The Republican Revolt Against Democracy, Explained in 13 Charts (DonkeyHotey)
From Vox: “The Republican Party is the biggest threat to American democracy today. It is a radical, obstructionist faction that has become hostile to the most basic democratic norm: that the other side should get to wield power when it wins elections. … Below are 13 charts that illustrate the depth of the problem and how we got here. The story they tell is sobering: At every level, from the elite down to rank-and-file voters, the party is permeated with anti-democratic political attitudes and agendas. And the prospects for rescuing the Republican Party, at least in the short term, look grim indeed.”
Kelly Loeffler Just Lost Her NBA Team to a Player She Refused to Meet (Dan)
From the Nation: “By any measure, it should be the biggest story in sports: A franchise owner runs a racist Senate campaign, throwing her own Black players under the bus in the process. Meanwhile, one of those players takes the year off from playing ball to dedicate herself to social justice concerns. That player asks to meet with the aforementioned franchise owner to discuss those concerns and is denied. The franchise owner refuses to meet and respectfully engage with someone who disagrees with her for political reasons. After the franchise owner faceplants their election campaign, ending in ignominious defeat, the players, the union, fans, and eventually even the league pressures her to sell the club.”
Four Oregon Hotels Will Pay $105,600 to Settle Wildfire Price-Gouging Allegations (Reader Steve)
From the Oregonian: “Four Oregon hotels will pay $105,600 in penalties and reimburse at least 100 customers to settle allegations of price gouging during last September’s wildfires. The fires burned more than 1 million acres and forced thousands of Oregonians from their homes, many of whom fled to hotels that had been nearly empty because of the pandemic. Some people reported sharply higher hotel prices, though, and Gov. Kate Brown issued a directive to crack down on price gouging.”
Conservation Paradox — the Pros and Cons of Recreational Hunting (Mili)
The author writes, “Recreational hunting — especially hunting of charismatic species for their trophies — raises ethical and moral concerns. Yet recreational hunting is frequently suggested as a way to conserve nature and support local people’s livelihoods. In a new article published in the journal One Earth, scientists … have reviewed more than 1,000 studies on recreational hunting — the first such attempt to summarize the scientific literature examining the biodiversity and social effects of recreational hunting globally.”
NASA Says We Should Search for Aliens By Looking for Their Pollution (Dana)
The author writes, “We know the galaxy is home to plenty of potentially habitable exoplanets, but to determine whether anything is actually living on these worlds scientists hope to spot some sign of life, a so-called biosignature or technosignature. New research out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland suggests searching for alien pollution as one such indicator.”
