News Items Podcast with John Ellis: Recent Episodes
The Recount
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. Every afternoon on the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst focus on that ten percent — news that’s interesting, important or both. The podcast is based on John Ellis’ News Items, an email newsletter that goes out to organizations including the Council on Foreign Relations, Samsung Next, and the Wall Street Journal. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 or so minutes of insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology.
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John interviews Adam Tooze, a historian, the author of five books on economic history, and a professor at Columbia University, where he is the director of the interdisciplinary European Institute. Adam also writes a newsletter, “Chartbook,” which in its own words, reports on "economic data, images, stories that matter."
Adam’s two latest books deal with the major economic crises of the past two decades. “Crashed” looks back at the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and explains both its causes and the rescue plan that got us out of it – though not without eroding democracies around the world. The newly-released “Shutdown” analyzes the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the world economy.
John and Adam talk about both crises, their differences, and the mystical workings of the repo market.
John interviews Steve Coll, a staff writer at The New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, the author of eight books, and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Between 1989 and 1992, he worked as The Washington Post's South Asia bureau chief. That experience ultimately led him to write two books on Afghanistan and Pakistan (with a third on the way).
The first, “Ghost Wars,” won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005. It chronicles the C.I.A.'s secret wars in Afghanistan and how these fueled the founding of Al Qaeda. The second, “Directorate S,” focuses on the Pentagon and C.I.A.’s struggles with the eponymous, secretive branch of the Pakistani intelligence service that supported the Afghan Taliban.
John and Steve discuss both books and the intense research they required; the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan; and Steve’s plans for a third book on the subject.
John interviews Jeffrey Stern. An award-winning journalist and the author of three books, Jeffrey originally started his career as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan. In 2018, his book “The 15:17 to Paris” was adapted into a film by Clint Eastwood, and in 2019, he won the Overseas Press Club award for best human rights reporting in any medium and Amnesty International’s USA Media Award in the international news category.
John talks to Jeffrey about how he became a writer; his first book, “The Last Thousand,” which tells the story of a school in the slums of Kabul that has sent kids to Ivy League universities; and how he came to co-write “The 15:17 to Paris.”
John interviews Joseph Kanon, a former publishing executive who became a bestselling author in his 50s. Joseph’s spy novels take place in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War that followed. He published his debut novel, “Los Alamos,” in 1997, and the story of a murder set against the backdrop of the Manhattan Project won the Edgar Award for best first novel. His third novel, “The Good German,” was adapted to the big screen by director Steven Soderbergh and starred George Clooney and Cate Blanchett.
Joseph’s stories are told through characters navigating ethically fraught terrain. “There was a reviewer who said at one point that my books were novels of moral intrigue,” Joseph said. “And I thought it was a perfect description that I hadn't thought of, or otherwise I would have told it to the publisher, to put it on the jacket.”
John and Joseph talk about his midlife career change; his tenth novel, “The Berlin Exchange,” which comes out in January; and what he’s writing next.
John interviews Priya Donti, a Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also the co-founder and chair of Climate Change A.I., an organization working at the intersection of climate science and machine learning.
Priya’s goal is to use machine learning to analyze, slow, and adapt to climate change. This could include optimizing pollutive supply chains, improving climate models, and helping researchers create next-generation batteries.
John and Priya talk about these applications; machine learning’s relevance for insurance companies; and why A.I. isn’t a silver bullet for this era’s most prominent environmental challenge.
John interviews journalist Josh Tyrangiel. After quickly rising through the ranks at Time Magazine, Josh became the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and then the executive vice president of news at Vice Media. There, he launched the Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning “Vice News Tonight.” Last year, Josh joined Eden Productions, as a development executive in charge of documentaries.
John talks to Josh about his career, the future of the news business, and what makes for a good podcast.
John interviews Joe Klein, an award-winning journalist who wrote for Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine, among others, and the author of seven books, including the bestselling “Primary Colors.”
John and Joe discuss Afghanistan’s fate; radical centrism; how the news media has changed; and With Honor, a political organization Joe works with to help elect military veterans to Congress.
John interviews Cade Metz, a technology correspondent at The New York Times and the author of “Genius Makers,” a book on artificial intelligence. The book focuses on neural networks, an approach whereby, given enough data, A.I. can get better at specific tasks — like recognizing speech or images — all on its own. The idea behind neural networks dates to the ‘40s and ‘50s, but it was largely abandoned for decades. Today, a few dogged researchers, along with the tech giants that act as the field’s biggest players, have made it ubiquitous. “This is the technology we now use today when we speak commands into our cell phones,” Cade says. “This is what allows self-driving cars.”
John asks Cade about the earliest days of artificial intelligence; how the international nature of A.I.'s brightest teams complicates the technology’s geopolitical stakes; and why we should all start paying attention to proteomics.
John interviews Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred. Before joining the MLB in 1998, in part to oversee labor relations, Rob worked for the league as a lawyer at the firm Morgan Lewis. “I was lucky enough literally to get assigned to Major League Baseball work,” Rob says. “I caught a real break there.” In 2014 the league’s 30 owners elected him to lead the MLB as the tenth commissioner in its history.
John and Rob talk about the MLB’s efforts to reach younger, cable-cutting fans; its relationship with leagues in Latin America and Asia; and the advantage that comes from streaming 2,430 regular season games a year.
John interviews Susannah Cahalan, author of the bestselling memoir “Brain on Fire.” In 2009, Susannah’s reporting career at the New York Post was derailed by a frightening set of symptoms. She grew paranoid, lost touch with reality, and alienated those around her with aggressive, seemingly inexplicable behavior. This culminated in multiple seizures, a hospital stay, and a diagnosis of anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis — Susannah’s body was essentially attacking her own brain.
While recovering, she reported on her own case, piecing together the details of a monthlong episode she only partially remembered, and turned it into the subject of her first book. John and Susannah talk about their common experience with different forms of autoimmune encephalitis; her second book, “The Great Pretender,” an investigation into a landmark study in psychiatry; and her next project, a history about women and psychedelics.
John interviews Tim Higgins. Tim is a tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal, a regular CNBC contributor, and the author of “Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century.”
The book chronicles Tesla’s multiple near-death experiences and shows how it came to symbolize the electric car and, ultimately, grew into the largest automaker in the world by market value. However, Tim says, “this isn't the story of Elon Musk,” and the book reports on many of the other figures that give Tesla its edge.
John and Tim discuss Musk’s penchant for bold moves (good and bad); Tesla’s true competitors; and the recently opened federal investigation into the company’s self-driving tech.
