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Mind the Mangroves! Kenyans Combat Logging With Hidden Beehives (Maria)
The author writes, “Dressed in protective clothing and armed with a smoker, Peter Nyongesa walked through the mangroves to monitor his beehives along the Indian Ocean coastline. The 69-year-old Nyongesa recalled how he would plead unsuccessfully with loggers to spare the mangroves or cut only the mature ones while leaving the younger ones intact. ‘But they would retort that the trees do not belong to anyone but God,’ he said. So he has turned to deterring the loggers with bees, hidden in the mangroves and ready to sting.”
The GOP Convention Kicks Off in a City Where Republicans Don’t Want People to Vote (Reader Steve)
From Mother Jones: “Last month, Donald Trump reportedly called Milwaukee, host of this week’s Republican National Convention, a ‘horrible city.’ He later tried to walk back the comments, saying, ‘I love Milwaukee,’ but Trump’s initial comments revealed how the demonization of Milwaukee, a majority-minority city where 60 percent of Black voters in Wisconsin live, has been a central strategy of state and national Republicans. Wisconsin Republicans — and Trump himself — owe their power in part to GOP efforts to suppress and dilute the city’s Black vote. It’s a strategy that dates back to when Governor Scott Walker and Republicans took control of the state after the 2010 election.”
Imagine If Dana Bash Knew Trump Had Been President Before? (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “After letting Donald Trump lie non-stop in the debate, Dana Bash invited his aspiring running-mate, Marco Rubio, onto her show to tell the same lies. … In one uncomfortable moment, Rubio cited the debate at which Bash had let Trump lie over and over about his future plans to criminalize his opponents, as if it represented the truth. Rubio then stated again that Trump, ‘was President before and he didn’t do it then.’”
Outrage After Biden Administration Reinstates ‘Barbaric’ Trump-Era Hunting Rules (Laura)
The author writes, “The Biden administration has reinstated controversial Trump-era rules allowing what critics say are ‘barbaric’ hunting practices that target bears and wolves, including pups or cubs, on federal land in Alaska. Sport hunters use the practices, like killing young in their dens, to eliminate predators of caribou, which are considered trophy animals. The killings are probably decimating predator populations on federal Alaskan preserves, said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.”
Rural Republicans Are Fighting to Save Their Public Schools (Gerry)
From The Atlantic and ProPublica: “Conservative orthodoxy at the national level holds that parents must be given an out from a failing public-education system that force-feeds children progressive fads. But many rural Republican lawmakers have trouble reconciling this with the reality in their districts, where many public schools are not only the sole educational option, but also the largest employer and the hub of the community — where everyone goes for holiday concerts, Friday-night football, and basketball.”
Prominent Election Deniers Draw Complaints From Glendale Mayor (Al)
From The Wisconsin Examiner: “The mayor of Glendale complained that two of Wisconsin’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists were disruptive while observing voting in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale during [the] primary in the special election for the 4th Senate District. First reported by Fox 6, Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy said he thought the actions of the two election deniers, Peter Bernegger and Harry Wait, were ‘despicable.’”
NASA Will Pay SpaceX Up to $843 Million to Destroy the International Space Station (Dana)
The author writes, “When the International Space Station (ISS) is finally retired at the end of 2030, the nearly one-million-pound vessel won’t be left to drift aimlessly in its orbit 250 miles above the ground. Instead, NASA will pay SpaceX to destroy it. [In June] the space agency awarded Elon Musk’s company a contract worth up to $843 million to build a vehicle capable of launching into low-Earth orbit, attaching to the ISS and guiding it into the Pacific Ocean. The station will end up at Point Nemo. … Located more than 1,550 miles from the nearest piece of land, Point Nemo has become known as a spacecraft graveyard of sorts, with nations dumping more than 263 pieces of space debris there.”
