“Invasion” and 5 other great Apple TV+ shows to watch on New Year’s Eve

If you are finding yourself on New Year’s Eve without any plans, or you just want to start the new year with a show you haven’t watched before, here are seven great Apple TV+ shows to stream.

The world of entertainment came to a sharp stop in the year 2019 as the pandemic began. Production on shows and movies paused, projects were pushed back, release dates bounced around. Needless to say, it wasn’t fun. The year 2021 has recovered from that as we have seen plenty of new projects (and delayed projects) surfacing in theaters, streaming, and network TV.

In addition to more content, we also now have several streaming services that offer audiences even more entertainment. One platform we should not be sleeping on is Apple TV+. The streaming service came later in the game, but it has delivered some of the best shows and movies of the year. Whether you have yet to discover what Apple TV+ has to offer or you want to check off an Apple TV+ show you’ve had on your list for a while, we share some good ones to start with.

Apple TV+ shows to watch on New Year’s Eve

“Acapulco”

Searching for lighthearted laughs and want a unique concept? Acapulco is the show for you. As we reported when the series first dropped, “Acapulco” follows the story of Maximo Gallardo, whose life changes when he starts working in a resort in Acapulco, Mexico. The series stars Julian Sedgwick, Rossana De Leon, Lobo Elias, Sofia Ruiz, and Eugenio Derbez.

“The Shrink Next Door”

This show will make you angry and anxious, but most brilliant shows do! “The Shrink Next Door” is based on true events that happened to a patient, Marty (Will Ferrell) who form a close bond with his psychiatrist, one that the psychiatrist (Paul Rudd) took advantage of.

“Ted Lasso” Season 2

We have all heard about “Ted Lasso,” whether you’ve seen it or not. What are you waiting for? Stop being so stubborn and watch it! “Ted Lasso” is a gut-punch of emotions you won’t see coming. It’s a comedy and a silly one, but it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to hard-hitting topics such as mental health. And if you’re searching for something that won’t take all weekend, “Ted Lasso” is perfect!

“Invasion”

“Invasion” captured my attention right away. The sci-fi drama takes place across many continents as an alien invasion is happening, giving audiences multiple perspectives. You’ll enjoy the characters as their stories won’t soon leave you.

“See” Season 2

I feel like “See” is a bit underrated and it truly shouldn’t be. The story is fun, as well as the action and characters, and season 2 does a great job at keeping us guessing and holding our interest. The world of See is set in a distant future in which humans have lost their sight after a virus swept the world. Humanity has adapted and having vision is only a myth.

“The Morning Show” Season 2

The second season of “The Morning Show” is one of my favorite set of episodes of the year. Just when I thought I had seen it all, season 2 takes things up a notch. Catch up to season 1 and 2 over New Year’s Eve, you won’t regret it.

Best of 2021: My grandfather was a Nazi: Our family’s story shows where the road to extremism leads

My grandfather was a Nazi. As others, like former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have also noted, the political events of today remind me of my family’s past. My grandfather wasn’t among the first to join the party. In fact, it took years to convince him. But Johann Bischoff eventually became a Nazi for the power and safety the party afforded him at the time, and was one of the last to leave when Hitler’s forces fell. My family story is one of complicity — of how an educated, pious man became a cog in the machinery of Nazi hatred, only to have it destroy his family and homeland, with my mother and her sisters paying the most for their father’s sins. Conservatives who think right-wing extremism in America is not a serious threat to them as well as to their political opponents should take heed of my family’s story.

Last week, only ten Republicans in Congress saw fit to impeach a president accused of inciting a deadly insurrection at the United States Capitol. Images of the riot showed chaos, but there is also evidence of coordinated attacks on American democracy. Federal and local law enforcement are warning similar events are planned throughout the country.In a dangerous echo of Nazism, a mixture of prejudice, grievance and ambition fuels this vicious power grab. President Trump’s whipped-up minions carry out the physical violence, while Republicans amplifying and acting on the election fraud lie provide a more philosophical assault on democracy.

Across America today, thousands of Republican elected officials — and untold millions of rank-and-file members — are making choices that remind me of the early, incremental choices my grandfather made. Maybe they supported President Trump out of fear for their political futures and safety for their families, or maybe they liked his tax cuts and Supreme Court justice appointments. The end of democracy was far from their minds. They don’t believe terrors on the scale of Nazi Germany could happen again, or maybe they believe their privilege protects them.

They don’t understand what the combination of hatred and authoritarianism, once unleashed, can destroy. My family is among those who do.

On January 22, 1945, as the Soviet army neared their estate outside of Guttstadt, East Prussia, my German family prepared to flee. Like Liesl von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” my mother, Lieselotte Bischoff, was 16 going on 17. But while Captain von Trapp ripped apart a Nazi flag in protest, my grandfather, Johann Bischoff, cowardly buried his Nazi flag on the way out of town. He worried what the Russians might do to his farm if they discovered a Nazi lived there.

My grandfather wasn’t part of Adolf Hitler’s political base. He was a large landowner and an active local official in the Catholic Zentrum Party until Hitler outlawed all other political parties. In 1937, he was detained and interrogated for publicly questioning why an elderly Jewish grain merchant, Moses Sass, was sweeping the street.

But after six years of Hitler’s Reich in 1938, Johann had become the Ortsbauernführer, the area’s leader of the Nazi’s nationalized agricultural agency, the Reichsnährstand. Its motto was blut und boden — blood and soil. The agency revived German agriculture after the dire depression, and my grandfather benefited from his position. After much pressure, Johann capitulated and joined the party as well.

Perhaps his land, livelihood, and life were at stake, along with the lives of his wife and eight children. Perhaps he was simply a politically shrewd Prussian. Regardless, he stood by as Hitler’s plans unfolded. The Jews in Guttstadt had been his business partners, fellow city councilmen, and comrades in arms fighting for the Kaiser. But he sat by and watched as his Nazi Party imprisoned and murdered the same Jewish townspeople he once called friends, including Moses Sass.

The party also soon bestowed tragedy on his family. Starting in 1940, each of his four sons was drafted. Only a few years later, two were dead and another was a prisoner of war in Siberia. The fourth son, my Uncle Karl, served four years in a Panzer unit across three continents until he lost a leg and returned home.

Meanwhile my mother and her three sisters attended mass and Catholic school and also the meetings of the Hitler Youth group for girls. Despite a raging world war, in 1944, my mother was sent to finishing school in Königsberg, until that August when she escaped Britain’s fiery bombing of the city under a wet blanket.

The bombing of Königsberg marked the beginning of the end of East Prussia, but Hitler’s Reich ordered summary execution for anyone attempting to escape west. The German women, children and old men were to be the last stand against the Red Army. On January 20, 1945, the first Soviet airstrike hit Guttstadt, and two days later, civilians were finally allowed to evacuate. My family joined hundreds of thousands of East Prussians in the chaotic mass exodus that blizzardy January. Rich and poor fled for their lives on foot and in wagons, but in subzero temperatures under Soviet air raids, it was a deadly slog westward.

After four years of German crimes of war and humanity against Russians, when the Soviet army encircled the Germans that spring, vengeance was theirs. My mother was one of the million German women raped by the Russians. As a Wehrmacht veteran, my Uncle Karl was brutally beaten. During the occupation, a typhus epidemic claimed a younger sister, and almost everything my family owned was taken from them.

After the Potsdam Conference, the remaining Germans in East Prussia were expelled and the refugees prohibited from returning. When my family was told to meet at the train station, they were terrified they would be sent to a Siberian workcamp like so many. My Uncle Karl believed it a certain death; he escaped in the tumult of the transports, abandoning his family.

Atop of coal cars, they arrived at a displaced persons camp. They were lucky to have been sent westward, but the conditions were no better. Lying on straw with little food in tight quarters, disease was rampant. The two younger sisters developed tuberculosis and my grandfather, pneumonia. He died January 24, 1946 — one year after he left his farm. Close to starvation, my mother was the only one able in the family to walk to see to his burial. She wore his old coat, the better one of his once bespoke boots, and a wooden clog she had found.

Later in 1946, the four surviving Bischoff women were resettled in West Germany in the British Zone. The following year Karl found them, and in 1950, another lost brother reappeared, skeletal after six years in a Siberian prison. Eventually, the family made new lives for themselves in Germany and America, where my mother became a citizen.

Some hear this story and feel pity for the innocents; others believe my family received their just due. But this story can do more than elicit a judgment of character. It shows that when governments use hatred and authoritarianism as a political tool, it’s not only a danger for the targets of the enmity. Victim, perpetrator, enabler, and bystander — are all in peril.

On January 6, with Thin Blue Line and Trump flags waving around him, a Capitol Police officer was beaten with American flags by President Trump’s mob. Some in the mob were itching to maim or kill President’s Trump’s political opponents. When Congress reconvened later that night, a majority of the Republican Representatives nevertheless voted against certifying the results of a free and fair election. Don’t say history can’t happen today.

Why yellow cake is so important to Black celebrations

Early in my relationship with my current partner, he threw a small birthday party for me. We went to a local bakery a few days before the party to order a cake. When the baker asked what kind I wanted, I said yellow cake with chocolate frosting. The baker had no idea what a yellow cake was, and my boyfriend said that yellow wasn’t a flavor.

I strongly believed, and still do, that not only is yellow a flavor, it is the only flavor when it comes to cake. Growing up, yellow cake was the only cake served at birthday parties. It was always present in the fellowship hall after church services and was the first cake to sell out at bake sales. I started to wonder if yellow cake was a cultural touchstone in the Black community, or if I was alone in my affection.

The origins of yellow cake date back to the 19th century. It is widely thought to be a close relative of pound cake. “Yellow” refers to the color of the butter and whole eggs that are included in the recipe, and it is a popular cake mix found in most grocery stores today. The arrival of cake mixes in the 1930s was due to a surplus of molasses, but sales really began to rise after World War II, when flour companies broke in to the cake mix market. With the advent of frosting in a tub in the 1950s, yellow cake mixes became a staple in many American homes.

So where does this connection to yellow cake for so many Black people come from? I created an informal Twitter poll, and more than 300 people responded with their special memories and photographs of their family members. The common thread that ran throughout almost everyone’s response was that it reminded them of their grandmothers, mothers, and aunts, and even years later, the thought of yellow cake meant so much to them. The cakes were almost always two layers, and were also used as the base recipe for other confections, such as pineapple upside-down cake, coconut cake, and rum cake. There were also variations on ingredients — sour cream, extra butter and/or eggs, and vanilla pudding were popular additions to make sure the cake was as moist as possible. One person mentioned her mother baking a yellow cake every Saturday and remembering everyone waiting to lick the mixer beaters, and another woman commented that she still uses the same hand mixer her mother used. Another person tweeted that she asked her grandmother to write the recipe down for her before she passed, and it is now a priceless family heirloom, of sorts. It was heartwarming to read that the recipes are now being passed down from generation to generation.

It doesn’t matter if it’s from a box or from scratch; yellow cake evokes memories of comfort, joy, and family, and it is a powerful way to feel connected to people we care about, whether they are with us or not. Perhaps most importantly, yellow cake also represents perseverance and the determination of the human spirit. Black people have encountered so much pain just because of the color of our skin in this country, and yet by the simple act of baking a cake, we were able to instill a feeling of normalcy in our loved ones, if only for a moment. These are the small, everyday moments that seem to reside in our collective memories, and if there were a flavor profile for “home,” it would be yellow cake.

Therese Nelson, author and food historian, believes there’s something about the simplicity of yellow cake that has allowed it to endure throughout the years. “That smell of good vanilla, the delicate yellow indicating good eggs, and the tender, fluffy crumb is the perfect Black canvas. And no matter how you dress it up or strip it down, yellow cake is the center of the sensed memory approval matrix of Black desserts,” Nelson said.

My great-grandmother passed away when I was a little girl, but there are two things I clearly remember some 40 years later: Her hands, weathered and calloused from years of washing clothes and cleaning for white households, and the smell of yellow cake baking in the kitchen. She made the cake from scratch and preferred to eat it still warm, without frosting. Now whenever I smell yellow cake, I’m immediately transported back to her home, and for a split second, I feel like a child again.

When my daughter comes home from college for winter break, I’ll make sure to have a yellow cake waiting for her. And I’ll have a warm slice, without frosting, in remembrance of all the women in my family who came before.

Mambo, ranch and Kewpie: Our five sauciest condiment stories of 2021

2021, much like 2020, was a year of cooking at home more. With that comes some inevitable food fatigue when everything you make begins to taste the same. Of course you can try some new recipes and maybe buy some new cookbooks (and we at Salon Food would definitely recommend both those things), but my low-effort way to amp up any meal is easy: better condiments. That’s how Salon’s condiment column, “Saucy,” was born.

It’s interesting, though. Something that I’ve found while writing “Saucy” over the last year is that while using condiments themselves is a simple thing, the stories behind how they made their way to our plates — and shifted the culture around what we eat in the process — is often incredibly complex.

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Behind the jars, drive-through packets and squeeze bottles, there’s a world of stories about entrepreneurship, pop culture fandom, cultural appropriation and appreciation. Here are five of our favorite “Saucy” columns that showcase those angles, plus some killer recipes in the mix as well.

Mumbo (or Mambo) Sauce

I’m a sucker for interesting food origin stories, especially when they’re a little contentious. On the surface, the story of mumbo — or mambo — sauce is just that. For years, two cities, Chicago and Washington, D.C., have laid claim to the sweet, almost iridescent red sauce.

But dig a little deeper, and the story of this condiment is actually a decadeslong tale of Black entrepreneurship and the way in which it has impacted both cities’ cultures. And the story isn’t over yet. In this edition of “Saucy,” we spoke with Branden Givand, the creator of Mambo #1, for his suggestions on how to use the pineapple juice-infused sauce. He likes it on “on just about everything that crosses your face.” For what it’s worth, my favorite is as a condiment for bacon cheeseburgers.

Ranch

This was the “Saucy” column that had me texting pizza shop owners across the country, including Max Balliet of Louisville’s Pizza Lupo, asking them how they felt about customers requesting ramekins of ranch dressing along with their pie orders. Balliet responded within minutes: “It’s sacrilegious in serious pizza circles.”

This is perhaps one of the more contentious ranch pairings, but since its founding in the 1950s , it has become the star of numerous duos. There are vegetable sticks and dip and ranch-dunked chicken wings; ranch powder became the dry seasoning for Chex Mix and “fire crackers.”

By 1983, shelf-stable ranch arrived on supermarket shelves across the country. Cool Ranch Doritos followed a few years later, signaling to snack companies that the tangy, allium-heavy bite of the dressing was a welcome addition to foods beyond salads. The global marketing of the chips also cemented ranch as a uniquely American dressing — in countries other than the U.S., Cool Ranch Doritos are known as “Cool American.”

Szechuan Sauce

In 1998, McDonald’s released a sticky, sweet condiment called Szechuan Sauce. It was a part of the fast food chain’s promotion for the Disney film “Mulan,” but the sauce itself came out with very little furor. Fast-forward almost 20 years and the re-release of the condiment had groups camping out overnight to secure a place in line. Fights broke out and there was a reported stabbing.

