The Weekly Sift

After taking a week off, I return to a full plate of news.

I don’t enjoy writing about Israel and Palestine, because it’s a dismal situation where I have no solutions to offer. So this week I lean heavily on two other articles, “The Gaza Doom Loop” in Vox and “On Palestine, the Media is Allergic to the Truth” in Jacobin. They reflect very different views: the Vox article fairly even-handedly explains why neither side wants peace, while the Jacobin article holds Israel responsible because it has far more power to shape events. Jacobin additionally offers a devastating critique of news sources that try to stay even-handed.

So that’ll be the first featured article to appear: “What to Make of Israel/Palestine?”. Let’s say that gets out by 9 EST.

Another featured article looks at the Liz Cheney ouster, and what it means for the Republican Party going forward. “Why Liz Cheney Matters” should be out around 11 or so.

That leaves the weekly summary to discuss the new CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people (a group I join tomorrow); other Republican problems like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the various Trump investigations; the pipeline that got shut down by a ransomware attack; the alarming cracked girder in the bridge that takes I-40 over the Mississippi; and a few other things, before closing with the question: What if Hamilton had been done with polkas rather than hip-hop? I’ll guess that gets out between noon and one.