Daily Pnut Book Club

May 4, 2020

“The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden. It can’t be shirked. You carry it everywhere. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it.”

― Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States

“A great deal of what many Americans hold dear is nowhere written on those four pages of parchment, or in any of the amendments. What has made the Constitution durable is the same as what makes it demanding: the fact that so much was left out.”

― Jill Lepore, The Commandments: The Constitution and its worshippers

Tim Krochak via Getty Images

Sometimes It’s Easier To Ask For Legislation Than Forgiveness

One of the promises Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau made during last year’s national elections was to pass gun control measures. The assault weapons ban he planned to introduce earlier this year was sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic. But mid-April’s mass shooting in rural Nova Scotia that left 23 people dead prompted Trudeau to initiate an immediate ban on “military-style assault weapons.”

Some 1,500 gun models are covered by the new ban; it’s estimated about 100,000 such semiautomatic rifles are currently legally owned by Canadians. Trudeau said legislation will be forthcoming that allows the government to buy back the rifles. In the interim gun owners have two years to keep their weapons, but they are prohibited from using them, trading, or selling them except to buyers outside Canada with a permit. Gun shops stocking these weapons can return them to the manufacturers.

Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer, an opponent of any ban and buyback of military-style weapons, noted that many mass shootings — including the one in Nova Scotia and others — are carried out by criminals using illegal firearms brought in from the US. Scheer criticized the PM for introducing the measure by cabinet order while Parliament isn’t meeting in normal sessions during the pandemic.

The Nova Scotia killer didn’t have a firearms license; many of his guns and rifles had been smuggled into Canada from the US, a practice that could cause Canadian authorities difficulty in enforcing the new measure.

Trudeau’s swift response to the Nova Scotia killings sharply contrasts with US policy, where repeated efforts to renew the assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004 have failed despite multiple major shootings.

Thos Robinson via Getty Images

Don’t Talk Like An Egyptian Journalist

General-turned-president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power in Egypt in 2013. Since then he has systematically and ruthlessly silenced news outlets and any dissenting voices in them. Most of Egypt’s television programs and newspapers have taken the government position and steered clear of criticism, or else disappeared.
Many privately owned Egyptian news outlets have been quietly acquired by companies affiliated with Egypt’s intelligence service. Even being a pro-government voice hasn’t spared 12 journalists working for state-owned media outlets, who’ve landed in jail for expressing various private views on social media.
In a report released Sunday, London-based Amnesty International says the coronavirus pandemic has enabled the government to further tighten its grip on information, to the detriment of transparency. “The Egyptian authorities have made it very clear that anyone who challenges the official narrative will be severely punished,” said Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director.
Amnesty documented 37 cases of journalists being detained in the government’s escalating crackdown on press freedoms. Many had been charged with “spreading false news” or “misusing social media” under a broad 2015 counterterrorism law, which has expanded the definition of terror to include all kinds of dissent. (Guardian)
Additional song: Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles

Breaking News: Crime Is Now A Crime

Genital mutilation is practiced in at least 27 African countries, and parts of Asia and the Middle East. Often the removal of all or part of the external genitalia of young girls and women is enmeshed with cultural and religious beliefs, considered a pillar of tradition and marriage, and supported by women and men.
It is widespread in Sudan, with an estimated 90 percent of Sudanese women having been subjected to the butchery. Now Sudan’s new government, in power following the ouster of longtime dictator Omar Hasssan al-Bashir last year, has passed legislation criminalizing the procedure; under the law anyone who performs the act faces a three year prison term and a fine.
The new law is hailed as a major victory by women’s rights campaigners. But experts caution a law alone isn’t enough to end the barbaric practice without additional work getting society to accept it. For example, genital cutting has been banned in Egypt since 2008; since 2016 doctors who perform the operation and parents who facilitate it face prison terms up to seven years, or 15 if it results in disability or death.
However prosecutions are rare; the operations continue quietly, with 70 percent of Egyptian women between 15 and 49 having been cut, mostly before age 12. Earlier this year a 12 year old Egyptian girl died on the operating table at a private clinic as a retired doctor performed genital mutilation without an anesthetic. (NYT)

