Here are five things I found interesting while on the internet today:
1. In Southwest Airlines’ Christmas Meltdown Shows How Corporations Deliberately Pit Consumers Against Low-Wage Workers, Adam Johnson explains so much about our economy really works. As he explains, many corporations prioritize profits, dividends, and stock buybacks over customer service and worker safety. “Watching video after video, reading tweet after tweet, describing frustrated stranded holiday travelers yelling at Southwest Airlines workers, and hearing, in turn, accounts of airline workers and airport staff breaking down crying, is a good opportunity to talk about how none of this is natural or inevitable. It is a choice, both in corporate policy and government regulation.” Johnson explains how these deliberate choices by corporate leaders harm workers and erode the trust between members of the working class.
2. Do you want to know how Ticketmaster became part of live events we hate? How did those service fees get so high, and how can they continue to have a stranglehold on the business despite fiascos like what Taylor Swift fans just experienced? The American Prospect’s Maureen Tkacik and Krista Brown go into the history of deregulation, kickbacks, politics, and threats that created this horrible experience in Ticketmaster’s Dark History. If only Pearl Jam could have gotten more support when they tried to fight back in the 1990s.
3. University of California San Francisco’s Dr. Bob Wachter shares how he weighs attending public events with the risk of being infected by Covid in this informative Twitter thread. People must make informed choices given how little we know about Long Covid. This is a personal choice, and everyone will have different risk tolerance levels.
4. I missed this article earlier in the year, but the reporting The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta does in this article about how politics has infected the evangelical movement is essential to understanding today’s politics. Alberta explains, “But a year’s worth of conversations with pastors, denominational leaders, evangelical scholars, and everyday Christians tells a clear story: Substantial numbers of evangelicals are fleeing their churches, and most of them are moving to ones further to the right.”
5. I enjoyed reading what Meg Swanick shared in this Substack about soccer and what she observed on A Train Journey to Leeds. She was taking the trip to watch Manchester City and Leeds start their post-World Cup seasons. How Leeds does is vital to many United States soccer fans, given that their coach and a few key players are Americans.
And…Jessica Valenti at Abortion, Every Day recaps the news from across the country regarding reproductive freedom and sexual and reproductive health care. In today’s edition: stories about why Republican politicians in red states are working to prevent ballot measures to protect these rights, a West Virginia Republican who wants to write a law to reduce specific sentences if the person convicted is willing to undergo sterilization, a new study that shows a link between abortion restrictions and increased suicide rates among women, and why we all should be concerned about the upcoming Republican attacks against contraception.