So what happened? Read on to find out how a just-okay sauce — which some customers described simply as spicy corn syrup — became the source of national excitement. Hint: It has to do with a cartoon scientist.

Kewpie

When I called Chicago chef Mari Katsumura earlier this year, she joked about what she, as a Japanese-American culinary pro, does if she ever runs out of Kewpie mayo. “Oh, my mom always has like five backup bottles, so I can just run and grab one from her house.”

Why is Katsumura, who was the head chef at the Michelen-starred Yugen, obsessed with the ingredient? She describes it as more “assertive” than many American brands. It typically only contains egg yolks, giving it a more custardy consistency when compared to American mayonnaise, which contains both the yolk and the whites. It’s also usually made with rice vinegar, as opposed to the distilled vinegar common in many vinegar recipes.

This makes it an ideal addition to standards like egg salad — which is especially good if slathered on spongy Japanese milk bread. If one of your New Year’s resolutions is cooking more lunches at home, be sure to check out the recipe.

Giardiniera

I’m a giardiniera superfan. The olive oil-bathed pickled vegetables have a distinct kick of heat and can be found on anything in Chicago from hot beef sandwiches (another local staple) to pizza. However, their versatility extends to antipasto platters, omelets, pasta — and pasta salad.

Come for the pronunciation guide, stay for a recipe for giardiniera pasta salad. It’s spicy, punchy and a fresh take on an old-school staple.

What matters most: Not what happened already — but what we do now

There’s been a lot of existential talk about this country over the past year. You know what I mean: Will our democracy survive? I’m not at all against asking such a question, especially during the year that we experienced the first assault on our Capitol since before the Civil War. But waving a Confederate battle flag before statues of distinguished Americans in the building that houses our Congress does not a revolution make. Nor does the incompetent occupation of the Senate chamber or the theft of documents from the desks of lawmakers.

We’ve had battles between cops and protesters and rioters before. Remember Chicago in 1968? The Watts riot, the Newark riot, the riots in cities around the country after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered? The riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict? The Stonewall riot? These protests and riots have all come to be seen as understandable if violent reactions to outrages visited upon Black people, gay people and even upon the Democratic Party at its convention during a year of political turbulence over the Vietnam War.

The United States of America survived those violent insurrections against racism, against the political establishments of major cities, against the mass arrests of our fellow citizens that took place at the Stonewall, against a war 10,000 miles away that was killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese civilians. Indeed, you could make the case that the country turned out better because of those violent interruptions of our public and political life. The country will survive the insurrection that took place on Jan. 6, 2021, as well, but the jury is still out on whether we will emerge from the political upheaval we continue to face better or worse for the experience.

What matters isn’t so much that these American insurrections took place as why — and what change they made possible. It’s instructive, even astounding, to look back at the year 1967 and what was called its “Long Hot Summer” of riots around the country. The Detroit riot alone was enough for inner-city rioting to make history that year. The city exploded after a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar on Detroit’s Near West Side. Tensions between the city’s Black community, its political establishment and, especially, its police force had been simmering for years. Racial segregation was endemic in Detroit, with redlining and other forms of housing discrimination segregating Black citizens in certain neighborhoods and keeping them from buying homes or property in others. Policing in the Black neighborhoods was overtly racist. Some 93 percent of the police force was white in a city that was 30 percent Black. So-called “stop and frisk” policy in Black neighborhoods led to arrests of citizens for failure to carry IDs. Several police shootings of unarmed Black men preceded the riot in the summer of 1967. Police brutality was the biggest issue in the Black community.

The riot broke out in the early morning hours of July 23 and went on for five days. Forty-three Detroit citizens died. More than 1,100 were injured. More than 400 buildings were destroyed. Police made over 7,200 arrests, and the violence got so bad that Gov. George W. Romney (yes, that was Mitt Romney’s dad) called out the National Guard and ordered more than 300 Michigan state police to the city. President Lyndon Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 and dispatched active-duty units from the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne divisions to the city to help quell the violence.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was at least in part inspired by the Detroit riot. The Civil Rights Act of 1968, in which the Fair Housing Act comprised Titles VIII and IX, also included the Anti-Riot Act. You may recognize 18 U.S.C. § 2101 and 18 U.S.C. § 2102, which made it a crime to incite a riot or promote and participate in a riot, or to aid and abet any person participating in a riot. We have become very familiar with these parts of the U.S. Code because they have been cited recently as the laws which may have been violated by the likes of Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks and even Donald Trump in their actions preceding and during the assault on the Capitol.

Laurence H. Tribe, the famous constitutional scholar at Harvard, and two co-writers invoked the Anti-Riot Act in a recent op-ed for the New York Times entitled “Will Donald Trump Get Away With Inciting an Insurrection?” Their story raises a comparison between the Russia investigation conducted by Robert Mueller and the indictments he rather rapidly produced against Trump campaign figures like Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, and asks why Attorney General, Merrick Garland hasn’t produced similar indictments of senior Trump and Republican officials in the investigation of Jan. 6.

Tribe wrote several op-eds for prominent newspapers during the Russia investigation raising questions that he felt needed to be answered, such as “Is Devin Nunes Obstructing Justice?” More recently, he provided a “roadmap” in the Washington Post for the Justice Department to follow in prosecuting Trump, and (seemingly presciently) on Jan. 4, wrote in the Boston Globe that “Trump’s crime spree must not escape investigation.”

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Following the links associated with Tribe’s Russiagate editorials and other commentary surrounding Trump’s connections to, or responsibility for, the events of Jan. 6 is like going down Alice’s rabbit hole with their reminders of Trump’s scandals long past. “There’s good evidence that the Kremlin was planning a secret operation to put Trump in the White House back in 2014,” reported former NSA agent John Schindler back in the day.

Other reports had it that “sources close to the intelligence community” said that Trump, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan were all going to be arrested on racketeering charges for collaborating with Russia. A post on Medium claimed that Trump’s Muslim ban was “a trial balloon for a coup.” Names like Carter Page, Michelle Bachman, Jason Chaffetz and James Comey, and references to “pee tapes” and Russian prostitutes, pop up like ghosts from a past that we have forgotten in favor of more recent bogeymen (and women) like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Do you see where I’m going with this? There will come a day when we will remember Liz Cheney about as well as we remember who was in charge of the House managers in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Do you remember who that was? The answer is Adam Schiff, who as it happens now sits alongside Cheney on the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.

The insurrection at the Capitol was a coup attempt that failed, but what matters as we close out the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency isn’t whether Trump will be indicted — I rather doubt it — but whether we can beat him at the ballot box in 2024. What began to address the problems that led to the riots of 1967 and 1968 and 1969 were changes in the makeup of the people who govern us. The same kinds of changes will be necessary to address the problems we face after the insurrection at the Capitol. It will be a slog to maintain control of the Congress and the White House, and a slog to retake control in state governments so we can begin to correct the horrors about women’s rights and other civil rights that the Trump Supreme Court is about to visit upon us.

As we enter 2022, we face an implacable foe in a Republican Party bent on stealing what it cannot earn. Right-wingers are happy to reignite battles we thought we had won over bigotry and misogyny. They know what’s at stake. What matters most to us must be what matters most to them: winning. What kind of country we will be, and the way that we live our lives and our children will live theirs, depends on our votes and our dedication to the rule of law. Nothing else matters.

More from Lucian K. Truscott IV on the state of America:

Calling out the saddest sacks of 2021, a reckoning by Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s … friends

How’s it hanging? Me, I’ve been dragging since September.That’s the way 2021 has rolled for all of us – we swung into it with great expectations only to leave it shriveled and deflated, like the saddest pair of raisins you ever saw.

Nobody could escape this feeling – not even me, and I’m an absolute recluse. Despite spending most of my life tucked out of sight – a Trinidadian Thomas Pynchon of the pants, I am intentionally difficult to track down – my friend’s famous cousin took it upon herself to blow me up. Maybe you recall this diva Nicki Minaj churning up some noise back in September about me gettin’ swole in a bad way, as an excuse to refuse The Met Gala’s vaccination requirement.

Typical. Everybody loves to claim their under-brain is the seat of all their misfortunes instead of examining the one between their ears. You’d think I’d be used to that, but remembering the whole affair pains me even now. What can I say? I’m sensitive.

Realizing that my story is but one entry on 2021’s extensive list of celebrity inanity restored my fortitude. Thus, I decided to slide out of my cotton cave to air out four more examples of famous people bollocksing things up on the pandemic and social progress fronts, either for themselves or for all of us, in the hopes that a short end-of-2021 listicle written by testicles will amuse you.

After you have read these stories of great misfortunes and greater stupidity, perhaps you will accuse me of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy. But rest assured, the tragedies listed here are not fiction.* All of it happened, or continues to happen. All of it was easily avoidable.

Former “Mandalorian” star Gina Carano throws away her Lucasfilm bag

Hollywood is awash in conservatives, and kooks, and conservative kooks. Some we know about, but many we don’t hear from because they’re smart enough to hire a publicity machine that keeps their conkers under wraps. Not so with Carano, a rising action star before she landed the plum role of former Rebel trooper Cara Dune in “The Mandalorian.”

Fans loved Cara Dune, positioning Carano to score her own series in the expanding “Star Wars” universe. Then people checked out her social media feed and, well, that changed. A wise man* once said “the stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere.”

Carano . . . did not do that. In February she likened her plight as a non-mask wearing Trumplican to being Jewish in Nazi Germany, on top of previous transphobic, anti-Black Lives Matter and anti-masking posts. The last antisemitic straw marked the end of her “Star Wars” story.

Sharon Osbourne junks her daytime TV career

Meghan McCain’s departure from “The View” made the social mediaphere tumescent with joy last fall, but let’s not forget what happened to Sharon Osbourne, one of her counterparts on “The Talk.”

After Oprah’s exclusive interview with Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, delivered a kick to the Windsor family’s crown jewels in the court of public opinion, royalist Piers Morgan crowed doubts about Meghan Markle’s painful confession about engaging in suicidal ideation. Since this was part of a sustained, frequently racist attack on the Duchess that’s lasted since she married Harry, the public sided with Meghan.

Pricked by this reminder that he holds less power than Oprah and the Sussexes, Morgan resigned from his British daytime TV job.

Take it from me: if your famous friend publicly stepped on his own slappers, maybe you’d call him in private and offer some consolation. Not Osbourne, who took to Twitter (what is it about famous people not understanding how social media works?) to defend Morgan for “speaking his truth” before metaphorically dropping her trousers on “The Talk” and tearing into the Black co-worker Sheryl Underwood on live TV.

“I feel even like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is a racist. So that makes me a racist,” she opines. “And for me, at 68 years of age, to have to turn around and say, ‘I ain’t racist.’ What’s it got to do with me?” Later she yells at Underwood, “Educate me!” Now she has plenty of time to rock out and educate herself, since she split from “The Talk” after this debacle. She won’t, though. Instead she’s writing a book and working on a podcast.

Speaking of which . . .

Joe (Rogan) vs. the (science) volcano

It was once observed that “in the medical profession a horse and carriage are more necessary than any scientific knowledge.”* The pandemic update to that observation replaces the parts about “the medical profession” and “horse and carriage” with “podcasting” and “comedy career.”

Ordinarily I would have nothing but respect for a dude who takes a “balls to the wall” approach to living life, but that was before vaccine misinformation sullied my reputation, which was previously as smooth and clean as an egg!

Thanks in part to the former “Fear Factor” host who has made a fortune hawking supplements, millions of people believe that cocktails of said supplements and ivermectin – a veterinary de-wormer – are sufficient to battle COVID-19 even though these treatments aren’t endorsed by medical and scientific community or the FDA.

In April, after the White House criticized his anti-vaccination comments on his podcast, he covered his jubblies by saying, “I’m not a doctor, I’m a f**king moron. I’m not a respected source of information — even for me.” Rogan could have used his powers for good from that point on, but no. He’s since acted as a private horse paste consultant to the stars, with his most recent unofficial client being UFC president Dana White, who contracted a breakthrough case in early December.

He’s even offered to fake vaccination cards for fans to help them circumvent vaccine requirements at businesses. The coins on this guy! I mean that literally: Rogan signed a $100 million deal with Spotify last year, where his podcast has become central to its subscriber growth. His fanbase is legion and increasingly difficult to avoid, present in the most neutral and wholesome spaces. That’s just nuts.

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Aaron “I’m immunized” Rodgers nearly sacks “Jeopardy!”

Aaron Rodgers would like you to respect that he believes “strongly in bodily autonomy,” which I get. Part of my role as an organ is to remind the guy to whom I’m attached that he has little say in what me or my brother, the twig to my berries, do as he enters puberty, when he wakes up in the morning or after he’s had too much whiskey.

So when Rodgers claimed that right after contracting COVID – which followed his lying to his teammates, the NFL and reporters about his vaccination status – even I was not surprised.

Instead, the part of the Green Bay Packers quarterback’s 2021 story that truly burns our fruit basket is knowing that Rodgers was in the running to become the next host of “Jeopardy!” – a TV institution dedicated to celebrating general knowledge of trivia that is based in empirical fact.

Granted, snake oil and goji berry pitchman Dr. Mehmet Oz also received a host audition, which isn’t much better. Fortunately, and miserably, we eventually found out that none of the promotional tryouts that dragged through most of the year mattered anyway.

Imagine if it did, though. Rodgers received solid ratings during his tryout week which meant producers may have seriously considered replacing the intellectual, eloquent and pro-science Alex Trebek with a guy who lied to and exposed his co-workers to a potentially deadly illness and consulted Rogan to figure out how to treat his symptoms.

As you may have noticed, I am not deep, but I am very wide* – thanks to man-spreading, not any reaction to a COVID vaccine.

Still I recognize that after being reminded of all these examples of viral foolishness one might ask, what patient can trust the knowledge of a physician without reputation or furniture, in a period when publicity is all-powerful and when the government gilds the lamp posts on the Place de la Concorde in order to dazzle the poor? Oh wait – one* did ask that in, like, the 1800s.

In 2021 physicians have offices with chairs and stuff, and labs and vaccines and the means to end this pandemic, if we’ll only listen. Advocates for racial justice are working tirelessly to slow our democracy’s slide into oblivion, if only we’d heed what they have to say.

Today, as we wait for that big ball to drop and mark our roll into 2022, those of us with a firm grip on our faculties and our scallops can only hope that this worldwide interruption to our lives and collective sanity will retract at long last in the coming months. Because let me tell you, it hurts to be blue for this long.

*Our acknowledgement and sincerest apologies to the estate and ghost of Honoré de Balzac, paraphrased throughout this piece of work.

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Salon Food’s top 10 recipes of 2021: From impossibly crisp chicken parmesan to chocolate sandwiches

Cheesy. Creamy. Crispy. Impossibly so.

These adjectives describe Salon Food‘s top 10 recipes of 2021. The list features perennial favorites (chicken and pasta meals), as well as new classics (chocolate sandwiches and orange coffee soda).

