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U.S. military leaders struggle to accommodate a commander-in-chief who is both ignorant and capricious

U.S. military leaders struggle to accommodate a commander-in-chief who is both ignorant and capricious

Mark Bowden writes: For most of the past two decades, American troops have been deployed all over the world—to about 150 countries. During that time, hundreds of thousands of young men and women have experienced combat, and a generation of officers have come of age dealing with the practical realities of war. They possess a deep well of knowledge and experience. For the past three years, these highly trained professionals have been commanded by Donald Trump. To get a sense…

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Judge rejects Trump’s ‘repugnant’ immunity claim in tax-return ruling

Judge rejects Trump’s ‘repugnant’ immunity claim in tax-return ruling

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump suffered a major setback in the long struggle to conceal his tax returns on Monday, when he lost a federal court ruling in New York. A judge ruled that the president’s claim to immunity while in office was “repugnant” and said Manhattan’s district attorney could subpoena eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns from his accountants, Mazars USA. An appeals court blocked any immediate handover of the records but the escalating court battle…

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Impeachment tentacles spread throughout Trump’s team

Impeachment tentacles spread throughout Trump’s team

Politico reports: The tentacles of the Democratic impeachment investigation are extending far beyond the arms of President Donald Trump. The vice president’s office, acting chief of staff’s office, State Department, Energy Department, Office of Management and Budget and Justice Department are among the government entities quickly finding themselves ensnared in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, joining a huge squad of White House lawyers, Cabinet officials and national security staffers — many of them detailed from the Pentagon, CIA and elsewhere in…

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The center of the Milky Way exploded just three million years ago — the recent past in galactic history

The center of the Milky Way exploded just three million years ago — the recent past in galactic history

Cosmos reports: A titanic, expanding beam of energy sprang from close to the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way just 3.5 million years ago, sending a cone-shaped burst of radiation through both poles of the Galaxy and out into deep space. That’s the finding arising from research conducted by a team of scientists led by Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn from Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) and soon to…

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What Putin got from Trump’s Ukraine phone call

What Putin got from Trump’s Ukraine phone call

Molly K. McKew writes: A year ago, I was in Kiev when a young Ukrainian soldier was killed. Olesya Baklanova, 19, enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as soon as she was eligible and fought to be assigned a combat post. Deployed to the front lines of her country’s war against Russia, she was killed during the night while manning an observation post, shot by a sniper stationed among the Russian and proxy forces dug in a few hundred meters…

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‘If you pour poison unremittingly onto the land for 70 years — which is what we’ve done — you’re going to kill everything’

‘If you pour poison unremittingly onto the land for 70 years — which is what we’ve done — you’re going to kill everything’

  One in seven British species is threatened with extinction, according to a new report by the country’s main wildlife and conservation charities. The study shows there have been strong or moderate declines in 41% of all species since 1970.

As Amazon fires burn, Pope convenes meeting on the rainforests and moral obligation to protect them

As Amazon fires burn, Pope convenes meeting on the rainforests and moral obligation to protect them

Georgina Gustin reports: Pope Francis convened nearly 200 bishops, climate experts and indigenous people from the Amazon on Sunday for an unprecedented meeting in Rome to discuss the fate of the Amazonian rainforests and the world’s moral obligation to protect them. The meeting, or Synod, is the first of its kind to address an ecosystem, rather than a particular region or theme. It comes as fires continue to consume the Amazon rainforest, destroying a critical tool for stabilizing the climate,…

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2nd whistleblower comes forward after speaking with intelligence community’s inspector general

2nd whistleblower comes forward after speaking with intelligence community’s inspector general

ABC News reports: Mark Zaid, the attorney representing the whistleblower who sounded the alarm on President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and triggered an impeachment inquiry, tells ABC News that he is now representing a second whistleblower who has spoken with the inspector general. Zaid tells ABC News’ Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos that the second person — also described as an intelligence official — has first-hand knowledge of some of the allegations outlined in the original complaint and has been…

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Trump-Barr investigation of the investigators is likely to chill relations with U.S. allies

Trump-Barr investigation of the investigators is likely to chill relations with U.S. allies

The New York Times reports: After a jet carrying Attorney General William P. Barr touched down in Rome late last month, some diplomats and intelligence officials at the American Embassy were unsure why he had come to the Eternal City. They were later surprised, two officials said, to discover that he had circumvented protocols in arranging the trip, where he met with Italian political and intelligence officials. Everything about the visit was unusual — perhaps most of all, the attorney…

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Why violence has spiraled in the Hong Kong protests

Why violence has spiraled in the Hong Kong protests

The Guardian reports: When Hong Kong’s summer of protests began in June, the city was so shocked by police unleashing 150 canisters of tear gas and using their batons, it helped bring two million people into the streets to demonstrate again and denounce police brutality. Four months of rolling protests later, they used nearly 10 times as many tear gas rounds in 24 hours in a futile bid to control the city as China celebrated 70 years of communist rule…

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‘We have nothing to lose’: Iraqis vow to keep up protests

‘We have nothing to lose’: Iraqis vow to keep up protests

Al Jazeera reports: As clouds of white smoke billowed overhead, Showqi had no other option but to flee. Nearby, dozens of people scattered as they tried to outrun a fresh volley of tear gas fired by security forces in Tahrir Square, in the centre of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. “They’re the lucky ones, [the ones] who were not targeted by government snipers,” Showqi said on Saturday, referring to the men who had run alongside him, some holding masks and pieces of…

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2nd intelligence official considering stepping forward as whistleblower on Trump’s abuse of power

2nd intelligence official considering stepping forward as whistleblower on Trump’s abuse of power

The New York Times reports: A second intelligence official who was alarmed by President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine is weighing whether to file his own formal whistle-blower complaint and testify to Congress, according to two people briefed on the matter. The official has more direct information about the events than the first whistle-blower, whose complaint that Mr. Trump was using his power to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals touched off an impeachment inquiry. The second official is among…

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Holding Ukraine hostage: How Trump and his allies, chasing 2020 ammunition, fanned a political storm

Holding Ukraine hostage: How Trump and his allies, chasing 2020 ammunition, fanned a political storm

The Washington Post reports: By mid-May, the U.S. relationship with Ukraine was unraveling: The U.S. ambassador had been recalled home for no apparent reason, the country’s new president was anxious about U.S. support, and President Trump’s personal lawyer was hawking Kiev conspiracy theories. Amid this turbulence, an unexpected figure stepped forward to assert that he was now in charge of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had no apparent standing to seize this critical…

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A Republican senator just made new claims about Trump linking Ukrainian military aid to investigations

A Republican senator just made new claims about Trump linking Ukrainian military aid to investigations

Vox reports: A top US diplomat told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that the Trump administration was blocking hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine until the country agreed to launch investigations Trump was demanding, Johnson told the Wall Street Journal Friday. Johnson said that the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, told him in late August that the administration was demanding Ukraine investigate “what happened in 2016,” and that if President Trump had “confidence”…

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