supporter who donated $2.5m to help expose and prosecute claims of fraud in the presidential election wants his money back after what he says are ‘disappointing results.’ Fredric Eshelman, a businessman from North Carolina, said he gave the money to True the Vote, a pro-Trump ‘election ethics’ group in Texas that promised to file lawsuits in seven swing states. … But according to a lawsuit Eshelman filed this week in Houston, … True the Vote dropped its legal actions and discontinued its Validate the Vote 2020 campaign, then refused to return his calls when he demanded an explanation.”
This Era’s Capitalism Is Driving Many Among the Young to Socialism (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “At least part of the driving force for the millennial attitude is that while Wall Street shareholders have been enjoying the longest bull market in history (briefly interrupted by the March pandemic jitters), many young people have been repeatedly kneecapped by capitalism. … Millennial coders can start out making more money than most people ever will. But they are a minority among young people. One must go back to the 1930s to find another generation so repeatedly hammered by economic collapse.”
In Japan, More People Died From Suicide Last Month Than From COVID in All of 2020 (Russ)
The author writes, “Experts have warned that the pandemic could lead to a mental health crisis. Mass unemployment, social isolation, and anxiety are taking their toll on people globally. In Japan, government statistics show suicide claimed more lives in October than Covid-19 has over the entire year to date. The monthly number of Japanese suicides rose to 2,153 in October, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. As of Friday, Japan’s total Covid-19 toll was 2,087, the health ministry said.”
Publisher Apologizes for ‘Auditory Blackface’ (Dana)
The author writes, “A publisher’s neglect to listen to the final audio recording of a Black scholar’s essay kindled accusations of minstrelsy and ended in an apology for what ‘basically amounted to auditory blackface.’ ‘Da Art of Speculatin’,’ written by Regina N. Bradley and published in Fireside Magazine, is about how acclaimed hip-hop duo Outkast blended Black Southern life of the past and present in their music to paint possibilities of their lives in the future. The first line identifies the writer as a ‘southern Black woman who stands in the long shadow of the Civil Rights Movement.’ … Despite the topic and its author, the person who narrated the audio recording was a young, white male voice actor who spoke in an accent that listeners interpreted as something that would appear in a minstrel show.”
‘Feedback Loop’ in Central East Asia Threatens Disturbing Changes to Mongolia’s Climate (Mili)
From Gizmodo: “A review of weather patterns in inner East Asia over the past 260 years suggests the region is currently caught in a dangerous cycle of heatwaves and droughts that could forever reshape the area, and possibly turn the Mongolian Plateau into an arid wasteland.”
Kazakhstani Bodybuilder Marries Sex Doll After Whirlwind Romance (Dana)
The author writes, “Proving that love is blind, and sometimes kooky, a bodybuilder from Kazakhstan has tied the knot with his dearly beloved — a sex doll he dated for eight months before proposing a year ago. Clad in a black tux and bow tie, Yuri Tolochko is seen planting a gentle kiss on Margo, who appears a bit stiff in her revealing white gown as she clutches a bouquet of flowers and stares into the distance.”
