DAVID SIROTA—Look, the secretary of transportation has a huge amount of power as the chief regulator of the nation’s transportation systems, in particular the airlines and the railways. These companies, whether it’s Southwest Airlines or Norfolk Southern, or anyone else, are making corporate decisions inside of a regulatory framework.
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Unions have called for a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations and hope to repeat the large turnout seen on the first major protest on Jan. 19, when more than a million people marched against the reform. Strikes that day also halted trains, blocked refineries and curbed power generation. A second nationwide strike on Tuesday will disrupt French public transport amid protests across the country, in a backlash against the government’s plans to make people work longer before retirement.
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JOSEPH EARP—This is a family that, over generations, has learned that the world is nothing more than a series of goals, which lead to nothing but more goals. Bert (F. Murray Abraham), the family’s patriarch, has created a miniature culture that revolves around himself, in which sex is an opportunity for manipulation, wealth is an opportunity for manipulation, and love is an opportunity for manipulation. And his brood, desperate to emulate him, and attract his affection – if only to get ahead themselves – have followed in his lead, even if they don’t realise it.
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KIM PETERSEN—China declared victory against poverty in 2021. And it is not just China lauding its victory. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres commended China on its fight against poverty. The World Bank noted that China has lifted 770 million out of poverty over the last 40 years. Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said, “Poverty alleviation and the eradication of extreme poverty, 10 years ahead of its target date, are tremendous achievements of China.” Citing China’s eradication of absolute poverty, even the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, was moved to praise China’s amazing economic development.
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ERIC ZUESSE—Unlike other types of companies, which sell exclusively or mainly to the public (consumers, including to other companies), military manufacturers sell only or mainly to their own and to allied Governments; and, therefore, in order to control their own sales-volumes (which is an objective of any for-profit corporation), they need to, essentially, own these Governments by means of corruption, which enables these countries to pretend to be democracies instead of aristocracies (which they actually are — controlled by their billionaires — who also control these companies, and the ‘news’-media there).
