Executive Order On Tackling The Climate Crisis At Home And Abroad

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/

Executive Order On Tackling The Climate Crisis At Home And Abroad

 January 27, 2021    • Presidential Actions   

The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis.  We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.  Domestic action must go hand in hand with United States international leadership, aimed at significantly enhancing global action.  Together, we must listen to science and meet the moment.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

PART I — PUTTING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AT THE CENTER OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Section 101.  Policy.  United States international engagement to address climate change — which has become a climate crisis — is more necessary and urgent than ever.  The scientific community has made clear that the scale and speed of necessary action is greater than previously believed.  There is little time left to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory.  Responding to the climate crisis will require both significant short-term global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and net-zero global emissions by mid-century or before.

It is the policy of my Administration that climate considerations shall be an essential element of United States foreign policy and national security.  The United States will work with other countries and partners, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to put the world on a sustainable climate pathway.  The United States will also move quickly to build resilience, both at home and abroad, against the impacts of climate change that are already manifest and will continue to intensify according to current trajectories.

Sec. 102.  Purpose.  This order builds on and reaffirms actions my Administration has already taken to place the climate crisis at the forefront of this Nation's foreign policy and national security planning, including submitting the United States instrument of acceptance to rejoin the Paris Agreement.  In implementing — and building upon — the Paris Agreement's three overarching objectives (a safe global temperature, increased climate resilience, and financial flows aligned with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions and climate‑resilient development), the United States will exercise its leadership to promote a significant increase in global climate ambition to meet the climate challenge.  In this regard:

(a)  I will host an early Leaders' Climate Summit aimed at raising climate ambition and making a positive contribution to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) and beyond.

(b)  The United States will reconvene the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, beginning with the Leaders' Climate Summit.  In cooperation with the members of that Forum, as well as with other partners as appropriate, the United States will pursue green recovery efforts, initiatives to advance the clean energy transition, sectoral decarbonization, and alignment of financial flows with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, including with respect to coal financing, nature-based solutions, and solutions to other climate-related challenges.

(c)  I have created a new Presidentially appointed position, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, to elevate the issue of climate change and underscore the commitment my Administration will make toward addressing it. 

(d)  Recognizing that climate change affects a wide range of subjects, it will be a United States priority to press for enhanced climate ambition and integration of climate considerations across a wide range of international fora, including the Group of Seven (G7), the Group of Twenty (G20), and fora that address clean energy, aviation, shipping, the Arctic, the ocean, sustainable development, migration, and other relevant topics.  The Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and others, as appropriate, are encouraged to promote innovative approaches, including international multi-stakeholder initiatives.  In addition, my Administration will work in partnership with States, localities, Tribes, territories, and other United States stakeholders to advance United States climate diplomacy.

(e)  The United States will immediately begin the process of developing its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement.  The process will include analysis and input from relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies), as well as appropriate outreach to domestic stakeholders.  The United States will aim to submit its nationally determined contribution in advance of the Leaders' Climate Summit.

(f)  The United States will also immediately begin to develop a climate finance plan, making strategic use of multilateral and bilateral channels and institutions, to assist developing countries in implementing ambitious emissions reduction measures, protecting critical ecosystems, building resilience against the impacts of climate change, and promoting the flow of capital toward climate-aligned investments and away from high-carbon investments.  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, shall lead a process to develop this plan, with the participation of the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the head of any other agency providing foreign assistance and development financing, as appropriate.  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit the plan to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, within 90 days of the date of this order.

(g)  The Secretary of the Treasury shall:

(i)    ensure that the United States is present and engaged in relevant international fora and institutions that are working on the management of climate-related financial risks;

(ii)   develop a strategy for how the voice and vote of the United States can be used in international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, to promote financing programs, economic stimulus packages, and debt relief initiatives that are aligned with and support the goals of the Paris Agreement; and

(iii)  develop, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, the Administrator of USAID, and the Chief Executive Officer of the DFC, a plan for promoting the protection of the Amazon rainforest and other critical ecosystems that serve as global carbon sinks, including through market-based mechanisms.

(h)  The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Energy shall work together and with the Export–Import Bank of the United States, the Chief Executive Officer of the DFC, and the heads of other agencies and partners, as appropriate, to identify steps through which the United States can promote ending international financing of carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy while simultaneously advancing sustainable development and a green recovery, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

(i)  The Secretary of Energy, in cooperation with the Secretary of State and the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, shall identify steps through which the United States can intensify international collaborations to drive innovation and deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection.

(j)  The Secretary of State shall prepare, within 60 days of the date of this order, a transmittal package seeking the Senate's advice and consent to ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, regarding the phasedown of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons.

Sec. 103.  Prioritizing Climate in Foreign Policy and National Security.  To ensure that climate change considerations are central to United States foreign policy and national security:

(a)  Agencies that engage in extensive international work shall develop, in coordination with the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, within 90 days of the date of this order, strategies and implementation plans for integrating climate considerations into their international work, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.  These strategies and plans should include an assessment of:

(i)    climate impacts relevant to broad agency strategies in particular countries or regions;

(ii)   climate impacts on their agency-managed infrastructure abroad (e.g., embassies, military installations), without prejudice to existing requirements regarding assessment of such infrastructure;

(iii)  how the agency intends to manage such impacts or incorporate risk mitigation into its installation master plans; and

(iv)   how the agency's international work, including partner engagement, can contribute to addressing the climate crisis.

(b)  The Director of National Intelligence shall prepare, within 120 days of the date of this order, a National Intelligence Estimate on the national and economic security impacts of climate change.

(c)  The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the  Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the heads of other agencies as appropriate, shall develop and submit to the President, within 120 days of the date of this order, an analysis of the security implications of climate change (Climate Risk Analysis) that can be incorporated into modeling, simulation, war-gaming, and other analyses.

(d)  The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall consider the security implications of climate change, including any relevant information from the Climate Risk Analysis described in subsection (c) of this section, in developing the National Defense Strategy, Defense Planning Guidance, Chairman's Risk Assessment, and other relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents and processes.  Starting in January 2022, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall provide an annual update, through the National Security Council, on the progress made in incorporating the security implications of climate change into these documents and processes.

(e)  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic, along our Nation's borders, and to National Critical Functions, including any relevant information from the Climate Risk Analysis described in subsection (c) of this section, in developing relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents and processes.  Starting in January 2022, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide an annual update, through the National Security Council, on the progress made in incorporating the homeland security implications of climate change into these documents and processes.

Sec. 104.  Reinstatement.  The Presidential Memorandum of September 21, 2016 (Climate Change and National Security), is hereby reinstated.

PART II — TAKING A GOVERNMENT-WIDE APPROACH TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Sec. 201.  Policy.  Even as our Nation emerges from profound public health and economic crises borne of a pandemic, we face a climate crisis that threatens our people and communities, public health and economy, and, starkly, our ability to live on planet Earth.  Despite the peril that is already evident, there is promise in the solutions — opportunities to create well-paying union jobs to build a modern and sustainable infrastructure, deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.

We must listen to science — and act.  We must strengthen our clean air and water protections.  We must hold polluters accountable for their actions.  We must deliver environmental justice in communities all across America.  The Federal Government must drive assessment, disclosure, and mitigation of climate pollution and climate-related risks in every sector of our economy, marshaling the creativity, courage, and capital necessary to make our Nation resilient in the face of this threat.  Together, we must combat the climate crisis with bold, progressive action that combines the full capacity of the Federal Government with efforts from every corner of our Nation, every level of government, and every sector of our economy.

It is the policy of my Administration to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy; increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; protects public health; conserves our lands, waters, and biodiversity; delivers environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and economic growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.  Successfully meeting these challenges will require the Federal Government to pursue such a coordinated approach from planning to implementation, coupled with substantive engagement by stakeholders, including State, local, and Tribal governments.

Sec. 202.  White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.  There is hereby established the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy (Climate Policy Office) within the Executive Office of the President, which shall coordinate the policy-making process with respect to domestic climate-policy issues; coordinate domestic climate-policy advice to the President; ensure that domestic climate-policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's stated goals and that those goals are being effectively pursued; and monitor implementation of the President's domestic climate-policy agenda.  The Climate Policy Office shall have a staff headed by the Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor (National Climate Advisor) and shall include the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Climate Advisor.  The Climate Policy Office shall have such staff and other assistance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this order, subject to the availability of appropriations, and may work with established or ad hoc committees or interagency groups.  All agencies shall cooperate with the Climate Policy Office and provide such information, support, and assistance to the Climate Policy Office as it may request, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.

Sec.203.  National Climate Task Force.  There is hereby established a National Climate Task Force (Task Force).  The Task Force shall be chaired by the National Climate Advisor.

(a)  Membership.  The Task Force shall consist of the following additional members:

(i)      the Secretary of the Treasury;

(ii)     the Secretary of Defense;

(iii)    the Attorney General;

(iv)     the Secretary of the Interior;

(v)      the Secretary of Agriculture;

(vi)     the Secretary of Commerce;

(vii)    the Secretary of Labor;

(viii)   the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(ix)     the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(x)      the Secretary of Transportation;

(xi)     the Secretary of Energy;

(xii)    the Secretary of Homeland Security;

(xiii)   the Administrator of General Services;

(xiv)    the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality;

(xv)     the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(xvi)    the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(xvii)   the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xviii)  the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy;

(xix)    the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs;

(xx)     the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and

(xxi)    the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

(b)  Mission and Work.  The Task Force shall facilitate the organization and deployment of a Government-wide approach to combat the climate crisis.  This Task Force shall facilitate planning and implementation of key Federal actions to reduce climate pollution; increase resilience to the impacts of climate change; protect public health; conserve our lands, waters, oceans, and biodiversity; deliver environmental justice; and spur well-paying union jobs and economic growth.  As necessary and appropriate, members of the Task Force will engage on these matters with State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments; workers and communities; and leaders across the various sectors of our economy.

(c)  Prioritizing Actions.  To the extent permitted by law, Task Force members shall prioritize action on climate change in their policy-making and budget processes, in their contracting and procurement, and in their engagement with State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments; workers and communities; and leaders across all the sectors of our economy.

USE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S BUYING POWER AND REAL PROPERTY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT

Sec. 204.  Policy.  It is the policy of my Administration to lead the Nation's effort to combat the climate crisis by example — specifically, by aligning the management of Federal procurement and real property, public lands and waters, and financial programs to support robust climate action.  By providing an immediate, clear, and stable source of product demand, increased transparency and data, and robust standards for the market, my Administration will help to catalyze private sector investment into, and accelerate the advancement of America's industrial capacity to supply, domestic clean energy, buildings, vehicles, and other necessary products and materials.

Sec. 205.  Federal Clean Electricity and Vehicle Procurement Strategy.  (a)  The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator of General Services, and the Director of the Office and Management and Budget, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Energy, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall assist the National Climate Advisor, through the Task Force established in section 203 of this order, in developing a comprehensive plan to create good jobs and stimulate clean energy industries by revitalizing the Federal Government's sustainability efforts.

(b)  The plan shall aim to use, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, all available procurement authorities to achieve or facilitate:

(i)   a carbon pollution-free electricity sector no later than 2035; and

(ii)  clean and zero-emission vehicles for Federal, State, local, and Tribal government fleets, including vehicles of the United States Postal Service.

(c)  If necessary, the plan shall recommend any additional legislation needed to accomplish these objectives.

(d)  The plan shall also aim to ensure that the United States retains the union jobs integral to and involved in running and maintaining clean and zero-emission fleets, while spurring the creation of union jobs in the manufacture of those new vehicles.  The plan shall be submitted to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order.

Sec. 206.  Procurement Standards.  Consistent with the Executive Order of January 25, 2021, entitled, "Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America's Workers," agencies shall adhere to the requirements of the Made in America Laws in making clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean energy procurement decisions.  Agencies shall, consistent with applicable law, apply and enforce the Davis-Bacon Act and prevailing wage and benefit requirements.  The Secretary of Labor shall take steps to update prevailing wage requirements.  The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall consider additional administrative steps and guidance to assist the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council in developing regulatory amendments to promote increased contractor attention on reduced carbon emission and Federal sustainability. 

Sec. 207.  Renewable Energy on Public Lands and in Offshore Waters.  The Secretary of the Interior shall review siting and permitting processes on public lands and in offshore waters to identify to the Task Force steps that can be taken, consistent with applicable law, to increase renewable energy production on those lands and in those waters, with the goal of doubling offshore wind by 2030 while ensuring robust protection for our lands, waters, and biodiversity and creating good jobs.  In conducting this review, the Secretary of the Interior shall consult, as appropriate, with the heads of relevant agencies, including the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Secretary of Energy, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, State and Tribal authorities, project developers, and other interested parties.  The Secretary of the Interior shall engage with Tribal authorities regarding the development and management of renewable and conventional energy resources on Tribal lands.

Sec. 208.  Oil and Natural Gas Development on Public Lands and in Offshore Waters.  To the extent consistent with applicable law,the Secretary of the Interior shall pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices in light of the Secretary of the Interior's broad stewardship responsibilities over the public lands and in offshore waters, including potential climate and other impacts associated with oil and gas activities on public lands or in offshore waters.  The Secretary of the Interior shall complete that review in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Secretary of Energy.  In conducting this analysis, and to the extent consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of the Interior shall consider whether to adjust royalties associated with coal, oil, and gas resources extracted from public lands and offshore waters, or take other appropriate action, to account for corresponding climate costs.

Sec. 209.  Fossil Fuel Subsidies.  The heads of agencies shall identify for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the National Climate Advisor any fossil fuel subsidies provided by their respective agencies, and then take steps to ensure that, to the extent consistent with applicable law, Federal funding is not directly subsidizing fossil fuels.  The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall seek, in coordination with the heads of agencies and the National Climate Advisor, to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies from the budget request for Fiscal Year 2022 and thereafter.

Sec. 210.  Clean Energy in Financial Management.  The heads of agencies shall identify opportunities for Federal funding to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the National Climate Advisor, and then take steps to ensure that, to the extent consistent with applicable law, Federal funding is used to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.  The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with agency heads and the National Climate Advisor, shall seek to prioritize such investments in the President's budget request for Fiscal Year 2022 and thereafter.

     Sec. 211.  Climate Action Plans and Data and Information Products to Improve Adaptation and Increase Resilience.  (a)  The head of each agency shall submit a draft action plan to the Task Force and the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer within 120 days of the date of this order that describes steps the agency can take with regard to its facilities and operations to bolster adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.  Action plans should, among other things, describe the agency's climate vulnerabilities and describe the agency's plan to use the power of procurement to increase the energy and water efficiency of United States Government installations, buildings, and facilities and ensure they are climate-ready.  Agencies shall consider the feasibility of using the purchasing power of the Federal Government to drive innovation, and shall seek to increase the Federal Government's resilience against supply chain disruptions.  Such disruptions put the Nation's manufacturing sector at risk, as well as consumer access to critical goods and services.  Agencies shall make their action plans public, and post them on the agency website, to the extent consistent with applicable law.

(b)  Within 30 days of an agency's submission of an action plan, the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall review the plan to assess its consistency with the policy set forth in section 204 of this order and the priorities issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

(c)  After submitting an initial action plan, the head of each agency shall submit to the Task Force and Federal Chief Sustainability Officer progress reports annually on the status of implementation efforts.  Agencies shall make progress reports public and post them on the agency website, to the extent consistent with applicable law.  The heads of agencies shall assign their respective agency Chief Sustainability Officer the authority to perform duties relating to implementation of this order within the agency, to the extent consistent with applicable law.

(d)  To assist agencies and State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, communities, and businesses in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in coordination with the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, shall provide to the Task Force a report on ways to expand and improve climate forecast capabilities and information products for the public.  In addition, the Secretary of the Interior and the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, in their capacities as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, shall assess and provide to the Task Force a report on the potential development of a consolidated Federal geographic mapping service that can facilitate public access to climate-related information that will assist Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments in climate planning and resilience activities.

EMPOWERING WORKERS THROUGH REBUILDING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

     Sec. 212.  Policy.  This Nation needs millions of construction, manufacturing, engineering, and skilled-trades workers to build a new American infrastructure and clean energy economy.  These jobs will create opportunities for young people and for older workers shifting to new professions, and for people from all backgrounds and communities.  Such jobs will bring opportunity to communities too often left behind — places that have suffered as a result of economic shifts and places that have suffered the most from persistent pollution, including low-income rural and urban communities, communities of color, and Native communities.

     Sec. 213.  Sustainable Infrastructure.  (a)  The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall take steps, consistent with applicable law, to ensure that Federal infrastructure investment reduces climate pollution, and to require that Federal permitting decisions consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.  In addition, they shall review, and report to the National Climate Advisor on, siting and permitting processes, including those in progress under the auspices of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, and identify steps that can be taken, consistent with applicable law, to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and transmission projects in an environmentally stable manner.

     (b)  Agency heads conducting infrastructure reviews shall, as appropriate, consult from an early stage with State, local, and Tribal officials involved in permitting or authorizing proposed infrastructure projects to develop efficient timelines for decision-making that are appropriate given the complexities of proposed projects.

EMPOWERING WORKERS BY ADVANCING CONSERVATION, AGRICULTURE, AND REFORESTATION

     Sec. 214.  Policy.  It is the policy of my Administration to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters.  The Federal Government must protect America's natural treasures, increase reforestation, improve access to recreation, and increase resilience to wildfires and storms, while creating well-paying union jobs for more Americans, including more opportunities for women and people of color in occupations where they are underrepresented.  America's farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners have an important role to play in combating the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by sequestering carbon in soils, grasses, trees, and other vegetation and sourcing sustainable bioproducts and fuels.  Coastal communities have an essential role to play in mitigating climate change and strengthening resilience by protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems, such as wetlands, seagrasses, coral and oyster reefs, and mangrove and kelp forests, to protect vulnerable coastlines, sequester carbon, and support biodiversity and fisheries.

     Sec. 215.  Civilian Climate Corps.  In furtherance of the policy set forth in section 214 of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, in collaboration with the Secretary of Agriculture and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall submit a strategy to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order for creating a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, within existing appropriations, to mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs.  The initiative shall aim to conserve and restore public lands and waters, bolster community resilience, increase reforestation, increase carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protect biodiversity, improve access to recreation, and address the changing climate.

     Sec. 216.  Conserving Our Nation's Lands and Waters.  (a)  The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall submit a report to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order recommending steps that the United States should take, working with State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, and other key stakeholders, to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.

(i)   The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall, as appropriate, solicit input from State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials, agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, and other key stakeholders in identifying strategies that will encourage broad participation in the goal of conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.

(ii)  The report shall propose guidelines for determining whether lands and waters qualify for conservation, and it also shall establish mechanisms to measure progress toward the 30-percent goal.  The Secretary of the Interior shall subsequently submit annual reports to the Task Force to monitor progress.

(b)  The Secretary of Agriculture shall:

(i)   initiate efforts in the first 60 days from the date of this order to collect input from Tribes, farmers, ranchers, forest owners, conservation groups, firefighters, and other stakeholders on how to best use Department of Agriculture programs, funding and financing capacities, and other authorities, and how to encourage the voluntary adoption of climate-smart agricultural and forestry practices that decrease wildfire risk fueled by climate change and result in additional, measurable, and verifiable carbon reductions and sequestration and that source sustainable bioproducts and fuels; and

(ii)  submit to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order a report making recommendations for an agricultural and forestry climate strategy.

     (c)  The Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall initiate efforts in the first 60 days from the date of this order to collect input from fishermen, regional ocean councils, fishery management councils, scientists, and other stakeholders on how to make fisheries and protected resources more resilient to climate change, including changes in management and conservation measures, and improvements in science, monitoring, and cooperative research.

EMPOWERING WORKERS THROUGH REVITALIZING ENERGY COMMUNITIES

     Sec. 217.  Policy.  It is the policy of my Administration to improve air and water quality and to create well-paying union jobs and more opportunities for women and people of color in hard-hit communities, including rural communities, while reducing methane emissions, oil and brine leaks, and other environmental harms from tens of thousands of former mining and well sites.  Mining and power plant workers drove the industrial revolution and the economic growth that followed, and have been essential to the growth of the United States.  As the Nation shifts to a clean energy economy, Federal leadership is essential to foster economic revitalization of and investment in these communities, ensure the creation of good jobs that provide a choice to join a union, and secure the benefits that have been earned by workers.

     Such work should include projects that reduce emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases from existing and abandoned infrastructure and that prevent environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety.  Plugging leaks in oil and gas wells and reclaiming abandoned mine land can create well-paying union jobs in coal, oil, and gas communities while restoring natural assets, revitalizing recreation economies, and curbing methane emissions.  In addition, such work should include efforts to turn properties idled in these communities, such as brownfields, into new hubs for the growth of our economy.  Federal agencies should therefore coordinate investments and other efforts to assist coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities, and achieve substantial reductions of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as quickly as possible.

     Sec. 218.  Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.  There is hereby established an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization (Interagency Working Group).  The National Climate Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy shall serve as Co-Chairs of the Interagency Working Group.

(a)   Membership.  The Interagency Working Group shall consist of the following additional members:

(i)     the Secretary of the Treasury;

(ii)    the Secretary of the Interior;

(iii)   the Secretary of Agriculture;

(iv)    the Secretary of Commerce;

(v)     the Secretary of Labor;

(vi)    the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(vii)   the Secretary of Transportation;

(viii)  the Secretary of Energy;

(ix)    the Secretary of Education;

(x)     the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(xi)    the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(xii)   the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Director of the Domestic Policy Council; and

(xiii)  the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

(b)  Mission and Work.

(i)   The Interagency Working Group shall coordinate the identification and delivery of Federal resources to revitalize the economies of coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities; develop strategies to implement the policy set forth in section 217 of this order and for economic and social recovery; assess opportunities to ensure benefits and protections for coal and power plant workers; and submit reports to the National Climate Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on a regular basis on the progress of the revitalization effort.

(ii)  As part of this effort, within 60 days of the date of this order, the Interagency Working Group shall submit a report to the President describing all mechanisms, consistent with applicable law, to prioritize grantmaking, Federal loan programs, technical assistance, financing, procurement, or other existing programs to support and revitalize the economies of coal and power plant communities, and providing recommendations for action consistent with the goals of the Interagency Working Group.

(c)  Consultation.  Consistent with the objectives set out in this order and in accordance with applicable law, the Interagency Working Group shall seek the views of State, local, and Tribal officials; unions; environmental justice organizations; community groups; and other persons it identifies who may have perspectives on the mission of the Interagency Working Group.

(d)  Administration.  The Interagency Working Group shall be housed within the Department of Energy.  The Chairs shall convene regular meetings of the Interagency Working Group, determine its agenda, and direct its work.  The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Chairs, shall designate an Executive Director of the Interagency Working Group, who shall coordinate the work of the Interagency Working Group and head any staff assigned to the Interagency Working Group.

(e)  Officers.  To facilitate the work of the Interagency Working Group, the head of each agency listed in subsection (a) of this section shall assign a designated official within the agency the authority to represent the agency on the Interagency Working Group and perform such other duties relating to the implementation of this order within the agency as the head of the agency deems appropriate.

SECURING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND SPURRING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

     Sec. 219.  Policy.  To secure an equitable economic future, the United States must ensure that environmental and economic justice are key considerations in how we govern.  That means investing and building a clean energy economy that creates well‑paying union jobs, turning disadvantaged communities — historically marginalized and overburdened — into healthy, thriving communities, and undertaking robust actions to mitigate climate change while preparing for the impacts of climate change across rural, urban, and Tribal areas.  Agencies shall make achieving environmental justice part of their missions by developing programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, climate-related and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged communities, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such impacts.  It is therefore the policy of my Administration to secure environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment in housing, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and health care.

     Sec. 220.  White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council.  (a)  Section 1-102 of Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994 (Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a)  There is hereby created within the Executive Office of the President a White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council (Interagency Council).  The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall serve as Chair of the Interagency Council.

"(b)  Membership.  The Interagency Council shall consist of the following additional members:

(i)      the Secretary of Defense;

(ii)     the Attorney General;

(iii)    the Secretary of the Interior;

(iv)     the Secretary of Agriculture;

(v)      the Secretary of Commerce;

(vi)     the Secretary of Labor;

(vii)    the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(viii)   the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(ix)     the Secretary of Transportation;

(x)      the Secretary of Energy;

(xi)     the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;

(xii)    the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(xiii)   the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(xiv)    the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council;

(xv)     the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xvi)    the National Climate Advisor;

(xvii)   the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy; and

(xviii)  the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

"(c)  At the direction of the Chair, the Interagency Council may establish subgroups consisting exclusively of Interagency Council members or their designees under this section, as appropriate.

"(d)  Mission and Work.  The Interagency Council shall develop a strategy to address current and historic environmental injustice by consulting with the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and with local environmental justice leaders.  The Interagency Council shall also develop clear performance metrics to ensure accountability, and publish an annual public performance scorecard on its implementation.

"(e)  Administration.  The Office of Administration within the Executive Office of the President shall provide funding and administrative support for the Interagency Council, to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations.  To the extent permitted by law, including the Economy Act (31 U.S.C. 1535), and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency shall provide administrative support as necessary.

"(f)  Meetings and Staff.  The Chair shall convene regular meetings of the Council, determine its agenda, and direct its work.  The Chair shall designate an Executive Director of the Council, who shall coordinate the work of the Interagency Council and head any staff assigned to the Council.

"(g)  Officers.  To facilitate the work of the Interagency Council, the head of each agency listed in subsection (b) shall assign a designated official within the agency to be an Environmental Justice Officer, with the authority to represent the agency on the Interagency Council and perform such other duties relating to the implementation of this order within the agency as the head of the agency deems appropriate."

(b)  The Interagency Council shall, within 120 days of the date of this order, submit to the President, through the National Climate Advisor, a set of recommendations for further updating Executive Order 12898.

     Sec. 221.  White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  There is hereby established, within the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (Advisory Council), which shall advise the Interagency Council and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

     (a)  Membership.  Members shall be appointed by the President, shall be drawn from across the political spectrum, and may include those with knowledge about or experience in environmental justice, climate change, disaster preparedness, racial inequity, or any other area determined by the President to be of value to the Advisory Council.

     (b)  Mission and Work.  The Advisory Council shall be solely advisory.  It shall provide recommendations to the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council established in section 220 of this order on how to increase the Federal Government's efforts to address current and historic environmental injustice, including recommendations for updating Executive Order 12898.

     (c)  Administration.  The Environmental Protection Agency shall provide funding and administrative support for the Advisory Council to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations.  Members of the Advisory Council shall serve without either compensation or reimbursement of expenses.

     (d)  Federal Advisory Committee Act.  Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), may apply to the Advisory Council, any functions of the President under the Act, except for those in section 6 of the Act, shall be performed by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with the guidelines that have been issued by the Administrator of General Services.

     Sec. 222.  Agency Responsibilities.  In furtherance of the policy set forth in section 219:

     (a)  The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall, within 6 months of the date of this order, create a geospatial Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and shall annually publish interactive maps highlighting disadvantaged communities.

     (b)  The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall, within existing appropriations and consistent with applicable law:

(i)   strengthen enforcement of environmental violations with disproportionate impact on underserved communities through the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance; and

(ii)  create a community notification program to monitor and provide real-time data to the public on current environmental pollution, including emissions, criteria pollutants, and toxins, in frontline and fenceline communities — places with the most significant exposure to such pollution.

     (c)  The Attorney General shall, within existing appropriations and consistent with applicable law:

(i)    consider renaming the Environment and Natural Resources Division the Environmental Justice and Natural Resources Division;

(ii)   direct that division to coordinate with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, through the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, as well as with other client agencies as appropriate, to develop a comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy, which shall seek to provide timely remedies for systemic environmental violations and contaminations, and injury to natural resources; and

(iii)  ensure comprehensive attention to environmental justice throughout the Department of Justice, including by considering creating an Office of Environmental Justice within the Department to coordinate environmental justice activities among Department of Justice components and United States Attorneys' Offices nationwide.

(d)  The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, consistent with applicable law and within existing appropriations:

(i)   establish an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity to address the impact of climate change on the health of the American people; and

(ii)  establish an Interagency Working Group to Decrease Risk of Climate Change to Children, the Elderly, People with Disabilities, and the Vulnerable as well as a biennial Health Care System Readiness Advisory Council, both of which shall report their progress and findings regularly to the Task Force.

(e)  The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall, in consultation with the National Climate Advisor, within existing appropriations, and within 100 days of the date of this order, publish a report identifying the climate strategies and technologies that will result in the most air and water quality improvements, which shall be made public to the maximum extent possible and published on the Office's website.

     Sec. 223.  Justice40 Initiative.  (a)  Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Climate Advisor, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall jointly publish recommendations on how certain Federal investments might be made toward a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits flow to disadvantaged communities.  The recommendations shall focus on investments in the areas of clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and the development of critical clean water infrastructure.  The recommendations shall reflect existing authorities the agencies may possess for achieving the 40-percent goal as well as recommendations on any legislation needed to achieve the 40‑percent goal.

     (b)  In developing the recommendations, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Climate Advisor shall consult with affected disadvantaged communities.

     (c)  Within 60 days of the recommendations described in subsection (a) of this section, agency heads shall identify applicable program investment funds based on the recommendations and consider interim investment guidance to relevant program staff, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.

     (d)  By February 2022, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator of the United States Digital Service, and other relevant agency heads, shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, publish on a public website an annual Environmental Justice Scorecard detailing agency environmental justice performance measures.

PART III — GENERAL PROVISIONS

     Sec. 301.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

     (b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

     (c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 27, 2021.

Justice40 Initiative+President Biden Takes Executive Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Create Jobs, and Restore Scientific Integrity Across Federal Government

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/

FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Executive Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Create Jobs, and Restore Scientific Integrity Across Federal Government
January 27, 2021    • Statements and Releases   

Biden-Harris Administration Commits on Climate Change – Creating Jobs, Building Infrastructure, and Delivering Environmental Justice

Today, President Biden will take executive action to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad while creating good-paying union jobs and equitable clean energy future, building modern and sustainable infrastructure, restoring scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking across the federal government, and re-establishing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

These Executive Orders follow through on President Biden's promise to take aggressive action to tackle climate change and build on the executive actions that the President took on his first day in office, including rejoining the Paris Agreement and immediate review of harmful rollbacks of standards that protect our air, water, and communities.

President Biden set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution that achieves a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and puts the United States on an irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050. Today's actions advance those goals and ensure that we are tapping into the talent, grit, and innovation of American workers, revitalizing the U.S. energy sector, conserving our natural resources and leveraging them to help drive our nation toward a clean energy future, creating well-paying jobs with the opportunity to join a union, and delivering justice for communities who have been subjected to environmental harm.

President Biden will also sign an important Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity to send a clear message that the Biden-Harris Administration will protect scientists from political interference and ensure they can think, research, and speak freely to provide valuable information and insights to the American people. Additionally, and in line with the scientific-integrity memorandum's charge to reestablish scientific advisory committees, President Biden will sign an Executive Order re-establishing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

TACKLING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AT HOME AND ABROAD EXECUTIVE ORDER

Today's Executive Order takes bold steps to combat the climate crisis both at home and throughout the world. In signing this Executive Order, President Biden has directed his Administration to:

Center the Climate Crisis in U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security Considerations

- The order clearly establishes climate considerations as an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security.

- The order affirms that, in implementing – and building on – the Paris Agreement's objectives, the United States will exercise its leadership to promote a significant increase in global ambition. It makes clear that both significant short-term global emission reductions and net zero global emissions by mid-century – or before – are required to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory.

- The order reaffirms that the President will host a Leaders' Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, 2021; that the United States will reconvene the Major Economies Forum; that, to underscore the administration's commitment to elevating climate in U.S. foreign policy, the President has created a new position, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, which will have a seat on the National Security Council, and that it will be a U.S. priority to press for enhanced climate ambition and integration of climate considerations across a wide range of international fora.

- The order also kicks off the process of developing the United States' "nationally determined contribution" – our emission reduction target – under the Paris Agreement, as well as a climate finance plan.

- Among numerous other steps aimed at prioritizing climate in U.S. foreign policy and national security, the order directs the Director of National Intelligence to prepare a National Intelligence Estimate on the security implications of climate change, the State Department to prepare a transmittal package to the Senate for the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and all agencies to develop strategies for integrating climate considerations into their international work.

Take a Whole-of-Government Approach to the Climate Crisis

- The order formally establishes the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy – led by the first-ever National Climate Advisor and Deputy National Climate Advisor – creating a central office in the White House that is charged with coordinating and implementing the President's domestic climate agenda.

- The order establishes the National Climate Task Force, assembling leaders from across 21 federal agencies and departments to enable a whole-of-government approach to combatting the climate crisis.

Leverage the Federal Government's Footprint and Buying Power to Lead by Example

- Consistent with the goals of the President's Build Back Better jobs and economic recovery plan, of which his clean energy jobs plan is a central pillar, the order directs the federal agencies to procure carbon pollution-free electricity and clean, zero-emission vehicles to create good-paying, union jobs and stimulate clean energy industries.

- In addition, the order requires those purchases be Made in America, following President Biden's Buy American executive order. The order also directs agencies to apply and strictly enforce the prevailing wage and benefit guidelines of the Davis Bacon and other acts and encourage Project Labor Agreements. These actions reaffirm that agencies should work to ensure that any jobs created with funds to address the climate crisis are good jobs with a choice to join a union.

- The order directs each federal agency to develop a plan to increase the resilience of its facilities and operations to the impacts of climate change and directs relevant agencies to report on ways to expand and improve climate forecast capabilities – helping facilitate public access to climate related information and assisting governments, communities, and businesses in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

- The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible, launch a rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, and identify steps that can be taken to double renewable energy production from offshore wind by 2030. The order does not restrict energy activities on lands that the United States holds in trust for Tribes. The Secretary of the Interior will continue to consult with Tribes regarding the development and management of renewable and conventional energy resources, in conformance with the U.S. government's trust responsibilities.

- The order directs federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law and identify new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

Rebuild Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Economy

- The order catalyzes the creation of jobs in construction, manufacturing, engineering and the skilled-trades by directing steps to ensure that every federal infrastructure investment reduces climate pollution and that steps are taken to accelerate clean energy and transmission projects under federal siting and permitting processes in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Advance Conservation, Agriculture, and Reforestation

- The order commits to the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and oceans by 2030 and launches a process for stakeholder engagement from agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, Tribes, States, Territories, local officials, and others to identify strategies that will result in broad participation.

- The order also calls for the establishment of a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate.

- The order directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect input from farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders on how to use federal programs to encourage adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that produce verifiable carbon reductions and sequestrations and create new sources of income and jobs for rural Americans.

Revitalize Energy Communities

- The order establishes an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, to be co-chaired by the National Climate Advisor and the Director of the National Economic Council, and directs federal agencies to coordinate investments and other efforts to assist coal, oil and natural gas, and power plant communities.

- The order tasks the new Interagency Working Group to advance projects that reduce emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases from existing and abandoned infrastructure and that prevent environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety – such as projects to reduce methane emissions, oil and brine leaks, and other environmental harms from tens of thousands of former mining and well sites.

- In addition, the new Interagency Working Group is also directed to explore efforts to turn properties idled in these communities, like brownfields, into new hubs for the growth of our economy.

Secure Environmental Justice and Spur Economic Opportunity

- The order formalizes President Biden's commitment to make environmental justice a part of the mission of every agency by directing federal agencies to develop programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic, and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.

- The order establishes a White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council and a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to prioritize environmental justice and ensure a whole-of-government approach to addressing current and historical environmental injustices, including strengthening environmental justice monitoring and enforcement through new or strengthened offices at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, and Department of Health and Human Services.  The new bodies are also tasked with advising on ways to update Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994.

- The order creates a government-wide Justice40 Initiative with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities and tracks performance toward that goal through the establishment of an Environmental Justice Scorecard.

- The order initiates the development of a Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool, building off EPA's EJSCREEN, to identify disadvantaged communities, support the Justice40 Initiative, and inform equitable decision making across the federal government

SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM

The Presidential Memorandum on Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking directs agencies to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data. Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies, and to the delivery of effective and equitable programs. Improper political interference in the scientific process, with the work of scientists, and in the communication of scientific facts undermines the welfare of the nation, contributes to systemic inequities and injustices, and violates the public trust.

The memorandum charges the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with the responsibility for ensuring scientific integrity across federal agencies. The OSTP Director is directed to review the effectiveness of agency scientific-integrity policies and assess agency scientific-integrity policies and practices going forward.

In addition, agencies that oversee, direct, or fund research are tasked with designating a senior agency employee as Chief Science Officer to ensure agency research programs are scientifically and technologically well founded and conducted with integrity. Because science, facts, and evidence are vital to addressing policy and programmatic issues across the Federal Government, all agencies – not just those that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research –must designate a senior career employee as the agency's Scientific Integrity Official to oversee implementation and iterative improvement of scientific-integrity policies and processes.

EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Leaders across the Biden-Harris Administration, including the President himself and his senior advisors in the Executive Office of the President, will seek input, advice, and the best-available science, data, and scientific and technological information from scientists, engineers, and other experts in science, technology, and innovation.

To that end, and in alignment with the scientific-integrity memorandum's charge to reestablish scientific and technological advisory committees, this order re-establishes the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The PCAST– co-chaired by the President's Science Advisor – will advise the President on policy that affects science, technology, and innovation. The Council will also advise the President on scientific and technical information that is needed to inform public policy relating to the economy, worker empowerment, education, energy, environment, public health, national and homeland security, racial equity, and other topics.

News Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun

President Biden to Sign Executive Order Strengthening Buy American Provisions, Ensuring Future of America is Made in America by All of America's Workers | Directs agencies to close current loopholes in how domestic content is measured and increase domestic content requirements. Existing Buy American rules establish a domestic content threshold – the amount of a product that must be made in the U.S. for a purchase to qualify under Buy American law. This Executive Order directs an increase in both the threshold and the price preferences for domestic goods – the difference in price over which government can by a product from a non-US supplier.  It also updates how government decides if a product was sufficiently made in America, building a stronger foundation for the enforcement of Buy American laws. | Increases oversight of potential waivers to domestic preference laws. This order creates a central review of agency waivers of Buy American requirements, fulfilling the President's commitment to crack down on unnecessary waivers. It also directs the General Services Administration to publish relevant waivers on a publicly available website. | Connects new businesses to contracting opportunities by requiring active use of supplier scouting by agencies. This Executive Order directs agencies to utilize the Manufacturing Extension Partnership — a national network in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, that supports small and medium-size manufacturers — to help agencies connect with new domestic suppliers who can make the products they need while employing America's workers. | Reiterates the President's strong support for the Jones Act. The President will continue to be a strong advocate for the Jones Act and its mandate that only U.S.-flag vessels carry cargo between U.S. ports, which supports American production and America's workers. With the signing of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the Jones Act has also been affirmed as an opportunity to invest in America's workers as we build offshore renewable energy, in line with the President's goals to build our clean energy future here in America. | Directs a cross-agency review of all domestic preferences. The order requires agencies to report on their implementation of current Made in America laws and make recommendations for achieving the President's Made in America goals, and to continue to do so on a bi-annual basis. This review includes a requirement that agencies submit recommendations for ways to ensure items offered to the general public on federal property are Made in America — to the fullest extent possible—and to consider service industries in addition to manufacturing.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/25/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-strengthening-buy-american-provisions-ensuring-future-of-america-is-made-in-america-by-all-of-americas-workers/

Pro-Trump Capitol Terrorist's Brother Is A Secret Service Agent Who Once Led Michelle Obama's Detail
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/politics/us-capitol-breach-secret-service-scott-fairlamb-preston-fairlamb/index.html

California discovers homegrown coronavirus19 strain that spreads even faster than any other
https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/01/california-discovers-homegrown-coronavirus-strain-that-spreads-even-faster-than-any-other.html

A quarter of all known bee species haven't been seen since the 1990s
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265680-a-quarter-of-all-known-bee-species-havent-been-seen-since-the-1990s/

A cache of ancient burial shafts containing hundreds of wooden coffins dating back to the New Kingdom are among a new batch of major discoveries found at Egypt's Saqqara archaeological site. Coffins, funerary masks and a funeral temple were discovered during an archeological mission at Saqqara, a vast necropolis about 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of Cairo, which experts claim will "rewrite" the history of the region. Experts on Saturday announced they had discovered the funeral temple of Queen Nearit -- wife of King Teti, the first king of the sixth dynasty of the old kingdom -- state news Al-Ahram reported, quoting the Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Three mud-brick warehouses -- built to store provisions, offerings and tools used in the queen's tomb -- were also discovered attached to the temple. Some 52 burial shafts, which were between 10-12 meters deep and contained hundreds of wooden coffins dating back to the New Kingdom period, were also discovered. The discovery marks the first time that coffins dating back 3,000 years have been found in the Saqqara region, Al-Ahram said. | The latest discoveries will rewrite the history of Saqqara during the New Kingdom and assert the importance of the worship of King Teti during the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, Zahi Hawass, the head of the Egyptian archaeological mission said, according to the news site. The new finds "will rewrite the history of this region, especially during the 18th and 19th dynasties of the New Kingdom, during which King Teti was worshiped, and the citizens at that time were buried around his pyramid," the statement added. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/egypt-saqqara-coffins-intl-scli/index.html
https://cnn.com/travel/article/13-coffins-mummies-discovered-saqqara-egypt-scli-intl/index.html 

Good: Blinken affirms plan to keep US embassy in Jerusalem
https://thehill.com/policy/international/534926-blinken-affirms-plan-to-keep-us-embassy-in-jerusalem

Giuliani sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting systems over false election fraud claims
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/25/dominion-files-defamation-lawsuit-against-rudy-giuliani-for-election-claims.html

In other words James Harden and Kyrie Irving are garbage: The Brooklyn Nets are in active discussions with the Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire JaVale McGee. Also have interest in Kevin Love
https://twitter.com/JDumasReports/status/1353747951189860353?s=20

NBA history in the Charlotte-Orlando game tonight: First time two female referees -- Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroeder -- will officiate the same NBA game. They'll be working with Sean Wright.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1353734015883341824

A winter storm began unleashing snow and a wintry mix from the central Plains to the Ohio Valley on Monday, and forecasters say its impacts will be far-reaching and multifaceted as it continues to run into Arctic air early this week. Forecasters expect the storm to leave accumulating snowfall along a 1,500-mile-long stretch of the central and eastern United States, and a buildup of ice in parts of those regions that could leave some areas in the dark. AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 20 inches of snow.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/massive-winter-storm-eyes-1500-mile-stretch-of-us/888220

Why the fuck are Democratic candidates refusing to attack Republican candidates with documented criminalistic pro-terrorist backgrounds and fabricated resume (Madison Cawthorne, Tom Cotton)? (Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, etc)  Republican Sen. Josh Hawley wrote a defense of the Oklahoma City bomber in 1995 | The Kansas City Star reported that following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Hawley wrote a column for his hometown paper, The Lexington News, in which he warned against calling anti-government militia members domestic terrorists
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article248663695.html

The Supreme Court dismissed cases accusing Trump of violating the US Constitution by refusing to divest from his businesses because he's no longer in office. This is just a catastrophic failure of our justice system, that a lawsuit alleging a very obvious crime took four years to by dismissed on technical grounds because the president wasn't president anymore. This clears the way for any future president to violate the Emoluments Clause, rendering it toothless and making it possible for any president to profit off of the office. It's disgraceful.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/supreme-court-drops-trump-hotel-emoluments-lawsuits
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-ends-trump-lawsuits-df42ef0eec5fa57edf3e294234051d88
https://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-gutters-emoluments-cases-against-trump/
_____________________

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/25/lockdowns-job-losses/

Governors' shutdowns did not cause the pandemic jobs crisis

People started staying at home before the shutdowns were ordered, data shows

By Andrew Van Dam
Jan. 25, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 416,000 Americans and recently pulled the U.S. economic recovery into reverse. Some states have shut down again to get a handle on surging caseloads. And critics have blamed those states' governors, typically Democrats, for job losses.

But pandemic-related economic research shows the shutdowns aren't killing jobs; the virus is.

In the first outbreaks last spring, people stayed home to avoid contracting the deadly novel coronavirus, regardless of what their governor said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

Indiana University economists Sumedha Gupta, Kosali Simon and Coady Wing reviewed more than 60 pandemic and social-distancing studies for a review article forthcoming in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. With the input of those economists and other experts, we've reviewed the basic data and some of the strongest research. Four facts emerged from the spring shutdowns.

Employment and activity declined before shutdowns hit

If stay-at-home orders poisoned an otherwise healthy economy, business should have crumpled the moment they kicked in. But cellphone activity data analyzed by Gupta, Simon and Wing show a different trend: People started to stay home well before states imposed shutdowns.

In the chaotic early days of the pandemic, most people didn't wait for official stay-at-home orders, Simon said. In every state, they stopped going to work around the weekend of March 14, as uncertainty soared, stock markets collapsed and the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=AaNf
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=AaND
https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

Typically, economic data is measured in months, quarters and years. But when dealing with a pandemic that spreads so fast that it creates an exponential curve of runaway devastation, economists needed to measure changes in a matter of days. To do so, they harnessed a new generation of indicators based on cellphone activity and other alternative data sets from the private sector.

https://tracktherecovery.org/

"Most of the economic damage we've seen is produced by people's reaction to the virus," Wing said. "Social distancing policies mattered, too, but they were layered on top of a major change in personal behavior."

Research shows the virus itself caused an enormous drop in activity and shutdowns caused a small additional decline

Business collapsed so quickly in mid-March that it's tough to disentangle correlation and causation. But several high-profile teams of economists, armed with that high-frequency data and sophisticated statistical methods, arrived at similar conclusions.

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27432
https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tracker_paper.pdf
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27613
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/34/20468
https://tracktherecovery.org/

In one such study, economists Chad Syverson and Austan Goolsbee of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business used anonymized cellphone tracking data to compare traffic at businesses in shutdown areas with similar businesses in the same metro area (really, commuting zone) that weren't shut down.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/commuting-zones-and-labor-market-areas/

Business fell by more than half (53 percent) regardless of whether a place shut down, as people everywhere were trying not to leave their homes. In shutdown areas, activity fell another 7 percent, meaning shutdowns caused less than an eighth of the drop in business.

"If pandemic concern or fear leads both to people staying home and policymakers imposing lockdowns, then the fear is the true driving force," Syverson said. "Economic declines and lockdowns happen to be correlated because they're pushed by the same thing, even though one isn't necessarily causing the other."

Goolsbee and Syverson found that business activity declined even more in areas with more covid-19 deaths, which emphasizes the role that the fear of the virus played in keeping people at home. (Goolsbee chaired President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers during the Great Recession before returning to the University of Chicago.)

One other piece of supporting evidence? The economists found that businesses that drew the largest crowds before the pandemic were the same ones that saw the sharpest declines, relative to their size. That indicates consumers were spooked by the virus and sought out stores they knew were likely to have few customers. That trend was especially pronounced in areas with worse coronavirus outbreaks.

When shutdowns lifted, activity didn't spring back

If the shutdowns had been the major obstacle to business activity, consumer spending built up during the shutdown period would have been unleashed in a torrent of pent-up demand when the shutdown was lifted.

Instead, Goolsbee and Syverson found, economic activity returned about 5 percent faster in places that lifted their shutdowns compared with those areas not shut down.

When business didn't return appreciably faster in areas that lifted their shutdowns, it was clear that shutdowns couldn't be the primary reason people were staying away from businesses, Goolsbee said.

Jobs data doesn't show a wide red-blue divide

The Washington Post often hears from readers who blame job losses on Democratic governors who have often imposed shutdowns when coronavirus cases surge. If Democrats are really responsible for job losses, we would expect to see employment fall off the cliff in blue states while employment in red states sail on untouched. But even the simplest analysis shows job losses don't depend solely on the governor's party. Some red states struggled; some blue states thrived.

Gupta notes that readers are oversimplifying when they equate "Democrat" and "shut down." A large majority of Republican-led states also shut down. But a trend emerges in the chart below. Red states, on average, have recovered slightly faster than blue states.

Ohio State University economist Bruce Weinberg warns that charts like this can obscure an obvious truth: "The states that have Democratic governors differ in many ways from the states that have Republican governors."

For example, Republican states tend to have lower population density, and states with lower population density have added jobs more rapidly. To tease apart that correlation, compare the jobs recovery in counties of similar population density within red and blue states.

When we looked at job losses by the governor's party, rural and suburban areas of red and blue states lost jobs and began to recover at almost exactly the same pace, regardless of which party was in charge. It was only the densest counties in states with Republican governors that saw slightly faster recoveries than those with Democratic governors. To take two extreme examples, compare the Ohio county containing Cincinnati, which has seen almost a complete recovery from the crisis under Republican Mike DeWine, to the boroughs of New York City. Under Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo, the five boroughs are still missing about 1 in 7 jobs lost in the crisis, Labor Department data shows.

Economists are reluctant to attribute the gap entirely to additional rounds of shutdowns in the densest urban areas, such as the counties containing New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. They caution that some of the largest cities in Democratic-led states were hit harder and faster by the virus, and may host more workers and industries that are vulnerable to the pandemic.

For example, New York City was hit so hard with the coronavirus last spring and it remains so incredibly dense, with tens of thousands of people living in apartment buildings on small city blocks, that even when the shutdown eased, people tended not to go out.

(We're looking at jobs here — indicators such as the unemployment and labor-force participation rates show a smaller gap between states led by Republican or Democratic governors.)

When we step back, the most striking thing about this chart is that, as the first wave of shutdown research would predict, there's little difference in employment between red and blue states despite some variation in policy. After all, regardless of politics, American states all had one enormous thing in common in 2020: the coronavirus.

Andrew Van Dam covers data and economics. He previously worked for the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and the Idaho Press-Tribune. Follow
https://twitter.com/@andrewvandam
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to advocates of abortion rights, wiping lower court rulings off the books that had upheld a Texas order banning nearly all abortions in the state during the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-wipes-out-lower-court-rulings-texas-abortion-battle-n1255549

Ohio Republican Sen. Portman announces he won't seek re-election in 'polarized' environment. "We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground. This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades," he said. And guess who take advantage of that? You, Shitstain Portman, the same guy who enabled trump for years....gtfo and don't let the door hit you on the way out, well actually I hope that door hits you multiple times on your way out.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/ohio-sen-portman-announces-he-won-t-seek-re-election-n1255542

Biden replaces controversial White House physician with personal doctor
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/535665-biden-replaces-controversial-white-house-physician-with-personal
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https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/white-supremacist-prosecution/

The Justice System Is Going Too Easy on the White Insurrectionists

The Biden administration will be judged by how seriously it prosecutes the white supremacists who tried to overturn the election.

By Elie Mystal

January 25, 2021

An estimated 800 people stormed the Capitol building on January 6 in a violent insurrection aimed at overturning the results of the presidential election. Five people, including one Capitol Police officer, died. Many more were injured. On the day of the putsch, we all witnessed the privilege and restraint that law enforcement extends to white criminals. A few officers have already been placed on leave for appearing to encourage the mob. A single white insurrectionist was shot; had the mob been predominantly Black, we all know the cops would have released tanks, drones, and a barrage of bullets.

Now, we're seeing that same racist permissiveness from the Department of Justice and the FBI. Riley June Williams, the white woman accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop during the insurrection, was released last week to the custody of her mother, pending trial. Eric Munchel, the "zip tie guy" who showed up to the Capitol ready to take Congress members hostage, was released on bond after his buddy paid his bail. But Emanuel Jackson, pretty much the only Black face anybody has seen breaching the Capitol, will be held in prison until trial.

Every single person who breached the Capitol that day committed a crime. Every single person who breached the Capitol is, presumably, on video, captured by security cameras, committing that crime. At a minimum, every single person who breached the Capitol must be arrested, charged, and held accountable for that crime—just as they would be if they were Black.

But the vast majority of those 800 criminals were white, which means the vast majority are walking around free, at least for now. Reports indicate that only around 125 people have been arrested so far. Most of them have been charged with relatively minor offenses. A maddening report from The Washington Post suggests that there is internal division among some in the Justice Department about whether authorities should even bring cases against all 800 insurrectionists. For some reason, people at Justice are leaking to the press that they're worried that bringing cases against these people would "overwhelm" the courts.

That's an absurd claim. Every criminal court in a major metropolitan area in this country is "overwhelmed" with cases, and that was true even before Covid-19, when judges could go to work safely. Every family court in this country is overwhelmed. Every immigration court in this country is overwhelmed. Black and brown people sit in jails all across the country waiting for their cases to be heard. But we're supposed to believe "the system" is too busy to hold accountable 800 or so white insurrectionists? What, are we worried the FBI is going to run out of organic meals to feed these people too?

Refusing to prosecute the insurrectionists is straight-up racist. There is no wiggle room here. We can get into the weeds over whether the provocations of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Mo Brooks, and Rudolph Giuliani on the day of the insurrection were enough to charge them with crimes. We can debate the appropriate punishment for Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and other Republicans who supported the Big Lie that provided motivation for this attack on the government. But prosecuting the 800-odd people who charged the Capitol is nonnegotiable. It must happen. Either these people, all of them, are prosecuted, or this government is openly permissive of white violence.

I still have some hope this government will do the right thing, because "this" government, the Biden government, is only just beginning to take over. The charges, or lack thereof, we see now are the result of the previous administration's permissiveness of white violence, which led to the attack on the Capitol in the first place.

Consider: We could already have rounded up all 800 of these people and charged them with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. That could have happened. The fact that it hasn't is something that FBI Director Christopher Wray should have to answer for, likely in front of a Congressional Oversight Committee hearing, soon. Biden has decided to keep Wray at his post. I believe that's a mistake, because Wray failed to seriously investigate the attempted rape allegations against his Yale Law School classmate Brett Kavanaugh. His failure to round up insurrectionists on the day of their attempted coup only compounds the feeling that Wray is the wrong man for this job. But I can appreciate that firing the FBI director at the start of every new presidential administration is not really the way things are supposed to work.

Meanwhile, the current acting attorney general is a man named Monty Wilkinson. He's a career Justice Department civil servant whom I know almost nothing about, and what I do know—that he seems to have turned a blind eye to Trump's illegal family separation policy—I don't like. The current acting US Attorney for Washington, D.C., is a man named Michael Sherwin. He's only been on the job since May and supported former Attorney General Bill Barr's decision to try to make things easy for Michael Flynn. It would be foolish to place much hope in them.

But there is still some hope for Biden's appointees. As of now, no hearing has been scheduled for Biden's choice for attorney general, Merrick Garland. As of now, we don't know whom Biden and Garland will elevate to be the permanent, Senate-confirmed US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Biden does not have his prosecutors in place, so we really don't know how hard his administration will try to prosecute the insurrectionists.

I'm not normally a patient man, but I'm willing to wait to give the Biden administration time to put the right people in place to do what needs to be done.

Biden needs the right people in place to do this work, because the right laws are already in place. It's important to not get this twisted. Some people in the law enforcement community are already arguing that the reason for the lax punishment of Capitol insurrectionists is that we don't have a law criminalizing "domestic terrorism." It's true that we don't have one. But it's also true that we don't need one.

Remember how the government failed after 9/11. Remember how law enforcement used the Patriot Act almost immediately for surveillance and harassment of people who were not terrorists but happened to be brown-skinned. Who were Muslim. We don't need yet another draconian statutory regime to prosecute the people who stormed the Capitol. We just need to apply the laws we already have against white people, for a change. To do that, we need prosecutors committed to justice, not new laws that will be used by President Tom Cotton, or whatever Trump-lite person the Republicans elect next, to put Black people in jail the moment they get an opportunity.

We don't need new terrorism laws that prosecutors might someday abuse—we need prosecutors who will use criminal conspiracy charges against the people who attacked us. That is what I'm waiting for Biden's Justice Department to do.

The legal definition of "conspiracy" is simply two or more people agreeing to take an illegal action. If the agreement can be shown, then any "overt act" in furtherance of the conspiracy puts the responsibility for the crime on all parties to the agreement.

This might come as a galloping shock to some people, but overthrowing the government is indeed already a crime. Kidnapping people or taking hostages is already a crime. Assassinating or attempting to assassinate elected officials is already a crime. If it can be proven that any of these people agreed to do such things, then everybody associated with those actions, even if they ultimately failed to capture or assassinate their targets, can be hit with a criminal conspiracy charge that carries massive penalties. But using these conspiracy laws appropriately, instead of abusively, requires a deep investigation to make sure that prosecutors are indicting the right people with the most serious charges.

Sherwin's office has already charged three members of the Oath Keepers with conspiracy charges. I doubt that those are the only people who could face this kind of legal jeopardy. In fact, one of the prime reasons the FBI should round up all 800 people who breached the Capitol and charge them with something is that some of them might cooperate and tell authorities additional details about if and how the insurrection was planned.

The other charge I'm waiting for are the felony murder charges. A cop was killed. We've been told that authorities are investigating that crime as a murder. But the felony murder rule allows the state to charge people who aided in the commission of a crime that led to a murder. Felony murder is a harsh rule that can be used to lock people up for a long time for essentially committing the wrong crime at the wrong time. Law enforcement uses it all the time against people of color. Either the government uses it now, against a white mob, or we need to get rid of felony murder altogether and release scores of Black and brown people currently in jail because of this very rule.

There cannot be two systems of justice: one for people of color, like the man charged and convicted of felony murder after the Benghazi attacks even though he was only the lookout, and another for a mob of white insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol and killed a cop.

Developing legal cases like this takes time. We should want investigators to take their time. There are degrees of culpability, and the lawyers and investigators should move carefully to sort out the most dangerous criminals from the rest.

But they're all criminals. They should all be arrested and charged with something. There's no such thing as "innocently" breaching the Capitol to stop the installation of the duly elected president. This isn't The Simpsons; there is no "boys will be boys" ruling that is acceptable for this moment.

If confirmed, Merrick Garland will be judged on this. The entire Biden administration and its commitment to equal justice under the law will be judged on this.

Biden promised to do better, and I have hope that he and his people will. I have hope that Biden will appoint prosecutors who believe that prosecuting white people is part of their job, not figuring out excuses to let white people get away with violence. If there are 800 people who breached the Capitol, it's not too much to ask for an Excel spreadsheet to be delivered to my inbox detailing the accountability faced by each and every one of those 800 people, by sometime next year.

None of these people can be allowed to escape justice. I hope that Biden knows that.

Elie MystalTwitterElie Mystal is The Nation's justice correspondent—covering the courts, the criminal justice system, and politics—and the force behind the magazine's monthly column "Objection!" He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He can be followed @ElieNYC.
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https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article248663695.html

'Bamboozled.' Hawley mentors stunned by conduct, but early warning signs were there

By Bryan Lowry, Jonathan Shorman, and Eric Adler

January 24, 2021 05:00 AM, Updated 2 hours 53 minutes ago

Josh Hawley was a precocious 15-year-old in 1995, writing a regular column for his hometown paper, The Lexington News, when he was still in high school.

He used the early platform to opine on politics, culture and those he believed had been unfairly maligned by the media — among them anti-government militias and Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman.

Hawley warned against depicting all militia members as domestic terrorists after the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who carried out the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, had ties to the Michigan Militia.

"Many of the people populating these movements are not radical, right-wing, pro-assault weapons freaks as they were originally stereotyped," Hawley wrote two months after the bombing.

He argued that middle class Americans had gravitated to anti-government organizations out of genuine concerns about federal overreach and a disillusionment with mainstream politics.

"Dismissed by the media and treated with disdain by their elected leaders, these citizens come together and form groups that often draw more media fire as anti-government hate gatherings," Hawley said.

"Feeling alienated from their government and the rest of society, they often become disenchanted and slip into talks of 'conspiracy theories' about how the federal government is out to get them."

Fuhrman, whose use of racial slurs came to light during the O.J. Simpson trial, was the victim of a new censoriousness that plagued the culture, in Hawley's estimation.

"In this politically correct society, derogatory labels such as 'racist' are widely misused, and our ability to have open debate is eroding," he wrote.

Twenty-six years later, the junior senator from Missouri is the face of the failed effort to overturn the 2020 election, captured in a photograph that shows him raising a fist in solidarity with a crowd of former President Donald Trump's supporters shortly before they laid siege to the U.S. Capitol.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article248354085.html

The insurrection left five people dead, including a police officer, after a mob made up of militia members and racists with Confederate flags and neo-Nazi paraphernalia stormed the Capitol. Their deadly rage was fueled by the election of President Joe Biden, whose victory was due in large part to Black voters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/conspiracy-oath-keeper-arrest-capitol-riot/2021/01/19/fb84877a-5a4f-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article248383920.html

Prior to Jan. 6, Hawley had enjoyed an uninterrupted trajectory from Rockhurst High School valedictorian to the U.S. Senate — by way of Stanford University, Yale Law School, a clerkship for Chief Justice John Roberts and a brief tenure as Missouri attorney general.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article239391873.html

It placed Hawley, at 41, the youngest Republican in the Senate, as a likely contender for the presidency in 2024. His decision to become the first senator to announce that he would contest Biden's Electoral College totals was widely viewed as part of his bid to capture Trump's base within the party.

