Sign up for Caleb’s newsletter here.This week I want to take a break from our usual format and write about the biggest news in the word-puzzle community since the invention of the anagram. By now, you’ve probably heard about Wordle 10 times over from friends and followers alike. The daily word game, originally created by the software developer Josh Wardle to amuse his partner during pandemic downtime, quickly became a viral sensation.
Robert Califf’s supporters fear his candidacy is on the brink — raising the threat of a setback for Biden and the health agency at the center of his pandemic response.
As the U.S. prepared for authorization of the first Covid-19 vaccines, the administration prepared a secret list of which nations would get the doses first.
The deficiencies include failures to outline roles and responsibilities for other entities involved in a response.
At a time when inflation is a growing concern, the survey found more than four in 10 people believe that both the BBB and the infrastructure bill will increase inflation.
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
The government reported Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most widely watched gauge of inflation, hit a four-decade high in December compared to the previous year.
The jump is the latest evidence that rising costs for food, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households.
The potential clash over the Fed’s plans to tighten monetary policy could be a harbinger of conflicts to come with Democrats and even some Republicans.
Families of passengers who died in fatal crashes while aboard Boeing 737 MAX jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia are urging the Department of Justice to reopen a Trump-era settlement that allowed the company to evade criminal prosecution. We speak with the father of one of the victims, as well as the director of the new documentary, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” which details Boeing’s push for profit over safety and is set to air on Netflix February 18.
Israeli forces continue to expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that the United Nations has described as a possible war crime. We speak to Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd, whose own family is among those facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Sheikh Jarrah is also where the Salhiyeh family recently gained attention for threatening self-immolation while protesting their eviction and the demolition of their home.
We go to Tijuana, Mexico, where a wave of murdered journalists has raised international alarm and prompted nationwide protests. The three most recently murdered are José Luis Gamboa Arenas, Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel and Lourdes Maldonado López.
As the Federal Reserve signals it will raise interest rates in March, we talk to Christopher Leonard, author of the new book “The Lords of Easy Money,” about how the Federal Reserve broke the American economy. He details the issues with quantitative easing, a radical intervention instituted by the federal government in 2010 to encourage banks and investors to lend more risky debt to combat the recession.
“Talk about saying the quiet part loud,” tweeted conservative commentator Bill Kristol.
“I cannot believe I would ever hear this from somebody running for office or in office” in America, said Leahy, who witnessed the violence in the Capitol.
In the news today: In a Saturday rally, Donald Trump promised presidential pardons for those involved with the Jan. 6 insurrection if he reclaims the presidency. He also urged supporters to take to the streets if prosecutors attempt to hold him, personally, accountable for crimes. It was a fascist speech to a fascist Republican party—and was hardly remarked upon by any of the Republican lawmakers who continue to kiss his delusional behind.
by Trevor Smith
This article was originally published at Prism
When the pandemic first hit in Mar. 2020 and various states started to enforce mandatory lockdowns, the country’s low-wage workers of color suffered the most. Already facing lowered income, wealth, health coverage, and housing security, the pandemic only worsened these volatile economic conditions as Congress failed to pass bold economic legislation.
by Kinjo Kiema
This article was originally published at Prism
People selling food on the streets, whether out of a cart or a food truck, are ubiquitous in city life worldwide. Many street vendors sell fresh produce and food in places where grocery stores can be scarce in the U.S. But vendors themselves face challenges: Many are undocumented immigrants at risk of criminalization.
Republican Party leader and traitor to the nation Donald Trump continues to test new rally waters in anticipation of a repeat presidential bid. On Saturday the delusional narcissist made no particular effort to hide his disgust for the law and for those who would hold him to it, delivering an ugly, unhinged, and unabashedly fascist speech to a crowd of like-minded traitors.
His most newsworthy proclamation was a vow to pardon the seditionists of the January 6 insurrection.
The National Butterfly Center near Mission, Texas, released a shocking statement this week, announcing it would be forced to shut down for the weekend due to credible threats. “We simply cannot risk the safety and lives of our staff and visitors during this dangerous time,” the organization said in a statement Thursday.
You may be asking yourself what in the world anyone could have against a butterfly center.
The Senate Judiciary chair, whose committee handles the nominee’s confirmation, said Democrats are looking for younger candidates.
Somewhere, maybe in the attic of his childhood home in San Mateo, California, or perhaps in an alcove of a Florida bunker, I imagine there must be a portrait of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. that shows him gnarled and gray, his throwing arm wizened, the twinkle in his eye occluded by glaucoma and cataracts.
“I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally, said Sunday.
No one seems to agree about what Russia’s saber-rattling behavior on the Ukrainian border means. In America, normally united political forces—such as Fox News commentators and the GOP—are divided over how to talk about Vladimir Putin’s latest moves. In Europe, allied superpowers are not all making the same preparations for possible war. The White House and Ukrainian leaders are openly disputing how seriously to take the threat of Putin sacking Kyiv.
The Fox Nation host goes all-in on the white supremacist conspiracy theory that George Soros is waging “demographic war — on the West.
Illustrations by Miki LoweCarl Dennis doesn’t tend to focus his writing on death, love, and the Big Questions. His poetry serves as a reminder—perhaps especially to people who see the form as melodramatic—that not every line of verse needs to take itself so seriously. Instead, his sweet spot is in the small things—“the minor efforts, the daily or weekly rewards and tasks that make up most of any life,” as the poet Stephanie Burt put it.
This piece was originally published by Undark.On the outskirts of the Northern California town of Grass Valley, a massive concrete silo looms over the weeds and crumbling pavement. Nearby, unseen, a mine shaft drops 3,400 feet into the earth. These are the remains of Grass Valley’s Idaho-Maryland Mine, a relic from the town’s gold-mining past.
Anyone who has spent an hour on the couch wallowing in self-pity knows that it can feel good to feel bad. Your dive into dysphoria might start with anything from passing irritation to a genuine blow. From there, you sink into the cushions, urging yourself more deeply into the recesses of despair. As your dejection grows, other bad feelings intrude. Anger at people who have slighted you. Embarrassment, as you replay humiliating conversations in your mind.
China is on high alert as it prepares to host the Olympic Games opening Friday.