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Trump gave up the idea of running for speaker when he learned he’d probably lose — badly

Trump gave up the idea of running for speaker when he learned he’d probably lose — badly

Politico reports: It wasn’t that anyone seriously thought he’d win the 218 votes to be elected. In fact, most who were familiar with the conference’s internal dynamics believed he couldn’t even get the conference nomination, requiring a simple majority of Republicans. Centrist Republicans running in Biden districts were dreading the prospect of being tied to Trump as speaker. And even traditional and conservative Republicans were not happy about the idea of reporters peppering them with questions about whether they think…

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A broken Congress is what MAGA always wanted

A broken Congress is what MAGA always wanted

David Rothkopf writes: There have been MAGA true believers shitting on the floor of the Congress ever since Jan. 6, 2021. But the right wing’s active desecration of the U.S. government extends far beyond ugly recent events on Capitol Hill, and dates back long before the Trumpist insurrection of two and a half years ago. In fact, the origins of the attacks on the government date back at least four decades to the Reagan administration, when the former president popularized…

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From his ‘War Room,’ Steve Bannon stokes the Republican Party meltdown

From his ‘War Room,’ Steve Bannon stokes the Republican Party meltdown

The New York Times reports: On Wednesday morning, two Republicans who hours earlier had toppled Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House made a well-worn trek to a 19th-century brick townhouse a few blocks away from the Capitol and entered the cluttered sanctuary of Stephen K. Bannon’s recording studio. Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, the instigator of the rebellion, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, one of seven other Republican defectors, huddled with Mr. Bannon for a morning meeting ahead…

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The GOP wants power without responsibilities

The GOP wants power without responsibilities

Greg Sargent writes: What’s become clear now is there is no Republican majority in the House united behind any governing approach. The Gaetz faction is committed to a project that most House Republicans ultimately are not: eschewing consensus governing entirely wherever possible and making no concessions to Democrats whatsoever. In this, the Gaetz crew has been urged on by Trump, who wants Republicans to shut down the government to defund ongoing prosecutions of him, a Total War posture that would…

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Poland’s election is neither free nor fair

Poland’s election is neither free nor fair

Anne Applebaum writes: State capture is a clean, formal phrase that describes a messy, ugly process. A political party or clique typically consolidates control over a state’s institutions only after years of bad legislation, concentrated propaganda, and many different forms of corruption. In some cases, constitutions have to be broken. Occasionally violence is required. Whole swaths of the public have to be persuaded, bribed, or frightened into going along. In Poland, this process has been under way for eight years….

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Putin’s fleet retreats: Ukraine is winning the Battle of the Black Sea

Putin’s fleet retreats: Ukraine is winning the Battle of the Black Sea

Peter Dickinson writes: Russia has reportedly withdrawn most of its Black Sea Fleet from occupied Crimea in recent weeks following a series of successful Ukrainian attacks. The retreat of the Russian fleet is a serious setback for Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion and the latest indication that Ukraine is winning the Battle of the Black Sea. Satellite footage from early October indicates that Russian vessels including three Kilo-class submarines, two guided missile frigates, and a patrol ship have all been hastily…

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U.S. will transfer weapons seized from Iran to Ukraine

U.S. will transfer weapons seized from Iran to Ukraine

CNN reports: The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from the US and its allies, US officials said. US Central Command has already transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, it announced on Wednesday. The transfer was conducted on Monday, CENTCOM…

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Twitter is at death’s door, one year after Elon Musk’s takeover

Twitter is at death’s door, one year after Elon Musk’s takeover

Miles Klee writes: On Oct. 26, 2022 Elon Musk enjoyed his first and last good day as the head of Twitter (now X). Following a $44 billion acquisition he tried to scuttle but was legally forced into closing, he attempted a bit of prop comedy — entering the company’s headquarters with a porcelain sink while flashing a mischievous smile. It was all the setup to a groaner of a pun announcing his arrival: “Let that sink in!” he declared in…

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Pope Francis lambasts climate change skeptics and ‘irresponsible’ Western lifestyles

Pope Francis lambasts climate change skeptics and ‘irresponsible’ Western lifestyles

CNN reports: Pope Francis has made his strongest statement yet on the accelerating climate crisis, pinning blame on big industries and world leaders as well as “irresponsible” Western lifestyles, in a blistering statement on Wednesday. “Our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” the pontiff wrote in a 7,000 word encyclical called Laudate Deum (“Praise God”). “Some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible, at…

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September shattered global heat record — and by a record margin

September shattered global heat record — and by a record margin

The Washington Post reports: Early analyses show global warmth surged far above previous records in September — even further than what scientists said seemed like astonishing increases in July and August. The planet’s average temperature shattered the previous September record by more than half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit), which is the largest monthly margin ever observed. Temperatures around the world last month were at levels closer to normal for July according to separate data analyses by European and…

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Climate change and habitat loss push amphibians closer to extinction

Climate change and habitat loss push amphibians closer to extinction

NPR reports: When JJ Apodaca was starting graduate school for biology in 2004, a first-of-its-kind study had just been released assessing the status of the world’s least understood vertebrates. The first Global Amphibian Assessment, which looked at more than 5,700 species of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and other amphibians became “pretty much the guiding light of my career,” said Apodaca, who now heads the nonprofit group Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. Nineteen years later, a second global assessment of the world’s…

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Giuliani’s drinking has Trump prosecutors’ attention

Giuliani’s drinking has Trump prosecutors’ attention

The New York Times reports: No one close to Mr. Giuliani, 79, has suggested that drinking could excuse or explain away his present legal and personal disrepair. He arrived for a mug shot in Georgia in August not over rowdy nightlife behavior or reckless cable interviews but for allegedly abusing the laws he defended aggressively as a federal prosecutor, subverting the democracy of a nation that once lionized him. Yet to almost anyone in proximity, friends say, Mr. Giuliani’s drinking…

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The only sin that Republicans can’t forgive

The only sin that Republicans can’t forgive

Ronald Brownstein writes: The fall of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy today demonstrated again that the one sin that cannot be forgiven in the modern Republican Party is being seen as failing to fight the Democratic agenda by any means necessary. Of all the accusations that could be leveled against McCarthy, the notion that he was insufficiently committed to battling Democrats would not seem high on the list. As the GOP minority leader in the previous Congress, McCarthy voted to reject…

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Leonard Leo says he will not cooperate with D.C. Attorney General tax probe

Leonard Leo says he will not cooperate with D.C. Attorney General tax probe

Politico reports: Judicial activist Leonard Leo is not cooperating with an investigation by Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb for potentially misusing nonprofit tax laws for personal enrichment, his attorney confirmed. David Rivkin, Leo’s attorney, said in a statement to POLITICO that Schwalb has “no legal authority to conduct any investigatory steps or take any enforcement measures” because Leo’s multi-billion-dollar aligned nonprofits — which poured millions into campaigning for the nominations of conservative Supreme Court justices and advocating before them…

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The disinformation sleuths: a key role for scientists in impending elections

The disinformation sleuths: a key role for scientists in impending elections

An editorial in Nature says: Next year will bring a series of high-profile elections around the globe, including in India, Taiwan, the United States and, in all likelihood, the United Kingdom, as well as for the European Parliament. Social media will play a huge part in bringing information to the hundreds of millions of people casting their votes — and researchers who study elections are worried. Access to social-media data is essential to those who research political campaigns and their…

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