not an op-ed - news article by two reporters for NYTimes' Business section

"It is a scam and it is going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen."

By David Cohen @ Politico.com, Dec. 27

"This is a scam," said Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of continued efforts by President Donald Trump and some House Republicans to overturn the election of President-elect Joe Biden.

Kinzinger, speaking Sunday morning on CNN's "State of the Union," said: "The reality is there is no impetus to overthrow an election," and added that even if there were reasons to do so, there is not a constitutional mechanism to overturn a presidential election after states have formally certified their results.

A group of House Republicans met last week with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to discuss strategies to contest the Electoral College results when they are certified in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. Among those who attended the meeting were Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Hice tweeted afterward: "The courts refuse to hear the President's legal case. We're going to make sure the People can!”

Without singling them out by name, Kinzinger claimed these colleagues of his have an ulterior motive: raising money. "It is a scam and it is going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen, that think this is an opportunity to change it," Kinzinger said [....]

Chas Freeman, who served in top State Department positions and as Richard Nixon’s chief interpreter on his historic 1972 visit to China, discusses the state of US-China relations and flashpoints such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

By Yihyun Jeong & Brinley Hineman @ Nashville Tennessean, updated 12/25/20, 12:37 pm

Nashville authorities believe an explosion that occurred in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning was an "intentional act" and sparked by a vehicle blast. 

Police came across a suspicious RV parked outside a nearby AT&T building near Second Avenue and Commerce Street before 6 a.m., when initially responding to calls of shots fired in the area, said Metro police spokesperson Don Aaron. 

There was no immediate evidence of any shooting but officers alerted the department's bomb squad, which was en route when a "significant explosion" happened about 30 minutes later,  Aaron said.

Just before the blast, witnesses in the area report a dire warning coming from the RV: “Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode." 

Then, the voice started a 15-minute countdown.

Officers were conducting door-to-door checks in the area and redirected a man walking his dog along the street. The force of the explosion knocked an officer to the ground. Three people were hospitalized with injuries, police said.[....]

Here’s How the Town Fought Back 

By Brian Vincent @ Quillette.com, Dec. 20

[....] I came here from the United States nearly 20 years ago, one stop on an epic three-and-a-half-year rock-climbing road trip [....] At the time, Squamish was regarded by urbanites as little more than a whistle stop on the way to Whistler [....] Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Squamish got hit by an economic downturn, an upsurge in domestic violence and other forms of crime, and hard drugs [....]

On July 2nd, 2003, the International Olympic Committee awarded Vancouver the 2010 Winter Olympics bid. And as part of the associated infrastructural investments, the province of British Columbia invested C$600 million to upgrade the narrow, winding Sea to Sky highway that linked Squamish with points south and north. The announcement set off a real-estate gold rush [....]

Families looking to escape Vancouver’s soaring housing prices—some of the highest in the world—began fleeing to Squamish for more affordable options, which of course had the effect of making Squamish unaffordable for many of the people who’d spent their lives there. As a result, old timers, along with their children in many cases, have been leaving in droves. Their lots were claimed by a new breed of Lululemon mom and Patagonia dad. And though we didn’t know it at the time, they also would attract a small but very noisy clique of politically correct authoritarians who didn’t have much taste for we unenlightened common folk.

When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer seven months ago, Canadians were justifiably horrified [.....]