In addition to Gabrielle Petito’s tragic murder, we discuss the horrific rates of people of color who’ve gone missing in America. For example in Wyoming, where Petito’s body was found, 710 Indigenous people went missing between 2011 and 2020, and over half of them were women.
In COVID news, President Biden pledged to donate 500 million vaccine doses to lower income countries. The FDA also authorized a Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine for people 65 and older and for those at risk of severe disease.
And in headlines: nearly 1,000 Haitian migrants in Del Rio, TX, were released into the United States, bipartisan Congressional negotiations on a sweeping police reform bill broke down, and Trump filed a lawsuit against his niece and reporters at The New York Times.
The word "knitting" normally evokes quaint images of grandma sitting in her rocking chair by the fireplace, needles and yarn in hand, as she makes a pair of mittens for her grandchildren to wear while they play in the snow.
Less likely are images of self-appointed social justice warriors demanding fealty to a cause as they systematically expunge conservatives from online forums. Even less likely are images of physical confrontations occurring at in-person knitting gatherings.
In 2019, a blog post about a knitting enthusiast going to India exploded into a debate about "colonialism" and "white supremacy" in the pastime. A series of commentaries posted on the website Quillette detailed how the online social justice squabble bled out into the real world, resulting in real-life altercations between knitting enthusiasts in England.
Jon Kay, a senior editor at Quillette and editor of the new book, "Panics and Persecutions: 20 Quillette Tales of Excommunication in the Digital Age,” has his own thoughts on this epic yarn.
"It's tragi-comic," explains Kay, "It's hilarious because these are people who knit, but it's also tragic in the sense that a lot of these people, like, this is their life and their community. Their social community is other people who knit on these Instagram groups and other social media, and they're getting thrown out."
Kay joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the absurdity of the knitting incident, as well as cancel culture more generally.
We also cover these stories:
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas whether he was warned about the flood of Haitian migrants arriving at the southern border.
After a phone call between President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, France's ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, who had been recalled, will be returning to Washington next week.
Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times over tax documents of his that she leaked.
While resistance to vaccine mandates goes back 200 years but state laws allowing for religious exemptions were rare until the 1960s. And faith leaders from the Pope to imams have pushed Americans to get vaccinated. So why do religious exemptions exist? Reporter Andrew Meriwether digs into the complicated history of religious exemptions.
Some of the world's best artificial waves are happening hundreds of miles from the ocean—in Waco, Texas. They're so good, they're attracting top professionals, casual riders and a science correspondent named Jon Hamilton. Jon's been following the wave technology for years and says the progress is huge. These days, pro surfers are coming from all over to try out Waco's "Freak Peak."
In our main discussion, NLW talks how crypto has mainstreamed over the last year, including:
Bitcoin for hedge funders
Bitcoin for El Salvador
NFTs for NBA fans
NFTs for crypto OGs and celebrities
He specifically looks at what rapper Snoop Dogg’s anon account disclosure in the space means for the future.
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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for Bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.
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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images Entertainment, modified by CoinDesk.
outro: https://youtu.be/JanZSDIWpmg
We start with a quick moratorium on self-deprecating apologia for doompill. Confronting, with sober senses and ruthless analysis, the material conditions of the world is not always a joyful thing. But, importantly, it is not one that calls for nihilism, fatalism, or doom. We then discuss a long excerpt from an upcoming biography of Peter Thiel and finally give this (self-admittedly) evil man the attention he deserves. Not only is Thiel driven by venal desires of power and wealth, he is also consumed with paranoia that one day the taxman will make him pay his fair share. Thiel is a ludicrous caricature of the Randian superhero.
Some stuff we discuss
• Peter Thiel Gamed Silicon Valley, Donald Trump, and Democracy to Make Billions, Tax-Free | Max Chafkin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-15/peter-thiel-gamed-silicon-valley-tech-trump-taxes-and-politics
• Lord of the Roths | Justin Elliott, Patricia Callahan, James Bandler: https://www.propublica.org/article/lord-of-the-roths-how-tech-mogul-peter-thiel-turned-a-retirement-account-for-the-middle-class-into-a-5-billion-dollar-tax-free-piggy-bank
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
For more than 40 years in Chicago, Pastor T.L. Barrett has been delivering sermons, speaking up for civil rights and political issues, and singing gospel songs on the piano with his congregation. Now, his life’s work will be captured in a new five-album collection, I Shall Wear A Crown.
Reset sits down with the South Side preacher to discuss the new box set, his life and career, and his hopes for the future.
The infrastructure bill moving through Congress includes billions to replace lead pipes. In Flint, Mich., NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with residents on how governments can tackle a water crisis equitably.