Since the Capitol rampage, Hawley's mentors have disavowed him. Donors have demanded refunds. Colleagues have called for his resignation or expulsion. And those who helped guide his career are asking themselves if they missed something essential about their former mentee.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article248346830.html
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article248424220.html
https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article248370825.html

 "I am more than a little bamboozled by it, certainly distressed by it," said David Kennedy, the Stanford professor emeritus of history who served as Hawley's academic adviser and wrote the foreword to his 2008 book on Teddy Roosevelt.

But the Lexington columns suggest that Hawley's ideology took root long before he entered public life, and that his passage from Roosevelt scholar to Trump's ideological heir was not entirely unforeseen.

His early writing touches on themes that have defined his Senate tenure: a rejection of political correctness and a belief that mainstream politics has failed to deal with a growing disillusionment in American society.

That same year he wrote about Fuhrman, Hawley said the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "must be rolling over in his grave" at the Rev. Jesse Jackson's defense of affirmative action. He described a "perverted racial spoils system" and said affirmative action has "stirred up resentment amongst the races."

Hawley's animosity toward programs aimed at boosting racial equality continued during his college years as a contributor to The Stanford Review, a conservative student paper founded by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and, later, a major political donor.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article235516452.html

"In this season of cultural concern, when Americans worry more about values than anything else … self-righteous pronouncements on racial oppression and gay rights activism seem oddly out of place, like disco music at a swing dance," Hawley wrote in a 1999 piece criticizing Democratic Sen. Bill Bradley's presidential campaign.

https://agranato.medium.com/senate-candidate-josh-hawley-at-stanford-an-academic-columnist-with-big-ideas-and-big-plans-8687a0ea5f79

Hawley did not consent to an interview for this story. His office pointed to an earlier statement in which he said he wouldn't apologize for voicing concerns about election integrity.

Hawley has condemned the violence in general terms. But in language that echoes his high school columns, he's lashed out at the press and Democratic colleagues for suggesting that he and other GOP leaders helped incite the attack by indulging Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen.

"Joe Biden and the Democrats talk about unity but are brazenly trying to silence dissent," Hawley fumed after seven Democratic senators requested an ethics investigation of him and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, another leader of the effort to contest the election. "Missourians will not be canceled by these partisan attacks."

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article248676780.html

'Future President'

Andrea Randle grew up in Lexington with Hawley and often carpooled with him for student council and clubs at Lexington Middle School. She recalled that he signed her eighth grade yearbook "Josh Hawley, president 2024."

It's the same yearbook where she and Hawley were among four eighth-graders given the title "Future President."

Randle, one of only three Black students in her grade, remembered Hawley as inclusive and sociable. So much so that following the death of George Floyd last year in Minneapolis, she emailed Hawley's campaign, urging her childhood friend to speak out.

"I know the young man who looked into the future. … America needs him desperately right now," Randle, now 41 and a St. Louis resident, said in a May 31 email she shared with The Star.

She never received a reply.

Hawley condemned Floyd's murder, but explicitly rejected the notion that his death — after a white officer knelt on his neck — was evidence of systemic racism. He railed against the broader racial justice movement Floyd's death spurred as a veiled attack against Trump's supporters.

"They're telling us that it wasn't a homicidal cop who killed George Floyd. No, his death now is the product of systemic racism, we're told. And anyone who doesn't acknowledge their role in his death, anyone who doesn't bend their knee to this extreme ideology is complicit in violence," Hawley said in a Senate floor speech less than two weeks after Randle sent her email.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243471031.html

"He's not who he was," Randle said.

Hawley's middle school principal, Barbara Weibling, said she thought Hawley's parents, banking executive Ronald Hawley and Virginia Hawley, were grooming their son for a future in politics.

"I just remember some of the teachers sitting around and saying, you know, that he was probably going to be president one day," she said.

But her admiration of the young Hawley has soured into bafflement, anger and even disgust for the leading role he played in sowing doubt about the election's integrity.

"That's what ticks me off about Josh so bad. Going along with the 'Big Lie' and everything," said Weibling, now retired and living in Oklahoma.

"I just think with his moral upbringing, why would he propagate that lie is beyond me," she said. "It's just his ambition, I think. You know, it's just simply the ambition. He saw that as a way to get attention."

Shirley Guevel attended church with Hawley's family in Lexington and surmised that his political views were influenced by his mother, whom she remembers as a firm opponent of abortion.

"A lot of people think it was his mom who actually groomed him to go into politics," she said, explaining that it didn't surprise her when Hawley espoused intractable conservative views. "People would say, 'That's his mother coming out.'"

Guevel, 87, who said her daughter babysat Hawley a few times as a child, said she viewed him as a person who had never been told "no" as a child and that she was not shy about sharing her opposition when he appeared on the Missouri political scene.

"I told people when he was running for attorney general, I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher. I wouldn't inflict that on the dog," said Guevel, who said she votes for both Republicans and Democrats.

Hawley attended high school about an hour away from Lexington at Rockhurst, a prestigious all-boys Jesuit prep school where students are implored to be "Men for Others."

Former classmates remember him as highly ambitious even among a peer group full of young men with lofty aspirations, an observation shared by others who encountered Hawley as he leapfrogged one elite institution to the next during the following decade.

At Stanford, his intellect was quickly recognized by Kennedy, the historian who advised Hawley on his thesis on President Teddy Roosevelt. He said the young Missourian stood out at an institution "which is overstuffed with overachieving and very talented young people."

Kennedy, who said he re-read the book after the Capitol insurrection, speculated that Hawley was drawn to Roosevelt after one or two days of lectures the professor gave on the 1912 presidential election. Kennedy said he presented the contest as one of just a couple elections in American history where deep philosophical principles were debated.

The election pitted Roosevelt, a Progressive, against Democrat Woodrow Wilson, incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene Debs. Wilson won with Roosevelt coming in second.

The title of Hawley's book, "Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness," comes from a Bible verse about G/d's wrath that Hawley used as an epigraph, from the Second Epistle of Peter.

https://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Joshua-David-Hawley/dp/0300120109

"G/d did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them reserved for pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness," the verse says.

Hawley, an evangelical Christian, has long championed the view that political leaders should be guided by their religious faith and that secularism runs counter to the country's founding principles.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article246398180.html

Kennedy said he doesn't believe Hawley incited the mob at the Capitol, but his "actions did give credence to the patent falsehood that the election was 'rigged' and its results illegitimate."

He also said that Roosevelt, Hawley's hero, would have been appalled by the chaos at the Capitol.

"I think Roosevelt had a deep reverence for the sacred quality of our constitutionally prescribed institutions and that mob of louts and clowns that stormed the Capitol building don't seem to have any regard for that at all," he said.

Hawley's classmates at Yale Law School remember him as politically ambitious and a deeply religious conservative. But they say they witnessed a startling transformation when he railed against elites as a Senate candidate.

"Josh came across as decent and kind and thoughtful at Yale. Today he seems like a steaming mass of grievance," said Ian Bassin, who attended Yale with Hawley before going on to work in the Obama White House and found the group Protect Democracy.

Bassin was one of 12 Yale Law alumni to sign a letter in 2018 warning that the Hawley they saw campaigning in Missouri was unrecognizable compared to the person they knew in school.

Political performance

Hawley cultivated key allies in politics and the conservative legal movement during his time at Yale and his early legal career in Washington. It helped propel him from a teaching post at the University Missouri School of Law to the attorney general's office despite entering his 2016 race as a relative unknown.

In a memorable television ad from his 2016 run, Hawley promised that he wasn't a "ladder-climbing" politician, as illustrated by the men in suits ascending ladders behind him.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1740088182870443

His Senate campaign followed less than a year into his tenure as attorney general.

"I don't think Josh ever thought he was going to stop at the attorney general's office," said a source involved in Missouri Republican politics. "It was a very good political ad and presented a very nice contrast with the opponent immediately before him. It is about winning the day, winning the challenge in front of you."

Hawley adopted the persona of a reluctant politician who was uninterested in higher office and who required encouragement from Vice President Mike Pence and former Sen. John Danforth among others to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article160768029.html

But internal emails obtained by The Star show Hawley's team was in close contact with Danforth and others during the prolonged public recruitment campaign that began just months into his tenure as attorney general.

Patrick Keller, a Lexington native who knew Hawley during his youth, said the image Hawley projected on the campaign trail did not match reality.

"You ran on, you know, being this farm kid," Keller said. "I remember he was this little preppy kid. He grew up in a subdivision."

Hawley's embrace of Trump was also tactical. The first time Trump came to Missouri as president in 2017, Hawley, the attorney general who was already exploring a Senate run, left the state for a family vacation.

But after that spurred backlash from Trump's devotees, Hawley took steps to win his favor and repeatedly appeared on stage with him in the lead-up to the 2018 election.

A former Hawley staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity said political consultants figured prominently in his transformation from a favorite of establishment Republicans to a Trump loyalist.

"They saw where the base was going if he wanted to run in '24,'" the staffer said.

Hawley's consulting team, OnMessage Inc., began to rack up thousands in monthly payments shortly after he took office as attorney general. The campaign-paid consultants had direct access to his official staff.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article220870465.html

A conspicuous example of the consultant-driven agenda was a 2017 raid on a Springfield massage parlor. According to the former staffer, Hawley donned a badge and windbreaker for television cameras on the advice of his consultants and appeared on CNN to promote it as a major blow to international sex traffickers.

The raid resulted in misdemeanor charges against seven women, but no felony charges were brought against the alleged traffickers.

Hawley faced investigations from both Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway after The Star revealed the consulting arrangement. Ashcroft found no wrongdoing, but Galloway concluded it was a potential misuse of taxpayer resources.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article220870465.html
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article239982518.html

The source involved in Missouri GOP politics said Hawley's consultants continue to have strong influence over his Senate office, and his advisers share some of the blame for the violence at the Capitol.

"Even if he did not intend that, he certainly bears responsibility. But the people around him are just as responsible," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Brad Todd, the owner of OnMessage Inc., which advises Hawley and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott, another potential 2024 contender, did not respond to an email inquiry about whether he advised his clients to vote to block Biden's electors.

'Not going anywhere'

Hawley has repeatedly rejected the notion that his objection to Biden's electors helped spur the violence at the Capitol. He has brushed off calls for his ouster.

"I'm not going anywhere," he told the Senate press pool hours after Biden was officially sworn in as president Wednesday

Hawley downplayed the significance of his raised fist when asked if he regretted making the gesture to the pro-Trump crowd.

"I wave at people all the time," he said.

Hawley's decision to block the quick consideration of Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security, shows that he will continue to position himself as a barrier to Biden's agenda during the next four years.

"His whole act is all about inheriting the Trump base and winning Iowa in 2024," said Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania, the state whose 20 electoral votes Hawley sought to block.

"That's what this whole thing was about. He was willing to throw out 7 million legally cast votes in my state just to modestly further his ambition," Boyle said. "Hawley will always have a black mark against his name recorded in the history books. It is well deserved."

Hawley's allies in Missouri believe that he will not only weather the backlash, but that he'll emerge stronger from it ahead of 2024 when his Senate seat and the presidency will be on the ballot.

"There are (a lot) of Trump flags still flying in this state," said James Harris, a Jefferson City-based GOP consultant who was involved in Hawley's 2018 campaign.

Early polling shows that while his approval rating in Missouri has dropped, his national name recognition and favorability have increased since the riot, according to The Morning Consult.

"I firmly believe he is someone our party will look to," Harris said. "I think there are more conservatives today who know who Josh Hawley is than knew a month ago or two months ago."

https://morningconsult.com/2021/01/22/hawley-cruz-gop-approval-riot-polling/
_____________________ 

I thought to myself.. "I wonder if there will be a press briefing today.." Then I remembered Jen said she'd be back Monday, and that she wasn't lying. Hallelujah. Weird to trust the word of administration officials.

The new CDC director mentioned something about not knowing the amount of vaccine the government has access to. If they don't know, nobody does. That shows how big of a mess Trump left them. It also shows how Republicans are terrorists (because they don't care).

Government Proceeds With Obama-Era Plan To Put Harriet Tubman On The $20 Bill.
The Biden Treasury Dept. is moving toward getting the effort to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill back on track, and "looking at ways to speed up that process," Psaki says
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/tubman-still-part-of-20-note-redo-as-mnuchin-focuses-elsewhere

Magazine founded by Pat Buchanan expounds the merits of dictatorship. American conservatism has, with honourable exceptions, disastrously lost its way. The American right has abandoned democracy and the basic tenets of liberalism as established over the course of centuries of Western politics. The American right has abandoned conservatism.
https://theamericanconservative.com/articles/waiting-for-our-salazar/

Executive Order On Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country In Uniform | All Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States ("Armed Forces") should be able to serve.  The All-Volunteer Force thrives when it is composed of diverse Americans who can meet the rigorous standards for military service, and an inclusive military strengthens our national security. | It is my conviction as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces that gender identity should not be a bar to military service.  Moreover, there is substantial evidence that allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military does not have any meaningful negative impact on the Armed Forces.  To that end, in 2016, a meticulous, comprehensive study requested by the Department of Defense found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs.  The study also concluded that open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries. On the basis of this information, the Secretary of Defense concluded in 2016 that permitting transgender individuals to serve openly in the military was consistent with military readiness and with strength through diversity, such that transgender service  members who could meet the required standards and procedures should be permitted to serve openly.  The Secretary of Defense also concluded that it was appropriate to create a process that would enable service members to take steps to transition gender while serving.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/25/executive-order-on-enabling-all-qualified-americans-to-serve-their-country-in-uniform/

____________________

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/biden-has-to-clean-up-trump-s-mess-in-the-middle-east-there-s-plenty-of-it-1.9480970

Biden Has to Clean Up Trump's Mess in the Middle East. There's Plenty of It

From Iran to Israel, Damascus to Dubai, from exiting nuclear deals and withdrawing troops to brokering normalization and assassinations, Trump's four years have left deep scars. How will Biden engage with the region, and with Trump's legacy?

Donald Trump's first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, recently made a stunning concession. He declared in a mid-January interview that the U.S. is "in a worse place today than we were before [Trump] came in."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/01/14/former-secretary-of-state-rex-tillerson-on-trump-were-in-a-worse-place-today-than-we-were-before-he-came-in/

Tillerson lambasted Trump's "very limited" understanding and broader handling of foreign policy, some of which he himself helped shape. But nowhere do his remarks ring more true than in the Middle East, where President Joe Biden is inheriting a patchwork of crises and dysfunctional relationships.

While Trump vowed to end America's "endless wars" in the region, the U.S. still has troops or advisers in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. While his administration scored historic successes, brokering normalization deals between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, his broader legacy in the Middle East, including the transactional politics that led to those deals, is far more dubious.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-receives-morocco-s-highest-award-for-middle-east-work-1.9455823

From Iran to Israel, Damascus to Dubai, here is a look at how four years of Trump impacted the Middle East.

Donald Trump's approach to Iran can best be described as paradoxical. Trump's key policy was to withdraw from the Obama administration's signature Iran nuclear accord.

The aim was to weaken Iran's economy through a "maximum pressure" campaign, in order to force Tehran to agree to a deal that would constrict further both their nuclear and ballistic capacities. But despite raining down sanctions, Iran is marching faster than ever toward a bomb.

France warned last week that, in the wake of the U.S. exit which lost the quid pro quo dynamic and a united international front, Tehran's repeated breaches of the deal meant the 'breakout time' to a bomb has now contracted to well below a year.

https://www.haaretz.com/amp/middle-east-news/iran/france-says-iran-is-building-nuclear-weapons-capacity-urgent-to-revive-2015-deal-1.9457841

If Trump's exit from the 2015 JCPOA was his real legacy on Iran, it will be short-lived, overtaken by the Biden administration's stated interest in returning to the negotiations table.

Perhaps the biggest surprise and risk of his Iran policy was the June 2020 assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. While it won him praise from both sides of the aisle in D.C., in Israel and among many foreign policy analysts, (despite its questionable legality), Soleimani was immediate replaced, Iran's retaliation is still pending, and Trump didn't have a consistent follow-up for the strike.

https://www.justsecurity.org/67949/the-targeted-killing-of-general-soleimani-its-lawfulness-and-why-it-matters/
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/revenge-is-certain-khamenei-tweets-image-of-trump-like-golfer-targeted-by-drone-1.9473596

Trump had no solid center on Iran: He was constantly being pushed and pulled, and his policy vacillated according to who had managed to influence him on the day.

After bringing on board the Iran hawk John Bolton as National Security Adviser, and claiming on Twitter in the summer of 2019 that he was "locked and loaded" to directly attack Iran in retaliation for provocations in the Persian Gulf, which included the downing of a U.S. drone and attacks on Saudi shipping and infrastructure, Trump backed down.

That u-turn won his praise from the self-identified "anti-war" right-wingers like Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who reportedly helped talk Trump out of striking Iran, praised Trump for avoiding another "stupid war" incited by "neo-cons" and who welcomed Bolton's departure a few months later as a "great day for America."  

Trump's May 2017 exit from the deal has not resulted in the policy achievements he had promised; instead, tensions have ramped up surrounding Iran's nuclear program. Hardliners in Tehran are now in the ascendent, the decade-long UN arms embargo has expired and the Revolutionary Guards are stepping up military exercises and unveiling new, enhanced ballistic missiles.

Why it matters: Trump's approach to Iran epitomizes his scattershot approach to foreign policy. It also exemplifies the role that pandering to his political base played in his foreign policy decisions: exiting the Iran nuclear deal and allowing Iranian military aggression to go unchecked played well but did little to strengthen regional security or America's position in the region.

Biden and his designated Secretary of State Anthony Blinken now find themselves at a crossroads: both want to reenter the deal, extend Iran's 'breakout time' and return to a carrot-and-stick dynamic for lifting sanctions. At the same time, Biden also wants a better, stronger deal, and has committed to integrating the responses of Middle East allies like Israel and the Gulf states in his administration's formulation of policy.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-blinken-vitally-important-to-consult-with-israel-on-iran-nuclear-deal-1.9465698

In Syria, Trump managed to betray a key U.S. regional ally, lose the confidence of his national security team and set back the multilateral fight against ISIS.

In the first two years of his presidency, Trump largely handed policy making over to the Pentagon, maintaining the fight against ISIS and checking President Bashar Assad without expanding the conflict.

He twice greenlighted limited action against Assad, air strikes in response to chemical attacks against civilians, and used U.S. ground troops to push back ISIS fighters, while bolstering America's Kurdish allies.

That all came to an abrupt stop in December of 2018, when Trump announced both a unilateral withdrawal from Syria and America's premature and specious "victory" over ISIS. Trump then gave Turkey a clear path to effectively occupy Kurdish parts of Syria and Iraq, establish a form of ethnic cleansing and hunt down those it considered in league with its domestic opponents.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-trump-is-complicit-in-erdogan-s-ethnic-cleansing-of-the-kurds-in-syria-1.7963502

The about-face on the Kurds led to the swift resignation of Jim Mattis, his first defense secretary, followed by the resignation of Trump's special counter-ISIS envoy, Brett McGurk.

Their replacements feared for the integrity of Trump's decisions on Syria: McGurk's replacement, Jim Jeffrey, stated that he would hide actual U.S. troop numbers in Syria from Trump so the president would still think they were withdrawing. In any case, Trump reneged on his "all troops out" position: some stayed to guard oil fields, others were redeployed to Iraq.

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/

Why it matters: Trump's erratic behavior in Syria shook the faith of U.S. allies and led to grave dissent within his national security team. ISIS has still not been defeated in Syria or Iraq and the U.S.'s waning presence in Syria boosted the interventions and adventurism of Russia, Iran and Turkey in the region.

Syria will undoubtedly be one of Biden's most pressing foreign policy challenges, and has presented the U.S. with few good options, as Obama discovered to his peril. But Biden is more likely to try and keep the military option open to bolster an invigorated U.S. human rights agenda and U.S. influence in the region, and to rebuild trust with allies.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/joe-biden-syria-talks-military-solution-218139

The Trump administration turned a blind to human rights abuses, from Egypt to Turkey to Saudi Arabia.

The stark pivot away from a post-World War II policy consensus of promoting democracy was debuted dramatically in 2017 by Trump's first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who declared that "America First" meant human rights were a secondary priority, and whenever promoting U.S. values like human rights were an "obstacle" to advancing other interests, those other interests were to take priority.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/05/05/tillerson-says-goodbye-to-human-rights-diplomacy/

Trump made no comment on the rolling purges instituted by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the wake of the 2015 coup attempt; instead, he exhibited bonhomie, even deference towards him. Trump said nothing about the escalating crackdowns on dissent, human rights activists, journalists and the LGBTQ community in Egypt, where President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi continued to collect billions in U.S. military aid.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-trump-s-total-capitulation-to-turkey-s-erdogan-1.8124420

But no single incident highlighted with more amoral clarity the Trump administration's suspension of human rights considerations than the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. When Trump's own intelligence agency, CIA, indicated that  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself ordered the killing, Trump refuted the findings, saying "Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/unusual-statement-disputing-cia-filled-exclamation-points-trump-backs-saudi-n938526

After the briefest of pauses, as a bare nod to international outrage over Khashoggi, the administration and its officials were back on the DC-Riyadh route.

The suspicion that transactional foreign policy had extinguished other considerations, and that those transactional interests were enmeshed with personal or familial as much as national interests, was strengthened by comments like that made by MBS, who said he had Trump's senior advisor Jared Kushner "in his pocket."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/3/22/saudi-crown-prince-boasted-jared-kushner-was-in-his-pocket

Why it matters: Trump's fondness for authoritarian leaders and unwillingness to stand up against human right abuses will be two of the defining traits of his foreign policy legacy.

The Biden administration has promised, in the starkest terms, to "stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur." That new climate has already spurred Saudi Arabia to swiftly 'clean up,' superficially at least, aspects of its dire human rights record. Biden is likely to push both the Saudis (especially on Yemen) and Egypt to do more than just lipservice.

https://twitter.com/jakejsullivan/status/1343610818814992386
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-saudi-arabia-uae-and-qatar-s-more-tolerant-liberal-islam-not-what-it-seems-1.9360335
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-how-saudi-arabia-terrorizes-women-1.9379783
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/world/middleeast/saudi-reforms-biden.html

And there may be a a multilayer reckoning with Erdogan, including in the context of NATO, as Turkey's purchase of Russia's S-400 missile system strains the alliance.

The Middle East in Jared's hands

Trump tasking Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and not-so-successful real estate developer, with "achieving Middle East peace" raised a lot of eyebrows across the world, and especially in the State Department.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/jared-kushner-worlds-worst-real-estate-developer

Tillerson would later accuse Kushner of "hijacking" U.S. foreign policy and running his own private state department.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rex-tillerson-jared-kushner-hijacked-us-foreign-policy-angry-former-secretary-of-state-says

Kushner's much-heralded "Path to Prosperity" grand scheme for Israeli-Palestinian peace fell mostly flat on its face, as the Palestinians outright rejected it, but the preparation of the plan had brought Kushner even closer to the Saudi crown prince and Israeli officials, including the Netanyahus.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-israeli-army-bolsters-forces-along-jordanian-border-ahead-of-trump-s-peace-deal-1.8464319
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-jared-kushner-s-paradigm-busting-mideast-peace-deal-just-won-t-work-1.7373104

That meeting of minds helped midwife the breakthrough normalization agreements, branded as the 'Abraham Accords,' between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and later Sudan and Morocco.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/EXT-INTERACTIVE-a-brave-new-middle-east-top-experts-break-down-momentous-israel-uae-bahrain-accord-1.9157511

While the Trump administration never hesitated to grant Israel's prime minister political wins, especially close to election time – moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, hinting at a defense pact – this waltz through an Israeli right-winger's wishlist did at least meet one solid obstacle. The UAE, the first Gulf state to enter U.S.-brokered normalization negotiations with Israel, demanded Israel freeze its West Bank annexation ambitions. And Netanyahu acceded. 

However, Kushner's achievements signally ignored the Palestinians. After the embassy move the Palestinians cut ties with the Trump administration, which led Trump to end all U.S. aid to the Palestinians refugee agency and to the Palestinian security forces, despite Israeli security officials' objections.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-trump-administration-announces-end-to-financial-aid-for-unrwa-1.6433942

Why it matters: Kushner's foreign policy legacy includes major, historic shifts in the Middle East. However, he traded away any claim the U.S. could be an impartial broker in Middle East peace. Biden and his team may certainly work to rebuild U.S. credibility but the Palestinians remain skeptical of Biden and remember the poor gains they made under Obama.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-pro-palestinian-vote-for-donald-trump-1.8862265

Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan has vowed to build on the "success of Israel's normalization arrangements with UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco": Whether Biden will embrace Kushner's transactional tactics, including the liberal use of arms deals as sweeteners, is an open question.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-gulf-usa-idUSKBN29T0DG

Although Trumpism has had an emboldening effect on authoritarians worldwide, there are few places where the mutual reinforcement of egos and rhetoric was more blatant than between Trump and Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was an old hand at political incitement and doublespeak long before Trump came on the scene, but as his bromance with Trump intensified, there has been no escaping the Trumpist resonances. In defending himself against his pending criminal charges, Netanyau claims Israel's "deep state" in Israel is out on a "witch hunt" to get him, that "There's no democracy here, but a government of bureaucrats and jurists."

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/netanyahu-deep-state-israel-no-democracy-here-lieberman-1.8736138

Netanyahu has even shared clips with Hebrew subtitles of "Fox & Friends," Trump's favorite TV show, in which the hosts denounce the charges against him and echo the "deep state" claim, a move straight out of Trump's playbook.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/netanyahu-posts-a-fox-friends-clip-defending-him-against-corruption-charges-1.6983420

Netanyahu has even hired Breitbart's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Aaron Klein, a conspiracy theorist once described as "Steve Bannon's man in the Middle East," to run his current election campaign.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-trump-breitbart-netanyahu-israel-aaron-klein-1.8913326

Netanyahu's son Yair, who like Trump Jr. is vocal on social media, and who, in the worst traditions of Trumpist apologists like Dinesh D'Souza, recently compared the Israeli kibbutz movement, a hallmark of the Israeli left, to Nazi Germany.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/yair-netanyahu-compares-israeli-kibbutz-movement-to-nazi-germany-1.9313668

Why it matters: Just as Trump changed the tone in U.S. politics, so has Netanyahu's dabbling in Trumpism. After four years of embracing Trump and Republicans, Netanyahu will now have to work with Biden and the Democrats. Their debate about the Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu actively worked to undermine during the Obama years, is now even more super-charged.

The polarization Trump fostered on Middle East issues paid unconditional dividends for those who ended up on the "right" side: the Gulf states, Turkey and Israel, but they all know there will be a course correction now.

And Biden, despite his pro-Israel credentials, and his team's long record of backing humanitarian interventions, will have to juggle with an implacable Trumpist opposition, a loud anti-interventionist camp made up of the hard right and left finding common ground, a Democratic base disgusted by the Bibi-Trump bromance and increasingly skeptical on Israel in general, and the overriding need to clean up at home first, from the pandemic to the economy.

And Biden, despite his pro-Israel credentials, and his team's long record of backing humanitarian interventions, will have to juggle with an implacable Trumpist opposition, a loud anti-interventionist camp made up of the hard right and left finding common ground, a Democratic base disgusted by the Bibi-Trump bromance and increasingly skeptical on Israel in general, and the overriding need to clean up at home first, from the pandemic to the economy.

But the Middle East, as many U.S. presidents have found, has a nasty habit of demanding attention, whether the administration is in the mood to engage or not.
____________________ 

3AM. 15 degrees. But #BillsMafia still showed up. We love you. ❤️💙
https://twitter.com/BuffaloBills/status/1353611868938653696

Tom Brady is 6-1 in SBs against animal teams. He is 0-2 against non-animal teams.

On February 5th 2020, Brady Vowed 'I'm Not Wearing a Blazer to the Super Bowl Next Year.' A year later, he's back in the Super Bowl with a different team.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/02/05/tom-brady-plans-to-play-in-next-years-super-bowl-wont-say-for-which-team/
https://nypost.com/2020/02/05/tom-bradys-free-agency-suitors-should-heed-his-new-super-bowl-warning/

Bruce Arians: I'm not really excited to play Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and Patrick Mahomes
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/01/25/bruce-arians-im-not-really-excited-to-play-travis-kelce-tyreek-hill-and-patrick-mahomes/

YIKES: Cole Beasley broke his fibula. He played through it.
https://twitter.com/SalSports/status/1353779530557763584

Arians says that Bucs will help the corners a little bit more this time against the Chiefs than they did last game. Presumably on Tyreek Hill, maybe Travis Kelce too. Not exactly a surprise given how they defended the 2 of them in the second half of their last meeting.
https://twitter.com/LedyardNFLDraft/status/1353752806902136833

Mahomes is 44-9 in his career (regular season + playoffs). His numbers in his 9 losses: 3,021 yards, 27 TD, 7 INT, 106.1 passer rating
__________________

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/josh-hawley-muzzling-america-column-censorship-book-insurrection.html

Josh Hawley Believes Disliking Josh Hawley Is an Act of Censorship

By Jonathan Chait

Josh Hawley's lifelong quest to the presidency was initially supposed to run through elite channels of conventional Republican advancement. During the last four years, the plan suddenly changed, and Hawley fashioned himself a Trumpian populist railing against his own class. Now the blueprint has changed once again. Hawley is casting himself as a dissident, a modern Mandela or Solzhenitsyn.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/josh-hawley-mob-insurrection-capitol-speech-biden-elector.html

His manifesto has somehow been smuggled past the censors and published on the front page of the New York Post. Its headline decries "the muzzling of America," presenting Hawley himself as the most prominent victim of a scourge threatening every American man, woman, and child.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/24/its-time-to-stand-up-against-the-muzzling-of-america/

Hawley's tale of his banishment is relatively spare. Until recently, he was an ordinary citizen. Then one day he affronted the powers that be by venturing an innocent view:

    On behalf of the voters of my state, I raised a challenge to the presidential electors from Pennsylvania after that state conducted the election in violation of the state constitution.

His only offense was supporting an authoritarian president's attempt to cancel a presidential election, and then reportedly goading a violent mob as it ransacked the Capitol seeking to kidnap or execute legislators who supported the election results.

For this crime, he was banished from polite society (though not, luckily enough, from his position in the United States Senate). Here, in its entirety, is Hawley's account of the retribution he has suffered:

    In my case, it started with leftist politicians demanding I resign from office for representing the views of my constituents and leading a democratic debate on the floor of the Senate.

    Taking that cue, a corporate publishing house then canceled a book it had asked me to write. Ironically enough, the book is about political censorship by the most powerful corporations in America. (And will be published by an independent publishing house.) Now corporate America is cancelling my political events, because two parties are apparently one too many for their taste.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/penn-elector-objector-hawley-loses-book-deal-after-capitol-siege/
https://nypost.com/2021/01/18/sen-hawley-gets-deal-after-publisher-dumps-him-amid-riots/
https://nypost.com/2021/01/17/loews-hotels-pulls-out-of-fundraiser-for-gop-sen-hawley/

The punishments, in sum, consist of the following: His political opponents urged him to resign; some of his donors stopped giving him money; and Simon & Schuster canceled his book deal, forcing him to go to Regnery, a publisher of conservative books. Hawley attempts to weave these affronts into some kind of comprehensive network of social control.

Exactly what principles are at stake here? Certainly not the First Amendment. The constitutional protection of freedom of speech is strong but limited to acts of government. The government can't stop your book, but a book publisher can certainly refuse to print it. The principle of freedom of association protects publishers and other private institutions from being compelled to promote views they find odious.

Now, asserting that the First Amendment merely applies to official state powers does not fully settle the matter. The norm of free speech has broader applications. Many institutions have free-speech norms, applying the same principle (that disagreement within reasonable parameters is needed to challenge orthodoxies) that inspired the First Amendment.

Exactly how we should apply this norm outside the context of government censorship is difficult to define. I've made the case repeatedly that many newspapers, universities, clubs, and organizations with a progressive bent have wrongly applied hair-trigger standards of offense in a way that risks turning them into airless chambers of ideological conformity.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/01/not-a-very-pc-thing-to-say.html
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/case-for-liberalism-tom-cotton-new-york-times-james-bennet.html

You'd think Hawley's elite legal training might have prepared him to grapple with the dilemmas of how to apply the free-speech norms to his own situation. And yet, even allowing for the simplifications required by the medium, his argument is a howling void of ignorance. It evinces no awareness that there is even such a thing as freedom of association, or that such a principle might protect the actions of his antagonists.

Hawley seems to believe corporate donors are repressing him by refusing to give him money, as if any free-speech principle compels a business owner to hand his money to a politician even after the politician does something odious. He likewise treats his canceled book deal as a form of censorship.

Hawley isn't wrong to see it as a rebuke. Simon & Schuster is a prestigious mainstream imprint. Regnery churns out right-wing doggerel by the metric ton. The humiliation Hawley must feel to join a list featuring the likes of Dinesh D'Souza, Diamond and Silk, and David Limbaugh (the less talented brother of the notorious talk-radio demagogue) is surely very sincere. But he has failed to articulate any principle that Simon & Schuster has violated by deciding not to promote the views of an insurrectionist.

And his claim that he is being repressed because left-wingers called on him to resign is nothing short of parody. Does Hawley even understand what debate is? He seems to treat any impediments to his career advancement as a form of repression. Hawley likens the reactions against him to the political atmosphere in "Communist China, where government and big business monitor every citizen's social views and statements." I am pretty sure that Communist China does not have dissidents in a legislature, disseminating their views in newspapers and books.

The most comic touch may be Hawley's attempt to connect his own travails to that of his audience. Today the man on the cross may be him, but tomorrow it may be you losing a lucrative source of campaign funds or being forced to accept the indignity of a Regnery book contract. The very thought must send a tremor of fear down the spines of the Post's readers. What cheesy publishing outlets will they be consigned to if they abet the violent overthrow of the government?
__________________

White House to resume public COVID-19 briefings
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1353789337561919491 

Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Non-Immigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Coronavirus Disease | While that review continues, and given the determination of CDC, working in close coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, described above, I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of noncitizens of the United States ("noncitizens") who were physically present within the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), the Republic of Ireland, the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the Republic of South Africa during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would, except as provided for in section 2 of this proclamation, be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/25/proclamation-on-the-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-non-immigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease/

Monday afternoon update: #Winter Weather headlines have been expanded to include portions of the I-95/US-29 corridor. There is still greater than usual uncertainty due to a layer of temperatures right around freezing; slightly colder = more snow/ice, slightly warmer = much less.
https://twitter.com/NWS_BaltWash/status/1353792781358129153

Brandon Straka, founder of the "Walk Away" campaign who lyingly describes himself as a "former liberal," charged in the Capitol insurrection. Strak offered up a QAnon slogan from the lectern at a Trump rally. Feds quote quite a bit from Straka's tweets - "Also- be embarrassed & hide if you need to- but I was there. It was not Antifa at the Capitol" - and say there's video of him urging crowd to take a Capitol police officer's shield

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20463392/1-20-21-us-v-brandon-straka-complaint-affidavit.pdf
Show this thread
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/02/hours-after-an-fbi-warning-about-qanon-is-published-qanon-slogan-turns-up-trumps-rally/

Supporters of a backdoor mandate will need to address, especially now: golden keys for cops are golden keys for all cops, including the bad ones who will use this power for truly horrific purposes. A law enforcement official demanding encryption backdoors due to the Capitol riot. This article follows up his quote with the uncomfortable acknowledgement that the Very Fine People who rioted are also, um, embedded in law enforcement.
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/police-capitol-riot-extremists/2021/01/24/16fdb2bc-5a7b-11eb-b8bd-ee36b1cd18bf_story.html

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate pro tempore, is expected to preside in impeachment trial, not Chief Justice John Roberts, because the person facing trial isn't the current president of the United States.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/climate/fema-climate-spending.html

New U.S. Strategy Would Quickly Free Billions in Climate Funds

Emergency management officials aim to funnel up to $10 billion into preventing climate disasters. The plan "would dwarf all previous grant programs of its kind," one analyst said.

Christopher Flavelle

By Christopher Flavelle

    Jan. 25, 2021, 2:48 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Federal officials, showing how rapidly the Biden administration is overhauling climate policy after years of denial under former President Donald J. Trump, aim to free up as much as $10 billion at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to protect against climate disasters before they strike.

The agency, best known for responding to hurricanes, floods and wildfires, wants to spend the money to pre-emptively protect against damage by building seawalls, elevating or relocating flood-prone homes and taking other steps as climate change intensifies storms and other natural disasters.

"It would dwarf all previous grant programs of its kind," said Daniel Kaniewski, a former deputy administrator at FEMA and now a managing director at Marsh & McLennan Companies, a consulting firm.

The FEMA plan would use a budgeting maneuver to repurpose a portion of the agency's overall disaster spending toward projects designed to protect against damage from climate disasters, according to people familiar with discussions inside the agency.

In the past year FEMA has taken a leading role in fighting Covid-19 — and the agency's plan is to count that Covid spending toward the formula used to redirect money to climate projects. Doing so would allow the Biden administration to quickly and drastically increase climate-resilience funding without action by Congress, generating a windfall that could increase funding more than sixfold.

Michael M. Grimm, FEMA's acting deputy associate administrator for disaster mitigation, said the agency's initial estimates suggested that as much as $3.7 billion could be available for the program, called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC. By comparison, that program so far has just $500 million to award in grants.

More of that $3.7 billion "may be forthcoming," Mr. Grimm said in a statement.

But the amount of new money could potentially climb to as much as $10 billion, according to some estimates, if FEMA also decided to count Covid dollars toward a similar fund, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, designed to help communities rebuild after a disaster. Mr. Grimm said the decision to provide that funding has not yet been made.

The proposal wouldn't necessarily reduce the money available to address Covid, according to people familiar with the plan. Rather, it would give FEMA the ability to draw additional resilience money from the government's dedicated disaster fund, which Congress routinely replenishes once the fund is drawn down.

FEMA's plan would need to be approved by the White House budget office. After Mr. Biden's win, members of his transition team said they saw the new funding as a way for the incoming administration to make good on its promise to address climate change.

A spokesman for the White House, Vedant Patel, did not respond to requests for comment.

The proposal marks an effort by the Biden administration to address what experts call climate adaptation — an area of climate policy that's different from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and focuses on better protecting people, homes and communities from the consequences of a warming planet. Those include more frequent and severe storms, flooding and wildfires, as well as rising seas.

The United States has a mixed record on that front.

In many coastal states, home construction is increasing the fastest in the most flood-prone areas, including places that could soon be underwater. And despite strong public support for tougher building codes in high-risk areas, just one-third of local jurisdictions have adopted disaster-resistant provisions in their building codes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/climate/climate-change-new-homes-flooding.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/climate/flood-fire-building-restrictions.html

Faced with rapidly escalating disaster costs, the Trump administration took some steps to make communities more resilient to the effects of climate change, even if it refrained from using that term. FEMA and other agencies increased their focus on getting people to move away from vulnerable areas, rather than always paying them to rebuild in place. And the agency urged Congress to create the BRIC program to help cities and states increase their preparedness before a disaster, rather than after.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/climate/climate-change-funding-states.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/climate/flooding-relocation-managed-retreat.html

But federal officials were also hamstrung by Mr. Trump's insistence that climate change was overblown.

In 2018, when FEMA issued its four-year strategic plan for dealing with disasters, the words "climate change" were nowhere to be found. Faced with year after year of record wildfires in California, Mr. Trump said the problem was too many leaves on the forest floor. Told that rising temperatures were exacerbating the problem, Mr. Trump responded: "It'll start getting cooler. You just — you just watch."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/fema-strips-mention-of-climate-change-from-its-strategic-plan

As a candidate, Mr. Biden promised to focus on climate adaptation. And on his first day as president, he signed an order imposing higher construction standards on buildings or infrastructure in flood zones that are built with federal money. The order, first imposed by President Barack Obama, was rescinded by Mr. Trump.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-28/trump-removed-flood-protection-standard-weeks-before-harvey?sref=UBrhZ1ro

Mr. Biden's move won praise from disaster groups. "This action restores a forward-looking policy that will help ensure that taxpayer dollars aren't washed away by the next flood," Forbes Tompkins, who works on federal flood policy with the Pew Charitable Trusts, an advocacy group, said in a statement.

But sending billions of dollars of new money into FEMA's disaster programs would go further than simply reinstating Obama-era adaptation policies. The BRIC program was created in the aftermath of the brutal disaster season of 2017, when the United States was struck in quick succession by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as wildfires in California that were then the worst on record. Federal disaster spending skyrocketed.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702215.pdf

A few months later, federal researchers reported that for every $1 the government spent to protect a community before a disaster, it saved $6 later. In 2018, Congress created the program to take advantage of those savings by providing more money upfront. The first grants were set to be awarded this year.

https://www.nibs.org/news/381874/National-Institute-of-Building-Sciences-Issues-New-Report-on-the-Value-of-Mitigation.htm

If the Biden White House approves the plan, it may find allies in Congress, even among Republicans.

Using Covid funds to increase that money has received bipartisan support in Congress in the past. In October, Representative Peter A. DeFazio, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which has jurisdiction over FEMA, sent a letter to the agency urging it to use the Covid money.

That letter was co-signed by Representative Sam Graves, the top Republican on the committee. But FEMA was unable to get permission from the Trump administration's budget office, according to former officials.

The new money would present some challenges, according to people familiar with the program. State and local governments must provide 25 percent of the cost of any projects, an particularly significant hurdle as the economic downturn from Covid has devastated government budgets. And those officials would need to devise projects on a large enough scale to make use of the new funds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/climate/coronavirus-cities-infrastructure-money.html

Still, the extra funding is worth pursuing, said Mr. Kaniewski, the former FEMA official. "The more mitigation dollars, the better," he said. "This is about as good of a taxpayer investment as you can find."

Christopher Flavelle focuses on how people, governments and industries try to cope with the effects of global warming. He received a 2018 National Press Foundation award for coverage of the federal government's struggles to deal with flooding. @cflav
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Can't spell 'Patriot' without 'riot.': MAGA Patriot Party National Committee files With FEC [Federal Election Commission]. There are many already filed: https://www.fec.gov/data/committees/?q=maga
https://www.myhighplains.com/news/your-local-election-hq/maga-patriot-party-national-committee-files-with-federal-election-commission/

The team says Robert Covington has a concussion and is out for tonight's game vs. OKC. If you're keeping count, Portland now down three starters.
https://twitter.com/CHold/status/1353802538076622848

Trump losing his access to social media is my favourite thing about 2021 so far. He's so incompetent and dependent that he can't even figure out how to get his misinformation out there anymore. It's ASTOUNDING how dependent he had become on Twitter. He must be going through some serious withdrawals. He cannot even sit down for a 60 Minutes interview for more than a couple of minutes before rage quitting. An interview that would've helped his re-election for the "undecided".

When White House tries to end the press conference, the president holds them off to make sure Fox gets a question. "I know he always asks me tough questions, and he always has an edge, but I like him anyway," Biden says to Peter Doocy.

This is also key: Biden acknowledges that the 100 million shots in the Americans' arms pledge was referring to doses, not people, since the vaccine requires two shots.

Asked about saying last week there's nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the virus in next several months, Biden: "I'm gonna shut down the virus, but I never said I'd do it in two months." Says "it took a long time to get here, it's gonna take a long time to beat it."

Biden says he thinks any American who wants a vaccine will be able to get one "this spring" and that by the summer the US will be "well on our way" to achieving herd immunity. "I feel good about where we're going and I think we can get it done," Biden says.

Biden reiterates that his hope is to administer 1 million doses a day for first 100 days. However, its worth noting, vaccinations ranged from 1.3-1.6m on each day from Jan. 20-24. https://bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

Biden's tweak--he'd say clarification--of his 100 million vaccinations in 100 days: he's counting people who get both doses in that 100 million, not necessarily 100 million Americans. But says he wants to push that number to 150 million if he can. (150 million in 100 days)

Asked about Chicago teachers union refusing to return to the classroom, Biden reiterates his call for funding to retrofit and make safe classrooms, says nothing specific about the union. Teachers Unions need to be more flexible here. Their hard-line stance ignores the science and is causing lasting damage to kids. And I normally back them during normal times because teachers deserve support. But definitely don't like what I see from them lately.

Asked to define "unity," POTUS says it's necessary to "eliminate the vitriol," to stop making arguments personal. Biden distinguishes between "unity" and bipartisanship, saying that you can pass a bill on party lines and that doesn't mean there was "unity." He says unity is about eliminating personal vitriol in debate and trying to act on the wishes of "a majority of the American people."

Importantly, President Biden suggests he'll know whether a bipartisan process on his "Rescue Plan" is possible within the next two weeks. Worth noting: the Recovery Act was signed by mid-February 2009. Biden says there is an overwhelming consensus among economists that spending money now will avert deeper economic crisis
"We can't afford to fail to invest now." Biden on how he arrived at $1,400 for direct payments in his relief package: "I picked it because I thought it was rationale, reasonable, and because it had overwhelming bipartisan support in the House when it passed. But this is all a moving target."

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/25/ice-melt-quickens-greenland-glaciers/

Earth is now losing 1.2 trillion tons of ice each year. And it's going to get worse.

Ice is melting faster worldwide, with greater sea-level rise anticipated, studies show.

By Chris Mooney and  Andrew Freedman
Jan. 25, 2021 at 3:57 p.m. EST

Global ice loss has increased rapidly over the past two decades, and scientists are still underestimating just how much sea levels could rise, according to alarming new research published this month.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/1/eaba7282
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/233/2021/

From the thin ice shield covering most of the Arctic Ocean to the mile-thick mantle of the polar ice sheets, ice losses have soared from about 760 billion tons per year in the 1990s to more than 1.2 trillion tons per year in the 2010s, a new study released Monday shows. That is an increase of more than 60 percent, equating to 28 trillion tons of melted ice in total — and it means that roughly 3 percent of all the extra energy trapped within Earth's system by climate change has gone toward turning ice into water.

https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/233/2021/

"That's like more than 10,000 'Back to the Future' lightning strikes per second of energy melting ice around-the-clock since 1994," said William Colgan, an ice-sheet expert at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. "That is just a bonkers amount of energy."

There is good reason to think the rate of ice melt will continue to accelerate. A second, NASA-backed study on the Greenland ice sheet, for instance, finds that no less than 74 major glaciers that terminate in deep, warming ocean waters are being severely undercut and weakened.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/1/eaba7282

And it asserts that the extent of this effect, along with its implications for rising seas, is still being discounted by the global scientific community.

Failing to fully account for the role of ocean undercutting means sea-level rise from the ice sheets may be underestimated by "at least a factor of 2," the new paper in the journal Science Advances finds.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/1/eaba7282.abstract

"It's like cutting the feet off the glacier rather than melting the whole body," said Eric Rignot, a study co-author and a glacier researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California at Irvine. "You melt the feet and the body falls down, as opposed to melting the whole body."

"I think this is an example that the current projections are conservative," Rignot said. "As we peer below we realize these feedbacks are kicking in faster than we thought."

Together, the two studies present a worrying picture.

The first finds that the current ice losses, which are accelerating quickly, are on pace with the worst scenarios for sea-level rise put out by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That expert body found that ice sheets could drive as much as 16 inches of sea-level rise by 2100.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344004443_Ice-sheet_losses_track_high-end_sea-level_rise_projections

But on top of that, the new NASA work on Greenland suggests that the IPCC, whose sea-level projections have long been faulted as being conservative, could underestimate future sea-level rise if the panel, which has a new report expected later this year, does not take full account of the power of the ocean to knock the ice backward and undermine it.

A new tally of vanishing ice

The first study, in the journal The Cryosphere and led by University of Leeds researcher Thomas Slater, is basically an enormous work of accounting. It tallies losses from the vast Greenland ice sheet, to the jagged peaks of the Himalayas and then southward to Antarctica during the 23-year period from 1994 through 2017.

Not all the ice the planet has lost translates directly into rising seas. For instance, 7.6 trillion tons, the largest single total, comes from the melting of the floating ice cover of the Arctic Ocean, which does not raise seas at all. Nor do the 6.5 trillion tons subtracted from Antarctic ice shelves, as those, too, were already afloat.

Still, the loss of floating ice paves the way for the unlocking of ice on land in Greenland and Antarctica, where 99 percent of all the planet's fresh water sits in frozen form, crushing down the invisible landforms beneath it. Greenland and Antarctica together have lost 6.3 trillion tons since 1994, the research finds, leaving out the past three years, which would surely add at least another trillion on top of that.

So far, the world's mountain glaciers have actually been keeping pace with the ice sheets, losing 6.1 trillion tons of ice over the same time period and thus adding roughly the same amount to sea level. Over time — probably starting right around now — the polar ice sheets will begin to massively outdistance the losses from mountain glaciers and become the dominant drivers of global sea-level rise.

"It is no surprise that the ice on our planet is melting," said Robin Bell, an expert on the polar ice sheets at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "We have turned up the temperature, and just like you can watch an ice cube in your glass melt on a hot summer day, our actions are melting our planet's ice."

The question now becomes: Just how fast will climate change lead to the melting of the biggest and thickest ice, the ice atop Greenland and Antarctica?

Where Greenland's toes dip into the sea, ice is melting

That's where the results of a six-year NASA campaign to study the influence of warming ocean waters on the melting of Greenland's glaciers have some unsettling news.

Together with the University of Leeds study, the NASA research helps show why global ice loss is likely to further speed up as global warming continues. One of the main mechanisms causing Greenland's glaciers to flow faster into the sea, unlocking inland ice and allowing it to slide toward the coast as well, is the encroachment of warm water underneath the ice in the many deep fjords of coastal Greenland.

Scientists have observed accelerating ice loss in nearly every sector of the Greenland ice sheet. While researchers have suspected that warming ocean waters, rather than increasing air temperatures alone, may be behind the melting of glaciers in typically frigid northwest Greenland, for example, the evidence had previously been lacking.

The new study, led by glaciologist Mike Wood, also of UC-Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, relies on measurements taken via hundreds of instruments deployed by aircraft and ships for the past six years, revealing the shape of the land that lurks under the ice where 226 glaciers terminate in the sea, as well as the temperature structure of waters coming into contact with the ice.

Glaciers that flow into Greenland's deepest fjords are losing the most ice, Wood said. The 74 glaciers situated in deep, steep-walled valleys accounted for nearly half of Greenland's total ice loss between 1992 and 2017, the study found. Greenland is now the largest contributor to global sea-level rise.

"In these deep fjords, warm water lurks hundreds of feet below the ocean surface, melting the glaciers from below," Wood said. "When those warm waters become even warmer — a phenomenon we saw through the early 2000s — the melt increases, causing the glaciers to recede, become unstable and lose ice."

The science produced by the six-year field campaign, known as Oceans Melting Greenland, may force modelers to rethink their estimates for future ice loss. not just in Greenland but also for glaciers where similar dynamics are at work in Antarctica, such as in the West Antarctic ice sheet.

The NASA-led research shows that the undercutting of glaciers by relatively mild ocean waters explains why so many of Greenland's glaciers have sped their movement into the ocean, adding to sea-level rise, while some others have not accelerated as much.

In many coastal locations, relatively mild, salty waters sit below a layer of colder, fresher water in glacial fjords. These mild waters are coming into contact with the base of glaciers, where ice meets bedrock, which destabilizes the ice.

"A large amount of a glacier's stability depends on ice at its base," Wood said. "Remove it and you destabilize the whole thing, like Achilles' heel."

At the same time, during the summer months, meltwater from inland areas can flow all the way to the base of glaciers that end in the sea and pour into the fjords. This fresh water can drag some of the heavier, warm water toward the surface, accelerating melting further.

The NASA data shows that the shape of the land undergirding glaciers and the water temperatures in coastal areas help determine the rate of Greenland's ice loss, but this information isn't being translated yet into projections for sea-level rise.

"Very few ice-sheet models include that ice process at the frontal margin with realistic forcing," Rignot said. If models were to include undercutting, their estimates of sea-level rise from the faster loss of coastal glaciers could be up to twice what they are now, the study shows.

"I think that's a big deal," Rignot said. "You have to account for ocean temperatures in fjords and undercutting. If it's not in your model, you won't get the prediction right."

The Greenland results add urgency for research into the mechanisms that are destabilizing ice in Antarctica, where melting from warming oceans coming into contact with the base of glaciers is the main contributing factor, rather than increasing air temperatures.

"Because scientific progress is so often built small step on top of small step, I am not surprised by their findings," Twila Moon, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., said of the Greenland results. Moon was not involved in either study. "But their results are still devastating, further confirming that we are losing ice both from a warming atmosphere and from a warming ocean."

"Ice loss is not a process that will stop itself," Moon said. "We humans are the ones with our hand on the climate control knob, and our decisions are the most important in determining the future of Greenland ice."


Chris Mooney is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter covering climate change, energy, and the environment. He has reported from the 2015 Paris climate negotiations, the Northwest Passage, and the Greenland ice sheet, among other locations, and has written four books about science, politics and climate change. Follow

Andrew Freedman edits and reports on extreme weather and climate science for the Capital Weather Gang. He has covered science, with a specialization in climate research and policy, for Axios, Mashable, Climate Central, E&E Daily and other publications. Follow
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President Biden Delivers Remarks on Strengthening American Manufacturing & Signs an Executive Order
January 25, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Lynt3o1hc
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/25/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-strengthening-buy-american-provisions-ensuring-future-of-america-is-made-in-america-by-all-of-americas-workers/

Hear directly from the experts of our COVID-19 team on Wednesday at 8pm on CNN as Dr. Anthony Fauci, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and COVID Equity Task Force Chair Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith answer COVID questions from folks like you. Submit yours here:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/23/health/biden-covid-team-town-hall-questions/index.html
https://twitter.com/WHCOVIDResponse/status/1353729757100335105 

A very special moment with the @raiders was when I arranged to broadcast a few games in Navajo (and I learned how to say a few words, so I could say hi to our Navajo speaking fans) - of course, we hosted and honored a group of Code Talkers - happy birthday John, and thank you.
https://twitter.com/amytrask/status/1353082022529384448

Woman Accused of Stealing Laptop from Nancy Pelosi's Office May Lose Internet Access as Feds Allege Deepening Cover-Up
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/woman-accused-of-stealing-nancy-pelosis-laptop-may-lose-internet-access-as-feds-allege-deepening-cover-up/

The Seven Seconds Or Less reunion in Brooklyn surprised many — including Amar'e Stoudemire. He discusses the move into coaching + his journey to Israel and back to team anew with Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni
https://nytimes.com/2020/12/23/sports/basketball/amare-stoudemire-brooklyn-nets.html

Or like idk, maybe retweeting Lin Wood or sending countless texts and emails to raise hundreds of millions of dollars post-Election Day to "stop the steal" impacted GA Republicans turnout likelihood and/or took valuable resources off the field.
Occam's Razor, ya know?
https://twitter.com/MichaelDuncan/status/1353816338049982465

BuzzFeed is having a membership drive.
If you are grateful they sued to liberate the Mueller Report, become a member.
https://support.buzzfeednews.com

In a court filing today DOJ says 81 US Capitol Police Officers and 58 Metropolitan Police officers (DC's city police) were injured responding to the attack on the Capitol January 6th. One USCP officer was killed in the riot. 139 injured officers is higher than previously known.
https://twitter.com/krisvancleave/status/1353818696662339584

US Centcom has been quietly using ports and airbases in Saudi's west as a way to get troops and mil equipment into the region without relying solely on traditional US bases in the Gulf. It's about options, Gen. McKenzie tells us here in Yanbu | The U.S. military has been using an array of ports and air bases in Saudi Arabia's western desert, developing basing options to use in the event of a conflict with Iran, according to the top American military commander in the region. The use of the bases, which hasn't been previously reported, has occurred over the past year or more as top military commanders look for alternatives to safely move troops and materiel in and out of the region and to reduce their exposure to Iran's ballistic missiles. Several thousand American troops, jet fighters and other weaponry have been stationed at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base since 2019 to respond to regional threats from Iran. The troops were sent by Trump, who cultivated close ties with Saudi leaders even after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey in 2018. The Biden administration has signaled that it plans to take a tougher approach to Saudi Arabia, particularly on human rights issues. However, continuing potential dangers posed by Iran have remained a leading consideration, U.S. officials indicated. | The new basing plan has given the U.S. additional flexibility in the region by complicating an adversary's options against the U.S., said Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command. "What it does is to give us options, and options are always a good thing for a commander to have," Gen. McKenzie said in an interview. Under the plan, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are negotiating plans for investments in infrastructure for both the commercial and industrial ports in coastal Yanbu as well as two air bases—at Tabuk and Taif—to make them more usable for the U.S. military. Additional sites are under consideration, but Gen. McKenzie declined to identify those locations. The Saudis would pay for the infrastructure improvements to any of the sites, which would be considered "dual-use," and not just for military purposes, Gen. McKenzie said. Saudi officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. For the past year or more, the military has conducted several test operations at the sites to move equipment in and out of the region, Gen. McKenzie said. Troops, aviation assets and weaponry have all been moved through the ports and bases to demonstrate how the sites can be used to deploy troops and military assets with potentially less exposure to Iranian ballistic missiles. The new bases aren't being used as a buildup for a war with Iran, Gen. McKenzie said. The Saudi sites give military officials alternatives to dozens of bases used by the U.S. throughout the region, including Shuaiba port in Kuwait or al-Udeid air base in Qatar, established military logistics hubs that are seen as vulnerable to Iran's ballistic missiles, officials said.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-forces-expand-reach-in-saudi-arabia-11611611393
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-military-returns-to-saudi-arabia-in-response-to-iran-11563488620

Trump's Secret Service detail could be subpoenaed to testify against him in criminal proceedings and former agents are stressed about it. "There's no doubt that the Secret Service could be subpoenaed," said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill.  https://businessinsider.com/secret-service-agents-testify-trump-criminal-courts-nixon-clinton-lewinsky-2021-1

Mitch McConnell will vote YES on Yellen's nomination to be Treasury secretary. Vote is today at 5:30pm

.@Amazon's response to a lawsuit filed by embattled social networking platform Parler provides detailed information on what Amazon Web Services says were repeated efforts to get Parler to address explicit threats of violence posted to the service.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/filing-amazon-warned-parler-for-months-about-more-than-100-violent-threats/

Sheryl Sandberg's comments about the insurrection "largely" not being planned on Facebook look worse and worse every day. The people behind this bus tour created the largest Stop The Steal fb group. They also livestreamed to Facebook and other platforms.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/maga-bus-tour-coup

US Justice Dept tells judge Riley Williams, woman accused of stealing computer from Nancy Pelosi's office, is suspected of using internet in recent days, encouraging people to destroy evidence in Capitol insurrection case.  They want judge to prohibit internet access
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1353787659248947205

President Biden is expected to focus on the #ClimateCrisis Wednesday with a new executive order and announce a  climate leaders summit to take place on #EarthDay (April 22) at The White House.
https://twitter.com/benstracy/status/1353832707340566530

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: "I fully support the President's direction that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1353832519360159745

Republicans are still blocking the organizing resolution, blocking committee assignments for new Senators, and keeping Democrats from taking full control of Senate committees.  We haven't seen an organizing standoff like this since 1881.
https://jamiedupree.substack.com/p/democrats-demand-gop-allow-senate

Rudy Giuliani admits Biden is president hours after being sued for $1.3 billion by voting machine company
https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-admits-biden-president-after-dominion-lawsuit-2021-1

Owners approved a plan to allow investment firms to own stakes in teams. How it works: NBA rounding up stakes in clubs and sells them to private equity firms who can then technically sell the limited partnerships (LPs) to private investors.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/25/the-nbas-private-equity-plan-is-in-motion-and-its-betting-on-the-allure-spownership.html

The NBA and NBPA are discussing scenarios to still hold an All-Star game in March. One site under discussion is Atlanta, home of Turner Sports. That idea includes providing support for HBCU's and COVID-19 relief. Story soon on site.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1353827748930850816

Kawhi Leonard (health and safety protocols), Paul George (health and safety protocols) and Patrick Beverley (right knee soreness) are ruled out tomorrow against Atlanta.News
https://twitter.com/notoriousohm/status/1353828377015111680

Jaylen Brown is 7th in the NBA in scoring. Nearly half his assists have come from Marcus Smart. And the duo leads the league in field goals and points generated by any combo. "Me and Jaylen have had lots of talks about this year."
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/jaylen-browns-ascension-has-highlighted-marcus-smarts-playmaking-talents

Biden, Harris and Congress: Restore the Mashpee Wampanoag reservation to federal status
https://indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/biden-harris-and-congress-restore-the-mashpee-wampanoag-reservation-to-federal-status-JXeHzVVsh0G3R8af5yGSWg

Meowee, #Winston Biden here to clarify my status: I am #FirstCat, as I am the only Biden cat. My mama is @NaomiBiden though, @POTUS and @FLOTUS  are not my parents. My brother is #Charlie Biden. Until the First Couple adopts the new kitty in a few months, I am #COTUS de facto.
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1352636030420217864

This is an actual photo of #WinstonBiden as a kitten, in the fridge. Winston #FirstCat has vast experience with nom nom management & purrtocol, he was born to be a #snacktivist. Once our parents adopt the new kitty, Winston becomes rapid #SnaxResponse task force chief. #COTUS
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1353840303187390465

CNN's @jaketapper asks Rep. Eric Swalwell to clarify how much contact he had with the Chinese spy and about calls from Republicans for his removal from the Intel Committee: "The FBI has said that I did nothing wrong... I think this is retaliation more than anything else."
https://twitter.com/i/status/1353835154691776513
https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1353835154691776513

Biden's dogs can be heard barking as he signed an executive order in the Oval Office.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1353838932404838401
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1353838932404838401

The US has its first ever 'Madam' Treasury Secretary. Janet Yellen. has enough votes from Senators to become the 78th Treasury chief. She is the first woman to hold the job. No details on when Yellen will be sworn into office.

