From the community: Murdered environmentalists, ancient pyramids and Fox News

We're taking a daily look at some of the most popular stories from the Current community, and we've rounded up some highlights to share. Check them out and add your two cents:

Amazon defenders and environmentalists murdered
Submitted by JanforGore

An anti-logging activist and his wife were murdered in Brazil on Tuesday, shortly before the country's Chamber of Deputies voted to allow more destruction of the Amazon.

The 410-63 vote defangs the 75-year-old Código Florestal (Forest Code), which has long required that farmers who own a piece of the Amazon preserve 80% of the land they own and farm only on the remainder.  The new bill exempts small-scale farmers from the Forest Code and opens environmentally sensitive patches of land – such as hilltops, slopes, and watersides – to cultivation.  It also grants amnesty to small-scale farmers who violated the law before July, 2008.

Possible Pyramids Discovered From Space : NPR
Submitted by kennymotown

Infrared images from NASA may have located pyramids from the ancient city of Tanis, Egypt. Tombstones and other structures were also revealed using the technology.

"What these satellites do is they record light radiation that's reflected off the surface of the Earth in different parts of the light spectrum," Parcak explains to NPR's Rachel Martin. "We use false color imaging to try to tease out these very subtle differences on the ground."

Those subtle differences are an archaeologist's clues to what might lie under a rice paddy or a city street. "You just pull back for hundreds of miles using the satellite imagery, and all of a sudden this invisible world become visible," Parcak says. "You're actually able to see settlements and tombs — and even things like buried pyramids — that you might not otherwise be able to see."

How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory | Rolling Stone Politics
Submitted by kennymotown

Former Nixon operative Roger Ailes is the driving force behind Fox News. Rolling Stones takes a look at how he built the network.

The key to decoding Fox News isn’t Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity. It isn’t even News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. To understand what drives Fox News, and what its true purpose is, you must first understand Chairman Ailes. “He is Fox News,” says Jane Hall, a decade-long Fox commentator who defected over Ailes’ embrace of the fear-mongering Glenn Beck. “It’s his vision. It’s a reflection of him.”

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