Eugene Cernan, last man on the moon, dies

(CNN)Eugene A. Cernan, the last astronaut to leave his footprints on the surface of the moon, has died, NASA said Monday.

He was 82.

"We are saddened by the loss of retired NASA astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon," the US space agency said on Twitter.

We are saddened by the loss of retired NASA astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon. https://t.co/Q9OSdRewI5 pic.twitter.com/gPdFTnXF2C

— NASA (@NASA) January 16, 2017

These 8 men are richer than 3.6 billion people combined

Eight men now control as much wealth as the world's poorest 3.6 billion people, according to a new report from Oxfam International.

The men -- Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg -- are collectively worth $426 billion, the anti-poverty group said on Sunday.

"Such dramatic inequality is trapping millions in poverty, fracturing our societies, and poisoning our politics," said Paul O'Brien, Oxfam America's Vice President for Policy and Campaigns.

The release of the group's annual inequality report coincides with the World Economic Forum in Davos. The annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort brings together political and financial leaders and some of the wealthiest people in the world.

Eight men now control as much wealth as half of the world's population.

First Bumblebee Declared Endangered in U.S.

The rusty patched bumblebee population has declined 87 percent over the past two decades.

The rusty patched bumblebee is the first bumblebee to be designated as an endangered species in the United States. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAMY

For the first time in the United States, a species of bumblebee is endangered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday on its website that the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), once a common sight, is “now balancing precariously on the brink of extinction.” Over the past two decades, the bumblebee’s population has declined 87 percent, according to the announcement.

The news comes just a few months after the first ever bees were declared endangered in the U.S. In September, seven species of Hawaiian bees, including the yellow-faced bee (Hylaeus anthracinus), received protectionunder the Endangered Species Act. (Read “For the First Time, Bees Declared Endangered in the U.S.”)

 The threats facing those seven species are similar to the ones that have depleted rusty patched bumblebee populations: loss of habitat, diseases and parasites, pesticides, and climate change. This is a big deal not only for bees but for humans, too—after all, bees pollinate a lot of our food.

“Bumblebees are among the most important pollinators of crops such as blueberries, cranberries, and clover and almost the only insect pollinators of tomatoes,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rusty patched bumblebee profile. “The economic value of pollination services provided by native insects (mostly bees) is estimated at $3 billion per year in the United States.” (See seven intimate pictures that reveal the beauty of bees.)

Former Trump advisor reportedly sends letter to McCain threatening the U.S. and our military

After spending the weekend trashing Civil Rights icon Rep. John Lewis, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted this morning: "Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all of the many wonderful things that he stood for. Honor him for being the great man that he was!" Trump, who has routinely trafficked in and empowered white supremacy, either does not know the first thing about the Rev. King's advocacy and activism, or does not care.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Donald Trump spent the weekend preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day attacking Rep. John Lewis, a lifetime Civil Rights activist, because Lewis criticized Trump and questioned the legitimacy of his presidency.

This morning, without a shred of irony or self-awareness, Trump tweeted:

Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all of the many wonderful things that he stood for. Honor him for being the great man that he was!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2017

NPR just offered a shocking and disgusting example of ‘balanced reporting’

Carl Paladino (Wikimedia Commons)

Trump campaign official Carl Paladino recently made headlines for being a disgustingly racist pig of a human being. The former GOP gubernatorial candidate, who managed to get himself elected to the Buffalo, New York, school board, responded to a survey about his New Year’s wishes by attacking the Obamas in the most baldly ugly and racist way imaginable, including wishing for Michelle Obama to be “let loose” in Africa so she could live with apes. He also repeated the racist alt-right meme of her being a man, and said he hoped President Obama “catches mad cow disease” and then “dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.”