Music: Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani — ‘Banja’
Proud Boys step up activity after Jan. 6 attack, despite criminal convictions
The Wall Street Journal reports: The Proud Boys organization has expanded its reach since Jan. 6, 2021, researchers say, withstanding criminal prosecutions and lawsuits against members who joined in the breach of the U.S. Capitol. The group’s former chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and three lieutenants were found guilty of sedition charges on Thursday. The historic verdict followed a lengthy jury trial in Washington’s federal courthouse, just steps from the Capitol complex stormed by Proud Boys and other supporters of then-President Donald…
DOJ cites threats to democracy on Jan. 6 in push for steep Oath Keepers sentences
Politico reports: Prosecutors are seeking the most severe sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — a 25-year prison term — for the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, characterizing it as a necessary punishment to deter future attacks against democracy. The Justice Department says Stewart Rhodes and his allies were among the most significant drivers of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol, amassing a stockpile of weapons nearby in Virginia…
War, weapons and conspiracy theories: Inside Airman Teixeira’s online world
The New York Times reports: Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman implicated in a vast leak of classified documents, was fixated on weapons, mass shootings, shadowy conspiracy theories — and proving he was in the right, and in the know. Even as he relished the respectability and access to intelligence he gained through his military service and top secret clearance, he seethed with contempt about the government, accusing the United States of a host of secret, nefarious activities: making biological…
Ukrainian intelligence chief: ‘We have capabilities in the Russian Federation, quite powerful ones’
Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: “I’d like to underline here that it is unpleasant for me to recognize the following, but it’s the truth,” [Maj. Gen. Kyrlo] Budanov [the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense] said. “Unfortunately, the Russian Federation knows how to work with the information space. That is why any event — imagine a rocket that falls into the Kremlin — they will show it as a victory for Russia….
Ukraine shoots down Russian hypersonic missile with U.S. Patriot
The Associated Press reports: Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is…
Leaked U.S. files show deep rift between Russian military and Wagner chief
The Washington Post reports: Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s threat to pull his forces from Bakhmut, relayed in obscenity-ridden videos in which he blames Russian military chiefs for the deaths of tens of thousands of his soldiers in Ukraine, was only the latest salvo in a months-long feud between the mercenary group and Russia’s military leadership for influence in the war and glory on the battlefield. While Prigozhin has led Russia’s bloody campaign to capture the eastern Ukrainian city using soldiers…
A new idea for how to assemble life
Philip Ball writes: Assembly theory makes the seemingly uncontroversial assumption that complex objects arise from combining many simpler objects. The theory says it’s possible to objectively measure an object’s complexity by considering how it got made. That’s done by calculating the minimum number of steps needed to make the object from its ingredients, which is quantified as the assembly index (AI). In addition, for a complex object to be scientifically interesting, there has to be a lot of it. Very…
Music: Ballaké Sissoko — ‘Yaro’ ft. Demba Camara
Leonard Leo’s pursuit of a ‘controlling interest’ in the Supreme Court
The Washington Post reports: For nearly three decades, Leo has helped and led campaigns in support of the Supreme Court nominations of all the conservative judges now on the high court — John G. Roberts Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. He also has had the ears of the most recent Republican presidents. When President George W. Bush planned to praise racial diversity in his 2003 criticism of affirmative action, Leo…
Judicial activist, Leonard Leo, directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’
The Washington Post reports: Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents…
America’s lowest standard for its highest office
Charles Sykes writes: In one of his rare moments of naivete, Alexander Hamilton imagined that the Electoral College would afford “a moral certainty” that the office of the presidency would not “fall to the lot of any man, who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” He hoped that the electors would be a bulwark against men who had a talent “for low intrigue and the little arts of popularity.” “It will not be too strong…
Trump 2024: Bring back the ‘Muslim ban’ — and expand it
Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump for months has been telling people close to him that he plans to bring back his infamous “Muslim ban” if he’s reelected in 2024, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. “Gotta bring it back,” Trump has said of the policy, according to the two sources, who added he regularly calls the idea “beautiful.” Banning Muslims from entering the United States is a longstanding obsession of Trump’s. In December 2015, during the…
At least eight Trump electors have accepted immunity in Georgia investigation
The Wall Street Journal reports: Special counsel Jack Smith is racing through a roster of interviews in his wide-ranging investigations related to former President Donald Trump, including with former Vice President Mike Pence and other top aides, as he contemplates filing charges, according to people familiar with the matter. The steps prosecutors are taking, the people say, suggest Mr. Smith is in the late stages of his inquiry into Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election….
How Rep. James Clyburn protected his district at a cost to Black Democrats
ProPublica reports: The meeting was arranged in secret. On Nov. 19, 2021, the chief of staff for South Carolina’s Senate Judiciary Committee texted Dalton Tresvant, a key aide to Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state’s most powerful Democrat. “Hey Dalton – Andy Fiffick here,” he said. “We wrapped up some morning things quicker than we thought, so if you want/can come earlier than 1:30 we’re available.” The state legislature had begun the crucial task of redrawing voting district lines after the…
Mozilla is setting up shop on Mastodon and trying to reinvent content moderation
The Verge reports: If you want to be a member of Mozilla.Social, Mozilla’s new Mastodon instance, you’re not allowed to harass other users. You’re also not allowed to use derogatory language about gender, sex, sexual orientation, race, age, ability, or any other “physical, social or cultural attributes or classifications.” You can’t spread misinformation and disinformation, either. Or impersonate someone. Some of these are normal policies, some are unusually heavy-handed, and they’re all hard to litigate. But Mozilla’s stance is pretty…