Why Your Neck Looks Older Than Your Face

The answer may surprise you

Good Evening:

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Your neck actually is a lot older than your face. Most necks predate by some 10 or 15 years the faces they hold up. That’s why you see so many Roman busts with no heads. The sculptor carved the bust before the head had developed.

No.

So many people.

Nope. I’m a middle-aged American, gainfully employed answering dump questions by headline writers.

Yes, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Not even America can hold back the ocean.

Abuse it.

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Today on #DogShirtTV, I welcomed the estimable Shane Harris to discuss Trump’s DNI nominee, John Ratcliffe, who has the distinction of having gone from “the worst Trump nominee” back in 2019 to “not that bad” today. It’s kind of impressive, in the most depressing way possible. The estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher also joined, to give her perspective as a former CIA analyst, and the estimable Eve Gaumond dropped by as well to talk about the impending resignation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

Tomorrow on #DogShirtTV, the estimable Gia Kokotakis will be joining to talk about her article in Lawfare today (see below) about car-ramming attacks, including the one she witnessed in New Orleans the other night.

And Wednesday on the show, the estimable Dale Smith, a journalist in Ottawa, will stop by to talk about the end of the Trudeau government.

Information on how to access the live studio is available below the paywall.

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In my “The Situation” column today, I discuss the difference between memory and history and reflect on the four year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol:

Memory and history are different. And separating them is part of the core ambition of The Situation. It insists that our collective memory does not comport with history concerning what did or did not happen four years ago—and eight years ago. And it will bend and warp all sorts of other things in order to separate history and memory. That’s why the FBI director designee is committed to lying about the events of Jan. 6 and about who won the 2020 election and committed to investigating those who insist on their memories. That’s why the establishment Republicans of the first Trump administration will not be back this time around. Their memory of truth is too uncomfortable, too awkward, too disloyal.

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Today On Lawfare

The High-Water Mark of the Jan. 6 Prosecutions

Roger Parloff explores the arrest and conviction figures released by the Justice Department for the perpetrators of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol—and how President-elect Trump may go about pardoning some of the defendants after his inauguration later this month.

Assuming Trump still holds those beliefs—or ever held them— the perceived violence of each defendant’s offenses is one possible touchstone Trump might use to determine whom to pardon and whom not to. If so, it won’t be an easy line to draw. As many judges have observed, during a violent riot—at which 80 U.S. Capitol Police officers and 60 Metropolitan Police Department officers were injured, some too seriously to continue in their chosen calling—every individual unlawfully present in the Capitol building or on Capitol grounds played a role in outnumbering the police and preventing them from controlling the crowd, making arrests, and protecting lives and property.

I Study Terrorism. In New Orleans, I Witnessed a Terror Attack.

After witnessing the attack in New Orleans, former Lawfare intern Gia Kokotakis analyzes the use of vehicular ramming by Islamist terrorists and the spread of this type of attack to other ideologies, including white supremacists and incels:

The Charlottesville and Toronto attacks demonstrated that although jihadists had pioneered the use of vehicular ramming in terrorist attacks, the tactic was available to people of any ideology in virtually any urban setting who wanted to kill as many people as possible with as little training, tactical skill, or resources as necessary. And it was catching on.

Podcasts

On today’s Lawfare Daily, Molly Reynolds is joined by Quinta Jurecic and Ryan Reilly to discuss two new reports on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a long-awaited report from the Justice Department’s Inspector General, and a report from House Republicans on the pipe bombs placed at the Democratic and Republican National Committees.

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is a stray dog from Petea, Romania. As many of you know, dogs and cats are not eligible to be the Beast Of The Day unless they perform a notable Act of Valor. Today’s Beast performed its Act of Valor on January 1st of this year by becoming the first creature to cross the newly open border from Romania to Hungary, as Romania joined the Schengen Area of no internal border controls. The Beast received impromptu applause from those present to celebrate the border opening, and we too honor it for its bravery in being the first to seize upon this new era in Romanian history: