Meet Janie and Maggie and Cody, a throuple surviving the pandemic together
The second best thing about getting doxed by white supremacists
Eager Beavers in DC (Literally)
Illegal Heritage Tree Removal Highlights Need for Stronger Tree Protections
He Spent 25 Years Infiltrating Nazis, the Klan, and Biker Gangs
Top Russian and U.S. officials likely to meet this week amid escalating threat to Ukraine
Opinion: Putin is threatening to wreck Biden’s Asia strategy - "The overwhelming majority of U.S. economic assistance and military aid still goes to governments in the Middle East. The Biden team should mount a diplomatic and economic surge in Asia to restore confidence in the U.S. commitment to the region as soon as possible."
Opinion: Lindsey Graham’s shockingly rational answer about the Supreme Court
A 'Worst Nightmare' Cyberattack: The Untold Story Of The SolarWinds Hack
This Siberian town lost everything when the mill closed. It’s now struggling to find a future.
Pittsburgh bridge collapse injures 10 on day Biden to visit city to talk infrastructure
'Throughline' Traces Evangelicals' History On The Abortion Issue - "'No. In fact, the Southern Baptist Convention, they actually passed resolutions in 1971, 1974 and 1976 - after Roe v. Wade - affirming the idea that women should have access to abortion for a variety of reasons and that the government should play a limited role in that matter, which surprised us. The experts we talked to said white evangelicals at that time saw abortion as largely a Catholic issue.'"
A guide to the Black female judges who are contenders to replace Justice Breyer
Meet the Ukrainian volunteers training to fight Russians in the streets of Kyiv
Caught Dead: A look at the past, present, and future of bluefin tuna, the most coveted creature in the ocean, and how a fish can go from trash to treasure to endangered in the span of half a century - "Until the 1970s, bluefin tuna was a literal trash fish. If it wasn’t put into cat food, sport fishermen paid to have it hauled off to dumps (after taking a smiling photo next to their strung-up carcasses). Until the mid-1900s, tuna’s reputation was so bad in Japan that it was referred to as neko-matagi, food too low for even a cat to eat."
FBI agent charged with attempted murder in shooting of man on Metro train
In Siberian coal country, signs of Russia’s shrinking population are everywhere. It ‘haunts’ Putin.
“Death Star” response from US would lock Russia out of 5G, advanced chips
Much of America wants policing to change. But these self-proclaimed experts tell officers they’re doing just fine. - "Benigno and his instructors encourage officers to pull drivers over for minor offenses after identifying behaviors that they say are consistent with illegal activity such as drug smuggling. That can include glancing quickly at a police officer, some said; or nodding at the officer, others said; or not looking at all, according to others."
U.S. sends written responses to Russia on its demands over Ukraine crisis
A vaccine scientist’s discredited claims have bolstered a movement of misinformation - "Malone, who bills himself as having played a key role in the creation of mRNA vaccines, has emerged as one of the most controversial voices of the movement against coronavirus vaccines and health mandates. His claims and suggestions have been discredited and denounced by medical professionals as not only wrong but also dangerous. Twitter barred him for violating the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policy, but he has found platforms elsewhere — recently appearing on an episode of Joe Rogan’s wildly popular podcast, which averages 11 million listeners per episode.
...
"A Canadian study suggesting a high rate of heart inflammation after people were given coronavirus vaccines was retracted by the study’s authors in September because of a significant mathematical error, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Despite the major inaccuracy, screenshots of the preprint study spread among the anti-vaccine community. Among those who shared it was Malone, who got a huge response to the tweet but did not take it down, even though many noted that the study had been retracted.
...
"In November, Malone shared a deceptive video to his Twitter followers that falsely linked athlete deaths to coronavirus shots. The video suggested that coronavirus vaccination killed Jake West, a 17-year-old Indiana high school football player who died of sudden cardiac arrest. But the vaccine played no role in West’s death. The teen died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2013.
A Canadian COVID-19 study that turned out to be wrong has spread like wildfire among anti-vaxxers - "Instead of 32,379 mRNA vaccine doses administered in June and July, as the study suggests, there were actually more than 800,000 shots given out at that time, according to Ottawa Public Health. That means the true rate of side effects is closer to 1 in 25,000 — not 1 in 1,000.
...
"These so-called 'zombie papers' are often intentionally shared within anti-vaccination circles long after they're retracted or corrected in order to disingenuously influence public opinion and fuel misinformation, said Caulfield."
