Acorns & Knowing Too Much

That older people have memory problems is a cliche. Many cliches, stereotypes and other random bits of conventional wisdom are at least partially true, but I’m not sure this is one of them. 

It may be that older adults (60-85) actually have better memories than younger people, but we have to sort through so much more information that the retrieval process becomes an occasional issue.

Now a new study from the the journal Trends in Cognitive Science posits an intriguing theory to bolster this view.

The study suggest that the problem may be brain “clutter,” i.e., older people are trying to form too many associations between too many pieces of information.

Or in a shorthand formulation I prefer, maybe we just know too much.

“It’s not that older adults don’t have enough space to store information,” lead author Tarek Amer said. “There’s just too much information that’s interfering with whatever they’re trying to remember.” 

Older adults may have a harder time focusing on one piece of information because irrelevant information can be “stored in the same memory representation as the one that contains the target information,” Amer said. 

Anyway, I liked the NBC report on this study for two reasons — one, because it has been my experience that my own memory is noticeably better than most younger people I know. 

I can’t remember the second reason.

(NOTE: I am not talking about tragic conditons of dementia or Alzheimer’s here.)

***

One frequent suggestion from readers to my daily news summaries is “why can’t you include more examples of good news?”

The only way I can think of to respond is to remind people that I don’t make the news, I collect it.

Think of me as a guy with a paper bag (called Substack) walking through a forest collecting acorns, aka news headlines. I don’t make the acorns and I don’t make the trees. I may shake the occasional tree to help an acorn fall, but there’s nothing criminal in that.

And I may choose a specific acorn to make a comment because not all acorns are created equal in my eyes. In this I am rather like a squirrel — I hide some away for later consumption.

The thing about acorns is they are not inherently good or bad, they are just acorns, doomed to fall and wait to be collected or ignored by the squirrels like me, and doomed also to rot one way or another, either where they fall or inside the squirrels’ digestive system.

Either way, their long-term job is to make more trees.

So maybe the real question to ask me is not why the acorns can’t be nicer are but whether I can see any trees among all those acorns any longer, or even more importantly, whether I can see the forest for the trees.

TODAY’s NEWS (40):

1. Rapid Inflation Stokes Unease From Wall Street to Washington — Consumer Price Index data showed prices climbing faster than expected, picking up across a broad array of goods and services. (NYT)

2. How inflation and tangled supply lines are gripping economy (AP)

3. Pressure increased on the Federal Reserve to take a stronger stand against inflation after an unexpectedly large jump in U.S. consumer prices defied hopes that the pocketbook squeeze would ease and bolstered the view that the U.S. central bank is behind the curve. (Reuters)

4. Echoes of an Inflationary Peril of the 1970s (WSJ)

5. High energy prices send Europe’s businesses, homes reeling (AP)

6. NATO warns of ‘dangerous moment’ in Ukraine crisis as Biden tells Americans to leave ‘now’ (WP)

7. Russia Could Invade Ukraine During Olympics, U.S. Officials Say (WSJ)

8. French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian COVID test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, to prevent Russia getting hold of Macron's DNA. (Reuters)

9. With Buildup on Land and Sea, Russia Closes in on Ukraine (NYT)

10. VIDEO: Protesters Opposing Covid Vaccine Pass Head to Paris (Storyful and Reuters)

11. Why do some people get COVID while others in your household might not. (HuffPost)

12. U.K. lifts all testing requirements for vaccinated travelers (NPR)

13. Angry Customers, More Work and Longer Hours Strain Pharmacists (NYT)

14. The ongoing truck blockade in Canada, which began over COVID-19 restrictions, is forcing the shutdown of U.S. auto factories relying on transit between the two countries. U.S. officials are urging Canada to resolve the standoff amid threats it could soon spread to major U.S. cities ahead of events like the Super Bowl. [AP]

15. Trucker Blockades in Canada May Just Be the Beginning — If a crackdown on protesters goes bad, the negative consequences may not be confined to the country. (Atlantic)

16. Ontario premier declares state of emergency, threatens fines, prison time for blocking highways and bridges(WP)

17. Spurning Demand by the Taliban, Biden Moves to Split $7 Billion in Frozen Afghan Funds — The president intends to use the Afghan central bank’s assets to fund humanitarian relief in Afghanistan and compensate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (NYT)

18. Taliban Are Holding Westerners in Afghanistan, Including One American (WSJ)

19. C.I.A. Is Collecting in Bulk Certain Data Affecting Americans, Senators Warn (NYT)

20. With watchers on ground and drones, U.S. zeroed in on Islamic State leader’s hideout (WP)

21. The Australian government is listing the country’s iconic koalas as endangered in several states and territories, saying the growing threats of climate change and habitat loss had led to dramatic declines in populations of the marsupials. The shift comes after the “black summer” bushfires of 2019 and 2020, which some estimates say left upwards of 60,000 koalas dead or injured. “It is a dark day for our nation,” an environmental group said. [HuffPost]

