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The circus is in town Politico reports that Hunter’s laptop is only the beginning. The wingnuts holding the Speakership hostage want to establish a “Church Committee” to examine the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the federal government. I kid you not: While the Republican leader and soon-to-be committee chairs have already lined up a laundry list of investigations that will largely command the House GOP’s agenda next year, it’s not enough for some McCarthy critics. Some of those opposing and on the fence about the Californian’s speakership bid want him to start a new panel, one that could direct probes against the entities they’ve castigated for years, including the FBI, theJustice Department, theIRS and Anthony Fauci. Further complicating McCarthy’s position is that other Republicans aren’t on board. Some of his allies are skeptical that such a select committee wouldn’t severely overlap with the investigative plans that incoming chairs such as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.) have already worked on for months.

Happy New Year and thank you for subscribing to The Lens. It’s truly an honor to share this forum with you. I look forward to delivering a lot more content in the new year as this becomes the primary outlet for my research and writing. I also hope you’ll consider using Substack’s new

Pope Benedict died. I remember when he became pope he was a bit controversial (they all are, of course, to someone, but a bit more controversial than that) and the "word" was that oh no big deal he's sick he'll die soon anyway so don't worry about it. Then he resigned for reasons never quite clearly explained in 2013 (yes everyone can tell you why, but not *really* why) and lived to be 95.

For years, scientists have tried to discover why men are attracted to female breasts. (Thanks to pharmaross)

Off-Duty FDNY Firefighter Urinates in Religious Hut (Thanks to Unholy Slacker, who notes that we cannot post this item because of the blog's Strict Policy regarding names)

2022 has been a difficult year. It’s been a year of spiralling costs and growing fear, particularly as the heatwave of summer descended into the winter and warm banks have appeared across the country. It’s been a year of three prime ministers, in which the government has proved the only thing that can keep it […]

If you can find a reflection The U.S. Department of Justice and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis may ultimately judge Donald Trump by the content of his character as expressed in federal and state crimes. Failing at that, perhaps history will judge him by the company he keeps. Trump simply applied gold leaf to his tinpot. Business Insider: Ennemi du peuple was used to refer to those who disagreed with the new French government during the “Reign of Terror,” a period during which thousands of revolutionairies were executed by guillotine. Jose Diaz, Secretary of the Spanish Communist Party (Report to Central Committee, 1937): “The main enemy of the people in the rearguard are the Trotskyists: they are the bitterest enemies of our cause, the direct agents of Franco in our ranks.” Joseph Goebbels (1941): If someone wears the Jewish star, he is an enemy of the people.

“They offer nothing and destroy everything”. Dangers for Sierra Leone’s people are growing – but the drivers of the situation will not be unfamiliar to UK readers Skwawkbox has received the article below, written by a Sierra Leonean journalist whose name is withheld because of the risk of reprisals. For me the year 2022 has […]

Collected by 95 home dryer vent cleaning franchisees of Dryer Vent Wizard International, the company set the Guinness World Record for largest dryer lint ball collected, with a respectable 690 pound mound. They then had a group of firefighters from...

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A Clovis man was arrested by New Mexico State Police on Tuesday after he allegedly dropped what appeared to be feces through a mail slot at New Mexico State Police headquarters in Clovis. (Thanks to Alklali Bill, who says "You've...

If aliens contact humanity, who decides what we do next? (Thanks to Rod Nunley)

You made it through another year If you have gone from cheering the arrival of the New Year to being thankful you survived the last, join the club. Yet many, including the proprietress here, have considered the unexpected accomplishments of the Biden administration this last year. Digby wrote on Friday that she did not see Dark Brandon coming: I think some of this success, paradoxically, is because Joe Biden is our oldest president, not in spite of that fact. There’s a certain YOLO quality to many people his age which he seems to have channeled into a willingness to take calculated risks that have largely paid off. Dark Brandon’s seen it all — he doesn’t scare easily. Biden reminds audiences, repeatedly and forcefully, “It’s never been a good bet to bet against America!” Even among progressive activists (including this one), Biden’s unabashed America boosterism is sometimes cringe-inducing. While glass-half-empty cynics, the nihilists, the MAGAs, the QAnon cultists, and the fascism-curious gnaw like Teredo worms at the nation’s pilings, Biden is still betting on America. Unashamedly fighting the shameless.

"Dragonfire" is an underrated BBC Doctor Who story that introduced many of the tropes that the revival has taken up since 2005.

Perilous little is novel in finance, particularly scams like FTX.

Another weird one almost over.

It can't be said often enough how much damage Merkel did by using Minsk as a clever ploy to hurt Russia and worse now admitting to it.

Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.

If we have independent reasons to believe that the phenomena under investigation are mechanical in Mill’s sense, well and good: mathematical modeling will prove an apt mode of representation … But if we have independent reasons to believe that there is more going on in the phenomena under investigation than a mathematical model can suggest […]

2022 has seen right-wing attacks on trans rights increasingly aided by the tacit, if sometimes unwitting, transphobia of liberal institutions.

The post Liberals Rose to Fight the Assault on Abortion — but Not Trans Rights appeared first on The Intercept.

Following decades of slumber, 2022 was the year that saw Britain’s trade unions wake up. Against the backdrop of soaring living costs and falling real wages, union membership grew, and workers took strike action to demand higher wages in numbers not seen for a generation. The year also saw trade unions assert themselves on the […]

. After almost forty years in Lund, yours truly returned to the town where he was born and bred — Malmö. Living on the top floor of this grandiose building, next to The Magistrate’s Park, and with The Opera and The Municipal Art Gallery just across the street, always convinces me that returning was a […]

Unglamorous music is a very specific approach to learning, aimed at women - but applicable to anyone lacking in confidence and experience of playing.