Homeland Danger, The Climate Fight
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Danger Within: The Department of Homeland Security issued a rare bulletin warning of domestic terrorism following the Capitol insurrection.
The notice says, “Information suggests that some ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”
DHS says it has not been alerted to any specific plot. But they have been waving their hands about white supremacists for more than two years and struggling with the Trump administration to pay attention.
Just one example of who and what’s out there, authorities arrested a California man in possession of five pipe bombs as well as 49 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Gov. Gavin Newsom may have been a target. Investigators found messages on Rogers’ phone, one of which said, “I want to blow up a democratic building bad,” and another that said, “I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will.”
Climate Change: The climate has changed and so has the climate in the White House. President Biden, tackling one big issue day after day, yesterday signed an executive order to, as he said, “supercharge our administration’s ambitious plan to confront the existential threat of climate change. It is an existential threat.”
He described efforts to build a clean energy future that would create “millions of good paying union jobs” in modernizing water systems, transportation, and energy.
Biden said, “In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis and we can’t wait any longer.”
To Your Health: President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today expanding the window to apply for Obamacare for people who’ve lost their health insurance during the pandemic. The enrollment window runs from February 15th to May 15th.
A news release says, “For President Biden, this is personal. “As we continue to battle COVID-19, it is even more critical that Americans have meaningful access to affordable care.”
Money, Money: Wall Street stocks had their biggest dive since October indicating that investors may be realizing that their enthusiasm has been detached from reality.
Contributing to the slide is a pessimistic economic outlook issued by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones fell 2 percent — that’s 634 points — while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indexes fell 2.6 percent.
One anomaly is a runup in the stocks of some failing companies, primarily GameStop. Evidently because of some message board chatter, the money-losing GameStop video game retailer was at 39 points seven days ago and closed yesterday at 347. It involves some knowledge about how the market works, but by pouring in money, the little investors are forcing the big investors to cover their short selling positions by buying more of the stock, and losing money.
The little investors are making big money. But eventually what goes up must come down.
Viral News: Sekou Smith, a National Basketball association reporter and analyst for more than 20 years died of Covid-19 at 48. Smith had worked for NBA TV and wrote for NBA.com since 2009.
Smith is another statistic as the coronavirus death toll in the US reached nearly 430,000. Just short of 4,000 people died yesterday.
And Leave Paradise? Flash flood warnings continue today in the Central Coast of California as a wet weather system lingers. Massive mudslides have already occurred in areas where wildfires burned away the brush. In the Sierra Nevada, several feet of snow has already fallen.
The Bulletin Board: Sales of Apple electronic stuff spurred by the introduction of the iPhone 12 increased 21 percent in the most recent quarter, vaulting the company past $100 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time. Like previous iPhones, the 12 is an expensive device that makes phone calls. — A crew of four private astronauts, one of them 70 years old, has been selected for a mission next January to the International Space Station. Three of them will actually spend a week on the station. “Private” means that each has agreed to pay $55 million. — The Bodice-ripper series “Bridgerton” has become the most-watched show ever on Netflix.
The Obit Page: Cloris Leachman, the acerbic sidekick on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s, an actress with comic and dramatic range, has died at age 94.
She followed up that long-running comedy with a sitcom of her own, “Phyllis,” as well as “The Facts of Life,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Raising Hope.” She won eight Emmy Awards
Leachman played in a handful of Mel Brooks comedy movies and won an Oscar playing a gym teacher’s neglected wife in 1971’s “The Last Picture Show.”
Dept. of Corrections: We used the word “acquit” yesterday in a story about impeachment when we meant to say “not inclined to convict.” Only two readers sent indignant notes and the rest were quietly polite about it.
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