10 Sunday Reads
Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• How the Ivy League Broke America: The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new. (The Atlantic)
• The most dangerous roads in America have one thing in common: We can fix our staggering car fatality crisis. Start with these roads. (Vox)
• Political Comedy, With a Side of Desperation: The comedian-to-campaign-influencer pipeline has muddled the genre. (The Atlantic)
• She Was a Child Instagram Influencer. Her Fans Were Grown Men: “Jacky Dejo” was introduced to social media by her parents as a snowboarding prodigy. Now 18, she has seen the dark side of the internet — and turned a profit from it. (New York Times)
• Jared Kushner’s $3 billion conflict of interest: The Financial Times reported that Kushner is expected to “play an advisory role on the next administration’s Middle East policy.” According to the report, Kushner may also be helping the Trump transition team make selections for key posts involving Middle East policy. His firm, Affinity Partners secured $2 billion from Saudi Arabia and additional funds “from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou.” There is a fifth foreign investor that Affinity Partners will not disclose. There are no U.S. investors. (Popular Information)
• How Tech Created a ‘Recipe for Loneliness’: Technology and loneliness are interlinked, researchers have found, stoked by the ways we interact with social media, text messaging and binge-watching. (New York Times)
• How Republican Billionaires Learned to Love Trump Again: The former President has been fighting to win back his wealthiest donors, while actively courting new ones—what do they expect to get in return? (New Yorker)
• Invasive Species Are Threatening the Quality of New York’s Tap: Water Zebra mussels, hydrilla, and now a water flea have made their homes in New Croton Reservoir. (Wired)
• The Alchemists: They led a cycling revolution in Afghanistan where women were forbidden to ride. When the Taliban returned to power, their only hope was a harrowing escape to an uncertain future. (Bicycling)
• It’s Family ‘Sex Scene’ Night: When violent porn is everywhere, is there a case for serving up romantic counterprogramming to your teen boy? (The Cut)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Colin Camerer, the pioneering neuroeconomist at California Institute of Technology. His field of study looks at the interface between cognitive psychology and economics. Professor Camerer was became a MacArthur Fellow (Genius grant) in 2013 for his work on risk, self-control, and strategic choice. His book “Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction” is credited with creating a new the field within strategic theory. He is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Wharton Neuroscience.
Crypto industry accounts for half of corporate donations in 2024 election
Source: Public Citizen via CNBC
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