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Rare White Rhino Dies, Breed Close to Extinction
One of the last northern white rhinos on the planet has died in a reserve in Kenya, leaving the sub-species on the verge of extinction, experts said Saturday.
The male, called Suni, "was probably the last male capable of breeding", according to Dvur Kralove zoo in the Czech Republic, where the rhino was born in 1980.
There are only six of the very rare rhinos left, having been hunted by poachers in central and east Africa for their horns, which are highly prized for traditional Chinese medicine.
The Czech zoo is the only one in the world to have succeeded in breeding the sub-species in captivity.
Suni — who is thought to have died from natural causes in the Ol Pejeta reserve — was one of two males and two females from Dvur Kralove zoo reintroduced into the wild in Kenya in 2009, in an operation dubbed "the last chance of survival".
It was hoped that the females' hormones would normalise in the wild, but even attempts at assisted conception failed.
"One can always believe in miracles but everything leads us to believe that hope they would reproduce naturally has gone," the zoo's spokeswoman Jana Mysliveckova told AFP.
Sperm from the males born at Dvur Kralove has been conserved at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin.
Another pair of the rhinos, too old to reproduce, live at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego in the United States, with another aged female remaining at Dvur Kralove, close to the border with Poland.
"The number of rhinos killed by poachers has increased incredibly in the past few years," Mysliveckova said. "According to some scenarios, there will be no rhinos left in the wild in Africa in 10 years or so."
source : http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/rare-white-rhino-dies-breed-close-to-extinction-141020.htm
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2017 is a Biennale year for Venice, but also a Damien Hirst year for the Italian city which will welcome a major exhibition by the artist.
Spread across the two top contemporary art venues of the moment, "Treasures from the Wreck of the Invisible" is the come-back exhibition for Damien Hirst. It is the first time that the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana (both belonging to François Pinault) will jointly host an exhibition. And it is the first time since 2004 that Damien Hirst will have an important solo show in Italy.
Not much is known from "Treasures from the Wreck of the invisible". A couple of short videos published on the Palazzo Grassi website do not unveil more than a monster-like silhouette underwater. According to the New-York Times, the installation would be made of 250 items weathered by the aquatic environment. Their prices would be ranging from 400'000 USD to 4 millionUSD depending on the size and type of item. For this selling exhibition, the potential buyers will only be able to make their mind from pictures on a tablet.
Damien Hirst has been working on this project for the past ten years. Since his 200 million USD "one man sale" at Sotheby's in 2008, his market splurged and never fully recovered. A surge in his market however occured last year, when he announced his return to powerful dealer Larry Gagosian.
"Treasures from the Wreck of the invisible" will open on April 9 and will run until Dec.3, 2017.
Photo Christoph Gerigk, © Damien Hirst/Science Ltd.


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10 Awe-Inspiring Historic Buildings You Wouldn't Ever Want To Live In
Morris M. March 5, 2015 0
It's something we've all wondered about at one time or another: What would it be like to live in a sweet mansion? But, while most of us are probably picturing a life of nonstop mega-parties, the truth is that plenty of the greatest buildings ever designed made absolutely awful homes.
10Versailles Was Absolutely Freezing
Photo credit: ToucanWings
Everything about Louis XIV (also known as the Sun King) was impressive. His palace at Versailles contained over 700 rooms and would have cost a minimum of $3.2 billion if it was built today. It would also be considered absolutely uninhabitable for the very good reason that it was absolutely freezing.
We don't just mean cold in the "before central heating" sense of the word. We mean the temperature was so unbearably low even people living in a time now known as the Little Ice Age commented on it. Contemporary accounts include descriptions of wine and water freezing solid at the king's table during dinner. According to the journal of the king's health kept by the Sun King's doctors, Louis XIV's extravagant wigs were used less to hide his baldness and more to keep him warm in Versailles's chilly interiors.
It wasn't just the temperature that caused problems at Versailles. We've told you before about the lack of toilets forcing people to poop in corridors. The problems went way beyond simple odors and unwanted stains. Pests attracted by the smell overran the palace bringing terrible diseases in their wake. And these diseases would've had no problem breaking through people's cold-compromised immune systems.
9The Forbidden City Was One Vast Prison
Photo credit: Yinan Chen
Sprawling over a 178-acre site, China's Forbidden City is every kid's dream of what a palace should be. Along with a gigantic throne room, the seat of government featured a harem trained to attend to the emperor's every whim and courtiers who were always on hand to clean up any mess. For centuries, it's been idealized as the height of decadent living . . . if "living" in this case means "spending your life in misery without a single second of privacy."