John interviews A.I. scientist Rosalind Picard. Rosalind is a pioneer in the field of affective computing, the co-founder of two companies at the forefront of A.I., Affectica and Empatica, and the founder and director of the affective computing research group at the MIT Media Lab.
Affective computing aims to close the emotional gap between computers and their users. As Rosalind wrote in her book “Affective Computing,” published in 1997, “if we want computers to be genuinely intelligent, to adapt to us, and to interact naturally with us, then they will need the ability to recognize and express emotions.”
John and Rosalind talk about the limits and applications of affective computing, and how wearable technology could change health care as we know it.
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John interviews Lisa Bryant, the director and executive producer of the Netflix docuseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” In the second episode of this two-part conversation, John and Lisa discuss Epstein’s suspicious death in a jail cell in 2019, as he awaited trial — and the curious story of his alleged co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is set to go on trial in November.
Part one of the conversation aired yesterday.
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John interviews Lisa Bryant, the director and executive producer of the Netflix docuseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” In the first episode of this two-part conversation, John and Lisa discuss the making of the series; Epstein’s background and wealth; and how he rubbed elbows with (and ensnared) powerful people. John also asks Lisa about Epstein’s first conviction in 2008, and how a “sweetheart deal” allowed him to step out of jail for 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Part two of the conversation, which airs tomorrow, delves into Epstein’s death in 2019 as he awaited trial in a second case — and the curious story of his alleged co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is set to go on trial later this year.
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John interviews Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, a bestselling author and an adjunct senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
John and Gayle discuss her newest book, “The Daughters of Kobani,” which tells the story of the all-female Kurdish militia that helped defeat ISIS in Syria. They also talk about Afghanistan, and what the Taliban’s victory could mean for both the Biden administration and Afghanistan's neighbors. (This interview was conducted before the fall of Kabul.)
John interviews award-winning journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. In this, the second half of a two-part interview, John and Donald talk about the early days of the pandemic and the evidence, regarding the origins of the virus, behind the animal-to-human transmission theory versus the lab leak theory.
If you haven’t heard part one, make sure to go back and listen to John and Donald discuss the Biden administration’s response, the Delta variant, and the financial incentives behind the anti-vaccine movement.
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John interviews award-winning journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. about a recent essay, published in Medium, where he excoriates the Biden administration's handling of the pandemic. In part one of this two-part interview, John and Donald discuss the administration’s aforementioned stumbles; the financial incentives motivating the leaders of the anti-vaccine movement; and the deadly risks posed by the Delta variant, as tens of millions of unvaccinated children return to school.
Make sure to tune in tomorrow for part two, to hear John and Donald discuss the coronavirus’ origins.
John interviews Hamish McKenzie, one of the co-founders of Substack. Since its start in 2017, the company has managed to upend the relationship between journalists and news outlets. A good number of prominent writers, including Anne Helen Peterson, Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, Matt Yglesias — and John Ellis himself — have started newsletters on Substack, and some of them make a good deal more money than they did when they were employed at traditional outlets.
Of course, the company hasn’t been without some controversy. John and Hamish talk about that, as well as the company’s newly announced effort to attract comic book creators — and how it plans to fend off competition from giants like Facebook.
John interviews Rita Singh: a pioneer in the emerging field of voice profiling, the author of “Profiling Humans from Their Voice,” and an associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Rita and her team are developing technology that can analyze a human voice signal and unlock a wealth of information about its owner. With only a short voice recording, researchers can make startlingly accurate deductions about a person’s skeletal structure, general appearance, age, and even their medical outlook. This obviously has massive implications for health care, and in just a few months, commercially available voice profiling that uses Rita’s technology may help people find out whether they should take a COVID-19 test, or if they’re “in the clear.”
John and Rita talk about the moment that led her to switch from voice recognition research to voice profiling; how the technology works; how it could transform health care; and the serious privacy implications that arise when a short voice recording is all it takes to unlock a stranger’s health secrets.
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John interviews Jane Metcalfe, the former president and co-founder of Wired magazine, about her fascinating career: from starting the “Rolling Stone of technology,” to co-founding a chocolate factory, and most recently, founding Neo.life. Metcalfe describes it as a digital media company that reports on how “to apply engineering to human biology.” With this new venture, she makes the case for a new field she calls neobiology. It is, in her words, “the next stage of the digital revolution,” or how humans will become capable of shaping their own evolution.
This is a longer, lightly edited version of an interview that ran on Monday, August 2nd.
John interviews the legendary Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” for the past 16 years, co-host of “Squawk on the Street,” and co-founder of the financial news site TheStreet. John and Jim have a fun and freewheeling conversation about everything from Cramer’s early days as local reporter in California, to China’s ambitions regarding Taiwan, and why he thinks Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is an unsung hero of the left.
This is a lightly edited rerun of the interview that ran on Friday, April 2nd.
John interviews Andrew Sullivan, the noted British-American writer and podcaster, as well as the author of the forthcoming collection “Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989–2021.”Named acting editor of The New Republic, at only 26, he quickly established himself as one of America’s leading public intellectuals. In 1989, he wrote a piece titled, “Here Comes The Groom: A (conservative) case for gay marriage.” That headline gives a glimpse into his heterodox style of thinking. As further proof, Sullivan lists the American presidential candidates he’s supported: “Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Dole, Bush, Kerry, Obama, Clinton, and Biden.”
Sullivan has written for The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and New York Magazine, but last year he returned to his blogging roots with The Weekly Dish, which he publishes via Substack. John talks to Andrew about his career trajectory, the rise of Trump, and the rise of woke culture.
John interviews Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, in the midst of a pandemic import boom and global supply chain woes. The two discuss how Seroka’s experience working in Shanghai during the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak informed his early handling of COVID-19 at what is, by some measures, the busiest port in North America. They also talk about how the port battles cybersecurity threats; the effect pandemic buying has had on global supply chains; and the crucial role that the Port of Los Angeles plays in the national economy.
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John interviews Jane Metcalfe, the former president and cofounder of Wired magazine, about her fascinating career: from cofounding Wired, to cofounding a chocolate factory, and most recently, founding Neo.life. As Jane tells John, Neo.life is an online magazine about “engineering life,” or, “what happens when you bring an engineering mindset to biology.” It covers the most promising research in genomics, synthetic biology, 3-D printing and artificial intelligence, and it makes the case for a new field Jane calls “neobiology.” As she explained to MobiHealthNews, “We [are at] the dawn of what I call the neobiological revolution, which I define as the accelerating movement of ways to use technology and biology to alter the human race.”
