Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• The Anti-vaccine Right Brought Human Sacrifice to America: Since last summer, the conservative campaign against vaccination has claimed thousands of lives for no ethically justifiable purpose. (The Atlantic)
• Nearly 500 N.J. bridges received the same poor rating as the one that collapsed in Pittsburgh. The early-morning collapse of a bridge in Pittsburgh brings fears to anyone who takes to the roads. On the FHWA’s National Bridge Inventory for 2021, 482 Garden State bridges received a grade of “poor.” That’s the same rating as the bridge in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park that collapsed on Friday morning, injuring 10 people.. (NJ.com) see also House Republicans tout infrastructure funding they voted against Democrats have been quick to criticize it as “voting no and taking the dough.” (ABC News)
• The Dark History of Medicare Privatization Medicare Advantage was supposed to be a money-saver. It’s now become a costly, unaccountable cash cow for private insurance companies that is swallowing traditional Medicare. (American Prospect)
• Inside Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Unlikely Rise and Precipitous Fall at Liberty University: Jerry Falwell Jr. was the Trump-anointing dark prince of the Christian right. Then a sex scandal rocked his marriage and ended his lucrative stewardship of the evangelical education empire founded by his father. In a series of exclusive interviews, Falwell—accompanied by his wife, Becki—describes the events that led to his ouster, their fallout, and why he’s finally ready to admit he never had much use for his father’s church anyway. (Vanity Fair)
• Despite Decades of Hacking Attacks, Companies Leave Vast Amounts of Sensitive Data Unprotected A surge in identity theft during the pandemic underscores how easy it has become to obtain people’s private data. As hackers are all too happy to explain, many of them are cashing in on it. (ProPublica)
• Why 5G is causing flight cancellations The FAA is worried about your cellphone again. (Vox)
• When a medical team quit, this hospital sued to force them to keep working It’s hardly a secret that American labor law and workplace practices are designed for the benefit of employers, not workers. But a Wisconsin hospital tried to break new ground in the field by suing to stop a team of seven healthcare workers from quitting their jobs and taking posts at another hospital. (Los Angeles Times) see also What to know about the battle over Fox Valley, Wisconsin health care workers now playing out in court When 7 Wisconsin hospital workers quit to work at another hospital for better pay & work/life balance, the 1st hospital didn’t try to match the 2nd hospital’s offer. It instead got a judge to issue a temporary order blocking the workers from leaving. (Post Crescent)
• On Abortion Law, the U.S. Is Unusual. Without Roe, It Would Be, Too. Many rich democracies have earlier cutoffs for abortion — but allow it later for a variety of reasons. And around the world, it has been much more common to expand access than restrict it. (New York Times)
• ‘The biggest task is to combat indifference’: Auschwitz Museum turns visitors’ eyes to current events Director wants visit to former Nazi concentration camp to spark reflection on ‘silence of bystanders’ (The Guardian)
• The Big Lie’s lasting damage to American democracy As democracy “backslides” around the world, the U.S. is no exception. (Grid)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with David Conrod, Co-Founder CEO at FocusPoint Private Capital Group. Previously, he was at Guggenheim Partners, where he established the Private Fund Group, with more than $7 billion of fund allocations for general partnerships external to the firm.
Do vaccine mandates actually work?
Source: The Economist
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