RIP streams, clean water, etc. “In the face of climate disaster and a shattering ecosystem, our President aims to make things worse,” tweets Phillip Picardi. As Coral Davenport reports for The New York Times, the Trump administration is finalizing a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies (129,000+ shares). “He’s officially turned into one of those B-team supervillains from comic books,” says Pedro Rafael Rosado. Good news for golf course developers, “RIP streams,” tweets Eric Umansky. But also RIP uncontaminated drinking water. Davenport quotes Blan Holman, a lawyer specializing in federal water policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center, who says, “This will be the biggest loss of clean water protection the country has ever seen,” adding, “This is not just undoing the Obama rule. This is stripping away protections that were put in place in the ’70s and ’80s that Americans have relied on for their health.” As John Beard says, “Remember clean water? Say goodbye to it.” The men who are intimidated by a 17-year-old girl Meanwhile at Davos, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says Thunberg can tell us what to do ‘after she goes and studies economics in college,’ writes CNBC’s Sam Meredith. Travis Pittman says “It’s truly stunning to watch grown men who are among the world’s most powerful be scared and intimidated by a 17-year-old girl who just wants to be able to breathe in 20 years.” Jon Bonne calls it “Mansplaining, Davos edition …” 
Mnuchin added that it was “a joke. That was funny.” Of course, because everyone knows the first rule of comedy is that after you tell the joke, you make sure to tell people it’s funny. Speaking of jokes, Paul Krugman points out, “The man who predicted that the Trump tax cut would pay for itself says Greta Thunberg needs lessons in economics.” And while we’re at it, “The Foreclosure King and Ex. Producer of ‘Get Hard’ lectures Greta on the true cost of an uninhabitable planet,” tweets Jeff Goodell. If he can take a break from workshopping his act, Mnuchin might want to read the new report issued by an umbrella organization for the world’s central banks that argues Climate Change Could Cause the Next Financial Meltdown. Jack Ewing of The New York Times has more on that report and its predictions. Sanders surging 
Anthony Brooks reports on the latest WBUR poll, which shows Sanders widening his lead in New Hampshire. Meanwhile in South Carolina, “A black, female elected official in South Carolina, who describes herself as a ‘conservative Democrat,’ is taking back her endorsement of @JoeBiden, opting instead to support @BernieSanders. She explained her reasoning to me in an interview, tonight.” Meg Kinnard of AP News links to her interview with Dalhi Myers about her change of heart, switching from Biden to Sanders. She told Kinnard that she values what she sees as Sanders’ strength in being able to go toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump in the general election. For the counterpoint, San Francisco Mayor London Breed has endorsed Mike Bloomberg for president. Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Breed believes Bloomberg has the best chance of beating Trump. And speaking of Bloomberg, the Axios team visited Bloomberg’s new campaign HQ in Times Square yesterday, and, writes Mike Allen, “we were struck by how much his 1,000+-person team is learning from — while trying to surpass — the Trump campaigns of 2016 and 2020.” The big picture, says Allen: Bloomberg is no Trump, but is trying to beat the president at his own game. Coronavirus outbreak The New York Times has live updates on the coronavirus outbreak as a Chinese city of 11 million is on lockdown. Travel restrictions have been expanded to several Chinese cities near Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, hours after it was announced that 17 people had died and more than 570 had contracted the disease. Li Yuan suggests, “Now that Wuhan is locking down the city to combat the coronavirus epidemic, I recommend my column on how Wuhan gov’t mishandled the crisis and why it happened that way. Hint: all those who held the gov’t accountable in SARS have been silenced or sidelined.” She links to her New York Times column, China Silences Critics Over Deadly Virus Outbreak. The kids are alright 