Tom Brady's parents both had COVID-19 this year: 'It was a matter of life and death'
https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/patriots/tom-bradys-parents-both-had-covid-19-this-year

Tyreek Hill's last 3 playoff games: 🔥 9 for 105 🔥 8 for 110 🔥 9 for 172
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1353779932716019712

Vita Vea suffered a nasty ankle break in October that was thought to keep him out for the year. Yesterday he returned, played 33 snaps and did Vita Vea things: make life miserable for interior OL with his power.
https://twitter.com/fieldyates/status/1353822079192342532

Bucs are the only team with Black coaches in all four coordinator positions and two women in full-time coaching positions.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1353809660076191744

Mike Pettine is now 3-11 against Tom Brady led offenses 

I believe there's no greater economic engine in the world than the hard work and ingenuity of the American people. Today's Buy American Executive Order will invest in the future of American industry and ensure workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1353837981296111617

We know, and you need to immediately censor and remove shitstain Manchin for relentlessly attacking Democrats and backing Republicans: Schumer, asked about going nuclear: "All I can tell you is we are not letting Mitch McConnell dictate how the Senate runs or what we do. … I will tell you this. There's huge anger in my caucus about what he's done."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1353842728728109056

There should be anger. Mitch is the minority leader, and since when has the minority controlled the majority? Since Bush II and Trump lost their first elections and were sworn in regardless.

Janet Yellen has been confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury in a 84-15 vote. She will be the first female Treasury Secretary, and the first person to have led the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Amazing what one can say to someone when they're not busy fellating them: Biden administration tells Russia to free Navalny and protesters in stark departure from Trump era
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/navalnys-team-calls-new-protests-in-russia-for-his-release/2021/01/25/1c1cdc4c-5f20-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html
https://news.yahoo.com/video/wh-calls-russia-release-alexei-194232119.html
https://www.voanews.com/europe/eu-us-call-russia-immediately-release-navalny-protesters

MS. PSAKI:  First, I'd like to point all of you to a statement that was released this weekend by the State Department, strongly condemning the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists in cities throughout Russia.  These continued efforts to suppress Russians' rights to peacefully protest and assemble and ex- — and their freedom of expression and the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on protests that followed are troubling indications of further restrictions on Russian civil society.  So I'll just reiterate our call from here on Russian authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny.  We also urge Russia to fully cooperate with the international community's investigation into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon on its soil. And last week, we announced that the President issued a tasking to the intelligence community for its full assessment of a range of activities, including of course the SolarWinds cyber breach, Russian interference in the 2020 election, its use of chemical weapons against Alexei Navalny, and the alleged bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.  That is ongoing.  That review is a 100-day review, so we'll have an update on that when it concludes.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

Additionally, beginning tomorrow, international travelers to the United States must provide proof of a negative test within three days of travel to airlines prior to departure.  The President is taking these steps on the advice of his COVID-19 and medical team.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

This weekend, West Virginia asked the Biden administration for assistance at an understaffed vaccine distribution center.  At the President's direction, FEMA was deployed to help support the vaccination site.  This comes as part of the President's order last week that directs FEMA to stand up vaccination centers and support states' vaccination efforts.  We look forward to continuing to be the partner of the states moving forward.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

Today's action fulfills another campaign promise.  With this EO, no one will be separated or discharged from the military or denied reenlistment on the basis of gender identity.  And for those transgender service members who were discharged or separated because of their gender identity, their cases will be reexamined.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

Well, as is the case with other areas of our relationship with China, he will take a multilateral approach to engaging with China, and that includes evaluating the tariffs currently in place.  And he wants to ensure that we take any steps in coordination with our allies and partners, and with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well. So nothing to report at this point in time, but we're committed to — the President is committed to stopping China's economic abuses on many fronts, and the most effective way to do that is through working in concert with our allies and partners to do exactly that.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

I think our approach to China remains what it has been since — for the last months, if not longer.  We're in a serious competition with China.  Strategic competition with China is a defining feature of the 21st century.  China is engaged in conduct that it hurts American workers, blunts our technological edge, and threatens our alliances and our influence in international organizations. What we've seen over the last few years is that China is growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad.  And Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity, and values in significant ways that require a new U.S. approach. And this is one of the reasons, as we were talking about a little bit earlier, that we want to approach this with some strategic patience, and we want to conduct reviews internally, through our interagency — even though I stumbled over that; I needed a little more coffee before I came out here, I guess.  We wanted to engage more with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to discuss the path forward.  And most importantly, we want to discuss this with our allies. So, no, the comments don't change anything.  We believe that this moment requires a strategic and a new approach forward.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

Our view — the President's view is we need to play a better defense, which must include holding China accountable for its unfair and illegal practices and making sure that American technologies aren't facilitating China's military buildup. So he's firmly committed to making sure that Chinese companies cannot misappropriate and misuse American data.  And we need a comprehensive strategy, as I've said, and a more systematic approach that actually addresses the full range of these issues. So there is, again, an ongoing review of a range of these issues.  We want to look at them carefully, and we'll be committed to approaching them through the lens of ensuring we're protecting U.S. data and America's technological edge.  I don't have more for you on it.  As we do, we're happy to share that with all of you.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/

(journalist) Two questions: one domestic and one foreign, please.  The first is that Bill Pascrell, a congressman from New Jersey, just about an hour ago suggested firing the entire Postal Board of Governors, and he sent a letter to the President to that effect.  Is there any plans to make changes, given what happened at the Post Office over the last couple of years, to try and remove the Postmaster General? Psaki:  It's an interesting question.  We all love the mailman and mailwoman.  I don't have anything for you on it.  I'm happy to check with our team on it and see if when we have any specifics.  I'm not aware of anything, but we'll circle back with you.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/ 

House Impeachment Managers Deliver Article of Impeachment to Senate The House delivers an article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?508332-1/house-delivers-article-impeachment-senate

First the Republicans said you couldn't impeach before an election. Now they're saying you can't impeach after an election. And some of them say you can't have elections.

"Cancel culture" does not violate the First Amendment. You have the First Amendment right to criticize others, to choose not to associate with them, and to encourage others to do the same. If you want to stand up for the First Amendment, take a stand against insurrectionists who would overthrow the Constitution.
https://twitter.com/SenHawleyPress/status/1353724857939337217

You brought a Holocaust denier (cancel facts and history and people) to the State of the Union, went on the tv show of a Sandy Hook Truther (cancel facts and history and people), and spread election lies (cancel votes and people and elections and facts and history) *after* the terror attack on the Capitol. So I'm curious about what cancel culture you're talking about.
https://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1353772373049282560?s=20

Trump has a new online office (I won't be posting the url) from which he will presumably continue working from early in the morning until late in the evening, making many calls and having many meetings. The online office sent an email (to all the people signed up to receive Trump campaign emails) which arrived in inboxes just as the House Democratic managers walked over the article of impeachment.

The impeachment charge covers the attack on the Capitol, and Trump's efforts to illegally overturn his election loss in Georgia. 
https://govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-117hres24ih/pdf/BILLS-117hres24ih.pdf

Some of the managers you see tonight started drafting this article of impeachment as the Capitol was still under siege. Away in an office, Cicilline and Lieu started working on this on January 6th, by that night they'd connected with staff on Judiciary and Rep. Jamie Raskin: U.S. House Impeachment Managers deliver Article of Impeachment against former President Trump to U.S. Senate.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1353857515277185024
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1353857515277185024

The Spurs-Pelicans game tonight has been postponed.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1353860480754982914

Joel Embiid will not play in tonight's game against the Detroit Pistons
https://twitter.com/kyleneubeck/status/1353829223509667840

Several gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park were recovering from the virus which causes COVID-19, zoo officials reported Monday
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/san-diego-zoo-safari-park-gorilla-troop-recovering-from-covid-19/2286486/

What I hate about the narrative that there was no election fraud: there was election fraud. A lot of it. In favour of Republicans. Obstructing and gutting the USPS was major election fraud.

Those who want Trump to get a pass for organizing and inciting a terrorist attack on the Capitol because his "attempted coup failed" are ignoring three facts:
- Organizing and inciting a mob attack on Congress would be impeachable even if the goal were not to carry out a coup
- The attack itself occurred, shutting down the business of Congress for 4+ hours, leaving 1000's terrorized and 5 people dead
- A failed coup attempt is the only type of coup for which an official could be held accountable because if Trump had succeeded, we'd be unable to hold him accountable
- If he gets away with it then it sends a message to all those who would attempt similar acts that there are no consequences

One item of particular interest to impeachment managers is a 10-minute video released Monday by Just Security, an online forum hosted by the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law, which shows how Trump's words were heard and interpreted by those who ransacked the Capitol, according to the people familiar with the managers' trial preparations.
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-trump-impeachment/2021/01/25/e747ec76-5f26-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html
https://www.justsecurity.org/74335/fight-for-trump-video-evidence-of-incitement-at-the-capitol/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnel_Lindblom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Shankwitz

On the same day paperwork was filed with the Federal Elections Commission to create the Patriot Party Trump Conservative Spencer Zimmerman joined the WI Patriot Party & will be its 1st candidate on the ballot in Wisconsin's 13th Senate District April Special Election.
https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00765958/1486339/

Some Ecological Damage from Trump's Rushed Border Wall Could Be Repaired
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/some-ecological-damage-from-trumps-rushed-border-wall-could-be-repaired1/

On a Nov. call with governors, including several Rs, Biden said his team would follow up & coordinate "on the issues coming out of the call." That was an early effort to try to maintain communication w/ governors who in 2020 were often going it alone in their states' responses.
https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1353874913875132416

Lowry drills the 3 on one end, Boucher gets a block on the other end and the Raptors commentators lose their minds
https://streamable.com/lzxw94

Steve Kerr announces that Kevon Looney will start at center tonight in place of James Wiseman
https://twitter.com/DrewShiller/status/1353875797652762626

X-Rays on left knee of Pacers All-Star Domantas Sabonis reveal no structural damage, source tells ESPN. An MRI is planned for Tuesday morning. Sabonis left game after banging knee vs. Raptors tonight.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1353871796500627458

Manchin and Sinema were enough for McConnell to relent. “Today two Democratic Senators publicly confirmed they will not vote to end the legislative filibuster ... With these assurances, I look forward to moving ahead with a power-sharing agreement modeled on that precedent.“

Texas grand jury indicts Houston police officer on a murder charge and eight other current and former officers in what authorities describe as a long-term scheme to steal overtime money that was discovered after an investigation of a deadly 2019 raid.

US currently averaging about 1.2 million shots a day.
Biden's latest goal is 1.5 million a day.
But it's possible it could get more difficult to get people vaccinated as we get past the eager early adopters.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsnR6u6W4AAJCDl?format=png&name=small

Exactly: PressSec says that reconciliation is "a means of getting a bill passed." "That does not mean, that regardless of how the bill is passed, that Democrats and Republicans cannot both vote for it." 

Maddow: Can McConnell, in effect, use the filibuster to keep you from claiming power as the Majority Leader? Can he stop this in its tracks?
Schumer: We've been thinking about this, stay tuned.
 
Maddow: You have tricks up your sleeve?
Schumer: Stay tuned. (Laughs)
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1353889160327700480

I have to say that it is kind of Trumpian that McConnell waited until Schumer's first big TV interview, with Maddow no less, to break this news about relinquising control that he no longer has. Schumer agreed to nothing LOL.

Earth Has Lost 28 Trillion Tons of Ice since the Mid-1990s
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-has-lost-28-trillion-tons-of-ice-since-the-mid-1990s/

Twitter permanently bans My Pillow CEO
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-media-elections-presidential-elections-ac34de7cb5844d96589a10ea6e653d50

In win for females, U.S. Supreme Court wipes case law supporting Texas pandemic abortion ban from the books
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/25/supreme-court-texas-abortion-ban/

Biden says Trump's impeachment trial 'has to happen' even if it impacts his legislative agenda
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-trump-impeachment-trial-has-to-happen-2021-1

Biden plans to limit private prisons and transfer of military equipment to police
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden/biden-plans-to-limit-private-prisons-and-transfer-of-military-equipment-to-police-idUSKBN29V15H

President Joe Biden commits to replacing entire federal fleet with electric vehicles
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/25/president-joe-biden-commits-to-replacing-entire-federal-fleet-with-electric-vehicles/

Schumer considering expanding judiciary to balance courts packed by McConnell
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-considering-expanding-judiciary-to-balance-courts-packed-by-mcconnell-100012613552

Joe Biden Halts Trump Plan To Speed Up Processing Lines In Poultry Plants | Workers and safety advocates feared the faster speeds would lead to more injuries and COVID-19 infections.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-trump-poultry-plants_n_600f6be7c5b600a2796248fe?7av

Biden to reopen ACA insurance marketplaces as pandemic has cost millions of American their coverage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/biden-to-reopen-aca-insurance-marketplaces-as-pandemic-has-cost-millions-of-american-their-coverage/2021/01/25/ccfc2402-5e74-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html

An American Sign Language interpreter will now appear at all White House press briefings
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/us/sign-language-press-briefings-trnd/index.html

LeBron James tonight with 46 points, 7/11 from 3, 21 points in the 4th quarter

Curry is straight up ridiculous
https://streamable.com/3k94dj

Jamal Murray commits the most personal foul vs Tim Hardaway Jr. and is ejected
https://streamable.com/8phhqj

Lebron takes Sexton to the post and hits the beautiful fade for 46 pts
https://streamable.com/njoxbf

LeBron and Cedi with a wholesome reunion before their game tonight
https://streamable.com/7tpxc9

With 6:45 left in the 4th quarter the Warriors lead against the Wolves dropped to 8 points. After Steph Curry was subbed back in he dropped 15 points, 3 steals, and 1 assist in 3 minutes to push the lead back up to 18.

Damyean Dotson misses a free throw
https://streamable.com/vuehje

Anthony Edwards throws it down on Wiseman
https://streamable.com/qq9ioj

Ben Simmons showing no hesitation as he launches the 3
https://streamable.com/xn1bib

A tornado hits the Nuggets/Mavericks game
https://streamable.com/265x9m

Josh Jackson calls Ben Simmons a female dog and tells him to be more quiet
https://streamable.com/ugep9y

Curry punishes the Timberwolves for not picking him up 35 feet from the basket
https://streamable.com/o06d5t

LeBron drills a 34-footer to beat the shot clock
https://streamable.com/3zi0gb

Gary Trent Jr with the worst flop of all time
https://streamable.com/i20xl9

Andrew Wiggins Revenge Game: 23 points on 10-19 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks

OG & Stanley Johnson having a wholesome moment with Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren's kids post-game
https://streamable.com/shuopd

Michael Porter Jr vs Dallas Mavericks: 30 points 8 rebounds 2 steals shooting 10/18 from the field and 6/10 from beyond the arc.

Member of Cavs FO talks shit to LeBron at the end of the 3rd. He goes on to outscore Cleveland, 21-19 in the 4th quarter.
https://streamable.com/t5uwrh

Stephen Curry with 36 Points on 11/21 Shooting, 7/12 from 3 and 7/8 from the Free Throw Line in a W over the Timberwolves

LeBron showing off the footwork on the rook Okoro
https://streamable.com/35mjw9

The Denver Nuggets (10-7) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (8-9) 117-113 behind MPJ's 30 point night

LeBron rejects Sexton
https://streamable.com/7rhlkt

Malcolm Brogdon tonight: 36pts | 7reb | 9ast

Curry gets the steal, drills a deep 3 and yells at the bench
https://streamable.com/ab2qkb

Damian Lillard tonight is a loss vs. OKC: 26 Points, 8-22 from the field and 3-12 from three

Lillard cuts the Thunder lead to 3
https://streamable.com/jttfbz

Anfernee misses the three but Kanter is there to catch and put it up in one motion
https://streamable.com/dweasi

The Oklahoma City Thunder (7-9) defeat whats left of the Portland Trail Blazers (9-7), 124 - 122

Luka goes 35/11/16 on 11/23 FG and 10/10 FT

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a win vs. Portland tonight: 24 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal on 8-12 shooting (3-4 from three).

Bam Adebayo with a nasty block and putback dunk in a 10 second sequence
https://streamable.com/qut5sf

In 3 games without Joel Embiid this season, Ben Simmons has recorded 14 turnovers and just 13 field goals.

The Boston Celtics (10-6) defeat the Chicago Bulls (7-10), 119 - 103

The Indiana Pacers (10-7) defeat the Toronto Raptors (7-10), 129 - 114

Montrezl Harrell absolutely posterizes JaVale McGee with the two hand slam
https://streamable.com/j8jb5u

James Harden: 20/8/4, 4/5 FG in the 4th quarter

Curry doesn't even look at Vanderbilt as he shoots a cold blooded 3 over him
https://streamable.com/qt7vdc

After 19 games, Kevin Durant finally have a "bad" game, shooting below .400 for the first time this season with 20 PT 13 REB 5 AST 1 STL 2 BLK +19

Luka goes coast to coast and throws it down
https://streamable.com/6z2fcn

Russell Westbrook with one tough possession to watch in the 4th
https://streamable.com/hz65xw

Javale shows off his handles and then turns the ball over
https://streamable.com/ptg0ua

Wiseman with the put back jam
https://streamable.com/mp8q9f

Malik Beasley with the fast break slam and celebrates with the battle cry
https://streamable.com/ijddhp

Shai pulls up from deep to put OKC up by 10
https://streamable.com/o4y6yt

Quickley spots Kanter, decelerates and then accelerates, using Kanter to screen his own man for an open 3
https://streamable.com/2a4xo7

Luka with a long dish to Tim Hardaway Jr, who throws it down and ties the game
https://streamable.com/n2lzva

Marcus Smart denies Garrett Temple on the fast break
https://streamable.com/okwkbz

James Harden: "I was in a role for 8 years controlling the ball, dominating the ball. Now, it's a different experience for me, but it's still great. It's still basketball at the end of the day. I'm lucky to be able to do more than just one thing on the basketball court. It's fun"

Portland mayor forced to pepper-spray man who stalked and attacked him about Covid-19 rules
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/portland-mayor-pepper-sprayed-man-who-confronted-him-about-covid-n1255620

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today that: The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election. The investigation will encompass all relevant allegations that may arise that are within the scope of the OIG's jurisdiction. The OIG has jurisdiction to investigate allegations concerning the conduct of former and current DOJ employees. The OIG's jurisdiction does not extend to allegations against other government officials. The OIG is making this statement, consistent with DOJ policy, to reassure the public that an appropriate agency is investigating the allegations. Consistent with OIG policy, we will not comment further on the investigation until it is completed. When our investigation is concluded, we will proceed with our usual process for releasing our findings publicly in accordance with relevant laws, and DOJ and OIG policies.
https://oig.justice.gov/news/department-justice-office-inspector-general-announces-initiation-investigation 

_________________________
_________________________

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/opinion/covid-lakota-language.html

How Covid-19 Threatens Native Languages

The average age of Lakota and Dakota speakers is 70. We are running out of time to save them.

By Jodi Archambault

Ms. Archambault is a Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota woman and former special assistant to the president for Native American affairs under President Barack Obama.

    Jan. 24, 2021

CANNONBALL, N.D. — Over four centuries, nine out of 10 Native Americans perished from war or disease. Now our people are dying from Covid-19 at extraordinarily high rates across the country. North and South Dakota, home to the Lakota reservations, lead the United States for coronavirus rates per capita. We are losing more than friends and family members; we are losing the language spoken by our elders, the lifeblood of our people and the very essence of who we are.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0819-covid-19-impact-american-indian-alaska-native.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#states
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/tribal-elders-native-americans-coronavirus.html

Last year I lost my uncle Jesse (Jay) Taken Alive and his wife, Cheryl, to the virus. My uncle, a former chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, was a leading proponent of efforts to revitalize the Lakota and Dakota language. Lakota and Dakota are dialects of the same language; if you speak one, it is easy to understand the other, though some words and accents are different. After he retired from politics, he taught our language to public-school children.

The task is urgent. In 2020, there were only 230 native Dakota and Lakota speakers on the Standing Rock Reservation. Two hundred and thirty speakers — down from 350 in 2006, according to the tribe's surveys. There are only a couple of thousand speakers, in total, in the United States and Canada.

As Covid-19 takes a fearsome toll on our people, it also threatens the progress we have made to save our languages. The average age of our speakers — our treasured elders who have the greatest knowledge and depth of the language — is 70. They are also those who are at most risk of dying from Covid-19.

Before the pandemic, we had been making progress. Cultural warriors young and old had created immersion schools, including on the Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud Reservations. The Lakota language program at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, N.D. — Lakȟól'iyapi Wahóȟpi/Wičhákini Owáyawa — pairs young children with adult speakers.

http://wotakuye.weebly.com/about-us.html

Now we are mourning the loss of instructors who helped revitalize the language at Sitting Bull College — Paulette High Elk, Delores Taken Alive and Richard Ramsey, all of whom died of the virus last year. We celebrate when others recover: Thomas Red Bird, Earl Bullhead.

That we still have Lakota speakers at all is a miracle. Earlier generations were removed from their land and families, to boarding schools that beat children for speaking their native tongue, and more recently, to classrooms that nearly erased their Lakota culture.

We cherish Lakota speakers, because the language they speak embodies a beautiful worldview — alive and harmonious — based on a harmonious relationship to one another and to Mother Earth. Lakota speakers live by the values hard-wired into that language.

The reach of our languages has been felt far beyond North and South Dakota. Global sustainability movements have adopted Lakota concepts like "Water is life" (Mni Wichoni), the understanding that life does not exist without water; "We are all related" (Mitakuye Oyasin), the interconnectedness of all energy in the universe, including humans; and planning for the future (Thokatakiya awoyukcan etan oyuhapi), the idea that we must care for future generations in all our actions.

The cultural richness our languages contribute to the world is no less vital to life on this planet than biodiversity. Nor is it any less valuable than the cultural contributions of the rich or descendants of people from Europe.

On Standing Rock, Lakota elders who are fluent in our language will be prioritized for the vaccine. I exhaled a breath of relief when Grace Draskovic and Ruby Shoestring, fluent elders and teachers at the immersion nest who have remained free of the virus, received their first dose of the vaccine. Other tribal nations should do the same.

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/532392-sioux-tribe-giving-vaccine-priority-to-speakers-of-native-language

We are running out of time. We are losing the links that bind thousands of generations to the present day. We are losing our chance to inherit their understanding of what it means to be human.

This is why it is critical that we have a coordinated federal Covid-19 response. The governments of North and South Dakota have failed us. President Biden now has an opportunity to help. That means providing the highest quality health care and preventive measures on reservations, and a top-down reform of the Indian Health Service, a long-neglected treaty right. Finally, the next federal budget must fully fund tribal language restoration programs; we are asking for $750 million a year — a pittance compared with the resources expended over the centuries to destroy our languages and cultures.

Rather than dwelling on our suffering, consider the extraordinary resilience of my people. Covid-19 has only strengthened our resolve to honor and protect our elders, the languages they speak, and the wisdom they carry. I believe that if Americans knew what we're facing, they would help us. If history has taught us anything, it is that generations to come will need that wisdom more than we can imagine.

My uncle Jay used to perform a ceremony to welcome the thunders back in the spring. He is gone, but we will welcome back the thunders. If not this spring then the next.

Jodi Archambault is a Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota woman and former special assistant to the president for Native American affairs under President Barack Obama.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 25, 2021, Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Covid Imperils Our Languages. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pete-buttigieg-south-bend/2021/01/15/6bb014b2-55d5-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html

In South Bend, Pete Buttigieg challenged a decades-old assumption that streets are for cars above all else

Jan. 16, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST

For years, South Bend drivers held in their heads a magic number: Get the car to hit that speed, and you could whip through downtown without seeing a red light.

When Pete Buttigieg took office as mayor of the Indiana city in 2012, he changed that. He pitched a $25 million plan to convert downtown's wide, one-way roads into two-way streets with bike lanes and sidewalks. He hoped making it safer to get out on foot would encourage more people to spend time and money in the area.

Buttigieg branded the idea "smart streets." Opponents lampooned it as "dumb streets."

To Greg Matz — who pegged that magic number precisely at 32½ mph — it looked like a waste of money.

"It seemed like an inconvenience," said Matz, 46. "That was exactly the point, to slow down traffic, which in my initial view was a bad thing."

Buttigieg pressed ahead. He secured the support of the city council to borrow money for the project. He held off primary and general election challengers who campaigned against it during his 2015 reelection bid. Soon after, South Bend's roads were torn up for construction and Buttigieg cut the ribbon in 2017.

https://www.wvpe.org/post/south-bends-smart-streets-unveiled

Three years later, Matz is a convert.

"Downtown was a ghost town. You wouldn't go there after dark," said Matz, who went on to volunteer for Buttigieg's presidential campaign. "The results speak for themselves. It's more than just the number of businesses, it's the feeling of it not being dead anymore."

In the coming days, the Senate is expected to confirm Buttigieg as secretary of transportation. He will bring experience taking on the car-centric street designs that have dominated the American landscape, but which many urban leaders are striving to undo in the face of rising pedestrian fatalities and a reckoning with transportation policies that bored highways through neighborhoods home to Black residents.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/distractions-drinking-and-darkness-contribute-to-rise-in-pedestrian-deaths-report-says/2020/02/26/71a93408-58f0-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/20/how-crumbling-bridge-syracuse-is-sparking-conversation-about-reparations/

Buttigieg said his experience building support for the program will shape how he approaches his new job in Washington.

"It feeds my perspective on the value of local work around mobility," he said in an interview. "I think a successful department is one that really empowers local leaders to make and drive decisions that work in their communities."

The 15-year-old movement for "complete streets" seeks to balance the needs of pedestrians and cyclists with those of drivers. But wherever political leaders try to make changes, they face entrenched opposition from some drivers who see the projects as needlessly making traffic worse.

Experts say the pushback shouldn't be surprising when generations of drivers expect to have their needs catered to and cities have evolved to become difficult to navigate without a car.

"We have approached local transportation the same way we approach highway transportation, with the goal of moving as many cars as quickly as possible," said Corinne Kisner, director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Complete streets "represents a shift in thinking and thinking about design as more contextual and less cookie-cutter."

Urban transportation leaders say they are excited to see someone with Buttigieg's résumé at the helm of the Transportation Department, which under the Trump administration had an avowed focus on rural areas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/trump-wants-to-pass-out-billions-for-rural-infrastructure-but-what-counts-as-rural/2018/02/28/a4ae13d2-1cbb-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html

In Buttigieg, they hope to get a leader willing to work more closely with cities. They want the department to make policy changes and funding decisions that help make urban streets safer and more enjoyable for people outside cars.

As he labored to garner support in South Bend, Buttigieg said he made appeals to history by pointing out that making roads primarily about cars was a brief experiment in the thousands of years humans have lived in cities. He highlighted American cities that implemented similar projects. Nonetheless, opposition was fierce.

"There were people saying it was going to be the end of our city," Buttigieg said. He said he doesn't recall his own magic number in downtown South Bend, but remembered his father having the drive nailed down "just so."

The project involved reconfiguring South Bend's Main and Michigan streets, creating a pair of two-way roads and reducing the number of driving lanes from four to three. The city added bike lanes, extended sidewalks at intersections to make streets easier to cross and installed roundabouts. The $25 million cost was covered using a tax increment financing bond, which involves local governments pledging increases in revenue from infrastructure investments to pay off investors.

Buttigieg said the program was one of his most successful policies as mayor.

"People changed their relationship to their downtown," he said. "That's exactly what we were hoping for."

Buttigieg was succeeded as mayor by James Mueller, a schoolmate and his former chief of staff. Mueller — magic number 33 mph — said he has tried to build on the smart streets program. The city council earlier this month approved a citywide elimination of rules requiring developers to include a minimum number of off-street parking spaces in their projects.

https://twitter.com/MichaelPDivita/status/1348804875350630401

Measuring the success of the program has been tricky. Mueller's office shared a list of economic development projects downtown valued at more than $275 million, but it's hard to know how many of them might have happened without the street redesign. When it comes to traffic, the mayor's office could only say that, anecdotally, the average drive through the area is three minutes longer than before.

Henry Davis Jr., a Democratic member of the city council and the lone "no" on a key vote to advance the smart streets project, remains steadfast in opposition, saying that, if anything, it has held back the city's economy and snarled traffic. Installing bike lanes in a city with South Bend's harsh winter climate makes little sense, he said.

"Taxpayers are paying a heavy price financially to underwrite the costs for this idea," said Davis, who unsuccessfully challenged Buttigieg in the 2015 mayoral primary. "We will be paying that cost for several years now because a bond was floated."

https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/elections/pete-buttigieg-and-henry-davis-jr-square-off-in-south-bend-mayors-race/article_75c39a14-e678-11e4-8257-d70dc53ccfcd.html

But downtown business leaders say the benefits have been dramatic.

Restaurateur Mark McDonnell said he had long identified the way drivers would speed through downtown as something holding the area back.

"My livelihood is up or down as downtown is," said McDonnell, who catered Buttigieg's wedding rehearsal dinner. "If downtown is thriving, then I'm thriving."

Despite being a conservative Republican, he said he helped campaign for Buttigieg's smart streets project, organizing other restaurant owners to make the case to the city council. He called securing the go-ahead for the work "a modern miracle in democracy."

In December, the first new downtown office building in decades opened, following renovations and conversions of distressed properties into apartments.

Real estate broker Ed Bradley — magic number 29 mph — said the street redesign arrived as people across the country were taking a renewed interest in downtown areas. He credits the project with helping to revitalize the area.

"Would they have happened without the smart streets? Maybe, some of them," said Bradley, who was involved in renovating an aging office building. "Were the developers in the private sector feeling much better about their investment because of smart streets? Yes."

The major caveat to the progress is the coronavirus pandemic. South Bend, like other cities, has seen people stay away from restaurants while downtown office workers are staying home as the virus spreads.

McDonnell said his business is just holding on, although Bradley said there's no indication there will be a long-lasting retreat from downtown offices.

As the pandemic hit, cities across the country looked to their streets as a resource to tap, turning over parking spots to dining tables and closing roads to vehicle traffic so people could play without crowding parks. Supporters of complete streets were encouraged by leaders' new willingness to experiment.

"Coming out of this, people are really going to crave connection and really crave everything that makes cities great, the ability to be near people and connect with people," Kisner said.

But there were missteps, with Black and Latino communities saying their needs had not been adequately considered. Residents of neighborhoods who had been told for years there was no money for new projects saw government ready to take quick action elsewhere.

When the smart streets program was under debate in South Bend, Davis — whose council district includes parts of downtown and predominantly Black neighborhoods to its west — questioned why the money was best spent in the center of the city when other areas suffered from crumbling sidewalks and potholes.

Buttigieg, whose struggle to win Black support hobbled his presidential run, said he also invested in neighborhoods. He said pursuing projects equitably will be one of the foundations of his approach at the Transportation Department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pete-buttigieg-a-self-described-outsider-couldnt-persuade-black-voters-he-understood-their-struggle/2020/03/02/663030ca-5b36-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html

"We should be open to whatever can make sure these resources are equitably creating economic opportunity in the communities where they are actually going to be plowed into the ground," he told a group of Black county leaders in a virtual roundtable shortly after being named to the job.

Tamika Butler, a consultant who seeks to help organizations battle inequity, said planners have to ask people in all kinds of communities what they want. For some, a complete street might be one with a new bike lane, but for others, it could be one with a way to safely cross to a corner store.

"Too often, folks like to ride in as a white knight," Butler said. "Too often, there's not a process of actually listening to people."

Ian Duncan is a reporter covering federal transportation agencies and the politics of transportation. He previously worked at the Baltimore Sun for seven years, covering city hall, the military and criminal justice. He was part of the Sun's team covering Freddie Gray's death in 2015 and then-Mayor Catherine Pugh's Healthy Holly books scandal. Follow
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A Diné woman who knows what it's like to live without electricity and has fought for solar energy for her people has been selected to head the U.S. Office of Indian Energy Programs and Policy. She'll be taking over a program that the Trump administration nearly brought to its knees by cutting its budget by two-thirds. Wahleah Johns is co-founder and director of Native Renewables, a company that brings solar energies to Native American homes and trains Navajo solar installers. She's also been a community organizer and advocate for water protection, and economic and environmental justice. She's chairwoman of the Navajo Green Economy Commission. Johns grew up on and near the Navajo reservation, where about 15 percent of homes lack piped water and 10 percent lack electricity. Water and energy became core issues for her. In a May New York Times op-ed Johns wrote, "How is it that the Navajo Nation borders 80 miles of the Colorado River and doesn't have access to one drop of water? How can it be that coal and water from Navajo lands helped create electricity for Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix, and yet 15,000 families on the reservation don't have power? "Our tribal government was formed in 1923 with the express purpose of completing a business transaction to sign oil lease agreements with Standard Oil," Johns wrote. "This was the beginning of a system in which corporations could make billions pillaging our homelands for uranium, coal, oil and gas deposits, leaving our groundwater contaminated and our people sickened with uranium radiation exposure, lung disease, asthma and cancer." Without power lines, families on the reservation rely on batteries and gas generators. She said families can pay anywhere from roughly $150 to $700 a month just on fuels, depending on the season. "And usually in the winter, it's more." Johns will be taking over an office that sustained a 64 percent budget cut. The Office of Indian Energy's 2020 budget was $22 million. The Trump administration requested only $8 million for its 2021 budget. The Indian Energy website reports "infrastructure development in Indian Country is limited due to limited funding and financing, inadequate infrastructure, limited technical capacity and a complicated legal and regulatory structure governing Indian lands." The office has a staff of seven people, with three in Washington, D.C., and two each in Golden, Colorado, and Anchorage, Alaska. To provide services to the nation's 574 tribes, the office works to:     Promote Indian tribal energy development, efficiency and use | Reduce or stabilize Indian tribal energy costs | Strengthen Indian tribal energy infrastructure | Electrify Indian land, housing and businesses. "I feel honored for my nomination to serve in the Biden-Harris administration as the Director of Indian Energy at DOE. As the original caretakers of this land, I believe Tribes can lead the way to solving our climate crisis and building a regenerative and clean energy future," Johns said in a Tweet.
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/navajo-woman-chosen-to-head-us-indian-energy-OBsFLusLtUKXCqacurNliA
https://www.energy.gov/indianenergy/office-indian-energy-policy-and-programs
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/04/f73/doe-fy2021-budget-volume-3-part-2.pdf
https://www.nativerenewables.org/who-we-are
https://www.degreespod.com/episodes/episode-07
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/opinion/sunday/navajo-nation-coronavirus.html
https://twitter.com/wahleah/status/1353085150305808385  

A casino company boss has resigned after reports he travelled to a remote indigenous community in northern Canada with his wife and received the coronavirus vaccine intended for vulnerable residents. Rod Baker, the former CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corp, and his partner Ekaterina, reportedly chartered a private plane to Beaver Creek, in the Yukon territory near the Alaskan border. The couple were said to have posed as motel workers at a mobile clinic and tricked authorities into receiving the dose, as reported by Yukon News. The sparsely populated territory, which is home to many indigenous people, has a faster vaccination rate than in the rest of Canada, government data shows.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ceo-casino-indigenous-people-b1792731.html

Israel says that only 0.015 percent of people are getting infected by COVID after 2nd Pfizer vaccine shot, indicating vaccine is hitting the 95% efficiency rate predicted by clinical trial
https://www.timesofisrael.com/week-after-2nd-pfizer-vaccine-shot-only-20-of-128000-israelis-get-covid/

Grindr faces $11.7 million fine in Norway for breach of data privacy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-grindr-dataprotection-norway/grindr-faces-11-7-million-fine-in-norway-for-breach-of-data-privacy-idUSKBN29V0NJ

Over 500 million Facebook users' phone numbers are for sale through a Telegram bot
https://www.techspot.com/news/88413-over-500-million-facebook-users-phone-numbers-sale.html

Riots broke out across the Netherlands over its COVID-19 curfew, with people (Muslims) torching a virus testing center and attacking a police station
https://www.businessinsider.com/dutch-people-rioted-over-covid-19-curfew-torched-testing-center-2021-1

Utah State Legislature bodies Shaq - H.R. 3 House Resolution Honoring Donovan Mitchell over Shaquille O'neal
https://le.utah.gov/%7E2021/bills/static/HR0003.html

Majority Leader Schumer Says Senate Will Take Up COVID Relief Package Soon
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4941486/majority-leader-schumer-senate-covid-relief-package

Secretary of Commerce Nominee Gina Raimondo complete opening statement. I like this commerce secretary candidate. She talks constantly about climate change. I like this person.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1354091439622389761
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1354091439622389761
https://c-span.org/video/?508151-1/commerce-secretary-nominee-gina-raimondo-confirmation-hearing

Missouri bill would allow deadly force against demonstrators
https://www.ky3.com/2021/01/26/missouri-bill-would-allow-deadly-force-against-demonstrators/
https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_news/missouri-bill-would-allow-deadly-force-against-demonstrators/article_c47938c5-f625-5387-8151-871b41e4dc28.html?block_id=991162

Democrat Jeff Jackson jumped into the race to succeed Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) on Tuesday, joining what is expected to be one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate contests of the 2022 midterms. Jackson, a 38-year-old serving in his fourth term in the state Senate, announced his campaign in a video posted online on Tuesday. "We're going to make it a 100-county campaign. A true 100-county campaign," he said in the video. "An organized effort to reach every county in the state, to cut through the noise and hear directly from you about what our state needs. And that means we're going to be on the road a lot." Jackson, a captain in the Army National Guard, is the second Democrat to enter the race to succeed Burr, who announced in 2016 that he would not run for a fourth term in 2022. Former North Carolina state Sen. Erica Smith, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) last year, launched her campaign for Burr's seat earlier this month.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/535859-democrat-jeff-jackson-jumps-into-north-carolina-senate-race

Senate confirms Antony Blinken as secretary of state, 78-22 vote

A federal appeals court has sided with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its long-standing fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, upholding a lower court decision Tuesday that revoked a key permit for the line and required a federal agency to conduct a lengthy environmental review. "It's very good news," said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the tribe. "We expected this decision. It clears away any remaining ambiguity about the legal status of the pipeline." The order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit does not mean the legal battle is over, nor does it require the pipeline to shut down. It reaffirmed an earlier decision from a panel of judges that reversed that portion of a July 2020 lower court order requiring the pipeline to stop operating and be emptied of oil within 30 days. Standing Rock Chairman Mike Faith and other leaders of tribes fighting the pipeline sent a letter to President Joe Biden last week asking him to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to force the line to stop operating. The Corps is the agency that issued the pipeline's easement. Standing Rock sued the Corps over the pipeline four years ago.
https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/standing-rock-wins-appeal-in-dakota-access-pipeline-dispute-fight-not-over/article_c4288e22-e9a7-52a2-a35b-7f6fd50cd65a.html
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/dakota-access-pipeline-loses-appeal-fueling-shutdown-pressure

More than a dozen crystalline rivers ribbon out of the mountains in the southwest corner of this state, free-flowing through canyons, valleys and prairies before emptying into the Missouri River and helping to sustain a nation. "This is the best that Mother Earth has to offer," said Montana's senior senator, Jon Tester. "But if we do nothing, they will disappear." At a time of intense economic and political crosscurrents — here and in Washington — Tester (D) is pushing legislation to protect 336 miles of these rivers. He believes that his effort is more than a parochial concern, that the fate of streams and tributaries in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park matters to many Americans. The approach is not novel. Tester's proposed Montana Headwaters Legacy Act would place its 17 targets under a landmark federal law that over the past half-century has helped preserve the "outstandingly remarkable" features of more than 12,700 miles of wild and scenic waterways across the country. The safeguards can block dams, transmission lines and most anything else that would pollute the water or sully the view.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-rivers-run-through-it-and-jon-tester-wants-them-protected-for-montana/2021/01/22/2305bc62-59a9-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html
https://www.rivers.gov/wsr-act.php

Biden to order DOJ to end private prison contracts as part of racial equity push. That was an effort by the Obama administration towards the end of his tenure (the gradual end of all private stakes in Federal prisons).
The process was started under Obama, but immediately reversed by the Trump administration:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/biden-to-announce-racial-equity-plan-and-sign-executive-actions.html
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-reverses-obama-ban-private-prisons-232807004.html

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They discussed both countries' willingness to extend New START for five years, agreeing to have their teams work urgently to complete the extension by February 5. They also agreed to explore strategic stability discussions on a range of arms control and emerging security issues. President Biden reaffirmed the United States' firm support for Ukraine's sovereignty. He also raised other matters of concern, including the SolarWinds hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 United States election, and the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny. President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies. The two presidents agreed to maintain transparent and consistent communication going forward.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/26/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-call-with-president-vladimir-putin-of-russia/

It's amazing to me how Tommy Fucking Tuberville is deciding who is in government positions and his resume consists of... coaching a middle of the road SEC football team.

Wiggins reflects on facing T-Wolves for 1st time since trade to Warriors: After facing the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first time, Golden State Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins made it clear he's much more at ease playing with his current club. "They're a championship team. It's very positive over here, very positive, everyone's getting along. No egos, nothing like that," Wiggins said postgame about his experience on the Warriors, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. "Everyone just wants to win. It's just a winning attitude, winning culture, everything is about winning."  "Since he's (Wiggins) been here, he's shown that he's a very capable defender; and he's taking that up a couple of notches this year, which has been great for us. He's really changing the game on that end for us," Warriors forward Draymond Green said following the team's 130-108 win. The Canadian, who says he'd love to finish his career with the Warriors, said the main difference between his time in Minnesota and Golden State is in the details. "For sure it's different because everything here is organized," Wiggins added. "You know what you're doing every night, you know what you're getting yourself into, you know the minutes you're going to play, you know your rotation."
https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2100122/wiggins-reflects-on-facing-t-wolves-for-1st-time-since-trade-to-warriors

Caris LeVert had surgery to treat kidney cancer. He will not need further treatment. This is amazing news for LeVert, who will be out indefinitely.  Folded hands: Pacers guard Caris LeVert underwent successful surgery to treat renal cell carcinoma of his left kidney, team announces. He is expected to make a full recovery.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1354142448671477763

Racist Conservative Republican Unqualified Pro-Trump U.S. judge Tipton illegally and unconstitutionally blocks Biden deportation freeze with a nationwide injunction in illegal and unconstitutional setback, this illegal and unconstitutional ruling will be appealed
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-immigration-texas/u-s-judge-blocks-biden-deportation-freeze-in-swift-setback-for-democratic-president-idUSKBN29V2CU
https://twitter.com/Haleaziz/status/1354150932531974144/photo/1

Trump no longer in office but his most lasting legacy = courts. The courts are STACKED with not only Republicans but newly-appointed Trump Republicans.

Josh Hawley in this Congress has voted against all the Biden nominees and against the waiver for Lloyd Austin to serve as defense secretary. His lone two 'yes' votes so far have been to throw out the electoral results of Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The world surpassed 100 million known coronavirus cases in total, a staggering milestone for a crisis entering a phase of both hope and deep concern.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1354157124876709891

Scroll Our dad, @POTUS, just signed executive actions pawddressing #RacialEquity, so we feel it's the purrfect time to pawint out that "breed equity and fur color justice" are the very first principles we meowoofed in the #Pawnstitution of the United Pets and Wildlife of America. Paw prints
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1354157376077758464

There are 100 senators sitting in their chairs for the next half hour or so (swearing-in for impeachment trial) and beginning next month, they will be in their seats for the entirety of the arguments. Everyone in the chamber is wearing a mask.

The State Department is warning US citizens to Strongly Reconsider Travel overseas. If you can't get a test or test positive before travel back, you could be stuck overseas for an extended period of time and you are responsible to cover your own medical and lodging costs.
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https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/26/growing-share-of-lung-cancer-turning-up-in-never-smokers/

'But I never smoked': A growing share of lung cancer cases is turning up in an unexpected population

By Sharon Begley @sxbegle

January 26, 2021

Sharon Begley died of complications of lung cancer on Jan. 16, just five days after completing this article. She was a never-smoker.

Breast cancer wouldn't have surprised her; being among the 1 in 8 women who develop it over their lifetime isn't statistically improbable. Neither would have colorectal cancer; knowing the risk, Mandi Pike "definitely" planned to have colonoscopies as she grew older.

But when a PET scan in November 2019 revealed that Pike, a 33-year-old oil trader, wife, and mother of two in Edmond, Okla., had lung cancer — she had been coughing and was initially misdiagnosed with pneumonia — her first reaction was, "but I never smoked," she said. "It all seemed so surreal."

https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/17/sharon-begley-path-breaking-science-journalist-dies/

Join the club. Cigarette smoking is still the single greatest cause of lung cancer, which is why screening recommendations apply only to current and former smokers and why 84% of U.S. women and 90% of U.S. men with a new diagnosis of lung cancer have ever smoked, according to a study published in December in JAMA Oncology. Still, 12% of U.S. lung cancer patients are never-smokers.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2773380

Scientists disagree on whether the absolute number of such patients is increasing, but the proportion who are never-smokers clearly is. Doctors and public health experts have been slow to recognize this trend, however, and now there is growing pressure to understand how never-smokers' disease differs from that of smokers, and to review whether screening guidelines need revision.

"Since the early 2000s, we have seen what I think is truly an epidemiological shift in lung cancer," said surgeon Andrew Kaufman of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, whose program for never-smokers has treated some 3,800 patients in 10 years. "If lung cancer in never-smokers were a separate entity, it would be in the top 10 cancers in the U.S." for both incidence and mortality.

A 2017 study of 12,103 lung cancer patients in three representative U.S. hospitals found that never-smokers were 8% of the total from 1990 to 1995 but 14.9% from 2011 to 2013. The authors ruled out statistical anomalies and concluded that "the actual incidence of lung cancer in never smokers is increasing." Another study that same year, of 2,170 patients in the U.K., found an even larger increase: The proportion of lung cancer patients who were never-smokers rose from 13% in 2008 to 28% in 2014.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28132018/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28783541/

"It is well-documented that approximately 20% of lung cancer cases that occur in women in the U.S. and 9% of cases in men, are diagnosed in never-smokers," Kaufman said.

To a great extent, this is a function of straightforward math, said epidemiologist Ahmedin Jemal of the American Cancer Society. Fewer people smoke today than in previous decades — 15% in 2015, 25% in 1995, 30% in 1985, 42% in 1965. Simply because there are fewer smokers in the population, out of every 100 lung cancer patients, fewer will therefore be smokers. And that means more of them will be never-smokers.

https://www.lung.org/research/trends-in-lung-disease/tobacco-trends-brief/overall-tobacco-trends

There are also hints that the absolute incidence of lung cancer in never-smokers has been rising, said oncologist John Heymach of MD Anderson Cancer Center. Some data say it has, but other data say no. The stumbling block is that old datasets often don't indicate a lung cancer patient's smoking status, Heymach said, making it impossible to calculate what percent of never-smokers in past decades developed lung cancer.

Jemal, however, cautions that it is not the case that a never-smoker has a greater chance of developing lung cancer today than never-smokers did in the past.

Current cancer screening guidelines recommend a CT scan for anyone 50 to 80 years old who has smoked at least 20 pack years (the equivalent of one pack a day for 20 years, or two packs a day for 10 years, and so on) and who is still smoking or quit less than 15 years ago. Screening is not recommended for never-smokers because the costs of doing so are deemed greater than the benefits, Jemal said; thousands of never-smokers would have to be screened in any given year to find one lung cancer.

https://uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/sites/default/files/file/supporting_documents/lung-cancer-screening-draft-rec-bulletin.pdf

Still, low-dose CT can catch lung cancer in a significant number of never-smokers. A 2019 study in South Korea diagnosed lung cancer in 0.45% of never-smokers, compared to 0.86% of smokers. The researchers urged policymakers to "consider the value of using low-dose CT screening in the never-smoker population."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1556086418334178

"It used to be that the high-risk group" for whom CT screening is recommended "was the vast majority of lung cancer patients," Heymach said. "But now that so many lung cancer cases are in nonsmokers, there is absolutely a need to reevaluate the screening criteria."

Researchers are trying to improve screening by reducing the incidence of false positives — when CT finds lung nodules "or an old scar that you got 20 years ago," he said. Those don't pose a threat but have to be biopsied to ascertain that. Screening never-smokers would also be more efficient than it is today "if we could identify who, among nonsmokers, are at higher risk," he said.

Cancer doctors already know part of the answer: women. Worldwide, 15% of male lung cancer patients are never-smokers. But fully half of female lung cancer patients never smoked. And women never-smokers are twice as likely to develop lung cancer as men who never put a cigarette to their lips.

Beyond sex, "nothing stands out as a single large risk factor that, if we only got rid of it, we would solve the problem" of lung cancer in never-smokers, said Josephine Feliciano, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But air pollution, radon, family history of lung cancer, [and] genetic predispositions" all play a role. Chronic lung infections and lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) also seem to increase risk.

None of those, with the possible exception of genetics and indoor pollution (cooking fires in some low-income countries), affect women more than men. So what's going on?

At least one biotech believes that biological differences between lung cancer in never-smokers and smokers merits a new drug, and one that might be especially effective in women. "A different disease needs a different drug," said co-founder and CEO Panna Sharma of Lantern Pharma. In fact Lantern, which is developing a drug for lung cancer in female never-smokers, believes that disease is so different it recently tried to convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate it an orphan disease, said Sharma.

Called LP-300, the Lantern drug increased overall survival from 13 months to more than 27, compared to chemotherapy alone, in female nonsmokers, in a small trial. It "targets molecular pathways that are more common in female nonsmokers than in any other group," said Sharma, targeting the mutations EGFR, ALK, MET, and ROS1 (common in never-smokers) directly and boosting the efficacy of other drugs that attack them, such as erlotinib and crizotinib. Lantern plans a larger trial this year.

Smokers' tumors tend to have more mutations overall, thanks to mutagen-packed cigarette smoke attacking their lungs, but scientists have developed more drugs for never-smokers' lung tumors than for smokers'. For instance, EGFR and ALK mutations are more common in never-smokers. (Mandi Pike had the EGFR mutation, which was relatively fortunate: A drug targets it, and she has been cancer-free since November.)

The targeted drugs bollix up each mutation's cancer-causing effects. KRAS mutations are more common in smokers' lung tumors, and there are no KRAS drugs. (A KRAS drug for lung cancer is imminent, though, said thoracic oncologist Ben Creelan of Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.)

According to national guidelines, lung cancer in never-smokers should be treated the same as in smokers, said Creelan. "But I think we should reconsider this," he said.

Because never-smokers have fewer tumor mutations, it's harder to find them. So he said clinicians should be more aggressive about looking for actionable mutations in these patients. "I keep looking for a mutation until I find something important," he said, adding that doctors might need better biopsy material or to use a different sequencing method in never-smokers.

In a cruel twist, the breakthrough drugs that take the brakes off immune cells, which then attack the tumor, are less effective in never-smokers' lung cancer than in smokers'. The reason seems to be that smokers' tumors have more mutations, said Mount Sinai's Kaufman; the mutations often cause the tumor cells to have molecules on their surface that the immune system perceives as foreign and revs up to attack. Never-smokers' tumors have few, if any, of those "come and get me" molecules. Immune cells therefore ignore them.

"In smokers, conversely, with more mutations, there is more for the immune system to recognize as bizarre and foreign, and so to provoke" an attack, Creelan said.

In contrast, never-smokers' tumors are more likely to respond to targeted drugs, and as a result to be in remission for a long time or even cured. That's because with fewer mutations, never-smokers' tumors are more likely to have an "oncogene addiction," Heymach explained: They are propelled by only one mutation. The plethora of mutations in smokers' tumors means that there is usually a back-up cancer driver if a targeted drug eliminates cells with only one. "When a tumor has more and more mutations, blocking one is less likely to have an impact," Heymach said. "But in nonsmokers, it can."

Heymach called for more funding to study lung cancer in never-smokers. It "is an area that's underserved and deserves more investment," Heymach said. "It should be commensurate with the public health threat it represents."
__________________________

'A culture of fear': inside a shocking film on how cheerleaders are treated | In A Woman's Work, a striking new documentary, NFL cheerleaders reveal the underbelly of an industry that leaves them underpaid and mistreated
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/26/a-womans-work-documentary-nfl-cheerleaders

Chiefs' Le'Veon Bell, Sammy Watkins and Buccaneers' Antonio Brown, Antoine Winfield Jr. expected to play in Super Bowl
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30782302/sources-kansas-city-chiefs-leveon-bell-sammy-watkins-tampa-bay-buccaneers-antonio-brown-antoine-winfield-jr-expected-play-super-bowl

Aaron Rodgers on going on the @PatMcAfeeShow every week: "It's allowed me to silence all the douchebags who were talking for me, & making themselves more relevant by using my name, or running w/ stories that weren't fact. This was a natural, authentic way to have a conversation."
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1354154183897862147

A federal judge in Florida has ordered the destruction of video that shows New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft raping a child
https://twitter.com/ap/status/1353883624144302081

Aaron Rodgers on @PatMcAfeeShow says the Bucs and Todd Bowles going to a lot of 2-man coverage was a "really good adjustment" He also says he was surprised there was less zero blitz pressure. Says Bucs opted for more of an edge pressure approach with blitzing nickel, etc
https://twitter.com/LedyardNFLDraft/status/1354147518003765254

Vita Vea's return really allows for Bowles to do this on defense. The 2 Man coverage was also what the Bucs used in the 2nd Half against the Chiefs (3/4 drives were punts, 2/3 were 3 and outs) earlier in the season so there is hope on defense.

Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States   
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-condemning-and-combating-racism-xenophobia-and-intolerance-against-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-in-the-united-states/

Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-on-tribal-consultation-and-strengthening-nation-to-nation-relationships/

Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/executive-order-on-reforming-our-incarceration-system-to-eliminate-the-use-of-privately-operated-criminal-detention-facilities/

The Warriors and Pelicans discussed a potential deal involving Kelly Oubre Jr., sources said. There isn't traction as of yet. Like many conversations around this time, it is a scenario."
https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1354159894450958336

Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation's and the Federal Government's History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-on-redressing-our-nations-and-the-federal-governments-history-of-discriminatory-housing-practices-and-policies/

US expects to deliver enough vaccine to states this summer for 2-dose regimen for 300M Americans.
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1354179975658811392

Yellen plans outreach to Treasury career staff and will soon embark on a "listening tour" of each office and bureau, per memo to staff today: "Ours will have to be an inclusive Department. We must tap the full measure of the institution's talent and expertise." Yellen also signals a break from her predecessor's tendency to operate within a tight inner circle: "These are ambitious goals, and I am fully aware none of them will be accomplished by working exclusively with a small team out of the Secretary's office."
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Day-One-Message-to-Staff-from-Secretary-of-the-United-States-Department-of-the-Treasury-Janet-L-Yel--32281518/

The Biden administration will have a 50% increase in purchased vaccines from makers Moderna and Pfizer, with 200 million extra doses to be delivered by the end of summer, per officials
https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/1354180999261941762

___________________________

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/space-force-trump-biden/617812/

What Happens to the Space Force Now?

President Biden is inheriting one of Trump's pet projects.

Marina Koren
7:00 AM ET

The headquarters of the United States Space Command was supposed to be based in Colorado. Since Trump revived the command in 2018, the state had been its temporary home, and last February, when the search for a permanent location was still on, he had teased that the current arrangement could win out. "I will be making a big decision on the future of the Space Force as to where it is going to be located, and I know you want it," Trump said at a rally in Colorado Springs last February. "You are being very strongly considered for the space command, very strongly."

https://spacenews.com/president-trump-issues-order-to-create-u-s-space-command/
https://gazette.com/military/trump-praises-colorado-springs-but-makes-no-commitment-on-u-s-space-command/article_d3e79576-5457-11ea-82a7-3727d040a5f3.html

The Space Command is not the same thing as the Space Force, which was created in 2019 (and which, by the way, is not the same thing as NASA, either). The Space Force trains service members, some of whom serve under Space Command. But in Trump's mind, they are wrapped up together, as one of his signature accomplishments. Space is cool and flashy, and who doesn't love Mars? When Trump mentioned the Space Force at a rally, the crowd erupted in cheers. A new Space Command headquarters would, in theory, help cement part of his legacy—Trump, the president who made space great again.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/01/space-force-trump/604951/

Instead, Trump leaves behind a small controversy. On the day he was impeached for the second time, his administration announced that the headquarters would not stay in Colorado, but would relocate—to Alabama.

https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2021/01/us-space-command-headquarters-coming-to-huntsville-alabama-sources.html

The Air Force, the department overseeing the search, had twice recommended Colorado over other sites under consideration, in late 2019 and again this year, according to a former senior defense official who served in the Trump presidency. (The Atlantic agreed to grant the official anonymity in order to speak about internal deliberations.) But when then-Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett came to the White House with that recommendation earlier this month, Trump ordered officials to go with Huntsville.

https://denvergazette.com/news/local/sources-space-command-heading-to-alabama/article_a88408dd-cc3e-5901-9822-79c8032c55a2.html

"This was a political decision by the White House," the former defense official told me. "The service recommended Colorado, and everyone expects the new administration will reopen this."

The decision roiled Colorado lawmakers in both parties; Democrats said out loud that Trump had prioritized politics over the command's 1,400 military and civilian workers and their families. Florida Senator Rick Scott said in a statement to The Atlantic that he's disappointed his state wasn't chosen, and that he is "reviewing the decision." Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said in a statement to The Atlantic that "it's our understanding that Huntsville was, in fact, the recommendation of the Air Force, and for good reason." Barrett, who no longer serves as Air Force secretary, said in a statement that the process included "insights from the national security leadership" and senior military commanders, and that "careful deliberation" went into her selection of Huntsville. An Air Force spokesperson would not comment on "pre-decisional recommendations," but said that Trump "was informed and consulted during the decision-making process."

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/colorado-springs-area/u-s-space-command-leaving-colorado-in-what-polis-calls-politically-motivated-move-by-trump

The Biden administration could have an easy time unwinding the headquarters decision, one of the many Trump-era policies it will likely roll back. But though the Space Force has often been treated as the butt of a bad joke, it is one Trump initiative that will last. It may not be the grand, legacy-making organization Trump imagined, but the Space Force isn't going anywhere.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/01/space-force-trump/604951/

In the last year, the Space Force has slowly transformed into a real military service. The branch, which primarily oversees satellite operations, has debuted its own seal, organizational structure, and terminology. It has already deployed its first troops—not into space, but to the Middle East, where they'll support combat operations that rely on space systems. Abolishing the force would require an act of Congress, and the legislature doesn't seem to have an appetite for that. At Biden's inauguration ceremony, the Space Force flag appeared on the Capitol along with the flag of the other armed forces. "Nobody's debating whether the Space Force should exist," Jared Zambrano-Stout, an aerospace consultant and a former chief of staff for the Trump administration's National Space Council, told me. "They're debating about what it should be doing."

https://www.airforcemag.com/space-force-we-have-a-seal/
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/space-force-unveils-organizational-structure/
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/19/948375055/space-force-members-will-be-called-guardians
https://apnews.com/article/qatar-air-force-united-arab-emirates-persian-gulf-tensions-dubai-6fa38aa54f0eaebe7fc672095df74d5b
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/trump-space-force-national-space-council/563042/

Which puts President Joe Biden in an interesting predicament. The Space Force has always been more boring than its name implies, amounting to some organizational reshuffling of Air Force personnel and operations. But Trump has used it to fuel his own vision of American bravado, which his supporters have adopted. On the day of the Capitol attack, some supporters in Washington, D.C., and around the country complemented their Trump regalia with Space Force flags. With Trump gone, the new administration now finds itself having to embrace a piece of government saturated with MAGA spin and disdained by the left, and make it seem as ordinary as it actually is.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/01/space-force-trump/604951/
https://twitter.com/mrglenn/status/1346904234214752263
https://twitter.com/ScolesSarah/status/1346941012418068481

The Space Force seemed like a Trump whim at the outset. "I was saying it the other day—'cause we're doing a tremendous amount of work in space—I said, 'Maybe we need a new force. We'll call it the Space Force,'" he said in March 2018, speaking to an audience of marines in California. "And I was not really serious. And then I said, 'What a great idea. Maybe we'll have to do that.'"

