CALL IT WAMPANOAG ISLAND

Cape Cod's Squaw Island prompts debate over cultural reclamation, interpretation of words

Rachael Devaney, Cape Cod Times
Mon, December 27, 2021

HYANNISPORT — For centuries, the lush, green spit of Hyannisport marshland has been locally called Squaw Island, with legends surrounding a “squaw,” or a Wampanoag woman, who waited on the island for her husband to return from war.

But U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently designated the word “squaw” a racial slur and has moved to ban the word from federal lands. Haaland, an enrolled citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna Native American tribe in New Mexico, is the first Native American to hold a Cabinet post.

Along with Haaland's designation is the creation of a task force that will evaluate 650 locations and rename streams, valleys, lakes, creeks, street signs and parks across the country that contain the word “squaw,” including Squaw Island in Hyannisport.

A view of Squaw Island in Hyannisport looking east towards Hyannis. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently designated the word “squaw” a racial slur and has moved to evaluate and rename up to 650 locations that contain the word across the country, including Squaw Island in the town of Barnstable.

But Camille Madison, of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project in Mashpee, said the designation is a call to “look back on history,” and “reconnect to the origins of the Algonquian language.”

“Squaw is a word or what's called a morpheme — a meaningful morphological unit of a language. It refers to the female character of a woman and it's used to create words that mean woman, or little girl, or good girl,” said Madison, who is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). “I want to respect that people feel offended by the use of that word. Western tribal people didn't know that this is a morpheme in our language. But what does that say to us as Algonquian people? This (Haaland’s designation) contributes and perpetuates our erasure. That's a part of my sacred language. That's who I am.”

'This news is so welcome': Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe can retain reservation land

About 12 tribal nations throughout the Eastern Woodlands territory of the indigenous people of North America use the sound or morpheme “squaw” as part of the Algonquian language family, according to Madison.

In a recent statement, Haaland explained why she initiated the process to eradicate the word “squaw” from geographic features on federal lands.

"Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage – not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression,” said Haaland said in the statement. “Today’s actions will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place names and mark a significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”

A spokesperson from the Department of the Interior could not be reached for comment.
Town: Squaw Island never 'officially named'

Paula Peters, author of “The Mashpee Nine: A Story of Cultural Justice” and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, said the debate over the word “squaw” is a “lesson in how words can be used to empower hate against groups of people.”

“The term 'squaw' is a Wampanoag term for a woman. It could mean a woman with power, it could mean queen,” she said. “But because that word has been taken and used to empower hate against Native people, now we are in conflict.”

'Ironclad' protection: Federal landmark designation sought for Nantucket Sound

Although the town of Barnstable can’t confirm that Squaw Island sits on federal land, the area is listed as No. 615794 on the Interior Department's federal database of locations that will be reviewed for “derogatory term usage” under Haaland’s directive.

As David Anthony, director of property and risk management for Barnstable, looked through property records for Squaw Island recently, he found the area was never “officially named” Squaw Island, and remains part of Hyannisport. But Squaw Island Road, which is town-owned and leads to the area now known as Squaw Island, could be renamed to “follow suit with federal decisions,” he said.

Squaw Island denoted on an 1888 map by the U.S. Geological Survey. The island is identified as Squaw Island in every map version through at least 1979 in a USGS database of historic maps.

“If the federal government is going to take that word out of use at some point, the town can consider renaming Squaw Island Road to something else to be consistent,” Anthony said. “With a private road I don’t think we have as much jurisdiction but because it is a public road, it could be an interesting debate to have in today’s conversations that are very important in this regard.”

As far back as 1888, a U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic database shows a Squaw Island marked on its maps in Hyannisport.

Anthony said the town acquired 6 acres of Squaw Island shoreline for $1 in 1986 — a parcel that sits adjacent to Hall’s Creek, and often can’t be seen as it slides under high tides. Beyond that, the area is largely privately owned with strong ties to the Kennedy family.
Island's ties to Kennedy family

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy rented and converted the gray-shingled Morton Downey house into a “summer White House,” — when Secret Service became concerned about the proximity of the nearby Kennedy compound to its neighbors.

During the last summer of Kennedy’s life in 1963, he moved to Squaw Island’s Brambletyde, a sprawling mansion that overlooks Nantucket Sound. Since then, Brambletyde, according to Wendy Northcross, executive director of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, passed through Kennedy hands, including U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and his then-wife Joan Kennedy, and was most recently owned by U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s son, Christopher Kennedy, who sold Brambletyde to Joseph Hakim of New York City for $1 in 2011, according to Barnstable assessing records.

Madison, a teacher at the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, created in 1993 under Jessie "Little Doe" Baird to return language fluency to the Wampanoag Nation as a principal means of expression, said Halaand’s designation could be based on her lack of knowledge of the Algonquian language family, which includes Wampanoag, Pequot, Nipmuc, Massachussett and Narragansett people.

