WORLD NEWS
Ethiopia civil war: Doctors among those begging for food in Tigray
BBC – Some of the nurses and doctors at the biggest hospital in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region are having to beg for food to feed themselves, one of the medics has told the BBC.
They have not been paid for eight months, forcing them to find other ways of supporting their families, he said.
The doctor’s account comes as the UN reports that “severe hunger” was hitting ever more people in Tigray.
It says that 2.2 million people “are suffering an extreme lack of food”.
Half of all pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from malnutrition, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) survey found.
Biden warns Ukraine’s President of ‘distinct possibility’ Russia could invade in February
Daily Mail – Russia’s top diplomat has vowed that Vladimir Putin ‘won’t let [Russia’s] interests be rudely trampled on and ignored’ as the world waits to see how the strongman will respond after the US and NATO rejected his security demands around Ukraine.
Sergei Lavrov, who has been leading negotiations with Washington, warned today that he sees ‘no room for compromise’ after reviewing letters sent to Putin by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO chief Jens Stoltenburg, but added there are still avenues to continue talks.
He continued to insist that Russia ‘doesn’t want a war’ in eastern Europe, despite massing up to 120,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders which the US believes will be ready to attack within weeks.
US NEWS, POLITICS, & GOVERNMENT
Supreme Court Justice Breyer Officially Announces Retirement
Epoch Times – Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer officially announced his retirement on Jan. 27, a day after the news was leaked and widely reported.
Breyer, 83, told President Joe Biden in a letter that he has decided to retire and that he wants the decision to take effect when the court takes its summer recess, which typically happens in late June or early July.
Breyer said he assumes his successor will be nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate by then.
“I enormously appreciate the privilege of serving as part of the federal judicial system—nearly 14 years as a Court of Appeals Judge and nearly 28 years as a Member of the Supreme Court,” the Clinton nominee wrote in the two-paragraph document.
“I have found the work challenging and meaningful. My relations with each of my colleagues have been warm and friendly. Throughout, I have been aware of the great honor of participating as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Biden, a Democrat, who as a senator helped get Breyer confirmed in the 1980s, called the day “bittersweet,” while championing what he called Breyer’s “distinguished career.”
Breyer “gave faith to the notion that the law exists to help the people,” he said in prepared remarks in front of a crowd in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Biden Says He Will Appoint Black Woman to SCOTUS by End of February
Epoch Times – President Joe Biden announced Thursday he will appoint the first-ever black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of February.
Biden made the announcement alongside retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer who officially announced his intention to step down at the end of the high court’s term this summer.
“While I’ve been studying candidates’ backgrounds and writings, I’ve made no decision but one,” said Biden. “The person I nominate will be somebody with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my opinion.”
Biden made the promise on the campaign trail last year to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court in the event of a vacancy.
Biden said Thursday that appointing a Supreme Court justice is “one of the most serious constitutional responsibilities a president has.”
He added that his administration’s selection process will be “rigorous,” and that he will seek the advice and consent of Senators from both parties as well as outside constitutional scholars and lawyers.
When asked later in the day to state the Biden administration’s message to those who would suggest that race is an inappropriate prerequisite for a Supreme Court nominee, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “The fact that no black woman has been nominated shows a deficiency of the past selection processes, not a lack of qualified candidates to be nominated to the Supreme Court.”
Biden said that Vice President Kamala Harris will play an advisory role in the selection process as well—citing her background as California’s attorney general and as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Some have speculated that Harris could potentially be tapped for the seat on the Supreme Court. But Psaki on Wednesday repeated her previous statement saying that Biden intends to run again in 2024 with Harris on the ticket.
Another name reportedly being considered is Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51. She is a former Breyer clerk who worked at the U.S. Sentencing Commission and has been a federal trial court judge since 2013 in the District of Columbia. Biden met Jackson personally when he interviewed her for her current post as an appeals court judge in the D.C. circuit.
Another is U.S. District of South Carolina Judge J. Michelle Childs. She has been nominated but not yet confirmed to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Another is California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger. She is a graduate of Harvard and of Yale’s law school, was previously a Supreme Court clerk, and has argued a dozen cases before the justices as a lawyer for the federal government.
Biden has overseen several Supreme Court nominations during his time on the Senate Judiciary Committee. But this will be his first Supreme Court nomination as president. Jared Carter, an assistant professor at Vermont Law School posited that it may be his only one, in an interview with The Epoch Times on Wednesday.
“This is going to be, probably, Biden’s only opportunity, so my guess is they are going to be looking for someone younger because remember U.S. Supreme Court Justice is for life,” said Carter. “So, you know, if you appoint somebody on the older side, that person isn’t going to be there that long. “
McConnell, Other Republicans Warn Against Letting ‘Radical Left’ Hijack Supreme Court Pick
Epoch Times – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans are advising President Joe Biden not to “outsource” his Supreme Court pick to “the radical left,” warning that they will fight hard against the confirmation of anyone they consider too left-wing.
Liberals, fearful of losing another seat on the 6–3 conservative-leaning court, had for months pressured 83-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer to step down while a Democrat held the White House. After a flurry of rumors that his retirement was imminent, Breyer officially announced on Thursday that he will step down at the end of the court’s term this summer.
The White House confirmed on Thursday that Biden would stand by a promise made on the campaign trail to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court.
Following Breyer’s official announcement, Senate GOP Leader McConnell advised Biden not to allow “the radical left” to take over the nomination process. McConnell noted that Biden, whose party took the Senate by the thinnest possible margin, does not have a mandate to appoint a radical justice.
“The American people elected a Senate that is evenly split at 50–50,” McConnell said in a statement. “To the degree that President Biden received a mandate, it was to govern from the middle, steward our institutions, and unite America.”
“The President must not outsource this important decision to the radical left,” McConnell continued. “The American people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our Constitution.”
McConnell’s statement echoes a similar statement made by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) earlier on Thursday.
Hawley took to Twitter to warn Democrats that they should “expect a major fight” if Biden tries to appoint a “woke activist” to the nation’s highest court.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel predicted in a statement that Biden’s nominee would be a left-wing radical.
