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How Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing set the stage for the unraveling of affirmative action today

How Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing set the stage for the unraveling of affirmative action today

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw writes: In October 1991, I was part of the legal team that supported Anita Hill in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she bravely alleged sexual harassment at the hands of now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. His confirmation by that committee, chaired by then-Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, was one of the most consequential moments in setting the future trajectory of the ideals that matter most to me — civil rights, gender equity and our…

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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak

The Washington Post reports: In a rare public speech this spring, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson talked to law school graduates about the challenges of starting a new job and about her love of musical theater. One of her favorites, she said, is the smash hit “Hamilton.” A particular song resonates: “History Has Its Eyes on You.” “Given my own experience over the past year, I think it’s pretty obvious why,” she told the crowd at Boston University School of…

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In small victory, signs of grueling combat ahead in Ukrainian counteroffensive

In small victory, signs of grueling combat ahead in Ukrainian counteroffensive

The New York Times reports: The Ukrainian soldiers thought the Russians would quickly retreat from Neskuchne, a tiny village in southern Ukraine, especially after a concerted artillery barrage and a rocket strike on their headquarters. Instead, the Russians dug in, fighting for two days before giving up the village last month, leaving their dead decaying on the roadside and piles of expended ammunition around their makeshift defenses. The Russian defeat, on June 9, was Ukraine’s first win in a prolonged…

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‘Yevgeny Prigozhin will never be discussed again’: Russian media to erase all traces of mutinous warlord

‘Yevgeny Prigozhin will never be discussed again’: Russian media to erase all traces of mutinous warlord

The Observer reports: Suddenly, Yevgeny Prigozhin is a phantom. Is he in Belarus or St Petersburg? In unconfirmed footage that makes him look like a Bond villain, he struts across a rooftop, shadowed by a muscled bodyguard, takes a seat in a helicopter, and vanishes into the skies of St Petersburg. For nearly a decade, Prigozhin has sown scandal in Russia, creating a troll factory empire, leading Russia’s interference into foreign elections and bankrolling the Wagner mercenary group that fought…

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Half the police force quit. Crime dropped

Half the police force quit. Crime dropped

Radley Balko writes: In a staggering report last month, the Department of Justice documented pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department. City police officers engaged in brutality or made racist comments, even as a department investigator rode along in a patrol car. Complaints about police abuse were often slow-walked or dismissed without investigation. And after George Floyd’s death, instead of ending the policy of racial profiling, the police just buried the…

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Here’s why the wildfires burning in Canada aren’t being put out

Here’s why the wildfires burning in Canada aren’t being put out

CNN reports: Another wave of wildfire smoke has drifted into the US, dimming blue summer skies and igniting troubling concerns regarding the increasing frequency of fires, and what they have to do with climate change. More than 100 million people are under air quality alerts from Wisconsin to Vermont and down to North Carolina as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to waft south, though conditions are expected to improve slowly into the holiday weekend. Air quality on both sides of the border has…

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The dark universe is waiting. What will the Euclid telescope reveal?

The dark universe is waiting. What will the Euclid telescope reveal?

The New York Times reports: At 11:12 a.m. on Saturday, the Euclid spacecraft launched into space on its mission to chart the history of our universe as far back as 10 billion years ago. The space telescope, built by the European Space Agency, will use its instruments to record more than a third of the extragalactic sky over the next six years, creating the most accurate three-dimensional map of the cosmos to date. Researchers plan to use Euclid’s map to…

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How Putin cannibalizes Russian economy to survive personally

How Putin cannibalizes Russian economy to survive personally

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write: Nearly 18 months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine now, amidst last week’s failed coup attempt, battlefield setbacks, and global diplomatic condemnation, Putin is coming under increasing strain to finance his increasingly-expensive war—and there’s a history lesson for how this will all end. Far from the prevailing narrative on how Putin funds his invasion, Putin’s financial lifeline has [been] his merciless cannibalization of Russian economic productivity. He has been burning the living room furniture to fuel his battles…

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CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame

CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame

The Washington Post reports: During a secret visit to Ukraine by CIA Director William J. Burns earlier this month, Ukrainian officials revealed an ambitious strategy to retake Russian-occupied territory and open cease-fire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year, according to officials familiar with the visit. The trip by Burns, which has not been previously reported, included meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine’s top intelligence officials. It came at a critical moment in the conflict as Ukrainian…

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Trump pressured Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election

Trump pressured Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election

The Washington Post reports: In a phone call in late 2020, President Donald Trump tried to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state’s presidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud, according to…

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White House cautiously opens the door to study geoengineering to slow global warming

White House cautiously opens the door to study geoengineering to slow global warming

Politico reports: The White House offered measured support for the idea of studying how to block sunlight from hitting Earth’s surface as a way to limit global warming, in a congressionally mandated report that could help bring efforts once confined to science fiction into the realm of legitimate debate. The controversial concept known as solar radiation modification is a potentially effective response to fighting climate change, but one that could have unknown side effects stemming from altering the chemical makeup…

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Everyone knew the migrant ship was doomed. No one helped

Everyone knew the migrant ship was doomed. No one helped

The New York Times reports: From air and by sea, using radar, telephone and radio, officials watched and listened for 13 hours as the migrant ship Adriana lost power, then drifted aimlessly off the coast of Greece in a slowly unfolding humanitarian disaster. As terrified passengers telephoned for help, humanitarian workers assured them that a rescue team was coming. European border officials, watching aerial footage, prepared to witness what was certain to be a heroic operation. Yet the Adriana capsized…

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Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it

Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it

Emily Conover writes: Keeping secrets is hard. Kids know it. Celebrities know it. National security experts know it, too. And it’s about to get even harder. There’s always someone who wants to get at the juicy details we’d rather keep hidden. Yet at every moment, untold volumes of private information are zipping along internet cables and optical fibers. That information’s privacy relies on encryption, a way to mathematically scramble data to prevent any snoops from deciphering it — even with…

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You really are a tick magnet

You really are a tick magnet

The New York Times reports: Most people try, or at least hope, to avoid ticks. The tiny arachnids spread a variety of harmful diseases as they expand their range to new areas. But two scientists recently set out on a counterintuitive mission to collect as many bloodsucking ticks as possible. “We had quite a few nice afternoons of frolicking around forests with bedsheets,” Sam England, a biologist at the Natural History Museum in Berlin, said. “Just dragging them, picking up…

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