22. Federal judge restores protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48 (WP)

23. Why cage-free eggs becoming norm: It’s what people want (AP)

24. More than 100 nations take action to save oceans from human harm (Guardian)

25. How Billions in Infrastructure Funding Could Worsen Global Warming (NYT)

26. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said his GOP colleagues were being “demeaning” and “offensive” toward President Biden’s court picks who are people of color. The senator made the comments amid a vote on a Black nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals after a fellow lawmaker said the pick had a “rap sheet.” [HuffPost]

27. How the G.O.P.’s Censure Fight Exposes the Party’s Deeper Divide — Upcoming primaries will test whether embracing Donald J. Trump’s election falsehoods is a litmus test for Republican voters. (NYT)

28. New Republican splits over Trump and riot (BBC)

29. Abortions in Texas fell by 60% in the first month under the state’s restrictive new law, which prohibits the procedure after around six weeks of pregnancy. Figures show there were more than 5,400 abortions statewide in August 2021 but just 2,200 when the law went into effect in September. Planned Parenthood said the figures were “the very beginning of the devastating impact of the law.” Other states have introduced bills that would mimic Texas’ effort. [AP]

30. The Gen X activists upending Democratic politics (Politico)

31. The United States, Australia, Japan and India pledged to deepen cooperation to ensure the Indo-Pacific region was free from "coercion", a thinly-veiled swipe at China's growing economic and military expansion, as their top diplomats convened to also tackle climate change, COVID and other threats. (Reuters)

32. Why Some See Web 3.0 as the Future of the Internet (WSJ)

33. #MeToo bill poised to shake Silicon Valley (Politico)

34. Life could exist on planet orbiting 'white dwarf' star (BBC)

35. SpaceX's Elon Musk says 1st orbital Starship flight could be as early as March (NPR)

36. Sarah Palin bombs on witness stand in New York Times trial (WP)

37. How G. Gordon Liddy Bungled Watergate With an Office-Supply Request (Politico)

38. Police solve 1964 rape, murder of girl with DNA, volunteer (AP)

39. Memory issues for older people could be the result of 'clutter' (NBC)

40. Texas: Voters must finish a 72-ounce T-bone in under an hour for their vote to count (The Onion)

 

Friday's Top 60

 TODAY’s HEADLINES (60)

1. Biden warns Americans in Ukraine to leave, says sending troops to evacuate would be 'world war' (NBC)

2. Russia started the active phase of military drills in Belarus as Britain launched new diplomacy in a standoff over Ukraine, warning Moscow that going to war with its neighbor would be disastrous for Russia, Ukraine and Europe. Britain ordered 1,000 troops to be on a state of readiness to provide support in the event of a humanitarian crisis caused by any Russian aggression. (Reuters)

3. Ukraine tensions: Russia accused of sea blockade (BBC)

4. On Ukraine’s front line, echoes of wider risks with Russia (WP)

5. Congress at an 'impasse' over how to deter Russian invasion of Ukraine (Politico)

6. Russia and UK exchange barbs after frosty Moscow meeting (Financial Times)

7. Military aid from US, UK arrives in Ukraine before drills (NHK)

8. Massive Russian Military Drills on Ukraine Border Ratchet Up Threat (WSJ)

9. How suicide became the hidden toll of the war in Ukraine (BBC)

10. The Next Vaccine Debate: Immunize Young Children Now, or Wait? — It’s not clear whether three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will adequately protect young children. But the F.D.A. may authorize the first two doses anyway. (NYT)

11. Half the world is now fully vaccinated. But the global divide is stark, experts say. (WP)

12. VIDEO: C.D.C. Director Urges Caution in Easing Mask Rules — Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said her agency was working on new guidance for the states, but that it was not yet time to lift mask mandates across the nation. (AP)

13. Abrupt end to mask mandates reflects a shifting political landscape (WP)

14. Most vulnerable still in jeopardy as COVID precautions ease (AP)

15. What It Could Mean If You're Letting Friendships Slip Away During COVID (HuffPost)

16. How Is America Still This Bad at Talking About the Pandemic? — America’s leaders could stand to learn four lessons on how to communicate about COVID. (Atlantic)

17. Africa transitioning out of pandemic phase of Covid, WHO says (Guardian)

18. Covid increases long-term heart risks, study of U.S. veterans finds (WP)

19. A top researcher says it's time to rethink our entire approach to preschool (NPR)

20. Prices climbed 7.5% in January, compared with last year, continuing inflation’s fastest pace in 40 years (WP)

21. Higher Inflation Is Probably Costing You $250 a Month (WSJ)

22. U.S. Government Recorded $119 Billion Budget Surplus, Its First Since Before Pandemic (WSJ)

23. Why US inflation is so high, and when it may ease (AP)

24. Inflation keeps getting worse: A peek inside the mounting trouble for the Fed and Biden (Politico)

25. The economy is strong but voters aren't feeling it. That's a problem for Biden (NPR)

26. Denmark in talks to allow in US troops for first time in decades (Financial Times)

27. One Menacing Call After Another: Threats Against Lawmakers Surge — A review of threats against members of Congress shows how a mainstreaming of violent political speech has prompted a growing number of Americans to target elected officials. (NYT)

