Wednesday, October 22, 2025

COVID-19 Has Exposed the Fragility of Our Food System—Here’s How We Can Localize It

The pandemic has shown the need to localize food production. Farms from Northern California to Canada are creating regional food systems.

Links 1/27/2021

Michael Olenick: From Intel to Apple – Noncompetes are Bad Business

Silicon Valley would never have taken off if noncompetes had been used in its early years, yet titans later restricted hiring across the industry.

The Oregon Republican Party Issues a Condemnation (and a Reader Query)

Soliciting reader help on identifying the ethnographics of the diehard Republican.

‘We’re Not Controlling It in Our Schools’: Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across US

America’s inability to devise and implement Covid-containment strategies in schools illustrates why the disease won’t be vanquished soon.

2:00PM Water Cooler 1/26/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Poor Lives Matter, But Less

w the metrics for development and poverty, which drive policies and spending, often do the poor a disservice.

Links 1/26/2021

Michael Hudson: Finance Capitalism vs. Industrial Capitalism – The Rentier Resurgence and Takeover

Michael Hudson provides a deep dive into the rise and rise of the rentier under financial capitalism.

Why Is Everyone Talking About Squatters’ Rights in Covid-Ravaged Spain?

Squatters versus landlords: the battle lines are drawn as this once-in-a-lifetime crisis threatens to create a whole new generation of olvidados. 

Why Apollo’s Palace Coup Against Leon Black and Further Disclosures on Jeffrey Epstein Are Not Reassuring

The few details that Apollo offered about Leon Black’s relationship to serial child rapist Jeffrey Epstein only make things look worse.

2:00PM Water Cooler 1/25/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Alabama to Get New Marine Sanctuary?

Just off the Alabama coast lies a unique submerged 60,000 year-old cypress forest. Legislation is pending to preserve it from marauders.

Links 1/25/2021

Reader Query: Getting a Covid Vaccine in Your Area

ow difficult is the process for getting a Covid vaccine where you live?