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Pro-Israel groups are still able to intimidate some progressive candidates

Pro-Israel groups are still able to intimidate some progressive candidates

HuffPost reports: The Austin, Texas, chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America announced on Sunday that it was effectively withdrawing its endorsement of Democratic congressional candidate Greg Casar after he made clear that he supports U.S. aid for Israel’s “self-defense” and opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement against Israel. “Austin DSA’s elected leadership finds that these statements are not reconcilable with DSA’s stance in solidarity with Palestine,” the group wrote. The break with Casar, a longstanding DSA…

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Former police and military officers may be helping Ottawa convoy protest dig in

Former police and military officers may be helping Ottawa convoy protest dig in

CBC reports: For nearly two weeks anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators and their big rigs have entrenched themselves in Ottawa’s parliamentary district and its neighbourhoods. Despite a strategic strike by police to cut off supplies to truckers encamped in the city’s downtown core, protesters appear to still have the upper hand on police. It’s a success that experts partly attribute to the deep knowledge of law enforcement and military tactics that exist in the convoy’s organizational structure. The group Police on Guard,…

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New research suggests modern humans lived in Europe 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, in Neanderthal territories

New research suggests modern humans lived in Europe 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, in Neanderthal territories

The Grotte Mandrin rock shelter saw repeated use by Neanderthals and modern humans over millennia. Ludovic Slimak, CC BY-ND By Ludovic Slimak, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès; Clément Zanolli, Université de Bordeaux; Jason E. Lewis, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York), and Laure Metz, University of Connecticut Perched about 325 feet (100 meters) up the slopes of the Prealps in southern France, a humble rock shelter looks out over the Rhône River Valley. It’s a strategic point…

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Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane

Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane

Nature reports: Methane concentrations in the atmosphere raced past 1,900 parts per billion last year, nearly triple preindustrial levels, according to data released in January by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scientists says the grim milestone underscores the importance of a pledge made at last year’s COP26 climate summit to curb emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas at least 28 times as potent as CO2. The growth of methane emissions slowed around the turn of the millennium,…

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Experiment demonstrates that nuclear fussion is no longer a pipedream solution for the climate crisis

Experiment demonstrates that nuclear fussion is no longer a pipedream solution for the climate crisis

CNN reports: There’s no silver bullet to the climate crisis, but nuclear fusion may be the closest thing to it. In the quest for a near-limitless, zero-carbon source of reliable power, scientists have generated fusion energy before, but they have struggled for decades to sustain it for very long. On Wednesday, however, scientists working in the United Kingdom announced that they more than doubled the previous record for generating and sustaining nuclear fusion, which is the same process that allows…

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The time to end pandemic restrictions is now

The time to end pandemic restrictions is now

Yascha Mounk writes: In March 2020, I wrote that America should “cancel everything” in response to the acute threat posed by COVID-19: Mass events should be postponed, companies should send employees home from the office, and schools should move classes online. I remain convinced that this was the right thing to do. Before anyone was vaccinated, and before doctors had even a preliminary understanding of how to treat the disease, these measures were necessary to save lives and avert a…

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Can Ukraine and Russia be persuaded to abide by Minsk accords?

Can Ukraine and Russia be persuaded to abide by Minsk accords?

The Guardian reports: In the often acrimonious back-and-forth between Russia and Ukraine in recent years, “fulfilling Minsk” has become something of a meaningless mantra: all sides agree to abide by the 2015 Minsk accords in public, but neither has any real intention of implementing the provisions of the agreement. Yet in his intensive peacemaking efforts this week, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, appears to be pinning his hopes on a renewed attempt to breathe life into the seven-year-old agreement. “The…

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New report details the influence of Christian nationalism on the insurrection

New report details the influence of Christian nationalism on the insurrection

Religion News Service reports: A team of scholars, faith leaders and advocates unveiled an exhaustive new report Wednesday (Feb. 9) that documents in painstaking detail the role Christian nationalism played in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and calling it an unsettling preview of things to come. Christian nationalism was used to “bolster, justify and intensify the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” said Amanda Tyler, head of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, which sponsored the…

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After a half-century of federal oversight, segregated neighborhoods are still pervasive across America

After a half-century of federal oversight, segregated neighborhoods are still pervasive across America

ABC News reports: Milwaukee resident Exie Tatum III grew up in heart of the city and still lives there. The African American father owns a home in a predominantly Black neighborhood but has been house-hunting in pricey, majority-white suburbs, searching for an affordable home that he might someday pass along to his young son Charles through inheritance. “It would really change the game,” Tatum said of owning a suburban Milwaukee home. But statistics suggest he’s fighting an uphill battle. Despite…

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Changing your diet could add ten years to your life – new research

Changing your diet could add ten years to your life – new research

By Laura Brown, Teesside University Everyone wants to live longer. And we’re often told that the key to doing this is making healthier lifestyle choices, such as exercising, avoiding smoking and not drinking too much alcohol. Studies have also shown that diet can increase lifespan. A new study has found that eating healthier could extend lifespan by six to seven years in middle-aged age adults, and in young adults, could increase lifespan by about ten years. The researchers brought together…

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Putin says the West is goading Russia into war with Ukraine—and many Russians agree

Putin says the West is goading Russia into war with Ukraine—and many Russians agree

The Wall Street Journal reports: Like many Russians, graduate student Anastasia Bukhteyeva hopes the current standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine doesn’t erupt into a full-scale war. But if fighting does break out, the 24-year-old is sure of one thing: It won’t be Russia’s fault. “I have a feeling that someone is trying to provoke Russia,” said Ms. Bukhteyeva, who is studying to be an elementary school teacher. “I don’t understand who this would be good for, but…

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Prosecutors’ witness list offers glimpse into January 6 trial strategy

Prosecutors’ witness list offers glimpse into January 6 trial strategy

Politico reports: Prosecutors late Monday began laying out their trial strategy for Jan. 6 cases in the clearest detail yet, indicating they intend to call multiple Capitol Police officers, a former Senate aide, a member of the Three Percenters militia who was granted immunity and the Secret Service agent who helped supervise then-Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the Capitol that day. Prosecutors revealed their proposed witness list in the case of Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who was charged…

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Call it ‘codger power.’ We’re older and fighting for a better America

Call it ‘codger power.’ We’re older and fighting for a better America

Bill McKibben and Akaya Windwood write: Neil Young and Joni Mitchell did more than go after Spotify for spreading Covid disinformation last week. They also, inadvertently, signaled what could turn out to be an extraordinarily important revival: of an older generation fully rejoining the fight for a working future. You could call it (with a wink!) codger power. We’ve seen this close up: Over the past few months, we’ve worked with others of our generation to start the group Third…

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Rightwing lobby group ALEC driving laws to blacklist companies that boycott the oil industry

Rightwing lobby group ALEC driving laws to blacklist companies that boycott the oil industry

The Guardian reports: The influential rightwing lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) is driving a surge in new state laws to block boycotts of the oil industry. The group’s strategy, which aims to protect large oil firms and other conservative-friendly industries, is modelled on legislation to punish divestment from Israel. Since the beginning of the year, state legislatures in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Indiana have introduced a version of a law drafted by Alec, called the Energy Discrimination…

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