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John interviews Diana Choyleva, the founder of Enodo Economics – a macroeconomic and political forecasting company focused on China. Choyleva grew up in communist Bulgaria, and her personal experience living under a command economy, combined with her Western education in market economics, give her a unique perspective on China. In this conversation with John, Choyleva explains China's debt problems; why President Xi Jinping is prioritizing economic control over short-term growth; and the strategy behind the digital yuan.
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Science and tech headlines:
- A South Korean study has found that one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine plus another of the Pfizer vaccine produces more antibodies than getting the AstraZeneca vaccine alone.
- Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum has raised $450 million in a series D round. It plans to develop a quantum computer using photons to store information.
News items:
- A congressional panel urged US corporations to pull their sponsorships of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. John explains why the entire multi-billion dollar marketing and broadcasting edifice built round the Olympics will collapse in the next decade.
- Despite a blowout quarter for Google, Apple, and Facebook – actually, because of the blowout quarter – John and Rebecca agree that regulatory trouble may come for Big Tech.
- Fears that the Chinese government’s crackdown on the real estate and education industries may come for the health care industry has led to a selloff of Chinese health equities. Rebecca explains how the CCP is thinking in “centuries” — not quarters — as they try to solve their demographic quandary – investors be damned!
- John and Rebecca discuss John’s most recent column, titled Four Illusions. In it, he explains how President Biden’s obviously declining mental acuity and Vice President Harris’ less-than-stellar performance could lead to the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024 – if inflation rears its ugly head.
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John interviews Mark Tercek, a former partner at Goldman Sachs who left the world of finance to become the CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – the world’s largest environmental nonprofit organization. During his 11 years at TNC, the organization raised over $7 billion dollars to fight climate change and protect land and water around the world. Tercek is also the author of “Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.”
John and Mark discuss the move from investment banking to environmentalism, why he brought a business approach to the organization, and how the private sector can be one of the leaders in the fight against climate change.
Science and tech headlines:
- A consortium of 99 scientists has completed the map of the human genome, discovering more than 2,000 new genes in the process.
- Autonomous truck startups brought in more than $5 billion in funding in the first five months of 2021. John and Rebecca talk about the promise of self-driving semis.
News items:
- Los Angeles County reinstated mask mandates and social distancing after official health reports found that 20% of new infections were in people who were vaccinated.
- Foreign investors deployed a record $900 billion in American mutual funds and ETFs in the first half of this year. Rebecca explains why US equities look so attractive these days.
- John and Rebecca discuss a New York Times story on Facebook’s partnering with religious organizations to create online congregations.
- China has sent the Biden administration a list of grievances and demands. John and Rebecca think they won’t be answered.
In the first of a series of interviews with entrepreneurs, John speaks to Jonathan Bush. He is the CEO of Zus Health, a health-tech startup that aims to become the “Build-A-Bear” of digital health platforms for health care providers; the former CEO of Athenahealth; and John Ellis’ first cousin. Bush grew Athenahealth from a small startup in his basement into a public company with a $6 billion market capitalization and 5,000 employees. He and John talk about that journey, and how he came back to health-tech after he departed Athenahealth.
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John interviews Alice Hill, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations; a former special assistant to President Obama; and author of the upcoming book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19. Hill talks about how adapting communities to extreme and changing weather is just as important as lowering global carbon emissions. For that, Hill argues, the Biden administration ought to draw a national resilience plan.
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Science and tech headlines:
- England ended all pandemic-related safety restrictions today. The British tabloids are calling it “Freedom Day,” but Rebecca and John don't see it quite the same way.
- China was the only country to see continued growth in robotics in 2020.
News items:
- Floods in Germany have killed 200 people and hundreds more are still missing. John and Rebecca discuss how the tragedy, and the larger specter of climate change, could influence Germany’s upcoming elections.
- A report by the American Association for Public Opinion Research finds that the 2020 polls were worse than in any election cycle since 1980 – John calls BS.
- With Fed Chair Jay Powell’s term ending in 2022, Biden must decide whether to reappoint him, or to bow to progressive pressure, and nominate someone who will be tougher on banks. John and Rebecca explain why they’re on “Team Powell” and why the Fed Chair’s role is so tricky.
- The index fund turns fifty this month! At $16 trillion, and growing, passive investing is making some Wall Street giants even bigger, and that may pose a problem. Rebecca explains the history of the index fund and what it means when she says that active fund managers are now “the underdog.”
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John interviews General (Retired) Russell Howard, former US Army Commander and founding director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. John asks Howard about whether “the War on Terror” is won and Afghanistan’s fate as US soldiers leave the country. He and John also discuss the repercussions on neighboring nations like Iran, Pakistan, and even China, as well as the state of three major terrorist organizations — ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah.
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Science and tech headlines:The CEO of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, says vaccine booster shots are critical to beating the pandemic.
- Apple anticipates a jump in demand for its next line of iPhones, as evidenced by its order to manufacture 90 million of them.
News items:
- REvil, the Russian hacking group responsible for recent cyber attacks on JBS Foods and other companies, went offline on Tuesday. Rebecca asks John who he thinks is behind the shutdown — Biden, Putin, or the hackers themselves?
- Peter Shepard and Morgan Stanley are working on an “ultimate index” which would track all markets, including commodities and private assets like real estate and private equity. Rebecca thinks it's a disaster in the making.
- France’s antitrust watchdog recently fined Google 500 million euros for failing to talk with news publishers about using their copyrighted work. Here in the US, the FTC announced a probe into Amazon’s $8.5 billion deal with MGM. John and Rebecca disagree on what big tech owes legacy media.
- Holdings in both Chinese stocks and bonds have surged globally. Rebecca explains why.
John interviews Amy Wilentz, a journalist; author; professor at the University of California, Irvine; and an expert on Haiti. Wilentz describes the situation after last week’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The two also discuss the role of gangs in Haiti; Taiwanese interest in the country; and what happens next.
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Science and tech headlines:
- Chinese scientists have drawn up plans for a fleet of rockets that could push a potentially Earth-bound asteroid off course.
- Waters near areas with high levels of amphetamine use can be polluted by trace methamphetamines, and Czech researchers have found that fish can grow addicted to it. The drug reduces their overall activity and shows up in their brain tissue.
News items:
- England’s “Freedom Day” from COVID restrictions, set for July 19, (and amidst a surge in infections driven by the Delta variant) is a political decision – and not a smart one, according to John.
- Taliban forces are expected to quickly fill the void left by US troops departing Afghanistan, and neighbors Iran and Pakistan have reason to worry about their national security.
- Is there really a rift between Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, as the New York Times suggests? John thinks not.
- Recently announced Senate candidate J.D. Vance is currently polling at only 5%, but his campaign already has the mainstream media and Democrats freaking out.
