'America is moving again, and your life is going to change for the better'

President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill in a White House ceremony yesterday. Biden's signature follows years of failed efforts in Washington to overhaul physical infrastructure, improvements that advocates have said will boost the economy and create jobs. The legislation will put $110 billion into roads, bridges, and other major projects; $66 billion into freight and passenger rail, including potential upgrades to Amtrak; $39 billion into public transit systems; $65 billion into expanding broadband; and $55 billion into improving water systems and replacing lead pipes.

• — "That's the moment America began to win the competition of the 21st century." Biden pointed out that the bill will allow the U.S. to surpass China on infrastructure investment for the first time in 20 years. "For most of the 20th century, we led the world by a significant margin because we invested in ourselves," he said. "But somewhere along the way, we stopped investing in ourselves. Well, that's about to change."
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• — "Too often in Washington, the reason we didn't get things done is because we insisted on getting everything we want." Biden also praised the bipartisan nature of the bill, which passed the House on Nov. 5 with 13 Republican votes, and the Senate on Aug. 10 with 19 Republican ayes. "I ran for president because the only way to move this country forward, in my view, was through compromise and consensus," he said. "That's how the system works. That's American democracy."
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• — Other speakers at the 800-person event included Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Rob Portman, two of the lead authors of the bill. "How many times have we heard that bipartisanship isn't possible anymore—or that important policy can only happen on a party line? Our legislation proves the opposite—and the senators who negotiated this legislation show how to get things done," Sinema, a Democrat, said. Portman, a Republican, agreed. "This is what can happen when Republicans and Democrats decide we're going to work together to get something done." Hear, hear. —CNBC

Biden and Xi talk amid tensions

President Biden met virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday, as they sought to ratchet down ongoing tensions between the world's two biggest powers. In the first formal meeting between the leaders since Biden took office, the president raised concerns about China's human rights practices and "unfair trade and economic practices." The two also spoke about regional challenges, including North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iran, during the three-hour video conference. The White House set low expectations for the meeting, and no major announcements were made. But White House officials said the substantive exchange helped lower the temperature. "Our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended," Biden said. —Associated Press

MORE: Biden and Xi warn each other over future of Taiwan —The Guardian

Kwon: Why disinfo is so effective

"The ultimate power of disinformation is found more in the ideas and memories that a given society is vulnerable to and how prone it is to fueling the rumor mill than it is in the people perpetrating the disinformation or the techniques they use. … To counter the disinformation industry wherever it emerges, governments, media, and the public need to understand not just the who and the how, but also the what—a society's controversial ideologies and collective memories. These are the most valuable currency in the disinformation marketplace." —K. Hazel Kwon in The Conversation

K. Hazel Kwon is an associate professor of journalism and digital audiences at Arizona State University.

MORE: WaPo Ed. Board: France has admitted it spreads disinformation. Other democracies should also own up —The Washington Post

The GOP…it's not for conservatives anymore

That's the message from the Wyoming Republican Party, which by a narrow majority on Saturday voted to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a Republican. Apparently the state party's central committee is none too happy with Cheney's vote to impeach Donald Trump last January, her insistence that the 2020 election was not stolen, and her mission to get to the bottom of the insurrection. It's "laughable" for anybody to suggest Cheney isn't a "conservative Republican," Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler said of the decision. "She is bound by her oath to the Constitution. Sadly a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man." Cheney faces at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary election, one of whom has been endorsed by Trump. —Associated Press

MORE: Trump allies target Katko over infrastructure vote —The Hill

Mishra: India's warning to the West

"[H]aving arrived in power after relentlessly identifying various enemies of the people, [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi has shown himself capable of little more. Unable to govern competently, he has ramped up the culture war, assisted by his mammoth propaganda machinery. Consequently, the social fabric of the country has been shredded, and economic recovery from the pandemic, if and when it occurs, is no guarantee of repair. The [U.S.] Republicans and the [UK] Conservatives, currently on a winning streak against a fragmented opposition, should be wary of such catastrophic success." —Pankaj Mishra in Bloomberg

Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the author of "Age of Anger: A History of the Present," "From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia," and "Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond."

MORE: From Modi to Yogi: The militant monk who could lead India to full Hindu theocracy —Haaretz

Focus on Russia

Russia is back at it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Russia has amassed nearly 100,000 soldiers near Ukraine's border, and may be preparing to launch a winter offensive in the country. A previous Russian offensive into Ukraine, against the city of Debaltseve in 2015, was also launched in winter, when the lower temperatures make it easier to transport armor and other heavy weaponry.

• — The U.S. response. Washington warned that Moscow may be "attempting to rehash" its 2014 invasion of Crimea. President Biden dispatched CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. is watching the buildup closely. "We don't have clarity into Moscow's intentions, but we do know its playbook," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.
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• — The UK's concerns. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that the West may soon have to stop relying on Russian oil and gas if it wants to stand against the Kremlin's ongoing aggression towards Ukraine. In a warning to European countries that are heavily dependent on Russian gas, he said Putin could restrict supplies from pipelines that run through Eastern Europe if the West signals its intention to defend Ukraine. 
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• — NATO's warning. Speaking at a meeting in Brussels with Ukraine's foreign minister yesterday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, "We have to be clear-eyed. We need to be realistic about the challenges we face. And what we see is a significant, large Russian military buildup." While Stoltenberg did not want to speculate about Putin's intentions, he called the situation "dangerous," and cautioned Moscow, "NATO remains vigilant … Any further provocation or aggressive actions by Russia would be of serious concern." —The Guardian

Applebaum: Autocracy knocking at the door

"Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does geopolitics. If America removes the promotion of democracy from its foreign policy, if America ceases to interest itself in the fate of other democracies and democratic movements, then autocracies will quickly take our place as sources of influence, funding, and ideas. If Americans, together with our allies, fail to fight the habits and practices of autocracy abroad, we will encounter them at home; indeed, they are already here." —Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic

Anne Applebaum is a senior fellow of the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."

MORE: U.S. allies drive much of world's democratic decline, data shows —The New York Times

I'm thankful that we are insisting that we get to the bottom of a serious attempted coup and takeover of our democracy! I pray Trump and many of his cult who are still lying regarding the outcome of President Biden's legally and ethically won presidency are held accountable. Go Democrats and Republicans who are working together to make our country better! Thank you all! —Kathryne S., Illinois

It doesn't take a Democrat to recognize sedition. —Stephen J., Pennsylvania

When President Biden explained on Monday afternoon how hundreds of millions of Americans would benefit from the recently passed infrastructure bill, his remarks were dutifully carried by the cable news networks...except for Fox News, which broadcast the closing summations in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. One would think that the network which claims to report the news so the viewer could decide, would at least report the news. 

But it's easy to see why Fox would skip the substance of the president's commentary for the sorry spectacle from Kenosha: The infrastructure bill will help Americans in all 50 states, even many who didn't vote for Joe Biden, and Fox did not want to shine a positive light on what they would call a Democrat president. 

Perhaps Fox should change its slogan to: We decide what to report, so you don't have all the facts you need to make a wise decision.

It doesn't roll off the tongue, but it's true. —Jim V., New York

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