Happy Sunday! Smart Brevity™ count: 2,234 words ... 6½ minutes. Edited by no one.
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1 big thing: GOAT goes?
From ESPN to the Boston Globe to the NFL Network, confusion reigned Saturday about whether Tom Brady has decided to retire or not, according to news stories reviewed by Wide World of News.
· Why it matters: Brady is the best that ever was and his retirement would set off a scramble that would impact football, television, technology, and the known cosmos.
What's happening: After ESPN’s dynamic duo of Jeff Darlington and Adam Schefter reported Brady was hanging up his cleats, the Boston Globe and others seemed to confirm the story. Then the Associated Press acknowledged the competition but knocked them down a bit, writing, “Despite reports that he is retiring, Brady has told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he hasn’t made up his mind, two people familiar with the details told The Associated Press.”
Zoom out: Brady’s longtime agent, Don Yee, issued a carefully-worded statement that seemed to cast doubt on the star’s retirement without actually refuting the news:
“I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”
Zoom in:
The other side: The Brady mystery is overshadowing Sunday’s pair of conference finals:
2. Storms blow in and blow out
It snowed and it’s cold, per the Associated Press:
Gusty winds and falling temperatures have plunged the East Coast into a deep freeze as people dig out after a powerful nor’easter dumped mounds of snow, flooded coastlines and knocked out power to tens of thousands.
Dangerous wind chills were expected to fall below zero across the region on Sunday after the storm dumped snow from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York had plenty of snow, but Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, with the town of Sharon getting more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow before the storm moved out.
The wind continued raging as over 100,000 lost power, mostly in Massachusetts, hampering crews’ ability to work on overhead lines. No other states reported widespread outages.
Winds gusted as high as 83 mph (134 kph) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It scoured the ground bare in some spots and piled the snow into huge drifts in others. Coastal towns flooded, with wind and waves battering North Weymouth, south of Boston, flooding streets with a slurry of frigid water, according to video posted on social media. Other videos showed a street underwater on Nantucket and waves crashing against the windows of a building in Plymouth.
Why it matters: Snow is fun to play in, but also dangerous.
State of play: Experts say it snows more in the winter months – it could even snow again as February approaches.
Snow is more likely in New England than in Florida, the survey found.
Zoom out: Pro tip: Snowball fights are fun – until somebody gets hurt.
· Brian Elliott, an eight-year-old in my neighborhood, said: "I actually prefer sledding."
3. Rocket Man fires again
“North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since President Joe Biden took office, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbors amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy,” the Associated Press reports.
The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbors, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.
The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and, separately, three intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential to reach deep into the American homeland.
Sunday’s test was North Korea’s seventh round of launches this month. The unusually fast pace of tests indicates its intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations as pandemic-related difficulties put further stress on an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.
· Why it matters: With the world on edge over potential conflict in Europe stemming from Russian aggression, this is the last distraction the Biden White House needs – which is exactly why it is happening, experts like Ian Bremmer tell Wide World of News.
4. Weekend quiz: Who is this masked man?
What well-known gent is this arriving at JFK airport in Gotham City?
· Answer at Item 7.
5. Worthy read: The dark money of the left
Splashed across the homepage/frontpage of this weekend's New York Times — a detailed investigation into how progressives have built up the very kind of secret-donor fundraising apparatus they have long decried.
Ace sleuths Ken Vogel and Shane Goldmacher did “analysis [that] shows that 15 of the most politically active nonprofit organizations that generally align with the Democratic Party spent more than $1.5 billion in 2020 — compared to roughly $900 million spent by a comparable sample of 15 of the most politically active groups aligned with the G.O.P.”
· Why it matters: The left won’t unilaterally disarm, meaning the right will take this story to their would-be donors to raise even more for 2022 and beyond.
Context: Money matters more in down-ballot races than in presidential campaigns, where press coverage is a bigger source of voter information, but the absence of new laws means 2024 is likely to see even more spent – on both sides.
6. How to pressure a Justice
In a 4-way byline (!), the Washington Post unpacks the left’s strategy for avoiding another blown Supreme Court vacancy.
The Post talked to Stephen Breyer’s brother Charles, a federal district court judge, who said in an interview:
“Of course he was aware of this campaign. I think what impressed him was not the campaign but the logic of the campaign. And he thought he should take into account the fact that this was an opportunity for a Democratic president — and he was appointed by a Democratic president — to fill his position with someone who is like-minded.”
“He did not want to die on the bench,” Charles Breyer added.
Why it matters: Brian Fallon, the longtime Democratic operative who helms Demand Justice, is the hero of the piece, since his aggressive tactics, once seen as backfiring, might have actually done the trick.
· State of play: Some Biden insiders worry he won’t meet his publicly announced end-of-February deadline to name a replacement and keep the process moving.
What we're watching: White House denials to the contrary, insiders tell Wide World of News that the pick will eventually come down to the Big Three (Judges Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger, and J. Michelle Childs).
7. Quiz answer
That's Sir Paul McCartney who
“Looked relaxed as [he] greeted fans while making his way through New York's JFK airport after news broke that Beatles memorabilia is being auctioned off as NFTs.
The musician, 79, wore a black two-piece suit and matching winter coat as he strolled through the airport with an armed police escort.
Sir Paul wore a black suit, layered underneath a smart black coat, and paired with matching shoes. (h/t the Daily Mail)
8. Trump does Conroe
At a Saturday night rally, via the New York Times:
The event in Conroe drew Trump supporters from across Texas and as far away as New Jersey and Washington State, some of whom had camped out at the fairground for several days. For much of Saturday, a festive atmosphere prevailed, with billowing flags and omnipresent T-shirts declaring “Trump 2024.”
As his speech stretched on past an hour, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric grew more pointed, and his attacks on the news media more belabored. “The press is the enemy of the people,” he said, prompting angry boos, adding: “The corrupt media will destroy our country.”
* State of play: The rally comes as the Washington Post sage Dan Balz examines Trump’s standing in the Republican Party, and finds the data mixed.
* Context: As Mark Halperin says, Trump has gone from being a 1,200-pound gorilla to being an 800-pound gorilla – which means he is still the biggest gorilla in the Redlands.
9. Parting bite
· The New York Post’s Steve Cuozzo goes into the shadow of the Empire State building to find a real deal.
For $28, Laurent Tourondel’s new Skirt Steak restaurant will give you some beef, a nice salad, and unlimited fries.
Tournondel is no stranger to meat but this one-item menu is the novelty.
A MESSAGE FROM GOOGLE
Google protects against cyber attacks with products that are secure by default
As our nation faces alarming cyber attacks, Google is keeping billions of people safe online with one of the world’s most advanced security infrastructures, including Gmail’s anti-phishing protections, which block more than 100 million phishing attempts every day.
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