28. Trump denies flushing documents down White House toilet (Politico)

29. Republican rift exposes choice: With Trump or against him (AP)

30. Democrats are increasingly worried the Supreme Court will completely hollow out the Voting Rights Act and limit recourse for advocates suing over GOP-led efforts to gerrymander and disenfranchise voters of color. Speaking after the court allowed Alabama’s gerrymandered congressional map to go forward, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock told HuffPost: “I think the warning signs of our democracy are flashing.” [HuffPost]

31. Why Congress is moving against sexual harassment, 4 years after #MeToo (Politico)

32. Afghan evacuation was disrupted by pleas for help from U.S. officials and the public, commander says (WP)

33. Afghan Refugees Held for Months in the U.A.E. Protest the Conditions

    Thousands who fled amid the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul last summer complain of prison-like conditions while waiting to continue to the U.S. (WSJ)

34. Top D.C. lobbying firm reps company alleged by former employees to have paid off Taliban  (Politico)

35. Afghanistan: Evidence mounts of Taliban reprisal arrests and killings (BBC)

36. Turkey’s Doctors Are Leaving, the Latest Casualty of Spiraling Inflation (NYT)

37. The business impact from U.S.-Canada border closures is bringing fresh urgency to Canadian authorities' efforts to quell the two-week-old protests against the government's pandemic measures, even as the national capital Ottawa sees early signs of a return to normalcy. Ottawa's anti-vaccine mandate protests are spreading globally - with New Zealand and France the latest flashpoints. (Reuters)

38. Covid: Trucker protests may hit Super Bowl, US security agency says (BBC)

39. Truckers’ bridge blockade forces shutdowns at auto plants (AP)

40. 'I just don't feel safe': Ottawa residents describe fears amid trucker protest as Canada's far right comes into focus (NBC)

41. VIDEO: Pelosi in Favor of a ‘Governmentwide’ Stock Ban — Nancy Pelosi of California, the speaker of the House, said she would agree to a ban on the ownership and trading of individual stocks by members of Congress if the ban also applied to members of the judicial branch. (AP)

42. White House records obtained so far by January 6 committee show no record of calls to and from Trump during riot (CNN)

43. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) finally said he agreed that the Capitol riot was a violent insurrection, his clearest condemnation thus far after dodging the issue. “No one would disagree with that,” he told reporters. Many Republicans have been loathe to say as much, and the Republican National Committee censured GOP Reps. Liz Cheney  and Adam Kinzinger last week for sitting on the Democrat-led panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. [HuffPost] 

44. Biden administration plan calls for $5 billion network of electric vehicle chargers along interstates (WP)

45. Washington Post to Expand Health, Climate Coverage in Bid for More Readers (WSJ)

46. Police fatally shot at least 1,055 people in 2021, the most since The Post began tracking (WP)

47. Forget the Office—Salesforce Is Making a Wellness Retreat for Workers (WSJ)

48. China-based financier, once reprimanded by U.S. regulators and barred from taking his company public, played a bigger role than is publicly known in the shell company that agreed to merge with former President Donald Trump’s new social media venture. (Reuters)

49. Hong Kong democracy and media freedom has ‘entered endgame’ (Guardian)

50. What romance novels can teach us about attraction (Vox)

51. The Next Century’s Big Demographic Mystery — Experts can’t agree on how many humans will be on Earth by 2100. The implications could be profound. (Atlantic)

52. Possible 3rd planet spotted around Proxima Centauri, the sun's nearest neighbor star (Space.com)

53. SpaceX’s newest fleet of satellites is tumbling out of orbit after being struck by a solar storm. — Up to 40 of the 49 small satellites launched last week have either reentered the atmosphere and burned up, or are on the verge of doing so, the company said in an online update. (AP)

54. NASA probe captures first images of Venus' surface in visible light (Fox)

55. Watch these robotic fish swim to the beat of human heart cells (NPR)

56. Uber Expects to Be Cash-Flow Positive by Fourth Quarter of 2022 (WSJ)

57. Uber adds passengers, food orders amid omicron surge (NPR)

58. A missing game of Wordle helps end a 17-hour hostage ordeal (BBC)

59. And the Wordle backlash begins: ‘Blaming this on the Americans’ (NY Post)

60. British Pub Closes After 1,000 Years Due To Pandemic — you'd think the Black Plague would've prepared the owners for the pandemic. (The Onion)

Hopeful Moves

 Maybe there’s some hope for the country yet, given Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to break with the Trump faction and label the Jan. 6th riot a “violent insurrection” as opposed to the Republican National Committee’s absurd assertion that it was "normal political discourse."

McConnell also rejected the party’s sanctions against Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the House panel investigating that insurrection.

This comes on the heels of Mike Pence defending himself against Trump’s claims that he could have legally overturned the results of the 2020 election on the day of the riot.

I must say that McConnell and Pence are getting close to becoming likable.

This is an election year, of course, and these guys are veteran politicians. I am using the word “hope” because they probably aren’t taking these positions as a matter of principle but as an indication of a split in the GOP on the question of whether to continue following Trump. 

