Tweet Out

When Twitter launched in March 2006, I was a blogger/media critic with a San Francisco-based company that would be eventually acquired by CBS. 

Somehow, I had developed a friendly email correspondence with one of the four guys who founded Twitter. His messages tended to be short and sweet, often just one word, such as “right” or “okay.”

While I appreciated the brevity, his reluctance to elaborate meant he was not particularly useful as a source.

During this same period, I consulted for a tech startup owned by a French company. Among its advisors was a guy who served as one of the senior advisors to the founders of Twitter. Through him, I learned that the social network's founders were well aware of my frequent articles about Twitter and considered me a “friend.”

That was not surprising. My articles about the service were generally positive although I did pointedly  criticized it for having no women directors. But I liked Twitter a lot. At that time, you could only post in 140-character snippets, which suited an old journalist like me just fine. It was an awesome opportunity to show off my headline-writing skills. For example, it was fun and easy to compose an effective Tweet about my latest column that fit their requirements. 

It took me about 30 seconds. 

My following on the platform grew fast at first, then organically (i.e. slowly) to around 2,000 people. A few hundred were present or former colleagues in the media business; the rest were strangers.

Over the years since, I have gradually lost interest in Twitter as an outlet for promoting my work. At one point, on somebody’s advice, I cleaned out my followers, eliminating people who didn’t appear to have media affiliations, in order to make my feed more “effective” in the eyes of my then-employer.

That company wanted to me promote as much of its content as possible as part of its “engagement” strategy.

Very recently, I tried promoting a few of my Substack essays to my current list of 1,671 followers with practically no effect.

So I guess it is with little emotion that I contemplate what now seems inevitable — the collapse of Twitter as any kind of significant social media player. It appears that the richest man on earth in his infinite wisdom is bent on destroying it.

Maybe as I watch it evaporate, I’ll send out one more Tweet. Maybe “'bye” would suffice.

NEWSLINKS:

• Is this the end of Twitter as we know it? (NPR)

• Twitter is the world’s digital public square. What happens if it dies? (CNN)

• Misinformation threatens Twitter's function as a public safety tool (NPR)

• After Elon Musk's ultimatum, Twitter employees start exiting (Reuters)

• Resignations Roil Twitter as Elon Musk Tries Persuading Some Workers to Stay (NYT)

• Hundreds of workers said to have opted to leave Twitter over Musk ultimatum (WP)

• What Will Writers Do Without Twitter? (Atlantic)

• Hakeem Jeffries launches bid to be Nancy Pelosi’s successor (CNN)

• Garland names special counsel for Trump Mar-a-Lago, 2020 election probes (WP)

• McConnell-Graham tensions boil over (The Hill)

• So You Think You Can Explain The Election (538)

• Feds: Oath Keepers sought ‘violent overthrow’ of government (AP)

• Screams from Russia's alleged torture basements still haunt Ukraine's Kherson (NPR)

• Biden administration says Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in Khashoggi civil case (Guardian)

• WNBA star Brittney Griner has been moved to a Russian penal colony and began serving her nine-year sentence, her lawyers said. Griner was convicted of drug possession after customs agents said they found cannabis oil in her luggage. President Joe Biden has been trying for months to negotiate her release. [AP]

• Russian forces kept up a barrage of shell and missile attacks on various regions of Ukraine, many hitting power infrastructure, while heavy fighting persisted in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east of the country. (Reuters)

• Where’s Putin? Leader leaves bad news on Ukraine to others (AP)

• GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump (WP)

• Trump’s Standing in GOP Is Under Attack, but Moving On Won’t Be Easy (WSJ)

• Trump tweeted an image from a spy satellite, declassified document shows (NPR)

• Previewing the DeSantis-Trump clash (Politico)

• Investigators have found traces of explosives at the site of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines, confirming that gross sabotage had taken place, a Swedish prosecutor said. (WP)

• How It All Fell Apart in Afghanistan (Foreign Policy)

• “No One Asked Me Why I Left Afghanistan” (HRW)

• Talks at the U.N.’s climate summit in Egypt have broken down. COP27 is supposed to end today, and countries haven’t made much progress on a new agreement to tackle climate change. (WP)

• Western US cities to remove decorative grass amid drought (AP)

