Brazil vs. X, Florida vs. Whistleblowers, & Snow vs. Global Warming
September 4, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Wednesday! Today, we’ll be talking about Brazil’s issues with X, Russia’s strike on Ukraine, Volkswagen’s no good, very bad week, AI gone wrong in South Korea, a whistleblower getting fired, Kamala’s campaign finances, and how to keep snow from melting.
Here’s some good news: a rare orange lobster (only 1 in 30 million lobsters are orange) named Clementine was rescued from a New York grocery store and released back into the ocean. Also, a medication that is currently used for chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes has been found to reduce the risk of worsening heart failure and cardiovascular death in some patients.
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” – Maya Angelou
Brazil Clips The Former Bird’s Wings
In one of the unlikeliest clashes we’ve seen so far this year, Brazil is squaring up against Elon Musk and X. On Monday, the country’s supreme court unanimously upheld a national ban on X due to the platform’s refusal to block accounts spreading misinformation, as well as its refusal to select a local legal representative to field interactions with the government. The national ban means that Brazil’s 20 million X users will be unable to access the platform – those attempting to access the site via a VPN will be issued a daily fine of 50,000 reais (almost $9,000). Brazil’s government telecommunications regulation agency, known as Anatel, has instructed all the country’s internet providers to block access to X. According to Anatel, every provider has complied with its orders…except Starlink, a satellite internet provider also owned by Elon Musk.
Musk has repeatedly clashed with Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge behind Brazil’s original X ban, describing the justice as an “evil tyrant.” Throughout the legal clash, Musk has also aligned himself closer to Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, sharing posts inviting “patriotic Brazilians” to “flood” São Paulo and demand the impeachment of Moraes. In a statement on Tuesday, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he hopes that the situation shows the world that “it isn’t obliged to put up with [Elon] Musk’s far-right free-for-all just because he is rich.”
The Red Carpet Treatment For Russia
On Tuesday, a Russian missile strike hit a military academy and hospital in the Ukrainian city of Poltava in one of the deadliest Russian attacks on Ukraine since the war broke out, killing at least 50 people and wounding over 200 others, according to Ukraine’s government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video to his Telegram channel pressing his Western allies for more military aid. “Ukraine needs air defense systems and missiles now, not sitting in storage,” he wrote. “Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lost lives.”
While Ukrainian volunteers were trying to dig civilians out of the rubble in Poltava, Russian President Vladimir Putin was strolling down the red carpet in Mongolia. The East Asian country welcomed Putin with open arms despite being a member nation of the International Criminal Court, which has an international warrant out for the Russian leader due to his alleged war crimes. Throughout Putin’s day-long visit to the landlocked nation, Mongolia ignored Ukraine’s requests to execute the warrant, which might have something to do with the country’s reliance on Russia and China for trade.
Das A Tough Break
- This isn’t the best week for Volkswagen. Yesterday, the company’s former CEO Martin Winterkorn began his trial for numerous charges related to the company falsifying emissions tests that made its vehicles appear considerably more climate-friendly than they really were. The scandal, dubbed “dieselgate,” came to light in 2015.
- The trial began just a day after the German automaker released a statement saying that it is considering closing factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history. It’s also considering terminating an employment protection agreement with labor unions that’s been in place for three decades.
Something’s Wrong In South Korea
- During your hours scrolling TikTok (don’t deny it!), you’ve probably seen quality-of-life features from South Korea like a plastic cup pre-filled with ice for your pre-packaged drinks, or a screen that preheats your bathwater. “Korea,” you might think, “is living in the future!” That could be true, but the future is not always a nice place (time?) to be.
- Deepfake porn rings have grown and spread throughout schools and universities across the nation. According to Korean journalists and local police investigations, male students have been circulating AI-generated deepfake images of female classmates via Telegram group chats known as “humiliation rooms” or “friend of friend rooms.”
- Korean women’s rights groups say they’ve found “humiliation rooms” associated with over 500 schools across the country, ranging from universities to middle schools. “I was shocked at how systematic and organised the process was,” said one Korean reporter. The number of deepfake-related counseling sessions held by South Korea’s Advocacy Centre for Online Sexual Abuse Victims grew from 86 in 2023 to 238 in just the first eight months of 2024.
