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Elon Musk uses Twitter for partisan ends so he can denounce Twitter’s use for partisan ends

Elon Musk uses Twitter for partisan ends so he can denounce Twitter’s use for partisan ends

Eric Levitz writes: Twitter is not what it seems. The social media platform poses as a neutral marketplace for the exchange of ideas and information; an agora where journalists, politicians, academics, cultural icons, business titans, and ordinary citizens can engage in a dialogue unbounded by gatekeeping elites. But it is actually a tool of progressive power. While you were hypnotized by viral memes, a cabal of social-justice STEM majors seized the commanding heights of the attention economy. And they have…

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Russia is providing ‘unprecedented’ military support to Iran in exchange for drones, officials say

Russia is providing ‘unprecedented’ military support to Iran in exchange for drones, officials say

NBC News reports: Russia is now providing an “unprecedented level” of military and technical support to Iran in exchange for Tehran supplying weapons for the war in Ukraine, senior Biden administration officials say. As part of the enhanced partnership, Russia may be providing Iran with advanced military equipment and components, including helicopters and air defense systems. In the spring, Iranian pilots trained in Russia to fly the Sukhoi Su-35, a Russian fighter jet, which the officials say indicates Iran “may…

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Iran hit with sanctions over first protester execution

Iran hit with sanctions over first protester execution

AFP reports: Iran was slapped with new sanctions Friday and activists called for fresh protests after the Islamic republic carried out its first execution over demonstrations that have shaken the regime for nearly three months. Mohsen Shekari, 23, was hanged Thursday after being convicted of “moharebeh” — or “enmity against God” — after what rights groups denounced as a show trial. The judiciary said Shekari was arrested after blocking a Tehran street and wounding a member of the Basij, a…

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War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change

War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change

The Washington Post reports: Over two days in October, eight Russian cruise missiles screamed out of the sky and obliterated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of critical machinery at this city’s hulking coal-fired power plant. The attacks were designed to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. But they also deepened a financial crisis for the plant’s owner, Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man. Akhmetov’s wealth has dived from $7.6 billion to $4.3 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in…

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Kyrsten Sinema is playing chicken

Kyrsten Sinema is playing chicken

Jonathan Chait writes: The biggest loser of the 2022 election other than Donald Trump was Kyrsten Sinema. The Arizona senator and now-former Democrat desperately needed Democrats, especially fellow senator Mark Kelly, to lose. Only such a setback would make the party desperate enough to tolerate her continued presence. Kelly’s reelection made it certain that Sinema would face, and lose, a primary challenge in two years. Sinema’s declaration of independence from the party is a ploy to avoid the primary and…

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Donald Trump is running against himself — and losing

Donald Trump is running against himself — and losing

Susan Glasser writes: From his low-energy announcement speech at Mar-a-Lago to his dinner with the Hitler-praising Kanye West and the white supremacist Nick Fuentes, Trump has courted more controversy than votes since launching his bid in November. He has held no campaign rallies and hired no campaign manager. He has hosted a QAnon conspiracy theorist and helped raise money for the indicted insurrectionists of January 6th. More classified items have been found in his possession, and his Trump Organization was…

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Despite a changing climate, Americans are ‘flocking to fire’

Despite a changing climate, Americans are ‘flocking to fire’

Inside Climate News reports: Despite an increase in wildfire risk spurred by climate change, Americans are moving to wildfire-prone areas and prioritizing lower housing costs and amenities such as temperate weather and recreational opportunities over risk of natural disasters. An analysis of U.S. migration data from the past decade published today, “Flocking to fire: How climate and natural hazards shape human migration across the United States,” shows that Americans have been moving into certain “migration hot spots” in the West,…

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DNA from elusive human relatives the Denisovans has left a curious mark on modern people in New Guinea

DNA from elusive human relatives the Denisovans has left a curious mark on modern people in New Guinea

Derek R. Audette/Shutterstock By Irene Gallego Romero, The University of Melbourne and Davide Vespasiani, The University of Melbourne An encounter with a mysterious and extinct human relative – the Denisovans – has left a mark on the immune traits of modern Papuans, in particular those living on New Guinea Island. This is a new discovery we describe in a study published in PLoS Genetics today. It further suggests that our modern human diversity didn’t just evolve – some parts of…

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Execution of Mohsen Shekari raises fear of ‘mass execution of protesters’ in Iran

Execution of Mohsen Shekari raises fear of ‘mass execution of protesters’ in Iran

BBC News reports: Iran has announced the first execution of a protester convicted over the recent anti-government unrest. Mohsen Shekari was hanged on Thursday morning after being found guilty by a Revolutionary Court of “moharebeh” (enmity against God), state media said. He was accused of being a “rioter” who blocked a main road in Tehran in September and wounded a member of a paramilitary force with a machete. An activist said he was convicted after a “show trial without any…

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Who is Viktor Bout? ‘Merchant of Death’ swapped for Brittney Griner

Who is Viktor Bout? ‘Merchant of Death’ swapped for Brittney Griner

Michael Weiss writes: “She’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held in intolerable circumstances.” So President Biden announced Thursday from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, alerting the press to the news that Brittney Griner has finally been released from a Russian penal colony. Biden spoke next to Cherelle Griner, the American WNBA basketball player’s visibly affected wife. Following months of intense negotiations, the United States managed to secure Griner’s freedom in a…

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Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case

Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case

The Washington Post reports: Prosecutors have urged a federal judge to hold Donald Trump’s office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a May subpoena to return all classified documents in his possession, according to people familiar with the matter — a sign of how contentious the private talks have become over whether the former president still holds any secret papers. In recent days, Justice Department lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell to hold…

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A case that even this Supreme Court seems torn over

A case that even this Supreme Court seems torn over

Quinta Jurecic writes: Midway through yesterday’s Supreme Court oral argument in Moore v. Harper, the case concerning the “independent state legislature” theory, Justice Elena Kagan took a moment to consider the stakes. “This is a theory with big consequences,” she noted. Kagan’s comment was a dry bit of understatement. Ever since the Supreme Court first agreed to hear the case, Moore has drawn alarm from across the political spectrum, with liberal activists and grandees of the conservative legal movement alike…

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Peru’s president tried to pull a Trump. He swiftly got impeached and arrested

Peru’s president tried to pull a Trump. He swiftly got impeached and arrested

Too bad the U.S. Senate, acquitting Trump of impeachable insurrection, lacked the cojones that Peru’s Congress had on display when it dispatched President Castillo for similarly self-aggrandizing high crimes . . . https://t.co/yqHR4z2uiY — Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) December 7, 2022 CNN reports: Dina Boluarte became Peru’s first female President on Wednesday, capping off a dramatic day which saw her predecessor arrested for the alleged crime of rebellion and impeached by lawmakers. Boluarte, the country’s former vice president, was sworn into…

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China scraps most Covid testing, quarantine requirements in policy shift

China scraps most Covid testing, quarantine requirements in policy shift

The Wall Street Journal reports: China dropped many of its quarantine and testing requirements and curtailed the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks, as the government accelerates plans to dismantle zero-Covid controls in the wake of nationwide protests. The speed of Beijing’s retreat from its pandemic regime suggests the country’s leaders are now more concerned about the damage those controls have caused to China’s economy than the risk of worsening Covid infections that surged to a…

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