Welcome to The Now

 The Alabama Governor apparently wanted to use COVID-19 funding to build a prison . If the state didn't already have a high incarceration rate (which people have tried to offer advice on how to rectify ) and wasn't a COVID hotspot , I'd say the criticism of that move is unwarranted. If. 

  Most Americans can barely cover the basics, and going into debt is usually the only solution when unexpected expenses come up . 

 As with most things, COVID-19 revealed. Case in point, the world's tenuous supply chain : Seafarers, truck drivers and airline workers have endured quarantines, travel restrictions and complex Covid-19 vaccination and testing requirements to keep stretched supply chains moving during the pandemic. But many are now reaching their breaking point, posing yet another threat to the badly tangled network of ports, container vessels and trucking companies that moves goods around the world. In an open letter Wednesday to heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and other industry groups warned of a "global transport system collapse" if governments do not restore freedom of movement to transport workers and give them priority to receive vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization. [SNIP] "The global supply chain is very fragile and depends as much on a seafarer [from the Philippines] as it does on a tr...

  Sen. Kyrtsen Sinema doesn't like things in the bill that the House of Representatives are currently working on/debating, but she won't tell anyone what those things are . You can't negotiate with someone who won't tell you what they want to negotiate over. This reeks of a delaying tactic, designed to appease Sinema's donors. 

  Apparently there's been a review/audit of claims there were previously approved , and between fraud, mistakes on behalf of the applicant or agency, and appeals from former employers there have been a number of "overpayments." 

  Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat Matthew Dowd plans to run for Lt. Governor of Texas . 

 Can't think of another way to explain this.

 After voting for the Iron Dome legislation , Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass has her eyes set on becoming the Mayor of L.A. 

  Apparently, Emanuel's poor tenure as mayor of Chicago has hampered his chances of becoming the US Ambassador to Japan to the point that he's reaching out to people like Senator Lindsey Graham for support . 

 America is a country that, politically-speaking, has conservatives, liberals, libertarians, socialists, communists, anarchists, fascists, and many other ideologies. Some people even have elements of more than one. But when it comes to how America views the world, it's like the trope " Planet of Hats ." In (American) science-fiction, other worlds tend to be completely unified under one trait, philosophy, belief system and/or style of government. Everyone is obese, or share the same religion or are authoritarian.  I suppose we could call this a "Nation of Hats" for practical purposes. The idea that another country could be filled with variations, differences or extremes is almost foreign to most Americans; in truth it's not entirely their fault, they're just listening to what the American media is telling them.  Take this AP story about the Taliban in Afghanistan , for example: KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Friction between pragmatists and ideologues in the ...