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Democrats are running as the opposition party

Democrats are running as the opposition party

John J. Pitney, Jr. writes: In a typical midterm election, the party not holding the presidency casts itself as a check on the incumbent administration, even more so when the president’s party controls both chambers of Congress. The elections of 1994, 2006, 2010, and 2018 all started with unified government and all ended with the out-party winning control of the House (and the Senate in 1994). The in-party has never been able to wear the “check and balance” mantle—until this…

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‘Absolute evil’: Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death

‘Absolute evil’: Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death

The Observer reports: Screams from soldiers being tortured, overflowing cells, inhuman conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible gruel, no communication with the outside world, and days marked off with a home-made calendar written on a box of tea. This, according to a prisoner who was there, is what conditions are like inside Olenivka, the notorious detention centre outside Donetsk where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers burned to death in a horrific episode late last month while in Russian captivity….

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Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

The Guardian reports: China’s military has pressed ahead with its largest ever military drills, targeting Taiwan with what the island’s government called a simulated attack, including further incursions over the median line and drone flights over Taiwan’s outlying islands. Global pushback on China’s live-fire drills, launched in response to a visit by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan earlier in the week, also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and foreign ministers from Australia and Japan. Beijing…

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How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather

How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather

The Guardian reports: The devastating intensification of extreme weather is laid bare today in a Guardian analysis that shows how people across the world are losing their lives and livelihoods due to more deadly and more frequent heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts brought by the climate crisis. The analysis of hundreds of scientific studies – the most comprehensive compilation to date – demonstrates beyond any doubt how humanity’s vast carbon emissions are forcing the climate to disastrous new extremes. At…

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China halts climate, military ties over Pelosi Taiwan visit

China halts climate, military ties over Pelosi Taiwan visit

The Associated Press reports: China announced Friday it was ending all contact with the United States on major issues — including crucial climate cooperation that led to the international 2015 Paris accord — as tensions and public rebukes ratcheted higher over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. China’s move to freeze key lines of communication adds to a rapid souring of relations from Pelosi’s visit and from the Chinese response with military exercises off Taiwan, including firing missiles that…

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How Republicans are ‘weaponizing’ public office against climate action

How Republicans are ‘weaponizing’ public office against climate action

The New York Times reports: Nearly two dozen Republican state treasurers around the country are working to thwart climate action on state and federal levels, fighting regulations that would make clear the economic risks posed by a warming world, lobbying against climate-minded nominees to key federal posts and using the tax dollars they control to punish companies that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past year, treasurers in nearly half the United States have been coordinating tactics and…

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Republicans begin adjusting to a fierce abortion backlash

Republicans begin adjusting to a fierce abortion backlash

The New York Times reports: Republican candidates, facing a stark reality check from Kansas voters, are softening their once-uncompromising stands against abortion as they move toward the general election, recognizing that strict bans are unpopular and that the issue may be a major driver in the fall campaigns. In swing states and even conservative corners of the country, several Republicans have shifted their talk on abortion bans, newly emphasizing support for exceptions. Some have noticeably stopped discussing details at all….

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Fueled by virtually unrestricted social media access, white nationalism is on the rise and attracting violent young white men

Fueled by virtually unrestricted social media access, white nationalism is on the rise and attracting violent young white men

White nationalist Dylann Roof appears in court on June 19, 2015, after his arrest in the mass shootings at a Black church in South Carolina. Grace Beahm-Pool/Getty Images By Sophie Bjork-James, Vanderbilt University White nationalists keep showing up in the hearings of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Evidence is mounting that white nationalist groups who want to establish an all-white state played a significant role in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol that left…

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Italy confronts its fascist past as the right prepares for power

Italy confronts its fascist past as the right prepares for power

Politico reports: There are some crimes that come to define a moment in history. The brutal killing of a Nigerian street vendor in Italy may be one. The public discourse over the murder of Alika Ogorchukwu, beaten to death in front of bystanders in the coastal town of Civitanova Marche, has laid bare the divisions in society as Italians prepare to vote in a snap election next month. For some, the killing is the fault of years of hate-stoking anti-immigrant…

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The next war: How Russian hybrid aggression could threaten Moldova

The next war: How Russian hybrid aggression could threaten Moldova

In a report for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Dumitru Minzarari writes: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted policymakers in the region and beyond to examine the chances of Moscow embarking on a similar action elsewhere in the neighbourhood. High on the list of at-risk states is Moldova. As a former Soviet republic, Moldova regularly finds itself subject to senior Russian figures’ suggestions that the country lies within Russia’s supposed “sphere of influence”. Despite this, Western policymakers and Moldovan…

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The human mind is not meant to be awake after midnight, scientists warn

The human mind is not meant to be awake after midnight, scientists warn

Science Alert reports: In the middle of the night, the world can sometimes feel like a dark place. Under the cover of darkness, negative thoughts have a way of drifting through your mind, and as you lie awake, staring at the ceiling, you might start craving guilty pleasures, like a cigarette or a carb-heavy meal. Plenty of evidence suggests the human mind functions differently if it is awake at nighttime. Past midnight, negative emotions tend to draw our attention more…

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Trump lawyers in talks with Justice Department about January 6 criminal probe

Trump lawyers in talks with Justice Department about January 6 criminal probe

CNN reports: Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is in direct communication with Justice Department officials, the first sign of talks between the two sides as the criminal probe into January 6, 2021, accelerates, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators. In recent weeks, investigators have moved aggressively into Trump’s orbit, subpoenaing top former White House officials, focusing on…

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Trump likely to be criminally charged in DOJ election probe, says ex-Attorney General Eric Holder

Trump likely to be criminally charged in DOJ election probe, says ex-Attorney General Eric Holder

CNBC reports: Former President Donald Trump “probably” will be indicted on criminal charges along with officials in his White House as part of a Justice Department investigation of efforts to reverse the 2020 election results nationally, ex-Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview Thursday. But Holder suggested that before that happens, Trump is more likely to first face possible criminal charges from the Georgia state prosecutor who is investigating attempts by Trump and his allies to undo President Joe…

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A copy of Alex Jones’ cellphone will be turned over to the January 6 committee ‘immediately’

A copy of Alex Jones’ cellphone will be turned over to the January 6 committee ‘immediately’

Vice News reports: After Wednesday’s revelation that an attorney for Alex Jones accidentally turned over a copy of his entire cellphone to the lawyers suing him on behalf of Sandy Hook parents, a couple of things were obvious. The first was that Alex Jones must be turning redder than ever; the second was that the Congressional committee holding hearings on the January 6 insurrection would probably want those records, too. In an emergency hearing this morning, an attorney for the…

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