Tuesday morning news drop
Delta Is Ruining the Summer, and It’s Anti-vaxxers’ Fault The vaccines promised freedom, but political opportunists have spoiled that. No single factor explains the stall-out, but foremost among the culprits are partisan polarization and political opportunism. (The Atlantic)
What’s Covid?’ Why People at America’s Hardest-Partying Lake Are Not About to Get Vaccinated At the Lake of the Ozarks, vaccines are shunned, masks are mocked and the long-term consequences take a back seat to the time at hand. (Politico)
Unvaccinated Canada: Who’s left behind, and why aren’t they getting their COVID-19 shots? Canada’s high overall COVID-19 vaccination rates are concealing pockets where less than half the population has received a first dose, most of them in small towns and rural, remote parts of the country, according to a Globe and Mail analysis of provincial vaccination data. (Globe and Mail)
They Spurned the Vaccine. Now They Want You to Know They Regret It. People who once rejected the vaccine or simply waited too long are now grappling with the consequences, often in raw, public ways. (New York Times)
Google and Facebook lead the way with Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Will corporate America follow? Tech companies continue to be at the forefront of how employers respond to the pandemic. (Vox)
Revealed: the true extent of America’s food monopolies, and who pays the price A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80% of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Food and Water Watch found that consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands. (The Guardian)
The Amazon Is Fast Approaching a Point of No Return Brazil’s rainforest is being stolen and cleared at an accelerating pace, and the Bolsonaro government is fanning the flames. (Businessweek)
America’s Investing Boom Goes Far Beyond Reddit Bros Robinhood traders have earned the most attention, but they’re only part of a larger story about class stagnation and distrust. (The Atlantic)
Are Stratospheric Stock Valuations Here to Stay? The past 30 years have either been an anomaly or a new normal. Don’t bet against the latter. (Bloomberg)
A Heat Wave Has Triggered a ‘Massive Melting Event’ in Greenland Greenland’s ice sheet melted enough in one day to cover all of Florida in two inches of water. (Vice)
The Tao of Snoop Dogg: “Companies that get down with me know how I get down.” Zooming from his compound in Los Angeles, he smoked an enormous blunt while discussing how he went from a shy musician to a multiplatform entrepreneur with several new ventures in the burgeoning cannabis industry. (New York Times)
Who Actually Gets to Create Black Pop Culture? A closer look at the economics of Black pop culture reveals that most Black creators (outside music) come from middle-to-upper middle class backgrounds, while the Black poor are written about but rarely get the chance to speak for themselves. (Current Affairs)
New listings disappear and constrain sales The market continued much the same in July as in June, with the big exception being that new listings dried up quite dramatically. After over a year where new listings were surprisingly unaffected by COVID, they suddenly dropped substantially as soon as we hit Stage 3 of the re-opening. The month ended with new listings down 35% from last year, and lower than we’ve seen for 15 years. (House Hunt Victoria)
