hesitancy over the vaccines, recorted from Jonathan Cook

For decades our media have preferred to focus on the problems caused by drunk drivers, or speeding motorists, or even car pollution. But these issues, however significant they are in our daily lives, are overshadowed by the far more terrifying reality that our car and oil-dependent economies are taking a suicidal toll on our species by destroying the climate.

Fixating on one can be a way to avoid thinking about the other.

Something similar seems to be happening with Covid. We fixate on vaccines and “anti-vaxxers”, on mandates and passports – on blaming each other – rather than the reality that our societies and our social contracts were long ago hollowed out by corporate interests that captured the state.

If there is hesitancy over the vaccines it is because a portion of society is not afraid enough of the virus either to overcome their fear of a pharmaceutical industry that long ago put profits ahead of people or to set aside their doubts about the capture of our regulatory authorities by those same corporations.

 

https://www.unz.com/jcook/is-forced-isolation-of-the-unvaccinated-really-the-lefts-answer-to-the-pandemic/

 

+ As the reconciliation bill is ripped apart one vital program (prescription drugs, paid family leave, clean energy program) after another (free community college, expanded Medicare coverage for vision & dental, corporate and billionaire tax hikes), I wonder if the Democrats feel like they are participating in their own political autopsy? It looks like that to an outsider.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/29/roaming-charges-32/

 

logistics, supply chain, real state
“Tighter Warehouse Space Adds to the Supply-Chain Squeeze” [Wall Street Journal].
“‘Space in our markets is effectively sold out,’ said Thomas Olinger, chief financial officer of logistics real-estate firm Prologis Inc., in an Oct. 15 earnings call. ‘In the last 90 days, supply-chain dislocations have become even more pronounced, with customers acting with a sense of urgency to secure the space they need.’…. The squeeze on distribution space is adding to the broader congestion in supply chains, from tight container shipping capacity to backups at inland rail hubs, that has locked down inventory restocking efforts and dragged down economic recovery efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Space has been particularly hard to find near U.S. ports as shippers and logistics companies seek out warehouses to store containers and goods. The surging demand for warehouse space since the pandemic began has been driven by the move by consumers to online shopping and efforts by retailers to position goods closer to their customers for faster delivery. After the pandemic moved more shopping online, ‘a good percentage of that behavior change, it turns out, has stuck,’ said John Morris, who leads CBRE’s industrial and logistics business in the Americas.”
NK
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/10/200pm-water-cooler-10-27-2021.html

Manufacturing and logistic: 

“Chinese magnesium shortage: Global car industry to grind to a halt within weeks amid ‘catastrophic’ halt” [New Zealand Herald (dk)]. 

 

“The world’s largest carmakers and other users of aluminium could be forced to halt production within weeks amid a ‘catastrophic’ shortage of magnesium across Europe. Magnesium is a key material used in the production of aluminium alloys, which are used in everything from car parts to building materials and food packaging. China has a near-monopoly on global magnesium manufacturing, accounting for 87 per cent of production, but the Chinese government’s efforts to reduce domestic power consumption amid rising energy prices have slowed output to a trickle since September 20. In Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, the world’s main magnesium production hubs, 25 plants had to shut down and five further plants slashed production by 50 per cent as a result of the power cuts Europe is expected to run out of magnesium stockpiles by the end of November. On Friday, a group of European industry associations representing cars, metals, packaging and other sectors issued a joint statement warning of the ‘catastrophic impact’ of the production cuts, which they said had already resulted in an ‘international supply crisis of unprecedented magnitude’. The statement called for urgent action from the EU Commission and national governments to work with China to stave off the ‘imminent risk of Europe-wide production shutdowns.'” 

...

 

Mr Horter promised another update within weeks but warned "in the meantime, you may want to consider letting your customer base know of this silicon and magnesium availability crisis and also let them know that other products or inputs needed for making billet or slab may also reach a crisis point".

 ...

...  the current crisis was a "clear example of the risk the EU is taking by making its domestic economy dependent on Chinese imports".

Europe has grown almost entirely dependent on China for magnesium since Chinese dumping forced the closure of Europe's remaining magnesium production plant in 2001.

"Between 2000 and 2021, China's magnesium production increased from 12 per cent of the global supply to 87 per cent, creating an effective international monopoly on a 1.2 million tonnes per annum market demand," European Aluminium's report said.

"The magnesium sector is only one in a long list of production leakages since the early 1990s.

"European primary aluminium production alone has lost more than 30 per cent of its capacity since 2008. In parallel, China continuously increased production capacity to meet the steady increase in European and global demand for both aluminium and magnesium."

European manufacturers now face "dramatic risks" as China is expected to direct its remaining magnesium production to its own industries, with European companies no longer receiving the necessary raw materials to continue production.

 

 Class Planning  October, 27/29, 2021  (Wednesday/Friday) 3rd grade

Summup version

Reading text: Structural racism: what it is and how it works,  June 30, 2021, by Vini Lander  

Transversal Theme: Ethnic and Racial Relations - Structural Racism

Typology Review: opinionated text (Definition, categories, structure, example)

Writing abstract:  Main ideas of the text

Reading texts

Talking points: 

Cultural Reference: Movies, series episodes, books, events related to the theme

 

Extended:

Transversal Theme: Ethnic and Racial Relations - Structural Racism

Typology Review: opinionated text (Definition, categories, structure, example)

Reading text: Structural racism: what it is and how it works,  June 30, 2021, by Vini Lander 

Writing abstract:  Main ideas of the text

Answer the interrogative pronouns about text : What, who, when, where, how, why (causes), which consequences

Reviewing writing: punctuation, adversative conjunctions (but, although), simple past (did happen/happened)

Reading texts aload in english: 

Talking: 

    Answering 6 WH questions about student example.

What did happen? Whom/where/when/why/how did it happen?

Cultural Reference: Movies, series episodes, books, events related to the theme

(BLM, SAH; MLK/FBI; Stop Asian Hate; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Reference: Adapted from: Structural racism: what it is and how it works,  June 30, 2021, by Vini Lander (https://theconversation.com/structural-racism-what-it-is-and-how-it-works-158822). Vini Lander is professor of Race and Education and Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality in the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University )

Lyrics and songs: Bob Marley

What, whom (who), where, when, why (causes), Which (consequences/example), how