It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, January 12, 2024
Thermal vision shows endangered numbats feel the heat of warming climate
Curtin University research using thermal imaging of numbats in Western Australia has found that during hot weather the endangered animals are limited to as little as ten minutes of activity in the sun before they overheat to a body temperature of greater than 40°C.
Lead author Dr Christine Cooper, from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said despite using techniques such as raising or flattening their fur to regulate body temperature, numbats were prone to overheating, which was an important consideration for future conservation efforts, particularly given our warming climate.
“Active only during the day and with an exclusive diet of termites, numbats are often exposed to high temperatures and gain heat from direct sunlight. Even when in the shade they gain heat from radiation from the ground, rocks and trees,” Dr Cooper said.
“We found when it is cold, numbats keep warm by raising their fur to provide better insulation and to allow more radiation to penetrate. When it is hot, they depress their fur to facilitate heat loss and shield the skin from solar radiation. In this way their body functions as a thermal window that allows heat exchange.
“The numbats’ distinctive stripes do not have a role in heat balance, rather their most likely function is for camouflage.”
Dr Cooper said numbats used to be found across southern Australia but were now restricted to two remaining natural populations at Dryandra Woodland, near Narrogin, where the study was done, and Perup Nature Reserve, near Manjimup, with some additional re-introduced populations.
“With an estimated population of only about 2000, numbats are under threat from habitat loss and introduced predators like foxes and feral cats,” Dr Cooper said.
“In terms of habitat requirements, our findings show the importance of considering temperature and shade availability when planning translocations for the conservation of this endangered species, particularly given our warming climate.
“Even with shade available, higher temperatures will reduce how long numbats can forage during the day, and because they have limited capacity to become more nocturnal, heat may become problematic for numbats.
“Understanding how the numbat responds to and manages heat is essential to understanding its ecology and has particular relevance for the future conservation and management of the species in the face of global warming.”
Published in Journal of Experimental Biology, the research is titled ‘Implications of heat exchange for a free-living endangered marsupial determined by non-invasive thermal imaging’.
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC, AND EARTH SCIENCE
IMAGE:
THE VIOLESCENT SEA-WHIP (PARAMURICEA CLAVATA) IS AN IMPORTANT ARCHITECT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN TEMPERATE REEFS THAT IS CURRENTLY THREATENED BY MASS MORTALITY EVENTS RELATED TO GLOBAL WARMING.
CREDIT: PARENT GÉRY, VIA WIKIPEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-SHARE ALIKE 3.0
A Single-Celled Microbe is Helping Corals Survive Climate Change, Study Finds
New research highlights the role of microorganisms in protecting corals from heat-stress
Researchers discovered for the first time a single-celled microbe that can help corals survive ocean-warming events like bleaching. The new study, led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF) in Barcelona, offers new information on the role microbes might play in helping corals withstand end-of-century warming projections.
They found that the abundance of certain protists within the coral microbiome — the diverse microorganisms that live within corals — can inform scientists as to whether a coral will survive heat stress. These findings have important implications for corals across the globe as they face more frequent ocean warming events especially those without zooxanthellae, the symbiotic algae that is expelled from a coral during warm water-induced bleaching.
“This is the first time that a non-algae microbe has been shown to influence the ability of corals to survive a heat-stress event,” said the study’s senior author Javier del Campo, an adjunct assistant professor at the Rosenstiel School and principal investigator of the IBE, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and University Pompeu Fabra (UPF). “As corals face more and more heat-stress events due to climate change, a better understanding of all the microbes that may influence survivability can inform conservation practitioners as to which corals they should prioritize for intervention.”
To conduct the study, the international team of researchers collected coral samples from across the Mediterranean to analyze their microbiome and conduct heat-stress experiments. They amplified and sequenced two types of rRNA to look at the bacteria and protists found in the microbiome of one species of soft coral, the violescent sea-whip (Paramuricea clavata), before subjecting them to a natural heat-stress in the lab to examine signs of mortality.
Paramuricea clavata is an important architect of the Mediterranean temperate reefs that is currently threatened by mass mortality events related to global warming.
