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Current Events

Driving into the water to escape the Australian fires

(https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/eih4x6/friends_of_friends_camping_at_lake_conjola_got/)

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Art Current Events

The Far Side comic finally has a website

Creator Gary Larson has long resisted the internet but has finally conceded, explaining in a letter posted on the site.

I hope all the reasons I’ve given here help explain why I’m so late to this party. But I’m finally here. And I could use a drink.

https://www.thefarside.com/about/48/a-letter-from-gary-larson

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Current Events

Worcester MA Greendale Mall to be demolished, turned into apartments & medical offices

The new owner plans to replace the 32-year-old Greendale Mall in Worcester with a mix of retail, apartments, and office space.

(www.wbjournal.com/article/greendale-mall-to-be-demolished-turned-into-apartments-medical-offices)

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Current Events

Poll: Americans struggle to ID true facts

“Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they often come across one-sided information and about 6 in 10 say they regularly see conflicting reports about the same set of facts from different sources.”

(https://apnews.com/c762f01370ee4bbe8bbd20f5ddf2adbe)

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Current Events Tech

Private Equity company acquires .Org registry

Fresh off ICANN’s blunder letting Public Interest Registry set whatever price it wants for .org domain names,Internet Society (ISOC) has sold the .org registry Public Interest Registry (PIR) to private equity company Ethos Capital.

(domainnamewire.com/2019/11/13/breaking-private-equity-company-acquires-org-registry/)

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Current Events

Court Fines Trump $2 Million for Diverting Money From Veterans Fundraiser to His Campaign

“A judge ordered President Trump to pay $2 million to a group of charities on Thursday, ruling that the president had broken the law by directing the proceeds from an event advertised as benefiting veterans to his presidential campaign instead.”

(https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/11/trump-ordered-to-pay-usd2-million-over-fishy-fundraiser.html)

Categories
Current Events History Humanity

There are more governors who have worn blackface than black governors

This claim was easy to fact-check: There are zero black governors for the 50 states. But there are two governors who’ve apologized for wearing blackface.

Out of 50 sitting governors, 47 are white, and the remaining three are Hispanic, Asian American and Native American.

Only two African Americans have been elected governor, with the most recent being Democrat Deval Patrick, who was voted into office in Massachusetts in 2006. Democrat Douglas Wilder had previously been elected as Virginia’s governor, a post he held from 1990 to 1994.

Before Wilder’s election, the only black governor had been P. B. S. Pinchback, who stepped in as Louisiana’s governor for 34 days in 1872 while the incumbent faced impeachment.

https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2019/sep/06/samuel-sinyangwe/its-true-there-are-more-governors-who-have-worn-bl/

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Current Events

Trump’s trade war plummets US lobster exports to China 80%

“U.S. lobster exports to China have fallen off a cliff this year as new retaliatory tariffs shift the seafood business farther north.”

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Current Events

Trump pushing border wall deal to North Dakota firm Fisher Industries

“Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News”

“Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps”

“The push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials.”

“Fisher … sued the U.S. government last month after the Army Corps did not accept its bid to install barriers along the southern border, a contract potentially worth billions of dollars.”

“[Trump] always brings them up”

““The system [Fisher] is proposing does not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” an official said.”

“… Fisher’s work on a barrier project in San Diego came in late and over budget.”

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/he-always-brings-them-up-trump-tries-to-steer-border-wall-deal-to-north-dakota-firm/2019/05/23/92d3858c-7b30-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html)

Categories
Current Events

Commercial real estate just had its biggest year since the financial crisis

(http://finance.yahoo.com/news/commercial-real-estate-just-had-its-biggest-year-since-the-financial-crisis-211338574.html)