Welcome to Tuesday, December 7th, edamames and soybeans…

The U.S. will boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics over China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained the decision at a press conference:

“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the [People’s Republic of China’s] ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses. The athletes on Team USA have our full support. We will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home. We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games..."

A diplomatic boycott allows U.S. athletes to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games but aims to deny China the propaganda opportunity of U.S. dignitaries attending the games in Beijing amid the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing genocide and persecution of the Uyghurs. 

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee previously expressed opposition to an athlete boycott, which said past boycotts “only hurt athletes who have trained for their entire lives for this opportunity to represent their country.”

Do you support or oppose the U.S. diplomatic boycott of China’s Beijing Winter Olympics?

U.S. & NATO Urge Russia to Pull Back From Ukraine's Border

The U.S. and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are urging Russia to de-escalate the ongoing military buildup along its border with Ukraine. Ukraine has estimated that 94,000 Russian military troops have massed on its eastern border with Russia, where Russia has backed a separatist insurgency that’s fighting Ukraine’s government, and in Crimea, which is Ukrainian territory that was invaded and annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg similarly noted the “significant and unusual concentration of forces, which is unjustified and unexplained. And accompanied by heightened rhetoric and disinformation.” Stoltenberg warned:

“Any future Russian aggression against Ukraine would come at a high price. And have serious political and economic consequences for Russia… At the same time, we maintain our political and practical support for our partner Ukraine.”

Are you concerned about Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border?

Economy Added 210K Jobs in November, Falling Short of Expectations

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday released its jobs report for November 2021, which found the U.S. economy added 210,000 jobs and the unemployment declined by 0.4 percentage points to 4.2%. 

With November’s gains, the U.S. economy has recovered about 83% of the jobs lost, leaving 3.9 million left to be regained.

How do you feel about the state of the job market?

All the Memes Fit to Post

And, In The End...

It's hard to choose one over-priced and -hyped fair food, but this is certainly a top contender:

—Josh Herman

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