Biden’s nominee, said McDaniel, will be an “activist judge who will rubber stamp the far-left’s political agenda.”
“This type of judge,” McDaniel said, “is a threat to Americans’ constitutional rights including religious liberty, the Second Amendment, the right to life, and free speech.”
“The RNC will do everything in our power to expose Biden’s Supreme Court nominee and hold Senate Democrats accountable in November for their votes,” McDaniel vowed.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted in a press release that he had supported Breyer’s confirmation in 1994, as had most other senators.
However, since then the Supreme Court picks have faced increasingly partisan confirmation processes. The confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court’s newest Justice, was pushed through with no Democratic support—a first in U.S. history. Biden’s next pick will likely face a similarly partisan vote.
Still, Grassley expressed his hope that the nominee be someone “within the legal mainstream … who can receive broad, bipartisan support.” Grassley ruled that “[s]uch a candidate will preserve faith in the court, and reflect Americans’ will when they elected an evenly divided Senate.”
Despite their nominal majority, Democrats could face a challenge in pushing through too partisan a nominee.
Teachers Union Promotes ‘Anti-Misinformation’ Tool, Sparking Left-Wing Bias Concerns
Epoch Times – The second-largest teachers union in the United States will make available to millions of public school students a “news media literacy” tool that critics say has a significant left-wing bias.
In a partnership announced this week, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said it will purchase licensed copies of NewsGuard’s “anti-misinformation” browser extension for the union’s 1.7 million members, who will then be able to share it with the tens of millions of students they serve.
“For years, educators have fought battles against suspect sourcing, with their students often misled by dubious outlets and spam sites posing as ‘news,’” the AFT said in a statement. “NewsGuard offers a practical solution, alerting students and educators to those sites while also providing a valuable lesson in media literacy.”
NewsGuard says it employs a team of “trained journalists and experienced editors” to review and rate each site based on nine criteria of journalistic practice, such as whether the site repeatedly publishes false content, whether it regularly corrects or clarifies errors, whether it avoids deceptive headlines, and whether it discloses who owns and is financing the website.
The NewsGuard tool awards weighted points for each criterion to produce an overall score on a scale of zero to 100. A score of less than 60 earns a “Red” rating, while a score of 60 and above earns a “Green” rating.
A recent study by conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), however, suggests that NewsGuard has an “extraordinary” political bias that makes left-wing news outlets more likely to get a better rating.
The study found that outlets rated “left” or “lean left” by AllSides received an average NewsGuard score of 93, while sites considered “right” or “lean right” by AllSides had an average NewsGuard rating of 66.
The MRC noted that Jacobin, a magazine that styles itself as the “leading voice of the American left” and champions ideas such as the nationalization of supermarkets, receives a score of 92.5 by NewsGuard. The Nation, a magazine that defends the looting and vandalism committed during the widespread riots in the summer of 2020, also has a 92.5 NewsGuard score. The Atlantic even secures a perfect 100, despite its dubious report claiming that President Donald Trump disparaged members of the U.S. military who were killed in action as “losers” and “suckers,” the authenticity of which many have doubted, and which Trump has denied.
Meanwhile, NewsGuard gives The Federalist an abysmal score of 12.5, which, according to MRC, has a lot to do with the conservative magazine’s questioning of the efficacy of COVID-19 mask mandates.
Family of Fallen US Marine Suing Alec Baldwin for $25 Million
Epoch Times – The family of a fallen U.S. Marine filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin for $25 million for allegedly mislabeling his sister as a participant in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
Baldwin, 63, is named in the lawsuit that alleged he defamed the sister of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, one of several soldiers who were killed during a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan in August 2021. Baldwin initially reached out to McCollum’s sister, Roice, asking her to give a check for $5,000 to Rylee’s widow, according to court papers (pdf).
After the two made contact, Roice posted a photo of herself at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., during protests on Jan. 6, 2021. According to the court documents, Baldwin sent several direct messages to Roice and accused her of being a “rioter” and partaking in the “unlawful destruction of government property.”
“When I sent the $ for your late brother, out of real respect for his service to this country, I didn’t know you were a January 6th rioter,” Baldwin allegedly wrote to Roice on Instagram on Jan. 3 of this year, the documents said. “Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!” Roice allegedly responded.
“I don’t think so. Your activities resulted in the unlawful destruction of government property, the death of a law enforcement officer, an assault on the certification of the presidential election,” Baldwin allegedly said in his response to her. “I reposted your photo. Good luck.”
The actor then posted the photo to his 2.4 million Instagram followers, referring to Roice as an “insurrectionist.” The lawsuit said that she was nowhere near the Capitol breach on Jan. 6 and was “stuck in place outside the Capitol Building next to multiple police officers for hours after the rioting began due to the fact that so many people were around her and the area had been locked down.”
Baldwin also wrote in a post: “I did some research. I found, on [Instagram], that this woman is the brother [sic] of one of the men who was killed. I offered to send her [sister-in-law] some [money] as a tribute to her late brother, his widow, and their child. Which I did. As a tribute to a fallen soldier. Then I find this. Truth is stranger than fiction.”
The documents further said that a neighbor reported Roice to the FBI. The federal law enforcement agency cleared her of wrongdoing, the court filing, dated Jan. 19, further said.
According to the court filing, Roice and her family claim they were bombarded by hateful messages after Baldwin made the post. The court filing further stipulated that Baldwin continued to call Roice a “rioter” and “insurrectionist” in comments on Instagram.
“Baldwin’s conduct was negligent and reckless as he should have known that making the allegations he did against plaintiffs to his millions of followers would cause plaintiffs harm,” the court documents, which were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.
Baldwin also made note of the online vitriol against Roice McCollum, the lawsuit further said.
“There are hateful things toward you that are wrong,” the actor allegedly wrote. “Irony was my point. The irony of sincerely wanting to honor your brother and the fact you are an insurrectionist.”
