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This threat to democracy is hiding in plain sight

This threat to democracy is hiding in plain sight

In an editorial, the New York Times reports: In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and his allies were unable to get far in their attempts to prove widespread voter fraud. There were two reasons for that. First, there wasn’t any, as numerous investigations by journalists, expert reports and court rulings showed. But second, Republican election officials in multiple states repeatedly said that their counts and recounts were accurate, and they defended the integrity of the election….

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The takedown of Tom Barrack

The takedown of Tom Barrack

Johanna Berkman writes: On a foggy January night in 2017, several hundred of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people gathered at a black-tie, $8000-per head dinner at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. They were there to celebrate the coming of a new world order and their host for the evening was an almost 70-year-old Republican real estate billionaire known for buying and selling extravagant hotels. No, not Donald Trump. In fact, Trump, whose inauguration was just…

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Ukraine war: ‘What’s happening in Russia now is total fear’

Ukraine war: ‘What’s happening in Russia now is total fear’

BBC News reports: In the centre of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, a large banner is taped to a tall building, above a Ukrainian flag, that reads: “Putin, the Hague is waiting for you.” On city buses, electronic displays flick between announcing their destination and declaring “love” for Ukraine with little hearts. This week Lithuania – together with Latvia, Estonia and Poland – banned all Russian tourists, arguing they should not be enjoying democracy and freedom in Europe while their government…

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Referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine evoke fear, anger and defiance

Referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine evoke fear, anger and defiance

The New York Times reports: Russian soldiers, wearing balaclavas and wielding guns, flanked election workers. Ukrainians were forced to vote while Russian officials or their proxies stood guard. Some residents even hid in their homes, terrified that voting against Russia’s annexation would lead to their being abducted, or worse. As Russia began orchestrating staged voting in referendums across Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine on Friday, Ukrainians in those areas expressed a mix of anger, defiance and fear that their homeland was…

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UN experts find that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine

UN experts find that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: Russian soldiers have raped and tortured children in Ukraine, a United Nations-appointed panel of independent legal experts said in a damning statement on Friday that concluded war crimes had been committed in the conflict. A three-person Commission of Inquiry set up in April to investigate the conduct of hostilities in four areas of Ukraine laid out the graphic allegations in an unusually hard-hitting, 11-minute statement to the U.N Human Rights Council in Geneva. “The commission…

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U.S. has sent private warnings to Russia against using a nuclear weapon

U.S. has sent private warnings to Russia against using a nuclear weapon

The Washington Post reports: The United States for several months has been sending private communications to Moscow warning Russia’s leadership of the grave consequences that would follow the use of a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials, who said the messages underscore what President Biden and his aides have articulated publicly. The Biden administration generally has decided to keep warnings about the consequences of a nuclear strike deliberately vague, so the Kremlin worries about how Washington might respond, the officials…

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‘They are watching’: Inside Russia’s vast surveillance state

‘They are watching’: Inside Russia’s vast surveillance state

The New York Times reports: Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia’s expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work. Roughly 800 miles east of Moscow, authorities in the Republic of Bashkortostan, one of Russia’s 85 regions, were busy tabulating the mood of comments in social media messages. They marked down YouTube posts that they said criticized the Russian government. They noted the reaction to a local protest. Then they compiled their findings. One report about the…

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Trump made N.Y. attorney general’s fraud case virtually unbeatable

Trump made N.Y. attorney general’s fraud case virtually unbeatable

Renato Mariotti writes: New York Attorney General Tish James raised eyebrows when she refused last-minute settlement overtures from former President Donald Trump. Her 222-page lawsuit filed Wednesday doubles down, asking for wide-ranging penalties against Trump, including $250 million and various bans that would bar Trump and his three oldest children from selling or acquiring real estate or applying for loans in New York for five years — potentially devastating measures for a company that depends on plastering the family name…

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Are we in the midst of a silent mass extinction?

Are we in the midst of a silent mass extinction?

Andy Carstens writes: Nearly one fifth of the genetic diversity of the planet’s most vulnerable species may already be lost, an analysis published today (September 22) in Science finds. If accurate, it would mean that many species are already below a conservation threshold proposed last year by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) a part of the United Nations Environment Programme. Moisés Expósito-Alonso was in his back yard in Menlo Park, California, last year reading a monograph on the unified…

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Put up or shut up: Dearie asks Trump lawyers whether they believe FBI lied about seized documents

Put up or shut up: Dearie asks Trump lawyers whether they believe FBI lied about seized documents

The Washington Post reports: The Mar-a-Lago special master on Thursday ordered Donald Trump’s lawyers to state in a court filing whether they believe FBI agents lied about documents seized from the former president’s Florida residence in a court-authorized search last month, or claimed to have taken items that were not actually in Trump’s possession. In a Thursday afternoon filing, U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie — the special master — told Trump’s legal team to state by Sept. 30 whether…

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A thorough rebuke of Judge Aileen Cannon’s pro-Trump order

A thorough rebuke of Judge Aileen Cannon’s pro-Trump order

Aaron Blake writes: As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts — including conservatives and executive-power advocates — have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump’s claims. On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon’s jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming. A three-judge panel…

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As mobilization begins in Russia, sold-out flights, protests and arrests

As mobilization begins in Russia, sold-out flights, protests and arrests

The Washington Post reports: Within hours of President Vladimir Putin’s speech declaring a partial military mobilization on Wednesday, men all over Russia — including some who had tried for months to ignore the messy war in Ukraine — suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty. The men, mostly reservists under 35 who served in the army and have junior military ranks, were handed written notices in their offices or at their homes. In some…

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‘It’s a 100% mobilisation’ on day one of Russia’s drive to build its army

‘It’s a 100% mobilisation’ on day one of Russia’s drive to build its army

The Guardian reports: Summons delivered to eligible men at midnight. Schoolteachers pressed into handing out draft notices. Men given an hour to pack their things and appear at draft centres. Women sobbing as they send their husbands and sons off to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The first full day of Russia’s first mobilisation since the second world war produced emotional showdowns at draft centres and even signs of protest, while it appears Russia could be considering far more…

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Russia’s military divided as Putin struggles to deal with Ukraine’s counteroffensive, U.S. sources say

Russia’s military divided as Putin struggles to deal with Ukraine’s counteroffensive, U.S. sources say

CNN reports: Russia’s military is divided over how best to counter Ukraine’s unexpected battlefield advances this month, according to multiple sources familiar with US intelligence, as Moscow has found itself on the defensive in both the east and the south. Russian President Vladimir Putin is himself giving directions directly to generals in the field, two sources familiar with US and western intelligence said– a highly unusual management tactic in a modern military that these sources said hints at the dysfunctional…

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