Every morning on The Recount Daily Pod, host journalist Reena Ninan will break down the most important news of the day, both domestically and abroad. In 5 minutes or less, you’ll walk away feeling smarter and more in sync with the world. Then, tune in for an interview with journalists who are on the forefront of the stories that affect us all.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
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John interviews David Barboza, the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-founder of the digital newsmagazine The Wire China. They discuss how the country has changed in the last few decades; why predictions of China’s economic collapse never pan out; the potential for war over Taiwan; and how the Chinese Communist Party lost the international community’s trust.
This is a longer, lightly edited version of an interview that ran on Thursday, June 17.
Rebecca interviews Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on the housing market frenzy. They discuss the pandemic’s impact on buyers and sellers; how remote work could revitalize middle America; and the labor and lumber shortages contributing to a lack of inventory. Plus, Glenn offers his top home buying tip.
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John interviews Sheila Smith, a senior fellow on Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. They discuss the successes and failures of Abenomics, the arc of the pandemic in Japan, and the tricky political and public health considerations behind hosting an Olympics during a global crisis.
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John interviews Gerard Baker, editor-at-large of The Wall Street Journal (and its former editor-in-chief) on his rise to the top of the paper. They discuss what it was like to run the newsroom during the Trump presidency and the era of #Resistance journalism.
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John interviews Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. They talk about China’s political history, Xi Jinping’s rise to power and the country’s not-so-unified front.
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John interviews Gerald Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal, and the author of "We Should Have Seen It Coming: From Reagan to Trump—A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution."
They talk about the evolution of populism within the GOP, how party leadership misread its base on immigration, and what’s next for Republicans in 2022 and beyond.
Science and tech headlines:
- Researchers have mapped in detail how a compound modeled on a natural microorganism produces hydrogen. One distant but possible application: clean energy.
- mRNA vaccines are one thing, but the next medical revolution could rely on proteins (like parts of the coronavirus spike) created entirely in labs rather than found in nature.
News items:
- COVID-19 news: the Delta Plus variant could cause a third wave in India. The original Delta variant is 50% more transmissible than the current major strain in the U.S., and it’s expected to become the dominant strain here within a few weeks. Finally, low-vaccination areas around the country are seeing spikes in hospitalizations.
- Engine No.1, the activist hedge fund that landed three board members at ExxonMobil last month, launched an ETF on Wednesday. It will try to influence the direction of the companies it invests in via shareholder elections. Rebecca is skeptical.
- Canada’s House of Commons passed a bill to make the digital media landscape in Canada — from TikTok to Netflix — more, well, Canadian. Now it just has to pass the Senate. John and Rebecca discuss the merits, and the chance that it’ll inspire copycat legislation across the pond.
- Pandemic-related protections for renters and homeowners in the U.S. are fading, and mobile home owners may stand to lose the most. John and Rebecca say the Biden administration needs to act fast.
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John interviews investigative journalist Phoebe Eaton about her book, “In the Thrall of the Mountain King: The Secret History of El Chapo, the World's Most Notorious Narco.” Phoebe tells John about meeting the drug kingpin’s mother in Culiacán – and how she got her to open up by asking about the secretive religious traditions practiced by the family. She also explains why pilots are venerated in Culiacán’s narco culture; how drug bosses use straw owners to shield their earnings from seizure; and how details in the recent guilty plea by Emma Coronel (El Chapo’s wife) suggest she’s cooperating with the American government.
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Science and tech headlines:
- Google’s internet browser, Chrome, will block cookies starting in early 2022. John and Rebecca discuss the implications.
- Cuba’s three-jab Soberana 2 vaccine has qualified for approval from the WHO, giving the world one more tool in the fight against COVID-19.
News items:
- BuzzFeed is negotiating the purchase of Complex Networks, and it has plans to merge with a SPAC and go public soon. But it might all be for naught – John explains why he thinks most digital media companies are doomed.
- According to The New York Times media reporter Ben Smith, Tucker Carlson has been leaking stories about Trump and Fox News to the mainstream press for years. John explains why the news is underwhelming.
- Supply chain woes will probably lead to inflation faster than experts expected. Rebecca says she’s sticking with Fed chair Jay Powell.
- Economic historian Adam Tooze is out with a timeline of the Biden administration’s evolution from dovish to hawkish vis-à-vis China. Rebecca and John discuss what role the strategic consulting firm WestExec might have played in that evolution, and how Trump can make hay of it in 2024.
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In the second half of John’s interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), they talk about what it was like to live through the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; Biden’s goals in office; and the Senator’s recent talks with former President Donald Trump.
This is a follow up episode to part I of John’s interview with the Senator that aired on Tuesday, June 15th.
John interviews David Barboza, former Shanghai bureau chief at the New York Times and co-founder of The Wire China. The two discuss China’s leverage on the global economy; the geopolitics of Taiwan; and what’s changed since Barboza first arrived in China in 2004.
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Science and tech headlines:
- There are roughly a million animal and plant species at risk of extinction. A special section in The Economist argues biodiversity loss is a threat on par with climate change.
- A leading Arctic researcher warns that irreversible global warming may already be upon us.
News Items:
- Fox Corp. announced a $100 million bet on NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens. Rebecca and John explain why they like the move.
- American regulators are anxious about the $100+ billion market capitalization for stablecoins. Rebecca and John say FedCoin is the answer.
- Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo rejected Coca-Cola in favor of water... and the beverage giant’s stock slumped. Maybe they should have Dasani, their H2O brand, sponsor him?
- The UK’s new conservative news channel, GB News, drew eyeballs in its debut last weekend, but John thinks it will have a long road to profitability.
John interviews Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) on the Senator’s efforts to sound the alarm about COVID-19 early in 2020; why he thinks the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation for the novel coronavirus’s origins; and the CDC’s failure to meet the moment.
Part two of the interview, which delves into Senator Cotton’s experiences during the January 6th Capitol riots, will be published this Friday, June 18th.
Science and tech headlines:
- Writing poetry, creating pictures, modeling proteins — the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence’s latest artificial intelligence model appears to be a massive step forward for China’s AI efforts.
- Could machine learning help us understand (and speak to) whales?
News items:
- Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history, is out. John explains why he thinks Bibi may be back, in the not-too-distant future.
- Election officials across the country are still getting death threats over imagined election fraud. John and Rebecca discuss why that probably won’t stop anytime soon.
- Has Biden’s agenda hit a wall? John and Rebecca discuss why the split Senate makes passing an infrastructure bill – let alone anything more ambitious – so tricky.
