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Category: Politics

American citizens are mostly subjects following the dictates of their employers

American citizens are mostly subjects following the dictates of their employers

Jamelle Bouie writes: For a vast majority of Americans, democracy ends when work hours begin. Most people in this country are subject, as workers, to the nearly unmediated authority of their employers, which can discipline, sanction or fire them for nearly any reason at all. In other words, Americans are at the mercy of what the philosopher Elizabeth Anderson calls “private government,” a workplace despotism in which most workers “cede all of their rights to their employers, except those specifically…

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The pro-Trump conspiracy internet is moving from Facebook to your doorstep

The pro-Trump conspiracy internet is moving from Facebook to your doorstep

BuzzFeed News reports: The man at the door said he was just there to verify some publicly available information. In the home security video, he seems nervous and out of breath as he waits at the doorway, glancing frequently at his phone. Strangers don’t knock on doors much in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, a small ski town. For a decade, it had just 250 year-round residents, until the pandemic hit and a bunch of Massachusetts residents decided to cross state…

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Mark Meadows’ personal cell phone is becoming a personal hell

Mark Meadows’ personal cell phone is becoming a personal hell

The Daily Beast reports: It turns out Mark Meadows may have good reason to not want to turn over all of the communications on two personal phones and two Gmail accounts. After the Jan. 6 Committee disclosed just a few choice text messages between Meadows and Fox News hosts, an anonymous lawmaker, and Donald Trump Jr. about the insurrection, the battle for all of Meadows’ communications has taken on new meaning. And Meadows’ assertions of executive privilege are undermined by…

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Two January 6 organizers are coming forward and naming names: ‘We’re turning it all over’

Two January 6 organizers are coming forward and naming names: ‘We’re turning it all over’

Rolling Stone reports: Two key organizers of the main Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C. are coming in from the cold. Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lynn Lawrence are set to testify next week before the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The pair will deliver testimony and turn over documents, including text messages, that indicate the extensive involvement members of Congress and the Trump administration had in planning the House challenge to certifying Biden’s election and…

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America’s anti-democratic movement

America’s anti-democratic movement

David Leonhardt writes: American politics these days can often seem fairly normal. President Biden has had both big accomplishments and big setbacks in his first year, as is typical. In Congress, members are haggling over bills and passing some of them. At the Supreme Court, justices are hearing cases. Daily media coverage tends to reflect this apparent sense of political normalcy. But American politics today is not really normal. It may instead be in the midst of a radical shift…

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The GOP is an anti-America party

The GOP is an anti-America party

Juan Williams writes: I am a Democrat. Yet I have voted for Republicans. In fact, one of my sons ran for office as a Republican. My other son worked for Republicans in Congress and the Republican National Committee. But I can’t stomach what has happened to the GOP in the last year. And I can’t understand why every American isn’t screaming about it. How can anyone dismiss a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol as just “one day in January,”…

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Taliban seek ties with U.S., other ex-foes

Taliban seek ties with U.S., other ex-foes

The Associated Press reports: Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women, a marked departure from their previous time in power, and they seek the world’s “mercy and compassion” to help millions of Afghans in desperate need, a top Taliban leader said in a rare interview. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also told The Associated Press that the Taliban government wants good relations with all countries and has no issue with…

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The U.S. has a dirty-money problem

The U.S. has a dirty-money problem

Anne Applebaum writes: In 2010, things started going wrong at the steel plant in Warren, Ohio, a Rust Belt town that went on to cast its votes twice for Donald Trump. A cooling panel started leaking, and the furnace operator didn’t see the leak in time; the water hit molten steel, leading to an explosion that sent workers to the hospital with burns and severe injuries. A year later, another explosion caused another round of destruction. A federal regulatory investigation…

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Eighteen steps to a democratic breakdown

