(b) Donald Trump issued an executive order<\/a> to prosecute “anarchists and left-wing extremists” damaging “American monuments, memorials, and statues.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n (c) It was announced<\/a> that a Russian spy agency had offered the Taliban financial bounties for killing U.S. soldiers. Knowing this, Trump has continued to cozy up<\/a> to Putin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (d) The EU confirmed it will bar<\/a> U.S. travelers from entering its member countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (e) A federal judge ruled<\/a> the U.S. must release children from family detention centers, and the Minneapolis city council voted to dismantle<\/a> their police force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (f) All\nof the above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hint: There is no wrong answer. It’s a version of Russian roulette where no matter which chamber of the revolver you choose, it will have a bullet. One of them has six (though at least one of them is not necessarily bad; if you could choose between them, that would be the one… but that’s not how Russian roulette works).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for today’s Russian roulette: The number of known coronavirus cases in the world will top 10 million, and deaths will top 500,000. Guaranteed<\/a>. Each of the 6 chambers, same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday was a perfect illustration of how exciting (and bewildering) it can be to read the U.S. national news. Here\u2019s a multiple-choice quiz about it. Which of the following occurred yesterday?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[660440],"tags":[502,455090],"class_list":["post-10870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manifestos-and-auguries","tag-news","tag-trumpland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-2Pk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6837,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2013\/07\/19\/kochelsee\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":0},"title":"Kochelsee","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm at the Vollmar Akademie by Lake Kochel in the Bavarian Alps, just a short train ride beyond the last S-Bahn station south of Munich, for \"Studying the Environment - Working Across Disciplines.\" The Rachel Carson Center has got a bunch of us together here to hammer out some ideas\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"File:Gvva kochelsee1.jpg","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/5\/5d\/Gvva_kochelsee1.jpg\/800px-Gvva_kochelsee1.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14039,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2025\/04\/06\/the-globality-of-hands-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":1},"title":"The globality of “Hands Off!”","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The best context for thinking of yesterday's \"Hands Off!\" protests, held across the United States and in cities around the world, is the one Rebecca Solnit gets at in her post of this morning on Meditations in an Emergency. It is the global context described here: \"Right now Ukrainians are\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/04\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/04\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/04\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/04\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1315,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/07\/28\/capitalism-pats-itself-on-the-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":2},"title":"capitalism pats itself on the back","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Two stark facts about our world, from yesterday's news: (1) that a single man can be paid $1.84 billion dollars, as the Wall Street Journal announced yesterday -- that's 1,840 million dollars -- over the last ten years of careening capitalism, (2) and that this doesn't strike enough people as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/politics_postpolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14264,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2025\/10\/19\/trumps-challenge-to-humanity\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":3},"title":"Trump’s challenge to humanity","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When the president of the world's most powerful country posts a video of himself as a jet-flying, Dr. Strangelove-like \"King Trump\" defecating all over his protesting critics, it is a call not just for Americans, but for humanity also, to ask itself how we got to this place. Recall that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/politics_postpolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11445,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/01\/07\/no-surprises\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":4},"title":"No surprises","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I am an academic who researches, writes, and teaches about the human relationship with the ecological environment within which we live and on which we depend. I recognize that that relationship is deeply troubled, and I want to be working on untroubling it. Politics -- the shaping and implementation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Blog stuff","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/blog_stuff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/01\/im-281819.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/01\/im-281819.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/01\/im-281819.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/01\/im-281819.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/01\/im-281819.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13864,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2025\/02\/03\/moving-fast-and-breaking-things-critical-resources\/","url_meta":{"origin":10870,"position":5},"title":"Moving fast and breaking things? Critical resources on Trump 2.0","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"With its flurry of perplexing and often contradictory initiatives and statements, Donald Trump\u2019s second presidency is leaving traditional media outlets, along with their tired viewers, overwhelmed and incapacitated (qualities exacerbated by the media outlets' oligarchic owners\u2019 kowtowing to the new administration). There are still many good journalists doing important work.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/politics_postpolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/02\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/02\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/02\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/02\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2025\/02\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10870"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10875,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions\/10875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/06\/d4cawex-fd18072b-6140-48d9-93d7-0fa9435abf0e-400x193.png?resize=222%2C107&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"