DL Open Thread Wednesday January 26 2022

Ukraine continues to dominate the little bit of news I consume.

There’s lots of reason to believe that Russia quite seriously intends to use a mechanized offensive along several lines of attack to cut off parts of Ukraine and install a new government in Kiev. – VIA LGM

I hear something like that and think, “Shit. If that happens it will really suck for all the soon to be displaced, disabled and dead Ukrainians.” But then I realize that I’m a poor excuse for a liberal because the real liberal stance is… “Big Whoop. If it happens it is typical capitalist warmongers mongering. Also, the CIA does bad shit all over the world every day. So who the fuck are we to frown on what some other equally fucked-up and morally bankrupt country does?”

Two cases of the new omicron subvariant BA.2 detected in Santa Clara County are believed to be the first such cases in the Bay Area.

In California, there have been at least 11 confirmed BA.2 cases.

UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong said while BA.2 may be harder to detect than the original omicron variant, there’s no indication it’s more of a threat.

“sub-variant …no big threat” I think I we know by now how these stories end up unfolding.

The Supreme Court is getting ready to overturn decades worth of precedent allowing universities to use race as one of many factors in admissions decisions. Court watchers have suggested that the majority opinion may include the legal reasoning “LOL, Fuck you!”

Chris Coons was “gravely concerned” on “This Week” 

SEN. CHRIS COONS, (D-DE) FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I’m gravely concerned, Martha. We’re seeing laws like SB1 in Texas passed in a dozen states across the country that are clearly designed to accomplish voter suppression.

(two minute later)

COONS: I think our work in the Senate and President Biden’s work to strengthen deterrence is what is hopefully going to succeed. But I’m gravely concerned that Putin will show once again aggression in Europe and cross the boundary into Ukraine in the coming days or weeks.

On inflation, the lazy dishonest media is dishonest and lazy:

On the inflation issue specifically, I see people who should know better thinking it’s real. A few months of high measured inflation data, especially relative to pandemic depths, is not really hitting people where it hurts.

All the coverage is driven by the data release and the inflation-is-killing-us PR industry, not by the actual lived experience of people at the 35th percentile of the income distribution, because nobody in elite political journalism gives a shit about these people or even pretends to most of the time. – Via Eschaton