Sunday, September 25: Summer 2 Fall
As the weather transitions from hot to cool, the world remains on fire
Been a pretty tough week globally:
Hundreds of thousands are still without power in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Fiona tore through the Caribbean earlier this week. More recently the storm made landfall in Canada, knocking out power for thousands of residents and even washing a few homes out into the ocean. Imagine watching as your house drifts off into the abyss, rising and sinking with the tide until the house finds a new home.
On the other side of the world, Ukrainian forces are regaining territory in the country’s northeast and south, but paying for it with heavy casualties. There’s no sign of the conflict winding down or improving anytime soon, on the contrary, Czar McPutin himself has only increased his threatening rhetoric. Personally, I find the stereotype of the insane eastern European dictator with his finger on the nuke button a bit played out, but do whatever you think is best Vladimir.
In Iran, protests continue to grow in response to Mahsa Amini’s death last week. Specific numbers are difficult to measure, as the Iranian government has limited internet access, but protests have swelled to demonstrate people’s growing discontent at the mismanagement of the economy and corruption among those in power. It may seem like just another protest in a region rife with conflict, but there’s definitely a possibility these protests lead to more serious consequences.
Side Items
Trouble brewing in Egypt: Global issues including the pandemic and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine have pushed Egypt to the brink of economic disaster. Meanwhile those in power remain focused on their goals of building a new capital city (because traffic is bad I guess) and making the lives of average Egyptians as intolerable as possible
The End of Abe: The state funeral of Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe, (the one who got assassinated by a homemade gun a few months back) is scheduled for Tuesday. Apparently, any sense of public mourning faded fast, as thousands of protesters have taken to the streets opposing the state funeral, calling it a waste of public money. Let’s hope the British royal family is next!
Quit Your Consulting Job: One of the larger scams in this country, of which there are plenty, has to be the access to healthcare. The system is so corrupted, some hospital staff are trained to wring money out of patients, even when they’re eligible for free care. Shoutout to McKinsey, a company solely focused on turning dollars into more dollars, regardless of the human cost
No More Dumpster Diving: These companies are trying to cut down food waste by connecting people with unsold food from restaurants and grocery stores. Back in my day we were given a hard time for making use of grocery store leftovers, but now all of a sudden it’s trendy. Guess I was just ahead of the curve