Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, has died in a Russian penal colony. We’ll reflect on Navalny’s impact and what it means to push back against the slow creep of political change. Plus, more evidence that plastic recycling is a myth pushed by the plastics industry. And, we’ll weigh in on the romance novel revival and landline phones in a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

- “‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals” from The Guardian

- “Tucker Carlson: ‘No decent person would defend’ what happened to Navalny” from The Hill

- “OpenAI teases ‘Sora,’ its new text-to-video AI model” from NBC News

- “Best Buy to End DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales” from Variety

- “Making beer with the help of AI” from Axios

- “Steamy, sultry and stigmatized no more: romance novels are having a moment” from Marketplace

- “The humble landline phone beloved by Gen Z” from Axios

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Thoughts on Navalny&#8217;s death 23:52 Share

Make Me Smart

Shownotes Transcript

Thoughts on Navalny’s death