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.
Pentagon Says Its Precognitive AI Can Predict Events ‘Days in Advance’ (Maria)
The author writes, “The US military’s AI experiments are growing particularly ambitious. The Drive reports that the US Northern Command recently completed a string of tests for Global Information Dominance Experiments (GIDE), a combination of AI, cloud computing and sensors that could give the Pentagon the ability to predict events ‘days in advance,’ according to Command leader General Glen VanHerck. It’s not as mystical as it sounds, and it could lead to a major change in military and government operations.”
US Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’ Favored Religion and Trump (DonkeyHotey)
The authors write, “As midnight approached on the eve of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the conservative-majority Supreme Court granted emergency requests by Christian and Jewish groups challenging COVID-19 crowd restrictions imposed by New York state. The twin 5-4 decisions in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish congregations were two of 10 decisions in the past year backing religious groups chafing under pandemic-related measures that forced them to close their doors or otherwise limit usual activities. All 10 requests were granted via the court’s ‘shadow docket’ in which emergency applications are decided hurriedly and sometimes late at night in a process that critics have said lacks transparency.”
Immigrants in US Experienced Higher Unemployment in the Pandemic but Have Closed the Gap (Mili)
The authors write, “As businesses across the United States return to near-normal operations, public attention has shifted to reports of labor shortages and rising prices. But even as hiring picks up in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the labor market is not fully healed. Some 9.5 million U.S. workers were unemployed in June 2021, compared with 5.7 million in February 2020, and the unemployment rate stood at 5.9%, up from 3.5%, seasonally adjusted. Immigrants were hit harder than U.S.-born workers at the beginning of the pandemic, but they have since closed the gap, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.”
Missouri Governor Pardons Couple Who Pointed Guns at Black Lives Matter Protesters (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) pardoned a couple that pleaded guilty to assault and harassment charges after they pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters last year. Parson pardoned Mark and Patrica McCloskey on Tuesday along with 10 other people. The Republican governor also approved two commutations. The McCloskeys sparked national outrage in June 2020 after they pointed guns at racial justice protesters walking past their house on their way to the home of the St. Louis mayor.”
Citizen Pays New Yorkers $25 an Hour to Livestream Crime Scenes (Dan)
From the New York Post: “Want to make $200 a day in New York City? Rush to the scene of a murder, a three-alarm fire or a traffic accident — then pull out your phone and start filming. That’s the pitch from Citizen, a controversial neighborhood watch app that’s quietly hiring New Yorkers to livestream crime scenes and other public emergencies in an apparent effort to encourage more ordinary citizens to do the same, The Post has learned.”
The Myth of Panic (Sean)
From Palladium: “Over the last year, we have seen the consequences of prioritizing panic prevention over disaster response in one country after another. The pattern was set early in Wuhan, China. There, provincial and municipal officials muzzled early warnings of a novel respiratory illness from doctors, virologists, and health officials. They feared what might happen if normal citizens became aware of the disease. ‘When we first discovered it could be transmitted between people, our hospital head, chairman, medical affairs department, they sat and made endless calls to the city government, the health commission,’ wrote one Wuhan nurse in January of 2020. ‘[But] they said we still can’t wear protective clothing, because it might stir up panic.’”
The Darker Side of Tree-Planting Pledges (Reader Jim)
The authors write, “The plan launched to great fanfare in 2015. Copenhagen would plant 100,000 new trees in the Danish capital by 2025. Like many similar tree-planting pledges, the commitment was pitched as a key prong of its plan to reduce carbon emissions. But six years later, many of the saplings have already withered and died. ‘People bash into them with bikes and cars,’ says Sandra Hoj, an urban tree campaigner in the city, ‘and they often don’t have proper protection.’ The bark gets slashed, or they get poisoned in the winter because the municipality has put salt on the roads instead of some alternative that’s safe for the trees.”
Martian Lakes Are Really Clay, Suggests New Study (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “When the first astronauts travel to Mars someday, they can probably leave their snorkeling gear at home. What looked like lakes of water beneath the red planet’s south pole are actually deposits of frozen clay, according to new research by scientists at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute and the University of Arizona. Initial reports of possible subglacial lakes on Mars in 2018 caused a stir among scientists, who saw them as promising places to search for extraterrestrial life. Now the team led by Planetary Science Institute researcher Isaac Smith believes common clays known as smectite minerals, not liquid water, are responsible for the bright radar reflections picked up by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter.”
