WI Parents Sue Over School Closure, The Mafia Executes a Nazi in IL, NY Times Becomes Pro War, Living for 4 Years Only on Bitcoin (The Five for 12/07/20).
Hey,
Welcome to The Five. I spent most of the time I had available writing the mafia execution story, so this one’s kinda brief.
[one]
A group of parents in Racine, WI are suing the local public school district, in violation of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s order that an individual city government can’t close the schools.
This could be a very big deal as evidence continues to mount that low income students are sliding years behind during COVID, with the Washington Post calling them the “lost generation.”
Poor kids may re-enter in person classrooms 1-2 grade levels behind their middle class and affluent peers.
[two]
President Trump has ordered U.S. Troops to pull out of Somolia. The Associated Press reports:
Without providing details, the Pentagon said in a short statement that “a majority” of U.S. troops and assets in Somalia will be withdrawn in early 2021. There are currently about 700 troops in that Horn of Africa nation, training and advising local forces in an extended fight against the extremist group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida.
I don’t know enough about the situation on the ground to offer up any commentary. However, two observations here:
The U.S. is involved in ground operations in countries 99.9% of Americans never realize we’re in.
It’s kinda crazy how the political left is now the center of foreign intervention. The New York Times is pissed U.S. troops are pulling out.
[three]
I started a new series over on Medium called The Folks of Forgottonia, which is a 1950’s nickname for Western Illinois after the state’s center of power, Chicago, abandoned the region. My former co-worker Nancy (second shoud out in the newsletter, Nancy!) told me she would “miss my hometown stories” so I decided to tell a few of them.
For the first entry, I wrote about a member of the Mafia executing a Nazi spy and then visiting my hometown of Pittsfield, IL shortly after.
It’s a tough thing to prove 70 years after the fact, but I provide some solid cirucumstantial evidence to back the local lore.
[four]
CNBC has a pretty crazy story about a family who put all their assets into Bitcoin in 2017 when the internet-based currency was trading at $900. The familiy has lived for nearly four years using Bitcoin as their only money and has traveled to 40 counties.
Oh, and Bitcoin is now trading at $19,000, which means they’re rich just from being smart and gutsy.
[five]
How about a little pop-culture roundup:
My new favorite podcast is Broken Record, in which legendary producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Jay-Z, Weezer, Dixie Chicks) and famed economist Malcom Gladwell interview musicians. It’s a crazy combo, but it works amazingly well. Start with the Bruce Springsteen episode (hat tip: Matt).
Star Wars alum Oscar Isaac will play Snake in a movie adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid video game series. Movies adapted from video games…almost never go well…but I’m a huge fan of Isaac, so what the heck, I’ll give it a watch.
Rising Alt-Country star Zach Bryan, who records in his free time around the busy schedule of a U.S. Navy ordinance operator, released an insanely good EP on Friday. Reccomended if you like Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, etc.
Netflix’s The Liberator is the most devasting WWII combat story I’ve ever seen. Don’t skip this one if you have any interest in WWII, or just compelling human drama. The fact that it’s animated quickly takes a backseat to the unbelievable true story.
And yes, I have written about it before. But it took me a month to finish a 4 episode miniseries due to #toddlerparent life.
Until the next one,
-sth