Human rights awards to honor Native people of Cape and Vineyard

When settlers made contact with Eastern tribal nations, Madison explained, they heard indigenous people using the word “squaw” to create many Algonquian words — including terms revering women and girls. Combined “with the way colonists viewed women in their own communities,” she said, newcomers didn’t understand how the sound worked linguistically, resulting in the development of the slur, which they carried with them as settlements and colonization expanded into Western tribal territories of the country.

“This is a reminder for (tribal) folks on the Western side of Turtle Island who are far removed from us — to consider us,” she said. “Some of our own folks don’t know or understand that the sound squaw is part of our language. There’s been over 150 years of dormancy for the Wôpanâak language. But we are working to change that.”

For many Indigenous people, North America is referred to as Turtle Island, a reference that comes from tribal oral histories.

The mistake of viewing 'people of color as monoliths'

Mwalim Peters, an associate English and communications professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, said Haaland’s designation comes from viewing “people of color as monoliths.” By viewing Native people like “we are all the same,” he said, instead of recognizing the diversity of tribal cultures, languages and ways of life, Eastern tribal presence is forgotten and pushed aside.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks about the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project during a groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 18 in Centerville. Haaland recently designated the word “squaw” a racial slur and has moved to ban the word from locations across the country, including Squaw Island in Hyannisport

“More of the politics seems to focus on what is said by tribal people in the West and unfortunately, a lot of Western tribal people have an anti-Eastern bias,” Peters said. “Western people find this (the word squaw) offensive, but at the same time, this is a word and sound found within the Algonquian speaking people. So now we eradicate the Algonquian word because it’s seen as a pejorative by Western people — the fact that it's really one of our words notwithstanding. There's a certain lunacy to that.”

Whether it’s a word or sound, Elizabeth Pinchback-Lamar, a language acquisition research fellow at Smith College in Northampton, said each aspect of a language is a “very specific creation of human communities.”

“This specific relabeling of a sound or a word and taking a word from a community is one of the ways that communities die,” she said.

'It's anti-classical, anti-prejudice': Symphony's concert adds Wampanoag stories, social change

Because the sound “squaw” was taken at different points in history, in part, the motivation was to prevent future generations from learning it in the right way, Pinchback-Lamar said.

“The word didn't develop into a new definition. It was essentially stolen and used to insult its own community,” she said. “That is something we find happens very often with marginalized communities when more than one community is in contact and at least one of them is convinced they have power over another. It’s very easy for words to be stolen and skewed and misused.”

Despite the “unique history of the sound squaw,” which has now been deemed a “slur or a pejorative,” said Pinchback-Lamar, it’s essential for those who spoke and still speak the original Algonquian language “to determine how it should be used.”

View of Squaw Island looking looking west over Hyannisport Golf Club towards Osterville.

“It’s important to not write off this term as being offensive, because all that does is give more power to the racist misusage of the term,” she said. “But instead of trying to save one group of people from being offended, all that does is write over the history of the sound of the word. That not only states that their opinion doesn’t matter, but more importantly, it quite literally erases their existence from this particular term, which is very dangerous.”

For Madison, the only way to find a common ground surrounding the sound “squaw” is to “pump the breaks” on Haaland’s initiative.

“We need to at least have a conversation to enlighten folks about this Algonquian language,” Madison said. “Often, Native and indigenous people don't correct folks until they come and ask. It’s time to be less reserved and speak up about our ability to connect to our language fluency and forms of expression.”

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod's Squaw Island prompts debate on Native American culture

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene denounced Kwanzaa as a 'fake religion created by a psychopath'

Lauren Frias

Mon, December 27, 2021

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Kwanzaa a "fake religion created by a psychopath."

• Greene made the remark in response to a statement by the College Republican National Committee.

• The annual weeklong celebration of African history and culture was introduced in 1966.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Kwanzaa a "fake religion created by a psychopath" on Sunday as millions began to celebrate the weeklong holiday.

Greene made the remark in response to a statement by the College Republican National Committee, a national organization of conservative college students.

"Wishing you a happy and prosperous Kwanza," the group tweeted Sunday.

Greene responded to the tweet by saying the organization was "turning people away" by posting the holiday greeting.

"Stop. It's a fake religion created by a psychopath," Greene wrote. "You aren't bringing in new voters, you are turning them away. People are tired of pandering and BS."

Introduced by professor Maulana Karenga in 1966, Kwanzaa is an annual weeklong celebration in which African American families give gifts, eat traditional meals, and light candles in honor of their ancestors.

