Welcome back to The Stratosphere.

Today, we’re reporting out four stories at the intersection of Silicon Valley, politics and philanthropy, including the predictably sci-fi, pro-choice Roe workaround that the Silicon Valley elite are cooking up. Then, below the fold, I reveal the latest character to emerge in the ongoing battle over Warren Buffett’s fortune; how much you have to spend to get time with Peter Thiel; and which prominent venture capitalist may be named an ambassador by Joe Biden.

Teddy

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It’s easy to caricature Autry’s proposal as a Google-esque moonshot, the sort of pie-in-the-sky thinking that scratches an itch for otherwise powerless philanthropists at a time when they are desperate for ideas to secure abortions in a post-Roe world. There are large parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas where it may be easier to reach an offshore medical facility than traveling hundreds of miles by car. “California has some big donors that are very interested,” Autry told me. “We’re prepared for these big donors, and we’re answering these calls right now.”

The challenge that many philanthropists I talk to are trying to solve is how to protect emergency access to someone who needs to get an abortion today. Autry’s entry into this frenzy, called PRROWESS, is the latest in what has been a philanthropic scramble in recent weeks, at least in Silicon Valley, by Democrats to ascertain what they can do, as private citizens, to help. Away founder Jen Rubio and her husband, Slack C.E.O. Stewart Butterfield, are collecting $2 million for abortion funds. Gretchen Sisson, an uber-well connected fundraiser for Democratic candidates and women’s causes in San Francisco, just unveiled $2 million in rapid-response money that she has raised to pay for abortions...