Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web
Jeremy Hainsworth, reporter:
Hitler: A Life by Peter Longerich. A weighty volume on a subject needing no introduction. Longerich starts saying his work is an attempt to examine the German dictator in autonomous role as an active politician. The author’s previous works on Nazis include highly detailed lives of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler and Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
One of the biggest consequences of Joe Biden’s presidency in the U.S. will come from his sharp turn on climate policy, as acknowledged by New York magazine’s David Wallace-Wells: “The world’s most conspicuous climate villain has been deposed, and though Biden was hardly the first choice of environmentalists, his victory signals an effective end to the age of denial and the probable beginning of a new era of climate realism, with fights for progress shaped as much by choices as by first principles.” – New York
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/climate-change-after-pandemic.html
A look at the U.S. Capitol insurrection through the lens of hundreds of videos posted on the pro-Trump platform Parler. ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis singles out what is most disturbing about the images: “There undoubtedly were some dangerous organized elements within the mob that attacked the Capitol. But what is scariest about these videos is that they show the damage that can be done by a crowd of unorganized Americans goaded and abetted by the leaders of an organized political party.” – ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-capitol-riot-what-the-parler-videos-reveal
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Pandemic pain now disrupting the shopping sprees for the self-indulgent and idle rich as the global luxury goods market suffers a few body blows on Easy Street. However, before crowd-sourcing campaigns are launched to prop up the vendors of lavish goods for people with too much money, the billions are predicted to return by the wheel-barrow load next year and beyond. – Finaria
https://www.finaria.it/pr/luxury-goods-market-revenue-to-jump-by-28-and-hit-366b-by-2023/
In other hogs-at-the trough news, Bitcoin's daily energy consumption just for transactions is now estimated to be bouncing around the US$25 million mark. Estimates have its energy overall consumption equalling that of Switzerland. – Trading Platforms
And legally – wonders the International Monetary Fund – is Bitcoin even money at all?
https://blogs.imf.org/2021/01/14/legally-speaking-is-digital-money-really-money/?
