The Post-Partisan Emporium

  EVs Indicted Cobalt Red is a scathing indictment of the global cobalt trade, and by extension, the electric vehicle industry. Robert Bryce Imagine for a moment if the oil and gas sector had direct (or indirect)  connections to slavery, child labor, or working conditions so dangerous that thousands of their workers were dying on the job every year. The uproar and indignation would be heard from here to Houston. But in the case of the world’s supply of cobalt—an element that is a critical ingredient in the batteries that are driving the global EV craze—the response to the widespread use of child labor and hell-like working conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has gone largely unnoticed and vastly under-reported. Until now. Siddharth Kara is among the world’s bravest journalists. And his new book,  Cobalt Red: How the Blood Of The Congo Powers Our Lives , is a must-read. It is a compelling, confounding, and withering indictment of the global supply chains t...

Some good news.  People still want to read good books with pages made of paper.   What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround? Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why? Ted Gioia I’ve written too many negative stories about digital media platforms in recent months. I’ve started to worry. Am I turning into Dr. Doom and Mr. Gloom? In all fairness, my predictions have proven sadly accurate. After I served up these dismal forecasts for  Facebook ,  Spotify ,  Netflix , and others, their share prices took a steep dive. I’m not sure that’s a good thing—I’d like to see digital media improve and flourish. When they falter, we all pay a price. But each of these companies is now suffering for a good reason. Their dominance led to arrogance, and they decided to  impose all sorts of heavy-handed policies on users. But I finally have good news to share. I have a positive case study...