Men, Women and Money

 In his wonderful book “Sapiens,” Yuval Noah Harari provides explanations for many of the questions about how human societies have evolved over the millennia. But one great mystery he leaves unsolved is why there is universally such a stark difference in the status of women and men.

He explores and rejects explanations based on the theories that men are stronger, or more aggressive, or smarter, or more competitive. Or that is it simply a matter that women the bear children. Women are supposedly more empathetic; if anything in a species that depends on social cooperation that alone should have resulted in their pre-eminence. 

But nothing, according to his analyses, can explain why men have always dominated and still dominate the social, political and economic power in virtually every known human culture in the world.

Or why they have more money.

In addition, historically men have dominated art, writing, music, architecture, sports, entertainment, religion and the academy as well. And just about every other field you can name.

I certainly am not able to answer the question as to why any better than Harari. It makes no sense to me.

But I do know that in our time, that the balance of power between the sexes is shifting, at least in some parts of the world. This is not happening fast enough or widely enough yet, but women are rising to the top of many fields and maybe — just maybe — that is cause for hope.

After all, centuries of patriarchy have gotten us into the current worldwide mess we face so perhaps the reign of male dominance is finally running its course.

But if the questions about the roots of the inequality of the sexes remain unresolved, Harari has no doubt about the role of money in human social development. Without the shared fiction of money there could be no modern civilization — virtually everything depends on it. We need money to be able to exchange any good or service for something else. And money itself doesn’t discriminate on the basis of one’s sex or gender. 

People do that.

Of course, beyond necessities, we don’t really need as much money as most of us have, but we convince ourselves we do, and the habits created by an abundance of money begin to feel like necessities over time. Living in one of the world’s richest regions, those of us in Silicon Valley are well-acquainted with the downsides of a world where a minority have more money than they know what to do with, while the majority have enough to get by, and a desperately poor underclass persists no matter what.

Though we may be making some progress on the issue of the equality of the sexes here and there, I’m not sure we’re making any progress on the obscene disparities of wealth anywhere on the planet. And nobody knows what to do about that.

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• Hospitalizations skyrocket in kids too young for COVID shots (AP)

• Omicron and the Week America Is Calling In Sick (WSJ)

• Fate of Biden's vaccine mandates rests with justices (Politico)

• In omicron outbreak, US governors lose appetite for mandates (AP)

• India’s Covid cases double as Omicron threatens economic rebound (Financial Times)

• What I learned from my pandemic bookshelf (SFE)

• Arbery’s killers sentenced to life in prison, two with no chance of parole (WP)

• Ignoring Trump Didn’t Work. Biden Goes After ‘a Defeated Former President.’ (NYT)

• From Lindsay Graham to Ron DeSantis, Republicans blamed Democrats for politicizing Trump supporters' attack on the Capitol. The extremists Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene promised to retrace the steps of the rioters as if leading the faithful through the holy land. [HuffPost]

• White House, USPS finalizing plans to begin shipping coronavirus test kits to U.S. households (WP)

• The Capitol police officers who responded as a mob of Trump supporters pushed their way into the building on Jan. 6, 2021, are still living with the physical and emotional pain of what happened that day. Toughness doesn't allow for a free-flowing conversation. They note the irony that the radicalized insurrectionists storming the Capitol and Blue Lives Matter supporters are often the same people. “This didn’t just happen Jan. 6,” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said. “Jan. 6 just exposed a divide that this country has, and how do you fix that?” [HuffPost]

• ‘A Reflection of Where Our Party Is’: Republicans Avoid Jan. 6 Observances (NYT)

• Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was inside the Democratic National Committee's headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021, when police discovered a pipe bomb outside the building. According to Politico, police and the Secret Service evacuated Harris from the DNC. The suspect who planted the bombs outside the DNC and Republican National Committee buildings has not been identified. [HuffPost]

• Ted Cruz told the truth about the 1/6 attack. Then he started backtracking. (CNN)

• Why a Law, Not Jail, Might Be the Best Way to Keep Trump Out of the Oval Office — Congress has the ability to bar Trump from running again. Even prosecutors can’t do that. (Politico)

• The anguish of Afghans in Sacramento — want to send money to relatives, but the banking system has all but collapsed. They want to fly family members out of Afghanistan, but they have run up against U.S. extraction efforts manifestly unprepared to help them. (Cal Today)

• Taiwan Stages Military Drills to Deter Chinese Aggression (WSJ)

• Kazakhstan president gives shoot-to-kill order against protesters, dismissing calls for negotiations (WP)

• VIDEO: Protesters Clash With Security Forces in Kazakhstan (NYT)

• From stability to turmoil - what's going on in Kazakhstan (Reuters)

• In Kazakhstan, Putin Again Seizes on Unrest to Try to Expand Influence (NYT)

• What to Do When All Your Employees Want to Leave (WSJ)

• Kids are back in school — and struggling with mental health issues (NPR)

• US unemployment sinks to 3.9% as many more people find jobs (AP)

• Bitcoin prices fall to lowest in months after US Fed remarks (BBC)

