  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! 
0 Comments
 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!   Another Inspector General's head on a plate! Trump has fired four oversight officials of major government departments in the past six weeks. (Here, Danny Kaye comes up against government corruption in The Inspector General, 1949)  I Sense a Pattern Here... On April 3, President Donald Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the intelligence committee watchdog who handled the whistleblower complaint about Trump's pressure campaign against the Ukraine that triggered his impeachment. A few days later, on April 6, the president removed Glenn A. Fine as acting inspector general for the Defense Department, and also as head of the new Pandemic Response Oversight Committee. Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi A. Grimm, of the Department of Health and Human Services, released a report outlining hospital equipment shortages. She was fired on May 1. Finally, State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was ousted Friday evening, seemingly in retaliation for his investigation of Sec. of State Mike Pompeo. Nearly a year ago the House passed legislation (HR 1847) intended to strengthen the roles of Inspectors General and protect them in their work. Demand that your Senators and Representatives denounce Trump’s dangerous pattern of retaliation against the public officials charged with conducting oversight on behalf of the American people. Write this week! —Kathy Sherretts Postage Paid: ProPublica: Ignoring Trump and Right-Wing Think Tanks, Red States Expand Vote by Mail by Jessica Huseman and Mike Spies Many Republican secretaries of state reject mail fraud concerns and see no alternative to absentee voting if the pandemic persists. NPR: How Will the Pandemic Affect Voting? (Podcast, 44 min, + transcript) The U.S. prides itself on its democracy in theory, but this year, not necessarily in practice. Run for Your Life: The Atlantic: Who Gets to Be Afraid in America? by Ibram X. Kendi Self-defense, like the Second Amendment, like stand-your-ground laws, has been colonized by white men. Swamp Thing: Slate: This Is Still Happening: David Bernhardt by Jeremy Stahl As Secretary of the Interior (replacing Ryan Zinke), Bernhardt’s abuses of office are typical of Trump administration corruption, in which regulators are appointed specifically for their willingness to destroy the things they’re officially supposed to protect. Rationalization Nation: With Friends Like These: Why (Most) People Don’t Convert (Podcast, 34 min) When we make bad choices we must, unconsciously, create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right—a belief that can keep us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong.  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! 
Yes, You Can Compost in City Apartments My husband once bought me a compost tumbler for Christmas, and my appalled sisters asked, “Is this marriage on the rocks?” But my Ohio neighbors were envious, knowing I’d no longer have to trudge out to the old compost pile in the woods but could toss kitchen scraps into the tumbler beside the back door. It never occurred to me I could compost indoors. “Our compost box sits in the corner of our living room,” explains New Yorker Hiroko Tabuchi. “We do keep a cover on it to prevent flies, and, in seven years, we’ve never had a problem with insects.” All it takes is a cardboard box, coco peat (available online) and wood ash. —Karen McCann PS. Don’t tell my husband; he has a birthday coming up.  Arthur Lien captures the Supreme Court's first remote sessions for SCOTUSblog. That's Not What I Heard There are lots of conspiracy theories out there about the Covid19 virus: it escaped from a Chinese lab. It was deliberately released by the US military. 5G, Bill Gates, GMOs, deep state. Check out this browser extension to help screen out false news sources, and this publication from George Mason University to combat the spread of conspiracy theories of all kinds. (Meanwhile, let's spread this theory.) —Kathy Sherretts Show Me the Money: • Axios: Trump's tax returns fight reaches the Supreme Court by Sam Baker Is the president of the United States immune from congressional—and criminal—investigation? Oral arguments (Live broadcast remotely from the justices' and lawyers' homes and offices) is scheduled this week involving efforts by congressional committees and New York prosecutors to obtain Trump’s financial records. Tune in Tuesday on C-SPAN. • WNYC/ProPublica: Trump, Inc: The Accountants (Podcast/transcript, 38 min) Voting Counts: • Verified Voting Foundation: COVID-19 election security recommendations Alert Resister Christy Smith sent us the Verified Voting Foundation's news roundup for updated information on changing voting policies and primary election dates in the US. She also recommends VoterParticipation.org, which works with election officials to help people register to vote and cast their ballots by mail. Conservative Character: • The Lincoln Project: We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated by George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson This political action committee was formed in 2019 by several prominent Republicans to prevent Trump's reelection. Last month they announced their endorsement of Joe Biden. Just for fun: Somewhere, there's baseball...  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!  