• Biden administration asks Supreme Court to reinstate student loan forgiveness program (WP)

• Home sales fell for the ninth straight month in October, as higher mortgage rates scared off potential buyers (CNBC)

• VIDEO: Starbucks Workers Strike at Stores Nationwide (AP)

• Children’s hospitals call on Biden to declare emergency in response to ‘unprecedented’ RSV surge (CNBC)

• Wuhan’s early covid cases are a mystery. What is China hiding? (Edit Bd/NYT)

• Adolescents assigned female at birth account for a significant majority of minors receiving gender-affirming care, including top surgery, fueling debate about the influence of peer groups and social media. Read the Special Report here. (Reuters)

• Where did Earth’s water come from? This meteorite might hold the answer (CNN)

• The Amazon forest is approaching a tipping point. Some regions are starting to collapse. (WP)

• Massive Volcanism May Have Altered Ancient Venus’ Climate (NASA)

• Octopuses may deliberately throw things at each other. They were caught on camera flinging objects at each other in what could be intentional attacks, a new study found. It’s probably to defend their personal space, researchers said. They might be protecting their eggs or simply be angry. (WP)

• Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees that WhatsApp and Messenger would drive the company's next wave of sales growth, as he sought to assuage concerns about Meta's finances after its first mass layoffs. (Reuters)

• Facebook HQ On Lockdown After Mark Zuckerberg’s Avatar Breaks Out Of Metaverse (The Onion)

 

Buried Treasures (from 12/3/06)

 Two nice young men came by today with probes and shovels, a pail and some rope. They had old maps of this neighborhood, which showed this house has been here since the 1880's or so. (It's hard to date precisely when old homes were built here because most of the records were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire.

They explained they collected old bottles from the Civil War period to the end of the 19th century by using a simple method. From the old land maps, they identified properties that have not been significantly reconfigured since that era. Plumbing arrived slowly in these areas of town, so everyone had privies dug in their backyards.

By the turn of the century, when the houses got inside plumbing, the outhouses were carted away and the privies were filled with dirt. First, however, most people "sealed up" the aromatic "night soil" with a layer of bottles and other trash. 

They said they typically found what they were looking for about four and a half feet below the surface. So they went around the perimeter of our backyard, probing for glass about that far down. They quickly identified the spot -- it's about halfway back the rear property line on the left side of the yard.

They roughed out the likely dimensions of the old privy and set to work. When they were about four feet down they hit the first glass -- shards and some whole bottles from the Prohibition era. They were ceramics, liquor bottles and other machine-engineered bottle pieces.

Then they hit layers of a new kind of dirt -- the fine ash from fireplaces. This indicated a dry hole, where not much corrosion was likely to have occurred.

On and on they dug -- five, six feet -- now finding bottles from right around the year of the earthquake. Other items emerged -- a corroded half of an old pistol, the remains of what looked like a toy train, a piece of a pipe (for smoking). Down another foot and we were into the 1890s.

They brought up an almost complete brown teapot. The ceramic handle for a dresser drawer, an old button.

At eight feet they hit pay dirt: A whole cache of bottles, many inscripted with manufacturer's names like Dr. J. E.Plouf's Rheumatism Cure, and Lengfeld's Prescription Pharmacy, San Francisco. These were all from the 1880's and 1890's, and thanks to the ash, in surprisingly good condition.

My 8-year-old, Julia, helped comb through the pile of dirt excavated shovelful by shovelful. When the pit got too deep, the guys lowered the pail and then hauled it up, like miners:

Piso's Cure for Consumption
Paul Rieger's Jamaica Ginger, S.F. Cal (for hangovers)
California Fig Syrup Co.
Tillman's Extract
Dr.King's New Discovery for Consumption
Enterprise Sodaworks S. F. (soda bottle)

Lots of bottles of petroleum jelly, including Vapo-Cresolene Co. All in all, the haul was about three dozen bottles -- including a red bitters bottle, milk and cream bottles, as well as an exquisitely painted purple candlestick fragment.

That pit knows more about who lived here and how they lived than anyone alive today. After extracting these treasures, the guys (aided by Julia) refilled the pit and let the rest of the shards rest in piece.