- Elizabeth Holmes swag is selling fast. Ahead of the Theranos founder’s trial in August, mugs, t-shirts, and even shower curtains are in high demand. Rebecca points out the undercurrent of misogyny behind the boom — and how P.C. culture may have led to Holmes’ ascent.
John interviews journalist and news editor Stephen G. Smith. They talk about his early days in the news business; the industry's transition from print to digital; incidents of cancel culture at The New York Times; why the media came down with “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and more.
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Science and tech headlines:
- Cambridge Quantum and a segment of Honeywell are merging, and one of their goals is to build the world’s first quantum operating system.
- Scientists at the National University of Singapore have devised a new blood test that uses measurements of light to gauge the effectiveness of a given cancer treatment in 24 hours.
News items:
- A bond selloff continues for two of China’s largest debt issuers, fueling fears of contagion. Rebecca explains why she doesn’t think Beijing will allow them to default.
- George Packer paints a compelling portrait of four separate American “national narratives,” in The Atlantic, and John offers his take.
- Google, a public utility? Ohio’s attorney general is suing the tech giant in an effort to make it so. Rebecca and John hash out their disagreement over the suit’s merits.
- According to The Recode, Facebook’s newsletter subscription service, called Bulletin, will launch later this month. John and Rebecca discuss whether or not it’ll succeed.
John interviews David Barse, founder of XOUT Capital (an index company) and DMB Holdings (a private family office). John talks to David about assessing the tech-driven disruption coming for just about every industry, the future of streaming, and XOUT’s unique approach to building a portfolio: weeding out losers instead of picking winners.
Science and tech headlines:
- The FDA approves a controversial new medication for Alzheimer’s — on a fast track — for the first time in nearly 20 years.
- NOAA registers another record high for carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
News items:
- FBI Director Christopher Wray tells The Wall Street Journal that the agency is investigating around 100 ransomware attacks. John and Rebecca discuss the political implications of continued hacks on the Biden administration.
- The Senate is nearly certain to pass a bipartisan bill that The New York Times calls “the most expansive industrial policy legislation in U.S. history.” Rebecca explains why she’s all for it.
- The Republican Party is at war with itself in Idaho, and its most extreme elements may win. John breaks down the dynamics at play in the potato state.
- Germany’s ruling center party, the Christian Democratic Union, beat the neo-Nazi-linked Alternative for Germany in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. John and Rebecca discuss how the win affects both parties — and others in Germany ahead of the country’s federal election in September.
John interviews Robin Wigglesworth, the global finance correspondent for the Financial Times, about life in Oslo; what a sardine mania in Monterrey, California can tell us about speculation; and the upshot of the fact that most people are pretty bad at investing.
This is a longer, lightly edited version of an interview that ran on Thursday, June 3.
John interviews Financial Times global finance correspondent Robin Wigglesworth about the markets’ near-meltdown in 2020; the difference between value and momentum stocks; and private equity’s image problem. Plus, Wigglesworth weighs in on the “stupendous stupidity” in today’s equity markets.
Science and tech headlines:
- Amazon has a new plan for increased interconnectivity — and customers in the US only have a week to opt out.
- Researchers at Google and Harvard have released a detailed rendering of one cubic millimeter of the human brain's cortex, the outer layer that makes humans so complex.
News items:
- Former President Donald Trump kicks off a series of rallies this Saturday. John explains why looming indictments may have motivated him to go back on the road.
- President Xi Jinping wants China to be seen as “trustworthy, lovable, and respectable” — is he changing tack because he’s worried about his job?
- High bond prices, low yields, and historically high stock valuations have some institutional money managers looking for new investment strategies... potentially imported from Canada?
- New York City and 21 of New York State’s counties are suing McKinsey & Company, alleging it fueled the opioid epidemic. John and Rebecca discuss the firm’s reputation, whether or not it’s been tarnished, and whether or not “optimization” needs to be re-evaluated.
John interviews Shannon O’Neil from the Council on Foreign Relations about the state of America’s southern neighbor. They discuss Mexico’s fight against COVID-19; President López Obrador’s surprisingly austere fiscal policies; why cartels are changing their business model; and the difference between President Biden and former President Trump’s approach to immigration.
Plus: how AMLO — as Mexico's president is known — is actually more conservative than President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.
John interviews Nicholas Eberstadt, who holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, about two of his essays. First, “Our Miserable 21st Century,” from 2017, which used economic data to show how America has been declining since 2000 – and how that explains the election of Donald Trump. That essay became the most-read piece in the history of “Commentary Magazine.” And second, a recent article for “Foreign Affairs” where Eberstadt argues that, despite the recent doomsday predictions over America’s demographic decline, the U.S. is still well-positioned demographically – at least compared to its chief rivals, China and Russia.
Science and tech headlines:
- India’s “black fungus” could be a preview of the global health risk posed by fungi adapting into effective pathogens.
- CNBC has auctioned off an NFT of the “Haines bottom,” the iconic moment when CNBC host Mark Haines correctly surmised — on March 10th, 2009 — that the worst of the Great Recession was over.
News items:
- Analysts say we’re at the start of a “red-hot capex cycle,” and predict that global capital expenditures will have risen to 121% of pre-recession levels by the end of the year. Rebecca explains why this is good news.
- As Iran claims it's enriching uranium at 60% purity (well beyond the 3.67% cap it had agreed to in 2015), the International Atomic Energy Agency warns that its bomb-building knowledge cannot be unlearned. John breaks down Iran’s reasons for investing in uranium enrichment even though its economy is in shambles.
- John and Rebecca discuss the latest news out of Arizona: the state's Republican-led House Appropriations Committee has stripped Katie Hobbs, the Democratic Secretary of State, of her ability to defend election lawsuits.
Science and tech headlines:
- Singapore's health authority has approved a rapid COVID-19 test that works like a breathalyzer.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook’s claim that the company hasn't looked up its App Store profits and losses seems laughable – and it may hurt Apple in court.
News items:
- Now that the economy is recovering and investors are looking for high yields, more of them seem willing to take a risk on collateralized loan obligations. Shades of 2008? Rebecca breaks it down.
- “Havana Syndrome” was first reported by a few CIA and State Department employees in Cuba, and has since hit more than 130 U.S. government employees around the world.
- Amazon is reportedly close to buying the legendary film studio MGM for $9 billion, including debt.
- John and Rebecca discuss the latest news out of Wuhan – that three researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November 2019 – and why the lab leak theory was characterized as a conspiracy theory for so long.
Rebecca interviews Zach Karabell, the author of a new book on the country's oldest private investment bank. In "Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power", Karabell argues that the wealth generated by the firm — and the ventures it backed — fueled America’s transformation from an agrarian society into a global superpower.
Here are the news items:
- Google lays out an idea for voice-based search, involving AI trained on the page results.
- Researchers from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have developed a lab concept for a rechargeable cement-based battery.
- John explains the politics surrounding the Democrats’ attempt to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
- The International Energy Agency says the world can reach net zero emissions by 2050 – and simultaneously increase global GDP. Rebecca explains why this push for renewable energy will be less moralistic than the last.
- A conservative opposition party in Japan wants to replace much of the country's welfare with a universal basic income.
PLUS: In the wake of the Supreme Court’s announcement that it will review a Mississippi law restricting abortions to pregnancies before 15 weeks, John and Rebecca discuss how overturning Roe v. Wade could backfire politically for the GOP.
John interviews Charlie Cook – creator of the renowned Cook Political Report – about waning enthusiasm for Trump among GOP voters; the Democratic Party’s uphill battle in next year’s midterm elections; and his predictions for the Virginia governor’s race and the California recall election.
Rebecca interviews Brad Stone, the Bloomberg reporter with two books on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. His latest, "Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire", examines the company and its founder's transformation within the echelons of power, wealth, and ubiquity.
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Here are the news items:
- The WHO and the CDC finally agree: COVID-19 is airborne. Rebecca explains what the smart money play is.
- As cars move toward an all-electric future, the automotive and electronics industries are beginning to fuse.
- Thomas Friedman makes the case, in a New York Times column, that Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu need each other. John breaks down Bibi’s latest power play.
- The Bill and Melinda Gates divorce will be litigated in the press, and Melinda appears to have struck first, speaking to The New York Times in a story full of discomfiting details about Bill. John explains why it’s a “hit piece.”
- China has become the world’s biggest supplier of armed drones, in part because the U.S. only exports drones to its closest allies. John explains why falling behind on drone A.I. is a massive risk.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss the AT&T and Discovery Inc. merger, which will create a new media giant (and a big player in the streaming wars).
Here are the news items:
- For the first time, scientists have captured detailed images of key receptors in the hippocampus, that deep part of the brain where memory and learning happen.
- The manipulation of mRNA has proven critical to the fight against COVID-19 — and it just might help treat heart defects, HIV, and cancer, too.
- President Biden’s executive order to beef up the government's digital defenses is great, but how about going on offense?
- Digital advertising growth has boosted the profits of giants like Facebook and Google. Now it's reaching media and news sites, too.
- A new poll shows former Brazil president Lula da Silva would crush the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in an electoral matchup.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss Facebook’s latest plans for its cryptocurrency and what it could mean for small businesses.
Here are the news items:
- Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine is proving highly effective, burnishing China’s “vaccine diplomacy” as it exports millions of doses around the world.
- Two human rights groups allege Apple is sourcing hardware and assembly work from Chinese companies engaged in forced labor of oppressed minorities.
- Israelis and Palestinians may be headed for war again — John and Rebecca look at whether the window for de-escalation is closing.
- American companies have announced $484 billion in share buybacks as they spend excess profits after a surprisingly strong year.
- The FBI is reportedly looking into the investment practices (and foreign adventures) of Pennsylvania’s biggest pension fund, which holds $62 billion for public school teachers.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline — the most important channel for fuel distribution in the country — and how the shutdown is affecting gas and heating oil commodities.
John interviews a former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, Ben Hodges, about the ongoing military threat Russia poses in the region.
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John interviews Richard Haass, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, about a range of foreign policy issues, including Putin's real motives, the future of power in France and Germany, and our increasingly multipolar world. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran earlier on Monday, May 10.
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Here are the news items:
- SpaceX has launched more objects into space (measured by mass) in the first quarter of 2021 than all its competitors combined. The goal: beam internet to remote parts of the globe.
- Controversial new research suggests that the COVID-19 virus’s genes can integrate with human DNA.
- House Minority Speaker Keven McCarthy (R-CA) endorsed Rep Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as the Republican Conference chair – John breaks down McCarthy’s misguided motivations.
- Exchange traded funds, also known as ETFs, have (probably) surpassed index-tracking mutual funds in terms of global assets under management. Rebecca explains why, and makes a few bold predictions about the future of the ETF industry.
- The Scottish National Party has won 64 seats in the country’s parliament. That leaves the party one seat short of a majority and makes it more difficult for the SNP to forge ahead with a referendum on Scottish independence.
PLUS: John interviews Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, about COVID-19 in India and the history and reasoning behind America’s "strategic ambiguity" policy in Taiwan.
John interviews Walter Russell Mead, Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal, about America's evolving role as the world's leading power. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Monday, May 3.
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Here are the news items:
- Author and science journalist Nicholas Wade publishes a detailed Medium post making his case for the “lab escape” theory of SARS-CoV-2 origin.
- IBM has reached a new level of smallness in computer chip manufacture: 2 nanometers.
- Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) goes after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an op-ed for The Washington Post – is her combativeness a prelude to a presidential run?
- The Economist says “private equity is losing its mystique,” but John and Rebecca disagree.
- Corporate sponsors face pressure to pull out the 2022 Winter Olympics in response to Beijing’s human rights abuses. None of them have budged, and John makes the case for why they may regret it.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss SEC chair Gary Gensler’s warning that his agency may take a stronger role regulating the markets and Rebecca makes her case for managing the exchanges as public utilities.
Here are the news items:
- China is on track to build eight million electric cars a year by 2028, more than the rest of the world combined.
- Researchers at the University of Michigan think they’ve found a “gate for conscious awareness” — the part of the brain that filters information and controls which stimuli reaches our consciousness.
- Facebook’s Oversight Board has upheld the platform’s ban on former President Trump, while also calling the indefinite suspension “inappropriate.”
- Regional election results in Madrid and the success of CNews (France's equivalent to Fox News) provide more evidence that the right is ascendant in Europe.
- The White House’s top Asia official warns against ditching the policy of "strategic ambiguity" regarding Taiwan.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss inflation fears, and the Biden administration’s rare communications missteps regarding the stimulus, interest rates and Fed Chair Jay Powell.
John interviews Washington Post India bureau chief Joanna Slater on the scale of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, and the collapse of the healthcare system around it.
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Here are the news items:
- Researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego have confirmed that COVID-19 is primarily a vascular disease, instead of a respiratory one.
- Scientists have used machine learning to identify four different types of Alzheimer’s. The findings could help explain why patients suffer different symptoms, and lead to new treatment ideas.
- The “jungle primary” in Texas’ 6th Congressional District gives us another chance to assess the value of a Donald Trump endorsement.
