Editors’ Picks for Oct 12
Global Warming Linked to Dengue Fever Epidemics, Koch Brother Sets Hypocrisy World Record, Self-Tracking Pills Coming to a Counter Near You, and More Picks
We’re pleased to introduce PICKS — stories selected by our editors because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They will appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. And we invite you to recommend articles, videos, podcasts, etc. Please send them to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Rising Temperatures Linked to Dengue Fever Epidemics (Russ)
One hundred million people a year are infected by the disease, also known as Breakbone Fever, substantially harming lives and impeding economic and social development. Heat is not the only cause, but researchers now think rising temperatures are a key factor.
Koch Brother Sets Hypocrisy World Record (Klaus)
Charles Koch, the man who is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get like-minded conservatives elected to public office, said in a rare interview that he is doing so to fight special interests. Even more remarkable is that he managed to make that statement with a straight face.
The Frightening Promise of Self-Tracking Pills (Trevin)
New “smart drugs” will be up soon for FDA approval. Are they a healthcare breakthrough, or just more surveillance?
Super-Rich File Nuisance Lawsuits to Silence Journalists (Russ)
Zillionaire Romney backer lost to small magazine in court, but cost them $2.5 million in legal fees. So who wins?
Jeb Mixes Up His Campaign and Supposedly Independent PAC (Russ)
In an interview with Iowa Public Radio, Jeb Bush mixed up the two supposedly completely separate entities: “You build on your success. We just started to advertise — actually the Right to Rise PAC started to advertise, not our campaign.” The only reason these PACs are allowed to exist — and to collect unlimited sums, unlike official political campaign organizations, is because they claim to operate on an entirely independent basis. Jeb’s slip-up pretty much shows what a sham the whole thing is.
Despite Announcement to the Contrary, the Price of Daraprim is Still $750 Per Pill (Trevin)
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has instead “hired an army of new Washington lobbyists and lawyers to stem the massive fallout from his actions and to stymie congressional oversight.”
Shkreli has taken to Twitter to lash out at Bernie Sanders, who released a statement critical of the company’s increase of the AIDS/cancer drug by 5000 percent:
“Senator @BernieSanders doesn’t understand healthcare.”
Inglis, Florida: Home to the 1,000th US Mass Shooting Since Sandy Hook (Trevin)
The horror “has become so mundane, so everyday, that it no longer makes national news.”
“An examination of the details, though, reveals mass shooting number 1,000 to be, like all the others, a human cataclysm. Broken hearts and bullets, an affair in which the roles of victim and perpetrator flip in an instant.”
Your Snuggly Organic T Shirt Probably Poisoned a River Somewhere (Russ)
It may be really soft, and it may be organic cotton, but the ink is the problem. The manufacturing process is toxic, and so are residues when the articles get to the consumer.
Study Finds When You Give Money to Poor Kids’ Parents — Kids Turn Out Much Better (Russ)
It may sound obvious, but now a study shows stunning success with making kids better set for life and altogether happier and better-adjusted when their parents are given more money. The extra funds are tiny compared to the costs society and individuals later incur for poverty. Those who begrudge others modest welfare payments should especially read this.