NEWSLINKS:

• Pelosi won’t seek leadership role, plans to stay in Congress (AP)

• Control of Congress is split. Can a divided government make progress? (WP)

• McConnell reelected Senate GOP leader (AP)

• McConnell holds back challenge in precarious moment for his leadership (WP)

• Republicans capture control of the House after falling short of midterm expectations. (NYT)

• House GOP makes clear it's going after Joe Biden via Hunter (Politico)

• Voters in Great Lakes states deliver election deniers a stiff rebuke (WP)

• Abortion Was Always Going To Impact The Midterms (538)

• Republicans are projected to win a slim majority of seats in the House of Representatives, less than the red wave the party hoped for but enough to stymie President Joe Biden’s agenda for the next two years. The speaker’s gavel will likely pass to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R) in January, but the slimmer-than-expected majority means the party will have a bit less leverage over Democrats for any major policy concessions. [HuffPost]

• Lake refuses to concede in Arizona governor’s race she lost (AP)

• Cheney hits back as Pence says January 6 committee has ‘no right’ to testimony (Guardian)

• Trump’s early 2024 launch fails to rally GOP around him (WP)

• Rep. Karen Bass becomes first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles (NBC)

• Donald Trump's decision to jump into the 2024 race could help give Joe Biden a second term in the White House, the president and his aides believe, viewing his Republican predecessor as a vulnerable and defeated politician even as they fret about the impact a bitter campaign could have on America. (Reuters)

• Allen Weisselberg testifies at Trump Organization’s N.Y. fraud trial (WP)

• Same-Sex Marriage Rights Bill Clears a Crucial Senate Hurdle (NYT)

• The Senate advanced new legislation that would codify protections for same-sex marriage, a major procedural hurdle that required the support of 10 Republicans. The bill, the Respect for Marriage Act, would formally repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that was overturned by a 2015 Supreme Court decision. [HuffPost]

• A member of the far-right Oath Keepers told a jury that she got "swept up" in the moment when she stormed the Capitol, comparing it to the same feeling shoppers get on Black Friday. (Reuters)

• The principal chief of the 440,000-strong Cherokee Nation said he expects Congress to live up to its promise to allow a Native delegate in the House of Representatives. Chuck Hoskin Jr. spoke before a House committee hearing, saying he expected the delegate to be seated before the year’s end, honoring a 187-year-old treaty. [HuffPost] 

• 2 Russians, 1 Ukrainian get life sentences for downing 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight, killing 298 aboard (Fox)

• Poland, NATO say missile strike wasn’t a Russian attack (AP)

• Russia launched more missile strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and its forces pressed attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, reinforced by troops pulled from Kherson city in the south which Kyiv recaptured last week. (Reuters)

• Anger on the front lines and anxiety at home as Russia’s mobilization is mired in problems (CNN)

• Regional Nations Urge US to Unfreeze Afghan Assets (VoA)

• UK finance minister announces tax hikes and spending cuts, says country is in recession (CNBC)

• U.K. Unveils Largest Tax Increases and Spending Cuts in a Decade (WSJ)

• Starbucks workers strike at more than 100 US stores (AP)

• Fired by tweet: Elon Musk's latest actions are jeopardizing Twitter, experts say (NPR)

• Split control of the U.S. Congress following the midterm elections may provide a tailwind for stocks at the end of a bruising year, but inflation and the Federal Reserve are likely to remain the market’s main drivers, investors said. (Reuters)

• The Precarious Future of Sanibel Island (New Yorker)

• Mars' clouds are strangely Earth-like, despite wildly different atmospheres (Space.com)

• NASA Blazes a Path Back to the Moon With Artemis Rocket Launch (NYT)

• Universities focus on athletes’ mental health after crises (AP)

• Elizabeth Holmes to Be Sentenced Friday (WSJ)

• The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns (NPR)

• Lab-grown meat moved closer to your dinner plate. The FDA said it’s safe to eat. That paves the way for products made from real animal cells — but that don’t require slaughter — to be sold in stores in the coming months. (WP)

• Has the next COVID surge already begun? (SFC)

• Kamala Harris Picks Up Seasonal Job At Macy’s (The Onion)

On the Run

Multiple analyses are out on Trump’s decision to launch another presidential run despite his failures in the last three election cycles, and most of them focus on the real estate swindler’s legal problems.

