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Trump said to have proposed ‘great deal’ to Jordan’s King Abdullah II: Control of the West Bank

Trump said to have proposed ‘great deal’ to Jordan’s King Abdullah II: Control of the West Bank

The Times of Israel reports: Former US president Donald Trump offered control of the West Bank to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a shocking proposal that led the monarch to think he was having a heart attack, according to a new book. Trump offered the “great deal” to the king in January 2018, according to The Washington Post’s excerpts of an upcoming book. The report said that Trump seemed unaware that the move could have a potential destabilizing effect on the…

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For Donald Trump, information has always offered power

For Donald Trump, information has always offered power

By Andrea Bernstein, September 14, 2022 This story was originally published by ProPublica. Ever since the FBI came out of Mar-a-Lago last month with box after box of documents, some of them highly sensitive and classified, questions have wafted over the criminal investigation: Why did former President Donald Trump sneak off with the stash to begin with? Why did he keep it when he was asked to return it? And what, if anything, did he plan to do with it?…

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Humans may have started tending animals almost 13,000 years ago

Humans may have started tending animals almost 13,000 years ago

Science News reports: Hunter-gatherer groups living in southwest Asia may have started keeping and caring for animals nearly 13,000 years ago — roughly 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. Ancient plant samples extracted from present-day Syria show hints of charred dung, indicating that people were burning animal droppings by the end of the Old Stone Age, researchers report September 14 in PLOS One. The findings suggest humans were using the dung as fuel and may have started animal tending during…

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As war began, Putin rejected a Ukraine peace deal recommended by aide

As war began, Putin rejected a Ukraine peace deal recommended by aide

Reuters reports: Vladimir Putin’s chief envoy on Ukraine told the Russian leader as the war began that he had struck a provisional deal with Kyiv that would satisfy Russia’s demand that Ukraine stay out of NATO, but Putin rejected it and pressed ahead with his military campaign, according to three people close to the Russian leadership. The Ukrainian-born envoy, Dmitry Kozak, told Putin that he believed the deal he had hammered out removed the need for Russia to pursue a…

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Chomsky, Greenwald, and left-wing apologists for Putin are looking very foolish right now

Chomsky, Greenwald, and left-wing apologists for Putin are looking very foolish right now

Noah Berlatsky and Aaron Rupar write: Ukraine’s successes have made right wing Putin apologists look like fools, bounders, and quislings. Tucker Carlson, all-purpose fascist shill, has constantly insisted that Putin’s victory is inevitable — refusing to change his line even after the most recent defeat. Tucker: By any actual reality based measure, Vladimir Putin is not losing the war in Ukraine. He is winning the war in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/8uBlud3az4 — Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2022 Former Trump aide and fascist…

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‘Filtration’ and the crime of forcibly transferring Ukrainian civilians to Russia

‘Filtration’ and the crime of forcibly transferring Ukrainian civilians to Russia

Human Rights Watch: Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian and Russian-affiliated officials have forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians, including those fleeing hostilities, to areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia or to the Russian Federation, a serious violation of the laws of war amounting to a war crime and a potential crime against humanity. Many of those forcibly transferred were fleeing the besieged port city of Mariupol. Russian and Russian-affiliated authorities also subjected thousands of these Ukrainian…

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Kagan repeats warning that Supreme Court is damaging its legitimacy

Kagan repeats warning that Supreme Court is damaging its legitimacy

Politico reports: Justice Elena Kagan warned again on Wednesday that unsound reasoning and politically convenient conclusions have infected the Supreme Court’s recent opinions and are doing damage to the court’s standing with the American public. “When courts become extensions of the political process, when people see them as extensions of the political process, when people see them as trying just to impose personal preferences on a society irrespective of the law, that’s when there’s a problem — and that’s when…

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Trump lied about Secret Service concerns to throw off New York AG

Trump lied about Secret Service concerns to throw off New York AG

The Daily Beast reports:In confidential court documents, former President Donald Trump tried to squirm his way out of taking a trip to the New York Attorney General’s office last month, telling a judge that the Secret Service had security concerns about the AG’s office, according to two sources familiar with the matter. In the days before his Aug. 10 deposition, according to those two sources and a third person familiar with the discussions, Trump’s legal team asked that the contentious…

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Is Ron DeSantis the future of the Republican Party?

Is Ron DeSantis the future of the Republican Party?

Matt Flegenheimer writes: For most of the last year, Ron DeSantis would not indulge the speculation. Yes, he made clear to donors, he might seek the presidency. But pressed with the obvious follow-up — would he still run in 2024 if Donald Trump does? — DeSantis, the governor of Florida, begged off. “He’ll be completely, completely open about whatever, but then the Trump stuff — he suddenly starts to act like he’s being recorded,” Dan Eberhart, a prominent Republican donor…

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King Charles inherits untold riches, and passes off his own empire

King Charles inherits untold riches, and passes off his own empire

The New York Times reports: King Charles III built his own empire long before he inherited his mother’s. Charles, who formally acceded to the British throne on Saturday, spent half a century turning his royal estate into a billion-dollar portfolio and one of the most lucrative moneymakers in the royal family business. While his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, largely delegated responsibility for her portfolio, Charles was far more deeply involved in developing the private estate known as the Duchy of…

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Putin has a new opposition — and they want to escalate the war

Putin has a new opposition — and they want to escalate the war

Alexey Kovalev writes: A new Russian protest movement is coalescing, but it’s neither pro-democracy nor anti-war. Instead, it’s the most extreme of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s supporters, who have grown increasingly furious at the unfolding military disaster for Russia in the six-month-long war in Ukraine. They want Putin to escalate the war, use more devastating weapons, and hit Ukrainian civilians even more mercilessly. And they’ve openly attacked the Russian military and political leadership for supposedly holding back Russia’s full might—even…

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The critical moment behind Ukraine’s rapid advance

The critical moment behind Ukraine’s rapid advance

The New York Times reports: The strategy behind Ukraine’s rapid military gains in recent days began to take shape months ago during a series of intense conversations between Ukrainian and U.S. officials about the way forward in the war against Russia, according to American officials. The counteroffensive — revised this summer from its original form after urgent discussions between senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials — has succeeded beyond most predictions. Ukrainian forces have devastated Russian command and control, and appear…

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‘We will survive Russia’s blackmail and the long winter, but we need unity,’ Sanna Marin tells MEPs

‘We will survive Russia’s blackmail and the long winter, but we need unity,’ Sanna Marin tells MEPs

euronews reports: The European Union will survive “Russia’s blackmail” of energy supplies and the looming “long winter” but only if the bloc maintains its “unity, determination and courage,” said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. “Russia may challenge us, blackmail us and threaten us, but we will not give in,” she told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, speaking in Finnish. “Russia’s actions have unified the West as never before, while Russia is lonelier than ever.” During her speech before the plenary,…

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Graham’s abortion ban stuns Senate GOP

Graham’s abortion ban stuns Senate GOP

Politico reports: Lindsey Graham’s anti-abortion legislation once unified the Republican Party. The 15-week abortion ban he pitched Tuesday had the exact opposite effect. The South Carolina senator chose a uniquely tense moment to unveil his party’s first bill limiting abortion access since this summer’s watershed reversal of Roe v. Wade. It was designed as a nod to anti-abortion activists who have never felt more emboldened. Yet Graham’s bill also attempted to skate past a Republican Party that’s divided over whether…

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