“I’m not getting in the car.”
This is what former Vice President Mike Pence said on Jan. 6, 2021 to Tim Giebels, the lead special agent tasked to protect him.
Thousands of rioters, many of them armed with weapons makeshift and otherwise, were laying siege to the U.S. Capitol while clamoring to hang him, the second person in line for the presidency of the United States. This conversation reportedly happened just before 2:30 PM.
In a sea of tanks, armored personal carriers (APC), infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), armored fighting vehicles (AFV), Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles, it can be easy to overlook the vehicles that are most often responsible for getting soldiers where they need to be on the battlefield—Infantry Mobility Vehicles. Also known as Jeeps.
Well, not actually Jeeps.
Your day probably hasn’t been weird enough, so let’s fix that right now with a quote from an ex-President of These United States.
“I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit,” said Donald J. Trump, previously in charge of this nation’s nuclear arsenal.
Nearly two years after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights found that Minneapolis police officers are more likely to use neck restraints and chemical irritants on Black people and more likely to cite, use force against, and arrest Black people during traffic stops. The human rights departments announced the saddening but not shocking findings on Wednesday after a nearly two-year investigation.
The request comes a month after the drug company signaled its two-dose regimen generated immune protection in the youngest children comparable to young adults.
The former president said “you can be killed” by projectile fruit.
A petition by 3 American Samoans calls on the court to overturn the 100-year-old Insular Cases that deemed people in newly acquired territories as “uncivilized.
An independent autopsy confirmed what the Latino father’s family had declared: Police in Alameda, California, killed him, not meth. No officers were charged.
Conservatives on Twitter have greeted Elon Musk as a liberator. The mega-billionaire is in the process of purchasing the social-media platform and reorienting it toward what he calls “free speech.” The conservative columnist Ben Shapiro celebrated the news of the new free-speech era by insisting that Musk engage in politically motivated mass firings of Twitter workers based on their perceived political leanings.
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Question of the WeekElon Musk bought Twitter. Anticipating that the deal will go through, many are advising him on how to improve the platform, with a focus on the tension between free speech and content moderation.
If you tried to imagine the perfect gym teacher, you’d probably come up with someone a lot like Hampton Liu. He’s a gentle, friendly guy who spends most of his time trying to figure out how to make the basics of exercise more approachable, and he talks frequently about how he never wants anyone to feel shame for their ability or skill level.
In an ill-fated attempt to hype myself up for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, I went on YouTube to look at an inflatable blue gorilla—a stage prop for the hip-hop act Brockhampton, who had announced that Coachella would be the group’s last booking ever. The festival unfolds in two identical three-day lineups over consecutive weekends; I was attending the second weekend, and I wanted a taste of how the first one had gone.
We speak with historian Alfred McCoy about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could possibly end. McCoy argues the European Union is essentially funding the war by buying energy from Russia, and says sanctions will not deter Russian President Putin from war so long as his economy continues supplying energy for the world.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether to strike down the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases played out in U.S. courts, often in extremely dangerous conditions. Biden suspended the policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, shortly after taking office, but Texas and Missouri challenged the move.
Puerto Rican elected officials from both the island and the United States are on Capitol Hill today to support the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which would establish a process for determining the status of the U.S. territory. This comes after the Supreme Court recently supported the Biden administration’s claim that Puerto Ricans are not entitled to claim full Supplemental Security Income benefits unless they move to the mainland.
Less access could also prolong the pandemic, allowing the virus to circulate and perhaps provide a haven for new, more dangerous variants.
Residents in the Chinese city of 21 million were stocking up on food.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services “concluded that it is not the best use of the federal government’s limited resources.
The war in Ukraine will “severely” set back the global recovery from Covid-19, according to the IMF.
The Fed’s campaign to raise interest rates — designed to reduce spending and curb inflation — will slow growth, which will have consequences for American workers.
Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Biden administration recently extended a Covid-related pause on repayments.
White House officials deny any sense of panic over the economy or their midterm chances.
Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law is part of a nationwide push by Republicans to score political points by attacking gay and transgender students.
Oklahoma GOP chair John Bennett’s sinister comments about the top infectious disease expert earned him applause at a campaign event.
Frank Figliuzzi said the Fox News personality’s parroting of Russian propaganda has “gone way beyond free speech.
The House Republican leader made some comments on tape last year that the Fox News host wasn’t too happy about.
The State Department said it would continue to support the “people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country.
As noted this morning, Russia went from attacking in too many axes during the war’s first season, to …. attacking in too many axes in this second phase.
The House Republican leader singled out extremist Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks and said Gaetz was “putting people in jeopardy.