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How the right has tried to rebrand anti-Semitism

How the right has tried to rebrand anti-Semitism

Mairav Zonszein writes: On August 20, after President Donald Trump told a reporter that any American Jew who casts a “vote for a Democrat… shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” outraged reactions flooded social media, attributing to his statement the anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty.” This is the idea, rampant in so much nineteenth- and twentieth-century thought, that Jews cannot be trusted because their allegiances are inherently divided between their Jewish and their national identities. Captain…

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Boris Johnson’s government falling apart: Minister resigns from cabinet and surrenders Conservative whip

Boris Johnson’s government falling apart: Minister resigns from cabinet and surrenders Conservative whip

The Guardian reports: Amber Rudd has resigned from the cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip in protest at Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit. The Hastings and Rye MP said she was relinquishing the Tory whip after the prime minister sacked 21 rebels this week. The secretary of state for work and pensions posted on Twitter: “I have resigned from cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip. I cannot stand by as good, loyal, moderate Conservatives are expelled. “I have spoken to…

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DNA indicates how ancient migrations shaped South Asian languages and farming

DNA indicates how ancient migrations shaped South Asian languages and farming

Science News reports: A new DNA study of unprecedented size has unveiled ancient human movements that shaped the genetic makeup of present-day South Asians in complex ways. Those long-ago treks across vast grasslands and through mountain valleys may even have determined the types of languages still spoken in a region that includes what’s now India and Pakistan. The investigation addresses two controversial issues. First, who brought farming to South Asia? Genetic comparisons indicate that farming was either invented locally by…

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The West has lost confidence in its values. Syria is paying the price

The West has lost confidence in its values. Syria is paying the price

Anne Applebaum writes: The crisis of Western values has many aspects, many faces. There is a decline in faith in liberal democracy, a loss of confidence in universal human rights, a collapse in support for all kinds of transnational projects. There is a constitutional crisis brewing in London. There is a president who defies democratic norms in Washington. There are challenges to the free press and independent judges in democracies everywhere, from Budapest to Manila. But this same crisis —…

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Trump administration considering drastic cut in refugees allowed to enter U.S.

Trump administration considering drastic cut in refugees allowed to enter U.S.

The New York Times reports: The White House is considering a plan that would effectively bar refugees from most parts of the world from resettling in the United States by cutting back the decades-old program that admits tens of thousands of people each year who are fleeing war, persecution and famine, according to current and former administration officials. In meetings over the past several weeks, one top administration official has proposed zeroing out the program altogether, while leaving the president…

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How climate change is driving emigration from Central America

How climate change is driving emigration from Central America

A farmer carries firewood during the dry season in Nicaragua, one of the Central American countries affected by a recent drought. Neil Palmer for CIAT/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND By Miranda Cady Hallett, University of Dayton Clouds of dust rose behind the wheels of the pickup truck as we hurtled over the back road in Palo Verde, El Salvador. When we got to the stone-paved part of the road, the driver slowed as the truck heaved up and down with the uneven…

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The secret files of the master of modern Republican gerrymandering

The secret files of the master of modern Republican gerrymandering

The New Yorker reports: Thomas Hofeller preached secrecy as he remapped American politics from the shadows. The Republican Party operative, known as the master of the modern gerrymander, trained other G.O.P. operatives and legislators nationwide to secure their computer networks, guard access to their maps, and never send e-mails that they didn’t want to see published by the news media. In training sessions for state legislators and junior line drawers, he used a PowerPoint presentation that urged them to “avoid…

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Voice-mimicking AI software reportedly used in a major theft

Voice-mimicking AI software reportedly used in a major theft

The Washington Post reports: Thieves used voice-mimicking software to imitate a company executive’s speech and dupe his subordinate into sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to a secret account, the company’s insurer said, in a remarkable case that some researchers are calling one of the world’s first publicly reported artificial-intelligence heists. The managing director of a British energy company, believing his boss was on the phone, followed orders one Friday afternoon in March to wire more than $240,000 to an…

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Across generations, Americans suffer from, and die of, new levels of loneliness in an age of crumbling institutions

Across generations, Americans suffer from, and die of, new levels of loneliness in an age of crumbling institutions

Derek Thompson writes: In 1998, The Wall Street Journal and NBC News asked several hundred young Americans to name their most important values. Work ethic led the way—naturally. After that, large majorities picked patriotism, religion, and having children. Twenty-one years later, the same pollsters asked the same questions of today’s 18-to-38-year-olds—members of the Millennial and Z generations. The results, published last week in The Wall Street Journal, showed a major value shift among young adults. Today’s respondents were 10 percentage…

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First major center for psychedelic research opening in the U.S.

First major center for psychedelic research opening in the U.S.

Discover magazine reports: The launch of a new privately-funded research center dedicated to investigating the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs was announced today at Johns Hopkins University. The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research will be dedicated to understanding how psychedelics alter consciousness, behavior and brain function. The bulk of the research will focus on psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms, which has been demonstrated as a powerful tool to treat mental health afflictions. The launch comes thanks to…

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Boris Johnson’s brother quits as MP and minister, citing ‘national interest’

Boris Johnson’s brother quits as MP and minister, citing ‘national interest’

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson’s premiership has been dealt an extraordinary blow after his brother, Jo Johnson, announced he was quitting the cabinet, citing an “unresolvable tension” between his family loyalty and the national interest. The dramatic move by the younger Johnson, who had only recently returned to government, sent shockwaves through the Conservative party and appear to severely rattle the prime minister as he visited a police training academy. The speech by the prime minister in West Yorkshire was…

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Trump might like Brexit less after he sees what it does to the economy

Trump might like Brexit less after he sees what it does to the economy

The Washington Post reports: If Britain were to quit the E.U. without a formal withdrawal agreement — as Johnson has threatened — the biggest blows would fall on the United Kingdom and its European trading partners. U.K. output would shrink by more than 5 percent while unemployment and inflation would soar, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, told Parliament earlier this week. Broader effects on business and investor confidence would ripple through global financial markets. A further…

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Climate crisis town hall tested Democratic candidates’ boldness and credibility

Climate crisis town hall tested Democratic candidates’ boldness and credibility

InsideClimate News reports: Views of Hurricane Dorian’s destruction across the Bahamas and its path toward the Carolinas punctuated the first U.S. presidential candidates’ televised forum dedicated to climate change, reminding viewers of the stakes as 10 leading Democratic candidates pitched their climate policy ideas Wednesday night. CNN’s juxtaposition of its unprecedented political forum with coverage of the record-breaking storm seemed to signal a new era in the long struggle over the U.S. role in addressing global warming. There was none…

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How many Americans believe in climate change? Probably more than you think, research in Indiana suggests

How many Americans believe in climate change? Probably more than you think, research in Indiana suggests

Concern about climate change is broader than many Hoosiers think. Katherine Welles/Shutterstock By Matthew Houser, Indiana University Indiana certainly doesn’t look like a state that’s ready to confront climate change. Its former governor, Vice President Mike Pence, has questioned whether human actions affect the climate. In 2016 the majority of Indiana residents voted for Donald Trump, who rejects mainstream climate science. And the state ranks first in the proportion of its population that identifies as conservative – a position that…

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