Reading archive 2025-02-19

Gen Z teens tell us why they stopped trusting experts in favor of influencers on TikTok - "It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t believe in experts. Rather, it’s that social media has rewired the way they think about credibility. TikTok influencers are now our 'friends.' The algorithm repeats and reinforces what we already believe. And a well-edited, engaging video is much more convincing than a long, complicated explanation from a professional. Credibility today isn’t about expertise but about who tells the most compelling story. This change is slowly reshaping how an entire generation decides what is true and what is not—sometimes with demonstrably negative results."

Crossroads of conflict: Ominous forces are converging in Africa. The stakes are high, and the reverberations could be felt well beyond its borders.

Jennifer Lopez, Troye Sivan lead lineup at WorldPride festival in D.C.: The 2025 WorldPride festival, which has celebrated LGBTQ+ communities for more than two decades, will honor the 50th anniversary of Pride celebrations.

After ceding power of the purse, GOP lawmakers beg Trump team for funds: Republican senators are asking Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. - "'I think it’s very indicative of why the impoundment power is so dangerous,' said Matt Glassman, a former Capitol Hill staffer who worked for the Congressional Research Service for years. 'It creates a sort of favor-factory atmosphere where you’ve got to beg the president for your funding.'"

We may be able to trap climate pollution in ordinary rocks: Scientists say they have figured out how to transform rocks into something extraordinary: a high-tech, low-cost substance that can bend geological time and help stall — or even reverse — planetary warming.