2 More Witnesses at Ashli Babbitt Shooting Identified
Epoch Times – Two men sought by the family of Ashli Babbitt as witnesses to her death at the U.S. Capitol have been identified as previously arrested by the FBI and indicted on federal charges from the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.
The family of Babbitt, 35, has been seeking to identify key participants in the hallway unrest that afternoon. The identification of Christopher Ray Grider and Chad Barrett Jones reduces by two the number of “unknowns” who witnessed the riotous behavior at the entry to the Speaker’s Lobby.
Grider, 40, of Eddy, Texas, was indicted in January 2021 on seven federal counts, including destruction of government property, disorderly or disruptive behavior in a restricted building, an act of violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, obstruction of an official proceeding, and other charges.
Grider, the owner of Kissing Tree Vineyards in Eddy, is the “Gadsden Flag Man” who was in the center of the Speaker’s Lobby hallway just feet away when Babbitt was shot to death at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Grider was dressed in a black coat, red Donald Trump cap, and a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag draped around his neck.
Video footage shows Grider was one of the first to arrive in the hallway after Babbitt and journalist Tayler Hansen. He is seen conversing with police officers during the increasingly boisterous assembly. Grider is seen on video footage handing a black riot helmet to Zachary J. Alam, which Alam uses to smash two door windows and the side window that Babbitt eventually climbed through and was fatally shot, video shows.
Grider also is charged with trying to gain access through the doors by kicking and pushing on them with his shoulder.
“The defendant remained and could be seen minutes after the shooting, leaning over the railing to get a better glimpse of Babbitt bleeding on the floor,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “The defendant was holding his phone over the stairway, appearing to capture a video or pictures of Babbitt.”
Grider’s case was unlike those of many Jan. 6 defendants. No FBI SWAT team visited his home, and he voluntarily surrendered.
“Did they show up at his home in Chilton, Texas, in SWAT gear with assault weapons drawn? No. Did they make forced entry into his home to arrest him in the middle of the night? No. What did they do? They called him up and asked him to come to Austin, Texas. And that is exactly what Mr. Grider did,” his attorney wrote in a February 2021 court filing.
Grider was released on bond in February 2021. He is next due in court on Feb. 10. Messages left for Grider and his attorney weren’t returned by press time.
Jones, 42, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, was arrested in January 2021 after acquaintances saw him on television and reported him to the FBI. He is charged with eight counts, including civil disorder, engaging in physical violence, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering/remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, and other charges.
Jones, seen on video in an orange-red jacket and gray cap, is seen allegedly using a wooden flagpole to punch a hole in the glass of the left door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Jones is due in court on March 10 for a status conference. Jones was released on bond pending trial. His attorney declined an interview request from The Epoch Times.
Most of the violence against the doors and windows outside the Speaker’s Lobby happened after three police officers guarding the doors left their post about 2:42 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.
Babbitt was shot and fatally wounded when she climbed into a window broken out by Alam, who faces 11 federal charges, including assaulting, impeding or resisting police, assaulting, impeding or resisting police with a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, destruction of government property, and other counts.
New video footage discovered by The Epoch Times shows Babbitt punched Alam in the nose shortly before she climbs through the window. She grows increasingly frustrated watching rioters escalate their attacks on the doors and windows. She tries to intervene between Alam and a police officer, but he brushes her aside and punches a window. She made other unsuccessful attempts to deter the violence.
Alam, 29, also is charged in a Pennsylvania court with burglary. When FBI agents raided Alam’s hotel room on Jan. 30, 2021, they found nearly $5,700 in goods stolen from an area antique mall, according to a statement by the Ephrata, Pennsylvania, police department. Alam was hiding at a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, motel when he was arrested by federal agents.
Alam, who is in federal custody, faces trial in March on the charges of burglary and theft by the unlawful taking of moveable property. Bail in that case was set at $75,000, court records show.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
America COMPETES Act Gives Treasury Unchecked Power
CATO – It seems that reaching out to the public for input is pretty unpopular in the U.S. government.
Earlier this month, it became evident that the SEC has been consistently shortchanging the public during the rulemaking process. Now the America COMPETES Act, a bill that was introduced to “reinvigorate the innovation engine of our economy to outcompete China,” would remove the public notice requirements from the Treasury’s enforcement abilities under the Bank Secrecy Act.
At nearly 3,000 pages, there’s much to consider in the new bill. However, Section 60202 is particularly concerning. The House Committee on Financial Services described the section by saying, “This provision by Representative Jim Himes (D‑CT) streamlines the process by which special measures may be introduced and modernizes the authorities granted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).” Streamlining and modernizing the government is usually a welcome change of pace, but what they really mean is that they are cutting the public out of the picture.
Currently, the public is involved in the governing process to ensure that the Secretary of the Treasury does not abuse those “special measures.” Before the Treasury can take action, the current law requires a notice of proposed rulemaking as well as a 120‐day limit on the enforcement. The America COMPETES Act, however, eliminates both the requirement to notify the public and the 120‐day limit on enforcement.
Were this disregard for checks and balances not enough, the bill also adds an update to the law regarding “prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of funds.” This update boils down to this: if anyone outside the United States is involved with a transaction and the Treasury deems it to be a money laundering concern, the Treasury Secretary can prohibit the transactions. For example, if cryptocurrency transactions are validated by a miner outside the United States, the Treasury can prohibit U.S. banks, exchanges, and the like from being involved with the transactions.
As Jerry Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh first described it,
In other words, it is an attempt … to use the moral panic surrounding criminal usage of cryptocurrencies … to strip our surveillance laws of all public processes.
It seems that once again, the country is facing another shining example of why must‐pass bills, at thousands of pages, do not operate in the spirit of democracy.
The America COMPETES Act is billed to help the nation compete with China. Instead, it seems Representative Jim Himes’ (D‑CT) section of the bill copies China’s disregard for privacy, due process, and democracy. Congress should not only remove the section in question today, but also remove it from further consideration since the section was already removed once last year when it was first introduced in the National Defense Authorization Act. There is no justification for an unelected official to hold so much unchecked power.
