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Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
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Politics:
George Orwell wrote that in our day ‘restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.’
So let me restate the obvious: January 6, 2021 is a day that should live in infamy.
But for the next four years January 6th won’t live in infamy. Because in two weeks the man who incited January 6th, the man who now excuses it—no, celebrates it—will be sworn in as our next president.
So the obvious if unpleasant fact is that today we as a nation are in a worse condition, facing a more ominous future, than we faced four years ago.
Electoral politics in a two-party system is hard. So much is at stake at the ballot box — tax policy, abortion rights, immigration, and a million other things, all of which are incredibly important. I deeply respect and admire the decision made by Liz Cheney and a handful of others to take a fully principled stand on the January 6 question, but I also respect (or at least understand) the decision of those who’ve decided they care more about other things than about Trump’s low character and basic unfitness for office.
But what disturbs me is the extent to which the entire conservative movement has retconned not just the events of four years ago, but their own reactions to those events, such that these days, to be disturbed by them is considered some form of lib hysteria.
The reality is quite the opposite.
Biden’s Offshore Drilling Ban Derails Trump’s Plan
Unlike executive orders that Trump could overturn with the stroke of a pen, Biden’s actions rely on an open-ended provision in the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
This law governs energy leasing activities for submerged lands under U.S. control that are beyond three miles from shore.
A provision in the act allows the president to permanently take parts of the Outer Continental Shelf off the table for leasing activities, without providing a means for another president to undo the action.
Ukraine is humiliating Putin at the worst possible moment
Just weeks before Trump’s inauguration, Kyiv is making important advances in the Kursk region
Negotiating with a War Criminal – A History of Deceit
Another war has come about in eastern Europe involving territorial acquisition; this time, for what amounts to a fanciful notion of recovering the glory of a Russian Empire that failed miserably early in the last century only to be followed by an equally flawed Soviet Union that collapsed after 70 years. Now Putin’s regime threatens Russia’s future after only a few decades by bringing it to heel under the weight of monumental governmental and societal corruption while conducting an unjust war in Ukraine. Successive Russian autocratic regimes with their diminishing lifespans do not portend a comfortable future for a nation that seemed to have promise. It may be that Russia’s leaders ultimately fall prey to believing the deceit of their own propaganda that was originally meant for consumption only by Russia’s public and the world at large.
North Korea Declares Hot Dogs an Act of ‘Treason’
Kim Jong Un has reportedly banned North Koreans from eating hotdogs and ordered imprisonment for divorcing couples in a bizarre new crackdown.
The despot claims that the popular fast food dish is too Western and says that serving the food will now be deemed an act of treason.
Trump’s Lawyers Try to Block Special Counsel Report
Lawyers for Donald Trump have reviewed a draft of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report related to federal investigations into the president-elect and are threatening legal action if he releases it.
Just a guess, but Jack Smith probably has zero fucks left to give.
Rudy Giuliani Held in Contempt
A federal judge on Monday held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn over information to two former Georgia election workers he defamed after the 2020 presidential election, as they continue to try to collect $150 million in damages.