They found that a group of parasitic single-celled protists — called Syndiniales —are more common in corals that survive heat-stress, while Corallicolids, a group of protist closely related to the parasite that causes malaria in humans is more common in corals that die from heat-stress.
Protists, or single-cell eukaryotes, are less studied than bacteria in most host organisms but may have a major influence on the health of their coral host, according to the researchers
“The microbiome is a vital component of coral host health and we should study all members of it from the bacteria to the protists,” said del Campo.
The study, titled “Differential apicomplexan presence predicts thermal stress mortality in the Mediterranean coral Paramuricea clavata" was recently published in the journal Environmental Microbiology.
The study’s authors include: Anthony Bonacolta and Javier del Campo from the Rosenstiel School and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF); Jordi Miravall, Paula López-Sendino, Joaquim Garrabou, and Ramon Massana from the Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC in Barcelona, Spain; Daniel Gómez-Gras from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; and Jean-Baptiste Ledoux from the Universidade do Porto in Portugal.
The study was supported by grant from the University of Miami, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2020-118836GA-I00), Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Project 2021 SGR 00420), Severo Ochoa Centre de Excellence (CEX2019-000928-S), Ministério da Educação e Ciência, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (2021.00855) and European Union Futuremares (SEP-210597628).
About the University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant and diverse academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, a respect for including and elevating diverse voices, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world. Founded in the 1940’s, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science has grown into one of the world’s premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. www.earth.miami.edu.
SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVISED A STRATEGY FOR CONVERTING CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) FROM THE ATMOSPHERE INTO VALUABLE CARBON NANOFIBERS. THE PROCESS USES TANDEM ELECTROCATALYTIC (BLUE RING) AND THERMOCATALYTIC (ORANGE RING) REACTIONS TO CONVERT THE CO2 (TEAL AND SILVER MOLECULES) PLUS WATER (PURPLE AND TEAL) INTO "FIXED" CARBON NANOFIBERS (SILVER), PRODUCING HYDROGEN GAS (H2, PURPLE) AS A BENEFICIAL BYPRODUCT. THE CARBON NANOFIBERS COULD BE USED TO STRENGTHEN BUILDING MATERIALS SUCH AS CEMENT AND LOCK AWAY CARBON FOR DECADES.
CREDIT: (ZHENHUA XIE/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; ERWEI HUANG/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY)
UPTON, NY—Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University have developed a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas, into carbon nanofibers, materials with a wide range of unique properties and many potential long-term uses. Their strategy uses tandem electrochemical and thermochemical reactions run at relatively low temperatures and ambient pressure. As the scientists describe in the journal Nature Catalysis, this approach could successfully lock carbon away in a useful solid form to offset or even achieve negative carbon emissions.
“You can put the carbon nanofibers into cement to strengthen the cement,” said Jingguang Chen, a professor of chemical engineering at Columbia with a joint appointment at Brookhaven Lab who led the research. “That would lock the carbon away in concrete for at least 50 years, potentially longer. By then, the world should be shifted to primarily renewable energy sources that don’t emit carbon.”
As a bonus, the process also produces hydrogen gas (H2), a promising alternative fuel that, when used, creates zero emissions.
Capturing or converting carbon
The idea of capturing CO2 or converting it to other materials to combat climate change is not new. But simply storing CO2 gas can lead to leaks. And many CO2 conversions produce carbon-based chemicals or fuels that are used right away, which releases CO2 right back into the atmosphere.
“The novelty of this work is that we are trying to convert CO2 into something that is value-added but in a solid, useful form,” Chen said.
Such solid carbon materials—including carbon nanotubes and nanofibers with dimensions measuring billionths of a meter—have many appealing properties, including strength and thermal and electrical conductivity. But it’s no simple matter to extract carbon from carbon dioxide and get it to assemble into these fine-scale structures. One direct, heat-driven process requires temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius.
“It’s very unrealistic for large-scale CO2 mitigation,” Chen said. “In contrast, we found a process that can occur at about 400 degrees Celsius, which is a much more practical, industrially achievable temperature.”
The tandem two-step
The trick was to break the reaction into stages and to use two different types of catalysts—materials that make it easier for molecules to come together and react.