Pending Home Sales Shock with 6.9% Collapse
Breitbart -Pending home sales defied predictions of a rebound at year-end, falling by 3.9 percent compared with a downwardly revised November estimate, data from the National Association of Realtors showed Thursday.
Compared with a year ago, pending home sales fell 6.9 percent. Sales were down by 10 percent or more in both the Northeast and the West. Sales fell in the Midwest and the South, as well.
The downturn largely reflects an extremely low supply of homes for sale, according to NAR economist Lawrence Yun.
“Pending home sales faded toward the end of 2021, as a diminished housing supply offered consumers very few options,” Yun said. “Mortgage rates have climbed steadily the last several weeks, which unfortunately will ultimately push aside marginal buyers.”
Home sales are expected to contract further this year. Sales are forecast to be down by three percent in 2022 compared with last year, according to Yun.
“The market will likely endure a minor reduction in sales as mortgage rates continue to edge higher,” Yun said.
China’s COVID-19 Outbreaks Further Disrupt Global Supply Chains
Epoch Times – China’s COVID-19 zero-tolerance approach has locked down one city after another, hence workers of the “world’s factory” are blocked at home and can’t get to work, trucks can’t ship non-pandemic-related goods, and ports can’t take care of ships.
“Lockdowns in China are already causing disruptions [in global supply chain],” economists at Japanese financial holding company Nomura said in a report on Jan. 7.
As a manufacturer for the global market, China imports raw materials from all around the world and exports labor intensive products. In 2021, over 22 percent of global trade was shipped into or out of China. China’s trade in 2021 was 39.1 trillion yuan ($6.185 trillion).
Statista reported data from the United Nations Statistics Division in May 2021: “China accounted for 28.7 percent of global manufacturing output in 2019.”
No Production
The lockdown and quarantine policies launched by the Chinese regime in the cities that announced COVID-19 outbreaks have forced factories to be shut down.
In the cities where no pandemic was reported, many factories were shut down anyway because they couldn’t receive raw materials due to lockdowns in other cities or didn’t have enough orders.
Xi’an, the largest city and business center in northwestern China, with a population of 13 million, was locked down for weeks in December 2021 and January 2022.
American Micron and South Korean Samsung have factories in the city to produce the processor chips used in smartphones, personal computers, auto parts, and services. Both of the companies warned in early January that the sudden lockdown could affect these factories’ operation, and would intensify the global chip shortage.
Samsung’s Xi’an factories manufacture about 42 percent of the company’s NAND, which is equal to 15 percent of global NAND production, Associated Press quoted Shelly Jang of Fitch Ratings.
NAND (Not AND) is a non-volatile storage technology that doesn’t require power to retain data. Electronic products use NAND memory chips to store data files.
5.4 Million Americans Purchase Guns For First Time in 2021: NSSF Survey
Epoch Times – An industry trade group has found that at least 5.4 million Americans purchased a firearm for the first time in 2021 (pdf), based on retailer surveys and background checks, with one in three buyers being women.
Out of all firearm buyers, nearly 30 percent were first-timers. This is a decrease of 10 percent from 2020 when nearly 8.4 million people bought a gun for the first time out of 21 million background checks. Correspondingly, over 40 percent of new buyers were women in 2020, according to data (pdf) collected by The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
“We welcome these new gun owners to the greater community of law-abiding Americans who choose to own a firearm for lawful purposes, including self-defense, recreational target shooting, and hunting,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF president and CEO in a Jan. 25 news release.
“The surveys revealed that new gun owners are continuing to embrace their Second Amendment rights and nearly half of them are seeking out professional training. These trends show that not only is there still a strong interest in gun ownership but also that these new gun owners are interested in learning more about the safe and responsible handling, use and storage of firearms.”
There were 22.8 percent return-buyers who came back after making their first purchase. Most of the people who bought a firearm for the first time were divided into the age groups: 30 and under (22.2 percent), 31–40 (27 percent), 41–50 (21.7 percent), 51–60 (13.8 percent) and over 60 (8.1 percent). In 2020, the most-purchased firearm was a semi-automatic handgun.
More than 40 percent of buyers wanted to undergo professional training while the organization discovered that there was a marked increase in all demographics who purchased firearms compared to the previous year.
Sixty point five percent of all retailers reported an increase in white Americans purchasing guns and ammunition. Forty-four point eight percent reported an uptick among black Americans, 36.9 percent for Hispanic, 27.1 percent for Asians, and 18.4 percent for Native Americans.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Pittsburgh Bridge Collapses Ahead of Biden’s Visit to Discuss Infrastructure
WSJ – A snow-covered bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed Friday morning, injuring at least 10, according to Pittsburgh officials, as the city prepared for a visit from President Biden centered on infrastructure.
Officials tweeted a photo of the collapse, which showed cars flipped over and a bus among the wreckage. Three people were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety.
“Red Cross has been contacted for victim assistance,” the agency said on Twitter.
The bridge is part of a major route, located near Frick Park on the east side of the city. There was a strong smell of gas in the area, and officials said they cut nearby gas lines.
US judge blocks sale of Gulf of Mexico drilling leases over climate concerns
Federal judge rules that Biden administration did not properly consider the leases’ impact upon the climate crisis
Guardian – A US federal judge has blocked a highly controversial sale of oil and gas drilling leases across 80m acres of the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that Joe Biden’s administration did not properly consider the leases’ impact upon the climate crisis.
The decision, handed down by the DC court late on Thursday, represents a landmark victory for environmental groups that had sued the government to prevent what was the largest ever auction of oil and gas leases in the gulf’s history.
“I’m thrilled the court saw through the Biden administration’s horribly reckless decision to hold the largest oil lease sale in US history without carefully studying the risks,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Winter Storm Watches Issued for Mid-Atlantic, Parts of New England Ahead of Powerful Weekend Storm
Epoch Times – Winter storm watches have been issued for the mid-Atlantic and parts of New England ahead of a powerful combination of heavy snow and strong winds over the weekend that could lead to power outages and coastal flooding in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and possibly Connecticut.
