WaPo: “Lower vaccination rates and fewer mask and vaccine mandates have created a much different environment for the omicron variant to spread in the South, leaving experts unsure whether outbreaks will end up deadlier than in the North. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the states experiencing the sharpest increases in covid-19 hospitalizations since…
Month: January 2022
“New voting maps, and a new day, for Virginia”
WaPo: “The decades-long incumbent-protection scheme known as redistricting is finished in Virginia, at least for now. Good riddance. Its death sentence was pronounced by the state’s Supreme Court, which last week approved new voting maps for Congress and the state legislature with little regard to safeguarding existing seats for politicians who, in many cases, have held them…
“Why I forgive Ralph Northam”
WaPo: “Caught in a racial uproar, people make all sorts of promises to make amends. Whatever they do tends to be heavy on symbolism and light on lasting change. The cycle is so predictable that even the most generous of souls grows weary of this performative reconciliation, which becomes more about making a problem go…
“How Ted Koppel’s trip to ‘Mayberry’ turned into one of 2021’s most striking moments of TV”
WaPo: “At the height of the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, veteran journalist Ted Koppel was working out on the treadmill when he came across an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” — it caught his attention because of something he heard earlier that day while listening to WMAL, a Virginia-based conservative talk radio station. A listener had called…
“Ted Cruz Floats Impeaching Biden”
Political Wire: “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that a Republican-led House after the 2022 elections likely will consider impeaching President Biden on “multiple grounds,” the Washington Times reports. Said Cruz: “The Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. One of the real disadvantages of doing that…
“How Burning Wood Pellets in Europe Is Harming the U.S. South”
Slate: “Among other things, COP26 failed to address biomass energy, which many European nations have relied on as a “renewable energy” source. At best, that terminology is a semantic stretch. At worst, it’s greenwashing a dirty fuel at the worst possible moment. One thing is for certain: Biomass has fueled quite the controversy. Biomass energy comes from…