From elsewhere, Author at Attention to the Unseen

Inside the Saudi palace coup that brought MBS to power

November 29, 2022 From elsewhere

Anuj Chopra writes: The Saudi prince was detained all night. As daylight broke, he staggered out of the king’s palace in Mecca. His personal bodyguards, who tailed him everywhere, were missing. The prince was led to a waiting car. He was free to leave – but he would soon discover that freedom was not very different from detention. As his car pulled out of the palace gates, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef fired off a series of panicked text messages. “Be…

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With intimidation and surveillance, China tries to snuff out protests

November 29, 2022 From elsewhere

The New York Times reports: Reacting to China’s boldest and most widespread protests in decades, the security apparatus built by Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is mobilizing on multiple fronts to quash dissent, drawing on its decades-old tool kit of repression and surveillance. In a meeting of the party’s top security leaders, reported in state media on Tuesday, officials were ordered to “resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order.” And by evening, the demonstrations already…

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The yuan’s the new dollar as Russia rides to the redback

November 29, 2022 From elsewhere

Reuters reports: Chinese entrepreneur Wang Min is delighted about Russia’s embrace of the yuan. His LED lights company can price contracts to Russian customers in yuan rather than dollars or euros, and they can pay him in yuan. It’s “win-win”, he says. Wang’s plans have been transformed by the conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions on Moscow that have shut Russia’s banks and many of its companies out of the dollar and euro payment systems. His contract manufacturing…

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The brain uses calculus to control fast movements

November 29, 2022 From elsewhere

Kevin Hartnett writes: A mouse is running on a treadmill embedded in a virtual reality corridor. In its mind’s eye, it sees itself scurrying down a tunnel with a distinctive pattern of lights ahead. Through training, the mouse has learned that if it stops at the lights and holds that position for 1.5 seconds, it will receive a reward — a small drink of water. Then it can rush to another set of lights to receive another reward. This setup…

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Music: hr-Bigband plays Frank Zappa — ‘Oh No’

November 29, 2022 From elsewhere

Trump might have to face his worst nightmare — a D.C. jury

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

Mitchell Epner writes: Federal prosecutors on Tuesday, under the direction of newly appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith, argued to the 11th Circuit Court that they should immediately shut down the Special Master process created by Judge Aileen Cannon. Under that process, former President Donald Trump has the opportunity to challenge the search warrant executed at his office and residence long before he is indicted. Virtually no other criminal defendant has ever been given that opportunity. The Oral Argument Shows That…

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The GOP’s great Trump reckoning begins at the state party level

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

Politico reports: For years, Lou Barletta counted himself among Donald Trump’s most diehard allies. The former Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate and congressman endorsed him at a time in 2016 when many GOP elected officials saw Trump as radioactive. He served as the co-chair of his first presidential campaign in Pennsylvania. Six years later, Barletta is finally disembarking from the MAGA train. “I’m not supporting him,” he said of Trump’s 2024 campaign in an interview with POLITICO. “I was one of…

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Trump doesn’t want to alienate his white supremacist and antisemitic supporters

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump repeatedly refused to disavow the outspoken antisemite and white supremacist Nick Fuentes after they spoke over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, rejecting the advice from advisers over fears he might alienate a section of his base, two people familiar with the situation said. The former US president was urged publicly and privately to denounce Fuentes in the aftermath of the dinner, which included the performer Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who has also recently…

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A peek inside the FBI’s unprecedented January 6 geofence dragnet

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

Wired reports: The FBI’s biggest-ever investigation included the biggest-ever haul of phones from controversial geofence warrants, court records show. A filing in the case of one of the January 6 suspects, David Rhine, shows that Google initially identified 5,723 devices as being in or near the US Capitol during the riot. Only around 900 people have so far been charged with offenses relating to the siege. The filing suggests that dozens of phones that were in airplane mode during the…

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company ghosts cities across America

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

The Wall Street Journal reports: The unsolicited proposal from Elon Musk’s tunnel-building venture arrived in January 2020. To the local transportation authority, it felt like finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. Officials had started planning for a street-level rail connection between booming Ontario International Airport and a commuter train station 4 miles away, with an estimated cost north of $1 billion. For just $45 million, Mr. Musk’s Boring Co. offered to instead build an underground tunnel through which travelers could zip…

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Finding language in the brain

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

Giosuè Baggio writes: What exactly is language? At first thought, it’s a continuous flow of sounds we hear, sounds we make, scribbles on paper or on a screen, movements of our hands, and expressions on our faces. But if we pause for a moment, we find that behind this rich experiential display is something different: the smaller and larger building blocks of a Lego-like game of construction, with parts of words, words, phrases, sentences, and larger structures still. We can…

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Music: hr-Bigband plays Frank Zappa — ‘We Are Not Alone’

November 28, 2022 From elsewhere

Depressed, powerless, angry: Why frustration at China’s zero-Covid is spilling over

November 27, 2022 From elsewhere

The Observer reports: Victoria Li* has experienced several lockdowns since Covid emerged in China almost three years ago. Being a prisoner in her own home in Beijing made her feel depressed, powerless and angry. “Being stuck at home with my door sealed, I felt unmotivated to do anything,” she said. “I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to study. Sometimes, I crept into my bed and cried,” said the lawyer, who is in her 20s. Even when she was…

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