Most emperors could probably count the moments of "me time" they got over their entire lives on a single hand. From the moment they awoke to the moment they went to sleep, a group of eunuchs would keep careful watch over them at all times. Even things like using the toilet meant peeing into a chamber pot in the corner of the room with an attendant waiting nearby to snatch it away. Their personal freedom was also severely restricted. No emperor was allowed to leave the palace without an escort, and even then, they could only go to official engagements.
Life was so lonely for the figurehead of imperial China that Reginald Johnston, tutor to the last emperor in history, remarked, "That ill-omened pile of buildings was an emperor's prison [260] years ago, and an emperor's prison it remains to this day."
8The Farnsworth House Was One Giant Moth Lamp
Photo credit: Marco 2000
Designed in 1945 by architect Mies van der Rohe (as a weekend retreat for Dr. Edith Farnsworth), the Farnsworth House is one of the most celebrated homes in American history. There are even Lego kits available of it. Costing the equivalent of $500,000, its simple interior, giant windows, and devotion to simplicity made it an Illinois icon. They also severely irritated Dr. Farnsworth, who claimed the building was virtually uninhabitable.
Having asked Mies to build her a country getaway, Dr. Farnsworth was horrified to discover she was being asked to live inside a pristine work of art. Despite the large windows, Mies refused to install blinds or curtains, meaning the house's heating bills were astronomic. It also meant anyone outside could see in at all times, and thanks to Mies's celebrity there were always people outside. Farnsworth complained camera-wielding tourists would snap pictures of her in her underwear.
At night, the vast windows and isolated location turned the house into a giant moth lamp, causing insects and mosquitoes to flood the open plan rooms. In the end, Farnsworth sued the architect over her disaster of a house. She lost.
7Attingham Hall Leaked Its Owner Into Bankruptcy
Photo credit: Jonathan Davies
A gigantic country estate in Shropshire, Attingham Hall is one of the grandest structures in the whole of England (which is saying something). Despite its unimaginable size, the estate is today best known for its picture gallery designed by John Nash, the same architect responsible for Buckingham Palace. Using pioneering techniques, Nash created a skylight made of cast-iron that spanned the entire gallery and let light into every corner. It also let in rain—lots and lots of rain.
A few years after the roof was completed, it began to let in water. As time went on, the expansion and contraction of the iron frame in different weather made the problem worse until it became a major issue. The picture gallery suffered water staining, while the walls themselves began to crack under the constant drip of rain. According to the National Trust, the flawed roof was so difficult to maintain that it directly contributed to the bankruptcy of its owner. As a result, no replacement was installed until January 2015, over 200 years after the first leak sprang.
6Atlantic Storms Made Tintagel Castle Uninhabitable
Photo credit: Lynda Poulter
In a list of coolest places to live, a top spot would undoubtedly be held by Tintagel Castle which is a place of great historical importance. Situated on a rocky outcrop of land on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, Richard of Cornwall's new castle had all the advantages it needed: It had prestigious history and it was easy to defend. Unfortunately, there was one thing Richard couldn't defend his castle from: the Atlantic weather.
Ferocious winds, pounding waves, and rain all combined to make Tintagel Castle a living nightmare. Landslides and flooding were common, and parts of the causeway routinely collapsed into the sea. Less than 100 years after it was built, Tintagel was in a state of utter decay and coastal erosion had likely caused a partial collapse. By 1600, the castle was completely abandoned and left to the elements that had driven its owners away.
5The People's Palace Was Filled With Ridiculous Flaws
Photo credit: Michael Day
In 1977, an earthquake tore through downtown Bucharest. Hitting 7.3 on the Richter scale, it killed 1,500 people and flattened a significant portion of the city's buildings. For Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, this wasn't just a tragedy. It was his chance to build a palace befitting his megalomania. In the following years, the affected areas (and some less-affected ones) were cleared to make room for the biggest palace on Earth.
Seven times bigger than Versailles, the People's Palace was the last word in Communist opulence. Entire mountains were torn down to build it as an army of 1.5 million people worked to build it around the clock. The finished building contained 7,000 luxury rooms and 3,500 tons of crystal. It also contained enough stupid design flaws to make living there hilariously impractical.