Trump faces pointed inquiries from at least five separate jurisdictions, any one of which could take him down. I am not a gambler but if I were, I’d take the odds he will be indicted for one or more criminal offenses long before the 2024 election season begins.

Political insiders at the Post and Politico believe that in fact the main reason Trump announced he is running was to try and take the offensive on his legal front — not actually to try and regain the White House.

Declaring that he is a candidate allows him to claim that any indictments are politically motivated attempts to blunt his candidacy. 

The truth is that prosecutors have been trying to avoid the politics of any of these multiple legal inquiries. Trump allegedly broke so many laws in so many ways that the overwhelming likelihood is that he will end up as a convicted multiple felon by the time all of this plays out.

But until then we will will all be forced to endure the spectacle of this low-life cheater, lair and would-be dictator strutting around, mouthing his racist slurs, embracing the worst extremist elements of American society, and stirring the anxieties of millions of people who fear their way of life is endangered by the inevitable demographic and economic forces reshaping America.

NEWSLINKS:

• Editorial: Trump doesn’t want your vote in 2024. Just your obedience while he trashes the U.S. again (LAT)

• Trump’s Running and the Feds Are Coming: What the Next Two Years Will Look Like Legally (Politico)

• Trump is out for vengeance — and to protect himself from prosecution (WP)

• Trump offers a dark vision voters have already rejected as he launches his 2024 campaign (CNN)

• Many Republican Lawmakers Are Wary of New Trump Presidential Bid (WSJ)

• Factions of the GOP wrangle for power and influence (PBS)

• Why DeSantis Is A Major Threat To Trump’s Reelection (538)

• Top Republicans Face Dissent as McCarthy Wins G.O.P. Nod for Speaker (NYT)

• A judge overturned Georgia’s ban on abortion starting around six weeks into pregnancy, ruling it violated the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent when it was enacted. The lawsuit was filed by doctors and advocacy groups in July. [AP]

• Same-sex marriage bill picks up more Senate GOP support (Politico)

• In a stunning reversal, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it supports congressional efforts to codify protections for same-sex marriage. While the church still views marriage within its religion as solely between a man and a woman, it has no objection to safeguarding LGBTQ unions for the general public through the Respect for Marriage Act. [HuffPost]

• Election deniers’ doubts about voting made for compelling conspiracy theories, but proved to be a bad get-out-the-vote strategy. (NYT)

• With Democrats on the cusp of losing the House, all eyes are on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s next move, and the party is frozen in place until she decides what to do. (Cal Today)

• Biden said it was “unlikely” that a missile that killed two in NATO-ally Poland was fired from Russia, and pledged support for Poland’s investigation into what it had called a "Russian-made" missile. U.S. officials said the missile was probably fired by Ukraine forces at an incoming Russian salvo against Ukraine's electrical infrastructure. [AP]

• A missile that hit Poland killing two people was probably a Ukrainian air defense missile and there was no evidence to suggest the incident was an intentional attack by Russia, Poland's President Andrzej Duda said. The announcement, which followed similar suggestions by the United States, was likely to ease global concern that the war in Ukraine could spill across the border. (Reuters)

• NATO says Russia is ultimately to blame for Poland missile hit (CNBC)

• Russian spying in Europe dealt ‘significant blow’ since Ukraine war, MI5 chief says (CNN)

• Iranian police open fire at Tehran metro station and beat women on train (Guardian)

• As climate change progresses, trees in cities struggle (AP)

• Defeated Man Too Tired To Fight New $14.99 Fee On Phone Bill (The Onion)

 

The Darkness

In one of the least-surprising announcements of recent history, Trump last night said he intends to run for president again in 2024. This is a nightmare scenario for the Republican Party and for everyone who believes in democracy.

Voters resoundingly rejected Trump in the 2018 midterms, the 2020 presidential election and again last week. But that wasn’t enough to discourage Trump from moving to re-enter the fray.

Meanwhile he is under investigation by multiple authorities, including the Justice Department for his role in the January 6th riot and a number of other matters. That he has done more than any other individual to undermine the integrity of our electoral system makes his desire to run again ironic, at best.

