News Burst: June 17, 2017 (Patreon)

I hope you’re doing well, and that the weekend is treating you right so far. I’m back in Santa Monica, getting back into the swing of things, and preparing next week’s videos. Not sure which will go live on Monday -- I’m leaning towards one in particular -- but I think both topics I have planned for the week are going to be interesting for a lot of people. At least, that’s my hope.

As a note, if you’re one of the rare $100/month subs on CLS’ Patreon, and you’ve been at that level since the beginning, you should receive your personalized Thank You Video in the coming week or so (if you haven’t gotten it already). I started recording, editing, and sending those out last night, and will continue to send more today and tomorrow as well, so keep an eye on your inboxes.

I think that’s it! Let’s get into the news.

Amazon Buys Whole Foods, Continues Expansion: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-is-leading-techs-takeover-of-america-1497653164

My Take: The story above isn’t actually about the Amazon purchase of Whole Foods, which happened this past week for $13.7 billion. It touches on it, but it’s more about Amazon’s rampant expansion, Amazon’s competitors, and what the landscape is looking like these days. (For a story only about the purchase, you can see the Related Stories below.) What amazes me about this purchase is how much sense it makes for Amazon. Yet, it also raises serious questions. Lots of them, as the story above (and other stories around the web) touch on.

See, for years, I was sounding the klaxon about Google, and about how Google was the company to watch, the corporation with the scariest design and the most power to become too big, too unwieldy, too in your life, and, ultimately, too dangerous. I still think Google -- trading largely on information, identity, and communication -- has the most Orwellian design, but Amazon has snuck into the fray, but in a different way. As the WSJ story describes, Amazon is diversified, and it’s also heavily respected. People like Amazon. People are loyal to it. I’m one of those people. They have a back-door into our lives that no other company has. They aren’t high-end like Apple or expected in their ubiquity like Google.

I have no problem with what Amazon is doing. This is the market at work. And, as a Whole Foods shopper, I think that the marriage makes sense. But I also know that Amazon didn’t buy Whole Foods to keep it Whole Foods. Whole Foods is high-end, expensive, exclusive, and a little bit obnoxious. Amazon is none of those things. This is a way to get into storefronts, acquire property and leases, and go all-in into the game of low-margin grocery stores. It’s going to be fascinating to watch unfold, because this might be the most consequential Amazon acquisition yet when it comes to their end-goal, which is to put the likes of Wal-Mart out of business. We’ll see what happens!

(Related Story | America’s Amazon Problem: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/americas-amazon-problem_us_59443b5be4b06bb7d2731cba?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)

(Related Story | Whole Foods Workers Have Well-Placed Fears: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-whole-foods-m-a-workers-idUSKBN1972VI)

Alt-Right Activists Act Out at Julius Caesar: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/julius-caesar-halted_us_59448e0de4b06bb7d2734fad?gus&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

My Take: The irony is oozing out of this story’s ever pore. For those unfamiliar, a rendition of Julius Caesar has been being performed in New York City, but with a modern day twist: Caesar is essentially Donald Trump, and, as in the original Shakespeare play, the leader is stabbed and killed. With political violence on everyone’s minds, many people took issue with this. That is their prerogative. I don’t think it’s in good taste, and with the Kathy Griffin beheading fiasco in the realm of arts, not to mention real-life violence this week targeting a Republican Congressman, I think a conversation is certainly warranted about what’s going on with this play, and in our larger society.

But that’s the thing: A conversation should be had. Whether or not you agree with this rendition of Julius Caesar, and whether or not you think it’s over-the-top or too violent or too suggestive, the fact remains that these artists have the right to express themselves this way on a stage, giving a play to an eager audience. It’s silly to think that this sort of behavior is effective, or even necessary. It further drives polarization, and, as many people have already pointed out, it also represents a major hypocrisy, not only in the way Barack Obama was treated during his tenure, but with the way many on the right proclaim the horror of censorship and the virtue of freedom of speech, which this act flies in the face of.

I don’t know much about the two people behind this whole fiasco, and frankly, I don’t care. All I know is that we need more adults in the room, on both sides. “The right” is being hijacked, just as “the left” has been hijacked. Actions such as these marginalize normal, needed voices in the fray, and pushes moderate and centrist liberals and moderate and centrist conservatives into the wilderness. The good news, of course, is that out there in the wilderness, these two halves can find each other and realize they have a lot to gain by working with each other in an organized and sustained way. As in, a real third party. That’s my prayer, and at this point, that’s what I’m pushing for.

Will Puerto Rico Become State 51?: http://thehill.com/latino/338219-puerto-rico-statehood-push-faces-long-odds

My Take: Lots and lots of people have been asking me to cover this story in a video. I don’t know if that’s in the cards (it’s certainly not an imminent video or one that I’ve even really sat down to think about yet), but it’s possible. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that the ball is in play on Puerto Rico statehood in a way that it really hasn’t been before. Puerto Rico has shown a willingness and desire for statehood in the past; this time, though, the stakes are a bit higher. Puerto Rico is truly hurting, which is why help in the form of statehood is so desperately needed. However, the state Puerto Rico is in (no pun intended) is also the reason why statehood is so unlikely, even if the people of Puerto Rico just voted to get into the Union.

One problem, as this story points out, is that Puerto Rico didn’t “follow the rules,” as it were, in the way they held the vote. The federal government didn’t endorse this vote, voter turnout in Puerto Rico was low, and Puerto Rico is already about to enter US-driven austerity measures to get the island’s out-of-control budget shortfalls into order. And it’s the latter that’s most interesting. While the US federal government can’t stop spending itself into oblivion, many states in the US are both fiscally solvent and sane. Puerto Rico’s entrance into the Union as the 51st state could very well throw turmoil into the system that isn’t currently there, and may require some sort of bailout, to boot.

An astounding 97% of Puerto Ricans that voted pulled the (proverbial) lever for statehood, a powerful message even if only a quarter of registered voters took part. But the real issue of bringing Puerto Rico in is even deeper, and even more systemic, and it’s not one that the Washingtonians are willing to talk about much: Bringing Puerto Rico in would open up two more likely Democratic Senate seats, spread the Democratic House seats into new, safe territory, and throw the political balance into whack. A “compromise” isn’t possible here, either, since the only other viable statehood applicant is Washington D.C., the most Democratic place in the country by vote, and a place far likelier, as it turns out, to get statehood in the first place. I’m gonna watch this situation carefully, but I don’t think Puerto Rico will throw the 51st star on the flag any time soon.