US Democracy ‘Ceased to Be Working Well’ Before Trump

  • The journalist Carl Bernstein said US democracy faced challenges before Trump’s election.
  • In a talk with The Guardian, Bernstein said that the US had been in “a cold civil war” for decades.
  • Bernstein said that Trump’s electoral base is more than just a narrow subset of the population.

The acclaimed investigative journalist Carl Bernstein said in a recent interview that American democracy faced enormous challenges before Donald Trump assumed office in 2017, but argued the former president “ignited” a “cold civil war” in the country.

Bernstein, who recently released his memoir, “Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom,” told The Guardian that the United States had not been functioning smoothly for several decades. He said it would take an extraordinary event in the coming years to unify the country.

“Our democracy, before Trump, had ceased to be working well and for 25, 30, 35 years we

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Ali Alexander Said He’d Ask Proud Boys, Oath Keepers to Provide Jan. 6 Security: CNN

  • A “Stop the Steal” organizer said he’d ask members of extremist groups to help with security ahead of January 6, 2021.
  • Far-right activist Ali Alexander made the comments in since-deleted Periscope videos in December 2020, according to a CNN report.
  • A lawyer for Alexander denied that he worked with the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, and Alexander has denied involvement in the insurrection. 

An organizer of the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection on January 6, 2021, said he would ask the extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers to provide security for the event, according to deleted video from December 2020 reported by CNN

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna make sure so many people are so safe,” the far-right activist Ali Alexander said in a since-deleted December 23, 2020, video posted to the now-defunct video platform Periscope titled “JAN6,” according

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Shopify Overhauls Fulfillment Strategy As It Challenges Amazon

  • Shopify terminated contracts with several small e-commerce fulfillment companies this week.
  • The move marks a strategic shift for the company’s two-year-old Shopify Fulfillment Network.
  • Once the changes are implemented, the network is set to have about half of its previous capacity.

Shopify has terminated or reduced the scope of its work with several warehouse and fulfillment partners, a move that could vastly reduce its capacity to pack and ship orders for merchants in the near term, Insider has learned.

Executives at four fulfillment companies in Shopify’s network confirmed the changes with Insider. 

Once Shopify implements these changes, its network is expected to have roughly half of its previous capacity to pack and ship e-commerce orders for merchants, two fulfillment partners told Insider. The changes mark a shift in strategy for the company’s two-year-old effort to launch an e-commerce fulfillment service to rival Amazon’s. 

The changes also put many of Shopify’s

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See What It Was Like

  • Ever since Facebook changed its name to “Meta,” hype around the “metaverse” has exploded.
  • One potential example was demonstrated on Thursday morning in a live “metaverse rave.”
  • I walked around the virtual world for a bit, but found that experience wasn’t very participatory.

What is “the metaverse?” 

Is it a 3D, photorealistic world like the one from “The Matrix?” Maybe it’s more like the digitized version seen in “Ready Player One?” 

It remains unclear, but the most recent example comes directly from the world of so-called “Web3” — which includes a variety of technologies such as blockchain, NFTs, and the metaverse.

Within the browser-based “Decentraland,” which is described as a “virtual social world, created and owned by its users,” users held a “live rave” to celebrate the upcoming release of a new series of NFTs from Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard.

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the Evolution of Generational Colors

  • Beloved and hated, millennial pink kicked off a trend of generational colors.
  • Gen Z yellow emerged, reflecting a desire for change. Now, purple undertones mark the colors of the year.
  • Pink is here to stay. One expert told Insider it’s just morphing from a soft hue to a brighter one.

2021 ended on a dark note, as the Omicron wave washed over the holiday season, but the start to 2022 is brighter: it’s purple.

Very Peri, a periwinkle blue that “displays a spritely, joyous attitude” is the Pantone Color Institute’s color of the year. WGSN, a trend-spotting agency based in London, says Orchid Flower, a deep magenta that “creates a sense of positivity and escapism” will define 2022. Both vibrate with a saturated vividness and whisper violet undertones. 

A post shared by PANTONE (@pantone)

 

The hint of purple in Orchid Flower appeals to both men

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