Eighteen steps to a democratic breakdown

Risa Brooks and Erica De Bruin write: Democracy is most likely to break down through a series of incremental actions that cumulatively undermine the electoral process, resulting in a presidential election that produces an outcome clearly at odds with the voters’ will. It is this comparatively quiet but steady subversion, rather than a violent coup or insurrection against a sitting president, that Americans today have to fear most. Five sets of actions fuel this corrosion: limiting participation in elections; controlling…

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A PR giant is caught between climate pledges and fossil fuel clients

A PR giant is caught between climate pledges and fossil fuel clients

The New York Times reports: After last month’s United Nations-sponsored environmental conference in Glasgow, the public relations giant Edelman praised the participants for reaching “a new level of international consensus that climate change is an existential threat to humanity.” In a statement posted on its website, Edelman also called for “more scrutiny on corporate climate lobbying efforts” and argued that many of the pledges that resulted from the conference “fall far short of what is necessary to avert global climate…

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G7 diplomats warn Russia of ‘massive consequences’ if it invades Ukraine

G7 diplomats warn Russia of ‘massive consequences’ if it invades Ukraine

The New York Times reports: The top diplomats for the world’s wealthiest large democracies warned Russia on Sunday of “massive consequences” and “severe costs” should it invade Ukraine or continue military aggressions near its border. The foreign ministers for the Group of 7 urged Russia to pull back from the tense border standoff and made clear that any effort to negotiate or otherwise avoid confrontation would be welcome. “Any use of force to change borders is strictly prohibited under international…

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Majority of UK voters think Boris Johnson should resign

Majority of UK voters think Boris Johnson should resign

The Observer reports: Labour surged into a commanding nine-point lead over the Tories this weekend as controversies over rule-breaking Christmas parties at Downing Street and Tory sleaze plunged Boris Johnson into a battle to save his premiership. The latest Opinium poll for the Observer also shows 57% of voters think Johnson should now resign, up nine points from a fortnight ago, as the prime minister appears to be haemorrhaging public support. Johnson’s personal ratings have fallen to -35%, down 14…

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Civilian deaths mounted as secret American unit pounded ISIS in Syria

Civilian deaths mounted as secret American unit pounded ISIS in Syria

The New York Times reports: A single top secret American strike cell launched tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against the Islamic State in Syria, but in the process of hammering a vicious enemy, the shadowy force sidestepped safeguards and repeatedly killed civilians, according to multiple current and former military and intelligence officials. The unit was called Talon Anvil, and it worked in three shifts around the clock between 2014 and 2019, pinpointing targets for the United States’ formidable…

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Deadly collapse at Amazon warehouse puts spotlight on work area phone ban

Deadly collapse at Amazon warehouse puts spotlight on work area phone ban

Bloomberg reports: An Amazon.com Inc. warehouse collapse on Friday night that killed at least six people has amplified concerns among its blue collar workforce about the return of the internet retailer’s mobile phone ban in work areas. The warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, near St. Louis, was reduced to rubble when a string of tornadoes ripped through six states, leaving a trail of destruction that stretched more than 200 miles. Emergency responders expect recovery efforts to continue into next week. Amazon…

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How the oil and gas industry rigs the system to keep winning

How the oil and gas industry rigs the system to keep winning

Naomi Oreskes and Jeff Nesbit write: Despite countless investigations, lawsuits, social shaming, and regulations dating back decades, the oil and gas industry remains formidable. After all, it has made consuming its products seem like a human necessity. It has confused the public about climate science, bought the eternal gratitude of one of America’s two main political parties, and repeatedly out-maneuvered regulatory efforts. And it has done all this in part by thinking ahead and then acting ruthlessly. While the rest…

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Why most Americans say the economy is in rough shape

Why most Americans say the economy is in rough shape

David Leonhardt writes: Offices remain eerily empty. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights. Subways and buses are running less often. Schools sometimes call off entire days of class. Consumers waste time waiting in store lines. Annual inflation has reached its highest level in three decades. Does this sound like a healthy economy to you? In recent weeks, economists and pundits have been asking why Americans feel grouchy about the economy when many indicators — like G.D.P. growth, stock prices and…

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