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.
Biden Proclaims PKK a Terror Group (DonkeyHotey)
US Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul over the weekend. Biden condemned the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). “We do agree with you that in terms of their actions Daesh (IS), PKK and (Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate) Al-Nusra… are simply terrorist groups,” said Biden.
Clinton Chuckles at the Idea of Releasing Goldman Sachs Transcripts (Daniel)
Hillary Clinton has made a whopping $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. But what exactly is and was the content of those speeches? The ‘tougher-than-Sanders’ Wall Street reform she has touted on the campaign trail? We may never get to find out.
Why Precisely Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations? (Trevin)
Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic asks why Sanders’ “political imagination is so active against plutocracy, but so limited against white supremacy.”
Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a National Problem (Daniel)
New documents obtained by The Guardian show that water boards in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island have ‘gamed’ lead and copper tests to ensure levels do not exceed federal rules. According to an anonymous source, however, the rigging isn’t limited to those three places. “Every city east of the Mississippi’ should be suspect.”
Woody Guthrie and the Racist Roots of Trump’s Fortune (Gerry)
Last year The Donald proclaimed, “My legacy has its roots in my father’s legacy.” What he didn’t say was how his father enforced racial exclusion in a large ‘Whites Only’ housing development – a policy that drew the ire of one tenant, quintessential American folksinger Woody Guthrie.
