Your evening reading Wednesday, 08 December 2021 19:30:38 CST David-Braverman General, Geography, Politics, Weather (0) Just a few: What is Putin's real game with Ukraine right now? Julia Ioffe thinks it may just be R-E-S-P-E-C-T. After Bob Dole's death this week, Paul Krugman bemoans the disappearance of Republican grown-ups. A stupid-looking statute of KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest finally came down. Germany's incoming government claims it wants to protect end-to-end encryption, a move Bruce Schneier likes. Bloomberg CityLab asks, why does US infrastructure cost so much? A rash of earthquakes shook the Pacific Ocean west of Oregon this morning. And finally, atheist sci-fi author John Scalzi...bought a church?