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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Solar Eclipse 2024: What To Expect Monday, Wherever You Are (Maria)
The author writes, “The upcoming solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, will enthrall skywatchers across North America. The very best views — by far — will be afforded only to those that have traveled into (or live in) the 115 miles wide path of totality that stretches from Mexico to Canada via parts of 15 US states. Visit Eclipse2024.org to simulate exactly what you’ll see from any place in North America, and check your location on Timeanddate for exact timings and a full schedule. Whether you are in the path of totality, where the sun is completely obscured by the moon, or elsewhere in North America, you can experience some or all of the eclipse’s phenomena.”
Trump Lies That It ‘Came Out’ He Won Wisconsin During Gaffe-Filled Rally (Sean)
From Rolling Stone: “Trump hit two critical Midwest battlegrounds on Tuesday, first stopping in Grand Rapids, Michigan, then traveling to Green Bay, Wisconsin — ‘blue wall’ states he won in 2016, then lost to President Joe Biden four year later. Yet in a speech peppered with blunders, Trump — who faces two criminal indictments brought against him by the Justice Department and in Georgia stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election — took the stage in the badger state and proceeded to paint an alternate reality in which he emerged the victor. ‘You know, we won this state. We won this state by a lot. It came out that we won this state,’’ Trump falsely told his crowd of supporters gathered in Green Bay.”
I Am Proud To Have Spoken Out Against Putin’s Crimes in Ukraine (Russ)
From The Washington Post: “On April 3, the Russian Supreme Court will consider a cassation appeal against the sentence of Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in a strict-regime colony for five public statements he made against the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s regime. Kara-Murza, who is being held in Prison Colony No. 7 in Omsk, was blocked from taking part in the hearing via video link. Instead, he sent the court the following written statement.”
The Safety Net Program Trapping People in Poverty (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “Saving is hard. Whether for emergencies, special occasions, or retirement, a lot of us fall short. In fact, almost half of Americans don’t have three months worth of expenses saved. And for some, it’s partly because they aren’t allowed to. Imagine you have to stop working for whatever reason, but legally you’ve only been allowed to build up $2,000 in savings. Could you make it through one month — let alone more? This is a real financial barrier that millions of Americans have to live with. Americans like Tyler Lima-Roope, a popular TikToker from California who raises awareness about living with a disability and who receives Supplemental Security Income, or SSI.”
From Pizzagate to the 2020 Election: Forcing Liars To Pay or Apologize (DonkeyHotey)
From The New York Times: “‘The new information landscape we’re in is a little bit like the Wild West — a lawless space,’ said Ian Bassin, a co-founder of Protect Democracy. Lawyers, he said, have turned to defamation, which is legally defined as any false information, either published, broadcast or spoken, that harms the reputation of a person, business, or organization. ‘It’s one of the most effective and only strategies for dealing with these out-and-out falsehoods,’ Mr. Bassin said. In the past few years, more than a dozen high-profile defamation cases have made their way through the courts. A majority have been brought against defendants on the right, but the right brings lawsuits too, often against media organizations.”
A Biased Test Kept Thousands of Black People From Getting a Kidney Transplant. It’s Finally Changing (Dana and Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Jazmin Evans had been waiting for a new kidney for four years when her hospital revealed shocking news: She should have been put on the transplant list in 2015 instead of 2019 — and a racially biased organ test was to blame. As upsetting as that notification was, it also was part of an unprecedented move to mitigate the racial inequity. Evans is among more than 14,000 Black kidney transplant candidates so far given credit for lost waiting time, moving them up the priority list for their transplant.”
Hidden Giants: How the UK’s 500,000 Redwoods Put California in the Shade (Laura)
From The Guardian: “Three giant redwoods tower over Wakehurst’s Elizabethan mansion like skyscrapers. Yet at 131 feet high, these are almost saplings — not even 150 years old and already almost twice as high as Cleopatra’s Needle. … But there are more than just a handful of giant redwoods in the UK, and Wakehurst has many more than these three. The Victorians were so impressed that they brought seeds and seedlings from the US in such large numbers that there are now approximately 500,000 in Britain, according to a Forestry Commission estimate that includes coastal redwoods and dawn redwoods (a separate Chinese species) as well as the giant redwoods. Experts at Kew think most of the UK trees are giant sequoias, the official name for giant redwoods. California has about 80,000 giant redwoods.”
From Our Archives
Texas to Protect the Sanctity of Life Even If It Kills Every Woman in the State
December 9, 2023: “The Texas Supreme Court stayed the decision of a lower court that would have allowed a Dallas woman to have an abortion. The judges did not rule on the merits of the case, which means the stay only gives the high court more time to decide the matter. Not that this should be needed. One would hope that ultimately sanity will prevail in this case and Kate Cox, 31, will be allowed to terminate the nonviable pregnancy that could put her future reproductive health in jeopardy. If you think about it, that would actually be the pro-life approach. She can either have one baby who won’t survive now or many babies in the future.”