Greene's tweet seemed to reference Karenga, who was convicted of felony assault in connection with a 1970 attack on two female members of the US Organization, a Black nationalist group in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times.

While Greene condemned Kwanzaa — which she incorrectly called a religion — her GOP counterparts have previously offered holiday greetings to those who celebrate it.

In 2017, President Donald Trump issued a statement, saying: "Let us celebrate during this joyous time the richness of the past and look with hope toward a brighter future.

"As families and friends join to light the Kinara, Melania and I extend our warmest wishes for a joyful holiday season and a prosperous year to come."

In 2013, the Republican National Committee also wished people a happy Kwanzaa.

"Wishing those celebrating a joyous time with loved ones and a time of meaningful reflection ahead of the New Year," the organization wrote in a tweet.

Representatives for Greene and the College Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

How This Mummy Finally Spilled Its Secrets After 3,500 Years

Neel V. Patel
Mon, December 27, 2021

S. Saleem and Z. Hawass

Ancient mummies can be found on every continent except Antarctica, but the best known are from Egypt, where mummification was an ornate and sacred practice for ensuring the dead could move on into the afterlife. Deceased royalty were mummified in the most elaborate and complex ways—so every mummified pharaoh is an opportunity to study a long-lost history and science.

Those opportunities, of course, are increasingly rare these days. According to Saleem Sahar, a radiologist at Cairo University who works with the Egyptian Mummy Project, every royal Egyptian mummy found in the 19th and 20th centuries has been unwrapped except one: the pharaoh Amenhotep I, who ruled Egypt from approximately 1525 to 1504 BCE. Though his body was discovered in 1881, his mummy was simply “so beautiful that it was not unwrapped in modern times,” Saleem told The Daily Beast. “Physical unwrapping of mummies has been condemned as it destroyed mummies.” Scientists have been especially reluctant to study Amenhotep since it’s unique for being totally wrapped, adorned with delicate flower garlands, and fitted with an exquisitely lifelike face mask.

In 2019, Saleem decided enough was enough—it was time to study the damn mummy, even if it couldn’t be unwrapped. How? Through CT scans. In a new study published in Frontiers in Medicine, Saleem and her colleagues used CT scanning to “digitally unwrap” Amenhotep. New software advances allowed the researchers to reconstruct the mummified contents as 3D imagery—giving us a compelling look at what one human looked like when he died over three millennia ago.

A 3D reconstruction of Amenhotep I's mummified skull.
S. Saleem and Z. Hawass

“Virtual unwrapping using CT scanning was the only method to reveal the secrets of this mummy in a detailed way,” said Saleem. “The 2D and 3D images show the mummy’s physical features, health, mummification style, injuries by ancient tomb robbers, as well as treatment offered by the priests of a later dynasty. No other imaging method can provide this data.”

For starters, we now know what Amenhotep actually looked like when he died around the age of 35: he was a little over 5.5 feet tall, had a narrow chin and narrow nose, curly hair, and his upper teeth protruded a bit from the rest of his face.

He was laid to rest with over 30 amulets and other jewelry sitting between his linen wrappings. His entrails were removed, but his heart and brain were left behind. And while there’s no evidence he died of disease or wounds, there are plenty of postmortem mutilations that suggest his body was attacked by grave robbers after his burial.

The pharaoh's skeleton as scanned beneath the facemask and wrappings.
S. Saleem and Z. Hawass

Another big mystery was also solved. We already knew that Amenhotep’s mummy was opened up once before, 400 years after the original burial. It was assumed priests around this time had gone back into the tomb to salvage burial equipment for use on later pharaohs. Saleem explained that the CT scans indicated those priests actually tried to repair the damage inflicted by grave robbers and restore the mummy’s integrity.

CT scans have been used to study Egyptian mummies before—most notably King Tut in 2005. But this is the first time researchers have demonstrated we might be able to use this technology to avoid causing any harm or destruction to the mummy. Saleem thinks that could be especially useful for studying Peruvian mummies that are especially fragile—or for more macabre modern-day mysteries.

Serious cognitive problems see abrupt drop among older people, study says. Here’s why



Katie Camero
Mon, December 27, 2021, 11:44 AM·3 min read

There was an “abrupt decline” in the percentage of older Americans reporting serious problems with concentration, memory and decision making over a decade — particularly among women, according to a new study.

Researchers are heralding the findings as “very welcome” news.

From 2008 to 2017, the percentage of adults ages 65 and older in the U.S. with serious cognitive issues dropped from 12.2% to 10%, researchers from Canada found. In a hypothetical scenario without the decline, about an additional 1.1 million older people in the U.S. would have reported experiencing mental congestion.

And older women appeared to drive much of the plunge.

Serious cognitive problems declined 23% over a decade among women in the age group, compared to 13% among men, the study published last month in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found.