'Cyber Partisans' Say They Hacked Belarus Rail to Disrupt Russian Troops
China's baby bust is a huge opportunity for America [ed. note: substack link; see also comments section]
Opinion: The Marines are establishing a beachhead for needed change at the Pentagon
Blinken to meet Russian counterpart as White House warns Moscow could attack Ukraine ‘at any point’
Harry Thomas Jr. drops out of Ward 5 council race, will run for shadow representative seat
The GOP Won't Introduce A New Party Platform For 2020. So What Does It Stand For? - "'And the moral of the entire story, as Boehner's chief of staff put it to me at the time, he said, 'Look, you can slice and dice this one hundred different ways. But ultimately, we fed the beast that ate us.' And I think that that is about as appropriate a metaphor for this last 10 to 15 years of Republican politics as you could hope to find.'" [ed. note: from 8/2020]
EXPLAINER: Why didn’t China send troops to aid Kazakhstan?
How coal holds on in America: In North Dakota coal country, officials rally to save a coal-fired power plant at renewable energy’s expense. - "One farmer who was happy when he heard the polluting coal plant may shut down said he did not dare discuss that publicly. 'If we were to be quoted, and it got in The Washington Post, our farm would be targeted,' he said, describing the area as 'Trumpian to the max.'
"'They would come out there, and I think they would start shooting holes in the tires,' the farmer added. 'That is how bad it is. I really believe that. We would be ostracized within our community.'"
Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun: January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to subvert the next election. - "Trump and his party have convinced a dauntingly large number of Americans that the essential workings of democracy are corrupt, that made-up claims of fraud are true, that only cheating can thwart their victory at the polls, that tyranny has usurped their government, and that violence is a legitimate response.
...
"'The last time America saw middle-class whites involved in violence was the expansion of the second KKK in the 1920s,' Pape told me.
...
"Other things being equal, insurgents were much more likely to come from a county where the white share of the population was in decline. For every one-point drop in a county’s percentage of non-Hispanic whites from 2015 to 2019, the likelihood of an insurgent hailing from that county increased by 25 percent. This was a strong link, and it held up in every state.
...
"The Justice Department has filed suit to overturn some provisions of the new Georgia law—but not to challenge the hostile takeover of election authorities. Instead, the federal lawsuit takes issue with a long list of traditional voter-suppression tactics that, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland, have the intent and effect of disadvantaging Black voters. These include prohibitions and “onerous fines” that restrict the distribution of absentee ballots, limit the use of ballot drop boxes, and forbid handing out food or water to voters waiting in line. These provisions make it harder, by design, for Democrats to vote in Georgia. The provisions that Garland did not challenge make it easier for Republicans to fix the outcome. They represent danger of a whole different magnitude."
Memes, lolz and intel incels: behind the scenes in the NSA hacker corps: When whistle-blower Edward Snowden leaked a vast cache of highly sensitive files revealing the National Security Agency’s programme of mass surveillance, the Washington Post’s Barton Gellman was one of his handlers. Seven years on, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner continues to decipher the cryptic cloak-and-dagger world of digital espionage in his new book, Dark Mirror. Here, he exposes the inner workings of America’s intelligence hegemon, its pervasive and perverse culture of toxic masculinity and asks again: who watches the watchmen?
Ted Cruz again fails to navigate the right’s fury
Ted Cruz grovels to Tucker Carlson over Jan. 6 ‘terrorist attack’ remark
Opinion: ‘Red Wolves’ remains the best choice for the new name for the Washington Football Team
Opinion: The rise of a pro-democracy media
Biden breaks his silence: Inside his decision to forcefully denounce Trump
Mexico’s wheat fields help feed the world. They’re also releasing a dangerous greenhouse gas.
Long before embracing Trump’s false election claims, Rep. Scott Perry promoted groundless theories
Opinion: This Christmas, LGBTQ Catholics are once again wondering whether we belong
Hong Kong tears down ‘Pillar of Shame’ sculpture honoring Tiananmen victims
Pablo Escobar’s personal photographer confronts the drug lord’s complicated legacy
In their shared sea, Ukraine and Russia already risk direct conflict every day
How Ted Koppel’s trip to ‘Mayberry’ turned into one of 2021’s most striking moments of TV: The veteran newsman and “CBS Sunday Morning” contributor explains how a seeming puff piece about “The Andy Griffith Show” turned into an unsettling snapshot of an angry America - "What started with those general questions wound up evolving into one of the most striking TV segments of the year, as Koppel was visibly taken aback by the fierce nostalgia for a time and place that literally never existed — and how it connects to the misinformation that has infiltrated America’s politics."
A respiratory therapist fought on covid’s front lines. The last wave broke him.
Takeaways from HBO Max’s Harry Potter reunion: tears, nostalgia and a curious lack of J.K. Rowling
Militaries are among the world’s biggest emitters. This general wants them to go green.
This tree has stood here for 500 years. Will it be sold for $17,500?
