Mon, Nov 23, 2020
Liberia is an African country created by a group of Virginians as an alternative home for freed slaves. Then, after World Wav Two, Edward Stettinius, working with the Liberian government, created a company that turned Liberia into a tax haven where companies could also avoid the usual oversight most countries require.
Thu, Apr 22, 2021
McDonalds requires its franchisees to use the Taylor-C602 ice cream machine to produce McFlurries. That gives Taylor a monopoly on ice cream machines in McDonalds Restaurants. Could that explain why 13 to 15 percent of these machines are out of service at any given time while other restaurant chains that use Taylor machines are pretty much trouble free? And why does a device made by a company called Kytch seem to solve the problem? Here are the answers.
Wed, Aug 4, 2021
In World War Two Iceland was in a strategic position in the shipping lanes and the Nazi's and British took notice. The Nazi's sent a diplomat but Iceland adamantly stayed neutral. That wasn't good enough for the British who sort of invaded the island. But as the war ramped up the British needed their troops in the fight so they convinced Iceland to ask America to replace the British soldiers. And the US Army did what it does and upgraded Iceland's transportation infrastructure.
Wed, Jul 5, 2023
The US military is planning to have a transformative year in the Pacific. To them, that means militarizing the region. More ships, more planes, more troops, more missiles, and more agreements with allies - all aimed at containing China and their ambitions of power. Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 3.5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.
Tue, Jul 11, 2023
Surveillance, sabotage, and air strikes on its own citizens. This is the story of how the US stole and kept its prized colony in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico. Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 3.5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.
Tue, Jul 25, 2023
The world is changing quickly. Countries are starting to challenge the US-led world order that emerged after World War 2. Countries like China and Russia are hoping to create their own system, based on their own rules and values, and the world's most important growing economies are taking notice.
Tue, Sep 5, 2023
This is the second episode of the Eyes Only series - where we use leaked and declassified documents to understand what's really happening behind the scenes. Answering questions like: How do politicians wield their influence? What can documents teach us about their decisions and motivations? And what do the powerful say to each other when they think nobody is listening? We explore the run up to the Iraq war, and how the invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein was planned within hours of the attacks on 9/11. We use leaked and declassified documents to tell the story of an influence campaign waged by senior Bush Administration officials, despite internal reports admitting that they had no evidence of WMD in Iraq.