  NASA satellites like this one will be used to collect data on how our response to COVID-19 has affected the environment and our socioeconomic activity. (Photo by NASA) How Does the Pandemic Look From Space? Swans (and the occasional tourist) are swimming in the clear water of Venice’s canals. Countless tons of medical protection equipment — masks, gloves, disinfectant wipes — are clogging landfills. What’s the bottom line for the planet? Are we doing better or worse these days? To find out, NASA, the European Space Agency, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) are unveiling a project this week called The COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard. They’ll be using satellite data to identify how the response to the pandemic has impacted the environment and human socioeconomic activity. Got questions? Who doesn’t? The project’s launch includes a press conference this Thursday, June 25, at 9 a.m. EDT. Before or during the conference, you can send in your questions via social media using the hashtag #AskNASA. Audio of the teleconference with supporting graphics will stream live at: http://www.nasa.gov/live —Karen McCann What else is NASA doing about the COVID-19 pandemic? • NASA Astrobiologists Seek Antiviral Solutions to COVID-19 • NASA Supercomputers Power Coronavirus Research • Johnson Space Center Develops New Ventilators, Oxygen Helmet   Kentucky state representative Charles Booker is running against Amy McGrath in Tuesday's Democratic primary, hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell in the fall. (Photo: Alton Strupp, Louisville Courier Journal) Look it Up, Track it Down You’ve all been taking in the news in the world through a small electronic rectangle, same as I have. I hope I understand what's important, I want to get it right. This week, the Women’s March and Media Matters hosted a webinar on Misinformation in Times of Crisis. (video of the presentation is here), offering tools to help identify false and misleading info and avoid its spread. We have talked about these resources before, but they are worth repeating: Snopes; Politifact; Media Bias Fact Check. And as always, use your own Google-driven search for the original story or basis in fact. —Kathy Sherretts And, PS: Happy Pride Month, everyone! —Kathy Sherretts Celebration: Jezebel: The Story of Katie Darling and the Complex Jubilation of Juneteenth by Lindsey Norward “Abraham Lincoln didn’t free the slaves,” says the author's mom. “The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free them either. Black people freed themselves.” Assembly Required: Politico: The City that Really Did Abolish the Police by Katherine Landergan Camden, NJ is a rare—and complicated—success story. Throwin' It All Away: Grist: Great, now the ocean is filled with COVID trash, by Joseph Winters Single-use personal protective equipment is helping keep people safe. But all that increased plastic production comes with consequences. Around the world, gloves, masks, and empty bottles of hand sanitizer are turning up everywhere. Too Late: Mother Jones: Say It Under Oath, Asshole by Dan Friedman If John Bolton is a whistleblower, he might be the least courageous one in American history.  Voting in a Pandemic Year Help make the 2020 election free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues! 
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 Matter and Energy America's protests against police violence are continuing, and each time the tone starts to shift from rage to determination, another new overreaction by police only underlines the protesters’ point. —Kathy Sherretts Civics 101: Civic Action: Protest (Podcast, 25 min + transcript) What is protest, constitutionally? Historically? What is protected, and what is not? Wellesley College Center for Research on Women: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh White people carry an invisible collection of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks."Say Their Names" by Kadir Nelson is the cover of this week's New Yorker. Read this closeup examination, in which the murder of George Floyd embodies the history of violence inflicted upon black people in America. Medium: Climate Activists: Here’s Why Your Work Depends on Ending Police Violence by Dany Sigwalt If Black folks, Indigenous folks, and other folks of color are shot on our way to joining the climate movement, what’s the point? Scalawag Magazine: Black lives matter—so should their votes by Mac McCann (from 2015) The Electoral College was balanced to empower slave states in the 18th century—and it continues to disempower Black voters today. NPR: Voting And Elections Divide Republicans And Democrats Like Little Else by Philip Ewing Republicans are likely to argue that casting a vote is a privilege of citizenship, while Democrats are more likely to see voting as a right. Just for fun: Are we done yet? Scenes from protests Karen McCann attended in Mill Valley and San Anselmo, California.  "Say Their Names" by Kadir Nelson is the cover of this week's New Yorker. Read this closeup examination, in which the murder of George Floyd embodies the history of violence inflicted upon black people in America.  Voting in a Pandemic Year Help make the 2020 election free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!   Not all fruits and vegetables can be stored together in the same bowl. Some emit gases that can cause their companions to spoil, sprout, or soften, resulting in food waste. Discover more about the secret life of your produce in The Imperfect Foods Grocery Storage Guide. The Secret Life of Produce, Revealed In my foolish ignorance, I’ve always casually stored fruits and vegetables together in one big, jumbled bowl on my kitchen counter. Never again! This week I learned that these seemingly inanimate objects can actually do damage to one another. For instance fruits such as apples, pears, and bananas naturally release ethylene gas as they ripen, which makes things nearby ripen, too—often causing vegetables to spoil more rapidly. Even such seemingly natural companions as onions and potatoes can’t be trusted together; gases from the onions can cause the potatoes sprout faster, and moisture from the potatoes makes the onions turn soft. It’s like a whole telenovela’s worth of life-and-death struggles have been going on right under my nose, and I never knew! Now, instead of tossing out the casualties, I’m going to take steps to keep them all safer. —Karen McCann   Campaign Zero’s agenda outlines a set of policies that can effectively reduce police violence nationwide—by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability. (Check out their website HERE.) Autocratic Overdrive The White House is currently surrounded by a high metal fence, and the Justice Department has sent anonymous officers into the streets of Washington DC. The protests are getting bigger, the voices are getting louder—and the pushback is getting pushier. —Kathy Sherretts  What can we do? ActBlue: Support organizations that are fighting for Black lives and racial justice "I want you to remember Tony McDade during Pride. I want you to remember Ahmaud Abrey during Independence Day. I want you to remember George Floyd when you vote in November. I want you to remember Amy Cooper at your Christmas dinner. I want you to remember Breonna Taylor when you hear a knock on your door. I want you to remember Trayvon Martin every time you see a bag of Skittles. I want you to know that this reconditioning is a necessary lifelong endeavor." —Kandise LeBlanc blog Hair Trigger: Behind the Bastards: The Man Who Teaches Our Cops To Kill (Podcast, 84 min) David Grossman, director of the Killology Research Group, has been hired to train thousands of police officers over the past twenty years. And Yea, the Scales Fell from their Eyes: RVAT: Republican Voters Against Trump Yet another group of fed-up Republicans stands up to denounce the president and the damage he is inflicting on the country. Their new ad runs on Fox News this week. (Thanks to Alert Resister Doug McClure for this link.)  Voting in a Pandemic Year Help make the 2020 election free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!  |
resist the madness!American Resistance Sevilla is a non-partisan community mobilizing Americans living abroad to take peaceful action defending our lawful rights and freedoms. Learn more Archives
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