“A winter storm is likely to create significant impacts across New England Friday night through Sunday,” the National Weather Service said Thursday. “Notable impacts may also extend south along the East Coast through North Carolina.”
“While uncertainty continues with the track and intensity of this system, it is becoming more likely that it will bring significant snow, sleet, and freezing rain to the region, including the I-95 metropolitan areas,” NWS said.
The weather service also warned that the storm could create hazardous travel conditions due to the combination of heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain, and wind.
Meanwhile, areas close to the Atlantic coastline are set to experience strong winds and high tides which may lead to flooding.
The snowstorm could develop into a Nor’easter (a storm or wind that forms along the East Coast of North America) and potentially a bomb cyclone, according to AccuWeather.
“Everything is on the table with this storm,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Scientists Revisit Study To Predict Year When Society Will Collapse
Technocracy News – At a UN sustainability meeting several years ago, an economic policy officer came up to Gaya Herrington and introduced himself. Taking her name for a riff on James Lovelock’s earth-as-an-organism Gaia hypothesis, he remarked: “Gaya – that’s not a name, it’s responsibility.”
Herrington, a Dutch sustainability researcher and adviser to the Club of Rome, a Swiss thinktank, has made headlines in recent days after she authored a report that appeared to show a controversial 1970s study predicting the collapse of civilization was – apparently – right on time.
Coming amid a cascade of alarming environmental events, from western US and Siberian wildfires to German floods and a report that suggests the Amazon rainforest may no longer be able to perform as a carbon sink, Herrington’s work predicted the collapse could come around 2040 if current trends held.
Research by Herrington, a rising star in efforts to place data analysis at the center of efforts to curb climate breakdown, affirmed the bleaker scenarios put forward in a landmark 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, that presented various outcomes for what could happen when the growth of industrial civilization collided with finite resources.
Now, with the climate crisis increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, and many single events shown to have been made worse by global heating, the Club of Rome, publisher of original MIT paper, has returned to the study.
“From a research perspective, I felt a data check of a decades-old model against empirical observations would be an interesting exercise,” said Herrington, a sustainability analyst at the accounting giant KPMG that recently described greenhouse gas emissions as a “shared, existential challenge.”
“The MIT scientists said we needed to act now to achieve a smooth transition and avoid costs,” Herrington told the Guardian this week. “That didn’t happen, so we’re seeing the impact of climate change.”
Since its publication, The Limits to Growth has sold upwards of 30m copies. It was published just four years after Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb that forewarned of an imminent population collapse. With MIT offering analysis and the other full of doom-laden predictions, both helped to fuel the era’s environmental movements, from Greenpeace to Earth First!.
Herrington, 39, says she undertook the update (available on the KPMG website and credited to its publisher, the Yale Journal of Industrial Ecology) independently “out of pure curiosity about data accuracy”. Her findings were bleak: current data aligns well with the 1970s analysis that showed economic growth could end at the end of the current decade and collapse come about 10 years later (in worst case scenarios).
The timing of Herrington’s paper, as world economies grapple with the impact of the pandemic, is highly prescient as governments largely look to return economies to business-as-usual growth, despite loud warnings that continuing economic growth is incompatible with sustainability.
Earlier this year, in a paper titled Beyond Growth, the analyst wrote plainly: “Amidst global slowdown and risks of depressed future growth potential from climate change, social unrest, and geopolitical instability, to name a few, responsible leaders face the possibility that growth will be limited in the future. And only a fool keeps chasing an impossibility.”
Coming amid a cascade of alarming environmental events, from western US and Siberian wildfires to German floods and a report that suggests the Amazon rainforest may no longer be able to perform as a carbon sink, Herrington’s work predicted the collapse could come around 2040 if current trends held.
Research by Herrington, a rising star in efforts to place data analysis at the center of efforts to curb climate breakdown, affirmed the bleaker scenarios put forward in a landmark 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, that presented various outcomes for what could happen when the growth of industrial civilization collided with finite resources.
Now, with the climate crisis increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, and many single events shown to have been made worse by global heating, the Club of Rome, publisher of original MIT paper, has returned to the study.
“From a research perspective, I felt a data check of a decades-old model against empirical observations would be an interesting exercise,” said Herrington, a sustainability analyst at the accounting giant KPMG that recently described greenhouse gas emissions as a “shared, existential challenge.”
“The MIT scientists said we needed to act now to achieve a smooth transition and avoid costs,” Herrington told the Guardian this week. “That didn’t happen, so we’re seeing the impact of climate change.”
CANCEL CULTURE
W.H.O. Chief Backs Neil Young Against Joe Rogan: Demands End to ‘Infodemic’
Breitbart – The globalist World Health Organization (W.H.O.) announced Thursday it sided with left-wing rocker Neil Young in his stand-off with podcaster Joe Rogan and streaming giant Spotify.
The move came after Spotify said it would pull the singer’s work from its platform following his demand the company either remove his music or blacklist Joe Rogan and his popular podcast.
W.H.O. chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has now entered the fray. He announced he backed the veteran musician and thanked him for “standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies” around Covid vaccinations before stressing “we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic.”
“@NeilYoungNYA, thanks for standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies around #COVID19 vaccination,” Tedros tweeted.
“Public and private sector, in particular #socialmedia platforms, media, individuals — we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic.”
The Joe Rogan Experience is the top-rated podcast on Spotify, which holds exclusive rights to the program.
On Wednesday, Young thanked his record label for “standing with me in my decision to pull all my music from Spotify”, and encouraged other musicians to do the same, as Breitbart News reported.
“Spotify has become the home of life-threatening COVID misinformation,” he said on his website.
Disney: Minnie Mouse to swap her dress for a trouser suit
BBC – The world’s most famous female mouse is getting an outfit makeover.
Minnie Mouse will soon be changing into a smart blue pantsuit, swapping out of her traditional red polka dot dress while keeping her iconic bow.
The new look was designed by Stella McCartney to celebrate 30 years of Disneyland’s Paris resort.
