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wireless, 5G, Verizon, AT&T, aviation safety, rollout delay

AT&T and Verizon Agree to New Delay of 5G Rollout

AT&T and Verizon Agree to New Delay of 5G Rollout (Maria)

The author writes, “AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. said they agreed to delay their rollout of a new 5G service for two weeks, reversing course after previously declining a request by US transportation officials. AT&T said late Monday that the company had voluntarily agreed to an additional two-week delay, at the request of the US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Verizon also said it had agreed to a two-week delay that would ensure the new service would go live in View article …

Godzilla, US Capitol

How Trump’s Controversies Distract from America’s Real Problems

In this wide-ranging podcast, Barrett Brown and actor and documentary filmmaker Alex Winter talk about the complacency that ails so much of American society.

 

They also discuss how, instead of fixing the systemic problems that plague the US, people across the political spectrum are focusing on the sideshow that President Donald Trump provides. In the meantime, however, all the institutions that are in dire need of reform are neglected — making the job of fixing them in the future even more difficult.

 

Yet because we are now relying on some of those same institutions — like the FBI and the national View article …

Drinking water contamination

Is Flint Just the Tip of the Iceberg?

Predictably and unfortunately, the Flint water crisis has all but disappeared from the headlines. There are just too many Trump tweets and Kardashian selfies that low-income families who are poisoned to death have to compete with.

But the issue of lead-laced drinking water could soon come back roaring to the forefront of the news because what happened in Flint might just have been the beginning of a crisis that stretches well beyond Michigan.

An investigation by The Guardian determined that cities in 17 states, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Boston, have used “water testing cheats” that could conceal hazardous lead levels.

It appears unlikely View article …

COVID-19, patient, Rome

Death Panels Are Real, Thanks to the Coronavirus

Opinion — Sarah Palin, the Republican 2008 vice-presidential candidate, whined about Obamacare “death panels” and predicted that bureaucrats would soon decide who gets lifesaving medical care and who doesn’t. Palin’s creation of the term was named by PolitiFact as its “Lie of the Year” for 2009. 

Death panels were inconceivable.

Until 2020 and the coronavirus.

Until hospitals become faced with too many deathly ill patients and not enough ventilators to save them all. A situation some states are only days or weeks from entering.

 

Italy, we are told, has passed that stage. New View article …

Holocaust Memorial

Is America Now a Fascist Country?

A country does not have to be fascist or have a fascist government in order to be riddled with fascist politics. This is the scary premise Jason Stanley argues in his recent book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University, is Jeff Schechtman’s guest on this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast.

 

Stanley reminds us that while 63 million Americans voted for President Donald Trump, a man who taps into America’s worst impulses, historically there is nothing new about View article …

climate crisis, clean power, greenhouse gas emissions, $1B initiative, Rockfeller, Ikea

$1B Initiative to Bring Clean Power to Developing Nations

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.

 

$1B Initiative to Bring Clean Power to Developing Nations (Maria)

The author writes, “Two foundations just unveiled a $1 billion initiative to help deliver clean energy to huge numbers of people worldwide who lack electricity access — and hope it catalyzes vast amounts more outside capital. The Rockefeller and Ikea foundations said View article …

JFK Assassination Plot Mirrored in 1961 France Pt 2, Obama Nominates Big Pharma Lobbyist to Head FDA, and Apple Joins Opposition to Cybersecurity Bill: Oct 21, 2015

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President John F. Kennedy with CIA Director Allen Dulles and Director-designate John McCone on September 27, 1961. Photo credit: Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

President John F. Kennedy with CIA Director Allen Dulles and Director-designate John McCone on September 27, 1961.

Photo credit: Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

JFK View article …

Memorial Day, 2021

WhoWhatWhy’s Best of Memorial Day 2022

For most of us, Memorial Day is just a collage of impressions from television specials: Bugles playing taps… flags being folded… somber-faced people standing ramrod-straight… speeches… final salutes… long shots of endless fields of gravestones…  human interest stories of unshaven, craggy-faced veterans, some with old medals pinned to their rags, sleeping under bridges, curled up in garbage bags…

 

But for those who want a less impressionistic view of what this day is about, we present a small collection of our past stories that honor the memories of fallen soldiers — and illuminate some of the reasons View article …

How Easy-to-hack Voting Machines Endanger Democracy

Since the “Help America Vote Act” in 2002, tallying votes in our elections has become dependent on machines that sometimes  leave no paper trail. Manufacturers have “proprietary” programs and will not let any public officials or independent experts examine them.

 

On a cold winter day in 2007, Andrew Appel, a Princeton computer professor and election specialist, changed the outcome on one of these machines in seven minutes. He proved something that should alarm everyone: in effect, it took seven minutes per machine to steal an election.

 

In testimony to a House of Representatives Technology Committee on September 28, 2016, which is View article …

Trump, yarmulke

Who Is Trump Fooling with MAGA?

So who is Trump fooling with MAGA — Make America Great Again — the semites or the anti-semites? The Jews or the Jew-haters? Or both?

 

In March, tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts were overturned and painted with “oy vey, this is MAGA country.” The tombstones were also adorned with swastikas, and the message “expel the Jew.”

 

A month later, GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson rolled into a Republican Jewish Coalition rally in Las Vegas on a motorized scooter and was greeted with a standing ovation. He wore a bright red Make America Great Again hat.

 

 

Amazon sells Make America View article …

Renewable Overtakes Coal, but Lags Far Behind Oil and Natural Gas

 

Coronavirus May Never Go Away, Even With a Vaccine (Russ)

The authors write, “A vaccine — while crucial to our response — is not likely to eradicate the disease, experts say. Challenges to vaccination are already becoming clear, including limited supply, anti-vaccine opposition and significant logistical roadblocks. … Communities should be thinking about installing doors that don’t require grasping a handle, and re-engineering traffic signals so pedestrians don’t have to push crosswalk buttons, said Eleanor J. Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University. In coming years … families may have to View article …

automation, pandemic, wage inequality, low-wage workers

Pandemic Wave of Automation May Be Bad News for Workers

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.

Pandemic Wave of Automation May Be Bad News for Workers (Maria)

The author writes, “The trend toward automation predates the pandemic, but it has accelerated at what is proving to be a critical moment. The rapid reopening of the economy has led to a surge in demand View article …