Reading Time: 2 minutes Apparently kicking and screaming the whole way, some of the world’s oil giants are finally taking some small steps to get on board with the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce climate-warming emissions.Chief executives of seven major producers — none of them based in the US — have agreed to join forces “to create Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Journalists get a lot of emails from PR staffers pitching story ideas. More often than not, this is not earth-shattering material but rather a group that wants to get its name in the news or an individual trying to promote a book. Initially, that seemed to be the case on Thursday morning, when the American Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes We at WhoWhatWhy have long predicted that the mainstream media would turn on Donald Trump – after they were done milking the attention he attracts for every ad dollar and page view. Still, even we did not think that they would do such a thorough job. According to an analysis of the network’s evening newscasts Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes Donald Trump likes to talk about the crowds at his rallies. He does this with good reason: Trump is drawing a lot more supporters to his events than anybody in this election cycle not named Bernie Sanders. The problem is that Trump’s campaign is pretty much a one-man show. Unfortunately for the GOP nominee, he Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes In any other presidential election, the files released by Wikileaks would likely have had a major impact on the race. It’s not necessarily that they directly tied Hillary Clinton to any wrongdoing, but that the inner workings of a campaign must seem odious to any voter still buying into the notion that politics is not Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute #Debate about to start and the champ is doing final stretching exercises. No, not #Trump…. @RealRussBaker, about to start live tweeting! — Russ Baker (@RealRussBaker) October 20, 2016 Incredible! No #ClimateChange in tonight's #debate! If anyone still thinks this country is remotely sane, think again. — Russ Baker (@RealRussBaker) October 20, 2016 #RachelMaddow says #Hillary Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Three months ago, WhoWhatWhy wrote a story on how the rest of the world is treating this year’s US election like that of a banana republic. Specifically, we were first to report that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is sending hundreds of election observers to the US due to concerns over Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute The only good thing about last night’s presidential debate was that WhoWhatWhy founder Russ Baker live-tweeted it. #debate twitter. Sitting outside looking at Half Moon Bay, beautiful. Why make America great when plenty already is? — Russ Baker (@RealRussBaker) October 10, 2016 Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln… Trump. Nice ring to it, no? — Russ Baker (@RealRussBaker) Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes As the Syrian army advances on shattered East Aleppo and US Secretary of State John Kerry struggles to find his footing against the Russians, Western media is ripe with speculation that the offensive is timed to the US election. As The New York Times put it, “The strategy of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute WhoWhatWhy Editor-in-Chief Russ Baker watched and live-tweeted the vice-presidential debate last night. Check out his observations below. #TimKaine says: "I am so much more qualified to do nothing than the other guy, he really isnt suited to the job" #VPDebate — Russ Baker (@RealRussBaker) October 5, 2016 #VPDebate between polar opposites #Kaine and un-Abel? — Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute As the saying goes, If I don’t laugh, I would cry. Here is a smattering of my instant tweets during the debates, from my personal twitter @realrussbaker. All offensive statements are accidental, unless they are intentional. Prediction?: SatNightLive style, Hillary will mock-stumble to make light of health concerns. Advisers concerned will bungle it. — Russ Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Handing a victory to opponents of state-sponsored voter suppression efforts, a federal court ruled Monday that only the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) can make changes to federal voter registration forms. The ruling prevents Alabama, Georgia and Kansas from amending the form by adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement. Under the guise of fighting voter fraud, Kansas Secretary Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes In a story published on September 11 about Palestinian beer brewers, the Associated Press (AP) issued a quiet correction triggered by a “communication” from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a pro-Israel media watchdog.The story, penned by Karin Laub, AP’s chief correspondent for the Palestinian Territories, originally stated:“Veteran brewer Nadim Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Old Allies Fighting the New Cold War . On Sept. 5, The Washington Post published a front page story asserting that the Russian government is seeking to undermine American democracy at a crucial time, using unspecified “cybertools” to spread disinformation and chaos that could alter the outcome of the Nov. 8 presidential election. “US intelligence Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes If flag-draped super patriots thought they could effectively shame NFL players into conformity in the wake of recent national anthem protests, they were sorely mistaken.When the NFL regular season goes into high gear with a full slate of games Sunday afternoon, this uncomfortable issue will be front and center, with players from across the league standing – or kneeling Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Texas Land Commissioner runs an office that “manages state lands, operates the Alamo, helps Texans recovering from natural disasters, helps fund Texas public education through the Permanent School Fund, provides benefits to Texas Veterans, and manages the vast Texas coast.” Therefore, it would seem very odd at first glance that the current land commissioner Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Lots of people believe that something is missing in Washington. Most of them think it’s bipartisanship, accountability and common sense. It can safely be assumed that the number of people who think that the nation’s capital is lacking another Cheney is much smaller. Unfortunately, while it seems unlikely that bipartisanship, accountability and common sense will Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Washington Post recently offered a truly frightening scenario: Russian hackers could try to manipulate the upcoming presidential election. Undoubtedly, readers of the Post were alarmed by this revelation…unless they were also readers of WhoWhatWhy. In that case they will have known about the possibility of Russia hacking the election for a year, which is Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Outside my apartment building in New York City is a very tall flagpole. Occasionally I see maintenance workers coming to remove the flag in the evening, but usually the daily doings of the large U.S. flag occur unseen, by me at least. Recently, the flag has been flying at half-staff. As I exit the building and pass Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute The scandal surrounding Melania Trump’s RNC speech keeps getting worse and worse for the GOP nominee. First, accusations of plagiarism overshadowed Day 1 of the convention.Then, the Trump campaign fumbled the response. Instead of owning up to the fact that a (fairly minor) mistake had been made, the campaign kept doubling down and insisted that Read More