At Variety, Brian Steinberg reports that Angelina Jolie is going to produce a BBC show to help kids spot fake news, and Dave Jorgenson has a request: “Maybe produce one for my aunt and her friends on Facebook.” Indeed, as Carl Kinsella points out, “kids aren’t the problem.” The weekly half-hour program, “BBC My World,” will be broadcast via BBC World News and “will explain the stories behind news and offers facts and information that helps kids over the age of 13 make up their own minds on pressing international issues,” writes Steinberg. “Can we also get one for the over-60s please,” tweets Niki Blasina. Run away Former Deadspin managing editor Samer Kalaf describes his new piece for Columbia Journalism Review, Dead and spun: a story in three meetings, this way: “Here’s my account of how Jim Spanfeller mangled the site I loved with his unwashed hands.” Drew Magary says, “Everything @samer wrote here is true, including management suggesting that the Funbag be shuttled over to a different site.” And Max Abelson highlights, “A good sentence: ‘Jim Spanfeller looked like the main characters from Caddyshack melded together, and had the demeanor of a personal injury lawyer.’” Mathew Ingram offers a “Related pro tip: If anyone in a senior position at your media company sends an email saying they plan to ‘build out our go-to-market abilities,’ you should quit immediately and run in the opposite direction.” Also, “the moment management says, ‘my door is open’ you know you're doomed!” advises Sarah Hagi. To sum up: “private equity companies are ghoulish and are killing journalism,” tweets Brandon Carter. A Very Philadelphia story 
The big question of the day, courtesy of Christian Hetrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Did Gritty punch a 13-year-old boy in the back? Philadelphia detectives are investigating. In other words, “Gritty: Hold my beer,” tweets Nathaniel Lash. As Anna Orso says, “ummmmmm Gritty is being investigated for assault by the literal police @_Hetrick truly with the scoop of a lifetime.” Tommy Rowan highlights, “‘The dispute has crossed from he-said, Gritty-said into the realm of law enforcement.’ Oh, boy.” David Gambacorta points out, “There's a chance that Gritty might get hauled into a detective division some day soon and asked whether he punched a kid in the back at an event for Flyers season ticket holders. @_Hetrick with A Very Philly story that is only just beginning.” Ryan Grim says, “I’m reserving judgment till I learn what the kid did.” But regardless of where you stand on the matter, do yourself a favor and read that whole story. Celebrities being embarrassing Apparently, Gritty’s not the only one in the spotlight who’s behaving badly. “Ah this is good,” says Cale Guthrie Weissman, who links to Live from New York, it’s Michael Che’s weird fixation with me, by Jack Allison of The Outline, about which Jeremy Gordon admits, “It's my lifelong dream to feud with a celebrity — @jackallisonLOL wrote about what it’s like when the head writer of SNL can’t stop shit-talking you.” Adds Josh Terry, “this is a weird one why is the snl guy like this.” As Stephanie Talmadge tweets, “this story has everything! extremely petty bullshit, celebrities being embarrassing, and a smart meditation on why SNL is bad now.” The point is, says Brenden Gallagher, “You come for the king (@jackallisonLOL) you'd best not miss.” Some advice, from Tyler McCall: “Michael Che seems — how can I put this? — unhinged. Dude you make a lot of money and have one of the best jobs in your field, maybe calm down and log off.” Thursday round-up - Paul Egan links to an “Infuriating story from @TBaldas of @freep.” As Tresa Baldas reports for the Detroit Free Press, after a Detroit man settled a racial discrimination lawsuit against his employer, the bank refused to cash or desposit his check, instead calling the cops and initiating a fraud investigation. “This feels like it’s from TV. It’s not,” Ashok Selvam points out.
- Motherboard got access to the underlying technical report from FTI Consulting that alleges Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince hacked the phone of Jeff Bezos. From Kim Zetter and Joseph Cox, check out the Technical Report Suggesting Saudi Arabia’s Prince Hacked Jeff Bezos’s Phone.
- Caroline Haskins shares, “NEW on Clearview AI, the company that scrapes social media pics + does facial recognition for police, from @RMac18, @_loganmcdonald, & I: The CEO has downplayed ties to the far right. And marketing emails I got via FOIL misrepresent its work with police.” For all the details, read her piece with Ryan Mac and Logan McDonald of BuzzFeed News, Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect. The Cops Say That’s Not True.
- That didn’t take long. 24 hours in, senators flout quaint impeachment rules, AP’s Laurie Kellman reports from the impeachment trial. As AP News tweets, “Weary and bored, senators walk out, openly scoff and ignore #impeachment rules.”
- Melanie Zanona and Marianne LeVine of POLITICO write that Matt Gaetz suspects a senior White House aide pushed to keep him off the president’s impeachment defense team — weeks after the Florida Republican voted to rein in Trump’s war powers.
- From intrepid fact-checker Daniel Dale of CNN, Trump says ‘with me, there’s no lying’ -- and makes 14 false claims about impeachment and Ukraine.
- BBC News reports that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The decision comes despite de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi defending her country against the accusations in person last month.
- Scoop from Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of Axios, a University of Minnesota student has been jailed in China for tweets critical of the government.
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