One Potato, Two Potato I love to cook and have spent much of the quarantine in my kitchen trying out new recipes. So it was dismaying to learn food distribution is ravaged by the pandemic. With restaurants, schools, and hotels closed, American dairies are tossing out 3.7 million gallons of milk a day, and smashed eggs, euthanized livestock, and ploughed-under crops are commonplace. When a microbrewery dumped 900 pounds of beer, Trevor Noah said, “All over America, fraternity houses’ flags are flying at half-mast.” I got to thinking about what we can do at home to be more responsible consumers. Mashable’s 6 ways to reduce food waste, even during a pandemic suggests simple solutions involving inventories, lists, and placing perishables at the back of refrigerators where temperatures are slightly cooler. One of the wackier ideas was turning unused food into art. Before you laugh, check out the potato sculptures created by my sister-in-law Deb and her sister Cyndie. Yes, quarantine does inspire masterpieces! —Karen McCann   You thought it was a joke, didn't you? Maybe this will get the mask skeptics on board. We're Done Here Congratulations, all you Resisters in Spain, on getting out of the house a bit this week! Here in the US, where we are taking a more Wild West approach to public health, many states are lifting restrictions and encouraging citizens to get back to work. I felt that I was being reasonably cautious while I was confident that everyone else was being cautious too. I'm getting jumpy, though, as safety measures are increasingly seen as a partisan issue, and people leave off their masks to demonstrate their confidence in the president. —Kathy Sherretts How It's Done: NPR/Fresh Air: Compared With China, U.S. Stay-At-Home Has Been 'Giant Garden Party,' Journalist Says (Podcast, 37 min; text highlights) Science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. says China showed how to stop a fast-moving pandemic, using widespread testing and a strict quarantine. "We're reluctant to follow China, but they did it...They did it brutally, but brilliantly." In the Mail: The Guardian: Vote safely by mail in November? Not so fast, say Republicans by Sam Levine Even as state-level Republican officials are seeking to scale up their vote-by-mail operations, congressional Republicans have staunchly opposed efforts that would make it easier to vote. Should They Stay or Should They Go? Politico: Mitch McConnell's coronavirus gamble by Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine The Capitol’s attending physician released guidelines Friday for the Senate’s return, recommending but not requiring that staffers wear face coverings. Says Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, “… there’s no reason to bring the Senate back to make conservative radio hosts happy. That’s a dereliction of duty.” The House decided to delay its return by one more week. Sad Anniversary: Can it be 50 years?  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! 
  My Chequered Past I'm waiting out the virus here at my in-laws’ house. I was poking around in the attic the other day and found this: my first voter registration card. I remember voting for Jimmy Carter that fall. I do NOT remember doing so as a Republican... —Kathy Sherretts  Get the Party Started: Slate: How Progressives Can Get Behind Joe Biden Without Losing Their Credibility by Christina Cauterucci A resigned acceptance of Biden won’t help turnout or organizing efforts. He may not be leading his party into a bold, radically equitable future, but we can prod him there. Team Trump Rises to the Challenge: Vanity Fair: West Wing Xenophobe Stephen Miller Gunning to Make Trump’s Temporary Immigration Curb “Long-Term” by Bess Levin The temporary order to suspend immigration is part of Miller's larger strategy to make the restrictions permanent. New York Times: McConnell to Every State: Drop Dead by Paul Krugman America’s de facto policy will be one of bailing out giant restaurant chains while firing schoolteachers and police officers. Politico: USDA let millions of pounds of food rot while food-bank demand soared by Helena Bottemiller Evich Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has yet to respond to a March letter from growers' groups. The scale of produce waste is staggering. Just for fun: Hard-won glimpses into the meaning of existence.  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!  Marjan hands out materials for American Resistance Sevilla's 2017 online climate protest.
 The Post Office, although considered an “essential service,” has not received resources and protections commensurate with this emergency designation.  Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman A major point of The Brennan Center’s initiative for protecting the 2020 elections is increasing the capacity for voting by mail. The Trump administration has attacked mail-in balloting, and refuses the USPS the kind of financial support that has been extended to corporations to help them through the Covid19 crisis. Contact your representatives in Congress to demand funding and support for the Post Office during the pandemic. (Change.org petition HERE) —Kathy Sherretts  Slate: We Cannot Hold an Election Without a Functional Post Office by Richard L. Hasen With poll workers getting sick, in-person polling places shutting down, and an expected flood of absentee ballot requests, a functioning postal service is essential to the health and safety of American democracy. Business Insider: Trump reportedly rejected bailout package that would rescue the US Postal Service by Grace Panetta In addition to the agency's chronic lack of funding, postal workers are facing hazardous job conditions due to the coronavirus crisis. Just for fun: Serving an At-Risk population (strong language) Voting in a Pandemic Year Read the plan to ensure that the 2020 election is free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues! 