Several of the recipes have only three ingredients. In the case of orange coffee soda, there are four (if you count the garnish).

However, all of the recipes do have one thing in common. They’re comforting, which comes as no surprise because our readers love comfort.

As another successful year comes to a close, it’s time to pause for a moment to look back on the best of the best:

1 A 3-ingredient marinade for sheet pan salmon that gets dinner on the table in no time

Salmon truly shines with a little extra care in the form of a simple marinade. Our go-to salmon marinade only requires three ingredients, which makes it something we turn to on a near-weekly basis. Plus, it’s multi-purpose — we use it on cubed chicken thighs, pork cutlets and even scallops.

Above all, we keep coming back to this marinade because it augments the flavor of the salmon so beautifully. Serve your marinated salmon and broccoli over steamed white rice — if you’re really pressed for time, instant rice is a lifesaver! — and you have a healthy, flavorful meal ready to go. In the end, dinner is on the table in just over an hour.

2 Want impossibly crisp chicken parmesan? Try this simple sheet pan layering trick

Why take the time to render a perfectly crispy piece of pan-fried or deep-fried chicken just to then slather it with an explicit amount of sauce and cheese, rendering it soggy and devaluing all of the work you put in to ensure its crispness?

“In order to counteract this, you just need to change up your typical technique a little bit,” Salon Food contributor Michael La Corte writes. “Instead of topping the crispy cutlets with sauce and cheese before going into the oven, instead layer the sheet tray with sauce and cheese and place the chicken atop it.”

3 A 3-ingredient cheesecake, no measuring needed

What’s holding you back from baking? Is it the myth that baking is fussy, that it’s a precise science, that it’s hard? Calm down already. It’s not nuclear fusion — it’s cake. And when you do it, at the end, there’s cake.

This is neither the eggy “gut bomb” Basque cheesecake nor the super silky New York icon. This is an airy, subtle, not too sweet dessert that isn’t trying to be its denser cousins, but that doesn’t make it a compromise option. It’s heavenly.

4 Cacio e pepe pie is an insanely easy pasta dinner to make on nights when you don’t feel like cooking

There are similar recipes out there that call for blobs of ricotta cheese or outrageous amounts of eggs, but we prefer to tread as lightly as possible so that all of the other good stuff shines. Because black pepper is the star ingredient here, don’t be shy about it. It has the power to elevate this lazy weeknight dinner into something pretty special.

Cheesy, crusty and very peppery, cacio e pepe is always a very good answer (at least for another meal) for what to make if you love cooking but also don’t feel like making dinner.

5 Orange coffee soda is your mysteriously delicious summer drink

You could make a simple syrup here. You could cold brew your own coffee. Or you could just open up a few cans. Coffee soda makes an insanely refreshing drink, one that slides easily from morning pick-me-up to happy hour mocktail. And if you imbibe, who’s to stop you from adding a shot of Cointreau here? Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. You might just open your mind.

6 Nothing beats my Mom’s carrot cake, which is as simple to make as it is sublimely delicious

Maggie Hennessy‘s mom’s carrot cake is better. This is a hill she’d die on.

“I’m not saying I haven’t tried other perfectly delicious carrot cakes with standout cream cheese frosting,” Salon Food contributor Hennessy writes. “But are they as sweet, moist and tender (thanks to over a cup of oil and four whole eggs) with just the right hit of spice? Are they excessively frosted with the tangiest, richest cream cheese icing of all time? Are they blissfully free of nuts and raisins or currants, exactly as I think carrot cake should be? No, I’m sure they are not.”

7 My 10-year carbonara journey

“This is the best-tasting and, arguably, most Italian carbonara I’ve ever made,” Hennessy writes. “And to think it only took 10 years.”

According to Hennessy, this dish tastes “even better” if you source the “already-glorious ingredients from small, humane producers near your home.” She likes to precede the dish, which is rich, with a “sharp, bright salad dressed in lemon vinaigrette.”

8 Impossibly creamy chicken cordon bleu pasta is the weeknight dinner of your dreams

Here’s the thing — if chicken cordon bleu as-is is close to heavenly, chicken cordon bleu pasta is truly divine. It has all the trademark ingredients, including a crispy breadcrumb topping. However, we really amp up the creaminess with a cheese sauce made with both melty provolone and Swiss. For a little green, we go for simple parsley, but this recipe would work with hearty spinach or kale, peppery arugula or even a generous handful of sweet peas.

This pasta comes together in under an hour, making it an ideal weeknight decadence.

9 The viral feta pasta dish everyone’s raving about is even better without pasta

Because feta and tomatoes already evoke the flavors of Greek cooking, we’ve leaned in that direction with gigantes beans, lemon and oregano. You can just as easily go the original route, and serve this meal with cooked pasta or choose any beans of your liking. Or forgo that starchy part altogether, and simply serve the baked feta and tomatoes on crusty bread. Who would actually complain?

You can swap out the feta for another crumbly cheese like chèvre — and don’t tell us this wouldn’t be delicious made with a big old brick of cream cheese. Or make it vegan with a block of tofu, and up the saltiness with some olives and capers. It’s endlessly adaptable, all but foolproof. Most of all, it’s just really, really good.

10 A chocolate sandwich tastes exactly as comforting as it sounds — and it’s sublime

The grilled chocolate sandwich is the best sort of food — the kind that works at any time of day. It makes a luscious breakfast and a loose, chocolate fondue-ish dessert — and it’s sublime. If you want a light bite, you can slice it in half to share, but don’t expect that kind of generosity from me.

But how do you know you’ve made it the right way? As it turns out, the answer’s easy.

“The very specific comment this should elicit is, ‘Oh my God, why have I never had one of these before?'” City Bakery founder Maruy Rubin told us.

Donald Trump and his family fleeced America: Why aren’t they being held accountable?

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston is not giving up on exposing how Donald Trump and his family fleeced America while he was in the White House. To that end, the bestselling author is back with a meticulously researched new book, “The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.”

I recently spoke to Johnston about his new book for “Salon Talks” and one thing is clear: His enthusiasm to see Trump held accountable has not waned just because the Trump presidency is over. In “The Big Cheat,” he uncovers details on Trump’s scams that began with his inaugural committee and ran straight through his “Stop the Steal” fundraising grift. In between, Johnston notes a range of corruption by Trump, such as stopping in front of his Washington hotel during the inaugural parade in 2017 to send a clear message: “If you want something from the Trump administration, you will first pay tribute to Donald.” As Johnston writes, spending money at Trump’s hotel was one way to do just that.

Johnston also takes aim at Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who saw their collective wealth rise by somewhere between $200 million and $600 million while working in the White House. This wasn’t by happenstance, as Johnston details: It was because Javanka cashed in on Trump’s presidency, with sweetheart deals from the Chinese government, the United Arab Emirates and more.

In our conversation, which you can watch or read below, the nearly 50-year veteran reporter also lays out safeguards that Congress should enact to prevent Trump, or another morally bankrupt president, from ever repeating this Trumpian fleecing of America again. But one of the best deterrents to future corruption, Johnston argues, would be the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump himself. “I would be eternally in favor of a long prison sentence,” he told me.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Your book has granular details about Trump, some I knew and some I had no idea about. Let’s start at the beginning: You go into great detail about the inaugural committee. Trump raised double the amount Obama did, and there are questions about where that money is. The D.C. attorney general is suing the Trump campaign right now about this very thing. Tell us more.

Well, Donald Trump raised $107 million for his inaugural, that we know of. The previous record was Obama in his first inaugural: $53 million. The inaugural for Obama had eight or nine balls. It had lots of events. They had numerous headline musical acts whose expenses had to be paid. Donald Trump had the skimpiest, cheapest possible thing you can imagine. Two balls, with almost nobody around, and yet all that extra money: $107 million. One of the key stories I tell is about Stephanie Wolkoff, who was Melania’s best friend, and who is someone who puts on events. She’s the person who puts on the biggest social event for the American elite each year, the Met gala in New York. And she was pulled aside and asked by Rick Gates, the corrupt deputy to the corrupt Paul Manafort, to take money off the books because they didn’t want to report it, meaning foreign money.

It took her a second. She was so stunned by this. And then she said, “No, I’m not going to do anything like that.” So that’s why I say they took in $107 million, that we know of. I think they took in more money than that. And I hope we find out through the attorney general’s investigation — but also the Trump White House dirtied up Stephanie when they knew this was going to become public. They said, “Well, you got $26 million.” No, she got $480,000, which for the kind of work she did may sound to most Americans like a big fee. But that’s, in that business, a more than reasonable fee. And all the rest of the money was directed to Trump cronies. She was told, “Here’s the money. Now write checks to these people.” And that’s how the people around Trump were profiteering right at the start. That very moment, at the inauguration, they’ve got their fingers in there to grab the money.

Not only that, Trump used the inaugural parade to do a commercial for his hotel. I think people have forgotten it, but it was right in our face all the time.

None of the TV networks explained when this happened what was going on. I was astonished by that. When Obama was elected, the crowds lining the road to the White House were curb to building, packed thick as sardines. When Trump came, in many places there were more law enforcement and military guards than there were cheers. But when they got to a place about five blocks from the White House, the motorcade stopped and everybody got out, Melania in that beautiful ice blue dress that she was wearing. The family took a two-minute turn on the pavement.

What every lobbyist, every foreign agent, knew was they did it in front of the Trump Washington Hotel, the old post office. And Trump, by law, should not have had that lease. It should have been taken away from him. And I explained this, how the bureaucrats avoided this in the book and were later taken to task for it, though nothing happened to their careers.

But the message was very clear. If you want something from the Trump administration, you will first pay tribute to Donald. And his restaurant, in the first 90 days, took in money at the rate of $25 million a year. Anybody in the restaurant business knows the thought of being able to take in $25 million in a single restaurant is mind boggling. The Saudi government took out two floors at rack rates. When the head of T-Mobile’s American division wanted Trump to approve the merger with Sprint, he made a big show of repeatedly going there, sending his executives there, spending money there. There are parts of three chapters that talk about the $26 billion favor Trump did for this guy who made a big show of going there.

Right until the very end, it doesn’t end and it continues to this day. Tell people about how Stop the Steal turned into a scam to enrich Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has raised somewhere close to a half a billion dollars at this point, through his “Stop the Steal” claims that the election was stolen. Of course there’s no evidence of that and all sorts of Republicans have said there was nothing improper. We’ve had lots of audits and recounts and recounts. It’s all nonsense, but he’s raised a lot of money off it. He said, “I need the money to hire lawyers to stop the steal.” He spent $9 million on lawyers. Well, that’s a lot of money, except that he took in close to a half a billion. And Donald can spend that money on himself under our laws. So I call Donald today America’s “beggar in chief.” I don’t know if you get these, but every day I get texts and emails from Donald Trump asking for money. I love the ones from Don Jr. that start off: “I just spoke to my father. You’re the only person in America who didn’t respond to my note earlier today, and Dad asked me to call you since you’ve been such a generous supporter in the past.” It’s just a con.

And we’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump Jr. didn’t tell his dad about the meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower, with the person who announced that they were there on behalf of the Kremlin to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. It isn’t just that they were Russians, They said they were proposing a criminal scheme under American law in which — you’re a lawyer, you know what I’m about to say! The duty of any American made that offer by a foreign power, especially a hostile foreign power, is to pick up the phone, call the FBI and say, “I need to speak to someone in counterintelligence.”

The lack of accountability in all of Trump World is what is so concerning going forward. You document that Jared and Ivanka had unpaid jobs in the White House, but they made somewhere between $200 million and $600 million while in the White House. As you know, Jared was not a good businessman going into the White House. Let’s start with him: How did Jared make all this money while in the White House?

Well, before Donald Trump took office, Jared had this problem with 666 Fifth Avenue, which is right down the street from Trump Tower. He paid $1.8 billion, 99 percent of it borrowed money. And the building two years later was worth maybe only $600 million. Talk about being underwater in a disaster. So he goes to the government of Qatar. America’s most important military base in the Middle East is in Qatar. Our central command base is there. And he says, “Wouldn’t you loan me $800 million under very favorable terms?” And the Qataris said, “No, we’re not that stupid.” What happens next? Donald Trump is president. He turns against Qatar. He begins arguing in favor of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are scared to death of the Qatar government. Trump accuses the Qataris of financing terrorism. They finance two terrorist groups, they absolutely do. But the Saudis finance 60 of them, the State Department says, and with vastly more money. So this is absurd, and it’s indicative of Donald Trump’s total ignorance about these matters.

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But in Jared’s case, he got people from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to bail him out of his problem, and that’s why they went on the attack against Qatar. Later, the Kushner family — who are very much like the Trumps, they’re both white-collar organized crime families — got 18 sweetheart loans guaranteed by a federal loan agency. You or I would never have gotten such loans, interest-only for 10 years, which increased the Kushner cash flow and increased your and my risk as taxpayers.

We would never have gotten these deals, and nor would they but for Donald Trump being in the White House. And, Dean, to make a point here, these facts that I report all came out, one way or another. But something was in the Washington Post, and then the Wall Street Journal, the L.A Times, the Seattle Times. But you never saw pictures. So I took all these threads and wove them into a tapestry, a narrative, so you could understand it. In fact, the Washington Post gave me a rave review on Dec. 5, including the line pointing out that I long ago predicted Donald Trump would not leave the White House peacefully. I was told it was crazy for me to say that. I was vindicated.

I think with what we went through with Trump, that at this point if anyone says you’re being over the top, they’re denying reality. Your book is one-stop shopping for some of these scandals. Share a little more about Ivanka. It seems to me she has escaped the spotlight out in the post-Trump world, but she may have profited more than anyone beyond Donald.

Well, Ivanka, with whom Donald has an incredibly close relationship, got these trademarks in China in rapid time. If you want a trademark, a service mark, a patent from the Chinese government, you have to spend a fortune on the right Chinese lawyers who are members of the Communist Party, and then you still might not get it. When President Xi was coming to meet with Donald at Mar-a-Lago, there was just rapid-fire approval of these things, the functional equivalent of overnight. And among the patents and other intellectual property rights Ivanka got, some were for voting machines. What a strange thing to get from a country that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy! Now, she had a clothing business, and my younger daughters who are in their 30s tell me that her dresses were actually quite nice, but they weren’t selling in the department stores. So they were all taken out of the stores, they tore out the labels and put in different labels and put them back in the stores. And they all sold, because they were basically good dresses.

But most of her business enterprises failed because she’s incompetent. There have been lots of reports, especially in Vanity Fair, that she thinks she’s going to become president of the United States. And there’s a wonderful YouTube video of her with Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, and several women who are foreign ministers or finance ministers of foreign governments. It’s very clear, when she tries to walk into their crowd that their body language says, “You have no reason to be with us. We’re accomplished women. Go away.”

“The Big Cheat” also discusses how Trump and his family cheated not only in terms of personal profit, but cheated us out of things. One that jumped out is Steve Bannon. As you know, we didn’t get justice for Steve Bannon. Could you remind people, who may have forgotten completely that he was charged with federal crimes by the Justice Department. He earned his pardon for what he did in the post-election stuff.