• "Catalog releases – or tracks that debuted more than 18 months ago –
  experienced a 24.8 percent year-over-year consumption hike in the U.S.
  in 2021 and accounted for nearly three-quarters of domestic listening,
  even as total stateside audio streams grew by nearly 10 percent YoY. (Digital Music News)

• The rise of a pro-democracy media (WP)

• The Western megadrought is revealing America's 'lost national park' (NPR)

• ‘Drastic’ rise in high Arctic lightning has scientists worried (Guardian)

• Is Nuclear Power Part of the Climate Solution? (WSJ)

• Hunters kill 20 Yellowstone wolves that roamed out of park (AP)

• Peter Bogdanovich, director of 1970s classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” died on Thursdayat his home in Los Angeles. He was 82. (Cal Today)

• Sidney Poitier, first Black man to win Oscar for best actor, dies at 94 (WP)

• How Do Self-Driving Cars Avoid Driving Straight To The Beach? (The Onion)

TODAY’S LYRICS:

“For All I Know”

Merle Haggard

For all I know you never cared about me
And chances are I never crossed your mind
Maybe you won't understand me calling
But darling it's been such a long long time.

For all I know there may be someone with you now
But may be he won't mind the friendly call
You've already made it clear that you stopped loving me
And for all I know you never cared at all.

I can't help it if I sound like I've been crying
'Cause darling I've been crying all night long
I just call to let you know just how much I need you
And for all I know you may be there alone.

Surely you must know I'd give the world to see you now
And could be you'd like to have me one more time
You've already made it clear that you stopped loving me
But for all I know I may have lost my mind.

Chamber of Silence

 

On this the seventh day of the new year, we still have a functioning democracy in the U.S. Yesterday, before an almost empty chamber, the Speaker of the House, a Democrat, presided over a moment of silence in remembrance of the violent riot waged by Trump supporters a year and a day ago.

One elected Republican official attended that event — Rep. Liz Cheney. (Her father, the former Vice-President, came too.) Otherwise, from the GOP side of the House, there was silence.

That probably symbolizes as well as anything the state of America’s political democracy. An election in which Joe Biden received over 7 million more votes than Donald Trump, about a 4.5 percent margin, and an Electoral College victory of 306-232, the losing candidate refused to concede.

Instead he stayed in the White House until the morning of Biden’s inauguration, then slivered away to his Florida resort, angry and bitter that the insurrection he incited had failed to overturn the legitimate results of the election.

Accordingly, because he is a bad loser, his party has been unable to move on and move into the role we need from them to embrace and reaffirm the democratic institutions that have held this country together, albeit tenuously at times, for over 245 years.

Democracy is just an idea. The Constitution is just a document, deeply flawed at that, without its Amendments. The original version only guaranteed the vote to white male landowners. It disenfranchised most Americans — all women, Native Americans, black people, and non-landowners.

Although we’ve made progress over the past two-and-a-half centuries extending the vote to those groups, the modern-day Republican Party remains basically committed to the original vision and only reluctantly accepts the formerly disenfranchised into its ranks.

This leaves the Democratic Party as the sole guardian of democracy with a small “d” in the U.S. Much as that half-empty chamber yesterday symbolized.

And that is the sound of silence.

TODAY’S NEWS:

• Is a Civil War Ahead? — A year after the attack on the Capitol, America is suspended between democracy and autocracy. (New Yorker)

• Jimmy Carter: I Fear for Our Democracy — Even established democracies can fall to military juntas and despots. We can’t let that happen here. (NYT)

• A year after Jan. 6, Congress more deeply divided than ever (AP)

• How the GOP became party of Trump’s election lie after Jan. 6 (WP)

• President Joe Biden accused his predecessor Donald Trump of posing a continuing threat to democracy (Reuters)

• 'A nation in decline' - how the world saw Capitol riot (BBC)

• In 2022, lies about 2020 still proliferate (Politico)

• How Democrats failed to galvanize voters in year since January 6 riots (Financial Times)

• America Is Running Out of Time (Atlantic)

• ‘Hatred in the eyes’: How racist rage animated Jan. 6 riots (AP)

• A Year After Capitol Riot, Trump’s Hold on G.O.P. Is Unrivaled (NYT)

• GOP officials in Arizona’s largest county affirm 2020 election was secure, debunking Trump claims (WP)

• A year later, the Hill ‘is no longer the safest place' (Politico)

• As Democrats struggled to move forward on broad new voting rights legislation, the U.S. Senate's top Republican Mitch McConnell signaled interest in changing an 1887 law that allows members of Congress to dispute presidential election results. (Reuters)

• Threat is greater now than when Trump turned his mob on D.C. (CNN)

• One year after the Jan. 6 insurrection, signs of a nation deeper in peril (NPR)

• We Are In a New Civil War … About What Exactly? (Politico)

• It's been a year since 147 Republican lawmakers voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, just hours after a mob of supporters of then-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. HuffPost asked all of them if they now concede that Joe Biden was elected president, and if they regret their votes against certifying the Electoral College count. Overwhelmingly, the answers were no comment, and no. [HuffPost]

