Debbie Levitt is an American living in Italy, with her Italian husband, and their 5 dogs. Many years ago, she obtained a degree in Music, but now focuses on customer experience online - of which, she has been called the Mary Poppins of Customer Experience. Outside of this, she and her husband bought a used camper and quickly became camper people. Her favorite place to take their camper to is Laces, Italy - but she noted that of her 5 dogs, zero of them are allowed in the camper.
In the 90's, Debbie was helping businesses get on the web, strategizing with them around how to deploy their website and build an online presence. Fast forward many years, she has shifted into doing work and leading projects, centered around customer experience online.
Two years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The costs of this war have been unbelievably high. Half a million Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been either killed or wounded. In terms of cost, the U.S. alone has spent $113 billion on the war. And an aid package that includes another $60 billion for Ukraine is stuck in Congress.
Americans’ changing sentiment about the war has certainly contributed to that package being in limbo. Two years ago, there was broad support for the war: 66 percent of Americans thought we needed to help Ukraine. But that view is no longer the consensus. Severalpolls have indicated that the majority of Americans oppose additional funding to support Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka fell to Russian forces last weekend. The Biden administration says it’s a direct consequence of congressional inaction.
Today on Honestly, a debate: Where is all of America’s aid to Ukraine going? Is Ukraine really such a clear-cut cause? Even if you believe that it is, what has all of this sacrifice gotten Ukraine—and the U.S.? Can Ukraine even win this war? What’s the endgame? And is victory in Ukraine really as important to America as many politicians claim that it is?
It's a three-part transit lightning round! First we look at if aggressive driving has gotten worse in recent years. Then we take a trip on the San Francisco Water Taxi, and discover a low-cost way to get out on the San Francisco Bay. Finally, we crunch on the numbers on if the SMART Train in Sonoma and Marin is easing traffic along the 101 corridor. Buckle up, the answers are coming fast and furious this week.
This story was reported by Dan Brekke, Katrina Schwartz and Paul Lancour. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Xorje Oliveras, Paul Lancour, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joshua Ling, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is ramping up her attacks on former President Donald Trump, but her path to winning the GOP nomination remains very narrow at best. Why is she staying in the race? A key witness in the Republican-led impeachment inquiry against President Biden has been charged with lying about an alleged bribery scheme. And a new study shows that nearly half of all American adults know someone who died from an overdose. How is this affecting the people who are closest to the crisis?
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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Lisa Thompson, Krishnadev Calamur, Andrea De Leon and HJ Mai. It was produced by Claire Murashima, Ben Abrams and Milton Guevara. We get engineering support from Robert Rodriguez and our technical director is Hannah Gluvna.
In which budget-conscious Swedes rearrange American ideas about nutritious eating, and Ken is pretty sure M&Ms are not getting smaller. Certificate #54063.
Host Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the latest news in the crypto industry. And, a conversation with CoinShares head of research James Butterfill on the performance of spot bitcoin ETFs in 2024.
To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, joins "First Mover" to discuss his outlook on bitcoin price and spot bitcoin ETF inflows in the rest of the year. Plus, insights on different use cases of NFTs (non-fungible token) and whether they can make a comeback in 2024.
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Consensus is where experts convene to talk about the ideas shaping our digital future. Join developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers and more in Austin, Texas from May 29-31. The tenth annual Consensus is curated by CoinDesk to feature the industry’s most sought-after speakers, unparalleled networking opportunities and unforgettable experiences. Register now at consensus.coindesk.com.
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “First Mover” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and Melissa Montañez and edited by Victor Chen.
A scientific tribute to to the successes and potential of Kelvin Kiptum, the best marathon runner to ever take to the roads. Marnie and the team take time to reflect on the tragic loss after Kelvin's death and looks at the science behind his record breaking performances.
Why do East African long distance runners continue to dominate the world stage? Can one group of indigenous people in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico, really run 100km without getting tired? And what makes you fall off the back of a treadmill when you just can't keep going? Is the limiting factor in endurance sports found in the body or the mind?
We also hear how one small insect is having a mighty impact on African ecosystems, and Marnie ponders the future of AI. What happens when we are no longer able to trust our eyes and ears in a world of deepfakes.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Philistian Mwatee and Tristan Ahtone
Producer: Harrison Lewis, with Dan Welsh, Tom Bonnett, Katie Tomsett and Jack Lee
"Most lawyers, most actors, most soldiers and sailors, most athletes, most doctors, and most diplomats feel a certain solidarity in the face of outsiders, and, in spite of other differences, they share fragments of a common ethic in their working life, and a kind of moral complicity."
– Stuart Hampshire, Justice is Conflict.
There are many more examples of professional solidarity, however fragmented and tentative, sharing the link of a common ethic that helps make systems, and the analysis of them, possible in the larger political economy. Writing from a law professor’s vantage point, Katharina Pistor, in her new book, The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality (Princeton University Press, 2019) explains how even though law is a social good it has been harnessed as a private commodity over time that creates private wealth, and plays a significant role in the increasing disparity of financial outcomes.
As she points out in this interview, and her chapter ‘Masters of the Code’, it is ‘critical to have lawyers in the room’, and they clearly have the lead role in her well-researched and nuanced thesis centered on the decentralized institution of private law. Professor Pistor builds on Rudden’s ‘feudal calculus’ providing the long view of legal systems in maintaining and creating wealth and draws on historical analogies including the enclosure movements as she interweaves her analysis of capital asset creation with a broader critique of professional and institutional agency. Polanyi and Piketty figure into Pistor’s analysis among many others, as does the help of the state’s coercive backing as she draws on the breadth of her own governance research and analysis of the collapsed socialist regimes in the 1990s, and a research pivot toward western market economies following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Professor Pistor is a comparative scholar with a keen interdisciplinary eye for the relationship between law, values, and markets, dovetailing larger concepts with detailed descriptions of the coding of ‘stocks, bonds, ideas, and even expectations—assets that exist only in law.’ All of which informs her inquiry into why some legal systems have been more accommodating to capital’s coding cravings and others less so, as she describes the process by which capital is created. She moves beyond legal realism’s less granular critiques, and as reviewers such as Samuel Moyn have suggested – this book ‘deserves to be the essential text of any movement today that concerns itself with law and political economy’.
Katharina Pistor is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law, and the Director of the Center on Global Legal Transformation at Columbia Law School.
Keith Krueger lectures at the SHU-UTS Business School in Shanghai.
