There was news today that the Senate is considering cutting Medicare in addition to Medicaid, as well as news of major changes to how science funding is sent out to researchers. Also the travel bans for foreign nationals from certain countries.
Propublica is an excellent nonprofit investigative journalism organization. They have a strong track record of holding powerful companies accountable and achieving real world results/consequences. They often partner with local news organizations to help give them good content and there’s never a paywall either.
Agreed, birch leaves are serrated, these look like beeches
See if there is some place in your community that could use a volunteer. Research studies consistently find that volunteering with charities makes people feel happier. There’s plenty of needs out there. One that might not be well known are Weed Warrior groups that work on removing invasive plants to make more room for natives. I find that kind of work really satisfying because there’s an obvious visual of progress and success.
I really like the Yoga with Adrienne YouTube channel. She has a large variety of yoga and strengthening exercises from super low impact to intense workouts.
We really like our Ioniq 5 for longer road trips, the new models come with an NACS port too. The lack of good CCS chargers has a draw back, but now it seems a simple adapter can enable supercharging with NACS
The $20k compact EV pick up by Slate (new start up) may be of interest https://electrek.co/2025/05/12/slates-20k-electric-pickup-suv-100k-reservations/
It’s no frills, there isn’t even a center console to speak of
This is why. Republicans in Congress are planning to take “at least” $880 Billion over ten years out of Medicare and Medicaid to pay for extending tax cuts for the wealthy. There are also ads in the opposite direction raising alarm about this. They say they’ll make the cuts without reducing benefits, and by that they generally mean they’re going to pay doctors even less for caring for those patients.
The Coalition to Strengthen Healthcare has some resources to facilitate grass roots advocacy if you’re interested!
There is definitely some invasive bamboo in the forests near me that’s spreading and taking over the native habitat
Plants are actually pretty sensitive to soil compaction, which can take a lot of time to reverse. the composition clay/sand in the soil can changed the time it takes to resettle, and it might even just erode down to rock.
It varies a lot by UU congregation. Mine has more focus on Earth based traditions, as in we’re celebrating Earth Day this Sunday instead of Easter. Although we’ve been known to celebrate the high holidays from several major religious traditions.
There are people out there taking action, go find some. Collective action is always stronger than individual action. If you don’t currently have a community that is engaged, consider joining a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Unitarians in the US and Europe resisted the German Nazis by creating documents and providing refuge for Jewish people fleeing the Holocaust. Many congregations today have active social and environmental justice groups, often focusing on local action with low barriers to entry. Nobody is expected to believe any particular scripture, but UUs have a common set of principles, the first being everyone has inherent worth and dignity. The sermons at my congregation lately have been about trans visibility, rising to the moment and processing the chaos, which I’ve found inspiring.
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Our Shark brand vacuum has been a world of difference with dog hair in the carpet, compared to our previous vacuum. They have several models in your price range
Ra-ra-rasputin has ra-ra-resurected
Obligatory Technology Connections video on awnings https://youtu.be/uhbDfi7Ee7k
Sounds like Mars needs some freedom
Hmm I wonder which power source may be best suited for dry and sunny areas with abundant land available