Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

How some states are administering Covid-19 vaccines at twice the speed of others

Europe Shuts Schools Again

“As U.S. authorities debate whether to keep schools open, a consensus is emerging in Europe that children are a considerable factor in the spread of Covid-19—and more countries are shutting schools for the first time since the spring,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

France goes under nationwide 6pm curfew as Covid-19 death toll surpasses 70,000

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Michigan's economy could be permanently changed by COVID-19

U.S. retail sales sink for third straight month as pandemic pounds economy again

Will An Oil Price Spike Be The Next Blow To The Economy?

Politics:

Capitol riots: Police describe a 'medieval battle'

Selfie-Snapping Rioters Leave FBI a Trail of Over 140,000 Images

We’re Just Finding Out How Bad the Riot Really Was

January 6 not only could have been much worse—it was much worse than was initially apparent. Sometimes real-time coverage of news events leans toward the sensational and overstates what happened. But because reporters were unprepared for the violence, and because of the fog of war (and tear gas), the horror of this event has emerged slowly.
Many people were able to see the stakes on January 6, but it was much harder to see how close a larger catastrophe was to occurring, much less how much harm was actually done.

MyPillow Guy Hopes Military Presence Is Trump’s Plan

Following his meeting with President Trump on Friday, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said in a Facebook interview that he’s praying that the military presence in Washington for the inauguration is part of Trump’s plan to retain power.

Yes, because overt fascism is such a good thing to be hoped for.

The 15 Most Notable Lies of Trump’s Presidency

Trying to pick the most notable lies from Donald Trump’s presidency is like trying to pick the most notable pieces of junk from the town dump.
There’s just so much ugly garbage to sift through before you can make a decision.

Episode 1: A premeditated lie lit the fire

Former Rep. Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, known as a stalwart conservative during his days on Capitol Hill, said on Thursday that he is leaving the Republican Party because it has "become a cult" under President Donald Trump.

Capitol Police Are Investigating Whether Lawmakers Gave Tours To Rioters Before Capitol Attack

Trump finishes with worst first term approval rating ever

Trump May Leave a Hole In History

The public won’t see President Donald Trump’s White House records for years, but there’s growing concern the collection won’t be complete, leaving a hole in the history of one of America’s most tumultuous presidencies.
Trump has been cavalier about the law requiring that records be preserved. He has a habit of ripping up documents before tossing them out, forcing White House records workers to spend hours taping them back together.

Serendipity:

Facial recognition technology can expose political orientation from naturalistic facial images

Ubiquitous facial recognition technology can expose individuals’ political orientation, as faces of liberals and conservatives consistently differ. A facial recognition algorithm was applied to naturalistic images of 1,085,795 individuals to predict their political orientation by comparing their similarity to faces of liberal and conservative others. Political orientation was correctly classified in 72% of liberal–conservative face pairs, remarkably better than chance (50%), human accuracy (55%), or one afforded by a 100-item personality questionnaire (66%). Accuracy was similar across countries (the U.S., Canada, and the UK), environments (Facebook and dating websites), and when comparing faces across samples. Accuracy remained high (69%) even when controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Given the widespread use of facial recognition, our findings have critical implications for the protection of privacy and civil liberties.

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

^{Meme credit: Scooter50 (source)}