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Lessons from the terrible triumph of the anti-abortion movement

Lessons from the terrible triumph of the anti-abortion movement

Michelle Goldberg writes: The Senate can’t codify minimal reproductive rights because of the filibuster, which gives a minority of conservatives veto power over much of national policymaking. In states like Wisconsin, legislatures are so gerrymandered that it will take more than a popular-vote majority to undo their abortion bans. The right pretends that ending Roe returns abortion to the democratic process, but Roe’s demise was made possible by democracy’s erosion. That shouldn’t blind us, however, to the success of the…

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How ‘Stand Your Ground’ law erodes a homicide probe

How ‘Stand Your Ground’ law erodes a homicide probe

Robin Blackburn and Rasha Elass write: In the early hours of Oct. 11, 2021, in the rural town of Martindale, Texas, Terry Turner, a 65-year-old local, shot and killed an unarmed man who was sitting in a vehicle. Turner then called 911 and said he just “shot a guy,” claiming his victim had a gun. The victim was 31-year-old Moroccan national and U.S. immigrant Adil Dghoughi, a recent business school graduate who was in the midst of looking for a…

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Do we need a new theory of evolution?

Do we need a new theory of evolution?

Stephen Buranyi writes: Strange as it sounds, scientists still do not know the answers to some of the most basic questions about how life on Earth evolved. Take eyes, for instance. Where do they come from, exactly? The usual explanation of how we got these stupendously complex organs rests upon the theory of natural selection. You may recall the gist from school biology lessons. If a creature with poor eyesight happens to produce offspring with slightly better eyesight, thanks to…

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How far do Putin’s imperial ambitions go?

How far do Putin’s imperial ambitions go?

Yaroslav Trofimov writes: At a ceremony honoring young geographers in 2016, President Vladimir Putin asked one boy about the capital of Burkina Faso and then quizzed another about where Russia’s borders end. “At the Bering Strait with the United States,” the 9-year-old boy ventured hesitantly. Mr. Putin, who chairs the board of the Russian Geographic Society, contradicted the boy to triumphant applause. “The borders of Russia,” he pronounced, “never end.” The scene, years before Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine unleashed…

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Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

The Telegraph reports: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left the world on the brink of a “triple F” crisis with at least 345 million people facing food insecurity, the World Food Programme has warned. Matthew Hollingworth, the emergency coordinator for the WFP in Ukraine, said millions of extra people had been left vulnerable as a result of food, fuel and fertiliser shortages and a spike in prices triggered by the war. “We are extraordinarily concerned for more than 345 million…

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Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

The Wall Street Journal reports: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is on a course to admit Finland and Sweden following an agreement with Turkey, a move that would add vast territory and new military abilities in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two Nordic countries, which had long shunned joining the alliance, abruptly changed their stance following Moscow’s attack on its neighbor on Feb. 24. Both countries applied for NATO membership a month ago, but Turkey had balked,…

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Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

BBC News reports: Within hours of the attack on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, false and unproven claims began circulating online. Stories were spread by Russian Telegram channels and by Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations. They included rumours that the attack was “false” or “staged” – and were repeated on Russian television. On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry released a statement claiming the shopping centre was “non-functioning” and that the bombing of…

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‘This is a bombshell’: Trump aides left speechless by Hutchinson testimony

‘This is a bombshell’: Trump aides left speechless by Hutchinson testimony

CNN reports: Aides to former President Donald Trump were left speechless amid the first half of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday, acknowledging to CNN that her testimony was “a bombshell” with potentially huge repercussions for Trump. Trump was already bracing for an explosive day of testimony from Hutchinson, who previously told the House select committee that the former President approved of rioters chanting violent threats against Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021. “This is a bombshell. It’s stunning….

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Ocasio-Cortez wants justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh impeached for ‘lying under oath’

Ocasio-Cortez wants justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh impeached for ‘lying under oath’

The New York Times reports: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for a House investigation into whether two Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade should be impeached for lying at their confirmation hearings about their views of the landmark abortion-rights case. In a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and progressive firebrand, said that she thinks the justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, were dishonest when discussing Roe at…

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Women who are denied abortions risk falling deeper into poverty. So do their kids

Women who are denied abortions risk falling deeper into poverty. So do their kids

NPR reports: Like most women seeking an abortion, Brittany Mostiller already had children when she unexpectedly got pregnant again. “I had two young daughters both under the age of 5, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with my sister,” she says. She’d also just been laid off from her overnight job as a greeter for Greyhound buses. Her unemployment benefits were less than her wages there, and nearly all of them went toward rent and utilities. “I’m not even sure I had…

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Who knew losing our rights would feel this bad?

Who knew losing our rights would feel this bad?

Molly Jong-Fast writes: They overturned Roe v. Wade on a sunny and hot Friday in June. I was taking my daughter for a haircut when the Supreme Court released its ruling declaring that our bodies were no longer ours. Roe had been the crowning achievement of my mother’s generation of activism, and it was gone—a right we’d had for 49 years erased in pages of text we saw a draft of last month. And maybe it fit that as I…

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The coming legal battles of post-Roe America

The coming legal battles of post-Roe America

Vox reports: When the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, declaring that there is no longer a constitutional right to end a pregnancy, it ushered in a series of new and fiercely contested legal questions about who can be punished for doing so, and where, under newly restrictive state laws. Can a state punish a resident for getting an out-of-state abortion? Can it punish the provider in another state who facilitated it? Or as…

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NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

The Guardian reports: Nato’s secretary general has said this week’s Madrid summit will agree the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, putting 300,000 troops at high readiness in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance’s forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased “up to brigade levels” – doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. That would amount to “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and…

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Tracking where Russia is taking Ukraine’s stolen grain

Tracking where Russia is taking Ukraine’s stolen grain

BBC News reports: There’s mounting evidence that Russian forces in occupied areas of Ukraine have been systematically stealing grain and other produce from local farmers. The BBC has talked to farmers and analysed satellite images and shipping data to track where the grain is going. A few dozen miles from the frontline, Ukrainian farmer Dmytro describes how the business he nurtured over 25 years was lost in four months of Russian occupation. The BBC tried to contact more than 200…

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