For starters, the People's Palace was stupidly big. After an hour's solid walking, you could cover less than 10 percent of it. Even worse were the stairs. Cut to fit Ceausescu's tiny feet, the staircases were considered impossible for any normal-sized adult to use. Thanks to the dictator's paranoia about chemical attacks, there was also no air-conditioning which was not good in the sultry heat of a Romanian summer.
Ceausescu never got to try living in his palace. Before construction finished, he and his wife found themselves on the wrong end of a revolution and were executed.
4The Villa Savoye Was Cold And Miserable
Photo credit: Valueyou
A gleaming white villa built in 1929, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier was one of the most important buildings of the 20th century. Designed as "a machine for living in," it single-handedly transformed the future of architecture. Today, it's considered a masterpiece, drawing students from all around the world to witness it. One can only guess what Madame Savoye, the original owner, would say about this. She absolutely hated living there.
From the moment it was finished, Villa Savoye had problems. The roof leaked badly in multiple places from the garage, to the hall, to the bathroom, and the interior was constantly wet. In a letter to Le Corbusier, Madame Savoye also noted the skylight made a terrible noise in bad weather that kept her entire family awake. Meanwhile, the large windows caused insane levels of heat loss and the entire villa felt cold and damp 24/7. There's even some evidence that living there triggered her son's terrible health problems. By 1935, the entire family had moved out and Madame Savoye was threatening Le Corbusier with legal action for building her such a terrible home.
3The Great Halls Of Norse Legend Were Disgusting
Photo credit: Malene Thyssen
If you've ever read Beowulf, you'll remember Heorot. The palace of King Hroogar, Heorot was the greatest hall in Norse legend—a great, tall building that literally shone with gold. While Heorot was fictional, it drew inspiration from the great Viking longhouses of the real world. However, the anonymous author of Beowulf missed out one important point: Even a longhouse as awe-inspiring as Heorot would've been utterly disgusting.
For starters, even the greatest halls were exactly that—halls with no additional rooms. This meant everyone from the lord or king to his charges slept, changed, and had sex under the same roof. They also shared their living space with the animals they owned, meaning the whole place likely stank to high heaven. Noise was also an issue, as were dirt, disease, and pests.
That's before we get into the smoke. Prior to the 14th century, European halls created heat by simply lighting a gigantic fire in the middle of the room. Since there was no fireplace, smoke leaked out a big hole in the ceiling. This method meant halls were often filled with acrid fog. It may have looked like paradise to the writer of Beowulf, but Heorot would've been uninhabitable by our modern standards.
2Life In Topkapi Palace Was Terrifying
Photo credit: JoJan
A sprawling palace lying alongside Istanbul's Bosphorus, Topkapi has been inspiring people for centuries. Constructed in the 15th century, the palace is today a UNESCO heritage site and major tourist attraction. People from all over the world come to wonder what it must've been like to live there. So we'll be clear about this: It was terrifying.
Topkapi Palace was so full of intrigue and brutality it would've frightened Machiavelli. The sultan was so prone to assassination he would take his baths locked away in a giant cage where nobody could kill him. For those slightly lower down the pecking order, things were even worse. Right up until the 17th century, it was considered acceptable for a sultan to kill all his male relatives to ensure his son got the throne. In 1595, all 19 of Mehmet III's brothers were murdered and his father's pregnant concubines drowned at sea. When Selim II outlawed killing princes, it instead became practice to lock them in a gilded cage until they died of natural causes.
By the time you got down to the harem girls, life was basically an Eli Roth movie. Uncooperative girls could be locked in tiny cages or, if they continued to rebel, tied up in sacks and thrown into the Bosphorus. Ibrahim I is even said to have ordered all 280 members of his harem drowned just for the heck of it. Whatever social level you were at, life in Topkapi was generally nasty, brutal, and very short.
1Frank Lloyd Wright's Houses Are Uninhabitable
Photo credit: Esther Westerveld
The man behind the famous Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright, may be the most revered architect in American history. His houses are so sought-after today they change hands for millions of dollars, and many consider them to be icons of design. Many more consider them virtually uninhabitable.
The scope of the problems differs, but they all seem to have one thing in common: poorly planned design. In one case, a New Jersey home bought for $400,000 flooded seven times in 25 years. Each time, it flooded badly enough to cause terrible damage. Others are reported to spring heavy leaks during the rain, while his iconic Fallingwater house (pictured above) very nearly collapsed due to structural flaws.
