The looming extinction of polar bears is a tragedy, but their disappearance won’t affect our day-to-day lives. But what if we had to live without chocolate? That’s right — climate change could all but eliminate the growing conditions cacao needs by 2050. Genetic engineering is hoping to develop a plant that will tolerate the drier conditions expected to prevail by then.
We talk a lot about Republican efforts to curtail voting rights through ID laws and inconvenient voting restrictions, but the new Jim Crow really relies on a more insidious method: felony conviction. It’s incredibly effective. In Alabama, for example, 17% of eligible voters are black women; only 9% are black men. In Florida, there are 1.7 million ex-felons who are denied the right to vote. For perspective, that’s almost double Delaware’s entire population. Trump won the state by a little over 100,000 votes, so a proposal to restore their voting rights could turn it blue overnight.
Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade is an acquired taste, but yesterday’s edition featured a story I’m surprised hasn’t gone national: a string band led by a sixth-grader. When Teddy Kudrick, captain of the Duffy String Band, died in October at age 52 of a heart attack, the band elevated his son Jake, 12, to replace his father. The kid did the old man proud, finishing tied for fourth among captains and leading Duffy to a ninth-place finish, its highest in 50 years.
Also, Trump tweeted some stuff, but it’s past time to realize that while the media focuses on his tweets, nobody who actually works in the administration pays any attention except for figuring out new routes to maneuver around him. Point and laugh if you like, but laugh with your eyes open.