“Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is a function of the Fed rate spike, and will surely trigger calls for its well-heeled tech and venture capital clients to get a bailout,” David Dayen writes.
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‘Something was badly wrong’: When the U.S. realized Russia was actually invading Ukraine
A must-read from Politico: “A first-ever oral history of how top U.S. and Western officials saw the warning signs of a European land war, their frantic attempts to stop it — and the moment Putin actually crossed the border.”
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The Republican Party’s long war against Medicare and Social Security
“It has been widely forgotten, but soon after taking office Ronald Reagan proposed major cuts to Social Security. But he backed down in the face of a political backlash, leading analysts at the Cato Institute to call for a ‘Leninist’ strategy — their word — creating a coalition ready to exploit a future crisis if and when one arrived,” Paul Krugman writes.
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Sorry, Twitter, but Florida’s war on books is no joke. Ron DeSantis wants to keep kids from reading.
“When it comes to keeping kids from reading much, if at all, DeSantis’ policy is a smashing success,” writes Amanda Marcotte. “He’s established the idea that no student should ever be allowed to just grab a book and read on their own.”
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Billionaires at Davos don’t think COVID is a cold
“We don’t deserve to be shoved back into poorly ventilated workplaces while our politicians and press assure us that only crazy people would demand to breathe clean air,” writes Julia Doubleday.
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Can you govern on a lie? House Republicans give it a try.
“After the chaos of the first week of the 118th Congress, many Americans wondered: If it took them 15 ballots just to choose a speaker, how could Republicans possibly govern? Now we know. They are going to govern by fantasy and legislate on the basis of fiction,” Dana Milbank writes.
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Your stuff is actually worse now: From clothes to tech, why is everything so poorly made?
Izzie Ramirez of Vox on how the cult of consumerism ushered in an era of badly made products.
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The looming Republican dispute over Ukraine
Recently elected Republicans are ready to fire up the base with anger over billions spent to protect allies overseas.
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White-collar workers are being gutted by layoffs ahead of holidays
“As Corporate America prepares for a possible recession in 2023, companies big and small are axing thousands of positions amid the holidays,” Taylor Telford reports.
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Falling inflation rates are great news — unless you’re a Republican politician
“Has the worst of the pandemic-induced inflation already passed? The latest economic data released this week suggest so. That leaves Republicans in a quandary,” Jennifer Rubin writes.
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January 6th committee eyes criminal referrals to Justice Department
“Committee Chairman Representative Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, expects the panel to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, he told reporters Tuesday.”
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A majority of Republican nominees — 299 in all — deny the 2020 election results
“Experts say their dominance in the party poses a threat to the country’s democratic principles and jeopardizes the integrity of future votes,” Amy Gardner reports for The Washington Post.
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Translated excerpts of intercepted phone calls by Russian soldiers shed light on failure of Putin’s plans
“In phone calls to friends and relatives at home, Russian soldiers gave damning insider accounts of battlefield failures and civilian executions, excoriating their leaders just weeks into the campaign to take Kyiv.,” The New York Times reports.
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How one Atlanta bookstore is picking up the fight against book bans
“Atlanta Vintage Books is one of hundreds of independent bookstores across the country that have celebrated the freedom to read this week at a time when schools, universities and public libraries face what experts say are unprecedented attempts to ban or restrict reading materials,” NPR reports.
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Designed to Fail: The Legislature’s McCleary solution has collapsed
Robert Cruickshank of Washington’s Paramount Duty argues that the Legislature’s response to the McCleary education funding lawsuit fell far short of providing the ample funding for public schools that the Washington State Constitution requires.
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Migrants stranded in Martha’s Vineyard say they were lied to
“Migrants in the group said they’d agreed to fly to Massachusetts on the promise of jobs and assistance but didn’t realize they were bound for Martha’s Vineyard. No one on the island knew they were coming and, according to their attorneys, they’d been given falsified U.S. addresses by immigration officials, perhaps ensuring that they’d be deemed in the country illegally,” Miami Herald Political Reporter Bianca Padró Ocasio reports.
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Watch the unveiling of NPI’s initial August 2022 Bellevue housing research findings
Eastside For All’s Debbie Lacy, Complete Streets Bellevue’s Chris Randels, and the Housing Development Consortium’s Patience Malaba joined NPI’s Andrew Villeneuve on Monday, September 12th to unveil the initial findings of the August 2022 Bellevue housing poll commissioned by NPI and the Bellevue Housing Research Coalition.
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The idea that letting Trump walk will heal America is ridiculous
“The only way out is through. Fear of what Trump and his supports might do cannot and should not stand in the way of what we must do to secure the Constitution from all its enemies, foreign and domestic,” writes Jamelle Bouie.
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Oh, how the powerful wail and whine – The Washington Post
“No one stormed into Trump’s home unannounced with guns blazing, awakening him from a sound sleep and scaring him into paralysis,” Robin Givhan points out.
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Peak inflation? Why some prices are tumbling fast
“Crude oil, wheat and lumber are among commodities that have tumbled recently. Shipping rates on major trade routes are sinking from record highs. And used-car prices, which surged during the past two years, are showing early signs of tailing off,” The Globe and Mail reports.
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Jonathan Pie: Bye Bye Boris
Watch a British humorist react to the news that Boris Johnson is resigning as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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