Новости за 21.07.2021

“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer,” Jeff Bezos said Tuesday on returning from the edge of outer space, “because you guys paid for all of this.” This unexpected endorsement of Karl Marx’s theory of surplus value is a shot in the arm to Marxian economics, which has had a tough time of it ever since the collapse of communism in the late 1980s.

After six months of indecision, President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday—finally—a nominee for one of the most crucial positions in his administration. Jonathan Kanter, a plaintiff’s lawyer critical of the tech industry, will run the Department of Justice’s antitrust division. In that perch, he’ll be expected to lead the DOJ’s ongoing antitrust case against Google and to possibly pursue other cases and enforcement actions that could lead to the breakup of some of the massive tech companies denounced by Democrats and Republicans alike. Читать дальше...

In the past week, the United States and Europe have tossed a once-obscure climate policy into the spotlight: carbon tariffs, or “border adjustment mechanisms,” as they’re called. Last week, politicians in Brussels unveiled a 291-page proposal to levy a fee on carbon-intensive imports. And on Monday in the U.S., Democratic Senator Chris Coons and Representative Scott Peters unveiled a 19-page bill for a border carbon tax, which could funnel revenue toward an infrastructure package.

Few people enjoy going to the dentist. But generally speaking, we don’t question what’s done to us when we’re there. On Episode 33 of The Politics of Everything, Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene speak with Ferris Jabr and Daryl Austin, two journalists who have investigated dental overtreatment and fraud, about whether we should. It’s impossible to say exactly how widespread gratuitous treatment is—and it can even be difficult to know what constitutes necessary treatment. Because of a lack of reliable research into dentistry practices... Читать дальше...

There’s never been a more curious work in Edgar Allan Poe’s oeuvre than his 1848 epic, Eureka: A Prose Poem. A freewheeling attempt to describe the origins of the cosmos, filled with lofty abstractions and often turgid prose, it got a lukewarm reception at the time and has since largely been dismissed by both readers and critics. Too slapdash to be legitimate scientific inquiry, and too self-serious to be good writing, it seems, at best, an overeager misstep and best left forgotten. Indeed, given... Читать дальше...

The scene at Los Angeles’s Wi Spa on Saturday was disorienting: Anti-trans feminists carrying signs with slogans like “protect female spaces” mingled with QAnon adherents chanting “Save our children”; men in tactical gear and pro-Trump T-shirts stood ready for battle; while elsewhere in the crowd, suspected members and friends of the Proud Boys harassed journalists. What brought them all together was a story that had been spreading for weeks through the right-wing ecosystem, a viral outrage about something that may not have even happened... Читать дальше...

It’s never been easier for governments covertly to access and monitor the phones of activists, journalists, dissidents, politicians, and, well, anyone they want. “Zero-click” tools, easily purchased from private corporate developers, allow authorities to hack victims’ phones in surreptitious ways, even if the target doesn’t click a link. This technology has been repeatedly used to spy on and harass innocent people around the world, often with impunity. Associates of Jamal Khashoggi, the murdered Saudi journalist... Читать дальше...

Almost exactly one month ago, Joe Biden stood outside the White House flanked by a bipartisan group of senators and announced they had reached an infrastructure deal. “We all agree that none of us got all we wanted,” he said. But this was, if you looked at it the right way, a good thing. “This reminds me of the days when we used to get an awful lot done up in the United States Congress,” the president continued. “Neither side got everything they wanted in this deal. That’s what it means to compromise. Читать дальше...