CDC orders sweeping U.S. transportation mask mandate as COVID-19 rages

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a sweeping order late Friday requiring the use of face masks on nearly all forms of public transportation Monday as the country continues to report thousands of daily COVID-19 deaths.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-masks/cdc-orders-sweeping-u-s-transportation-mask-mandate-as-covid-19-rages-idUSKBN29Y2YG?source=Snapzu

Politics for dummies: Man uses laundry to explain ideologies, funny tweets galore

This man on twitter has explained various political ideologies using hilarious analogies.
Read more: https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/politics-dummies-man-laundry-explain-ideologies-twitter-358862-2016-12-21?source=Snapzu

Proud Boys Charged With Conspiracy in Capitol Riot

The conspiracy charges were the first to emerge against members of the extremist group in connection with the assault on Congress.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/nyregion/proud-boys-charged-with-conspiracy-in-capitol-riot.html?source=Snapzu

Brazil’s New Covid Strain Raises Big – and Scary – Questions

The biggest pandemic news may not be from Johnson & Johnson but the Amazonian city of Manaus.
Read more: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/brazils-new-covid-strain-raises-big-and-scary-questions.html?source=Snapzu

'Sea Prison': COVID-19 Has Left Hundreds Of Thousands Of Seafarers Stranded

On a chilly January morning, the Rev. Mary Davisson climbs up the stern ramp of the Tonsberg, an enormous ship bobbing in the murky waters at the Port of Baltimore. Davisson, the executive director and port chaplain of the Baltimore International Seafarers' Center, has spent much of her nearly two-decade career helping foreign crew members arriving in port, whether it is giving them a lift into town to buy personal items or just enjoying a coffee with them.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/29/959626340/-sea-prison-covid-19-has-left-hundreds-of-thousands-of-seafarers-stranded?source=Snapzu

Rabbi From Florida Arrested for Role in U.S. Capitol Riot

A rabbi from the Tampa Bay area became the latest person with ties to Florida to be arrested for their alleged role in the U.S. Capitol riot earlier in January. NBC affiliate WFLA-TV reports the United States Department of Justice has filed several charges against Michael Stepakoff, who was caught on camera among the group that stormed the building on January 6th following a rally for former President Donald Trump.
Read more: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/rabbi-from-florida-arrested-for-role-in-u-s-capitol-riot/2856912/?source=Snapzu

Detroit Zoo polar bear give birth to twins after unsuccessful pregnancies

After losing her baby cubs in two different pregnancies, the Detroit Zoo's 8-year-old polar bear, Suka, successfully gave birth to two cubs on Nov. 17. The two unnamed cubs are the first polar bears to be successfully born and raised in the Detroit Zoo since 2004, the zoo said in a news release this week.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2021/01/29/detroit-zoo-polar-bear-cubs/4306641001/?source=Snapzu

Toys R Us retrenches again, shutters its last 2 US stores

Toys R Us is retrenching once again. The only two Toys R Us stores that opened in November 2019 as part of a small U.S. comeback attempt by the iconic toy chain have now closed. The Toys R Us store at the Galleria mall in Houston shuttered on Jan. 15, while one at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, closed on Tuesday, according Tru Kids, a new entity formed when it acquired Toys R Us’ intellectual property during its liquidation in 2018.
Read more: https://thegrio.com/2021/01/30/toys-r-us-closes/?source=Snapzu

New Biden executive order makes science, evidence central to policy

Agencies will perform evidence-based evaluations of their own performance.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/new-biden-executive-order-makes-science-evidence-central-to-policy/?source=Snapzu

Black Lives Matter movement nominated for Nobel peace prize

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize following a year in which protests demanding racial justice exploded across the world. Norwegian MP Petter Eide said in his nomination papers that the movement had forced countries other than the US to face up to racism within their own societies. “I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality,” Mr Eide said, according to The Guardian.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/black-lives-matter-nobel-peace-prize-petter-eide-b1795115.html?source=Snapzu

Donald Trump Business Empire Faces Continued Fallout

"Trump as a luxury hospitality brand in the United States is absolutely 100% over," says a PR specialist, amid Trump Organization declines in revenue and value of its real-estate holdings.
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-business-empire-faces-continued-fallout-post-capitol-riot?source=Snapzu

Here's what traveling by hyperloop might be like - CNN Video

Hyperloop high speed transportation is still years away, but a new concept video from Virgin Hyperloop gives a glimpse into the future of high speed transit.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/01/28/virgin-hyperloop-concept-video-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-news/?source=Snapzu

