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Month: March 2019

Mueller grand jury ‘continuing robustly,’ prosecutor says

Mueller grand jury ‘continuing robustly,’ prosecutor says

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Politico reports: The special counsel grand jury that investigated Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election is “continuing robustly” despite the end of Robert Mueller’s probe, a federal prosecutor said in court Wednesday. The revelation — while laced with uncertainty — indicates that the ongoing cases Mueller handed off after concluding his probe could still feature significant developments, legal experts said. David Goodhand, an assistant U.S. attorney, acknowledged the grand jury’s active status during a hearing in federal district court…

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Dynasties still run the world

Dynasties still run the world

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Worldwide, 1 in 10 presidents and prime ministers has relatives who were already in politics. Europe and Latin America, both democratic regions, have the highest proportion of leaders who come from political families. Shutterstock By Farida Jalalzai, Oklahoma State University and Meg Rincker, Purdue University Northwest Want to get into politics? It helps if you come from the right family. Our new study, published in the journal Historical Social Research in December 2018, shows that, on average, one in 10…

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No one who matters has read the Mueller report yet

No one who matters has read the Mueller report yet

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Quinta Jurecic writes: Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report—released on Sunday to Congress and the public at a slim four pages—was greeted as putting to rest the questions that have swirled around President Donald Trump’s campaign and its relationship to Russia. But reports of the end of this chapter of Trump’s presidency have been greatly exaggerated. The only document that has so far become public is Barr’s highly truncated summary of Mueller’s report—which is…

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The counterintelligence portion of Mueller’s report that Barr neglected to mention

The counterintelligence portion of Mueller’s report that Barr neglected to mention

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Natasha Bertrand writes: On Sunday afternoon, Attorney General Bill Barr presented a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions that contained a few sentences from Mueller’s final report, one of which directly addressed the question of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia: “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” In a footnote, Barr explained that Mueller had defined “coordination” as an “agreement—tacit or…

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Federal Reserve official: Climate change is an ‘international market failure’

Federal Reserve official: Climate change is an ‘international market failure’

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Eric Holthaus writes: Climate change was already worrying enough — now a report from the U.S. central bank cautions that rising temperatures and extreme storms could eventually trigger a financial collapse. A Federal Reserve researcher warned in a report on Monday that “climate-based risk could threaten the stability of the financial system as a whole.” But possible fixes — using the Fed’s buying power to green the economy — are currently against the law. Glenn Rudebusch, the San Francisco Fed’s…

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Interior nominee intervened to block report on endangered species

Interior nominee intervened to block report on endangered species

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The New York Times reports: After years of effort, scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service had a moment of celebration as they wrapped up a comprehensive analysis of the threat that three widely used pesticides present to hundreds of endangered species, like the kit fox and the seaside sparrow. “Woohoo!” Patrice Ashfield, then a branch chief at Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters, wrote to her colleagues in August 2017. Their analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and…

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Senate’s phony vote on a Green New Deal

Senate’s phony vote on a Green New Deal

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Inside Climate News reports: Before U.S. lawmakers have even come up with the details of the Green New Deal, they’re facing a vote on it Tuesday in the Senate. It’s a procedural vote—a preemptive roll call engineered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in an attempt to embarrass the Democrats and tamp down talk of climate policy. Democrats, in turn, will try to use the occasion to highlight the GOP’s inaction on climate change. That sets the stage…

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Assad loyalists are turning on Syria’s government as living standards deteriorate

Assad loyalists are turning on Syria’s government as living standards deteriorate

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The Washington Post reports: Syrians who remained loyal to President Bashar al-Assad throughout the past eight years of war are increasingly expressing discontent with his government as living standards in the country continue to deteriorate even as the conflict winds down. Conditions are dire for most of the 19 million Syrians living across the ravaged country, including in the roughly one-third that remains outside government control. Whole towns and villages have been depopulated and destroyed, and an estimated 89 percent…

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The Mueller investigation promised a way to avoid thinking of Trump as an American development

The Mueller investigation promised a way to avoid thinking of Trump as an American development

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Masha Gessen writes: Donald Trump has not single-handedly destroyed the American public sphere. It had been in decline for a while, with the horse-race culture of its political campaigns, the anti-intellectual posture of many of its politicians, and its media’s obsession with entertainment. But Trump has forced the deterioration to new lows. This is true of Trumpism in general: its elements—corruption, xenophobia, isolationism, disdain for the media, denigration of the government, and lack of transparency—are not new phenomena but are,…

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Barr goes beyond Mueller in clearing Trump on obstruction, drawing scrutiny

Barr goes beyond Mueller in clearing Trump on obstruction, drawing scrutiny

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The New York Times reports: Over the 22 months of their inquiry, Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators examined countless documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses, including some of the highest-ranking lawyers and aides in the White House, to determine whether President Trump obstructed justice. But in the end, the special counsel reached no conclusion — instead producing a report that merely marshaled evidence on both sides. Then, Attorney General William P. Barr, a political appointee whom Mr. Trump installed less…

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Mueller report has Moscow in ecstasy, opening the way for more Putin plots

Mueller report has Moscow in ecstasy, opening the way for more Putin plots

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Julia Davis writes: When news broke that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Russian officials and the state media reacted with fiendish delight. Senator Alexei Pushkov, a senior deputy in Russia’s upper-house Federation Council, described the Mueller report as “a mountain that birthed a dead mouse.” Citing Fox News, Russian state news agency TASS reported that the findings represent a…

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Have MPs gained the upper hand in the Brexit battle?

Have MPs gained the upper hand in the Brexit battle?

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Peter Walker writes: MPs have voted to give themselves considerably more control of the Brexit process, starting more or less immediately. They passed by a comfortable 329 to 302 margin an amendment led by the Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Letwin which sets aside Commons business on Wednesday for a series of so-called indicative votes on finding a consensus Brexit solution. Is this a big deal? Potentially. Amid an ever-greater sense of drift and gridlock in Theresa May’s government, MPs…

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Global coal use up by third as greenhouse gas emissions rise

Global coal use up by third as greenhouse gas emissions rise

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The Guardian reports: Greenhouse gas emissions from energy production rose strongly again last year, according to new data from the International Energy Agency, with a young fleet of coal-fired power plants in Asia accounting for a large proportion of the increase. Energy demand grew at its fastest pace this decade, with a 2.3% increase globally driving rises in fossil fuel consumption. Coal use in power stations was up by nearly a third, and together gas and coal were responsible for…

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Why Israel is quietly cosying up to Gulf monarchies

Why Israel is quietly cosying up to Gulf monarchies

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Ian Black writes: In mid-February 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, flew to Warsaw for a highly unusual conference. Under the auspices of the US vice-president, Mike Pence, he met the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and two other Gulf states that have no diplomatic relations with Israel. The main item on the agenda was containing Iran. No Palestinians were present. Most of the existing links between Israel and the Gulf have been kept secret…

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