The findings were based on 10 annual “American Community Surveys” conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that included a total of 5.4 million people in the U.S. ages 65 and older.

“We were astonished to see the prevalence of cognitive impairment decrease so sharply over such a short period of time,” study lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, director of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Life Course & Aging, said in a news release posted Dec. 23. “This decline in the prevalence of serious cognitive problems has a cascade of benefits for older adults, their families and caregivers, the health and long-term care system and the whole U.S. economy.”

Further research showed each additional year of formal education study participants had resulted in a lower risk of developing dementia, an umbrella term that includes several diseases and conditions that cause debilitating impairments in memory and concentration.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cognitive decline is one of the earliest “noticeable” symptoms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers said 60% of the decline in serious cognitive issues “was attributable to generational differences in educational attainment.”

“It appears that these increasing educational opportunities continue to pay dividends more than half a century later,” study co-author Katherine Ahlin, a recent graduate student of social work at the University of Toronto, said in the release. “The short-term benefits of increasing educational attainment for income, productivity and the economy are well documented, but our research suggests the long-term benefits on later-life cognitive functioning are substantial.”

But education cannot explain the entirety of the decline in cognitive issues among older people, researchers said.

It’s possible that better nutrition, declines in smoking and the phase-out of leaded gasoline — which previous research has connected to increased rates of dementia — also contributed to the “positive trends.”

“Our finding from this study of over 5 million older Americans is definitely a very welcome, ‘good news story’ indicating a steep decline in the prevalence of cognitive impairment among older Americans,” Fuller-Thomson said. “We still need to investigate whether these positive trends will continue in the decades ahead and why men’s rates of improvements are lagging behind those of women.”

Although the study offers good news, other research suggests the opposite will occur over time.

A 2018 CDC study estimated the number of people in the U.S. with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia will grow from about 6 million to 14 million by 2060. Researchers largely cited population growth among communities of color, particularly Hispanic people, for the increase because dementia disproportionately affects non-white racial and ethnic groups.

“Early diagnosis is key to helping people and their families cope with loss of memory, navigate the health care system, and plan for their care in the future,” the CDC said.

US steps up probe into Hyundai-Kia engine failures and fires


FILE - A Hyundai Sonata sits in a Hyundai car dealership in Des Plaines, Ill., on Oct. 4, 2012. U.S. auto safety regulators have stepped up a series of investigations into engine fires that have plagued Hyundai and Kia vehicles for more than six years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a new engineering analysis investigation covers more than 3 million vehicles from the 2011 through 2016 model years. 

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File

TOM KRISHER
Mon, December 27, 2021, 6:40 AM·3 min read

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators have stepped up a series of investigations into engine fires that have plagued Hyundai and Kia vehicles for more than six years.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a new engineering analysis investigation covers more than 3 million vehicles from the 2011 through 2016 model years. The agency has received 161 complaints of engine fires, some of which occurred in vehicles that had already been recalled.

Engine failures and fires have dogged the Korean automakers' vehicles since September 2015 when the company issued an engine failure recall. Since then it has issued at least eight more recalls for a host of engine problems, according to NHTSA documents posted on its website Monday.

The agency says it's opening the engineering analysis to evaluate whether previous recalls covered enough vehicles. It also will monitor the effectiveness of previous recalls “as well as the long-term viability of related programs and non-safety field actions being conducted by Hyundai and Kia.

The engineering analysis could lead to further recalls.

Hyundai said it Monday that it is cooperating fully with U.S. regulators.

“Hyundai has taken numerous proactive actions to address engine issues, including conducting several recalls, launching a new engine monitoring technology, providing extended warranties and enhancing our customer service response,” the company said in a prepared statement. “Hyundai fosters a culture of transparency and accountability as the safety of our customers is the top priority in everything we do.”

Kia did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The vehicle fires involve the related Korean automakers' Theta II GDI, Theta II MPI, Theta II MPI hybrid, Nu GDI and Gamma GDI engines. Models covered include Hyundai's Sonata, Santa Fe, and Elantra and as well as Kia's Sorento, Rio, Optima and Soul. Model years covered are 2011 through 2016.

The agency says three people have reported eye and burn injuries that did not require medical treatment.

In November of 2020, NHTSA announced that Kia and Hyundai must pay $137 million in fines and for safety improvements because they moved too slowly to recall more than 1 million vehicles with engines that can fail. The fines resolve a previous probe into the companies’ behavior involving recalls of multiple models dating to the 2011 model year.

Kia was to pay $27 million and invest $16 million in safety performance measures. Another $27 million payment will be deferred as long as Kia meets safety conditions, NHTSA said.

Kia denied the U.S. allegations but said it wanted to avoid a protracted legal fight.

