T-minus one.
Online caches show Trump campaign members played key roles in the rally that happened before the insurrection, and have attempted to erase posts connecting them to the event. / Associated Press
"What is striking about the videos, though, is how often this entitlement is laced with insecurity." Important moments and themes from the Parler insurrection videos. / ProPublica
Though still not functional, Parler's website is back online with the help of a Russian-owned hosting company. / US News & World Report
The FBI is investigating whether a Capitol insurrectionist stole a laptop from Pelosi's office and wanted to sell it to Russia. / BuzzFeed News
A Christian fundraising site has raised more than $321,000 for efforts that have promoted election conspiracy theories. / The Washington Post
"They're using something they call history to stoke culture wars." Historians weigh in on the Trump White House's "1776 Report," released yesterday. / The New York Times
"We had to be ready with facts, to push back, to make sure we were not being used." Nearly two dozen female political journalists on what it was like covering Trump. / Elle
Nathan Apodaca, the skateboarding TikToker who lip-synced to Fleetwood Mac, will be part of Biden's virtual inauguration parade. / Consequence of Sound
The "Trump baby" blimp that ascended whenever the president traveled to the UK will now make its home at the Museum of London. / The Guardian
"I became the go-to person to sue the president." The attorney who's ready to hit a post-presidency Trump with multiple lawsuits. / The Washington Post
Schumer and McConnell are nearing an agreement on how to share power in a 50-50 Senate. So far, it appears Democrats will control the schedule, but both parties will hold an equal number of committee seats. / CNN
Tom Daschle and Trent Lott on the challenges they faced when sharing power 20 years ago. / The Washington Post
"Replace Sly Stallone with Bart Simpson, and that's the gist." Thirty years later, a look back at Operation Desert Storm T-shirts. / The Baffler
The internet tried to solve the case of a hiker who was found dead. Here is the true story of Vance Rodriguez—aka Mostly Harmless. / WIRED
A person claiming to be afraid to travel due to Covid was found living at O'Hare International Airport for three months. / Chicago Tribune
With digital enclosure, counter-hegemony can only thrive in the "dark forest" beyond Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. / Document
"The stomachache lasts into the next day." Exploring the current crop of functional beverages that promote relaxation. / The Verge
Realistic surrealism in paintings by Cinta Vidal. / This Isn't Happiness
On Phil Spector's death: If we don't separate the art from the artist, we erase those musicians—many of them Black women—whose work he produced. / InsideHook
Watch: Ten hours of the "drum technique" from the Karate Kid II. / The Morning News
US states by Wikipedia article length. / Reddit
An in-browser theremin simulator. / Femur
And now for a Q&A with one of our newest Sustaining Members, Benjamin C.!
When did you start reading TMN? In the early 2000s, probably 2004 or 2005.
What brought you to TMN in the first place? John Warner. I'd met him and we started our friendship by talking about writing and humor and he insisted I bookmark The Morning News, which I did, and which I've had bookmarked ever since, even though that's become unnecessary, technically speaking, because I read the site probably four or five times a week, meaning at some point I put the TMN icon in that little browser banner of "most visited" and a lifetime later there it remains as one of only five in that banner, a staple of my daily web travels. Even that's unnecessary because auto-fill technology has become standard and I need only type "t" into the url bar and there we are.
Any kind of TMN-adjacent anecdote to share? The site has been my guide book through the digital age, from the old "good games" posts every year, the annual musical wrap-ups (in which I've never heard of 80 percent of the bands), and the creative nonfiction that used to populate the site, to the curious daily links, especially to art and poetry, that lead me all over the web today to, obviously, the annual Tournament of Books. I was also lucky to contribute a handful of essays way back, at a time when I was trying to figure out the border between my academic writing and always-more-fun public writings. Because I'm more used to cold, pedantic, and anonymous peer review comments, the editorial help from the TMN team has always stuck with me for its grace and generosity. A dozen years later I for some reason remember Andrew suggesting the word "settee" over "ottoman" in a dumb joke piece about taxes, which, I mean, who cares, right?, except that it showed attention and care to language in ways I wasn't used to. An essay I wrote about trust and deception became the introductory story for a chapter in my book, 10 years later, and I remember there too, the editorial feedback about rhythm and pattern mattered. I truly am proud to tell people I was a contributor to TMN. And I truly find comfort as a digital denizen at the homepage of TMN all week long, month after month, year after year.
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