Did the NBA All-Star Game Just Get Blocked by James? It’s one thing when fans voice concern about staging All-Star Weekend amid a pandemic, it’s another when those doubts are coming from the face of the league (Ringer)
The Egghead Gap: Science and technology support innovation, economic growth, and military might, making them central pillars of geopolitical competition. For the last three decades, the United States has been mostly unchallenged in its role as the world’s leader in scientific and technological research. But in recent years the country has come to face an explicit challenger in China. As the United States seeks to shore up weaknesses and ensure leadership for this century, we must recognize the key role that global talent plays in driving progress on the frontier, our country’s long history of recruiting this talent, and how to fully leverage this advantage with a more proactive approach. (New Atlantis)
Cabin pressure: the turbulent history of flight attendants Flight attendants are the face of the airline — and now, they’re pleading with passengers to wear masks. The airline industry has always had its ups and downs, from recessions to gas prices to coronavirus. But when things get unstable, flight attendants are the first to feel the pain. (The Verge)
How Europe fell behind on vaccines The EU secured some of the lowest prices in the world. At what cost? (Politico)
The Coming Alzheimer’s Crisis—and What to Do About It The hours to come would pit the insurgent conspiracists against a handful of White House lawyers and advisers determined to keep the president from giving in to temptation to invoke emergency national security powers, seize voting machines and disable the primary levers of American democracy. (Barron’s)
After Record Turnout, Republicans Are Trying to Make It Harder to Vote The presidential election results are settled. But the battle over new voting rules, especially for mail-in ballots, has just begun (New York Times)
Off the rails: Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency White House staff had spent weeks poring over the evidence underlying hundreds of affidavits and other claims of fraud promoted by Trump allies like Powell. The team had done the due diligence and knew the specific details of what was being alleged better than anybody. Time and time again, they found, Powell’s allegations fell apart under basic scrutiny. (Axios)
Spurred By The Capitol Riot, Thousands Of Republicans Drop Out Of GOP The number of people changing parties spiked immediately after the Capitol breach. The same phenomenon is playing out nationwide. News outlets documented about 6,000 defections from the party in North Carolina, 10,000 in Pennsylvania and 5,000 in Arizona. (NPR)
Victoria Airbnbs are disappearing through the pandemic, returning rentals to the market How the pandemic did what regulators couldn’t, and how that’s played out in the rental market (Capital)
Frontline - China’s COVID Secrets