One of the very first organizations to report about this charity scam was the one I run, DC Report. There was a seriously disabled veteran of the Middle East wars named Brian Kolfage who was raising money to build the wall: “Congress is not going to fund the wall, we’ll raise the money.” Never mind that it would cost tens of billions of dollars. There’s no possibility of that. His promise was, “Not one dollar will go to me or anyone else. It’ll just be to build the wall.” Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, fly out to New Mexico to a fundraiser for this, to raise more money. They show off this thing they’ve built, which is inconsequential garbage that wouldn’t stop anybody on the Rio Grande. Steve Bannon is involved and Steve Bannon steals $1 million from the charity. The government has the documentation. Kolfage bought himself a yacht and jewelry and spent $350,000 on himself.

The Justice Department indicted these people, and Donald Trump gave Steve Bannon a pardon for his million-dollar theft from charity. Of course Donald Trump stole from charity, as I show in the book repeatedly. And the other three guys, by the way, the ones who weren’t part of Donald’s coterie, they’re going to go on trial and they’re probably going to get prison time once they’re convicted. But there’s no shame among these people. Absolutely no shame. Donald Trump, if he steals money from a baby, would say, “Well, it’s my money. What are you complaining about? It’s my money.” Donald creates his own reality. In his own mind, he shouldn’t just be president for life with total powers. He talked about that: “I have the power to do anything as president.” He believes he should run the whole world, because everybody else is an idiot.

Be glad you’re not Donald Trump, Dean, because I’ve known the man for 33 years, and he is a miserable human being. Try to find him laughing when it isn’t forced or for dramatic effect. It doesn’t happen. I’ve tried to get him to tell jokes in the past. He can’t tell a joke. He’s a miserable, sad story.

It’s a lack of humanity, when you can’t tell jokes and can’t laugh at jokes about yourself. I think it’s great that you point on the book that Steve Bannon stole from Trump supporters, who sincerely were giving money to build a wall because they believed in it. We could debate the policy there, but it doesn’t matter. They were giving money because they believed in the wall, and Steve Bannon stole it. We know from other reporting now that Bannon played a huge role from Election Day in November to the insurrection on Jan. 6. He earned that pardon, and this was a quid pro quo relationship if you ever saw one. Trump only pardoned one guy in that scam, his BFF.

Donald is even more corrupt than Steve Bannon, hard as it is to believe that. During his campaign, there were people who sent in money. Rush Limbaugh told the story of one man, Stacy Blatt. He’s dying. He’s in hospice care, his monthly income is $1,000. He sends $500 to Donald Trump, after Rush Limbaugh says Trump needs money to overturn the election. The next thing that happens is the Trump people tap his bank account again and again and again and again until they take every penny the dying man has. He meant to give one contribution, a very generous one. They did this to thousands of people, thousands of them. If you or I did that, we would be arrested. I don’t know why Donald Trump and the people around him haven’t been arrested for this. This was thievery, plain and simple.

It’s like RICO. This is a racketeering plot. It’s remarkable. What happens if Donald Trump somehow gets back in the White House? Based on you knowing him for 30 years and writing about him, what do you think he does?

Oh, this time around he will not be holding back at all. He will put people in place and it will be the end of American democracy. He will make himself our dictator, which I’ve been warning about since 2015, when he first announced. He won’t need the support of the military to pull it off, because he’ll do it in a soft way. But he will see to it that all your rights are gone. And right now, you’re seeing the Republican Party — which is no longer the Republican Party, it’s the Trump party — passing all these laws, including, in some states, where if Republicans in control and don’t like an election because Democrats won, they can throw out the results. That’s inherently anti-American. At the same time, Donald keeps pressing about why he should be back in the White House, and making up ridiculous lies about what’s going on.

And in all this, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the Mueller report, even with all the shackles put on Mueller — which most people, I don’t think appreciate, where he disclosed that they were not allowed to pursue lots of things — the opening line of that report says what they found was systematic interference in the 2016 election by the Russian government. It’s the very first thing they say. And Don Jr. and Trump’s campaign manager and his son-in-law and others took part in a meeting with someone who declared they were an agent of the Kremlin trying to win the election for Donald Trump.

There’s a foreign power here that has benefited. And it’s not that Vladimir Putin wanted Donald Trump. That’s not his goal. He didn’t want Hillary Clinton, because she was going to make him give up Crimea if she could, the only violent takeover of property in Europe since World War II. But he wants to get rid of democracy. And he’s on the record all over the place about this. Vladimir Putin believes all countries should be run by dictators, and Donald Trump was an instrument to help Putin. And by the way, Russian state TV, which is totally controlled by the Kremlin, said that Donald Trump was Putin’s puppet. And the hosts on that show, the producers, they’re all still doing really well, which tells you that was just fine with Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump is his puppet.

Are you surprised the Justice Department has not charged Donald Trump? And if he’s ultimately not charged, what is the message that sends to Donald Trump and Trump-like Republicans going forward?

Well, I am very troubled by this, because if the law applies equally to everyone, then it shouldn’t matter that he was president. On the other hand, it’s pretty clear that Merrick Garland has taken the position that, absent something he has to act on, he doesn’t want to get in the business of indicting a former president, because that road leads to a lot of problems we don’t have. But Israel indicted Benjamin Netanyahu, the French have indicted former presidents, and a number of democratic governments have put former leaders in prison.

With Donald Trump, I think they should pursue the case that Michael Cohen went to prison for. They have a perfect case. I don’t know how a jury would do anything but convict Donald Trump. My guess is, though, that the internal argument is, “Well, it’s relatively small potatoes.” They brought the case against Michael Cohen to punish him for breaking with Donald Trump, as part of the effort to control him.

I’m confident, however, that the Manhattan district attorney — who has hired the best expert on RICO in the country — will indict Trump under the New York state RICO law. A tax charge he can get out of by saying, “I didn’t understand what was going on,” even though he claims to be the world’s greatest expert on taxes. But a state RICO charge — ordinary people can understand racketeering. They’ve got plenty of evidence of it, so why haven’t they done it yet? Well, when they got the document dump, Trump held it up for four years, and it turns out it wasn’t a million pages — it was 5 million pages. And you know, as a lawyer, they’ve got to look at every single page. So something doesn’t hit them as a surprise at trial. That’s a lot of research.

That’s a lot of Bates stamping, as we used to say.

A very little story about this. Thirty years ago, after I revealed Donald was not a billionaire, there was a particular document I knew he was going to have to put in the public record. And the morning of the day that was to happen, a bunch of guys wheel in an entire wall of banker’s boxes, the whole wall, like six high. And Donald taps me on the shoulder and says, “Lots of luck, pal.” So anyhow, I go to the men’s room at one point, when I see one of the detectives go there. We stand in the urinals and he says, “Box 14, J69.” Because everybody knows what I’m looking for.

So when the meeting ends, I go to the flack for the Casino Control Commission and said, “I want to look at the files.” He said, “Oh, it’s going to take us months to sort through.” I said, “No, no. I just want this.” I pulled out box 16 and said, “I just want to look at J69.” He looked at me and said, “Oh God, you’re going to make my life miserable today.” I said, “Sorry about that.” That’s what Donald does. He dumps all sorts of stuff to avoid you seeing the thing you wanted.

And he hopes you don’t find it. What’s your reaction to Trump’s media platform, Truth Social. It’s gotten a billion dollars from investors. Does it smell like another scam to you?

I think it is. In fact, the news just broke that the SPAC, the special purpose acquisition corporation that they’re using, is under investigation. A lot of these SPACs have turned out to be frauds. Why doesn’t Donald just do it an upfront way? In fact, why doesn’t he just fund it himself, given all the money he’s taken in? Well, he’s going to need that money to pay criminal defense lawyers when he’s indicted, and to live on. But I also don’t think it’s going to be successful.

Donald’s audience is in fact shrinking. His audience is intense, people are willing to die for him. Somebody said the other day that the difference between a religion and a cult is that in a religion your savior dies for you and in a cult you die for your savior. But it is shrinking, and over time will continue to shrink, barring some unexpected development. But the people who remain, they’re intense and some of them are dangerous, as we saw on Jan. 6. They will literally kill people in Donald’s name.

One last thing, David: After Watergate, there were a vast amount of reforms put into place by Congress, ethics reforms, campaign finance reforms. As of now, there have been some introduced, but nothing really passed. First of all, are you surprised by that? And second, what would you like to see, in broad strokes, to prevent Trump himself — or another Trump — from doing what he did in office?

Yeah, I’ve been at this so long. After Watergate I was covering the reforms and they’ve all backfired. They made our campaign finance situation vastly worse than it was when Nixon was in office. They weren’t carefully thought through in how they would be manipulated. In the end of the book, I provide solutions for a whole variety of issues. And many of them are actually quite simple. I’ll give you one example. There are people who say, “We should pass a law making people who run for president reveal their tax returns.” You can’t do that. The Constitution doesn’t allow that. What we can do is pass a law saying that once you reach some threshold — let’s say you came in first or second in two primaries — the IRS is required to release your tax return. Congress has the power to do that. That’s an easy, simple solution which we should impose, and we should release six years at least of tax returns, plus any record of audits that resulted in additional payments being due.

On campaign finance, there are all these side ways that foreign governments put money into our political system. We ban foreign corporations and foreign individuals from donating money, but Toyota USA contributes because it’s an American company. We’ve got to fix that. We have to tighten up those laws and we need absolute transparency. And we also need to take away many of the defenses. Let’s say you took in money and it turns out it came from Vladimir Putin’s lackey. OK, if you promptly go to the government, tell them you found out and give it right back or, better, give it to the government, then you should pay a fine. But if you lie, deny, hide and collaborate, you should go to prison and we should take away most of the defenses for that.

If you say, as the Trump people would say, shove off — well, I would be eternally in favor of a long prison sentence. And I generally don’t like long prison sentences, I think they’re bad policy. But these are threats to national security. This administration, as I show in the book, again and again submarined our national security for money. Nobody did that before, nobody. We didn’t have any president who’s ever done that. Remember, Jimmy Carter had to put his little two-bit peanut warehouse into a trust. He didn’t run his business. We should never again have someone in the White House who is operating a business.

Eric Swalwell shares private conversation with man who threatened his life on Twitter

Democratic California Congressman Eric Swalwell on Thursday managed to identify a social-media user who threatened his life after Twitter reportedly failed to help.

“A man DM’d I should be shot,” Swalwell wrote. “For my family’s safety, I asked Twitter for help ID’ing him. When Twitter fell short (thanks for trying!) I asked the guy his name (stringing him a bit) & why he threatened me. Meet Jeremy Marshall who told me he was radicalized by Tucker Carlson.”

Swalwell shared screen shots of his direct message exchange with Marshall, who wrote, “Traitor hopefully u get hung one day. Traitor u should be shot.”

Swalwell responded by striking up a conversation with the man, asking his name and where he was from. When the man identified himself as Jeremy from Canada, Swalwell played along.

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“I love Canada. Which part?” Swalwell wrote.

“Ur a lot more personable than you come across,” Marshall wrote, before revealing that his threats against Swalwell were based on allegations about the congressman’s relationship with a Chinese spy.

Swalwell responded by sharing a news article in which the FBI indicated that he is not suspected of any wrongdoing.

“I did nothing wrong,” Swalwell wrote, calling the attacks against him based on the spy controversy “Fox News targeting.”

“What’s your last name Jeremy?” Swalwell wrote, suggesting that they meet for coffee someday.

When the man hesitated to give his last name — acknowledging that he “said some mean things” and “could get in some trouble,” Swalwell wrote, “Oh no way. We’re totally cool.”

The man then identified himself as Jeremy Marshall, before apologizing for the threats and admitting that he “got dragged down the rabbit hole” and “saw red” based articles he read about Swalwell.

After Marshall said he works as a contractor, Swalwell indicated he has family in Canada and would refer them to the man’s business, asking for the name of it.

When Swalwell asked Marshall where he gets his news, he identified Carlson, the Fox News host, as well as podcaster Joe Rogan.

After sharing screen shots of their conversation, Swalwell wrote on Twitter: “I engaged with this guy solely to learn as much as I could about his identify to share it with law enforcement. I do not have any family in Canada, I was trying to get information about his business.”

“Bottom-line: the lies from Tucker and others are radicalizing people across not just America but the world,” Swalwell added. “And the lies are inspiring people to make threats of violence against lawmakers. Tucker & Co. know this. And that’s why they tell their lies. They want to incite the mob.”

“Finally, please do not threaten/harass Jeremy. Let the law/Instagram hold him accountable,” he wrote.

It’s unclear why Swalwell sought Twitter’s help identifying Marshall given that their conversation apparently occurred on Instagram. Marshall’s Instagram account, where he goes by “out4bling,” is set to private.

Read the full thread below:

A man DM’d I should be shot. For my family’s safety, I asked Twitter for help ID’ing him. When Twitter fell short (thanks for trying!) I asked the guy his name (stringing him a bit) & why he threatened me. Meet Jeremy Marshall who told me he was radicalized by Tucker Carlson. 🧵

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) December 30, 2021

Why Trump’s legal bills are costing the GOP a fortune: “There is no precedent for this”

Former President Donald Trump has been gone from the White House for 11 months, but his mountain of legal bills remains — and the Republican Party is continuing to pay them. During a recent discussion on “PBS NewsHour,” host Amna Nawaz and the Washington Post’s David Farenthold discussed some reasons why the 75-year-old ex-president is still costing his party a fortune in legal expenses.

Nawaz told Farenthold, “Your reporting has found that Mr. Trump’s legal bills, up to the tune of $1.6 million, are being paid for by the Republican Party. Is there precedent for that?”

Fahrenthold responded, “There is no precedent for this…. Former President Trump is not a Republican candidate. He’s not a Republican officeholder. And the investigations he is facing have nothing to do with his time in office. They all predate — they focus on his business in the years before he ran for president. So, there is no connection to the Republican Party or Republican officeholders involved here. But the Republican Party still is paying this money. And obviously, Trump has a pot of money in his packet. He has money in his business. He could afford this, but they are paying his bills anyway.”

The Post reporter added that the GOP is “happy to pay his bills” because they “see this as a political attack on Trump.”

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“What I think is really going on here is that Trump, although he is out of office and is not running, is a linchpin in Republican fundraising efforts,” Fahrenthold told Nawaz. “He is the key to the (Republican National Committee)’s fundraising future. And if he were to turn on them — if he were to leave, if he were to talk bad about them — that could be devastating. So, they may be paying to sort of keep him in their — to keep themselves in his good graces.”

Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, is being aggressively probed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as well as New York State Attorney General Letitia James — and the company is facing both civil and criminal investigations. Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s long-time chief financial officer, was indicted for tax fraud, although Donald Trump himself has not been charged with anything in that investigation.

Noting that Trump may run for president again in 2024, Nawaz asked Fahrenthold if “these investigations or probes” could “impact his political future.”

