Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Risky Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab. No One Listened.
Fully-vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says
Syria’s Bashar Assad And His Wife Test Positive For Coronavirus
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke has purchased $60 million in bitcoin.
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) March 8, 2021
“The direction is clear: finance will be disrupted as surely as fossil fuels will be. The question is not if, but when.”
When a California city gave people a guaranteed income, they worked more — not less
The most eye-popping finding is that the people who received the cash managed to secure full-time jobs at more than twice the rate of people in a control group, who did not receive cash. Within a year, the proportion of cash recipients who had full-time jobs jumped from 28 percent to 40 percent. The control group saw only a 5 percent jump over the same period.
Elon Musk wants to connect RVs and trucks to the internet through SpaceX’s Starlink satellites
Democrats' Relief Bill Shores Up A Million People's Pensions.
…the legislation includes so many notable, big-ticket provisions that it’s gaining almost no attention for another notable feature: rescuing the pensions of more than 1 million workers and retirees.
Politics:
In 3/20, all the Senate Democrats voted for Trump's Covid stimulus/relief bill. In 12/20, nearly every Senate Democrat voted for Trump's second Covid stimulus/relief bill. In 3/21, no Senate Republicans voted for Biden's Covid stimulus/relief package. Asymmetric Polarization.
— Julian Zelizer (@julianzelizer) March 7, 2021
Supreme Court rejects final Trump bid to nullify 2020 election results
“We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America. Not for, what? China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever, wherever.”
— Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), apparently not aware that Guam has been a part of the United States since 1899.
The Truth About the Filibuster
Ironically, it is the misleading nature of pro-filibuster propaganda that has enabled Manchin to co-opt its themes. Filibuster advocates present the device as a requirement to allow ‘debate,’ likening it to a kind of free-speech right for senators.
In fact, the modern filibuster inhibits rather than enables debate. So Manchin can propound on the need to allow consideration of bills, and permit Republicans to speak on them extensively, because those are not the actual goals of filibuster supporters. The real purpose of the mechanism is to impose a 60-vote requirement (one that has already been eliminated for executive-branch appointments, fiscal policy, and judges).
Unpacking the Fight Over H.R. 1, the Massive Voting Rights Bill
Biden administration gives major push to giant offshore wind farm
After 2020 fraud claims, Donald Trump requests mail ballot
Undocumented Venezuelans Given Protected Status In United States
Serendipity:
How rice shaped the American South
The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter
@arcangeMeme credit: inFAMOUS_Rogue (source)