• On Jan. 6, the fight for democracy came home. There’s still so much we don’t know. (Edit Bd/WP)

• Republicans criticize Ted Cruz for calling Jan. 6 a violent terrorist attack (NPR)

• Attorney General Merrick Garland sought to reassure Americans that the federal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack isn't letting up, and that lawbreakers "at any level" will be brought to justice. The former judge's speech was carefully worded so as to not affect ongoing prosecutions. The feds have charged more than 700 people in connection with the assault, but that's still only about a quarter of the total number of potential defendants. [HuffPost]

• Ex-Trumpers set to plot how to try and take down Trump (Politico)

• New York’s Omicron Surge Points to a Wave of Mild Cases (WSJ)

• With 9.5 million new coronavirus cases, global count hits record high, WHO says (WP)

• Revolt in Kazakhstan: What’s Happening, and Why It Matters (NYT)

• Russia has sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan as part of an international peacekeeping force to quell deadly unrest in the central Asian country, a military alliance of former Soviet states said. Earlier, Kazakh police said forces had "eliminated" tens of rioters in the largest city of Almaty as the unrest sparked by rising fuel prices boiled over into the biggest protests since independence in 1991. (Reuters)

• Afghan Taliban turn blind eye to Pakistani militants (AP)

• Leftists Are Ascendant in Latin America as Key Elections Loom (NYT)

• World food prices jumped 28% in 2021 to their highest level in a decade and hopes for a return to more stable market conditions this year are slim, the U.N.'s food agency said. Higher food prices have contributed to a broader surge in inflation as economies recover from the coronavirus crisis. (Reuters)

• An elusive thief stole hundreds of book manuscripts in an online scam. The culprit is an industry insider, FBI says.(WP)

• Scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier (AP)

• Ozone and smoke levels are rising over parts of the West. The two harmful pollutants are a result of worsening wildfires and extreme heat. (Cal Today)

• More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit by climate disasters in 2021 (WP)

• Kew scientists name new tree after Leonardo DiCaprio (BBC)

• Cryptocurrency-linked crime surged to a record high last year in terms of value, with illegal addresses receiving $14 billion in digital currencies, up 79% from $7.8 billion in 2020, according to a blog from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. (Reuters)

• “Dad, my lawyer has advised me to tell you to call off the rioters, so this text is proof that I did that.” – @IvankaTrump (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

“The Sound of Silence”

Paul Simon

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls
In tenement halls"
And whispered in the sound of silence

Just Another Love Story (That's the Way It Goes)

 

This January 6th there is plenty of news. 

I could write about the threats to democracy, or Covid, climate change, the economy, web.3, NFTs, blockchain, bitcoin, Congress, the midterms, the crises in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Iran, or any number of other topics. 

But I think that I won’t. Instead I think I’ll write about love.

Over the months I’ve been publishing excerpts of my conversations with my young friend in Afghanistan, I’ve often reassured him that people here on the other side of the world really do care about what is happening to the Afghan people — or at least they would care if they knew.

That is my presumption and why I’ve devoted 22 essays to telling the stories he witnesses on a daily basis since the heartless Taliban guerrilla army took over his country. 

But I also know it is very difficult for my fellow Americans to think too much about those in a distant land they’ve never visited when there are much more immediate concerns closer at hand.

So the truth of the matter is I don’t know whether beyond a few stalwarts if my fellow citizens actually have the bandwidth to focus on the plight of the Afghan people. 

But I do know that Americans care about love. And I know enough about the young couple (Musa and Shirin) my friend wrote about yesterday to confirm that their love is as precious and vulnerable as that shared by any two Americans.

Their situation is complicated by the strictures of Afghan society, including outmoded concepts of a woman’s freedom to love whomever she chooses. But otherwise their love story is familiar.

For many of us, anywhere on the planet, it is not uncommon to feel attracted to somebody when we meet them, but rare that the attraction proves mutual and circumstances converge to make a romance possible.

But when that does happen, it’s like the whole world goes off in a fireworks show — colorful lights streak through the sky and beautiful music fills the world around us.

In the early days of love, when anticipation about what might happen rules our conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings, every fiber of our being feels like it is on edge.

A lot can and usually does happen after that — some good, some bad. The wonderful highs and joys have to be measured ultimately against the terrible pain of loss and disappointment. And few pains are as distinctly unbearable as a broken heart.

Nevertheless, we all know that some love stories have happy endings and we wish for that for Musa and Shirin. 

And that is the way of love all over the planet.

