- To the surprise of few, Donald Trump has easily won the Iowa caucus, with 51% of the vote. Candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson have withdrawn. What is interesting is that 43% of Nikki Haley supporters would vote for Biden over Trump. This is definitely a positive sign, though of course many of the Haley voters were probably people who aren't normally Republicans. Meanwhile many worry that a second Trump administration would be more willing and able to take advantage of ambiguities in laws like the Insurrection Act which give the president the power to use the military on American soil under certain poorly defined conditions.
- The Capitol Police are investigating Trump advisor Roger Stone after audio allegedly surfaced in which he tells members of his security detail that he'd like to see two Democratic members of Congress rubbed out.
- A strange fact - the US constitution does not explicitly grant Americans the right to vote. The 15th Amendment, for instance, says that people can't be prohibited from voting on the basis of race, and the 19th and 26th amendments provide similar protections for women and young adults, but none of this prohibits a state from limiting voting on other grounds, although there is case law covering some other protections.
- In addition to the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, South Africa is also planning to bring similar charges against the US and UK for their complicity. Indonesia is also preparing legal arguments against Israel.
- Israel is claiming that two journalists killed in Gaza on Sunday, one of whom worked for Al Jazeera, had connections to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a recognized terrorist group. However, this is based on a poor quality photo of a document whose authenticity is doubted by many experts.
- Weeds are developing herbicide resistance faster than new herbicides can be developed. Kinda like superbugs on a macro scale.
- If the thought of giving up flying for the sake of the climate seems like a bridge too far, maybe we should frame things differently. How about avoiding flying if possible because it's generally a miserable experience? On a similar note, I've often thought that if environmental organizations want to maximize their bang for their buck, they should be sponsoring shows like Mayday.
- New York City just had its first significant snowfall in almost 2 years. That is, if you consider 1.6in (4.1cm) to be "significant".
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