It’s time once again for news and views that you can peruse! It’s time for another Weekly Reader! As always, if you have something you’d like to share, drop a link in the comments!
30 Alarming Statistics That Show The Reality Of Sexual Violence In America (from the Huffington Post): “Sexual violence is a problem that is deeply rooted in our culture, and these numbers prove that.”
Climate protesters arrested after painting Stonehenge monument orange (from NBC News): “Video of the incident showed two people running toward the 4,500-year-old stone circle and spraying plumes of orange pigment as a third person tried to stop them. A few stones were smeared in orange.”
Florida medical marijuana patients get an unexpected email praising Ron DeSantis (from Florida Politics): “Nothing in the email mentions medical marijuana, and patients and advocates say that the DeSantis administration violated their privacy by using the patient list to promote policy.”
Striking photos show how our planet is changing – for better and for worse (from CNN): “The works highlight “the beauty, fragility, crisis and change happening in our natural environment,” said Mike Seddon, chief executive of Forestry England, in a press release. “Bringing us closer to landscapes, wildlife and communities from across the planet in this way sparks new conversations and reflections. And it prompts us to focus on the creative solutions needed for these environments to flourish beyond our lifetimes.””
Marine CO₂ removal technologies could depend on the appetite of the ocean’s tiniest animals (from The Conversation): “We ran the model in more than 30,000 locations and found zooplankton appetites vary enormously. That means all those different types of zooplankton are not spread evenly across the ocean. They appear to gather around their favourite types of prey.”
YouTube’s algorithm more likely to recommend users right-wing and religious content, research finds (from NBC News): “In another experiment, researchers created two accounts interested in mommy vloggers — mothers who make video diaries about parenting — that they trained to have different political biases. One of the accounts watched Fox News, and the other watched MSNBC. Despite having watched their respective channels for equal amounts of time, the right-leaning account was later more frequently recommended Fox News than the left-leaning account was recommended MSNBC.”
Jan. 6 offenders have paid only a fraction of restitution owed for damage to U.S. Capitol during riot (from CBS News): “But CBS News found that the payments have been sluggish, and federal taxpayers are far from being made whole because some offenders argue they are having difficulty coming up with the money. Another factor is that the court system and federal government have permitted a lenient timeframe for restitution payments.”
Scenes From a MAGA Meltdown: Inside the “America First” Movement’s War Over Democracy (from ProPublica): “What divides the Republican Party of 2024 is not any one policy or ideology. It is not whether to support Donald Trump. The most important fault line in the party now is democracy itself. Today’s Republican insurgents believe democracy has been stolen, and they don’t trust the ability of democratic processes to restore it.”
The Christian right is coming for divorce next (from Vox): “Today, however, a counter-revolution is brewing: Conservative commentators and lawmakers are calling for an end to no-fault divorce, arguing that it has harmed men and even destroyed the fabric of society. Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, for example, introduced a bill in January to ban his state’s version of no-fault divorce. The Texas Republican Party added a call to end the practice to its 2022 platform (the plank is preserved in the 2024 version). Federal lawmakers like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, have spoken out in favor of tightening divorce laws.”
One Thing the Failed Attempt to Ban the Abortion Pill Did (from Slate): “Although some evidence indicates that the case spread disinformation about the safety of abortion pills, the suit had unintended consequences. The demonization efforts have wound up being one giant publicity campaign for a medication that, for so many years, most women didn’t even know was an option.”
A tradwife drops a racist slur: Why the right’s trolling economy made Lilly Gaddis’ rise inevitable (from Salon): “In the video, Gaddis is decked out in the standard tradwife gear of a cleavage-baring sundress and a cross necklace to justify the sexualized marketing. She is vaguely arranging food while providing a rant tailor-made to tickle the reactionary male brain. She accuses immigrants and Black women of being “gold-diggers,” while insisting Christian white girls like herself will love you, pathetic male viewer, solely for your masculine might, even if you are “broke.” She is going for maximum shock value, dropping not just the n-word, but other five-dollar curses that are clearly meant to to offer a transgressive thrill, coming from a young woman playing at being a more scantily clad June Cleaver.”
A January 6 Rioter Is Leading an Armed National Militia From Prison (from Wired): “Though he has been in prison for over 1,200 days, Lang is working with a network of election deniers and conspiracists to promote the North American Patriot and Liberty Militia, or Napalm for short. The group officially launched last week with 50 state-specific militia groups on Telegram.
