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  31. <title>Not Hiring: Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Economy Threats Multiply</title>
  32. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/not-hiring-job-market-leaves-unemployed-in-limbo-as-economy-threats-multiply/</link>
  34. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Whowhatwhy Editors]]></dc:creator>
  35. <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 18:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
  36. <category><![CDATA[Editors' Picks]]></category>
  37. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102992</guid>
  38.  
  39. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-7.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="U.S. economy, labor, unemployment, pace of hiring, jobless boom" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,45]" /><p>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.</p>
  40. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/not-hiring-job-market-leaves-unemployed-in-limbo-as-economy-threats-multiply/">Not Hiring: Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Economy Threats Multiply</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  41. ]]></description>
  42. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-7.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="U.S. economy, labor, unemployment, pace of hiring, jobless boom" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,45]" /><h3><b>Not Hiring: Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Economy Threats Multiply (Maria)</b></h3>
  43. <p>The author <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-hiring-economy-c48fd84dfaa71eee962feb3a88fd8575" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “When Carly Kaprive left a job in Kansas City and moved to Chicago a year ago, she figured it would take three to six months to find a new position. The 32-year old project manager had never been unemployed for longer than three months. Instead, after 700 applications, she’s still looking, wrapped up in a frustrating and extended job hunt. &#8230; Kaprive is caught in a historical anomaly: The unemployment rate is low and the economy is growing, but jobless workers face the slowest pace of hiring in more than a decade.”</p>
  44. <h3><b>The ‘Hard, Slow Work’ of Reducing Overdose Deaths Is Having an Effect (Dana)</b></h3>
  45. <p>From <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/hard-slow-work-reducing-overdose-deaths-having-effect" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>News From the States</i></a>: “Illicit drug overdoses and the deaths they cause are trending down this year, despite spikes in a handful of states, according to a Stateline analysis of data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A handful of places with rising overdoses are responding to the problem with cooperation, they say, by sharing information about overdose surges and distributing emergency medication.”</p>
  46. <h3><b>In Texas’s Least-Populated County, the Election That Never Ends … Just Ended (Reader Steve)</b></h3>
  47. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-758104459"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-1038751989" data-whowh-trackid="97785" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97785" data-cfpw="97785"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=free" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="free the truth promo"><img decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/frame_7__1_-1.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97785 );</script></div><p>From <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/texas-least-populated-county-election-160749888.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The Houston Chronicle</i></a>: “It might have been the longest election campaign for the shortest office term in recent Texas history. Loving County Justice of the Peace Angela Medlin, County/District Clerk Mozelle Carr and Commissioner Ysidro Renteria all were elected into office in 2022. But a series of court challenges brought by their opponents concluded that a dozen voters who had cast ballots didn’t really live in this sparsely populated county near the New Mexico border. Because the margin of victory in each of the three races had been 12 or fewer votes, Loving County was ordered to conduct an extremely rare election do-over.”</p>
  48. <h3><b>Hack Exposes Kansas City’s Secret Police Misconduct List (Sean)</b></h3>
  49. <p>From <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/hack-exposes-kansas-city-kansas-polices-secret-misconduct-list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Wired</i></a>: “A major breach of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department reveals, for the first time, a list of alleged officer misconduct including dishonesty, sexual harassment, excessive force, and false arrest.”</p>
  50. <h3><b>The Big Short Guy Just Bet $1 Billion That the AI Bubble Pops (DonkeyHotey)</b></h3>
  51. <p>The author <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/big-short-michael-burry-1-billion-ai-bubble" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Michael Burry, who famously shorted the US housing market before its collapse in 2008, has bet over $1 billion that the share prices of AI chipmaker Nvidia and software company Palantir will fall — making a similar play, in other words, on the prediction that the AI industry will collapse.”</p>
  52. <h3><b>Why Spiders Are the Ultimate Interior Decorators (Mili)</b></h3>
  53. <p>The author <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/science/spider-webs-stabilimenta.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE8.-2t7.PZ89K39dj3Wr&amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Scientists offer a new idea for why orb-weaving arachnids add decorations known as stabilimenta to their webs.”</p>
  54. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/not-hiring-job-market-leaves-unemployed-in-limbo-as-economy-threats-multiply/">Not Hiring: Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Economy Threats Multiply</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  55. ]]></content:encoded>
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  60. <item>
  61. <title>The Radicalization of Silicon Valley: Democracy Is Optional</title>
  62. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/the-radicalization-of-silicon-valley-democracy-is-optional/</link>
  64. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Schechtman]]></dc:creator>
  65. <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
  66. <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category>
  67. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102969</guid>
  68.  
  69. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Andreessen_Musk_Thiel_Silicon_Valley_3x2.jpg.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,25]" /><p>Tech oligarchs abandon democracy, embrace Trump. Performance or conviction? When they control the platforms shaping reality, does it matter?</p>
  70. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/the-radicalization-of-silicon-valley-democracy-is-optional/">The Radicalization of Silicon Valley: Democracy Is Optional</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  71. ]]></description>
  72. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Andreessen_Musk_Thiel_Silicon_Valley_3x2.jpg.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,25]" /><p>When the world’s richest men decide democracy is optional, we all pay the price.</p>
  73. <p>They once championed marriage equality and promised to make the world more open and connected. Now Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and a tight network of Silicon Valley billionaires are bankrolling authoritarian politics, questioning democracy itself, and leveraging their control of our communication infrastructure to reshape American power.</p>
  74. <p>But here’s the uncomfortable question: Is this genuine ideological conversion, or simply the world’s most expensive insurance policy? And does it even matter?</p>
  75. <p>On this week’s <i>WhoWhatWhy </i>podcast, journalist and author Jacob Silverman reveals how a few dozen mostly white men — many connected through South African roots, shared grievances about “woke culture,” and an interlocking web of investments — transformed from progressive donors into Trump’s most powerful allies. </p>
  76. <p>Silverman, author of <i>Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley,</i> lays out the authoritarian turn of the tech elite from defense tech contracts to crypto corruption, from charter cities in Honduras to recall elections in San Francisco.</p>
  77. <p>He argues that their alliance with Trump represents something more dangerous than traditional oligarchy: the fusion of unprecedented wealth with control over the platforms that shape our consensual reality. Whether it’s performative or sincere, their rage is reshaping America. And we’re all living in the world they’re building.</p>
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  79. <h3><a href="http://apple.co/1MEe9s7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-19599" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Apple_Podcast_Icon_30x30.png" alt="iTunes" width="30" height="30" /> Apple Podcasts</a><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93aG93aGF0d2h5Lm9yZy9hdXRob3IvamVmZi1zY2hlY2h0bWFuL2ZlZWQv" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Google_Podcast_Icon_30x30.png" alt="Google Podcasts" width="30" height="30" />Google Podcasts</a><a href="http://whowhatwhy.libsyn.com/rss" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-19600" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/RSS_Podcast_30x30.png" alt="RSS" width="30" height="30" /> RSS</a></h3>
  80. <hr />
  81. <p><strong>Full Text Transcript:</strong></p>
  82. <p><em>(As a service to our readers, we provide transcripts with our podcasts. We try to ensure that these transcripts do not include errors. However, due to a constraint of resources, we are not always able to proofread them as closely as we would like and hope that you will excuse any errors that slipped through.)</em></p>
  83. <p><strong>[00:00:14] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>Welcome to the program. I&#8217;m Jeff Schechtman. In the great sweeping narrative of American capitalism, there have always been men of enormous wealth who believe their fortunes entitled them to reshape democracy itself. From the Gilded Age robber barons to mid-century industrialists, we&#8217;ve seen this pattern repeat. But something fundamentally different is happening now in Silicon Valley, something that should trouble us all. The tech elite who once positioned themselves as progressives, supporting marriage equality, speaking the language of disruption and democratization, promising to make the world more open and connected, have undergone a transformation that goes beyond simple political realignment. They haven&#8217;t just changed parties, they&#8217;ve begun questioning democracy itself, which raises perhaps the most important question. Is this real or is it theater? When Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and most recently Mark Benioff line up to pay homage to Donald Trump, are we witnessing genuine ideological conversion or simply the world&#8217;s most expensive insurance policy? Are these men pursuing governmental contracts and regulatory favor or have their views of the world actually changed? It&#8217;s the same question we might ask about William Randolph Hearst. Did he start wars to sell newspapers or did he believe in the causes? And here&#8217;s the uncomfortable truth. Perhaps it doesn&#8217;t matter. Perhaps the sincerity question is a distraction. When the people who control our communications infrastructure, our cloud computing, our social networks and increasingly our artificial intelligence align themselves with authoritarian power, the result is the same whether they believe it or are merely performing it. My guest today, Jacob Silverman, has written what may be the essential book for understanding this moment. Gilded Rage, Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley isn&#8217;t simply about one mercurial billionaire and his rightward drift. It&#8217;s about a network of the most powerful people in the world, people who have decided that democratic accountability is an outdated constraint on their vision. From Peter Thiel&#8217;s early democracy skepticism to Elon Musk&#8217;s alliance with Trump, from charter cities in Honduras to private communities in Texas, from the capture of defense contracts to the pursuit of artificial general intelligence requiring unlimited capital, Silverman has mapped a landscape of billionaire rage that&#8217;s reshaping American politics and America in real time. What makes this moment particularly dangerous is not the concentration of wealth. We&#8217;ve had that before. It&#8217;s the combination of that wealth with control of communications platforms, with genuine ideological conviction and with a generation of younger tech leaders who grew up viewing governance as merely software to be replaced. Jacob Silverman is a contributing editor at the New Republic and the Baffler. He is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Easy Money about cryptocurrency fraud and the author of Terms of Service about social media. He&#8217;s done the difficult work of mapping this network of power and influence. And today we&#8217;ll explore what it means when the world&#8217;s richest men decide they don&#8217;t want to be among the rest of us anymore. It is my pleasure to welcome Jacob Silverman here to talk about Gilded Rage, Elon Musk and the radicalization of Silicon Valley. Jacob, thanks so much for joining us here on the <em>WhoWhatWhy</em> podcast.</p>
  84. <p><strong>[00:03:42] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Thank you. Thanks for the wonderful introduction and really summing up the issues at stake, I thought, in a really great way.</p>
  85. <p><strong>[00:03:47] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>Well, thank you. Appreciate that. I want to begin by talking about, in a general sense, this group of oligarchs that we&#8217;re talking about and this remarkable transformation that took place, because these were guys that at one point were considered progressive Democrats. They were for liberal causes in many cases. And they have gone through a remarkable transformation. Talk about this just in terms of the timeline that we have seen over the past 10 years.</p>
  86. <p><strong>[00:04:18] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Sure. Well, I think, as you said in your introduction, I mean, some of these people have changed out of expediency or opportunism and some more deeply and ideologically, though in practice of a lot of it tends to be the same thing. And I think that the timeline that I&#8217;m really looking at is beginning with post 9-11 and then looking much more closely within the last 10 to 15 years. Even if we look in particular at the COVID years, that&#8217;s when a lot of the rejection of what they now call, what they call everything woke this now, but what they call woke or progressive politics, social justice politics in the form of Black Lives Matter or the Me Too movements, resistance to quarantine and COVID lockdown measures. All these forces started coming together, I think, to really alienate a lot of the tech elites or that&#8217;s how they took them. They did not handle these social and political movements very well and found them to be some form of progressivism that they really didn&#8217;t recognize. And this is when you start having more people like Musk talking about the woke mind virus. It&#8217;s when you have other tech elites like Marc Andreessen talking about communists infiltrating the tech industry. So there&#8217;s certainly a deep history here to what we&#8217;re talking about. But I&#8217;m focused quite a bit on the last couple of decades.</p>
  87. <p><strong>[00:05:39] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>And it&#8217;s almost like, to stretch the metaphor a little bit, it&#8217;s almost like some kind of virus entered into Silicon Valley because it wasn&#8217;t just one or two of these guys that were part of this transition. It was so many of them and it happened in groups and sometimes one at a time, but it seemed to take so many along with it.</p>
  88. <p><strong>[00:06:00] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Yeah, and, you know, there really is a social component to what we&#8217;re talking about here. And that&#8217;s why I talk about in the book how Musk might be the central figure because of his wealth and power and reputation. But we&#8217;re talking about a group of a few dozen mostly white men who know each other, associate with one another, talk on social media, talk in private group chats, invest in the same company. So, you know, there is a social and communicative dynamic to this thing. I mean, they are, they are or were kind of radicalizing one another. A lot of them were talking to the same right wing accounts on X and elsewhere. And or a lot, some of them synonymous, some of them like the writer Curtis Yarvin, who&#8217;s a right wing monarchist that some of these tech elites cite. It&#8217;s a story, I think, that, of course, has implications for us all. But we are talking about a small group of a few dozen tech millionaires and billionaires who really do know each other and kind of participate in this exchange of ideas with one another and going down the same political road together.</p>
  89. <p><strong>[00:07:02] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>A lot of it seemed to happen during the Biden years. That seems to have been the critical mass of this. Talk about that.</p>
  90. <p><strong>[00:07:10] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Yeah, I would argue that the Biden years were pretty good to the tech industry as basically this entire 21st century has been to the tech industry. But there were some efforts at regulation and also some proposals to tax unrealized capital gains. That&#8217;s not something that ended up happening. But for people who invest in startups and then hope that the stock goes public and then shoots up a thousand times, those kinds of unrealized capital gains taxes they found rather threatening. That&#8217;s something that Marc Andreessen talked about. And there were just other points of friction with the Biden administration that really they found intolerable. They did not like Lehman Khan, the FTC chair, who was probably Biden&#8217;s most effective appointee. And I thought had some ideas about economic competition that could actually help the tech industry. It probably would not help its most powerful players, but it could help it more broadly. Anyway, so there are these different points of friction, of differing policy ideas. And I would argue it was not an anti-tech administration. And as we saw, it was one under which tech did pretty well on its own right. But it wasn&#8217;t the free-for-all that they&#8217;d experienced under, say, the first Trump administration. It wasn&#8217;t the closed relationship and the revolving door personnel that was even under the Obama administration. And also another thing that had gone away was the zero interest rate years that basically started after the 2008 great financial crisis and had gone through through COVID. Interest rates were raised a little bit. But there wasn&#8217;t as much money going around. And while that wasn&#8217;t necessarily a Biden administration policy, the kind of blowback was felt by the Biden administration. So my overall argument is that there are some worthwhile points of contention to talk about there. But that mostly, actually, this was a group of people who did not like having their power challenged in their eyes for the first time.</p>
  91. <p><strong>[00:09:09] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>And how did Donald Trump become their totem in so many respects?</p>
  92. <p><strong>[00:09:14] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Well, I think they shared some cultural grievances with him, first of all. Even though these guys are a wing of the establishment, as is Donald Trump, they don&#8217;t have a lot of respect for it. And Trump&#8217;s kind of abrasive bull in a china shop quality, I think, appeals to them the way it appeals to a lot of people who are into edgy online humor. More substantively, Donald Trump left open this lane of kind of political grievance and anti-woke, anti-progressive politics. And that is something that appealed a lot to the tech elites. Some of them were already conservative, like you mentioned earlier, Peter Thiel or his friend David Sachs. I mean, these are longtime conservatives, but it&#8217;s first people like Andreessen or Musk or people who thought that the rank and file of tech had gotten too lefty. The anti-woke sensibility and kind of outrage of MAGA was very appealing. And we can even get more specific and say it was someone like Musk. When his daughter came out as trans, I believe during the COVID era, it hit him in a very significant way. I mean, his child, Vivian Wilson is his daughter&#8217;s name, and she&#8217;s now sort of a public figure and on social media. But at the time she wasn&#8217;t, and she wrote in her name change application that she wished not to be associated with her father anymore. And that&#8217;s when, because as you said, he bullied her and mistreated her. And that was really when you started hearing Musk talk about the woke mind virus, about communism in schools. And this is something you&#8217;ve heard also from Bill Ackman, the financier who says that Harvard turned his daughter into a Marxist. You know, there&#8217;s a sense from a lot of these guys that the existing institutions are turning kids into lefties. And there is sort of a red scare quality to it, too. You&#8217;ll hear them say communists. And so for someone like Musk, the transphobia and contempt for institutions that MAGA had really appealed to him.</p>
  93. <p><strong>[00:11:19] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>With Thiel and Musk and Sachs, what impact, if any, did the South African connection have?</p>
  94. <p><strong>[00:11:25] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Well, that&#8217;s something that I&#8217;ve thought about a lot and have a new podcast with the CBC. It&#8217;s a limited four episode series that&#8217;s still releasing episodes about Musk called The Making of Musk. And I think it&#8217;s not really a coincidence that a number of the most prominent people in tech and the most prominent authoritarians in tech, I would say, have these South African or Southwest African connections. In the case of Thiel, I believe he lived in the Southwest African area that became Namibia. These people, especially someone like Musk, someone who grew up in a racial elite and a highly stratified, highly engineered society, where engineers in particular were venerated. And I think you can see some of that ideological and political formation and legacy in how they act today. I mean, even a place like SpaceX or actually Tesla has been sued by black employees for having a racist work environment. But the way these guys seem to approach work and their role in larger society is that they are in charge and that they are eligible to reshape society as they see fit. And people like them are kind of the elected elite. And in some cases, that also means the genetic elite. I mean, someone like Musk, Musk is trying to have as many children as he can. He calls them his legion. And this seems to be connected in part to his own fears about population class, also to an idea that he is a cognitive elite who deserves to reproduce a lot and his descendants to be in charge. And I think that kind of comes from that South African upbringing.</p>
  95. <p><strong>[00:13:12] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>And Sachs also from South Africa.</p>
  96. <p><strong>[00:13:14] Jacob Silverman: </strong>That&#8217;s right. And then you have someone like Roloff Bosa, who is the head of Sequoia. He was an executive at PayPal, friends with Musk. Now he&#8217;s the head of the most important venture capital firm in the valley. And his father was, I believe his grandfather was, I think, the last foreign minister of apartheid in South Africa, Bosa. So, you know, there&#8217;s a lot going on there. And I think the fact that, you know, Silicon Valley idolizes founders with an authoritarian streak very much is in line with the culture and politics of that some of its most prominent members grew up with in Africa.</p>
  97. <p><strong>[00:13:53] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>There also seemed to be another through line with a real distaste for what had happened to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Talk about that.</p>
  98. <p><strong>[00:14:03] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Yeah, they see San Francisco as kind of this basically this fallen hellscape, the kind that&#8217;s been caricatured, I&#8217;d argue, in social media and especially on national media and on Fox News and elsewhere, that San Francisco is this failure of liberal democratic governance, including both Big D, Democratic Party and small d. This is a group of people, some of whom are on record of not caring much for democracy. For Peter Thiel, it&#8217;s not a value he holds dear. Musk says that he would like a Caesar or a Roman dictator type figure to cleanse the country. So I think for a lot of them who said San Francisco was important to them, but especially as some of its social issues became more visible, more prominent, like the public drug use and public presence of homelessness. And frankly, at the same time, some of these guys got very rich and probably saw San Francisco more from the back of a chauffeured car than on foot. They became very alienated from the city that had supposedly nurtured their wealth and their rise to greatness. And their belief was that progressives and liberals had basically killed San Francisco and done this. And this is the inevitable outcome of how they govern. When you really get down to it, San Francisco has often been governed by centrist Democrats with support from right wing political and financial interests. But that wasn&#8217;t a complicated picture that they were interested in taking in. So one thing that we did start seeing a lot of was this group both leaving San Francisco in some cases and seeking alternatives. And in the case of people like David Sachs, putting a lot of money towards local politics and especially recall elections in a way the city hadn&#8217;t seen before. So you had this big explosion of 501c4 groups with names like Neighbors for a Better SF or Grow SF. And a lot of those were vehicles for tech money and to lobby for more kind of conservative Democrat and even right wing interests. And then you had this run of recall elections. And that&#8217;s really where David Sachs became a big player in local politics more recently was he helped fund the recall of several members of the school board, which was successful. He participated in the attempted recall of Gavin Newsom, which was not successful. And then he was a big part of the recall of Chesa Boudin, the reformist progressive DA, who was in office for less than a year, but got tarred with a lot of the city&#8217;s issues. And again, the actual picture is always more complicated. Violent crime was down under Chesa Boudin, but there were issues with property crime and break-ins of cars and kind of these public social issues that people were unhappy with and wanted car solutions to like homelessness. But they were able to paint this image of him as what a Soros DA, a killer DA they called him. And it was after the successful recall of Boudin that you started hearing from Sachs and others, OK, this is a model they want to replicate. I mean, they would say this publicly that they wanted to replicate in other parts of the country. And that&#8217;s when also I think the increase in more open tech support for Trump really started to come to the fore.</p>
  99. <p><strong>[00:17:22] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>It is interesting, though, that as as AI has exploded and not to get too far off the field here, but as AI has exploded, San Francisco has once again become the tech capital and Silicon Valley along with it.</p>
  100. <p><strong>[00:17:35] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Yeah. I think that whatever whatever fall in the era there was for San Francisco was was rather brief in some ways. I mean, it&#8217;s still I was just there the other day. But of course, it still has issues like a lot of America&#8217;s urban centers. But the people who left San Francisco and there wasn&#8217;t a population exodus during covid, the numbers have mostly rebounded. And I, you know, the also the commercial real estate vacancy rate was very high. That&#8217;s starting to come back. I think one issue is that San Francisco felt some of these covid era issues that a lot of people felt more acutely, because, you know, there are people with money in San Francisco. So when covid hit, some of them could leave and go to their to their mountain homes or go find housing elsewhere. So there was a real exodus to other parts of California, even to Reno, Nevada, where there was some real estate. And also San Francisco, because of its role in the culture and in tech, it was kind of heavily mythologized. And so we&#8217;d hear about everything that happened in San Francisco and see all these videos of destitution on the streets when, you know, that wasn&#8217;t the only story about San Francisco and certainly not the only story about urban America. But because of that unique place that San Francisco has in the media and tech economy, you know, it received extra focus and I would say a distorting kind of focus. And now when you look at San Francisco, you know, one issue might be that it is so far back into this tech, into what&#8217;s now an AI bubble. But in many ways, the economic and social and political conditions there are pretty much back to what they were in 2020.</p>
  101. <p><strong>[00:19:18] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>What role has crypto played in all of this?</p>
  102. <p><strong>[00:19:21] Jacob Silverman: </strong>I&#8217;ve written a lot about crypto as a force for political corruption, especially in the current Trump administration. I mean, it is a way in which he is essentially able to be paid off by people who want favors from the president. And some of them apparently have already received them in the case of government contracts or drop investigations or lawsuits. You know, crypto was a source of one of the last big tech booms, or there was this 2022 crypto boom that ended when a number of big companies like FTX were revealed to be fraud and a couple of people went to prison. I don&#8217;t see necessarily consumer crypto coming back. But now crypto is a big part of the tech industry&#8217;s relationship with the government. Because the crypto industry was so successful in the last election, it was the biggest industry&#8217;s donor to the Republican Party, over $200 billion. And obviously Trump himself became the country&#8217;s chief crypto entrepreneur. So sort of that became the activist wing of the tech industry on the policy front and got a lot of what it wanted and is continuing to get a lot of what it wanted legislatively and regulatorily. And it&#8217;s also provide a model for tech politics. Already there&#8217;s been established a new super PAC by the AI industry, which includes some of the same players as crypto and some of the same investors. And they&#8217;re explicitly modeling it on fair fake, which was the big crypto PAC of the 2024 cycle. So I think in a lot of ways, the influence and legacy of crypto is really about how it&#8217;s used in politics and how it&#8217;s kind of infiltrated and undermined the political system.</p>
  103. <p><strong>[00:21:03] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>The other thing that we&#8217;ve seen, and you write about this in Gilded Rage as well, this closer and closer relationship between the tech world and the defense department.</p>
  104. <p><strong>[00:21:15] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Yeah, there&#8217;s a whole industry within tech now called defense tech or sort of an area of investment that people are very excited about and a huge new profit center. And it used to, you know, of course, tech has some countercultural roots and then from the 60s and 70s and its Bay Area home. And in the 80s and 90s, you had various cypherpunk movements, kind of libertarians who thought encryption and digital money would free them and wanted to be away, separate from the state. And a lot of those instincts have gone away. And now there&#8217;s a real accommodation towards the state or even an eagerness to make surveillance systems and weapons. And any kind of moral questions have really been dispensed with. And the general attitude is that America is great, America is cool and worth defending. So why not make sophisticated, high tech drones and weapons systems and AI systems for the government to be that? And some of this stuff is already, of course, in play. I mean, companies like Palantir and then Onduril, which are both related to Peter Thiel in one way or another, have been very successful. And Palantir, probably more people are hearing about during the second Trump administration. And they really paved the way both monetarily and ideologically for the tech industry to reorient itself and say, you know, we don&#8217;t need to fight government surveillance and secret lawsuits or to think the government is bad anymore. We can build stuff that they&#8217;re going to use in Ukraine or on the U.S.-Mexico border or wherever else and make a lot of money from it. And there&#8217;s this new jingoistic, almost warrior class attitude among some venture capitalists and CEOs in Silicon Valley now where they&#8217;re not thinking about the failures of the war on terror or anything like that or how to make a safer, more diplomatically friendly world. They&#8217;re thinking about how to scare America&#8217;s enemies into compliance. And this is the kind of language that Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir, uses.</p>
  105. <p><strong>[00:23:22] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>Talk a little bit about within a broad framework, is there anything that the Democrats or individuals within that world can do to reignite any kind of connection to these people?</p>
  106. <p><strong>[00:23:38] Jacob Silverman: </strong>I think Democrats, certainly out of expediency, because this is a major power center and they have a lot of money, would like to repair relationships with the tech industry and even this right wing of the tech industry. They&#8217;re still trying to do it with crypto. I argued, including sometimes with the Democratic politicians, that I think crypto is much more of an adversary than a potential partner for the Democratic Party. I also think its product hurts everyday voters and shouldn&#8217;t be something that they support, and it directly enables Donald Trump&#8217;s corruption and the fantastic payoffs he&#8217;s getting. The tech industry is a bigger, more diverse beast potentially than just crypto or even then the very powerful leadership we&#8217;re talking about. But it is, I think, true that a lot of this tech leadership is now comfortably MAGA aligned, if not very ideological like Thiel or Musk, at least happy to support the current regime like we&#8217;ve seen from the heads of Apple and Alphabet and Microsoft and elsewhere. So some of the big tech players, I think, will go where the political winds blow. But I think for Democrats, I think more broadly, they need to be talking about issues of corruption, of rule of law and of inequality and workers&#8217; rights and consumer rights, the kind of staples that I think have been in the part of the Democratic Party mandate and have been helpful in the past. I don&#8217;t know if directly kind of going to battle with the tech industry or trying to kind of coax it out of its right wing crouch would be as helpful. But if they can find issues that the public cares about that don&#8217;t directly alienate the tech industry so much, maybe some progress can be made.</p>
  107. <p><strong>[00:25:26] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>The other part of it is how much of this is sui generis to the relationship with Trump And where does J.D. Vance fall into this equation?</p>
  108. <p><strong>[00:25:35] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Well, the interesting thing about Vance is that he is a Peter Thiel guy. He went when he was at law school, he heard Thiel speak at Yale, and he has said it changed his life. And he went to go work for Thiel and a lot of his early career was basically sponsored or arranged by Thiel, and he eventually became a venture capitalist with his own firm. So while Thiel has the new right Catholic convert persona that is a big part of his politics and his appeal to a certain crowd, the tech persona also, the venture capitalist side of him is something that the tech industry really likes. And I don&#8217;t think he, you know, there&#8217;s a question of whether he can replace Trump as a charismatic leader of the MAGA movement. But in terms of a of a colleague or potential partner, the tech industry does like Vance very much. And they were very much encouraging Trump to pick him, including at a dinner that&#8217;s been reported on that occurred at David Sachs&#8217;s mansion in San Francisco during the 2024 cycle. He&#8217;s definitely the next horse that they want to put their money on.</p>
  109. <p><strong>[00:26:44] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>And then the other question comes back to, as I raised in the introduction, how much of this is ideologically sincere versus how much of it is opportunistic?</p>
  110. <p><strong>[00:26:55] Jacob Silverman: </strong>I think, as I&#8217;ve tried to describe, for some people, there isn&#8217;t a sense of opportunism. You&#8217;ll always find that with billionaires or corporate CEOs who have vast interests, especially, you know, the heads of companies like Alphabet who are worried about being broken up in an antitrust processes, or Mark Zuckerberg has really shown himself amenable to kind of partnering with whoever&#8217;s in office now. He&#8217;s kind of made himself MAGA lite, kind of Joe Rogan, who says to Trump, you know, what number do you want me to say for how much data infrastructure he&#8217;s building? On the other hand, I think we can&#8217;t ignore that all these guys have an authoritarian kind of streak or impulse for some of them much more pronounced. I mean, these are people, especially now with the AI boom and so much money at stake and such huge capital expenditures and infrastructure projects. This is, you know, this is not making cheap apps in someone&#8217;s garage. This is really big stuff, often of a geopolitical dimension, and it brings out the authoritarian streak in these people. And I also think that we&#8217;ve seen enough from some of the so-called converts like Musk or, you know, people, some of the people at Sequoia, like there&#8217;s a partner named Sean McGuire or other prominent industry figures, some of whom talk about their own right-wing conversion, that there is a lot of ideology at play. And it&#8217;s still going to be a force, I think, and a new kind of force that we haven&#8217;t fully dealt with going into the next political cycle. You know, even if we have normal elections in 2026 and 2028, and maybe Democrats do regain the White House, I think something has changed here. You know, for a chunk of the tech industry, their politics now are much more like the tobacco industry or big oil, rather than, you know, utopian thinkers from San Francisco.</p>
  111. <p><strong>[00:28:44] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>The danger is, as we saw with tobacco and big oil, is that it will create a huge backlash, which could have political consequences.</p>
  112. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-3412948597"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-244663599" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p><strong>[00:28:54] Jacob Silverman: </strong>Absolutely, and that we all use these companies&#8217; products, and they have a lot of control over the development of these technologies, how they&#8217;re deployed, you know, the data that&#8217;s collected on us, whether that&#8217;s given to the government or not. And so, in a way, we&#8217;re living through their backlash already, their resentment over the woke COVID years. We&#8217;re experiencing right now their reactionary anger. But there&#8217;s also, you know, people in the public who are tired of these guys. And it could, you know, I see this flying in multiple directions, but Elon Musk is certainly already experiencing it. His car sales are down globally, especially in Europe, where he&#8217;s in big trouble because now the Chinese car companies are building better, cheaper cars that people want to buy. So the backlash, it&#8217;ll be interesting to see how it materializes. I mean, it&#8217;s not like in some cases people have a choice when they&#8217;re using some tech products, but there&#8217;s certainly, I think, an awakening happening among some people that, you know, these people are no longer our friends, that Mark Zuckerberg doesn&#8217;t have your best interest in mind. And he&#8217;s certainly made that clear in this new administration.</p>
  113. <p><strong>[00:30:00] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>And finally, Jacob, having spent all this time looking at these people, studying these people, looking at this world, who among them has the best political smarts? Who has their ear to the ground? Who is really not so much the leader, but really has a sense of where this all is going?</p>
  114. <p><strong>[00:30:19] Jacob Silverman: </strong>I think in some ways it&#8217;s still Peter Thiel. I mean, he&#8217;s not the best public speaker. Sometimes when I hear him speaking in public, I&#8217;m a little bit baffled that this guy is for the eminence grace of Silicon Valley conservatism. But his track record is one of someone who&#8217;s been, who&#8217;s made himself very rich and powerful and has bet on the right horses. And you know, he was, and I talk about him in that sense in the book, how he was early to Trump. He stuck with Trump through the Access Hollywood tape where Trump admitted to sexual assault. And even though he claimed to be not participating in this last election, he reportedly made a late donation. And a lot of his people are still throughout the Trump administration. And so I think in a lot of ways he&#8217;s been proven right, his instincts and his beliefs. And in that way, I think he poses kind of a danger to our system. That&#8217;s someone who is not, who doesn&#8217;t care about democracy, but has been able to get his way a lot and propagate his ideas.</p>
  115. <p><strong>[00:31:21] Jeff Schechtman: </strong>Jacob Silverman, the book is Gilded Rage, Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley. Jacob, I thank you so very much for spending time with us. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for listening and joining us here on the <em>WhoWhatWhy</em> podcast. I hope you join us next week for another <em>WhoWhatWhy</em> podcast. I&#8217;m Jeff Schechtman. If you like this podcast, please feel free to share and help others find it by rating and reviewing it on iTunes. You can also support this podcast and all the work we do by going to whowhatwhy.org/donate.</p>
  116. <hr />
  117. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/the-radicalization-of-silicon-valley-democracy-is-optional/">The Radicalization of Silicon Valley: Democracy Is Optional</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  118. ]]></content:encoded>
  122. </item>
  123. <item>
  124. <title>GOP Lives in Denial After Election Night Shellacking</title>
  125. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/gop-lives-in-denial-after-election-night-shellacking/</link>
  127. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Klaus Marre]]></dc:creator>
  128. <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 11:13:40 +0000</pubDate>
  129. <category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>
  130. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102988</guid>
  131.  
  132. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Speaker_Mike_Johnson_Official_Portrait_2024_3x2-jpg.avif" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Speaker, Mike Johnson, official portrait, 2024" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,25]" /><p>Publicly, Republicans are playing down the beating they took in Tuesday's elections and claim that there is no need to change course. </p>
  133. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/gop-lives-in-denial-after-election-night-shellacking/">GOP Lives in Denial After Election Night Shellacking</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  134. ]]></description>
  135. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Speaker_Mike_Johnson_Official_Portrait_2024_3x2-jpg.avif" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Speaker, Mike Johnson, official portrait, 2024" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,25]" /><div>
  136. <p>Anybody who thought that the stinging defeats Republicans suffered in Tuesday’s election would lead to some introspection or perhaps even a course correction on the part of the GOP has not been paying attention.</p>
  137. <p>After all, acknowledging that voters are blaming them for a faltering economy, higher prices, the government shutdown, and the country having veered off track would mean that they would have to do the unthinkable and question Donald Trump and his policies.</p>
  138. <p>And that is why GOP leaders simply forged ahead as though their punishing losses were something completely normal and nothing to be worried about.</p>
  139. <p>However, they weren’t all on the same page when it came to explaining away why their gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia had gotten pummeled or why down-ballot Republicans across the country lost.</p>
  140. <p>While Trump himself was trying to gaslight Americans into believing him that they are paying less for groceries now, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) noted in his daily <s>festival of lies</s> press conference that “food prices always go up.”</p>
  141. <p>That may surprise Republican voters, who were promised before the election that Trump would make everything cheaper.</p>
  142. <p>Speaking of promises and not keeping them, Johnson predicted that Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who was elected to be the next mayor of New York City, would not be able to deliver on his affordability platform.</p>
  143. <p>“If you run as a socialist, you run on a big list of false claims,” Johnson said. “You promise everything to everyone and you can’t deliver.”</p>
  144. <p>Of course, that essentially describes Trump, who is the undisputed champion of making false claims and failing to deliver on his promises (apart from those related to launching the largest deportation effort in US history, sealing the border, and becoming a dictator on day one of his second term).</p>
  145. <p>But Johnson’s statement wasn’t just unintentionally funny due to his total lack of self-awareness, it also showed how the GOP will try to weather this storm.</p>
  146. <p>Even though moderate Democrats like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill trounced their opponents in the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are going to try to convince Americans that Mamdani is the new leader of the Democratic Party and will try to turn the US into a socialist hellhole.</p>
  147. <p>You will see a lot of that in the coming days, and we will have more to say on this topic in the Sunday editorial.</p>
  148. <p>For now, we will leave you with what was perhaps the most creative justification for the GOP’s losses across the country.</p>
  149. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-4165345074"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-902704912" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p>It was offered by Lisa McClain (R-MI), a member of the House leadership team, who suggested that Trump supporters were so content with how things were going that they didn’t bother showing up at the polls.</p>
  150. <p>“Voter turnout from Republicans was not high. Not high at all,” she said during an appearance on CNN. “But I think part of that reason is because Republicans, for the most part, are happy with what’s happening.”</p>
  151. <p>That’s one way of looking at it.</p>
  152. <p>Of course, if that’s what Republican politicians believe, and if they therefore fail to change course, they shouldn’t be surprised if all those happy voters will also stay home for the midterms next year and return control of Congress to the Democrats.</p>
  153. </div>
  154. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/gop-lives-in-denial-after-election-night-shellacking/">GOP Lives in Denial After Election Night Shellacking</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  155. ]]></content:encoded>
  159. </item>
  160. <item>
  161. <title>Cassandra to Socrates to Spider-Man: The Trump/MAGA Resistance Evolves</title>
  162. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/we-have-been-cassandras-now-we-must-be-socrates/</link>
  164. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Doug Ecks]]></dc:creator>
  165. <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:50:33 +0000</pubDate>
  166. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  167. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102964</guid>
  168.  
  169. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Bust_of_Socrates_Western_Australia_3x2.jpg.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Bust, Socrates, Western Australia" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,45]" /><p>Much that was warned of has come to pass. At least we now know what we’re dealing with and that it won’t just all work itself out.</p>
  170. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/we-have-been-cassandras-now-we-must-be-socrates/">Cassandra to Socrates to Spider-Man: The Trump/MAGA Resistance Evolves</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  171. ]]></description>
  172. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Bust_of_Socrates_Western_Australia_3x2.jpg.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Bust, Socrates, Western Australia" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,45]" /><p>Cassandra was a <a href="https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/the-myth-of-cassandra/">cautionary character from Greek mythology</a>: a Trojan princess whose curse was to accurately predict the future but never to be believed — her most notorious unheeded warning being to the leaders of Troy about the peril of the Trojan Horse. </p>
  173. <p>A flock of American Cassandras have, over the past decade, with increasing urgency, warned anyone within listening distance that Donald Trump is supremely dangerous and, given elbow room, would ram a stake through the heart of our democracy. </p>
  174. <p>As <i>WhoWhatWhy </i>readers, you are likely to have read <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/a-fourth-reich-its-not-just-a-bad-dream/">some</a> of those <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/the-dictators-doom-loop-revisited-trump-wont-go-gentle/">warnings</a>. And in fact, in the case of several <i>WhoWhatWhy </i>commentators, <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/tactics-to-survive-dictatorship-secession-enters-the-conversation/">myself included</a>, the warnings have never been anything but urgent.</p>
  175. <p>Socrates, a non-mythical Greek, is famous for being wise and courageous. We know him mainly from his protégé Plato’s dialogues, though there is also a biography by Xenophon. </p>
  176. <p>Socrates <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/socrates-as-the-gadfly-of-the-state-4thc-bc">described himself</a> (in Plato’s words) as a gadfly who needed to sting the horse of society to prod it into motion. </p>
  177. <p>He stung the government of Athens enough that he was <a href="https://famous-trials.com/socrates/833-h">sentenced to death for it.</a> Although the formal charges included corrupting the youth and atheism, the bottom line was that Socrates was a troublemaker — a gadfly. In modern parlance, he spoke truth to power — and he did it with such logical eloquence and so persuasively that power was afraid that, unlike Cassandra, he might actually be believed and make a difference.</p>
  178. <p>Ironically, now that it seems there is a Cassandra holding forth on every virtual street corner, the time for warning has passed. Or say, rather, that at this point, with the great hollow beast already inside the gates, warning is not enough. We are up to our hips in fascism and the tide is rising, not ebbing. </p>
  179. <p>Schematically, we have a <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-congress-epstein-mike-johnson-b2793874.html">Republican-controlled Congress whose marching orders are to provide cover for Trump</a>, a Republican-controlled <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/supreme-court-must-explain-why-it-keeps-ruling-trumps-favor">Supreme Court whose marching orders are also to provide cover for Trump</a>, and a <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukrainians-left-dismayed-as-trump-gives-putin-the-red-carpet-treatment/">President Trump whose mission appears to be to provide cover for Vladimir Putin and Russia</a>. As well as to grift in the billions, make the rich richer (if they’re “nice” to him), and fulfill his own unquenchable thirst for unbounded power and praise.</p>
  180. <h2>Gadflying 101</h2>
  181. <p>Given this state of affairs, what can <i>we </i>do as gadflies to sting the American horse into motion away from fascism and back to the chronically ailing but viable democracy we all knew and loved? </p>
  182. <figure id="attachment_102966" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-102966" style="width: 900px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-featured-single@2x wp-image-102966" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Gadflys_Hogg_Sanders_Mamdani_3x2.jpg-900x600.jpg" alt="David Hogg, Bernie Sanders, Zorhan Mamdani" width="900" height="600" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-102966" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Voting rights activist David Hogg, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Photo credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Hogg.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thejudahrice / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bernie_Sanders_(48235593037).jpg " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)</a>, and <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYS_Assemblymember_Mamdani_@_NYTWA_Rally_@_City_Hall_A.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InformedImages / Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)</a>.</figcaption></figure>
  183. <p>First let’s give credit to the successful gadflies who have been stinging relentlessly for the past few months. These are a few from whom we might draw inspiration.</p>
  184. <p>David Hogg, having been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/24/democrats-david-hogg-dnc">forced out of the DNC</a> for criticizing the incompetent leadership of senior Democrats (no one likes criticism, especially incompetents), has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/25/david-hogg-wants-change-democratic-party-so-far-hes-done-little/">focused a relentless stream of criticism</a> on the fecklessness of Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Andrew Cuomo on X and other platforms. Time will tell whether such persistence may one day prod them to actions more aggressive than a “strongly worded letter.” </p>
  185. <p>California Gov. Gavin Newsom, while having not so far heeded my plea to seriously consider seceding from the union, has become the most outspoken Democratic governor, consistently <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/27/newsom-donald-trump-another-election-00532972">calling out Trump’s authoritarianism</a> and adopting a nonstop social media imitative mockery that has very effectively nettled the Putin wannabe. </p>
  186. <p>And Newsom has backed the rhetoric with numerous bold actions — including championing retaliatory redistricting via California’s successful Prop 50 ballot measure, using state resources and regulatory power to help fill the void left by Trump’s hollowing out of federal services and protections, and going to court to stop various Trumpian power flexes, most notably his attempts to deploy his military for domestic policing.</p>
  187. <p>Then there is Michael Wolff, who has gone from political commentator to activist. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/author-michael-wolff-files-suit-melania-trump-jeffrey-epstein-threat-rcna239257">He has boldly sued Melania Trump</a>, becoming the first journalist to sue the first lady. He has said he intends to use the discovery tools, especially depositions, to uncover as much as possible of what the administration wants to hide. </p>
  188. <p>In addition, as perhaps the most knowledgeable person besides Ghislaine Maxwell on what Jeffrey Epstein was up to, his recent commentary has even been referenced <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/201475/photographer-pam-bondi-senate-hearing-notes">in congressional hearings questioning Pam Bondi.  </a></p>
  189. <h2>Invincibility Was an Illusion</h2>
  190. <p>To revisit our Greek mythology, it has become increasingly clear that Trump has an Achilles heel in the form of the Epstein case. As congressional Republicans <a href="https://www.alternet.org/doj-republicans-trump-epstein/">squirm</a>, Trump’s frantic flailing to cover up the scandal <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/07/30/nx-s1-5475027/podcasters-who-backed-trump-air-frustrations-over-handling-of-epstein-case">have galvanized some of his most prominent podcaster fans</a> to question the dear leader — or at least question his underlings, who of course are somehow taking all these evasive actions against the orders of General Machismo. </p>
  191. <p>Trump has been reduced to asking <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c2kz39wv0v9t">convicted sexual predator Maxwell</a> to be the one to exonerate him and redeem his good name. But even the most slavishly devoted of the MAGA movement are finding it hard to accept Maxwell’s statements as the final word. Especially following her transfer to a comfy “Club Fed” to which she was technically not allowed to be transferred. </p>
  192. <p>Not used to questioning their savior’s whims and assertions, some MAGAs at least are finding themselves in the new position of wondering whether there just might be some damning there there. </p>
  193. <p>The right wing has long known how to gadfly. And to do it in swarms. The conservative echo chamber’s consistent and relentless criticism on issue after issue accomplished its goal of making left and center media outlets afraid of their own shadow. It has been a sustained tour de force, a battering ram molded from “alternative facts,” shameless exaggeration, shouting voices, and perfect unanimity.</p>
  194. <blockquote><p>Aside from Epstein, Trump is now vulnerable on the economy, on domestic militarization, on corruption and self-aggrandizement. Swarms are forming all around him — left, right, and center.</p></blockquote>
  195. <p>But now the far-right O’Keefe Media Group has <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/04/epstein-files-ghislaine-maxwell-doj-chief">gone after the DOJ on the Epstein issue</a>, outing a DOJ plan to redact all Republicans referenced in the Epstein documents so the revelations would damage only Democrats. </p>
  196. <p>So, in our own efforts to be effective gadflies, how about taking our cue from the successful tactics of our peers? </p>
  197. <p>One such tactic is to strike where the target is vulnerable. If Trump is most vulnerable on the </p>
  198. <p>Epstein issue, then the call to release unredacted files must become loud and unrelenting. If MAGA influencers, podcasters, and provocateurs like O’Keefe join in, so much the better. </p>
  199. <p>Aside from Epstein, Trump is now vulnerable on the economy, on domestic militarization, on corruption and self-aggrandizement. Swarms are forming all around him — left, right, and center.</p>
  200. <h2>A New Energy</h2>
  201. <p>It would help, as well, to follow Hogg’s example in calling out the failures of the Democratic old guard and demanding their replacement with more youthful energy. </p>
  202. <p>The Republicans were able to take advantage of Joe Biden’s age for the four years of his presidency. We now have a similarly aged, far more erratic, and visibly/audibly declining president musing about serving a third term. What better contrast with a fumbling, failing fascist than youthful, energetic, new leaders pledging to restore democracy and at least some semblance of economic fairness? </p>
  203. <p>For those like myself who are no longer youthful, that doesn’t stop us from advocating policies that will bring youth and vigor to the party. Bernie Sanders is one of our oldest politicians, but witness his popularity with a younger demographic. Sanders is living proof that ideas, outlook, vigor, and courage matter more than chronological age in a leader doing battle with the dark forces of the Trumpocene.</p>
  204. <p>Socrates was particularly vexing to his government because the youth were listening to him. And while Democratic leaders like Cuomo and Schumer <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/politics/hakeem-jeffries-mamdani-endorsement-new-york">try to ruin and replace</a> any Democratic rival actually popular with the youth (see, for example, the mayoral race in New York City), Democratic <i>voters </i>and the opponents of fascism seem to be listening to rising leaders like Zohran Mamdani, who has breathed new life into <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/what-are-we-getting-wrong-about-young-voters">economic justice issues</a> like Medicare for all, student debt relief, affordable housing, and a living wage.</p>
  205. <p>In Trump’s America, a veneer of prosperity masks deep income and wealth inequalities and a fulminating political corruption. In such a gilded age, garishly symbolized by Trump’s literal gilding of workplace and ballroom alike, these are all core, and winning, issues. </p>
  206. <p>When all Trump and his wholly owned party do is take from everyone else to give to the rich — when they are brazen about it — the political battlefield is wide open for Democrats like Sanders and Mamdani to play Robin Hood to Trump and MAGA’s evil Prince John and Sheriff of Nottingham, to offer restitution and respect to the vast majority of Americans the Republicans have robbed.</p>
  207. <h2>We Know What We’re Up Against</h2>
  208. <p>Of course, being a gadfly is risky. They tend to get swatted. </p>
  209. <p>Hogg was kicked out of the DNC by questionable means. Numerous <a href="https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8">advocates for Gaza and Palestinian rights</a> have found their immigration status questioned or have been subject to removal. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/09/02/fema-employees-leave-whistleblower-legal-complaint/">Whistleblowers at FEMA</a> have been placed on administrative leave for reporting to Congress. And we know what happened to Socrates.  </p>
  210. <blockquote><p>I expect many of those who oppose Trump to suffer greatly, some at least to lose their lives. I don’t think that, when push comes inevitably to shove, he will show more compassion and restraint to the resistance than he has shown the alleged drug dealers (or fishermen or victims of human trafficking) in the Caribbean. </p></blockquote>
  211. <p>While I devoutly hope otherwise, I expect many of those who oppose Trump to suffer greatly, some at least to lose their lives. I don’t think that, when push comes inevitably to shove, he will show more compassion and restraint to the resistance than he has shown <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-hegseth-three-deadly-boat-strikes-pacific-9.6956503">the alleged drug dealers</a> (or fishermen or victims of human trafficking) in the Caribbean. </p>
  212. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-1991351081"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-139054695" data-whowh-trackid="97785" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97785" data-cfpw="97785"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=free" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="free the truth promo"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/frame_7__1_-1.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97785 );</script></div><p><a href="https://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/people/view/pp0001%20%20%20%20">Nathan Hale</a> notwithstanding, I doubt many of us wish to be among them or are enthusiastic about going first.</p>
  213. <p>But the alternative is waiting for more and more of our rights to be removed, such that our powers of resistance are still further weakened and our avenues for defiance closed. We cannot afford to merely warn: We must come together and act. </p>
  214. <p>Collectively, we ignored our Cassandras. Donald Trump became, as the Cassandras <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/the-dictators-doom-loop-revisited-trump-wont-go-gentle/">predicted</a>, tremendously unpopular <i>and </i>dangerously <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/as-his-popularity-tanks-donald-trump-turns-to-power/">despotic</a>. We now can have no doubt about just who he is. We have a very good idea of what he is capable of doing. Now it falls to us to be wise warriors and find our own superpowers. Socrates, meet Spider-Man.</p>
  215. <p><i>Doug Ecks is a lawyer and writer. He holds a JD from the University of California, Hastings and a BA in philosophy from California State University, Long Beach, Phi Beta Kappa. He also writes and performs comedy as Doug X.</i></p>
  216. <hr />
  217. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/we-have-been-cassandras-now-we-must-be-socrates/">Cassandra to Socrates to Spider-Man: The Trump/MAGA Resistance Evolves</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  218. ]]></content:encoded>
  222. </item>
  223. <item>
  224. <title>UN Chief Scolds Nations for Failing Climate Goals Ahead of COP30 Summit</title>
  225. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/un-chief-scolds-nations-for-failing-climate-goals-ahead-of-cop30-summit/</link>
  227. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Whowhatwhy Editors]]></dc:creator>
  228. <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
  229. <category><![CDATA[Editors' Picks]]></category>
  230. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102961</guid>
  231.  
  232. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-6.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="climate crisis, global warming, Brazil, COP30 summit, UN chief Antonio Guterres, climate goal fail" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[34,55]" /><p>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.</p>
  233. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/un-chief-scolds-nations-for-failing-climate-goals-ahead-of-cop30-summit/">UN Chief Scolds Nations for Failing Climate Goals Ahead of COP30 Summit</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  234. ]]></description>
  235. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-6.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="climate crisis, global warming, Brazil, COP30 summit, UN chief Antonio Guterres, climate goal fail" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[34,55]" /><h3><b>UN Chief Scolds Nations for Failing Climate Goals Ahead of COP30 Summit (Maria)</b></h3>
  236. <p>The author <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/leaders-meet-amazon-summit-amid-worries-over-global-cooperation-cop30-climate-2025-11-06/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tore into nations for their failure to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as Brazil hosted world leaders for a summit ahead of the COP30 climate conference in the rainforest city of Belem. Scientists have confirmed the world is set to cross the 1.5 C warming threshold around 2030, risking extreme warming with irreversible consequences.”</p>
  237. <h3><b>‘New York City Has Fallen’: MAGA Responds to Zohran Mamdani’s Victory With a Racist Freak-Out (Sean)</b></h3>
  238. <p>From <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/maga-responds-to-zohran-mamdani-victory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Wired</i></a>: “MAGA influences, Republican lawmakers, and conspiracy theorists all responded to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York by pushing far-right anti-immigrant and Islamophobic rhetoric and claiming the city had fallen. Mamdani, who campaigned on progressive issues and identifies as a democratic socialist, will be the youngest New York mayor in over a century. … ‘The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate,’ Mamdani said during his victory speech on Tuesday night. ‘I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.’ It is Mamdani’s embrace of New York’s immigrants and his own Muslim upbringing that most of the MAGAsphere fixated on, calling him everything from a ‘a third-world communist’ to a ‘Marxist’ and ‘a jihadi.’”</p>
  239. <h3><b>YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations (Dana)</b></h3>
  240. <p>From <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The Intercept</i></a>: “A documentary featuring mothers surviving Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A video investigation uncovering Israel’s role in the killing of a Palestinian American journalist. Another video revealing Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank. YouTube surreptitiously deleted all these videos in early October by wiping the accounts that posted them from its website, along with their channels’ archives. The accounts belonged to three prominent Palestinian human rights groups: Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The move came in response to a U.S. government campaign to stifle accountability for alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”</p>
  241. <h3><b>With Her Senators Criticizing Outburst, Mace to Sue Airport (Reader Jim)</b></h3>
  242. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-3028630339"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-120980492" data-whowh-trackid="97785" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97785" data-cfpw="97785"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=free" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="free the truth promo"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/frame_7__1_-1.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97785 );</script></div><p>The author <a href="https://www.newser.com/story/378166/with-her-senators-criticizing-outburst-mace-to-sue-airport.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “South Carolina’s two senators have publicly criticized Rep. Nancy Mace after an airport outburst in which she berated and cursed officers. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott both praised Charleston International Airport officers and distanced themselves from Mace’s conduct, the <i>Hill</i> reports. Both senators said in social media posts that they’ve always found officers at the airport to be professional and courteous. Mace, who’s running for governor of South Carolina, did not back down: She announced Wednesday that she’s suing the airport and American Airlines for defamation.”</p>
  243. <h3><b>The Plastic Inside Us: How Microplastics May Be Reshaping Our Bodies and Minds (Laura)</b></h3>
  244. <p>From <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/12/plastic-inside-us-microplastics-reshaping-bodies-minds" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The Guardian</i></a>: “Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs — even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn’t just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is lodged deep inside us. Now, researchers suspect these particles may also be meddling with our gut microbes. When Christian Pacher-Deutsch, a PhD student at the Center for Biomarker Research in Medicine and the Medical University of Graz in Austria. exposed gut bacteria from five healthy volunteers to five common microplastics, the bacterial populations shifted — along with the chemicals they produced. Some of these changes mirrored patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer.”</p>
  245. <h3><b>Sex, Drugs, and the Conscious Brain: Francis Crick Beyond the Double Helix (Angelle)</b></h3>
  246. <p>From <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03573-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Nature</i></a>: “Francis Crick has gone down in history as half of a double act with James Watson — a duo perhaps almost as iconic as the double-helix structure of DNA that they proposed. The pair were immortalized in Watson’s sensational 1968 book, <i>The Double Helix</i>, with Crick painted as garrulous and cerebral and Watson as gauche but driven. Watson had initially described his first draft as a novel, yet other published accounts of the discovery and the personalities involved have stuck closely to the script ever since. In a magisterial new biography, <i>Crick</i>, zoologist and historian Matthew Cobb revisits the double-helix breakthrough … [and] explores how Crick’s thinking, writing and interactions with others transcended that brilliant, yet contested, episode, revolutionizing molecular biology and influencing evolutionary and developmental biology, visual neuroscience and ideas about consciousness.”</p>
  247. <h3><b>Killer Whales Perfect a Ruthless Trick To Hunt Great White Sharks (Mili)</b></h3>
  248. <p>The author <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251103093007.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas known as Moctezuma’s pod has developed a chillingly precise technique for hunting young great white sharks — flipping them upside down to paralyze and extract their nutrient-rich livers. The behavior, filmed and documented by marine biologists, reveals a level of intelligence and social learning that suggests cultural transmission of hunting tactics among orcas.”</p>
  249. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/un-chief-scolds-nations-for-failing-climate-goals-ahead-of-cop30-summit/">UN Chief Scolds Nations for Failing Climate Goals Ahead of COP30 Summit</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  250. ]]></content:encoded>
  254. </item>
  255. <item>
  256. <title>How Habitable Will Earth Be When We Search for Life Beyond Our Planet?</title>
  257. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/science/environment/how-habitable-will-earth-be-when-we-search-for-life-beyond-our-planet/</link>
  259. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Raissa Estrela, Ph.D.]]></dc:creator>
  260. <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
  261. <category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
  262. <category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
  263. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102954</guid>
  264.  
  265. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Earth_and_Stars_3x2.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Earth, stars" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,49]" /><p>As we prepare to look for life in other solar systems, we should also look inward at what we’re doing to our home planet.</p>
  266. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/science/environment/how-habitable-will-earth-be-when-we-search-for-life-beyond-our-planet/">How Habitable Will Earth Be When We Search for Life Beyond Our Planet?</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  267. ]]></description>
  268. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Earth_and_Stars_3x2.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Earth, stars" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[49,49]" /><p>Every 10 years astronomers come together to set the field’s top priorities. One of its most ambitious recommendations is the next flagship mission — the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/habitable-worlds-observatory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Habitable Worlds Observatory</a>. This satellite telescope will be designed to search for signs of life in the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.</p>
  269. <p>As the first mission explicitly designed to answer one of humanity’s most profound questions — “Are we alone in the universe?” — this telescope will fundamentally change how we see ourselves in the cosmos. Finding out if we’re alone carries deep meaning. Even if we find no evidence of life, it reaffirms that life on Earth is truly rare and precious.</p>
  270. <p>The Habitable Worlds Observatory is planned for launch in the 2040s, about 20 years from now. In July I attended the first conference dedicated to this mission. I’m a scientist who uses similar techniques to those the observatory will employ, but I apply them to look in the opposite direction — back at Earth, so we can measure pollution and other problems. As I listened to the extraordinary science this telescope is designed to achieve, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own studies and wonder: How habitable will our own planet be in 2040?</p>
  271. <p>Truth be told, we don’t know what state our own planet will be in. By the 2040s we may have reached global temperatures of +1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 F] to +2.0 degrees Celsius [3.6 F] above preindustrial levels. This will have serious consequences for a planet that we use as a gold model for habitability in the cosmos.</p>
  272. <p>Earth has already warmed by roughly 1.2–1.3 degrees C [2.16–2.34 F] since preindustrial times, and every additional degree brings devastating consequences.</p>
  273. <p>We’re not slowing down the destruction. In Brazil, where I was born, the Amazon rainforest, home to 10 percent of all known species on Earth, is being cleared to make way for just one form of life: cattle. The beef produced in Brazil is not only consumed there; China is its first international consumer, <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/31839/exports-of-beef-and-veal-from-brazil-in-2022-by-destination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed by the United States</a>.</p>
  274. <p>But the blame doesn’t lie with the cows or their methane emissions. The blame is ours. We humans have forgotten that our planet is a living ecosystem. Without nature, without animals, we cannot survive.</p>
  275. <p>The fate of the Amazon is at risk. In June Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies passed the so-called “Devastation Bill,” which became law last month. Although the president vetoed some parts of it, the legislation could still have devastating consequences by facilitating destructive projects such as the <a href="https://sumauma.com/en/do-veta-lula-ao-supremo-entenda-a-mobilizacao-para-barrar-o-pl-da-devastacao/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed oil exploration</a> in the Foz do Amazonas region. This is especially alarming, as continued deforestation at current rates could <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/amazon-approaches-tipping-point/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">push the Amazon to its tipping point by 2040</a>. As a result the rainforest could have irreversible biodiversity loss and the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba2949" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release of vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere</a>.</p>
  276. <p>Across the planet, other ecosystems — and the species who depend on them — are also under siege. Since 1970 <a href="https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB/#:~:text=Wildlife%2520populations%2520plummet%2520by%252069,the%2520health%2520of%2520our%2520planet." target="_blank" rel="noopener">global wildlife populations have declined by an average of nearly 70 percent</a>. Today wild mammals make up just 4 percent of the world’s total mammalian biomass, while the remaining 96 percent consists of humans and livestock.</p>
  277. <p>Our oceans have taken hard hits, too. About <a href="https://www.unep.org/topics/ocean-seas-and-coasts/blue-ecosystems/coral-reefs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14 percent of the coral</a> from the world’s coral reefs was lost between 2009 and 2018, mostly due to climate change. By increasing the temperature by 2 degrees C [3.6 F], as expected for the 2040s, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/biodiversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99 percent of the remaining coral reefs will vanish</a>. Meanwhile the oceans have become dumping grounds for plastic and sewage, and the<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1103692" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> amount of plastic in the ocean could more than double by 2030</a>. This is extremely dangerous, as more than 1,500 species in marine and terrestrial environments are known to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/plastics/impacts-plastic-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ingest plastics</a>. As the plastic breaks down into microplastics, they are also ingested by the organisms at the bottom of the ocean food chain: the zooplankton. This ingestion is damaging phytoplankton’s ability to photosynthesize and reproduce, which is disrupting the food web and the two of their critical roles — removing CO2 from the atmosphere and <a href="https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2025/6/26/how-microplastics-are-changing-the-oceans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustaining our planet’s oxygen levels</a>.</p>
  278. <p>At an alarming pace, we are tearing our planet apart. The sixth mass extinction is underway — and unlike previous mass extinctions, which were driven by natural forces over millennia, this one is unfolding rapidly and it is caused by human activity. It’s probable that the current rate of species loss is <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/shelf-life/six-extinctions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1,000 times the normal rate</a>.</p>
  279. <p>How much responsibility are we ready to carry on our shoulders?</p>
  280. <p>Restoring Earth’s ecosystems will require us to look inward — even as we prepare to look for life in the depths of space.</p>
  281. <p>The science is clear: We need a transformational change in how we produce food, generate energy, and structure our financial systems, alongside a global commitment to conservation. We cannot hope to reverse biodiversity loss while <a href="https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/01/bloom-or-bust-biodiversity-has-been-ignored-for-too-long/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">71 percent of all agricultural land is used for grazing livestock</a> and another 11 percent is devoted to growing crops to feed them. Nor can we protect marine life while overfishing is removing an estimated <a href="https://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/overfishings-silent-war-on-marine-life-how-ocean-ecosystems-are-collapsing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.7 trillion fish</a> from the ocean each year, a practice that not only devastates target species but also causes extensive damage to coral reefs and seagrass beds, disrupting ancient food webs that have supported marine ecosystems for millions of years.</p>
  282. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-1264214547"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-551814113" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p>On the energy front, we must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable alternatives. And in our economic systems, we need a fundamental shift to one that no longer treats nature as a resource to exploit but values it as the foundation of life itself, recognizing that humanity is part of, not separate from, the living web of Earth.</p>
  283. <p>As we enter the 2040s, we’ll be pointing our telescopes toward distant worlds in search of life, hopefully without losing our own. When we gaze across the cosmos, we should be reminded of the extraordinary biodiversity we still have at home, a legacy shaped over billions of years that has given rise to millions of terrestrial and oceanic species with whom we share this home. Bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, all descended from a single common origin in the great tree of life.</p>
  284. <p>As we uncover the colors and complexity of life beyond our planet, may we also remember how incredibly fortunate we are to live in a world that already flourishes with life.</p>
  285. <p><i>This story by </i><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/restrela/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Raissa</i><i> Estrela, Ph.D.</i></a> <i>was originally published by </i><a href="https://therevelator.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Revelator</a> <i>and is part of </i><a href="https://coveringclimatenow.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Covering</i><i> Climate Now</i></a><i>, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. </i>WhoWhatWhy<i> has been a partner in Covering Climate Now since its inception in 2019.</i></p>
  286. <p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-58065 alignleft" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ccnow_logo_192x192.jpg" alt="Covering Climate Now logo" width="192" height="192" /></p>
  287. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/science/environment/how-habitable-will-earth-be-when-we-search-for-life-beyond-our-planet/">How Habitable Will Earth Be When We Search for Life Beyond Our Planet?</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  288. ]]></content:encoded>
  292. </item>
  293. <item>
  294. <title>FIFA Creates Consolation Peace Prize – First Recipient Is a Total Mystery</title>
  295. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/international/fifa-creates-consolation-peace-prize-first-recipient-is-a-total-mystery/</link>
  297. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Klaus Marre]]></dc:creator>
  298. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:36:30 +0000</pubDate>
  299. <category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
  300. <category><![CDATA[International]]></category>
  301. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102949</guid>
  302.  
  303. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/p20250506mr-0244_54503208386_o-e1762380436354.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Trump and Infantino" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,50]" /><p>Donald Trump may have lost an election on Tuesday, but we have an inkling that he might be in the running for FIFA's new peace prize.</p>
  304. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/international/fifa-creates-consolation-peace-prize-first-recipient-is-a-total-mystery/">FIFA Creates Consolation Peace Prize – First Recipient Is a Total Mystery</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  305. ]]></description>
  306. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/p20250506mr-0244_54503208386_o-e1762380436354.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Trump and Infantino" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,50]" /><p>With the United States (together with Canada and Mexico) set to host the soccer World Cup next year, the sport’s governing body FIFA seems to have come up with an ingenious way of staying in the good graces of Donald Trump, the one man who can screw up the world’s marquee sporting event.</p>
  307. <p>Since it didn’t have a jumbo jet to give away, FIFA on Wednesday announced the creation of its own peace prize, which will be awarded in Washington, DC, on December 5… and we would not be surprised if a certain US president who really likes to win stuff would be among the first recipients.</p>
  308. <p>“The award will be presented to individuals who, through their unwavering commitment and their special actions, have helped to unite people all over the world in peace and consequently deserve a special and unique recognition,” FIFA said in a statement.</p>
  309. <p>Sure, it’s not the <i>Nobel</i> Peace Prize, but we are pretty sure that Trump will find a way to make this award sound more prestigious… if he is lucky enough to be chosen.</p>
  310. <p>FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino certainly made it sound like a big deal.</p>
  311. <p>“In an increasingly unsettled and divided world, it’s fundamental to recognize the outstanding contribution of those who work hard to end conflicts and bring people together in a spirit of peace,” said Infantino, who has been palling around with Trump in recent month and was even present at the Gaza peace summit in Egypt last month for some reason. “Football stands for peace, and on behalf of the entire global football community, the FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World will recognize the enormous efforts of those individuals who unite people, bringing hope for future generations.”</p>
  312. <p>Sounds nice, and it is true that football, as the rest of the world calls soccer, has brought people together.</p>
  313. <p>But it is also true that FIFA has stood for corruption and grifting, especially when it comes to which countries are awarded the opportunity to host the World Cup. A decade ago, the organization was ensnared in a major scandal, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/27/fifa-more-poorly-governed-open-letter-football-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/27/fifa-more-poorly-governed-open-letter-football-politics&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762466125733000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Z77GAzzgbNu3aCqC67UzE">many experts believe</a> that things haven’t gotten much better since then under Infantino.</p>
  314. <p>Then again, it’s tough to blame him in this case for pandering to the US president.</p>
  315. <p>Trump and his ICE thugs could throw a real wrench into the plans of tens of thousands of fans who will travel to the United States to watch their national teams compete, and thereby turn a celebration into a disaster.</p>
  316. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-2481042035"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-358919123" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p>That’s why mollifying the president by giving him a made-up peace prize is just common sense.</p>
  317. <p>While Infantino is at it, why not award a new Religious Freedom Prize to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, which is set to host the 2034 World Cup following a selection process that was totally on the up-and-up?</p>
  318. <p>In any case, this just seems like a win-win situation for all involved, and the ceremony is probably going to be pretty hilarious, so we are all for it.</p>
  319. <p>In completely unrelated news, we would like to announce that we are going to award the <i>WhoWhatWhy</i> “Medal for Sports Organizations That Suck Up Best to Donald Trump” on December 5. Maybe we can combine the two events somehow.</p>
  320. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/international/fifa-creates-consolation-peace-prize-first-recipient-is-a-total-mystery/">FIFA Creates Consolation Peace Prize – First Recipient Is a Total Mystery</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  321. ]]></content:encoded>
  325. </item>
  326. <item>
  327. <title>Give Caterpillars a ‘Soft Landing’ Under Your Trees.</title>
  328. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/give-caterpillars-a-soft-landing-under-your-trees/</link>
  330. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Whowhatwhy Editors]]></dc:creator>
  331. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:43:24 +0000</pubDate>
  332. <category><![CDATA[Editors' Picks]]></category>
  333. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102945</guid>
  334.  
  335. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-5.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="science, ecosystem, biodiversity, trees, gardens, insects, caterpillars, survival" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[47,54]" /><p>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.</p>
  336. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/give-caterpillars-a-soft-landing-under-your-trees/">Give Caterpillars a ‘Soft Landing’ Under Your Trees.</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  337. ]]></description>
  338. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-5.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="science, ecosystem, biodiversity, trees, gardens, insects, caterpillars, survival" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[47,54]" /><h3><b>Give Caterpillars a ‘Soft Landing’ Under Your Trees. The Ecosystem Will Thank You. (Maria)</b></h3>
  339. <p>The author <a href="https://apnews.com/article/soft-landings-trees-caterpillars-insects-tallamy-946a41d1051387f9af70eef5ff0e93c8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “If you’re like most well-intentioned gardeners, you might give a lot of thought to planting the &#8216;right&#8217; plants to nourish pollinators and other wildlife, with nectar, pollen, seeds and fruit. But have you given much thought to those animals’ habitats? In addition to sustenance, beneficial insects and critters need a safe home in which to rest, hide, breed and pupate. And one area crucial to their lifecycles is around the base of trees.”         </p>
  340. <h3><b>ICE Detains US Citizen for 7 Hours After She Photographed Agents in Oregon (Sean)</b></h3>
  341. <p>From <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/11/ice-detains-us-citizen-for-7-hours-after-she-photographed-agents-in-gresham.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The Oregonian</i></a>: “An Oregon woman who is a U.S. citizen was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for about seven hours last Monday after taking pictures of agents’ unmarked cars near a Gresham Chick-fil-A. Berenice Garcia-Hernandez, 25, snapped into action after seeing a Facebook post alerting people to the agents’ presence near the fast-food chain. The person who sounded the social-media alarm said he had been too scared to get pictures of the agents’ license plates. So Garcia-Hernandez headed to Chick-fil-A in her fiancé’s government-plated car, ordered a lemonade at the drive-thru, and took pictures of the agents’ plates herself. … This is where her story and that of the US Department of Homeland Security diverge.”</p>
  342. <h3><b>Cars Are Essential in Most of the US. They’re Also Increasingly Unaffordable (Dana)</b></h3>
  343. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-1127696760"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-263969826" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p>From <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/29/nx-s1-5556935/cost-of-living-cars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR</a>: “From 2000 to 2020, the cost of car ownership rose roughly in line with inflation, according to Navy Federal Credit Union’s data. But starting in the pandemic, it far outstripped the cost of living overall. Partly, that reflects the soaring cost of vehicles. Pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions led to a chip shortage several years ago, reducing the supply of new vehicles and prompting automakers to focus on their most expensive, highest-margin vehicles. The average new car now costs more than $50,000 — a record — according to Kelley Blue Book. The soaring price of new cars raised demand for used cars, pushing the prices for them up, too; on average, used vehicles now run more than $25,000.”</p>
  344. <h3><b>Under Trump, Ticket Sales Plummet for Kennedy Center Performances (Reader Steve)</b></h3>
  345. <p>The author <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/under-trump-ticket-sales-plummet-211446059.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “President Trump&#8217;s favorite musical is, famously, ‘Les Misérables,’ but few fans have been storming the barricades to get into the Kennedy Center this season. The <i>Washington Post </i>reports that sales for the current season of music, dance, and theater at the Washington, DC, cultural institution have declined dramatically since the president’s inauguration and his subsequent takeover of the Kennedy Center’s leadership. The <i>Post</i> cites data showing the Kennedy Center has sold only 57% of its tickets from September to mid October, many of which are believed to be comped giveaways. That contrasts with a 93% ticket sale rate through the same period last year.”</p>
  346. <h3><b>One of the World’s Largest Geothermal Networks Is Buried Beneath a Corporate Campus in Rural Wisconsin (Laura)</b></h3>
  347. <p>From <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11102025/wisconsin-geothermal-networks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Inside Climate News</i></a>: “You only need a glance at the ‘Intergalactic Headquarters’ of Epic Systems to realize the corporate campus of this medical records software company is not a typical office park. Buildings resemble Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the Emerald City of Oz, and Hogwarts Castle. There’s a treehouse conference room, a ‘Deep Space’ auditorium, and a stairway in ‘Heaven.’ However, what’s buried beneath the fantasy-themed campus of one of the nation’s largest privately held tech companies is arguably more unusual and, from a climate perspective, potentially far more significant.”</p>
  348. <h3><b>Strong Friendships May Literally Slow Aging at the Cellular Level (Mili)</b></h3>
  349. <p>The author <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251004092917.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Scientists discovered that lifelong social support can slow biological aging. Using DNA-based ‘epigenetic clocks,’ they found that people with richer, more sustained relationships showed younger biological profiles and lower inflammation. The effect wasn’t about single friendships but about consistent connections across decades.”</p>
  350. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/give-caterpillars-a-soft-landing-under-your-trees/">Give Caterpillars a ‘Soft Landing’ Under Your Trees.</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  351. ]]></content:encoded>
  355. </item>
  356. <item>
  357. <title>Americans Deliver a Poll Trump Can’t Ignore (but Probably Will)</title>
  358. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/americans-deliver-a-poll-trump-cant-ignore-but-probably-will/</link>
  360. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Klaus Marre]]></dc:creator>
  361. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 07:22:51 +0000</pubDate>
  362. <category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>
  363. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102941</guid>
  364.  
  365. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/No_Kings_Nope_Poster_3x2.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Nope sign, No Kings, Washington, DC" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,77]" /><p>American voters across the country delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump on Tuesday and gave Republicans some food for thought about their blind allegiance to a president whose policies are deeply unpopular.</p>
  366. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/americans-deliver-a-poll-trump-cant-ignore-but-probably-will/">Americans Deliver a Poll Trump Can’t Ignore (but Probably Will)</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  367. ]]></description>
  368. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/No_Kings_Nope_Poster_3x2.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="Nope sign, No Kings, Washington, DC" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[50,77]" /><div>
  369. <p>On Monday, Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115488069736938548" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115488069736938548&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762412059924000&amp;usg=AOvVaw12nqq-b0VxFFyk5_JA74Ny">whined</a> about “fake polls” reflecting his unpopularity, and proclaimed that “fair polls” show that he has the “best numbers [he has] ever had.” Well, a day later, Americans flocked to the only polls that matter and delivered a message to the president: Not on our watch!</p>
  370. <p>In races across the country, first and foremost in closely watched gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats pummeled their Republican opponents.</p>
  371. <p>In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger (D) crushed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) by 15 points, and, with four races still not called at midnight, her party edged toward a supermajority in the House of Delegates.</p>
  372. <p>In New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) thumped Jack Ciattarelli (R) by 13 points, and down-ballot Democrats picked up enough seats in the State Assembly to give themselves a supermajority there.</p>
  373. <p>And Democrats didn’t just win in blue and swing states.</p>
  374. <p>In Mississippi, for example, they flipped a couple of seats to break the GOP’s supermajority in the state legislature.</p>
  375. <p>But this night wasn’t primarily about any particular winning or losing candidates. More than anything, it was a repudiation of Trump.</p>
  376. <p>While the famously delusional president mused that his imaginary high poll numbers are the result of him having delivered “the greatest economy in US history” and keeping prices down, the reality looks starkly different.</p>
  377. <p>The economy is in shambles, things are getting more expensive, Americans are pessimistic about the future, and they are (rightly) blaming the president and his policies for it all.</p>
  378. <p>While the midterms are still a year away, and Republicans across the country are busy trying to give themselves an edge by any means necessary, Tuesday’s results show that Democratic voters are highly motivated and that they understand the seriousness of this moment… whether that is because they are worried about rising costs, the lawlessness of this administration, Trump’s authoritarian ambitions, or all of the above.</p>
  379. <p>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) summed it up.</p>
  380. <p>“In my traveling across the country, I am hearing and have been seeing consistent things from everyday people,” she said. “And it is that they are terrified, they are frustrated, they are angry, and they are shocked by a president that thinks he has total impunity and is violating the values that we hold dear, our liberties and our freedoms.”</p>
  381. <p>In California, voters approved a new congressional map that would counteract the mid-decade gerrymander in Texas that was supposed to deliver five extra seats in the House of Representatives for Trump.</p>
  382. <p>Based on Tuesday’s results, however, Republicans may want to think twice about redrawing their maps. As things stand, even GOP lawmakers running in districts that Trump won by 10 points last year should be feeling a little anxious right now.</p>
  383. <p>However, that does not mean that they will stop following the president blindly.</p>
  384. <p>The GOP has completely hitched its wagon to Trump and is committed to riding that train… whether he drives it off a cliff or not.</p>
  385. <p>As for the president himself, will Tuesday’s shellacking result in some introspection and a change in direction on the part of his administration?</p>
  386. <p>Unlikely.</p>
  387. <p>When it became clear that Republicans were getting walloped, he offered his own explanation for the stinging defeat.</p>
  388. <p>“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” he <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115494873923565600" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115494873923565600&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762412059924000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0h9wAkZsJIfgjRlXXNeXee">wrote</a> (but did not specify if those were the “fake” pollsters or the “good” ones that exist only in his head).</p>
  389. <p>Of course, while his name didn’t appear on any of the ballots, Trump still overshadowed the entire election, and this is his loss more than that of any individual Republican candidate.</p>
  390. <p>To add insult to injury, voters in New York City, the president’s long-time home base, ignored his threats and elected Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor.</p>
  391. <p>His election will start a fascinating experiment.</p>
  392. <p>Terrified by the prospect of Mamdani succeeding in having the rich pay more to make the city more affordable for everybody else, Republicans went all out to stop his election, with Trump and others even endorsing former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.</p>
  393. <p>Now, the 34-year-old Mamdani, who came out of nowhere to win the Democratic primary earlier this year, will get an opportunity to put his ideas into practice, even though the president will likely use his powers to put up as many roadblocks as possible.</p>
  394. <p>Should he succeed in spite of Republicans predicting the total collapse of New York City, it would take the sting out of GOP attacks on Democrats who want to take on the rich to benefit everybody else and might usher in a new kind of economic populism.</p>
  395. <p>Of course, that is all a long way off.</p>
  396. <p>For now, Tuesday was an important milestone in rejecting Trumpism and putting Republicans on notice that they are rubberstamping the president’s policies at the peril of losing their jobs.</p>
  397. <p>However, this is no time for complacency as Trump’s march toward authoritarianism continues.</p>
  398. <p>“[We] cannot underestimate the threat and the danger of this moment, but we cannot respond to that threat with cowardice. We cannot respond to that threat with complying in advance,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “We have to respond to that threat with a strong, organized, and cohesive effort to fight for working families, rule of law, and civil rights for every American across age, ethnicity, gender, and geography. And I believe we can do that.”</p>
  399. <p>And that might be one of the most important takeaways for Democrats.</p>
  400. <p>Spanberger in Virginia and Mamdani in New York City ran on very different platforms. One was right for a state that extends from deep-blue Washington, DC, into “the South,” and the other appealed to voters in America’s greatest city.</p>
  401. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-1894463682"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-938453271" data-whowh-trackid="97784" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97784" data-cfpw="97784"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=champion" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="Champion-truth"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Champion-truth.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97784 );</script></div><p>Democrats have to resist Republican attempts to lump them all together. Instead, they have to find messages that resonate with <i>their</i> voters, not necessarily <i>all</i> voters. And it will be crucial for them to communicate that distinction.</p>
  402. <p>The Democratic tent is humungous compared to that of the GOP, and it is impossible for any candidate to make all of these voters happy at the same time in a way Trump could with his MAGA faithful, which is exactly why the right-wing propaganda machine tries to nationalize every race.</p>
  403. <p>That didn’t work on Tuesday, which should give Democrats and all patriotic Americans who want to preserve their democracy a lot of hope.</p>
  404. <p>“I’m not surprised [by the results],” said Ocasio-Corez, “but very encouraged by everyday people today.”</p>
  405. </div>
  406. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/americans-deliver-a-poll-trump-cant-ignore-but-probably-will/">Americans Deliver a Poll Trump Can’t Ignore (but Probably Will)</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  407. ]]></content:encoded>
  411. </item>
  412. <item>
  413. <title>The Best Meditation Apps to Quit Doomscrolling and Find Peace Instead</title>
  414. <link>https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/the-best-meditation-apps-to-quit-doomscrolling-and-find-peace-instead/</link>
  416. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Whowhatwhy Editors]]></dc:creator>
  417. <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 18:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
  418. <category><![CDATA[Editors' Picks]]></category>
  419. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://whowhatwhy.org/?p=102919</guid>
  420.  
  421. <description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-3.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="science, health, doomscrolling, managing anxiety, meditation, path to peace" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[65,56]" /><p>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.</p>
  422. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/the-best-meditation-apps-to-quit-doomscrolling-and-find-peace-instead/">The Best Meditation Apps to Quit Doomscrolling and Find Peace Instead</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  423. ]]></description>
  424. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/image1-3.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image wpsmartcrop-image" alt="science, health, doomscrolling, managing anxiety, meditation, path to peace" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-smartcrop-focus="[65,56]" /><h3><b>The Best Meditation Apps to Quit Doomscrolling and Find Peace Instead (Maria)</b></h3>
  425. <p>The author <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter-us/2025/nov/03/best-meditation-apps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Anxious? Stressed? Trouble sleeping? Meditation is not a magical remedy for all that ails you, but there’s a reason that more Americans are flocking to it. It’s a free, easy-to-perform practice you can do almost anywhere to calm your mind, reduce stress, and improve your sleep and focus. People have been meditating for more than 5,000 years, but you don’t have to travel to a remote mountaintop in India and meet a guru to get started. The best meditation apps can teach you the same techniques, provide guidance and offer effective tools.”</p>
  426. <h3><b>The Absurd Prosecution of a Man Who Posted a Charlie Kirk Meme (Laura)</b></h3>
  427. <p>From <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/23/charlie-kirk-meme-arrest-tennessee-larry-bushart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The Intercept</i></a>: “Larry Bushart Jr. posted trolling memes on a Facebook thread about a vigil for Kirk. He’s been in a Tennessee jail ever since.”</p>
  428. <h3><b>US Assessment of Israeli Shooting of Journalist Divided American Officials (Siobhán)</b></h3>
  429. <div class="whowh-story-middle" id="whowh-2327811525"><div style="margin-bottom: 16px;" id="whowh-3787246895" data-whowh-trackid="97785" data-whowh-trackbid="1" class="whowh-target" data-cfpa="97785" data-cfpw="97785"><a data-no-instant="1" href="https://whowhatwhy.org/donate/?utm_source=story&#038;utm_medium=donate-banner&#038;utm_campaign=free" rel="noopener" class="a2t-link" aria-label="free the truth promo"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://whowhatwhy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/frame_7__1_-1.png" alt="" width="970" height="250" /></a></div><script type="text/javascript">;new advadsCfpAd( 97785 );</script></div><p>From <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/world/middleeast/shooting-palestinian-american-journalist.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xU8.MdW3.LX3tFweKJIfQ&amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>The New York Times</i></a>: “A U.S. colonel has gone public with his concern that official findings about the 2022 killing of a Palestinian American reporter were soft-pedaled to appease Israel.”</p>
  430. <h3><b>Want Fluoride in the Water? Too Bad. (Dana)</b></h3>
  431. <p>From <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-11/want-fluoride-in-the-water-too-bad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>High Country News</i></a>: “In the West — from Mesa, Arizona, to Port Angeles, Washington — communities have debated fluoridation for decades. Dentists testify about science. Opponents argue fluoride is poison, and many insist that ‘clean water’ must be unfluoridated. In some states, a municipality’s decision to fluoridate is up to voters; in other places, residents must bring the issue to their council, which ultimately makes the decision. Around the time of Kennedy’s pronouncement, however, Western lawmakers began sidestepping public input and unilaterally banning water fluoridation.” </p>
  432. <h3><b>Scientists Achieve Forensics’ ‘Holy Grail’ by Recovering Fingerprints From Fired Bullets (Mili)</b></h3>
  433. <p>The author <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251102011206.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Two Irish scientists have created a groundbreaking method for recovering fingerprints from fired bullet casings — something long believed to be impossible. Dr. Eithne Dempsey and her former PhD student, Dr. Colm McKeever, from the Department of Chemistry at Maynooth University in Ireland, have designed a novel electrochemical process that reveals fingerprints on brass casings even after exposure to the intense heat generated when a gun is fired.”</p>
  434. <h3><b>Biodegradable Plastic Made From Bamboo Is Strong and Easy To Recycle (Sean)</b></h3>
  435. <p>The author <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2499052-biodegradable-plastic-made-from-bamboo-is-strong-and-easy-to-recycle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “Hard plastic made from bamboo is as strong and durable as conventional plastics for uses such as household appliances and car interiors, but is also recyclable and biodegrades easily in soil. Plastics derived from biological matter, or bioplastics, are increasingly popular, but they still only make up around half a per cent of the more than 400 million tonnes of plastics produced each year. This is, in part, because bioplastics lack the mechanical strength of many oil-based plastics and also can’t be easily used in common manufacturing processes.”</p>
  436. <p><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/editors-picks/the-best-meditation-apps-to-quit-doomscrolling-and-find-peace-instead/">The Best Meditation Apps to Quit Doomscrolling and Find Peace Instead</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org">WhoWhatWhy</a></p>
  437. ]]></content:encoded>
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