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• We Are Living Through a Democratic Emergency (Atlantic)

• Prosecutors Move Quickly on Jan. 6 Cases, but Big Questions Remain — In the year since the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, more than 700 people have been arrested, with little public indication from the Justice Department of how high the investigation might reach. (NYT)

• How to avert another US Capitol siege — The burden falls on the Republican party to end its flirtation with extremism (Financial Times)

• Instead of being carted off in handcuffs for inciting an insurrection against the United States, or even just being banished for life by the Senate, Trump remains the leader of a major political party and is considering another run for the White House. Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council analyst in the Trump White House, called what he did a "coup." “If we were looking at this overseas, we would say: Absolutely, that’s what it was," she said. [HuffPost]

• Trump Cancels Jan. 6 Event, After Allies See It as a Distraction (NYT)

• Security still top of mind a year after Capitol attack (Politico)

• Recalling Jan. 6: A national day of infamy, half remembered (AP)

• Afghanistan Has Become the World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis (New Yorker)

• With covid surging, many college students are confined in isolation and quarantine (WP)

• Health tech reaches crossroads in pandemic's third year (Politico)

• COVID causes staff shortages at San Francisco schools, city agencies (SFC)

• Hong Kong announced a two-week ban on incoming flights from eight countries and tightened local COVID-19 restrictions as authorities feared a fifth wave of coronavirus in the city. (Reuters)

• Being a journalist in the U.S. is becoming more dangerous (WP)

• Variant Pushes Wall Street Toward Work-From-Home Future (WSJ)

• More quit jobs than ever, but most turnover is in low-wage work. (NYT)

• McConnell cracks door to Electoral Count Act reform (Politico)

• Protesters stormed public buildings in Kazakhstan's biggest city as security forces struggled to impose control after the government resigned in response to popular anger over a fuel price increase. (Reuters)

• Kazakhstan’s Government Resigns Amid Unrest Over Fuel Prices (WSJ)

• Report: Kazakh president’s home ablaze as protests escalate (AP)

• Kazakhstan protests: president threatens ruthless crackdown (Guardian)

• Kazakhstan unrest: Internet cut amid fuel protests (BBC)

• NFTs move to influence Congress, even if lawmakers have no clue what they are (Politico)

• Exploding meteor over Pittsburgh equivalent to 30 tons of TNT, NASA says (WP)

• Coho salmon are back in Marin’s creeks, and it’s a good sign for the species’ future. (SFC)

• Gandikota: The stunning Indian gorge that resembles the Grand Canyon (BBC)

• Republicans Are Moving Rapidly to Cement Minority Rule. Blame the Constitution. (Politico)

• PG&E Equipment Is Blamed for Starting Dixie Fire in Northern California (NYT)

• Out-of-control rocket stage is tumbling toward Earth (CNN)

• Progressive Company Pays Both Men And Women 78% Of What They Should Be Earning (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS (of course)

“That's the Way Love Goes”

Merle Haggard

Songwriters: Lefty Frizzell / Sanger D. Shafer

I've been throwing horseshoes
Over my left shoulder
I've spent most all my life
Searching for that four-leaf clover

Yet you ran with me
Chasing my rainbows
Honey, I love you too
That's the way love goes

That's the way love goes, babe
That's the music God made
For all the world to sing
It's never old, it grows
Losing makes me sorry
You say, "Honey, now don't worry
Don't you know I love you too?"
And that's the way love goes

That's the way love goes, babe
That's the music God made
For all the world to sing
It's never old, it grows
Losing makes me sorry
And you say, "Honey, don't worry
Don't you know I love you too?"
And that's the way love goes

A Love Story (Afghan Conversation 22)

The following is a true story as relayed by an Afghan friend who has been corresponding with me about life in his country since the Taliban took power last August. The names have been changed.

***

Dear David:

I know a young man, Musa, and a young woman, Shirin, who live in Kabul. They both come from Bamyan, where they met at school and fell in love in the 9th grade. At first, they were very happy just to be able to see each other in class. During vacation week, they met surreptitiously beneath the trees or next to the raceway in the village. When they couldn’t do that, Musa walked close to Shirin’s home, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Just looking at each other was enough for them to feel good for the rest of the week apart. 

As they grew older, their attraction grew. But when their relationship became known at the school their classmates made fun of them and Shirin’s family told her she was forbidden to see Musa any longer. 

In Afghan society, what is considered an illicit relationship brings shame for the girl and her family. If a parent finds out their daughter has a relationship with any boy, the girl will be blamed, beaten or even killed, because they believe their daughter has disgraced them. Therefore, if a girl should fall in love with someone, she tries to keep it secret. 

This is especially true with the Taliban in control of the country. Sharia law dictates that if a man and a woman have such a relationship, they will be killed by stones thrown at their heads. 

Shirin and Musa were too much in love to stay apart despite the scandal and they continued seeing each other, including after they finished high school two years ago. Then, one year ago, Musa decided he had to end their relationship because he was a college student and couldn't provide for their expenses if they got married. After hearing this news, Shirin became despondent and tried to commit suicide by ingesting a packet of tablets. Her family took her to the hospital and she survived. 

After this, Musa and Shirin again resumed their relationship and got engaged. But he still cannot afford to marry her. 

Recently, Shirin left her parents’ home after a family quarrel and asked Musa’s mother what she should do. Her future mother-in-law said there was no choice – she had to go back to her own parents’ house. (This has been the steadfast position of both families throughout their relationship.)

For now Shirin has returned to her parents’ home, where she suffers their constant rebukes, and Musa is continuing with his university studies. Their story does not yet have an ending.

***

Thank you to the small group of people who have helped me from time to time with various aspects of my Afghan friend’s situation. This is 22nd conversation I have published.

