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Russian influence in Britain: What Boris Johnson wants to hide

Russian influence in Britain: What Boris Johnson wants to hide

Peter Jukes writes: According to its chairman, Dominic Grieve, Boris Johnson personally blocked – for “bogus” reasons – the imminent publication of a cross-party report on Russia meddling in UK politics by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). Elements of the suppressed report have now leaked out. According to CNN, the evidence of Bill Browder, the campaigner behind the anti-corruption Magnitsky Acts, suggests that Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, has deployed Russians “to infiltrate UK society and to conceal the underlying…

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Elizabeth Warren would help billionaires survive on a few billion less

Elizabeth Warren would help billionaires survive on a few billion less

The New York Times reports: “Yes, billionaires will have to pay a little more,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the revised tax package she introduced recently, “six cents on each dollar.” This modest-sounding proposal, though, would have a far-reaching impact on the wealthiest Americans when combined with her other tax plans — shrinking colossal fortunes over time and making it much more difficult to hand down multibillion-dollar legacies. The tax bite for any individual would not equal the $100 billion…

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The media must meet the challenge of effectively covering the impeachment hearings

The media must meet the challenge of effectively covering the impeachment hearings

Margaret Sullivan writes: The national media’s shortcomings have been all too obvious in recent years as Donald Trump has gleefully thrown the norms of traditional journalism into a tizzy. They’ve trafficked in false equivalence. Allowed President Trump to play assignment editor. Gotten mired in pointless punditry. Granted, it’s been a mixed record. Journalists have done a lot right — they have pointed out lies, dug out what’s really happening, skillfully explained and analyzed. But on Wednesday — as televised impeachment…

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The death of old scientists clears the way for new advances

The death of old scientists clears the way for new advances

Veronique Greenwood writes: New ideas advance in science not just because they are true, but because their opponents die, physicist Max Planck wrote in 1948. He was referring to a fundamental theory that, at the time, provoked a nasty feud, yet today is taught in nearly every high school physics classroom. The belief that science advances one funeral at a time is the kind of folk mythology in which any researcher might indulge in a discouraging moment, says Kevin Zollman,…

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State Department freed Ukraine money before Trump says he did — he lacked lacked authority to block it

State Department freed Ukraine money before Trump says he did — he lacked lacked authority to block it

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump says he lifted his freeze on aid to Ukraine on Sept. 11, but the State Department had quietly authorized releasing $141 million of the money several days earlier, according to five people familiar with the matter. The State Department decision, which hasn’t been reported previously, stemmed from a legal finding made earlier in the year, and conveyed in a classified memorandum to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. State Department lawyers found the White House Office…

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How U.S. diplomats are defending American ideals and holding the Trump administration accountable

How U.S. diplomats are defending American ideals and holding the Trump administration accountable

The New York Times reports: State Department Foreign Service officers usually express their views in formal diplomatic cables, but these days they are using closed Facebook groups and encrypted apps to convey their pride in Marie L. Yovanovitch, the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, whose House testimony opened the floodgates on the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. #GoMasha is their rallying cry. In private conversations, they trade admiring notes about career State Department officials like William B. Taylor Jr. and George…

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Former NSC official Fiona Hill confronted Republicans for acting as ‘useful’ (idiots) for Putin

Former NSC official Fiona Hill confronted Republicans for acting as ‘useful’ (idiots) for Putin

  “The Russians were who attacked us in 2016, and they’re now writing the script for others to do the same. And if we don’t get our act together, they will continue to make fools of us internationally.” Fiona Hill Full transcript of testimony of Fiona Hill. For some relevant background on Putin’s work skills as a KGB case officer, watch this 2013 interview with Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy.

Berliners troll Trump by shipping him a 2.7-ton piece of the Berlin Wall

Berliners troll Trump by shipping him a 2.7-ton piece of the Berlin Wall

Quartz reports: US president Donald Trump will be receiving a special gift from Berlin residents on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall—a 2.7-ton section of the wall itself. The stunt is squarely directed at Trump’s vow to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, a part of his “zero tolerance” immigration policy. “We would like to give you one of the last pieces of the failed Berlin Wall to commemorate the United States’ dedication to building…

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India’s Supreme Court rules in favor of Ayodhya property claim made by the Hindu god (and ‘legal entity’), Ram

India’s Supreme Court rules in favor of Ayodhya property claim made by the Hindu god (and ‘legal entity’), Ram

  Al Jazeera reports: There was heightened security in Ayodhya, a town in north India, ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict on a site claimed by both Muslims and Hindus. Early on Saturday, the town looked deserted as residents stayed inside their homes, waiting for the decision to be announced. Some had even stocked up on food in advance, just in case the decision provoked anger, violence and eventually a curfew in this historic town. But when India’s top court…

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Why Twitter so big in Saudi Arabia

Why Twitter so big in Saudi Arabia

The New York Times reports: In Saudi Arabia, where a relatively closed culture leaves citizens few public forums to discuss news and politics, Twitter has become a kind of town square, the place where citizens meet to swap information and debate the latest issues. Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy has not banned the site, but it has taken extensive measures to shape the information that appears there and to silence or drown out dissidents who use it to post critical views….

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‘Noise’ in the brain encodes surprisingly important signals

‘Noise’ in the brain encodes surprisingly important signals

Jordana Cepelewicz writes: At every moment, neurons whisper, shout, sputter and sing, filling the brain with a dizzying cacophony of voices. Yet many of those voices don’t seem to be saying anything meaningful at all. They register as habitual echoes of noise, not signal; as static, not discourse. Since scientists first became capable of recording from single neurons 60 years ago, they’ve known that brain activity is highly variable, even when there’s no obvious reason it should be. An animal’s…

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The psychology of Greta Thunberg’s climate activism

The psychology of Greta Thunberg’s climate activism

Scott Koenig writes: In September 2019, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage activist, excoriated world leaders for their ongoing failure to address the climate crisis. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she said at one point during her speech at the United Nations. Thunberg has been galvanizing public support for climate action since rising to prominence with her school strike about a year ago, and her latest remarks are no exception. They’ve attracted millions of…

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William Taylor is an ideal witness for House Democrats to begin public impeachment hearings

William Taylor is an ideal witness for House Democrats to begin public impeachment hearings

Noah Feldman writes: It’s no surprise that Ambassador William Taylor is expected to be the first witness to testify when the House of Representatives opens public impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump next week. First, he’s an astoundingly credible witness — straight from central casting, as Trump himself likes to say about some of his appointees. As a matter of prosecutorial strategy, that makes him an ideal first witness for House Democrats to lay out their case for the first…

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Elizabeth Warren isn’t as adversarial and reactive as other candidates and the media would like her to be

Elizabeth Warren isn’t as adversarial and reactive as other candidates and the media would like her to be

Politico reports: Elizabeth Warren has been on the receiving end of an onslaught of jabs, swipes, missives, think-pieces and general bashing from opponents this past week, the likes of which she hasn’t experienced since she jumped into the presidential race. But more surprising than the attacks — Warren, having risen to frontrunner status, had those coming — has been her response. In two words: No comment. Her surrogates and campaign aides aren’t going on cable TV to defend her —…

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