China plays a large role in the Gulf's tech progress. But are Gulf states passive players in Beijing's digital expansion?

Tin Hinane El Kadi argues that Gulf nations are shaping their own digital futures, pushing Chinese firms to adapt to their local political realities ⬇️

In 2017, Trump abandoned the post-1945 U.S. policy of championing free trade. You might have expected Biden to reverse course. But no. Just as Ike ratified the New Deal by not trying to overturn it, so Biden ratified Trump’s economically destructive embrace of protectionism. bit.ly/3W9j9m6

Congressman Hank Johnson Released the Following Statement After Congressional Certification of the 2024 Presidential Election:

Congress just certified the 2024 presidential election, without denialism, disorder, and destruction.

Four years ago, that was not the case. 

Today, we stand on the truth of what happened on 1/6/21.

And we recommit to loving our country & protecting our democracy— win or lose.

Just wait

Because you KNOW on January 21 the narrative will suddenly change

So part of our job over the next 4 years will be to tell people the truth

Wages rising?
Thanks Joe!

That new manufacturing plant?
Great Infrastructure law, Joe!

Unemployment at 4%?
Way to go, Joe!

THIS IS HOW WE FIGHT

As a henchman in the Philippines, Edgar Matobato says he killed again and again for former President Rodrigo Duterte. Now he’s trying to stay alive to testify, with the hope that recounting his crimes will lead Duterte to prison. nyti.ms/3W9E5JM

After 2016, Democrats decided to drop their support for free trade to compete with Trump in the tariff sweepstakes. This was sold as a “foreign policy for the middle class.” A more cynical take is that it was a foreign policy designed to win the Rust Belt.That gambit failed miserably. bit.ly/3W9j9m6

Every time I read a retrospective on COVID I remember the early days, when people published commentaries about the 1918 flu pandemic, how it was SO WEIRD that that whole thing just got memory-holed, how did that happen so many people died?

Covid now has >20 million. www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

How Trailblazing Teacher Maria Montessori Transformed the Realm of Children’s Education

Throughout 2024—the so-called "year of elections"—three major conclusions emerged about the year's implications for global democracy.

Thomas Carothers evaluates these conclusions in his piece for @carnegieendowment.org, emphasizing a need for analytic nuance👇

The Cato Institute notes: “Numerous studies show that trade agreements have boosted... US economic growth, incomes, exports, and job creation on net.” I wish Biden had made that case to the public instead of becoming Trump’s mini-me on trade. bit.ly/3W9j9m6

Chile’s president visited Antarctica, an attempt to draw attention to the renewed great power competition playing out on the continent.

Peter Hessler chronicles the political career of Lauren Boebert, who established a cartoonish national image after a series of controversies—and recently won a third term after abruptly switching districts.

The gut microbiome signature from different diets in 20,000 individuals. Red meat intake correlated with reduced cardiometabolic health; the opposite for plant-based foods or in omnivores with enriched plant-based intake
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Even a small amount of physical activity does a lot of good for promoting health, as supported by wearable sensor data in large studies
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A mother orca, known as Tahlequah or J35, has been seen carrying the carcass of her calf, just as she did in 2018 — when she spent 17 days carrying another dead calf. “It’s so much harder to see now that she has lost another one,” one scientist said. nyti.ms/4gE0ze2