Background checks alone don’t significantly reduce gun violence. [German Lopez] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/9/18171909/universal-background-checks-hr-8-gun-violence-democrats
Merchants are finally phasing out signature requirements for transactions, though the US is moving more slowly on it. “We just love signing things here; after football, it is our national pastime.”
Interesting information: The Talmud requires signatures for contracts — as important as marriage, or as minor as buying a cup of coffee. Does this mean religious Jews will no longer be able to use credit cards? Can religious Jews now use Apple Pay and the Android equivalent?
A 39-year-old widow and mother of three young children describes her difficulties getting into online dating. I didn’t get choked up until the last few paragraphs because I am a tough guy.
Our political divisions aren’t red versus blue, but fixed versus fluid. Republicans are wary of change, Democrats embrace it. [Ezra Klein/Vox]
Discussed in this article but only partly explained: Why Republicans are so much more likely to believe lies and bullshit. The Republicans are the party of climate change skeptics, anti-vaxxers, and birtherism. Some Democrats believe crazy things too, but the Republicans made Fox News their favorite channel and elected an idiot conspiracy theorist as President.
Uncle Joe’s platform: “Biden offers true back-to-basics economic populism…. focused on workers and students rather than the poorest of the poor, and careful to avoid any hint of middle-class tax hikes or racial divisiveness.”
Democrats’ failure to take the Senate could tie the party’s hands through 2022; even a Democratic President in 2020 won’t be able to pass much legislation or get judicial appointments past the Republican roadblock. [Dylan Matthews/Vox]