Kristin
Why does the media care so much about Hillary’s emails but not at all about the fact that Bush’s tax proposals are a pack of lies? The path to plutocracy is paved with media stories about emails and outfits, instead of coverage of actual policy proposals and what they mean for the middle class (Jeb’s tax plan = really bad for middle class) and for the 0.1% (Jeb’s tax plan = really good for 0.1%).
To get the message out about Fixing Democracy First, Lessig needs to be in the debates. To get in the debates, he needs to poll well. To poll well, he needs to be in the polls. Tell the pollsters to include him.
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And then, wouldn’t it be cool of polls asked you to rank your choices? Like this.
10 Republicans are going to say—out loud, in public—that the US should maybe do something about climate change. HOORAY!
Want to boost the economy? Stop redistributing wealth to the wealthiest, and start redistributing it to the middle and lower class. Middle-class and low-income people need money to buy food, clothes, schooling, so if they get a dollar they spend it to get the things they need and create jobs to boot. CEOs don’t need any more stuff so they sit on the money. Also, higher pay for CEOs is correlated with lower performance for their firms, so paying CEOs too much loses even more money for the economy. Money trickles up, not down. It’s time to reverse that flow so the economy can actually work.
Video: Libertarians like basic income, too!
Trisha
If you think reality TV is all about exaggerated drama, fighting, and backstabbing—then you and I are on the same page. But, what if “reality TV involves vaccinating a goat and pulling weeds”? That’s basically the premise of a reality showing airing in Tanzania called Female Food Heroes. Dreamed up by the folks at Oxfam, the goal of the show is to raise the profile of small-scale women farmers, who make up about 75% of farmers in Tanzania yet own just 20% of the land. And the show has been a hit, with some modest gains in female representation in local politics and more than 20 million Tanzanians glued to their screens.
This is what it looks like when thousands of Pacific walruses have nowhere to go because climate change melted the ice they usually live on. It’s the seventh time in the past nine summers this has happened. This year, some out-of-the-box thinkers came up with an idea—though ultimately tabled—to build rafts for the walruses to hang out on.
Keiko
What’s the best way to communicate about climate change? Anthony Leiserowitz gives some great insight.
Extreme earthquakes becoming way too common. Along with the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in April, an 8.3 magnitude quake hit Chile this week. My fellow Seattlelites—get prepared for the big one. Who knows when it will happen.
If you haven’t seen it already, you should really watch Ahmed Mohamed’s interview.