Despite the change being just a temporary one, it has been met with a mixed reaction online from Disney fans.
Minnie will debut the blue tuxedo in Disney’s Paris entertainment resort from March 2022, where she will wear it in time for Women’s History Month.
“This new take on her signature polka dots makes Minnie Mouse a symbol of progress for a new generation,” McCartney said.
Lego to remove gender bias from its toys after enlightening child survey
Research found that stereotypes in Lego hinder girls, boys and their parents. So the Danish firm vowed to do something about it
Lego’s brightly coloured bricks have been literal building blocks of creativity for generations of children.
Now the Danish toymaker is pledging to remove gender stereotypes from its products, after a global poll of children and parents highlighted ingrained societal gender bias.
Lego commissioned the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to survey 7,000 parents and children aged 6–14.
Encouragingly, the study revealed how girls feel increasingly confident to get involved in all types of play. But it found they were still hampered in life by gender bias – often by their own parents. Some 89 per cent of polled mums and dads thought of engineers as being men rather than women, for example.
The survey revealed how boys, too, face prejudice in play, when they play with toys traditionally associated with the opposite sex. As many as 71 per cent of boys compared to 42 per cent of girls feared ridicule if they played with such a toy, meaning – for example – that boys risk missing out on nurturing skills by not playing with dolls.
“The benefits of creative play such as building confidence, creativity and communication skills are felt by all children and yet we still experience age-old stereotypes that label activities as only being suitable for one specific gender,” says Lego’s chief marketing officer, Julia Goldin.
In response to the survey, Lego launched its Ready for Girls campaign, which “celebrates girls who rebuild the world through creative problem solving”. The firm also announced that toys listed on its website will be categorised by theme and age – but not by gender. Its range will also include more female role models.
The Let Toys Be Toys campaign was launched in 2012 in the UK to put pressure on children’s brands to reconsider their marketing messages and include both genders, so that no boy or girl thinks they are playing with “the wrong toy”.
In 2021, Hasbro announced it was dropping the ‘Mr’ from the Mr Potato Head brand name and logo, “to promote gender equality and inclusion”. And in 2016, Mattel pledged to expand its Thomas the Tank Engine franchise by adding more female train characters and friends from countries such as India, Brazil and Mexico.
UK University Puts Trigger Warning on Orwell’s Novel 1984 Over ‘Explicit Material’
The Free Thought Project – George Orwell’s iconic dystopian novel, “1984” was published in 1949 and has been hailed as one of the most impressive books on censorship, persecution of individual thinking, and total opinion control.
The University of Northampton in the UK has slapped a trigger warning on “1984” by George Orwell, arguing that the novel contains some “explicit material” which may be deemed by some students as “offensive and upsetting”, the Daily Mail has reported.
The university’s move was unveiled by the outlet via a Freedom of Information request. According to the report, the novel has been flagged for those students studying a module called Identity Under Construction. These students are reportedly warned that the module “addresses challenging issues related to violence, gender, sexuality, class, race, abuses, sexual abuse, political ideas, and offensive language”.
Orwell’s “1984” is not the only book with the trigger warning, as it is joined by the Samuel Beckett play “Endgame”, the graphic novel “V For Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, along with Jeanette Winterson’s “Sexing The Cherry”.
The decision to place “1984” under the trigger warning has sparked ire among some people who have already blasted the move as “wokeism”.
Andrew R. Timming, a professor in the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, denounced the move, saying that the university would have “failed in its mission” should a trigger warning prevent “even one student from reading 1984”.
HEALTH
Top Five Tips to Avoid Dangerous Chemicals
Mercola – Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are linked to many negative health effects and it is important to avoid exposure as much as possible
EDCs lurk in food packaging, nonorganic food, nonstick cookware, detergents, cosmetics, medicines, fabrics, pesticides, carpets and furniture that are treated with flame retardants
An endocrine-disrupting chemical that exerts permanent and even transgenerational changes to fat cells is sometimes called an obesogen
Research shows obesogens are highly correlated with obesity and diabetes
There are many practical, commonsense ways to avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and obesogens
Top Five Tips to Avoid Dangerous Chemicals
Here are my five tips, adapted from Trasande’s article:
1.Beware of certain cookware — Nonstick pans contain perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, chemicals that slow the metabolism rate and cause weight regain.7 Cast iron and stainless steel cookware are good alternatives. Use glass to store your food and reusable storage bags at home and to bring food home from the grocery store.
2.Fight indoor pollution — Flame retardants used in mattresses, carpets, furniture and electronics accumulate in household dust, impairing thyroid function. Open windows and use a wet mop to diminish them. Check if your upholstery has added flame retardants.8
3.Eat organic and avoid canned foods — Organic food is free from GMOs and pesticides, which may disrupt the thyroid, impair cognition and cause cancer.9 Choose grass fed, humanely raised meat and dairy products.
Canned foods may contain bisphenols, which are estrogenic and make fat cells larger. They persist in the environment, double Type 2 diabetes risk and likely pose toxicity to embryos.10 Don’t use pesticides on your lawn, and remove shoes when you enter your house.
4.Don’t microwave, and avoid packaged goods — A “microwave safe” label is misleading because microscopic polymers break down and get into food.11 Processed and packaged foods contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, pesticides and other obesogens. Phthalates in food packaging and take-out containers can impair lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and increase weight.12
5.Avoid vinyl and plastic — Use a cloth shower curtain that can be machine washed. These stay cleaner and last longer than vinyl. Replace luggage and backpacks with products made of organic blend canvas.
Update on Pennsylvania Woman Who Came Into Contact With Escaped Monkeys
Epoch TImes – A woman who said she came into contact with escaped monkeys in Pennsylvania several days ago said that she’s not sick.
“I want people to know I am not sick, I found out I was at a birthday party Friday night and people there had COVID-19,” Michelle Fallon told local news outlet the Daily Item. “I was exposed to the monkeys and exposed to people with COVID. It was the worst day of my life.”
Fallon, meanwhile, said she was only taking precautions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health officials.