Then there are the smaller, but no less frustrating, problems that make day-to-day living hell. One couple discovered that their dream Wright home had doorways only 55 centimeters (22 in) wide, meaning moving their furniture in became a costly nightmare. Other houses have kitchens so tiny it's almost impossible to cook without banging into something, and none of them come with basements, attics, or garages. They're also absurdly expensive to fix up. A recent Wall Street Journal article recounted horror stories of buyers paying double the purchase cost to restore their new homes to something like a livable state.
Morris M.
Morris is a freelance writer and newly-qualified teacher, still naively hoping to make a difference in his students' lives. You can send your helpful and less-than-helpful comments to his email, or visit some of the other websites that inexplicably hire him.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the period between Easter and Pentecote, between 19-04-2019 and 10-06-2019, you only pay 7 nights if you stay 8 consecutive nights.
You can leave your caravan, mobile home or tent for free on your pitch in the following periods. Each period has a condition: you have to stay eather 2 or 3 nights in that period. So you one pay the nights on which you are present. If you use this offer, there is no off-season discount. Not all pitches are available for this offer, though most of them are.
– from the night of Sunday 18-08-2019 (this is the day after our yearly concert on the campsite) until Saturday 21-09-2019 (including this night). Condition in this period: you have to stay a minimum of 3 nights somewhere in this period. The campsite will close 23-09-2019.


text:
Quo Vadis, America?
Quo Vadis... >>
posted by Leedonal Moore | Int. Secretary (interim); Global Black Caucus Chair; DPCA Voting Rep, Switzerland
Voting Rights in the United States, past, present, future
- C.Pung, August 2, 2022
"The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it. " - John Lewis, late civil rights activist and member of the US House of Representatives for Georgia
The United States is a relatively young democracy that technically provides its citizens with broad access to the ballot box. The rules for voting in federal, state, and local elections in the U.S. today are relatively straightforward: one must be a citizen of the U.S.(in some areas non-citizens are allowed to vote in local elections only), be 18 years old on or before Election Day and must meet your state's residency requirements. These requirements seem relatively straightforward and progressive in spirit; however, a closer look at the history of voting rights in the United States, and in specific, its history regarding its Black citizens and the right to vote, reveals a deeply checkered and tortuous path towards suffrage.
Historically, voting rights came into effect with the initial ratification of the Constitution by nine of the13 states, with Delaware having been the first to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787, and New Hampshire providing the ninth and final vote for ratification. The first federal elections took place from December 1788 to January 1789. All 13 states eventually ratified the Constitution by 1790. In 1790 there were almost 700.000 enslaved people of African descent in the United States, none of which were considered part of the body politic.
The Constitution is the foundational document of our American democracy, but the formation of this document was itself highly contentious. The Federalists, led by John Adams, wanted a strong central government, while Patrick Henry and the Anti-Federalists demanded a Constitution which would ensure specific rights for each individual state. Hence, a compromise was struck and the Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution. Under this agreement, states were allowed to establish their own voting laws, rules and regulations. They chose to grant the right to vote to white male property owners only. In 18th century America, this group of men made up only 6 percent of the total population. However, as the century proceeded and territories expanded west, enfranchisement also expanded. In the 1800s most states gave white male protestant property owners, 21 years of age and older the right to vote. By the 1830s most states had removed property and religion requirements.
The 19th century saw America undergo seismic events which reimagined and redefined voting rights and the body politic at large. The Civil War (1861-1865) resulted in the manumission of America's enslaved population, and the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868 procured citizenship for all people born or naturalized in the United States. Now, all former slaves were citizens, but unlike their white male counterparts, black men - though citizens- still could not vote.
The 15th Amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870; the core objective of which was to ensure all Black American male citizens were given the right to vote and to prohibit states from infringing upon, limiting, or denying this right. The Amendment read:
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude."
For black men, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution meant access to the ballot was in fact legally protected by the federal government. The cumulative effect of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments resulted in hundreds of Black lawmakers being elected to hold office on the local, state, and national levels. Hiram Revels, from the state of Mississippi, became the first Black man to win a senatorial election and be seated in Congress. This period of prolific political representation by black citizens was known as the Reconstruction Era, and it lasted from about 1865 to 1877. During this period a total of 16 African American men served in the US Congress, more than 600 were elected to state governments and hundreds held local positions. Reconstruction provided us with a glimpse of the great potential and possibilities inherent within a fair and just American democracy. Sadly, this era was short-lived. In less than a decade from its inception, the political gains made during the Reconstruction era were rolled back, and the legal groundwork for a future disenfranchisement of the Black vote and voter was deliberately and systematically laid.
