Joel Whitney, whose book Finks is about the CIA’s subversion of US culture, talks about the scars left by the Cold War.

From the NYT Opinion page today.

A big excerpt:

Our database gave me the callers’ age, race, gender, date of hiring, spousal and dependent information, current coverage and hourly wage or salary. I developed a habit of crunching numbers to pass the time. A female caller made, say, $21,840 a year with a monthly premium of $225, leaving her with $19,140. Like me, she had injured her hip. Add up her deductible, co-payment, likely hospital bills, prescriptions, physical therapy and a few weeks of missed work, and she had less than $13,500 left over. I would be at my desk, thinking: “My rent is $685 a month. What’s hers?”

In Towns Hit by Factory Closings, a New Casualty: Retail Jobs

Business Day feature story @ NYTimes.com, June 25

Thousands of workers face unemployment as retailers struggle to adapt to online shopping. But even as e-commerce grows, it isn’t absorbing these workers.

[....] Small cities in the Midwest and Northeast are particularly vulnerable. When major industries left town, retail accounted for a growing share of the job market in places like Johnstown, Decatur, Ill., and Saginaw, Mich. Now, the work force is getting hit a second time, and there is little to fall back on.

By Olga Khazan @ TheAtlantic.com, June 24

While Donald Trump backs the Saudi-led ultimatum, the state and defense departments are openly critical – a mixed message that could worsen the crisis

By Julien Borger in Washington for TheGuardian.com, June 24

[....] While Donald Trump has declared himself wholeheartedly behind the blockade on Qatar, the state and defense departments have been sharply critical of the move, in private and in public.

It was curious to observe how much of Jeremy Corbyn’s successful campaign to rebuild the Labour Party was about foreign policy. Wars, he said, make us less safe, not more. Agreeing with him were: the obvious facts of the matter, voters in opinion polls, and apparently voters in their votes.