Data collected by the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety show 31 U.S. fire and engine-related recalls from Hyundai and Kia since 2015. The recalls involve more than 20 models from the 2006 through 2021 model years totaling over 8.4 million vehicles.

Many of the recalls involved manufacturing defects that stopped oil from flowing through the engine block. Many involved expensive engine replacements.

Hyundai and Kia also did a U.S. “product improvement campaign” covering 3.7 million vehicles to install software that will alert drivers of possible engine failures.

‘This used to be a great job’: US truckers driven down by long hours and low pay

Michael Sainato in Florida
Mon, December 27, 2021

Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Tim Clemons has driven nearly 3m miles around the US in his 30 years as a truck driver. “This used to be a great job,” said Clemons. “I provide a valuable service to this country. It would be nice if we weren’t looked down upon like trash.”

While the industry says there is a national shortage of drivers and complains regulation is holding back hiring, Florida-based Clemons has another theory: working conditions have deteriorated since he started driving, he said. It’s more difficult to find parking and access to bathrooms. Dispatchers and brokers are pushing harder to deliver loads in a certain amount of time or else drivers face fines or deductions. Drivers earn less.

All these factors may explain why annual turnover at big trucking employers averaged 94% between 1995 and 2017. And that’s before Covid upended the supply chain and increased demand for drivers, and the pressures they face.

Most facilities Clemons drives to do not provide bathrooms for truck drivers, and many truck stops are backed up with wait times to refuel and use the bathroom.

“If you haven’t found a place to park by 2 or 3pm in a truck stop, you’re looking for any place to park, yet we’re fined and towed for just trying to be safe,” Clemons said. “When you have a 300-mile run and six to seven hours to be there, you don’t have time to waste, so either you’re late or you’re on time and refused use of the facilities. As nasty as it may sound, most of us experienced drivers carry garbage bags and a five-gallon bucket, or a potty chair with plastic grocery bags.”

According to the American Trucking Associations, the lobbying organization for large trucking employers, the US has a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers that is disrupting the nation’s supply chains, and the shortages are projected to worsen over the next few years.

This claim has been repeated consistently over the years and has recently been cited by industry groups in favor of a bill in Congress to lower the commercial driver’s license age requirement from 21 to 18. But truck drivers are quick to highlight the low pay, poor treatment and tough working conditions they endure throughout the industry as prevailing issues for employers who claim to have trouble finding and retaining enough drivers.

“The industry has recycled this narrative about every three months for over 20 years. There is no truck driver shortage,” said Desiree Wood, the president of Real Women in Trucking. “It is indeed a pay shortage and work conditions issue.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published an article in March 2019 discussing the widespread and constant claims of labor shortages in the trucking industry, but found that if wages rise in the industry, any long-term labor shortages would be improved. “As a whole, the market for truck drivers appears to work as well as any other blue-collar labor market,” the report concluded.

Darrell Kirkland, a truck driver based in Georgia for 31 years, explained the various ways in which truck drivers are taken advantage of by operators and shipping receivers, such as working several hours a day without pay due to waiting to pick up or drop off loads. He has waited up to 36 hours, with typical wait times of several hours.

“Most drivers don’t get paid for the detention times,” said Kirkland. “A trucking company may allow their customers a two- to three-hour time period, before they start charging detention. So that waiting time the driver doesn’t get paid for and it uses up the driver’s available hours to drive for the day.”

Truck drivers are often charged lumbar fees by receiving companies to unload freight, and won’t allow drivers to unload trucks themselves, adding more unpaid time to drivers’ schedules.

“Most driver pay is pay per mile, but it varies from one company to another,” added Kirkland. “If the wheels aren’t turning, the driver isn’t earning.”

Nearly 2 million Americans work as truck drivers, a rate that has steadily increased over the years from about 1.57 million truck drivers in 2000. States issue more than 450,000 commercial driver’s licenses per year.

While more Americans are working as truck drivers, wages have drastically declined since the passage of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which deregulated the US trucking industry.

We’re fed up and we’re tired of having no voice and we’re the power in the industry
Billy Randel

When adjusted for inflation, median wages for truck drivers in 1980 were about $110,000 annually. In 2020, median annual wages for truck drivers were $47,130. Nearly 40% of US truck drivers were covered by union contracts in 1983, which dropped to 10.1% in 2020. Many trucking companies also misclassify drivers as independent contractors, shifting overhead costs on to workers and burdening them with massive amounts of debt for their vehicles, gas and fees.

Billy Randel, a truck driver based in the New York area for decades and chief organizer of Truckers Movement for Justice, explained that most truck drivers work 60 to 70 hours a week without overtime pay, as many of the hours are unpaid wait times, from waiting to load and unload, to department of transportation inspections, or having to clean out trailers before picking up a new load.

