179 days remain until the November midterm elections
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Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is Rudolph Giuliani, Defense Attorney at Law:
• Climate change is an “immediate and escalating” threat in California:
"From record temperatures to proliferating wildfires and rising seas, climate change poses an immediate and escalating threat to California's environment, public health, and economic vitality," a comprehensive state climate change assessment issued Wednesday by the California Environmental Protection Agency says. [...]
The state is on track to meet its goal of cutting emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, but it may have a harder time hitting its 2030 target—a 40 percent reduction from 1990.
The biggest challenge to meeting those goals is in the transportation sector.
The state has stringent emissions standards that rely heavily on the future adoption of electric vehicles, but those standards require a federal waiver, which the Trump administration is now threatening to revoke.
• The 42 biggest questions about life, the universe, and everything summed up in a series of tweets by two physicists.
• Spotify removes R. Kelly music from its playlists under new hate content and hateful conduct policy:
Beginning today (May 10), Spotify users will no longer be able to find R. Kelly's music on any of the streaming service's editorial or algorithmic playlists. Under the terms of a new public hate content and hateful conduct policy Spotify is putting into effect, the company will no longer promote the R&B singer's music in any way, removing his songs from flagship playlists like RapCaviar, Discover Weekly or New Music Friday, for example, as well as its other genre- or mood-based playlists.
"We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly," Spotify told Billboard in a statement. "His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions -- what we choose to program -- to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator."
MIDDAY TWEET
Yes, sure, Christopher, but President Obama failed to free the two guys who were imprisoned during Trump’s first year in office.
• Former California Gov. George Deukmejian dead of natural causes at 89:
Former California Gov. George Deukmejian, known as the "Iron Duke" for his tough-on-crime approach to governing, died Tuesday. He was 89.
When he turned his office over to Gov. Pete Wilson in January 1991 after two terms as governor, Deukmejian left a legacy as a frugal guardian of the public purse who did his best to put thousands of convicted felons behind bars.
• Disgraced former governor of Alabama sued for defamation:
Alabama’s disgraced former governor Robert Bentley conspired with other state employees to defame a former finance official who was tasked with finding and delivering Bentley’s emails in response to a subpoena, the former official said in a lawsuit Tuesday.
James Nolin, who was chief information officer for the Alabama Department of Finance in 2016, also sued former Secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Stan Stabler and agency attorney Michael Robinson, in Montgomery County Court. He seeks punitive damages on nine counts, including privacy invasion, outrage, retaliation, recklessness, abuse of process and intentional interference with business relations. He also sued nine “fictitious defendants,” A-I.
Bentley resigned in April 2017 and was charged with violating campaign finance law by using state resources to facilitate and conceal an extramarital affair with a staffer. In a plea deal, he agreed never to seek public office in Alabama again. He was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey.
• FFS Department—Missouri Division: Nordstorm Rack calls cops on three black teens who were shopping for the prom.
• Study shows staggering urban tree loss over five-year period in 45 states:
A recent study from the USDA's Forest Service used aerial imagery to take a look at the change in tree cover in the U.S.'s cities and towns over a five-year period, from 2009 to 2014. What they found is staggering: each year over that period, non-rural areas lost 36 million trees. [...]
Trees have proven to be one of the most economical ways to reduce carbon dioxide (which is emitted from car—a single large, mature tree can suck up about as much carbon dioxide in one year as would be released by a car driving 25,000 miles. And it's not just carbon dioxide; trees also vacuum up other types of pollutions and are so effective at doing so that studies show trees save lives.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin and Armando have lots to offer. What the media and pols should have learned from John Edwards (but didn't). The latest Cohen, Broidy & Trump-Russia fallout. And what the media & pols should have learned from Gina Haspel, but didn't.
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