Spain’s Doñana wetlands are drying up | Euronews

Europe’s most important wetland is suffocating due to a lack of water. The last freshwater lagoon in the Spanish national park of Doñana, has dried up.

It’s located in Andalusia, in southern Spain, and is world famous for its unique landscape and biodiversity. However, out of a total of 3,000 registered lagoons, 60% have been completely lost and are now covered by terrestrial vegetation.

As a result, animals are dying because they have nowhere to drink. Carmen Díaz, a researcher at theDoñana Biological Station, has been warning of this danger for a long time.

“If this long period of drying out persists, we will gradually lose these unique species. In other words, by drying out Doñana we are impoverishing its fauna and vegetation, which, as I said, is very important”.

The wetlands are an essential stop-over for birds on their migration to northern Europe or Africa, some species of which are in danger of extinction. At the last count, there were almost 88,000 wintering birds here. However usually the average 470,000.

Source: Spain’s Doñana wetlands are drying up | Euronews

Young Black Organizers Are Fired-Up, With Just Days Left Until the Midterms

It’s been a busy last few months for Georgia State University Sophomore James Wilson. While most of his classmates were stressing about their public policy midterms, Wilson and his friends at the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition have been hitting the pavements and phone banks, working to get out the vote ahead of the November elections.

“The main thing that’s motivating me is money,” says Wilson, 20, “who has it, who doesn’t have it, who needs it, and the fact that the state government just does not seem to care.”

With less than a week left before the November election, Wilson is just one of countless young Black organizers in battleground states hoping to have an impact.

Turning out young voters in battle ground states like Georgia will be key if Democrats want to win next Tuesday. In Georgia, young people of color, who favor Democrats, make-up nearly half of the young voting-age population, according to Tuft’s Center for Information on Civic Learning and Engagement.

And early voting numbers have thus far not shown the surge in young voters that Democrats in the state had hoped for this year.

Nalah Lewis, 29, a Black organizer with Planned Parenthood Votes in Atlanta, Georgia, says she is keenly aware of the stakes in this election.

“I feel like we’re under attack in a lot of different ways,” says Lewis. “Obviously, reproductive rights. But when it comes to access to health care, having affordable housing, gun control, public safety, are always the top priorities for the youth that I have [spoken to].”

 

Source: Young Black Organizers Are Fired-Up, With Just Days Left Until the Midterms

Sêneca

Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

” A vida seguirá
o caminho que começou e não
reverterá nem interromperá
seu curso. Não fará barulho, não o
lembrará de sua estupidez.
Silenciosa, ela deslizará. Não se
prolongará pelo comando de
um rei ou pelos aplausos do povo.
Assim como foi iniciada, irá correr. Em nenhum lugar se desviará,
em nenhuma parte irá se demorar. E qual será o resultado? Você está ocupado, e a vida se apressa.

SÊNECA. SOBRE A BREVIDADE DA VIDA: Edição Especial com prefácio de Lúcia Helena Galvão Maya

Sêneca – Sobre a brevidade da vida. Barueri, São Paulo: Camelot, 2021

Marii Freire

https://Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

Imagem ( crédito: Marii Freire)

Santarém, Pá 2 de novembro de 2022

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Paul Cobaugh: Moral Courage Is on the Ballot in Texas | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Paul Cobaugh, a military veteran, moved to Texas in 2005. He registered as a Republican because he considers himself a principled conservative in the mold of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But today, he writes, the Texas Republican Party today is a party of radical extremists who trample on the rights of those who disagree with them.

He writes:

I’m deeply ashamed of the extremists running the TX Republican Party, that control our state, destroy our American/ Texas values and built their 2022 election platform on conspiracy theories and lies. Maybe it’s because I consider myself an, “Eisenhower-Republican” or just for the simple reason that I’ve worked against extremists in combat zones and beyond. There is no difference today between the TX GOP and the Taliban. Yes, please reread and remember that last sentence.

Like most Texans, I’m proud of our state and its accomplishments. Principled conservatives and liberals built much of what we’re proud of. I frankly don’t give a damn if someone is left/ right, Republican/ Democrat or liberal/ conservative. America does better when principled and well-informed “sides” debate issues. When extremism is not only present, but dominates one side, all else fails. For the record, one of my deep, professional specialties is terrorism, extremism and counter-terrorism, that include several combat deployments prior to my retirement.

We see this in TX at every level of state responsibility. I’ve seen the same in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and other less-than-hospitable parts of the world. I refuse to stay silent when extremism rears its evil head here in my home state. The nation I’ve sworn to defend is now threatened by the soul-scorching, extremism of a party with an insatiable appetite for conspiracy theories and fascist ideals. Someone must have the courage to stand up for integrity and truth. I won’t speak for the left’s dysfunction, but I can guarantee that Abbott and his party are NOT the ones to demonstrate moral courage. We all have a citizen’s duty to be well and accurately informed. It was front and center in the minds of our founders….

In plain language, TX, like most of America, the extremists controlling today’s GOP, seek more power for their own personal gain and immorally use an anti-constitutional, social agenda, to achieve it. The opposition has little to no power in TX because they cannot agree on which individual interest has priority, but collectively ignore the big picture that clearly demonstrates the potentially lethal injury, today’s GOP is causing to the soul of our nation and worse, our national values….

 

Source: Paul Cobaugh: Moral Courage Is on the Ballot in Texas | Diane Ravitch’s blog

How to Investigate TikTok Like a Pro – Part II: Using TikTok for Ukraine Research – bellingcat

TikTok has emerged as a key platform on which footage of the invasion of Ukraine is shared.

This includes footage of missile strikes and their aftermathdamaged or destroyed military equipment, as well as visual evidence of suspected war crimes and other atrocities.

Misinformation and disinformation about the invasion can also be found on the platform. This includes posts by Russian state-backed media, posts of old or unrelated videos falsely claiming to show contemporary events and misleading or false claims about the details of a video -such as the location it was recorded.

In short, there is much for digital investigators to explore on TikTok.

But compared to other social media companies, TikTok does not currently allow researchers to access and inspect data at scale. Investigating content on TikTok is mostly a manual process that can be very time consuming. Yet there are methods, tools and shortcuts that can help.

Source: How to Investigate TikTok Like a Pro – Part II: Using TikTok for Ukraine Research – bellingcat

White House offers support to cover energy bills – UPI.com

A program under the federal Department of Health and Human Services offers $4.5 billion to help low-income families pay their bills and make any necessary energy-related repairs. Another tranche of funding supports a rebate program for heat pumps, something the administration said holds “tremendous promise to lower energy costs for all American families — saving up to $500 in energy bills every year.” Source: White House offers support to cover energy bills – UPI.com

California could soon rise to the world’s 4th-largest economy, surpassing Germany – Los Angeles Times

California has long faced criticism for driving away business and workers, due to high taxes and prices and tough regulations.

A few high-profile business titans have loudly departed, most notably Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who moved Tesla’s headquarters — and himself — to Texas during the pandemic (though SpaceX remains headquartered in Southern California).

Nonetheless, there are mounting predictions from some economists that the Golden State could soon surpass Germany to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. 

Source: California could soon rise to the world’s 4th-largest economy, surpassing Germany – Los Angeles Times