Happy #NewstodonFriday! We really really wanted to keep it light, breezy and election-free this week. But if democracy dies in darkness, we must celebrate those newsrooms and reporters that are committed to shedding light.
This week, we are featuring news on how the plastics industry would welcome a second Trump administration, but teachers would loathe one. Texas Observer has a deeply reported story on the way mass deportations would devastate their state. New Hampshire’s election workers are under threat, but they’re standing up. An overlooked item on the Arizona ballot? Policy on how the state would treat unhoused people. A tech story on everyone’s favorite online retailer and how it says it has a First Amendment right to union bust. There’s a look at why people continue to support Donald Trump, despite the… everything. And sprinkled in, find articles on how kids become bilingual, the rise of Scientology in Ukraine, specimen collections in museums, clever cats, and zombie movies. Please support these newsrooms who have an active presence in the fediverse — give money, subscribe, read, share and comment.
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The oil and gas industry is increasingly dependent on the manufacture of plastics — and petrochemical lobbyists have endorsed a bill to roll back regulation and increase government assistance. Even though the bill itself is a legislative longshot, federal agencies under Donald Trump could adopt some of its most extreme provisions without congressional approval, Daniel Rosenberg, director of federal toxics policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council told @ProPublica.
https://www.propublica.org/article/plastics-industry-wish-list-second-trump-administration
#USPolitics #Trump #OilAndGasIndustry #Plastics #Environment #ClimateCrisis #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
First, Amazon said it wasn’t an employer of delivery drivers, who are unionized with the Teamsters. The National Labor Relations Board rejected that. Now, the tech giant is arguing that union-busting statements made by its managers, including threats to terminate, are covered under the U.S. First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech. Here’s more from @[email protected].
https://www.404media.co/amazon-says-it-has-a-first-amendment-right-to-union-bust/
#Labor #Employment #Unions #Amazon #TechIndustry #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
Tucson does not currently have a policy of clearing homeless encampments — instead, it allows those that don’t pose a risk to public health and safety to stay, supporting the people who live there and connecting them with services to get them into a permanent living situation. Conservatives aren’t happy, so on Arizona’s election ballot this month, there’ll be a proposition that will likely lead to more unhoused people being arrested and forced into treatment — despite resistance from police and prosecutors who say it simply won’t work. @[email protected] explains more.
https://boltsmag.org/arizona-prop-312-unhoused-ballot-measure/
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Can cats understand human words? This week our @ScienceDesk shared this story about feline cognition and language comprehension. A new study showed that cats could associate human words with images — building on older research that suggested cats know their names. What could this mean for bonds with our furry friends?
https://www.earth.com/news/cats-can-associate-human-words-with-images/
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@[email protected] @[email protected]
The research I have read suggests that cats can understand as many as 20 words or phrases, especially if you pronounce and annunciate them the same every time.
Our boos recognize about that many, including names. Also, boy cat has quite a vocabulary; he can make 20-30 different calls that indicate mood, from hungry, frustration, happiness, joy, anger, etc. We’ve gotten used to his lingo, so it’s an effective method of communications.
#Cats
#CatsOfMastodon
#CaturdayFormer President Donald Trump says he’ll implement the “largest deportation in the history of our country.” This could target around 1.6 million undocumented people in Texas alone — and they’re the backbone of industries such as construction. “All this means Texas would be uniquely disrupted by Trump’s plans, with the tearing apart of mixed-status families placing a possibly massive burden on the state’s meager social services systems, and the exiling of a chunk of its workforce imperiling the economic development and affordability known as the so-called Texas Miracle.” writes Francesca D’Annunzio for @[email protected].
https://www.texasobserver.org/how-mass-deportations-would-devastate-texas/
#Texas #Immigration #Construction #Trump #HumanRights #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
Bilinguality is a huge advantage for children and adults. Nearly 22 percent of Americans speak a language other than English at home, and many kids struggle to achieve full proficiency in two tongues. @[email protected] spoke with Adriana Weisleder, a developmental psychologist and language scientist, about learning to speak and read two languages at the same time, and how schools, parents and caregivers can help kids.
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/society/2024/how-a-child-becomes-bilingual
#Parenting #Education #Children #Language #Bilinguality #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
@[email protected] @KnowableMag Can also recommend Kletsheads, the English version of the Dutch podcast by linguist and mother to bilingual kids, Dr. Sharon Unsworth. It’s aimed at parents, teachers and speech language therapists. Children, parents and professionals share their experiences in the episodes. It ran from October 2020 until November 2023.
@[email protected] @KnowableMag Thanks so much for sharing!
Donald Trump says if elected, he wants to close the Department of Education. Title IX protections and early education are on the line, and Trump wants to implement universal school choice and make it easier to fire “bad teachers.” In response, educators are getting out the vote for Kamala Harris, with some also citing gun reform, union protections, and Tim Walz as reasons to support the Democratic candidate. Here’s more from @[email protected].
https://www.damemagazine.com/2024/10/24/americas-teachers-dont-want-another-trump-term/
#Education #Teaching #USPolitics #DonaldTrump #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
Scientology is much more popular in Ukraine than in neighboring countries. In 2014, the country had 26 centers for the religion, while in Poland, there were none and one in each of Moldova, Georgia and Belarus. Alessandra Hay and Mariana Lastovyria write for @[email protected]’s Counteroffensive about why Scientology has been able to gain a foothold in Ukraine.
https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/the-rise-of-scientology-in-ukraine
#Religion #Scientology #Ukraine #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday
@[email protected] @[email protected] they don’t have a policy but they still do it, pretty often.