“If you decouple the reaction into several sub-reaction steps you can consider using different kinds of energy input and catalysts to make each part of the reaction work,” said Brookhaven Lab and Columbia research scientist Zhenhua Xie, lead author on the paper.
The scientists started by realizing that carbon monoxide (CO) is a much better starting material than CO2 for making carbon nanofibers (CNF). Then they backtracked to find the most efficient way to generate CO from CO2.
Earlier work from their group steered them to use a commercially available electrocatalyst made of palladium supported on carbon. Electrocatalysts drive chemical reactions using an electric current. In the presence of flowing electrons and protons, the catalyst splits both CO2 and water (H2O) into CO and H2.
For the second step, the scientists turned to a heat-activated thermocatalyst made of an iron-cobalt alloy. It operates at temperatures around 400 degrees Celsius, significantly milder than a direct CO2-to-CNF conversion would require. They also discovered that adding a bit of extra metallic cobalt greatly enhances the formation of the carbon nanofibers.
“By coupling electrocatalysis and thermocatalysis, we are using this tandem process to achieve things that cannot be achieved by either process alone,” Chen said.
On the modeling front, the scientists used “density functional theory” (DFT) calculations to analyze the atomic arrangements and other characteristics of the catalysts when interacting with the active chemical environment.
“We are looking at the structures to determine what are the stable phases of the catalyst under reaction conditions,” explained study co-author Ping Liu of Brookhaven’s Chemistry Division who led these calculations. “We are looking at active sites and how these sites are bonding with the reaction intermediates. By determining the barriers, or transition states, from one step to another, we learn exactly how the catalyst is functioning during the reaction.”
X-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption experiments at NSLS-II tracked how the catalysts change physically and chemically during the reactions. For example, synchrotron x-rays revealed how the presence of electric current transforms metallic palladium in the catalyst into palladium hydride, a metal that is key to producing both H2 and CO in the first reaction stage.
For the second stage, “We wanted to know what’s the structure of the iron-cobalt system under reaction conditions and how to optimize the iron-cobalt catalyst,” Xie said. The x-ray experiments confirmed that both an alloy of iron and cobalt plus some extra metallic cobalt are present and needed to convert CO to carbon nanofibers.
“The two work together sequentially,” said Liu, whose DFT calculations helped explain the process.
“According to our study, the cobalt-iron sites in the alloy help to break the C-O bonds of carbon monoxide. That makes atomic carbon available to serve as the source for building carbon nanofibers. Then the extra cobalt is there to facilitate the formation of the C-C bonds that link up the carbon atoms,” she explained.
Recycle-ready, carbon-negative
“Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis conducted at CFN revealed the morphologies, crystal structures, and elemental distributions within the carbon nanofibers both with and without catalysts,” said CFN scientist and study co-author Sooyeon Hwang.
The images show that, as the carbon nanofibers grow, the catalyst gets pushed up and away from the surface. That makes it easy to recycle the catalytic metal, Chen said.
“We use acid to leach the metal out without destroying the carbon nanofiber so we can concentrate the metals and recycle them to be used as a catalyst again,” he said.
This ease of catalyst recycling, commercial availability of the catalysts, and relatively mild reaction conditions for the second reaction all contribute to a favorable assessment of the energy and other costs associated with the process, the researchers said.
“For practical applications, both are really important—the CO2 footprint analysis and the recyclability of the catalyst,” said Chen. “Our technical results and these other analyses show that this tandem strategy opens a door for decarbonizing CO2 into valuable solid carbon products while producing renewable H2.”
If these processes are driven by renewable energy, the results would be truly carbon-negative, opening new opportunities for CO2 mitigation.
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
The electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic tandem strategy for CNF production circumvents thermodynamic constraints by combining the co-electrolysis of CO2 and water into syngas (CO and H2) with a subsequent thermochemical process under mild conditions (370-450 °C, ambient pressure). This yields a high CNF production rate. The optimal synergy of iron-cobalt (FeCo) alloy and extra metallic Co enhanced the dissociative activation of syngas, promoting carbon-carbon bond formation for CNF production.