“We’re fed up and we’re tired of having no voice and we’re the power in the industry. Nothing moves without us,” said Randel. “There are too many drivers out here who are homeless and they stay on the road because they have no place to live.

“There are too many drivers that actually qualify for federal food-stamp assistance. We want to end the sharecropping outright, and take back the power drivers once had when we were organized many decades ago.”

Non-Americans Are Sharing Things Americans Aren't Ready To Hear, And Buckle Up, Their Opinions Are Absolutely Brutal


BUZZFEED
Sun, December 26, 2021

Non-Americans have some strong opinions and questions when it comes to the US, and according to this viral Reddit thread, they're not afraid to show it.

Freeform
Recently, Redditor u/jaycool74 asked non-Americans, "What's something us Americans aren't ready to hear?" and the results are fascinating.

Flashpop / Getty Images

Here are some of the top-voted responses:

1."A lot of your favourite food brands make better versions of their products here. America often gets the short end of the stick."
—u/YodasChick-O-Stick

"American living in Germany — can confirm. Philadelphia cream cheese is so much better here!"
—u/bursatella

2."You are the 'foreigner' for me and around 220 countries."
—u/TaikoLeagueReddit

"Apparently, they aren't ready to hear that people from countries that aren't 'America' don't consider themselves as being from 'foreign' countries."
—u/adlcp

3."American bathroom stalls are exposed AF. A grown man could crawl under one of 'em, and the vertical gap has a big enough gap to make full-on eye contact with anyone walking by."

—u/CowDeerLaura Beach / Getty Images/EyeEm

4."Many other countries get minimum four weeks of paid vacation leave for employees and paid maternity leave — even for the father."
—u/Zahliamischa

5."Staying alive isn't something that should cost more than the person's net worth."
—u/LorckFrak

"You live in the main global superpower. A country that can wipe a lot of other places off the map. Your country has so much wealth — yet people die of treatable health problems because they can’t afford to go to the doctor."
—u/cloudpeak36

6."The amount of food you waste is wild."

—u/Commercial_Quarter_6Tim Grist Photography / Getty Images

7."The way you add tax to everything at the till is mental. Just tell me what it costs on the fricking label!"
—u/Sufficient_Vanilla18

8."Treating your president like someone you worship is bizarre. As an Aussie, I don’t understand worshipping the royals, either."
—u/Appropriate_Sun6311

9."The US is a great place to be rich and a bad place to be poor."
—u/IllustriousGuard1943

10."The quality of your fast food is absolutely horrible compared to that of Canada’s. I’m referring to the same chains: Burger King, McDonald's, etc."

—u/earthmang2twoVladispas / Getty Images/iStockphoto

11."You DO have an accent."
—u/imakeverylittlemoney

12."It’s okay to have healthcare not tied to your employment with a massive, fat middleman in between."
—u/yongrii

13."School shootings are an almost uniquely American problem. The rest of the world is disgusted. Truly. The need for children to practice ‘active shooter drills’ is an unfathomable sci-fi dystopian horror for us."
—u/JessieOwl

14."TURN THE VOLUME DOWN — YOU'RE TOO LOUD."

—u/captainsnacks11

"Americans can always be identified before you see them by their loud voices. I grew up in America, moved to Ireland around 12 years ago, and have learned quite a bit in my time. Now, I see these fresh-off-the-boat American tourists shouting all the time, and I just think, 'Was I that bad?' and 'Why are they so loud?'"
—u/ultratunamanTetra Images / Getty Images/Tetra images RF

15."Forcing students to go into debt for further education is disgusting. One should be able to get more education without having to risk never financially recovering."
—u/uckin_anti_pope

16."You all eat too much sugar."
—u/whtsinthename

"I lived in the US for six months. Shortly after moving, I bought a loaf of bread and made a sandwich, but it was so sweet! I told my housemates that I think I’d accidentally bought a dessert bread. They tried it. NOPE — regular bread. It was just FULL of sugar!"
—u/goldboldsold

17."Seriously though, why is it so expensive to call an ambulance?"
—u/Single_Ad6775

18."Tipping in America is BS. Owners of restaurants and places need to pay normal wages."

—u/BeastmasterBGNmaxfield / Getty Images / iStockphoto

19."Your lack of a cohesive trade union movement screws your lowest-income workers and allows/encourages your political parties to pander only to the elite."
—u/juzzy23

20."Your education system is far worse than you think."
—u/mdsMW

"Not just worse, but also really, really bad in terms of metrics and history."
—u/BeastmasterBG

21."The world doesn’t revolve around your country."
—u/rayyfcb19

22."Not everyone speaks English in the rest of the world. Learn another language; it's good for the soul and the brain."

