Browsed by
Author: From elsewhere

Sondland’s testimony torpedoes Republican defenses of Trump

Sondland’s testimony torpedoes Republican defenses of Trump

Amber Phillips writes: Gordon Sondland has been considered a figure who could crack the impeachment inquiry wide open. Not just because he was the witness directly talking to President Trump about Ukraine but also because of who he is: a Republican and Trump donor, a high-profile ambassador unanimously confirmed by the Republican Senate. And despite his background as a Trump ally — the president last month called him “a very good guy and a great American” — in his opening…

Read More Read More

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

Yahoo News reports: Some officials within the FBI, which received its own copy of the whistleblower’s complaint in early September, chafed at a Justice Department move they believed was aimed at shutting down any inquiry at all, especially into potential counterintelligence issues raised by the allegations, according to a former senior U.S intelligence official who has discussed the matter with current FBI counterintelligence agents. There were “guys who wanted to run with it,” said the former senior official. “People were…

Read More Read More

How rich people like Gordon Sondland buy their way to becoming U.S. ambassadors

How rich people like Gordon Sondland buy their way to becoming U.S. ambassadors

Some positions attract more political appointments – like those in Western Europe. Markus Pfaff/Shutterstock.com By Dennis Jett, Pennsylvania State University In every other developed democratic country, the role of ambassador, with only very rare exceptions, is given to career diplomats who have spent decades learning the art of international relations. In the U.S., however, many ambassadors are untrained in diplomacy, and have simply bought their way into a prestigious post. The involvement of the American ambassador to the European Union,…

Read More Read More

Why tyranny could be the inevitable outcome of democracy

Why tyranny could be the inevitable outcome of democracy

At the dawn of democracy, Plato foresaw an unfortunate end. vangelis aragiannis/Shutterstock.com By Lawrence Torcello, Rochester Institute of Technology Plato, one of the earliest thinkers and writers about democracy, predicted that letting people govern themselves would eventually lead the masses to support the rule of tyrants. When I tell my college-level philosophy students that in about 380 B.C. he asked “does not tyranny spring from democracy,” they’re sometimes surprised, thinking it’s a shocking connection. But looking at the modern political…

Read More Read More

Democracy can’t survive if Americans don’t make more effort to become better informed

Democracy can’t survive if Americans don’t make more effort to become better informed

Margaret Sullivan writes: A lot of Americans don’t know much and won’t exert themselves beyond their echo chambers to find out. This is the way a democracy self-destructs. And what’s more, it’s not that difficult for American citizens to do much, much better. Granted, the flow of news is unending — exhausting, even. And granted, there’s a lot of disinformation out there. But apathy — or giving in to confusion — is dangerous. “I’m terrified that the idea that it…

Read More Read More

Many Americans are tuning out of politics because they mistrust the media

Many Americans are tuning out of politics because they mistrust the media

The New York Times reports: In upstate New York, Travis Trudell got an alert on his phone Wednesday morning telling him the impeachment hearings had started. He turned on Disney Plus instead. In Wisconsin, Jerre Corrigan never considered watching. She spent the day giving a math lesson to third graders. In Idaho, Russell Memory worked a busy day as a computer programmer and figured he’d catch up in a few weeks when the hearings were over. The Democrats in Congress…

Read More Read More

Pope Francis: Catechism will be updated to define ecological sins

Pope Francis: Catechism will be updated to define ecological sins

America magazine reports: Following through on a proposal made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis said there are plans to include a definition of ecological sins in the church’s official teaching. “We should be introducing — we were thinking — in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, ecological sin against the common home,” he told participants at a conference on criminal justice Nov. 15. Members of the International Association of Penal Law…

Read More Read More

New American citizens could swing battleground states in 2020, study finds

New American citizens could swing battleground states in 2020, study finds

Politico reports: Immigrants who have become new American citizens in key swing states could prove influential in the 2020 election if effectively mobilized, according to a new study. An analysis conducted by the progressive group New American Leaders found that naturalized citizens make up hundreds of thousands of eligible voters in key presidential swing states such Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. New American Leaders, which helps immigrants run for elected office, released the numbers ahead of the fifth Democratic presidential debate…

Read More Read More

Trump’s deference to Putin

Trump’s deference to Putin

CNN reports: President Donald Trump has an Achilles’ heel when it comes to Russia. Over the years, he’s made no secret that he has a soft spot for the country and its authoritarian leader, President Vladimir Putin. Trump has proved that he is willing to reject widely held US foreign policy views and align himself with the Kremlin on everything from Russian interference in US elections to the war in Syria. Trump’s ties to Russians were so concerning that the…

Read More Read More

Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

Chilean police clash with anti-government demonstrators during a protest in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2019. Santiago is one of a dozen cities worldwide to see mass unrest in recent months. AP Photo/Esteban Felix By Henry F. (Chip) Carey, Georgia State University Numerous anti-government protests have paralyzed cities across the globe for months, from La Paz, Bolivia, to Santiago, Chile, and Monrovia, Liberia, to Beirut. Each protest in this worldwide wave of unrest has its own local dynamic and cause. But…

Read More Read More

Climate change fueled the rise and demise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, superpower of the ancient world

Climate change fueled the rise and demise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, superpower of the ancient world

Ashurbanipal, last major ruler of the Assyrian Empire, couldn’t outrun the effects of climate change. British Museum, CC BY-ND By Ashish Sinha, California State University, Dominguez Hills and Gayatri Kathayat, Xi’an Jiaotong University Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now modern Iraq and Syria….

Read More Read More

Trump administration reverses decades-long alignment with international law on illegality of Israeli settlements

Trump administration reverses decades-long alignment with international law on illegality of Israeli settlements

Al Jazeera reports: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that the United States is softening its position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration that reversed decades of US policy. Pompeo said the administration of President Donald Trump will no longer abide by a 1978 State Department legal opinion that the settlements were “inconsistent with international law”. “After carefully studying all sides of the legal…

Read More Read More

Leaked cables reveal what Iran is doing in Iraq

Leaked cables reveal what Iran is doing in Iraq

The Intercept reports: In mid-October, with unrest swirling in Baghdad, a familiar visitor slipped quietly into the Iraqi capital. The city had been under siege for weeks, as protesters marched in the streets, demanding an end to corruption and calling for the ouster of the prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi. In particular, they denounced the outsize influence of their neighbor Iran in Iraqi politics, burning Iranian flags and attacking an Iranian consulate. The visitor was there to restore order, but his…

Read More Read More

U.S. officials knew of Ukraine’s anxiety over pressure from Trump

U.S. officials knew of Ukraine’s anxiety over pressure from Trump

The Associated Press reports: U.S. State Department officials were informed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was feeling pressure from the Trump administration to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden even before the July phone call that has led to impeachment hearings in Washington, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press. In early May, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were told Zelenskiy was seeking advice on how to navigate the difficult…

Read More Read More