Lang claims that the Telegram groups already have 20,000 members, including pastors, farmers, former military personnel, and currently serving sheriffs. However, multiple experts who reviewed the channels tell WIRED that figure was wildly overestimated, and that the real figure was closer to 2,500 members. But a group this size, they warn, is still large enough to cause a serious threat. And while unarmed members are welcome, the group is, at its core, a pro-gun organization. “We are pro open carry, pro always have it on you, rather than waiting for somebody else to be able to defend your life,” says Lang.”
Pro-Trump influencers fire up fears of migrant ‘invasion’ ahead of U.S. election (from Reuters): “Reuters identified at least six influencers focused on immigration-related videos, boasting collectively over 1.4 million social media followers. Their videos are posted on platforms like YouTube, X, TikTok, Facebook and Rumble.
The videos are frequently shared, amplifying their message. In a February video from Denver, Shirley asked migrants if they supported Biden and several said they did. Shirley posted about it on X, saying “Confirmed: Migrants for Biden 2024.” Elon Musk, X’s owner who has 182 million followers, responded to a post highlighting Shirley’s report with an exclamation mark.”
Clarence Thomas raised him ‘as a son.’ Now he’s facing 25-plus years on weapons and drug charges. (from Business Insider): “Now 32 years old, Martin told BI in an interview from the Jasper County Detention Center in South Carolina that Clarence and Ginni Thomas washed their hands of him years ago.
“I haven’t really heard much from them in a long time,” Martin said. “I tried to communicate with them a couple of times, but I’ve never gotten any response.””
Elon Musk and SpaceX sued by former employees alleging sexual harassment and retaliation (from NBC News): “The lawsuit alleges that Musk “runs his company in the dark ages — treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the ‘Animal House’ environment that if they don’t like it they can seek employment elsewhere.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.”
Christian university faces class action lawsuit for lying about tuition costs (from the Friendly Atheist): “Grand Canyon University advertised its doctoral programs as costing anywhere from $40,000 – $49,000. That was meant to cover a variety of programs that require students to complete 60 credit hours and write a dissertation. In reality, however, fewer than 2% of students paid that amount because they had to take more classes to complete their degrees. Most students (78%) ended up paying nearly 25% above that sticker price in order to take necessary “continuation courses,” amounting to an additional $10,000-$12,000 per student, between 2017 and 2022.”
The Embarrassing Reason Elon Musk Is Hiding Likes on X (from Slate): “That rationale is, obviously, silly. Musk portrays concealing the identity of tweet-likers as a way to let people adhere to their convictions. It really isn’t, though; it instead allows people to indicate approval of a post (and add to that post’s stats) without having to personally stand up for anything. It comes across as a move by Musk to cater to thin-skinned users who can’t handle social blowback for indicating a belief. Never mind that if they’re not comfortable airing that belief, they could simply not press the like button.”
Rivers in Alaska are turning orange. The reason surprised even scientists (from CNN): “The discoloration and cloudiness are being caused by metals such as iron, zinc, copper, nickel and lead, the researchers found – some of which are toxic to the river and stream ecosystems – as permafrost thaws and exposes the waterways to minerals locked away underground for thousands of years.
“We’re used to seeing this in parts of California, parts of Appalachia where we have mining history. This is a classic process that happens in rivers here in the continental US that have been impacted for over 100 years since some of the mining rushes in the 1850s,” said Brett Poulin, a co-author of the study and a professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis.”
‘They Think We Are Slaves’ (from Politico): “Many of the roughly 17,500 au pairs who live and work in the United States every year have positive experiences. But according to a dozen current and former au pairs as well as former au pair company employees, ordeals like Juliana’s aren’t unusual, either. They relay horror stories of au pairs who are overworked, humiliated, refused meals, threatened with arrest and deportation—even victims of theft. Worst of all, they say, complaining about exploitative, unsafe working conditions rarely makes any difference. Sometimes, reporting abuse makes the situation worse.”
When You Live With Your Boss: The Horrors and Indignities of Working as an Au Pair (from Mother Jones): “But here’s one big difference: When you end up on a terrible date, you can presumably find your way out of it and never see that person again. As a foreign live-in child care worker whose presence in the country is conditioned upon participation in the exchange program, you’re not only stuck with the other person but you have to keep helping them and their kids for up to a year. And also they’re your boss.”
That’s all for this week, but don’t fret! I’ll be back in a fortnight with another batch of freshly baked articles, ready for you to digest! Until then, have a great rest of your week, happy reading, and I’ll see you at BotCon! ❤️
Iacon East 