The stakes are clear. The mid-term elections this November will determine which party will control Congress for the next two years of Biden’s Presidency. If McConnell thought the Trump/QAnon faction had the upper hand, presumably he would follow their lead.

That he isn’t doing that is a positive sign that the Republican Party may yet return to sanity in a post-Trump era. It’s only one sign, but as I am an optimist by default, I’m grabbing on to it.

***

The other big item today is long-time Internet guru Tim O'Reilly debunking the hype around Web3: "Get ready for the crash," he tells CBS. The hubbub around cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse, including sky-high valuations for startups, has a familiar ring to O'Reilly, who sees echoes of the dot-com boom and bust in the breathless boosterism around blockchain.

TODAY’s NEWS (43):

1. Putin Is Operating on His Own Timetable, and It May Be a Long One (NYT)

2. VIDEO: European Leaders Warn Russia Against Attack on Ukraine (AP and Reuters)

3. Fears of Ukraine invasion rise as top Russian commanders fly to Belarus for massive joint military drill (WP)

4. What Satellite Images Reveal About Russia’s Military Buildup Around Ukraine (WSJ)

5. Ukraine and Russia to launch parallel military drills as U.S. nears deal on potential sanctions (WP)

6. Americans Are Frustrated With the Pandemic. These Polls Show How Much. (NYT)

7. What a bottle of ivermectin reveals about the shadowy world of COVID telemedicine (NPR)

8. Violent crime to labor shortages: Mayors say Covid's toll on cities is far-reaching (Politico)

9. Pence rebuked Trump -- and received an outpouring of GOP support in response (CNN)

10. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rebuked the RNC for calling the Capitol riot "normal political discourse" and for censoring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the Jan. 6 House panel. McConnell said the RNC shouldn't be sanctioning Republicans “who may have different views from the majority.” He also broke with many Trump-allied Republicans in calling the riot a “violent insurrection” meant to stop the peaceful transition of presidential power. [HuffPost]

11. Government Reveals Trove of Evidence in First Jan. 6 Trial (NYT)

12. Republican and Democratic lawmakers across the United States are drawing political maps that will likely deepen polarization and encourage more extreme candidates by eliminating competitive congressional seats, a new Reuters analysis shows. (Reuters)

13. The Incredible Vanishing Trump Presidency — The Presidential Records Act was not designed for a president as lawless and shameless as Trump. (Atlantic)

14. One in five applicants to white supremacist group tied to US military (Guardian)

15. ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests disrupt another U.S.-Canada border crossing as more arrests are made (WP)

16. New Zealand convoy clogs streets near Parliament to protest vaccine mandates (NPR)

17. U.S. trucker convoy to Washington gathers steam (Politico)

18. Congress moves toward banning members from trading stocks (CNBC)

19. More than 40 members of the Congressional Black Caucus urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to be “relentless” in challenging state laws restricting voting rights. The lawmakers said in a letter that the “future of our democracy is at stake,” highlighting a spate of GOP-led laws have disproportionately disenfranchised Black voters since the 2020 election. “Our message is simple: Be creative. Be relentless. Be unapologetic in your commitment to do whatever it takes to ensure that every American has their vote counted,” the letter says. [HuffPost]

20. Abductions, beatings cause Afghan women’s rights activists to go quiet (WP)

21. New COVID surge batters Afghanistan’s crumbling health care (AP)

22. Living in a woman’s body — The Taliban fear our beauty, strength – and resistance (Guardian)

23. Failed and on fire: New poll details citizen anger at climate change responses (Politico)

24. The manatees are starving — Florida’s beloved “sea cows” shouldn’t have to eat lettuce. Yet here we are. (Vox)

25. Scientists may have discovered the first quadruple asteroid in the solar system, a space rock with three orbiting moons. (NYT)

26. Astronomers Watch a Star Die and Then Explode as a Supernova – For the Very First Time (SciTechDaily)

27. U.N. postpones space diplomacy talks after Russia asks for more time (Politico)

28. Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy (BBC)

29. Hong Kong’s young journalists decry the ‘death of free press’ (Financial Times)

30. Journalists won a major settlement after attacks by the Minnesota State Police during protests. (HuffPost)

31. It’s Your Friends Who Break Your Heart — The older we get, the more we need our friends—and the harder it is to keep them (Atlantic)

32. Love and logins: Who gets custody of passwords in a breakup? (AP)

33. LinkedIn Might Just Be the Best Social Network (WSJ)

34. Facebook owner Meta Platforms is struggling to stop counterfeiters from pushing fake luxury goods from Gucci to Chanel across its social media apps, as the company barrels into ecommerce. (Reuters)

35. Silicon Valley is no longer the edgy tech frontier as workers flee Google and Amazon for crypto and Web3 startups, recruiters say (Business Insider)

36. Internet guru Tim O'Reilly on Web3: "Get ready for the crash" — The hubbub around cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse, including sky-high valuations for startups, has a familiar ring to O'Reilly, who sees echoes of the dot-com boom and bust in the breathless boosterism around blockchain.(CBS)