CREDIT
(Zhenhua Xie/Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University)
microscopic images of carbon nanofibers
CAPTION
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows the tip of the resulting carbon nanofiber (left) on the iron-cobalt/cerium oxide (FeCo/CeO2) thermocatalyst. Scientists mapped the structure and chemical composition of newly formed carbon nanofibers (right) using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) imaging, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) (scale bar represents 8 nanometers). The images show that the nanofibers are made of carbon (C), and reveal that the catalytic metals, iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co), are pushed away from the catalytic surface and accumulate at the tip of the nanofiber.
CREDIT
(Center for Functional Nanomaterials/Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Newcastle University research turns to ancient hot springs to explore the origins of life on Earth.
The research team, funded by the UK’s Natural Environmental Research Council, investigated how the emergence of the first living systems from inert geological materials happened on the Earth, more than 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists at Newcastle University found that by mixing hydrogen, bicarbonate, and iron-rich magnetite under conditions mimicking relatively mild hydrothermal vent results in the formation of a spectrum of organic molecules, most notably including fatty acids stretching up to 18 carbon atoms in length.
Published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, their findings potentially reveal how some key molecules needed to produce life are made from inorganic chemicals, which is essential to understanding a key step in how life formed on the Earth billions of years ago. Their results may provide a plausible genesis of the organic molecules that form ancient cell membranes, that were perhaps selectively chosen by early biochemical processes on primordial Earth.
Fatty acids in the early stages of life
Fatty acids are long organic molecules that have regions that both attract and repel water that will automatically form cell-like compartments in water naturally and it is these types of molecules that could have made the first cell membranes. Yet, despite their importance, it was uncertain where these fatty acids came from in the early stages of life. One idea is that they might have formed in the hydrothermal vents where hot water, mixed with hydrogen-rich fluids coming from underwater vents mixed with seawater containing CO2.
The group replicated crucial aspects of the chemical environment found in early Earth's oceans and the mixing of the hot alkaline water from around certain types of hydrothermal vents in their laboratory. They found that when hot hydrogen-rich fluids were mixed with carbon dioxide-rich water in the presence of iron-based minerals that were present on the early Earth it created the types of molecules needed to form primitive cell membranes.
Lead author, Dr Graham Purvis, conducted the study at Newcastle University and is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Durham University.
He said: “Central to life's inception are cellular compartments, crucial for isolating internal chemistry from the external environment. These compartments were instrumental in fostering life-sustaining reactions by concentrating chemicals and facilitating energy production, potentially serving as the cornerstone of life's earliest moments.
The results suggest that the convergence of hydrogen-rich fluids from alkaline hydrothermal vents with bicarbonate-rich waters on iron-based minerals could have precipitated the rudimentary membranes of early cells at the very beginning of life. This process might have engendered a diversity of membrane types, some potentially serving as life's cradle when life first started. Moreover, this transformative process might have contributed to the genesis of specific acids found in the elemental composition of meteorites.”
Principal Investigator Dr Jon Telling, Reader in Biogeochemistry, at School of Natural Environmental Sciences, added:
“We think that this research may provide the first step in how life originated on our planet. Research in our laboratory now continues on determining the second key step; how these organic molecules which are initially ‘stuck’ to the mineral surfaces can lift off to form spherical membrane-bounded cell-like compartments; the first potential ‘protocells’ that went on to form the first cellular life.”
Intriguingly, the researchers also suggest that membrane-creating reactions similar reactions, could still be happening in the oceans under the surfaces of icy moons in our solar system today. This raises the possibility of alternative life origins in these distant worlds.
Reference
Purvis, G., Šiller, L., Crosskey, A. et al. Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents. Commun Earth Environ5, 30 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01196-4
Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
10-Jan-2024
Disclaimer: AAAS
Book ban lawsuit moves forward as Florida district removes over 1,000 titles
ABC News New report says nearly 140 school districts are implementing book bans Duration 2:40 View on Watch
A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging book bans in Escambia County, Florida, can move forward on the same day the county released an updated list of more than 2,800 individual books that have been pulled from shelves for review.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II ruled on Wednesday that book publisher Penguin Random House, free expression PEN America, authors, and families of Escambia County had standing to pursue their claims under the First Amendment because those protections are implicated when officials remove books based on ideology or viewpoint. However, they were denied to pursue the claims under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
"We are gratified that the Judge recognized that books cannot be removed from school library shelves simply because of the views they espouse, and are looking forward to moving forward with this case to protect the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs," Lynn Oberlander of Ballard Spahr, who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Escambia County has released a list of 2,812 books -- totaling more than 1,500 titles -- that have been pulled from shelves for "further review" of their compliance under House Bill 1069 which limits discussion of gender and sexual orientation in grade school as of Jan. 10. These books include "The World Book encyclopedia," "100 Women Who Made History: Remarkable Women Who Shaped Our World," "Africa (Cultural Atlas for Young People)" and more.
