In News: Win for Democracy; Role of Media; Kari Lake's Election Denialists; Abortion; Herschel Walker; Russian Genocide in Ukraine

Tim Miller, "Democracy was on the ballot. And attempts to end it were met with universal scorn," insists, pace pundits who want to downplay the role concern about embattled democracy played in the recent U.S. elections, democracy was, indeed, on the ballot — and it performed well: 

In News: GOP Lackluster Performance and Effects of Covid; Limits of Abortion Extremism; Gerrymandering; Jericho March in Arizona; International Ramifications of U.S. Elections; Clarence Thomas

Photo of stack of newspapers by Daniel R. Blume, Wikimedia Commons

Jonathan V. Last offers an intriguing reason Republicans are now underperforming politically, one I haven't seen elsewhere: quite simply, their approach to the pandemic killed off a lot of their voters. One reason the Republicans underperformed this election cycle: they killed off a lot of their own voters during Covid. As he says, "Republicans accounted for about 80 percent more of the excess deaths than Democrats."

News Commentary in Time of Plague: 43 Pages of Obituaries in Houston Today (and the Role Many US Christians Are Playing in the Pandemic)

OUR LOCAL PAPER: The Houston Chronicle
obituary section was 43 pages today.

Let that sink in.

— Rogelio Garcia Lawyer (@LawyerRogelio) July 13, 2020

(P.S. As Newsweek reports, this is a standalone section of obituaries for the year up to now. Read the Newsweek report, and you'll see a lot of commenters on social media are stating that it's likely a high percentage of those deaths are Covid deaths.)

Election Aftertakes: "Democrats Led Republicans by More Than 12 Million Votes in Senate Races" — And Vote Count Problems from Arizona to Georgia to Florida

Notice that the caravan totally disappeared as an issue as soon as the votes were cast -- not just Fox News, but mainstream media too. Guys, you really need to take a hard look in the mirror and ask why you're so easily played 2/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 9, 2018

Sabrina Siddiqui:

Among the most eye-catching was a statistic showing Democrats led Republicans by more than 12 million votes in Senate races, and yet still suffered losses on the night and failed to win a majority of seats in the chamber.

Reading the Signs of the Times: Five Interconnected Stories from Today's News (Mummers, Maine Governor, Arizona Bishop, Wheaton, Mr. Trump and Mr. Clinton's Penis)

These seemingly disconnected stories have several things in common. What do you think? What common thread(s) do you spot here?