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 that you want to share, drop a link in the comments section!
The Liberal Media Always Fails Against Fascism (from Shatter Zone): “This thing you’re about to read was written by me, initially, for a speech I was asked to give at the Oxford Union over in England. The broad topic they asked me to speak on was ‘how fascist movements arise within democratic society’. That is a broad topic, and given my limited time I chose to focus on the response of legacy liberal newspapers to fascist movements in history.”
An Ivermectin Influencer Died. Now His Followers Are Worried About Their Own ‘Severe’ Symptoms. (from Vice News): “But a review of Lemoi’s Telegram channels shows that many of his followers who are taking his dosage recommendations, or “protocols,” for veterinary ivermectin are experiencing numerous known side effects of taking the drug.”
Stargate’s Long and Winding History Led to a Surprisingly Good TV Movie (from Inverse): “This tumultuous process gave birth to Stargate SG-1. The show’s narrative would begin on TV in 1997 and end in 2008 with Robert C. Cooper’s direct-to-DVD Stargate: The Ark of Truth. It concluded the arc of the Ori, beings claiming to be gods who’d become the primary antagonists in the show’s final two seasons. The result is a storyline that has advanced in entirely different directions than one imagines Emmerich or Devlin taking it, but that still captures some of their grand sense of adventure. It’s worth understanding some Stargate lore to make sense of it all, but it’s a fun TV movie.”
Patrick Stewart: the legacy of domestic violence (from The Guardian–Article is from 2009 but it’s worth your time to read): “Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.”
Thinking of getting a second cat? Here’s how to make sure your first pet doesn’t feel threatened (from The Conversation): “Because cats can find it challenging to form new relationships with other cats, especially as adults, your cats may never become best friends. To reduce conflict, make sure both cats can access food, water and litter trays without having to pass each other.”
The Women Who Leave Anti-Abortion Picket Lines to Get Abortions (from The Daily Beast): “According to Prager, the phenomenon is so common that abortion providers have a name for it: the Me Exception.”
EPA moves to limit toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water (from NPR): “Fox called the federal proposal a “transformational change” for improving the safety of drinking water in the United States. The agency estimates the rule could reduce PFAS exposure for nearly 100 million Americans, decreasing rates of cancer, heart attacks and birth complications.”
Researchers Discover Cryptic Cat Species on Mount Everest (from SciTechDaily): “The number of tourists visiting Sagarmatha National Park and Mount Everest has been dramatically increasing, from just a few thousand in the 1970s to over fifty thousand in 2019. It is notable that Pallas’s cat went undetected in this park until 2019, and the new study demonstrates how conservation genetics and environmental sampling can be utilized as a powerful approach to discovering and studying cryptic and elusive species like Pallas’s cat.”
After The Last of Us, Everything Will Be Transmedia (from Wired): “Yet, Jenkins argues convincingly, the successful adaptation of one incredibly cinematic game does not confirm that all future attempts will rock—for him, comics still dominate the world of transmedia. “We’re seeing so much flow between comics and film and TV right now. Not just the Marvel stuff, but in the other direction,” he says. “There’s a huge section in my comic shop dedicated to the comic adaptations of all kinds of TV shows and films, going back to vintage Batman ’66 by DC.” He also points to universe-expanding comics for everything from Riverdale, which was already based on the Archie series, to those for Star Wars and Star Trek. “Take any major franchise,” he says, “it’s in comics.””
Brazilian researchers find ‘terrifying’ plastic rocks on remote island (from CNN): “Melted plastic has become intertwined with rocks on the island, located 1,140 km (708 miles) from the southeastern state of Espirito Santo, which researchers say is evidence of humans’ growing influence over the earth’s geological cycles.”
A Studio Ghibli Theme Park Opened and Men Are Filming Themselves Groping the Characters (from Vice News): “The now-deleted photos, which were shared widely by Japanese Twitter users in late February, show men touching figurines suggestively in Ghibli Park, an attraction that opened in November in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi. The images have garnered strong backlash from the public, as well as Aichi prefecture’s governor.”
21 South Carolina GOP Lawmakers Propose Death Penalty for Women Who Have Abortions (from Rolling Stone): “Asked about exceptions for victims of rape, which Mace raised in her remarks on the floor, Harris told Rolling Stone, “There are other bills with exceptions, but will do little or nothing to save the lives of pre-born children.” He went on list exceptions the bill does contain, including: “a ‘duress’ defense for women who are pressured/threatened to have an abortion” and “medical care to save the mother’s life… The functional language in that scenario is whether the baby’s life is forfeited ‘unintentionally’ or ‘intentionally’.” (Asked if he saw any irony between being a member of the so-called “Freedom Caucus” while proposing such harsh restrictions on reproductive freedoms, Harris responded simply: “Murder of the pre-born is harsh.”)”
Iacon East 