TODAY’S NEWS:

• ‘It’s Chaos’ as Schools Confront Omicron — After an unrelenting spike in cases, a small but growing list of districts — including Newark, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Cleveland — moved temporarily to remote learning. (NYT)

• U.S. Covid Cases Top One Million After Holiday Backlog (WSJ)

• Southeast U.S. poised for a firestorm of omicron cases (WP)

• COVID case counts may be losing importance amid omicron (AP)

• Congress is experiencing an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases, with the seven-day positivity rate at a congressional test site surging to 13% from just 1% in late November, the Capitol's attending physician said. (Reuters)

• When Three Shots Are Not Enough — People with compromised immune systems are getting unapproved fourth or fifth Covid-19 shots, despite uncertainty about their safety or effectiveness. (NYT)

• Australian COVID-19 cases soared to a pandemic record as the Omicron variant ripped through most of the country, driving up hospitalization rates as the once-formidable testing regime buckled under lengthy wait times and stock shortages. (Reuters)

• Attorney General Merrick Garland plans speech on Jan. 6 investigation for Wednesday (WP)

• Trump came so dangerously close to successfully orchestrating the overthrow of the U.S. government last year that he only needed a few extra radical loyalists to pull it off, according to an essay on the conservative website The Bulwark. Americans can shrug off the insurrection as violence by a bunch of disorganized "crazies," but the “second way of looking at 2020 is that the attempted coup came much closer to succeeding than many would admit and was just a dress rehearsal for 2024,” Philip Rotner wrote. [HuffPost]

• Trump Endorses Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Far-Right Prime Minister — Democracy in Hungary has been backsliding under Mr. Orban, whose efforts to consolidate power have caused consternation in the European Union. (NYT)

• As Jan. 6 anniversary approaches, fear, disbelief and anger still felt in Capitol Hill neighborhood (WP)

• The U.S. Congress' probe of the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters soon begins weeks of public hearings that will put the investigation in the spotlight as campaigning intensifies for the November elections. Here's an hour-by-hour look at the assault on the Capitol. (Reuters)

• Just days before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump endorsed a man whom much of Europe considers a threat to democracy: Hungary's Victor Orbán. The former president’s Orbán endorsement comes as pro-Trump groups and media outlets have become increasingly fond of the Hungarian leader. “It’s more evidence that the GOP has embraced Hungarian-style electoral autocracy as its model,” said professor and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat. “Which is bad news for American democracy.” [HuffPost]

• If we are to save our democracy, there must be a reckoning for the Jan. 6 attack (Eugene Robinson/WP)

• Another Far-Right Group Is Scrutinized About Its Efforts to Aid Trump — The organization, called 1st Amendment Praetorian, is not as well known as the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys, but it worked closely with pro-Trump forces in the months after the 2020 election. (NYT)

• Facebook groups topped 10,000 daily attacks on election before Jan. 6, analysis shows (WP)

• Less than half of GOP say 1/6 was very violent: AP-NORC poll (AP)

• Afghan agents pour 3,000 litres of liquor into Kabul canal — Selling and consuming alcohol was banned even under the previous Western-backed regime, but the Taliban, known for their austere brand of Islam, are stricter in their opposition to it. (Money Control)

• Afghanistan's blue mountain lakes deserted as tourists stay away (Reuters)

• Floating offshore wind farms could allow California to achieve 60 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045. (Atlantic.)

• Verizon, AT&T delay 5G rollout plans again, bowing to aviation safety concerns (WP)

• A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November (AP)

• Elizabeth Holmes is found guilty of four counts of fraud. (NYT)

• DNC staff votes by ‘overwhelming margin’ to unionize (Politico)

• China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin. (Reuters)

• "Amazon is focused on new ways to get users to interact with Alexa, such 
  as in-home devices with screens, Alexa-enabled headphones, and 
  applications for cars. (Bloomberg)

• Jack Dorsey and Marc Andreessen are still beefing over crypto (Protocol)

• The ancient secrets revealed by deciphered tablets (BBC)

• Happy perihelion 2022! Earth reaches its closest point to the sun for the year (Space.com)

• Japanese automaker Toyota is poised to outsell General Motors in the United States in 2021, which would mark the first time the Detroit automaker has not led U.S. auto sales since 1931. (Reuters)

• Women 32% more likely to die after operation by male surgeon, study reveals (Guardian)

• Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith Steps Down to Found News Startup — 

  Justin Smith sees opportunity to help address a crisis in trust among news consumers, and he has recruited Ben Smith of the New York Times to lead its future newsroom. (WSJ)

• California twins born 15 minutes apart in two different years — A set of fraternal twins born in California have achieved an extremely rare feat - their birthdays fall in different years. Alfredo Antonio Trujillo was born at 23:45 local time on New Year's Eve of 2021. His sister Aylin Yolanda Trujillo arrived just 15 minutes later, at the stroke of midnight on 1 January 2022. (BBC)

• What We Get Wrong About Emotions — Fear, excitement, disgust: These feelings don’t deflect us from good judgment. They help guide it. (Atlantic)

