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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.
Thousands Take Part in National School Walkout After Nashville Shooting (Maria)
The author writes, “Thousands of students walked out of classes across the country Wednesday to demand lawmakers take action on gun safety following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. Advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, which coordinated the walkouts through Students Demand Action, said there were more than 300 demonstrations across 41 states and DC to kick off a ‘week of action’ by advocates and gun violence survivors. Ryley Collins, 15, a volunteer with Students Demand Action who helped lead a walkout at Jasper High School in Plano, Texas, said she and her classmates wanted to ‘make sure our lawmakers understand that we want more than just thoughts and prayers.’”
Transgender Student Athlete Ban on the Books in Kansas (Dana)
From the Kansas Reflector: “Transgender girls are now blocked from playing women’s sports from kindergarten through college, following the Legislature’s successful override of Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a transgender student athlete ban. … The legislation requires children to participate in school activities based on the gender they were assigned at birth, from elementary school to college. Challenges could require them to undergo genital inspections, or require a birth certificate for proof of the child’s gender.”
Donald Trump Is on the Wrong Side of the Religious Right (Sean)
From The Atlantic: “Trump’s relationship with the evangelical movement — once seemingly shatterproof, then shaky after his violent departure from the White House — is now in pieces, thanks to his social-media tirade last fall blaming pro-lifers for the Republicans’ lackluster midterm performance.”
Study Links Hard-Right Social Media With Incidents of Civil Unrest (Mili)
From Yale News: “An increase in social media activity on ‘hard-right’ platforms — those that purport to represent viewpoints not welcome on ‘mainstream’ platforms — contributes to rightwing civil unrest in the United States, according to a new study led by Yale sociologist Daniel Karell. In an analysis of data from hard-right social media activity and incidents of civil unrest that occurred ‘offline’ nationally between January 2020 and January 2021, the researchers found that a 10% increase in hard-right social media activity predicts a .04% increase in the number of hard-right civil unrest events during the following month.”
‘Smart’ Tech Is Being Weaponized by Domestic Abusers, and Women Are Experiencing the Worst of It (Michaela)
The author writes, “For all the promises of smart tech, at least a ‘dumb’ heating system can’t be taken over by a vindictive ex, and used to torment you with unbearable heat or terrible cold, when you have no idea why. A daft doorbell can’t tell a stalker when you leave, or when you’re home, or where you go if you use a smartwatch, too. And no stupid speaker can be used to listen in on your private conversations. These situations may sound like nightmares, but they are all real cases of smart tech-enabled domestic abuse. And the number of cases is shooting up: between 2018 and 2022, the domestic violence charity Refuge saw an increase of 258% in the number of survivors supported by their tech abuse team.”
‘The Reckoning Is Here’: More Than a Third of Community College Students Have Vanished (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Even though community colleges are far cheaper than four-year schools — published tuition and fees last year averaged $3,860, versus $39,400 at private and $10,940 at public four-year universities, with many states making community college free and President Joe Biden proposing free community college nationwide — consumers are abandoning them in droves.”
Scientists Uncover Startling Concentrations of Pure DDT Along Seafloor Off L.A. Coast (Laura)
From the Los Angeles Times: “First it was the eerie images of barrels leaking on the seafloor not far from Catalina Island. Then the shocking realization that the nation’s largest manufacturer of DDT had once used the ocean as a huge dumping ground — and that as many as half a million barrels of its acid waste had been poured straight into the water. Now, scientists have discovered that much of the DDT — which had been dumped largely in the 1940s and ’50s — never broke down. The chemical remains in its most potent form in startlingly high concentrations, spread across a wide swath of seafloor larger than the city of San Francisco.”
South Carolina Man Breaks Mustache Record at 2 Feet, 1 Inch Long (Dana)
The author writes, “A South Carolina man’s 2-foot, 1-inch whiskers earned him the Guinness World Record for the longest mustache on a living person. Paul Slosar of Summerville had the length of his mustache verified at the National Beard and Mustache Championships in Casper, Wyo., and the measurement was submitted to Guinness World Records for official verification. Slosar sports an English-style mustache, defined … as: ‘Slender, beginning from the middle of the upper lip with the hairs extremely long and pulled to the side. Tips may be lifted slightly.’”