The Post reporter responded, “Certainly…. There may be things that would come out of these investigations or in a potential lawsuit or trial that would change the way people view him. He’s also got other investigations focused on his conduct as president, both related to January 6 and the efforts to overturn the election. Those could also damage his political reputation. But I think we have watched Trump’s career long enough to know that it’s really hard to predict how damaging information about Trump, even true revelations about what he did, will affect how people vote.”

The US broke its single-day case record for omicron — but not all regions are affected equally

It was a milestone that no one wanted: On Wednesday, the total number of new COVID-19 cases reached a height unseen in the entirety of the American version of the pandemic. More than 488,000 people tested positive on that day (according to a New York Times database), nearly twice as many as did so during the pandemic’s worst days last winter.

That number looks even worse when additional context is offered: Since testing slowed during the holiday period, it likely has not kept us with the spread of the delta and omicron variants.

Around the country, Americans are bracing themselves for the worst, wondering if they should cancel travel plans or flights to avoid the worst of the outbreak. Yet notably, the omicron variant is not affecting all locales and regions equally.

That region-based uncertainty starts with the question of whether hospitals near you are being heavily strained by new COVID-19 cases. According to a map created by NPR and based on an analysis from the University of Minnesota’s COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project, there are many counties in America where the average hospital experiencing an “extreme” level of stress (that is, the ratio of COVID-19 hospitalizations to total beds is more than 20%); the problem is particularly acute in the Northeast, the Midwest and southwestern states like Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. On the Pacific Coast, the counties reporting data show lower signs of hospital stress, while there are only a sprinkling of counties with similarly troubling data in the heartland and South. That said, there are also many counties where the data simply does not exist.

Looking at the problem of hospital strain on a state-by-state basis, NPR found that six states reported more than half of their hospitals as undergoing “extreme” strain during the week leading up to Christmas Eve: Indiana (65%), Ohio (56%), Michigan (56%), Pennsylvania (53%), New Mexico (51%) and Arizona (51%). By contrast ten states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia reported that none of their hospitals were experiencing an “extreme” amount of strain due to COVID-19. (Those ten states included Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming.)

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While the omicron and delta variants are the two predominant strains in the United States, the exact breakdown as to which one dominates also varies considerably based on region. (Omicron is considered more contagious.) According to a recent map by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), omicron was far more common than delta among recorded new cases in New York and New Jersey on Christmas and the previous week; it was 88.4% for omicron, 11.5% for delta in those two states. By contrast, delta was 55.3% of new cases in New England, compared to only 44.5% of those cases being omicron. In the Mid-Atlantic states 57.7% of the new cases were omicron and 42.1% were delta.

This diversity of results, even within regions, was seen on the other coast as well. For the region consisting of California, Nevada and Arizona, 54.5% of the new cases that week were omicron and 45.2% were delta. Just north in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon and Idaho), 74.8% of the new cases were omicron and 25.1% were delta. While omicron has largely overtaken delta in much of the south, delta remains prominent in much of the Rocky Mountain and prairie regions of America.

There is some “good” news about the omicron variant, peculiarly. Despite the spike in new cases, The New York Times also reported that “those increased cases have not resulted in more severe disease, as hospitalizations have increased only 11 percent and deaths have decreased slightly in the past two weeks.” Omicron, while more transmissible than other strains, has not proved to be as lethal, which has somewhat offset its otherwise potentially devastating effects. The overwhelming body of scientific evidence indicates that people who are fully vaccinated, including with booster shots, are far less likely to develop severe symptoms if they get infected with the omicron variant.

Inside the omicron surge:

“Midnight Mass” and the 8 best horror movies and shows of 2021

The year 2021 has given horror fans several new favorite horror movies and shows! Which thrillers and mysteries have landed in our top 8? Read on!

The TV and movie world is quickly recovering after a very bumpy 2020. Movie fans finally got to see highly anticipated movies premiere, and production for many shows on pause resumed early this year. Which show or movie have you been waiting for that you finally got to enjoy?

As much as I love a fun comedy-drama or action feature, I always love a good horror movie. Not only during the Halloween season, but throughout the year. Plus, let’s be honest, just because a horror movie or series premieres around spooky season doesn’t mean it’s any good — I’m looking at you, “Halloween Kills.”

That said, we are remembering our favorite horror movies and shows of the year! Let’s see if your favorite made the list.

The 8 best horror movies and shows of 2021

8. “Antlers”

“Antlers” premiered in theaters on Oct. 29 after being pushed back a couple of times. Even though it didn’t meet my expectations (I blame the wait), I still really enjoyed this movie. The movie is still playing in a few select theaters, but it doesn’t have a streaming release yet. Our sister site 1428 Elm believes the movie could be going to Hulu, but not until the year 2022.

7. “Candyman”

I know “Candyman” 2021 got a lot of hate from both critics and moviegoers, but hey, this is my list! I personally loved this movie. It was a nostalgic experience and kept me on the edge of my seat. The movie premiered on Aug. 27, you can stream it by renting or buying it online.

6. “Them”

“Them” premiered on April 9, so long before the Halloween season, which is just what horror fans needed to fill in the gaps. It’s a bit predictable, but brilliantly acted and spooky enough to love. Watch it on Prime Video.

5. “Fear Street”

What do horror fans enjoy the most? Horror movies and shows that premiere over the summer! Is there anything better? The Fear Street trilogy kicked off on June 28, and what a ride and thrill it was! If you haven’t seen these three movies, you are missing out. Watch them on Netflix.

4. “A Quiet Place Part II”

This is another film that was pushed back due to the pandemic and I’m glad it was moved instead of it being released on streaming. There is no better way to watch “A Quiet Place Part II” than on the big screen. Today, you can watch the movie on Paramount+.

3. “Chucky”

“Chucky” on Syfy (and the USA Network) truly surprised me! It’s fun, thrilling, and features Chucky’s iconic sarcastic humor. It’s really enjoyable and fun to watch. Is it predictable and cliche? Sure! But that’s also what we love about the possessed doll. Oh! And Tiffany truly makes the series; she’s the cherry on top. The first season has concluded, but you can stream all episodes on Peacock.

2. “Army of the Dead”

“Army of the Dead” is another summer flick we all enjoyed. It premiered on May 21 on Netflix and provides thrills, action, and gore for days!

1. “Midnight Mass”

This is probably one of my favorite shows of the year. “Midnight Mass” scared me like few shows have, and I say this in the best way, of course! It’s brilliantly acted and packs an emotional punch. There is plenty of symbolism and twists and turns to keep you on your toes. Watch it on Netflix.

Ted Cruz’s daughter knocks him on TikTok: “I really disagree with most of his views”

Sen. Ted Cruz’s teenage daughter admits there’s some good things about having a famous dad, but she doesn’t always like living in his shadow.

The Texas Republican’s daughter Caroline agreed in a video posted on her TikTok account that she enjoys the travel perks that come from her dad’s job, and she likes getting candy and other gifts in the mail from the senator’s supporters, but she admits some downsides to his political notoriety, reported the Dallas Observer.

“Some of the bad things are, I literally have to have security following me everywhere,” she said. “Like, if I want to go on a walk through the neighborhood, like to my friend’s house or something, I have to have, like, two security guards behind me the entire time.”

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“Also, a lot of people judge me based upon him at first glance,” she added, “but I really disagree with most of his views.”

The teen also revealed that her parents had edited her shirt in a family photo used for a Christmas card sent to supporters.

“On the Christmas card, they literally made my shirt longer,” she said, showing a selfie photo of her wearing a crop top. “This is how it’s supposed to look.”

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The worst film performances of 2021

There were some astonishing performances in 2021, most notably the multilayered work by Tessa Thompson in “Passing” and Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Power of the Dog.” Simon Rex gave the year’s “comeback” performance in “Red Rocket” — even if he won’t call it that. Agathe Rousselle had an unforgettable breakthrough with her debut in “Titane.” And Colman Domingo delivered a stunning, shapeshifting turn in “Zola” that may be the year’s scariest screen role. Even Josh Hartnett embodied white privilege brilliantly in the documentary series “Exterminate All the Brutes.”

But this list is not going to celebrate those actors or those fine films. Instead, here is a rundown of some of the year’s worst performances.

Jared Leto in “House of Gucci”

Leto’s polarizing Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s tepid true crime drama may just be the most talked about performance of the year. Leto is arguably the best and worst thing in this film because his crass, exaggerated turn — which seems completely out of place here — is darkly comic. (The film could have been blackly funny, but Scott played it straight, and sucked all the juice out of it). Leto’s heavy Italian accent is so overblown it practically defines his character; he wants respect and to be taken seriously, but he fumbles about, creating lousy designs, pissing on scarves, and generally just f**king up. One only feels disappointment with him. But he is also the most entertaining thing on screen because every scene is guaranteed to do something. Leto also gets the film’s best line, about knowing the difference between s**t and chocolate, having tasted both. The film is forgettable, but, Mamma Mia!, even for haters, Leto is memorable. His performance is a cannoli — it is filled with cheese or sweet cream — take your pick.

Adam Driver in “House of Gucci”

Driver is a big blank void at the center of “House of Gucci,” and his lousy performance may be why the film was so meh. He looks like he wanted to be anywhere else. He has no chemistry with his costars. And his character barely has a pulse. Sure, Mauricio is meant to be someone privileged who lived in a bubble, protected from the rest of society, but Driver makes him passive, not curious when the world opened up to him. He’s boring, and Driver, who is one of the most interesting actors working today, should never be boring.

Case in point: his role in “Annette” (another polarizing film) lets Driver act to the rafters (which can be good or bad) as Henry McHenry, a comedian who performs his sold out one-man show, “The Ape of God,” in a bathrobe on stage to an admiring audience that he repeatedly offends. As this overlong musical — all the dialogue is sung — lumbers along, Henry becomes more monstrous and unlikable. (He kills someone and exploits his own daughter, played by a doll.) But at least Driver makes viewers feel something, even if it’s anger. He is fascinating to watch licking and tickling his wife, Ann (Marion Cotillard), and his scene in the film’s end is either astonishing or maddening. Love “Annette” or hate it, there was no denying Driver was giving a go-for-broke performance that succeeded or failed.

Andrew Garfield in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “tick, tick . . . Boom!”

Andrew Garfield gave two of the worst performances this year, both in biographies. As Jim Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” he’s creepy and quite queer (homoerotically wrestling in one scene), and it’s discomfiting in the same way the chirpy Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye’s voice grates on viewers as she shrieks her every line. Garfield is going for smoothly sinister perhaps — a con artist who tried to hide the greed and lust that consumed him — but he’s phony right from the start. (Tammy’s mother, the fabulous Cherry Jones sees right through him). Garfield should have been seductive here, and he goes for smarmy instead. (Yes, that was Bakker, but that’s not the point).

Similarly, Garfield’s work as Jonathan Larson in “tick, tick…BOOM!” is equally needy and lacking. One can actually smell the flop sweat as Larson gives an agonizingly self-indulgent monologue that recounts his failed efforts to get the play that he thought would make his Broadway career get off the ground. But Garfield never makes Larson a real human; he portrays the musical theater director as a cartoon puppy who bounces around seeking love and adulation from everyone he encounters (even Sondheim!) but never actually deserves it. He’s exhausting to spend time with and irritating.

What both of these excruciating performances indicate, however, is that Garfield really is born to star in the Tony Perkins biopic. He’s a dead ringer for the actor, and given that role, he could finally put all the energy he expended in these films to good use.

Amy Adams in “The Woman in the Window” and “Dear Evan Hansen”

Poor Amy Adams. Her performance last year in “Hillbilly Elegy” challenged fans who will see her in anything. She upped the ante this year with two terrible performances in two truly abysmal films. First there’s the long awaited, and poorly made adaptation of the bestselling thriller, “The Woman in the Window.” Adams plays Anna Fox, a medicated agoraphobe — “I can’t go outside” she explains, helpfully — who swears she saw a murder. But is she being gaslighted? The bigger question is: Is the six-time Oscar nominee punking fans with her work here? Adams overemotes throughout and her looks of horror and confusion are the exact same expression in some scenes. At times, she is just unintentionally hilarious crying and cringing because she thinks she is going mad. Most fans who saw this film were mad at Adams for making such a dreadful film. It could have been a juicy part, but instead, it’s joyless.

Adams is equally lousy in the musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” This pitiful screen adaptation of the hit Broadway show saddled Adams with a thankless role of a mother grieving over her son’s death. The actress, who sings wonderfully in “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” is flat here. She tries to convey a mix of hopefulness and pathos, but she comes off as desperate and feeble. Oddly, Julianne Moore, who also co-stars in both films, has a warm, engaging presence, so one has to think Adams needs a better agent.

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Rami Malek in “No Time to Die“

Many Oscar winners go on to play Bond villains (see also Christopher Walken, Christoph Waltz, Javier Bardem) but Rami Malek — who can be so good at being sinister — makes his Lyutsifer Safin criminally bland. Malek fails to excite when he is on screen, often talking rather than doing, which is the kiss of death for a baddie in an action film. While Safin’s plan to use a DNA-based bioweapon to kill millions is ambitious, Malek’s lackluster performance here is anything but.

The cast of “Crisis”

“Crisis” came and went back in February, and while it should only be seen by cinemasochists, it deserves to be remembered for its myriad of bad performances. Writer, director, producer (and cast member) Nicholas Jarecki’s drama about the opioid crisis was miscast and mishandled. Armie Hammer is utterly stiff, basically scowling intensely through the entire film, giving a look rather than a performance. Evangeline Lilly gives several risible speeches that, like this film, can not be taken seriously. Even watching a preachy Gary Oldman squaring off with Greg Kinnear (in patented sleazy douchebag mode), is painful. “Crisis” may have been a well-intentioned morality tale, but it’s one of the year’s worst films.

Meryl Streep in “Don’t Look Up”

It’s become easier and easier to bash Meryl Streep these days because she has become so hammy. She mimics real people rather than acts, which shows off her flawless technique, but she fails to imbue her characters with any heart. In her career, she has gone from great performances playing victims (“Sophie’s Choice,” “Silkwood”) to bad performances playing bullies (“Doubt,” and “August: Osage County.”) [“The Devil Wears Prada,” is a notable exception.]

What is more, she also suffers from Florence Foster Jenkins syndrome — no one has the courage to tell her that she’s bad. But La Streep is utterly unfunny in “Don’t Look Up” playing the clueless President Orlean. (Perhaps after channeling Hillary in the ill-conceived remake of “The Manchurian Candidate,” La Streep felt she had to play Trump?) Adam McKay’s climate change satire was all over the place (which was one of its many problems), but Streep’s broad playing tries too hard. Her performance is obnoxious, when only her character should be. President Orlean was all hair and accent and tramp stamp. Her dim-bulbishness, could have been comic, but La Streep didn’t look like she was having any fun here (unlike her co-star Cate Blanchett). This is why her performance was bad. Playing an idiot president should have been shooting fish in a barrel, but the acclaimed actress shot the barrel, drained the water, and let the fish suffocate and die without actually hitting them.

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Floridians ask, “Where is Ron DeSantis?” as state shatters COVID records

46,923 cases.