- Do progressive millennial attitudes explain the schism between corporate America and the Republican Party?
- Verizon is selling its media assets — including Yahoo, AOL, TechCrunch and Engadget — to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.
PLUS: John interviews Walter Russell Mead, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, about whether American decline (or lack thereof), whether China can escape the Thucydides Trap, and Putin’s plans for Ukraine.
John interviews journalist Mickey Kaus about President Biden's policies for welfare reform and immigration, and the Republican Party's best hopes for 2024. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Thursday, April 29.
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John interviews academic and business leader Juan Enriquez on the themes of his prescient 2005 book, The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing, and Our Future. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Wednesday, April 28.
Here are the news items:
- A global chip shortage has forced carmakers like Honda, BMW, and Volvo to idle their factories, while Samsung and Apple expect the shortage to cost them billions.
- Scientists announce a breakthrough in quantum technology: cooling thousands of molecules to the point where they start behaving like a single atom.
- The co-founder of BioNTech, who helped develop the first COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer, says he’s confident it will protect against B.1.617, the coronavirus variant that originated in India.
- Is the Golden Gate City’s reign as the tech capital of the world coming to an end?
- The Cato Institute's 2021 Immigration and Identity National Survey finds that, among Americans, “68% prefer a ‘low level’ of immigration and 23% want a ‘high level’ of immigration.”
PLUS: John interviews journalist Mickey Kaus about the American Rescue Plan and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance’s chances at higher office.
Here are the news items:
- Research from the University of Washington suggests new daily cases in India run in the millions.
- Researchers have found a new way to collect the tiny fragments of plastic that pollute the world’s waters: using bacteria.
- US agencies are asserting themselves on the WHO’s next investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s recently established cheddar futures market is heating up.
- News Corp has dropped plans to launch a Fox News-style channel in the UK.
PLUS: John interviews Juan Enriquez, author of “The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing, and Our Future,” about the forces pulling the country apart.
Here are the news items:
- Official counts put the number of daily COVID-19 cases in India in the hundreds of thousands but the real number could be much, much higher.
- Researchers at the University of Delaware find a way to turn even tough-to-recycle plastics into fuel.
- Lumber prices are at record highs – up more than 300% year-on-year.
- The fallout from a suspected terrorist attack boosts Marine Le Pen’s message, and her increasingly credible challenge to French president Emmanuel Macron.
- Americans started buying guns in unprecedented numbers last year. Now ammunition is expensive and scarce.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss the recall effort in California, which now has enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
Here are the news items:
- Apple is rolling out an iPhone software update with a Facebook-rebuffing privacy feature.
- New research shows how neurons act in complementary ways as the brain analyzes the past and present.
- He’s nearly 100 days into his presidency, and Joe Biden’s approval ratings are decent but lower than most of his predecessors’ at this mark.
- Dominic Cummings, the former top advisor to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is preparing to make the case that Johnson is personally responsible for tens of thousands of second-wave COVID deaths.
- Environmental, social, and governance-oriented (ESG) funds have raked in $340 billion in the last two years – almost twice as much as other stock funds – but the Financial Times’ Robin Wigglesworth says that creates premium returns for “sinful” industries.
PLUS: John and Rebecca explain why they like a proposal to create a public bank in California.
Rebecca interviews Saxo Bank CIO Steen Jakobsen about the global economic outlook; underlying challenges of the Green New Deal; and why the boomer generation had it easy. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Thursday, April 22.
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Here are the news items:
- More than half of American healthcare workers said in a recent poll they felt "burned out," and 3 out of 10 are considering leaving their professions.
- New research shows male dolphins recognize their “friends’” signature whistles.
- A catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 is sweeping across India.
- The mega LBO (or leveraged buyout) might be making a comeback as the private equity world sits on a record $1.6 trillion in cash.
- Mexico will likely legalize marijuana this year, and that could have major implications for marijuana policies in the US.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews Steen Jakobsen, the CIO of Saxo Bank and creator of its famous yearly “Outrageous Predictions,” about inflation and inequality.
Our co-host Rebecca is out today, so John discusses four news items from the world of sports with legendary Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins.
Here are the news items:
- What to make of Major League Baseball moving its All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver to protest a restrictive voting rights law in Georgia.
- Can Jordan Spieth become golf’s next marquee player?
- Should the seven American corporations sponsoring the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing pull out because of China’s abysmal human rights record?
- Sally’s advice to future sports writers.
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Here are the news items:
- Researchers at Ohio State University have developed software that allows for the rapid design and simulation of complex nanodevices, or tiny robots.
- China says it will build a $3 billion supercomputing center by the end of the year.
- Cyberwarfare: China’s military appears to be behind a massive hack of over 200 Japanese companies. Meanwhile, North Korea’s military hackers bring in billions through run-of-the-mill criminal schemes.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland’s spoke on the 26th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and hinted at how he’ll address domestic terrorism.
- Governments around the world are finally starting to try to rein in the power of Big Tech, through antitrust measures, content moderation, the defense of privacy, and more.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews Scott Cutler, the CEO of StockX, about the platform, sneakers as an asset class, and COVID-19’s impact on consumer behavior.
Here are the news items:
- Researchers in San Diego have identified dozens of genes involved in fighting off COVID-19 infections.
- Toyota is going all in on electric vehicles, with plans to introduce 15 models by 2025.
- Europe has surpassed the US as the top market for Colombian drug cartels.
- A dozen elite European soccer teams announced they are leaving the UEFA to start their own “Super League.”
- The Green Party is rising in Germany's national polls, and its candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, could be the country's youngest leader ever.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews the world’s foremost experts in metals, Ed Meir, about Biden’s infrastructure plan, the aftermath of the slowdown in the Suez Canal, and whether to chase copper rallies.
John interviews his cousin Jeb Bush about the state of Florida, which he served as governor for two terms. Former Governor Bush talks about the future of the state; who’s moving in and why; and how he prepared for hurricanes as governor. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Wednesday, April 14.
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John interviews veteran journalist Chris Isham about his research into the origins of the coronavirus. Isham is currently working on a documentary on the topic, and the two focus on emerging evidence that points towards a potential lab leak from Wuhan. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Tuesday, April 13.
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Here are the news items:
- A new World Health Organization report warns that antibiotic medicines under development today are ineffective against drug-resistant bacteria.
- The theory that the coronavirus behind COVID-19 may have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan is gaining credibility.
- China Huarong’s bonds have plunged, but it’s just too big (and state-owned) for China to let it fail.
