SMMRY.ai

The Simple Explanation for All These Flying Objects [Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic]

By Spencer Chen

In [The Atlantic]

February 13, 2023

294 views

T

• The U.S. military has recently shot down three unidentified objects in the sky over Alaska, northern Canada, and Lake Huron.
• This follows the identification and downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month.
• The U.S. is now looking for more things in the sky and has lowered its standard for shooting objects out of the sky.
• The White House should quickly disclose the nature of the objects now in U.S. possession, even if they are nothing significant.
• It is possible that the U.S. is under a new threat or finally seeing more evidence of an old threat, but it is also possible that none of this is new or terribly threatening.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Juliette Kayyem’s original post The Simple Explanation for All These Flying Objects

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Peter Zeihan – It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Chinese Spy Balloon… [Peter Zeihan, Zeihan on Geopolitics]

By William McClain

In Peter Zeihan [Zeihan on Geopolitics], Politics

February 13, 2023

287 views

P

• Chinese were attempting to conduct surveillance on US military facilities, specifically ICBM launch facilities, using a balloon.
• Chinese leadership has been making catastrophic mistakes in various areas due to lack of dissent and surrounding themselves with yes-men.
• US detected the balloon and tracked it, gathering digital renderings of the structure and its emissions.
• Chinese got little to no information from the effort, while US got a better look at Chinese spy technology and capabilities.
• Incident has exposed the dysfunction and stupidity of Chinese National Security Experts.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit YouTube to watch Peter Zeihan’s original vlog Peter Zeihan – It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Chinese Spy Balloon…

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

No, Francis Fukuyama is Wrong, Not Just Not Even Wrong [Freddie deBoer, Freddie deBoer’s Substack]

By Spencer Chen

In Freddie deBoer

February 13, 2023

272 views

N

• Ned Resnikoff critiques a recent podcast by Michael Hobbes and defends Francis Fukuyama’s concept of “the end of history.”
• Fukuyama’s argument is that human civilization has a teleological purpose and that liberal democracy represents a transcendent culmination of that purpose.
• Critics argue that Fukuyama’s argument is too narrow, too limited, and too particular, and that it is fundamentally inhumane.
• Fukuyama’s defenders often act as though he’s this humble intellectual who put out a modest argument and was suddenly waylaid by bad-faith critics.
• The challenge is to have humility enough to recognize ourselves as blips in history, as opposed to acts of historical chauvinism like The End of History.
• The attacks and their aftermath demonstrated that the abstraction that is “liberal democracy” operates at such an immense altitude above daily human life that talking about the end of history becomes irrelevant.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Freddie deBoer’s Substack to read Freddie deBoer’s original post No, Francis Fukuyama is Wrong, Not Just Not Even Wrong

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Inside the push for a nationwide ban on abortion medication [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen

In [Popular Information]

February 13, 2023

277 views

I

• Right-wing officials have been pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade, claiming it is an effort to respect states’ rights and the democratic process.
• Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) submitted an amicus brief in the Northern District of Texas in support of the plaintiffs in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, which seeks to ban mifepristone, a drug used to induce abortions.
• The lawsuit is about prohibiting the use of mifepristone in the 31 states where abortion remains mostly legal.
• The case is assigned to Matthew Kacsmaryk, a radical Trump-appointed federal judge who is an impassioned critic of the “”sexual revolution.””
• The plaintiffs are relying on the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that has been ignored or limited by federal courts for decades, to support their argument.
• Major corporations, including Comcast, AT&T, T-Mobile, Uber, Mastercard, and Bank of America, are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars backing the politicians bolstering the effort to ban abortion medication.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post Inside the push for a nationwide ban on abortion medication

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

February 12, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 13, 2023

242 views

F

• On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and 100 years later, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on the anniversary of his birth.
• The spark for the organization of the NAACP was a race riot in Springfield, Illinois, on August 14 and 15, 1908.
• William English Walling, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moskowitz met in New York City in January 1909 to create a new civil rights organization.
• The group noted that Black Americans had lost their right to vote and were segregated from white Americans in schools, railroad cars, and public gatherings.
• W. E. B. Du Bois, a founding member of the Niagara Movement, became the NAACP’s director of publicity and research and edited the organization’s flagship journal *The Crisis*.
• The NAACP challenged racial inequality by calling popular attention to racial atrocities and demanding that officials treat people equally before the law.
• In 1946, NAACP leader Walter Francis White brought the story of World War II veteran Isaac Woodard, blinded by a police officers after talking back to a bus driver, to President Harry S. Truman.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 12, 2023

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

How the Other Half Drives [Andrew Moseman, The Atlantic]

By Spencer Chen

In [The Atlantic]

