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Behold Wikipedia: “World Cat Day, August 8th, was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. World Cat Day is celebrated on 17 February in much of Europe and on 1 March in Russia.”

Why is it celebrated on February 17th and March 1st in other countries if World Cat Day is August 8th? This is a mystery. But it does prompt the occasional email. Here’s one I got a few minutes ago from a disgruntled reader:

Why are newspapers even mentioning cats instead of hard news? I might blame Mondays but this blog is in every edition. Guess what, cats are not important. They should not be wasting space in a news organization. I understand that you are pandering to the ‘madding crowd’ but for heavens sake, stop it and replace it with ‘REAL’ news.

Cats are not important? Hmmph. I think we all know what I have to say about that:

Isn’t she adorable? Who’s not important now, huh? Not this incredibly cute calico kitten, that’s for sure. She is now officially named Cinnamon, by the way, and she’s either peering into a bathtub or else her tiny size is making a sink look ginormous.1

1It’s a bathtub.

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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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