My name is Russ Baker. For more than two decades I have been an investigative journalist, doing what I believed journalists were supposed to do—seek the truth and publish nothing less. Over the years, however, I have learned how the media gatekeepers, both “mainstream” and “alternative,” will not allow the biggest, most disturbing revelations to see the light of day.
Who What Why ?
Éléments du fil RSS
Why Does the Kremlin Keep Purging Crimea’s Muslims?
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/29/2021 - 07:00Early in the morning, while most people were still asleep, a dozen masked men stormed into an unfinished house outside Simferopol, the administrative capital of Russia-annexed Crimea. They rousted the pro-Ukraine Tatar community leader Nariman Jelyalov, his wife, and four children, searched the house, and confiscated his laptop.
‘A Race to the Bottom’: Google Temps Fighting Two-Tier Labor System
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/28/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
‘A Race to the Bottom’: Google Temps Fighting Two-Tier Labor System (Maria)
I Was a GI in Afghanistan: Here’s Why I Can’t Forget the Women
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/28/2021 - 13:00I went digging into my box of Army memories in my garage — a box I tend to keep shut tight. I grabbed a little toy ring, I had a cry, and I went to bed.
Whistling While the Budget Burns
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/28/2021 - 07:00Mitch McConnell’s playing a high-stakes game of political chicken, risking a federal government shutdown and debt default that could trigger a world economic crisis, all to disrupt Democratic budget plans and score political points going into next year’s congressional elections.
Petito Case Renews Call to Spotlight Missing People of Color
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/27/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Petito Case Renews Call to Spotlight Missing People of Color (Maria)
Do Green Energy Jobs Pay as Well as Fossil Fuel Work?
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/27/2021 - 07:00This story by Karin Kirk originally appeared in Yale Climate Connections and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
The Congressional Competence Conundrum
Soumis par Aggregation le dim, 09/26/2021 - 07:00Imagine a sausage factory that produces no sausage while running a huge deficit. But neither its management nor its employees care because their jobs come with a lot of perks and virtually none of them ever gets fired for doing nothing. Sound laughable? Well, if you are an American, then the joke is on you — because that sausage factory is Congress.
Sunda Clouded Leopard, the Ethereal and Declining ‘Tree Tiger’
Soumis par Aggregation le sam, 09/25/2021 - 13:00The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same
Soumis par Aggregation le sam, 09/25/2021 - 07:00It’s the same old, same old when it comes to immigration policy under Joe Biden, who’s cracking the whip using Trump-era rules he once decried.
Americans Who Relied on Trump for COVID News Among Least Likely to be Vaccinated
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/24/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Americans Who Relied Most on Trump for COVID-19 News Among Least Likely to be Vaccinated (Maria)
Are Psychedelics the Cutting Edge Treatment for Mental Illness?
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/24/2021 - 09:00
The new mRNA vaccines that have blunted the deadly COVID-19 pandemic signal only the beginning of a true revolution in modern pharmacology. New treatments are on the horizon for almost every major disease, and there is even talk about significantly extending life spans. But what about mental health? In this area, treatment still relies on the kinds of drugs that dull the senses and cover up symptoms.
What, if anything, is ahead for getting to the root of diseases like depression, PTSD, trauma, substance abuse, and other brain disorders?
As the World Burns, Germany’s Boomers Have Final Say in ‘Climate Election’
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/24/2021 - 08:00Young Germans will be massing in the streets on Friday with Greta Thunberg in a global climate strike to demand action to secure their future — just two days ahead of federal elections on September 26. Fear is taking hold that temperature rises beyond the Paris target of 1.5 degrees Celsius seem inevitable — or even acceptable — to mainstream politicians and the older voters that elect them.
What’s Behind the Storm Over Australia’s Submarines
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/23/2021 - 14:46To the casual observer, the recent diplomatic kerfuffle over the US and UK bigfooting France in a multi-billion-dollar submarine deal with Australia may seem like a ridiculous schoolyard squabble. It brings to mind the Bush-era “freedom fries” silliness when France opposed the war in Iraq.
In fact, a great deal more is at stake this time. Experts caution that it’s not so much about snubbing France; the sub deal is more symptomatic of an evolving shift in geopolitical power — at least as far as it deals with China in the Pacific Ocean.
China Vows to Stop Building Coal-Fired Power Plants Abroad
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/23/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Environmentalists Hail China’s Vow to Stop Building Coal-Fired Power Plants Abroad (Maria)
Corrective Directive
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/23/2021 - 07:00Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, with real life dialogue, were a staple of the Village Voice in its heyday. Now he’s back with his unique take on the 21st century
Senate Democrats Call on FTC to Fix Data Privacy ‘Crisis’
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/22/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Senate Democrats Call on FTC to Fix Data Privacy ‘Crisis’ (Maria)
Is Canada Becoming More Like Its Neighbor to the South?