That’s the single-day record for positive COVID-19 cases in Florida, set Wednesday as the omicron variant continues to batter the state. Despite a small decrease in the death rate — which still stands at 18 a day — the number of cases in Florida is reportedly up by 182% compared to the previous week, according to the Washington Post. An analysis by the paper also revealed Thursday that Florida is currently the second-hardest hit state in the country, behind only New York in the number of new cases reported.

Democrats have attributed the rise to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ continued hands-off approach to public health, which has become the source of much controversy in recent months. Despite some early success in avoiding the worst effects of COVID-19 suffered by states like New York and California, Florida has been the site of some of the country’s worst surges in 2021.

Floridians are also questioning why DeSantis hasn’t answered questions in nearly two weeks just as his state faces its worst month since the pandemic began — with one mayor in the state accusing the governor of largely abdicating any responsibility for mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

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“We have not received any assistance from the state of Florida at our testing sites,” said Orange County, Fla., Mayor Jerry Demings on Tuesday. “Our residents, all Florida residents, should be outraged and they should ask the question, ‘Where is our state? Where is our governor? Where is Ron DeSantis now?'”

“When is the last time you saw the governor do a press briefing on COVID-19?” he added.

State Sen. Annette Taddeo, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022, also echoed the sentiment — tweeting, “And where’s Ron DeSantis?”

The governor has not held a public briefing since Dec. 17 — an appearance which was dedicated to the promotion of a monoclonal antibody therapy developed by the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Since then, DeSantis has done just one interview, an appearance on Fox News in which he talked about his decision to forego a booster shot and said vaccination was best left to “people’s individual decisions.”

The absence was noted by Twitter users Thursday as the hashtag “#WhereIsRon” began to trend, with many speculating on the reason for his sustained absence. Around the same time, DeSantis posted a weeks-old photograph of himself visiting a local bagel shop, fueling a number of unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories.

In a statement to the Washington Post, the governor’s spokeswoman Christina Pushaw didn’t comment on DeSantis’ public hiatus, but defended his approach to managing the pandemic — pointing to other states that are also setting records for new infections and adding that she believes it is “evident that the vaccine passports, mask mandates and other heavy-handed government interventions did not achieve their stated goals.”

“In Florida, we are continuing to emphasize the importance of early treatment and doing everything possible to expand access to clinically effective treatments,” she told the paper. “Governor DeSantis is not imposing any mandates or lockdown policies that have already proven ineffective in other parts of the country.”

As far as the seriousness of the cases caused by omicron in Florida, Pushaw said most were “asymptomatic or mild” — though the new variant has also doubled the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the state over the last week alone.

Florida is by no means the only state facing a devastating wave of cases over the holidays — the country as a whole is averaging roughly 240,000 new infections a day.

The good news is that even CDC Director Rochelle Walensky seems to agree that omicron cases appear to cause milder symptoms than previous variants, especially in those who have been vaccinated. She also said Wednesday during a briefing that hospitalizations remain “comparatively low” to previous surges.

Best of 2021: The sobering truth about quitting my job: I was addicted to high-stress nonprofit work

When I left my job with no backup plan in July, I had no idea I was joining an exodus of more than 4 million Americans who had enough at work. Once I discovered this trend, I devoured articles in search of a rationale for my rash decision.

Stories about this mass departure suggest each of us has our own discrete reasons. For me, the reasons feel like a muddied watercolor, with shades of longing for well-being and autonomy bleeding into a grey malaise and existential dread: What does any of this matter when my loved ones or I could die tomorrow?

Now that I’m free from full-time work, my once-murky canvas reveals a startling image. For years, my work life functioned like an unconscious addiction.

I grew up around people addicted to different substances and behaviors. My family opted out of the phone book. Drug arrests ruined holidays. Rehab visits were common. The shame and poverty that resulted demanded hard work at a frenzied pace to counter. From that dynamic, I learned to anticipate needs and fulfill them. I learned that survival depended on doing, that the collective’s needs had to be more important than the individual’s.

And, like fellow Millennials, I seek purpose in the choices I make. For me, that’s meant 11 years working in the nonprofit sector. Throughout my career, I relished the “other duties as needed” modus operandi. The frenetic energy of stress and determination animated me — and, I believed, proved my commitment to the mission. Like any addict, I would do anything to feed the monkey on my back.

Years ago, while working for a Buddhist retreat center, I supported the on-site weekend workshops once a month. These rotating weekend shifts included commercial-grade dishwashing, composting, dusting, mopping, and more tasks that fell outside of my primary job description. And on an early morning shift during a silent retreat, “other duties” reached a new level. As I set the dining hall for breakfast, a woman approached me with her head down. In silence, she passed me a note that read: “Second floor ladies’ room is backed up. All three toilets. ☹”

With a respectful nod and a chest full of valor, I made my way to the scene. Plunger in hand, I went to work. Waste sloshed on my shoes, and I gagged throughout the ordeal. Each toilet, in time, released with a victorious GALUMPH. When I returned to the office Monday, I recounted the story to my colleagues, at once sheepish and proud.

“It was my shift, what else could I have done?” I said. “I’ll always do my best for this place!”

I can’t speak for all 4 million of my comrades who have quit their jobs during the pandemic, but for those in the nonprofit sector, pre-existing conditions compounded the stressors of COVID-19. Before 2020, half of nonprofit workers were already burned out. As defined by the World Health Organization, burnout includes “feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance for one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.” In fundraising, competing pressures lead to even higher burnout rates, and in turn, a revolving door — the average tenure is just 16 months.

By March 2020, I had worked in nonprofits and fundraising for a decade. When I began working from home that month, any boundaries I had disappeared. If I woke with anxiety at 3 a.m., I could effectively compose emails on my smartphone. I no longer lost time to my commute — I worked through that time instead. When the initial Zoom tsunami began, I skipped meals to attend every offering on our crisis response.

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With no intended irony, I encouraged my colleagues to practice self-care, to sign off when needed, while anxiously biting my lips until they bled. On one of those early Zoom calls, a colleague observed that I looked exhausted.

“Bah, this is nothing compared to the 600-person sit-down dinner gala I worked,” I said. “I slept on the floor of my office many a night before that.”

She was stunned, silent. To fill the air, I continued.

“Or, you remember, that time at the Garden Party where I was schmoozing all afternoon on a broken knee. Sure, the pain was searing, but I burn for the cause.”

In one quip, I’d glorified self-harm, minimized its consequences, and rejected the concern she offered.

“Jackie, all I’m saying is that you’ve gotten good at making a living,” she said. “But have you made a life?”

How else could I have said it? I craved the phone notifications from my work email. I refreshed my inbox to get the hit of being needed. I escaped my own obsessive and anxious thoughts by focusing on something transcendent — our organization’s mission. I jonesed for my socially accepted and respected addiction.

In the pre-pandemic rhythms of my day-to-day, this self-negating behavior was normal. But in time, working remotely changed my perspective. Away from the shared office, I noticed that I liked owning my time. I savored the freedom from daily panic attacks over what to wear, and thrived in my private workspace. I loved the comfort and safety of being at home, rather than merely sleeping there.

I also noticed the relief I felt at being away from office dynamics. Given statistics and experiences around workplaces and lack of opportunity, micro-aggressions, racism, lack of boundaries and sexual harassment, it’s no wonder that millions are opting out. For those still on the clock, resistance to brick-and-mortar business-as-usual is growing. It’s now fully expected that more people will leave as companies are pressuring workers to return to the physical office.

Now that we’ve had time to sober up, how many will choose to perpetuate their suffering? How many will haggle with their happiness in the name of acceptance, accolades or acknowledgment?

As a child immersed in 12-step teachings, I learned the roots of addiction disease lay in emptiness, escape and longing. While chemistry plays a role, the underlying causes need fullness, not decoration, as my mother wisely says.

There was no sudden rock bottom for me; no car wreck or flash of awakening after pawning a family member’s jewelry. My realization took years of accumulated harm and a global pandemic.

No rehabs will hold or heal me. But I am using this time off as a self-guided sabbatical. Drawing on my mother’s wisdom, I’m working at nourishing the emptiness rather than filling it with busyness. Each day I set aside time to read, write and be in nature. Once I shore up my foundations, I’ll reset the balance of making a living with making a life.

Reading through the groundswell of articles about our motives, I am heartened not to be alone. Despite addiction’s isolation, I’m now surrounded by millions who also want something else.

Perhaps a few more of them are coming clean, too. I hope after reflecting on our habits and needs we will all re-emerge, ready to paint a new landscape that centers our well-being.

The harmful messaging of “It’s a Wonderful Life”

I have a confession to make. I’ve never cared for the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” As a child I found it long-winded, melodramatic, and a manipulative kind of tearjerker, even if I didn’t use those exact words. After such a momentous last couple of years, I chose to revisit the film this December in search of wisdom and life lessons for difficult times. On this viewing I appreciated the film as a work of art, but something about it still bothered me, something at the heart of its story. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a deeply Christian morality tale about George Bailey’s life of unrewarded sacrifice, and the older I get, the less patience I have for it.

This film begins with a framing device in which we’re invited to view the story from the perspective of heaven. Two angels recruit Clarence (Henry Travers), a fellow angel who has yet to earn his wings, to answer prayers on behalf of a man named George Bailey (James Stewart), and they tell him the story of George’s life. George dreams of leaving his small town to travel the world and be an architect — “I want to build things!” — but is held back from his dreams at every turn and ends up staying to run his father’s building and loan business and making his community a better place.

Most critics say that this setup leads to a nuanced drama about the hard work of making choices in everyday life, the fact that often no good deed goes unpunished, and the strength of character required to do those good deeds anyway. But the narrative also drags George Bailey through contrived and increasingly satirical levels of suffering just because it can.

Each of the choices he makes seems to have only two possible answers: offer great personal sacrifice or let the people around you suffer enormously. This reduces human decency to a simple equation, in which it’s always easy to identify the right thing, even if the thing itself is difficult to do. There’s no room for nuance, creative solutions, or seeing both sides. George is selfless to a fault, specifically because the story gives him no room for negotiation.

All of this is compounded when George is framed for embezzlement by the wealthy town bully Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), who tells him that, according to George’s life insurance policy, he’s “worth more dead than alive.” George goes to a bridge over a raging river and contemplates jumping in when Clarence stops him. George tells Clarence that everything would be better if he’d “never been born.” So Clarence takes him on a tour of what his little town would have looked like without him. Only when George sees how much worse off the people in his life would have been does he want to live again.

Many critics say that this ending upholds the value of human life, but that’s not quite what the script says, is it? George Bailey’s life isn’t presented as inherently valuable; it’s only valuable because of his constant selfless deeds.

In one of the most gut-wrenching scenes of the film, a teenaged George returns to his job working for Old Man Gower’s pharmacy to see that his boss is furious. Gower (H.B. Warner) wants to know why George didn’t deliver the medicine he was instructed to take to a sick boy. George explains that Gower accidentally packaged poison pills (one of the film’s more blatant contrivances), not medicine. Gower, furious at his child employee for saying such a thing, strikes him, and when George begs him to stop, Gower strikes him again. Only when he realizes that George is telling the truth does he reach out with gentleness, but George still cowers away. “Please don’t hit me again, sir,” is all he says.

As a grown man standing on that bridge, ready to trade in his life for the money it would bring his family, he’s still that little boy who never learned to raise a hand in his own defense, who sees himself as worthy only as far as he can shoulder others’ burdens. And the great lesson an angel imparts to him is that shouldering all of those burdens was worth it in the end.

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This story openly equates self-preservation with selfishness. George Bailey is asked throughout the film whether he will help himself or others (“or” being the operative word), and in the final act, it tallies up the events of his life and says that helping others at the expense of his own well-being was the correct thing to do. Just look at the suffering that would have existed if he had not suffered instead! See how this gives his life value!

RELATED: Jimmy Stewart was my teen idol

The portrayal of George’s constant selflessness is deeply human, but not in the way the film frames it. In relationships, organizations, and communities, the people who are willing to show up, do work, and take blame are allowed to continue doing just that, while others depend on them and their continued sacrifice. Inertia is a property of humanity, and it hurts people.

I am not suggesting to remove this film from future holiday watchlists, but to look at its fictionalized moral lesson with a little less worship. This story upholds troubling ideas about human worth that have plagued American culture for centuries: that each person’s value is determined by a concrete impact that can be seen, and that virtue and hard work are their own rewards. Parts of this film offer timely lessons for difficult times. We need to outgrow the other parts in order to have a truly compassionate view of human worth.

Giving of yourself until there’s nothing left isn’t kindness, and it’s not decency. It’s suicide.

More stories to read:

Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests banning Democrats who move to red states from voting

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Wednesday suggested temporarily barring Democrats who move to red states from voting, in what she called a “national divorce scenario.”

Greene took issue with Democrats moving from blue states to red states and suggested they need a “cooling off” period before being allowed to vote.

“After Democratic voters and big donors ruin a state like California, you would think it wise to stop them from doing it to another great state like Florida,” she wrote on Twitter. “Brainwashed people that move from CA and NY really need a cooling off period.”

Greene made the comment in response to a tweet from Pedro Gonzalez, an editor at the conservative Chronicles magazine and a fellow at the right-wing Claremont Institute. Gonzalez suggested “actively discriminating against transplants like this through legislation.”

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“They shouldn’t be able to vote for a period, and they should have to pay a tax for their sins,” he tweeted.

Greene said that Gonzalez’s suggestion would be “possible in a National Divorce scenario” between red and blue states.

Greene hosted a Twitter poll in October asking her followers if the country should have a “national divorce.” Though more people supported staying together than splitting up in her unscientific survey, Greene used the numbers to claim the country’s divisions have become “irreconcilable.”

“So many people talk to me about how divided our country is and how it’s irreconcilable,” she said in an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in October. “I’ve been hearing that from so many…about dividing the country between Republican and Democrat states.”

Bannon pushed back on Greene’s suggestion but she insisted that the poll was a “wake-up call” for “Republicans who refuse to act like Republicans, and not just the Democrats.”

She echoed that sentiment on Twitter.

“So many people tell me daily how devastated they are over the state of our union on every level, and I completely share their utter disgust and heartbreak for the condition of our country,” she wrote in October. “National Divorce is talked about often privately, but not publicly, so I took a poll.”

She doubled down again after her comments on Wednesday, writing that “we Republicans don’t want your blue votes ruining our red home states.”

Greene’s House colleagues accused freshman congresswoman of calling for civil war.

“There is no ‘National Divorce’ either you are for civil war or not,” tweeted Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. “Just say it if you want a civil war and officially declare yourself a traitor.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., urged his followers not to “ignore” Greene’s rants.

“I want you to see what a GOP-run country looks like. They will take your right to vote if you don’t agree with them. MTG may sound batty but she’s not kidding and she has [House GOP leader] Kevin McCarthy fully behind her,” Swalwell wrote.

“The most popular national Republicans are openly advocating for an end to American democracy,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “This isn’t fringe anymore. This is mainstream Republican thinking, folks.”