Lawmakers Take Aim at Insidious Digital ‘Dark Patterns’

A new California law prohibits efforts to trick consumers into handing over data or money. A bill in Washington state copies the language. “agreement obtained through use of dark patterns does not constitute consent.”
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/lawmakers-take-aim-insidious-digital-dark-patterns/?source=Snapzu

50 years since Apollo 14: Mission to Fra Mauro

The first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, ventured to the Moon in 1971 — where he hit what might be the longest golf shot in the universe.
Read more: https://astronomy.com/news/2021/01/50-years-since-apollo-14-mission-to-fra-mauro?source=Snapzu

What if a clearinghouse fails?

The new clearing requirements were one of the more widely applauded features of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. With good reason. Prior to the Great Recession, most derivatives transactions were unregulated and undisclosed. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, clearinghouses now guaranty many swaps by serving as a buyer to every seller and a seller to every buyer. If one of these buyers or sellers fails, the clearinghouse can step into the gap, thus limiting the risk that the failure will interfere with the financial markets.
Read more: https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-if-a-clearinghouse-fails/?source=Snapzu

Fauci on What Working for Trump Was Really Like

From denialism to death threats, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci describes a fraught year as an adviser to President Donald J. Trump on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/health/fauci-trump-covid.html?source=Snapzu

Bernie Sanders' inauguration memes help raise $1.8 million for charity

"We're glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need," Sanders said. "But even this amount of money is no substitute for action by Congress."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/bernie-sanders-inauguration-meme-helps-raise-1-8-million-charity-n1255925?source=Snapzu

China sharpens language, warns Taiwan that independence 'means war'

China toughened its language towards Taiwan on Thursday, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that "independence means war" and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-taiwan/china-sharpens-language-warns-taiwan-that-independence-means-war-idUSKBN29X0V3?source=Snapzu

Talking can spread Covid as much as coughing, says research

Tiny aerosols of the virus emitted when speaking linger in air for longer than larger droplets from a cough
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/talking-can-spread-covid-as-much-as-coughing-says-research?source=Snapzu

Canada Is Formally Considering Full Drug Decriminalization For One Major City

Health Canada is reviewing Vancouver’s request to decriminalize all drugs, just as Montreal has made an ask for national decriminalization.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7akgy/canada-is-formally-considering-full-drug-decriminalization-for-vancouver?source=Snapzu

Chuck Schumer Lists Marijuana As A Priority In First Post-Election Cannabis Comments

Newly installed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reiterated on Monday that marijuana reform will be a legislative priority for his chamber as the session ramps up. In his first public comments on cannabis policy since Democrats reclaimed the majority and put him in the top leadership position, Schumer said federal marijuana reform will be part of a racial justice agenda that lawmakers will pursue in the 117th Congress.
Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/chuck-schumer-lists-marijuana-as-a-priority-in-first-post-election-cannabis-comments/?source=Snapzu

The Bernie Mittens Meme Is Now a Porn

The image of Bernie Sanders bundled up and minding his own business at President Joe Biden's inauguration has now completed the meme cycle: funny on its own, funny when placed in every other possible context, not funny to people who projected their issues way too far into it, merch (including prayer candles), and now, porn parody. Adult performer Elle Hell recreated Sanders' inauguration look in a jerk-off instructional video, "I'm Once Again Asking You to Cum."
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bkg3/bernie-sitting-mittens-meme-inauguration-porn?source=Snapzu

B.C. boy sets world record for balancing Jenga blocks

The seventh-grader from Salmon Arm, B.C., broke the record set by an Arizona man who stacked 485 Jenga blocks over a single vertical wood block.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/auldin-maxwell-guinness-record-jenga-blocks-1.5887529?source=Snapzu

Canada considers designating neo-Nazis, white supremacists as terrorist groups

Far-right extremism has received more mainstream attention in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. News reports have identified people in the mob as members of militia groups, as well as the far-right Proud Boys movement.
Read more: https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/01/27/canada-considers-designating-neo-nazis-white-supremacists-as-terrorist-groups.html?source=Snapzu

Australia takes on Google advertising dominance in latest Big Tech fight

An Australian regulator is considering letting internet users choose what personal data companies like Google share with advertisers, as part of the country's attempts to shatter the dominance of tech titans.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-media-regulator-idUSKBN29X02X?source=Snapzu