Beginning with the Supreme Court decision in the Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873, the scope of Reconstruction laws geared towards empowering black voters was severely restricted. In the United States v. Reese, the Court did irreparable damage to Black suffrage when it interpreted the Fifteenth Amendment as not actually conferring the right to vote on any individual, but rather simply forbidding states to engage in preferential treatment of any one individual. This reading of the Amendment identified the origin of the right to vote as deriving from the states, rather than from the federal government. This gave states free reign in determining how voters qualified, and under what circumstances voting would occur. Ten years later, the Court's decision in United States v Harris in 1883, found the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871 to be unconstitutional. It argued that in most cases the federal government could not penalize individuals for assault and murder. Accordingly, the Court argued that this punitive role belonged to the states. This decision had a deeply chilling effect not only on any further expansion of African American voting rights but on African American lives and survival in the United States. The Court's position inadvertently or deliberately, provided white terrorist organizations, such as the Klan, with an avenue from which they could threaten, attack, and even kill Black voters seeking to exercise their right to cast a ballot with virtual impunity.
Finally, the disputed presidential contest between Rutherford B Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat) led to a resolution that effectively eliminated all political advancements made by Black American citizens during the preceding decade, and it all but obliterated the black vote. The presidential ballot returns from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida (the last three states under Republican control) were under dispute. The Republicans and the Democrats reached a compromise: Hayes and the Republicans agreed to Democratic control of the remaining Southern states, and in exchange, the Southern Democrats would not block the certification of Hayes' election in Congress. (In some ways, this ploy sounds unsettlingly familiar to recent events surrounding our last presidential election and attempts made to alter or tamper electoral results.) Hayes became president, the federal troops withdrew from the South, and black men, women, and children were left to confront the perilous terrain of exercising voting rights in the New South - without any federal support. For the next hundred-plus years, African Americans found themselves in an ongoing, costly fight for suffrage.
Almost immediately after the Hayes election, Southern states passed a series of laws to restrict, or completely rescind Black voting rights. Known collectively as the Jim Crow Laws, Georgia's 1877 Poll Tax required people to pay a tax in order to be eligible to register to vote. To compound the financial duress this placed on voters, all past poll taxes had to be paid off before eligibility could be met. Needless to say, the majority of the recently emancipated Black population simply did not possess the means to pay the tax. Literacy tests further restricted exercising the right to vote. The structure and questions on these tests were deliberately confusing. If one question was answered incorrectly, the applicant was immediately disqualified. During this time, much of the population was illiterate, yet illiterate white men were often given a pass while educated and literate black men were told they had failed the test. The Grandfather Clause of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was yet another tactic used to deny suffrage to the black voter. Enacted by a number of states, these clauses held that if a person's father or grandfather had voted, or if the person was a descendant of a Confederate or a U.S veteran, they were then deemed eligible to vote. Clearly, the recently freed African American could make no such claim. The end of Reconstruction saw the systematic disenfranchisement of Black voters through multiple de jure and de facto means. In the decade between 1920 and 1930, of the 370,000 eligible Black voters in Georgia, only about 10,000 actually voted. This number represented less than 3 percent of the eligible Black male population. Granted, in 1945 the Supreme Court ruled that the white primaries, a tactic used by some Southern states to exclude African Americans from the political process and to prevent them from voting, were unconstitutional. However, the ruling lacked teeth because enforcement was non-existent, and many of the prohibitive Jim Crow Laws were still in place. White violence, terror, and the fear of reprisal for exercising one's political rights meant the resurgence of a significant Black voting contingent would not occur within the United States until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In reality, tangible change for the Black voter did not occur until the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
In the 1960s, African Americans began to organize peaceful protests against segregation, illegal voting rights practices, and other anti-democratic practices in the United States. One such demonstration was the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. On March 7, 1965, these peaceful protestors were met by Alabama state troopers and were viciously and violently attacked. The entire event was caught on live television, watched by both a national as well as an international public. Many viewers found the brutality repugnant. Perhaps it was the searing visual impact of this violence, in conjunction with the murder of voting rights activists in Mississippi, that forced President Johnson and Congress to engage in the development of meaningful voting rights legislation, the result of which was the passing of one of the most sweeping and comprehensive pieces of legislature of the 20th century.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 "…outlawed all literacy tests and provided for the appointment of federal examiners (with the power to register qualified citizens to vote) in those jurisdictions that were "covered" according to a formula provided in the statute" (National Archives, Voting Rights Act, 1965). The Act also required jurisdictions that were particularly egregious in voting rights infringements to obtain permission, or "preclearance' from the US Department of Justice or the District Court of Columbia before making or implementing any new laws, or procedures, requirements, or voting regulations.