On the other hand, this was to be expected because his intentions are evil — to install an authoritarian regime that would for all intents and purposes destroy our democratic was of life. And there remain millions of people in this country who out of ignorance, fear or habit will gladly vote for him if he wins the GOP nomination.

So it is now up to the rest of us to make sure he fails.

NEWSLINKS:

• Club for Growth steps on Trump relaunch with polls showing DeSantis beating him (Politico)

• Trump launches 2024 U.S. presidential run, getting jump on rivals (Reuters)

• Trump amassed $94 million this election in his various political committees as his anointed candidates lost the Senate for Republicans in tight races where that money might have made the difference. “We didn’t lose because of Trump’s rhetoric. We lost because Trump is cheap,” grumped one of the ex-president's advisers. [HuffPost]

• Trump laughed at coverage of Pence refusing to eat alone with women who weren't his wife, according to new book: 'Now they're attacking Mike for being faithful to his wife!' (Business Insider)

• Trump ignored a deadline for his appearance before the House Jan. 6 committee, setting up another potential showdown over his efforts to duck responsibility for the insurrection. Committee leaders said they're exploring "next steps." [HuffPost]

• ‘The weirdest election I’ve ever been a part of’: How the GOP almost blew the House (Politico)

• McCarthy survives leadership challenge; Scott to challenge McConnell in Senate (WP)

• Liz Cheney trolls Kari Lake for losing Arizona governor’s race: ‘You’re welcome’ (The Hill)

• The Senate will vote this week to codify marriage equality into law, Jennifer Bendery reports. Some Republicans are joining Democrats backing the measure. "We have the votes," a source declared. [HuffPost]

• With Tensions Mounting, Biden and Xi Try a Warmer Tone (NYT)

• Taliban to impose their interpretation of Sharia law in Afghanistan (CNN)

• Escape From Afghanistan (War on the Rocks)

• Afghanistan: Women human rights defenders arrested by the Taliban must be immediately released (Amnesty)

• Stymied by Protests, Iran Unleashes Its Wrath on Its Youth (NYT)

• Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries began the hard work of finding common ground at the annual U.N. climate talks for a deal based on a sketched first outline in the hands of delegates at the summit in Egypt. (Reuters)

• Wells are running dry in California at a record pace.The climate is getting hotter and drier. This was the third consecutive year of severe drought, and the state has already tallied 1,351 dry wells in 2022. (WP)

• Poland holds emergency security meeting after reports of fatal explosion, as Russian missiles bombard nearby Ukraine (CNN)

• Zelenskyy calls liberation of Kherson ‘beginning of the end’ (AP)

• Ukraine war: Russian missiles pound major cities days after Kherson pull-out (BBC)

• Witnesses recount detentions in Kherson: ‘If there is a hell on Earth, it was here’ (NYT)

• Russian strikes across Ukraine plunge country into darkness (AP)

• Wrangling over Ukraine war dominates summit of G20 major economies (Reuters)

• Yet another key economic report is showing inflation pressures are easing (CNN)

• There are now 8 billion people on Earth, according to a new U.N. report (NPR)

• Fish fossils show first cooking may have been 600,000 years earlier than thought (Guardian)

• Fentanyl Vaccine Potential ‘Game Changer’ for Opioid Epidemic (Neuroscience News)

• Teacher Asks Students To Split Into 2 Groups To Simulate Ideal Class Size (The Onion)

 

The 30% Factor

When all of the ballots are counted, the best estimates suggest that about 160 election deniers — all of them Republicans — will have a seat in the new Congress. That is roughly 30 percent of the seats in the House and Senate combined and better than half of the entire GOP caucus.

This group represents a clear and present danger. The rise of authoritarianism in Europe in the 1930s came about when minority parties such as the Nazis manipulated national political systems to claw their way into power.

That could happen here. 

But politicians are opportunists, in both the good and bad senses of that term. They are ambitious and when they sense an opportunity to move up the feeding chain they seize it.

So now they are in office, should Trump’s political fortunes continue to fall, some of these election deniers may choose to stop talking about 2020 and begin to edge away from a position is proving to be ineffective nationally, though it remains popular within their constituencies.

Those politicians with national ambitions may start to distance themselves from Trump, just like the leading Republican contenders for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024 are already doing. It is no mystery why Trump is viciously attacking DeSantis and Pence. They no longer are dancing to his authoritarian tune but are returning to more conventional conservative positions in the hope of moving up if and when Trump fades from the scene.

