#026 - Best News of Last Week - Jan 31, 2022
📱 - Here's some good news happening around the world, to start your week
1. Joe Biden formally backs consumers' right to repair their electronics
President Biden became the first sitting president to give extensive comments supporting the right to repair and acknowledging the anticompetitive practices of electronics manufacturers that have spent the last decade creating repair monopolies and making it difficult for consumers to fix the things they own.
At a cabinet meeting Monday, Biden gave an update on the executive order he issued last year that directed the Federal Trade Commission to create right to repair rules that would enforce against anticompetitive practices.
2. Steve Irwin’s family has saved over 90K animals, including Australia wildfire victims
The family of the late Steve Irwin has helped rescue 90,000 animals including those falling victim to the ongoing wildfire devastation in Australia. Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, and their children, daughter Bindi and son Robert Irwin, own and operate the Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Hospital.
"Wildlife Hospital takes in animals from all over Australia. Hundreds of grey-headed flying foxes, a species listed as vulnerable, have been flown to Queensland after the rescue centre they were recovering in was at risk from fire and evacuated," Bindi Irwin posted on Instagram, along with images of orphaned fox cubs recovering from the fire.
A bill passed by the 2021 Hawaii State Legislature banning shark fishing took effect January 1st of this year. House Bill 553 makes it illegal to knowingly capture, entangle, or kill a shark in state marine waters. The new law applies to all shark species found off the coast of Hawaii.
Violation of the new law will be a misdemeanor, but with significant penalties:
$10,000 for a third or subsequent offense.
a civil fine not exceeding $10,000 per offense.
an administrative fine of no more than $10,000 for each shark captured or entangled, whether alive or dead;
-Giving the phrase “finish your plate” a whole new meaning :D
5. Pope Francis tells parents not to condemn children with different sexual orientations
Pope Francis on Jan. 26 told parents not to condemn children who have different sexual orientations. "Never condemn your children," said Francis, who said that parents should accompany such children and "not hide behind an attitude of condemnation."
Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras' first female president Thursday in the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Castro, a democratic socialist, won a landslide victory in last year's presidential election after campaigning on a radical agenda to counter years of governance plagued by corruption and scandal. She promised to alleviate poverty and liberalize abortion laws.
7. Bay Area comic book shop sends free copies of banned Holocaust graphic novel 'Maus' to Tennessee
Earlier this month, a Tennessee school board voted unanimously to ban the teaching of "Maus," an iconic graphic novel that depicts the Holocaust, with Jews represented as mice and Nazis as cats. It was removed from McMinn County's curriculum due to complaints over profanity — specifically the word "damn" — and the depiction of a dead nude mouse.
In response, Ryan Higgins, owner of Sunnyvale's Comics, tweeted an offer to donate up to 100 copies of "Maus" to families in the McMinn county area. It's not the first time he's made such a pledge — last year, he made a similar offer when Texas removed the political graphic novels "Why the Last Man" and "V for Vendetta" from some libraries.
- Everyone should read Maus. It's absolutely captivating and gripped me from beginning to end.
That's it for this week. Until next week, stay safe and don’t forget to share this newsletter with your friends :)