These sweeping legislative changes resulted in the addition of hundreds of thousands of African Americans, and other marginalized peoples to the voting rosters. Many of us hoped, and perhaps even believed the century's long struggle for full Black suffrage was finally coming to an end. Many also felt the 2008 and 2012 elections of our nation's first African American president, Barack Obama, was indicative of substantial change and evidence of a now rigorously open voting rights environment. We now know that while we as African Americans, and as Democrats, were deep in the political euphoria of this accomplishment, our Republican counterparts were assessing, systematically planning, and developing strategies to restrict the right to vote in ways many of us had neither anticipated nor quite imagined.
"When there's a vacuum in our democracy, when we don't vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems." Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
In 2013, the 5 to 4 Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby v Holder basically eviscerated section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This provision required states with a history of blatant discriminatory voting rights practices to first clear any changes in election rules and requirements with the US Department of Justice. It is now becoming very clear to what extent this decision is negatively impacting and potentially altering the political landscape for African Americans, Democrats, and other marginalized peoples. Republican lawmakers saw this decision as a signal to intensify their disenfranchisement campaign. To date, they have introduced more than 250 pieces of legislature across the country aimed at restricting access to the ballot. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, South Carolina, and New Hampshire are just some of the 43 states in which Republicans have proposed laws to restrict, limit, or eliminate:
Drive through voting
The number of voting machines at voting sites
Early in-person and Election Day voting
Absentee Ballots
Mail in ballot applications
Mail and dropbox access
In addition, Republicans are implementing much stricter voter identification laws and requirements, such as Georgia's exact match. In this instance, citizens' names on government-issued identification, such as a driver's license, state ID card, or Social Security records must perfectly match the name as listed in the voter databases. If the person's name deviates in any way from these voter rolls, they will not be eligible to vote. Voters are given about 2 years to rectify the discrepancy. Supporters claim these stricter measures are needed to increase voter confidence after the 2020 presidential election. This position is based on the unsubstantiated election fraud claims by Trump and his base. Opponents, such as Stacey Abrams, believe the perfect match rule will affect Black and Latino voters disproportionately. And since these groups are generally affiliated with the Democratic Party, the new requirement is seen as nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt on the part of Republicans to discourage voter turnout and gain an electoral advantage in the upcoming midterm elections and beyond.
Republicans are also actively disenfranchising citizens by enacting "Use it or lose it" Laws. The United States does not have mandatory voting laws. Yes, individuals can be removed from voting rosters if they move, die, or are imprisoned, "but a minority of states go further and engage in a practice that ought to be seen as glaringly unconstitutional --purging people from the rolls solely because they have skipped voting in several consecutive elections…" (American Bar Association, 2020)
These actions on the part of Republicans should cause alarm; the cumulative effect of which can only be understood as blatant attempts to severely limit suffrage in the 21st century, to once again disenfranchise African Americans and others who do not share their views and to render American democracy anemic and endangered.
The Constitution allows state governments to oversee and determine procedures and rules for local, state, and national elections. This provision gives states and their counties much latitude when it comes to determining who is afforded greater ease of access to voting polls. The Supreme Court's recent decisions have weakened voting rights for many, but most specifically for African Americans. As far as political offices are concerned, Republicans control 28 out of 50 gubernatorial seats, and "as of July 1, 2022. Republicans controlled 54.27% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.41%. Republicans held a majority in 62 chambers, and democrats held the majority in 36 chambers." The Republican Party is in the midst of a moral crisis. Their overt agenda to restrict voting rights is a rogue and un-American one. It is clear these numbers as they stand do not bode well for the continuation of a vigorous American democracy in future elections.
