Wretchard.com

Thus has the political center been hollowed out … Democrats barely have a majority in the House—but within that narrow majority, progressives have outsize power… The same dynamic holds on the Republican side. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has outraged even other Republicans with her divisive stands.

WSJ

How America’s Polarized Politics Produced Democrats’ Internal Fight

A proliferation of House members have no need to speak to the other party, or even to moderates and independents in the center.

“American Airlines cancels thousands of flights”

https://twitter.com/i/events/1455244276338728966

New at the Belmont Club. Saving the newly impoverished ingrates despite themselves.

On the Brink of Triumph, Green Faces Its Nemesis

Sustainably broke

New at the Belmont Club. When life imitates science fiction.

The Mad Scientist in History

The sorcerer’s apprentice

New at the Belmont Club. Why the great power governments are cracking down on Big Tech.

The Fly By Liar Social Control System

Welcome to the metaverse

The furious members accused the Arizona Democrat of “answering to big donors rather than your own people,” in the latest sign of the political pressure she faces.

NYT

Calling Sinema an Obstacle to Progress, 5 Veterans Quit Her Advisory Council

The furious members accused the Arizona Democrat of “answering to big donors rather than your own people,” in the latest sign of the political pressure she faces.

BRASÍLIA, Brazil — A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity,” asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin America’s largest economy.

NYT

Brazilian Leader Accused of Crimes Against Humanity in Pandemic Response

A report from lawmakers initially said Jair Bolsonaro should be charged with mass homicide and genocide, accusing him of letting Covid-19 spread in a failed bid for herd immunity.

Capitalism wastes food. By contrast socialism has no food to waste. Which is better for the environment?

North Korea: Vulnerable at risk of starvation, UN expert says

A UN expert has urged for international sanctions to be lifted to prevent a food crisis.

New at the Belmont Club. Is the administration laboring under the curse of its predecessor or its own bad judgment.

The Administration’s Bad Luck

The jinx of 2021

By 1966, it seemed the country was starting to walk away from that idea. The conspiracy number had dropped to 50 percent and the Oswald figure had climbed to 36 percent. But by December of 1976, the conspiracy number jumped to 81 percent in the Gallup data.

NBC

The one thing all Americans agree on? JFK assassination conspiracy

For years, the Kennedy assassination has been a bigger source of interest in 49 of 50 states than Watergate or the Clinton impeachment.

A growing number of Chinese property developers are saying they can’t pay their debts, raising concerns of financial contagion as troubled property developer Evergrande Group missed another interest payment to bondholders on Tuesday.

Washington Post

Nearly every major American industry is being affected by what economists are calling “The Great Resignation.” Millions of workers are quitting their jobs for a number of reasons — and limited staffing is leaving businesses unable to perform daily job functions effectively and efficiently.

‘The Great Resignation’: Why millions of workers are quitting their jobs

Thomas Gilbert of the Foster School of Business chats about the impact of millions of Americans voluntarily quitting. #newdaynw

One of the worst progressive tropes is the narrative that European colonialism destroyed paradise. The mischief in the idea lies not in the idea that it was destructive to local cultures — which it was — but in the assertion of its special nature; that in the long history of conquest that dates back to millennia BC, this was the unique innocence-destroying event.

Gas prices in Europe are breaking record after record. The UK is facing supply shortages reminiscent of the late 1970s winter of discontent. Chinese factories are shutting down because of power shortages, and the outlook is grim. In fact, it may be the first crisis of many.

When gas prices in Europe started rising faster and faster last month as the continent prepared for winter and found out it was not the only one, gas suddenly became important.

Oil Price

A Very Predictable Global Energy Crisis | OilPrice.com

Europe and Asia are suffering from high energy prices and slowly but surely, policymakers are waking up to the fact that gas is crucial to the energy transition

She barely spoke to any of her clients; some never bothered to learn her name. Still, she got to know them intimately

Telegraph

‘I was a housekeeper for a wealthy family… I was shocked by what I learnt about the super-elite’ / Twitter

Biden appeared to be referring to Washington’s long-standing “one-China policy” under which it officially recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei, and the Taiwan Relations Act, which makes clear that the U.S. decision to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing instead of Taiwan rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.

Reuters

Biden says he and China’s Xi agree to abide by Taiwan agreement

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about Taiwan and they agreed to abide by the Taiwan agreement, as tensions have ratcheted up between Taipei and Beijing.

Where did Covid-19 come from? The answer can be found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself…If the virus had been cooked up in a lab, of course, there would be no host animal to find.

WSJ

Opinion | Science Closes In on Covid’s Origins

Four studies—including two from WHO—provide powerful evidence favoring the lab-leak theory.

If China wants to take over the Pacific its obvious goal will be to knock Japan out of the Quad. From a purely strategic point of view Japan, not Taiwan, is the crown jewel.

How best to neutralize Japan? Control Luzon or Taiwan. Luzon was in many ways the historic geostrategic equivalent of Taiwan (once known as Formosa) as a stepping stone to Japan. In 1944 the allied planners considered this exact problem in relation to the goal of neutering Japan.

New at the Belmont Club. Is Beijing running out of time? What other clocks are running?

Will China Invade Taiwan?

Will Biden defend Taiwan?

House Budget Chairman Yarmuth To Manchin: “The Federal Government Can Afford Anything”

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday evening that Sen. Joe Manchin’s position on limiting the $3.5 Trillion “Build Back Better” Act to $1.5 Trillion is flat out dumb. Manchin “has no understanding of how the federal government monetary system works,” Yar…

REP. JOHN YARMUTH: The number itself is meaningless. I mean, I read Joe Manchin’s statement, I’ve listened to him, he has no understanding of how the federal government monetary system works when he compared it yesterday to his household income, that has no relevance to what we can do.

It’s not a question of what we can afford. The federal government can afford anything that it feels it needs to do and right now that’s what we ought to be focused on. So that’s kind of the position I took in the budget committee, that’s the position I will take going forward

Transcript

Jordan Peterson argued that “you can’t twist the fabric of reality without it snapping back. You never get away with anything.” Maybe the only reason Peterson believes this is because he hasn’t noticed those who successfully cheated.

The idea that we can create value merely by assertion seems like a textbook case of twisting reality. However NOT to believe it when all the bigwigs insist it’s true marks you, not them, as crazy.