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The promise and perils of a secret impeachment vote in the Senate

The promise and perils of a secret impeachment vote in the Senate

Ephrat Livni writes: It’s no secret that a presidential impeachment trial in the US Senate, whatever evidence is or is not presented, will end with Donald Trump’s acquittal. Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell has promised it. But if the vote were conducted in secret, it seems, 30 or more Republican senators would find the president’s dealings with Ukraine violated the Constitution. Or so said former Arizona senator Jeff Flake in September. Former GOP senator @JeffFlake at #TribFest19 – "I heard…

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In aftermath of Ukraine crisis, a climate of mistrust and threats

In aftermath of Ukraine crisis, a climate of mistrust and threats

The Washington Post reports: The new Russia adviser at the White House — the third in just six months — has no meaningful background on the subject. The only expert on Ukraine has never spoken with President Trump, only been mocked by him publicly. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv will soon be without its highest-ranking diplomat for the second time in a year, as another ambassador departs after being undermined by the U.S. president and his personal attorney. The CIA…

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How to be a dictator

How to be a dictator

Adam Gopnik writes: Dictatorship has, in one sense, been the default condition of humanity. The basic governmental setup since the dawn of civilization could be summarized, simply, as taking orders from the boss. Big chiefs, almost invariably male, tell their underlings what to do, and they do it, or they are killed. Sometimes this is costumed in communal decision-making, by a band of local bosses or wise men, but even the most collegial department must have a chairman: a capo…

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Tulsi Gabbard and the return of the anti-anti-Trump left

Tulsi Gabbard and the return of the anti-anti-Trump left

Jonathan Chait writes: Tulsi Gabbard has been slowly edging toward leaving the Democratic Party and, it now seems more likely than not, launching a spoiler candidacy to peel disaffected left-wing votes away from the Democrats. Her “present” vote on impeachment, followed by a disavowal of what she called the “zero-sum mind-set the two political parties have trapped America in,” sets the stage for Gabbard to play the role of 2020’s Jill Stein. Left-wing anti-anti-Trumpism played an important role in the…

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The climate movement is gaining momentum in spite of Trump

The climate movement is gaining momentum in spite of Trump

Katrina vanden Heuvel writes: The selection of 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg as Time magazine’s Person of the Year seemed to trigger many on the political right, led by President Trump, who called the choice “ridiculous” and mocked Thunberg for supposedly having an “Anger Management problem.” The episode was a disgraceful yet fitting end to a year that saw bold new ideas to fight climate change meet with inaction, ignorance and worse. This month, world leaders held global climate talks…

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Soil is our best ally in the fight against climate change – but we’re fast running out of it

Soil is our best ally in the fight against climate change – but we’re fast running out of it

What lies beneath? Not a lot. Dan Evans, Author provided By Dan Evans, Lancaster University Take a handful of soil and hold it up to your nose. That fresh, earthy aroma is organic matter, part of which is carbon. What you can smell is the whiff of a solution for dealing with climate change. Global soil resources contain more organic carbon than the world’s atmosphere and all of its plants combined. When plants photosynthesise, they take carbon out of the…

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Mercenaries flock to Libya raising fears of prolonged war

Mercenaries flock to Libya raising fears of prolonged war

The Guardian reports: A new wave of mercenaries from Sudan is fighting in Libya, deepening concerns that the conflict in the north African state has descended into an intractable international war that could destabilise much of the region. Leaders of two different groups of Sudanese fighters active in Libya have told the Guardian that they had received hundreds of new recruits in recent months. Both groups were fighting with the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar against…

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Ram Dass 1931-2019

Ram Dass 1931-2019

Douglas Martin writes: [Richard] Alpert went to India in 1967, more as a tourist than as a pilgrim. Events led him to a twinkly old man wrapped in a blanket: Neem Karoli Baba, who was called Maharajji, or great king, by his followers. Maharajji appeared to read Mr. Alpert’s mind by telling him, accurately, that his mother had recently died of spleen disease — information that he said he had told no one in India. The experience caused a spiritual…

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Ape study suggests urge to dance is prehuman

Ape study suggests urge to dance is prehuman

The Guardian reports: Akira stands up and sways about. Pal is big on clapping. Ai is into tapping her foot, while Gon bangs and slaps the walls. Not the latest teen band sensation, but a spectacle far more impressive: the moves of a group of chimpanzees that scientists believe shed light on the prehistoric origins of human dancing. The researchers in Kyoto filmed the chimps performing the movements in a music booth attached to their enclosure where the apes could…

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Giuliani claims he’s ‘more of a Jew’ than Holocaust survivor George Soros

Giuliani claims he’s ‘more of a Jew’ than Holocaust survivor George Soros

NBC News reports: Rudy Giuliani says he’s “more of a Jew” than liberal billionaire George Soros, who survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary as a teen. In a remarkable interview with New York magazine, Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, painted Soros as a puppet master who has secretly been pulling the strings in Ukraine. Soros is a frequent target of conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world. “Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” Giuliani said. “Soros is…

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Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors to wealthy donors

Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors to wealthy donors

The Hill reports: Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent her presidential campaign railing against the donor class, making it known she doesn’t want their help. She has publicly bashed millionaires, has sworn off high-dollar fundraisers and has refused large checks from Democratic bundlers. But behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for Warren (D-Mass.) when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy. And if Warren becomes…

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Russia is trying to starve 4 million innocent Syrians

Russia is trying to starve 4 million innocent Syrians

Josh Rogin writes: As the Assad regime slaughters its way to victory on the ground in Syria, its partner Russia is using the United Nations to try to cut off crucial humanitarian aid to millions of innocent Syrians still living outside the government’s control. The Trump administration is trying — but so far failing — to stop Moscow’s sinister plan. Last Friday, Russian and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council Resolution that would partially renew international authorization for cross-border routes…

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Trump goes on bizarre tirade against wind turbines

Trump goes on bizarre tirade against wind turbines

President Trump: "I never understood wind, you know I know windmills very much. I've studied it better than anybody." pic.twitter.com/0U432SgNA2 — The Hill (@thehill) December 22, 2019 The Guardian reports: He says he knows more about Isis than his generals, and claims to understand politicians “better than anybody”. Now there is another subject in which Donald Trump’s expert knowledge surpasses that of everybody else: wind turbines, though he calls them windmills. “I’ve studied it better than anybody I know,” the…

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‘Mockery of justice’ after Saudis convict eight over Khashoggi killing

‘Mockery of justice’ after Saudis convict eight over Khashoggi killing

The Guardian reports: Saudi Arabia has been accused of engaging in a mockery of justice by shielding the alleged masterminds of the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after a court effectively exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle of involvement in the murder. The gruesome killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 stunned Saudi Arabia’s western allies, plunging the kingdom into its worst diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks. Five of the 11 officially…

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