The Iowa caucus, impeachment, town halls, and Democratic debates? Did you miss anything? Did we? This was quite a tumultuous week, wasn’t it? And not just for 2020 but for America as a whole.
Anyway, here are some stories you might now have seen this week.
Astronaut Christina Koch returns from her record-setting 328-day trip in space
By Walter Einenkel
The original mission was meant to keep Koch in space for six months, but she extended her time and in so doing put herself in the history books, while giving scientists more data on how weightlessness affects the human body over time.
Sometimes it's important to remember that while politicians are messing things up here on earth, scientists are pushing the furthest limits of this great human adventure. It gives us a sense of perspective.
Republicans have hell to pay for torching our republic. Make. Them. Pay. NOW
By David Nir
We are disgusted, we are dismayed, we are filled with sorrow. But we are also very, very angry, and we must channel that anger. Republicans want to put our democracy to the torch, but together we can douse those flames and build anew.
This week was a testament to how far Republicans are willing to betray this democracy. It’s not enough for us to be mad, it’s time to make them pay. We have to unify, organize, and vote them out of office. The very future of our country is at stake.
Romney made history. He also changed the news cycle and the anti-GOP ads to come in 2020
By Walter Einenkel
But Romney didn't just change the story and the way the story would be told, he also changed how that story would reverberate through the 2020 election cycle. Trump, who will target Romney incessantly between now and November, will deprive himself of the talking point that it was Democrats and Democrats alone who took issue with his so-called "perfect call" and voted to convict. In addition, Democrats' discipline as a caucus which included some brave votes from Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama and Joe Manchin of West Virginia robbed Trump of declaring his acquittal was a bipartisan consensus.
Look, I am someone who has had my fair share of cynicism towards Romney, but credit where credit is due. He has more courage than all his Republican Senate colleagues combined and his speech was one of class and integrity. I rarely believe a politician when they say that they are guided by their faith, but this week, I believed Romney. Respect to the Senator from Utah.
No Democratic president will get Republican help—not even Bernie
By kos
But no one should take seriously the notion that Mitch McConnell would suddenly decide to play ball with him, because that’s either willful stupidity, or cynical bullshit. Neither is a good look for Sanders, Biden, or anyone else who might want to pretend.
Terrorist-in-training Chris Hasson's 13-year sentence is a signal to far-right 'lone wolf' wannabes
By David Neiwert
Court papers released to the public this week featuring some of prosecutors’ key exhibits in Hasson’s case file underscored the realities of Hasson’s interests and motivations. In interviews with prosecutors, he had acknowledged having been an active racist “skinhead” in the 1990s, but claimed to have shed his white-supremacist views by the late ‘90s and become an upstanding citizen instead.
Let us know in the comments: What stories did you read this week that stuck with you? Anything that you think flew so under the radar that we might have missed?
Looking forward to chatting with y’all below!
