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Month: July 2019

‘Precipitous’ fall in Antarctic sea ice since 2014 revealed

‘Precipitous’ fall in Antarctic sea ice since 2014 revealed

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The Guardian reports: The vast expanse of sea ice around Antarctica has suffered a “precipitous” fall since 2014, satellite data shows, and fell at a faster rate than seen in the Arctic. The plunge in the average annual extent means Antarctica lost as much sea ice in four years as the Arctic lost in 34 years. The cause of the sharp Antarctic losses is as yet unknown and only time will tell whether the ice recovers or continues to decline….

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Russian Twitter propaganda predicted 2016 U.S. election polls

Russian Twitter propaganda predicted 2016 U.S. election polls

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Trump’s poll numbers went up after high levels of Russian troll activity, though Clinton’s didn’t go down. AP/Mary Altaffer, Chuck Burton By Damian Ruck, University of Bristol When Robert Mueller completed his long-awaited investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he left many questions unanswered. But one conclusion was unequivocal: Russia unleashed an extensive campaign of fake news and disinformation on social media with the aim of distorting U.S. public opinion, sowing discord and swinging the election in…

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Trump allies promote ‘deep state’ conspiracy theory to undermine Mueller investigation

Trump allies promote ‘deep state’ conspiracy theory to undermine Mueller investigation

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The Washington Post reports: Shortly after Joseph Mifsud’s efforts to help connect a Trump adviser with the Kremlin were detailed in court filings, an Italian reporter found him at a university in Rome, where he was serving as a visiting professor. “I never got any money from the Russians: my conscience is clear,” Mifsud told La Repubblica. “I am not a secret agent.” Then Mifsud disappeared. The Maltese-born academic has not surfaced publicly since that October 2017 interview, days after…

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The Republican Party’s ongoing effort to cripple democracy

The Republican Party’s ongoing effort to cripple democracy

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Michael Tomasky writes: A number of observers, myself included, have written pieces in recent years arguing that the Republican Party is no longer simply trying to compete with and defeat the Democratic Party on a level playing field. Today, rather than simply playing the game, the Republicans are simultaneously trying to rig the game’s rules so that they never lose. The aggressive gerrymandering, which the Supreme Court just declared to be a matter beyond its purview; the voter suppression schemes;…

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In secret Border Patrol Facebook group, agents joke about migrant deaths and post sexist memes

In secret Border Patrol Facebook group, agents joke about migrant deaths and post sexist memes

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ProPublica reports: Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings. In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old…

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In new talks, U.S. may seek nuclear freeze by North Korea, according to someone

In new talks, U.S. may seek nuclear freeze by North Korea, according to someone

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The New York Times reports: From a seemingly fanciful tweet to a historic step into North Korean territory, President Trump’s largely improvised third meeting on Sunday with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, was a masterpiece of drama, the kind of made-for-TV spectacle that Mr. Trump treasures. But for weeks before the meeting, which started as a Twitter offer by the president for Mr. Kim to drop by at the Demilitarized Zone and “say hello,” a real idea has been…

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San Francisco: City of the rich and the destitute

San Francisco: City of the rich and the destitute

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Julia Carrie Wong writes: The tale of how tech destroyed the city that gave us the Summer of Love has been told so many times that in 2014, the San Francisco Chronicle produced a satirical cheat sheet for out-of-town reporters parachuting in for taste of avocado toast and class warfare. (Amid a bumper crop of new elegies to San Francisco in recent months, web publication HmmDaily updated the form with an “AI Algorithm-generated” version.) But what’s striking about the current…

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