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Paths to power and winning elections inside the GOP are changing rapidly and radically, spawning a new generation of kingmakers while diminishing the clout of many who lorded over the party for years. Why it matters: Fourteen of the Republican Party's top consultants and operatives across the country spoke in detail with Axios about how profoundly primary races have changed since 2014 — the last pre-Donald Trump midterm election and the last midterms in which a Democrat occupied the White House. What we found: Those sources — whose clients range from as Trumpy as they come to establishment Republicans —...

Are we returning to normalcy? The word "normalcy," as history buffs know, was used (but not invented) by our only journalist president, Warren G. Harding, to sum up his 1920 campaign. Normalcy was political shorthand for returning to normal times after a European war, prosecutions of peaceful protesters, sharp inflation and depression, terrorist bombings at home, totalitarian revolutions abroad and a pandemic influenza that killed, proportionately, more than twice as many Americans as COVID-19. Normalcy was popular, too. Harding won the popular vote 60% to 34%, the largest percentage margin in history. The fighting ended; the economy grew; political protesters...

Source: Twitter, Jill BidenOne of the memorable scenes in the 1993 movie "Dave" involved the president and first lady walking their dog in front of the cameras and promptly dumping him on staff when they walked into the White House. Having a pet is an easy way to get positive press that "humanizes" any politician, so almost every president does it -- and milks it. For example, there was Socks the cat, who came in with the Clintons in 1993. Then the Clintons added Buddy the dog at the end of 1997, weeks before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Hillary...

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics kicks off with around 2,900 athletes from more than 90 countries and regions participating in over 100 events.

In large part, policies currently implemented in many states show a profound misunderstanding of human nature. Every human being is a living structure made up of at least four components: biology (the physical, the behavioral, a.k.a. what humans do), psychology (the mind, a.k.a. what humans think), social connections (our relationships to other beings), and spirituality (our beliefs in something that transcends, goes beyond the physical). Each of these components has inherently good features, bad features, and ugly features (the GBU, for short). In the physical, the bad is illness, disease, genetic defects; the good is excellent form and health; the...

Homeless encampments in Austin, Texas, were legalized in 2021, but the people of this fast-growing tech mecca have had second and third thoughts about what looked like a good idea on paper but turned out to be an eyesore under bridges. Austin politicos have just finished removing virtually all remaining visible homeless camps. Other cities are taking notice. The journey to this current outcome was far from a straight path. Put bluntly, it was a dizzying display of waffling “wokeness.” In 2019, the city council of Austin had the bright idea to legalize homeless camps. Unfortunately, they took the vote...

NEW YORK — A century ago, the publisher of the New York Times scolded an attorney for the newspaper who had just settled a libel lawsuit that had looked as though it would be hard for the paper to win. “I would never settle a libel lawsuit to save a little money,” Adolph Ochs wrote in a letter to the lawyer. “If we have damaged a person we are prepared to pay all he can get the final court to award.” That sensibility has guided the newspaper ever since, with the Times generally refusing to settle libel lawsuits for money...

resident Biden ignited a political firestorm last month when he announced that he would fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Stephen Breyer’s resignation with a Black woman. This was reportedly the result of a deal (political quid pro quo) that candidate Biden struck with Representative James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) in return for delivering the Black vote in the South Carolina primary. resident Biden did a huge disservice to both the integrity of the selection process in nominating justices to the high court and to the candidate that is ultimately chosen. The fact that Biden would enter into such...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Russia and China on Friday called in a joint statement for NATO to halt its expansion, while Moscow said it fully supported Beijing's stance on Taiwan and opposed Taiwanese independence in any form.

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) Russia's Gazprom has agreed a 30-year contract to supply China's CNPC with natural gas from a new pipeline connecting Russia's Far East with China's northeast..... The first gas will start flowing in two to three years, with volumes building up to 10 billion cubic meters a year around 2026, said the person, who declined to be named due to company policy. The deal will be settled in euros, the person added

New series on Amazon.

Rock 'n’ roll was still in its infancy when it suffered its first tragedy. On Feb. 3, 1959, three of its biggest stars — Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper — were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three acts, along with Dion and the Belmonts, were on a package tour called the Winter Dance Party, which was to play 24 Midwestern cities in as many days. But the bus’ heating system was ill-equipped and broke down a few days later, which caused some musicians to catch the flu and...

State officials on Thursday said its unlikely that prosecutors will be able to obtain a warrant to carry out death row inmate Zane Floyd’s execution before Nevada’s supply of one of the lethal injection drugs expires. “It’s theoretically possible but highly unlikely,” Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Alexander Chen said during a hearing in U.S. District Court. Floyd, who was sentenced to die for fatally shooting four people and gravely wounding another at a Las Vegas grocery store more than two decades ago, has multiple appeals in front of the Nevada Supreme Court. The high court would have to...

Iran has executed two gay men who were convicted on charges of sodomy and spent six years on death row, a rights group reported. Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, which is considered one of the most repressive places in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. According to a report on Sunday by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the two men were identified as Mehrdad Karimpour and Farid Mohammadi. They were sentenced to death for "forced sexual intercourse between two men" and hanged in a prison in the northwestern city of Maragheh, some 310 miles from the...

FOX News reports, At a virtual press conference Monday evening, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly stressed that there have been no riots or injuries linked to the demonstrations of anti-jab-mandate protests ushered into the capital by a "Freedom Convoy" of truckers

My latest song. I hate snow.

FDA Suddenly Removes Data on Moderna Vaccine Approval Which Showed 2.6x Heart Inflammation