Red Wing Daily: January 1, 2024

"the more you know...."

Today’s links of interest, in no particular order:

State:

• The U.S. Forest Service is preparing an environmental impact statement for a proposed coal mine in a remote Arkansas location near the Oklahoma border in the Ouachita National Forest (national forest land).

• It’s always a good thing to know the new laws going into effect in 2024, including one that disqualifies unemployment recipients who turn down job interviews or a job offer “without good cause.”

• KARK points out that 2023 was “significant” for Arkansas Republicans “though often met with pushback.”

National:

• Who said it? “I want to be very clear. Our borders are not open”?

• There’s now 23 states — all led by Democrats — where officials want to be able to censor their residents, controlling what they claim is “misleading information.” Respected legal expert Jonathan Turley gives the details.

• Serious implications for the U.S. dollar as Russia and Iran have finalized their agreement to trade in their local currencies instead of the U.S dollar, says Iran's state media. 

• Campaign consultants / political strategists general craft the overall message and govern most political campaigns; it’s “a whole industry … that has more influence, in most cases, on our politics and the future of our country going forward” than the candidates themselves.

• How does the “land of the free and the home of the brave” allow simpering low-life non-hackers to not only survive but thrive while the rest of us barely make ends meet? Because the Silent Majority is silent the same as always.

• 2024 will be a doozy; buckle up, experts are saying. 70 other nations will be voting in 2024 — home to around 4.2 billion people, more than half the world’s population. Will freedom and democracy be on the rise?