Monday morning news drop
Fogo Island: Bringing new life to a remote Canadian fishing community A remote jewel of land off the coast of Canada, Fogo Island floats in the northeast corner of the northeast province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the outstretched right fingertip of this continent. The place might be drop-dead gorgeous, but it wasn't immune to the fate befalling so many small and isolated communities in North America: its one and only industry went into steep decline, and so in turn, did its population. Then about a decade ago, a local returned home, fresh off making a fortune in the tech sector. Her pockets were deep. So was her desire to lift up the place and bring people back. So she unleashed a sort of economic experiment. We took two planes, a long drive and a ferry to reach Fogo Island, and check on the early results. (60 Minutes)
'Superfan' Nav Bhatia, in isolation, misses 1st ever Raptors home game Friday night's Toronto Raptors game was notable for who wasn't in attendance. The Raptors' COVID-19 scare kept Superfan from Toronto's game against the New York Knicks. It's the first home game he's missed since the Toronto franchise joined the NBA in 1995. (CBC)
Hallmark’s trademark American Christmas movies? They’re made in Canada In a quaint Oregon firehouse decorated with more Christmas trees than would seem fire code compliant, a bewildered fireman places a cardboard box, teeming with kittens, on a table. Beside him, his silver-haired colleague chuckles as a mewling tabby paws his chest. “There are only seven kittens here,” exclaims the younger, “but we started with nine!” The kittens gambol and chirp, a plucky score accompanying the men as they try to control the roving felines. The elder assesses where this life has taken him, so unlike what he had planned. He sighs – “We’re gonna need a bigger box.” (Globe and Mail)
Canada’s rural-urban divide is getting deeper, and that hurts all Canadians Much of Canada’s political power lives in cities, and that has led to cultural biases and blind spots that risk erasing a vital kind of diversity in the country (Globe and Mail)
Misreading Inflation Why we should err on the side of inaction—and why we won’t. Indisputably, all other factors held constant, inflation is bad. It erodes the real value of money, reducing purchasing power. The same money buys less than it did before, including things like food and shelter. But all other factors are not constant. “Nominal” values—such as the dollar cost of items—are less important than “real” values such as actual purchasing power. (Boston Review)
Jim Belushi Left Hollywood to Grow Weed and Heal His Soul: The iconic comedian and sitcom dad wants to save all of us—one dank, wondrous, sticky-icky trip at a time. (Men’s Health)
He Voted to Impeach. Can He Survive in the GOP? The political education of Peter Meijer After January 6, Peter Meijer thought he could help lead the Republican Party away from an abyss. Now he laughs at his own naïveté. (The Atlantic)
Built to Lie A new book about the Boeing 737 MAX disaster exposes the company’s allergy to the truth. (American Prospect)
Before The Mets, Steve Cohen Was The Hedge-Fund King | FRONTLINE (full documentary) Inside the government’s crackdown on insider trading, drawing on exclusively-obtained video of hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen, incriminating FBI wiretaps, and interviews with both Wall Street and Justice Department insiders.