The Senate has been called America's most exclusive club. Maybe that's because you'd have to be out of your mind to want to become a member. Most of us can barely stand to follow politics. Can you imagine being in politics. It's not just the politics of personal destruction, the cable news and social media attacks, or the potential of getting trapped in a water cooler debate about Jewish space lasers. Increasingly, it's about personal safety. Time: Public Officials Face Surge of Threats Ahead of 2024 Election. "Since the 2020 election, state and local officials have faced a surge of violent threats, harassment, and intimidation. A new report published Thursday by the Brennan Center for Justice lays out how this abuse is reshaping the way public officials across the U.S. do their jobs, making them less likely to engage with constituents, hold public events, advocate for policies that could lead to blowback, or run for re-election." The few decent potential politicians now have even less incentive to get involved. So where does that leave us?

+ The craziness, calculating, and cowardice of our so-called leaders (esp on one side of the aisle) has made getting anything done nearly impossible. And the worst qualities of the House are now bleeding into the Senate. Just today, two issues as vital as Ukraine support and addressing the border were thrown under the bus because an insurrectionist indictee in orange clown makeup doesn't want to risk anything positive happening. "Trump’s desire to wield chaos at the border as a political weapon against President Joe Biden in a general election campaign is a factor in the ongoing congressional negotiations, with McConnell telling Republicans: 'We don’t want to do anything to undermine him.'" Mitt Romney responded to the latest failure: "The fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling." But Romney knows as well as anyone that 'appalling' is the name of the game in today's Congress. That's why he's leaving.

Even AI can’t solve this problem. Believe me, I asked.

2

Location, Location, Location

Among this era's most fraught geopolitical questions is whether or not China will launch a military takeover of Taiwan. And one of the key elements in that question is what many consider the most important company in the world. Nicholas Kristof explains in the NYT (Gift Article): "These days it seems impossible to have a conversation about geopolitics or economics without coming back to T.S.M.C., which makes about 90 percent of the world’s most advanced chips. If the lights went out here in Hsinchu, in the company’s ultraclean and ultrasecure buildings, you might not be able to buy a new phone, car or watch. Armies could run out of precision-guided missiles and hospitals could struggle to replace advanced X-ray and M.R.I. machines. It might be like the Covid-19 supply chain chip disruption — times 10 — and T.S.M.C., unfortunately, is situated in a region where war is possible and could threaten production. 'Taiwan Semiconductor is one of the best-managed companies and important companies in the world,' Warren Buffett said last year. But he sold his $4 billion stake in T.S.M.C. because, he said, 'I don’t like its location.'"

3

The Gilded Rage

"As a young man in the nineteen-eighties, Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson set out to claim his stake in the establishment. His access to money and influence started at home. His stepmother, Patricia, was an heir to the Swanson frozen-food fortune. His father, Dick, was a California TV anchor who became a Washington fixture after a stint in the Reagan Administration ... As a teen-ager, Carlson attended St. George’s School, beside the ocean in Rhode Island, one of sixteen American prep schools that the sociologist E. Digby Baltzell described as 'differentiating the upper classes from the rest of the population.' Carlson dated (and later married) the headmaster’s daughter. His college applications were rejected, but the headmaster exerted influence at his own alma mater, Trinity College, and Carlson was admitted." As we know, Tucker Carlson grew up to be one of the strongest voices attacking the elite. Make sense? Of course not. But then again, nothing does. In The New Yorker, Evan Osnos on our increasingly strange relationship with what has become a dirty word. Rules for the Ruling Class. "How to thrive in the power élite—while declaring it your enemy." (Unlike The New Yorker, I choose not use the accent and stick with a working class e.)

4

Doubles, Anyone?

"The WTA’s values sit in stark contrast to those of the proposed host. Not only is this a country where women are not seen as equal, it is a country where the current landscape includes a male guardianship law that essentially makes women the property of men. A country which criminalizes the LGBTQ community to the point of possible death sentences. A country whose long-term record on human rights and basic freedoms has been a matter of international concern for decades." Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova join forces to try to stop the WTA from going the the direction of LIV golf. WaPo (Gift Article): We did not help build women’s tennis for it to be exploited by Saudi Arabia.

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Extra, Extra

Whole Greater Than the Sum of Parts: "While the two battlefronts may look very different, they actually have a lot in common. They reflect a titanic geopolitical struggle between two opposing networks of nations and nonstate actors over whose values and interests will dominate our post-post-Cold War world — following the relatively stable Pax Americana/globalization era that was ushered in by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, America’s chief Cold War rival. Yes, this is no ordinary geopolitical moment." Tom Friedman explains how the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are connected (and bigger than you think). NYT (Gift Article): A Titanic Geopolitical Struggle Is Underway. Meanwhile, the CIA director is meeting with Israel intel chief and Qatar's PM to try to reach a hostages breakthrough.

+ Growth Mindset: "The economy grew at a much more rapid pace than expected in the final three months of 2023, as the U.S. easily skirted a recession that many forecasters had thought was inevitable."

+ Meanwhile, Back at the Court: Trump testified in his latest E. Jean Carroll damages trial, briefly. He was shut down by the judge for breaking the rules and as he left the courtroom, he muttered repeatedly, "This is not America. This is not America. This is not America." (I said the same thing on loop for four years.) In other Trump-related legal news, Peter Navarro was just sentenced to 4 months for contempt of Congress. (He served in the Trump White House. This should be easy time.)

+ Affairs in Order? Even prosecutors are being subpoenaed these days. CNN: Willis, Wade and others expected to be subpoenaed for hearing on Fulton County DA affair allegations.

+ Are You Almost Done In There? Let's take a break from crazy national politics and focus on crazy local politics. "Fifteen months after city officials were ready to throw a party in the Noe Valley Town Square to celebrate funding for a tiny bathroom with a toilet and sink, nothing but mulch remains in its place. The toilet project broke down the minute taxpayers realized the city was planning an event to celebrate $1.7 million in state funds that local politicians had secured for the lone 150-square-foot structure. That’s enough to purchase a single-family home in San Francisco — with multiple bathrooms." Heather Knight in the NYT (Gift Article): San Francisco Tried to Build a $1.7 Million Toilet. It’s Still Not Done. (And, seriously, I can't hold it much longer.)

6

Bottom of the News

Tea with salt? American scientist's "outrageous proposal" leaves U.S.-U.K. relations in "hot water," embassy says. "When it comes to tea, we stand as one," they said before quipping, "The U.S. Embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way – by microwaving it."