More Mixed Nuts
- At least 12 dead after boat carrying migrants sinks in the English Channel (CNN)
- ‘A myopic policy’: India’s backing of ousted Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina leaves it in a bind (Guardian)
- Members of Turkish national youth organization in custody after assault on US Marines (CNN)
- Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots (AP)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- Israeli attacks in Gaza kill 33 Palestinians but pauses allow third day of polio vaccinations (Reuters)
- Netanyahu blasts ‘shameful’ UK ban on Israel arms exports (Politico)
- U.S. charges Hamas leaders with terrorism in connection with Oct. 7 attacks (NBC)
Shady Moves In The Sunshine State
- Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fired James Gaddis, the whistleblower who revealed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to destroy state parks and erect hotels, golf courses, and pickleball courts in their place. Gaddis worked as a cartographer for the agency for two years, and said he “was directed to create nine maps depicting shocking and destructive infrastructure proposals, while keeping quiet as they were pushed through an accelerated and under-the-radar public engagement process.”
- Gaddis leaked those proposals, which sparked backlash from both Republicans and Democrats. DeSantis then backtracked on his plans, but also said, “It was not approved by me, I never saw that. It was intentionally leaked to a leftwing group to try and create a narrative.” Gaddis said the parks were more important to him than his job, adding, “It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks.” By Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe for Gaddis (who is a single dad) had surpassed $63,000.
I Got 99 Problems, But Campaign Cash Ain’t One
- The Democratic National Committee and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced yesterday that they will send nearly $25 million to support down-ballot Democrats. The funds come from both the Harris campaign and the DNC, and represent not only how much cash Harris is raking in (a lot) but how important (very) local and state elections are to her ability to govern if she wins in November.
- $10 million each will go to committees supporting Democratic candidates for House and Senate, $2.5 million will go to a national Democratic group supporting state legislative candidates, and $1 million each will go to groups backing Democratic gubernatorial and attorney general candidates. It’s a far cry from the measly $6 million sent down by the DNC in 2020 around the same point in the election cycle.
More Nuts In America
- Linda Sun: Former aide to New York governor charged with acting as an agent of the Chinese government (CNN)
- Landslides force power cuts in upscale LA neighbourhood (BBC)
- Andrew Cuomo agrees to testify publicly next week about his Covid-era nursing home advisory (CNN)
- Storm tracker: National Hurricane Center tracking 3 storms in Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico (USA Today)
- Activists Charged With Pushing Russian Propaganda Go on Trial in Florida (NYT, $)
- 11-year-old boy confessed to killing former Louisiana mayor and his daughter, police say (NBC)
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Not Melt, Please
- It’s almost the official start of fall, which means we’re kind of close to winter, which means we should probably take a look at snow, because who doesn’t love a white Christmas? Unfortunately for any snow enthusiasts out there, the outlook isn’t sunny – or maybe it’s a bit too sunny. Either way, across the world, ski resorts are increasingly being forced to stockpile their snow thanks to climate change-induced decreases in snowfall. To keep their slopes well-snowed once the winter crowds come, the resorts have resorted to covering up large piles of snow as summer heat threatens to melt their stockpiles.
- One solution to keeping the snow piles (which hold enough snow to fill 100 Olympic swimming pools at one Finnish resort) cool is offered by Snow Secure, a Finnish startup. The company provides ski resorts with massive “blankets” filled with extruded polystyrene, which keeps the snow chilly even when summer heat waves push temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Over the warm months, most resorts lose just 30% of their snow reserves to melting, meaning they can just remove the blankets and cover their mountains in snow once fall temperatures drop.
- An alternative to buying thousands of square meters’ worth of insulating blankets is simply covering your massive piles of snow with even more piles of sawdust or wood chips. The idea has been around for centuries, and according to some sources, is even more effective than insulative blankets. One ski resort operator said his snow losses using sawdust were just 20%, a significantly better result than the blankets. The problem? Moving around large amounts of sawdust is very labor-intensive, especially when you have to truck it up a mountainside. The best solution to this issue is, of course, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which will keep summers cooler and raise the amount of snow that falls in the winters.
More Loose Nuts
- Israeli boy who broke an ancient jar learns how the museum is piecing it back together (NPR)
- Deep-water murder mystery leads scientists to a novel type of shark-on-shark predation (NBC)
- How long do we have until sea level rise swallows coastal cities? This fleet of ocean robots will help find out (CNN)
- Donald Trump Movie ‘The Apprentice’ Launches Kickstarter to Raise Money for Longer Theatrical Release (Variety)
- Clearview AI fined $33.7M by data protection watchdog over ‘illegal database’ (ABC)