My hunch is that over the next session of Congress roughly half of the election deniers will let go of the myth that the 2020 election was stolen because it no longer is playing well and won’t suit their purposes going forward.

They will evolve.

Those that remain fiercely loyal to Trump and his Big Lie will still compose a potent minority that will cause the Republican Party leadership and the country all kinds of headaches over the coming two years.

But with Democrats holding the White House, the Senate and many statehouses, this extremist minority’s ability to damage the republic can be confined — as long as reason continues to prevail in American political life as it did in the midterm elections this month.

That is our hope for preserving and repairing the badly tattered public trust that is Trump’s heinous legacy. We will have to endure at least two more years of absurd claims and dangerous rhetoric, extreme positions and propagation of conspiracy theories.

But if we can make it through that period with our democracy intact, an opportunity to rebuild and strengthen this country may emerge once again. 

NEWSLINKS:

• Democrat Katie Hobbs defeats MAGA favorite Kari Lake in high-stakes race for governor in Arizona (NBC)

• Biden and Xi try to avoid a new Cold War, even if all isn’t ‘kumbaya’ (CNN)

• Biden and Xi finally meet again against a backdrop of high tensions (WP)

• A Dangerous Game Over Taiwan (New Yorker)

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met for long-awaited talks that come as relations between their countries are at their lowest in decades, marred by disagreements over a host of issues from Taiwan to trade. The two, holding their first in-person talks since Biden became president, met on the Indonesian island of Bali ahead of a G20 summit. (Reuters)

• Democrats Triumphant After Sealing Senate Majority For The Rest Of President Biden’s First Term (NBC)

• In Nevada, one more victory for the ‘Reid machine’ over ‘Team Mitch’ (WP)

• Extremists in Uniform Put the Nation at Risk (Edit Bd/NYT)

• House GOP presses toward leadership elections despite post-midterm disarray (Politico)

• Democrats’ Senate Victory Hands Biden a Critical Guardrail Against the G.O.P. (NYT)

• Congress returns after the 2022 midterm election with a hectic year-end agenda (NBC)

• Legal peril for Biden’s student debt relief prompts calls to extend payment pause (Politico)

• Democrats in Congress aim to pass bills protecting same-sex marriage, clarifying lawmakers' role in certifying presidential elections and raising the nation's debt ceiling when they return from the campaign trail today. They will look to make the most they can of their current thin majorities in both chambers before the new Congress is sworn in on January 3. (Reuters)

• Rank-and-file Republicans are blaming congressional leaders for the GOP's limp election performance. Right-wing media is turning on Trump, who went into a meltdown of furious attacks on potential 2024 rivals. Some Senate Republicans are delaying a decision on whether Mitch McConnell should continue to lead them. Welcome to post-election GOP grudge-settling. [HuffPost]

• Trump Wanted I.R.S. Investigations of Foes, Top Aide Says (NYT)

• Pence: Trump ‘decided to be part of the problem’ on Jan. 6 (The Hill)

• Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive on classified papers (WP)

• Extreme Candidates and Positions Came Back to Bite in Midterms (NYT)

• How to Fight Fascism Before It’s Too Late (Atlantic)

• The next Congress will have at least 160 election deniers, according to Jennifer Bendery's latest count. Democrats fear the wild possibility that those extremists could install Trump as speaker of the House. [HuffPost]

• Court files show evidence Trump handled records marked classified after presidency (Guardian)

• The landscape of Newsom’s next term (Politico)

• An Emboldened Biden Now Faces a Tough Choice About His Own Future (NYT)

• Ukraine war: 'Long and difficult path' ahead - Zelensky in Kherson (BBC)

• Afghan supreme leader orders full implementation of sharia law (Guardian)

• Turkey blamed Kurdish militants for an explosion that killed six peopleon a busy Istanbul shopping street, and police detained a Syrian woman suspected of having planted the bomb among a sweep of 47 arrests. (Reuters)

• Musk’s latest Twitter cuts: Outsourced content moderators (AP)

• Amazon reportedly plans to lay off about 10,000 employees starting this week (CNBC)

