Pnut Principles. A Sentinel’s Warning. Meta Boycotts.

If you haven’t already realized this, Daily Pnut is not your typical publication. Here are six principles we adhere to as a publication:

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Dolphin Deaths as Sentinels to Environmental Collapse: An airborne virus, morbillivirus, from the family that causes measles in humans, has killed over 200 Guiana dolphins along Sepetiba Bay, a booming port in the South Atlantic 40 miles west of Rio de Janeiro. Sepetiba is one of the principal gateways for Brazilian exports. Four ports and a constellation of chemical, steel, and manufacturing plants line the shores. A soon-to-be-completed Brazilian Navy terminal will harbor nuclear submarines.

Scientists are examining the role of pollution and environment degradation in an effort to understand why these dolphins became so highly vulnerable to the virus. The scientific coordinator at the Grey Dolphin Institute, a conservation group involved in the investigation, says morbillivirus-induced respiratory and nervous system failures are responsible for the mass deaths, and it is only the tip of the iceberg. As one biologist explained: “The number of industries and ventures along Sepetiba Bay has been growing exponentially in recent years. What that generates is a greater concentration of pollutants in the seafloor and in the food chain.” And more ominously, the dolphins serve as sentinels: “When something is wrong with them, that indicates the whole ecosystem is fractured.”

Kashmir Killings Could be the Spark to a Major Fire: Sunday was a day of peaceful religious celebration for millions around the world. It was also a day for funerals in the Kashmir Valley, whose people have been caught in the territorial conflict between Hindu-majority India, which controls much of the area, and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The ongoing secession movement, which started in the 1980s with the goal of freeing Kashmir from Indian rule, escalated after a charismatic militant leader, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, was killed by Indian forces in July 2016.

Sunday’s loss of 12 insurgents in Kashmir’s Shopian district was the largest one-day death toll in recent years. “For every 10 killed, 20 more will join until this land is freed from Indian occupation,” said a protester in the village of Kachdora where another gun battle was fought Sunday. An Indian police officer in the region said 213 militants were killed in 2017, the largest number in seven years.

– China announced Sunday it would match a list of potential tariffs on up to $3 billion in US goods in response to President Trump’s decision last month to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Starting Monday, China will slap a 15% tariff on fresh and dried fruits, nuts, and sparkling wine imported from the US, and scrap aluminum and pork products will be hit with a 25% hike. China is the No. 3 market for American pork products. The stock market is not getting jiggy with this potential trade war, but it is getting the jitters and has dropped more than 10% since late January. (NBC News & NYT)

– Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the government’s head since the death of longtime dictator Islam Karimov in 2016, has critics insisting he is trying to lead the country away from authoritarian rule, even as other countries around the world are trending toward it. (NYT)

– Speaking of authoritarian rule, the results of the Egyptian presidential election were announced Monday, with current president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi garnering 97% of the vote to win a second term. No public debates were held in the run-up to the election. Only 41.5% of the electorate turned out after Sisi prevented five opponents from getting on the ballot and crushed all dissent. (The Guardian)

– More news about authoritarian leaders: Deputy press secretary Raj Shah confirmed Monday that President Trump discussed with Russian President Vladimir the possibility of hosting a bilateral summit meeting at the White House during a phone call on March 20th. Trump had called Putin to congratulate him on winning the Russian presidential election. (CNN)

– Public school teachers around the US, particularly in right-to-work states, are forming grassroots groups to pressure their state legislatures for more education funding and salary increases. No doubt inspiration came from last month’s victory won by teachers in West Virginia after a two-week strike. (NPR)

– Speaking of the importance of education, Afghanistan has 3.5 million children who aren’t being educated. Continued violence has kept more than half the country’s schools closed. But a new push is on to encourage school attendance, particularly for girls who, according to UNICEF, are 75% of the children who do not attend school. (NYT)

– Speaking of educating girls, Malala Yousafzai was one young girl who risked her life for an education. Nearly killed in 2012 when a Taliban gunman shot her in the head, she recovered from her near-fatal injuries, moved to the UK, began a global fight to improve girls’ literacy, and along the way became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Her first return visit to her native Pakistan in 6 years was shrouded in secrecy as she is still wanted by the Taliban. (BBC)

– Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who died Monday at the age of 81, was a study in contradiction. She fought for the rights of black South Africans against a white-minority regime, campaigned tirelessly for her husband’s release during his imprisonment from 1962 to 1990, and suffered years of detention, banishment, and arrest by white authorities. She was also a ruthless ideologue, with uncompromising methods and a refusal to forgive, who sacrificed laws and lives in pursuit of revolution and redress. (Reuters)

– People have “tried to Boycott Facebook, Apple, and Google. They Failed.” Everyone is struggling: “Even Breitbart is running into the same dilemma. The conservative website is planning to host a panel on how tech platforms like Facebook suppress conservative voices — and it said it would livestream the discussion on Facebook.” How meta. (NYT)

– Speaking of not being able to stop and being digitally addicted, schools in the United States are struggling with e-cigarettes: “School officials, struggling to control an explosion of vaping among high school and middle school students across the country, fear that the devices are creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.” (NYT)

– But wait, before you think teenagers don’t have their act together, consider this: “Many risky behaviors have dropped sharply among today’s teens. Cigarette smoking among teens is at a historic low since peaking in the mid 1990s [but there’s e-cigarettes!]. Alcohol use has also declined significantly — the number of teens who have used alcohol in the past 30 days is down by half since the 1990s. Teen pregnancy rates have hit historic lows, and teens over all are waiting longer to have sex than their parent’s generation. Teen driving fatalities are down about 64 percent since 1975.” On the flipside, “perhaps teens are safer simply because their reliance on social media and smartphone use means they are getting out less.” Well, here’s what teenagers and adults can both agree upon: It’s complicated. (NYT)

– Generally as a society we spend an incredible amount of time and resources on babies and teenagers. And old age is often an afterthought. Well, we pity the fool who thinks this. Be smart about aging. Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, founded the “Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement after discovering the disease affects twice as many women as men.” Here are some tips to prevent Alzheimer’s disease: “Get plenty of exercise. Sleep a lot (but don’t use pills). Eat well (cut out processed foods, and unless you have a medical condition, stop being a jerk about gluten). Drink tap water (unless you live in Flint, Mich.).” (LA Times)

– Speaking of being a jerk, a “French waiter says firing for rudeness is ‘discrimination against my culture’: Guillaume Rey filed a complaint after being dismissed from a Canada restaurant for being ‘aggressive, rude and disrespectful’.” We surmise he was the opposite of Marie Antoinette and wouldn’t let any of the guests eat the cake even after they had paid for it. (The Guardian)

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