The Doomscroll News Report

This week, Hanna's back to host a roundtable discussion with fellow Rti hosts and reporters, Iris Hsu and Tristan Hilderbrand, to talk about what happened with Taiwan's mass electroal recall movement, otherwise known as the Great Recall.

Read along with us: 1) Taiwan is paralyzed by political gridlock. A mass recall of ‘pro-China’ lawmakers could break that (Wayne Chang, CNN), 2) How a vote targeting 'pro-China' lawmakers has split Taiwan (Tessa Wong, BBC), 3) Taiwan’s ‘Great Recall’ Fizzles Out (Brian Hioe, The Diplomat)

This week, Amanda is joined again by guest co-host Joey Chou to sew up loose ends from last week's episode into conspiracy theories and the Epstein Files case happening in the United States. Then, Amanda and Joey bond over shared shock and concern at the news that xAI, the parent company for X's infamous chatbot Grok, has recieved a heafty contract with the U.S. military just a week after that chatbot went on multiple hateful antisemetic rants on the platform.

Read along with us:

The U.S. House adjourning: 1. Epstein Saga hangs over Congress’s race to summer recess (Mychael Schnell, the Hill), 2. Republicans shut down house floor to avoid Epstein vote (Martha McHardy, Newsweek), 3. Mike Johnson under pressure over shutting down House to stop Epstein vote (Kate Plummer, Newsweek)

xAi's deal with the DOD and Grok: 1. Musk's Grok signs $200m deal with Pentagon days after antisemitism row (Lily Jamali and Nadine Yousif, BBC), 2. Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, started calling itself 'MechaHitler' (Lisa Hagen, Huo Jingnan, and Audrey Nguyen, NPR), 3. Pentagon will start using Musk’s Grok (Cheyanne M. Daniels, Politico), 4. xAI announces $200m US military deal after Grok chatbot had Nazi meltdown (Nick Robins-Early, The Guardian), 5. Exclusive: Musk’s DOGE expanding his Grok AI in US government, raising conflict concerns (Marisa Taylor and Alexandra Ulmer, Reuters)

This week we have a special guest, Lauren Mastroni the leading author of the thesis, “I one-hundred thousand percent blame it on QAnon”: The impact of QAnon belief on interpersonal relationships from the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. We discuss how belief in the “big tent” conspiracy QAnon changed the political landscape, and paved the way for the Epstein Files scandal taking over the news this week, how the QAnon community affected their own relationships, and finally what the current situation may mean for the tight-knit Trump administration going forward.

Read along with us:

Background reading: 1. QAnon shows the staying power of Epstein theories. Trump should know they won’t go away (Donie O’Sullivan, CNN), 2. Risky strategy for Trump as he escalates Epstein row with loyal supporters (Anthony Zurcher, BBC), 3. What to Know About the Epstein Files, a Perfect Recipe for Conspiracy Theories (Devlin Barrett, The New York Times)

I one-hundred thousand percent blame it on QAnon”: The impact of QAnon belief on interpersonal relationships (Lauren Mastroni and Robyn Mooney, The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships)

This week host Amanda is doing a GOOD-NEWS ONLY special apology episode. We can't help it that we doomscroll, which can make it increasingly feel like there's only badnews, but in the last week there's been a lot happening, especially in the climate and human-intrest world. Amanda calls up some of her friends to apoliguze for bad-news-dumping, and try to make it up with postive stories about drinking water in Flint Michigan, a landmark ruling from the International Court of Human Rights, and about the Seine open to public swimming again!~

Read along with us:

The completion of Flint's water pipes: 1. Flint replaces most lead pipes 10 years after the Michigan water crisis (Matt Lavietes, NBC), 2. Flint's still-unfinished lead pipe replacement serves as a cautionary tale to other cities (Michael Phillis and Tammy Webber, AP)

A stable climate is a human right: 1. Countries must protect human right to a stable climate, court rules (Isabella Kaminski, The Guardian)

The Seine opens for public swimming: 1. River Seine reopens to swimmers in Paris after century-long ban (Thomas Mackintosh, BBC), 2. You Can Swim in the Seine Again. Trust Me. I Just Did. (Catherine Porter, The New York Times)

This week we're tackling the ongoing legal battles between AI and copyright laws, and Budapest's incredible (and illegal) Pride parade with guest co-host, Joey Chou! Joey takes a break from hosting his own current events show "Beyond the Reefs" to rehash one of our favorite in-office disagreements (AI) on air, and we both wax about the courage it takes to show up against government threats.

Read along with us:

On AI vs copyright: 1. Judge dismisses authors’ copyright lawsuit against Meta over AI training (Matt O’Brien and Barbara Ortutay, AP), 2. Disney and Universal team up to sue AI image generator Midjourney, claiming copyright infringement (Clare Duffy, CNN), 3. BBC Threatens to Sue Perplexity, Alleging 'Verbatim' Reproduction of Its Content (Imad Khan, CNET), 4. Getty drops copyright allegations in UK lawsuit against Stability AI (Kelvin Chan, AP)

Budapest's incredible Pride turnout: 1. Police ban Budapest Pride march, but mayor vows it will go ahead (Nick Thorpe, BBC), 2. Budapest Pride draws huge crowds in defiance of Orban legal threats (Nick Thorpe and Stuart Lau, BBC), 3. Tens of thousands defy Hungary's ban on Pride in protest against Orbán (Lili Rutai and Ashifa Kussan, The Guardian)

This week, hosts Amanda and Hanna continue to talk about the Iran-Israel conflict, and how the United States decided to jump in over the weekend, causing Iranian couterstrikes, and then a sudden ceasefire agreement a littler over a week after Israel's first strikes into the country. Then Amanda gets to an issue on american soil near-and-dear to her heart, about how Senate members are suggesting a sale of public lands in the U.S. to help fund Trump's domestic pocliy bill, or the "Big Beautiful Bill".

Read along with us:

Israel-Iran conflict: 1. The U.S. Bombed Iran. Now What? (Rachael Abrams and David Sanger, the New York Times podcast “The Daily”), 2. What we know about Iran's attack on US base in Qatar (Sean Seddon & Gabriela Pomeroy, BBC), 3. Fragile ceasefire appears to hold between Israel and Iran. Trump vents frustration with both sides (The Associated Press, CTV News), 4. Supreme Leader, in first appearance since ceasefire, says Iran would strike back if attacked (Jana Choukeir and Nayera Abdallah, Reuters)

Public land sales to fund the policy bill: 1. Proposed sale of millions of acres of public land under GOP budget bill prompts backlash (Jeremy Tanner, the Hill), 2. Trump's federal land sell-off proposal includes 5M acres in Washington (Sebastian Robertson, King5 News), 3. Idaho is on the verge of losing massive access to hunting and fishing (Chris Wood, The Idaho Statesman), 4. What to know as the senate tries to pass Trump’s agenda bill next week (Lauren Fox and Sarah Ferris, CNN)

This week, Hanna and Amanda discuss the state of vaccines in the United States, especially the MMR (Measels, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine and current Health and Human Services secretary Robert F Kennedy's flip-flopping on them. Then we discussing the new Israel-Iran conflict and where we think it's headed.

Read along with us:

On RFK jr and Vaccines in the U.S.: 1. Six babies with unvaccinated mothers born with measles in Canada (Leyland Cecco, The Guardian), 2.How RFK Jr. is quickly changing U.S. health agencies (Julie Tsirkin and Olympia Sonnier, NBC News), 3. RFK Jr tells Congress ‘people shouldn’t take medical advice from me’ (Jessica Glanza, the Guardian)

On the Israel-Iran conflict: 1. Iranian state broadcaster hit as Iran urges Trump to make Israel halt war (Alexander Cornwell and Parisa Hafezi, Reuters), 2. In Iran, grief for civilian casualties but little pity for commanders (Baran Abbasi, BBC Persian), 3. Israel says Iran was racing towards a nuclear weapon. US intel says it was years away ( Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen, CNN)

This week, we're covering allegations of Elon Musk's drug use and his public break up with Donald Trump, what happened to the crew of the Madleen, and what's going on (at least at time of recording) in LA. What a week!

Read along with us:

All about Elon Musk: 1. On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama // (Kirsten Grind, and Megan Twohey, New York Times), 2. How Bitter Trump-Musk feud escalated– and what happens next (Anthony Zurcher, BBC), 3. Trump: Reconciliation with Musk a possibility, not a priority (Alex Gangitano, The Hill)

The Madleen Activist ship and following reception: 1. Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg (Crispian Balmer and Rami Amichay, Reuters), 2. Gaza: Aid trucks still waiting for Israeli green light inside enclave (Daniel Johnson, UN News), 3. Four Deported, Eight Detained – Israel Holds 'Madleen' Group Illegally (FFC Media Team, Freedom Flotilla Coalition)

The escalating situation in Los Angeles: 1. TRUMP authorizes sending another 2000 National Guard soldiers to LA (Dan Mangan, CNBC), 2. Gavin Newsom on the LA Protests, Trump's Response and Why It's a Defining Moment for Democracy (Michael Barbaro, Gavin Newsom for the NYT podcast "The Daily")

Talking about the developments on the Ukraine War, and also how AI doesn't yet have free speech, but IS probably willing to doxx you.

Read along with us:

Ukraine War: 2. Russia and Ukraine complete largest prisoner swap (Reuters) 2. Hectic two weeks leaves Russia confident - and peace in Ukraine feeling no closer (Steve Rosenberg, BBC) 3. Germany's Merz: No more range limits for weapons to Ukraine (Dmytro Hubenko, Deutsche Welle)

AI relationships, rights, and personalities: 1. In lawsuit over teen’s death, judge rejects arguments that AI chatbots have free speech rights (Kate Payne, AP) 2. AI system resorts to blackmail if told it will be removed (Liv McMahon, BBC) 3. She Is In Love with ChatGPT (Kashmir Hill, NYT) 4. ‘She helps cheer me up’: The people forming relationships with AI Chatbots (David Batty, the Guardian)

The gals talk about birthright citizenship in the United States, Trump’s attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of immigrant detainees, and the latest in a long string of instances involving Chinese nationals sailing over to Taiwan on rubber dinghies. All under the broad heading of borders - what it means to be born within them, to cross them, and to get kicked out over them.

On birthright citizenship: 1. Three paths the Supreme Court could take on birthright citizenship (The Economist) 2. Three paths the Supreme Court could take on birthright citizenship (Podcast "Strict Scrutiny" with hosts Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray)

On the Alien Enemies Act: 1. Supreme Court rules against Trump administration in Alien Enemies Act case (Kevin Breuninger for CNBC) 2. Pennsylvania judge is first to rule Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act is justified. Here's what that means. (Joe Walsh for CBS News)

On Chinese citizens landing little boats and rafts on Taiwan's shores: 1. Chinese father and son arrested after sailing to Taiwan illegally, 2 Chinese men on makeshift rafts off Taiwan's Erdan Island detained, CGA probes videos suggesting illegal landing by Chinese man (Focus Taiwan), Chinese small boats landings on Taiwan are a new source of concern (ABC News)