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/22/2021 - 07:00The Canadian elections may not have changed the government, but a closer look at the results suggests the electorate is becoming more like that in the United States — deeply divided on regional and political grounds.
In Monday’s elections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party won 158 seats out of the 338 that make up Parliament, only one more than two years ago and 12 seats shy of a majority.
Ten Years Ago, Occupy Wall Street Lit a Spark in Zuccotti Park
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/21/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Ten Years Ago, Occupy Wall Street Lit a Spark in Zuccotti Park (Maria)
Illegal Logging Reaches Amazon’s Untouched Core
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/21/2021 - 11:08This story by Juliana Ennes originally appeared in Mongabay and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
(Some) Vaccines Are for Losers
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/21/2021 - 07:00Republicans are taking herd mentality to a new level, even if it means they’ll never have herd immunity.
US and EU Pledge to Cut Methane Emissions 30 Percent to Curb Global Warming
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/20/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
US and EU Pledge to Cut Methane Emissions 30 Percent to Curb Global Warming (Maria)
What’s the Word? Climate Lingo Demystified
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/20/2021 - 07:00
The climate crisis is taking center stage, with deadly hurricanes, torrential rains, and wildfires blazing out of control, but it can be hard to grasp the jargon that accompanies a warming world. (“Carbon capture,” anyone?) In advance of November’s UN COP26 (see below), WhoWhatWhy has collected and clarified 14 of the terms you’re likely to see in coming months.
Greenhouse Gases
Unraveling the American Myth
Soumis par Aggregation le dim, 09/19/2021 - 07:00As if a global pandemic, a global climate crisis, and poisonously partisan politics weren’t bad enough, Americans unconsciously find themselves driven to deal with another problem: The myths that we have traditionally relied on to define who we are and where we are going are beginning to unravel.
Reporting Live From the Virtual Opium Den of Tomorrow
Soumis par Aggregation le sam, 09/18/2021 - 11:00In the last exciting installment of “What the hell are we going to do about local journalism,” I proposed that there are really two concepts in a state of change. “Journalism” is one. The other is “local” — as in, our very idea of where we live and work.
“Another One Bites the Dust”*
Soumis par Aggregation le sam, 09/18/2021 - 07:00At least five conservative, anti-vaccination radio hosts have died of COVID-19 since July. *The most recent was Bob Enyart, who in the ‘90s enjoyed reading aloud the names of those who died of AIDS while playing the Queen song “Another One Bites the Dust.”
How Crime Guns Are Traced in the US: One Page at a Time
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/17/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
How Crime Guns Are Traced in the US: One Page at a Time (Maria)
Iran, Russia, China, and the Taliban
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/17/2021 - 07:00Are Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, and China a new axis of power? Is the Taliban really reformed, is terror still an instrument of policy, and what should the US be most afraid of in the region?
These are just a few of the questions we discuss on this week’s WhoWhayWhy podcast with Middle East scholar and author Shay Khatiri.
General Promises US ‘Surge’ to Fight Foreign Cyberattacks
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/16/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
General Promises US ‘Surge’ to Fight Foreign Cyberattacks (Maria)
Environmental Threats Are Biggest Challenge to Human Rights: UN
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/15/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Environmental Threats Are Biggest Challenge to Human Rights: UN (Maria)
How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen the Metaverse)?
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/15/2021 - 12:26I have had the immense good fortune to be part of the sub-generation of journalists who came of age just after the first dot-com bubble burst.
Asian Americans Aren’t a Monolith, but COVID-19 Data Treats Them All the Same
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/15/2021 - 07:00As the pandemic began engulfing New York City last year, a 24-hour-a-day convenience store called Punjab Grocery & Halal Meat stood out on Coney Island Avenue as a pillar of the “Little Pakistan” neighborhood of Brooklyn. Run by two Pakistani brothers, Ahmed and Mustafa Razvi, the store stocking essential Pakistani and Indian goods and groceries stayed open around the clock, until suddenly it began closing from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. as COVID-19 hit home and left the store short-staffed.
Freedom Deriders
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/14/2021 - 16:22Across the country, Republicans are taking liberties.
Leaked Documents Reveal the Special Rules Facebook Uses for 5.8M VIPs
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/14/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Leaked Documents Reveal the Special Rules Facebook Uses for 5.8M VIPs (Maria)
Cost of Wetlands: Free. Storm Damage They Prevent: $38 million per Estuary
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/14/2021 - 07:00This story by Liz Kimbrough originally appeared in Mongabay and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Lebanese Titanic
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/13/2021 - 14:10Faced with growing unrest amid an epic economic crisis that has led to mass emigration, the billionaire prime minister of Lebanon took to a podium inside the Baabda Palace to deliver a long-awaited announcement: A new government had at last been formed.