Lori Loughlin’s hubby, Mossimo Giannulli, loses bid for early prison release

Mossimo Giannulli had begged a judge in mid-January to let him be released.
Read more: https://pagesix.com/2021/01/26/mossimo-giannulli-loses-bid-for-early-prison-release/?source=Snapzu

80% of people in Japan say Tokyo Olympics should be called off or won’t happen

More than 80% of people in Japan who were surveyed in two polls in the last few days say the Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or postponed, or say they believe the Olympics will not take place. The polls were conducted by the Japanese news agency Kyodo and TBS — the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/olympics/ct-tokyo-olympics-covid-19-20210111-y35p5iu7mnhptcut2pp7xqleda-story.html?source=Snapzu

Satanists Are Suing the City of Boston for Rejecting Their Invocation Requests

The Satanic Temple is suing the city of Boston, Massachusetts for excluding them from offering invocation prayers during city council meetings. As it stands, the city’s unwritten rules allow council members, on a rotating basis, to select community members to give those opening remarks.
Read more: https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021/01/27/satanists-are-suing-the-city-of-boston-for-rejecting-their-invocation-requests/?source=Snapzu

These crowdsourced maps will show exactly where surveillance cameras are watching

Amnesty International is producing a map of all the places in New York City where surveillance cameras are scanning residents’ faces. The project will enlist volunteers to use their smartphones to identify, photograph, and locate government-owned surveillance cameras capable of shooting video that could be matched against people’s faces in a database through AI-powered facial recognition.
Read more: https://www.fastcompany.com/90596320/amnesty-international-crowdsourced-facial-recognition-map?source=Snapzu

Biden to place environmental justice at center of sweeping climate plan

President Biden will make the needs of low-income Americans and communities of color the focus of his plan Wednesday, according to two individuals briefed on it, making environmental justice a top priority for the first time in a generation.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/26/biden-environmental-justice-climate?source=Snapzu

Exclusive: Proud Boys leader was ‘prolific’ informer for law enforcement

Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-proudboys-leader/exclusive-proud-boys-leader-was-prolific-informer-for-law-enforcement-idUSKBN29W1PE?source=Snapzu

Pastor Scott Lively claims God allowed Trump to lose election for being pro-LGBT

Scott Lively, a longtime anti-LGBTQ pastor, has claimed that God allowed former President Donald Trump to lose the 2020 election because of Trump's alleged support of the LGBTQ agenda. Despite Lively's claim, most national and international LGBTQ rights groups consider Trump to be the most anti-LGBTQ president of all time.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/pastor-scott-lively-claims-god-allowed-trump-lose-election-being-pro-lgbt-1564692?source=Snapzu

A rapid, decisive response to COVID-19 doesn't just save lives. It helps the economy recover faster.

If the United Kingdom had adopted South Korean-style controls in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it would have saved about 65,000 lives through October 2020 and averted its worst economic decline in more than three centuries, according to a new study that modeled the countries’ coronavirus policies.
Read more: https://academictimes.com/south-korean-style-covid-19-response-wouldve-saved-65000-lives-in-uk/?source=Snapzu

Joe Biden's 'climate day' of executive actions signals clean break with Trump

Joe Biden is to instruct the US government to pause and review all oil and gas drilling on federal land, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and transform the government’s vast fleet of cars and trucks into electric vehicles, in a sweeping new set of climate executive orders.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/27/joe-biden-climate-change-executive-orders?source=Snapzu

Facebook is bombarding rightwing users with ads for combat gear. See for yourself.

Facebook announced that it will be temporarily banning some ads for gun accessories and body armor. It’s not enough
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/26/facebook-ads-combat-gear-rightwing-users?source=Snapzu

AT&T is sued for $1.35 billion over technology to synchronize smart devices

AT&T Inc was sued on Tuesday for at least $1.35 billion by a Seattle company that accused the telecommunications giant of stealing its patented "twinning" technology, which lets smart devices such as watches and tablets respond to calls placed to a single phone number.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-at-t-lawsuit-idUSKBN29W01L?source=Snapzu

Biden to direct Justice Department to not renew contracts with private prisons

President will stop the ‘profiteering’ from federal prisoners, says his domestic policy adviser
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-private-prisons-susan-rice-b1793046.html?source=Snapzu

Twitter acquires Substack-competitor Revue

Revue has customers including Vox Media, Chicago Sun-Times, the Markup and completes with services like Substack.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/twitter-acquires-substack-competitor-revue.html?source=Snapzu