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/trump-space-force-nasa/555560/

But an armed service dedicated to space operations is not a Trump invention. The concept emerged in the 1990s as the United States began relying on satellites during ground combat, and in 2001, a commission chaired by the former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld considered the suggestion. A pair of lawmakers in the House resurrected the idea of a space corps a few years ago, but it didn't take off until Trump glommed on, and then it was all hands on deck. "The vice president put us to work and said, 'Okay, the president wants this, so we need to figure out what's the best way for us to put it together,'" Zambrano-Stout said.

https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0301space/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/trump-space-force-nasa/555560/

The country had last established a new military branch 70 years ago, and the Space Force's circumstances were very different. Most of America's forces were founded with the country itself, except the Air Force, which emerged after a world war. The national-security community had been debating the value of standing up a space force of some kind eventually, but Trump jumped the gun, providing a new rationale: It sounded good to him. "He only asks me about the Space Force every week," then-Vice President Mike Pence joked as staff worked to formulate the plans.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/trump-space-force-national-space-council/563042/
https://www.defensenews.com/space/2018/10/23/pentagon-presents-recommendations-on-space-force-to-trump/

By late 2019, a defense bill arrived on Trump's desk that included, among other things, the go-ahead from Congress to establish the sixth branch of the American armed forces. Despite Trump's sweeping rhetoric, which conjured images of space cadets battling enemies in orbit, the organization was mostly a shiny rebrand. In public, Trump avoided the full truth of the final product—that the Space Force would operate within the Department of the Air Force rather than stand alone, that Congress stipulated that its workforce must be built from existing Air Force personnel. But for a salesman like Trump, the appearance of the thing was more important than its substance.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/the-space-force-branding-trump-logos/567173/

In true Trump fashion, the Space Force's public image became an exercise in exaggeration. Recruitment ads beckoned prospective guardians—as Space Force members are called—to consider that "maybe your purpose on this planet isn't on this planet," painting an entirely unrealistic picture of the work. "Let's face it: If you're a Space Force person, you're going to be in a room monitoring satellites," says Victoria Samson, a military-space expert at the Secure World Foundation, which has briefed the Biden team on national space issues. "There's nothing wrong with that, but it's definitely not as sexy as Starship Troopers going into space." Even staffers working in the Trump administration wished that he wouldn't mention the Space Force at his rallies, worried that politicizing the effort would invite only more ridicule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXtkq07oUaM

In 2021, officials will hammer down the service's objectives and priorities. Right now, the nation's space operations are spread across military branches. Which systems will be consolidated into the Space Force, and which will remain in the domain of the Air Force, the Navy, and others? Within the space-focused parts of the military, the Space Force is already seen as a desirable assignment: A survey of Army officers who work on space operations found that nearly all of them want to transfer to the Space Force.

https://spacenews.com/op-ed-whats-next-for-space-force-as-it-celebrates-its-first-anniversary/
https://spacenews.com/survey-most-army-space-officers-would-transfer-to-the-u-s-space-force/

Outside the military, the Space Force is still sometimes treated as a farce. Netflix is already at work on the second season of an eponymous show premised on that idea. One episode drew from a White House meeting in which Trump suggested to military leaders that the first lady should help design the Space Force uniforms "because of her impeccable fashion sense," according to Time magazine. On the show, Space Force staffers end up modeling the designs, some adorned with glitter, and reporting back to the White House. "There is a concern that there'll be a knee-jerk reflex of people who aren't familiar with space issues to be like, 'That was a Trump program; let's get rid of it,'" Samson told me. But those calls will likely come from people who believe the Space Force is a Trumpian vanity project, not people within the Biden administration itself, who likely know differently.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/space-force-renewed-for-season-2-at-netflix-exclusive
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/05/space-force-steve-carell-netflix-terrible-joke/612337/
https://time.com/5869987/spaceforce/

Biden has not publicly commented on the future of the Space Force under his watch. (A spokesperson for the new administration did not respond to a request for comment.) The topic is unlikely to come up during his speeches soon, as he prioritizes the economic and health crisis caused by the coronavirus. But when that moment comes, several space-policy experts have told me, it might not hurt for the president to offer some kind of reset, to remind Americans that the Space Force is not a political prop, but a group of hardworking military professionals. "We are a spacefaring nation, and we live in an era that will be defined by rapid, worldwide growth in space," John Raymond, the four-star general who leads the Space Force, said in a statement to The Atlantic. "The mission of the United States Space Force is to protect the national security interests of the United States."

Raymond previously served as the head of the Space Command, the unit at the center of the recent debacle. In 2019, the Air Force considered several locations in Colorado, California, and Alabama for the command's permanent home, judging the candidates on multiple factors, and by the end of the year was prepared to recommend Colorado Springs. But the service restarted the search the following spring, in part because some lawmakers had complained about the process, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a Senate hearing at the time. A final decision would not come until after the November election, but electoral politics had nothing to do with it, Esper said. When a new list of contenders was later announced, Florida, whose lawmakers had expressed frustration to the White House about the Air Force's selection criteria, had made the list. Texas, New Mexico, and Nebraska had also made the cut, but California was dropped.

https://spacenews.com/air-force-to-restart-base-selection-process-for-u-s-space-command-headquarters/
https://insidedefense.com/insider/esper-says-space-command-hq-will-be-named-after-election
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon-announces-six-finalists-as-locations-for-us-space-command-headquarters-1.652761
https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/b7eebf0e-2250-47de-93af-f1dbbedd83d3/8955655DCB5CD79476CE200C5D922819.05232019-florida-delegation-letter-to-dod-re-space-command.pdf

In an alternate timeline, in which Trump hadn't encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol and still had a Twitter account, he probably would have tweeted enthusiastically about the Space Command news. Now that his administration has ended, the Space Force has its first opportunity to develop an image independent of its original benefactor. "We don't think about the Truman Air Force. When we think about NASA, we don't think about Eisenhower," James Vedda, a senior policy analyst at the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Space Policy and Strategy, told me, by way of comparison. Someday, it might not be the Trump Space Force, either.

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html

Marina Koren is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
___________________________ 

The Trump Plaza near Mar-a-Lago in Florida will be renamed following riots at the US Capitol. The board of Trump Plaza in Florida has voted to remove the ex-president's branding from its twin-buildings following the riots at the US Capitol. The 32-storey tower in downtown West Palm Beach is a 10-minute drive from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago across the Intracoastal Waterway, where he has returned after leaving the White House to launch the Office of the Former President.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-plaza-change-mar-a-lago-capitol-riot-b1793080.html

Billionaires made $3.9 trillion during the pandemic — enough to pay for everyone's vaccine
https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-made-39-trillion-during-the-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccines-2021-1

Scientists in Greece find 20 million year-old petrified tree
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-science-tree-idUSKBN29V1VN

Indian court rules that groping without removing clothes is not sexual assault or rape
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/26/asia/india-sexual-assault-intl-hnk/index.html

Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated support for executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running for Congress
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-democrats-violence/index.html

Biden rescinds Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy involving family separations at US-Mexico border
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Alert-Justice-Department-rescinds-2018-memo-15899921.php
https://apnews.com/article/latin-america-immigration-only-on-ap-mexico-0072e62b21009f1e86244031c6c0380b

"I want to urge everyone to take the vaccine when it is your turn. It is really pretty painless and it will save your life." Vice President Kamala Harris receives her second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1354189633853251584

Just unreal. Controversial Trump appointee at HHS accusing the media of politicizing Covid as he demands agency officials politicizes agency's Covid response
https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold/status/1354190571611463681

President Biden announces starting next week they will increase weekly distributions to states from 8.6m to 10m. They'll also, "G/d willing," ensure states/tribes/territories will have a reliable 3 week forecast of the amount of vaccine that will be available to them.

Biden administration seeks to buy 200 million more vaccine doses, to be delivered through the summer. The White House also told governors they will get 16 percent more doses starting next week because of increased manufacturing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/26/vaccine-supply-biden/

President Biden Announces New Steps to Boost Vaccine Supply and Increase Transparency for States, Tribes, and Territories
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/26/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-new-steps-to-boost-vaccine-supply-and-increase-transparency-for-states-tribes-and-territories/

The United States is working to strengthen the international COVID-19 response and advance global health security and biological preparedness. Read how the Biden Administration is taking action below. | Within 14 days of the date of this directive or as soon as possible thereafter, the Secretary of State shall develop, in consultation with the Secretary of HHS, the Representative of the United States to the United Nations, the Administrator of USAID, and the Director of the CDC, a diplomatic outreach plan for enhancing the United States' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on engaging partner nations, the United Nations (including the United Nations Security Council), and other multilateral stakeholders on: (A)  the financing of and capacity for strengthening the global COVID-19 response; (B)  the provision of assistance, including in humanitarian settings and to mitigate secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic such as food insecurity and gender-based violence; and (C)  the provision of support, including with the United Nations and other relevant multilateral fora, for the capacity of the most vulnerable communities to prevent, detect, respond to, mitigate, and recover from impacts of COVID-19. | (c)  COVID-19 Sanctions Relief.  The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of HHS and the Administrator of USAID, shall promptly review existing United States and multilateral financial and economic sanctions to evaluate whether they are unduly hindering responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide recommendations to the President, through the APNSA and the COVID-19 Response Coordinator, for any changes in approach. | (a)  The APNSA, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of HHS, the Administrator of USAID, the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation, and the heads of other agencies providing foreign assistance and development financing, shall promptly provide to the President recommendations for creating an enduring international catalytic financing mechanism for advancing and improving existing bilateral and multilateral approaches to global health security. (b)  The Secretary of the Treasury shall promptly provide to the President, through the APNSA, a strategy on how the United States can promote in international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, financing, relief, and other policies that are aligned with and support the goals of combating COVID-19 and strengthening global health security. | reviewing and developing priorities for multilateral fora aimed at reducing the risk of deliberate or accidental biological events; combating antimicrobial resistance; and fighting climate change as a driver of health threats |
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/21/national-security-directive-united-states-global-leadership-to-strengthen-the-international-covid-19-response-and-to-advance-global-health-security-and-biological-preparedness/

Over 400 investigations have been opened stemming from the January 6th Capitol riot, FBI Assistant Director Steven D'Antuono says.
Prosecutors have been specifically detailed to investigate attacks on members of the media too.
https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1354161456846090241

Domestic Policy @AmbassadorRice now has included in her portfolio the title of Biden Admin Race/Civil Rights Czar. The position is the answer to the @NAACP request to handle this pervasive issue of racial injustice & inequity.@DerrickNAACP says it is a "great initial step."
https://twitter.com/AprilDRyan/status/1354121928496328710

Bernie Sanders: "My Republican colleagues use reconciliation to give almost $2 trillion in tax breaks ... They use reconciliation to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act ... You know what? I think we can use reconciliation to protect the needs of working families."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1354194907020185604 

Fourteenth Amendment
Section 3
No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Amdt14.S3.1 Disqualification from Holding Office
Amdt14.S3.1.1  Disqualification Clause
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-3/

Please feel better Senator Patrick Leahy: Per his office: This evening, Sen. Leahy was in his Capitol office and was not feeling well.  He was examined in the Capitol by the Attending Physician.  Out of an abundance of caution, the Attending Physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation.

Vermont has a Republican governor....

Marjorie Taylor Greene is into some seriously disturbed stuff here. The conspiracy theory she's promoting, "Frazzledrip," is about Hillary Clinton torturing a baby and wearing its face as a mask.
https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1354176025274404864

Because Trump lied about the election and was the first president in history who wouldn't accept Electoral College results and rallied his base to attack Congress to stop Biden from being certified the winner, pro-Trump terrorists ransacked the Capitol, murdering a police officer and attempting to murder US lawmakers. 5 people total died and hundreds have been arrested and charged and most are sitting in jail right now with impending federal felonies that will keep them in prison for years if not decades. Almost all Senate Republicans vote to dismiss impeachment as illegal and unconstitional, clearing the way for Trump to run in 2024.

Greene put out this statement to get out in front of our story, which she suggests someone else did all the Facebook likes on her page - FOR YEARS - about executing members of Congress and FBI agents and commenting about hanging Obama and Clinton. See her twitter.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-democrats-violence/index.html

For so long the failing fake news media's theory was that Republicans were acting like they were because they were afraid of Trump. And I kept arguing, no they are acting like they are because THEY SUPPORT TRUMP 100%. I think that's more evident now than ever, when 99% of Republicans dismiss the Capitol terrorist attack as either something that never happened or something that happened because Democrats triggered it to happen, and dismiss impeachment as illegal and unconstitutional and an unfair witchhunt of a quietly retired Trump by Democrats.

Romney says it would be a good idea to preserve evidence of Jan 6 destruction of the Capitol for future generations. "So that 150 years from now as people are touring the building they'll say, 'Ah this is where that insurrection occurred.'"
https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1354147779040440321

After the mob stormed the capitol and beat POLICE OFFICERS with hockey sticks and flag poles, murdering one officer, and chanted "Hang Mike Pence and Pelosi and Schumer and any police who get in our way, and murder the media!" and prowled around looking for members of congress to kill or capture, almost all the Republican Senators said "nothing of the sort happened, if it did happen it was the Democrats' fault, Trump has nothing to do with anything, Democrats are hellbent on murdering Republicans, we need Trump back in 2024 to murder Democrats because Democrats kill babies and want to steal our guns and kill us with our guns and eliminate christmas and let criminals from latin america rape everybody and use my tax dollars to fund lazy black people who refuse to work......"

Did he believe this when he abolished the filibuster to illegally and unconstitutionally ram through 3 scotus judges without the advise and consent of the Senate? And block Obama's appt for over a year? And illegally and unconstititionally appoint 300 unqualified mentally ill terrorists to the federal judicial courts?
https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/1354187035272241153

Kellyanne Conway investigated by cops after she uploaded child pornography
https://nypost.com/2021/01/26/cops-investigate-kellyanne-conway-after-nude-photo-of-daughter-posted/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kellyanne-conway-claudia-conway-topless-photo_n_60102748c5b6997d555c4f5c

McConnell: It Was Too Soon to Impeach Trump, Now It's Too Late

Thousands are dying from COVID-19. Deborah Birx wants to save her reputation | Once a White House coronavirus task force member, she's trying to ignore her defense of the former president. Don't let her. GET HER OFF THE TELEVISION ALREADY.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/26/opinion/thousands-are-dying-covid-19-deborah-birx-wants-save-her-reputation/

Biden administration to review sanctions on International Criminal Court officials
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN29V2NV?il=0

U.S. representative Stephanie Murphy's (D-Florida) bill would ban QAnon supporters, Capitol rioters from getting security clearances. Rep. Stephanie Murphy on her bill that would ban Capitol rioters from serving in government: "I don't think it's a crazy idea that if you participated in a violent attempt to overthrow our government, that you shouldn't be allowed to work for that very same government."
https://www.news-herald.com/news/nation-world/u-s-representatives-bill-would-ban-qanon-supporters-capitol-rioters-from-getting-security-clearances/article_80dbbc0f-4cbb-5251-a5e5-6928575e5687.html

Schilling to the HOF: "I will not participate in the final year of voting. I am requesting to be removed from the ballot."
https://twitter.com/extrabaggs/status/1354211030440710144

Here's Schilling's full letter to the Hall of Fame, which he posted on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/1044701480/posts/10223220822362596/

Here's what Schilling's favorite person had to say about it on twitter
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump

The HOF has clear rules about respecting character in the voting. Schilling is a documented hardline racist who in the last few months  advocated for  lynching journalists and elected officials. No Hall of Fame for him.

The 2021 Hall of Fame class will be completely empty. For only the second time in history, no players have been selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America to the Hall of Fame
https://www.facebook.com/1044701480/posts/10223220822362596/

More Curt Schilling on Bonds and Clemens: "But I'm now somehow in a conversation with two men who cheated, and instead of being accountable they chose to destroy others lives to protect their lie. I will always have one thing they will forever chase. A legacy.''
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1354212874009231360

Damian Lillard's offhand, off balance, high angle off the glass contested floater was overlooked and absurd (24.01.2021 PORvNYK)
https://streamable.com/frd68l

Anthony Edwards on facing Steph Curry for the 1st time: "I've been watching him on TV for a minute and it ain't fake. It ain't fake news, it's real. He'll just take on, dribble and pull up from deep and shoot like it's nothing. I was watching him warm up and was like, 'That's crazy.'"
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/anthony-edwards-awestruck-steph-curry-first-game-vs-warriors

The Bulls say Wendell Carter is out at least four weeks with a severe right quad contusion
https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1354190672182583298

Lakota lawyer to lead Agriculture tribal relations - Heather Dawn Thompson will report directly to the department secretary. Heather Dawn Thompson on Monday was named director of the Office of Tribal Relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and, in a move that underscores the agency's stated goal of improving nation-to-nation relations, she will report directly to the secretary. Thompson, Cheyenne River, said she was excited to begin her new assignment. "I'm absolutely humbled and so honored to be selected," she said from her home in Rapid City, South Dakota. "My passion is in rural tribal economic development and tribal agriculture, so being given the opportunity to serve Indian Country in this capacity is more than I ever could have imagined." Thompson is a Harvard Law School graduate and an expert in American Indian law, tribal sovereignty and rural tribal economic development. Most recently, Thompson served as a member of the American Indian Law Practice Group at Greenberg Traurig, where she worked on federal Indian law and tribal agriculture. "This administration has been very clear about its top four priorities, which are economic recovery, addressing COVID, racial equity and climate change," said Thompson, who has served as a law clerk with the Attorney General's Office for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as counsel and policy adviser to the U.S. Senate's Democratic Policy Committee, and as an assistant U.S. attorney for South Dakota's Indian Country Section, where she prosecuted cases involving violence against women and children. "And, frankly, you're not going to find anywhere else in the nation where those four converge any more than they do in Indian Country." | "Heather's appointment to lead the Office of Tribal Relations is a step toward restoring the office and the position of director so that USDA can effectively maintain nation-to-nation relationships in recognition of tribal sovereignty and to ensure that meaningful tribal consultation is standard practice across the Department," said Katharine Ferguson, chief of staff at the Office of the Secretary. "It's also important to have a director who can serve as a lead voice on tribal issues, relations and economic development within the Office of the Secretary because the needs and priorities of tribal nations and Indigenous communities are cross cutting and must be kept front and center," she said. | "The need in Indian Country is as great now as it ever has been," she said. "COVID is killing our community members at a rate nearly twice that of the rest of the country. And the people that we are losing are our culture bearers, our fluent speakers. They are our encyclopedias, our Googles. They are completely irreplaceable. And USDA has amazing resources. … I am thrilled to be a part of this when our communities are in so much need." Taking a step back, she said she also sees how Indigenous communities can help the nation.
"Right now, in this time of great upheaval in our nation, I can't imagine a time that's more important for Indigenous values to be better incorporated throughout the federal government," she said. "I'm really excited to possibly being a small part in helping that along."
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/lakota-lawyer-to-lead-agriculture-tribal-relations-o1SJVecqhUCnTPbqS4RSFA
https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/01/25/us-department-agriculture-announces-heather-dawn-thompson-director

Tyler Perry has joined efforts to encourage Black Americans to get vaccinated and save lives. In an interview with theGrio's @AprilDRyan, he even went into his famous Madea voice: "I am going to get that Vaseline."

They put stolen valor Cawthorn on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The kid who lied about getting into the Naval Academy is going to question leaders and veterans who actually served honorably. That's just an 'F You' from @GOPLeader to veterans. Shameful.
https://thegrio.com/2021/01/26/tyler-perry-vaccine-black-church/

Dr. Rachel Levine, Pres. Biden's pick for asst. health secretary, could make history as the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate. The choice of Levine, a pediatrician and most recently Pennsylvania's secretary of health who earned high marks for her role in leading the state's coronavirus response, was celebrated by a number of health groups, elected officials and LGBTQ advocacy organizations. However, some prominent figures on the right responded to the news by launching transphobic attacks against her
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/biden-nominee-dr-rachel-levine-met-transphobic-smear-campaign-n1255712

In calling for a "thorough investigation" into "election fraud," Sen. Rand Paul distorted the facts about a Wisconsin policy that was introduced by Republicans and has been in place since the 2016 election.
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/01/paul-cites-distortion-to-argue-two-sides-in-election-fraud-debate/

Giuliani election witness who testified at Michigan hearing and was exposed as liar says she's running for state house seat
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/535941-giuliani-election-witness-who-testified-at-michigan-hearing-says-shes

For too long, we've allowed a narrow, cramped view of the promise of this nation to fester.  You know, we've — we've bought the view that America is a zero-sum game in many cases: "If you succeed, I fail."  "If you get ahead, I fall behind."  "If you get the job, I lose mine."  Maybe worst of all, "If I hold you down, I lift myself up." We've lost sight of what President Kennedy told us when he said, "A rising tide lifts all boats."  And when we lift each other up, we're all lifted up.  You know, and the corollary is true as well: When any one of us is held down, we're all held back.  More and more economic studies in recent years have proven this, but I don't think you need economic studies to see the truth. Just imagine if instead of denying millions of Americans the ability to own a home and build generational wealth — who made it possible for them buy a home, their first home — and begin to build equity to provide for their families and send their children off to school, does anyone doubt that the whole nation will be better off? Just imagine: Instead of denying millions of young entrepreneurs the ability to access capital, we made it possible to take their dream to market, create jobs, reinvest in their own communities.  Does anyone doubt this whole nation wouldn't be better off? Just imagine if more incredibly creative and innovative — how much more creative and innovative we'd be if this nation held — held the historic black colleges and universities to the same opportunities — and minority-serving institutions — that had the same funding and resources of public universities to compete for jobs and industries of the future.  You know, just ask the first HBCU graduate elected as Vice President if that's not true. But to do this, I believe this nation and this government need to change their whole approach to the issue of racial equal- — equity.  Yes, we need criminal justice reform, but that isn't nearly enough.  We need to open the promise of America to every American.  And that means we need to make the issue of racial equity not just an issue for any one department of government; it has to be the business of the whole of government. That's why I issued, among the first days, my whole-of-government executive order that will, for the first time, advance equity for all throughout our federal policies and institutions.  It focuses on the full range of communities who have been long underserved and overlooked: people of color; Americans with disabilities; LGBTQ Americans; religious minorities; rural, urban, suburban communities facing persistent poverty. | Today, I'm directing the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs — and Urban Development to redress historical racism in federal housing policies.  Today, I'm directing the federal agency to reinvigorate the consultation process with Indian tribes.  Respect the tribal sovereignty — respect for tribal sovereignty will be a cornerstone of our engaging with Native American communities. This builds on the work we did last week to expand tribes' access to the Strategic National Stockpile for the first time, to ensure they receive help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to fight this pandemic. Today, I'm directing federal agencies to combat resurgence of xenophobia, particularly against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, that we've seen skyrocket during this pandemic.  This is unacceptable and it's un-American.  I've asked the Department of Justice to strengthen its partnership with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community to prevent those hate crimes. I've also asked the Department of Health and Human Services to put out best practices for combatting xenophobia in our national response to COVID. Look, in the weeks ahead, I'll be reaffirming the federal government's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility, building on the work we started in the Obama-Biden administration.  That's why I rescinded the previous administration's harmful ban on diversity and sensitivity training, and abolished the offensive, counter-factual 1776 Commission.  Unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies. Today, I'm also issuing an executive order that will ultimately end the Justice Department's use of the private prison indus- — private prisons, an industry that houses pretrial detrainees [sic] — detainees and federal prisoners. The executive order directs the Attorney General to decline to renew contracts with privately operated criminal facilities — a step we started to take at the end of the Obama administration and was reversed under the previous administration. This is the first step to stop corporations from profiteering off of incarcerating — incarceration that is less humane and less safe, as the studies show.  And it is just the beginning of my administration's plan to address systemic problems in our criminal justice system. Here's another thing that we need to do: We need to restore and expand the Voting Rights Act — named after our dear friend, John Lewis — and continue to fight back against laws that many states are engaged in to suppress the right to vote, while expanding access to the ballot box for all eligible voters. Because here's the deal, and I'll close with this: I ran for President because I believe we're in a battle for the soul of this nation.  And the simple truth is, our soul will be troubled as long as systemic racism is allowed to persist.  We can't eliminate it if — it's not going to be overnight.  We can't eliminate everything. But it's corrosive, it's destructive, and it's costly.  It costs every American, not just who have felt the sting of racial injustice.  We aren't just less of a — we are not just a nation of morally deprived because of systemic racism; we're also less prosperous, we're less successful, we're less secure. So, we must change, and I know it's going to take time.  But I know we can do it.  And I firmly believe the nation is ready to change, but government has to change as well.  We need to make equity and justice part of what we do every day — today, tomorrow, and every day. Now I'm going to sign these executive actions to continue the work to make real the promise of America for every American.  Again, I'm not promising we can end it tomorrow, but I promise you: We're going to continue to make progress to eliminate systemic racism, and every branch of the White House and the federal government is going to be part of that effort.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/01/26/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-an-executive-order-on-racial-equity/

Just six days after taking office, the Biden administration took a sharp turn in U.S. policy in the Middle East, announcing it will resume contact with Palestinian leaders and restore U.S. contributions to the U.N. agency which provides aid to Palestinians. The changes were announced in a virtual speech before the U.N. Security Council by Richard Mills, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Mills also said the new administration is committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a secure Israel alongside a "viable Palestinian state." Mills said it is "the best way to ensure Israel's future as a democratic and Jewish state." | Unfortunately, as I think we've heard, the respective leaderships are far apart on final-status issues, Israeli and Palestinian politics are fraught, and trust between the two sides is at a nadir. However, these realities do not relieve Member States of the responsibility of trying to preserve the viability of a two-state solution. Nor should they distract from the imperative of improving conditions on the ground, particularly the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  In this vein, the United States will urge Israel's government and the Palestinian Authority to avoid unilateral steps that make a two-state solution more difficult, such as annexation of territory, settlement activity, demolitions, incitement to violence, and providing compensation for individuals imprisoned for acts of terrorism. We hope it will be possible to start working to slowly build confidence on both sides to create an environment in which we might once again be able to help advance a solution. In order to advance these objectives, the Biden Administration will restore credible U.S. engagement with Palestinians as well as Israelis. This will involve renewing U.S. relations with the Palestinian leadership and Palestinian people, relations which have atrophied over the last four years. President Biden has been clear in his intent to restore U.S. assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people and to take steps to re-open diplomatic missions that were closed by the last U.S. administration. We do not view these steps as a favor to the Palestinian leadership. U.S. assistance benefits millions of ordinary Palestinians and helps to preserve a stable environment that benefits both Palestinians and Israelis. At the same time, I must be clear, the U.S. will maintain its steadfast support for Israel. Under the Biden Administration, the United States will continue its longstanding policy of opposing one-sided resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly single out Israel. The United States will also work to promote Israel's standing and participation in United Nations bodies and other international organizations. We hope to be able to cooperate with Member States on these issues. On one final note, I also want to make clear that the Biden Administration welcomes the recent normalization agreements between Israel and UN Member States in the Arab world, as well as Muslim-majority countries. I was very pleased to hear those agreements praised by others speaking before me. I think that reflects everyone's understanding that peaceful cooperation between Member States in the Middle East is an important contribution to regional stability. The United States will continue to urge other countries to normalize relations with Israel, and we will look for other opportunities to expand cooperation between erstwhile adversaries. Yet, we recognize that Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians may not be the major fault line in the Middle East, but its resolution nevertheless would significantly benefit the region as a whole. It is the hope of the United States that normalization can proceed in a way that unlocks new possibilities to advance a two-state solution.
https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-open-debate-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east-via-vtc-2/

The U.S. is committed to educating future generations on the horrors of the Holocaust & the need to combat anti-Semitism & other forms of hatred. By doing so, we honor the victims of the Holocaust & hope to make good on our promise of "never again". https://go.usa.gov/xAHg2
https://twitter.com/USUN/status/1354168418300284929

In case you missed it, @ClimateEnvoy John Kerry spoke today at the opening session of the #AdaptationSummit hosted by the Flag of Netherlands Netherlands Flag of Netherlands.  Check out his remarks here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVKRGLKstME

Despite access constraints, @USAID+ @CatholicRelief recently delivered emergency food to ~56,000 ppl around Mekelle, the capital of #Tigray region of #Ethiopia. However more needs to be done. Hundreds of thousands of ppl may starve to death if aid is not able to get into Tigray
https://twitter.com/USAIDSavesLives/status/1354065714295042048

Trump's own words stoked a violent insurrection against our democracy. Leaving office cannot mean escaping responsibility. The Senate must convict him.

This is dangerous and unacceptable for a member of Congress. We're entrusted to serve and represent all of our constituents. This extreme and violent rhetoric only fans the flames of division, and we've just seen how deadly those flames can be. twitter.com/KFILE/status/1…
https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1354234981476945923

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron appeared optimistic regarding the movie industry's ability to bounce back after being devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, emphasizing the role vaccines will play in an eventual return to normalcy. "We raised a lot of money. We've bought ourselves a lot of time, and now, the difference now, as opposed to the last 10 months, is that vaccinations are here," Aron told Fox Business.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/amc-chief-predicts-movie-theater-rebound 

Here's a take everyone will hate: corporate PACs cutting off Rs who voted against Biden election certification could backfire in a big way, driving those members toward the very sort of base-energizing catnip that begat the insurrection in the first place
https://www.axios.com/cutting-gop-corporate-cash-could-backfire-0cf29927-cab7-4a0c-afaf-1dc227f28f75.html

Doesn't matter because she easily won her re-election and her voters knew she was a lying sack of shit terrorist: New records show a mysterious Hawaii LLC that gave $150k to a super PAC backing Susan Collins' re-election in Maine is run by a defense contractor accused of fraud & money laundering. Senator Collins helped his firm get an $8M taxpayer-funded govt contract https://axios.com/susan-collins-pac-filing-d46c911f-112b-4e59-a231-8e59dc56dcc7.html

Steve Carter, the former state representative from Baton Rouge, has died after a weekslong battle with COVID-19. He was 77. https://theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_ebe325ba-52a2-11eb-83f0-3f77feeab7a4.html

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy returns home after hospital visit
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-impeachments-patrick-leahy-john-roberts-401ac90602593e06afe894f7114ee5b4 

Nearly 4,600 Colorado Republicans changed their party affiliation after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/number-of-colorado-republicans-who-switched-party-affiliation-after-insurrection/73-77be8326-e893-4324-a75d-67b09c48bfee

Anchorage Assembly member removed from Alaska Human Rights Commission over Nazi license plate comments
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2021/01/26/anchorage-assembly-member-removed-from-alaska-human-rights-commission-over-nazi-license-plate-comments/

Some Republicans in Congress seem confused about what "unity" means. They seem to think that if you don't give them what they want, you're not for unity. ⁰That's not unity, that's my way or the highway. We're in a crisis and Americans need help. Let's unite around that.
https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1354219280599023620

President Biden on Tuesday signed a memo directing agencies to chart out how they plan to incorporate Native American needs into their decisionmaking, an early move to signal a sharp reversal from the Trump administration. The order directs each government agency to turn over plans for how they can better consult with the nation's 574 federally recognized tribes. | "To do this one week in office really speaks to his commitment to Indian Country," Nikki Pitre, executive director of the Center for Native American Youth and a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, told The Hill. "Indian Country really just wants to be engaged and be consulted and having the executive order means we have it in writing now." | But Biden's order will require consideration of tribal interests across all agencies, something Pitre hopes will help improve housing policy, education and more.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/535979-biden-seeks-to-bolster-consultation-with-indian-country

John Wall steals the ball from Bradley Beal and gets the transition dunk
https://streamable.com/ijf5xx

John Wall with the vintage move against his old team
https://streamable.com/dtrspu

John Wall on sticking it to the Wizards organization tonight "I just feel like the organization thought I was done...that's why I came out here and did what I did"
https://streamable.com/ppa2x3

Russ drops Wall with a quick crossover which leads to trash talk
https://streamable.com/30za7b

Beal looking frustrated on the bench as the Wizards fall to 3-10
https://streamable.com/nd3yr6

John Wall and Westbrook get into it and get T-d up. Bradley Beal, when Wall and Westbrook were trash talking, stood next to Wall staring down Westbrook, and it made for a pretty symbolic picture.
https://streamable.com/moojvv

Trae hits a dagger 3 from logo range to give the Hawks a double digit lead with 2 minutes to go
https://streamable.com/lqxb4g

Russell Westbrook on John wall: Listen I don't start talking shit. I defend myself 'cause I don't allow people to just say anything especially I know the facts pertaining everyone on the court ... I think they just talking shits 'cause they just started winning. We will play them again
https://streamable.com/i3hfgz

DeMarcus Cousins post-game when asked about the Double T's on Westbrook and Wall: "That's nothing. Just two competitors. Trash talking is a part of the game, as much as they don't want it to be. Two alphas."
https://twitter.com/kellyikonba/status/1354280988852031491

John Wall: I know I did my things off the court I apologized for it, I could've been better with. The love I have for the [DC] community, fans, nothing but love for them. I just feel like the organization thought I was done, no matter how much hard work I put in over the summer.
https://streamable.com/pgss1x

John Wall clapping while Westbrook shoots the free throw
https://streamable.com/atp1pd

Rockets commentators randomly talking about the Russian protests
https://streamable.com/jvut7y

The Utah Jazz (13-4) defeat the New York Knicks (8-11), 108 - 94

Oladipo hits the 3 to put the Rockets up 14 and Wall is hyped up
https://streamable.com/i8l6il

Trae Young tonight vs. the Clippers: 38/4/3 on 12-23 from the field and 3-7 from deep

Clint Capela is the first player in over 45 years to have 45 rebounds and 15 blocks over a 2-game span.

Rockets were 2-6 with Harden playing but are 5-3 without him

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta: "The consumer is coming back. I'm telling you, where we can do business, we are doing business, this is going to be the 'Roaring Twenties.' You can just see it" referring to economic expansion occurred in 1920s in the wake of WWI and Spanish Flu. The Great Depression followed. The only positive thing he's done since becoming owner was trading Caris LeVert because that  saved LaVert's life.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/tilman-fertitta-sees-another-roaring-twenties-for-economy-post-covid.html

Former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook has a combined 1 win so far this season in games he has played. He literally destroyed his career by intentionally going to a team he never wanted to go to (Houston) and intentionally playing disruptively on that team the entire season because he did not want to be there and disagreed with Harden's work ethic and D'Antoni's coaching

RJ Barrett's last 8 games: 19-5.9-3.4 on 51-55-83 shooting splits 

Estonia to become the only country in the world with a female president and female prime ministe
https://estonianworld.com/life/estonia-becomes-the-only-country-in-the-world-led-by-women/

buT tHe rIOterS wERe ANtifA. WSJ investigation finds that the Proud Boys, who have tried to play down their involvement in the Capitol riot, in fact led some of the most pivotal moments of escalation.
https://wsj.com/video/video-investigation-the-proud-boys-were-key-instigators-in-capitol-riot/37B883B6-9B19-400F-8036-15DE4EA8A015.html

One of the most amazing aspects of Marjorie Taylor Greene's defense is saying 1) my facebook and twitter accounts were hacked for years, it wasn't me, I never realized somebody repeatedly hacked into both my accounts and repeatedly posted hate speech and death threats for years, I never noticed all those hate speech and death threat messages on my accounts when I was posting! and 2) it was me but I posted those things years and years and years ago (that's how she defines 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) when I was young, my hate speech and death threats from 2018-2019-2020-2021 do not reflect who I am today!

President Biden to deliver remarks on his plan to tackle climate change and sign related executive actions to further the key part of his agenda, which includes "creating jobs and restoring scientific integrity," the White House says.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-sign-executive-actions-climate-change-n1255814

CPAC is moving to Florida, but just weeks before the annual conservative confab, Trump is not scheduled to attend: Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said that Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago abode is less than 2.5 hours away from the Orlando hotel where this year's CPAC will occur on Feb. 25-28, is not currently scheduled to make an appearance.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/27/cpac-2021-462907 

Isn't assassination a form of cancel culture? Arrest and charge Marjorie Taylor Greene already

From librarycongress collection: One of the earliest photos of Harriet Tubman. LOC and NMAAHC acquired the photo to keep it in public view. The Library preserved it and its currently on display at the Natl Museum of African American History & Culture.
https://loc.gov/item/2018645050/

One of last year's noteworthy additions to the Law Library's rare book collection was a 15th-century manuscript of the canons and constitutions of the archdiocese of the province of Zaragoza, Spain. Find out more:
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/01/new-acquisition-15th-century-manuscript-of-the-canons-and-constitutions-of-the-archdiocese-of-zaragoza/?loclr=twlaw

#WeRemember
On #HolocaustRemembranceDay, we remember the Holocaust and honor its victims and survivors. As a strong society we need to stand up and counter Holocaust denial and distortion. It is up to all of us to ensure that #NeverAgain is not just a phrase but a reality.
https://twitter.com/GermanyDiplo/status/1354325163102371841

Watch these numbers shift. Fox, desperate to hold viewers, is flooding the evening with far-right conspiracy peddlers and...what's the word? oh yeah...  *censoring* out moderate Republicans from its shows. It'll be interesting to see the consequences of that propaganda decision: According to Nielsen, Fox News' primetime programming was down 25% last week compared to this same time last year, even though there was an inauguration and first days of a new presidency. CNN primetime total viewership, meanwhile, was up 141% and MSNBC witnessed 36% growth.
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1354188140676788224

In the primetime key demo last week (M-Su), CNN was up 172% compared to last year and averaged 875,000 viewers aged 25-54. MSNBC was up 50% with 540,000. Fox was down 25% and drew 429,000. Tucker Carlson placed 16th in the weekday demo last week, Hannity 18th, and Ingraham 24th.
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1354189930768052226

U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Biden Appointees Ready to Work on Behalf of the American People
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-biden-appointees-ready-work-behalf-american

Three weeks ago today, a violent mob led by white supremacists ransacked the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of five people. They hunted lawmakers & VP Pence. They hung nooses outside the Capitol and carried the Confederate flag in. They scrawled "murder the media" in doorways.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/arts/design/recycling-packaging-new-york.html

Recycling in America Is a Mess. A New Bill Could Clean It Up.

As programs shutter and plastic use rises in the pandemic, a New York bill to get manufacturers to pick up the recycling tab could offer a solution.

By Michael Kimmelman

Photo Illustrations by Bobby Doherty

    Jan. 27, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

The recycling business in America is in a heap of trouble. The environmental and economic ripple effects on towns and cities are ominous.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/nyc-recycling.html

China used to take our recyclables but essentially shut its doors in 2018 because the paper and plastics we shipped were too contaminated with garbage. Unsurprisingly, the United States leads the world in per capita municipal solid waste production, and the volume of single-use plastics, rising for decades, has soared since the start of the pandemic.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/piling-up-how-chinas-ban-on-importing-waste-has-stalled-global-recycling
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/12/923066232/reuters-reporter-on-the-rise-of-single-use-plastic-during-the-pandemic

The closing of the Chinese market has caused America's recycling business to tank — too much supply, too little demand. In Onondaga County, New York, for example, where collecting, processing and marketing recyclables had long paid for itself, even occasionally earning money, county residents forked over about $2 million in 2020 to cover recycling costs. Dozens of recycling programs have shuttered across the country and Americans are piling more trash than ever into incinerators and landfills, the equivalent of throwing up our collective hands, a trend that disproportionately impacts marginalized neighborhoods and communities of color.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/business/local-recycling-costs.html
https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/04/are-you-recycling-in-onondaga-county-you-might-be-doing-it-wrong.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html
https://www.wastedive.com/news/majority-of-us-incinerators-located-in-marginalized-communities-report-r/555375/

But there's a way to clean up this mess.

A couple of New York State legislators, Democrats from Long Island, Senator Todd Kaminsky and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, have drafted a recycling bill that, if enacted, would set a conspicuous precedent for other states.

https://wasteadvantagemag.com/long-island-ny-lawmakers-propose-polluter-pays-model-for-recycling/

The bill is designed to get money flowing back into New York's recycling programs, with the prospect of upgrading trash-sorting technology and creating green jobs. It also provides incentives for consumer brand owners to use more recyclable materials and reduce their packaging overall.

For anybody concerned about keeping our communities from opening more sites to burn or bury rubbish and hemorrhaging cash to contend with, say, nonrecyclable plastic food containers, milk jugs and yogurt cups — cash that could go toward building new libraries or hospitals or parks — the legislation is a potential game changer.

And it wouldn't cost New York taxpayers a dime. The opposite: it would return millions of tax dollars now paying for recycling to municipal coffers.

Instead, the law would get product manufacturers, all but the smallest, to pick up the recycling tab. The prospective legislation, in the works for more than a year, has not only what officials and others I spoke with say are reasonable odds of passing in Albany — it has a good chance of earning support from some of those same companies and their lobbyists.

https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2020/02/25/packaging-epr-legislation-lands-in-new-york/

Why? For certain businesses, it's the right thing to do and on brand. Nespresso, the upscale coffee maker, recently reached out to Sims Recycling, whose facilities process most of New York City's recyclables, volunteering to pay for the equipment Sims would need to extract aluminum from its coffee pods, and arranging with the New York City Department of Sanitation for the pods to be included in curbside pickup.

For others in the packaging industry, including some who have opposed such legislation before but now see states like California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine and Oregon considering similar bills, getting behind the idea — and therefore a seat at the table to help work out the details — is better than being left out of the process and holding the bag. The lobby group Ameripen, for instance, has lately suggested it is open to the idea.

http://www.newmoa.org/solidwaste/EPR_for_PPP_White_Paper.pdf
https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2020/09/30/pacific-northwest-states-ponder-paper-and-packaging-epr/
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2020/02/04/how-packaging-epr-could-take-shape-in-oregon/
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/01/19/ameripen-starts-to-shift-on-recycling-policy/

We're talking about more than some obscure state recycling bill, in other words. We're talking about the glimmer of a cultural reset, a shift in how Americans view corporate and individual responsibility.

The New York bill would implement a concept called extended producer responsibility, an incredibly infelicitous recycling term. In essence, E.P.R. compels manufacturers, not consumers, to pay for the end-waste their products produce.

https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/paper-packaging-extended-producer-responsibility-approaches/#:~:text=EPR%20is%20a%20practice%20and,end%20of%20their%20useful%20lives.&text=EPR%20shifts%20the%20financial%20burden,products%20and%20packaging%20being%20recycled.

Depending on the environmental impacts of their packaging materials, E.P.R. requires manufacturers to pony up different amounts that municipalities can then use to offset recycling expenses. Right now, companies pretty much do what they wish when it comes to packaging, slapping, say, a metalized plastic label on a recyclable cosmetics bottle and making it nonrecyclable, or swapping plastic foam for pulped-paper egg cartons — with taxpayers having to absorb higher disposal costs.

"We're reactive," as Bridget Anderson, deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability at the New York City Department of Sanitation, put it to me. E.P.R., she said, places the onus on manufacturers rather than consumers and municipalities, rewarding companies that go greener by lowering the fees they would otherwise be required to pay to dispose of their packaging.

If you're thinking that companies just pass along those fees to consumers, and exploit the opportunity to reap profits, the law can be written to prevent price gouging, Senator Kaminsky says. And extended producer responsibility laws have been in operation for years in parts of Europe and Canada, where one study shows that the average consumer price increase due to an E.P.R. program is $0.0056 per item purchased. Depending on how they're structured, these laws aren't without critics — environmentalists concerned they don't go far enough; a supermarket chain based in Maine worried about added costs to its branded products — but they don't have a noticeable impact on consumer prices, the senator explained, because recycling costs are spread widely across industries.

https://europen-packaging.eu/policy/9-extended-producer-responsibility.html
https://www.oregon.gov/deq/recycling/Documents/In-DepthEvalReport.pdf

The strategy isn't new to New York. The state has passed E.P.R. laws targeting electronics, leftover paint, thermometers and batteries; and a New York City law covers refrigerators and air-conditioners. But all those items account for not much more than one percent of the city's residential waste stream.

http://www.capitalregionrecycling.com/aboutus/news/10-06-16/New_York_State_has_joined_22_other_states_in_enacting_a_Electronics_Recycling_Law.aspx

Anderson estimates that the prospective New York State bill, focusing on paper, plastics, metal and glass — anything to do with packaging — would account for "closer to half of all our waste." It's tricky translating that into dollars, but the cost of recycling in New York City approaches $150 million a year, she told me. The proposed extended producer responsibility would pay for "a large portion of that bill," she said.

"An E.P.R. law for paper and packaging would be totally transformative," insists Eric A. Goldstein. A senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, he led a campaign to remove lead from gasoline years ago.

Surveys show Americans are eager to recycle but frustrated. They're not sure what is recyclable ("wish-cycling" is the environmentalists' term of art), and compliance often depends on sticks not carrots: fines for using the wrong bin, fees for not using reusable bags and forfeited deposits for unreturned bottles. Sticks work but can foster resentments about the nanny state and discourage participation when consumers fear the system isn't reliable and responsibilities aren't fairly shared.

https://wasteadvantagemag.com/the-real-cost-of-wish-cycling-for-your-city/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/02/saving-america-from-plastic-bags
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/opinion/recycling-myths.html

A benefit of E.P.R. is that it isn't punitive. And at the same time it encourages a robust public conversation around the larger carbon footprints of packaging materials because producers' payments will be based on their environmental impacts.

More than that, money raised from one of these programs can underwrite capital investments in upgrading trash-handling technology, so that recycling facilities can recover more materials from the waste stream — materials that then flow back into the local economy. Tom Outerbridge, general manager at Sims, gave an example: "Municipal programs across the state and the U.S. now struggle with glass recycling because of its low value and high processing cost," he said. "We could upgrade this glass to go back into new bottles, or into high-tech, low-carbon concrete to build greener buildings. But to do this requires investments that no one is currently willing to make."

https://pozzotive.com/

The proposed legislation would be "a win-win for consumers and the environment," is how Andrew Radin, director of recycling and waste reduction in Onondaga County, summed it up.

https://dailygazette.com/2019/10/24/laws-make-producers-of-goods-recycle-them/

The question now is whether Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will get on board. He has laid out a climate agenda around renewable energy. Last week he trumpeted a program at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University focused on improving the quality and marketability of recovered glass. But he didn't mention E.P.R. in his latest budget.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-outlines-2021-agenda-reimagine-rebuild-renew-1
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-nations-first-ever-center-glass-innovation-suny-alfred-improve-glass

The bill is expected to move forward this spring. New York can set an example for the nation. Environmentalists have their fingers crossed.

Michael Kimmelman is the architecture critic. He has reported from more than 40 countries, was previously The Times's chief art critic and, based in Berlin, created the Abroad column, covering cultural and political affairs across Europe and the Middle East. @kimmelman
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Senate Democrats reintroduce DC statehood bill
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/536052-senate-democrats-reintroduce-dc-statehood-bill

Tucker Carlson Rails Against White Domestic Terrorist Crackdown, And Warns Viewers: That's You
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-white-nationalists_n_60115402c5b61cb9534ffbf1

Joe Biden: 'Tribal sovereignty will be a cornerstone' - The Biden administration has made several actions (and big ones) in the first week concerning tribal nations
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/joe-biden-tribal-sovereignty-will-be-a-cornerstone-yH3tHz75-Ee7W3Gii6NaSQ
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/joe-biden-adds-several-native-americans-to-administration

Longtime NBA guard Isaiah Thomas has committed to play for Team USA in the AmericaCup qualifying tournament Feb. 19-20 in San Juan, sources tell ESPN. Joe Prunty will be the USA coach.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1354437573591126018

Member of Extremist Group to Plead Guilty in Michigan Governor Kidnapping Plot
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/us/ty-garbin-whitmer-kidnapping-plot.html

Putin and Biden confirm extension of New START treaty
https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-and-biden-confirm-extension-of-new-start-treaty/

Biden's latest executive orders are the amost aggressive moves on climate change of any President. President Joe Biden will issue a slate of executive orders on Wednesday designed to make climate change a national security priority for years to come, reshaping the U.S. oil and gas industry and delivering victories for environmental advocates on a central pillar of his new administration. Biden will still need Congress to accomplish his target of spending $2 trillion on climate change to help reach the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 2035 and across the economy by 2050. But the orders to be issued Wednesday show Biden taking aggressive steps to launch a government-wide effort toward tackling climate change. Wednesday's orders are part of an early slew of actions to fulfill Biden's campaign pledges to address climate change as one of the top four crises confronting the U.S., alongside the coronavirus pandemic, economic stagnation and racial inequality. Last week, on his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order calling for reconsidering methane emission rules from new oil and gas sources, reversing Trump rules that rolled back vehicles' tailpipe carbon dioxide limits, and canceling a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, the subject of pitched political battles for a decade. Wednesday's orders fill in many of the details left out of last week's orders, including setting the date that Biden will convene a promised climate change summit with world leaders for April 22, Earth Day. The new orders will also address "environmental justice" issues, such as by establishing new commissions to address the concerns of so-called fenceline communities that are disproportionately people of color or low-income families that live near pollution sources. Biden is also directing agencies to weigh the climate change effects of all their decisions, a move that could affect procurement strategies for government vehicle fleets or electricity production. In another move, Biden will call for meeting his campaign promise to place 30 percent of U.S. federal land and waters under conservation protections by 2030. The so-called 30x30 plan was proposed by Rep. Deb Haaland, Biden's nominee to lead the Interior Department, and former New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall. The order that has generated the sharpest opposition from oil companies is one that promises to re-write the relationship between the industry and public lands. The Biden administration will order an open-ended freeze on offering public land for oil and gas drilling and coal mining, pending reviews of whether such leases were in the public interest. Under that review, the administration is expected to consider whether to add language to new government lease agreements to tighten standards on greenhouse gas emissions and increase the royalties that companies must pay for minerals they produce on public land. Wednesday's move will not affect production currently underway or the oil and gas leases and permits that companies had stockpiled under Trump administration in expectation of new restrictions. That means oil and gas production on federal land, which contributes about one-fifth of overall U.S. production, will not stop immediately, with activity likely to continue for at least another year, energy analysts have said. People in the oil and gas industry have said they fear the moratorium could end up becoming an outright ban, something Biden had promised on the campaign trail. But conservation groups and even some industry analysts have argued that the fossil fuel industry is already sitting on leases for thousands of acres of federal land that companies haven't used yet, and they questioned why the government should offer even more. The planned review will assess whether the leasing program delivers a fair return for taxpayers, which will include calculating the effects of climate change from fossil fuels produced on federal land. That will significantly reduce the benefits from energy extraction, but the Biden team's iterative process might also insulate the administration from legal challenges, said National Wildlife Federation CEO Collin O'Mara. "It's clear that they're going to use sound science and the law to achieve the commitments that he made in the campaign, that are incredibly thoughtful and methodical," O'Mara said. "It's encouraging that they're doing it systematically."
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/27/biden-climate-prders-energy-463051
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/


 FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Executive Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Create Jobs, and Restore Scientific Integrity Across Federal Government
January 27, 2021    • Statements and Releases   

Biden-Harris Administration Commits on Climate Change – Creating Jobs, Building Infrastructure, and Delivering Environmental Justice

Today, President Biden will take executive action to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad while creating good-paying union jobs and equitable clean energy future, building modern and sustainable infrastructure, restoring scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking across the federal government, and re-establishing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

These Executive Orders follow through on President Biden's promise to take aggressive action to tackle climate change and build on the executive actions that the President took on his first day in office, including rejoining the Paris Agreement and immediate review of harmful rollbacks of standards that protect our air, water, and communities.

President Biden set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution that achieves a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and puts the United States on an irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050. Today's actions advance those goals and ensure that we are tapping into the talent, grit, and innovation of American workers, revitalizing the U.S. energy sector, conserving our natural resources and leveraging them to help drive our nation toward a clean energy future, creating well-paying jobs with the opportunity to join a union, and delivering justice for communities who have been subjected to environmental harm.

President Biden will also sign an important Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity to send a clear message that the Biden-Harris Administration will protect scientists from political interference and ensure they can think, research, and speak freely to provide valuable information and insights to the American people. Additionally, and in line with the scientific-integrity memorandum's charge to reestablish scientific advisory committees, President Biden will sign an Executive Order re-establishing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

TACKLING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AT HOME AND ABROAD EXECUTIVE ORDER

Today's Executive Order takes bold steps to combat the climate crisis both at home and throughout the world. In signing this Executive Order, President Biden has directed his Administration to:

Center the Climate Crisis in U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security Considerations

- The order clearly establishes climate considerations as an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security.

- The order affirms that, in implementing – and building on – the Paris Agreement's objectives, the United States will exercise its leadership to promote a significant increase in global ambition. It makes clear that both significant short-term global emission reductions and net zero global emissions by mid-century – or before – are required to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory.

- The order reaffirms that the President will host a Leaders' Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, 2021; that the United States will reconvene the Major Economies Forum; that, to underscore the administration's commitment to elevating climate in U.S. foreign policy, the President has created a new position, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, which will have a seat on the National Security Council, and that it will be a U.S. priority to press for enhanced climate ambition and integration of climate considerations across a wide range of international fora.

- The order also kicks off the process of developing the United States' "nationally determined contribution" – our emission reduction target – under the Paris Agreement, as well as a climate finance plan.

- Among numerous other steps aimed at prioritizing climate in U.S. foreign policy and national security, the order directs the Director of National Intelligence to prepare a National Intelligence Estimate on the security implications of climate change, the State Department to prepare a transmittal package to the Senate for the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and all agencies to develop strategies for integrating climate considerations into their international work.

Take a Whole-of-Government Approach to the Climate Crisis

- The order formally establishes the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy – led by the first-ever National Climate Advisor and Deputy National Climate Advisor – creating a central office in the White House that is charged with coordinating and implementing the President's domestic climate agenda.

- The order establishes the National Climate Task Force, assembling leaders from across 21 federal agencies and departments to enable a whole-of-government approach to combatting the climate crisis.

Leverage the Federal Government's Footprint and Buying Power to Lead by Example

- Consistent with the goals of the President's Build Back Better jobs and economic recovery plan, of which his clean energy jobs plan is a central pillar, the order directs the federal agencies to procure carbon pollution-free electricity and clean, zero-emission vehicles to create good-paying, union jobs and stimulate clean energy industries.

- In addition, the order requires those purchases be Made in America, following President Biden's Buy American executive order. The order also directs agencies to apply and strictly enforce the prevailing wage and benefit guidelines of the Davis Bacon and other acts and encourage Project Labor Agreements. These actions reaffirm that agencies should work to ensure that any jobs created with funds to address the climate crisis are good jobs with a choice to join a union.

- The order directs each federal agency to develop a plan to increase the resilience of its facilities and operations to the impacts of climate change and directs relevant agencies to report on ways to expand and improve climate forecast capabilities – helping facilitate public access to climate related information and assisting governments, communities, and businesses in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

- The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible, launch a rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, and identify steps that can be taken to double renewable energy production from offshore wind by 2030. The order does not restrict energy activities on lands that the United States holds in trust for Tribes. The Secretary of the Interior will continue to consult with Tribes regarding the development and management of renewable and conventional energy resources, in conformance with the U.S. government's trust responsibilities.

- The order directs federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law and identify new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

Rebuild Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Economy

- The order catalyzes the creation of jobs in construction, manufacturing, engineering and the skilled-trades by directing steps to ensure that every federal infrastructure investment reduces climate pollution and that steps are taken to accelerate clean energy and transmission projects under federal siting and permitting processes in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Advance Conservation, Agriculture, and Reforestation

- The order commits to the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and oceans by 2030 and launches a process for stakeholder engagement from agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, Tribes, States, Territories, local officials, and others to identify strategies that will result in broad participation.

- The order also calls for the establishment of a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate.

- The order directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect input from farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders on how to use federal programs to encourage adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that produce verifiable carbon reductions and sequestrations and create new sources of income and jobs for rural Americans.

Revitalize Energy Communities

- The order establishes an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, to be co-chaired by the National Climate Advisor and the Director of the National Economic Council, and directs federal agencies to coordinate investments and other efforts to assist coal, oil and natural gas, and power plant communities.

- The order tasks the new Interagency Working Group to advance projects that reduce emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases from existing and abandoned infrastructure and that prevent environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety – such as projects to reduce methane emissions, oil and brine leaks, and other environmental harms from tens of thousands of former mining and well sites.

- In addition, the new Interagency Working Group is also directed to explore efforts to turn properties idled in these communities, like brownfields, into new hubs for the growth of our economy.

Secure Environmental Justice and Spur Economic Opportunity

- The order formalizes President Biden's commitment to make environmental justice a part of the mission of every agency by directing federal agencies to develop programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic, and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.

- The order establishes a White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council and a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to prioritize environmental justice and ensure a whole-of-government approach to addressing current and historical environmental injustices, including strengthening environmental justice monitoring and enforcement through new or strengthened offices at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, and Department of Health and Human Services.  The new bodies are also tasked with advising on ways to update Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994.

- The order creates a government-wide Justice40 Initiative with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities and tracks performance toward that goal through the establishment of an Environmental Justice Scorecard.

- The order initiates the development of a Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool, building off EPA's EJSCREEN, to identify disadvantaged communities, support the Justice40 Initiative, and inform equitable decision making across the federal government

SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM

The Presidential Memorandum on Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking directs agencies to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data. Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies, and to the delivery of effective and equitable programs. Improper political interference in the scientific process, with the work of scientists, and in the communication of scientific facts undermines the welfare of the nation, contributes to systemic inequities and injustices, and violates the public trust.

The memorandum charges the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with the responsibility for ensuring scientific integrity across federal agencies. The OSTP Director is directed to review the effectiveness of agency scientific-integrity policies and assess agency scientific-integrity policies and practices going forward.

In addition, agencies that oversee, direct, or fund research are tasked with designating a senior agency employee as Chief Science Officer to ensure agency research programs are scientifically and technologically well founded and conducted with integrity. Because science, facts, and evidence are vital to addressing policy and programmatic issues across the Federal Government, all agencies – not just those that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research –must designate a senior career employee as the agency's Scientific Integrity Official to oversee implementation and iterative improvement of scientific-integrity policies and processes.

EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Leaders across the Biden-Harris Administration, including the President himself and his senior advisors in the Executive Office of the President, will seek input, advice, and the best-available science, data, and scientific and technological information from scientists, engineers, and other experts in science, technology, and innovation.

To that end, and in alignment with the scientific-integrity memorandum's charge to reestablish scientific and technological advisory committees, this order re-establishes the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The PCAST– co-chaired by the President's Science Advisor – will advise the President on policy that affects science, technology, and innovation. The Council will also advise the President on scientific and technical information that is needed to inform public policy relating to the economy, worker empowerment, education, energy, environment, public health, national and homeland security, racial equity, and other topics.
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For comparison, Trump's first Holocaust Remembrance Day statement didn't mention any marginalized groups--not even Jewish people or anti-semitism.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/statement-by-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-on-international-holocaust-remembrance-day/

Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, 2021    • Statements and Releases   

Today, we join together with people from nations around the world to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day by remembering the 6 million Jews, as well as the Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ individuals, and many others, who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Shoah. We must never forget the truth of what happened across Europe or brush aside the horrors inflicted on our fellow humans because of the doctrines of hatred and division.

I first learned about the horrors of the Holocaust listening to my father at the dinner table. The passion he felt that we should have done more to prevent the Nazi campaign of systematic mass murder has stayed with me my entire life. It's why I took my children to visit Dachau in Germany, and why I hope to do the same for each of my grandchildren — so they too would see for themselves the millions of futures stolen away by unchecked hatred and understand in their bones what can happen when people turn their heads and fail to act.

We must pass the history of the Holocaust on to our grandchildren and their grandchildren in order to keep real the promise of "never again." That is how we prevent future genocides. Remembering the victims, heroes, and lessons of the Holocaust is particularly important today as Holocaust deniers and minimizers are growing louder in our public discourse. But the facts are not up for question, and each of us must remain vigilant and speak out against the resurgent tide of anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry and intolerance, here at home and around the world.