Salon’s most popular science stories of 2021

As 2021 comes to a close, it is difficult to say whether humanity has progressed much in the past twelve months. For all the medical advances in treating COVID-19, we were set back by misinformation and Big Pharma profiteering. Meanwhile, a summery ray of hope that the COVID-19 pandemic might soon be over was dashed by the delta variant, and later the omicron variant. Similarly, climate change panic set in this year for many: from disrupted ocean currents to overcooking cities, the global warming stories in 2021 have been universally alarming.

Yet it would be a mistake to remember 2021 just for the bad news, a fact affirmed by a glance at the most popular science stories Salon published this year. While our audience unsurprisingly wanted to stay up-to-date on the year’s two most pressing science-related issues — COVID-19 and climate change — readers also embraced narratives that fulfilled curiosities and instilled us with hope. Scientists reassured us that, if an asteroid hits our planet, we will be ready; they tantalized us with the prospect that our pets might be able to talk to us; and they taught us what it is like to experience reality as a bird. Using cutting edge technology, scientists were able to draw more attention to how fish are mislabeled when sold to consumers. As we accumulate more knowledge about the human mind, psychologists have learned how to dole out the best advice to parents.

In 2021, Salon’s science readers showed a craving for knowledge, some of it driven by the necessities of the news cycle and some of it by a simple love of learning. And since 2021 was a bit over the top compared to other years, we have decided to go a little over the top too and do the top eleven (rather than the top ten) science stories.

“NASA slightly improves the odds that asteroid Bennu hits Earth. Humanity will be ready regardless”

Bennu is one of the two most hazardous asteroids known in our solar system; with a diameter of roughly 500 meters, it would wipe out all human life on Earth if it ever collided with our planet. Given these statistics, it might seem like bad news to learn that in 2021 the odds of a future Earth-Bennu collision were deemed to be somewhat higher than previously thought. (1 out of 1,750 instead of 1 out of 2,700, to be exact.)

That said, the likelihood is still astronomically low (pun intended), and NASA scientists are more confident than ever in their technology. This includes machines that keep a watchful eye out for possible celestial menaces, as well as machines that they one day hope can be directed against dangerous asteroids so they can alter their orbit.

“The ocean is about to flip a switch that could permanently disrupt life on Earth: study”

Earth’s oceans are tied to meteorology; indeed, there is one, specific massive system of ocean currents that literally controls the weather of the world. One current flows north with warm water that eventually cools and evaporates, causing the water in that region of the ocean to become saltier and heavier. As it sinks, that water forms a second current which flows to the south. Those two currents are connected to each other at various points in the Nordic Sea, Labrador Sea and Southern Ocean, and together they form the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (or AMOC for short).

According to an August report in the journal Nature Climate Change, global warming has led to “an almost complete loss of stability over the last century” in AMOC. If this series of conveyor belt-like currents shuts down, millions of Americans along the east coast will be flooded as sea levels rise; altered weather conditions will result in food shortages in South America, Western Africa and India; and Europe will be beset by plunging temperatures and massive storms. Right now, the data only points to a slowing of those currents, but as the study explains, “this decline may be associated with an almost complete loss of stability over the course of the last century, and the AMOC could be close to a critical transition to its weak circulation mode.”

“Do dogs miss us when we are gone? A ‘talking’ dog offers insights”

Humans love dogs because they are a microcosm of what it means to be human — animals that co-evolved with us, and which have learned to adapt to and recognize human behaviors. Given their attunement to the human world, most dog owners have pondered at times what goes inside of Fido’s head.

Thanks to a group of button-pushing pets, we appear to be edging close to an answer. One such study subject is a sheepadoodle named Bunny, who has learned how to touch buttons connected to words that, in the proper sequence, form rudimentary sentences. For example, when Bunny “commented” on the absence of her family’s lost cat, she pressed the buttons to say, “cat” and then “bye.” The sheepadoodle is one of almost 2,600 dogs and 300 cats enrolled in a project called TheyCanTalk. Its purpose is to give augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to pets and see if they can use them to meaningfully communicate with human beings.

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“Fish fraud is rampant — and Subway’s tuna scandal is just the tip of the iceberg”

Subway made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2021: Over the summer, a New York Times investigation into the company’s famous tuna fish sandwich could not find any “amplifiable tuna DNA.” While the company insists that such tests are not reliable and that their sandwiches are indeed made from tuna, the story brought attention to the undeniably prevalent problem of fish fraud.

As of 2016, roughly one out of five samples of seafood was found to be mislabeled, as examined in a comprehensive study that included 55 countries, and there is no reason to believe things have gotten any better since. Very few businesses follow their responsibility to trace the origins of their fish, and much of our imported seafood was itself caught illegally. Even worse, many companies practice trans-shipment, wherein boats hand their catches to intermediate vessels so they can spend more time fishing. This creates an environment where mislabeling can ultimately happen.

“A ‘talking’ cat is giving scientists insight into how felines think”

Just as the TheyCanTalk study has allowed Bunny the sheepadoodle’s owners to “talk” to her, Billi the cat has used AAC devices to communicate with his human companion. According to Kendra Baker, Billi’s human parent, there are some notable ways in which the cat uses the buttons differently than the dog. Instead of stringing together longer sentences, Billi prefers to carefully choose her words, and will often hit only one button to make her point. In addition, Billi expressed a quick love for the button associated with the word “food”; if nothing else, Baker has learned that if this button is pressed, the humans know that it’s chow time.

“‘Good enough’ parenting starts with avoiding these 13 abusive behaviors”

Striving for perfection in parenting is unrealistic and overly stressful, psychologist Dr. Juli Fraga and writer Gail Cornwall write in Salon. Rather than try to do the impossible, Fraga and Cornwall say that parents should be satisfied with “good enough” parenting — meaning what’s left after ruling out anything that has been well-documented to cause kids significant harm. These include name-calling, using absolute language like “you always” and “you never,” belittling language, intimidating one’s child, swearing and withholding affection. One form of abuse that is not as widely known is gaslighting — that is, tricking someone into questioning their recollection of past events, usually with the purpose of escaping culpability for your own poor behavior.

“A philosopher of science explains how birds perceive time and space differently than humans”

Vinciane Despret, a Belgian philosopher of science and associate professor at the University of Liège, spoke with Salon this autumn on her new book “Living as a Bird.” Despret’s goal was to introduced us to the world as it perceived by our feathered friends. For one thing, birds do not view space through the dimensions of our horizontal world, but also with a vertical world that people only experience when they’re in an aircraft. Despret also speculates that birds experience time very differently than humans.

“Sometimes they live in the pure present, but when they sing for example they have to negotiate and to manage the time because what is song? It’s music,” Despret told Salon. “And music is a question of managing time.”

“Could a human actually be engulfed by a whale? A marine biologist weighs in”

“Neither of us want this!”

If whales could talk, those might have been the words that Cape Cod lobster diver Michael Packard heard from a nearby humpback as it spit him back into the ocean. Packard famously claimed to have been engulfed in the mammoth marine mammal’s mouth for between 30 and 40 seconds before being unceremoniously hacked back into the briny sea. While some observers doubt Packard’s story, it is actually plausible given whale anatomy: the cavity in a humpback’s mouth is about the size of a small Volkswagen Bug. The throat and tongue would have been stretchy, but the “roof” would have been comprised of hard bone, while the sides were made of wire-like structures known as baleen plates. Salon spoke to a comparative anatomist, who explained exactly what the experience of being briefly engulfed by a humpback whale would be like, and why it isn’t that far-fetched.

“The lambda variant is ominous for what it says about the future trajectory of the pandemic”

Back in August — months before the omicron variant reached the United States, but after delta had already emerged as the dominant strain in this country — scientists were fretting about the lambda variant. Although the lambda variant did not ultimately replace delta as the main COVID-19 threat, one of the warnings issued about lambda at the time proved prophetic. As Dr. Jonathan Zenilman, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, wrote to Salon at the time, “The virus needs to develop ways to increase its transmissibility as there are less targets to infect.” That is why, even as of August, “we have been seeing a progression of increasingly transmissible variants about every two to three months.” While doctors still do not know how omicron emerged, Zenilman’s observation may offer an important clue.

“Why Phoenix may be uninhabitable by the end of this century”

While the word “island” conjures up images of land surrounded by water, the “Heat Island Effect” is a climate change-fueled phenomenon caused by inadequate amounts of water. Because cities are heavy on asphalt and concrete, and light on the tree canopies that can offer shade and provide moisture, they become literal islands of heat. Like a worm baking on a sidewalk, densely populated cities like Phoenix are quickly losing the water and other resources necessary to maintain their survival. Without major infrastructure projects, climate change will render them uninhabitable in decades. Phoenix is more vulnerable than many other cities because it is located in the middle of a desert, but it will hardly be alone.

“Watercore, explained: The unwanted physiological disorder that actually makes apples taste sweeter”

Most apple farmers avoid selling their fruit if it is afflicted by watercore — that is, a condition defined by dark spots on the outside and semi-translucent, syrupy streaks within. Traditionally, these types of apples have been deemed unfit for consumption and disregarded accordingly, but some customers find the taste to be enjoyable rather than repulsive, mainly because such apples are much sweeter than “normal” apples. And while few vendors sell them in the United States, a few enterprising farmers are starting to cater to those who understand and enjoy the taste of watercore apples.

Bacon, coffee and pasta pie: A look back at your favorite Quick & Dirty recipes of 2021

You really love bacon and coffee. You also love pasta (and have very strong opinions about it). You love anything roasted on a sheet pan, as well as dishes that involve two ingredients (three, tops). But it was your affinity for chocolate that really clicked like nothing else this year.

Early in the pandemic — April of 2020, to be exact — I wrote a story about a chocolate cake that comes together with pantry staples and doesn’t require any butter, eggs or milk. That Depression cake recipe quickly became as popular with Salon Food readers as it was with my family, as did the magical, 2-ingredient Nutella brownies that followed it.

As the challenging months trudged along, I found myself coming back again and again to the consoling feeling that we have all been cooking together though all of this. We’ve been figuring out how to feed ourselves and our loved ones through supply shortages and quarantines by sharing what works. I think what it frequently comes down to is carbs.

I called this column Quick & Dirty because that’s just how a lot of us are getting it done these days. But cooking with more ease and simplicity shouldn’t have to mean a big compromise on the pleasure that food brings. At the end of an inevitably tough day, most of us just want something that tastes really good and doesn’t add to our stress. In 2021, these were the recipes that best ticked those boxes for you.

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1. A 3-ingredient cheesecake, no measuring needed

Having recently and wholeheartedly joined the cult of the Basque cheesecake, I confess I was skeptical about this one. But this delicate and not-too-sweet dessert, which requires only three ingredients and zero measuring, really proves itself a surprise keeper. Make it once and commit it to memory, and you’ll never be able to say, “I can’t bake” again.

2. Mediterranean potato salad is all you need for dinner

Everybody already loves potato salad, but maybe it was the liberating suggestion that it doesn’t need to play side dish to anything that spoke to you. Yasmin Khan’s lemony, minty, olive-y version is the ideal meal for nights when you don’t feel like turning on the oven — and heaven knows those don’t just roll around in the summertime.

3. Orange coffee soda is your mysteriously delicious summer drink

What the hell is it about this thing that makes it such a year-long liquid hit? I may never understand, but the combination of citrus, carbonation and caffeine is startlingly good and laughably easy — especially if you buy your cold brew coffee pre-made. It doesn’t seem like it should work, but wow, does it ever. Want another effortless suggestion for your coffee? You will never go wrong with affogato.

4. Cacio e pepe pie is an insanely easy pasta dinner

Go ahead and tell me this isn’t authentic cacio e pepe. Call it whatever you want, then. Call it just pasta pie or sort of mac and cheese. Whatever nomenclature you choose, just make it. The best use of leftover pasta and miscellaneous fridge cheese you can make is as forgiving as it is delicious — and it might even be better cold the next day for lunch.

5. The best brownies are gluten free and have soy sauce in them

Brownies, in all their forms, are the best things. This year, I discovered the genius of sheet pan brownies that bake up in only 15 minutes. I discovered fudgy, boozy, no bake bars. But nothing quite compared to Hetty McKinnon’s addictive soy sauce version. How good are they? Just last week, I had a friend call me asking for a wow factor dessert to bring to a neighbor, and this was the first idea out of my mouth. I told her to just go ahead and make two pans, because she’d definitely need to keep one for her own family, too.

6. A 3-ingredient, no measuring cake that tastes like autumn in Copenhagen

Based on Mikkel Karstad’s sublime recipe, I still can’t believe how fantastic this intensely almond flavored cake is. I made it in the fall with apples, but it demands a year-round rotation with whatever fruit you like.

7. French-inspired lentils are the easiest cure for your winter blues

I’ve been making Susan Herrmann Loomis’ cozy, inviting lentils for my family for ages, and it was really special seeing it appeal to so many others, as well. Whether with loved ones or alone, when you sit down to dinner tonight, I hope you feel as warm and nourished as this dish makes me feel. And I hope your 2022 is as happy and healthy as it can possibly be!

More of our favorite Quick & Dirty recipes:

Ted Cruz confuses Washington state with Western Australia in attack on “power drunk” Democrats

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, confused Washington state and Western Australia to claim that Democrats had banned dancing, in a tweet he has since deleted

Cruz shared a tweet from conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson that included a screenshot of a Facebook comment in which the government of Western Australia (known by the abbreviation WA, as is the U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest) advised a woman that “dancing is strictly not permitted” on New Year’s Eve under the region’s strict COVID rules.

Cruz apparently mistook “WA Government” to mean Washington state and falsely suggested that its leaders had banned dancing.

“Blue-state Dems are power-drunk authoritarian kill-joys,” he wrote before taking down the tweet. “Washington State: NO DANCING ALLOWED!!! Any rational & free citizen: Piss off.”

Cruz’s congressional colleagues mocked the senator, who has publicly discussed his presidential aspirations, for failing to do even minimal fact-checking before posting.

“Since @tedcruz deleted this, I’ll post as a reminder to all of us to DO YOUR RESEARCH before posting misinformation,” tweeted Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

Since @tedcruz deleted this, I’ll post as a reminder to all of us to DO YOUR RESEARCH before posting misinformation. WA means “Western Australia” not Washington state. pic.twitter.com/jnZ2On7p9k

— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) December 30, 2021

“Hey Ted, WA is Western Australia. But cool tweet,” wrote Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., before taunting the senator for deleting his “faux outrage tweet.”

Cruz earlier this year attacked Australia over its stringent COVID restrictions before getting dunked on by an Australian official.

“I’ve always said Australia is the Texas of the Pacific,” Cruz wrote before arguing that the “Covid tyranny of their current government is disgraceful and sad. Individual liberty matters. I stand with the people of Australia.”

Michael Gunner, chief minister of the Australia’s Northern Territory — who appeared in a video shared by Cruz — shot back that “we don’t need your lectures.”

“Here are some facts. Nearly 70,000 Texans have tragically died from Covid. There have been zero deaths in the Territory,” Gunner wrote. “You know nothing about us. And if you stand against a lifesaving vaccine, then you sure as hell don’t stand with Australia. I love Texas (go Longhorns), but when it comes to COVID, I’m glad we are nothing like you.”