37. Hijab ban sparks protests among students in India (NHK)

38. An advocacy group filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the N.C.A.A., the Pac-12 Conference, U.C.L.A. and the University of Southern California — the latest step in a push to give employee status to college athletes. (AP)

39. SF DA Boudin fires back at Police Chief Scott as feud intensifies (KTVU)

40. New Zealand parrot steals camera and films airborne escape – video (Guardian)

41. A new program in Canada gives doctors the option of prescribing national park visits (NPR)

42. Maine family’s lost cat turns up after six years – in Florida (Guardian)

43. Study Finds Average Squirrel Lives Through Human Equivalent Of 7 Action Films Every Day (The Onion)

Body of Insight

 A while back, in the wake of a breakup, I more or less lost the urge to eat. Breakfast was the first casualty. 

Lunch survived. Several friends at work, aware of my circumstance, kindly made sure I ate with them every workday. This confirmed that my appetite was fine. 

As for dinner, that became a question of whether it was one of the nights with my kids or not. If it was, I ate robustly; otherwise, not so much.

After a few months of this, I’d lost enough weight (~20 pounds) that my boss at the time — not a guy who would usually comment on such matters — said I looked thin. The way he chose to make this observation was to point out that he himself wasn’t losing weight because every day he happily ate all three meals with his (third) wife.

“I got lucky,” he smiled. I smiled back, because I’d been wondering where he disappeared to every lunch hour.

Alas, his comment didn’t exactly improve my mood or my appetite, though it did suggest to me that maybe I should start looking for my own (third) wife.

While that never panned out, my objective today was not to distract you with sad tales of lost love or multiple marriages. but rather to take note of a remarkable piece of work by science writer Florence Williams, as detailed in the Washington Post.

When her husband of 25 years left her in 2017, Williams noticed immediate changes in her body, including a dramatic 20-pound weight loss, same as had happened with me. Unlike me, she decided to investigate why this happened and whether there was anything she could do about it.

The result of that investigation is her book, “Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey.” And it is of particular interest in the present circumstances of the dramatic rise in severe loneliness (which has tripled) and the general isolation suffered by many of us during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Williams interviewed scientists who explained that as the hyper-social creatures we’ve evolved to be, suddenly finding ourselves alone and isolated may provoke a number of physical changes. 

According to the Post, “To the nervous system, being dumped is like being left alone in the wild, and it reacts accordingly. ‘You’re about to be attacked by predators, you don’t have safety in numbers,’ Williams said, ‘and so your body [produces] more white blood cells’ — inflammation to deal with the wounds. That means the body must make less of the interferon proteins that help people combat viruses.”

As the Post notes: “Inflammation in the short term is helpful in healing from a wound inflicted by predators. But over the long term it is associated with heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia and early death. And, as it turns out, it also can predispose people to getting sicker from Covid.”

In the U.S., of course, there has been a steady increase in single occupancy households over time. For obvious reasons, elderly people are at particularly high risk of ending up in such circumstances. And of course it is the elderly who have disproportionately suffered and are still suffering from Covid.

Williams’s work made me better understand how my own body had reacted to that heartbreak years ago, and to similar situations before and since. Then again, I always knew that losing (or gaining) weight was the least of my problems. Too much time alone is the main health risk for me.

If there is a moral to this story I suppose you don’t need me to figure it out. 

***

Thanks to Susan Zakin for alerting me to this fascinating and useful piece. And while I’m at it, let me remind you all to check out Susan’s fascinating and useful publication, Journal of the Plague Years.

TODAY’s NEWS HEADLINES (35):

1. Dumped by her husband, an author dove into loneliness and resurfaced with lessons for a pandemic (WP)

2. How to Want Less — The secret to satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff. (Atlantic)

3. Covid deaths highest in a year as omicron hits unvaccinated and elderly

   Omicron has been particularly lethal to people over 75, the unvaccinated and the medically vulnerable, according to doctors and public health officials. (WP)

4. Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane (Nature)

5. As Protest Paralyzes Canada’s Capital, Far-Right Activists Abroad Embrace It (NYT)

6. Canadian police make arrests amid ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests and seize fuel, vehicles (WP)

7. 5G and QAnon: how conspiracy theorists steered Canada’s anti-vaccine trucker protest (Guardian)

8. Truckers in Ottawa block a key border crossing, as their protest morphs and drags on (NPR)

9. Canadians warn against ‘foreign interference’ as U.S. Republicans back ‘Freedom Convoy’ (WP)

10. Officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, California and Oregon said they will lift indoor mask mandates for schools and other public places in coming weeks, seeking a return to "normalcy" as soaring COVID-19 infections fueled by the Omicron variant abate. The changes signal a growing inclination by political leaders in those states, all led by Democrats, to take pandemic-weary residents off an emergency footing. (Reuters)

