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Israel and Iran broaden ongoing cyberwar to attack civilian targets

Israel and Iran broaden ongoing cyberwar to attack civilian targets

The New York Times reports: Millions of ordinary people in Iran and Israel recently found themselves caught in the crossfire of a cyberwar between their countries. In Tehran, a dentist drove around for hours in search of gasoline, waiting in long lines at four gas stations only to come away empty. In Tel Aviv, a well-known broadcaster panicked as the intimate details of his sex life, and those of hundreds of thousands of others stolen from an L.G.B.T.Q. dating site,…

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Taliban covert operatives seized Kabul and other Afghan cities from within

Taliban covert operatives seized Kabul and other Afghan cities from within

The Wall Street Journal reports: Undercover Taliban agents—often clean-shaven, dressed in jeans and sporting sunglasses—spent years infiltrating Afghan government ministries, universities, businesses and aid organizations. Then, as U.S. forces were completing their withdrawal in August, these operatives stepped out of the shadows in Kabul and other big cities across Afghanistan, surprising their neighbors and colleagues. Pulling their weapons from hiding, they helped the Taliban rapidly seize control from the inside. The pivotal role played by these clandestine cells is becoming…

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QAnon supporter, Michael Flynn, reveals in private he thinks QAnon is a CIA creation and ‘total nonsense’

QAnon supporter, Michael Flynn, reveals in private he thinks QAnon is a CIA creation and ‘total nonsense’

vIdEo pRoDuCtIoN iS mY pAsSiOn pic.twitter.com/7ErBpus3kn — Jan Bobrowicz (@janbobrowicz) November 28, 2021 The Daily Beast reports: Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has embraced his position as a hero to QAnon conspiracy theorists. He took the QAnon oath, sold QAnon T-shirts, and even auctioned off a QAnon quilt. He appeared at a QAnon convention and signed books with a QAnon slogan. Some QAnon followers even believe that Flynn is “Q,” the mysterious figure behind QAnon. But a recording…

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Moderate House Republican warns McCarthy over embracing far-right members

Moderate House Republican warns McCarthy over embracing far-right members

CNN reports: A moderate House Republican is firing off a warning shot at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he caters to his right flank in a quest for the speaker’s gavel. “He’s taking the middle of the conference for granted,” the GOP lawmaker told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conference dynamics. “McCarthy could have a bigger math problem with the moderates.” Specifically, the lawmaker said a number of moderates are upset with how McCarthy, of…

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What we need to understand about the Omicron variant

What we need to understand about the Omicron variant

Ashish Jha asks: How worrisome is Omicron? There are three key questions that help scientists understand how consequential any variant might be. The first question is whether the variant is more transmissible than the current, prevalent Delta strain? Second, does it cause more severe disease? And third, will it render our immune defenses — from vaccines and prior infections — less effective (a phenomenon known as immune escape)? On transmissibility, the data, while early, look worrisome. This new variant appears…

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Western countries are destroying surplus doses of Covid vaccine while the poorest nations go without

Western countries are destroying surplus doses of Covid vaccine while the poorest nations go without

Gordon Brown writes: Despite the repeated warnings of health leaders, our failure to put vaccines into the arms of people in the developing world is now coming back to haunt us. We were forewarned – and yet here we are. In the absence of mass vaccination, Covid is not only spreading uninhibited among unprotected people but is mutating, with new variants emerging out of the poorest countries and now threatening to unleash themselves on even fully vaccinated people in the…

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The West’s hoarding of vaccines set the stage for the Omicron variant to emerge

The West’s hoarding of vaccines set the stage for the Omicron variant to emerge

The New York Times reports: In poorer African nations, the cascade of travel closures triggered a wave of resentment among people who believed that the continent was yet again bearing the brunt of panicked policies from Western countries, which had failed to deliver vaccines and the resources needed to administer them. Richer countries, having already hoarded vaccines for much of 2021, were now penalizing parts of the world that they had starved of shots in the first place, scientists said….

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Corruption: Biden’s FDA nominee returns with deeper Big Pharma ties

Corruption: Biden’s FDA nominee returns with deeper Big Pharma ties

Bloomberg reports: President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Food and Drug Administration made millions of dollars from health and drug companies since his last stint in government, raising new questions about his ties to firms the agency oversees. Robert Califf was paid $2.7 million by Verily Life Sciences, the biomedical research organization operated by Alphabet Inc., and sits on the boards of two pharmaceutical companies, AmyriAD and Centessa Pharmaceuticals PLC. He also reported ties to 16 other research organizations…

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The only nation in the world where civilian guns outnumber people

The only nation in the world where civilian guns outnumber people

CNN reports: Atlanta. Orlando. Las Vegas. Newtown. Parkland. San Bernardino. Ubiquitous gun violence in the United States has left few places unscathed over the decades. Still, many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct. But critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: The right to life. America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier. As the tally of gun-related deaths continue to grow…

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What impossible meant to Richard Feynman

What impossible meant to Richard Feynman

Paul J. Steinhardt writes: Impossible! The word resonated throughout the large lecture hall. I had just finished describing a revolutionary concept for a new type of matter that my graduate student, Dov Levine, and I had invented. The Caltech lecture room was packed with scientists from every discipline across campus. The discussion had gone remarkably well. But just as the last of the crowd was filing out, there arose a familiar, booming voice and that word: “Impossible!” I could have…

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Democrats can’t be the party of both the working and the millionaire classes

Democrats can’t be the party of both the working and the millionaire classes

Rep. Jared Golden writes: For years, Democrats have made promises to American voters: Elect us, and we will lower the cost of prescription drugs. Elect us, and we will expand access to affordable health care. Elect us, and we will strengthen labor laws to protect the rights of workers. Elect us, and we will deliver important, common-sense reform to make life better for people in the working middle class. Last week, we found out that Democratic party leaders also have…

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GOP cements hold on legislatures in battleground states

GOP cements hold on legislatures in battleground states

The New York Times reports: Republicans are locking in newly gerrymandered maps for the legislatures in four battleground states that are set to secure the party’s control in the statehouse chambers over the next decade, fortifying the G.O.P. against even the most sweeping potential Democratic wave elections. In Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia, Republican state lawmakers have either created supermajorities capable of overriding a governor’s veto or whittled down competitive districts so significantly that Republicans’ advantage is virtually impenetrable…

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Ahmaud Arbery’s murder: The system only worked because it was pushed

Ahmaud Arbery’s murder: The system only worked because it was pushed

Adam Serwer writes: The men who killed Ahmaud Arbery will not get away with it. Yet the most surprising aspect of the trial is not the verdict, but the fact that the trial happened at all. On Wednesday, a Georgia jury convicted Travis McMichael; his father, Gregory McMichael; and their friend William Bryan of felony offenses after the trio chased down and then shot Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, in February of last year. The men claimed that they were attempting…

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Americans need to be nudged out of the pandemic

Americans need to be nudged out of the pandemic

Juliette Kayyem writes: Perhaps you’ve figured this out already: The pandemic will not have a discrete end. The coronavirus will not raise a white flag. There will be no peace treaty, no parade, no announcement from the CDC that the United States is done worrying about COVID. You will not get closure. The signs remain too mixed. The virus continues to spread, even as widening vaccine eligibility, booster shots, and improved medical treatments limit the damage the virus can do….

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