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Author: By Paul Woodward

The end of life on Earth?

The end of life on Earth?

Apocalyptic statements always sound crazy and talking about the end of life on Earth at this juncture in its history will, for many people, seem like an overly pessimistic assessment of the perils we face. Temperatures rise, extreme weather events become more frequent, species dwindle or disappear, forests burn, glaciers melt — no doubt the situation is dire, but surely not so bad that we are witnessing the destruction of life itself. For that to happen, wouldn’t Earth have to…

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Recent events on and around the Arabian Peninsula

Recent events on and around the Arabian Peninsula

June 23, Meet the Press: WATCH: Trump tells Chuck Todd that he wants to talk with Iran with “no pre-conditions.” #MTP #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/kie0I91ZbA — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 23, 2019 August 28, Mareike Transfeld wrote: Last month, the UAE said it would withdraw its troops from the northern port of Hodeidah. In reassuring the international community that it had coordinated this with Saudi Arabia, it explained it was just trying to follow terms set down by a United Nations…

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‘I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of the Category 5,’ says Trump as Dorian becomes the 35th such hurricane

‘I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of the Category 5,’ says Trump as Dorian becomes the 35th such hurricane

President Trump: "I'm not sure that I've ever even heard of the Category 5. I knew it existed, and I've seen some category 4s — you don't even see them that much but the category 5 is something that I don't know that I've ever even heard the term other than I know it's there." pic.twitter.com/44rpbxv90D — The Hill (@thehill) September 1, 2019 The Category 5 hurricanes Trump never heard of: Michael (2018), Maria (2017), Irma (2017), Matthew (2016), Felix…

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What have the Romans ever done for us?

What have the Romans ever done for us?

For the entertainment of many, this video has been making the rounds recently:     For those who don’t follow British politics closely or know much about the history of the British Isles, a little background is in order. The voice here comes from John Cleese in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where he plays a rebel leader conspiring against Roman rule in historic Palestine. Since the Romans also ruled Britania (for about 400 years), the joker who crafted this…

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Living in space

Living in space

  By Paul Woodward To see things clearly, we often need to break the patterns of habit. The Earth, physically and metaphorically — the ground of human experience — is the stationary foundation that forms the background of movement: our movement across its surface; the terra firma against which the oceans wash and above which birds fly; the horizon that the Sun rises above and then falls beneath. Intellectually, as basic science, most people understand that it is the Earth…

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Hollywood is undermining climate action

Hollywood is undermining climate action

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Cara Buckley writes: Humans ruined everything. They bred too much and choked the life out of the land, air and sea. And so they must be vaporized by half, or attacked by towering monsters, or vanquished by irate dwellers from the oceans’ polluted depths. Barring that, they face hardscrabble, desperate lives on a once verdant Earth now consumed by ice or drought. That is how many recent superhero and sci-fi movies — among them the latest Avengers and Godzilla pictures…

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America’s white nationalist disease won’t be remedied by counter-terrorism and condemnations

America’s white nationalist disease won’t be remedied by counter-terrorism and condemnations

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In an editorial, the New York Times says: While its modern roots predate the Trump administration by many decades, white nationalism has attained a new mainstream legitimacy during Mr. Trump’s time in office. Discussions of Americans being “replaced” by immigrants, for instance, are a recurring feature on some programs on Fox News. Fox hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, for example, return to these themes frequently. Democrats, Ms. Ingraham told viewers last year, “want to replace you, the American voters,…

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Bashar al-Assad’s useful idiot

Bashar al-Assad’s useful idiot

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Josh Rogin writes: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) talks often about her January 2017 trip to Syria, when she met Bashar al-Assad, toured Aleppo after it had been reduced to rubble (by the Assad regime), and interviewed Syrian civilians and the regime-approved “opposition,” who unanimously told her Assad was a better option for Syria than the “terrorists.” But Gabbard never talks about her other trip — to the Turkish-Syrian border with a group of lawmakers in June 2015, when she met…

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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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Donald ‘love it or leave it’ Trump: ‘The American dream is dead’

Donald ‘love it or leave it’ Trump: ‘The American dream is dead’

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Trump says if you don’t love America, leave it. He’s been bashing the US for years. pic.twitter.com/b7humVud7W — Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 21, 2019 If Trump’s electioneering mantra, “we’re like a Third World country,” ever sounded like a hyperbolic economic assessment of America, have no doubt it was simply and crudely a dog whistle to those of his white supporters who believe non-whites don’t belong here and should “go back” where they come from. Make America Great Again has always…

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The poison in Britain’s Labour Party

The poison in Britain’s Labour Party

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  In a letter to The Observer, Howard Jacobson, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Sir Simon Schama, Neil Blair, Tracy-Ann Oberman, and Rabbi Julia Neuberger, write: Over the past four years, we have watched the unchecked spread of vicious antisemitism – anti-Jewish racism – in the Labour party with bewilderment and disgust – all the more so since we respected Labour’s long previous history of fighting racism, and its many brave and decent members. Now, after the BBC’s Panorama programme, we can…

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News organizations are timidly changing their approach to covering climate crisis

News organizations are timidly changing their approach to covering climate crisis

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The New York Times reports: As Europe heats up, Greenland melts and the Midwest floods, many news organizations are devoting more resources to climate change as they cover the topic with more urgency. In Florida, six newsrooms with different owners have taken the unusual step of pooling their resources and sharing their reporting on the issue. They plan to examine how climate change will affect the state’s enormous agriculture sector as well as “the future of coastal towns and cities…

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Research on honeybees hit by Trump budget cuts

Research on honeybees hit by Trump budget cuts

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CNN reports: The US Department of Agriculture has suspended data collection for its annual Honey Bee Colonies report, citing cost cuts — a move that robs researchers and the honeybee industry of a critical tool for understanding honeybee population declines, and comes as the USDA is curtailing other research programs. It’s also another step toward undoing President Barack Obama’s government-wide focus on protecting pollinators, including bees and butterflies, whose populations have plummeted in recent years. [Continue reading…] WJLA reports: Last…

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The Trump kakistocracy: Government ‘for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools’

The Trump kakistocracy: Government ‘for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools’

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Take Your Daughter To Work Day#UnwantedIvanka pic.twitter.com/nnTzm0Pu51 — Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) July 1, 2019 It’s hard to watch the Trump presidency — the definition of a kakistocracy (“government by the worst people”) — without anticipating its denouement, not so much as expectation but more so as wish. What end would be most fitting, even if it might be unlikely? Donald Trump’s message has been consistent: He can get away with anything. He gloats from the throne of his impunity. The…

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Donald Trump doesn’t deny he’s a rapist

Donald Trump doesn’t deny he’s a rapist

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In response to the latest allegation that he engaged in a sexual assault, Donald Trump’s first line of defense is to claim that the victim is not his kind of woman — he doesn’t deny that he is this kind of man. In reference to E. Jean Carroll, Trump says: “Number one, she’s not my type,” but he leaves open the possibility that any woman who is his type, might be the type of woman he would consider raping if…

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World scientists’ warning to humanity on microorganisms and climate change

World scientists’ warning to humanity on microorganisms and climate change

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An editorial in Nature says: In 1992, the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington DC, and more than 1,700 researchers, issued the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity. It cautioned that humans were inflicting “harsh and often irreversible damage” on the environment, and that current practices were endangering humanity’s future. More than 21,000 scientists have so far endorsed a widely publicized and equally stark second warning, issued in 2017. This week, part of the Scientists’ Warning movement calls attention to a…

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