Additional World News

What’s Next: How COVID-19 Will Shape The Future

COVID-19

We’ve all been doing a healthy amount of online retail therapy to get through quarantine. This might sound crazy, but there is a right way to shop online… and the right way is to use Honey.
If you don’t have Honey, you’re probably overpaying. PayPal’s newest feature instantly applies discounts to your cart at checkout. Here’s how it works:
- Add: Honey’s free browser tool is part of the PayPal family and works on over 30,000 sites online.
- Shop: When you’re about to buy something, Honey automatically scans the Internet for every working coupon code.
- Save: Then at checkout, the total price instantly drops if Honey finds a deal for you. It’s basically free money.
It’s as easy as that! Add Honey for free and start saving money the next time you buy something online.

Techopolies To The World: “Resistance Is Futile, You Will be Assimilated”

Despite the coronavirus pandemic’s startling effects on the global economy, tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook have found a great deal of success during these troubled times. Viewed as “essential services” for a public under lockdown, big tech companies have been building tools to help track the pandemic’s growth and connecting people separated from friends and families.
Though the broader stock markets has been tanking in recent weeks, share prices of Amazon and Microsoft have risen, and Facebook announced they will be hiring 10,000 new workers this year. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that the most powerful companies have the ability to bounce back far more quickly than others. “When you have an industry leader, and something collapses, the industry leader, if it’s well-managed, tends to emerge stronger a year later.”
The stark contrast between Big Tech and the rest of the global economy is highlighted more and more everyday, with more and more small businesses and start-ups closing their doors and firing employees in a struggle to stay afloat. The public is becoming more reliant on tech giants’ services, while governments outsource critical work to them. Some economists and analysts are calling this moment “the shock that accelerates the future that Silicon Valley has been building.” (WaPo, $)
Investors Bet Giant Companies Will Dominate After Crisis (NYT)
‘I Could Solve Most of Your Problems’: Eric Schmidt’s Pentagon Offensive (NYT, $)
Google’s Top Quantum Scientist Explains In Detail Why He Resigned (Forbes)
Google’s medical AI was super accurate in a lab. Real life was a different story. (Technology Review)
Big Tech After the Coronavirus: All Power, No Accountability? (NYT)

Additional quotes

“When the left and right speak of capitalism today they are telling stories about an imaginary state. The unbridled competitive free-markets that the right cherishes don’t exist today. They are a myth. The left attacks the grotesque capitalism we see today as if that were the true manifestation of the essence of capitalism, rather than the distorted version it has become.” ― Jonathan Tepper & Denise Hearn, The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition
“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” ― Louis D. Brandeis

Additional USA News

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Thrifty (& Responsible)

Modern American society is addicted to consumption: personal consumer spending made up two-thirds of American GDP in 2019, and over a quarter of Americans shop online at least once a week. Additionally, Americans also throw away more — the US creates the most waste in the world, thanks to consumer reliance on disposable products.
Many immigrant families in the US have always been thrifty with their consumption habits due to their disadvantaged position in society. One second-generation Asian American recalled her mother always buying large bags of rice and saving margarine containers for later use. However, stay-at-home orders in the face of the coronavirus pandemic have forced consumers at large to change up their habits, at least temporarily.
People have turned to reusing leftovers, saving Ziploc bags, and hoarding glass jars in the face of uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus. These small life changes are similar to suggestions made by environmentalists, who state that reducing and reusing are more important than recycling. (Vox)
My Retirement Plan Is You (NYT, $)

Additional Reads

We Can’t Afford to Lose the Postal Service (New Yorker)
The ‘Credibility Bookcase’ Is the Quarantine’s Hottest Accessory (NYT, $) We love books at Daily Pnut and would like to start a book club within the next 45 days with you all. Before doing so we’d like to know if you all think this is a good idea along with some book recommendations you have for your fellow Pnutter. We will share all of the book recommendations we receive on Tuesday, 5/12. Please complete this very quick form before the weekend letting us know what books you recommend along with whether you’d like to join a Daily Pnut book club.
What Rousseau Knew about Solitude (The Paris Review)
This is the very best video we have seen thus far on how to manage oneself during this pandemic and how to deal with solitude: Lockdown Productivity: Spaceship You (CGP Grey)