Obama on fake news, Trump's new team, and your Weekend Whats...
During the days immediately before and after the presidential election that shocked much of the world, The New Yorker’s David Remnick was spending time with President Obama. The president reflected on many topics, including one that almost everyone else is talking about too. Real vs Fake news. “An explanation of climate change from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks exactly the same on your Facebook page as the denial of climate change by somebody on the Koch brothers’ payroll. And the capacity to disseminate misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, to paint the opposition in wildly negative light without any rebuttal — that has accelerated in ways that much more sharply polarize the electorate and make it very difficult to have a common conversation.” This is about a lot more than politics. Welcome to an ex post facto world, where, as Obama explains, “everything is true and nothing is true.”
+ Are you ready to stand up and publicly declare your allegiance to Real News? Then stop faking it and score this awesome new NextDraft T-shirt: Read Real News. And for every shirt purchased before the end of the day on Friday, $6 goes to the excellent DonorsChoose. I don’t make any money from these shirts, but it sure makes me happy to see them in the wild. So get your shirt now and spread the word.
Team Trump
President-elect Trump has started to fill key cabinet positions. Jeff Sessions has been tapped to be Attorney General, Mike Pompeo has been named CIA direction, and Mike Flynn is Trump’s pick for national security advisor. Here’s a look at some of the names being floated for other spots.
+ Mike Flynn is very experienced, and very controversial.
+ WaPo: 10 things to know about Jeff Sessions.
+ Mike Pompeo was a major figure on the Benghazi committee.
+ And in what should be an interesting meeting, Mitt Romney is headed to Trump Tower for a chat.
Weekend Whats
What to Binge: I’ve been loving the PBS series Soundbreaking, an eight-part series tracing the ongoing sonic revolution. It’s about music, technology, and the soundtrack of our lives. Very interesting and lots of great music.
+ What to Explore: “The treasure that sank with the lost Royal George continued to beckon, seducing men who were desperate to change the circumstances of their lives.” Lose yourself in another great piece from the folks at Epic — including sunken treasures, sibling rivalries, the saving of the British empire. Unfathomable.
+ What to Read: “So to see this, an enormous Confederate flag in a Union state, a mile from a symbol of national tragedy and shared sacrifice, was an indicator that there was something very unusual in the mood of the country. Ancient hatreds had resurfaced. Strange alliances had been formed. None of the old rules applied.” From The Guardian: Dave Eggers travels through post-election America.
+ What to Power Through: We’re seeing a lot of political power plays during this transition, so it’s a good time to check with a Robert Caro, a guy who has spent a career thinking about the issue.
Arctic Tock
Temperatures are at a record high. The sea ice is at a record low. In other words, the North Pole is on thin ice.
+ New Republic: The End of Ice. “The Arctic is warming twice as fast as any place on the planet. Can native villages in northernmost Alaska survive climate change?”
Divided in Twin Falls
“For decades before, the refugee resettlement program run by a local community college had flourished with little opposition, with refugees filling open jobs on dairy farms and in cheese factories.” Chico Harlan with a very interesting look at Twin Falls, Idaho, where due to events local and national, the co-dependency of whites and immigrants faces a test.
+ For an interesting look at this topic, I recommend Elizabeth Strout’s excellent novel, The Burgess Boys.
Illegal Use of Hand Gestures
“I had expected we’d maybe be quibbling around the margins of how it would actually be implemented. I did not expect that we would have to have this conversation about whether there is, in fact, a conflict because it’s so obvious on its face.” Here’s what happened when a Harvard study recommended that maybe the doctors who assess the health of NFL players shouldn’t be employed by the team.
Know When to Merge ‘Em
“By combining and streamlining resources, FanDuel and DraftKings can work more efficiently and economically with state government officials to develop a standard regulatory framework for the industry.” In other words, the legal bills were so high for FanDuel and DraftKings that they decided to save money by merging. (Additional intrigue will be added to this story — and all stories about online gaming and gambling — when we have a president who is also a casino owner…)
Correction
“Personal experience has brought home to me the pervasive change since the election. Painted swastikas have defaced the middle school that my twin daughters attended and the college another daughter now attends. At a different university where my daughter studies, all the black freshmen were sent emails with pictures depicting lynchings.” The sentiment in this article probably won’t surprise you. But the source might. Larry Summers explains why he will never again use the term political correctness.
Major Laser
Scientific American (a magazine name that increasingly sounds like an oxymoron) reports on a breakthrough in which researchers were able to use a laser control a mouse’s brain–and speed up milk shake consumption. Now they’ll need a laser to cure freeze-brain.
Bottom of the News
“This summer, 43-year-old skydiver Luke Aikins jumped out of a plane at 25,000 feet and plummeted for 130 seconds, steering himself as he fell at around 150 mph, before landing safely in a large net. The whole time, he was not wearing a parachute.” After reading all the news from the last couple weeks, I can definitely relate. From GQ: The Man Who Fell To Earth.
+ Related: British man bungee jumps with a biscuit in hand and dunks it in a cup of tea.
+ One moose was fighting another moose. Their antlers got stuck. And then the ice came and they were frozen like that. This is the animal kingdom’s version of gridlock.
+ Kanye West brings home the quote of the week: “If I Voted, I Would Have Voted for Trump.”
+ And from McSweeney’s: Clearing Up The Confusion Surrounding Valley High’s Homecoming King Selection Process.