McConnell Relents On Senate Filibuster Stalemate

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell dropped his demand that Democrats maintain the Senate filibuster — ending an early stalemate in the Senate that prevented party leaders from negotiating a power-sharing agreement. Late Monday, McConnell said he was ready to move forward after two Democrats signaled they would not vote to end the legislative filibuster, assuring him that it would stay in place.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/26/960621238/mcconnell-relents-on-senate-filibuster-stalemate?source=Snapzu

US Politicians Use Moral Language More Often When They Have Less Power

Whatever your political affiliation, making appeals to people’s morality can be a powerful rhetorical tool. Politicians frequently use language that refers to moral principles of harm, fairness, loyalty, authority and purity, in order to defend policy positions, appeal to new voters and appease old ones.
Read more: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/01/26/us-politicians-use-moral-language-more-often-when-they-have-less-power/?source=Snapzu

Canadian politicians agree to designate Proud Boys as terrorist entity

A motion calling for the far-right group Proud Boys to be formally designated as a terrorist entity has been agreed by members of Canada’s parliament. The motion, which was introduced by the New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh, passed with unanimous consent in the House of Commons on Monday.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/proud-boys-terrorist-entity-canada-b1792797.html?source=Snapzu

The world's 10 richest people made $540bn in a year – we need a greed tax

Jeff Bezos made $13bn in one day last year; and he’s not the only one getting rich during the Covid crisis. When are they going to be made to give some of it back?
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/26/the-worlds-10-richest-people-made-540bn-in-a-year-we-need-a-greed-tax?source=Snapzu

Johnny Depp May Return as Jack Sparrow After Disney Defending Him in the Court

The feud between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is still hot, but things seem to be coming around in Johnny Depp’s favor after a series of setbacks for the 57-year old actor. Rumors are that Disney is defending Depp in courts, and he is likely to be “Re-hired” for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie. If the rumors are true, then we will see Depp once again as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Read more: https://www.streamingrant.com/news/johnny-depp-returning-to-pirates-of-the-caribbean/?source=Snapzu

Twitter permanently bans My Pillow CEO

Twitter has permanently banned My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell’s account after he continued to perpetuate the baseless claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Twitter decided to ban Lindell, who founded bedding company My Pillow, due to “repeated violations” of its civic integrity policy, a spokesperson said in a statement. The policy was implemented last September and is targeted at fighting disinformation.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/twitter-permanently-bans-pillow-ceo-75483929?cid=clicksource_4380645_5_heads_hero_live_twopack_hed?source=Snapzu

Trump's Hollywood Income Collapsed as He Prepared to Leave the Oval Office

Income from 'The Apprentice' and residuals from films like 'Home Alone 2' and 'The Little Rascals' fell significantly during his final year in office. Former President Donald Trump, who was a well-established media and entertainment personality for decades before winning the 2016 presidential election, saw his Hollywood income fall dramatically during his final year in office.
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/trump-hollywood-income-2020?source=Snapzu

I Love Reading 1980s Computer Magazines, and So Should You

It’s not just a nostalgia thing. Sifting through the past often leads to something new.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/i-love-reading-1980s-computer-magazines-and-so-should-you/?source=Snapzu

B.C. Mounties chop firewood for elderly woman who was busting furniture to burn, heat home

For a handful of RCMP officers in the village of Midway, B.C., the line of duty goes far beyond crime prevention. Officers recently responded to a residence in that small community near the U.S. border to assist paramedics on a medical call. An elderly man was taken to hospital with one of the officers taking it upon himself to visit the home and check on the man’s wife.
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/7593533/b-c-mounties-chop-firewood-elderly-woman/?source=Snapzu

Google will no longer donate to members of Congress who voted against certifying the US election result

Google will not fund members of Congress this cycle who voted against certifying the results of the US election, the company has confirmed.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/google-pac-congress-joe-biden-ted-cruz-2021-1?source=Snapzu

Wuhan doctor: China authorities stopped me sounding alarm on Covid

Medic at heart of original outbreak tells BBC documentary staff were not allowed to wear masks despite concern about human transmission
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/wuhan-doctor-china-authorities-stopped-me-sounding-alarm-on-covid?source=Snapzu

Former Neo-Nazi and Martin Luther King Jr's Daughter Start New Friendship

This former neo-Nazi transformed his life and spent MLK day with Dr. King's daughter Dr. Bernice King.
Read more: https://abc7ny.com/5966688/?source=Snapzu