Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief:
Holocaust historian Christopher Browning takes on a most difficult subject: the similarities (there are some) and differences (there is one) between Nazi Germany and the illiberalism of today’s America. - The New York Review of Books
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy/
You will be reading this online, and your brain is functioning differently than it is as a reader of a printed page. What is becoming of our brains at this historical juncture? Maryanne Wolf’s new book on this is reviewed. - The Washington Post
If you are of the belief that we need validation from America, then fans of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors will revel in this credible piece of praise from one of sports’ most edgy online outlets. It argues the Raptors are finally legitimate contenders this season. - The Ringer
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/10/23/18014538/toronto-raptors-kawhi-leonard-kyle-lowry-hot-start
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Aldi braces for bare-knuckle brawl with big banana business as the German discount supermarket chain applies price squeeze to top world producers. - Euractiv
China turns off U.S. oil taps as transpacific trade war casualties keep piling up on both sides of the Pacific. - Forbes
India’s nuclear beach blanket bingo: sands of the country’s tropical beaches rich in thorium, which is often touted as a cleaner alternative to conventional nuclear fuel. - BBC
Emma Crawford Hampel, online editor:
BUT HER EMAILS!
“When Trump phones friends, the Chinese and the Russians listen and learn.” It sounds like a bad movie, but who would believe the premise? Donald Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that Russian spies have been listening in on calls he makes on multiple unsecured iPhones. New reports say Chinese spies are also eavesdropping. But Trump refuses to give up his old phones, giving foreign governments “invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy,” officials say. - The New York Times
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
If you suspect you’re in too good a mood this week, feel free to seek relief in this story, which finds in Trumpist chaos the prelude to a U.S. civil war:
“Many Canadians operate as if this chaos were temporary, mainly because the collapse of the United States and the subsequent reorientation of our place in the world are ideas too painful to contemplate. But, by now, the signs have become impossible to ignore.“ - The Walrus
https://thewalrus.ca/americas-next-civil-war/
Glen Korstrom, reporter:
I’m still reading Lululemon-founder and billionaire Chip Wilson’s just-released autobiography that has insight into how he founded Westbeach and then Lululemon, and how he grew what is now a global yogawear giant. Watch for a story in Business in Vancouver next week on Lululemon. One of the tidbits from the book that I included was chopped from my story for being potentially libelous. So, that’s the kind of frankness about people that Chip included in his book. - Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-Stretchy-Pants-Wilson/dp/1732747318
Carrie Schmidt, editorial researcher:
The headline says most of it: “How Facebook’s Chaotic Push Into Video Cost Hundreds of Journalists Their Jobs,” but reading through the entire recitation of stats is its own little horror show … “But then the bets on video started failing. After firing its writers and editors in June, Fox Sports had hemorrhaged 88 per cent of its audience by September—a staggering feat, as traffic to sports websites usually grows when football returns.” - The Atlantic
Nelson Bennett, reporter:
How effective will the new federal carbon tax be in reducing emissions? A study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy of 16 jurisdictions with carbon taxes, including B.C., concludes that “existing carbon taxes appear to have noticeable but not dramatic effects on energy use and carbon emissions.” B.C.’s carbon tax caused a reduction of 11-17% in gasoline sales. In Norway, which has had carbon taxes since the early 1990s, “Despite considerable taxes and price increases …the carbon tax effect has been modest.” – ACEEE
https://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2016/data/papers/9_49.pdf
Royal Dutch Shell is rolling out super-fast charging stations in Europe. These chargers are three times faster than other electric vehicle chargers. Just one problem: They’re so fast that most electric vehicles are not designed to fully exploit them. They will still charge other EVs, but at a slower rate. Only the new Porsche Taycan is designed to fully exploit the new chargers. - The Guardian
Interesting backstory to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol explains the long-standing competition between Saudi Arabia and Turkey to be the epicentre of Sunni Islam, dating back to the Ottomon empire. Khashoggi was sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is embraced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and feared by Saudi rulers as a threat to their aristocracy. – Foreign Policy Magazine
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/17/khashoggi-was-the-victim-of-an-ottoman-saudi-islamist-war
Tyler Orton, reporter:
'Outside is for everyone': MEC apologizes for lack of minorities in its ads - CTV
U.S. dairy farmers get little help from Canada trade deal. Who, again, are the winners from the USMCA? - Reuters
https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1MZ1J9-OCATP
Hayley Woodin, reporter:
The Economist argues that Australia, by several metrics, could perhaps be the most successful rich economy in the world. What the world can learn from the land down under, and what Australia shouldn’t forget. - The Economist
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/10/27/what-the-world-can-learn-from-australia