(https://ballotpedia.org/Partisan_composition_of_state_legislatures)
The NAACP and other civil rights organizations are directly confronting this challenge through a number of lawsuits and other legal challenges. Grassroots groups are actively pursuing multiple channels to inform, empower and equip voters. With the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, (H.R.4) Democrats in Congress have proposed legislation that would once again reinvigorate and strengthen the parts of the 1965 Voting Rights which were struck down by the Supreme Court. But in order to effect change, the legislation must be passed. We, as African Americans, know what the path to reversing these recent assaults on our democracy has to be. We have collectively and historically walked this way before.
The tool is the ballot. We must vote!
#VotingRights #BlackVotesMatter #VoteFromAbroad #Vote #DemsAbroad #GlobalBlackCaucus #MidtermsMatter #QuoVadis #America


The adventures of a girl called Bug.
Our newest travel bug. Follow her adventures!
Click the t-shirt to see where Bug & I get our tie-dyed clothes.
Click on the photo to follow the travels of our geocaching travel bug, Doris Mae.
With Bug's birthday coming up, I packed 3 new t-shirts (wrapped) and handed them to her on our first morning in Portland. I told her that she could open one, but that she would have to wear whatever it was.
The first one was pretty cool!
We hopped onto the streetcar and headed to OMSI.
They had an exhibit about mazes and illusions. Bug had fun with this balance board maze. She ALMOST got the ball into the center.
This was a giant model of a human ear. The curved red line to the left of Bug (in the ear canal) moved across, demonstrating how sound waves move through our ears. The parts to the right also moved. It was pretty cool.
This had various organs that would light up when you pushed the button next to their name...except, apparently, the stomach.
One of many bridges in Portland.
On our way to OMSI, Bug spotted this shop. We stopped on our way back.
Finally, somewhere that I wanted to visit. ;) YARNIA!
Bug picked out some red and yellow bamboo yarn. I'm going to make a hat similar to the gray one she's wearing in some of the other photos. Here you can see the yarn on the holder, attached to the winding machine.
The 2 cones of yarn are what I bought at Yarnia. The purple/orange/green is for me (bamboo and wool) and the red & yellow bamboo is for Bug.
Bug & I just got back after being gone for 16 days. She turned 13 while we were gone. Unbelievable. Of course, we took the train.
Hobbes, the one-eyed lion, was ready to go with his official Amtrak scarf wrapped securely around his shoulders.
Looking over the Amtrak timetable with Dad.
Here it is, the Empire Builder.
Settled in and on our way.
We stepped out to stretch in Minot, ND.
A very friendly man from India took our picture next to our sleeper car.
This is Jean. She worked in the dining car and was great.
In Spokane, part of the train (including the dining car) went on to Seattle. Our section had the observation/snack car. Sleeping car passengers got this for breakfast. It was good.
We got to see Mt. Hood.
We took a wrong turn on our way to the bus stop, but saw this leaning tree.
We also spotted these great Hogwarts and Gryffindor stickers on a parked car.
I spy, in an eye, something which is Bug! We were on our way to catch the MAX to go meet some homeschooling friends that we only knew on the internet. We had a great time.
We rented a basement apartment in a house through airbnb. It was great!
Our favorite Chinese place in Portland was only 2 blocks away.
Lemon chicken and green beans. We ate the leftovers the next night. So good.
My fortune made me laugh a bit.
If you haven't noticed, Bug LOVES The Legend of Zelda. The games, the characters, the books. All of it. For nearly 2 years she's been hoping that someday Nintendo would re-release the Zelda game Majora's Mask. Earlier this year the news hit the internet: it was happening. It would be available to play on her Nintendo 3DS. She was so happy. The release date was finally announced: Feb. 13. Bug decided that if she didn't get it for her birthday (mid-May) she would buy it. She didn't know that I had pre-ordered it before Christmas and it would be arriving on the 16th. In the meantime, I'd spotted this Majora's Mask t-shirt on ShirtPunch.com and had it tucked away, waiting.
I played the first few when they first came out, but haven't played the newer ones. Maybe I will, one of these days.
Here's a side-by-side in case you're not familiar with the game. Bug won TWO costume contests for a total of $150 in gift certificates. That's a LOT of Pokemon cards!
I also knit a baby Link costume for my niece's boy. Super-cute.
With the cold weather approaching, I started knitting mittens. These are 2 layers of wool. It turns out that I need the larger size, so Bug gets both of these.
This hood/cowl was made for a friend, but Bug was willing to pose for a photo. I love this pattern.


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