The horrors we saw and heard in Charlottesville in 2017, with white nationalists and neo-Nazis spewing the same anti-Semitic bile we heard in the 1930s in Europe, are the reason I ran for president. Today, I recommit to the simple truth that preventing future genocides remains both our moral duty and a matter of national and global importance.

The Holocaust was no accident of history. It occurred because too many governments cold-bloodedly adopted and implemented hate-fueled laws, policies, and practices to vilify and dehumanize entire groups of people, and too many individuals stood by silently. Silence is complicity. As my late friend and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos so frequently reminded us: "The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest."

When hatred goes unchecked, and when the checks and balances in government and society that protect fundamental freedoms are lost, violence and mass atrocities can result. The United States will continue to champion justice for Holocaust survivors and their heirs. We are committed to helping build a world in which the lessons of the Holocaust are taught and in which all human lives are valued.
____________________________ 

Republican Social Media Influencer Charged With Election Interference Stemming From Voter Disinformation Campaign To Stop African-Americans From Voting.     A Florida man was arrested this morning on charges of conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.    Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 31, of West Palm Beach, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York. He was taken into custody this morning in West Palm Beach and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart of the Southern District of Florida.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/social-media-influencer-charged-election-interference-stemming-voter-disinformation-campaign

___________________________

DHS has issued an advisory warning of a "heightened threat environment" in the U.S. because of "ideologically-motivated violent extremists."

https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-january-27-2021

The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the United States, which DHS believes will persist in the weeks following the successful Presidential Inauguration.  Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.

- Throughout 2020, Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs) targeted individuals with opposing views engaged in First Amendment-protected, non-violent protest activity.  DVEs motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force have plotted and on occasion carried out attacks against government facilities.
- Long-standing racial and ethnic tension—including opposition to immigration—has driven DVE attacks, including a 2019 shooting in El Paso, Texas that killed 23 people.
- DHS is concerned these same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021 and some DVEs may be emboldened by the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to target elected officials and government facilities.
- DHS remains concerned that Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) inspired by foreign terrorist groups, who committed three attacks targeting government officials in 2020, remain a threat.
- Threats of violence against critical infrastructure, including the electric, telecommunications and healthcare sectors, increased in 2020 with violent extremists citing misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 for their actions. 
- DHS, as well as other Federal agencies and law enforcement partners will continue to take precautions to protect people and infrastructure across the United States.
- DHS remains committed to preventing violence and threats meant to intimidate or coerce specific populations on the basis of their religion, race, ethnicity, identity or political views.
- DHS encourages state, local, tribal, and territorial homeland security partners to continue prioritizing physical security measures, particularly around government facilities, to protect people and critical infrastructure.
___________________________

After weeks of brutal expansion, the pandemic is finally beginning to let up. The seven-day average of cases is down a third from its mid-January peak. The U.S. needs to quickly distribute vaccines before another surge begins.
https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/us-daily-positive

GOOD: The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible, launch a rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, and identify steps that can be taken to double renewable energy production from offshore wind by 2030. The order does not restrict energy activities on lands that the United States holds in trust for Tribes. The Secretary of the Interior will continue to consult with Tribes regarding the development and management of renewable and conventional energy resources, in conformance with the U.S. government's trust responsibilities. The order directs federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law and identify new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/

GOOD: The order also calls for the establishment of a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/

GOOD: The order tasks the new Interagency Working Group to advance projects that reduce emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases from existing and abandoned infrastructure and that prevent environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety – such as projects to reduce methane emissions, oil and brine leaks, and other environmental harms from tens of thousands of former mining and well sites.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/

GOOD: The order creates a government-wide Justice40 Initiative with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities and tracks performance toward that goal through the establishment of an Environmental Justice Scorecard. The order initiates the development of a Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool, building off EPA's EJSCREEN, to identify disadvantaged communities, support the Justice40 Initiative, and inform equitable decision making across the federal government
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-executive-actions-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad-create-jobs-and-restore-scientific-integrity-across-federal-government/

Video of Taylor Greene harassing Parkland survivors weeks after the shooting:
https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/1354420542678441986

Video shows Rep. Greene calling Parkland shooting survivor a 'coward'
https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/1354420542678441986

Biden suspends F-35 sale to UAE. It may turn out that the UAE erred in pushing their last-minute arms sales during the Trump administration. The lack of normal process/oversight and the highly politicized context in which they arose now guarantee heightened scrutiny.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/2021/01/27/biden-admin-hits-pause-on-trump-foreign-weapon-sales-launches-review/

Lewandowski’s New Political Group Is Raising Money For Cheney Primary Challenge
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/lewandowski-political-group-drives-fundraising-effort-challenge-cheney

"The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest." -- Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has been fined $25,000 for striking Dallas guard Tim Hardaway Jr. in the groin area.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1354494954580672513

Donovan Mitchell will miss game against Mavericks due to concussion protocol
https://www.nba.com/jazz/news/donovan-mitchell-will-miss-game-against-mavericks-due-concussion-protocol

Russell Westbrook is OUT for tonight's game against the Pelicans, the Wizards say. Westbrook will rest on the second night of a back-to-back.
https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/1354499501524987910

.@MeghanMcCain: "I just wish I’d see people on Capitol Hill in my party that were being authentic and saying what they actually felt instead of trying to get the Trump supporters, because I do think with real leadership and real authenticity... people will follow."
https://twitter.com/TheView/status/1354507035182850051

Pennsylvania State Republican Sen. Doug Mastriano’s campaign reportedly spent thousands of dollars on buses to transport Trump supporters to the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a mob attack on the Capitol. We asked the Pennsylvania Senate for Mastriano’s related expense records.
https://twitter.com/weareoversight/status/1354508493693333514

The 2020 census results used to determine each state’s share of votes in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College for the next 10 years are now expected to be released on April 30, Census Bureau official Kathleen Styles announced during @NCSLorg
https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1354505750622699524

2. These first results from the 2020 census, now expected on April 30, are the latest state population counts used for congressional reapportionment. Styles said the release date for the redistricting data states need to redraw voting districts remains unclear.
https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1354506653555695628

"If you're vaccinating large numbers of people over the age of 65, a number are going to die from causes unrelated to vaccines," Hotez said. "So explaining that is really important."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/boomerang-effect-hank-aaron-s-death-falsely-linked-covid-vaccine-n1255735

House panel investigating Trump administration purchases of ventilators
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/536120-house-panel-investigating-trump-administration-purchases-of-ventilators

Federal officials at HHS repeatedly raided a biomedical research pandemic fund to spend millions on unrelated salaries, expenses, even removing office furniture, investigators found. Hundreds of millions earmarked for public health emergencies were used to pay for unrelated projects, says inspector general. Staff referred to agency as the 'bank of BARDA’ (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) and said research and development funds were regularly tapped for unrelated projects, from salaries to the removal of office furniture, the report finds | The investigation, conducted by the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general and overseen by the Office of Special Counsel, centered on hundreds of millions of dollars intended for the development of vaccines, drugs and therapies by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA, an arm of the federal health department.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/27/barda-health-funds-misappropiated/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/health-and-human-services-department-inspector-general-report-regarding-barda-funding/cbb542f0-bfae-4488-91e1-83278203586c/

Oceanic shark and ray populations have collapsed by 70 percent over 50 years
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2021/01/oceanic-sharks-and-rays-collapsed-by-seventy-percent/

Bernie Sanders' political operation announces it has raised $1.8 million in the last five days for Vermont charities by selling gear with a photo of him and his mittens on inauguration day.

Two police officers died by suicide after responding to the riot at the US Capitol. More than 140 Capitol and DC police officers were injured on Jan. 6, in addition to one murdered.
https://politico.com/news/2021/01/27/second-officer-suicide-following-capitol-riot-463123

Two weeks ago, Republican Rep. Valadao voted to impeach Trump. Now he has three pro-Trump terrorists primary gunning for his seat:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article248775765.html

Tom Cotton is sad about the US reviewing arms sales to a country that chopped up a journalist with a bone saw and created a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. NOT selling weapons to ISLAMIC TERRORIST REGIMES is the OPPOSITE of appeasement.
https://wsj.com/articles/biden-freezes-u-s-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-uae-11611773191?

Biden freezes U.S. arms deals with Saudi Arabia and UAE
https://www.axios.com/biden-freezes-us-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-uae-523ed4cf-6a97-487f-9732-f881b0b3cd55.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/politics/us-pauses-saudi-uae-arms-sales/index.html

Renewed US-Russia nuke pact won’t fix emerging arms threats but it's an important first step

Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of an American Vice President: Today we honor the memories of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of others who were murdered during one of the darkest periods in history. And we recommit ourselves to working towards a society free of hatred and division. #HolocaustRemembranceDay
https://twitter.com/SecondGentleman/status/1354487328245485569

From the ⁦@SpeakerPelosi⁩ Dear Colleague to House Dems: committee chairs are working toward using reconciliation for COVID relief "should that step be needed." But she acknowledges the tension between acting quickly and building bipartisan support —>

GameStop and AMC news: Users on online trading communities are claiming victory for terroristically wrecking costly hedge fund gambles so those stock prices would fall. The price surges were so dramatic that trading for both companies was temporarily halted by the stock exchanges in an automated effort to temper volatility. But once trading resumed, prices took off again. TD Ameritrade, a leading trading platform, took the unusual step of attaching trading restrictions on both stocks, citing "an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions." | In a Twitter thread Wednesday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said the mood on the message boards appeared to be one of retribution against big institutions. "This is an echo of what we’ve seen social media enable the public to challenge institutions for the last decade," he said, adding "And also — please — don’t invest money you can’t afford to lose, ESPECIALLY, in risky investments." For weeks, users posting on WallStreetBets have been rallying support for GameStop, which has been targeted by short sellers as it struggles to adapt its brick-and-mortar business. The apparent group of retail investors began betting that its stock price would rise, challenging Wall Street short sellers wagering the opposite. As the shares rose, the Wall Street traders have been forced to take massive losses. "GameStop has become a pyramid scheme," said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. Investors buying the stock at $200 are convinced someone else will buy it from them at $250, he said. But that won’t last forever, he said. "Pyramid schemes work as long as new investors believe there will be new investors behind them; when it’s clear nobody else is going to come in, they are less likely to participate." | The SEC is likely to investigate potentially illegal manipulation behind the rapid run-up in the share prices, according to James Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University. To establish manipulation that runs afoul of securities laws, Angel said that regulators will need to prove traders engaged in "an intentional act to push a price away from its fundamental value to seek a profit." In market parlance, this is typically known as a pump-and-dump scheme: Participants buy a stock; artificially inflate its price, say, by circulating rumors about the company; then sell for a profit.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/27/gamestop-amc-reddit-short-sellers-wallstreetbets/

Today, Democrats are unveiling the #RaiseTheWage Act to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. That means a long-overdue raise for nearly 32 MILLION workers across the country.
https://twitter.com/BobbyScott/status/1354052324486950912

Michigan Republican Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kidnap Governor. Ty Garbin has agreed to help prosecutors who claim a group of men sought to kidnap and punish Michigan’s Democratic governor for ordering a statewide lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19.
https://www.courthousenews.com/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-in-plot-to-kidnap-governor/

First lady Jill Biden expected to take active role in immigrant family reunification. The current first lady's upcoming involvement in the issue and its targeted task force will lend visibility to the mission of reuniting children with their parents, which remains a crisis for many families. Lawyers are still unable to reach the parents of 611 children who had been split from their families by US border officials between 2017 and 2018, according to the latest court filing. The Justice Department also officially rescinded the policy Tuesday in a memo to federal prosecutors, even though it had already been ended. "As the first lady remarked on a 'Charla' with young Latinos earlier this week, her chief of staff, Ambassador Julissa Reynoso, will monitor the federal reunification effort given her background as a lawyer," Biden spokesman Michael LaRosa told CNN on Wednesday, confirming the East Wing's anticipated involvement. Reynoso has firsthand perspective, having moved to the United States with her family from a rural village in the Dominican Republic when she was a child. A White House official said Jill Biden was especially impacted by her December trip to the Matamoros, Mexico, refugee camp across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/politics/jill-biden-immigration-family-separation/index.html

Biden White House now releasing COVID19 state-by-state reports previously kept private by Trump Administration
https://beta.healthdata.gov/Community/COVID-19-State-Profile-Report-Georgia/xhcs-tqqe
https://beta.healthdata.gov/Community/COVID-19-State-Profile-Report-Florida/ht94-9tjc

Dr. Amy Acton, the popular former director of the Ohio Department of Health, is considering a run for U.S. Senate. Acton, a Democrat, resigned in June following Gov. DeWine's decision to loosen COVID19 restrictions. Since then, cases have skyrocketed.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1354534649595375617

The FDA awarded this contract as the Department of Health and Human Services was working on a $300 million celebrity ad campaign. Later, HHS top spokesman Michael Caputo tried to rebrand the campaign as "helping the president."

In August, the FDA awarded a $15 million contract to Atlas Research to create an ad campaign to "defeat despair" about Covid-19, intended to run before the November election. In August, the FDA awarded a $15 million contract to Atlas Research to create an ad campaign to "defeat despair" about Covid-19, intended to run before the November election.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/25/trump-hhs-ads-coronavirus-421957

A Georgia teacher's obituary pleaded for mask wearing. At a school board meeting, 3 officials refused. In the wake of three teacher deaths from COVID-19 in Cobb County, Georgia, school board officials refused to wear face masks at a board meeting Thursday when asked by a district employee. It was kindergarten art teacher Patrick Key's dying wish. | Key, 53, a Marietta resident, died Christmas Day after a 41-day battle with COVID-19 in the ICU, according to the obituary. He was a "life-long lover of all things comic books, science fiction, Star Wars and Manga," the obituary said. He taught in Cobb County, a suburban county of Atlanta, for 23 years. | "As teachers and staff are being asked to do more than ever, we would appreciate that more be done to remember and honor Patrick tonight," Susko said, according to a recording of the meeting. As Susko paused for more than 10 seconds of silence, two board members and the superintendent, who were not wearing face masks, did not put one on. "I'd like the record to reflect that some of you did not wear a mask, the final request of a Cobb teacher who died. Your actions in these two minutes have spoken louder than words," Susko said. "We see where your priorities are. Please know that many of us reject your false gratitude for staff since we seem disposable to many of you." The three men who did not wear masks – Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, David Chastain and David Banks – did not respond to requests for comment. A district spokesperson said in a statement board members have been following the district's mask policy and were "intentionally spaced to allow for social distancing" at the meeting.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/01/26/cobb-county-georgia-teachers-died-covid-face-masks/4258250001/
https://www.cobbk12.org/page/8993/watch-meetings-online

New data: In 2020, China's total imports of covered products from the US totaled $100 billion - 59% of the TARGET under Trump's Phase 1 Trade deal ($173.1 bn). China's purchases of covered agricultural products only reached 82%. Enter Biden, stage right.
https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/us-china-phase-one-tracker-chinas-purchases-us-goods
https://www.davisstruempf.com/obituaries/Patrick-Key-2/#!/Obituary

Leon Black said he would step down as the CEO of Apollo Global Management after it was revealed he paid $158 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He remains the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art’s board of trustees.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/arts/design/leon-black-moma-epstein.html

Trump Hotel, DC - Looks like they drained the swamp
https://twitter.com/i/status/1354533185909043200
https://twitter.com/JaneMayerNYer/status/1354533185909043200

"President Biden called me to check in on Alabama following Monday’s severe weather," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said today. "I shared with him what we saw today, both from the air and on the ground. While the recovery will be tough, these communities are united."
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1354539709658230786

See our current traveling exhibit, "40 Chances: Finding Hope in A Hungry World," at the Stauth Memorial Museum. View the powerful photography of Howard G. Buffett, that documents the world hunger crisis as part of a global awareness campaign. http://stauthmemorialmuseum.org/event/40-chances-finding-hope-in-a-hungry-world-the-photography-of-howard-g-buffett/ 

The Biden administration is moving forward with the creation of a bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. The commission will be housed under the purview of the White House Counsel's office and filled out with the behind-the-scenes help of the Biden campaign's lawyer Bob Bauer, who will co-chair the commission. Its specific mandate is still being decided. But, in a signal that the commission is indeed moving ahead, some members have already been selected, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. Among those who will be on the commission are Cristina Rodríguez, a professor at Yale Law School and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama Department of Justice, who will join Bauer as co-chair. Caroline Fredrickson, the former president of the American Constitution Society, and Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and a former assistant attorney general in the Bush Department of Justice, will also serve on the commission, those familiar with discussions said. Fredrickson has hinted that she is intellectually supportive of ideas like court expansion. In 2019, she said in an interview with Eric Lesh, the executive director of the LGBT Bar Association and Foundation of Greater New York: "I often point out to people who aren't lawyers that the Supreme Court is not defined as 'nine person body' in the Constitution, and it has changed size many times." Rodríguez's opinions on court reforms are less clear. Goldsmith's selection, meanwhile, is likely to be the one to frustrate progressives. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Goldsmith did not support Trump and is a friend and co-author of Bauer. But he was a vocal advocate of Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the high court — an appointment that sparked Democratic advocacy for expanding the number of Supreme Court seats. | "President Biden has put together this commission to come up with a report in 180 days," he said in an MSNBC interview this week. "We're going to see what the commission says and go from there."
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/27/biden-supreme-court-reform-463126
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2005/08/07/a-court-too-supreme-for-our-good/b5ffcfdb-2d05-4201-a95b-76651e280a8e/

Chad Wheeler of the Seahawks tried to kill his girlfriend because she wouldn't bow to him. He was even surprised at her survival. If you're not outraged, you're part of the problem. NFL handle this swiftly & decisively.
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelAcho/status/1354458405218340866

Jason Witten has told ESPN he is retiring from the NFL after a 17-year career. He intends to sign one-day contract and retire as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in March when his contract with the Las Vegas Raiders expires in March.
https://twitter.com/toddarcher/status/1354536081815957508

Chad Wheeler's contract is up with Seattle. He is scheduled to be a free agent, and he will not be returning to the Seahawks
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1354513046459346950
______________________

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/memorandum-on-restoring-trust-in-government-through-scientific-integrity-and-evidence-based-policymaking/

 Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking
January 27, 2021    • Presidential Actions   

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

It is the policy of my Administration to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data.  Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies, and to the delivery of equitable programs, across every area of government.  Scientific findings should never be distorted or influenced by political considerations.  When scientific or technological information is considered in policy decisions, it should be subjected to well-established scientific processes, including peer review where feasible and appropriate, with appropriate protections for privacy.  Improper political interference in the work of Federal scientists or other scientists who support the work of the Federal Government and in the communication of scientific facts undermines the welfare of the Nation, contributes to systemic inequities and injustices, and violates the trust that the public places in government to best serve its collective interests.

This memorandum reaffirms and builds on the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009 (Scientific Integrity), and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy's Memorandum of December 17, 2010 (Scientific Integrity).

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I direct as follows:

Section 1.  Role of the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Director) shall ensure the highest level of integrity in all aspects of executive branch involvement with scientific and technological processes.  This responsibility shall include ensuring that executive departments and agencies (agencies) establish and enforce scientific-integrity policies that ban improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research and in the collection of scientific or technological data, and that prevent the suppression or distortion of scientific or technological findings, data, information, conclusions, or technical results.  In implementing this memorandum, the Director shall, as appropriate, convene and confer with the heads of agencies and with personnel within the offices of the Executive Office of the President, including the Office of Management and Budget. 

Sec. 2.  Task Force on Scientific Integrity.  (a)  The Director shall convene an interagency task force (the "Task Force") of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to conduct a thorough review of the effectiveness of agency scientific-integrity policies developed since the issuance of the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009.

(b)  The Task Force shall complete its review within 120 days of the date of the appointment of its members, and shall take the following actions when completing its review.

(i)    The Task Force shall ensure its review considers whether existing Federal scientific-integrity policies prevent improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research and the collection of scientific or technological data; prevent the suppression or distortion of scientific or technological findings, data, information, conclusions, or technical results; support scientists and researchers of all genders, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds; and advance the equitable delivery of the Federal Government's programs.

(ii)   The Task Force's review shall include an analysis of any instances in which existing scientific-integrity policies have not been followed or enforced, including whether such deviations from existing policies have resulted in improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research and the collection of scientific or technological data; led to the suppression or distortion of scientific or technological findings, data, information, conclusions, or technical results; disproportionately harmed Federal scientists and researchers from groups that are historically underrepresented in science, technology, and related fields; or impeded the equitable delivery of the Federal Government's programs.  The scope of this review shall include the work of scientific and technological advisory committees, boards, and similar bodies.  The existing policies examined by this review shall include those issued pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009, and the Director's Memorandum of December 17, 2010; any other scientific-integrity policies published on agency websites; and commonly accepted scientific-integrity practices.

(iii)  The Task Force shall identify effective practices regarding engagement of Federal scientists, as well as contractors working on scientific matters for agencies, with news media and on social media; effective policies that protect scientific independence during clearance and review, and that avoid improper political interference in research or data collection; effective approaches for handling any disagreements about scientific methods and conclusions; effective reporting practices that promote transparency in the implementation of agency scientific-integrity policies and in the handling of any allegations of misconduct; effective practices for educating and informing employees and contractors of their rights and responsibilities related to agency scientific-integrity policies; promising opportunities to address gaps in current scientific-integrity policies related to emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine-learning, and evolving scientific practices, such as citizen science and community-engaged research; effective approaches to minimizing conflicts of interest in Federal Government science; and policies that support the professional development of Federal scientists in accordance with, and building on, section IV of the Director's Memorandum of December 17, 2010.

(iv)   To inform the review, the Task Force shall gather input from stakeholders and the public regarding scientific-integrity practices.  The Task Force shall consider obtaining such input through various means, which may include holding a virtual stakeholder summit hosted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), issuing a public request for information, and conducting a virtual listening tour or open forums.

(v)    Upon the conclusion of its review, the Director shall publish a report on the OSTP website synthesizing the Task Force's findings.  The report shall include a description of agencies' strengths and weaknesses regarding scientific-integrity policies, as well as a description of best practices and lessons learned.

(c)  Within 120 days of the publication of the Task Force's initial 120-day review of existing scientific-integrity policies, the Task Force shall develop a framework to inform and support the regular assessment and iterative improvement of agency scientific-integrity policies and practices, to support the Director and OSTP in ensuring that agencies adhere to the principles of scientific integrity.  This framework shall include assessment criteria that OSTP and agencies can use to inform, review, and improve the design and implementation of agency scientific-integrity policies.  The Director shall publish this framework on the OSTP website.

Sec. 3.  Agency Scientific-Integrity Policies.  (a)  Heads of agencies shall ensure that all agency activities associated with scientific and technological processes are conducted in accordance with the 6 principles set forth in section 1 of the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009, and the 4 foundations of scientific integrity in government set forth in part I of the Director's Memorandum of December 17, 2010.

(b)  Heads of agencies shall ensure that their agency scientific-integrity policies reflect the findings in the Task Force report produced under section (2)(b)(v) of this memorandum and apply to all agency employees, regardless of the nature of their appointment, as well as contractors who perform scientific activities for agencies.  Heads of agencies shall coordinate with the Director in the development, updating, and implementation of any agency-specific policies or procedures deemed necessary to ensure the integrity of scientific decision-making.  The following time frames shall apply when completing the activities described in this subsection:

(i)    The head of each agency with an existing scientific-integrity policy shall submit an updated policy to the Director within 180 days of the publication of the Task Force's report.

(ii)   The head of each agency without an existing scientific-integrity policy shall submit a draft agency scientific-integrity policy to the Director within 180 days of the publication of the Task Force's report.

(iii)  The Director shall expeditiously review scientific-integrity policies submitted by the agencies to ensure that the policies respond to the Task Force's analysis, adhere to the policy directives in this memorandum, and uphold the highest standards of scientific practice.

(iv)   The Director shall notify agencies of any deficiencies in the scientific-integrity policies and collaborate with agencies to expeditiously correct those deficiencies. 

     (c)   In implementing this section, heads of agencies shall:

(i)    Provide the Director with any information the Director deems necessary to conduct the Director's duties under this memorandum;

(ii)   Publish the agency's scientific-integrity policy on the agency's website, and disseminate information about the policy through the agency's social media channels;

(iii)  Develop and publish procedures, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, for implementing the agency's scientific-integrity policy, including establishing and publishing an administrative process for reporting, investigating, and appealing allegations of deviations from the agency's policy, and for resolving any disputes or disagreements about scientific methods and conclusions;

(iv)   Review and, as needed, update within 60 days of the date of this memorandum any website content, and within 300 days of the date of this memorandum any agency reports, data, and other agency materials issued or published since January 20, 2017, that are inconsistent with the principles set forth in this memorandum and that remain in use by the agency or its stakeholders;

(v)    Educate agency employees, as well as contractors who perform scientific activities for the agency, on their rights and responsibilities related to scientific integrity, including by conducting routine training on the agency's scientific-integrity policy for all employees, and by ensuring any new employees are made aware of their responsibilities under the agency's scientific-integrity policy shortly after they are hired; and

(vi)   Publish, consistent with any requirements related to national security and privacy, as well as any other applicable law, an annual report on the agency's website that includes the number of administrative investigations and appeals involving alleged deviations from the agency's scientific-integrity policies, as described in section (3)(c)(iii) of this memorandum, for the year covered by the report, and the number of investigations and appeals pending from years prior to the year covered by the report, if any.

Sec. 4.  Publication of Scientific-Integrity Policies and Ongoing Biennial Reporting.  (a)  The Director shall publish on the OSTP website, and disseminate via social media, information about this memorandum, related OSTP and NSTC reports on scientific integrity, and links to the scientific-integrity policies posted on agency websites, to ensure such information and policies can be easily accessed by the public.

(b)  The Director shall publish on the OSTP website, and disseminate via social media, a biennial report on the status of the implementation of this memorandum across the executive branch.  This report shall include a review of the impact on scientific integrity of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices related to the Federal scientific and engineering workforce and scientific Federal advisory committees.

Sec. 5.  Evidence-Based Policymaking.  (a)  Heads of agencies shall ensure that the scientific-integrity policies of their agencies consider, supplement, and support their plans for forming evidence-based policies, including the evidence-building plans required by 5 U.S.C. 312(a) and the annual evaluation plans required by 5 U.S.C. 312(b).

(b)  Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, after consultation with the Director, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall issue guidance to improve agencies' evidence-building plans and annual evaluation plans.  Specifically, the Director of OMB shall consider whether, consistent with, and building upon, Executive Order 13707 of September 15, 2015 (Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People), agencies' evidence-building plans and annual evaluation plans shall include a broad set of methodological approaches for the evidence-based and iterative development and the equitable delivery of policies, programs, and agency operations.  Relevant approaches might include use of pilot projects, randomized control trials, quantitative-survey research and statistical analysis, qualitative research, ethnography, research based on data linkages in which records from two or more datasets that refer to the same entity are joined, well-established processes for community engagement and inclusion in research, and other approaches that may be informed by the social and behavioral sciences and data science.

(c)  The statutory positions required to be designated by agencies by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-435), which include the Evaluation Officer, the Chief Data Officer, and a senior statistical official, shall incorporate scientific-integrity principles consistent with this memorandum into agencies' data governance and evaluation approaches.  Similarly, the Chief Data Officers Council shall incorporate scientific-integrity principles consistent with this memorandum into its efforts to establish government-wide best practices for the use, protection, dissemination, and generation of data, and both the Chief Data Officers Council and the Evaluation Officer Council shall identify ways in which agencies can improve upon the production of evidence for use in policymaking.

(d)  Consistent with the provisions of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, heads of agencies shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, expand open and secure access to Federal data routinely collected in the course of administering Federal, State, local, Tribal, or territorial government programs or fulfilling Federal, State, local, Tribal, or territorial government mandates, such as tax data, vital records, other statistical data, and Social Security Administration earnings and employment reports, to ensure governmental and non-governmental researchers can use Federal data to assess and evaluate the effectiveness and equitable delivery of policies and to suggest improvements.  In implementing this provision, heads of agencies shall:

(i)    Make these data available by default in a machine-readable format and in a manner that protects privacy and confidential or classified information, and any other information protected from disclosure by law;

(ii)   Publish an agency data plan that provides a consistent framework for data stewardship, use, and access.  If publishing such a plan is not feasible, then the head of the agency shall publish guidelines outlining how the data were collected, metadata on data use, any limitations on data use, and ways for researchers to provide feedback on data shared;

(iii)  Follow the mandates of the Information Quality Act (section 515 of Public Law 106-554) in assessing and making available to researchers information on the quality of the data being provided; and

(iv)   Where possible, provide such data disaggregated by gender, race, ethnicity, age, income, and other demographic factors that support researchers in understanding the effects of policies and programs on equity and justice.

(e)  The Director of OMB shall review whether guidance to agencies on implementation of the Information Quality Act needs to be updated and reissued.

(f)  Heads of agencies shall review and expeditiously update any agency policies, processes, and practices issued or published since January 20, 2017, that prevent the best available science and data from informing the agency's evidence-based and iterative development and equitable delivery of policies and programs.

Sec. 6.  Agency Chief Science Officers and Scientific Integrity Officials.  (a)  Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, the heads of agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, designate a senior agency employee for the role of chief science officer, science advisor, or chief scientist ("Chief Science Officer"), who shall:

(i)   Serve as the principal advisor to the head of the agency on scientific issues and ensure that the agency's research programs are scientifically and technologically well-founded and conducted with integrity; and

(ii)  Oversee the implementation and iterative improvement of policies and processes affecting the integrity of research funded, conducted, or overseen by the agency, as well as policies affecting the Federal and non-Federal scientists who support the research activities of the agency, including scientific-integrity policies consistent with the provisions of this memorandum.

(b)  Because science, facts, and evidence are vital to addressing policy and programmatic issues across the Federal Government, the heads of all agencies (not only those that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research) shall designate expeditiously a senior career employee as the agency's lead scientific-integrity official ("Scientific Integrity Official") to oversee implementation and iterative improvement of scientific-integrity policies and processes consistent with the provisions of this memorandum, including implementation of the administrative and dispute resolution processes described in section (3)(c)(iii) of this memorandum.  For agencies with a Chief Science Officer, the Scientific Integrity Official shall report to the Chief Science Officer on all matters involving scientific-integrity policies.

(c)  To the extent necessary to fully implement the provisions of this memorandum, heads of agencies may designate additional scientific-integrity points of contact in different offices and components, who shall coordinate with the agency's Scientific Integrity Official in implementing the agency's scientific-integrity policies and processes.

(d)  Heads of agencies should ensure those designated to serve in the roles described in this section, along with their respective staffs, are selected based on their scientific and technological knowledge, skills, experience, and integrity, including experience conducting and overseeing scientific research and utilizing scientific and technological information and data in agency decision-making, prioritizing experience with evidence-based, equitable, inclusive, and participatory practices and structures for the conduct of scientific research and the communication of scientific results.

(e)  The Director or a designee of the Director shall regularly convene Chief Science Officers and Scientific Integrity Officials to encourage the discussion and expansion of effective scientific-integrity policies and practices among agencies.

Sec. 7.  Scientific Advisory Committees.  (a)  Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, heads of agencies shall review their current and future needs for independent scientific and technological advice from Federal advisory committees, commissions, and boards.  The review should include an evaluation of those advisory bodies established by law, and should consider both current and anticipated needs.

(b)  This review shall assess which Federal scientific and technological advisory committees should be rechartered or recreated to ensure that relevant and highly qualified external experts, with proper safeguards against conflicts of interest, can contribute to critical Federal regulations and other agency actions and decision-making.  The review shall also identify any agency policies, processes, or practices that may currently prevent or inhibit relevant and highly qualified external experts from serving on such committees.

(c)  In conducting this review, heads of agencies shall take steps to review the membership of scientific and technological advisory committees and, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, ensure that members and future nominees reflect the diversity of America in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, geography, and other characteristics; represent a variety of backgrounds, areas of expertise, and experiences; provide well-rounded and expert advice to agencies; and are selected based on their scientific and technological knowledge, skills, experience, and integrity, including prioritization of experience with evidence-based, equitable, inclusive, and participatory practices and structures for the conduct of scientific research and the communication of scientific results.

(d)  Upon completion of their 90-day review, heads of agencies shall provide a summary report to the Director and the Director of OMB with recommendations on which Federal scientific and technological advisory committees should be rechartered or recreated in accordance with subsection (b) of this section; which scientific and technological advisory committees should be prioritized for membership appointments to ensure they provide well-rounded and expert advice reflecting diverse perspectives, in accordance with subsection (c) of this section; and which agency policies, processes, or practices, if any, should be updated to encourage relevant and highly qualified external experts to serve on such committees.

Sec. 8.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

     (b)  This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
______________________

SECRETARY KERRY:  Good afternoon, everybody.  It's great to be here.  Let me say, first of all, what a pleasure it is to be here with Gina.  I'm a big fan of Gina's.  Gina and I worked very, very closely together during the campaign, when we sat down to bring the Bernie Sanders folks together around the Biden climate plan.  And she is the perfect person to be tackling the domestic side of this equation, which is complicated.  And nobody knows the details better than she does, and nobody is going to be more effective in corralling everybody to move in the same direction. Today, in the order that he will sign — that Gina has described to you — he makes climate central to foreign policy planning, to diplomacy, and to national security preparedness.  It creates new platforms to coordinate climate action across the federal agencies and departments sorely needed.  And most importantly, it commissions a National Intelligence Estimate on the security implications of climate change to give all of us an even deeper understanding of the challenges. This is the first time a president has ever done that.  And our 17 intelligence agencies are going to come together and assess exactly what the danger and damage and potential risks are. The order directs the State Department to prepare a transmittal package, seeking Senate advice and consent on the Kigali Amendment, to the Montreal Protocol — an amendment that by itself, if ratified and fully enforced globally, could hold the Earth's temperature by 0.5 of an entire degree — not insignificant. And it sets forth a process for us to develop an ambitious new Paris target, as well as a U.S. climate finance plan, both of which are essential to our being able to bring countries of the world together to raise ambition and meet this moment when we go to Glasgow for the follow-on agreement to Paris.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

Now, with respect to China, obviously we have serious differences with China on some very, very important issues.  And I am as mindful of that as anybody, having served as Secretary of State and in the Senate, the issues of theft of intellectual property and access to market, the South China Sea.  I mean, run the list; we all know them.  Those issues will never be traded for anything that has to do with climate.  That's not going to happen. But climate is a critical standalone issue that we have to deal on in the sense that China is 30 percent of the emissions of the world; we're about 15 percent of the emissions of the world.  You add the EU to that, and you got three entities that are more than 55 percent or so. So it's urgent that we find a way to compartmentalize, to move forward.  And we'll wait and see. But President Biden is very, very clear about the need to address the other issues with China.  And I know some people have been concerned.  Nothing is going to be siphoned off into one area from another.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

And can I just add on your comment about China, which — I'm not going to speak to the international dynamic, but I am going to say that part of the challenge that we face here is a challenge that President Biden has already started to address with his Buy American Pledge.  We have to start, not just going — shifting to clean energy, but it has to be manufactured in the United States of America — you know, not in other countries.  And there is going to be a large discussion about how we make sure that a lot of the investment is about building up our manufacturing base again.  That's great jobs.  That's often, hopefully, union jobs.  But it is also a wonderful opportunity for us to recoup the benefits of that manufacturing and lower the costs of clean energy. Part of the way we're going to get there is by making sure the federal government buys American and that the federal government looks at its procurement across every agency so that the breadth of what we spend is spent — designed to advance job growth in the United States, to advance health benefits for environmental justice communities, and to begin to tackle the very challenge — the existential challenge of climate change.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

Well, we didn't come here to put anybody on notice, except to the seriousness of President Biden's intent to do what needs to be done to deal with this crisis, and it is a crisis. With respect to those workers, no — no two people are more — in this room, are more concerned about it.  And the President of the United States has expressed, in every comment he has made about climate, the need to grow the new jobs that pay better, that are cleaner, that —I mean, you know, you look at the consequences of black lung for a miner, for instance, and measure that against the fastest-growing job in the United States before COVID was solar power technician.  The same people can do those jobs, but the choice of doing the solar power one now is a better choice.  And similarly, you have the second-fastest-growing job pre-COVID was wind turbine technician. This is happening.  Seventy-five percent, seventy percent of all the electricity that's come on line in the United States in the last few years came from renewables, not — you know, coal plants have been closing over the last 20 years. So what President Biden wants to do is make sure those folks have better choices, that they have alternatives, that they can be the people who go to work to make the solar panels — that we're making them here at home.  That is going to be a particular focus of the Build Back Better agenda. And I think that, unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative.  No surprise, right?  For the last few years, they've been fed the notion that, somehow, dealing with climate is coming at their expense.  No, it's not.  What's happening to them is happening because of other market forces already taking place. And what the — what the — what the financiers, the big banks, the asset managers, private investors, venture capital are all discovering is: There's a lot of money to be made in the creation of these new jobs in these sectors.  So whether it's green hydrogen that is going to come, whether it is geothermal heat, or whether it — whatever it's going to be, those are jobs. The same worker who works in South Carolina today putting together a BMW, which happens to be made there, and — and is currently an internal combustion engine, can put together a car, but it's electric. So this is not a choice between having jobs, having good jobs, having the quality of life.  Quality of life will be better when Gina has put her team together that produces choices for us that are healthier, less cancer, cleaner air.  The greatest — the greatest cost in America, the greatest cause of children being hospitalized every summer in the United States — we spent $55 billion a year on it — is environmentally induced asthma.  That will change as we begin to rein in what we used to call "pollution" in this country, because it is pollution. And I think that workers are going to see that, with the efforts of the Biden administration, they're going to have a much better set of choices, and, frankly, it will create more jobs than stuck where we were.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

Could I just add by pointing out a couple of things in the executive order that I want you to just call to your attention? We talked about the Civilian Conservation Corps.  That is an opportunity to put younger people into work in vitally important efforts.  But if you look at this, it also has set up a task force that is looking at these coal communities — communities that are really reliant on their local energy and utility, and it talks about how do we revitalize those economies.  And it talks about how we can put people to work, using the skills they currently have, where they are, to start looking at those old abandoned oil and gas wells that are spewing out methane or all of the coal that that is — mines that haven't been properly closed that are doing the same. That has great impact on climate, but also will keep an opportunity for those — for those individual workers to have work in their own communities.  We're not going to ask people to go from the middle of Ohio or Pennsylvania and ship out to the coast to have solar jobs.  You know, solar jobs will be everywhere, but we need to put people to work in their own communities.  That's where their home is.  That's where their vision is. So we're creatively looking at those opportunities for investment, so that we can get people understanding that we are not trying to take away jobs.  Remember when — when we say "climate change," eventually, people are going to think "jobs," just like President Biden when he hears the words "climate change." And so we'll do everything we can to recognize that revitalization is necessary in these communities, to find creative ways to put them to work.  And then we're going to do, as Secretary Kerry says, and start investing in new technologies and new manufacturing, and that includes the large manufacturing, like cement and steel.  That's work that we should be doing here.  That's work that inevitably is going to be necessary to rebuild our infrastructure, which is also one of the biggest opportunities we have for job growth moving forward.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

Well, the issue in New Mexico is that somebody reported — a bit incorrectly, or maybe not as precisely enough — that this wasn't about impacting existing permits and fracking; this was about new leases on federal lands. So I think that the opportunity for the states to continue to accrue the royalties from — from both coal and oil and natural gas that is properly done on federal lands is going to continue, and there's even an opportunity in the review of that program to look at the royalty issues, look at the job growth opportunities, look at a variety of things to make sure that public lands are being properly managed. Now, in terms of the job issue, we're explicitly doing this because our economy is right now stagnant.  We have millions of people out of work, out of jobs; millions of people that are afraid they can't feed their families.  If you're faced with that, what do you do?  You boost the economy, and you grow jobs. But why, at the same time, aren't we thinking about the weaknesses of our current economy, in terms of the number of environmental justice communities that have been left behind, the number of people that are breathing dirty air, and that kids are getting asthma? So, instead, let's think about all of it at the same time.  I know it's a crazy idea.  In a bureaucracy, you're only supposed to do one thing, but we're going to do and think about all of it, because people need to have jobs.  This is all about building the jobs of the future we want, not continuing to niddle at an economy that is no longer going to be where our future lies.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/

Q    And $2 trillion price tag — $2 trillion for COVID, $2 trillion for this — is a lot of money to a lot of Americans. SECRETARY KERRY:  It is real money, and yes, it's a lot of money.  But you know what?  It costs a lot more if you don't do the things we need to do.  It costs a lot more.  There are countless economic analyses now that show that it is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it. We spent $265 billion, two years ago, on three — three storms: Irma, Harvey, and Maria.  Maria destroyed Puerto Rico.  Harvey dropped more water on Houston in five days than goes over Niagara Falls in a year.  And Irma had the first recorded winds at 185 miles an hour for 24 sustained hours.  Last year we had one storm — $55 billion. So we're spending the money, folks.  We're just not doing it smart, and we're not doing it in a way that would actually sustain us for the long term. So this is critical.  We're — the goal of the Paris Agreement was to hold the Earth's temperature increase to two degrees centigrade.  Even if you did everything that was in Paris, we're going up to 3.7 or 4.  That's catastrophic.  What President Biden is trying to do is listen to science, listen to facts, and make tough decisions about what we need to do to take the world to a better place, and particularly our own country.  And that is what he is committed to doing. So, yes, there are a lot of challenges right now, which, sadly, all of them were exacerbated by the last four years.  Now we have to try to make up for that.  And that is a hard pull, but this President is capable of doing it, and he's putting together a great team that I think can help him do that.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/27/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-january-27-2021/ 

Curt Shilling insists he'd already be a Hall of Famer if MLB never racially integrated. MEDFIELD, MA—Criticizing the Baseball Writers' Association of America for factoring social justice into their decision-making process, retired pitcher Curt Schilling insisted Wednesday that he'd already be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame if the MLB had never racially integrated. "I wish the media would put their liberal bias aside and look at the numbers I put up in the era of Black players," said Schilling, who claimed that his Hall-of-Fame case had been negatively affected by his outspoken views, including those on the "sanctity" of pre-integration baseball. "It's sad to see Cooperstown become yet another beloved American institution that's been crushed by the left. The MLB has made it clear that they want nothing to do with white players like me, so I'd rather they just take my name off the ballot entirely. I'm sure they'll be happy to roll out the red carpet for undeserving players who fit their identity politics like Derek Jeter." At press time, Schilling slammed the Boston Red Sox, his former team, for "caving to the woke mob" when they became the last franchise to integrate in 1959.
https://sports.theonion.com/curt-schilling-insists-he-d-already-be-hall-of-famer-if-1846145304

Discord bans the r/WallStreetBets forum
https://theverge.com/2021/1/27/22253251/discord-bans-the-r-wallstreetbets-server

WallStreetBets subreddit removed or set to private minutes after Discord took them down
r/WallStreetBets
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsxterJXAAAqKHu?format=jpg&name=large

Blinken begins overturning Trump-era polices, starting with relations with the press. While the Biden administration has begun overturning several Trump-era policies, on foreign policy Blinken has pledged not to throw out all of the previous policies, such as moving the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or dropping the U.S. recognition Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's interim leader. On Wednesday, Blinken called China's mass detention and sterilization of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang "genocide," a point he was asked to clarify after Biden's nominee for U.N. ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said a determination on the issue was under review. On Afghanistan, Blinken said the United States was reviewing the agreements the Trump administration made with the Taliban and would not say whether the administration plans to make further withdrawals or keep troops at current levels in the country. Blinken confirmed that Biden was retaining President Donald Trump's special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who spent years shuttling between Qatar and Afghanistan in the hopes of making a deal between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban. About 2,500 U.S. troops are currently in Afghanistan, the lowest level since the war began nearly 20 years ago. On Yemen, Blinken said he would move quickly to review the Trump administration's decision to label the country's Houthi rebels a terrorist organization, acknowledging concerns from aid groups that the designation would worsen what the U.N. considers the world's worst humanitarian crisis. | Blinken promised to restore U.S. alliances in the world and held a flurry of phone calls to foreign ministers from Japan, South Korea, Japan and elsewhere. He won brownie points with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian by conducting the Wednesday morning call in French, said a diplomat familiar with the discussion. Blinken, who moved to Paris at the age of 9 after his parents divorced, is fluent in French.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/blinken-state-department-media/2021/01/27/1c195286-60db-11eb-ac8f-4ae05557196e_story.html

The G League Ignite, headlined by projected top five picks Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga, will kick off their 15-game season on February 10th vs Nico Mannion, Jeremy Lin and the Santa Cruz Warriors on ESPN2.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30790005/nba-g-league-regular-season-played-bubble-run-feb-10-march-6

RNC chair Ronna McDaniel on Qanon to the AP: "I think it's really important after what's just happened in our country that we have some self reflection on the violence that's continuing to erupt in our country.... I think QAnon is beyond fringe. I think it's dangerous."

One new NBA players tested positive for coronavirus out of 492 tested since Jan. 20, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Down from 11 positives last week and 16 the prior week.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1354552140308611072

Biden's new sign language interpreter runs a right-wing sign languague Facebook group (RightSide ASL / Hands of Liberty) and has been pictured in a MAGA hat | One video featuring Heather Mewshaw is titled 'Joe Biden is literally and legally not the President elect'. Her actions are unethical and harmful to the Deaf Community at large. Petition to ban her from interpreting White House again. Like Nyle DiMarco says, "Imagine what harm she could cause.., literally holding the message in her hands."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-biden-new-sign-language-interpreter-b1793688.html
https://news.yahoo.com/president-bidens-first-white-house-100010015.html
https://www.newsweek.com/petition-seeks-remove-bidens-sign-language-interpreter-being-notorious-trump-supporter-1564989
https://www.change.org/p/white-house-remove-heather-mewshaw-from-white-house-for-asl-interpreting

To politically vet your sign interpreter. Never thought we had gotten to this point. We are in bizarro world. What the fuck is going on?

Let her keep the job. The best way to change minds is to work with them. Change her mind.

Apparently the white house sign language interpreters are part of a contract, rather than directly hired. So they may have assumed that they came pre-screened. They had a new interpreter today:
https://twitter.com/sleepy_sweet/status/1354555509257478151

Watch Secretary of Energy Nominee Jennifer Granholm confirmation hearing - 8pm ET on C-SPAN or anytime
https://c-span.org/video/?508227-1/energy-secretary-nominee-jennifer-granholm-testifies-confirmation-hearing

Lots of evidence piling up that the AZGOP elections and resolutions last Saturday were fraudulent. People who were announced as winners, are now being told they actually lost, while vote totals have yet to actually be given.
https://twitter.com/treyterry/status/1354562597639471111

Multiple flagrant violations of bylaws... meeting rules not being followed… Vote counting errors… Vote switching as well? All this from the band that brought you such hits as #StopTheSteal and #ElectionIntegrity.
https://twitter.com/treyterry/status/1354563338366144512

Paw prints Friends, this is pawdorable rescued GSD pup Sam. He's wearing his #FirstButNotLast bandana, which we created to mark the moment Major became the first shelter pup to live in the WH. Most of the pawceeds will go to @bestfriends, pls read the #HowWeHelp on http://theovalpawffice.com
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1354582039517868033

Jokic with a full-court inbounds pass to Harris who lays it in
https://streamable.com/l1ob7n

Kyrie hits the improbable circus shot off the glass
https://streamable.com/wlf6c0

Harden goes on a run
https://streamable.com/cof4mu

Lakers wear blue jerseys on Philly's blue home court. NBA please stop this jersey madness

Embiid block Lebron and Danny Green hits the transition three at the other end
https://streamable.com/40v33r

Dwight airballs the free throw and Seth Curry is not happy
https://streamable.com/tp89v2

Marc Gasol and LeBron James connect for the give and go from each side of the court one after the other
https://streamable.com/9io8xx

Cam Reddish pulls from deeeeep at the end of the shot clock and hits nothing but net

Bill seeks two copies of photo ID to vote absentee in Georgia
https://www.ajc.com/politics/bill-seeks-two-copies-of-photo-id-to-vote-absentee-in-georgia/2IC372BV2NC3VFNAYIWA4OPQKQ/

Rep. Jimmy Gomez to introduce resolution to expel Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress
https://www.newsweek.com/rep-jimmy-gomez-introduce-resolution-expel-marjorie-taylor-greene-congress-1565003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloris_Leachman
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001458/

A picture from the last time I saw you. Always beautiful.  Nothing I could say would top the enormity of my love for you. Until we meet again darling. #clorisleachmanrip
https://twitter.com/TheOnlyEdAsner/status/1354561222851452929

Oregon health workers who got stuck in a snowstorm on their way back from a COVID-19 vaccination event went car to car injecting stranded drivers before several of the doses expired."
https://apnews.com/article/public-health-health-storms-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-25ce9d23cc314f2b1dc64dae08085aa2

A Channel 3 crew was threatened with arrest after asking U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a question during a town hall meeting in Dalton on Wednesday night.

Rep. @AOC: "There are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence. No consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection. And no consequences means that they condone it. It means that that silence is acceptance." @allinwithchris

Rep. @AOC: "It increasingly seems, unfortunately, that in the House Republican caucus, Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of Congress. Not the other way around." @allinwithchris

The Senate Conservatives Fund has rallied to Domestic Terrorist Josh Hawley's defense, dropping nearly $400k on emails and texts supporting his objection to Biden's electoral college victory and raising another $310k for his campaign directly
https://www.axios.com/josh-hawley-senate-conservatives-fund-e96e09f3-ec4a-4681-bde2-550c5ede249d.html

Biden expected to reverse anti-abortion policies on Thursday:
- Rescind Mexico City Policy (global gag rule banning US funding for NGO's that do anything to promote abortion)
- Review Title X funding requirements re: abortion
- Disavow/remove U.S.'s endorsement of Geneva Consensus in 2020 by Pompeo
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-to-reverse-anti-abortion-policies-in-new-executive-orders/

Mark Zuckerberg just said Facebook will permanently take political groups out of recommendations globally and is working on ways to  reduce political content in News Feed because "people don't want politics and fighting to take over" their facebook experience
https://www.engadget.com/facebook-political-content-news-feed-mark-zuckerberg-232846266.html

FCC fines man $9.9M in part for racist robocalls about Mollie Tibbetts' death
https://www.kcci.com/article/fcc-fines-man-dollar99m-in-part-for-racist-robocalls-about-mollie-tibbetts-death/35342117

After 18 years of denial, the Pakistani suspect convicted and later acquitted in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl has told a court that he played a "minor" role in the killing, the Pearl family attorney said Wednesday. A letter handwritten by Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh in 2019, in which he admits limited involvement in the killing of the Wall Street Journal reporter, was submitted to Pakistan's Supreme Court nearly two weeks ago. It wasn't until Wednesday that Sheikh's attorneys confirmed that their client wrote it. The stunning turn of events came as a Pakistani high court is hearing an appeal of a lower court's acquittal of Sheikh, who was initially charged with murder in the beheading of Pearl. The appeal was filed by Pearl's family and the Pakistani government.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/pakistani-suspect-admits-role-in-daniel-pearls-beheading/2021/01/27/197632e2-60db-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html

"Ricky Vaughn" was grossly antisemitic and racist. Just an untold level of disgusting. To say he's facing 10 years for "memes" is a willful mischaracterization of the case. Looks like Tucker must have swapped out his former racist producer for another one of the same vein
https://twitter.com/AugustTakala/status/1354598098551656450

How can Republicans advocate BlueLivesMatter and they don't want to convict Donald Trump for inciting the domestic terrorism that caused this type of harm to Capitol Police? Some U.S. Capitol Police officers have sustained brain injuries in the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
1 officer cracked two ribs & smashed 2 spinal discs.
1 will likely lose an eye.
1 was stabbed with a metal fence stake:
https://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/their-inaction-cost-lives-u-s-capitol-police-union-rebukes-n1255882

Republicans demand audit of Kelli Ward's narrow win for Arizona Republicans chair. After months of sounding the alarm on what she claimed was a stolen presidential election, Kelli Ward is facing questions about her own reelection Saturday as Arizona Republican Party chair.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/27/republicans-demand-audit-kelli-wards-win-gop-chair/4287034001/

Marco Rubio claims "only in the third world" do you see former leaders in jail. France, Italy, and South Korea all have former presidents or prime ministers currently in jail or who have been convicted in the past 12 months.
https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1354466034993033216 

The Spurs score 4 points in 3 seconds to close the half
https://streamable.com/85axjk

The Denver Nuggets (11-7) defeat the Miami Heat (6-11) 109-82

Embiid gets called for the flagrant for an elbow to Anthony Davis's face.
https://streamable.com/uiw52k

Embiid goes down hard
https://streamable.com/hhw0zr

If this had been done two months ago we would be in a completely different place. Instead, the White House was obsessed with stealing the election: CBS News has learned that FEMA, which is about to set up as many as 100 vaccination sites nationwide, has now approached the Defense Department to ask for up to 10,000 service members' help in administering doses of the critical vaccines.
https://twitter.com/NorahODonnell/status/1354574644712452102

Tobias Harris wins it for the Sixers
https://streamable.com/nuwnna

Embiid on the LeBron flagrant: "You look at it, that's a very dangerous play, and I guarantee if it was me I would have probably been ejected from the game."

Curry hits the stepback after a flurry of dribbles
https://streamable.com/sieo0x

Draymond yells "Yes sir!" when Edwards missing his layup but Ant yells "Yes sir!" right back when he follows up his own miss
https://streamable.com/gvvqp6

Wiseman with the block and the hammer in transition
https://streamable.com/asndki

With their win over Dallas, the Utah Jazz have won 10 straight games, nine of them by double digits and currently have the league's best record

The Utah Jazz are undefeated since announcing a program to give a scholarship away per win

Curry turns around before the ball drops clean through the bucket
https://streamable.com/ef25d5

The Utah Jazz (15-4) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (8-11), 116 - 104 behind Rudy Gobert 29 Points, 20 Rebound game


Rudy Gobert vs the Mavs tonight: 29 points on 11/20 shooting, 20 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, +12 for the game in 37 minutes

Bradley Beal scored 47 points tonight in a loss to the Pelicans. It's his 10th straight loss when recording at least 40 points. Beal is the first player in NBA history to lose 10 straight 40-point games

DeJounte Murray gets the clutch steal on Kemba and dunks it to put the Spurs up 4
https://streamable.com/05jtgd

Giannis Antetokounmpo finishes with 24 points, 18 rebounds, and 9 assists against the Toronto Raptors

The Brooklyn Nets (12-8) defeat the Atlanta Hawks (9-9) 132-128 in OT behind 31 points and 15 assists from James Harden

Ed Davis gets called for a flagrant 2 and is ejected for hitting Kelly Oubre in the head.
https://streamable.com/hpf6k7

Wiseman runs over Layman and gets called for the charge, Draymond however loves it and cheers him on for his aggressiveness
https://streamable.com/raaavr

The San Antonio Spurs (10-8) defeat the Boston Celtics (10-7) 110-106

Embiid drops in the high arching shot!Highligh
https://streamable.com/fnelsx

Donte DiVincenzo posterizes Watanabe; Lowry commits a flagrant foul to prevent an encore
https://streamable.com/8orx2r

KD behind the back crossover dropped John Collins to the floor
https://streamable.com/w2ykyb

Brandon with the lob to Zion against the Wiz Kids
https://streamable.com/nd5561

Denouncing 'Handouts to Big Oil,' Biden Calls on Congress to End $40 Billion in Taxpayer Subsidies for Fossil Fuels | "Biden campaigned on eliminating fossil fuel giveaways, and voters agree by a huge margin," said one climate activist.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/27/denouncing-handouts-big-oil-biden-calls-congress-end-40-billion-taxpayer-subsidies

Parkland Parents: Marjorie Taylor Greene Won't Get Away With Lying About Our Son
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2021/01/parkland-parents-have-a-message-for-marjorie-taylor-greene.html

Daniel Theis jams it in over Jakob Poeltl
https://streamable.com/oh63l8

Couple thousand Oklahoma Republicans change party affiliation shortly after Trump supporters lead insurrection at U.S. Capitol
https://kfor.com/news/couple-thousand-oklahoma-republicans-change-party-affiliation-shortly-after-trump-supporters-lead-insurrection-at-u-s-capitol/

Pro-Trump Napa man arrested with explosives targeting California Governor
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-27/napa-man-arrested-with-explosives-gavin-newsom-fbi 

_____________________

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/us/politics/pennsylvania-republicans-trump.html

Why Pennsylvania Republican Leaders Are All-In For Trump More Than Ever

Pennsylvania Republican leaders have made loyalty to the defeated ex-president the sole organizing principle of the party, and would-be candidates are jockeying to prove they fought the hardest for him.

Trip Gabriel

By Trip Gabriel

    Jan. 28, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

As a second impeachment trial for Donald J. Trump approaches next month, Republicans in states across the country are lining up behind the former president with unwavering support.

Perhaps no state has demonstrated its fealty as tenaciously as Pennsylvania, where Republican officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep Trumpism at the center of their message as they bolster the president's false claims of a "stolen" election.

Eight of nine Republicans in Pennsylvania's congressional delegation voted to throw out their state's own electoral votes for President Biden on Jan. 6, just hours after a mob had stormed the Capitol.

A majority of Republicans in the state legislature had endorsed that effort.

And one House member from the state, Scott Perry, was instrumental in promoting a plan in which Trump would fire the acting attorney general in an effort to stay in office.

In the weeks since the Nov. 3 election, Republicans in Pennsylvania have made loyalty to the defeated ex-president the sole organizing principle of the party, the latest chapter in a rightward populist march repeated across other states. As elsewhere, the Pennsylvania Republican party was once led by mainstream conservatives, but it is now defined almost exclusively by Trumpism. It faces major statewide races in 2022, for offices including governor and the Senate, with an electorate that just rejected Trump in favor of Mr. Biden.

Far from engaging in self-examination, Pennsylvania Republicans are already jockeying ahead of the 2022 primaries to prove that they fought the hardest for Trump, who, in spite of the losses by his party in the White House, the Senate and the House, still exerts a strong grip over elected Republicans and grass-roots voters.

As the Republican base has shifted — suburbanites leaning more Democratic, and rural white voters lining up behind Republicans over culture-war issues — Republican leaders recognize the extent to which the former president unleashed waves of support for their party. In Pennsylvania, just as in some Midwestern states, a surge of new Republican voters with grievances about a changing America was triggered by Trump, and only Trump.

"Donald Trump's presidency and his popularity has been a big win for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania," said Rob Gleason, a former chair of the state Republican party. Even though numerous state and federal courts rejected the Trump campaign's baseless claims of voter fraud, Mr. Gleason said the belief that the voting was rigged "lingers in the minds of a lot of people."

He predicted it would drive Republican turnout in upcoming races. He said he had met this week with a prosecutor who "feels the election was stolen" and was pondering a run for a statewide judgeship this year.

Other Republicans are more skeptical that lock-step support of the former president is the best path forward in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state that is likely to be up for grabs in the next several election cycles.

"We have become, over four years, the party of Trump, and it has been one test after the other," said Ryan Costello, a former Republican House member from the Philadelphia suburbs who has been critical of Trump and is exploring a run for Senate. "It is not a sustainable growth strategy to double and triple and quadruple down on Trump when he gets divisive."

Despite Mr. Costello's apprehension, most Republicans thought to be mulling runs for Senate or governor have made it clear that they are prepared to pass a Trump loyalty test.

They include members of the Republican congressional delegation, hard-line members of the legislature, and even Donald Trump Jr. The president's oldest son is the subject of persistent rumors that he will run for high office in the state — mostly because of his ties to Pennsylvania, where he went to prep school and college. The Trump family spent an enormous amount of time campaigning in Pennsylvania in 2020, and as it seeks its next political stage, the state remains a big one.

The transformation of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania has been stark. Less than two decades ago, it was led by political centrists such as former Senator Arlen Specter and former Gov. Tom Ridge, who became the first secretary of homeland security.

Now it is embodied by Mr. Perry, a member of the hard-line Freedom Caucus who won a fifth term in November for his Harrisburg-area seat. His Democratic opponent, Eugene DePasquale, said he lost the race "fair and square." But he called the Republican congressman's efforts on behalf of Trump in a scheme involving the Justice Department "a radical attempt to overthrow the election."

Mr. Perry, a purveyor of misinformation about the presidential election, acknowledged on Monday his role in introducing Trump to an official in the Justice Department. That official, Jeffrey Clark, was willing to abet Trump in pressing Georgia to invalidate its electoral votes for Mr. Biden.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/us/politics/scott-perry-trump-justice-department-election.html
https://www.witf.org/2021/01/25/rep-scott-perry-confirms-election-fraud-talks-with-trump-doj-lawyer-amid-presidents-effort-to-overturn-georgia-results/

The plan never unfolded. But Mr. Perry, a retired National Guard general who dodged the new metal detectors in the Capitol, rejected calls by Democrats to resign.