11. Republicans, Wooing Trump Voters, Make Fauci Their Boogeyman (NYT)

12. The United States faces heightened threats from extremist groups domestic and foreign, underscored by last month's hostage standoff crisis in a Texas synagogue and bomb threats at many historically Black colleges and universities, a government agency said. The warning comes after some schools across the United States canceled classes and issued shelter-in-place orders last week. (Reuters)

13. China locks down southern city as omicron variant surges (AP)

14. Polio, Chickenpox, Measles … Covid-19? The Case for Vaccine Mandates in Schools. (NYT)

15. VIDEO: Jill Biden Is ‘Disappointed’ that Free Community College Is Off the Table (AP)

16. Supreme Court Restores Alabama Voting Map That a Court Said Hurt Black Voters (NYT)

17. Faced with disappearances, beatings and intimidation, Afghanistan’s women’s rights activists go quiet on the streets(WP)

18. Afghanistan: Watching the destruction of a nation? (BBC)

19. Documents detail U.S. military’s frustration with White House, diplomats over Afghan evacuation (WP)

20. Ukraine crisis: Macron says Putin pledges no new Ukraine escalation (BBC)

21. Europe ramps up Ukraine crisis diplomacy amid ‘extreme tension,’ as Kremlin calls on West to accept its demands(WP)

22. Both Sides of Taiwan Strait Are Closely Watching Ukraine’s Crisis (NYT)

23. As bitcoin drifts towards mainstream maturity in 2022, daring crypto investors are eyeing up new sources of explosive action: "altcoins" that power online games and worlds. But, be warned, the foothills of the unformed metaverse are no place for the faint-hearted. (Reuters)

24. In India, wearing hijab bars some Muslim students from class (AP)

25. As Officials Look Away, Hate Speech in India Nears Dangerous Levels (NYT)

26. How Manchin used politics to protect his family coal company (Politico)

27. Turtles dying from eating trash show plastics scourge in UAE (AP)

28. These Animals Are Feasting on the Ruins of an Extinct World — Scientists had no idea how an underwater Arctic volcano could sustain so much life. And then they noticed the black tubes. (Atlantic)

29. These two countries are responsible for 'junkyard' in Earth's orbit (CNN)

30. Astronomers Join Forces to Push Back Against Satellite 'Pollution' Ruining The Skies (Science Alert)

31. Citizens globally blast politicians' lack of action to combat climate change — Poll (Politico)

32. Why buying a car is still such a miserable experience right now (NPR)

33. 'I have sinned': US nun gets one year in jail for $835k theft (BBC)

34. Hamsters can transmit Covid to humans, data suggests (Guardian)

35. New Ancestry.com Feature Warns Users When They Might Want To Stop Sticking Noses Where They Don’t Belong (The Onion)

The Last Blues Song

Therapists are starting to see an uptick in patients concerned about climate change. There are few remedies either the patients or the therapists can imagine to address the problem. Recycle more efficiently?

It’s never too late to become a better citizen of the planet. But it may be too late in the larger sense. Each of us can feel anxious or depressed as we contemplate the steady stream of evidence that we are doomed to endure a cycle of warming temperatures that will render most if not all of the planet uninhabitable, and indeed it would be weird if we didn’t.

But feeling increased anxiety or grief isn’t going to change anything unless it translates into the collective will as human beings to do something about it.

In our democratic society that translates into boring stuff like forging political alliances that can implement policy changes that mitigate global warming; and also funding scientific research into potential technologies that may help future populations adapt to the environment or alter it (or our bodies) in ways not yet understood.

If this all sounds like science fiction, there are SciFi writers who are already well ahead of this curve, but I won’t get into their work now.

The point here is just like the technological options to deflect some future asteroid from colliding with earth, we already have the capacity to imagine solutions to climate disasters, which may or may not prove to be successful when the time comes.

But in order to do that, and to retreat to the mundane, we cannot continue to devolve into petty partisan fights like the Republicans and Democrats have managed to do with Biden’s climate initiatives.

Biden started out with an ambitious agenda, rooted in science and perfectly reasonable from a non-partisan perspective. But it required our elected officials to agree on some version of a package that ultimately became mired in political posturing that failed to reach consensus.

So where is the popular outrage? Non-existent. Are we so beaten down by the pandemic, Trump’s lies, and personal matters that we cannot come together on this one vital issue — the issue of survival?

If so, thus is sad concluding chapter of human evolution, which of course will never be read by future generations.

We’ll be extinct.