The previously released round-up of books to be reviewed included Merriam-Webster's dictionary and Webster's dictionary and thesaurus.
The lawsuit was brought forward in May 2023 by Penguin Random House, PEN America, authors and families of Escambia County who argue that the school board's removal and restriction of books violates the First Amendment.
The lawsuit claims the county violated the First Amendment rights of the students, authors, and publishers by "removing books 'based on ideological objections to their contents or disagreement with their messages or themes.'"
Several authors whose books have been impacted by book bans across the country, including David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, are backing the lawsuit.
The Board argued in its motion to dismiss the case that it has not banned any books, rather it "'removed from its own school libraries [books] that the Board had purchased for those libraries with Board funds. It [has] not prohibit[ed] anyone else from owning, possessing, or reading the book[s].'"
The school board claims it "has the ultimate authority to decide what books will be purchased and kept on the shelves of the schools in the district," according to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
House Bill 1069 expanded the Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by critics from prekindergarten through grade 8. It was passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2023.
From grades 9 through 12, such content must be "age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."
Recent legislation in Florida, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop WOKE Act, have led to restrictions and removals of books across the state.
The Stop WOKE Act restricts lessons and training on race and diversity in schools and in the workplace, particularly anything that discusses privilege or oppression based on race. WOKE in the bill stands for "Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees."
Between January 1 and August 31, 2023, the American Library Association recorded 695 attempts to ban library materials and services, affecting 1,915 different book titles. The organization said this marked a 20% increase from the same reporting period in 2022, which saw the highest number of book challenges since ALA began compiling the data more than 20 years ago.
Most of the book challenges in 2023 were against books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ community, according to the ALA.
To comply with HB 1069, Escambia County has subject books in school and classroom libraries to be reviewed by district book review committees and the school board.
In several cases, the books approved for use by the district book review committees have been rejected and removed or restricted by the school board. This includes the titles of "All Boys Aren't Blue," by George M. Johnson, "Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, "Push" by Sapphire, and others.
Dozens of books that were challenged by community members were requested by one person, an English teacher at a high school in Escambia County. She cites "indoctrination," "sexual content," "violent language," and "LGBTQ content" among her objections in the more than 100 complaints.
"Ensuring that students have access to books on a wide range of topics and that express a diversity of viewpoints is a core function of public education — preparing students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens," said PEN America in a statement on the lawsuit.
Escambia County officials did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comment.
Here are the corporations who donated over $108 million to election deniers since Jan. 6
Story by Carl Gibson • ALTERNET PLAINVILLE, GEORGIA - MAY 20: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
In the wake of the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in which a mob of far-right rioters attempted to violently disrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 Electoral College count, numerous corporations vowed publicly to stop donating to Republicans who supported the rioters' cause.
However, a new report from nonpartisan campaign finance research group Open Secrets shows that corporations have been flooding the campaign war chests of Republican election deniers in Congress, with more than $108 million donated since the insurrection.
"Companies pledged to pull back, but we have not seen that play out," Open Secrets investigations manager Anna Massoglia recently told the New York Times.
To come to that amount, Open Secrets tracked donations to the campaigns of the 147 House and Senate Republicans (also known as the "Sedition Caucus") who voted to overturn the 2020 election the same day supporters of former President Donald Trump ransacked the US Capitol, killing five police officers and injuring hundreds more in the process. Researchers then zeroed in on donations that came from approximately 1,400 business political action committees and trade associations.
