Successful arms-control diplomacy has kept proliferation at bay for decades. But many states now have nuclear ambitions; we look at an increasingly worrying shift. Rapid development in sub-Saharan Africa has led to a “double burden” of malnutrition: obesity is skyrocketing even as undernourishment continues. And the riches and the tensions to be found at a Greenland rare-earth-minerals mine. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
The story of how GameStop went from the verge of a bankruptcy to a $15 billion market value isn’t an easy one to wrap your head around. But it helps to go back to the beginning; almost three years ago, in a subreddit called r/wallstreetbets.
We don’t usually cover a story 3 days in a row, but this is different: We’re looking at how r/wallstreetbets made the industry uncomfortable. General Motors is going 100% electric by pulling a move straight outta Netflix. And the wildest part of Facebook’s earnings report… was Zuck’s focus on Apple.
$GME $NFLX $GM $FB $AAPL
Statement from Robinhood on yesterday’s events: https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/1/28/an-update-on-market-volatility
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How should we understand the theme park in our globalised world? In A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks: Middle Class Kingdoms (Intellect, 2020), Dr. Sabrina Mittermeier, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in American cultural history at the University of Kassel, Germany, presents a detailed and engaging cultural history of Disneyland’s theme parks to tell the story of this now global phenomenon. The book has detailed case studies of each of the theme parks, from the original Disneyland as a cultural product of the 1950s, through the transcultural space of Tokyo Disneyland, to the authentically Disney, distinctly Chinese theme park in Shanghai. The story of EuroDisney, and DisneyWorld in Florida further develop the book’s argument for the need to understand wealth and class as key drivers for the audience these parks seek to attract. The book will be essential reading across humanities and social science, and for anyone interested in contemporary culture.
With the help of spider scientist Sebastian Echeverri, Maddie presents the case for why spiders are the best and coolest animal. Spoiler alert: some travel thousands of kilometers by "ballooning," while others live part time underwater.
Are you a scientist who thinks Sebastian is wrong and that the animal you study is superior? Let us know! You can email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear the case for your critter.
The COVID strain first discovered in South Africa was found in the United States for the first time in the state of South Carolina. This strain is more contagious, and there’s some concern that it might be slightly more vaccine resistant than the strains we’ve been dealing with thus far.
Robinhood and similar trading platforms restricted purchases of Gamestop stock and other companies targeted by Redditors yesterday, and the values of those stocks dropped off dramatically. We talk through the steps that brought us to this point, how lawmakers are reacting, and what's next.
And in headlines: nationwide protests in Poland as the government enacts a near-total abortion ban, Austin votes to use police money to fund supportive housing, and GM will stop making gas and diesel powered cars by 2035.
Show Links:
"Robinhood’s Customers Are Hedge Funds Like Citadel, Its Users Are the Product"
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced it’s now safe to resume in-person schooling, providing appropriate precautions are taken. Yet, the Chicago Teachers Union voted Sunday to keep students home and continue all teaching virtual.
Jonathan Butcher, a Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst in the Center for Education Policy, joins the show to explain the role unions are playing in keeping schools closed in Chicago and across the county, and what should be done to ensure all students have the opportunity to receive a good education.
We also cover these stories:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that when it comes to a new COVID-19 relief bill, Senate Democrats could move ahead without Republican votes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there is a threat to the safety of members of Congress coming from within the House from those “who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
President Joe Biden scraps the so-called Mexico City policy, which prevents U.S. funding from going to international organizations that refer women to get abortions or provide them.
In the first episode of the new year, we will take a look at the Orphic myth and the mysterious connection between D. H Lawrence and his strangest of strange companions — H.D. This poem echos the idea that in order to be truly good something has to be just a little bit rotten.
We're very proud of this show, in which you can sit down your Uncle Frank who's repeating the kind of nonsense Rand Paul spouted this weekend -- that "all the court cases just dismissed Trump's lawsuits on standing and never evaluated the evidence" -- and show that it is an out-and-out lie. It's not true. And we think even Uncle Frank will have to reluctantly concede that by the end of the episode.
Links:
This is the terrible Gateway Pundit article by Joe Hoft whose claims we thoroughly debunk. Please don't click on it. Please do feel free to click on the polling averages at 538 or Gallup which show that the "wildly popular" President Trump averaged a 41% approval rating.