Cruz, who views himself as Trump’s heir apparent after losing the 2016 Republican nomination amid Trump’s relentless mockery, has spent months stoking conservative outrage over COVID restrictions and vaccines.

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Cruz lashed out last month at Big Bird of “Sesame Street” after the beloved Muppet appeared in a PSA promoting vaccines.

“Government propaganda … for your 5 year old!” Cruz tweeted.

In November, Cruz accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying to Congress, which Fauci has repeatedly denied, and even suggested that the government’s leading infectious-disease specialist should be prosecuted. Fauci fired back in an interview with CBS News.

“I have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on 6 January, senator?” Fauci said, referring to Cruz’s role in voting to block the certification of President Biden’s election win. “I’m just going to do my job and I’m going to be saving lives and they’re going to be lying.”

Cruz’s continued criticism of Democrats’ attempt to control the spread of COVID is somewhat ironic since he claimed during the Trump administration that alarm over the pandemic was just a partisan attack on Republicans.

“If it ends up that Biden wins in November — I hope he doesn’t, I don’t think he will — but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all those Democratic mayors, will say, ‘Everything’s magically better. Go back to work. Go back to school. Suddenly all the problems are solved,'” Cruz claimed in July of 2020. “You won’t to have to wait for Biden to be sworn in.”

MSNBC host Chris Hayes reminded Cruz of his failed prediction earlier this year, noting it was “utterly, completely, in every possible conceivable way wrong.”

“But it’s so revealing,” Hayes said. “Because Ted Cruz himself only views the pandemic through a political prism. And so he projects it onto everyone else. He thinks Democrats do, too.”

Read more from Salon on the gentleman from Texas:

There (probably) won’t be a sequel to “The Matrix Resurrections”

“The Matrix Resurrections” is officially out, both in the theaters and on HBO Max. The last “Matrix” movie came out all the way back in 2003, so it’s been a very long while. Director Lana Wachowski had a very clear vision in her head for this new installment, but it doesn’t sound like she has plans for anything beyond that.

“Who sent that question in?” Wachowski jokingly asked when the Associated Press if there was a new trilogy in the offing. Finally, she laughed out a straight “No.”

So that seems pretty definitive, but the decision won’t necessarily be up to Wackowshi; if the suits at Warner Bros. want another Matrix movie, they could do it with or without her. That said, producer James McTeigue doesn’t sound like he has any plans for a follow-up either, although he admits it’s possible.

“Look, for us, I think, at the moment, it’s just the movie you’ve seen,” McTeigue told Collider. “We’ve got no prequel in mind. We’ve got no sequel in mind. We’ve got no further trilogy.”

But I think the film also works where it’s really open to audience interpretation, like what happened in those 60 years before they fished Neo out again, or Thomas Anderson to Neo. When Neo and Trinity are there at the end, and they’re talking with the analyst, what do they actually mean that they’re going to change? So I think that it’s out there, but it’s not in our wheelhouse at the moment.

In a series like “The Matrix,” which takes place in an artificial world where pretty much anything can happen, there will always be a way to tell a new story. The only question is if there’s a will.

“The Matrix Resurrections” is (probably) not the start of a new trilogy

The writers of “The Matrix Revolutions,” David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, sound similarly unsure about a sequel. “Well, we haven’t talked about it,” Hemon told Gizmodo. “It’s too early for us, certainly, to be involved in that. There’s so many things that need to be happen. So as of now, this is it.”

Mitchell also weighed in: “That’s the situation to the best of my knowledge as well. But of course, who knows what happens in the future, dot dot dot question mark. But to the best of our knowledge, there are no plans.”

You can see “The Matrix Resurrections” now, either in the theater or at home on HBO Max.

With fascism coming, America responds: LOL who cares? Let’s Netflix and chill

In America (and around the world) the year 2021 was one of great sadness and frustration. By many indications, 2022 may be even worse.

America’s democracy crisis continues to escalate. The alarm is blaring but the American people, for the most part, continue to ignore it. Last Jan. 6, Donald Trump and his regime attempted a coup with the goal of nullifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and, in effect, ending American democracy. In many respects, Trump’s coup attempt was atypical, if not wholly unique.

It was publicly announced by Donald Trump and his agents months or even years in advance. Despite those warnings, law enforcement officials and national security leaders did little to prepare for it. Most of the mainstream news media and pundit class did not take the threat seriously, instead choosing to mock those truth-tellers who kept sounding the alarm.

Nearly a year after the attack, Donald Trump and the other high-level planners and conspirators have not been punished, and remain free to continue plotting the overthrow of American democracy. As has been widely observed, the Trump regime’s coup attempt may be the least-punished such high crime in recent history.

Even Trump’s foot soldiers have not been punished to the full extent of the law for their participation in the Capitol attack. While some have faced prosecution, the Justice Department has acted with great restraint.

Some “good news”: Donald Trump’s coup attempt was an example of what experts on authoritarianism and democracy describe as an attempt at an “autocratic breakthrough.” Most democracies quickly fall before such assaults. This one was repelled, which is something of a unique accomplishment.

In other ways, the Trump regime’s coup attempt was not so unusual. As in other places and times in history, Trump’s loyalists are continuing with their efforts, both through more or less legal means and otherwise. When a coup fails the first time, the second attempt is usually successful. All of this is happening in real time and in plain sight, with minimal attempt at deception. For the American people and their responsible leaders to ignore such threats is a willful choice.

What warnings should we be heeding now? In a recent op-ed for the Washington Post, retired U.S. Army generals Paul D. Eaton, Antonio M. Taguba and Steven M. Anderson are sounding the alarm about the possibility of a second civil war in the aftermath of a future presidential election, if Donald Trump or another Republican refuses to accept the results:

We — all of us former senior military officials — are increasingly concerned about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military, which would put all Americans at severe risk….

Imagine competing commanders in chief — a newly reelected Biden giving orders, versus Trump (or another Trumpian figure) issuing orders as the head of a shadow government. Worse, imagine politicians at the state and federal levels illegally installing a losing candidate as president.

All service members take an oath to protect the U.S. Constitution. But in a contested election, with loyalties split, some might follow orders from the rightful commander in chief, while others might follow the Trumpian loser. Arms might not be secured depending on who was overseeing them. Under such a scenario, it is not outlandish to say a military breakdown could lead to civil war.

In this context, with our military hobbled and divided, U.S. security would be crippled. Any one of our enemies could take advantage by launching an all-out assault on our assets or our allies.

This is but the most recent in a series of public warnings by America’s senior national security leadership, both before and after Jan. 6, about the spiraling danger of a new civil war, a right-wing insurgency and other forms of terrorism and political violence. Such warnings are without precedent in modern American history and highlight the extreme peril the country now faces from the Republican fascist movement.

It has also been reported that military leaders were seriously concerned that Trump might order the National Guard to intervene on his behalf on or around Jan. 6 by invoking the Insurrection Act. If he had given such an order, the country would have come dangerously closer to an authoritarian takeover and perhaps widespread violence, with elements of the military battling one another. Experts on civil war have warned that the U.S. is well along such a path.

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Domestic terrorism experts have also warned that right-wing extremists and paramilitary groups are organizing on the local and state level to intimidate, harass and target “liberals,” Black and brown people, Muslims, Jews, immigrant communities and others deemed to be their enemies. This is part of a nationwide campaign by Republican fascists and the larger white right to attack American democracy on the local and state level in order to facilitate Trump’s return to power (or the “election” of his designated successor).

It is reasonable to feel angry about the American people’s apparent passivity in the face of these obvious threats against democracy. But the more important question is why they are responding that way, and what that tells us about the health of American democracy and political culture? In essence, why do so many people simply not care?

There are many explanations. Most Americans do not follow politics closely. They also do not understand it very well. As we approach the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, opinion polls show that fewer people are paying attention to the investigation into those events.

This is not, in itself, surprising. A large percentage of Americans, if not a majority, do not closely follow the news. At least half the population cannot read at a sixth-grade level. The average American’s understanding of politics also ebbs and flows, most obviously in response to shared crises or calamities, but also in response to those events that the news media and leading political figures focus on most intensely. In this case, if the Democrats and others who support democracy do not consistently highlight the existential threat posed by the Republican-fascist movement, then most Americans will not pay attention.

American voters are also strikingly poor at attributing responsibility to the correct political leaders or parties for their policy failures. Most people receive information about current events from a trusted network that may include friends, relatives, community leaders, clergy members, favored politicians and media voices and, increasingly, social media such as Facebook or Instagram. Such a network is likely to be insular and inaccurate, serving as a type of echo chamber — especially for Republicans and “conservatives.”

In an era of extreme right-wing asymmetrical polarization and negative partisanship, disinformation and a coordinated assault on truth and reality, as well as an overall culture of spectacle, unrestrained consumerism, cruelty and endless distraction, many Americans lack the capacity to make informed and responsible political and social decisions.

A large percentage of Americans believe (quite correctly) that the country’s political elites and other leaders have failed in their responsibilities to society and are increasingly detached from the experiences of everyday Americans. This reflects a 60-year trend of declining faith and trust in the country’s leaders and the legitimacy of “the system.”

There is also a worrisome decline in the American people’s faith in democracy itself, especially among younger people. A recent poll by Grinnell College offers additional context about the deep political and cultural divides that are driving the country’s democracy crisis:

The poll shows incredibly few Americans (7%) have high trust in the federal government to offer good ideas to solve problems facing their communities. Even among Democrats, whose party currently holds the White House and the majority in both houses of Congress, only 14% say they have high trust in the federal government.

Americans were somewhat more likely to have high trust in state governors (25%) and city or county elected leaders (19%) to offer good ideas to solve problems in their communities. In both cases, only a minority of Americans had high trust in elected officials.

“Trust in political institutions is the glue that holds democracies together and allows them to weather crises over time,” said Grinnell political scientist Danielle Lussier. “While there will always be some skepticism toward the government, when a majority of people express distrust in elected officials, the legitimacy of the constitutional order is called into question.”

Further analysis reveals the depth of partisan division: While doctors, scientists and teachers are highly trusted by Democratic voters, “among Republicans, doctors are highly trusted by only 48%, scientists by 28%, and teachers by 31%. Republicans place high trust in police officers (65%) but only 22% of Democrats have that same level of trust.”

“Americans lack a collective sense of whom to trust,” Lussier said, which “helps to explain why it is so hard to build a consensus for solving the country’s problems.”

Perhaps most important of all, for at least the last 50 years right-wing libertarians and other extremists have advanced a strategy to undermine faith in American democracy and the idea of government itself. This has created a space for right-wing political entrepreneurs to expand their power and influence by convincing large portions of the white American public that democratic government is illegitimate if it does not secure continued white supremacy.

In total, Americans are collectively experiencing a moment of social and political alienation, in which many of their fellow citizens are willingly surrendering to the forces of demobilization and authoritarianism.

Philosopher and political theorist Sheldon Wolin described such a moment in his book “Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism”:

Antidemocracy does not take the form of overt attacks upon the idea of government by the people. Instead, politically it means encouraging what I have earlier dubbed “civic demobilization,” conditioning an electorate to being aroused for a brief spell, controlling its attention span, and then encouraging distraction or apathy. The intense pace of work and the extended working day, combined with job insecurity, is a formula for political demobilization, for privatizing the citizenry. It works indirectly. Citizens are encouraged to distrust their government and politicians; to concentrate upon their own interests; to begrudge their taxes; and to exchange active involvement for symbolic gratifications of patriotism, collective self-righteousness, and military prowess. Above all, depoliticization is promoted through society’s being enveloped in an atmosphere of collective fear and of individual powerlessness: fear of terrorists, loss of jobs, the uncertainties of pension plans, soaring health costs, and rising educational expenses.

Ultimately, who is to blame for the American public’s passivity in the face of an escalating neofascist threat? Of course Republicans and other members of the “conservative” movement are the most clearly guilty. President Biden and the other leaders of the Democratic Party and the “liberal” or “centrist” leadership class are also responsible, to the degree they did not rapidly identify the threat and respond accordingly.

Right-wing libertarians and neoliberal gangster capitalists, who for years have longed who to destroy the commons and social democracy in order to create a society where profits rule over people in all areas of life, are also responsible. They weakened the social fabric to such an extent that it was much easier for neofascism to take root.

However this dark chapter in American history concludes, and whatever the next chapter may hold, there will be many Americans (largely white people in the privileged classes) who will exclaim in all sincerity: How could such a thing have happened? Are we not better than this?

The answer to such questions will stare back at them from the mirror every morning — and even then they will deny responsibility.

Read more on the real and rising threat of fascism in America:

Madison Cawthorn’s bizarre Russia tale: Should we be concerned?

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) did an interview with the Daily Caller ahead of his wedding describing the way that he met his wife after a trip to Stockholm, which ended up with him visiting a casino in Russia.

According to Cawthorn, the traveling group he was with took a ferry to St. Petersburg to gamble. That’s when he met a new friend, an Army captain from Miami. Arriving back in the U.S., the captain, whose name is “Todd,” lied to Cawthorn to get him to come to a fake Crossfit competition in Miami. When Cawthorn got there, all he found was a girl that “Captain Todd” wanted Cawthorn to meet. She ultimately became Cawthorn’s wife, but the couple announced they’ll divorce after just 8 months together.

There’s no investigation into Cawthorn’s trip or allegations about the “casino” he visited in St. Petersburg. Right now, it’s merely activists asking questions and suspicion. However, the reason that the questions are coming up, is that this isn’t the first politician who has faced questions about whether a close contact could be a foreign asset.

In 2012, Chinese nationalist Christine Fang approached Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA). She had been photographed with several politicians and appeared politically involved. The two hit it off and began dating until the FBI told Swalwell that Fang was suspected of being a Chinese spy. The congressman cut off ties immediately and provided information about Fang to the FBI.

Paul Erickson, a Republican operative who boasts to have worked on presidential campaigns, met and ultimately dated Maria Butina, who the U.S. government ultimately deemed a Russian spy. She was thrown in jail and deported while he was sentenced to federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

But now liberal activists are asking questions about whether Cawthorn was part of a similar effort after he disclosed the story of his relationship with “Captain Todd.”

Former Pennsylvania congressional candidate and DNC member Lindy Li noted that she searched for a legal casino in St. Petersburg that Cawthorn and his group may have gone to. She found one, but it was about 1,000 miles away from the city. Gambling isn’t allowed in St. Petersburg or in Moscow. It’s only legal in four areas: the Altai, Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, and Primorsky regions. It’s been that way for a full decade prior to Cawthorn’s trip. Her facts are true and can be backed up by Google map searches and the New York Times. If Cawthorn went to a casino, it certainly wasn’t legal.

Madison Cawthorn claims to have met an operative at a St. Petersburg, Russia casino who set him up with his now ex-wife

Prob with this story?

Russia banned casinos in 2009

He must’ve gone to a shady mob-run club where the govt can collect kompromat on dumb foreigners like him

— Lindy Li (@lindyli) December 27, 2021