I don’t have any links to share about Aleppo, and I feel terrible about that. “Massacre” seems too light a word to describe what’s happening there. Learn more about the White Helmets, the ordinary Syrians who are helping rescue people from bombed-out rubble; donate if you can. When we say never again, we should mean it.
President Obama will give some sort of press conference this afternoon; there’s a lot of speculation about what he could say, but even though he leaves for a trip to Hawaii right after, many expect it’ll be something big.
You should also be paying attention to GOP efforts in North Carolina to straight-up strip Democrats of power after they won the governorship fair and square. As Matthew Chapman says in that Twitter thread, “Frankly, this should be covered in the media as nothing less than Republicans refusing to accept peaceful transition of power.”
- Thank goodness for the Atlantic. This month’s cover story is a piece by the towering Ta-Nehisi Coates; “My President Was Black” is long and it is worth it. Just as worth it is Tressie McMillan Cottom’s response, the first in a series the Atlantic will be posting: “The Problem With Obama’s Faith in White America.” Keep an eye on this conversation.
- Yesterday, Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter at Vanity Fair, which confused me for a bit — I couldn’t find any context for the outburst, until someone finally linked the culprit: Tina Nguyen’s blistering critique of the restaurant in Trump Tower, which is more than that summary makes it out to be.
- Trust women, Part ∞: from Vice’s Sarah Jeong for the Washington Post, “If we took ‘Gamergate’ harassment seriously, ‘Pizzagate’ might never have happened.”
- Every year, NiemanLab publishes its predictions for the year to come in journalism. We’re still deep in the throes of navel-gazing and self-flagellation, as an industry, but non-journalists especially might be interested in what a broad collection of professionals think will change and be important come 2017.
- I am a freelancer who very much would like steady, full-time work. (Hi, potential employers!) That said, you ought to read Rutgers history professor James Livingston on whether work is not a solution, but a problem.
Stay brave, friends. Stay compassionate too (yourself included).
Esther Bergdahl 
I’m aghast at what is happening in Aleppo, but apart from sending money to various organizations, I am at a loss. Everything the United States government has done in the region has only made things worse.
As for North Carolina, my mother is from Reidsville, NC, so I am trying to feel outraged at the Republican legislature’s actions. I applaud the voters for managing to oust their current governor, but they keep giving the legislative branch to the bad guys. (The current generation of Republicans is unusually venal, even for conservatives. They have no shame.) I’m guessing their plan is to send the legislation to the current governor on his last day in office for signing. The situation is getting some coverage, at least on MSNBC. Rachel Maddow did a segment on it. If I remember correctly, the incoming NC governor is their current attorney general. The outgoing governor could do the right thing and veto the bad legislation. But basically, there isn’t much anyone outside of the state can do. It’s up to the people of NC. They need to start recall proceedings and vote these fanatics out of office. They’ve already cost the state economically, to the tune of 400 million dollars as of September 2016. They need to go.
LikeLike