“I explained what happened and they said I was at very low risk of anything but I went to get checked out anyway because I started to not feel well,” Fallon told the newspaper. “I want people to know I am not sick regardless of what they are reading that has been put out there in the media,” she continued. “I only spoke to a few media outlets but I have been talking to PETA.”
Pennsylvania State Police said on Jan. 21 that a trailer collided with a dump truck causing crates of monkeys to be dumped near Route 54 and Interstate 80 in Danville, Pennsylvania. Three of the animals escaped but were eventually captured and euthanized, officials said.
In a Facebook post and in interviews with local media, Fallon said she came into close contact with the monkeys after believing they were cats. She said she developed pink-eye and other symptoms after coming into close contact with one of the primates.
“I was behind the truck that was in the accident and I saw when the truck veered off the road and saw the incident,” she said.
When approaching the crates that fell from the truck, Fallon recalled, “So I was like ‘well let me make sure these cats are OK’ so I approached a crate and saw the fur and heard a grunting sound. … I was confused about what kind of cats they were until I picked up the green cloth.”
“When I picked up the cloth a monkey popped up and hissed at me,” she added. “I said, ‘oh, my God it’s a monkey’ and I backed away and the driver told me to not go near them because they were not quarantined and he had to get back to Missouri.”
The monkey escape incident is being investigated by the U.S Department of Agriculture, or USDA, following a complaint that was filed by the activist group the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Apple adopts the latest emoji including a pregnant MAN
Daily Mail – From a pregnant man to a biting lip, the 37 new emojis coming to iPhones have finally been revealed.
Apple’s own designs for the new emojis are already available in a beta test of iOS 15.4 software update released on Thursday, prior to its full release in the spring.
The pregnant man and pregnant person recognise that ‘pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people’, says Emojipedia, which is part of the California-based Unicode Consortium, the central bank of all approved emoji.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Denmark Abolishes ALL Domestic COVID Restrictions as PM Says the Country Can ‘Smile Again’
Breitbart – Denmark has announced that it will be abolishing all domestic COVID restrictions currently in place, with the PM saying that the country could ‘smile again’.
Following in the footsteps of England, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Denmark has announced that it will soon be dramatically pulling back on COVID restrictions within the country.
Are We at the End of the Pandemic?
Mercola – Many health officials and world leaders are finally acknowledging that the COVID shots cannot end the pandemic and that we must learn to live with the virus. Some have even started speaking out against repeated boosters
A major driver for this U-turn in the pandemic narrative is the emergence of the Omicron variant. While incredibly infectious, it causes only mild cold symptoms in the vast majority of people; it’s ripping through populations, leaving natural herd immunity in its wake. As a result, many are now claiming the end of the pandemic is in sight
Nearly 100% of COVID cases in the Boston area are now Omicron. In New England, the current outbreak is predicted to rapidly wane and disappear during the month of February 2022. As of early January 2022, Omicron was responsible for about 73% of all COVID cases in the U.S.
After two years of repetitive fearmongering, most people have had enough. The general consensus appears to be that people are ready to brave life even if the threat of COVID remains
With that baseline of natural immunity that Omicron provides, populations will, going forward, be far better equipped to handle any new strains that emerge, without a significant increase in mortality
Post-Vaccination Heart Inflammation Highest Among Young Men, Likely Underreported: CDC Study
Epoch Times – Heart inflammation following COVID-19 vaccination was higher than expected in multiple age groups and was particularly pronounced in young men, according to a new data analysis from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers.
Analyzing records submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) between December 2020 and August 2021, the researchers found that young males aged 12 to 17 were the most likely to suffer post-vaccination myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can lead to death.
The rates were the highest after the second dose and after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. Males aged 12 to 15 experienced 70.7 myocarditis cases per million doses administered and males aged 16 or 17 experienced 105.8 cases per million doses, according to the peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Some experts have called for U.S. health officials to recommend certain youth get the second shot of the primary regimen months after the first because of the elevated risk of heart inflammation but officials have thus far refused to adjust the scheduling recommendation, which is around three weeks for Pfizer’s shot and a month for Moderna’s jab.
Both vaccines are built on messenger RNA technology.
The rate after Moderna vaccination was lower for the 12- to 17-year-old males but higher in young men aged 18 to 24. The rates were 56.3 cases per million doses after the Moderna second shot 52.4 cases per million doses after the second Pfizer shot.
CDC researchers say most post-vaccination myocarditis cases eventually resolve but that they’re investigating reports of two deaths among people younger than 30 which may be linked to the vaccines. The reports have been under investigation since at least November, according to a presentation (pdf) delivered to the agency’s vaccine advisory panel that month.
“Even though almost all individuals with cases of myocarditis were hospitalized and clinically monitored, they typically experienced symptomatic recovery after receiving only pain management. In contrast, typical viral cases of myocarditis can have a more variable clinical course. For example, up to 6% of typical viral myocarditis cases in adolescents require a heart transplant or result in mortality,” they wrote.
Myocarditis was not identified as an issue in clinical trials but has since emerged as one of the most severe side effects following Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, with higher-than-expected rates among young men and some young women.
The CDC is working on studying the long-term impact of post-vaccination myocarditis.
The condition often prevents youth from participating in competitive sports for at least three months and cardiac MRIs showed abnormal results for about a quarter of a subset of cases three months after presentation, Dr. Matthew Oster, a CDC researcher, told the advisory panel on Nov. 2, 2021.
Oster, who worked on the newly published study, told The Epoch Times in an email that post-vaccination myocarditis “appears to be high” but that it’s “still an extremely rare condition.”
Epoch Times – Parents are being told that it is safe for their child to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and other childhood vaccines concomitantly, yet no such safety data on the simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines are available for them to read.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that “COVID-19 vaccines may be administered without regard to timing of other vaccines,” including the “simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines on the same day.” The health agency did not cite any research for its recommendation.
The Epoch Times reached out to the CDC four different times inquiring which safety studies the agency based its co-administration recommendation on but have yet to receive a response.