According to Open Secrets, PACs and trade groups donated roughly $91.4 million to the Sedition Caucus in the three years since the insurrection, and funded leadership PACs affiliated with Sedition Caucus members to the tune of $16.7 million more. Some of the biggest donors include the National Association of Realtors — a trade group for the real estate industry — the American Bankers Association and United Parcel Service. Other major corporate donors to election deniers include military contractors like Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and General Atomics.
Notably, many of these donations came from the very same companies that pledged to stop supporting the Sedition Caucus. As journalist Judd Legum reported in his newsletter Popular Information, household name brands like Airbnb, Amazon, AT&T, Boeing and Pfizer publicly vowed to cut off donations to election deniers in 2021. However, Open Secrets found that all of those companies quietly resumed donations, in addition to other companies that pledged to stop supporting 2020 election conspiracy theorists like Comcast, Deloitte, General Motors, Home Depot, Marathon Petroleum, Raytheon and SpaceX, among others.
"Support for these organizations does not represent an endorsement for all issues that the organization supports," General Motors said of a 2021 donation to the Republican State Leadership Committee, which signed a statement in support of election denialism.
ITALY Hundreds of far-right activists give NaziROMAN salute at a rally in chilling scenes
Story by Gergana Krasteva • METRO UK
If you thought that this was archival footage from Germany during the Second World War, then you would be wrong; this is present day Italy during Giorgia Meloni’s premiership.
Hundreds of people were filmed giving a fascist salute during a rally in Rome without any police intervention.
A video circulating on social media showed the crowd raising their arms in a Nazi-style salute while chanting in front of the former headquarters of the now defunct neo-fascist Italian Social Movement party (MSI).
The event on Sunday commemorated the killing of three neo-fascist teenagers in the Italian capital in 1978.
Under Italy’s post-war legislation, use of fascist symbolism, including the straight-armed salute, is prohibited. Known as the Roman salute, the hand gesture has long been considered a symbol of fascisms despite its origins in ancient Roman.
Opposition politicians in Italy demanded that the government explain why police did not stop the rally.
Elly Schlein, a member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and secretary of the centre-left Democratic Party, wrote on Facebook: ‘Rome, January 7, 2024. And it feels like 1924.
‘Neo-fascist organizations should be dissolved, according to the Constitution.’
Schlein and others outraged by the use of the fascist-salute noted with irony that last month, when a theater-goer at La Scala’s opera house’s premier shouted ‘Long live anti-fascist Italy’ The man was quickly surrounded by police from Italy’s anti-terrorism squad.
‘If you shout “Long live anti-fascist Italy” in a theater, you get identified; if you go to a neo-fascist gathering with Roman salutes and banner, you don’t,’ said Schlein in a post of the social media platform X.
Then she added: ‘Meloni has nothing to say?’
Bringing up the issue in Parliament, the politician said: ‘It is embarrassing that the silence of Giorgia Meloni is unable to say a word of condemnation about the rally on January 7 in Acca Larentia, she cannot distance herself from her past, of which she is hostage.’
Meloni came to power in 2022 as Italy’s first female prime minister at the head of a coalition, giving the country its most right-wing government since Mussolini’s.
Leaders of the country’s tiny Jewish community also expressed dismay over the fascist salute.
‘It is right to recall the victims of political violence, but in 2024 this cannot happen with hundreds of people who give the Roman salute,’ Ruth Dureghello, who for several years led Rome’s Jewish community, wrote on X.
Mussolini’s anti-Jewish laws helped pave the way for the deportation of Italian Jews during the German occupation of Rome in the latter years of the Second World War.
#METOO
7 years after Weinstein, commission finds cultural shift in Hollywood but less accountability
NEW YORK (AP) — A new survey of the entertainment industry finds that the culture of Hollywood has shifted in the years since the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the launch of the #MeToo movement, but many still don't trust that sexual harassers will be held accountable.
The Hollywood Commission, chaired by Anita Hill, was founded in 2017 to help stop workplace harassment and discrimination in the entertainment industry. On Thursday, it released its second survey, pulled from interviews with more than 5,200 anonymous industry workers, of how behavior and attitudes are changing in Hollywood
“There has been increased awareness of what the problems are, what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors aren’t acceptable, and what the systems are for confronting those problems,” Hill said in an interview. “Now, people are understanding that this is a systemic problem.”
