happen

23Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Cut Emissions 50% This Decade, But Can Biden Make A New US Climate Pledge Happen?

President Joe Biden announced an ambitious new national climate target at the world leaders’ climate summit on April 22. He pledged to cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by the end of this decade – a drop of 50-52% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels – and aim for net zero emissions by 2050. The new goal is a big deal because it formally brings together the many different ideas on infrastructure, the budget, federal regulatory policy and disparate actions in the states and industry for transforming the U.S. economy into a highly competitive, yet very green giant. It also signals to the rest of the world that “America is back” and prepared to work on climate change. Stopping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius – the aim of the Paris climate agreement – will require an immediate global effort...

It Doesn’t Always Happen When Sources Are The Police – But Being Skeptical Of Sources Is A Journalist’s Job

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

It Doesn’t Always Happen When Sources Are The Police – But Being Skeptical Of Sources Is A Journalist’s Job

The death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo might well have made international headlines on March 29, 2021 – the day he was shot and killed by a police officer – had the emerging narrative been different. Instead, early news reports of the incident relied on a police statement which said Toledo died in an “armed confrontation.” An image of a gun recovered at the scene was also released. During a bond hearing for the man who had been with Toledo when the chase began, prosecutors said a gun was in Toledo’s hand when police shot him dead. Body camera footage released a full two weeks later now casts doubt on the accuracy of that narrative. A short video clip shows a chase which ends with Toledo turning his body toward the officer, arms raised. There is no gun is his hands when the shot is fired. ...

50 Years Ago A Shootout Happen Between Black Panthers And Law Enforcement And Why It Matters Today

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

50 Years Ago A Shootout Happen Between Black Panthers And Law Enforcement And Why It Matters Today

In the early hours of Feb. 10, 1971, police surrounded a property in High Point, North Carolina, where members of the Black Panther Party lived and worked. In the ensuing shootout, a Panther and a police officer were both wounded. Members of the Black Panther Party outside the High Point property raided by police. Sonny Hedgecock/High Point Enterprise, CC BY-SA The incident did not receive much national attention at the time – armed conflict of this type was relatively common during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But 50 years on, as the U.S. reckons with a year that saw militarized police confront Black Lives Matter protesters and fail to prevent an attack on the U.S. Capitol, I believe the circumstances of this shootout are relevant today. As a historian who has interviewed participan...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

It can’t happen here – and then it did

When Americans think of journalists attacked, arrested or imprisoned while doing their job, they think of it happening in distant lands – in places like Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, El Salvador and Mexico. There have already been at least 100 instances of journalists being assaulted or harassed while covering recent protests. Nick Lehr/The Conversation, CC BY Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are so ingrained in the American consciousness, citizens may have been lulled into thinking that these acts of intimidation couldn’t possibly happen on American soil. And then they did. On May 29, police in Minnesota arrested a CNN journalist who was covering the Minneapolis protests, leading him and two crew members away in handcuffs. This wasn’t a one-off. In Los Angeles, an officer s...

4 weird things that happen when you videoconference

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

4 weird things that happen when you videoconference

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces many U.S. colleges and universities to move their courses online, connecting online via video is now having its moment. Family, friends, neighbors and even TV talk-show hosts are now meeting and broadcasting from home. Meanwhile, Microsoft, Google and Zoom are struggling to meet the demand for their videoconferencing services. People have long noticed, however, that some peculiar things happen in videoconferencing. A magazine mentioned its “bizarre intimacy.” Jaron Lanier, who is considered the “father of virtual reality,” once remarked that it “seems precisely configured to confound” nonverbal communication. As an educational technology researcher, I have explored these and other subtle but strange elements of videoconferencing. I do this through phenome...