NOW LIVE ON WhoWhatWhy
Why WhoWhatWhy’s Boston Marathon Bombing Coverage Is Important
by Klaus Marre
Traditional news outlets have all but abdicated their duty to ask the hard questions. Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen is a case in point – he’s on a first-name basis with the police involved in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capture. Klaus Marre looks at what’s missing from the mainstream press at Tsarnaev’s trial.
Why Did One Boston-Area Cop Let Tsarnaev Escape?
by Joanne Potter
At the height of the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one police officer came within a few feet of the suspect. And let him go. Not that you’d have learned this from testimony in the courtroom. Joanne Potter looks at the escape of a most wanted man.
MEDIA FAIL: Abject Ignorance About Tsarnaev’s Black Muslim Flag
by Lara Turner
Imagine if someone looked at a Christian cross on the wall, and took it to be representative of the cross-burning Ku Klux Klan? That’s the logic some reporters are applying to the black Muslim flag found on Boston Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s wall. They’re equating the flag, a common symbol of a Muslim’s faith, to a sign of affiliation with al Qaeda.
WHO
President Obama Speaks with VICE News
The President continued his recent trend of eschewing the mainstream media to speak with non-traditional, Millennial-friendly news and information sources like Between Two Ferns, Buzzfeed and now, Vice, the red-hot, rapidly growing, multi-platform property run by Shane Smith. Obama’s remarks about marijuana and, specifically, that young people should care more about “climate change, the economy, jobs, war and peace” than about pot legalization quickly went viral.
A Struggling Town Just Opened the Only Government-Run Pot Shop in the U.S.
Apparently, the North Bonneville Public Development Authority hasn’t gotten the memo about President Obama’s views on pot legalization. Or is it that the President hasn’t gotten the word that many cities see legalized pot, and the tax revenues it promises, as a cure-all for declining fortunes and growing budget gaps. In the case of North Bonneville, Washington, they’ve taken it a step further by running a pot shop they hope will turn their town into a profitable tourist destination.
U.S. Dominates Weapons Export Market as Profits Grow with Sales to the Middle East
Americans love to chant “We’re Number One! We’re Number One!” Well, once again, America is number one … with a bullet. And a lot of the weapons are pouring into the Middle East, where the Saudis will fork over one out of every seven dollars spent on imports this coming year. One analyst predicted the Middle East will offer “$110 billion in opportunities in coming decade.” Alas, one man’s opportunity is another man’s headstone.
WHAT
Oil Price Scenarios: Good, Bad and Ugly
After a short interregnum of stability when the price of oil settled around $50 per barrel, the market has once again gone wonky with oil hitting a six-year low of $42 per barrel. The possibility of a deal with Iran and the easing of sanctions has many worried that the floor could drop below $30. Here are three likely scenarios:
- The Good: OPEC cuts in June and the glut is curtailed.
- The Bad: No OPEC cut, but storage levels aren’t exceeded, which means the glut isn’t clogging the system and drowning producers in oil.
- The Ugly: Storage tanks do fill up, producers have no place to send their excess crude and sanctions on Iran are eased. That would drown the market.
WHY
A New Synthetic Compound Can Neutralize Chemical Weapons in Minutes
On the same day Syria was hit with new chemical weapons allegations, researchers at Northwestern University made news with a technique that could eventually make chemical warfare irrelevant … or, at least, much less effective. They are working with enzymes called phosphotriesterases that can deactivate some poisons and nerves gases in mere milliseconds. They are translating those into a new compound—known as NU-1000—that, so far, can deactivate half of poisons they tested in just 15 minutes. And that’s 80 times faster than previous compounds. It’s just a matter of time.
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