—u/chillbill1

"The worst part is when they make fun of or belittle foreigners for their accents or incorrect choice of vocabulary — when they only speak English and said foreigner speaks two or more languages already."
—u/Its_DizzeeTom Werner / Getty ImagesMore

23."The World Series only happens in the US."

—u/Kommonwealth

24."If you tell me you're Polish, but you were born in USA, never went to Poland, never learned the language, and you don't give a f*ck? Yeah, you're not Polish — you're American. Same goes for any other nationality."
—u/Robert_Kurwica

"Just because your grandma or whatever was Irish/Italian/German etc., doesn’t mean you’re Irish/Italian/German etc. — and that’s okay."
—u/TheAndorran

And finally...

25."We aren't jealous of you, like, at all."
—u/Junkmatt

YouTube / Rosanna Pansino / Via giphy.com

WHEW. What do you think of these points? Non-Americans, what are some other things Americans aren't ready to hear? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Panthers are caught on wildlife cam making baby panthers in Florida. It’s a first


Mark Price
Mon, December 27, 2021, 1:12 PM·2 min read

Two panthers had a hot date in front of a trail camera, resulting in “what are likely the first ever images of Florida panthers mating,” according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

Photos of the encounter were shared Dec. 21 on Facebook, showing the female may have played hard to get — at least at first.

The series starts with the two large cats following each other, then the female crouches in the grass and the mating process begins.

Biologist didn’t say how long it lasted, but the coupling concludes with the female appearing to growl angrily.

“These remote trail camera photos were taken on Babcock Ranch Preserve, Charlotte County, on Aug 24th,” the institute wrote. “Breeding success north of the Caloosahatchee River is critical to the long-term viability of the Florida panther population, so we are hopeful that this mating event resulted in a litter of kittens that would have been born around Nov 22.”

If the female gave birth, her kittens will likely emerge from the den in January, officials said.

Florida panthers weigh as much as 160 pounds and reach just over 7 feet “from nose to tip of the tail,” the state says. They are also endangered: It’s believed no more than 230 adults remain in Florida, mostly in the southwestern part of the state, experts say.

Billy Gunnels of Florida Gulf Coast University says having such a small population largely in one area means Florida’s panthers could be largely wiped out by a catastrophe, according to station WBBH.

“If you have one terrible terrible event ... maybe it’s a terrible hurricane, maybe it’s a disease that goes through the population … the animal disappears. They’re gone, they become extinct,” Gunnels told the station.

The “over the top” mating photos were also shared by the South Florida Wildlands Association, which noted a “disturbing” aspect to the story. Florida’s panthers “need vast swaths of roadless habitat” to survive, and that is rapidly disappearing, the association says.

“The Babcock Preserve where these photos were taken is adjacent to the ‘new town’ of Babcock Ranch. ... And those 17,000 acres of new development are now booming,” the association wrote. “Many other properties nearby are also ripe for development (development begets development), as are important habitats in private ownership throughout Central Florida.”

SPIRIT ANIMAL

Rare albino Jaguarundi cub rescued in Colombia
Dec 28, 2021

A rare albino Jaguarundi cub has been rescued in Colombia as vets now work around the clock to build up its strength for eventual release to a conservation park. The animal – which is a type of puma native to the Americas – was discovered in a metropolitan area in Colombia's north. The albino female is the first of its kind to be discovered in the country.

PHILIPPINES

'Help Us': After Typhoon Rai, Miles of Destruction and the Smell of Death


Jason Gutierrez and Ezra Acayan
Mon, December 27, 2021

Homes lay crumpled after Super Typhoon Rai swept through the coastal village of Fatima in Ubay, Bohol province, the Philippines, Dec. 21, 2021. (Ezra Acayan/The New York Times)

MANILA, Philippines — “The trees snapped like matchsticks.”

Ed Boysillo, 54, a municipal worker in Ubay, in the central Philippine province of Bohol, was describing the fearsome power of Super Typhoon Rai. The storm made its first landfall Dec. 16, bringing torrential rains and packing winds up to 168 mph, comparable to a Category 5 hurricane.

It blew away buildings, swelled rivers to overflow and forced more than 7 million people to flee their homes. It cut off power, water and communications. It damaged critical infrastructure.

As of Monday morning, the storm had killed 389 people, injured 1,146 others and left 65 missing, official figures show. More than half a million people were still in evacuation centers or staying with friends and relatives.

The smell of death hung in the air in Bohol, where a family emerged from the wreckage to try to salvage a door festooned with Christmas decorations. An inflatable Santa Claus that had survived the lashing winds swayed forlornly in the air, its affable face a striking contrast to the destruction.

Antero Ramos, 68, who is from the village of Casare in Ubay, lost his wife, Tarsila Ramos, 61, and two of his daughters, Nita, 37, and Nenita, 28, in the storm.

