Truss learns the hard way that Britain isn’t America - "Like all armchair free-marketeers (she has never set up a business) she believes her nation is a blast of deregulation away from American levels of entrepreneurial vim. It isn’t. The creator of a successful product in Dallas can expand to LA and Boston with little friction. The UK doesn’t have a market of hundreds of millions of people. (It did, once, but the present chancellor of the exchequer voted to leave it.)"
E.U. warns of ‘robust’ response against sabotage after Nord Stream blasts
Pray for Kabeer, Chapter I: The School Play, the Minister of Defense and the Fall of a Hero - "Over two decades, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, a Black man who was raised Muslim in Los Angeles, found his place in the predominantly white and overwhelmingly Christian suburbs of Wisconsin. In the first installment of our Serial Longform series, we delve into the former Packers star’s theological evolution, his discovery of a new religious movement, his transformation from revered to feared and why he feels he—and his ministry—are misunderstood.
Pray for Kabeer, Chapter II: The Pastor, the ‘Cult’ and Its Troubled Past - Retired Packers star Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila made headlines last winter when two members of his religious ministry were arrested for trespassing, while armed, at a school Christmas program—and that ‘KGB’ sent them. In the second chapter of our Serial Longform series, we take an unprecedented look at the controversial ministry he is now a part of, its history and why so many who were once close to him desperately want him to get out.
Pray for Kabeer, Chapter III: The Followers, the Courtroom Drama and the Next Chapter - "Along with Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, at least two other ex-NFL players have joined Straitway, the controversial ministry that many consider to be a cult. In the finale of our Serial Longform series, we trace how they ended up there and the impact on those around them. We also look at KGB’s bizarre courthouse interactions, his fractured relationship with his family and what’s next for the former Packers star."
"But [Ken] Johnson isn’t completely surprised. During nearly 30 seasons as the Colts’ chaplain, he saw this pattern among retired players. When the structure, guidance and purpose that comes with life as an NFL player disappears, it’s often jarring and sometimes followed by a search for identity. 'It’s like they begin this quest for knowledge, and they forget relationship capacity [with their families],' Johnson says. The shift to Hebrew Israelism is new to him—in the past, the postretirement shift led some Black players to join the Nation of Islam, an Islamic and Black nationalist movement that has been criticized for anti-LGBTQ views and prejudice against Jewish people."
Russia's military and economic strategy is failing: But the risks of an escalating war remain real and terrifying - "But I wanted to step back and make a broader point that I think too often gets lost in the shuffle: everything Russia has been doing has been incredibly counterproductive from the standpoint of Russian interests.
"Pro-Russian western media often noted that even with sanctions in place Russia’s trade balance was positive, and the official exchange rate of the ruble recovered rapidly from an initial speculative crash.
"This all misunderstood the intention of the policy, which was not to block Russian exports but to block Russian imports."