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Month: July 2019

What deserves the attention of every inattentive American

What deserves the attention of every inattentive American

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Cass R. Sunstein writes: Mueller made it clear that his largest concern is with Russia’s extraordinary effort to disrupt U.S. democratic processes. As he put it, “The Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” On one of the rare occasions when he went beyond his role as a lawyer and showed flashes of emotion, he said this: Over the course of my career, I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s…

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Congress is failing us

Congress is failing us

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Laurence Tribe writes: We are eye witnesses to the unraveling of the American project. Watching the old war hero stumble on the stage of history as he tried valiantly to overcome the limitations that his obviously ailing condition imposed on him was painful in itself. Watching the pitiless Republican vultures pick at his bones was even more so. But watching the ugly truth of what our nation threatens to become was worst of all. That we are governed by a…

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America’s ideals are under attack and we must defend them

America’s ideals are under attack and we must defend them

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Rep. Ilhan Omar writes: Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence. Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land. In recent weeks, he has lashed out unprompted against four freshman Democrats in the House of Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley…

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Trump administration in rush to bring back federal executions will face court challenges

Trump administration in rush to bring back federal executions will face court challenges

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BuzzFeed reports: The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will resume federal executions for the first time since 2003, reviving a court fight over lethal injections that’s been dormant for nearly a decade. Five men on death row are now scheduled for execution by lethal injection in December 2019 and January 2020, according to the Justice Department; each was convicted of murder and has exhausted his appeals. The new federal execution protocol involves a single drug, sodium pentobarbital, which is…

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Facebook algorithm changes suppressed journalism and meddled with democracy

Facebook algorithm changes suppressed journalism and meddled with democracy

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How do you feel about Facebook? fyv6561/Shutterstock.com By Jennifer Grygiel, Syracuse University Facebook’s News Feed algorithm determines what users see on its platform – from funny memes to comments from friends. The company regularly updates this algorithm, which can dramatically change what information people consume. As the 2020 election approaches, there is much public concern that what was dubbed “Russian meddling” in the 2016 presidential election could happen again. But what’s not getting enough attention is the role Facebook’s algorithm…

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Oceans are melting glaciers from below much faster than predicted, study finds

Oceans are melting glaciers from below much faster than predicted, study finds

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Inside Climate News reports: Beneath the ocean’s surface, glaciers may be melting 10 to 100 times faster than previously believed, new research shows. Until now, scientists had a limited understanding of what happens under the water at the point where ice meets sea. Using a combination of radar, sonar and time-lapse photography, a team of researchers has now provided the first detailed measurements of the underwater changes over time. Their findings suggest that the theories currently used to gauge glacier…

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The fruitless quest to simulate the human brain

The fruitless quest to simulate the human brain

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Ed Yong writes: On July 22, 2009, the neuroscientist Henry Markram walked onstage at the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford, England, and told the audience that he was going to simulate the human brain, in all its staggering complexity, in a computer. His goals were lofty: “It’s perhaps to understand perception, to understand reality, and perhaps to even also understand physical reality.” His timeline was ambitious: “We can do it within 10 years, and if we do succeed, we will send…

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The future of humanity and the course of climate change may be determined in the next 18 months

The future of humanity and the course of climate change may be determined in the next 18 months

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Matt McGrath writes: Do you remember the good old days when we had “12 years to save the planet”? Now it seems, there’s a growing consensus that the next 18 months will be critical in dealing with the global heating crisis, among other environmental challenges. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C this century, emissions of carbon dioxide would have to be cut by 45% by 2030….

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Robert Mueller kept his promise

Robert Mueller kept his promise

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Russell Berman writes: Democrats can’t say Robert Mueller didn’t warn them. For months, the former special counsel told them in every way he could—in private negotiations, in his sole public statement on his investigation, through letters from the Justice Department—that he did not want to testify before Congress, and that if he did, his appearance would be a dud. Today, Mueller fully delivered on that promise. Over the course of more than six hours of testimony before two House committees,…

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Ilhan Omar’s ‘anti-Semitism’ is becoming a load-bearing myth for American politics

Ilhan Omar’s ‘anti-Semitism’ is becoming a load-bearing myth for American politics

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Chase Madar writes: When House Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments about the Israel lobby took over the news cycle earlier this year, they struck some as innocuously accurate, others as impolitic, while for others they were outrageous and inflammatory. Omar apologized for any offense and pledged to be more diplomatic. End of story, right? Of course not. The rabidly anti-Semitic comments that Omar never made — along with the equally fictitious Jew hatred of her allies in the so-called Squad —…

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The United States won’t feed 30,000 starving Syrians living under its protection

The United States won’t feed 30,000 starving Syrians living under its protection

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Josh Rogin writes: About 10 miles from a U.S. military outpost in southern Syria, some 30,000 civilians are in crisis — with almost no food, water or medicine — and, for complicated reasons, the U.S. government refuses to feed them. These innocent people are living under the protection of the United States, fearing the Bashar al-Assad regime, Iranian militias and the Islamic State. But the U.S. government, which bears primary responsibility for their fate because of its control over the…

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Far-right leaders join Trump in welcoming Boris Johnson to No 10

Far-right leaders join Trump in welcoming Boris Johnson to No 10

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The Guardian reports: Rightwing, populist and nationalist leaders have welcomed Boris Johnson’s imminent arrival at No 10 Downing St after Donald Trump praised the UK’s new prime minister as a “Britain Trump” who was “tough and smart” and would “do a great job”. In Italy, Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right, anti-immigration League and deputy prime minister, wished Johnson “all the best”, adding: “The fact that on the left they are painting him as ‘more dangerous than the League’ makes…

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Revealing the secret lives of cells with advanced microscopy

Revealing the secret lives of cells with advanced microscopy

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Chris Parker writes: Open any biology textbook, and you’ll encounter an artistic rendering of a perfectly round cell, says biophysicist Winfried Wiegraebe. Yet the truth is more complex. Wiegraebe’s team at the Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle has been modeling the behavior of individual cells in three dimensions. Among their recent observations: Even with cells of the same type, no two are shaped alike, let alone truly round. “We were surprised,” says Wiegraebe. More than 350 years after…

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