February 13, 2023

259 views

H

• Will Ferrell drove electric GMC Sierra, Chevy Blazer, and Hummer in Super Bowl ad to promote General Motors’ battery-powered offerings.
• Range of electric vehicles depends on how much you can spend – more expensive models have longer range.
• Americans are used to splurging on their wheels, but electric-vehicle ownership upends notions about driving, cost, and freedom.
• Ford F-150 Lightning starts at $55,000 for basic model, but extended-range battery raises cost to at least $80,000.
• Range statistics for city and highway driving are now listed to give potential owners a more realistic idea of how far the vehicles will go.
• Over time, car battery steadily diminishes and range anxiety can be an issue.
• Charging access may become a status symbol, as affluent tax brackets made up the bulk of early adopters and those who can afford to install a charger at home.
• Fast-charging in public is marked up and costs more than charging at home.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Andrew Moseman’s original post How the Other Half Drives

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Go Ahead and Ban My Book [Margaret Atwood, The Atlantic]

By Spencer Chen

In [The Atlantic]

February 13, 2023

204 views

G

• The Madison County school board recently banned Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, from the high school library.
• Governor Glenn Youngkin enabled such censorship last year when he signed legislation allowing parents to veto teaching materials they perceive as sexually explicit.
• The novel is inspired by biblical stories, such as Rachel and Leah turning their “handmaids” over to Jacob and then claiming the children as their own.
• The authors of the United States Constitution framed the First Amendment to prevent the homicidal uproar that had gone on in Europe for centuries.
• Attempts to control media content have come from both the left and the right, each side claiming to act in the name of the public good.
• The last English writer before the late 20th century to have totally free rein was Geoffrey Chaucer.
• Margaret Atwood suggests that the school board’s real motive may be to limit what kids can read based on religious views.
• She encourages young people to explore questions of morality and censorship, and suggests that the school board’s actions may be a way to make sex more fascinating.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Margaret Atwood’s original post Go Ahead and Ban My Book

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Ukraine Has the Battlefield Edge [Gil Barndollar, The Atlantic]

By Spencer Chen

In [The Atlantic]

February 12, 2023

269 views

U

• Russia mobilized 300,000 reservists in September to stabilize its front as winter set in.
• Despite recent successes in Kharkiv and Kherson, Ukrainian leaders are now warning that a new Russian offensive is imminent.
• Russian reservists are mostly men who previously served as one-year conscripts, with an average age of 35.
• Russian troops have demonstrated a deficit of discipline, making them vulnerable to determined Ukrainian defenders.
• Ukrainian success has come down to skillful use of modern weapons against this incompetent and demoralized enemy.
• U.S. training and advising have been almost as significant as the hardware in Ukraine’s success.
• Deteriorating morale on the front lines and at home is mutually reinforcing, making it harder for Russia to fill its penal battalions.
• Putin’s reluctance to mobilize is driven by fear of a political backlash to the call-up.
• Ukraine appears to have lost the manpower advantage, but Russia’s increased numbers are unlikely to overcome Ukrainian will and skill.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Gil Barndollar’s original post Ukraine Has the Battlefield Edge

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Europe has to stand against Russia [Noah Smith, Noahpinion]

By Spencer Chen

In Noah Smith [Noahpinion]

February 12, 2023

245 views

E

• Russia has regained the initiative in the war in Ukraine, with a shift in tactics to infantry and artillery barrages, and a mobilization of 300,000 troops.
• Russia’s imperialistic ambitions are clear, with a desire to regain control over former USSR republics, former Warsaw Pact countries, and even parts of Germany.
• Ukraine needs sustained outside help to prevail against Russia’s larger population and resources.
• The U.S. is an unreliable partner against Russia, with support for Ukraine becoming a culture-war wedge issue, and private contractors not always seeing eye to eye with the U.S. government.
• Europe must unite and prepare itself to prevail in a long stand-off with the aggressive empire next door.
• The U.S. is increasingly focusing its attention on Asia, not Europe, and this could weaken its ability to defend Europe from Russia.
• Europe is more powerful than Russia in terms of population, manufacturing output, and economic dependence.
• Europe has already adapted to the cutoffs of Russian gas and oil, and can continue to do so.
• Europe must increase its defense spending, put aside internal squabbles, and recognize that it is on the side of the “good guys” in order to defend itself against Russia.
• The U.S. stabilized Europe in the 20th century, but now Europe must prove that it can defend its own freedom.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit Noahpinion to read Noah Smith’s original post Europe has to stand against Russia

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]

Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality. [Ethan Strauss, The Free Press]

By Spencer Chen

In [The Free Press]

February 12, 2023

256 views

W

• Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered a near-fatal hit on January 2.
• The draw of football is so powerful that its participants consider it a bargain, even if it means experiencing lifelong pain.
• Malcolm Gladwell predicted football’s imminent obsolescence, but in 2022, 82 of the top 100 TV shows in America were NFL games.
• The violence of football is an eternal violence, and players accept their fate, painful though it may be.
• Football returns us to a sense of the sacred, with its drama and bonds that come with it.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Free Press to read Ethan Strauss’s original post Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality.

Read on

Login with Google below to subscribe

[arm_social_login]