A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administration told The Epoch Times in an email that “the facts sheets for each authorized vaccine state there is no information on the co-administration of the specific COVID-19 vaccine with other vaccines” but did not respond to follow-up questions.
According to the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), such safety information on co-administration of COVID-19 vaccines with other vaccines is not available but that should not be a concern.
“Although data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines, extensive experience with non-COVID-19 vaccines has demonstrated that immunogenicity and adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone,” the Wisconsin Chapter wrote on its webpage.
The organization also admits that it does not know what type of adverse reactions will occur with the co-administration of these vaccines at the same time.
“It is unknown whether reactogenicity of COVID-19 vaccine is increased with coadministration, including with other vaccines known to be more reactogenic, such as adjuvanted vaccines or live vaccines,” the AAP chapter said.
Dr. James Johnston, a family practice doctor, said that the CDC has been recommending that people receive different vaccines concurrently but have yet to study its effects.
Kaiser Permanente Faces Potential Lawsuit for Alleged Wrongful COVID-19 Death
Epoch Times – The family of Nerissa Regnier, a mother of three, announced on Jan. 26 at a press conference that they planned to sue Kaiser Permanente for causing wrongful death after refusing her the COVID-19 vaccine and monoclonal antibody treatment.
Regnier, of Mission Viejo, had been suffering from multiple sclerosis before she was tested positive for COVID-19 last August and died from the disease at the age of 45 in December 2021.
“She desperately wanted the COVID-19 vaccine, and Kaiser said no—not once, not twice, but seven times—you are not eligible,” Annee Della Donna, the family’s attorney, told reporters during the press conference.
Della Donna said Regnier was told the vaccine contained a “live virus” and could put her at severe risk of catching the disease.
“It didn’t make any sense,” Della Donna said. “The COVID-19 vaccine does not have a live virus and should be given to every patient who is immunocompromised.”
Kaiser Permanente officials, while declining to comment on the circumstances of Regnier’s death, insisted they are committed to providing the best care available to all patients. They also rejected allegations that Regnier was told she could not have a COVID-19 vaccine because it contained a “live virus.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated on its website that everyone over five years old, especially immunocompromised individuals, should get vaccinated as soon as possible.
For months, Regnier pleaded with her doctors to get inoculated after starting a new medication regimen for her multiple sclerosis last February.
Last August, she contacted her neurologist, who told her to get vaccinated.
She rushed over to the Sand Canyon Kaiser Permanente facility two days later to get the jab while feeling COVID-19 symptoms, only to test positive.
“And then what happens is disastrous,” Della Donna said.
Instead of giving Regnier monoclonal antibodies, Kaiser refused to admit her into the hospital and gave her antibiotics and steroids.
After failing to get admitted by Kaiser, her husband transferred her to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where she was told it was too late for her to get the treatment, according to Eric Dubin, the family’s second attorney.
Regnier fought for her life for nearly 100 days as her family watched and waited for her to return home.
Morocco starts construction of COVID vaccine plant
Al Jazeera – Morocco hopes plant will produce 116 million vaccine units by 2024; flight ban to the kingdom to end on February 7.
OTHER NEWS
A House Aggrieved Cannot Stand
American Mind – Over the course of history, societies have chosen different forms of moral currency. In Rome, your virtue was determined by your nobility of ancestry and comportment. In Medieval Europe (and the first two centuries of the American republic, perhaps) piety was the determinant of moral virtue. Today, grievance is America’s moral currency. Understanding this is key to understand exactly what a civil war would be about.
January 6, 2022 brought the first anniversary of the turmoil at the Capitol. In addition to neurotic public remembrances, the date brought with it a wave of hand-wringing furvor over whether we are approaching another civil war. The prospect of a civil war is more than clickbait. The acrimonious division that was previously contained to the political realm now sets the terms of social interaction everywhere: in schools, restaurants, the workplace, the grocery store, the church. It is the price our establishment pays for its own radicalization. Confronting the civil strife that this rolling revolution creates is a dangerous thing to even talk about—when respected voices broach the subject, this signals to the masses that such a conflict is a possibility, and that increases the possibility of it occurring.
The coverage from outlets such as Politico and The New Yorker displays two types of “civil war” articles. In one, the author pretends he has no idea what such a war would even be about. In the other type, the risk of conflict is attributed wholly to the alleged delusions and purportedly violent tendencies of the political right. The former embodies a lame attempt at obfuscation; the latter suggests that one side of the conflict holds all the culpability for the rising aggression. But in their dissembling, both types inadvertently show that the true cause of the conflict would be a battle over the legitimacy of mass grievances and the deliberate refusal of those in power to address—or even acknowledge—them. Through their incessant denial that the public’s concerns have any merit, the media is fanning the coals that would ignite such a war.
Politico exhibits the idea that there are no grievances: “One side unreasonably believes that President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory was stolen, and the other side reasonably fears that former president Donald Trump’s followers are so slavishly under his spell that they are willing to hijack the legal apparatus guaranteeing free and honest elections in order to facilitate his return to power in 2024.” It’s that simple: one side is full of unreasonable, hypnotized conspiracy theorists, and the other side is rational, patriotic defenders of Democracy who would have no problem at all, if not for the threat posed by the yokels who unjustifiably oppose them.
The New Yorker’s reporter believes the civil war might occur because troglodytes and bigots have given up on democracy: put differently, they have grievances, but not ones that deserve any attention. For example, David Remnick claims the current strife exists because people were worried about what Obama’s 2008 victory represented: it “vividly underlined the rise of a multiracial democracy and was taken as a threat by many white Americans who feared losing their majority status.” Remnick goes on to say, without evidence, that the conflict is fueled by “the consuming resentment of many right-wing, rural whites who fear being ‘replaced’ by immigrants and people of color, as well as a Republican Party leadership that bows to its most autocratic demagogue and no longer seems willing to defend democratic values and institutions.” The institutional left is entirely innocent in deepening these divisions: “The battle to preserve American democracy is not symmetrical. One party, the GOP, now poses itself as anti-majoritarian and anti-democratic.”
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