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Month: December 2018

Trump ‘at the center of a massive fraud against the American people’

Trump ‘at the center of a massive fraud against the American people’

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The New York Times reports: The latest revelations by prosecutors investigating President Trump and his team draw a portrait of a candidate who personally directed an illegal scheme to manipulate the 2016 election and whose advisers had more contact with Russia than Mr. Trump has ever acknowledged. In the narrative that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and New York prosecutors are building, Mr. Trump continued to secretly seek to do business in Russia deep into his presidential campaign…

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U.S. and Russia ally with Saudi Arabia to water down climate pledge

U.S. and Russia ally with Saudi Arabia to water down climate pledge

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The Guardian reports: The US and Russia have thrown climate talks into disarray by allying with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to water down approval of a landmark report on the need to keep global warming below 1.5C. After a heated two-and-a-half-hour debate on Saturday night, the backwards step by the four major oil producers shocked delegates at the UN climate conference in Katowice as ministers flew in for the final week of high-level discussions. It has also raised fears among…

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Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and transition

Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and transition

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The Washington Post reports: The Russian ambassador. A deputy prime minister. A pop star, a weightlifter, a lawyer, a Soviet army veteran with alleged intelligence ties. Again and again and again, over the course of Donald Trump’s 18-month campaign for the presidency, Russian citizens made contact with his closest family and friends, as well as figures on the periphery of his orbit. Some offered to help his campaign and his real estate business. Some offered dirt on his Democratic opponent….

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Group led by Thomas Piketty presents plan for ‘a fairer Europe’

Group led by Thomas Piketty presents plan for ‘a fairer Europe’

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The Guardian reports: A group of progressive Europeans led by the economist and author Thomas Piketty has drawn up a bold new blueprint for a fairer Europe to address the division, disenchantment, inequality and rightwing populism sweeping the continent. The plan, crafted by more than 50 economists, historians and former politicians from half a dozen countries, includes huge levies on multinationals, millionaires and carbon emissions to generate funds to tackle the most urgent issues of the day, including poverty, migration,…

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How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi

How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi

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David Ignatius writes: When Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, he didn’t know he was walking into a killing zone. He had become the prime target in a 21st-century information war — one that involved hacking, kidnapping and ultimately murder — waged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his courtiers against dissenters. How did a battle of ideas, triggered by Khashoggi’s outspoken journalism for The Post, become so deadly? That’s the riddle at…

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‘Siege warfare’: Republican anxiety spikes as Trump faces growing legal and political perils

‘Siege warfare’: Republican anxiety spikes as Trump faces growing legal and political perils

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The Washington Post reports: A growing number of Republicans fear that a battery of new revelations in the far-reaching Russia investigation has dramatically heightened the legal and political danger to Donald Trump’s presidency — and threatens to consume the rest of the party, as well. President Trump added to the tumult Saturday by announcing the abrupt exit of his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, whom he sees as lacking the political judgment and finesse to steer the White House…

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As good an attorney general as we’re likely to get

As good an attorney general as we’re likely to get

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Benjamin Wittes writes: It is better to have an attorney general nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate in an undoubtedly legal fashion than to have an acting attorney general serving in circumstances of dubious legality. It is better to have an attorney general who is steeped in the traditions and culture of the Justice Department than to have an acting attorney general who is understood at the department to be operating as the “eyes and ears” of…

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Is this the beginning of the end for Trump?

Is this the beginning of the end for Trump?

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Barry Berke, Noah Bookbinder and Norman Eisen write: On Friday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the special counsel, Robert Mueller, delivered a potentially devastating one-two punch against President Trump. Coming late in the day, they made for bracing end-of-the-week reading. Calling on the court to impose a sentence of substantial imprisonment against Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York stated that Mr. Trump, the Trump Organization and the campaign were all directly…

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The Mueller investigation nears the worst case scenario

The Mueller investigation nears the worst case scenario

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Garrett M Graff writes: We are deep into the worst case scenarios. But as new sentencing memos for Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen make all too clear, the only remaining question is how bad does the actual worst case scenario get? The potential innocent explanations for Donald Trump’s behavior over the last two years have been steadily stripped away, piece by piece. Special counsel Robert Mueller and investigative reporters have uncovered and assembled a picture of a presidential…

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Republicans are staging mini-coups across the U.S.

Republicans are staging mini-coups across the U.S.

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Lawrence Douglas writes: Democracies empower the will of majorities. In the US, Republican lawmakers on both the state and national level have rejected that basic principle. In a lame-duck session in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Republican legislators in the state of Wisconsin passed a sweeping bill designed to radically check the powers of the incoming governor. The result of this 11th-hour tactic is an attack on progressive causes, the integrity of the electoral process, and democratic accountability. Last…

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Jared Kushner advised Saudi crown prince on how to get away with murder

Jared Kushner advised Saudi crown prince on how to get away with murder

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The New York Times reports: Since the uproar over Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, the Trump administration has acknowledged only one conversation between Mr. Kushner and Prince Mohammed: an Oct. 10 telephone call joined by John R. Bolton, the national security adviser. The Americans “asked for more details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in the investigation process,” the White House said in a statement. But American officials and a Saudi briefed on their conversations said that Mr. Kushner and…

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Macron’s politics look to Blair and Clinton. The backlash was inevitable

Macron’s politics look to Blair and Clinton. The backlash was inevitable

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Larry Elliott writes: Rioting in the streets. Filling stations running out of fuel. Panic buying in the supermarkets. A country in chaos. Not a dystopian vision of Britain after Brexit, but France in the here and now under that self-styled champion of anti-populism, Emmanuel Macron. French politicians invariably claim to be inspired by Charles de Gaulle, and Macron is no exception. His official presidential photograph has him standing in front of a desk with a copy of De Gaulle’s war…

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Farage finds UKIP awful. So what about his more sinister friends?

Farage finds UKIP awful. So what about his more sinister friends?

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Nick Cohen writes: Nigel Farage clutched his pearls and resigned from Ukip last week, protesting that he of all people could not possibly associate with criminals. The decision of his successor Gerard Batten to hire convicted fraudster and inveterate yob Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) was simply “too awful to contemplate”. Farage isn’t always so choosy about the company he keeps. His alliance with “Ted” Malloch, a little man who thinks he’s a big deal, tells all you need to…

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What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals

What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals

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Fossilised tooth crowns hold lots of information about past climates and life events. Tanya M Smith, Author provided By Tanya M. Smith, Griffith University Increasing variation in the climate has been implicated as a possible factor in the evolution of our species (Homo sapiens) 300,000 years ago, as well as the more recent demise of our enigmatic evolutionary cousins, the Neanderthals. But knowing the impact of that change on a year-by-year basis has always been a challenge. Most prehistoric climate…

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