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1349157235843358720

Just as resolute in their defense of Trump were the other Pennsylvania House Republicans who voted to reject the state's electoral votes for Mr. Biden on Jan. 6. Representative Conor Lamb, a Democrat from western Pennsylvania, said on the House floor that his Republican colleagues should be "ashamed of themselves" for spreading lies that led to the breach of the Capitol. His impassioned speech nearly precipitated a fistfight.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/07/congress-fistfight/

"The Trump people were putting out a message: 'We better see you publicly fighting for us,'" Mr. Lamb said in an interview this week. "The 2022 midterm is shaping up to be choosing the candidate who loves Trump the most," he said of Republican primary contests.

But he called that an opportunity for Democrats to talk about issues affecting people's lives, such as the economy and the pandemic, while Republicans remain fixated on the 2020 election. "They're making their main political argument at this point based on a fraud; they're not making it based on real-world conditions," he said. "The election was not stolen. Biden really beat Trump."

Mr. Lamb, who has won three races in districts that voted for Trump, has been mentioned as a contender for the open Senate seat. "I would say I will be thinking about it," he said.

Apart from the House delegation, much of the Trumpist takeover in Pennsylvania has occurred in the legislature, where Republicans held their majorities in both chambers in November (a result that the party fails to mention in its vehement claims of election fraud in the presidential race).

In contrast to states such as Georgia and Arizona, where top Republican officials debunked disinformation from Trump and his allies, in Pennsylvania no senior Republicans in Harrisburg pushed back on false claims about election results, some of them created by lawmakers themselves or by Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.

https://www.dos.pa.gov/about-us/Documents/statements/2020-12-29-Response-PA-GOP-Legislators-Misinformation.pdf

A majority of Republicans in the General Assembly urged the state's congressional delegation in December to reject the state's 20 electoral votes for Mr. Biden after the results were legally certified. Such was the pressure from grass-roots Trump supporters that the majority leader of the State Senate, Kim Ward, said in an interview last month that if she refused to sign on to such an effort, "I'd get my house bombed tonight."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/us/politics/trump-pennsylvania-electoral-college.html

The full embrace of Trump's lies about a "stolen" election followed months of Republican lawmakers' echoing his dismissals of the coronavirus threat. Lawmakers who appeared at "ReOpen PA" rallies in Harrisburg in May, flouting masks and limits on crowd sizes, morphed into leading purveyors of disinformation about election fraud after Nov. 3.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-election-trump-senate-hearing-giuliani-gettysburg-certification-20201125.html

One state senator, Doug Mastriano, who is widely believed to be considering a run for governor, paid for buses and offered rides to the "Save America" protests in Washington on Jan. 6 that preceded the breach of the Capitol. Mr. Mastriano has said he left before events turned violent.

https://whyy.org/articles/mastriano-campaign-spent-thousands-on-buses-ahead-of-d-c-insurrection/
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/01/doug-mastriano-trump-capitol-attack-resignation-investigation/

As the legislature convened its 2021 session, Republicans recommitted to a hard-line agenda. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, was removed by the Republican majority as president of the State Senate at a legislative session on Jan. 5. Mr. Fetterman had strenuously objected to Republicans' refusal to seat a Democratic lawmaker whose narrow victory had been officially certified.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/pennsylvania-gop-refuses-to-seat-democratic-lawmaker-in-state-legislature.html

Republicans in the State House are seeking to change how judges are elected to ensure a Republican majority on the State Supreme Court, after the current court, with a Democratic lean, ruled against claims in election fraud cases last year.

https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/01/pennsylvania-judicial-districts-supreme-court-election-2020-rulings-republican-majority/

Republican lawmakers have also plunged into a lengthy examination of the November election, even though no evidence of more than trivial fraud has surfaced, and courts rejected claims that election officials overstepped their legal mandates.

Republicans announced 14 hearings in the House. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, was grilled in the first one last week. Dismissing the series of hearings as a "charade," she called on Republicans not to sow further distrust in the integrity of the state's election, which drew a record 71 percent turnout despite a pandemic.

"We need to stand together as Americans," Ms. Boockvar said in an interview, "and tell the voters these were lies, that your votes counted, they were checked, they were audited, they were recounted many places, and the numbers added up and they were certified."

Trip Gabriel is a national correspondent. He covered the past two presidential campaigns and has served as the Mid-Atlantic bureau chief and a national education reporter. He formerly edited the Styles sections. He joined The Times in 1994. @tripgabriel • Facebook
_____________________ 

After airing a clip of Tucker Carlson, who came to defense of a white nationalist troll on his show last night & whose now-former head writer was exposed for secretly writing racist posts, Fox does a segment deriding AOC for saying there are white nationalist sympathizers in GOP.

____________________________

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/adam-kinzinger-voting-impeachment-christian/617848/

Betraying Your Church—And Your Party

How Representative Adam Kinzinger, an evangelical Republican, decided to vote for impeachment—and start calling out his church

Emma Green 9:45 AM ET

The letter writer's message was clear: Representative Adam Kinzinger is doing the devil's work, and he is possessed by demons. It's not hard to guess why Kinzinger would receive such a note. He was one of 10 Republican members of Congress who defied their party and voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Kinzinger knew most Republicans in his solidly conservative district would not agree with him. But the choice was easy: As someone who identifies as a born-again Christian, he believes he has to tell the truth. What has been painful, though, is seeing how many people who share his faith have chosen to support Trump at all costs, fervently declaring that the election was stolen. The person who sent that letter—by registered mail, to be extra sure he got it—was a member of Kinzinger's family. "The devil's ultimate trick for Christianity … is embarrassing the church," he told me and a small group of other reportersthis week. "And I feel it's been successful."

Kinzinger is not a pastor or a theologian. He knows his job as a representative is not to preach the gospel but to represent his constituents and vote on legislation. When he's dead, however, it won't matter how many elections he won, or how low America's tax rates are. The L-rd has been speaking to him about his role as a Christian in politics, he said, and how he can reach people who are thinking about their eternal life. He has concluded that his faith and his party have been poisoned by the same conspiracy theories and lies, culminating in the falsehood that the election was stolen. When you look at "the reputation of Christianity today versus five years ago, I feel very comfortable saying it's a lot worse," he said. "Boy, I think we have lost a lot of moral authority."
Recommended Reading

But people like Kinzinger have not been the ones shaping the reputation of Christianity in America over the past four years. Trump's supporters have. Even after everything that's happened—Trump's attempt to overturn the election, his cheerleading for the attack on the Capitol—some influential evangelical leaders are still defending the president: "Shame, shame," Franklin Graham, the evangelist and son of the famous pastor Billy Graham, wrote about the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment. "It makes you wonder what the 30 pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal." In the metaphor, the Republican dissidents are cast as Judas, who is said to have betrayed Jesus in exchange for 30 coins. Trump plays the role of Christ.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/capitol-rioters.html
https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/4048702435185907

Looking to political personalities rather than Jesus for salvation is the worst kind of mistake a Christian can make, Kinzinger said. "There are many people that have made America their G-d, that have made the economy their G-d, that have made Donald Trump their G-d, and that have made their political identity their G-d." The problems that led to the January 6 insurrection are not just political. They're cultural. Roughly half of Protestant pastors said they regularly hear people promote conspiracy theories in their churches, a recent survey by the Southern Baptist firm LifeWay Research found. "I believe there is a huge burden now on Christian leaders, especially those who entertained the conspiracies, to lead the flock back into the truth," Kinzinger tweeted on January 12.

https://religionnews.com/2021/01/26/about-half-of-pastors-say-theyre-hearing-conspiracy-theories-in-their-churches-survey/
https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1349031304680103936

As a kid growing up in a Baptist church, Kinzinger was "constantly in Sunday school," and his dad ran ministries that served the hungry and the homeless. Politics was a natural part of this world: Kinzinger attended meetings of the Christian Coalition, the evangelical advocacy group, and learned about the importance of advocating against abortion. But over time, as the tie between Republican politics and evangelical Christianity got tighter, he began to see conservative policies used as a litmus test for whether people were true Christians. Kinzinger believed that Republican ideas were superior to Democratic ones—he first got elected to the county board in McLean County, Illinois, as a 20-year-old local-government advocate. But it bothered him that many Republicans viewed their political opponents as evil enemies, rather than people who might even share their faith. "We get wrapped up in thinking that every little political victory that we do [that] has an impact on an election is actually fighting for G-d and the truth," he said.

Kinzinger first got elected to Congress under Barack Obama, and over the past decade, he has watched his party transform. "No longer does policy actually matter. It's all about: Do you support Donald Trump, or don't you? Do you want to own the left, or don't you?" he said. Although he stated publicly that he wouldn't vote for Trump in 2016, he did vote for the president in 2020, citing a desire to build on the administration's policy successes. Unlike some Republicans, he has not spent the past four years on the front lines of the Never Trump resistance; he generally supported Trump's agenda in Congress, voting in line with the president's goals roughly 90 percent of the time. But unlike other members of the GOP, Kinzinger was unwilling to keep fighting for Trump after it was clear that he had lost the election. "I'm embarrassed by some of my Republican colleagues on the floor. They have defaulted to political points for fame and have failed to rise to this moment," he tweeted on January 6. He later joined Democrats to encourage Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and remove Trump from office.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/adam-kinzinger-donald-trump-226643
https://kinzinger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402582
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/adam-kinzinger/
https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1347021028787163138

Dissent is costly for Republicans and Christians alike. Kinzinger said he's been getting nonstop hate mail since his impeachment vote, calling him a traitor and a RINO, or Republican In Name Only. He'll likely face a primary fight in 2022. But in the long run, quietly going along with the claim that the 2020 election was stolen could be costly too. Only a third of Millennial voters identify as or lean Republican. Among this age group, more people are nonreligious than part of any single faith group, including evangelical Christianity. It bothers Kinzinger that his party doesn't seem to care that America's 20- and 30-somethings are widely disillusioned with the GOP. And it bothers him that some evangelicals' obsession with Trump may make it harder for young people to find Christ. "That's a pretty terminal demographic to lose," he said. Over the past few weeks, he's been talking with other Christians in the House about what it means to act without fear—including the fear of losing elections. "Our time on earth is not going to be that long compared to eternity," he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/adam-kinzinger-republican-impeach-trump-capitol/2021/01/26/c544cc1e-55fa-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/
https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/generational-cohort/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html

On January 6, as an armed mob invaded the House of Representatives, Kinzinger said he could feel a darkness descend over the Capitol. One of his friends in Congress, the Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin, heard the same thing from members of the Capitol Police. Kinzinger doesn't doubt that the devil is at work in American politics. He just suspects that the enemy might be lurking in his own house.

____________________________

https://www.state.gov/holocaust-remembrance-day/

 Holocaust Remembrance Day

Video Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

January 27, 2021

Today is my first day as U.S. Secretary of State. And recording this message is one of the first things I'm doing. Because Holocaust Remembrance Day matters a great deal.

It matters to me personally, as the stepson of a Holocaust survivor. My stepfather was just a boy when he lost his entire family to the Nazis. He spent nearly four years in labor and death camps before he managed to escape – and was later rescued by American troops. The story made a deep impression on me. It taught me that evil on a grand scale can and does happen in our world – and that we have a responsibility to do everything we can to stop it.

Those lessons are as vital now as they've ever been – maybe more so. It's no accident that people who seek to create instability and undermine democracy often try to cast doubt on the Holocaust. They want to blur the line between truth and lies. They want to use disinformation and conspiracy theories to gain power. And they want to provoke hate – against Jewish people, and more broadly against refugees and asylum-seekers, people of color, LGBTQ people – anyone who has been targeted for violence and dehumanized because of who they are.

That's why it's so important that we speak the truth about the past, to protect the facts when others try to distort or trivialize Holocaust crimes, and to seek justice for the survivors and their families.

Every day that I serve as Secretary of State, I will carry the memory of my stepfather and his family, and the 6 million Jewish people and millions of others who were killed during the Holocaust. I will remember that a nation's power isn't measured only by the size of its military or economy, but by the moral choices it makes. And I will remember that atrocities like the Holocaust don't just happen. They are allowed to happen. It's up to us to stop them. Never again.

Thank you.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivered these recorded remarks on January 27, 2021 for a virtual International Holocaust Remembrance Day event co-hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Social Equality Ministry.
____________________________

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/dan-rodricks/bs-md-rodricks-0128-20210128-mmnbsubqirhaxdl43iq2rjezle-story.html

Why Maryland Democrat Heather Mizeur decided to challenge Republican Rep. Andy Harris after Capitol siege
 
By Dan Rodricks

Jan 28, 2021 at 7:45 AM

After she lost the 2014 Maryland Democratic primary as a candidate for governor, Heather Mizeur, a former state delegate, said she did not intend to run for public office again. But as a resident of the 1st Congressional District, her representative is Republican Andy Harris, and his recent actions have pushed Mizeur to return to the campaign trail.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-mizeur-soul-force-politics-20171010-story.html

On Thursday, Mizeur, a 48-year-old liberal who lives on a 34-acre farm on the Eastern Shore, is expected to launch a campaign for the 2022 Democratic nomination to challenge Harris for the House seat he has held since 2011.

The state's only Republican in Congress, Harris is a Freedom Caucus conservative who wins elections easily in a gerrymandered district that runs from Ocean City to Carroll County. Heavily Republican, it is the only Maryland district that President Donald Trump carried in 2016 and 2020, and Harris even eclipsed Trump's popularity in November, winning 14,000 more votes than the now-former president did.

If Mizeur manages to get the Democratic nomination, her battle to unseat Harris will be uphill — even if the looming decennial redistricting makes the 1st District more politically balanced and competitive in 2022.

Why is she taking this on?

The riotous storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by Trump supporters, combined with Harris' vote hours later to overturn electoral votes for President Joe Biden, prompted Mizeur to think about running. "I heard from many across the political spectrum that they are hungry for an alternative from the embarrassing spectacle they've seen play out over the last few weeks," Mizeur says.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/dan-rodricks/bs-pr-md-rodricks-0108-20210107-fjxphbp46vcwpi4hcwx7ygkzna-story.html

"Witnessing a treasonous insurrection against the citadel of our democracy, with the express encouragement of those bound by a constitutional oath to protect it, is an unforgivable betrayal," Mizeur says in her first campaign video. "Andy Harris's actions on that day alone disqualify him from representing Maryland's 1st District."

Harris, 64, was one of 147 Republicans in the House and Senate who voted to object to Biden's electoral votes from Arizona or Pennsylvania, or both. Harris supported Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud in the November election and defended the former president's phone call to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to flip election results in Trump's favor.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html?smid=tw-share
https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-andy-harris-electoral-votes-20210105-k5cp76yusbgyjhvfk6vkcwu36e-story.html

Harris also refused to vote on the articles of impeachment against Trump that were approved by the House on Jan. 13. A week later, Capitol police stopped Harris from entering the House chamber with a handgun.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-harris-security-20210122-2jyujb5n6bhctmn6mnhgnsuqza-story.html

He and Mizeur could not be more different.

An experienced Democratic Party activist and campaign strategist, Mizeur is a former Takoma Park City Council member who represented Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2017. She ran a well-regarded campaign before finishing third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2014.

After moving to the farm in Chestertown, Mizeur then started a nonprofit called Soul Force Politics to promote bipartisanship and social change based on her deeply held spiritual beliefs. "I am certain," she states on the organization's website, "that my soul's contract in this lifetime is to advance the consciousness of unconditional love while taking up the fiery sword of a social justice warrior."

https://www.soulforcepolitics.org/heather-mizeur/

She expressed similar sentiments in announcing her campaign: "Our work is dedicated to healing and bridging the division that has worsened in our body politic, while teaching the ways we can bring an ethic of love into our civic engagement."

While Maryland is a deeply blue state that Biden won by more than a million votes over Trump, Harris' district, made up of the Eastern Shore, plus portions of Carroll, Harford and Baltimore counties, is deeply red. It was the Democratic-controlled General Assembly that packed the district with Republican voters after the 2010 Census, maximizing Democrats' chances in the state's other seven congressional districts. The maps for all Maryland congressional districts are to be redrawn and in place for the 2022 elections.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-redistricting-case-20170601-story.html

"We don't know where the lines will be drawn," Mizeur says. "But anything that gets us to a place where we are more in line with how the district naturally occurs makes this a competitive race."

The Maryland Democratic Party has called for Harris's resignation because of his vote after the Capitol riot to decertify Biden's electoral victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania. And while others in the state have been critical of Harris, he claims that many constituents have thanked him for supporting Trump.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-pr-pol-maryland-republicans-20210115-obcvkj6nkfdlnpqmlqwiqiwcva-story.html

As a state senator from Baltimore County, Harris ran successfully for Congress in 2010. At the time, he pledged to be a six-term congressman. He said he was a believer in term limits and imposed one on himself, stating that he would serve no more than 12 years.

Two weeks ago, however, he announced that he would seek a seventh term in 2022, claiming that he needed to stay in office to fight "pushback from liberals and socialists."

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-andy-harris-term-limits-20210116-2jurn2u4w5e4pdrvjqaywfhbuy-story.html

The Sun's Jeff Barker reported that Harris' campaign committee raised nearly $1.5 million during 2019 and most of 2020. The committee had about $1 million remaining as of Nov. 23, according to a summary filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

It's not a given that Harris would be his party's nominee in 2022. If Trump's hold over the Republicans fades, another more moderate Republican could emerge. Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, a Republican who said he was embarrassed that Harris was "part of such an act of sedition" on Jan. 6, is considering running for the seat.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-pr-pol-maryland-republicans-20210115-obcvkj6nkfdlnpqmlqwiqiwcva-story.html

When she ran for governor, Mizeur made a point of avoiding negative campaigning. Should she emerge as the Democratic challenger, with Harris as her opponent, she promises the same.

"I'm running for something more than against someone," she says. "I'm running to bring dignified, heart-centered and collaborative leadership to Congress along with smart and innovative policy thinking that will allow us to face big challenges together. You're not going to hear two years of me making this about the current occupant of the seat."
____________________________

Russian court orders Kremlin critic Navalny be kept in jail, rejects his appeal
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-navalny-appeal/russian-court-orders-kremlin-critic-navalny-be-kept-in-jail-rejects-his-appeal-idUSKBN29X1MZ

Four Islamic terrorists convicted of kidnapping and beheading Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl are released including 'killer' on death row in Pakistan
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9196483/Terrorist-beheaded-Wall-Street-Journal-journalist-Daniel-Pearl-RELEASED-Pakistan.html

Pfizer says its vaccine works against key coronavirus19 mutations found on the South Africa and UK variants
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-variants-vaccines-pfizer-mutations-south-africa-uk-study-2021-1

"My message to Kevin McCarthy is, take all of her committee assignments away ... also, don't support her when she runs for re-election again and try to get her primaried. If you say this is not your party, actually call it out and hold her accountable," Hogg told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." He continued, "Republicans always act as if they're the party of decency and respect. But would the party of decency and respect question whether or not school shootings happened? Would they harass the survivors of these shootings for having different opinions than them? I don't think so. And if Kevin McCarthy doesn't think so either, he needs to actually stand up and do something about this congresswoman." | "Sometimes it's just, you know, as I was told growing up, it's just better not to respond to bullies and just walk away," Hogg said.
He also said he "absolutely" felt it was a threat when Greene said in the video that she carried a gun, but told himself "if they shoot me, they prove my point." "And the reality is, they can't kill a movement," he told Camerota.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/28/politics/david-hogg-marjorie-taylor-greene-cnntv/index.html

McCarthy has said through a spokesman that he will have a "conversation" with Greene but will not remove her from her committee assignments (she won her election and elections have consequences). Greene has been embraced by hard-liners in the Republican, while Donald Trump has called her a "Republican star." She called a victim of a mass shooting - old enough to be her own son - "little Hitler" and "paid little pawn" and "paid actor" because he advocated stronger gun regulation.

Deshaun Watson officially has requested a trade from the Houston Texans, per league sources. He actually did it weeks ago. Their new head-coaching hire, David Culley, has not and will not alter Watson's thinking.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1354804995191840774

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2018 on CA wildfires maybe sparked by space lasers: "There all these people who said they saw what looked like lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires," noting "too many coincidences to ignore": Marjorie Taylor Greene seems to think the California wild fires in 2018 were the result of a disaster out of Sim City 2000 video game where solar energy is collected in space and beamed back to Earth but the space laser missed its target and started a fire
https://mediamatters.org/facebook/marjorie-taylor-greene-penned-conspiracy-theory-laser-beam-space-started-deadly-2018

The Senate has yet to schedule a hearing for Biden's nominee to lead the SEC, leaving the agency under temporary leadership while the GameStop frenzy roils Wall Street  

Because of the action President Biden took today, every federal infrastructure investment will reduce climate pollution and clean energy projects will be accelerated — creating countless jobs in the process.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1354591294790787077
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1354591294790787077

To combat the climate crisis and power a clean energy revolution, President Biden will:
- Tap into the power of American workers
- Conserve and leverage our natural resources
- Create good-paying, union jobs
- Deliver environmental justice
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1354585970721615877

To overcome the challenges we face as a nation requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1354788667575971843

Two Kenosha police officers, on administrative leave since the Jacob Blake shooting, are back on duty instead of being fired
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/us/jacob-blake-kenosha-officers-full-duty/index.html

Lakers say Anthony Davis will be out tonight in Detroit due to a right quad contusion.
https://twitter.com/billoram/status/1354882361192636417

Wisconsin's Republican-controlled Assembly on Thursday abruptly canceled a vote to repeal Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' mask mandate in the face of broad criticism from the state's health, school and business leaders and out of concern it would jeopardize more than $49 million in federal aid.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/wisconsin-assembly-vote-repealing-statewide-mask-order-75538123

Brianna Keilar breaks down 20 of the Republicans' arguments against an impeachment trial of Trump
https://us.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/27/gop-20-reasons-why-no-impeachment-trial-roll-the-tape-keilar-nr-vpx.cnn

Memorandum on Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad | It is the policy of my Administration to support women's and girls' sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally.  The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f)(1)), prohibits nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive Federal funds from using those funds "to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning, or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions."  The August 1984 announcement by President Reagan of what has become known as the "Mexico City Policy" directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand this limitation and withhold USAID family planning funds from NGOs that use non-USAID funds to perform abortions, provide advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobby a foreign government to legalize abortion or make abortion services more easily available.  These restrictions were rescinded by President Clinton in 1993, reinstated by President George W. Bush in 2001, and rescinded by President Obama in 2009.  President Trump substantially expanded these restrictions by applying the policy to global health assistance provided by all executive departments and agencies (agencies).  These excessive conditions on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States' efforts to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support women's health and programs that prevent and respond to gender-based violence.  The expansion of the policy has also affected all other areas of global health assistance, limiting the United States' ability to work with local partners around the world and inhibiting their efforts to confront serious health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among others.  Such restrictions on global health assistance are particularly harmful in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.  Accordingly, I hereby order as follows: (see link)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/28/memorandum-on-protecting-womens-health-at-home-and-abroad/

"We need an SEC that has clear rules about market manipulation and then has the backbone to go in and enforce those rules." Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls for the SEC to "step up and do their job" as the GameStop frenzy continues.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/elizabeth-warren-gamestop-robinhood-market-manipulation.html

There's no question the failure to establish a perimeter around the Capitol complex was an enormous (if not the central) failure on Jan. 6. But it is worth considering what we stand to symbolically lose by putting up a permanent fence around the People's House. Right now, the Capitol complex is designed to be accessible to Americans. There is a lawn in the front where local parents take their children to go sledding. The trails around the building and across the green spaces are popular with runners. Schoolchildren who come from all over the country to visit Washington step out of buses in the circle down in front of the Capitol and can walk right to the foot of the steps. The office buildings are even more accessible, as of course the people's right to lobby their government for redress of grievances is enshrined in the Constitution. And groups often did. You've seen footage of Capitol Police arresting peaceful protestors who occupied hearing rooms to advocate for all manner of causes; people opposing Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court took over the Hart Atrium in a nonviolent protest. (Let's point out: Every one of these people went through x-ray screening and entered the building lawfully, even if they were eventually arrested inside.) But if the goal is for the fence to be able to keep people from accessing the Capitol, it's possible the fence would have to encircle the entire Capitol campus, though of course they could choose just to encircle the U.S. Capitol itself. But even just a fence around the Capitol itself would dramatically change the democratic character of the building, the nature of the surrounding neighbourhood and, really, send a stark message to the world about American democracy. If they leave the razor wire in place or top permanent structures with such wire, that message is all the more ominous.

Vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing | "As I noted earlier this week, even before September 11, 2001, security experts argued that more needed to be done to protect the U.S. Capitol.  In fact, a 2006 security assessment specifically recommended the installation of a permanent perimeter fence around the Capitol. In light of recent events, I can unequivocally say that vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing, and the availability of ready, back-up forces in close proximity to the Capitol." 
https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/28/961673288/after-riot-acting-capitol-police-chief-calls-for-permanent-fencing-around-comple
https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-acting-chief-pittman-regarding-us-capitol-complex-physical

Capitol Police Can Sue the Stop the Steal Mob, Giuliani, and Even Trump Himself
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/capitol-police-sue-rudy-giuliani-mo-brooks-trump.html

The Pentagon has suspended the processing of a number of last-minute Trump appointees to defense advisory boards. The move effectively prevents Trump allies like Corey Lewandoski and David Bossie from actually serving on panels. | The Trump administration last year abruptly removed a slate of members from the business and policy boards and tapped people loyal to Trump to replace them. In early December, members of the Defense Business Board received a brief email from Joshua Whitehouse, who was the White House's liaison to the Department of Defense, that simply said, "if you are receiving this e-mail, your membership on the Defense Business Board has expired or is coming to an end." | Now the Biden team is reviewing the moves. The email that went out to advisory board members on Wednesday announced that effective immediately, "all appointments, reappointments and renewals" to the boards would be suspended "pending a thorough review by the new Administration."
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/28/pentagon-suspends-trump-appointments-463601

The international team working to understand the origins of the #COVID19 virus completed its 2-week quarantine in Wuhan, #China on Thursday. As members start their field visits on Friday, they should receive the support, access and the data they need.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1354828030011576327

While in quarantine, the team had daily virtual meetings with Chinese scientists, who shared updates on relevant #COVID19 studies done in #China plus other information and experiences. The team made requests for detailed underlying data, among other things.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1354828031588708354

All hypotheses are on the table as the team follows the science in their work to understand the origins of the #COVID19 virus. The team will have their first face-to-face meeting with Chinese scientists on Friday and then begin field visits in and around Wuhan, #China.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1354828032893050883

The team plans to visit hospitals, laboratories and markets. Field visits will include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Huanan market, Wuhan CDC laboratory. They will speak with early responders and some of the first #COVID19 patients.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1354828164397035521

The Biden administration rules out splitting its $1.9 trillion stimulus package into smaller bills, increasing odds that Democrats will pass it without Republican support
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-administration-stimulus-package-two-bills-2021-1

______________________

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-01-17/make-america-california-again-how-biden-will-try

By Evan HalperStaff Writer

Jan. 17, 2021 3 AM PT

After four years of being relentlessly targeted by a Republican president who worked overtime to bait, punish and marginalize California and everything it represents, the state is suddenly center stage again in Washington's policy arena.

California is emerging as the de facto policy think tank of the Biden-Harris administration and of a Congress soon to be under Democratic control. That's rekindling past cliches about the state — incubator of innovation, premier laboratory of democracy, land of big ideas — even as it struggles with surging COVID-19 infections, a safety net frayed by the pandemic's toll, crushing housing costs and wildfires, all fueling an exodus of residents.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-19/bidens-climate-agenda-would-be-a-boon-for-california

There is no place the incoming administration is leaning on more heavily for inspiration in setting a progressive policy agenda.

The revival in Washington of the California model of governance was cemented by Democrats' recent recapture of the Senate majority, and comes after a Trump-era hiatus during which the state was road-testing ambitious new policies. Another factor: California Sen. Kamala Harris is about to become vice president.

"California has never had a Democrat on a national ticket, much less a ticket that won," said former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. "Kamala Harris will be in all the meetings and have the last word with the president after they are over. She'll be sharing ideas, innovations and breakthroughs from California that might help solve problems on the national level."

Other Californians will be doing the same from Biden's Cabinet. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra is nominated to run the massive Health and Human Services Department. The nominee for Treasury secretary, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, is a professor at UC Berkeley, as is the nominee for Energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm. Longtime California resident Alejandro Mayorkas is the nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security.

And in Congress, of course, San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi will be running point on the California agenda as House speaker.

Not that Biden needs the nudge. He's been pushing to nationalize some of the state's pioneering efforts on climate action, workers' rights, law enforcement and criminal justice, healthcare and economic empowerment since he was vice president in the Obama era. He continued to champion the cause while he and Harris were still rivals in the 2020 presidential race.

The incoming administration is embracing some of California's most pioneering initiatives, such as programs for rapidly decarbonizing the electricity grid and tuition-free college, as well as more obscure, incremental policies. Also on the new White House agenda will be measures to ban mandatory arbitration clauses in employee contracts and a revival of a "Cash for Clunkers" program aimed at providing incentives to get polluting cars off the road — signature California policies.

Even some ideas that haven't worked out so well in California are on the national agenda now. Biden is a fierce proponent of high-speed rail, as well as new protections for gig economy workers that California voters diluted in November.

"California has this mantle of leadership, but along with that can come the stumbles of being the first adopter," said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). "It's an innovative and imaginative place that tends to set trends and blaze trails. It's too big and too influential not to inform our country's policy direction going forward."

California's influence will be felt in how Americans power their homes and cars, and even in how they save for retirement.

"California is not just about pushing the envelope, it is about tearing it apart," said former state Senate leader Kevin de León, who helped the state implement some of the innovative ideas the incoming administration wants to pursue. "The state is full of disruptors and malcontents who are impatient and have no problem challenging the status quo."

De León worked for years to enroll all California workers in an "auto-IRA" program that would automatically direct a small share of their earnings to a 401(k)-style savings account. He was motivated by the experience of his aunt, a housekeeper and one of the millions of Californians who was toiling in a low-wage job without any retirement safety net beyond Social Security.

"This was a woman, salt of the earth, who always worked fingers to bone," De León said. "Yet I am her IRA, I am her pension plan. Her story is not unique. You have millions of Californians and tens of millions of Americans who are retiring into poverty." The CalSavers program that De León was able to help create in California is a template for Biden's agenda on retirement security.

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jarvis-calsavers-20180531-story.html

California's plan to remove carbon-emitting power sources from its electricity grid entirely by 2045 also inspired the incoming administration. Biden is proposing an even more aggressive timeline, looking to move the grid to zero emissions nationwide by 2035.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-07-14/biden-aggressive-targets-climate-change

The state's plan was the most ambitious of its kind when it was approved in 2018, a snub at Trump's unrelenting push to revive demand for fossil fuels. It moved several other states to push up their decarbonization timelines. "My thinking was we had to be a beacon of hope and opportunity while Trump was trying to undo all of our policies at the national level," De León said.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-renewable-energy-law-signed-20180910-story.html

When Trump moved to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, California committed to meeting its objectives regardless, and launched a successful crusade to persuade 23 other states to do the same. Biden is now preparing to reenter the accord. California's landmark tailpipe emissions standards that the Trump administration worked furiously to erode are again central to that effort, helping to push the nation's vehicle fleet toward electrification.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-paris-states-20170602-story.html

An environmental task force set up last year with members across the Democratic Party's spectrum — co-chaired by former Secretary of State John F. Kerry, since appointed to Biden's Cabinet as climate envoy — urged the incoming administration to seek counsel from California. "Immediately convene California, due to its unique authority, and other states with labor, auto industry, and environmental leaders to inform ambitious actions," the group's report advised.

Biden's agenda will also be informed by California's setbacks.

The rolling blackouts the state recently endured pointed to the need for more innovation, public investment and oversight to keep pace with green-energy goals. The state's cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gases fell short in curbing pollution in marginalized communities, triggering protests that may have cost California's chief air regulator a post in Biden's Cabinet as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-12-17/environmental-justice-groups-block-mary-nichols-path-to-epa

Likewise, the disastrous delays in delivering unemployment relief checks during the pandemic, and associated rampant levels of fraud, scuttled the Cabinet prospects of California's labor secretary. (Biden did pick an official from the state government, Isabel Guzman, to run the Small Business Administration.)

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-07/bank-of-america-estimate-2-billion-california-unemployment-fraud
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/12/10/california-labor-secretary-in-serious-contention-for-biden-cabinet-1345100

The national movement to protect gig economy workers was dealt a damaging blow when California voters in November sided with ride-hailing companies and other technology firms, which were eager to carve big loopholes into the state's landmark law meant to protect those workers.

Supporters of the policies say the setbacks in California are part of the road-testing. They signal to federal leaders what tweaks are needed before a national rollout.

One California policy Biden promises to replicate aims to reduce the high rate of Black women who die while giving birth or within a year of it. Though the program helped the state make significant progress driving down the overall maternal mortality rate, it didn't narrow the racial gap. Black women still account for 40% of deaths. The Biden camp says it will propose additional actions to confront racial inequities in healthcare.

In the case of the gig worker rules California created — and which Biden favors — activists in the state are looking to the president-elect to revive protections like those undermined by Proposition 22. Robert Reich, Labor secretary in the Clinton administration, said in an email that Biden could potentially preempt California's industry-backed initiative with federal action, a move he said would be "vitally important."

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-14/la-fi-california-independent-contractor-small-business-ab5
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-11-13/how-uber-lyft-doordash-won-proposition-22

Whether Biden will go that far is unknown. Either way, the incoming administration has made clear it is looking to California as it moves to overhaul labor rules. The state has "the nation's foremost set of laws to protect workers," Reich wrote. Those laws, he said, give employees more rights than anywhere else in the country on issues that include overtime, employer retaliation, wage theft, discrimination and protection from sexual harassment.

"We've shown you can have progressive policies and enjoy economic growth," said Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from Silicon Valley.

Khanna recently touted those policies on a podcast hosted by progressive filmmaker Michael Moore. The title of the episode was notable considering that Moore savaged the Bay Area in his 1989 film "Roger and Me" as a hornet's nest of self-indulgent liberals.

He called last month's show "Make America California Again!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOYVqdbtIH4
______________________

Acting AG Monty Wilkinson says the Justice Dept "stands ready" to take custody of Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, for the kidnapping & murder of reporter Daniel Pearl, if Pakistan releases him from custody.
https://twitter.com/johnson_carrie/status/1354932780145274880

Paw prints Meowoof! Every time the pawsome @PressSec holds a #PressBriefing, our tails start wagging uncontrollably and our paws start twitching with excitement and joy. Champ says she reminds him of C.J. Cregg from #WestWing - a tv series for hoomans that he watched too, as a puppy.
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1354884361880014848

Meowoof! After the last soul eroding four years, we all need some floofness. We are happy to deliver it, and purrsent to you pawdorable #Mork, who was saved from the meat trade in China. He is now our #Secretary of #VelvetyWrinkles and #Puffiness. #AdoptDontShop #SaveThemAll
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1354857317481721859

While I trust the new administration to handle this better than the old one, Biden's national COVID19 plan didn't contain a lot of detail about how to deal with new variants. I just think the upside is really huge on formulating those plans ASAP. https://whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/National-Strategy-for-the-COVID-19-Response-and-Pandemic-Preparedness.pdf

Cicely Tyson, 96, national treasure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicely_Tyson
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001807/
Roots (1977)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075572/
The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071175/
A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich (1978)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077669/
Sounder (1972)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069303/
The Rosa Parks Story (2002)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293562/
The Blue Bird (1976)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074225/
Sweet Justice (1994)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108948/
The Women Of Brewster Place (1989)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098674/
House Of Secrets (1993)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107150/
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/
The Help (2011)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999): Hell (2009)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1248629/
House Of Cards (2013)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856010/ 

This is a truly unfathomable public statement and an example of terrorism for a sitting member of Congress to make (she's attacking and threatening David Hogg, and he's not a child, he's a Harvard man
https://twitter.com/laurenboebert/status/1354932933719539712

Ha- funny enough last I checked I wasn't the Congresswomen trying to bully a college student on twitter. I'll say the same thing to you I said about your evil twin- if you shoot me you prove my point. Text resign 954-954 to sign on to the petition calling for MTG resignation.
https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1354950526497140741

In 2018, Greene shared a video, With Open Gates: The Forced Collective Suicide of European Nations repeating the antisemitic white genocide conspiracy theory that "Zionist supremacists" are conspiring to flood Europe with migrants to replace the 'native' white populations. The video, uncovered by Media Matters for America, said that those supporting refugees are using "immigrant pawns" to commit "the biggest genocide in human history". In sharing the video, Greene wrote that "This is what the UN wants all over the world".[85] She also falsely called George Soros, a Jewish businessman and Holocaust survivor, a Nazi.[86] She promoted the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Soros collaborated with the Nazis and is "trying to continue what was not finished."[60]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene#Antisemitism_and_white_genocide

TransparencyUSA: Continuing downward trend, U.S. Reaches Lowest Annual Corruption Index Score Since 2012 "Add to all that the release of the FinCEN Files ... and it is safe to say it was a difficult and troubling year for anti-corruption advocates."
https://us.transparency.org/news/us-cpi/

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev speaks out after the company decided to restrict trading in GameStop and other stocks today. "In order to not bankrupt ourselves, and bankrupt ourselves we almost did, we have zero capital - the financial sector is worth nearly $2 trillion dollars and is underpinned by a blank federal check so the crash never really affected them whereas we're nearly bankrupt and have nothing underpinning us - we indefinitely suspending the buying in these stocks.
https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1354943941330743299

You lose a game you shake your opponents' hand and go home. You lose an election you concede and wish the victor the best. Your short position fails, you limit the damage and move on. No more whining and crying all the time. I mean where is the outrage for people who can't put food on the table out of no fault of their own? Or can't get a job back because businesses are shut down? That's where the rage should be.

"We want to give the schools what they need so they can open safely," WH Chief of Staff Klain tells us. Some of the safety protocols the administration is pushing for include high-quality masking and small pods of students staying together while distancing
https://twitter.com/NorahODonnell/status/1354958144720482318

In a new memoir, legendary actress Cicely Tyson is opening up about her impressive career and personal life. @GayleKing caught up with 96-year-old @IAmCicelyTyson to reflect on the defining moments in her life, starting with a reporter's question that caught her off guard.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1354091838815293440
https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/1354091838815293440

Snowy Owl Is Spotted in Central Park, for First Time in 130 Years | The hordes came running and the snow-white raptor became the latest celebrity bird of Manhattan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/nyregion/snowy-owl-central-park.html

One of the great actors of this or any other generation has died. I was privileged to be in the room when President Obama awarded Cicely Tyson the Medal of Freedom. She created indelible characters in Sounder, Roots,The Autobiography  of Miss Jane Pittman. Cicely Tyson was 96.
https://twitter.com/ChrisJansing/status/1354962134061494273

Logo Lillard pulling up early in Houston
https://streamable.com/ijwzps

The 6-11 Miami Heat don't own their own draft pick. It belongs to...the OKC Thunder, unprotected of course. In 2015 the Heat traded their 2021 first round pick to the Suns for Goran Dragic. The Suns traded this pick to the Sixers in 2018 to move up and take Mikal Bridges. The Sixers traded it to the Clippers in the Tobias Harris trade. And then the Clippers traded it to the Thunder for Paul George.
With the team ravaged by Covid19, the team has dug themselves into a hole that will be difficult to recover from, and Sam Presti is rubbing his hands together.

Many of you asked me why I cleaned the Capitol on Jan 6. I want to show you this photo. This is my mom, an immigrant from Korea, bringing me to DC for the first time. She took me to the Capitol and taught me to love and care for this nation that gave us everything.
https://twitter.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1354798085575233537

Two Sandy Hook parents — Mark Barden, father of Daniel Barden, and Nicole Hockley, mother of Dylan Hockley — today gave a statement about conspiracy theorist Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA, being named to the House Education and Labor Committee:
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1354955333194706946

2/  "Having a Sandy Hook and Parkland denier on the House Education and Labor Committee is an attack on any and every family whose loved ones were murdered in mass shootings that have now become fodder for hoaxers...
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1354955335166029833

3/ "... We're grateful for people like Rep. Jahana Hayes who understand that hateful conspiracy theories and suggestions that our childrens' violent deaths never happened have no place in our society, much less the United States Congress."
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1354955336134832130

The difference between denying that it happened and explicitly approving of it is very small.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan has restructured the National Security staff in the Middle East and Asia directorates — downsizing the team devoted to the Middle East and bulking up the unit that coordinates U.S. policy toward the vast region of the world stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. The move, which has not been previously reported, is the latest sign that the new administration will prioritize Asia in its foreign policy initiatives. It reflects China's rapid rise over the last two decades, and the growing concerns among officials and lawmakers across parties about how Beijing's authoritarian leaders are wielding their newfound muscle. Under the new structure, Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell's domain is growing, while the directorate overseen by Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk will be more limited, several current and former officials said. Biden's team also wants to avoid another quagmire in the Middle East and strengthen core alliances in Asia and Europe that they argue were neglected or spurned under Trump. "Given the structure of the NSC staff, I think they're pretty determined to stick to their affirmative priorities instead of getting sucked into the Middle East," a former Obama official said. Sullivan's professional credo — making foreign policy work for the American middle class — is also a factor, given the enormous stakes the U.S. and Asia have in each other's economic prosperity. "Transferring policy resources from the Middle East to Asia is a better reflection of America's economic realities," said Karim Sadjadpour, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Asia policy is directly relevant to American farmers, corporations and tech companies in a way that the Middle East is not, especially given America's domestic energy resources," Sadjadpour noted. "After two painful decades in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's also little bipartisan popular support to do more in the Middle East." | The apparent shift is not limited to the NSC. Asia experts are being seeded across the new administration, including at the Defense Department, where former Biden aide Ely Ratner has been tapped as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's principal adviser on China and Kelly Magsamen, who served as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs until 2017, has been named Austin's chief of staff. | "Every foreign policy agenda begins with a pivot to Asia and ends with divots in the Middle East," one foreign policy expert remarked. "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. It's not surprising to me that this is how they're beginning, but things are eminently unpredictable."
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/28/biden-china-foreign-policy-463674

Written By Joe Biden: Second, my administration will equip Americans to succeed in the global economy—with a foreign policy for the middle class. To win the competition for the future against China or anyone else, the United States must sharpen its innovative edge and unite the economic might of democracies around the world to counter abusive economic practices and reduce inequality. | I will make investment in research and development a cornerstone of my presidency, so that the United States is leading the charge in innovation. There is no reason we should be falling behind China or anyone else when it comes to clean energy, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, 5G, high-speed rail, or the race to end cancer as we know it. We have the greatest research universities in the world. We have a strong tradition of the rule of law. And most important, we have an extraordinary population of workers and innovators who have never let our country down. A foreign policy for the middle class will also work to make sure the rules of the international economy are not rigged against the United States—because when American businesses compete on a fair playing field, they win. I believe in fair trade. More than 95 percent of the world's population lives beyond our borders—we want to tap those markets. We need to be able to build the very best in the United States and sell the very best around the world. That means taking down trade barriers that penalize Americans and resisting a dangerous global slide toward protectionism. That's what happened a century ago, after World War I—and it exacerbated the Great Depression and helped lead to World War II. The wrong thing to do is to put our heads in the sand and say no more trade deals. Countries will trade with or without the United States. The question is, Who writes the rules that govern trade? Who will make sure they protect workers, the environment, transparency, and middle-class wages? The United States, not China, should be leading that effort. | China represents a special challenge. I have spent many hours with its leaders, and I understand what we are up against. China is playing the long game by extending its global reach, promoting its own political model, and investing in the technologies of the future. Meanwhile, Trump has designated imports from the United States' closest allies—from Canada to the European Union—as national security threats in order to impose damaging and reckless tariffs. By cutting us off from the economic clout of our partners, Trump has kneecapped our country's capacity to take on the real economic threat. | The United States does need to get tough with China. If China has its way, it will keep robbing the United States and American companies of their technology and intellectual property. It will also keep using subsidies to give its state-owned enterprises an unfair advantage—and a leg up on dominating the technologies and industries of the future. The most effective way to meet that challenge is to build a united front of U.S. allies and partners to confront China's abusive behaviors and human rights violations, even as we seek to cooperate with Beijing on issues where our interests converge, such as climate change, nonproliferation, and global health security. On its own, the United States represents about a quarter of global GDP. When we join together with fellow democracies, our strength more than doubles. China can't afford to ignore more than half the global economy. That gives us substantial leverage to shape the rules of the road on everything from the environment to labor, trade, technology, and transparency, so they continue to reflect democratic interests and values.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-01-23/why-america-must-lead-again 

Lakers with a shaqtin a fool sequence
https://streamable.com/m23h06

Texas Governor Orders State Agencies to Identify any Potential Litigation to Challenge Biden's Climate Change Agenda
https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/texas-governor-orders-state-agencies-to-identify-any-potential-litigation-to-challenge-bidens-climate-change-agenda/

As the NYT ed board criticizes President Biden this am for taking swift executive action to reverse the most egregious actions of the Trump Admin, I can't help but recall that during the primary they encouraged voters to consider what a president could accomplish through exec Action. So my question is which actions that the President took to reverse Donald Trump's executive orders would they have liked to see him not pursue? Of course we are also pursuing our agenda through legislation. It's why we are working so hard to get the American Rescue Plan passed, for starters!
https://twitter.com/WHCommsDir/status/1354796646882799619 

Kelly Oubre's revenge game against the Suns: four points, four rebounds (1-11 from the field, 0-5 from three)

The Pistons hold the Rapist Lakers scoreless for a 6 minute, 50 second span in the 4th quarter, going on a 16-0 run in the process
https://streamable.com/r3d6sf

Draymond to the ref after getting a technical: "Y'all gotta stop acting so emotional"
https://streamable.com/497sun

Christian Wood drops 22 pts 12 reb going 8-12 from the field and 88% from the FT line coming off an ankle sprain

KCP with a flagrant 1 foul on Plumlee
https://streamable.com/17wdf6

Reggie Jackson calls a timeout when the Clippers didn't have any and is distraught
https://streamable.com/ybuszm

Frank Kaminsky finishes the game with a near triple double: 12 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists

Derrick Jones Jr. (left foot sprain) will not return
https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1354978627570589703

Fan Kicked out of Lakers game for holding up shirts that read: 'LeBron is a racist' and 'Gloria Goes West'
https://lakersdaily.com/fan-kicked-out-of-lakers-game-for-holding-up-shirts-that-read-lebron-is-a-racist-and-gloria-goes-west/amp/

A man photographed wearing face paint and a horned headdress during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol said he would be willing to testify at Trump's impeachment trial in February. Jacob Chansley, who is known as the "QAnon Shaman," would be willing to testify that he was incited to  storm the Capitol to stop the certification of the electoral college so Trump could remain president. Lawyer Albert Watkins said he hasn't spoken to any member in the Senate since announcing his offer to have Jacob Chansley testify at Trump's trial, which is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 8. Watkins said it's important for senators to hear the voice of someone who was incited by Trump. Watkins said his client was previously "horrendously smitten" by Trump but now feels let down after Trump's refusal to grant Chansley and others who participated in the insurrection a pardon. "He felt like he was betrayed by the president," Watkins said.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/536427-lawyer-says-qanon-shaman-capitol-rioter-wants-to-testify-in
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-who-wore-horns-at-riot-willing-to-speak-at-trumps-trial/2021/01/28/b533e5de-61c2-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html

Marjorie Taylor Greene deleted past social media posts that endorsed fringe conspiracy theories and called for murdering members of Congress and called for murdering victims of mass shootings
https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-rep-greene-removes-facebook-posts-endorsing-conspiracy-theories-2021-1

A millionaire Canadian couple who secretly travelled to a remote community to receive a coronavirus vaccine meant for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous residents may now face jail sentences for breaking public health rules. | They were fined C$2,300 (US$1,800) for violating Yukon's Civil Emergency Measures Act, but community leaders argued that the penalty would be insignificant for the wealthy couple: Baker resigned from his position as a casino executive on Sunday but records show he made a C$45.9m profit on stock options over the past 13 months. Amid growing outrage, the Yukon community services minister announced on Wednesday that the couple's tickets had been stayed and they had been served with a notice to appear in court. If convicted, they could serve up to six months in jail.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/28/canada-couple-covid-vaccine-indigenous-people-jail-time

China builds Digital Silk Road in Pakistan to Africa and Europe | China is set to lay the final stretch of a cross-border fiber optic cable in Pakistan that will create the Digital Silk Road, serving the geostrategic interests of both countries. It will connect to a submarine cable in the Arabian Sea to service countries participating in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Europe. Observers see this as a strategic move to circumvent international telecommunication consortiums dominated by Western and Indian companies. | "Beijing wants to dominate the physical infrastructure underlying global communications, particularly the internet," he said. "This will give it an advantage in internationalizing its tech sector and pursuing future tech-related deals with partner countries." | "It is a way for Chinese firms to gain greater access to certain foreign markets, at a time when they are increasingly being shut out of building infrastructure like fiber optic cables and 5G technology in North America and parts of Europe," Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, told Nikkei.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Belt-and-Road/China-builds-Digital-Silk-Road-in-Pakistan-to-Africa-and-Europe

Snow, please! 🌨 Snowflake🌨 Snowstorm may take aim at major East Coast cities on Sunday and Monday https://washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/28/snowstorm-east-coast/

The footage shows how rioters, in their effort to attack the police, trampled on Ms. Boyland even as her friend, Justin Winchell, shouted that she was dying and needed help.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/us/capitol-riot-woman-trampled.html

No foreign terrorist could get Congress to close off the Capitol and surrounding blocks with fencing, barbed wire and checkpoints. Never pander to Trump terrorists.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said she'd been expecting some kind of flare-up after observing the rise of the far right for years. On the day of the vote, Lee — who had to escape the Capitol on Sept. 11, 2001 in high heels — decided to wear tennis shoes, just in case.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/29/congress-frustrations-capitol-riot-463619

Here's video I found of Marjorie Taylor Greene calling electeds an awful slur used against those with learning disabilities. She then says "I'm not trying to talk down on people with Down's Syndrome. But that's what these people are." Expel Greene.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1354862832706326532
https://twitter.com/funder/status/1354862832706326532

Biden wants to triple protected lands. Conserving 30 percent of land and 30 percent of ocean waters by 2030 would be a big win for the climate and biodiversity.
https://www.vox.com/22251851/joe-biden-executive-orders-climate-change-conservation-30-by-2030

Shell Nigeria ordered to pay compensation for oil spills | The farmers were backed by environmental group Friends of the Earth. | This is the first time individual farmers who have had their sources of livelihood taken away by the environmental destruction in the Niger Delta hope to get justice. It is being received with excitement among environmental activists, as it may open a floodgate of more litigation against Shell and other corporations involved in oil exploration in the region. Kentebbe Ebiarido, who represents some of the farmers, said people in the area had been "cheated environmentally and economically" and that no matter how much the multinationals had misbehaved in the past, the communities now have hope.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55853024

Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is 66% effective in global trial, but 85% effective against severe disease
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/29/health/johnson-coronavirus-vaccine-results/index.html

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who won a tough reelection race in the fall, will lead Democrats' efforts in 2022 to expand their current razor-thin Senate majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Thursday that Peters will head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, calling him "hard-working, disciplined and effective." The 62-year-old Peters, who is in his second term, is the first Midwesterner to hold the position in decades. Next year, Democrats will have chances to pick up seats in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Democrats also will need to protect incumbents in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire in the midterms, when Republicans have an opportunity to break Democrats' new monopoly on Congress. "Someone who can win tough races in Michigan has an appreciation for what it takes to win in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio," Peters told The Associated Press, saying he feels "very good" about Democrats' chances in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He also mentioned Ohio, where Republican Sen. Rob Portman this week announced he will retire.
https://apnews.com/article/michigan-gary-peters-36c8ef712fbc8d39729422b7baf1a48f

Fox News: Biden admin gets early start on the weekend.

Four years ago trump was heading to Florida for golf for his second weekend in office.


Biden has signed 40 executive orders and actions since taking office

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-has-signed-40-executive-orders-and-actions-since-taking-office

Rep. Cori Bush announced on Friday that she's changing offices after a maskless Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene berated her and her staff in a hallway. Bush, a freshman Democrat from Missouri, said in a tweet that she decided to move offices for the safety of her staff and herself.
https://www.businessinsider.com/congresswoman-cori-bush-berated-by-marjorie-taylor-greene-moving-offices-2021-1

Rep. Sharice Davids Named Vice Chair of House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. Unfortunately, it looks this is her last term as the Kansas Republicans will most likely eliminate her district for 2022.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/rep-sharice-davids-named-vice-chair-of-house-committee-on-transportation-infrastructure
________________________________

https://www.vox.com/22254482/republicans-voter-suppression-state-legislatures

State Republicans have already introduced dozens of bills restricting voting access in 2021

A new Brennan Center report shows an unprecedented amount of legislation seeking to restrict voting access has been introduced in state legislatures this year.

By Gabby Birenbaum Jan 29, 2021, 10:50am EST

In 2020, voters turned out at the highest level in 100 years, thanks in part to expanded vote-by-mail. In response, state-level Republicans are introducing an unprecedented amount of legislation to restrict voting rights, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/elections/voter-turnout/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-2021

State legislators in 28 states have filed 106 bills restricting the franchise thus far in 2021 — and the overwhelming majority have come from Republicans. Compare that to last year at this time: Then, only 35 such bills had been filed in six states.

"We are seeing a backlash," says Eliza Sweren-Becker, the report's lead author. "Rather than going out and trying to persuade voters, we're seeing legislators trying to shrink the electorate in order to ensure job security for themselves."

The proposed legislation largely falls into two categories: bills that either increase the difficulties individual Americans would face absentee voting or that give officials greater leeway to shrink the voter pool. Some are attempts to roll back voting rights expansions necessitated by the pandemic; others are retreads of policies Republicans have pushed before, like expanded voter identification laws.

The passage of these laws will, essentially, depend on whether Republicans control both the statehouse and the governorship in the states in which they've been introduced — a reality in 18 of the 28 states. And while Sweren-Becker says their constitutionality would hinge on the way each bill is written and implemented, a lot of them have a decent chance at sticking around.

The news isn't all bad: A whopping 406 bills have been introduced in 35 states that would expand access to voting, including permanently codifying the absentee voter policies that allowed voters in some states to cast their ballots early and remotely. Some states will consider both expansive and restrictive voting rights bills; which path the state follows will likely hinge on which party controls the legislature.

At the national level, Democrats in Congress are pushing a number of voting rights bills. Last year, the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would provide for federal oversight in states with a recent history of racial discrimination in voting laws. On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced his annual Vote From Home bill with Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), which would mandate universal absentee voting — or the ability to vote by mail without an excuse — for federal elections and disallow states from imposing "additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of the individual," save for the postmark deadline.

https://www.leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/John%20Lewis%20Voting%20Rights%20Advancement%20Act%20one%20pager.pdf

"Last year we saw a widespread expansion of vote-at-home access as a safe and secure way to participate during the COVID-19 pandemic," Blumenauer said in a release. "We should continue to make voting easier, not harder."

At each level of government, the fight over the future of how America's democracy operates is in full effect — and states are moving quickly.

What Republicans are trying to pass, briefly explained

State legislators' proposals run the gamut from seemingly reasonable to downright offensive, but they all aim to lower the likelihood of a vote getting cast or counted.

Legislators have introduced bills in Republican-controlled Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming; and divided Alaska, Kentucky, Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, according to the Brennan Center report.

They've also introduced them in Democratic-controlled Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington, though those bills are less likely to succeed.

The bills contain a number of tactics to increase the individual cost of voting. With mail-in voting, three states would strengthen the excuse requirement — in Missouri, for example, the coronavirus would no longer be an excuse to vote absentee, while in Pennsylvania, a proposed bill would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting after it was passed with bipartisan support in 2019.

https://voteathome.org/pennsylvania-passes-bi-partisan-no-excuses-absentee-bill/

State legislators have proposed further limiting who can assist voters with their absentee ballots and adding cumbersome witness requirements, such as mandating witnesses to give identification information.

In Arizona, where President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to carry the state in more than two decades, Sweren-Becker said state legislators introduced a particularly egregious "voter-suppressive hat trick," which restricts who can assist voters in delivering absentee ballots, requires all mail-in ballots to be notarized, and adds a voter ID requirement for returning ballots in person.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/12/politics/biden-wins-arizona/index.html

Legislators in 10 states introduced new voter ID laws, including creating them for the first time in six states.

In one particularly absurd example, Georgia Republicans want to require that absentee voters provide a photocopy of their ID two times throughout the voting process.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/bill-seeks-two-copies-of-photo-id-to-vote-absentee-in-georgia/2IC372BV2NC3VFNAYIWA4OPQKQ/

State legislators in Mississippi and New York are trying to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, explicitly targeting noncitizens. And to increase the challenges associated with obtaining a ballot, legislators in four states introduced bills to cut election day registration.

Legislators are also trying to give election officials more opportunities to throw out ballots or purge voters from the rolls. According to the Brennan Center report, one common tactic is to make it easier for officials to remove voters from the permanent absentee list and throw out votes due to signatures mismatches — a measure introduced in Pennsylvania despite the state supreme court explicitly ruling that a mismatched signature could not be the sole reason for rejecting a ballot. Republican state lawmakers also want to increase poll watcher access to ballot-counting processes, move up ballot postmark deadlines or remove secretaries of states' discretion in setting those deadlines, and allow officials to be more proactive in purging voter rolls, to the point of allowing practices that courts have deemed improper.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/23/pennsylvania-court-ballot-signatures-431794

It's an unprecedented deluge of bills, but it's not coming out of nowhere.

The Republicans' proposed laws are directly tied to Trump's election fraud lies

Many of the bills being introduced this year aim to tackle the very practices that former Trump decried as unfair while peddling various false election conspiracies — but enacting some of his preferred reforms might actually backfire.

In the dozens of lawsuits the Trump campaign filed and saw thrown out by courts, they falsely claimed that Biden only won due to the votes of noncitizens, illegally cast absentee ballots whose signatures could not be verified (conveniently only in counties Biden won), and ballots miscounted because Trump-friendly poll watchers weren't allowed in to watch. All of these claims were proven false by recounts and in courts, where no evidence of widespread ballot fraud was found, and it was proven that poll watchers were indeed present.

https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-donald-trump-georgia-elections-voter-registration-40bb602e6f0facf8eecc331e83ab36e0
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/06/fact-checking-false-claims-about-pennsylvania-and-/
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/oct/28/donald-trump/trumps-misleading-claim-about-ballot-signatures-ne/
https://apnews.com/article/why-poll-watcher-complaint-not-fraud-9ac60f20604f5aadbeaa8d5bee598a4a
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-recount-over/2020/11/29/b4896ade-30c9-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-georgia-elections-4eeea3b24f10de886bcdeab6c26b680a
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-falls-short-wisconsin-recount-he-paid-3-million-n1249289
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/politics/elections/2021/01/06/trumps-failed-efforts-overturn-election-numbers/4130307001/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judges-trump-election-lawsuits/2020/12/12/e3a57224-3a72-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/06/fact-checking-false-claims-about-pennsylvania-and-/

But that hasn't stopped state GOPs from seizing the opportunity to try to justify new restrictive proposals based on Trump's lies.

"We are certainly seeing state [legislatures] take up the mantle of this voter fraud lie and use it as a justification to restrict access to voting, to essentially enact voter suppression," Sweren-Becker said.

Though there's a renewed vigor to the suppression efforts in 2021, the strategy is nothing new. As Emory University historian Carol Anderson explained to Vox's Sean Illing, America has a long history of "conservative whites continually finding new ways to rob minorities of their right to vote." In recent decades, that's meant state GOPs have attempted to discourage traditional Democratic voters — most notably Black voters and immigrants — from turning out.

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/24/18186741/voter-suppression-gerrymandering-carol-anderson

Trump's court challenges and Twitter rants, too, were targeted at throwing out votes in the cities of states Biden flipped, such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta — all of which have significant Black populations.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-race-and-ethnicity-georgia-wisconsin-a2f5155019a0c5aa09a7a6a82fb7d14b

    I hope y'all understand Black voter suppression doesn't stop on Election Day. It's just going to get worse because they know what we did. @morethanavote ✊ https://t.co/Tl0g752kjL
    — LeBron James (@KingJames) January 27, 2021
https://twitter.com/morethanavote
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1354543444677558274

Trump's issue with mail-in voting was conceptual, and he railed against it on Twitter and discouraged his followers from partaking in it. By following him on his crusade, state-level Republicans could be making the same mistake the former president did.

Historically, vote-by-mail had a nonpartisan benefit — it juiced turnout for both parties. Vote-by-mail did benefit Democrats more in 2020, but there's no guarantee that continues to be the case. Last year, Trump discouraged his voters from taking advantage of it; his misinformation made it a partisan game. And considering his propensity for turning out new voters and low-information voters, making voting more difficult may mean his base could skip future elections where obtaining a ballot that Trump is not on requires more work.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-is-no-evidence-that-voting-by-mail-gives-one-party-an-advantage/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/03/democrats-more-mail-in-ballots-pennsylvania-433951
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/16/us/politics/election-turnout.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/why-trump-has-huge-advantage-over-democrats-low-information-voters

So despite the rash of new restrictive proposals, there's no guarantee these laws work out exactly as state Republican parties hope, if they even pass in the first place. But Trump is giving Republicans a whole new voter suppression playbook to work with — and as long as state GOPs follow his mold, restrictive voting bills are likely to feature prominently on their agendas.
________________________________

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-filibuster.html

I'm Not Actually Interested in Mitch McConnell's Hypocrisy

To make his case for the filibuster, he has essentially rewritten the history of the Senate.

By Jamelle Bouie

Jan. 29, 2021

On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell, now the Senate minority leader, spoke in defense of the legislative filibuster.

https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=FDB61935-41E2-4C13-A50F-EF985725A281

"When it comes to lawmaking, the framers' vision and our history are clear. The Senate exists to require deliberation and cooperation," McConnell declared. "James Madison said the Senate's job was to provide a 'complicated check' against 'improper acts of legislation.' We ensure that laws earn enough buy-in to receive the lasting consent of the governed. We stop bad ideas, improve good ideas and keep laws from swinging wildly with every election."

He went on: "More than any other feature, it is the Senate's 60-vote threshold to end debate on legislation that achieves this."

It's hard to take any of this seriously. None of McConnell's stated concern for the "lasting consent of the governed" was on display when Senate Republicans, under his leadership, tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act by majority vote. Nor was there any interest in "deliberation and cooperation" when Republicans wanted a new round of corporate and upper-income tax cuts.

https://www.npr.org/2017/07/27/539907467/senate-careens-toward-high-drama-midnight-health-care-vote
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00303

If anything, the filibuster stymies that deliberation and cooperation by destroying the will to legislate at all. It makes bipartisanship less likely by erasing any incentive to build novel coalitions for particular issues. If, under the filibuster, there's no difference between 51 votes for immigration reform and 56 votes (or even 59), then what's the point of even trying? Why reach out to the other side if there's almost no way you'll reach the threshold to take action? And on the other side, why tinker with legislation if you know it's not going to pass? When there's no reason to do otherwise, why not act as a rigid, unyielding partisan?

It's obvious that McConnell's commitment to the filibuster is instrumental. The filibuster on executive branch nominations of appointees and federal judges was sacred — he condemned the Democrats' use of the "nuclear option" to get rid of it in 2013 — until President Trump needed Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and then it was bye-bye to the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees that McConnell's predecessor as Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, had left intact. If the reconciliation process didn't exist, and Republicans needed 60 votes for upper-income tax cuts, there's almost no doubt McConnell would have killed the legislative filibuster in 2017, for the sake of his party's signature priority.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-poised-to-limit-filibusters-in-party-line-vote-that-would-alter-centuries-of-precedent/2013/11/21/d065cfe8-52b6-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html

I'm not actually that interested in McConnell's hypocrisy. I'm interested in his history. To make his case for the indispensable importance of the legislative filibuster, McConnell has essentially rewritten the history of the Senate. He has to create a new narrative to serve his current interests.

The truth is that the filibuster was an accident; an extra-constitutional innovation that lay dormant for a generation after its unintentional creation during the Jefferson administration. For most of the Senate's history after the Civil War, filibusters were rare, deployed as the Southern weapon of choice against civil rights legislation, and an occasional tool of partisan obstruction.

Far from necessary, the filibuster is extraneous. Everything it is said to encourage — debate, deliberation, consensus building — is already accomplished by the structure of the chamber itself, insofar as it happens at all.

In the form it takes today, the filibuster doesn't make the Senate work the way the framers intended. Instead, it makes the Senate a nearly insurmountable obstacle to most legislative business. And that, in turn, has made Congress inert and dysfunctional to the point of disrupting the constitutional balance of power. Legislation that deserves a debate never reaches the floor; coalitions that could form never get off the ground.

In quoting Madison, McConnell frames the filibuster as part of our constitutional inheritance. It is not. The filibuster isn't in the Constitution. The Senate, like the House of Representatives, was meant to run on majority rule.

Remember, the framers had direct experience with supermajority government. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had equal representation and it took a two-thirds vote of the states for Congress to exercise its enumerated powers. Without the consent of nine states (out of 13), Congress could not enter treaties, appropriate funds or borrow money. And the bar to amendment, unanimity, was even higher. The articles were such a disaster that, rather than try to amend them, a group of influential elites decided to scrap them altogether.

For a taste of this frustration, read Alexander Hamilton in Federalist no. 22, which contains a fierce condemnation of supermajority rule as it was under the articles:

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed22.asp

    The necessity of unanimity in public bodies, or of something approaching toward it, has been founded upon a supposition that it would contribute to security. But its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of the government, and to substitute the pleasure, caprice, or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent, or corrupt junto, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority.

Hamilton is especially angry with the effect of the supermajority requirement on governance.

    In those emergencies of a nation, in which the goodness or badness, the weakness or strength of its government, is of the greatest importance, there is commonly a necessity for action. The public business must, in some way or other, go forward. If a pertinacious minority can control the opinion of a majority, respecting the best mode of conducting it, the majority, in order that something may be done, must conform to the views of the minority; and thus the sense of the smaller number will overrule that of the greater, and give a tone to the national proceedings. Hence, tedious delays; continual negotiation and intrigue; contemptible compromises of the public good.

Delegates to the constitutional convention considered and rejected supermajority requirements for navigation acts (concerning ships and shipping), regulation of interstate commerce and the raising of armies. Majorities would have the final say everywhere except for treaties, amendments and conviction in an impeachment trial.

To make the Senate slow-moving and deliberative, the framers would not raise barriers to action so much as they would insulate the body from short-term democratic accountability. That meant indirect election by state legislatures, staggered terms of six years and a small membership of two senators per state. And at ratification, that is where the Senate stood: a self-consciously aristocratic body meant to check the House of Representatives and oversee the executive branch, confirming its appointments and ratifying its foreign agreements.

The filibuster doesn't enter the picture until years later, as an accident of parliamentary bookkeeping. In 1806, on the advice of Vice President Aaron Burr (who thought it redundant), the Senate dropped the "previous question" — a motion to end debate and bring an item up for immediate vote — from its rules. Without a motion to call the previous question, however, an individual senator could, in theory, hold the floor indefinitely.

It took 31 years for someone to actually do it. The first known filibuster took place in 1837, when several Whig senators tried unsuccessfully to block a Democratic bill to reverse an 1834 censure of President Andrew Jackson and expunge it from the congressional record. Even then, the filibuster was not widely used until the second half of the 19th century, as the parties, and thus the Senate, grew more polarized along party lines.

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Senate_Reverses_A_Presidential_Censure.htm

The filibuster as we understand it developed in the 20th century. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson called on Senate Democrats to reform the filibuster as a war measure after Republicans successfully filibustered a bill to arm merchant ships. Democrats obliged and created a "cloture" rule to end debate with a two-thirds vote of the chamber. In 1975, the Senate reduced that threshold from two-thirds to three-fifths, or 60 votes in a 100-member body.

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Origins_Cloture.htm
https://www.legislativeprocedure.com/blog/2019/3/8/fb2te1chy6ls0iyqw5tehw82es9pnw

Throughout this time, filibusters were uncommon. It was perfectly possible for the Senate to debate, deliberate and come to consensus without the supermajority requirement McConnell and the Republican caucus have imposed on virtually all legislation since 2009.

The point of comparison for the Senate as McConnell has shaped it is the middle of the 20th century, when a conservative coalition of Republicans and Dixiecrats made the chamber a graveyard of liberal legislation and social reform. Consensus didn't matter. Power did. And it wasn't until liberals wrested power from this coalition — in the House as well as the Senate — that they could take the initiative and begin work on an otherwise popular agenda.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/opinion/democrats-schumer-mcconnell-filibuster.html

There is no question the Senate is supposed to be slow, even sluggish. But it's not supposed to be an endless bottleneck. The framers wanted stability in government, not stagnation. What we have now, with the filibuster intact, is a Senate that can barely move.

This isn't just a problem for President Biden and the Democratic Party; it's a problem for the entire constitutional order. Our system is built around Congress; Congress makes laws, Congress holds the purse strings, Congress hands out mandates, Congress checks the president and makes sure the judiciary stays in its lane.

When Congress doesn't act, other actors take up the slack. The story of our democracy these last 10 years is, in part, the story of how a listless, sclerotic Senate broke Congress and pushed the other branches to govern in its stead, with the president and the courts making as much policy as they can without congressional input, with all the capriciousness, whiplash and uncertainty that can come from that.

If you don't like presidents governing through executive order, then you should want an active, energetic Congress that embraces its constitutional mandate to rule over the whole country and direct its government. If you want that, you should oppose the filibuster.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Jamelle Bouie became a New York Times Opinion columnist in 2019. Before that he was the chief political correspondent for Slate magazine. He is based in Charlottesville, Va., and Washington. @jbouie
________________________________

Kawhi Leonard, Paul George to return Friday for LA Clippers after clearing COVID-19 protocols
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30800721/kawhi-leonard-paul-george-return-friday-la-clippers-clearing-covid-19-protocols

Chopper talk is back! Trump loved talking to reporters before getting on the helicopter (surely in part because it's very loud, the viewer can't hear the questions and there's virtually no chance to follow up): President Biden is asked if he supports using reconciliation to pass covid relief.  "I support passing covid relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But the covid relief has to pass. No ifs, ands or buts," he says.
https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1355227557050933251?s=20

President Biden is committed to helping the people of America

Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood must prove he's of sound mind, or risk losing his license to practice law. Such probes are normally confidential, but Wood revealed it himself on his Telegram page, so the State Bar of Georgia confirmed the inquiry. The State Bar of Georgia confirmed to VICE News that it has asked Wood to undergo a mental health assessment.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bkk9/pro-trump-lawyer-lin-wood-has-to-prove-hes-mentally-fit-to-keep-his-law-license

Local journalism going above and beyond: A reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida has become seniors' unofficial vaccine hotline
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/28/florida-reporter-vaccine-seniors/

Meowee! Winston here. This is my pawdorable friend Remi, she is still a kitten, but just like any other respectable feline - including my purrfect self - she loves paper bags & naps. Dear kind hoomans, please #AdoptBlackCats. They bring luck & joy.
Camera with flash credit: remi_blackcat IG
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1355227420794757120

"We don't want to elevate conspiracy theories in the briefing room" @PressSec said when asked about Rep Marjorie Taylor Green

The environmental justice movement wields new clout under Biden, sometimes in tension traditional enviro leaders that activists see as "too white, cautious and out of touch." | As Democrats have taken power in the White House and Congress, long-simmering tensions within the environmental movement are coming to the forefront, leaving established leaders pushed aside by activists who see them as too white, cautious and out of touch with the effects of industrial pollution on communities of color. "It used to be that these mostly white, mainstream environmental groups would be in those rooms, making the decisions and then call us to say what was decided," said Robert Bullard, an author and co-chair of the Black Environmental Justice Network, known to some as the father of environmental justice. "We said, 'Never again. We are not going to leave it to other folks to speak for us.'" "The tension has been there for a long time," said Ramón Cruz, who last year was elected the first Latino president of the 128-year-old Sierra Club. "Organizations like ours have done harm in the past. We have supported policies seen by many environmental justice groups as displacing pollution into what we see now were 'sacrifice zones.' That is no more. The realignment creates both political opportunities and risks for the new administration. Biden benefited from the more liberal groups' organizing power and resonance with young and nonwhite voters to win election and to help Democrats retake the Senate. And yet, though he delighted the groups with his Cabinet picks, delivering on their policy expectations could prove fraught, given Democrats' tight majorities in the Senate and House. Biden will be beholden to centrists including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, an ally of fossil fuel companies. The last time a Democratic Congress considered a major climate bill, in 2010, the coal-state senator made a political ad in which he fired a bullet through a copy of the legislation. "The environmental justice groups this election did the grass-roots work of mobilizing voters and getting their agenda recognized by the Democratic Party for the first time in history," said Phaedra Pezzullo, a scholar of the movement at the University of Colorado. "Now they are going to be assessing whether it made a difference." This moment has been long in coming. Backlash against the environmental establishment first erupted in 1990, when dozens of grass-roots groups sent a letter to 10 of the nation's largest conservation organizations accusing them of racism and of ignoring pollution in communities of color. Along with the Sierra Club, groups targeted in the letter included the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Audubon Society. "Some of those organizations responded by saying 'We can do better,'" said Ozawa Bineshi Albert, an organizer at the Indigenous Environmental Movement. "Some were like, 'We are going to do our thing.'" | Before that, environmental justice was the inspiration for New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to first run for office — after her 2017 visit to Indigenous activists fighting the Dakota Access pipeline. The congresswoman, who quickly became a leader of the party's left flank, went on to co-author the Green New Deal — an ambitious agenda for fighting climate change that links joblessness and public health crises in marginalized communities to environmental neglect. The blueprint's influence grew as groups like the Sunrise Movement, a youth-oriented climate-justice organization, led efforts to oust congressional Democrats perceived as moving with too little urgency. A week after Democrats took control of the House in 2018, Sunrise activists were protesting at the office of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). By 2020, the Green New Deal had helped shape the climate plans of every major Democratic presidential candidate, though Biden's wasn't nearly so bold. The actions that initially confounded some in the mainstream organizations ultimately proved successful in pushing Democrats to embrace more ambitious climate goals and make environmental justice a priority. The pressure drove then-candidate Biden to bolster his climate agenda, vowing an emissions-free power grid by 2035 and that 40% of spending in his $2-trillion climate plan would go to polluted, low-income communities. | Another change: Both old and new groups had seats at the table during Biden's transition to the presidency. Bullard said he and other environmental justice activists were present at meetings where advisors and appointees mapped out Biden's environmental agenda. On Thursday, the groups' allies in Congress unveiled legislation to force the administration to allocate conservation funds in accordance with Biden's campaign promises. The ascent of national groups like the Sunrise Movement comes after years of lonely battles by local activists — many based in California. When the state enacted its landmark law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2006, smaller groups were unhappy with the result. Yet they lacked the power, money or experience to do much about it. Fifteen years later, they have formed alliances with one another and with a new generation of Latino lawmakers more willing to listen to activists whose experiences often mirror their own. Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology at USC, said of the politicians: "So many of them grew up near polluted areas, and as a result, like me, have fond memories of not being able to see because of the smog and having junkyards everywhere." | For more than a decade, Nichols had been fighting grass-roots activists over California's cap-and-trade program, which puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions to discourage industry from burning fossil fuels. Though the program wasn't Nichols' invention, she became one of its most prominent champions, making her a focal point for groups concerned that the policy benefited polluting industries at the expense of people living next door. "She is part of an era of environmental policymakers who were beginning to recognize racial justice and equity as important, but always as something to tack on at the end, not as a central driving force for policy," Yoshitani said. | One priority: making sure communities that disproportionately contend with pollution get the money Biden promised. Another: ensuring that local groups remain influential in an administration heavily staffed by veterans of the Obama administration and mainstream environmental organizations.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-01-29/with-democrats-in-power-an-emboldened-environmental-movement-confronts-them

When Wilmar Montano Alvarado spoke to a Houston news channel, he said he was swept up in the crowd at the Capitol & couldn't get out. But the FBI says it found video showing him taking part "in efforts by rioters to violently battle their way through a line of police officers."
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es62lMcXEAME0nn?format=jpg&name=900x900

Jill Biden saw her husband off as he headed to Walter Reed. They shared a kiss before he walked over to talk to the press.
https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1355228563125972996

In the fall of 2013, in the middle of what was at the time the second-longest government shutdown in American history, Republican leaders in Congress kept asking each other one question: "How did we end up here?" That is also the question I have had in recent weeks, especially as I witnessed the violent attack on our Capitol and our democracy on Jan. 6.
________________________________

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/many-of-my-fellow-politicians-wont-tell-voters-the-truth-the-result-was-jan-6/2021/01/28/08e38ff6-618a-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html

Many of my fellow politicians won't tell voters the truth. The result was Jan. 6.

Telling the public only what it wants to hear is no way to keep democracy going

By Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor, a former House majority leader, is vice chairman and managing director of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank.

Jan. 29, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST

In the fall of 2013, in the middle of what was at the time the second-longest government shutdown in American history, Republican leaders in Congress kept asking each other one question: "How did we end up here?" That is also the question I have had in recent weeks, especially as I witnessed the violent attack on our Capitol and our democracy on Jan. 6.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-effort-to-end-fiscal-crisis-collapses-leaving-senate-to-forge-last-minute-solution/2013/10/16/1e8bb150-364d-11e3-be86-6aeaa439845b_story.html

The answer is the same in both cases: an unwillingness to speak truth to power. In businesses, employees speak truth to power when they deliver unwelcome facts to their bosses. In government, appointed officials do that when they tell elected leaders something they don't want to hear. But in a democracy, the people are the ultimate source of power. Our elected officials work for us, and they fail us when they decline to tell us truths that we, the people, don't want to hear. Even worse, they fail us when they set up false expectations we desperately want to believe.

Back in 2013, the expectation was that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives could force the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass — and compel President Barack Obama to sign — a repeal of his signature health-care initiative. This false narrative started with a few outside groups like Heritage Action and Tea Party Express arguing that the barrier to repealing Obamacare wasn't the president; it was elected Republicans who were unwilling to fight hard enough. These groups purposely ramped up expectations, overpromising, even knowing that the end result would under-deliver.

https://swampland.time.com/2013/09/30/hidden-hand-how-heritage-action-drove-dc-to-shut-down/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamacare-fight-reenergizes-tea-party-movement/2013/09/27/f88ce6c8-2796-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html

At first, this was a political headache for me and my colleagues: Few elected Republicans wanted to spend much time or political capital refuting people who were part of the base. But then a small group of lawmakers in the House and the Senate, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), started telling the base what they longed to hear: that Republicans could indeed defund Obamacare simply by insisting on it as part of a larger annual government spending bill. These members, and indeed every other elected Republican, knew better, but very few were willing to say so. I had dozens of meetings with individual lawmakers, as well as group sessions, imploring my colleagues to take a different approach, because shutdowns don't work. Often, these same members would leave the meetings and go on cable TV to talk about how leadership wasn't fighting hard enough, and only they were. And the shutdown was born.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-cruzs-plan-to-defund-obamacare-failed--and-what-it-achieved/2016/02/16/4e2ce116-c6cb-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html

This pattern repeated itself at a new level around the 2020 election. "Stop the Steal" narratives about widespread fraud, albeit without evidence, sought to undermine the results. Bloggers and certain friendly radio and TV shows didn't need to worry about providing defensible facts or being confronted with the truth. Soon, President Donald Trump was talking about how the election could be overturned and awarded to the "true" winner — him — if only a secretary of state . . . or a governor . . . or the judges he appointed . . . or congressional Republicans . . . or the vice president would fight like he wanted them to. It was ultimately all political posturing, and I honestly don't know if the president believed the story or not — but many in the Republican base did. Two-thirds of voters who are Republican or lean Republican have been misled into thinking that there is solid evidence of widespread fraud in the election, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found this month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/24/trump-lawyers-competent-defense/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-poll-post-abc/2021/01/14/aeac7b96-5690-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html

To my fellow Republicans who hope that Trump's departure from office will end this cycle, I would remind them that it started long before he descended the escalator in Trump Tower more than five years ago. And left unconfronted, it will continue long into the future.

And to my Democratic friends who think this is a Republican problem, I say be careful. The same pattern is already unfolding on your side as leftist activists — joined by elected officeholders, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and "the Squad," with aspirations of higher office — tell tales of what Democrats could accomplish if only they were willing to fight and use their power.

So how do we break the cycle? How do we persuade responsible elected officials to speak uncomfortable truths to the people they work for?

In many ways, it is the classic prisoner's dilemma. If the majority of Republican elected officials work together to confront the false narratives in our body politic — that the election was stolen (it wasn't), that there is a QAnon-style conspiracy to uproot pedophiles at the heart of American government (there isn't), that a Democratic-controlled government means the end of America (it doesn't; it may produce worse policy, but the republic has survived 88 years of Democrats occupying the White House) — all Republicans will be better off. If instead most elected Republicans decide to protect themselves against a primary challenge through their silence or even their affirmation, then like the two prisoners acting only in their own interests, we will all be worse off. (The same holds true for Democrats.)

I am by nature an optimist, but I don't think broken systems just fix themselves. It takes hard, uncomfortable work. Such work would be rewarded: Denouncing the false narratives and the conspiracy theories is the first step to winning back the college-educated, suburban and young voters Republicans have lost. Who knows, it might provide a path to a national popular-vote victory. Equally important in a representative democracy is how you earn the trust of voters, both those who support you and those who don't.

Most elected officials first run for office for the right reasons: They want to make big policy changes. But every big change has a cost, and if you aren't willing to level with people about those costs — or anything else — don't be surprised when they don't trust you to make the change. You might just find that leveling with your constituents and getting to do big things is more rewarding than spewing a guaranteed applause line at a rally.

Political parties and their leaders have two options: Engage in the competition of ideas and solve problems while moving the country forward, or continue to promote disinformation and false narratives designed to undermine our democracy. The choice should be obvious.
________________________________

Jewish Groups Urge Marjorie Taylor Greene's Removal Over 'Hate-Filled' Conspiracy Theories. Doesn't seem too smart to get on the wrong side of people with a space laser. Just saying..."Fire the Star of David!" It's ok, her tinfoil hat will save her...Her constituents voted for her because of her hatred, conspiracy theories, antisemitism, etc.; not despite them.
https://www.newsweek.com/jewish-groups-gop-marjorie-taylor-greene-1565413

She endorsed a conspiracy theory that a Rothschild space laser actually caused the California wildfires from last year that killed dozens of people. She believes a Jewish-controlled space laser caused the death and destruction. She IS the mainstream of the Republican Party. That's the problem.

Republican Jewish Coalition slams Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'indefensible' anti-Semitic Jewish space laser comments. "We opposed her as a candidate and we continue to oppose her now. She is far outside the mainstream of the Republican Party, and the RJC is working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps in this matter."
https://twitter.com/RJC/status/1355258428600561666

YEP: Reggie Jackson rips Curt Schilling: 'Took yourself out of the Hall of Fame' | "Freedom of speech got you freed out of the Hall of Fame," Jackson told NJ.com. "Freedom of speech got your a– out of Cooperstown, bro!"
https://nypost.com/2021/01/29/reggie-jack-rips-curt-schilling-over-hall-of-fame-controversy/

The #WhiteSox are in agreement with Mark Kotsay, Andruw Jones, and Omar Vizquel. The plan is to have them split time at DH while the obvious DH option signs with the Twins. Adam Dunn in shambles. Omar Infante in shambles
https://twitter.com/SoxMach_pnoles/status/1355230917003010049

Of course they would want to replace Flag Day with a holiday for Trump, they worship Trump over their own country.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/01/29/ohio-republican-lawmakers-want-designate-june-14-donald-j-trump-day/4309995001

I thought it was already January 6th with their day of the rope LARP (live action role-playing terrorist attack)
https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/day-of-the-rope

Anytime Jen Psaki dunks on a reporter will henceforth be known as a Psaki Bomb

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada's major airlines have agreed to suspend all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean starting on Sunday until April 30, as part of the fight against COVID-19 https://reut.rs/39vlq3a
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada/canadian-airlines-to-cancel-mexico-caribbean-flights-amid-vaccine-shortfall-idUSKBN29Y2ER

The DOJ recently charged six Russian officials with crimes related to hacking Emmanuel Macron's emails in 2017. Jack Posobiec served as the central figure in delivering their hacked material to Twitter, hoping to disrupt France's election.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/01/29/jack-posobiec-central-spreading-russian-intelligence-led-macronleaks-hack

I wonder how many people who act like Al Franken was one of the great heroes of our time, laid low in one of the great injustices of our time, have bothered to look up who replaced him in the senate or what she's up to. Sen. Tina Smith: Access to banking is a civil rights issue. Equal access to banking and financial services should be protected under the Civil Rights Act, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said on Thursday in an Axios virtual event.
https://axios.com/tina-smith-banking-access-black-people-civil-rights-ea88bf3f-2afa-4db0-a2b9-9961524af492.html

This just in from barbarastarrcnn  who reports the Pentagon and FEMA are negotiating the final terms of an agreement that could see the military provide around 450,000 Covid-19 vaccinations a day. Some 10,000 troops would be deployed at 100 vaccination centers across the U.S.
https://twitter.com/wolfblitzer/status/1355260020917755914

I want to know how you feel about open-carry of space-based laser weapons. Asking for a (((friend))).
https://twitter.com/laurenboebert/status/1355236338061160449

Fourteenth Amendment
Section 3
No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Amdt14.S3.1 Disqualification from Holding Office
Amdt14.S3.1.1  Disqualification Clause
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-3/

The Republican chair of Arizona's state House Ways and Means Committee has introduced a bill that would grant the legislature the ability to revoke the sec. of state's certification of election results at any time before the presidential inauguration.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/arizona-gop-lawmaker-introduces-bill-give-legislature-power-toss-out-n1256097

"She suggested the 2018 midterms — which ushered in the most diverse class of House freshmen — was part of "an Islamic invasion of our government" & that "anyone that is a Muslim that believes in Sharia law does not belong in our government."
https://twitter.com/margbrennan/status/1355265387756183554

Fauci sees vaccination for kids by late spring or the summer
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-anthony-fauci-coronavirus-pandemic-infectious-diseases-coronavirus-vaccine-47af1ca6b75a2cedaac7923b7b084404

Friends, some hoomans like @moteefe would unpawrtunately stoop very low, as to steal our designs/logo & use them for profit, thus stealing from the orphan shelter pets & animals we are trying to help. Please spread the woof: This is us. ONLY this:
https://theovalpawffice.com/
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1355216126712705029

Biden renews deportation relief for Syrians in the United States | The administration of President Joe Biden on Friday extended deportation relief for several thousand Syrian immigrants living in the United States, an early move that aligns with his broader pro-immigrant platform. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that acting Secretary David Pekoske would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 6,700 eligible Syrians through September 2022 and allow an additional 1,800 people to file initial applications. The program grants immigrants who cannot return to their countries safely, for reasons like natural disasters or armed conflict, the ability to stay and work in the United States legally for a defined period that can be renewed.
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-biden-immigration-syria-int-idUSKBN29Y28W

A judge in New York on Friday ordered a law firm serving as counsel to the Trump Organization to turn over documents related to the former president's business to the state's attorney general | New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron said in an order that he had completed a review of documents from the firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and determined that at least some of them were not privileged and should be handed over to the attorney general's office, which had subpoenaed the firm and the Trump Organization. The court found that many of the communications Morgan Lewis marked as privileged were communications addressing business tasks and decisions, not exchanges soliciting or rendering legal advice. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is investigating whether former President Trump's company had falsified the value of certain assets in order to secure loans, tax breaks and investors. James's office is seeking documents related to the firm's work on Trump Organization properties, including the Seven Springs Estate in Westchester County, N.Y.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/536543-judge-orders-tax-lawyers-to-hand-over-trump-organization-docs-to-ny

NBA's Karl-Anthony Towns Was Hit By Drunk Driver In Off-Season, Hospitalized
https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/karl-anthony-towns-reveals-he-was-hit-by-drunk-driver-during-offseason/572796

On Friday, associates of Navalny delivered to President Biden a list of Putin's cronies whom Navalny personally identified as ripe targets for sanctions | In a letter to President Biden, the Russian Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Navalny founded, called on the administration to expand the already extensive U.S. sanctions on Russian officials to include a range of Russian oligarchs and officials who it says enable and assist Putin's abuse of power and his network of corrupt enterprises. Many of those enterprises reportedly target dissidents or interfere in Western societies. Among 35 names, Navalny personally selected eight as prime targets, the foundation's executive director, Vladimir Ashurkov, told me in an interview. | Navalny's prime targets were chosen because they are close to Putin and also have significant exposure to Western sanctions because of their international wealth, Ashurkov said. Probably the best known of them is Roman Abramovich, the Russian-Israeli billionaire who owns the Chelsea F.C. football club and has been closely tied to Putin for decades. The list also includes Andrey Kostin and Denis Bortnikov, the leaders of the large Russian bank VTB, which is alleged to facilitate Putin's embezzlement and other mischief. Bortnikov is also the son of the director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the agency the U.S. government believes is responsible for Navalny's poisoning.
https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/29/navalny-biden-sanction-putin-cronies/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/anti-corruption-foundation-letter-to-biden/f54f6084-99cf-474b-905d-c79a86fc8a2c/

Housing Vouchers for Homeless People Routinely Denied
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/homelessness/2021/01/27/housing-vouchers-for-homeless-routinely-denied-by-real-estate-industry

MSPB Confirms Backlog of 3118 Federal Employment Cases | Federal Whistleblower Protection Program Remains "Dysfunctional" | Kohn, who also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Whistleblower Center, urged President Joseph Biden to immediately nominate the three Board members, and aggressively push the Senate to confirm these nominations. "Unlike other federal departments, the MSPB cannot function based on the rulings of "acting" Board members or career civil servants filling in for vacancies. Only President Biden and the U.S. Senate can fix this problem. They must act now. Thousands of federal employees are being severely harmed by the failure to fill these appointments. The entire federal workforce knows that the Board designed to protect them is dysfunctional. This has a severe chilling effect on potential whistleblowers. The taxpayers are the big losers," Kohn said.
https://whistleblowersblog.org/2021/01/articles/features/wnn-exclusive-mspb-confirms-backlog-of-3118-federal-employment-cases/

"We broke into the Capitol…we got inside, we did our part. We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin' brain but we didn't find her." — Dawn Bancroft, arrested in Pennsylvania today, along with Diana Santos-Smith.
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1355282121699565568
_________________________________________

https://missionlocal.org/2021/01/the-san-francisco-school-districts-renaming-debacle-has-been-a-historic-travesty/

The San Francisco School District's renaming debacle has been a historic travesty

SF's decision to rename 44 schools: Botched process. Botched outcome. Botched priorities.

by Joe Eskenazi January 28, 2021   

These are complex times. Even the question "How are you doing?" is complex. But this is not complex: In a 6-1 vote late Tuesday night, the San Francisco Board of Education decided that it's okay to name a school after Willie Brown or Philip Burton, but not Abraham Lincoln.

One day after that seven-hour discussion and vote to defrock Lincoln and 43 other namesakes — including George Washington, Paul Revere, and even "El Dorado" and "The Mission" — parents of public school children received an email from the district with the anodyne and innocuous subject line "Considerations & Preparing for In-Person Learning."

Tucked away into the third paragraph of the email's third section was this casual declaration: "it is unlikely that we'll be able to offer most middle and high school students the opportunity for in-person learning this school year."

But hey: How are you doing?

This was a frustrating moment. Not just because the San Francisco student sitting behind you may be sitting in that chair for a year and a half when all is said and done. If not more.

And it was not frustrating because Washington or other slave-owning, expansionist founding fathers will be lost in time like tears in rain without naming rights in cities they never heard of and which may not have even existed during their lifetimes. 

No, what's more frustrating is that the renaming process, which could have been inclusive and illuminating and fostered a discussion about community values and representation — and led to a lot of growth and understanding and consensus — instead became an insular process, beset by ignorance and incompetence.

And yet, our Board of Education chose to ratify each and every finding from the renaming committee — even when historical errors and methodological recklessness was known.

This remarkably flawed process, combined with the relative expediency the district has demonstrated in moving to change some one-third of its school names, stands in stark contrast to the sclerotic nature of nearly every other SFUSD-related matter.

It's a hell of a message to send to the parents and students of Remote School 1, Remote School 2, and so on.

Absent charred wreckage and a black box, the best thing we've got to sum up the problems with the school district's renaming committee is a report from the group Families for San Francisco.

https://familiesforsanfrancisco.com/Updates/

Should you inherently trust any group claiming to speak for "the families" — or "the children" or "the people"? No. You absolutely should not.

You also should proceed with caution with any declarations from this particular organization; its forbear, Parents PAC, was routinely a conduit for big-money independent expenditures from moderate, downtown donors and took its fair share of money from the Police Officers Association.

So there's that. But, in this report, they showed their work. Like they teach you to do in school.

They link directly to the Zoom meetings of the renaming committee, and to its spreadsheet, where the Wikipedia entries justifying the committee's actions are cited.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cre1vbJzE44JWmto_Ll7J06q9ZblQoBC-Eas3Qwf2c/edit#gid=0

So we don't need to take their word for it. We can view the source material. And we can do our own subsequent research. So, regardless of the political bent of Families for San Francisco, we can know that:

- While reading out a Wikipedia entry on the beliefs of 19th-century poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell, a committee member stated that "he did not want Black people to vote." In point of fact, a scholarly biography of the high school's namesake states that the he "unequivocally advocated giving the ballot to the recently freed slaves."

https://www.google.com/books/edition/James_Russell_Lowell/yKxZAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Lowell%20unequivocally%20advocated%20giving%20the%20ballot%20to%20the%20recently%20freed%20slaves.%22

- The citation provided to justify the striking of Paul Revere's name from a K-8 school was a Top-10 list from the History Channel website. That article notes Revere was court-martialed for alleged cowardice and insubordination following the disastrous "Penobscot Expedition" against the British in 1779. During a back-and-forth in a renaming committee meeting, however, this ignominious Revolutionary War military defeat was, by some alchemy, tied to the conquest of the Penobscot Indians, which was partially attributed to Revere. This is a telephone game-like invention of fact, and never happened. In reality, per the article from the History Channel website ("which is pretty credible," per the committee), Revere went back to silversmithing after the war, and sired 16 children.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cre1vbJzE44JWmto_Ll7J06q9ZblQoBC-Eas3Qwf2c/edit#gid=0
https://www.history.com/news/11-things-you-may-not-know-about-paul-revere

- Businessman James Lick was blackballed because committee members objected to his funding of the odious "Early Days" sculpture, depicting a prostrate Indian at the feet of white men. This monument was recently removed from Civic Center, and the committee cited a Curbed article in its discussion of Lick, who was stricken because of his connection with this artwork. Nobody appears to have closely read that article, however, which clearly notes that Lick underwrote the sculpture "posthumously," via his estate. He died 18 years prior to its completion.

https://sf.curbed.com/2017/8/22/16184590/pioneer-monument-confederate-statues

These are embarrassing, avoidable, and credibility-destroying errors. That's a shame, because many of the names suggested by the committee are out-and-out no-brainers; if engaged earnestly, most San Franciscans could probably be convinced to accept a lot of these changes.

But that didn't happen, and this is what you get when you perfunctorily cut-and-paste material from sources that would not be acceptable for a junior high school oral report, and then misstate and misinterpret even that paltry material.

This could have been prevented by the hiring of a 20-year-old intern fact-checker, of the sort that has saved many prestigious magazine writers from ruin. Or, perhaps, by consulting a historian who knows what he or she is talking about.

Not only did that not happen, but committee chair Jeremiah Jeffries ridiculed the notion of consulting a historian:

    What would be the point? History is written and documented pretty well across the board. And so, we don't need to belabor history in that regard. We're not debating that. There's no point in debating history in that regard. Either it happened or it didn't, as historians have referenced in their own histories. So, I don't think there's a discussion about that. And so, based on our criteria, it's a very straightforward conversation. And so, no need to bring historians forward to say – they either pontificate and list a bunch of reasons why, or [say] they had great qualities. Neither are necessary in this discussion.

On the day after the Board of Education's vote, your humble narrator called up six historians — which, apparently, is six more than the renaming committee called up.

"Yes, there should have been historians involved," said Jim Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, and a former University of Chicago professor. "Whenever decisions are made, there should be people who can provide context and facts. We've learned this with covid."

Cassandra Good, a professor of history at Marymount University in Arlington, Va., adds, "If your local government was making a policy decision on science or medicine, they'd ask scientists or doctors." Alexis Coe, the author of the George Washington biography You Never Forget Your First, notes that "you wouldn't go to the guy behind the bodega when you need a medical opinion."

"The decision not to include historians in the process seems misguided — and assumes a political agenda that is not necessarily fair," says Professor Nicole Maurantonio at the University of Richmond, in Virginia. "To ignore historians suggests that the actors involved are intent on privileging a version of the past that might fit a particular set of interests that might or might not align with history."

But not only were historians shut out of the process, so was critical discussion.

The listed reasons for dropping Abraham Lincoln include the 1862 Pacific Railway Act and Homestead Act, which led to cavalcades of settlers heading west and bloodily wrenching land from its native inhabitants. He is also faulted for authorizing the hanging of 38 Sioux warriors in Minnesota following the six-week Dakota Uprising in 1862 — the largest mass execution in American history.

All of these things happened. "History is written and documented pretty well across the board," as Jeffries said.

But he's wrong when he said, "There's no point in debating history…"

Because history is not physics; there are absolutes, but there are also interpretations.

So, while Lincoln authorized the largest execution in American history, he also authorized the largest mass-clemency in American history, sparing 265 men who had been sentenced to death. He personally reviewed these cases despite being mired in the darkest days of the Civil War, and granted clemency at no small political cost.

The Republican-controlled Senate, in fact, had passed a resolution pressing Lincoln to carry out the hundreds of planned executions — with the alternative being mass vigilante killings. This threat of a rampaging and lawless white mob was made on the Senate floor — not by a rampaging and lawless white mob but by Sen. Morton Wilkinson, a Minnesota Republican and Lincoln's ostensible ally.

http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i01p002-015.pdf

The politically expedient move for Lincoln, and the desired outcome among members of his own Republican Party overseeing the country as it fought the war that ended slavery, would have been to not intervene and allow all the prisoners to be executed.

None of this is to say Lincoln is a hero for allowing only 38 men to be hanged or that this moment in history is trivial and unimportant. Rather, it's the opposite: America would do well to view its historical figures — and school namesakes — as flawed humans, rather than as secular saints. We should be having more discussions, not fewer.

In fact, the 2018 resolution creating the renaming committee stated that it was "necessary to engage the larger San Francisco community in a sustained discussion regarding public school names."

https://archive.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/about-SFUSD/files/resolutions/Sanchez%20Cook%20Process%20Rename%20Schools%204%2018%20(1).pdf?_ga=2.164030781.368220273.1611861413-915893175.1611861406

That, markedly, did not happen. And the renaming committee's internal discussion on whether to do away with Lincoln, incidentally, took all of five seconds.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdY7otkiqftxJCuQEiMBljkTb7_g2Nbe/view

hen your humble narrator graduated with a degree in history, nobody heard the announcer mention the title of his thesis. They were too busy laughing at the thesis title of the guy who went just before: Hitler and Stalin: Two Very Bad Men.

Most history is more subtle than this. But the renaming committee's criteria was not. It did not factor in the totality of a person's life and achievements. Instead, it merely sought a single disqualifying factor, and that was that.

"If you can only name schools after people who were perfect, you will have a lot of unnamed schools," says Eric Foner, a Columbia professor and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and Slavery. "Lincoln is a difficult character to assess. His greatness, in my view, is his ability to grow. He held very different views at the end of his life than earlier."

Leon Litwack, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus and the Pulitzer-winning author of Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, is blunter.

"This is taking things too far," he says. "Lincoln is one of our great presidents. Maybe the greatest. I am very supportive of the efforts to remove the names of slave-holders. I never thought about the possibility this could include people like Lincoln."

"Lincoln is a symbol of America," says Foner. "He's not the same as, say, Jubal Early, a Confederate general. He's one of the key symbols of America. One of the reasons people may find it appealing to take Lincoln's name down is, if you have a powerful critique of America, you're saying something about society more than just Lincoln."

America is a place that deserves all the powerful critiques, but whatever critique San Francisco has just made, it wasn't a coherent one.

It was clumsy and heavy-handed. It provided so much red meat for the bad-faith elements of American culture most deserving of a powerful critique.

And, as Coe points out, it is a hollow gesture if not followed up by deep and honest discussions, outreach, and, perhaps most importantly, curriculum changes.

"We need to talk about people who are historically significant in less celebratory ways and stop thinking about complications as a liability," she says. "We're being confronted with all-or-nothing choices when it comes to our founding history, monuments, or school names. That's not how history works, or our lives work, or how anything works."

Except that's kind of how it works here in San Francisco. Or, maybe, doesn't work.
_________________________________________ 

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/key-stop-the-steal-organizer-called-for-execution-of-trumps-foes/

"Stop the Steal" Organizer Called for "Execution" of Trump's Foes

Alan Hostetter helped organize and finance a rally that preceded the deadly Capitol rampage.

David Corn

Weeks before the murderous mob of insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol on January 6 to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory, a leader of the so-called Stop the Steal movement stood before a crowd of angry Donald Trump loyalists in California and called for the "execution" of those who had supposedly plotted against Trump. Afterward, he posted video of his demand for blood on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX-pUqWF9dw

On December 12, Trump supporters, ahead of the official counting of electoral votes, staged protests across the country, with the main demonstration in Washington leading to violence, as the Proud Boys rampaged through the district and clashed with Antifa activists. A smaller gathering occurred in Huntington Beach, California. One hundred or so Trump devotees, some waving Trump and "Fuck Biden" flags, assembled at the town's picturesque pier. The man leading that protest was Alan Hostetter, a police-chief-turned-yoga-instructor who last year became a prominent opponent of COVID shutdowns in the Golden State.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-12-12/pro-trump-groups-to-march-and-pray-to-protest-presidents-election-loss
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/27/alan-hostetter-capitol-riot-police-chief-yoga-instructor/

Hostetter, who heads a group called the American Phoenix Project, praised the Trumpers, "as America from the ground-up fights back agains this communist takeover of our country." Reading from a prepared text, he declared, "Both foreign and domestic enemies and traitors surround us. They are protected and enabled by a corrupt and evil…mainstream media. And this mainstream media joined forces with an even more corrupt group of tech tyrants in the Silicon Valley."

https://americanphoenix.org/?page_id=141

As the demonstrators cheered, he said, "President Trump and his ground troops here with the patriots—we're going to fix this….There must, absolutely must be a reckoning. There must be justice. President Trump must be inaugurated on January 20."

Hotsetter had a very specific idea of justice: "The enemies and traitors of America, both foreign and domestic, must be held accountable. And they will. There must be long prison terms, while execution is the just punishment for the ringleaders of this coup." A woman at the front of the crowd yelled, "Gitmo!" Standing next to Hotsetter, thoughout this violent rant, was former GOP congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who long represented the area before losing his seat in 2018. (When Rohrabacher spoke, he vowed that the assembled would not allow "communists to take control of our government" through election fraud.)

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/alleged-holocaust-denier-chuck-johnson-attends-matt-gaetz-fundraiser-dana-rohrabacher/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeTc-LZWsOQ

Weeks after urging the killing of Trump's rivals, Hostetter was part of the Trump Resistance infrastructure that organized events in Washington leading up to the march that would turn into an insurrectionist raid on the Capitol. The American Phoenix Project joined forces with Virginia Women for Trump to hold a pre-march rally on January 5, obtaining the permit for the event and helping to finance it. (A video of the entire proceedings appeared later on Hotsetter's Instagram page.) Held in front of the Supreme Court, directly behind the Capitol, the rally featured many of the stars of the Stop the Steal movement. Ali Alexander, who has dubbed himself the movement's leader, told the crowd, "We are here to stop a coup that's going on in our country." He shouted, "This is our country, one way or another." Then he led the audience in chanting, "1776! 1776! 1776!" Alexander concluded by a giving "a few shout-outs" to his "friend" Alex Jones, the notorious conspiracy theory-monger.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJrdOXOAyCm/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/sponsors-of-the-pre-attack-rally-have-taken-down-their-websites-dont-forget-who-they-were/

Next, a red-faced, bellowing Jones assailed "globalists" who "brainwash and gaslight the public" and denounced "the satanists who run this system." He called Joe Biden a "Chinese communist agent," claimed billionaire Bill Gates was "enslaving" the world, and assailed the "COVID hoax." Jones said that wearing a mask "is a sign of your slavery." He exclaimed, "I want you to commit to total resistance." Minutes later, Joe Flynn, the brother of ret. General Michael Flynn, assailed the "cowards" in the GOP. "Are we going to let them cower to these communists?" he asked. Roger Stone, the long-time Trump adviser whom Trump recently pardoned, decried the Democrats and media for mounting a "psy-op" against America to convince people Biden had won. That was "bullshit," Stone said. He continued, "This is a fight for the future of Western civilization as we know it….It's a fight between the G-dly and the G-dless."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/roger-stone-did-something-wrong/

When it came Hostetter's time to speak, an organizer for Virginia Women for Trump pointed out that the event could not have happened without his assistance. A fired-up Hostetter contended that Trump had won the election with 100 million votes. (Trump received 74 million.) Pushing a conspiracy theory, he said Trump had been cheated out of millions of votes by the Dominion ballot-counting system. He lambasted the "vipers" in the Capitol: "They're going to hear our voice tomorrow…We are at war in this country. We are at war tomorrow." He called for putting "the fear of G-d in the cowards and the traitors, the RINOS, the communists of the Democratic Party. They need to know we as a people, a hundred million strong, are coming for them, if they do the wrong thing….I will see you all tomorrow at the front lines."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/27/alan-hostetter-capitol-riot-police-chief-yoga-instructor/

The next day, as the Washington Post reported, Hostetter was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol. His Instagram included a photo of him on top of the Capitol with the caption: "This was the 'shot heard 'round the world'…The 2021 version of 1776. That war lasted eight years. We are just getting warmed up." (That photo and caption no longer appear in Hostetter's Instagram feed.)

The next day, as the Washington Post reported, Hostetter was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol. His Instagram included a photo of him on top of the Capitol with the caption: "This was the 'shot heard 'round the world'…The 2021 version of 1776. That war lasted eight years. We are just getting warmed up." (That photo and caption no longer appear in Hostetter's Instagram feed.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/27/alan-hostetter-capitol-riot-police-chief-yoga-instructor/
https://twitter.com/inminivanhell/status/1347054655885307910/photo/1

On January 24, Hofstetter posted a video on his Instagram that claimed "stealing the most powerful republic in the world" was "easy" for the Democrats, the media, and technology companies. The caption read, "Find me in free America. Stay in the fight! Patriots will prevail!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKb88GUFqBE/

But after the lethal and seditious attack on Congress, does he still advocate the "execution" of those who thwarted Trump? Hostetter did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

_________________________________________


We applaud Senator Murray and Congresswoman DeLauro for reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will take critical steps to end pay discrimination and increase transparency by protecting workers from retaliation for simply sharing their wages with their colleagues. It will also ban employers from seeking salary history, so they have one less false justification for under-paying women and people of color. And, it will provide tools to hold employers accountable for engaging in systemic discrimination. We urge Congress to pass it and to go further to end pay discrimination –starting by dramatically increasing funding for enforcement so that employers are held accountable. We also need to take additional steps to help women have more choices to rejoin or stay in the workforce and to have more options for high-paying jobs. That includes by providing paid family and medical leave, making child care more affordable and schedules more predictable and flexible, and building training pipelines into high-paying jobs. It also includes raising the minimum wage and boosting pay for those in the care economy – including child care workers, home health aides, and pre-school teachers. And, we must make it easier for workers to organize and bargain collectively, a critical path to reducing the wage gap for women.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/29/statement-on-the-12th-anniversary-of-the-lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay-act/

As Treasury Secretary @JanetYellen said during today's meeting, the price of doing nothing when it comes to economic relief is too high. Congress must act quickly and pass the American Rescue Plan to deliver relief and help dig us out of this crisis.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1355292815203454980

#BeyondParody. Kelli Ward to her own party, whom want her to greenlight an audit of their recent state party election results: "You certainly don't allow a challenger who lost an election to demand something that they don't have the right to, and we don't have the responsibility for providing."
https://twitter.com/treyterry/status/1355283038188535808

Kelli Ward said there's "no procedure, process, rule that allows for it to be done, and you certainly don't allow a challenger who lost an election to demand something that they don't have the right to, and we don't have the responsibility for providing."
https://azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/29/arizona-gop-chair-kelli-ward-rejects-call-audit-party-elections/4310030001/

U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, will lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer announce.
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1355308512847527938

President Joe Biden kisses first lady Jill Biden before boarding Marine One to visit troops at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es7CmiGXAAcpeaG?format=jpg&name=small

A far cry from ...
https://twitter.com/i/status/1355305407888171018
https://twitter.com/reebeedee/status/1355305407888171018

Scott Brooks says Rui Hachimura, Moe Wagner and Davis Bertans, none of whom have played since Jan. 11 and return tonight, are ready to play "good minutes" but not "full minutes" tonight.
https://twitter.com/fredkatz/status/1355281147715059712

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks with @LesterHoltNBC about the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine, how it compares to others, and the highly-contagious variants detected in the U.S.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1355308494644195328
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1355308494644195328

Here are some of the actions we've taken in our efforts to combat COVID19
https://fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-january-29-2021

Bhangra dancing to Celtic music in the Yukon wilderness is the mash-up we didn't know we needed | @CBCArts
https://twitter.com/i/status/1355274527509524483
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/1355310669197942790

DOJ: "Two members of the Proud Boys, a nationalist organization, were indicted today in federal court in the District of Columbia for conspiring to obstruct law enforcement, among other charges."
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1355306616283942915

Washed out.  Highway 1, south of Big Sur, shutdown to through traffic after the road crumbled into the Pacific Ocean.  This is at Mile Marker 30 near Big Creek Bridge.  The Central Coast took the biggest beating from this week's storm.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1355277341312729090
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/california-3/highway-1-in-big-sur-area-closes-after-section-of-roadway-crumbles/2453941/

On average, 3,200 people are still dying from the virus in the U.S. every day, though there are signs that those numbers are beginning to level off. Reports of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. have dropped to their lowest levels since November, and 48 states are reporting sustained declines in new infections.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/29/us/coronavirus-this-week.html

This has been going since the campaign. In august, Meena Harris (Kamala's sister) pushed the Biden team to sell a shirt in the campaign store that she designed with fellow influencer Cleo Wade. The Biden campaign acquiesced but  reversed itself by Sept. 6, & scrubbed Meena's name off for ethical reasons. Meena Harris is becoming an ethical headache for the WH. Flew to the inauguration on a private plane of a Biden donor & posted it on instagram. Ethic lawyers told her to stop selling Kamala-apparel. Meena's new production company is also raising issues. The day before Inauguration Day, Supermajority Education Fund released this ad that Meena and the company produced. She declined to say if they paid her.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/transition-playbook/2021/01/29/the-meena-problem-491577

The full identities of the 10 are currently unknown, but after they left the Capitol, all of them can be seen gathered around the Oath Keepers' leader, Stewart Rhodes, just 70 feet from the building, with Mr. Crowl and Ms. Watkins close by.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/29/us/oath-keepers-capitol-riot.html

US Capitol Police tell Members of Congress they'll be deploying officers to BWI, Reagan Natl and Dulles Airports and DC Union Station to help secure members during travel to and from US Capitol.  No "personal escorts" though
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1355285783163392002

One thing to remember is that while Congress did strip Steve King of his assignments, they refused to censure or expel him and he kept his status as a lawmaker despite wondering openly why being a white nationalist was such a bad thing. McCarthy's team says the @GOPLeader plans to sit down with Marjorie Taylor Greene next week before making any decisions about potentially stripping her of committees/ any action reprimanding her.

Hours after this story broke, the U.S. Attorney's office for D.C. announced a grand jury indicted Dominic Pezzola and another Proud Boy.
Down-pointing triangle | "FBI Found Thumb Drive Filled With 'Weapons- and Bomb-Making Manuals' in Proud Boy's Home: DOJ" https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/fbi-found-thumb-drive-filled-with-weapons-and-bomb-making-manuals-in-proud-boys-home-doj/

We are now in the 'COVID19 window' for the Super Bowl. A positive test means you are out
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1355146823426572288

Texans' Easterby is alleged to have sent texts like an abusive lover to this agent's client but after he got no response (from pro athlete- millionaire in his 20's) Easterby ... text player's mother to let her know how concerned he was with the player's life choices.
https://twitter.com/pcreighton1/status/1355146027918102529

Lions hire Dom Capers as senior defensive assistant
https://twitter.com/Lions/status/1355287358992744448

Baker Mayfield is the best Browns QB in franchise history through 3 seasons. Browns rank 1st 3 seasons* 75 pass TD 1st 11,115 pass yds 1st 89.1 pass rating 2nd 61.9 comp% 2nd 23 wins 2nd *Min. 300 pass att
https://twitter.com/cbssportshq/status/1355195128500125702

Tyreek Hill 1Q stats vs. Bucs Wk12: 7 REC, 3 REC of 30+ yards, 203 yards, 2 TDs (75, 44 Yards)
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1355259691622928389

Trump administration spent $200 million to send 8,700 ventilators to around the world and now no one knows where they are.
https://washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/01/29/usaid-trump-ventilators-watchdog/

The use of Mar-a-Lago as Trump's permanent home is under legal review by the town of Palm Beach and the arrangement may be discussed at the upcoming town council meeting.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/29/politics/legal-review-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html

Paw prints We have pawsome news! ALL the kitties from @OCAS_Orlando we were trying to find homes for have been pawdopted and are now safe and happy with their new hoomans! Thank you @Alby88a for your work at the shelter and for the amazing photos you took, they worked! Cat Black cat = #Adopted
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1355288588108394497

I'm not surprised Republicans are trying to distance themselves from the terrorist attack they incited. I am surprised how many reporters are trying to help them do it.

Here's the change in North Carolina from the 2008 to 2020 presidential races. Both Obama and Trump narrowly carried the state. But basically every suburban precinct -- even in the smaller cities out east -- got more Democratic, while the rest of the state moved red.
https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1354900693958713350

The swing to Biden in precincts that were relatively "suburban" out east really stood out to me. Wilson, Rocky Mount, Kinston, Goldsboro, etc. Even a few around Lumberton(!).
https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1354903044538978307

PG gets downhill and finds Kawhi for three to end the halfHighlight
https://streamable.com/ixraw8

The Eric Bledsoe Revenge Game: 17 PTS, with 5 3PM as the Pelicans are up by 23 at the half against the Bucks
https://streamable.com/4diys8

LaMelo with a putback slam over Sabonis
https://streamable.com/k8kco8

Paul George with the emphatic slam
https://streamable.com/gqfm4b

Spicy P sends Bagley tumbling then throws it down
https://streamable.com/o5e1t7

Very depressing and alarming to realize the U.S. is chock to the brim filled with hateful, racist, malevolent people who profoundly desire to hurt others. Can't recall where I first saw this but it's a pretty good summation: America, like Germany once did, is waking up to the fact that 1/3 of its citizens want to kill one third, while the other third watches. We are in deep, deep trouble. I find myself surreptitiously looking at my fellow Americans and wondering which ones would happily kill me if they were sure they could get away with it. 

Al Franken was pressured to resign from the Senate. But Josh Hawley is a member in good standing? Katie Hill was pressured to resign from the House. But Marjorie Taylor Greene is a member in good standing? 

Cardinals have agreed to acquire Nolan Arenado from Rockies, sources tell @TheAthletic. Deal pending approval from both MLB and players' union; Rockies sending Cardinals significant cash, believed to be in $50M range, and Arenado will be deferring money.
https://twitter.com/ken_rosenthal/status/1355345919185743873

The Indians have agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal with free-agent OF Eddie Rosario, per source. The deal is pending a physical.
https://twitter.com/feinsand/status/1355334773288407040

Carl Edwards Jr. agrees to Braves minors deal
https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1355322498301239297

Rondo waves goodbye to Westbrook after Westbrook gets ejected
https://streamable.com/r6icse

Joe Ingles drains the 3 to pass Stockton on the all-time made 3's list in Jazz history
https://streamable.com/1jwmn5

DeMar DeRozan just put up 30 points and 10 assists on 88% true shooting in the Spurs win and has been super efficient across the board this season.

LaMelo gives his coaches a mini heart attack to end the gameHighlight
https://streamable.com/bvbgmz

Haliburton gets VanVleet in the air with the hesi then slams it on Baynes
https://streamable.com/1ef1ih

The Utah Jazz (15-4) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (8-11), 120 - 101 behind 32 points from Bojan Bogdanovic to make it 11 wins in a row

Lowry gets ejected in the closing seconds sealing the win for the Kings
https://streamable.com/52v2r8

Rudy Gobert stumbles, then still gets the block on Luka
https://streamable.com/jj9ltp

Trae Young drops 41/3/5 on 10 made shots including 14 straight in the 4th to close out the Wizards.

Immanuel Quickley in Knicks win tonight (23 minutes): 25 pts, 5 rebounds, 3 assist on 9/17 FG and 5/8 3PT

Tobias Harris puts Jaden McDaniels on a poster
https://streamable.com/bncpwd

The San Antonio Spurs, after defeating the Denver Nuggets, will be the fourth seed in the Western Conference after 19 games

The league leading 15-4 Utah Jazz haven't just been beating up on weak opposition. They currently have a league best 9-2 record against teams above .500

Joel Embiid finishes with a statline of 37/11/3 and 16/18 from the line in a win over Minnesota

Steven Adams with the 4/20 statline. 4 points 20 rebounds vs Bucks

The Brooklyn Nets (13-8) defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder (8-10) 147-125 as power forward James Harden records a 25/10/11 triple double

The Jazz have claimed the league's highest point differential (+8.3). Mike Conley's +/- also increased to +259.

Luka Doncic says Mavs are "terrible" right now. "There's really not much to say. I never felt like this. We've got to do something, because this is not looking good. We've got to step up and just talk to each other and play way better than this. It's mostly effort."
https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status/1355394232308146180

Haliburton drills the three to extend the Kings lead to 4 with 44.6 left
https://streamable.com/3mlehw

Immanuel Quickley gets the and-one dunk on Jarrett Allen
https://streamable.com/e1l5nd

Reggie Jackson somehow gets the 180 shot off the lob to drop at the end of the 3rd
https://streamable.com/qw3270

Immanuel Quickley gets the 4 point play and then swims on the court
https://streamable.com/7g1yw2

Pascal Siakam tonight: 32 points on 11-20 shooting in a loss to the Sacramento Kings

Lonzo Ball stats in victory against the Bucks: 27 points and 8 assists on 7-13 three point shooting

Russell Westbrook finishes the night with 26/6/4 on 8-18 shooting, 3-5 from 3 point range, 7/8 from the line in 27 minutes

LaMelo Ball goes for 0-6 from 3, 7-7 from 2 in the win over the Pacers. 

For all the urgency from the White House, it could be months before it starts to turn the tide of the pandemic. In the meantime, one of Biden's main challenges will be simply keeping the faith of a restless public.

The CDC issues an order requiring travelers to wear a mask on public transportation in the U.S., echoing an executive order by President Joe Biden shortly after he took office. The CDC order takes effect Monday.
https://apnews.com/article/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-d43484836ede407a867225e3c4250c10

Whether a former officer can be impeached is beside the point. Donald Trump was President of the United States at the time he was impeached by the House of Representatives. The impeachment was therefore unquestionably permissible (putting aside any disagreements over the nature of the charges). Article I, Section 3, Clause 6, states: "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments." The key word is "all." This clause contains no reservation or limitation. It does not say "the Senate has power to try impeachments against sitting officers." Given that the impeachment of Mr. Trump was legitimate, the text makes clear that the Senate has power to try that impeachment. Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, states: "Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust, or Profit under the United States, but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law." Read together with Article II, Section 4, this means that the consequence of conviction on impeachment must include removal from office, may include disqualification from future office, and may not include any other sanction. The first sanction is limited to sitting officers, which makes sense. The second sanction is not so limited. Some argue that the conjunction "and" in Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, implies that the sanction must include both removal and disqualification, and that because removal of a former officer is not possible, disqualification must also not be allowed. But the clause does not say that both sanctions are required; it says that the judgment may not go beyond imposition of both sanctions.
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/28/impeaching-officials-while-theyre-in-office-but-trying-them-after-they-leave/

Lies of a feather flock together: Marjorie Taylor Greene's nonsense and the "big lie" of a stolen election.
https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1355548709644345352

The Republican congresswoman from Georgia just tweeted that she has the support of Trump and that she spoke with him this morning.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1355545155470716928

Hawks say an MRI revealed a that F De'Andre Hunter suffered articular wear and tear in his right knee and will be re-evaluated next week.
https://twitter.com/chrisbhaynes/status/1355592281768816641

____________________________________

https://www.businessinsider.com/former-staffers-say-they-experienced-sexism-hostility-yangs-presidential-campaign-2021-1

Inside Andrew Yang's presidential campaign which former employees say was rife with sexism and a hostile 'bro culture'

Yelena Dzhanova
7 hours ago

Allison Groves was a career political organizer when she joined Andrew Yang's 2020 presidential campaign.

