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President Emmanuel Macron’s draft bill walks a fine line balancing the country’s foundational secularism and worries about Islamist terrorism. Amid slumping economies everywhere, Taiwan’s looks surprisingly buoyant; we ask how that might continue after the pandemic. And how managers can best navigate the holiday-party season in a cheerless year.
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Teachers unions are catching flack for obstructing a return to in-person school. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, says teachers want to be in school. The question still is, can it be done safely?
Guest: Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.
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In The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World (Basic Books, 2020), Virginia Postrel describes how humans coevolved with textiles.
The story begins with our distant ancestors who used string to fashion the earliest tools. Then, ten thousand years ago, humans began farming not only for food but also for fiber to make cloth. In the intervening millennia, for people everywhere, an inordinate amount of human time and energy went into the growing, harvesting, spinning, weaving, and dying of cloth for garments, bedding, blankets, rugs, hangings, tents, tarps, sails, sacks, and all manner of containers and fittings. Based on investigation and practice, Ms. Postrel explains the artisanal processes and sciences involved.
In addition, this book is about how textiles shaped our society more broadly: labor, trade, tribute, collaboration (and also exploitation), credit, banking, migration (some voluntary, some forced), style and cultural restrictions, all figure into the discussion. The Industrial Revolution that began when steam power replaced human toil in the spinning of thread and the weaving of cloth, changed our world. Cheap, high-quality, cloth became available to people everywhere. In the twentieth century, the advent of plastics, of synthetic fabrics, transformed our world again. All of this, Ms. Postrel achieves in 250 beautifully-written pages, with numerous helpful pictures and diagrams. She also has a blog filled with videos explaining the processes she investigates in the book at https://vpostrel.com/blog.
Virginia Postrel is a journalist, author, and independent scholar. Her books include author of The Substance of Style, The Power of Glamour, and The Future and its Enemies. She is currently a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and has been a columnist for the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.
Krzysztof Odyniec is a historian of the Early Modern Europe, the Spanish Empire, and the Atlantic World, specializing in sixteenth-century diplomacy and travel.
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The news to know for Wednesday, December 9th, 2020!
We'll tell you about:
Those stories and more in about 10 minutes!
Head to www.theNewsWorthy.com to read more about any of the stories mentioned under the section titled 'Episodes' or see sources below...
This episode is brought to you by DukeCannon.com (available at Target) and and Fitbod.me/newsworthy
Get ad-free episodes and support the show by becoming an INSIDER: www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider
Sources:
Biden Reveals COVID-19 Plan: WaPo, Axios, AP, Biden Transition
U.S. Virus Case/Death Records: AP, The Hill, USA Today, Johns Hopkins
Supreme Court Denies PA Election Challenge: AP, WaPo, Reuters, NBC News
Krebs Sues Trump Campaign: NPR, WaPo, AP, CNBC
14 Fort Hood Soldiers Fired, Suspended: AP, ABC News, CBS News, USA Today
House Passed Defense Spending Bill: NY Times, WSJ, ABC News, Axios, Trump Tweet
Everest Grows Higher: NPR, AP, CNN
Top Cybersecurity Firm Hacked: NBC News, NY Times, Axios, WSJ, FireEye
DoorDash Set to Go Public Wednesday: WSJ, CNBC, NY Times, Reuters
Famous College Football Game Canceled: USA Today, NY Times, Michigan
2024 Olympics to Include Breakdancing: ESPN, Reuters, CNN
Work Wednesday: HI Offers Workers Free Roundtrip Flights: CNN, People, Business Wire, Movers and Shakas, Hawaii.Gov
As vaccinations kick off in the UK, the approval process is moving forward here in the US as well. The FDA now says Pfizer’s vaccine offers protection within just 10 days of getting the first dose, though efficacy goes up even further after a second one. Authorization is still pending. The US had planned to rely heavily on the AstraZeneca vaccine, having made a deal to buy 300 million doses… but new data indicate the drug isn’t as effective as some of the other options being reviewed.
On his first day, the new district attorney of Los Angeles George Gascón announced a suite of policy reforms that will change how law enforcement is done in the city. Gascón is part of a larger wave of newly-elected progressive DA’s, from places like Austin, Orlando, and New Orleans.
And in headlines: the Army fires or suspends 14 officials at Fort Hood, police raid the home of COVID data scientist Rebekah Jones, and Christopher Nolan is not happy with Warner Bros.
Show Links:
"Blunders Eroded U.S. Confidence in Early Vaccine Front-Runner"
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/business/covid-vaccine-oxford-astrazeneca.html
"AstraZeneca vaccine details published in Lancet, but data suggests need for more trials"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/astrazeneca-lancet-covid-vaccine-oxford/2020/12/08/482ca0f0-34b5-11eb-9699-00d311f13d2d_story.html
Comedian Rivers Langley is back in his hometown in Alabama for the rest of 2020. Also, there's a global pandemic still happening. This podcast is him catching up with his funny friends; sometimes on the phone, sometimes socially-distanced outside. These are "The Corona Diaries" and this is Episode #110. Our guest today is comedian Dave Stone. You should listen to his podcasts "The Boogie Monster" and "The Stonebergs" and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @DaveStoneComedy. Listen to Carter Glascock's new album 'The Crystal Pistol' now streaming on all platforms!
The clock is ticking as Congress attempts to reach bipartisan agreement on a COVID-19 relief bill before Christmas. After multiple failed attempts to agree upon what should be included in a new aid package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are trying one more time to pass the package before year's end.
Garrett Bess, vice president of government relations and communications at Heritage Action for America, the grassroots partner organization of The Heritage Foundation, joins the show to break down what you need to know about the proposal and how much it may add to the national debt.
We also discuss these stories:
Enjoy the show!
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For the last episode of our show, you told us stories about a first love, fitting in, family trips, and how brands played an unexpected role in all of it. Plus, the team who made Brought to you by… takes a minute to say goodbye. Thank you for listening.