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America is choosing to remain vulnerable to pandemics

America is choosing to remain vulnerable to pandemics

Ed Yong writes: Recently, after a week in which 2,789 Americans died of COVID-19, President Joe Biden proclaimed that “the pandemic is over.” Anthony Fauci described the controversy around the proclamation as a matter of “semantics,” but the facts we are living with can speak for themselves. COVID still kills roughly as many Americans every week as died on 9/11. It is on track to kill at least 100,000 a year—triple the typical toll of the flu. Despite gross undercounting,…

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Justices shield spouses’ work from potential conflict of interest disclosures

Justices shield spouses’ work from potential conflict of interest disclosures

Politico reports: A year after Amy Coney Barrett joined the Supreme Court, the boutique Indiana firm SouthBank Legal opened its first-ever Washington office in Penn Quarter, a move the firm hailed in a 2021 press release as an “important milestone.” The head of the office, Jesse M. Barrett, is the justice’s husband, whose work is described by the firm as “white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and complex commercial litigation.” SouthBank Legal — which lists fewer than 20 lawyers — has…

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A plan to turn America into a theocracy

A plan to turn America into a theocracy

Rolling Stone reports: Lance Wallnau, A self-styled “prophet” and one of America’s most strident Christian Nationalists, and Doug Mastriano, the GOP candidate who casts his bid for governor of Pennsylvania as a mission from God, are birds of a feather. They each fired up the faithful at the Jericho March / ”Let the Church ROAR!” event in Washington, D.C., in December 2020, a Christian protest seeking divine intervention to keep Donald Trump in office. And both men were on the…

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‘Women, Life, Freedom’

‘Women, Life, Freedom’

The Observer reports: The messages, printed on scraps of paper, were thrown on doorsteps across Iran overnight by protesters determined that an online crackdown would not stop their movement. “The Islamic Republic is falling. Join the people,” said one handed out in northern Rasht city. In southern Ahvaz organisers gave an address and time for protest, and a broader call to action. “If you cannot come, spread the message so other people come,” it urged readers. Hours later a video…

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Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory puts world ‘two or three steps away’ from nuclear war

Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory puts world ‘two or three steps away’ from nuclear war

The Washington Post reports: Nuclear weapons would only likely be used after mobilization, sabotage and other measures have failed to turn the tide, and it’s unclear what Putin would achieve by using them, [Stefan] Gady [a senior fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London] said. Despite some wild predictions on Russian news shows that the Kremlin would lash out at a Western capital, with London appearing to be a favored target, it is more likely that Moscow…

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Ten torture sites in one town: How Russia sowed pain and fear in Izium

Ten torture sites in one town: How Russia sowed pain and fear in Izium

The Associated Press reports: The first time the Russian soldiers caught him, they tossed him bound and blindfolded into a trench covered with wooden boards for days on end. Then they beat him, over and over: Legs, arms, a hammer to the knees, all accompanied by furious diatribes against Ukraine. Before they let him go, they took away his passport and Ukrainian military ID — all he had to prove his existence — and made sure he knew exactly how…

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Supreme Court to decide cases with ‘monumental’ impact on democracy

Supreme Court to decide cases with ‘monumental’ impact on democracy

The Guardian reports: On Monday, the nine justices of the US supreme court will take their seats at the start of a new judicial year, even as the shock waves of the panel’s previous seismic term continue to reverberate across America. In their first full term that ended in June, the court’s new six-to-three hard-right supermajority astounded the nation by tearing up decades of settled law. They eviscerated the right to an abortion, loosened America’s already lax gun laws, erected…

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CPAC backpedals on pro-Russia tweet as some U.S. conservatives back Putin

CPAC backpedals on pro-Russia tweet as some U.S. conservatives back Putin

The Washington Post reports: Prominent Republicans are digging in against American support for Ukraine despite Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons and evidence of mass graves and war crimes facilitated by Moscow. The Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday tweeted — and then hours later deleted — a message that called on Democrats to “end the gift-giving to Ukraine” while featuring a fluttering Russian flag. The tweet also referred to “Ukraine-occupied territories,” appearing to legitimize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims…

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Trump escalates attacks on McConnell with incendiary threat in racist message

Trump escalates attacks on McConnell with incendiary threat in racist message

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump is facing blowback for an inflammatory online message attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that many viewed as a threat. “He has a DEATH WISH,” Trump posted late Friday on his Truth Social platform, criticizing McConnell for agreeing to a deal to fund the government through December. He also disparaged McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s transportation secretary and was born in Taiwan, in racist terms, calling her “his…

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Of Gandhi’s few possessions, his watches were the most beloved

Of Gandhi’s few possessions, his watches were the most beloved

Nina Martyris writes: The watch never left his side. It was the first thing Gandhi reached for when he rose each morning at 4 a.m., and the last thing he checked before going to bed, often past midnight. He consulted it frequently through the day so as never to be late for an appointment. And, at that final moment, when three bullets from an assassin’s Beretta knocked him over, his 78-year-old body slumped to the ground, and the watch also…

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In Washington, Putin’s nuclear threats stir growing alarm

In Washington, Putin’s nuclear threats stir growing alarm

The New York Times reports: For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, top government leaders in Moscow are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios should President Vladimir V. Putin decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon to make up for the failings of Russian troops in Ukraine. In a speech on Friday, Mr. Putin raised the prospect anew, calling the United States and NATO enemies seeking Russia’s collapse and…

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Ukraine applies for NATO membership after Russia annexes territory

Ukraine applies for NATO membership after Russia annexes territory

The Guardian reports: A defiant Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced that Ukraine is officially applying for membership of Nato, hours after Vladimir Putin said in a Kremlin ceremony that he was annexing four Ukrainian provinces. In a speech filmed outside his presidential office in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said he was taking this “decisive step” in order to protect “the entire community” of Ukrainians. He promised the application would happen in an “expedited manner”. “De facto, we have already made our way to…

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As protests erupt over Putin’s draft, a more ominous threat surfaces

As protests erupt over Putin’s draft, a more ominous threat surfaces

Amie Ferris-Rotman writes: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his mobilization order on Sept. 21, the country’s first military draft since World War II, protests have erupted across Russia. From the glittering Russian capital to army recruitment offices in Siberia to impoverished fishing villages in the Far East, thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to express opposition to fighting Moscow’s war in Ukraine. They have also staged a wave of arson attacks on conscription offices and even shot…

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Russia retreats from Lyman a day after Putin’s annexation

Russia retreats from Lyman a day after Putin’s annexation

Politico reports: Russia withdrew its troops from the strategic city of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday, a day after President Vladimir Putin hailed the annexation of Donetsk. The retreat, announced by the Defense Ministry in Moscow, comes as Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion makes further gains and presents a big setback for Putin. Due to “a threat of encirclement, allied troops were withdrawn” from Lyman “to more advantageous lines,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday in…

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