Good morning. It's Friday, Feb. 9, and we're covering arguments over election eligibility at the Supreme Court, the Lunar New Year, and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.
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The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over whether former President Donald Trump's role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, make him ineligible for public office under the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause. The effort is the first time the Civil War-era provision has been attempted to be applied to a former president.
Section 3 of the amendment (read here) bars former officers of the United States who take an oath to support the Constitution but then participate in an insurrection from public office. Trump's defense team advanced various arguments—including that he didn't personally participate in the storming of the US Capitol (timeline of events) and that the president is not an "officer," among other challenges.
Justices appeared skeptical of efforts to remove him from the ballot. In particular, they questioned whether a ruling against Trump would effectively allow individual states to determine nationwide elections and whether executing the clause required Congressional action.
The current case stems from a Colorado challenge, though the decision could effect efforts in Maine and at least 11 other states. Timing for a ruling is unclear. |
Lunar New Year celebrations kick off today, marking the start of the lunisolar calendar for billions of people worldwide. The holiday begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar (specifically 5:59 pm ET) and will conclude in about two weeks on the first full moon. China is anticipating 9 billion trips across the country during the 40-day travel rush around the holiday, nearly double that of last year.
Linked to the repeating 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle, the new year also marks the transition from the Year of the Rabbit to the Year of the Dragon, a sign that symbolizes strength, good fortune, and prosperity. The Year of the Dragon has traditionally meant a baby boom for China, as those born during this period are believed to possess qualities including intelligence, ambition, and charisma. See the importance of the dragon in Chinese culture here.
Many traditions around the holiday are based on themes of family and good fortune, including giving lai see to children—red envelopes filled with "lucky money"—and a lantern festival to end the celebrations.
See photos here. |
(Another) Icelandic Eruption |
A newly active volcanic system in Iceland's southwest erupted for the third time in two months yesterday, spouting lava fountains over 100 feet high and sending flows across main roads. A key hot water pipe from a power plant serving the area—currently seeing below-freezing temperatures—was destroyed. Officials signaled more activity is likely in the coming months.
The Svartsengi system, a collection of craters and fissures roughly 20 miles southwest of Reykjavik, erupted in December for the first time in centuries. The system sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet, and its volcanic energy has long supplied the heat for the popular Blue Lagoon spa and the Svartsengi geothermal power plant.
A second eruption in January brought lava flows to Grindavik, a fishing town of 3,500, forcing an ongoing evacuation after three houses were destroyed. See photos of the two-mile wide fissure and its flows. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII Sunday (6:30 pm ET, CBS); see full preview and predictions (More) | See position-by-position matchups (More) |
> Mojo Nixon, musician, actor, and DJ, dies of cardiac event at 66 (More) | Henry Fambrough, founding member of The Spinners, dies at 85 (More) |
> Golfer Cristobal del Solar shoots a 57 at a Korn Ferry Tour event, the all-time lowest score at a PGA Tour-sanctioned event (More) |
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> Google rebrands Bard as Gemini, publicly releases an Android app dedicated to the AI platform (More) | Federal officials ban use of AI-generated voices in robocalls as campaign season shifts into high gear (More) |
> Last month marked the warmest January on record (dating back to 1950), while also capping the first full year with global temperatures averaging 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial baseline (More) |
> Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, is spinning so quickly that its effect on spacetime makes it appear shaped like football, study suggest (More) |
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> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.2%); S&P 500 briefly tops 5,000-point milestone in intraday trading (More) |
> Arm shares rise 48% Thursday following chipmaker's better-than-expected earnings the day before, adding roughly $38B to its market cap (More) | Shipping giant Maersk shares down 15% after suspending share buybacks and warning of slowdown in shipping amid Red Sea disruption (More) |
> US weekly jobless claims drop to 218,000 for the week ending Feb. 3; figure from last week marks the first decline in three weeks (More) |
From our partners: We aren't given many 21-month grace periods. Oil checks, doctor appointments, Tax Day ... time speeds by between them. But The Ascent found a few cards offering 0% intro APR on balance transfers for up to 21 months—among the longest we've seen to avoid interest charges. Learn more about today. |
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> Senate advances bill for $95B foreign aid by a vote of 67-32, one day after a bipartisan package combining the support with border security measures failed; $60B to go to Ukraine and $14B for Israel (More) |
> Special counsel finds President Joe Biden improperly took classified documents after leaving the Obama administration, declines to press charges; report claims frequent memory lapses by Biden during interviews by investigators (More) |
> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fires the country's top general, citing stalled effort in war against Russia (More) | Tucker Carlson airs interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin from Moscow (More) | Brazilian police accuse former President Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup following 2022 election loss (More) |
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> How Time Works
Kurzgesagt | Staff. Most people perceive time as a linear process, but modern scientific theories suggest everything might be happening—literally—right now. (Watch) |
> Searching for Earhart
USA Today | George Petras, Janet Loehrke. An illustrated guide to the recent discovery of an object 16,000 feet below the Pacific believed to be the aircraft of the famous aviator lost at sea 86 years ago. (Read) |
> What Plants Hear
Nautilus | Caspar Henderson. Studies have shown trees and plants are incredibly sensitive to a wide-range of signals, from the intensity of sunlight to chemicals in the soil. A long-standing question remains—how do they react to sound? (Read)
> How to Know Each Other
No Small Endeavor | Lee C. Camp, David Brooks. (Podcast) A series exploring what it means to live a good life encourages listeners to pay closer attention to the people in their midst. (Listen) |
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