Federal job cuts are affecting people across the United States. Here’s @gbhnews’s story about how DOGE’s work will affect vulnerable groups. According to one former staffer who worked on SNAP, which serves one in six Massachusetts residents: “That is going to trickle down to folks that are on these needed programs and benefits … We work with the most vulnerable populations — children, veterans, seniors, homeless. ... That’s why we do the work we do.”

https://www.wgbh.org/news/national/2025-02-26/job-cuts-at-usda-in-boston-could-weaken-new-england-food-security

#DOGE #TrumpAdministration #FoodSecurity #Massachusetts #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

The received wisdom has always been that spacecraft need to be as microbe-free as possible, but our @ScienceDesk shared this New Scientist story that says the situation might be more complex. “On the space station, astronauts often get rashes, unusual allergies, fungal or bacterial infections, as well as activation of latent viruses such as Epstein-Barr,” writes Michael Le Page. Professor Pieter Dorrestein of the University of California San Diego told Le Page his theory is that the immune system needs to be periodically “pinged.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2470149-spacecraft-may-need-to-be-dirtier-to-keep-astronauts-healthy/

#Science #Health #SpaceTravel #Microbiology #Biochemistry #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Right to repair laws make it easier for individuals and organizations to fix their own stuff. They do this by, for example, requiring companies to sell parts and make manuals available, and banning “software locks” that limit who can carry out repairs. Now, @jasonkoebler reports for @404mediaco, the grassroots movement has hit a tipping point in the U.S.

https://www.404media.co/all-50-states-have-now-introduced-right-to-repair-legislation/

#Technology #Tech #RightToRepair #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

@Flipboard @ProPublica

Typical Pump and Dump Rump deal leaving the taxpayers footing the bill for business malfeasance. See his bankruptcy trail of debts. Now we will own the damaged world that corporations destroy.

@Flipboard @ProPublica
I guess the whole "moral hazard" thing Republicans worry about when talking about social spending doesn't apply here.

An update on the @TexasObserver story from last week about Jim Rodden, the ICE prosecutor who appears to be running a racist X account: Three members of Congress have written to ICE Acting Deputy Director Kenneth Genalo and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanding that the allegations be investigated. A Massachusetts lawyer has also filed a complaint with the District of Columbia Bar, through which a James J. Rodden holds a law license.

https://www.texasobserver.org/investigation-ice-prosecutor-racist-x-account/

#Immigration #ICE #TrumpAdministration #Texas #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Misinformation was rife as the wildfires spread across Los Angeles last month, and that wasn’t just happening in English language media. For @thexylom, Aorui Pi explains how platforms like WeChat and RedNote served as a vector for fake news, which may have made life harder for Chinese immigrants living in fire-affected areas.

https://www.thexylom.com/post/how-unverified-claims-about-the-la-wildfires-spread-across-chinese-language-media

#ClimateChange #Environment #WildFires #LosAngeles #WeChat #RedNote #SocialMedia #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Over the past few years, a few people in the U.S. and China have benefited from xenotransplantation — inter-species transplants — but getting the organs to function correctly is a challenge. @KnowableMag takes a look at the current state of things: Which animals provide the best match (minipigs), techniques to avoid organ rejection, ethical issues, concerns about virus spillover, and who will pay for transplant procedures.

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2025/pig-organs-in-people-the-future-of-cross-species-transplants

#Science #Biology #Health #Medicine #OrganTransplants #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Indiana has practically the lowest voter turnout in America. @bolts’s @taniel reports on efforts that will probably make it even lower. “Legislation banning the use of student IDs for voting passed the state Senate with near unanimous Republican support in early February and now sits with the GOP-run House,” he writes.

https://boltsmag.org/indiana-banning-student-id-for-voting/

#Indiana #Elections #VoterRights #VoterSuppression #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Ukraine just entered another year of war. The team at @timkmak’s Counteroffensive shares photos that they took during the past three years, and why these are meaningful. These images tell a story: Amidst the explosions, there are weddings, cats, chats, clouds and more.

https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/the-photos-we-took-that-illustrate

#Ukraine #UkraineRussia #Photos #Photography #Culture #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

@Flipboard @bolts @taniel
It's pretty logical, i guess. I think younger people tend to vote blue more often. GOP can't have that, of course.

And another story of life in a war zone: This time in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a militia group called M23 has seized control of Goma, which borders Rwanda. It’s easier to cross the border now, but the banks in Goma have closed, and small-scale women traders are struggling. @thecontinent tells the full story.

https://continent.substack.com/p/selling-tomatoes-in-a-war-zone

#Africa #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo #DRC #Rwanda #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

“Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?” the late Henry Kissinger supposedly said when he was U.S. Secretary of State. @TheConversationUS looks at how a united Europe could counter threats from Trump, Putin and far-right forces, and who might provide leadership.

https://theconversation.com/is-a-united-european-voice-possible-in-the-age-of-trump-putin-and-far-right-politics-germanys-new-leader-intends-to-find-out-249241

#Trump #Europe #Germany #FriedrichMerz #AngelaMerkel #EmmanuelMacron #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Last of all, ahead of this weekend's Oscars ceremony, our @CultureDesk shared some inspiration for winners giving speeches: Jane Fonda’s absolutely barnstormer from the SAG Awards, where she received a lifetime achievement award. “We are in our documentary moment. This is it, and it’s not a rehearsal. And we mustn’t for a moment kid ourselves about what is happening,” she told the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_v0NJ8_8ps2

#LIfestyle #UnitedStates #School #Education #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday