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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.
Bolsonaro’s Defeat in Brazil Is a Climate Turning Point (Maria)
The author writes, “The climate implications of Sunday’s Brazilian runoff election, which will return leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to office, defeating the hard right Jair Bolsonaro, are set to reverberate worldwide. Bolsonaro has presided over the highest Amazon deforestation rates in 15 years, while Lula had enacted policies to protect the Amazon. ‘Lula’s victory means the Amazon stands a chance,’ said Manoela Machado of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, via WhatsApp message on Sunday night.”
GOP Bracing for Trump Indictment Soon After Election Day (Sean)
From The Hill: “Republican aides and strategists privately expect Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue an indictment of former President Trump within 60 to 90 days after Election Day, predicting the window for prosecuting Trump will close once the 2024 presidential campaign gains momentum. Republican aides on Capitol Hill and veteran party strategists emphasize they don’t have any inside information on what Garland might do, but they say the attorney general is under heavy pressure from Democrats to act and the deadline for pursuing an indictment is fast approaching.”
An Evangelical GOP House Candidate in Texas Wrote a Novel About Anne Frank Finding Jesus (Dana)
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “The Republican nominee for Congress in Texas’ 7th district is a self-proclaimed history buff, but his take on Anne Frank is not one that most historians would endorse. Johnny Teague, an evangelical pastor and business owner who won the district’s primary in March, in 2020 published The Lost Diary of Anne Frank, a novel imagining the famous Jewish Holocaust victim’s final days in the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps as she might have written them in her diary. The kicker: In Teague’s telling, Frank seems to embrace Christianity just before she is murdered by the Nazis.”
That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “A previously unreported boom in profits for the shipping supply giant Uline has provided the funds for a deeply conservative Midwestern family to bankroll anti-democracy causes around the country.”
Newly Un-Redacted Report Shows How Feds Politicized Response to 2020 Portland Protests (DonkeyHotey)
From Oregon Public Broadcasting: “An internal Department of Homeland Security report assessing the agency’s intelligence collection on Portland racial justice protesters in 2020 has been released nearly in its entirety. A heavily redacted version of the report was released in 2021. The newly public portions show in more granular detail how Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli led efforts to politicize intelligence operations in Portland, in many instances pushing constitutional boundaries.”
Half of World’s Bird Species in Decline as Destruction of Avian Life Intensifies (Laura)
The author writes, “Nearly half of the planet’s bird species are in decline, according to a definitive report that paints the grimmest picture yet of the destruction of avian life. The State of the World’s Birds report, which is released every four years by BirdLife International, shows that the expansion and intensification of agriculture is putting pressure on 73% of species. Logging, invasive species, exploitation of natural resources and climate breakdown are the other main threats.”
The Surreal Mystery of Namibia’s ‘Fairy Circles’ May Finally Be Solved (Mili)
The author writes, “Sprawling across a remote swath of the Namib Desert, rugged grasses eke out a living from the region’s meager rainfall. The growth of so much grass in such a harsh environment is impressive, but also mysterious. The grassland is dotted by millions of strange circles, each devoid of grass or other vegetation, that together form an eerie polka-dot pattern of ‘fairy circles’ across the landscape. … Scientists have made steady progress on demystifying Namibia’s fairy circles, with leading theories falling into two main camps.”
