Новости за 23.06.2021

Savvy guys like Matt Yglesias, the newsletter writer and former Vox and Slate blogger, sometimes critique bad political punditry by pointing out that it often boils down to saying things like, If politician [x] wants to win, they should adopt all of my preferred policies. It’s a fair point: A lot of bad electoral analysis from across the political spectrum does follow that pattern.

This week, the Supreme Court struck a blow for the unpaid professional athletes who pretend to be amateurs so they can play on college teams. In NCAA v. Alston, the high court ruled unanimously that the National Collegiate Athletic Association may not impose certain limits on what colleges, with a broad wink to their alumni, call “education-related benefits.”

“In case after case, we successfully prosecute traffickers, but we cannot pursue the websites that profited from the ads placed by these vile operations,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance told reporters in 2018. “FOSTA-SESTA would finally enable action against what are essentially online, open-air bazaars.” That law, the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” and “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act,” more commonly known as SESTA/FOSTA, which was pitched by Vance and countless others... Читать дальше...

If you are ever so lucky as to find yourself talking to Erb Avore, your first question would likely be whether that is, in fact, his real name. It is. Your second question could be—or should be—about his proprietary herbal supplement, legendary for its ability to boost erections. And your third question could be almost anything: What was it like when the Food and Drug Administration raided his home? Why did he show up to that Ethiopian restaurant on a cold January day wearing slippers? Does he believe... Читать дальше...

There are two ways to try to answer the question of who is Ghislaine Maxwell, the defrocked British socialite now sitting in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial for sex crimes related to her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. One is to focus on the personal, on her life of startling wealth and elite social connections that transformed into something far more sinister. The other is to look at her alleged criminal activity: the charges that she abused and trafficked girls as young as 14. Either line... Читать дальше...

Kathleen SayVon had spent weeks hunting for a new place to live in 2018, sleeping in her car and showering at the gym, when she finally caught a break. As she scrolled her phone in her car one evening, an ad for affordable rooms in the Atlanta area appeared on her Facebook feed. The price—$130 a week, with utilities included—was a rare find she could afford on the wages from two temp jobs she was working while attempting to finish her bachelor’s degree. 

In the early 2000s, a man named Erb Avore started selling a male sexual enhancement supplement he called Stiff Nights. The pills were amazingly effective—but the list of ingredients failed to mention a key component, and soon the Food and Drug Administration came calling. On Episode 32 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk to the journalist Matt Hongoltz-Hetling about the poorly regulated world of dietary supplements, Avore’s long quest to find an all-natural alternative to Viagra... Читать дальше...

The financial crisis that began in 2008 wasn’t great for Wall Street titans: Regulators cracked down on them, protesters occupied them, and public opinion soured against them. They managed to make out pretty well in the pandemic a little over a decade later, with Blackrock being brought in to oversee an unprecedented bond-buying program. But climate change could turn out to be Wall Street’s best crisis yet. The finance industry’s prolific investments in fossil fuels helped drive emissions up and create an existential threat. Читать дальше...

Speaking to reporters about the For the People Act, the Democrats’ signature voting rights bill, in March, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made it clear that the measure must pass. “We will see if our Republican friends join us,” the New York Democrat said. “If they don’t join us, our caucus will come together and decide the appropriate action to take. Everything is on the table. Failure is not an option.”