Tucker: "Why do I care what is going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? I'm serious. Why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which by the way I am." pic.twitter.com/OQopoxPYD9
— nikki mccann ramÃrez (@NikkiMcR) November 26, 2019
Putin did not sustain his initial burst of pro-market economic reforms, and Russia did not sustain the growth rates that had burnished his image at home and abroad.
— Axios (@axios) November 25, 2019
Choosing not to diversify Russia's economy left it essentially frozen in time. https://t.co/gsqyN8ZlBY pic.twitter.com/Z1tI7Y07ct
From @POLITICOPro:@rachanadixit's reporting suggests Medicare for All has a "jobs problem." pic.twitter.com/7W9hOKggZJ
— Third Way (@ThirdWayTweet) November 25, 2019
I should note at the outset that I am not unsympathetic to the concerns of these liberal (or liberal-ish) writers, although none of them shows a particularly firm grasp of the thing they are rejecting or its history. The writer Kashana Cauley has traced the use of the term "woke" to unionized black workers in the midcentury and to the civil rights movement. In her childhood in the 1990s, wokeness was "a command to keep ourselves informed about anti-blackness, and to fight it." The last five years have seen more and more people take up this mantle, as Black Lives Matter called for sustained protest against systemic racism, and the election of Trump laid bare the depth of the white patriarchy's enduring power. To be woke in 2019 is, in part, to be a critic; whether recognizing the subtle sexism in a TV show or celebrating the political messaging in a music video, it is a form of close reading that has always been aligned with activism.
Don Blevins, Jr., has a lot to think about. In his job as the clerk of Fayette County, home to Lexington, the University of Kentucky, and more than 240,000 registered voters, he's in charge of making sure elections happen securely and accurately. "There's a lot of hand wringing over the Russians, there's hand wringing from the far right about illegal immigrants voting and all that," but Blevins says he's more worried "about Americans cheating than anybody."Blevins cites a range of possible disruptions--from bomb threats to jamming the internet connections used to verify voter registration--that could cause long lines or deflate public confidence in the accuracy of the tally. While Blevins, a Democratic elected official, insists Fayette, the state's second-largest county, is well resourced and equipped to securely conduct balloting, he worries about less populated regions."Mitch's inaction is directly harming his home state...there's no question.""The smaller counties are in dire straits, and Kentucky for a combination of reasons," Blevins said. "They are chronically underfunded for just basic government services, much less elections related expenses."Meanwhile in Washington, DC, Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky senator for the last 34 years and, as senate majority leader, Congress' most powerful Republican, has steadfastly refused to allow meaningful election security legislation to reach the Senate floor while stymieing most related funding, arguing new laws or mandates would be an overstep of federal power."Mitch's inaction is directly harming his home state," Blevins said. "There's no question in my mind."
"Bondy also said a top aide to Nunes sometimes joined a group that met frequently in spring 2019 at the Trump Hotel to discuss the Biden matter. Convened by Giuliani, the group included Parnas, Fruman, John Solomon, Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing" https://t.co/lsxr1QVBxV
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 24, 2019
In the weeks running up to yesterday's (Nov. 24) district council elections in Hong Kong--largely seen as a referendum on the public's views toward the protests that have wracked the city--the local government and Beijing seemed convinced that a "silent majority," tired of blocked roads and school suspensions, would cast their votes decisively against "violent rioters."A tweet from English-language newspaper China Daily a day before the election, for example, urged people to "vote pro-establishment" (a term referring to candidates loyal to Beijing) in order to help Hong Kong "return to normal life." Nationalistic tabloid Global Times similarly urged Hong Kongers to cast their vote to "end violence." Chief executive Carrie Lam and her administration ramped up their rhetoric that violent radicals had hijacked the protest movement and that it was time for the electorate to cut ties with them.The landslide win by the pro-democracy camp, however--which took control of all but one of the city's 18 local councils--has thrown China's propaganda machine into confusion, to say the least.
The lawyer for an indicted business associate of Rudy Giuliani said his client is prepared to testify under oath that aides to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, scrapped a trip to Ukraine this year when they realized it would mean notifying Democratic Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff.