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August 30, 2019

The Weekly Whatever

Wait, what?

  • Death Row Records acquired by Hasbro.

  • Japanese temple introduces new robotic Buddhist priest.

  • Eurovision Song Contest winner will stand for election for the Brexit Party.

Dystopia technologica

  • Auditing Radicalization Pathways on YouTube.

  • YouTube reinstates the channel of a white nationalist linked to the Christchurch mass shooter and sends him an apology for suspending him.

  • Insurance companies are fueling a rise in ransomware attacks by paying the ransom, because it's easier and cheaper and supports their business model.

For science!

  • Perhaps the first crime committed while in space?

Threat Level Orange

  • Trump administration asks Supreme Court to OK firing people for being LGBT.

  • Neo-nazi manifesto captures the imagination of Trump staffers.

  • Federal Election Commission shuts down due to lack of staff.

  • EPA rolling back regulations on methane, which is up to 86 times as potent as CO2 at causing near-term global warming.

That's some mighty fine police work there, Lou

  • Man spends three months in jail for smuggling liquid meth… which was actually just three bottles of honey.

  • South Carolina cop charged with soliciting a minor for sex, in a sting set up by his own department.

Well, fancy that!

  • Catholic priest arrested for using church donations on Grindr dates.

  • It turns out that Backpage was "cooperative" and "responsive" about trying to eliminate sex trafficking, and the government lied.

  • Kansas (and Texas) allowed amusement parks to self-inspect and monitor their own safety, and a kid got decapitated on a waterslide.

  • Mysterious glitch and two broken cameras rendered video from outside Epstein's jail cell unusable.

  • Trump was lying about all those phone calls with China to negotiate about tariffs.

We're fucked

  • Amazon fires nearing tipping point at which forest becomes dry savannah.

  • UK climate is hot enough for sago palm cycads to reproduce, for the first time since the Cretaceous period.

  • If we're going to avoid a major global warming crisis, we need to act in the next 18 months. (Which we won't.)

  • Extreme temperatures in Europe are rising about twice as fast as climate models predicted.

Sick, sad world

  • Elementary school kids selling tickets to win an AR-15.

  • Evangelist missionary sets up NGO, poses as doctor, kills 105 Ugandan children.

  • The full story of Patrick Byrne, the mad CEO of Overstock.com.

  • TSA bodyscanners flag transgender people's genitals as suspicious.

Not The Onion

  • Florida math teacher and ex-Marine says he would be the best school shooter.

This should end well

  • Over 900 cases of mumps at overcrowded immigration detention facilities; no vaccinations to be supplied.

  • Scientists grew tiny clumps of human brain cells and connected them up to robots.

Schadenfreude Friday

  • Bret Stephens is a bedbug.

  • YouTube allows Infowars back as part of a "commitment to openness", then bans it again the same day for violating Terms of Service.

Actual good news

  • Eight major banks have committed to ending the financing of private prisons.

  • David Byrne has a new project reasonstobecheerful.world which will provide you with your required daily dose of good news to leaven the hell world we live in.

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