A president without a platform

President Trump is removed from most major social media platforms; 2020 was another bad year for the climate crisis. Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg. TOP NEWS Social media finally cracks down on President Trump Alex Wong/Getty Images - Following Wednesday’s insurrection at the US Capitol, social media platforms took unprecedented steps, with nearly all of them banning President Donald Trump. Twitter, the president’s social network of choice, took the step on Friday evening. [[Recode / Shirin Ghaffary](] - In 2015, as his first presidential campaign was gaining steam, Trump christened himself “the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters.” He has used Twitter for myriad things during his presidency, from attacking opponents to announcing policy. [[Politico / Alex Isenstadt](] - Trump announced the firings of several top officials via tweet without first letting them know, including then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The news that the president and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus was also first posted on Trump’s Twitter. [[AP / Aamer Madhani and Jill Colvin](] - While Twitter may have been Trump’s favorite platform, it was far from the only one to give him the boot. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitch also took down his accounts, with Snapchat and Twitch joining Twitter in doing so permanently. [[Vox / Cameron Peters](] - Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook also owns, have suspended Trump through at least the end of his term on January 20. YouTube strengthened its policy against misinformation, making it easier to identify false election claims as such. [[NYT / Mike Isaac and Kate Conger](] - The president is not known to have a presence on Reddit or TikTok, but Reddit banned the subgroup r/DonaldTrump, and TikTok — which Trump threatened to ban last year — is redirecting hashtags related to Wednesday’s riot. [[Axios / Sara Fischer and Ashley Gold](] - Much of the discourse that led to the insurrection occurred on Parler, an alternative to Twitter favored by conservatives. But after Wednesday’s events, Parler was deleted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and Amazon removed it removed from its computing services. [[NYT / Jack Nicas and Davey Alba](] - Parler had become a favorite platform for Trump supporters frustrated with what they saw as censorship by Facebook and Twitter. Users followed each other and posted messages called “Parleys” — similar to tweets. The site's approach to free speech led to a plethora of false claims. [[NPR / Shannon Bond](] - Right-wing media played a huge role in amplifying the messages that led to the riot at the Capitol. Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, along with extreme right outlets One America News and Newsmax, broadcast Trump’s baseless election fraud conspiracy theories to millions of viewers. [[Vox / Sean Illing](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( 2020 matches 2016 as the warmest year ever recorded - Despite the Covid-19 pandemic reducing travel and thus environmental impact, the climate crisis worsened in 2020, and it tied 2016 as the hottest year on record. The year was marked by a record-setting Atlantic hurricane season and devastating wildfires. [[Guardian / Damian Carrington](] - The global average temperature has risen 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit from the 1850-1900 average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The last six years, from 2015 to 2020, are among the six warmest since such measures were first recorded. [[NYT / Henry Fountain](] - Climate change is causing natural disasters on an unprecedented scale, beginning with wildfires in Australia and continuing with the most destructive fire season in the Western US. The Arctic region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, putting the ice caps in grave danger. [[CNN / Drew Kann and Brandon Miller](] - There were a record 30 named storms in the Atlantic this past summer and fall, surpassing the previous mark in 2005. Among the most destructive were Hurricane Laura, which struck Louisiana in August, and Hurricanes Eta and Iota, which hit Central America two weeks apart. [[Vox / Jariel Arvin](] - The Copernicus data shows that 2020 would have the top spot to itself if not for a cooler December. The 2016 record was set during an El Niño year, which produces warmer sea surface temperatures, but 2020 was a La Niña year, which is usually marked by cooler temperatures. [[Washington Post / Andrew Freedman](] MISCELLANEOUS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her chamber will move to impeach President Trump again if Vice President Mike Pence does not seek his removal via the 25th Amendment by Wednesday. [[Washington Post / John Wagner, Paulina Firozi, Colby Itkowitz, and Felicia Sonmez](] - The US vaccine rollout is still slow. The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed had hoped to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of December, but just 6.6 million had received their first shot as of Friday. [[AP / Michelle R. Smith and Candice Choi](] - More than 80 percent of people surveyed in Japan said they believe the 2021 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo should be canceled or postponed, or that they will not take place. [[AP / Stephen Wade](] - The 2022 PGA Championship will be relocated from Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, in the wake of Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol. [[ESPN / Bob Harig](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( VERBATIM “The current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government. We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.” [[Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on suspending President Trump from the platform through at least the end of his term](] LISTEN TO THIS When they stormed the US Capitol last Wednesday, many pro-Trump rioters posted photos and videos to brag about their actions on social media. Internet sleuths and the police are using that content as evidence to prosecute the mob. [[Spotify / Teddy Schleifer](] [Read more from Vox](#) [Whiteness is at the core of the insurrection]( [Biden taps Bill Burns, a career diplomat, to lead the CIA]( [How the US’s Covid-19 death toll compares to that of other wealthy countries]( [What we know about Biden’s inauguration plans]( [A guide to the 2021 Oscars, which are still happening]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. 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