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How Crowded Are the Oceans? New Maps Reveal What Flew Under Radar (Maria)
The author writes, “Using satellite imagery and AI, researchers have mapped human activity at sea with more precision than ever before. The effort exposed a huge amount of industrial activity that previously flew under the radar. … The maps were published [yesterday] in the journal Nature. The research, led by Google-backed nonprofit Global Fishing Watch, revealed that a whopping three-quarters of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked. Up to 30 percent of transport and energy vessels also escape public tracking. Those blind spots could hamper global conservation efforts, the researchers say.”
Why Trump’s Critics Are Citing Justice Gorsuch in Fight Over Ballots, Insurrection (Reader Jim)
From USA Today: “As the legal battle over whether Donald Trump is eligible to appear on 2024 ballots moves — inevitably — toward the Supreme Court, one justice in particular is being singled out by the former president’s critics: his first nominee, Neil Gorsuch. … Trump’s opponents have zeroed in on a short opinion Gorsuch wrote in 2012 when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. … The case dealt with a presidential candidate who was struck from Colorado’s ballot because he was not, as the Constitution requires, a ‘natural born citizen.’ … Gorsuch dismissed the idea that Colorado was required to place Abdul Karim Hassan’s name on the presidential ballot even if he was ineligible to assume the presidency.”
‘Two Down’: Republican Lawmakers Gloat Over Harvard President’s Resignation (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Following the resignation of Harvard University president Claudine Gay, Republican lawmakers gloated over her downfall. ‘TWO DOWN,’ House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) posted to X. ‘@Harvard knows that this long overdue forced resignation of the antisemitic plagiarist president is just the beginning of what will be the greatest scandal of any college or university in history.’ According to Politico, some other Republican lawmakers are following Stefanik’s lead, with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) saying, ‘This is the right move. Our university leaders have gone full-on woke and harbor anti-Semitism on campuses. Many should step down.’ And Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) called Gay ‘a disgrace to her profession.’”
FROM 2020: ‘Armed Forces Exist to Protect’ US, Not Police Communities, Retired General Says (Al)
From PBS: “President Trump’s talk of using military force on people protesting police brutality against black Americans has generated a backlash among a number of former senior military officers. Nick Schifrin gets perspective from retired Army Gen. Carter Ham on why these officials, as well as some who are currently serving, are wary of sending active-duty troops into the United States.”
‘One Is Too Many’: Rape Kit Backlog Is Reduced in Dallas, but the Work Isn’t Complete (Dana)
From the Dallas Observer: “A year ago, the number of untested sexual assault kits in Texas, and especially in Dallas, was rather staggering. The pandemic, staffing shortages and a lack of funding were the primary reasons law enforcement agencies, including the Dallas Police Department, gave for the backlogged kits reaching into the thousands. … Over the course of 2023, however, a certain amount of progress has been made to reduce the number of untested sexual assault kits throughout Texas and in Dallas. That’s thanks in part to $2.3 million approved by the Dallas City Council in December 2022 to test the backlogged kits.”
Why We Need an 859-Year Plan to Fight Climate Change (Gerry)
The author writes, “Standing before Notre Dame’s soaring walls can inspire even the most jaded observer. This ‘symphony in stone,’ as Victor Hugo called it, rises more than 10 stories high atop dozens of limestone pillars meant to inspire the faithful. Like many of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, it was the work of generations, built by skilled, paid laborers. A stonecutter laying its foundation could reasonably expect his great-great-grandson to put the finishing touches on the steeple more than a century later. In our fight against climate change, we need great works like Notre Dame, says Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.”
‘People Are Happier in a Walkable Neighborhood’: The US Community That Banned Cars (Laura)
The author writes, “If you were to imagine the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the modern US, it would be difficult to conceive such a thing sprouting from the environs of Phoenix, Arizona — a sprawling, concrete incursion into a brutal desert environment that is sometimes derided as the least sustainable city in the country. But it is here that such a neighborhood, called Culdesac, has taken root. On a 17-acre site that once contained a car body shop and some largely derelict buildings, an unusual experiment has emerged that invites Americans to live in a way that is rare outside of fleeting experiences of college, Disneyland or trips to Europe: a walkable, human-scale community devoid of cars.”
