Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

The plump rusty patched bumblebee, Bombus affinis, once buzzed all across the eastern United States, the upper Midwest and parts of Canada. But today, the chunky critter is endangered, its population reduced by nearly 90 percent. In Minnesota, where the rusty patched bumblebee can still be found, officials have hatched a plan to help bolster the species’ population. As Jessica Leigh Hester reports for Atlas Obscura, the state wants to pay residents to turn their lawns into bumblebee havens.
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/minnesota-will-pay-residents-grow-bee-friendly-lawns-180972430/?source=Snapzu

Taylor Swift Has a Long History of Omitting Facts to Fit Her Own Narrative

In the midst of her public dispute with Scooter Braun, it’s time for Taylor Swift to finally stop clinging to the victim narrative.
Read more: https://www.complex.com/music/2019/07/taylor-swift-history-omitting-facts-fit-her-narrative?source=Snapzu

Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phones

Software extracts emails, texts and contacts and could be used to track movements
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/chinese-border-guards-surveillance-app-tourists-phones?source=Snapzu

For 40 Years, Crashing Trains Was One of America’s Favorite Pastimes

From 1896 until the 1930s, showmen would travel the country staging wrecks at state fairs.
Read more: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/staged-train-wrecks?source=Snapzu

How Poland became a front in the cold war between the U.S. and China

An alleged spying case involves a Chinese businessman who speaks Polish and worked for Huawei – the Chinese telecom-gear giant in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. In lengthy remarks, the jailed Chinese suspect tells Reuters he’s an innocent casualty of the campaign against Huawei.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/huawei-poland-spying/?source=Snapzu

New study: Russian propaganda may really have helped Trump in 2016

The study does not prove Russian interference swung the election to Trump. But it did find Trump's poll numbers improved when Russian trolls were active.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-study-shows-russian-propaganda-may-really-have-helped-trump-n1025306?source=Snapzu

Study finds gay Asian Americans are viewed as 'more American' than straight Asian Americans

Gay Asian Americans tend to be rated as more American than their presumably straight counterparts, according to new research
Read more: https://www.psypost.org/2019/07/study-finds-gay-asian-americans-are-viewed-as-more-american-than-straight-asian-americans-53990?source=Snapzu