“The Beijing Olympics… are a big bowl of bad, unfolding in a country ruled by fear and oppression,” the Boston Globe columnist writes.
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Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“The Beijing Olympics… are a big bowl of bad, unfolding in a country ruled by fear and oppression,” the Boston Globe columnist writes.
Launch“Despite being widely seen as mild, the omicron coronavirus variant has been brutal on children and adolescents—particularly babies and toddlers, who are still ineligible for vaccination,” Beth Mole writes.
LaunchMegadrought in Southwest North America worst in 1,200 years “The extreme heat and dry conditions of the past few years pushed what was already an
Launch“The Russian leader may have thought NATO was in disarray and the U.S. in retreat, but we’ve already seen it’s quite the opposite,” David Rothkopf writes in a piece for The Daily Beast.
Launch“The two wings of Webb’s primary mirror had been folded to fit inside the nose cone of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket prior to launch. After more than a week of other critical spacecraft deployments, the Webb team began remotely unfolding the hexagonal segments of the primary mirror, the largest ever launched into space,” NASA said in a news release.
LaunchA year after the January 6 insurrection, how does America’s crisis end? Vox’s Zack Beauchamp says he has spent the past few months digging into
Launch“Once we’re inside our cars, we enter our own little bubbles and anything that prevents us from getting to where we want to go in the rushed time we need to get there becomes an inconvenience,” writes D.C.-based freelance writer Matthew Koehler.
Launch“The world’s largest chemical maker, BASF, produces ingredients for America’s most popular products, from soaps to surface cleaners to dishwasher detergent. Emissions from their U.S. plants elevate cancer risks for an estimated 1.5 million people,” ProPublica reports.
LaunchThe President spoke on December 21st, 2021, from the East Room of the White House to lay out what the administration is doing to fight COVID-19 and the omicron variant.
Launch“A brinkman seeing how far he can go, he is too preoccupied with his survival,” writes Tanya Gold in a guest essay for The New York Times.
Launch“What started in 2013 as a hyperlocal network of ‘circular gift economies’ in Bainbridge Island, Washington, has ballooned into a constellation of Buy Nothing groups with 4.3 million members in 44 countries,” Taylor Telford reports. “Members can request or offer any item or service as long as it’s legal; however buying, selling and bartering are prohibited.”
Launch“Markets don’t exist in nature. They’re created and enforced by governments,” Robert Reich points out, echoing what George Lakoff has previously written about all markets being constructed for someone’s benefit.
Launch“A deadly virus can’t be ignored, jailed, exiled or co-opted — nor can it be locked down without great economic cost. That puts President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a bind. The pandemic, perhaps his hardiest foe to date, has starkly revealed the limits of his power,” writes Alexey Kovalev, the investigations editor at Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet.
LaunchFor decades, most gas sold in the U.S. contained a lead additive. Historian Bill Kovarik sees this anniversary as a time to reflect on the role of public health advocates and environmental journalists in preventing profit-driven tragedy.
LaunchThe weather cooperated, allowing NASA to offer a livestream of the eclipse courtesy of the Theo Boris and Christian Lockwood of the JM Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition.
Launch“He clearly doesn’t care about being labeled a hypocrite. It just doesn’t bother him. He is brazen about it. That’s one of the cynical sides of Mitch. He doesn’t care. If it’s expedient, he’ll do it,” U.S. Representative John Yarmuth said.
Launch“High-quality respirators such as N95s and KN95s are now widely available and provide the best protection against COVID, according to experts. Why aren’t more people wearing them?” Tanya Lewis asks.
Launch“It seems Republicans have taken a divisive issue and created an enormous bipartisan coalition against themselves, uniting pro-choice and even some antiabortion voters who don’t like the vigilante mechanism,” Jennifer Rubin writes.
LaunchIn a lengthy Facebook post, Joohn Choe explains why the extremist, militant Georgia member of Congress is a poseur rather than a legit shooter. As Choe puts it: “Trashy weapon, threatening posture, and always, a thin veneer of Instagram ‘gun-bunny’ posturing overlaying stark ignorance and rank mediocrity.”
Launch“For decades, the rangers at Denali National Park in Alaska were easily winning their battle against a slow-moving landslide underneath the park’s only road. Now, due in part to the effects of climate change, they are losing very badly,” Andrew R. Chow reports.
Launch“The betrayal of America’s professed principles was the friendly fire of the war on terror,” Carlos Lozada writes.
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