Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption, and policy failures:
• The Ten Hardest Truths About the War in Europe The author of a bestseller on Russia, Ukraine, and links between the Russia-Ukraine conflict and U.S. politics reveals 10 terrifying things about the worst military crisis in Europe since 1945. (Proof)
• The long, strange history of anti-vaccination movements Here’s what the past can tell us about the future of the pandemic. (Vox) see also How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal? The U.S. is nearing 1 million recorded COVID-19 deaths without the social reckoning that such a tragedy should provoke. Why? (The Atlantic)
• How CNN’s Jeff Zucker and His Cronies Manipulated the News Texts, email exchanges, and 36 sources tell the true story behind the downfall of TV’s ultimate operator (Rolling Stone)
• Wells Fargo Left Black Homeowners Behind in Pandemic Mortgage Refinancing Boom Fewer than half of Black applicants were approved by the biggest bank mortgage lender. (Businessweek)
• YouTube is spreading Putin’s ‘morally repugnant’ Ukraine propaganda Russian state outlets are using the U.S.-based video streaming giant to push “denazification” messages to justify invading Ukraine to Russian-speaking audiences. (Grid) but see YouTube blocks RT worldwide When YouTube first took action against Russia-controlled media outlets such as RT and Sputnik, it was limited to Europe. But on Friday, YouTube expanded the policy to apply across the world. The move by the company deals yet another big blow to Putin’s propaganda machine. (Twitter)
• How the right embraced Russian disinformation about ‘U.S. bioweapons labs’ in Ukraine: Despite the constant debunking, the Russian propaganda that the United States has bioweapons labs in Ukraine has taken root, especially on the right, with the hashtag #usbiolabs trending on Twitter as the Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced. “Would the Russian invasion of Ukraine be justified if it were for biodefense?” asked Robert W. Malone, a prominent vaccine skeptic, on March 9. (Washington Post)
• Madison Cawthorn Is Not An Outlier “Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” said the 26-year-old conservative rock star at a town hall last Saturday. Republicans are anxious — very anxious indeed — to tell us that Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn doesn’t speak for his fellow Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham rushed to the microphone to assure us that Cawthorn is an outlier “in the largest sense possible on our side.” (The Bulwark)
• How Western Firms Quietly Enabled Russian Oligarchs Investment, law and lobbying firms have helped enmesh Kremlin-linked oligarchs into the Western financial and legal systems. (New York Times) see also How a Playground for the Rich Could Undermine Sanctions on Oligarchs Allies of President Vladimir Putin, arriving on private jets and yachts, are still welcome in the U.A.E., which has yet to condemn the Ukraine invasion or enforce sanctions. (New York Times)
• The hidden billion-dollar cost of repeated police misconduct: More than $1.5 billion has been spent to settle claims of police misconduct involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of wrongdoing. Taxpayers are often in the dark. (Washington Post)
• The Global Glut of Clothing Is an Environmental Crisis The U.S. throws away up to 11.3 million tons of textile waste each year—around 2,150 pieces of clothing each second (Bloomberg)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Michelle Seitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Russell Investments, the 6th largest manager in the world. The firm manages over $331. billion in assets and advises on another $2.8 trillion.
Boycotts, Not Bombs: Sanctions Are a Go-To Tactic, With Uneven Results
Source: New York Times
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