TODAY’s HEADLINES (37):

1. ‘Taking the Voters Out of the Equation’: How the Parties Are Killing Competition — The number of competitive House districts is dropping, as both Republicans and Democrats use redistricting to draw themselves into safe seats. (NYT)

2. The World Is Sliding Toward Authoritarianism. So Are the Olympics. (Politico)

3. Heading into 2024, the Republican National Committee has no obligation to support the former president, but that doesn’t mean they’re taking their chance to explore new territory. GOP officials are already devoting considerable energy to undercut any potential Trump rivals while embracing his politicized rhetoric, even though they are required in bylaws to remain neutral. “If President Trump decides he’s running, absolutely the RNC needs to back him, 100%,” said Michele Fiore, an RNC committee member who has represented Nevada since 2018. “We can change the bylaws.” [AP]

4. Overhaul of Electoral Count Act ‘Absolutely’ Will Pass, Manchin Says — Senators working to overhaul the law said recent revelations about former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election made their work even more crucial. (NYT)

5. French President Emmanuel Macron flies to Moscow in a risky diplomatic move, seeking commitments from Russian President Vladimir Putin to dial down tensions with Ukraine, where Western leaders fear the Kremlin plans an invasion. (Reuters)

6. In Ukraine’s capital, residents grapple with the threat of war (WP)

7. US intel indicates Russian officers have had doubts about full scale Ukraine invasion (CNN)

8. Ukraine crisis talks move to Moscow and Washington (AP)

9. Macron opens talks with Putin in Moscow to ease tension over Ukraine (Financial Times)

10. Daniele Ek, the CEO of Spotify, apologized to his staff in an email amid the firestorm over podcast star Joe Rogan’s use of racist slurs on his show. Ek strongly condemned “racially insensitive language,” but said he doesn’t believe “silencing Joe is the answer.” Rogan himself pulled down more than 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” after a video compilation of the host using the slur multiple times was circulated on social media. Rogan apologized, but racism adds to pressure on Spotify over Rogan's misinformation about COVID-19. [HuffPost]

11. As the protest against the Canadian government's health measures and vaccine mandates entered an eleventh day, police have threatened to clamp down after facing criticism for lack of action that has crippled the national capital. (Reuters)

12. Across Asia, spike in virus cases follows Lunar New Year (AP)

13. England’s oldest pub, possibly 1,229 years old, shuts doors due to coronavirus hardships (WP)

14. California’s coronavirus death toll has topped 80,000, with another 3,000 deaths projected by the end of the month. (Associated Press)

15. Two Years Into Pandemic, Shoppers Are Still Hoarding (WSJ)

16. The 'Great Resignation' leaves schools reeling (Politico)

17. The future of the pandemic is looking clearer as we learn more about infection (NPR)

18. Shionogi may apply for COVID-19 drug approval soon (NHK)

19. School chief’s ouster in Colorado prompts an uproar (WP)

20. Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room — Ten years ago, psychologists proposed that a wide range of people would suffer anxiety and grief over climate. Skepticism about that idea is gone. (NYT)

21. Ex-Israeli, Palestinian negotiators propose confederation (AP)

22. Israel inquiry to look into alleged police use of Pegasus spyware (Guardian)

23. Afghanistan’s Health Care System Is Collapsing Under Stress — Hospitals and clinics are struggling to hold up amid a cash shortage and a vast surge of malnutrition and disease. By one estimate, 90 percent may close in the next few months. (NYT)

24. Aid agencies call for Afghan cash flows to be unblocked to relieve crisis — Humanitarian disaster intensifies as sanctions against Taliban hinder imports of basic goods (Financial Times)

25. UN experts: North Korea stealing millions in cyber attacks (AP)

26. Kids are flocking to Facebook’s ‘metaverse.’ Experts worry predators will follow. (WP)

27. Chimps Seen Performing First Aid on Selves, Each Other (WSJ)

28. ‘Giant obstacle course’: call to reroute major shipping lanes to protect blue whales (Guardian)

29. Rogue black hole spotted on its own for the first time (Space.com)

30. A brain circuit tied to emotion may lead to better treatments for Parkinson's disease (NPR)

31. RSS3 aims to be the decentralized information processor of Web3 (Cointelegraph)

32. The minimum wage in Los Angeles will rise to $16.04 from $15 on July 1. (City News Service)

33. Let Your Kids Be Bad at Things — When parenting becomes about perfectionism, you’re missing the point. (Atlantic)

34. Why so many fast-food chains started here — A&W, McDonald’s, IHOP, Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr, Jack in the Box, Del Taco, In N Out, Baskin-Robbins and Panda Express are among 50. (Cal Today)

35. Canada, far-right capital of the world (Politico)

36. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost Poke Fun at Their Marriage in Hilarious Super Bowl Ad for Alexa (People)

37. Man Tries To Regain Sense Of Control In Chaotic Universe By Learning To Juggle (The Onion)

LYRICS FOR A DYING PLANET

“The Thrill Is Gone”

B.B. King

Songwriters: Lew Brown / Ray Henderson

The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong, baby
And you'll be sorry someday

The thrill is gone
It's gone away from me
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I'll still live on
But so lonely I'll be

The thrill is gone
It's gone away for good
All the thrill is gone
Baby, it's gone away for good
Someday I know I'll be open-armed baby
Just like I know, I know I should

You know, I'm free, free now, baby
I'm free from your spell
Oh, free, free, free now, baby
I'm free from your spell
And now that it's all over
All that I can do is wish you well

Covid: Why U.S. Is Failing

Despite its vast wealth, the U.S. has suffered and continues to suffer a far higher death rate from Covid-19 than other wealthy countries. The Guardian has summarized the major factors why this is true:

• Low vaccination and booster rates. Less than two-thirds – about 64% – of Americans are vaccinated, and only 48% of those are boosted, despite ample vaccine supply.

