Happy Sunday everyone! The theme of today’s Bwoglines is unfortunately people in power can’t be trusted.
Happening in the World: Three executives from Rio Tinto—a mineral mining company—have left the company after they destroyed a cave system in the Pilbara Desert in Western Australia. The caves are sacred to two Australian Aboriginal groups, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and the Pinikura. The destruction of the caves was approved by the government against the objections from indigenous rights activists. While indigenous activists and leaders said that the ousting was unprecedented for such a large company, it did not make up for the loss of these areas to mining. (NYTimes)
Happening in the US: A federal judge has determined that the U.S. Education Department had not only “acted beyond its authority” but misinterpreted the will of Congress when the DOE backed by Betsy DeVos attempted to reroute millions of dollars in coronavirus aid to K-12 private school students. DeVos and the DOE argued that private schools should receive help based on the number of students, rather than just their share of low-income students. The U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich wrote that “it is difficult to imagine how Congress could have been clearer” as their intention was that these equitable services be reserved for low-income students only. (NPR)
Happening in NYC: Many homeless residents living in shelters throughout Manhattan have been forced to uproot and be shuffled around due to the goddamn Upper West Side. The Department of Homeless Service has begun moving 300 residents out of the Lucerne Hotel back to traditional shelter facilities due to a group of Upper West Siders threatening to sue the city over it. At a press conference, Bill de Blasio said he personally made the decision to move the shelter residents. Because of the upheaval of residents, families in other shelters across the area have been forced to move as well, some with young children. (Gothamist)
Happening on Campus: If you’re on campus, please get tested! You can find information about free COVID-19 testing here.
Happening Online: On Thursday, from 3 pm to 4 pm EDT—the Lamont Summer Stars Lecture will be hosting Professor Katherine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist whose work focuses on developing and applying high-resolution climate projections to understand what climate change means for people and the natural environment. You can find a more detailed abstract and a link to register (you do need a UNI for it) at Columbia Events.
ALSO, join us for Bwog’s FIRST OPEN MEETING of the semester! Zoom meeting means no green grapes, but what can you do. Our meeting is tonight at 9 pm EDT—you can find the zoom link on our Facebook Event later tonight, hope to see you all there!
Space Fact: Uranus and Neptune have similar temperature profiles even though Neptune is much farther from the Sun—that’s because Uranus lacks a strong internal heat source!
Documentary of the Week: The Old Guard—immortal found family, what’s not to love.
Pilbara Desert in Western Australia via Wikimedia Commons