Groves uprooted her life in California and moved to Davenport, Iowa, to start a job as a regional organizing director on Yang's team in August 2019. Yang was one of the earliest people to declare a 2020 presidential run, and he is now running for mayor of New York City. Back then, however, he opened multiple offices in the key battleground states and hosted several events, including bus tours, town halls, and a "Yangapalooza" concert in his bid for the White House.

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00659938/1190376/
https://dailyiowan.com/2019/11/02/andrew-yang-opens-office-in-iowa-city/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvg5n7/come-on-feel-the-yangapalooza

Groves — who had worked on campaigns and political committees since at least 2010 — told Insider she only moved to Iowa for Yang's campaign. Otherwise, "there's nothing in Iowa," she said. "And all of us had come from states that are like California or New York."

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-groves-4a80a162/

In Iowa, though, her career prospects seemed bright. Nick Ryan, who at the time was Yang's campaign chief, promised Groves she'd be promoted to deputy director, she said. That role came with broader control over the campaign's Iowa strategy. 

But she found out in a team meeting that the promotion went to a male staffer who was about half her age, she said. Groves said she didn't even have the opportunity to apply for it.

A 21-year-old guy was promoted over a woman with 10 years' experience

Timothy Clark, 21 at the time, had also been a regional organizing director, and campaign aides told her Clark did not have a college degree at the time, Groves said. She understood that his background was in digital communications, she added, while hers was directly in organizing. Groves was baffled when he got the job over her.

In his new role, Clark oversaw Groves and she thought he sometimes seemed "condescending" and talked down to her, she said.

In one incident, Groves said she complained about having to drive around a field organizer who was told during recruitment that she wouldn't need a car for the job.

"I can't work while I'm having to drive someone [around]," Groves said she told Clark.

Clark, responding over the phone, told her to "stop talking," according to Groves. That's when Groves said she was "done" and hung up the phone, she said.

"You don't get to come at people and tell them to stop talking. You don't get to come at people like that in the workplace ever," Groves told Insider.

That same day, she said, Clark barred her from working in the office. "We can't have you in the office today," Groves said Clark told her.

Anecdotes and documents from at least 9 of Yang's former aides, volunteers, and organizers suggested that a number of episodes arose during the campaign in which women felt sidelined, ignored, or belittled by male managers working to make Yang president.

Other staffers with whom Insider spoke said they valued the opportunity to work on Yang's campaign and felt he had exhibited positive qualities during their time there.

'This campaign is being run by bros who promote bros'

Shortly after Groves was forced out of the campaign office, she fired off an emailed complaint to Ryan and former Chief Operating Officer Muhan Zhang, criticizing Clark's behavior. In it, she also argued his work experience was inadequate for the role.

Ryan responded to her email a day later, saying he was "looking into a solution" and hoped to "find a resolution that is agreeable to all parties involved." But after that one response, Groves said she did not hear back from Ryan again.

Another former staffer whose time at the campaign briefly overlapped with Groves's felt that Clark "wasn't the root of the problem, but he was a symptom."

"The problem is, in general, this campaign is being run by bros who promote bros," that former staffer said.

Clark in an email to Insider said he doesn't "recall the specifics of the conversations I had with Allison."

"But I certainly never intended to condescend anyone," he added. Clark said he maintains "no ill will towards" Groves because "she was given a very difficult situation by the campaign, by asking people to move across the country with very little support, and forcing regional organizing directors to produce results without giving them materials, staff, or time."

Ryan was unable to comment on the details of the settlement. Zhang did not respond to requests for comment.

Groves said she had considered bringing legal action against the Yang campaign. She officially resigned in January 2020 after she and Yang's campaign (Friends of Andrew Yang) signed a settlement in the amount of $6,000. As part of the settlement agreement, the campaign did not admit wrongdoing and Groves can't speak to specific incidents of alleged discrimination, according to Groves and legal documents obtained by Insider.

Yang apologizes for the campaign's 'male-dominated culture'

Insider's investigation reveals allegations of sexist, discriminatory, or hostile behavior to women from as early as fall 2018. Some of these former staffers claim they endured harassment after speaking up. Most asked to remain unnamed for fear of further negative repercussions.

Other women are in therapy today to deal with the hostility they say they felt working on the campaign.

"It fucked up my self-worth to be constantly belittled and bullied," one former staffer said.

In a statement to Insider, Yang admitted his management group had flaws. "We were clearly unable to ensure that every employee was heard and respected."

"When there were conflicts, we did not have a sufficient process to resolve them," his statement continued. "Although we terminated employees involved in reported issues, we didn't have supportive systems in place to expedite and prioritize reporting. We didn't account for how much our male-dominated culture alienated female and non-binary employees. I wish we had. For that I am deeply sorry."

He could become the mayor of New York

Yang, an entrepreneur, is now running for New York City mayor. He started out as a long-shot candidate who campaigned on a promise to give every US adult a $1,000 "freedom dividend," a form of universal basic income. He often spoke on "true gender equality," praising women and advocating for them to be put in leadership positions.

https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-2020-democratic-candidate-universal-basic-income-fake-news-2019-3
https://2020.yang2020.com/policies/women-in-leadership/

"If you get too many men alone and leave us alone for a while, we kind of become morons," he said during a Democratic debate. That same night, he said, "Our country is deeply misogynist."

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/12/9075062/andrew-yang-debate-women-support-feminist-history

Yang had a track record for speaking out about women's issues. In a 2015 essay, he called for more women to start businesses, writing, "Women can make it happen — remember that you're probably as smart (or smarter) than the guy who's trying anyway."

https://www.businessinsider.com/we-need-more-women-starting-companies-2015-2

"Women in Leadership" was Yang's policy proposal for equal pay and equal representation in leadership positions, according to the campaign's website. "We need women—their participation, their management, their perspectives, and their communication—in every aspect of leadership, management, and government," the policy reads.

https://2020.yang2020.com/policies/women-in-leadership/

But former staffers said these values did not translate to the campaign environment.

Young and inexperienced staffers

Many of the men who ran Yang's presidential campaign were young and had little political experience.

Some of the men previously worked at organizations Yang led or advised, like his nonprofit Venture for America and the test prep center Manhattan GMAT. Some now work at Humanity Forward, the nonprofit Yang founded after he dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, which focuses on fighting for the original goals Yang outlined in his campaign. At least one of these men is now helping Yang, 46, capture the New York mayoral race, where he is a favored candidate.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/nycs-mayoral-race-its-everyone-against-andrew-yang.html

Yang has asked volunteers for his mayoral campaign to sign confidentiality agreements that say staffers won't "disclose" or "otherwise misappropriate any confidential information either during or after volunteering for the campaign," according to a copy obtained by Insider.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-nyc-mayoral-race-andrew-yang-nda-20210129-4estyk5l45gbji6oqquupzrdwm-story.html

Lift Our Voices, a nonprofit pushing for an end to nondisclosure agreements, has previously said that Yang was one of its supporters.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bloomberg-digs-doesnt-female-employees-freed-ndas/story?id=68307778

A copy of a nondisclosure agreement that Yang's mayoral team is asking volunteers to sign.
https://i.insider.com/601558a5d6c5e60019c6e164?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

A former staffer at Manhattan GMAT, where Yang served as CEO and president from 2006 to 2011, published a report on Medium accusing Yang of firing her in 2007 for being married. Yang, who had been the company's president at the time, assumed she "wouldn't want to keep working as hard as I had now that I'd started this new personal chapter," Kimberly Watkins alleged online in September 2019.

https://medium.com/@kimberlyrwatkins/fired-for-getting-married-bae2cce9f968

Another woman who also worked at the test center Manhattan GMAT made accusations that he paid her a lower salary than two male counterparts at a similar level, BuzzFeed News reported.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/a-woman-claimed-andrew-yang-discriminated-against-her-at

Yang has previously denied the account about Watkins. His former campaign spokesperson SY Lee said the account from the woman who used to work at Manhattan GMAT did not "reflect the reality of the situation."

Some former employees said they fear that if a woman were to come forward with concerns about sexist and discriminatory behavior on Yang's latest campaign trail, they would be dismissed.

Yang looks ahead

Yang, in a statement to Insider addressing allegations of sexism and hostility, said "equity is front of mind for many New Yorkers."

"We learned a lot from Yang 2020. Many of those responsible for the problematic culture are no longer with the campaign," he said. "This time, we made sure that women, including women of color, were leading. Both our Campaign Manager and our Director of Outreach are women of color. We have also brought in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion experts to work on re-imagining the culture of our campaign."

Looking back at how he oversaw Yang's presidential bid, Campaign Manager Zach Graumann suggested in a May 11 Humanity Forward meeting that he would have made different hiring decisions if he could do it over again.

"There are just some decisions or people I kept on because I knew they were quote-unquote good at their job and they were doing a good job in keeping the ships running on time and things like that," he said in the meeting, which was recorded and posted on YouTube as an unlisted video. "And I knew that some things were being compromised — whether it's personnel decisions or how they're handling their staff or how they were as a manager. But it ended up decaying trust."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRd7MA3iukc

Humanity Forward did not respond to Insider's request for comment on specific allegations.

A 21-year-old man was promoted to a job where there were no interviews

After receiving only silence from campaign leadership in Iowa, Groves said she escalated her complaint. She wrote an email to two of the campaign's top leaders, Ryan and former Chief Operating Officer Muhan Zhang, detailing her allegations about Clark's behavior and calling out his promotion.

"A person," she wrote, referring to Tim Clark, "who has been disrespectful and rude to myself and to my co-worker was promoted to the position of Deputy Director without any opportunity for any of the rest of us to apply. He has been unprofessional and downright condescending to me, and I will not work for a person who treats me in this manner."

Clark, in an emailed statement to Insider, confirmed there was no interview process for the promotion to the role and said he doesn't know why he was chosen out of a team of six people hired as regional organizing directors.

"I do know that I was (in theory) fully qualified for the role," Clark said. "I had been a regional field director twice before, managed regions with over 30 staff members, and had worked on 4 campaigns before taking the job with Andrew Yang's team."

"To my knowledge, Allison neither had access to my resume to determine if my experience was adequate, nor ever asked me what my experience was before determining I was unqualified," he added. "It is true that I was 21 and had not graduated college at the time, but I'm disappointed at the idea that someone would use that to discount my work history."

'They had enough money to pay for all the guys to go to New York for a weekend and go to karaoke night'

Groves, by contrast, said she had the longest tenure among regional organizing directors. But oftentimes, her role was relegated to making phone calls in the often-empty Davenport office or being a chauffeur when out in the field, she said.

Other regional organizing directors normally worked out of the Des Moines office, while Groves was often one of the only people in the Davenport building, she said. She stored empty boxes in a closet anticipating having to immediately move out of the office after the Iowa caucus. The office was across the street from Joe Biden's campaign, and the offices of Elizabeth Warren and Tom Steyer were located right above, she said.

In the Davenport office, Groves said she struggled to obtain basic resources like office supplies, gas money, and food for volunteers to do her job successfully. She ended up spending her own money and was not reimbursed, she said.

"I get it; it's a scrappy campaign and there was not a lot of money," Groves said. "But they had enough money to pay for all the guys to go to New York for a weekend and go to karaoke night while I was [working] alone."

"I had no support," she added. "It was like being a second-class citizen."

A female staffer said she was not given keys to the office she worked in

One former staffer who worked in another state also told Insider she felt she also had to push for resources.

She said men received basic access to campaign resources quickly and without issue. They received, for example, keys to the office building where everyone worked and an official campaign email long before she had. Only after repeatedly insisting she be given the same access as male staffers and being locked out once did that change, she said.

The former staffer arrived at the office one morning and texted male aides, asking where they were, but nobody responded. She waited outside the office until an aide finally showed up and explained to her that the other aides were playing basketball with Yang, she said. Yang wanted to get a photo of him playing basketball with the team, she said she was told. The aide also told her he was invited to the game but declined because he had work to get done.

"That really hurt me," the former staffer told Insider. "I was like, 'Oh, I'm not part of the team.'"

A woman felt like she was pushed out of a job

One former staffer felt, in effect, pushed out of her role when Nick Ryan took it up. At that time, both had been volunteers. But as the campaign ran its course, he eventually became Yang's campaign chief.

The former staffer, who asked Insider to withhold her name due to fear of retaliation, said Ryan "just showed up" and "started taking over the campaign silently."

"He had taken over one of my roles without anyone explaining, just sort of asserting himself in a way that was incredibly aggressive," the former aide told Insider.

"I kind of found out that he took over my role just by asking him, 'What is your role here?' And he described it to me, and it was my role." No one had discussed Ryan either taking over or sharing the role with her, she said, and she felt like there was no longer a space for her on the campaign.

"I was so disgusted and fed up with the whole situation," she said. She resigned shortly after.

'A very polarizing figure'

Other former employees said they felt intimidated by Ryan. One male former staffer called him "a very polarizing figure," adding that if someone didn't "look like him, talk like him, think like him, [they'd] be very unwelcome."

"You either fall in line or you are ostracized," he said.

But Ryan had his defenders. Two male staffers told Insider they had not witnessed instances of harassment or aggression toward women in the campaign.

Ryan "was pretty universally respected," said one former staffer who is a woman. "He didn't have any personal conflicts with anybody that I was aware of."

Ryan declined to comment.

'I lost everything'

Allison Groves and her attorney were prepared to sue the Friends of Andrew Yang campaign, claiming discrimination, she said. Her attorney, on October 18, 2019, sent off an email to Ryan and Zhang detailing the allegations.

"Ms. Groves purchased a new car, found an apartment, bought winter clothes, and left a beautiful home in California to work in Davenport. She did this as a labor of love, because she truly cares about this campaign," the attorney wrote in the email. "This isn't a job she needed, it's one she wanted. She didn't have to uproot her life to come to Iowa, but she wanted to make a difference. She cannot make a difference working in a hostile and discriminatory work environment."

After her lawyer sent the note, Groves claims she was immediately "cut off" from Slack and "kicked out" of her email the same day she "was supposed to be training a new person."

Groves at that point had still continued to try to do her job, according to an email dated October 31, 2019, and reviewed by Insider.

"Going to Iowa and doing this shit," Groves said, "I lost everything to try to work for these people and get the right people elected."

'It's just so overrun by men'

Multiple women who spoke with Insider about working for Yang's presidential campaign said men in leadership roles outnumbered women. According to one organization chart, the top four of five positions on Yang's presidential campaign were held by men.

"It's just so overrun by men," another former staffer said of her experience.

Some former employees said the campaign tried hard to show that women were deeply important to running it, but they felt the attempt was illusory.

When asked for examples of inspirational women who shaped the presidential bid, for example, Yang called out women that one source said seemed random. Yang once "stammered" on stage at first, as if struggling to come up with a name of a woman, one source said. But then he ultimately highlighted a woman standing close to him. It appeared forced, the source said.

On Twitter and Facebook, when some Yang supporters complained that there appeared to be no women in top leadership roles, other — usually male — Yang supporters often cited former Finance Director Carly Reilly as an example of women occupying high-level roles on the campaign.

But one former staffer thought Reilly was a "token" woman who "had no political experience." Reilly was often the only female campaign staffer that Yang supporters cited to defend against the idea that women were not in prominent leadership roles, that same former staffer said.

Reilly, according to her LinkedIn, had production and fundraising experience prior to joining Yang's campaign. She had graduated from Tufts University with a Bachelor's degree in political science and computer science, her profile says.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-reilly-606ab166/

Reilly in an email to Insider said many of the campaign's supporters were men. But they were "also lovely, compassionate people who were motivated by our campaign's call to end poverty through a universal basic income," she said.

Reilly also said she had received four promotions and three pay bumps during her two years working for the campaign.

"It was an incredible mission-driven environment, with brilliant people who I feel so grateful to have learned from and worked alongside," she said.

Kamala Harris 'would blow Yang,' one supporter said

One woman who was a volunteer coordinator in charge of wrangling supporters for Yang in the latter half of 2019 told Insider she was fired after reporting sexist comments and harassment coming out of a Facebook group.

The posts appeared in a private Facebook group known as the "Basecamp," consisting of about 50,000 online Yang supporters. These supporters were ordinary voters and Facebook users who had aligned with Yang's vision and cheered him on in the presidential race.

"Real women just want tax breaks so they can keep all their inheritance or divorce settlement money," one user wrote in a post reviewed by Insider.

Kamala Harris "would blow Yang," another post, also reviewed by Insider, said about Yang's former Democratic rival.

The same user circulated a meme comparing the wives of Yang and then-presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. "Old as fuck, fat wife," the meme said about Sanders. "Doesn't have fat wife," the user said about Yang. The meme was posted in response to a woman who asked the user to take down the "offensive" post about Harris.

"If you're serious, you are the biggest little b**ch on here," the user wrote in response to being called out.

Trump supporters settle into the Yang fanbase

Many of the people posting the misogynistic remarks and content were supporters of President Donald Trump and podcaster Joe Rogan who discovered and settled into Basecamp, one former staffer said. After his February 2019 appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience," Yang absorbed some of his fans.

Yang frequently embraced the newcomers. The campaign boasted of its strategies to reach voters Democratic presidential candidates usually don't attract.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/national/andrew-yang-is-a-rock-star-to-his-supporters-can-that-propel-him-to-the/article_a88c315c-dab9-52f1-8c31-0f10dcd2010d.html

For a while, the strategy seemed to work.

But some women in Basecamp tried to engage in wider discussions with other members about what they saw as rampant misogyny in the Facebook group, according to posts reviewed by Insider.

"I think many women who are active in Basecamp and in other forums have had issues with the type of behavior from other group members. I've seen it discussed over and over again," one Facebook group user wrote. "It is often brushed off. I myself have been angered by it but I just gave up because I feel like male [admins] were trying to shut up my concerns and those of other women."

A woman complained about sexism and said she then found out she was fired from a tweet

The woman who said she was fired for reporting harassment requested anonymity because she had previously been doxxed — where her personal information was found and published — for coming forward about hostility and misogyny from Basecamp users. She reported dozens of harmful comments to the group's moderators to no avail.

She said she spoke to one of her supervisors who oversaw volunteer calls at length about what she said she had witnessed and experienced. The male supervisor appeared to take her complaints seriously, promising he'd look into it, according to texts viewed by Insider. He did not respond to a request for comment.

But shortly after, the staffer said she was fired. She first found out about her termination from a tweet online.

Since coming forward with her allegations, Yang supporters have been relentlessly bashing her on social media, accusing her of pedaling false claims, she said.

"I was attacked by male Yang Gang publicly, called a liar, an attention whore, a control freak, etc.," the woman wrote in a report to Yang's senior management and later obtained by Insider.

Yang makes a call

After being fired, she felt like she had no way to manage the influx of harassing messages.

Out of distress, she said, she began to contact people higher than her immediate supervisor, hoping someone would retract the tweet and help clear her name. She wanted the campaign's human resources to help, but wasn't sure who to seek out.

She was stonewalled by Yang's staffers until a friend, who had initially convinced her to seek a role on the team, repeatedly tagged on Twitter high-level campaign leaders, members of the Democratic National Committee, and media outlets, she said.

Only then did leaders in the campaign, including Shinners and Yang, begin to pay attention to her concerns, she said. In October 2019, Yang gave the former staffer a personal call, the woman said.

"He kept telling me to 'take care of my mental health,'" the woman told Insider. Yang, she said, also told her that the male supervisor "probably wasn't the best person to handle these types of complaints." After a brief chat, which she described as "surface level," Yang told her he'd get someone to step in, she said.

Days passed, and the woman had not heard back.

'If I didn't have a tweet that didn't call me a whore, there was no merit to my complaint'

She sent Yang a follow-up text message and that's when she received a call from Shinners, who the woman described as the candidate's "right-hand man." Shinners, like Yang, had worked at Manhattan GMAT, according to his LinkedIn profile.

With Shinners, the woman restarted the process of explaining what she witnessed and experienced online. She told him she encountered sexist language and the negative response she said she got online after calling it out, she said.

Shinners, according to her, asked for concrete examples. But at that point, a conversation she had with her male supervisor over Slack describing the online harassment no longer existed, since the campaign cut off her Slack upon her dismissal.

"I felt like when I talked to Matt Shinners, if I didn't have a tweet that didn't [sic] call me a whore, there was no merit to my complaint," she said. "It was just me overreacting."

Shinners declined to comment on the situation and her remarks.

'No one was fired for reporting harassment — ever'

A spokesperson for the Friends of Andrew Yang campaign said to Insider that "no one was fired for reporting harassment — ever."

The woman filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency that investigates workplace sex discrimination and retaliation.

The Yang campaign "had the ability to take corrective action" but ultimately "no corrective action was taken," according to the complaint, which Insider obtained.

"This whole situation has just really weighed on me," the woman said. "I'm just one person."

After she was fired, many female and male Yang supporters expressed their concerns in a hand-delivered letter — obtained by Insider — to Yang himself at a campaign event, one former staffer said. But it's unclear whether he read it.

Since then, several versions of the letter made the rounds to campaign leadership.

"We are, quite frankly, embarrassed by your campaign's weak messaging for women and by some of the scandals that have emerged and been handled poorly," one version of the letter read. "We are also embarrassed by the fact that we are putting our reputations on the line to defend a male candidate as having the most pro-woman platform only to have rumors that this is a 'bro campaign' come back to slap us in our faces."

A 4chan strategy backfires

Former aide Carly Reilly was threatened and cyberstalked after the campaign posted on the 4chan platform, which is notoriously used by some people to engage in racist and hateful rhetoric, one former staffer said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/hate-symbols-and-extremist-groups-at-the-us-capitol-siege-2021-1

As BuzzFeed News reported in March 2019, Reilly was targeted by alt-right 4chan users on the online image forum. Some users went on Facebook to dig up photos of Reilly from her childhood, a former staffer familiar with the harassment told Insider. Some sent her creepy photos of dismembered body parts.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/4chan-vs-the-yang-gang

Publicly, the campaign acted like the harassment was random. But it started after the campaign began to post content in support of Yang in alt-right groups like 4chan to "stoke the fire," two former staffers said. The goal was to get conversations flowing about Yang across digital platforms, including 4chan, one former staffer elaborated.

The strategy backfired.

While male campaign officers tried to exploit the platform and "create hype" for Yang, ultimately 4chan users began to target Reilly because they recognized her as one of the only women in a distinguished role within the campaign, one former staffer said.

Upper management, including Shinners, Graumann, and digital director Andrew Frawley, communicated with other aides about the strategy, but neither informed Reilly that there had been a deliberate effort to rouse 4chan users, according to the former staffer. Frawley did not reply to a request for comment.

The FBI gets involved

They also hadn't told the two female volunteers at the time, Mercedes Janis and Katie Dolan. One former staffer believed it was necessary to tell them so they could take steps to protect themselves online. Contact information for Janis was not available. Dolan did not return a request for comment.

"They were astroturfing," the former staffer alleged, referring to the strategy of deliberately creating the illusion that something, like a policy or a candidate, is more popular than it is. A former staffer said Yang's campaign employed the same strategy, though it's a practice that can give the subject false credibility.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/08/what-is-astroturfing

In response to a request for comment from Insider, a spokesperson for the Friends of Andrew Yang campaign disputed the allegation that the campaign tried to create fake hype on 4chan for Yang. 

"This is a false depiction of the event and is disputed by Carly Reilly and multiple other staffers who were present at the time," the spokesperson said. "Carly has said that she was supported at all times during this incident and remains a proud member of the Yang family to this day."

Unaware that the 4chan harassment was a byproduct of a campaign social media strategy, Reilly instead blamed herself and a tweet she sent out calling universal basic income feminist, the former staffer said. Reilly said the tweet "irked" 4chan users, BuzzFeed News reported.

On March 7, 2019, she called the FBI to report the harassment. On that call, she did not mention the campaign's involvement on the 4chan platform because she knew nothing about it, according to a former aide who overheard her conversation with the FBI.

4chan 'didn't take kindly to all of the Yang shills' — and its users began targeting a woman

Yang, in an interview with BuzzFeed News, appeared to downplay the content circulating on 4chan and made no mention of the campaign's involvement behind the scenes.

"I don't think there's any danger of the memes counterbalancing the primary message of the campaign," Yang said in March 2019. "Because the primary message of the campaign is reaching thousands of people all the time. And again, people are smart. They can tell the difference between reality and a bunch of images that [were] clearly put together to get a laugh."

Reilly, in an email to Insider, said campaign volunteers were the ones who encouraged other volunteers to post on 4chan on behalf of Yang to spread his message.

"These weren't campaign staffers encouraging this, to be clear, these were volunteers of ours on Discord," Reilly wrote, referring to the communication platform. "Most of us on the campaign didn't know what 4chan was."

But 4chan users "didn't take kindly to all of the Yang 'shills' who swarmed their turf," Reilly wrote. The users "breached" the volunteer-run Discord channel and began "harassing our organizers there."

Reilly had joined the Discord channel to connect and engage with the volunteers, she said in the email. When volunteers began facing harassment from 4chan users, the Discord channel was shut down. But by then, 4chan users had already pinpointed Reilly as the only campaign staff member on the channel and began targeting her, she said.

The day of the call to the FBI

The Yang campaign office was generally a welcoming place. There was a basketball hoop in the middle of one wall, surrounded by posters bearing Yang's face and the "Humanity First" mission statement.

Yang supporters had primary watch parties at the New York office. Supporters ate pizza and lounged on couches and mismatched chairs pulled from other parts of the office.

Inspirational quotes peppered the walls.

"This is prob the hardest job in the world," someone wrote on a whiteboard, in acknowledgement of the team's lofty goals.

On the day of Reilly's call with the FBI, the environment felt flat and tense.

Yang asked one staffer how she was, and she told him she wasn't doing well because the harassment targeted at Reilly was freaking her out.

"As I'm talking, his face is just getting more and more like he's horrified, like he just saw a car accident," the former staffer said. "He had no idea what I was talking about."

"Then at the end of what I was saying, he just kind of looks down at me and he's like, 'I think you should do something fun this weekend.'"

Reilly said the campaign provided support and protection to deal with the harassment. "We got extra security at events that I was organizing and attending," she said. "They put me in touch with the FBI, checked in constantly, and asked if I needed time off."  

'I told you to do something and this is fucking insubordination'

Even some male staffers were subjected to intimidation by Yang's upper management, sources told Insider.

Former staffers characterized Graumann as a particularly abrasive person.

Graumann was a tall, striking, blond man who could "charm the shit out of you," a source said. In and out of the office, he thrived on fundraising calls, urging donors to give substantial sums of money to the campaign. But beneath that charm he had an intimidating demeanor, one staffer said.

In February 2019, Shinners, a lawyer, was concerned that the campaign was using photos without properly crediting them. He included the copyright and credit under each photo the campaign used for digital marketing efforts, press releases, and newsletters.

"Can you stop doing that? It looks like shit," Graumann told Shinners, according to an employee who says they witnessed the interaction.

Then, Graumann got up from his desk and screamed at Shinners, the former staffer said. "I told you to do something and this is fucking insubordination. And if I have to tell you again, you're fucking fired," Graumann said, according to the former staffer.

Shinners declined to comment on Graumann's alleged remarks.

'If I asked you to call me Twinkle Toes, would you call me Twinkle Toes?'

Graumann at times openly questioned the pronouns of a nonbinary employee working on the campaign, a former staffer said.

Merlin Patterson was a web developer for the campaign and used "they" pronouns. Graumann refused to say "they," the former staffer said.

"Explain to me why I should call Merlin they," the former staffer recalled Graumann saying.

"If I asked you to call me Twinkle Toes, would you call me Twinkle Toes?" Graumann asked out loud, the former staffer said. When a former staffer explained to Graumann that the employee was trying to advance the campaign website and it's not wise to "piss them off," Graumann finally relented.

"That's what finally got through to Zach," the former staffer, who took notes of the incident on the day.

Patterson, in an interview with Insider, said they weren't aware of this incident. Graumann in a statement to Insider denied having said these remarks about Patterson.

'There was definitely a bro culture'

As Insider prepared to publish this report, Graumann called Patterson to apologize that this "hit piece" was coming out. Graumann told them the remarks in this report about Patterson are not true and he "would never say that," according to Patterson.

"There was definitely a bro culture," Patterson said, describing their view about the campaign in an interview with Insider.

"Some of the values espoused publicly were not held internally," Patterson, who quit the campaign in November 2019, added.

Two months after their departure, Patterson sent an email to Yang outlining the reasons they were unsatisfied working on the campaign. The email, reviewed by Insider, specifically pointed out the near absence of women, LGBT people, people of color, and disabled people from campaign leadership.

"The leadership of this campaign is almost entirely straight white men," Patterson wrote. "This campaign is running to elect you to be President, a position that presides over the entire country of many diverse populations. If the campaign does not reflect the country, how will you attract the votes you need?"

Yang never responded to or acknowledged that email, Patterson said.

Graumann — who is still senior advisor to Yang, according to his LinkedIn, and has been using his social media platforms recently to hype up Yang's mayoral bid — was the most "inappropriate fucking manager I'd ever seen in my life," one former staffer said.

"I can laugh about it now, but believe me, this is only because of the distance," the staffer added.

Allegations of inappropriate behavior

At a New Year's Eve party in New York in December 2018, one former staffer said she stopped a male aide from leaving with a "girl so trashed that she was falling over."

"She walked past me at one point and was stumbling to get to the bathroom," she said. "She was destroyed. … This is a person who should not be doing anything but sobering up."

But the former staffer said she recalled the aide telling her, "Listen, if she's down for whatever, she's an adult."

The aide denied the allegation, telling Insider he had been with a person he was dating that night.

The whipped cream incident

Several former aides told Insider that Yang never seemed to be aware of any chaos within his campaign. And there were times they thought he didn't exhibit good judgment when it came to behaving like a presidential candidate in public.

Yang, for example, sprayed whipped cream into a kneeling supporter's mouth, a moment caught on camera and posted on Twitter and news outlets. Graumann quickly pulled Yang aside and urged him to stop.

https://www.insider.com/andrew-yang-sprayed-supporters-with-whipped-cream-2019-12

Even in the nascent stages of his campaign, Yang "was handled by Zach," the staffer who left after Ryan allegedly took her role said. Yang adopted a "hands-off approach" working on the campaign, she said. "He never took an interest" in what was going on internally. "He wanted to just be told where to go and who to talk to."

Graumann may have been partially to blame for Yang's insulation from the inner workings of his campaign, a former staffer said. As far as she knew, he sometimes left out crucial information when speaking to Yang about internal affairs. The repercussions of the 4chan strategy, for example, were important for Yang to know about, she said. But "he did not get the whole story," the source said.

Patterson, the web developer, echoed these feelings. "It really felt like it was Graumann who was really in charge," Patterson said. "And Andrew was not aware."

"It's not that he didn't appreciate what we were doing. He just didn't believe in it," one former staffer said about Yang. "You could tell that he just wasn't emotionally there. He would sit in meetings on the phone, ignoring what was being said about his own campaign strategy. He was not present, but he was physically there, but he was not present for so many strategy meetings."

"We didn't do enough in 2020," Yang said in a statement to Insider. "Ultimately, the blame for that falls squarely on me. It will not happen again either on this campaign or in my administration."

Many staffers said they had positive experiences working for Yang

One former staffer who worked with Yang in New York said he had a positive view of him, calling him "pragmatic" and describing the work culture as "strikingly passionate."

Ericka McLeod, who worked for the Yang campaign and is now organizing his mayoral bid, gave similar remarks in an email to Insider.

"Working for Andrew means you are ready to support the hard work he intends to do. This is in complete alignment with his views on how to bring about an economy that works for all people, which attracted me to his campaign in the first place," McLeod said.

But feelings of a "boys' club" culture drove away even some of his most ardent female supporters.

"Despite the toxicity within the campaign, I am a huge basic income activist. I've been a basic income activist for years before I joined the campaign," one former staffer said. "I still believed in his message."

"But I just couldn't take it anymore," she said. She left the campaign in 2019.
____________________________________ 

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog muzzled in the Trump era, is preparing to renew tough industry oversight. President Biden has tapped Rohit Chopra, an Elizabeth Warren acolyte, to lead the CFPB.
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Free agent Iman Shumpert is finalizing a deal with the Brooklyn Nets
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1355663610954076162 

What's even the point of having lawyers? Trump himself could show up, perjure himself for hours straight then admit he incited his base to murder Congress so he could stay in power and Republicans still wouldn't convict him. He could murder half of the Republican senators and the other half would still acquit.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/30/trumps-impeachment-lawyer-leaves-team-464017 

Laurent Bachelier, 35, French blogger who made $520,000 bitcoin donation to Capitol terrorists, booked into luxury Paris hotel room and killed himself with drugs overdose
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9202857/French-blogger-killed-drugs-overdose-day-520-000-Capitol-rioters-donation.html

Sexual Misconduct Allegations Prompt Another Alaska Attorney General to Resign
https://propublica.org/article/sexual-misconduct-allegations-prompt-another-alaska-attorney-general-to-resign

A reporter shares her minute-by-minute recollection of being trapped in the Senate on Jan. 6 | CBS News' Grace Segers was in the Senate press gallery when rioters overran the building and was shuffled around with senators as the chaos unfolded.
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2021/a-reporter-shares-her-minute-by-minute-recollection-of-being-trapped-in-the-senate-on-jan-6/ 

Dame wins it at the buzzer
https://streamable.com/wucoul

Full sequence of crazy back to back threes Dame hit to beat the Bulls.
https://streamable.com/e6ni3z

Klay says McGruder will be out of the league soon. He also called Dray's poor 3pt attempt to end the 3rd "short bread" lmao. Shortbread Green. Not a bad new nickname.  Poor guy has played 200 games in his 7 year career and this is what he's gonnna be remembered for. I only heard about him last year and only because Kawhi said he was a key piece to their team but I only remember him from one game. The Portland Clippers bubble game where Dame missed 2 clutch FTs and they lost and it started the PG/Pat Bev cancun thing, McGruder hit the gamewinning 3 that game, he was on the court for maybe a minute, and it's literally the only noteworthy thing he ever did in a Clipper uniform.
https://streamable.com/scgsmg

Pistons swingman Rodney McGruder just went all the way down near the Warriors tunnel after the game and was yelling at some Warriors players as they made their way off the floor. He had to be pushed back a couple times by Pistons staffers because he was getting heated."
https://www.twitter.com/NickFriedell/status/1355746986306142208

Jimmy Butler in his return after missing 10 games: 30pts, 7reb, 8ast, 0 TOs, 14-16 from the line

Jayson Tatum behind the back pass on the fast break to Timelord for the jam
https://streamable.com/wrzl1c

Cody Zeller posterizes Giannis
https://streamable.com/e40w74

LaMelo Ball in a win against Milwaukee: 27 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals on 8/10 shooting from the field

Draymond continues to eviscerate McGruder in his postgame presser
https://streamable.com/n1op1f

Klay calls out Steph's flop
https://streamable.com/slytga

The other Portland players surprise Dame in the clubhouse after his huge game winner
https://streamable.com/6oyhce

Steph Curry tonight in only 3Q: 28/7/5, 11-17 FGS, 6-8 3PT. Stephen Curry is now back to 40%+ from three, after going 6/8 from three tonight against the Pistons.

Logo Lillard with the confident deeeep three
https://streamable.com/xfw2yu

Damian Lillard tonight: 44/5/9/1 on 15/26 shooting, 8/17 from 3, 6/6 from the line and a game-winner

Ja Morant shot fakes a layup while in the air and somehow finishes between two defenders
https://streamable.com/atp2hl

DeAndre Ayton improves to 7-1 against Luka Doncic

Lonzo and LaMelo beat Giannis and the Bucks in back to back days, interestingly enough the Ball Bros each dropped 27

Draymond with a great outlet pass and even Klay on the mic knows Steph's shot is going in
https://streamable.com/9lb8jw

Anthony Davis gets elbowed in the nuts by Jaylen Brown. Draymond then said he wanted to add Brown, and Jamal Murrya, to the list of players he works out with this summer. Professor Chris Paul nods in approval. On next episode of "in the parking lot with Dramond"
https://streamable.com/526eyj

Christian Wood drops 27 points in 27 minutes while shooting 11/13 from the field and 3/4 from deep

Draymond Green: "I know no one's scared of no damn Rodney McGruder. You kidding me?"

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum: 58 points on 25/37 FG. Rest of Celtics: 37 points on 15/45 FG

The Phoenix Suns (10-8) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (8-12) 111-105

John Wall rejects Zion's dunk attempt leading to an Oladipo transition 3

Curry pulls a hesi on Black Griffin and hits a casual floater over Plumlee
https://streamable.com/25gqyn

Bam blocks Potential Game Winning Shot
https://streamable.com/d50pdb

Ayton throws down the lob and Crowder knocks down the dagger 3 to put down the Mavs
https://streamable.com/xtbzyq

Kemba Walker tonight vs. the Lakers: 1/12 from the field for a grand total of 4 points

Kelly Oubre in tonight's Warriors win against the Pistons: 18 pts, 8/14 fgs, 2-6 from 3, 6 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk and +24 in 27 minutes

Steph splashes another 3 to make it 5 of 6 for the night
https://streamable.com/20kxop

Steve Kerr on DLO: "D'Angelo was a really productive player for us and shot the lights out and had some big games. He became a very valuable asset"

Clock starts for some reason after LeBron makes the free throw, leaving the Celtics less time to score at the end of the half
https://streamable.com/68ztz6

Curry punishes the defender for giving him space, nails a 35 foot three pointer (streamvi.com)
https://streamvi.com/watch/1612066033

The Memphis Grizzlies (8-6) win sixth straight, defeat the San Antonio Spurs (11-9), 129-112

Houston is now 6-3 since trading James Harden

The Suns, Hawks and Kings have better record than the Luka led Dallas Mavericks

Boston's Marcus Smart will undergo an MRI tomorrow on his left calf strain
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1355720795121623040

Chris Paul vs. Mavs - 29 points, 12 assists, 4 steals in W

LaMelo Ball had a +/- of +38 tonight in the 12 point win against the Bucks

LeBron dribbles off his foot out-of-bounds with 39.4 left
https://streamable.com/1me9me

At the end of the third quarter, the Rockets have 24 assists on 36 made shots. Talk about change in Houston

The Wizards have released Jordan Bell from his 10-day contract
https://twitter.com/fredkatz/status/1355692134670729217

The Memphis Grizzlies have won 6 straight games, 3 of which were without Ja Morant (self.nba)

Giannis Antetokounmpo finishes with 34 points, 18 rebounds, and 9 assists in the 114-126 loss against the Hornets

Daniel Theis skies for the putback jam
https://streamable.com/sin3jk

Giannis rips it from his teammate Bobby Portis to get the layup
https://streamable.com/dsepkh

Hornets say guard Terry Rozier suffered a right ankle sprain and will not return to tonight's game vs. Milwaukee.
https://twitter.com/MarcJSpears/status/1355702400732917764

Lebron will finish this year in the top 10 all-time in three pointers made, and will very likely be Top 5 when he retires

The Capitol terrorist attack was a failure of policing, not architecture. Building a permanent fence around the Capitol is not the right approach. Washington, D.C., is the seat and symbol of American democracy. Its great buildings, most of all the Capitol, are manifestations of the nation's power and prosperity and of its peculiar form of government: of the people, by the people and for the people. The Capitol complex is a place where Americans can go to watch their representatives, to speak with those representatives, to petition for the redress of grievances. The building and its grounds also are part of the fabric of the city. Streams of bikers pass through on morning and evening commutes. Tourists gather for concerts on the lawn. When it snows, the front face of Capitol Hill becomes a popular sledding spot, with neighborhood children sometimes transforming discarded protest signs into makeshift sleds. This is not just an amenity for neighbours and visitors. It is the tangible manifestation of the idea that the government is a part of American life, rather than something separate and apart. In recent decades, while much of the federal government was encased in layers of security fencing, bollards and concrete barriers, Congress largely resisted the trend. The Capitol's defenses were strengthened, but it remained possible for members of the public to walk the grounds and to pose for pictures on the front steps. After the Jan. 6 attack, though, temporary fencing was hastily installed around the Capitol and the surrounding congressional office buildings - a tall black barrier topped with loops of razor wire and patrolled by armed troops. It has transformed the Capitol into a symbol of the nation's fears. The attack on the Capitol is sobering evidence of the need for stronger measures to protect members of Congress and the work of government. It cannot be dismissed as an aberration. But a permanent barrier is an inappropriate corrective. The attack on the Capitol could have been prevented or mitigated in severity by the timely deployment of an adequate number of police officers and National Guard troops - in effect, a temporary barrier. Any similar threats in the future can and should be met in the same manner. The basic failure was one of policing. It was not a failure of architecture. The poet Robert Frost had it right when he wrote, "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know/What I was walling in or walling out/And to whom I was like to give offense." A wall would create a symbolic barrier between Congress and all of the American people, not just the minority that is unwilling to accept and obey the rules of the republic. By taking down the temporary fencing around the Capitol as soon as possible, and by pursuing other measures to ensure the security of the building and all those who enter it, Congress can restore its full splendor as a symbol of American democracy.

Gas tax hike: Mayor Pete's best transportation idea is dismissed before he's even confirmed as secretary. That's too bad because, as Mr. Buttigieg surely knows (and as his toughest inquisitors in the Senate know as well, but won't always publicly admit it), a gas tax increase is badly overdue. Unlike other forms of revenue, the gas tax isn't pegged to inflation, so the current rate is stuck at the 1993 level of 18.4 cents per gallon. Gasoline prices are much higher in 2021. Simply adjust the rate for inflation and the federal gas tax would be 33 cents per gallon today. And getting frozen in time for 28 years has consequences: Aging U.S. transportation infrastructure has been in decline. States like Maryland have been willing to raise their own fuel taxes, but the problems were manifest long before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Highway Trust Fund has been propped up with general funds (and given the overall deficit, that means borrowed money) ,but the growing gap between Trust Fund revenue (chiefly the gas tax) and anticipated spending is expected to reach $188 billion by 2030. It's particularly unfortunate that President Biden has no appetite for the gas tax increase, because it's also an effective tool in the battle against climate change. The plan he released Wednesday to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 would surely be improved if Americans faced higher gasoline prices, given that the transportation sector accounts for more than one-quarter of emissions. That's not a happy thought, of course. Who wants higher prices for anything? But, when adjusted for inflation, U.S. gasoline prices are incredibly low today (December's AAA average of $2.25 per gallon is not only nearly $2 per gallon below the record high prices of 2008, it's actually cheaper than the 17 cents per gallon of 1931, which would equate to $2.89 today). That gives motorists a perverse incentive to buy gas-guzzling vehicles and use them to excess. And the more pollution they crank out of their tailpipes, the more it will cost them in the long run, if not in life-shortening air pollution, then in the worst effects of climate change from rising sea levels and worsening storms to droughts, forest fires, loss of fresh drinking water and political upheaval that will inevitably follow such disasters. Granted, it's easier for our cowardly elected leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike, to let roads, bridges and subways systems degrade; to give lip service to failing infrastructure but do nothing serious about it; to keep borrowing against the future so as to maintain the illusion that you can have 21st century transportation at 20th century prices. But someday, Americans are bound to wise up. Mr. Buttigieg would be smart to use his platform to at least educate his fellow citizens on this worsening problem that even a belated gas tax increase can't fully address given how fuel-sipping hybrid and electric vehicles are fundamentally changing the equation. A gas tax not only deserves to be on the table, it merits a prominent seat.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0128-gas-tax-federal-20210127-h4v4mtmgdvhjpdnthmna6nyo74-story.html
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-highway-trust-fund-and-how-it-financed#:~:text=The%20Highway%20Trust%20Fund%20finances,on%20gasoline%20and%20diesel%20fuel.
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#:~:text=Transportation%20(28.2%20percent%20of%202018,share%20of%20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions.
https://inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-adjusted-prices/inflation-adjusted-gasoline-prices/

Before parting ways with five lawyers set to defend him at his impeachment trial, Trump had pushed his team to focus on his baseless claim that the election was stolen from him
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/politics/trump-butch-bowers-impeachment.html

Russia arrests over 1,000 people demanding Navalny's release
https://apnews.com/article/085b16035e9c89ffb9919e4d94a2309c

After 10 months with zero community transmission, a quarantine hotel worker tests positive for Covid19 in Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-31/covid-quarantine-hotel-worker-tests-positive-in-perth-wa/13106968

Detroit is dealing QB Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for two future first-round picks, a third-round pick and QB Jared Goff, per sources. Two former No. 1 overall picks trading places in the first blockbuster NFL trade of 2021.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1355712045006655490

YEP: It can't be overstated how good a deal this is for Detroit. You could construct a solid case for moving on from Stafford anyway. They got two 1sts, a 3rd and a QB who is seen as a punch line right now but is a former #1 overall pick, a reclamation project/bridge QB.
https://twitter.com/PFF_Sam/status/1355725373401690112

The LA Rams will play the Detroit Lions this coming season in Los Angeles.
https://www.therams.com/schedule/future-opponents

Trump could literally have a can of week old tuna fish represent him, and at least 45 Republican senators would say it smelled fine to them.

President Biden and Senate Democrats are vetting civil rights lawyers and public defenders to nominate as judges, embarking on a mission to shape the courts after Republicans overhauled them in the last four years.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/after-trump-democrats-set-out-mission-repair-courts-n1256174

It comes after a 10 Republican senators ask him to sit down and talk about a smaller package, a $600 billion plan a third the size of the one the Democratic president put forward, money for schools eliminated: President Biden is calling on Congress to immediately pass his American Rescue Plan and finish the job of getting $2,000 in direct relief to those who need it most. He's committed to ensuring hardworking Americans get the relief they need.
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1355920024427515909

Why continue to pretend when you've admitted it
https://nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/giuliani-concedes-that-an-associate-did-ask-for-20000-a-day-to-help-trump-post-election.html

Trump ditched his legal defense team because they wouldn't argue the election was stolen. Trump's first legal filing in the impeachment case is due Tuesday, though it is a relatively short answer to the charge against him

Woof! Look how tiny I was, an orphan puppy hoping to find a loving home. And I got so, so lucky. Not because I'm now living in the #WhiteHouse, I'd be happy in any house as long as I'd be with my pawsome parents @POTUS and @FLOTUS. Lucky to get adopted. Please #AdoptDontShop
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1355625392233701377

Describing @VP's interview as trying to "troll" Joe Manchin is absurd. She discussed Biden's climate change policy and the focus on job creation and training. She describes how the covid19 relief bill works and vaccination distribution prioritization. This is totally inoffensive!
https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/1355927774901358597

The rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection was arranged and funded by a small group including a top Trump campaign fundraiser and donor facilitated by far-right show host Alex Jones.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-rally-funded-by-top-trump-donor-helped-by-alex-jones-organizers-say-11612012063

Russia arrests over 4,500 at wide protests backing Navalny
https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-moscow-coronavirus-pandemic-arrests-russia-085b16035e9c89ffb9919e4d94a2309c

If Biden has gotten off to the fastest start of any president since Roosevelt, the speed bumps ahead threaten to drain his momentum as he heads into a more grinding February.
https://nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/politics/biden-administration-early-goals.html

Can they borrow some of the pictures of Your dad touching your sister for posters?
https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1355912312998264834

FEMA is deploying or supporting vaccination sites in at least 11 states after President Biden ordered the government to get on a war footing in his mission to vaccinate 300M Americans by summer's end.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fema-deploying-or-supporting-vaccination-sites-11-states-n1256280

Your use of the term "lynch mob" shows you to be the piece of seditionist, racist excrement that has prodded many with more poise than you to remark you are often held in the highest minimum regard.
https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/1355675967491084290

Jokic with the bully ball on Gobert for his 22nd points of the first quarter
https://streamable.com/bwmc9i

Kawhi bulldozes Barrett for the mean throw down
https://streamable.com/g6bp08

Imagine if Obama incited BLM protestors to take the Capitol after disarming the police. Just fucking imagine it.

The orders from Miller to the DC National Guard for January 6 included in linked article— is a must read. The DC guard were allowed no helmets, no body armor, no weapons. They were not allowed to stop or arrest protesters. Letter orders no interference with rioters
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtAI2zNXYAYDpQ5?format=jpg&name=900x900

Trump Defense Secretary Disarmed D.C. National Guard Before Capitol Riot
https://nationalmemo.com/miller-disarmed-national-guard 

In their quest for Republican backing, Democrats say they missed opportunities in 2009 for a stronger response to the Great Recession. They're determined not to repeat the mistake in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/democrats-agenda-coronavirus-economy.html

The WI pharmacist who sabotaged hundreds of doses of the Moderna coronavirus19 vaccine because he thought COVID-19 was a hoax, also believes the earth is flat and the sky is a "shield put up by the Government to prevent individuals from seeing G/d."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/wisconsin-vaccine-saboteur-steven-brandenburg-is-a-flat-earther-fbi-document-reveals

Snowflake We love snow! Awooof!
https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1355985547001548802

Fishery in Taiji, Japan violates international laws, forcing whale to struggle in net for 3 days then proceeded to drown whale. The movie "The Cove" is a terrific expose on how the Japanese slaughter Dolphins and their families. It's more relevant today then it was in 2009 when this incredible documentary came out. Gut-wrenching. Sickening. Indefensible. 😡
https://www.yahoo.com/news/japan-whale-hunting-catch-rule-002032890.html

Bird flu kills more than 250 pelicans in Mauritania, says ministry
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-birdflu-mauritania-idUSKBN2A00PD

Nikola Jokic finishes the first half against the Jazz with 33/5/3 on 13/17 shooting, 4/4 from 3

The Denver Nuggets are currently 15/17 from three point range at halftime against the Utah Jazz.

Nikola Jokic finishes the game with 47/11/5 on 17-26 shooting and 4-4 from 3 to lead the Nuggets past a Jazz team that had won 11 straight

The Denver Nuggets (12-8) snap the Utah Jazz' (15-5) winning streak with a 128-117 win, led by 47 points from Nikola Jokic

Gobert looks bamboozled as Jokic gets 3 offensive rebounds and scores
https://streamable.com/zs776p

The widespread protests in Russia underscore the unraveling of the "Crimea consensus" of wide support for Putin for annexing the Ukrainian peninsula. Now, people are focused on their disappointment over slumping wages and pensions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/world/europe/russia-putin-economy-protests.html 

Paul George on Knicks rookie Immanuel Quickley: "I like him. We were just talking about him in the back. His float game was off the charts for a young guy. He's got a lot of package. And what I think I love the most, and is a hard quality to find, I thought he was fearless."
https://streamable.com/ygqaph

Mayorkas could have been confirmed this weekend but the Senate opted to wait til Monday evening to have the DHS secretary confirmed - now delayed til Tuesday because of snow. The storm was forecast before the Senate left. As usual, they could have kept the Senate in town through the weekend confirming nominees and there would be no weather delays.

Less than 9 hours to go, and we're less than 100 donations away from our January goal to defeat Ron Johnson. Start a monthly donation before midnight:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/defeat-johnson-fund?refcode=socialmedia-bwt-eom-jan2021&amount=27&recurring=1

The military charged that there was massive voting fraud in the election, though it has failed to provide proof. The state Union Election Commission last week rejected its allegations." Charging vote fraud is how autocrats overturn democracies.
https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-suu-kyi-myanmar-dda3d013897e14d5d0bd44d19eac9cd1

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman plans to defy an illegal and unconstitutional Republican-backed law banning his weed and LGBTQ rights flags. Fetterman says he'll keep replacing the flags after they're removed from the state Capitol.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/penn-democrat-hung-weed-lgbtq-rights-flags-capitol-gop-outlawed-n1256162

Nets gets the east bucket and Bradley Beal vents his frustration
https://streamable.com/o4juu1

The Nets and the Wizards play the beautiful game
https://streamable.com/g1q4kp

Lowry with the hip check into Aaron Gordon's knee, which led to Gordon's flagrant foul on Lowry
https://streamable.com/75aeuy

Durant puts Bertans on a poster
https://streamable.com/0baue4

Aaron Gordon with a cheap shot on Kyle LowryHighlight
https://streamable.com/odaezr

President Joe Biden's administration is beginning to look like an establishment wall in the front-facing roles with a progressive party stacked to the max in the back. Biden's high-profile Cabinet picks have stacked lengthy government-establishment career experience, lengthy long-lasting personal relationships and thus an ability to earn approval from across the ideological spectrum - Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have all earned bipartisan stamps of approval in the Senate. But left-leaning Democrats are excitedly watching Biden fill agency and sub-Cabinet posts with younger thinkers with technocratic building blocks (stacked college and stacked ngo and activist work) who have developed big ideas designed to solve the economic, racial, health and climate crises the Biden administration hopes to address. Some of these younger thinkers are taking leading roles that require Senate confirmation, like progressive Rohit Chopra's nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Others are assuming lower-profile jobs in the White House, the Department of Homeland Security or the Interior Department where they can play key roles in shaping the administration's approach in a number of areas including economic recovery, the climate crisis and reversing the Trump administration's immigration orders. "We've been really pleased," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on a conference call with reporters this week, citing the nominations of Chopra and California Labor Secretary Julie Su to be deputy labor secretary on the federal level. "There are just some great, great hires across the board that we're very excited about." Gautam Raghavan, a former Jayapal chief of staff who also worked in former President Barack Obama's White House, is playing a key role in many selections as the deputy director of the White House office of presidential personnel, she said. Former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), a progressive who consulted with Biden's transition team, downplayed the ideological differences. He noted the pandemic has prioritized both the need for experience in top positions and Biden's desire for game-changing ideas throughout the administration. "You're getting a lot of people who have the policy experience to guide the next generation of big thinkers," he told HuffPost. "Throughout his career, Biden has tended to be an incrementalist. But his wisdom and experience are pushing him toward doing big things." Some of these pairings are in the White House. Former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy are the leading climate change experts at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. - Kerry is the lead envoy to foreign countries on the all-important issue, while McCarthy is coordinating the domestic response. But filling out the White House climate team are three younger experts with more progressive credentials. Maggie Thomas, who was a top climate policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is the chief of staff in the climate office. Two other younger thinkers - Sonia Aggarwal and Jahi Wise - have also secured senior adviser roles. The National Economic Council has similar dynamics. Progressives engaged in no small amount of teeth-gnashing following the appointment of Brian Deese, an Obama administration veteran who worked at the investment management company BlackRock, to lead the council. They were ecstatic, however, over the selection of former Warren aide Bharat Ramamurti as one of the council's deputy directors, and the addition of Joelle Gamble, one of several economic aides with expertise on the racial wealth gap. The selections of Ramamurti, Chopra and Thomas also display Warren's success in shaping key portions of the Biden administration. Sasha Baker, formerly her top foreign policy aide, is the director of strategic planning for the National Security Council. Progressives are continuing to push another former Warren acolyte, Vanderbilt law professor Ganesh Sitaraman, to take a critical post leading the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House. Sarnata Reynolds, the director of policy at the Immigration Hub, pointed to the hires of Adam Hunter as DHS's deputy assistant secretary on immigration and Ashley Tabaddor as the chief counsel for Citizenship and Immigration Services. Hunter was previously the executive director of Refugee Council USA and Tabbador was head of the union for immigration judges, a position in which she frequently criticized the Trump administration's policies. If there was a Cabinet pick that upset the Democratic Party's left flank, it was Biden's decision to pick former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for a second run at the job. Progressives have long argued the Vilsack-era Agriculture Department was far too friendly to corporate farmers and failed to aid Black farmers. But Joe Maxwell, a former Missouri lieutenant governor who now leads the advocacy group Family Farm Action, said Biden's picks for other USDA jobs were solid, especially the nomination of Virginia Agriculture Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, who is Black, for the No. 2 job at the department. And he credited Vilsack for engaging with his critics since his nomination.

A doubled Ben Simmons runs the floor off the inbound to beat the half with a reverse
https://streamable.com/v80m4p

Jokic has 20 straight double doubles to start the season

Westbrook goes coast to coast with the and 1 on Durant
https://streamable.com/nx0w06 

Just out of a shot is another one that says JEWS CAUSE BLIZZARDS
https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1356032136034267138

"With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large.  The American Rescue Plan – including $1400 relief checks, a substantial investment in fighting COVID and reopening schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and funds to keep first responders on the job (and more) – is badly needed.   As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little.  Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/31/statement-from-white-house-press-secretary-jen-psaki/

In accordance with section 1014(c) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 685(c)), I am withdrawing 73 proposed rescissions previously transmitted to the Congress (me: by Trump, to eliminate $27 billion in federal spending). The withdrawals are for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, the Interior, Justice, Labor, State, and the Treasury, as well as the African Development Foundation, the Commission of Fine Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the District of Columbia, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Inter-American Foundation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the Peace Corps, the Presidio Trust, the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Legislative Branch. The details of the rescission withdrawals are contained in the attached report. Sincerely,JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/31/letter-from-president-joe-biden-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-of-representatives-and-the-president-of-the-senate/

The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country's democratic transition, including the arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials in Burma. President Biden has been briefed by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. We continue to affirm our strong support for Burma's democratic institutions and, in coordination with our regional partners, urge the military and all other parties to adhere to democratic norms and the rule of law, and to release those detained today. The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar's democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed. We are monitoring the situation closely and stand with the people of Burma, who have already endured so much in their quest for democracy and peace.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/31/statement-by-white-house-spokesperson-jen-psaki-on-burma/

One thing the people of Myanmar make clear whenever they vote is that they don't want the military running the country.  Despite their claims of fraud, it's obvious that military-backed candidates were just routed in elections (again). 

Westbrook and Beal put the Wizards up 1 with 4.3 left
https://streamable.com/lhuekc

Russell "Washed" Westbrook in a win vs .the Brooklyn Nets tonight: 41 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 Game Winning Basket, on 16-28 shooting (4-7 from three)

The Washington Wizards (4-12) defeat the Brooklyn Nets (13-9), 149 - 146

Westbrook pokes the ball away from Durant with 2.9 left
https://streamable.com/pfq3qw

The Brooklyn Nets gave up 48 points in the 4th quarter against the Wizards.

The Philadelphia 76ers (15-6) defeat the Indiana Pacers (11-9) 119-110, coming back from a 20-point 3rd quarter deficit and recording their first win of the season without Joel Embiid.

Kyrie Irving: "I don't know if we're going to get many wins if we allow 48 points in any quarter (...) I couldn't guard a stick today."
https://streamable.com/ktb0v9

Anthony Edwards finishes the game with 23/5/4 with a steal, block and no turnovers while shooting 60% on the field and 4-7 from 3.

The Toronto Raptors (8-12) defeat the Orlando Magic (8-13) 115-102, behind Pascal Siakam's 30 points

Yuta Watanabe 11 pts 3 threes 3 blks vs Magic

The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that Transportation Security Administration workers now have the authority to enforce President Joe Biden's transportation mask mandate "at TSA screening checkpoints and throughout the commercial and public transportation system." Acting Secretary David Pekoske on Sunday signed a Determination of National Emergency, which said the TSA can "take actions consistent with the authorities" of its federal jurisdiction so it can enforce the mask mandate order laid out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday. "This includes supporting the CDC in the enforcement of any orders or other requirements necessary to protect the transportation system, including passengers and employees, from Covid-19 and to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 through the transportation system, to the extent appropriate and consistent with applicable law," Pekoske wrote. The CDC order issued last week requires people to wear a mask while using any form of public transportation, including on board planes, trains, buses, boats, subways, taxis and ride-shares, as well as inside airports and other transportation hubs. The order goes into effect Monday at 11:59 p.m. The TSA said in a news release Sunday that passengers without a mask "may be denied entry, boarding, or continued transport" and that failure to comply with the mask requirement can result in civil penalties.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/politics/biden-mask-mandate-enforcement-tsa/index.html
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_0130_as1_determination-national-emergency.pdf

Trump's new legal team includes an attorney who declined to prosecute Bill Cosby and another who met with Jeffrey Epstein just days before his death
https://www.businessinsider.com/david-schoen-and-bruce-castor-jr-to-represent-trump-impeachment-2021-2

N.C. Republicans are leaving their party in larger numbers after Capitol riot
https://greensboro.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/n-c-republicans-are-leaving-their-party-in-larger-numbers-after-capitol-riot/article_63a29dbe-619f-11eb-bdff-1353e297c06a.html

China Has Stolen The Personal Data Of 80% Of American Adults
https://www.ibtimes.com/china-has-stolen-personal-data-80-american-adults-report-3134525

Trump rakes in $30m in political donations as he faces second impeachment trial
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-trial-donations-latest-b1795608.html 

Yuta Watanabe blocks Vucevic
https://streamable.com/v4f5e9