The study, conducted over 2022 and 2023, follows a similar survey carried out in 2019-2020. It found that 82% of workers are aware of unacceptable behaviors in the workplace, a 6% increase compared to in 2020. Some 74% of workers said they're aware of how to share their concerns about workplace conduct, up 6% from 2020.
Yet just 31% of entertainment workers believe it's likely that a powerful harasser will be held accountable. Among women, that percentage is just 27% and has remained largely unchanged in recent years.
Some 41% of workers who experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct said they chose not to report it because they did not think anything would be done. That's an increase from 33% in 2020. Still, among those who did report concerns, 66% said that, based on their experience, they would encourage others to do the same. That's up from 62% in 2020.
“Accountability has been a problem,” said Hill. “What we're seeing now is that people recognize that those high-profile cases are out there, but they don't see those cases having much of an impact that work their way down through their organizations.”
Reports of workplace misconduct remain high, and haven't changed much in the last four years, according to the survey. Some 64% of women said they experienced situations of sexual harassment, down from 67% in 2020. Among men, the percentage has remained 62%.
Perspective also matters. White cisgender men were much more likely to have a positive outlook on workplace environment (80%) than other respondents (62%).
Hill, who has battled workplace sexual harassment since her 1991 accusations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, believes increased awareness leads to stronger systems and more trust in them. “Culturally,” she says, “there is movement.”
“This is a problem that has gone on probably since the entertainment industry came into being,” says Hill. “It's not something that's going to turn around overnight. But it will happen in large and small ways if we continue to push for the change.”
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
U.S. Congressional Republicans unveil 'Plan for Victory in Ukraine'
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have released a document titled "Proposed Plan for Victory in Ukraine," outlining how the United States should assist Ukraine and criticizing President Joe Biden's administration.
The plan was developed by three Republican-led committees in the House of Representatives: the Foreign Affairs Committee led by Michael McCaul, the Armed Services Committee led by Mike Rogers, and the Intelligence Committee led by Mike Turner. Although the document was drafted at the end of the previous year, discussions about it have only recently begun.
The 28-page plan features current dictators on its cover: Vladimir Putin, Aleksandr Lukashenko, Xi Jinping, and Ali Khamenei. The text is divided into five sections: The Threat, Proposed Plan for Victory, Oversight, Burden Sharing, and a Timeline of Biden’s Deadly Delays in Sending Weapons to Ukraine.
According to the document's authors, Russia and an alliance comprising China, Iran, and its "puppets" (referring to groups like HAMAS and Hezbollah) are attempting to undermine U.S. interests worldwide. Republicans argue that their goal is to weaken the U.S. economy, dissolve key alliances, and establish totalitarianism as a global order.
Republicans believe that Biden's mantra of supporting Ukraine "for as long as it takes" is a losing strategy. They want the White House to present a victory plan and provide Ukraine with the necessary weapons for the fight.
According to Republicans, the path to victory for Ukraine includes:
providing critical weapons to Ukraine at the speed of relevance tightening sanctions on the Putin regime transferring frozen Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine.
Congress members emphasize the need for oversight of American aid, acknowledging that checks have not revealed any violations. They also scrutinize the size of U.S. assistance to Ukraine, highlighting that the U.S. lags behind European countries.
Delay in funding
On October 1, the U.S. Congress passed a temporary budget bill, excluding new funding for Ukraine, which was to be considered separately. Following this, President Joe Biden proposed allocating $106 billion to Congress, with the majority ($60 billion) intended for Ukraine aid. The package also included assistance for Israel.
After prolonged debates, the U.S. approved a new temporary budget for the government without aid for Ukraine and Israel. Biden signed the law, averting a shutdown.
Debates are ongoing in the U.S. regarding strengthening the border with Mexico. Republicans demand the passage of immigration legislation, threatening not to support funding for Ukraine.
The White House expects Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement in January 2024.
'Sabotage' as raging inferno rips through plant producing armour for Putin's troops
Video footage shows flames engulfing the plant on Entuziastov Avenue, Obukhovo, in the Moscow region this morning, and no casualties have been reported.
