‘An All-Hands Moment’: GOP Rallies Behind Voting Limits (Dan)
The author writes, “On an invitation-only call last week, Sen. Ted Cruz huddled with Republican state lawmakers to call them to battle on the issue of voting rights. Democrats are trying to expand voting rights to ‘illegal aliens’ and ‘child molesters,’ he claimed, and Republicans must do all they can to stop them. If they push through far-reaching election legislation now before the Senate, the GOP won’t win elections again for generations, he said. Asked if there was room to compromise, Cruz was blunt: ‘No.’”
QAnon Now Pushes Alarming Conspiracy Myths Targeting China and Jewish People (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Experts on extremism are warning about a troubling shift in the right-wing QAnon movement toward a new vein of conspiracy that blends anti-Chinese and anti-Jewish tropes with fears of vaccines and a global plot to take over the world. Broadly collected under the idea of a “new world order,” it’s a QAnon rebranding, said researcher Joel Finkelstein, director of Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, allowing conspiracy theorists to pivot after a year of political upheaval, scrutiny and disappointing predictions.”
Andrew Cuomo’s Family Members Were Given Special Access to COVID Testing (Dan)
From the Washington Post: “As the coronavirus pandemic swept through New York early last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration arranged for his family members and other well-connected figures to have special access to state-administered coronavirus tests, dispatching a top state doctor and other state health officials to their homes, according to three people with direct knowledge of the effort.”
New Study Gives the Most Detailed Look Yet at the Neuroscience of Placebo Effects (Mili)
From ScienceDaily: “A large proportion of the benefit that a person gets from taking a real drug or receiving a treatment to alleviate pain is due to an individual’s mindset, not to the drug itself. Understanding the neural mechanisms driving this placebo effect has been a longstanding question. A meta-analysis finds that placebo treatments to reduce pain, known as placebo analgesia, reduce pain-related activity in multiple areas of the brain.”
Czech Chimps Go Wild for Zoo Zoom (Dana)
The author writes, “We humans may be tiring of video calls, Zoom birthdays and streamed performances, but the chimps at two Czech zoos are just starting to enjoy their new live online linkup. To make up for the lack of interaction with visitors since the attractions closed in December under COVID-19 restrictions, the chimpanzees at Safari Park Dvur Kralove and the troop at a zoo in Brno, 150 km away, can now watch one another’s daily lives on giant screens. There are no mute buttons disasters as the sound is off, but there has already been plenty of interest in what the distant cousins are up to since the project got under way last week.”
