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Bronx Zoo Eyes Tenn. Sanctuary for Patty, Its Last Remaining Elephant (Maria)
The author writes, “The Wildlife Conservation Society is carefully evaluating the best path forward for Patty, the Bronx Zoo’s last remaining elephant. The WCS Bronx Zoo confirmed its elephant care team is evaluating options that include possibly relocating her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. … ‘Every decision begins and ends with what is best for Patty,’ the organization said in a statement yesterday.”
Punching Left (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Over the last month, there’s been a flurry of panic from self-styled moderates and centrists in the Democratic Party about the success of a few socialist candidates in party primaries. Some of this grumbling has simply been the self-interested reaction of inert incumbents who are (rightly) worried that these political upstarts might be coming for their own jobs in Congress. But other prominent figures in the party have also gone out of their way to trash these leftists and assert that they have no place in the party’s coalition. Rather than working alongside the left, these misguided moderates seem to believe the Democratic Party needs to distance themselves from them and denounce them. Today, professional concern troll David Brooks confirmed that this is a horrible idea by embracing it in a piece for The Atlantic titled ‘Democrats Became Great By Fighting the Left.’ But as The New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie noted in a post on Bluesky, Brooks predictably has the political history completely backwards.”
Committee to Protect Journalists Reconsidering Removal of Killed Gaza Journalists From Database (Sean)
From The Electronic Intifada: “[CPJ] is in damage-control mode amid a furor over a review of Palestinian journalists in its Gaza casualty database and attempts to change the definition of who is a journalist to exclude some Palestinians. A group of current and former CPJ insiders say the Gaza database review is a capitulation to Israel’s agenda and a damaging distraction from CPJ’s actual obligation to pursue accountability for the killing of journalists on an unprecedented scale. On 3 July, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate added its condemnation of efforts to smear Palestinian journalists killed in the genocide and rejected CPJ’s effort to narrow the definition of who qualifies as a journalist. CPJ has meanwhile confirmed to The Electronic Intifada that it is now reviewing the status of at least four individuals whose names were removed from its database of Palestinian journalists and media workers killed in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
The Onion’s New Parody of Alex Jones’ Infowars Starts With $100,000 to Sandy Hook Families (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones’ conspiracy platform. More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax.”
The Great AI Repricing Isn’t Going Well (Dana)
From The American Prospect: “Artificial intelligence firms initially justified their extreme capital investment — the four largest tech companies expect to spend more than $750 billion for AI infrastructure just this year — by saying that the technology would replace all human workers. They’ve since recognized what an unbelievably bad PR pitch that was, and have pivoted to promote a sunnier scenario where ‘we’re going to be able to keep people at the center of everything,’ as OpenAI’s Sam Altman said in May. But there’s a sobering reality underneath the rhetorical shift: AI is turning out to be more expensive for businesses than paying their workers. And that could be one of the many triggers that collapses the fragile economic edifice that the dreams of AI are propping up.”
Good News! Turns Out the Earth Will Never Be Swallowed by the Sun (Laura)
From Wired: “Some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, contrary to earlier fears, Earth will probably never be swallowed by the sun. The bad news, of course, is that none of us will be around to find out. Scientists have long estimated that in about 5 billion years, the sun will run out of fuel, first expanding into a red giant and eventually becoming a white dwarf that will continue cooling for tens — if not hundreds — of billions of years. Amid this dramatic sequence of cosmic events, the fate of Earth remains uncertain. Will it be pulled into the expanding red sun and disappear forever? Or, though long since rendered uninhabitable, will it continue orbiting the white dwarf remnant of the Sun until the universe reaches its eventual heat death?”
Female American Rower Completes Record-Breaking Solo Journey From California to Hawaii (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “A Grand Canyon river rafting guide who aimed to become the first American woman to row across the mid-Pacific solo has completed a record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii. Hundreds gathered to cheer on Kelsey Pfendler as she pulled into a Honolulu harbor Friday night on her 21-foot row boat, Lily, after nearly a month and a half at sea, local media reported. Pfendler, who launched from Monterey, California, in May, set out to become the first American woman, youngest woman and fastest woman to make the more than 2,400-mile journey solo.”