“I hope we will rise with this government and at least stop the current collapse and restore Lebanon to its glory and prosperity,” said Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Researchers Complete First Detailed Map of Global Coral Reefs
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/13/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Researchers Complete First Detailed Map of Global Coral Reefs (Maria)
FBI Makes Midnight Release of Shocking New Information on Saudi-9/11 Complicity
Soumis par Aggregation le dim, 09/12/2021 - 11:00UPDATE, September 12, 2021: Late Saturday night — a timeslot usually reserved for announcements designed to be buried — the FBI released a previously classified report related to its extraordinarily sensitive investigation of possible Saudi government complicity with the September 11 attackers.
The report on “Operation Encore” contains critical admissions that move forward, to some extent, understanding of the relationship between the Saudi government and the perpetrators of the greatest attack ever committed on American soil.
9/11: The Tragedy of an Opportunity Wasted
Soumis par Aggregation le dim, 09/12/2021 - 07:00There are many ways in which 9/11 was a tragedy. Only some of them will be told in all of the events surrounding the 20th anniversary of the attack — like the tales of heroism Americans enjoy hearing. Others will largely be glossed over — for example how the United States played right into the hands of al-Qaeda with a predictable response that cost many more lives than the attack itself, and created many new terrorists.
One, however, will likely be ignored altogether: It is the tragedy of an opportunity squandered.
The Changing Face of Terror
Soumis par Aggregation le sam, 09/11/2021 - 07:00“Radical Islamic terrorism.” Donald Trump relished using the controversial term, wielding it like a branding iron. He said those who couldn’t say its name were unfit to lead the country. But he chose not to say the name of something that has grown into what is now considered a bigger, scarier domestic threat: white supremacist terrorism.
From 9/11’s Ashes, a New World Took Shape. It Did Not Last.
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/10/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
From 9/11’s Ashes, a New World Took Shape. It Did Not Last. (Maria)
The Direct Line From 9/11 to January 6th
Soumis par Aggregation le ven, 09/10/2021 - 07:00In the world of 24/7 media, events are reported at warp speed, a full news cycle is a few hours, and events of 20 years ago seem ancient. And yet for many, 9/11 feels like yesterday.
It’s in that dissonance that we can seek to understand how the events of 9/11 are directly connected to Donald Trump.
In this week’s special WhoWhatWhy podcast we talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Spencer Ackerman, author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump.
Silicon Valley Finds Remote Work Is Easier to Begin Than End
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/09/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Silicon Valley Finds Remote Work Is Easier to Begin Than End (Maria)
The Oligarch Behind Russia’s Failing Space Program
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/09/2021 - 11:00During the days of the former Soviet Union, Russia was the first to launch a satellite into space, followed by the first man in space and then the first woman in space. It then launched the first orbiting space station. Soviet scientific space probes soft-landed on Venus and Mars and photographed the Moon’s dark side. In its twilight years, the USSR even launched a space shuttle. That was then. Today, Russia’s space program is in decline.
Bettin’ on Baby
Soumis par Aggregation le jeu, 09/09/2021 - 07:00Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, with real life dialogue, were a staple of the Village Voice in its heyday. Now he’s back with his unique take on the 21st century
Animals ‘Shapeshifting’ in Response to Climate Crisis, Research Finds
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/08/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
Animals ‘Shapeshifting’ in Response to Climate Crisis, Research Finds (Maria)
Journalism in Mexico — The Violent Repression of Expression
Soumis par Aggregation le mer, 09/08/2021 - 07:00Every 12 hours a journalist is assaulted in Mexico, a country that has become the most dangerous in the world for those in the media — even more dangerous now than for journalists working in war zones.
As Flood Alerts Lit Up Phones, Did Warning Fatigue Set In?
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/07/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.
As Flood Alerts Lit Up Phones, Did Warning Fatigue Set In? (Maria)
Other Bad Stuff Your Mask Keeps Out
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/07/2021 - 13:00Hospitals are bursting at the seams with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. Many will die and be transferred to refrigerated trucks discreetly waiting outside. More COVID-19 patients will instantly fill the vacated beds.
Then along comes a hurricane, or flood, or fire, that sends more victims to the hospital.
Adding to this hellish stew comes a power blackout, and you wonder if the hospitals’ backup generators will continue to keep lifesaving equipment working. What if they run out of fuel?
Texas, the One-Star State
Soumis par Aggregation le mar, 09/07/2021 - 07:00Climate Change and Global Threat of Ecosystem Transformation
Soumis par Aggregation le lun, 09/06/2021 - 13:00PICKS 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.