PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
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From Sewage to Swimming in ‘Blue Gold’: How Switzerland Transformed Rivers (Maria)
The author writes, “In the 1960s, Switzerland had among the dirtiest water in Europe, blighted by mats of algae, mountains of foam, scum and dead fish floating on the surface. For decades, swimming was banned in some rivers such as the Aare and Limmat on health grounds. … Raw sewage and industrial wastewater flowed directly into water bodies – in 1965 only 14% of the population was connected to a wastewater treatment plant. Today, it is 98%, and the country has a reputation for pristine swimming waters, sometimes referred to as its ‘blue gold.’”
If Trump Can Deport Mahmoud Khalil, Freedom of Speech Is Dead (Laura)
The author writes, “There is no going back from this point: President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to deport a man solely for his First Amendment-protected activity, without due process. By all existing legal standards, this is illegal and unconstitutional: a violation of First Amendment protections, and the Fifth Amendment-protected right to due process. If Khalil’s green card is revoked and he is deported, no one can have any confidence in legal and constitutional protections as a line of defense against arbitrary state violence and punishment.”
Trump and Musk Are Building a New Spoils System (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Trump, via Musk, is engaged in impoundment, which is illegal and unconstitutional. It also vastly weakens Congress. And yet, the Trump pitch to get Congress to pass appropriations is that he will ignore what they actually pass! Impoundment is a feature, not a bug, in their model for governing.”
Can Trump Arbitrarily Take Money From Anyone’s Bank Account? (Reader Steve)
From Rolling Stone: “The federal government’s debiting $80.5 million from New York City’s bank account suggests yes.”
US Supreme Court Weakens Rules on Discharge of Raw Sewage Into Water Supplies (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “The US supreme court has weakened rules on the discharge of raw sewage into water supplies in a 5-4 ruling that undermines the 1972 Clean Water Act. The CWA is the principal law governing pollution control and water quality of the nation’s waterways. The Republican supermajority court ruled [this month] that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot employ generic, water body-focused pollution discharge limits to Clean Water Act permit holders, and must provide specific limitations to pollution permittees.”
Stanford Students Used to Chase Jobs at Meta and Google. Now They Want to Work on War (Russ)
From The San Francisco Standard: “At Stanford, building tech for the U.S. government is cool again. Students are dropping out to form defense tech startups and compete for coveted internships at government security agencies or major private contractors. Undergraduates, business school students, recent alumni now working in defense tech, and faculty show a booming interest in building war machines for the United States.”
Evidence of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens Sharing Culture 110,000 Years Ago (Dana)
From Archaeology News: “A recent discovery in Tinshemet Cave, central Israel, is changing the way we look at early human interactions. Archaeologists have found human burials from the Middle Paleolithic period, and they revealed that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens not only lived in the same region but also shared aspects of daily life, technology, and funerary practices.”