  Is democracy at risk if voters are at risk? Wisconsin voters cast ballots during the primary election on Tuesday. (AP photo by Morry Gash) Don't Stand So Close To Me We have a friend here who is so happy that we are still in the US, and is completely baffled that we don't want to hang out. "You're free tonight, aren't you?" He's always calling to report that he's heard of another shop that's open. "They've got Ben and Jerry's! I'll pick you guys up and we'll go!" Until these past weeks, I never would have believed that it was possible to so completely extinguish the social life of a community. Or, for that matter, my own. —Kathy Sherretts Wait for it: Forge: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting by Julio Vincent Gambuto This will be over soon—and when it is, every brand in America will come to your rescue, dear consumer, to help get life back to the way it was before the crisis. You heard it here first: Librivox: A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (Audio, 129 min) “But it seems that the Government had a true account of it, and several councils were held about ways to prevent its coming over; but all was kept very private. Hence it was that … people began to forget it as a thing we were very little concerned in, and that we hoped was not true; till the latter end of November or the beginning of December 1664…” Or read it here: A Journal of the Plague Year on Project Gutenberg. Vulnerable populations: Rolling Stone: The Coronavirus Is Also Attacking the Ballot Box by Jamil Smith Republicans have long tried to disenfranchise the voters least likely to elect them, and now the coronavirus is here to help. Winners and Losers: Salon: These are the industries that are thriving in spite of the pandemic by Nicole Karlis The pandemic-spurred economic slowdown hasn't hit all industries equally — and some are doing better than before Just for fun: Fact-intensive Voting in a Pandemic Year Read the plan to ensure that the 2020 election is free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!   Lauren Singer, holding a mason jar containing her entire output of trash over four years. The Home Front Staying Eco-Friendly in Lockdown Sheltering in place provides a good opportunity to learn, plan, and organize for climate action. Because it’s pretty clear the planet needs us now more than ever. So next time you’re ready for a break from the news, Netflix, and public service announcements about hand sanitizer, consider jumping into one of these books:
—Karen McCann  In a major victory for for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota, a federal court on Wednesday struck down permits and ordered a comprehensive environmental review of plans for the Dakota Access pipeline. (Photo Earthjustice) STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! Isolation Nation A few random observations from inside the house: • People here in my in-laws’ neighborhood are way more friendly than I remember, but from a distance. Lots of porch-to-porch chats. • All my podcasts sound funny now, because the hosts are recording them from their bedroom closets. • I’m inventing errands upstairs, just to move around more. (I am lucky to be at the in-laws', as my home in Sevilla doesn't have an upstairs.) No doubt you are experiencing similar effects—after all, we’re all in this together, separately. —Kathy Sherretts AND from a WaPo online discussion about social distancing at home: Opportunity! Let’s all drive our representatives crazy at state and federal levels pushing for the issues we care most about. For starters, making SURE all registered voters can vote on Nov. 4th no matter what COVID19 does. Maybe we could even tackle global warming! Finally (many) citizens have time to actually call/write our leaders and fuss! Such a fine civics lesson for kids stuck at home. We could change things for the better! Two steps forward: Earthjustice: Standing Rock Tribe Wins in Court After Years of Perseverance by Alison Cagle A federal judge struck down permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline, even after COVID-19 precautions led to an unconventional day in court. How Stuff Works: Good News! Some Butterfly Populations Bounced Back in 2019 by Laurie L. Dove In addition to favorable weather, volunteers and nonprofits' work on butterfly waystations and education has turned around long-term population decline for some species. Bad actors: Washington Post: Congress to bail out firms that avoided taxes, safety regulations and spent billions boosting their stock by Jonathan O'Connell Many of the airlines, hotels, cruise lines, coal-mining companies and others strangled by coronavirus shutdowns behaved in ways before the crisis that are making a bailout tough to swallow. When signing the legislation, President Trump indicated that he could limit oversight of the corporate aid program. ...And when did they know it? Behind the Bastards: The Bastards Who Covered Up Climate Change (Podcast, 84 min. Strong language.) At an industry forum in 1959, Edward Teller warned the oil industry about global warming. Head in a bag: New York Times: In Coronavirus, Industry Sees Chance to Undo Plastic Bag Bans by Hiroko Tabuchi Before the outbreak, an industry-funded group was already working on legislation to pre-empt bans on disposable bags, boxes, cups, and bottles in the name of protecting businesses and consumer choice. Now, hygiene! Just for fun: A gallery of great guitar licks. Voting in a Pandemic Year Read the plan to ensure that the 2020 election is 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
November 2020
Categories
|
RSS Feed
