MAGA Is Feeding a Separatist Surge in Canada
Drawing inspiration from MAGA, separatists in Alberta are pushing for a break away from Canada.
2 Killed and 2 Officers Shot at Minneapolis Apartment Building
The authorities said the suspect was also dead. Residents were warned to stay away from the downtown apartment building where the violence erupted.
Trump Puts Tariffs of Up to 100% on Foreign-Made Drones
In addition, the F.C.C. is weighing stiff restrictions on common drone technology such as thermal imaging and aerosol spraying.
Syrians Want Justice for Assad-Era Killings and Torture
Hundreds of thousands were killed and tortured. But prosecuting everyone involved in atrocities could be impractical and risk renewed civil strife.
Global Heating Will Hit At Least 1.8C, UN Warns, and There Are 'No Good Outcomes'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Global heating will reach at least 1.8C under even the most optimistic future, well beyond the Paris agreement goal of 1.5C, according to a UN report that warns every fraction of temperature rise intensifies destructive extreme weather, glacier melt, ecosystem loss, and island and coastal city submersion. The report by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Program confirmed overshooting the 1.5C goal inscribed in the landmark Paris agreement of 2015 was now "unavoidable" and, despite some progress in addressing the human-caused climate crisis driven by burning fossil fuels, likely in the next few years. It said: "There are no good outcomes above 1.5C."
Heating of up to 3C above preindustrial levels could lead to glaciers losing more than a quarter of their mass by 2100, raising sea levels by up to 13cm. Global food production could decline by up to 14% by 2050 if there are not effective strategies to adapt. Human health, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies could all be severely damaged. Some losses would be irreversible. Many communities may have to relocate or change their livelihoods. The report said the best hope for humanity to limit damage was to adopt an "overshoot, peak and decline" pathway that required immediate and sustained greenhouse gas emissions cuts combined with steps to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
It described the goal of net zero emissions -- increasingly politically contentious in some countries -- as "an essential milestone that cannot be skipped" and stressed carbon dioxide removal through steps such as establishing vast new forests must occur alongside, not as an alternative to, deep cuts in fossil pollution. Crucially, the authors of the report, titled Limiting Overshoot, said the average global temperature could be returned to 1.5C this century only if heating stayed below about 1.8C. They warned nature's capacity to store carbon was uncertain and would shrink the more the planet heats. [...] The report's authors cited earlier work that found limiting heating to about 1.8C required global emissions to be halved by 2035. They said existing national policies were projected to lead to at least 2.3C heating, but it would still be possible to limit stay below 2C if countries delivered on net zero emissions commitments by mid-century.
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The NBA Drops the Hammer on Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers
Why league investigators didn’t believe the richest owner in American sports.
D.S.A. Chapter Endorses Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles
Ms. Raman, a member of the D.S.A. chapter, is challenging Mayor Karen Bass as democratic socialists have surged nationally.
The President Can’t Handle the Truth
Trump’s fantasy-reality problem is deepening.
Cassandra Wilson, Star Jazz Singer, Dies at 70
With a low and smoky voice, she conjured the blues tradition of her native Mississippi in both her own songs and in covers.
Inside the Fight Against a Flesh-Eating Fly in Mexico
For the first time in a year, the U.S.-Mexico border partly reopened to cattle imports following a screwworm infestation across the region. The battle against the flesh-eating fly has only just begun deep in Mexico.
White House Plans $250,000 Renovation of 2-Lane Bowling Alley
A White House spokesman said the alley renovations included fixing broken lights. The project comes as the president has sought a broad overhaul of the White House and its surroundings.
What Is ‘Narrative Art’? The Lucas Museum Finally Shows Us Its Vision.
After several delays, George Lucas’s legacy project is finally ready to open. There’s less “Star Wars” than you might expect.
Judge Blocks Trump’s Second Try to Restrict Birthright Citizenship
The ruling raised concerns that babies already defined as citizens by the Supreme Court could have their citizenship revoked under an order the president signed in August.
As Midterms Loom, Democrats Feud Over Defections
The fight has highlighted party divisions and raised questions about how Democrats will run the House should they win the majority.
In Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a Tragedy
The bomb that hit the residential area was American, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The Times. It killed five people and wounded 67 others, the Iranian authorities said.
