“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.
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NASA’s Webb Telescope reaches major milestone as mirror unfolds
“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.
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A year after the January 6 insurrection, how does America’s crisis end?
A 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
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We can’t fix distracted driving, but we can fix street design
“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.
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The dirty secret of America’s clean dishes
“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.
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President Biden addresses the nation to offer an update on combating COVID-19 and the omicron variant
The 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.
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Boris Johnson, facing omicron and scandal, is in trouble
“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.
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Buy Nothing brings neighborhoods together with no cost goods
“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.”
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The crypto-congressional complex
“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.
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In Russia, the pandemic is beating Putin
“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.
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A century of tragedy: How the car and gas industry knew about the health risks of leaded fuel but sold it for one hundred years anyway
For 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.
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This is what the total solar eclipse only visible from Antarctica looked like
The 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.
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How Mitch McConnell, one of Washington’s longtime power players, succumbed to the preeminence of Trump
“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.
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Why we need to upgrade our face masks — and where to get them
“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.
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Republicans’ overreach on abortion may haunt them in 2022
“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.
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Joohn Choe dissects Marjorie Taylor Greene’s absurd “look at me with my gun” ad
In 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.”
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Denali National Park is losing its only road due to climate damage
“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.
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How the September 11th attacks changed us
“The betrayal of America’s professed principles was the friendly fire of the war on terror,” Carlos Lozada writes.
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Biden, allies frustrated with media’s hawkish coverage of Afghanistan withdrawal
“After years of ignoring Afghanistan, many close to the Biden White House — and the president himself — feel some major outlets are adopting a pro-war stance,” Huffington Post’s Daniel Marans writes.
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As a doctor, I’m out of compassion for unvaccinated people
“The burden of this pandemic now rests on the shoulders of the unvaccinated,” writes Anita Sircar. “On those who are eligible to get vaccinated, but choose not to, a decision they defend by declaring, ‘vaccination is a deeply personal choice.’ But perhaps never in history has anyone’s personal choice impacted the world as a whole as it does right now.”
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United States is among nations with highest rate of new Covid-19 cases
“The United States remains among nations with the highest rate of new Covid-19 cases, driven mostly by a surge in the South, where many states are lagging in getting people vaccinated against the coronavirus,” Aya Elamroussi reports.
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