“My wife decided that we should evacuate, so we decided to shelter in the bodega we used to store rice,” he said. “But as soon as we entered, the bodega collapsed on us,” he said.

The bodega’s caretaker also perished.

“This is a very sad Christmas,” Ramos said. “We had to bury them immediately because the funeral parlor could not get to the bodega because of the debris that was still on the roads.”

Rai, the international name for the storm (the local name is Odette), was the 15th typhoon to hit the country this year. The storm made eight more landfalls in multiple regions before veering away.

The Philippines sits on a typhoon belt and typically gets about 20 storms a year. After Rai’s devastation, the country’s Climate Change Commission called for urgent action at the local level “to build community resilience against extreme climate-related events and minimize loss and damage.”

“As the level of global warming continues to increase,” it said in a statement last week, “these extreme weather events and other climate impacts are becoming severe, and may be irreversible, threatening to further set back our growth as a nation.”

In Bohol, where many of the storm deaths were recorded, overturned vehicles were piled up on the side of the highway and in fields Monday. Trees and debris littered the terrain. Many of the deaths had occurred in coastal areas inundated by storm surges or where people had been crushed by houses that crumbled in the wind. Everywhere, people could be seen scouring the ruins of homes to salvage what was left of their old lives.

On a highway leading to Ubay, near a bay in Bohol, survivors of the storm had scrawled, “Help us,” a desperate plea to passing helicopters and airplanes.

Officials warned that residents in remote areas were running out of food. Countries such as the United States, Canada, China and South Korea have pledged aid. A United Nations agency called for $107.2 million “to support the government in responding to the most urgent humanitarian needs for the next six months.”

Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap has sought donations to purchase food and other relief items. An early appeal brought in generators, but fuel is now a coveted commodity.

“Many bought generators, and that tripled the demand for gasoline,” Yap told reporters Friday. “That’s the reason why we have long queues at the gasoline stations.”

Ananisa Guinanas, 27, went to get gasoline Friday in Ubay with her 3-year-old daughter. Police officers were guarding the site.

“We have been lining up for the past seven hours,” she said. “I brought my daughter because I couldn’t leave her. Our house was destroyed. We desperately need gasoline for the motorcycle we would use to look for water.”

After the storm, the Loboc River turned brown from mud and debris.

Nilo Rivera, 34, said his and his mother-in-law’s houses were quickly swept away by the river’s rampaging waters once the storm hit.

“The water reached up to the second floor of our homes,” he said, pointing to a water line beside a structure left standing after the muddy water subsided.

They were living in a makeshift tent.

Bohol is also no stranger to calamities. A powerful quake destroyed one of its churches in October 2013 and severely damaged infrastructure. Casualties were low because the temblor had struck on a holiday.

A month later, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm to make landfall in the country’s recorded history, devastated huge swaths of the Philippines.

The toll: 6,500 dead or missing.

Frederic Soupart, the owner of the Fox and the Firefly resort in Bohol, said he believes that Rai was worse than Haiyan. Rai left destruction everywhere as it exited through the Palawan Islands, in the western Philippines. Parts of his resort were buried in waist-deep muck.

“I’ve never seen any flooding like this,” he said, estimating that damage from the storm would cost millions of Philippine pesos to repair. His resort is next to the Loboc River, and he and his staff had to shovel mud from the property.

“It doesn’t feel like Christmas,” Soupart said. “I was buying stuff at the hardware store, and the Christmas songs annoyed me.”

Cleanup operations have been slow, although the Philippine military had deployed engineering crews to help rebuild. Electricity and telecommunications had yet to be restored in Bohol and in many other areas.

In Siargao, a surfing destination on the northeastern tip of Mindanao Island, east of Bohol, no structure was left standing or spared damage.

The government evacuated dozens of foreign tourists and Filipinos on a military plane. But some chose to stay behind to help rebuild.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who was among the first national officials to reach devastated sites, said Friday in a Christmas message, “Hope is found in togetherness.”

Many Filipinos sought comfort in the church. Priests appealed for calm as the national government scrambled to get aid to residents. Worshippers in Bohol used flashlights and candles to hold Mass at dawn.

Donn De Lima, 44, was among dozens from the Santo Niño Parish in Ubay who attended Mass on Christmas Eve. It was raining hard, and the roof of the church leaked.

“This Christmas is sad because my home was heavily damaged,” he said. After Mass, his family planned to share a simple meal under a rechargeable flashlight.

Others were not as lucky.

Alicia Nemenzo, 48, and her daughter Mavel Nemenzo, 21, spent Christmas Eve sheltering in a tiny roadside store after the storm wrecked their home. Their only source of light was a flickering candle.

“When it rains now, we get frightened,” she said. “I think we all were traumatized by this typhoon.”

© 2021 The New York Times Company