• The Onion: 20 Years Later — Each week, we review The Onion from exactly 20 years ago to laugh, see what holds up and what pop culture references we forgot about. (James daSilva/Substack)

• NASA Scientists Confirm Earth Dating The Moon (The Onion)

TODAY’S LYRICS

“In Dreams”

Roy Orbison

A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
Go to sleep, everything is alright

I close my eyes then I drift away
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you

In dreams I walk with you
In dreams I talk to you
In dreams you're mine all of the time
We're together in dreams, in dreams

But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can't help it
I can't help it
If I cry
I remember that you said goodbye

It's too bad that all these things
Can only happen in my dreams
Only in dreams

In beautiful dreams 

Starting Time

 Maybe it’s just me but this so-called “2022” feels like it is having a bit of trouble getting started. It reminds me of my old 2004 Saturn, which I owned for 17 years and which in its declining years initially refused to respond when I turned the ignition key to “on.” 

When this failure to launch started to happen, I usually called my road service number for help. After a guy arrived and started up the car, I dutifully drove it around for 30 minutes as instructed until the battery was fully charged.

Those 30-minute drives to nowhere were strange experiences. Sometimes I just cornered around the city, repeating familiar routes to schools, offices and stores I used to visit. Occasionally, I got on a freeway and headed south to some point in Silicon Valley before turning around and heading back home.

The car performed as instructed and then, for a week or so, it would start up properly whenever I needed to go somewhere for real.

But then another morning would come, usually a chilly or wet morning, when it refused to start again.

This became such a chronic condition that I consulted several mechanics seeking a solution. They tested the car, replaced this or that, pronounced it fixed and returned it to me, but then the reluctance to launch problem came back again.

This might not have bothered me as much as it did if my own body didn’t seem to be following a similar trajectory, preferring as it were to remain stationary when I tried to get it going each morning.

Luckily, I rarely needed to call road service (aka 911) for my body’s sake although that occasionally did prove necessary. But my car proved to be another matter.

Then I learned a trick. If I tried and failed to start it, then waited ten minutes, the old engine would fire up just like it was new, and I could drive away successfully to wherever I desired to go.

This continued to be the case for over a year (no more emergency road service calls!) until I reluctantly parted with the old thing, mainly because I didn’t really much need it anymore — or so I thought at the time. 

Anyway, enough about old cars and old bodies and back to the new year. It most definitely is 2022, because both my iPhone and my laptop say it is. Here’s hoping that the world wakes up and starts acting like it one of these days soon.

TODAY’S NEWS:

• 6 in 10 Americans say U.S. democracy is in crisis as 'The Big Lie' takes root — A year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a new NPR/Ipsos poll finds that Americans are pessimistic about the future of democracy, as false claims about the 2020 election persist. (NPR)

• Child Tax Credit’s Extra Help Ends, Just as Covid Surges Anew (NYT)

• VIDEO: Israel Approves 4th Covid Vaccine Dose for People 60 and Over (Reuters)

• Covid cases rise by 948% in Florida as Omicron drives huge wave across US (Guardian)

• How will pandemic end? Omicron clouds forecasts for endgame (AP)

• The FDA authorizes a Pfizer booster shot for children ages 12 to 15 (NPR)

• Turkey’s Inflation Rate Nears 20-Year High (WSJ)

• Turkey’s annual inflation soared to its highest in nearly two decades, with consumer prices rising higher than expected and staples such as transportation and food and drink rising even faster. The lira continued its fall, even as President Tayyip Erdogan urged Turks to keep their savings in that currency and to bring gold savings into the banking system. Erdogan’s words come after the government sharply raised prices for electricity and natural gas prices, and as prices also jump for gasoline, car insurance and some bridge tolls. (Reuters)

• Colorado Residents Ponder the Road Ahead After Wildfires (NYT)

• Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr subpoenaed by NY attorney general (AP)

• The truth in 2022 is our strongest weapon against the lies that fed the insurrection (WP)

• Biden pushed to speak out more as US democracy concerns grow (AP)

• The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol is considering whether to subpoena Republican membersof Congress to force their cooperation. The committee is trying to establish what former President Donald Trump’s actions were while thousands of his supporters attacked police, vandalized the building and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives. (Reuters)

• Jan. 6 Panel Faces Difficult Questions as Anniversary of Capitol Riot Approaches (NYT)

• Since Jan. 6, the pro-Trump Internet has descended into infighting over money and followers (WP)

• Greene hit with Facebook suspension after Twitter ban (Politico)

• How Bad Are Plastics, Really? (Atlantic)

• Apple Becomes First U.S. Company to Reach $3 Trillion Market Value (WSJ)

• The chief executives of AT&T and Verizon rejected a U.S. government request to delay the introduction this week of new 5G wireless service over aviation safety concerns. They said they would not deploy 5G around airports for six months, but rejected any broader limitation on using C-Band spectrum. (Reuters)

• A 5G fight shows no signs of slowing (Politico)

• Kenyan paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey dies at 77 (WP)

• Paleontologists Discover Fossil Evidence Of Career-Oriented Dinosaur Who Froze Eggs (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

“Love Minus Zero/No Limit”

Bob Dylan

My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn't have to say she's faithful,
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire.
People carry roses,
Make promises by the hours,
My love she laughs like the flowers,
Valentines can't buy her.