- A new weapon can take down even advanced military drones by emitting a microwave beam.
- “Woke capitalism” has led to a rocky relationship between the Republican Party and corporate America – and created strange bedfellows in Democrats and big business.
PLUS: John interviews New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman about Trump’s post-presidency — and the Republican Party post-Trump.
Here are the news items:
- The Mayo Clinic is forming two companies to collect and analyze round-the-clock data from patients connected to monitoring devices.
- On a per capita basis, Canada’s seven-day average of confirmed COVID-19 cases has surpassed the US’s.
- President Biden announces the U.S. will pull virtually all troops from Afghanistan by September 11th, 2021.
- How one Shanghai hedge fund manager went all in on leverage (and is criticizing Ray Dalio's winning investment strategy).
- The Suez Canal blockage showed us just how opaque the shipping industry really is.
PLUS: John interviews Jeb Bush, his cousin and former governor of Florida, about how the state has changed since his two terms in office.
Here are the news items:
- DARPA has selected General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Blue Origin to develop concepts for a nuclear-powered space rocket. It hopes to reach orbit in 2025.
- Domino’s is launching an autonomous vehicle program to deliver pizzas in Houston.
- Democratic polling firms analyze their “major errors” in 2020.
- Coinbase will be the first major cryptocurrency company to go public on Wednesday.
- Germany’s nationalist, right-wing party has come out in support of leaving the European Union.
PLUS: John interviews journalist and documentary filmmaker Chris Isham about the ongoing efforts to find the origins of COVID-19.
Here are the news items:
- An influential analyst is extremely bullish on Tesla’s energy generation and storage business.
- Microsoft will spend about $16 billion acquiring Nuance, the voice tech company behind Apples’s Siri. Its big focus: health care.
- A former US commander says Russian provocations at the Ukrainian border are all about taking control of the Black Sea.
- The Biden administration proposes a budget windfall for federal science agencies.
- Artificial intelligence may soon surpass our understanding of the cellular processes that lead to brain disease.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews oil and gas industry expert Andy Lebow about the the oil market’s wild ride and how China’s sanctioned purchases of Iranian oil may affect the global market.
In this special episode, John interviews Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, about reporting on 9/11; covering the historic elections of Presidents Obama and Trump; and how social media and Trump changed the business of journalism. This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Wednesday, March 31.
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Here are the news items:
- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sent out his annual letter to shareholders, and in it he warns that fintech firms pose big risks – not only to traditional banks' business model, but also to the American economy itself.
- A Thomas Edsall column looks at the perception of many white voters that they are on their way to minority status and analyzes how that might affect upcoming elections.
- Peter Thiel says Bitcoin may be "a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S."
- The percentage of Americans using YouTube is way higher than any other social media platform.
- A new study finds that feeding malnourished children in a way that helps develop the microbiome leads to more weight gain.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Newell, the director of the Naval X SoCal TechBridge, about the future of 5G.
Here are the news items:
- Greenlanders have voted for a new left-wing parliament that may stop plans to mine rare earth minerals.
- Topps, the 83-year-old bubble gum and baseball card company, is going public via a SPAC.
- A Gallup poll shows Democrats have the biggest numerical advantage over Republicans since 2012.
- Iran is speeding up its production of highly enriched uranium even as the country engages in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
- Brazil continues to struggle with a huge surge in Covid-19 deaths.
PLUS: Rebecca interviews entrepreneur and best-selling author Bob Rice, who explains the deflationary power of technology.
Here are the news items:
- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants a global minimum corporate tax rate.
- Russia has sent about 4,000 additional troops to the Ukraine border in what amounts to a test for the Biden administration.
- When it came to Archegos, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley tried to have their cake and eat it, too – and they might have pulled it off.
- A new Covid-19 vaccine that could be mass-produced via chicken eggs enters clinical trials.
- A study published in Nature Medicine analyzing bloodstream protein levels suggests humans age in three big shifts.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss the new election law in Georgia.
Here are the news items:
- The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is threatening Mexico's federal government in ways the Sinaloa cartel never dared to.
- A parliamentary election in Greenland could have big implications for the superpower contest over the most valuable resources in the world: rare earth minerals.
- A new poll suggests Scottish nationalist parties may win a "supermajority" in next month’s election, and that could lead to second independence referendum in only seven years.
- Yet another Facebook leak was reported over the weekend.
- Scientists at CERN have successfully cooled the temperature of antimatter to near absolute zero for the first time.
PLUS: John talks with CNBC’s Jim Cramer about China’s ambitions in Taiwan, and the case for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as an unsung hero of “the left.”
In this special episode, John interviews TV fixture Jim Cramer about how he lived in his car (and made it work); why he thinks anti-trust law won’t come for big tech; and what makes Costco “the greatest retailer of all time.” This is a longer, unedited version of the interview that ran on Monday, April 5.
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Here are the news items:
- China has stepped up its incursions into Taiwanese air space in recent days, which has Taiwan, the US, and its allies in the region on edge.
- The NCAA has long avoided paying student athletes – even as coaches and the schools themselves land massive paychecks – and now the Supreme Court is weighing in on non-remunerative compensation.
- Mergers and acquisitions are flying high, with more dealmaking in the first quarter around the world than in any quarter since 1980.
- Noble laureate Hamilton Smith, the scientist who discovered "molecular scissors," retired last year and we give him his due.
- The legacy of this year's Turing Award winners.
PLUS: John interviews "Media Equation" columnist Ben Smith about The New York Times' business model and free speech in the era of social media.
Here are the news items:
- The head of the World Health Organization calls for further investigation into the possibility that the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in China.
- China isconsidering establishing a whole new stock exchange, in part to attract foreign companies like Apple and Tesla.
- With Europe's vaccine rollout in shambles, some leaders are talking about importing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
- One of the world’s biggest smartphone companies is investing $10 billion in a new electric car business.
- Scientists have found the coldest natural temperature ever measured on planet Earth.
PLUS: An interview with Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of the New York Times, about the Times’ business model and the future of the paper.
Here are the news items:
- President Biden has tasked V.P. Harris with fixing the crisis on the southern border, and it's a politically fraught assignment.
- Natural gas frackers are getting in on Bitcoin mining.
- For the first time, fewer than half of Americans say they belong to a house of worship.
- Facebook plans to build submarine cables connecting North America, Indonesia, and Singapore.
- Vaccine reluctance is fading.
PLUS: John and Rebecca discuss Archegos, the multibillion-dollar family office that's rattled Wall Street in the last week, and the risks and regulations associated with these kinds of funds.
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. On the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst dissect news items that help you understand where the world is going. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 of minutes insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
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