• People in poorer households still struggle to get vaccines – and time off to recover from any side effects. Some 15% to 20% of unvaccinated Americans say they are still interested in getting their shots, but the U.S. has no guaranteed sick leave.

• A dysfunctional privatized health care system. People who lack health insurance tend to wait longer to be seen by physicians, making worse outcomes more likely. They are also more likely to have pre-existing health conditions that put them at greater risk for Covid.

• Low trust in government. One predictor of Covid deaths by country is trust in government, according to a recent report in the Lancet: countries with lower levels of trust in government had higher rates of cases and deaths.

• No public health mandates. National leaders in the U.S. are unable to mandate precautions, like masks or vaccines, for the entire country, with responsibilities largely falling instead to state and local leaders.

• Vast wealth disparity. This is a major risk factor for Covid deaths in any society.

• Political division. From the beginning, the pandemic has been overly politicized in the U.S., with simple public health measures becoming needlessly divisive. People have died as a result.

That the Guardian is a British publication makes its assessment of the problems in the U.S. especially noteworthy for Americans. All too often, people in the U.S. tend to become isolated from the perspectives of those outside of our borders.

We do this at our own peril because we live in a giant media bubble here. And because we are currently so divided among ourselves, and consumed by our ongoing internal political psychodrama, Americans easily lose sight of how badly we are handling the challenges of this pandemic as a nation.

If there were a global report card system for grading individual countries on their performance in the fight against Covid-19, most major powers would be getting a passing grade but only a B- or a C+.

The U.S., however, would be getting at best a D. It’s time to sit up and listen to our peers.

TODAY’s NEWS (30):

1. Vastly unequal US has world’s highest Covid death toll – it’s no coincidence —As the US passes 900,000 Covid deaths, much of the blame has fallen on individuals despite vast income inequality and vaccine accessibility issues (Guardian)

2. U.S. Warns of Grim Toll if Putin Pursues Full Invasion of Ukraine (NYT)

3. Russian official dismisses U.S. assessment on possible invasion as alarmist (WP)

4. Officials: Russia at 70 percent of Ukraine military buildup (AP)

5. U.S.-Led Air Bridge of Weapons to Ukraine Seeks to Shore Up Kyiv (WSJ)

6. Protest against vaccine mandates paralyzing Canada capital, mayor says (Reuters)

7. Afghan Refugees Face Two-Tier System in Europe — Educated elites evacuated to Europe after the Taliban’s return are welcomed, but they struggle with their lives in exile, even as their poorer compatriots are shunned. (NYT)

8. Afghanistan’s unnecessary plight (Edit Bd/Financial Times)

9. Trump’s relentless document destruction: ‘He never stopped ripping things up’ (WP)

10. Trump’s GOP: Party further tightens tie to former president (AP)

11. Republicans straddle line on RNC's Jan. 6 rhetoric (Politico)

12. 'Snake oil salesmen' advised Trump on 2020 election, Pence aide says (Reuters)

13. Trump tirade on ‘racist’ DAs echoes other racist tropes (AP)

14. Amid Slowdown, Immigration Is Driving U.S. Population Growth (NYT)

15. Facebook’s Wall Street meltdown could be just the beginning for some tech stocks (WP)

16. The U.S. is considering a radical rethinking of the dollar for today's digital world (NPR)

17. As NFTs flourish, U.S. Treasury raises alarm over money laundering in art (Reuters)

18. North Korea: Missile programme funded through stolen crypto, UN report says (BBC)

19. Indian arrest of prominent Kashmiri journalist provokes outrage (Financial Times)

20. Cuomo Plans Comeback Months After Sexual-Harassment Claims (WSJ)

21. How Ernest Shackleton’s icy adventure was frozen in time (BBC)

22. Bengals, Rams, Bitcoin: Crypto Ads Invade Super Bowl (WSJ)

23. The 1918 flu didn’t end in 1918. Here’s what its third year can teach us. (WP)

24. Can Biden tackle rising crime without abandoning police reform promise? (Guardian)

25. Fatal Force: Police shootings database — The Post has created a database containing records of every fatal shooting in the United States by a police officer in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2015. It is updated regularly as fatal shootings are reported and as facts emerge about individual cases. (WP)

26. Florida’s Bonefish Are Riddled With Human Drugs — Some fish have been found to have 17 different types of pharmaceuticals in their blood. (Atlantic)

27. CNN exec Zucker’s ouster shows peril of hiding work romance (AP)

28. There’s a massive star in our galaxy’s halo, far away from the usual star-forming haunts. How did it get there? (Sky & Telescope)

29. CDC turns to poop surveillance for future COVID monitoring (Ars Technica)

30. ADHD Prescription Label Stapled Into Baby Book (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

“Go Your Own Way”

Fleetwood Mac

By Lindsey Buckingham

Loving you
Isn't the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel

If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way

Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you want to do

If I could
Baby, I'd give you my world
Open up
Everything's waiting for you

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day

You can go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way