In the dime stores and bus stations,
People talk of situations,
Read books, repeat quotations,
Draw conclusions on the wall.
Some speak of the future,
My love she speaks softly,
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all.

The cloak and dagger dangles,
Madams light the candles.
In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.
Statues made of match sticks,
Crumble into one another,
My love winks, she does not bother,
She knows too much to argue or to judge.

The bridge at midnight trembles,
The country doctor rambles,
Bankers' nieces seek perfection,
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring.
The wind howls like a hammer,
The night blows cold and rainy,
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing.

Democracy, the Myth That Barely Survived

 Coming up on the anniversary of the January 6th riot, we may wish to believe that the U.S. is still the place we thought it was, and that the riot was a mere aberration. But I fear it’s time to face the fact that America has changed for the worse in fundamental ways we haven’t yet fully grasped.

Democracy is a myth, albeit one of the most useful myths humans have ever constructed, and I for one believe in it wholeheartedly. But it doesn’t exist independently apart from our shared imaginations. It doesn’t exist in nature — there is no democracy in the web of life. Therefore, for it to work, the great majority of people who live within the myth need to want it to work.

The truth is it has been a very good myth for most of us. It is flawed, deeply flawed, but not as flawed as every other human social order — autocracy for example. And democracy won’t survive if millions of our fellow citizens don’t believe our elections are fair and are willing to instead to try to install someone else by force.

Unfortunately, this week there will be some who celebrate Jan. 6, 2021 as a positive memory and perhaps a few who will even try to replicate some form of the attack on democracy again. Congress continues its exhaustive probe of the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the evidence is horrifying but it will take a great writer to compile a report anyone will read, let alone believe.

And I’m not sure Congress contains that great writer. 

What is the story? That the world’s strongest democracy came close to collapse? Even after a year of considering what happened, those words sound unreal, nightmarish. Yet hordes of our fellow citizens, some armed, all angry, rushed the Capitol seeking to disrupt the Electoral College from certifying the election of President Joe Biden.

The man who lost the election, Donald Trump, sat in the White House watching events unfold on TV after inciting the crowd to do exactly what they did. Remember how they chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and “Kill Nancy Pelosi” — were those empty threats?

I don’t think so.

From the Congressional investigation, we know Trump and his co-conspirators were plotting various options to keep him in power and subvert the vote of the people. That they were too ignorant and naive about the electoral process and how to successfully subvert it is what small, small comfort we have now.

Yes, we escaped disaster, barely, but Trump and his ilk know more about how the system works now, and some of the checks and balances that saved our system of government are more vulnerable now than they were a year ago.

Many of the county officials in swing states who refused to falsify returns under the pressure generated by Trump supporters have resigned or have been removed from office. The same with some of the Electors. Those replacing them may not act as ethically or as honestly should another closely contested election come down to the type of contested late counts as it did in 2020.

And given how deeply divided the country appears to be, it’s likely that the 2024 Presidential election will be very close again, even though we don’t yet even know who the candidates will be.

None of this is comforting. All those of us who care about such things can do for now is to remain vigilant and speak out whenever we can, which is what I’m doing today.

Of course, remaining silent is an option. It’s another way of saying you don’t think your opinion matters. Which is equivalent to thinking your vote doesn't matter.

Which is one step away from ensuring that democracy will die.

MONDAY’s HEADLINES:

• Every Day Is Jan. 6 Now — Though we yearn for peace and quiet, things in America are far from normal. (Editorial Board/NYT)

• 1 in 3 Americans say there can be justified violence against government, citing fears of political schism, pandemic(WP)

• Jan. 6 committee prepares to go public as findings mount (AP)

• Liz Cheney on Trump: He’s a threat to American democracy (Politico)

• Poll: Democrats and Republicans split over Jan. 6 attack, Trump’s culpability (WP)

• Poll: House's Jan. 6 probe is popular — even among many Republicans (Politico)

• Omicron-related disruptions cause over 3,600 flight cancellations to start off 2022 (Reuters)

• With Omicron’s Rise, Americans Brace for Returning to School and Work — The highly contagious variant has already contributed to flight cancellations and staffing shortages. (NYT)

• Omicron could lead Israel to herd immunity, health official says (Reuters)

• Twitter permanently suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account over covid-19 misinformation (WP)

• ‘There is no money left’: Covid crisis leaves Sri Lanka on brink of bankruptcy (Guardian)

• How the U.S., U.K. and Pakistan Teamed Up To Stop Another 9/11 (Politico)

• When They Warn of Rare Disorders, These Prenatal Tests Are Usually Wrong — The false positives aren’t mentioned in the brochures for these blood screenings, which are sold by some of the biggest labs in the country. (NYT)

• U.S. officials ask AT&T, Verizon to delay 5G wireless over aviation safety concerns (Reuters)

• Even My Business-School Students Have Doubts About Capitalism (Atlantic)