• Layoff spree in Silicon Valley spells end of an era for Big Tech (WP)

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall sends shockwaves through crypto (AP)

• UVA shooting: 3 football players killed, 2 students wounded and suspect in custody (CBS)

• 4 Idaho college students found dead in apparent homicide, officials say (ABC)

• Remnants of Ancient Earth-Like World Seen Being Eaten by a Star (ScienceAlert)

• Dolly Parton gets $100 million from Jeff Bezos to spend on charity (NPR)

• Jeff Bezos says he will give away most of his massive fortune (WP)

• Small Study Shows Money Can Buy Happiness For Households Earning Up To $123,000 (The Onion)

 

Why Republicans Lost

 Amidst all the finger-pointing, Republicans need to acknowledge a fundamental truth: Their party has lost its grip on the basic idea of what it means to be an American.

Americans like their freedoms. This include a woman’s right to choose, anybody’s choice to smoke marijuana, everyone’s freedom to move around at will, listen to the music they like, eat whatever they want, make friends freely and fall in love with whomever they choose.

Restrictions on these and other freedoms will never fly again in this country. Almost the only exception in our time is in the case of climate change. As more and more people comprehend the magnitude of that threat, Americans like all others on the planet will begin to moderate their diets, use of fossil fuels, and propensity to occupy places that are becoming less habitable due to global warming.

When we consider what happened on November 8th in the midterm elections, the GOP-packed Supreme Court’s decision to outlaw abortion played a big part in the outcome. But the decision by so many Republicans to mouth Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election also factored in their defeat.

In every swing state, those election deniers who ran to gain power over the outcomes of future elections lost. Every single one!

Finally, the continued threat of authoritarianism is the darkest cloud hanging over this country. The ongoing investigations into the January 6th riot have reminded voters what they do not want to see happen again.

The attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband factored in here as well, because it was a reminder of Jan. 6th. The inexcusable decision by many Republicans to make light of the attack on Paul Pelosi by a man wielding a hammer that broke the 82-year-old grandfather’s skull did not play well.

After all, this is America. We don’t like criminals here. By making fun of what happened to Pelosi, Republicans instantly transformed themselves into the political party that is soft on crime.

That, my friends, doesn’t play well here in America.

NEWSLINKS:

• The Republicans’ Post-Midterm Reckoning with Donald Trump (New Yorker)

• Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell: Republican anger over midterms (BBC)

• Trump is calling his political allies and encouraging them to blame Mitch McConnell for GOP's poor midterm results, report says (Business Insider)

• GOP finger-pointing in every direction as party absorbs election losses (Politico)

• Democrats surged to flip state legislatures, defying past GOP gains (WP)

• Pelosi says Republican’s ‘red wave’ turned into a ‘little, tiny trickle’ (CNBC)

• Trump Angst Grips Republicans (Again) as 2024 Announcement Looms (NYT)

• Democrat defeats election denier for Nevada secretary of state (WP)

• Shorter voting window could cut turnout in Georgia runoff (AP)

• Republican rivals start plotting a post-Trump future (WP)

• Voters Reject Election Deniers Running to Take Over Elections (NYT)

• Abortion rights wins in Kentucky, elsewhere stoke supporters (AP)

• Election deniers lose races for key state offices in every 2020 battleground (WP)

• Democrats Have Very Narrow Path to a House Majority (WSJ)

• The midterms didn't produce a wave. Here's what that's meant historically. (NPR)

• How Joe Biden and the Democratic Party defied midterm history (CNN)

• Yellen says U.S. debt ceiling hike by lame-duck Congress would be 'great' (Reuters)

• Labor Market Mystery: Where Are the Older Gen Z Workers? (WSJ)

• Winter Will Be a Major Factor in the Ukraine War, Officials Say (NYT)

• The Taliban In Afghanistan Is Still Preventing Girls From Getting Above A Sixth-Grade Education, So This Kabul Resident Is Running A Secret School (BuzzFeed)

• Most Detailed Mapping of Our Brains' Memory Bank Reveals Something Surprising (ScienceAlert)

• Exiled Iranian Who Inspired Steven Spielberg's 'The Terminal' Dies At Paris Airport (NDTV)

• Man Worried Antidepressants Will Leave Trace Of Original Personality (The Onion)