FCC Plans Robocall Scorecard to Grade Phone Companies On Spam Call Blocking
The FCC is proposing (PDF) a public "robocall mitigation scorecard" that would grade phone companies on how well they block illegal spam calls while avoiding false positives on the legitimate ones. "The Scorecard will empower consumers and encourage providers to continue to combat illegal robocalls by providing the public with an assessment of the effectiveness of voice service providers' efforts to protect consumers from illegal robocalls," the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice. Ars Technica reports: The scorecards could include call-blocking statistics along with data on customer complaints and enforcement actions. The FCC said scorecards could grade providers on a number scale, with letter grades, or by classifying providers as low risk, medium risk, or high risk. The proposed tool would rate wireless, wireline, and VoIP providers on efforts to block robocalls and their "actual results in protecting [consumers] from illegal robocalls," the FCC said. "In practice, that means moving beyond a simple administrative checklist (i.e., did the provider file the right paperwork, did they offer the right tools) and toward a composite set of metrics that reflects both operational practices and measurable outcomes, including how often legitimate calls are blocked."
Whether the tool is useful for consumers will depend on how it's designed, how easy each provider's scorecard is to find, and what data sources it relies on. The proposed scorecard would apply to domestic voice service providers with retail customers, but not telcos that operate solely as wholesale or intermediate providers. "Combatting the scourge of illegal robocalls remains the FCC's top consumer protection priority... As proposed in today's public notice, the FCC aims to develop a scorecard that will give consumers more information about the measures providers are taking to fight illegal robocalls, and it will also incentivize providers to improve their efforts," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a press release.
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In the Midterms, Will the Nepo-Baby Attack Work?
A New Hampshire senator’s daughter is running for office, and finds her name being used against her.
Deadlocked Jury in Lindsay Clancy Trial Again Says It Can’t Reach a Verdict
Jurors say they cannot reach a unanimous agreement after about 30 hours of deliberations. The judge is bringing them back for one last try.
Lindsay Clancy’s Trial Prompts Patients and Doctors to Rethink Postpartum Care
Requests for advice from women with maternal mental health conditions, as well as health providers who care for them, have surged.
1Password Wades Into a Right-Wing Mess After Funding a Linux Project
1Password is facing customer and internal employee backlash after pledging $300,000 to support a Linux distro created by David Heinemeier Hansson, who has regularly published racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. "The popular password manager is now a 'distinguished corporate patron' of Omacom, the nonprofit foundation that oversees a popular Linux distribution known as Omarchy," reports The Verge. From the report: One viral blog post declared that 1Password "Supports the Ethnic Cleansing of Europe" because of the donation. Others on social media asked for suggestions for alternative password managers so they would not support the funding of a project from Heinemeier Hansson, better known as DHH. The donation has also resulted in internal pushback from employees of 1Password who are disappointed by the affiliation, The Verge has learned. 1Password CEO David Faugno and cofounder Roustem Karimov have since posted internal messages addressing what Faugno describes as "concerns, both internally and externally" that have been raised "due to the polarizing nature" of DHH.
DHH is a Danish entrepreneur best known for creating Ruby on Rails, Basecamp, and the Hey email client. Omarchy is DHH's "opinionated" version of Linux, meaning it's Linux the way he likes to use it. It's based on Arch Linux, with certain apps that install by default. It's also, apparently, one of 1Password's big customer environments. [...] In an internal Slack message obtained by The Verge, 1Password's Karimov downplayed the overtly racist comments from DHH, telling staff the following: "As I said, people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind. However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you. There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked."
1Password CEO Faugno took a different approach, trying to reassure staff that "1Password does not endorse hateful, dehumanizing, or exclusionary views, including those shared publicly by DHH." Nonetheless, it seems the company has sacrificed a moral position for a "mission-driven" position. In the same message to staff, Faugno says "the scale and growth of [Omarchy's] use among our customers is significant -- Omarchy has grown to be the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password users." Faugno then tries to create distance, telling staff that its contribution is "to the Omacom Foundation, not an individual." Still, he says "we recognize that Omarchy is associated with DHH, its founder. Our donation is not in any way an endorsement of his personal views or conduct."
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