• Climate change, new construction mean more ruinous fires (AP)

• Whistleblower warns baffling illness affects growing number of young adults in Canadian province (Guardian)

• Climate change and the battle for Canada’s forests (Financial Times)

• Citing danger to freshwater, scientists say we need to put brakes on road salts (WP)

• Tesla Reports 87% Growth in Annual Vehicle Deliveries (WSJ)

• Journalists in detention at 'new record' in 2021 (NHK)

• U.S. Military Focusing on ISIS Cell Behind Attack at Kabul Airport — The suicide bomber who killed nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. troops, had been freed from prison by the Taliban days before the attack. (NYT)

• Map drawn from memory helps reunite kidnapped Chinese man with family (BBC)

• Metaverse Needs More Than VR Christmas Bump (WSJ)

• Robots to probe inside Fukushima reactor (NHK)

• NBA: Stephen Curry breaks own three-pointer record in Golden State Warriors win (BBC)

• Take small steps to rekindle friendships in the new year (WP)

• Herpetologists Discover Species Of Frogs That Evolved To Spontaneously Grow Top Hat And Cane (The Onion)

Which Brings Us To Now

“Time is an illusion.” — Albert Einstein

If turning the calendar over represents a time for reflection, it’s also a time for confusion. And what is “time” anyway? 

When I woke up for the first time in 2022 after going to sleep for the last time in 2021, we’d crossed a threshold I normally would have been awake for — only this time I wasn’t.

Either there’s been a marked decrease in fireworks around here or I was too deeply asleep, but the old year didn’t go out for a bang in my case. As if to punctuate that absence, a loud display of fireworks did break out in the area a couple hours later.

Maybe someone had lit an overly long fuse or was too lit himself to remember to light it on time.

Anyway, the main way we keep track of what we call “time” is by dividing it up into segments — work hours, meals, appointments, deadlines. We have to agree on these things to make our lives synchronize with those around us.

But then again it’s a different time at the same time depending where you happen to be in the world. So that requires additional coordination.

Maybe the hardest thing for modern humans to do is to float independent of time, waking and sleeping at arbitrary intervals, shaking up the clock everybody else is attentive to.

But that happens when you are very ill, or heavily medicated, or both, and it truly disrupts your consciousness. If you happen to be in an ICU, which is brightly lit, you also also don’t have the reference of natural light through a window to help you discern between night and day.

At that point you are truly lost to time.

When I was in ICUs, pretty much every other reference point that normally helps me trust my grip on reality faltered as well — the doctors and nurses who came and went became fantasy figures, dressed strangely and making odd sounds.

Images came and went — I saw things that are not there and mistook other objects for things they weren’t.

Sort of like one unending dream where I just kept trying to wake up but couldn’t.

I’m not saying this was all bad or all good but it was a state of suspension without a beginning or ending.

All of this came back to me in flashes as I slept, awoke, slept some more and awoke again as Friday became Saturday, December became January, and 2021 turned into 2022.

In the process I guess I missed the big moment.

Or I was just lost in time.

***

Betty White was an extra grandma to a whole lot of people, me included. I loved her part in “The Proposal” and will never forget her on SNL. She almost made it to 100. May she R.I.P.

SUNDAY HEADLINES:

• How We Make Sense of Time — January 2022 arrives as our methods of keeping time feel like they are breaking. Calendar pages turn, yet time feels lost. In this year of all years, what does it mean for a year to be new? (NYT)

• Studies Suggest Why Omicron Is Less Severe: It Spares the Lungs (NYT)

• How the Covid pandemic ends: what comes after Omicron? (Financial Times)

• What If You Could Do It All Over? — The uncanny allure of our unlived lives. (New Yorker)

• Who Won in Afghanistan? Private Contractors (WSJ)

• Retired general warns the U.S. military could lead a coup after the 2024 election (NPR)

• Conspiracy theories paint fraudulent reality of Jan. 6 riot (AP)

• China harvests masses of data on Western targets from social media, documents show — Hundreds of projects launched since 2020 show that Chinese police, state media and the military are gathering data from sites to track perceived threats. (WP)

• How This Pandemic Has Left Us Less Prepared for the Next One — China put up barriers to studying the origins of Covid-19, leading to a conflict that means less scientific collaboration and more mistrust among global powers that must work together to head off the next disaster. (NYT)

• Emerging markets ‘leapfrog’ the west in digital payments race — Covid-led drop in cash transactions and a shift to mobile payments drive digital wallet adoption (Financial Times)

• French ban on plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables begins (BBC)

• VIDEO: Colorado Wildfires Leave Up to 1,000 Homes Destroyed (AP)

• Massive sewage spill closes California beaches (Reuters)

• Protesters call for abolition of nuclear weapons (NHK)

• He Was the West’s Most Important Undercover Spy. An Affair Brought It All Down. (Politico)

• Scotland Moves to Pardon Thousands Executed as Witches—400 Years Later (WSJ)

• Republicans Accuse Ocasio-Cortez Of Not Being Anywhere Near Place They Told Capitol Mob She Would Be (The Onion)