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Category: Politics

Syria and the ‘anti-imperialism’ of fools

Syria and the ‘anti-imperialism’ of fools

An open letter from a group of Syrian writers and intellectuals and others who stand in solidarity with them, says: Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising ten years ago, and especially since Russia intervened in Syria on behalf of Bashar al-Assad, there has been a curious and malign development: the emergence of pro-Assad allegiances in the name of “anti-imperialism” among some who otherwise generally identify as progressive or “left,” and the consequent spread of manipulative disinformation that routinely deflects…

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The ‘green energy’ that poses a climate threat

The ‘green energy’ that poses a climate threat

Michael Grunwald writes: Here’s a multibillion-dollar question that could help determine the fate of the global climate: If a tree falls in a forest—and then it’s driven to a mill, where it’s chopped and chipped and compressed into wood pellets, which are then driven to a port and shipped across the ocean to be burned for electricity in European power plants—does it warm the planet? Most scientists and environmentalists say yes: By definition, clear-cutting trees and combusting their carbon emits…

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A Biden administration strategy: Send in the scientists

A Biden administration strategy: Send in the scientists

The New York Times reports: More than a decade ago, a woman at a bar near the Columbia University campus turned to Gavin Schmidt and asked if he knew the main component of air. “Yes, nitrogen,” he replied. His answer lost her a bet about whether the average stranger at the bar would know anything about atmospheric chemistry. Two years later, they were married. Sometimes the nerds win. Today Dr. Schmidt is one of the most prominent scientists warning the…

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Georgia’s governor signed voting restrictions into law in front of a slave plantation painting

Georgia’s governor signed voting restrictions into law in front of a slave plantation painting

BuzzFeed News reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed into law a series of controversial voting restrictions decried by Democrats as “Jim Crow 2.0” — and he did so alongside a group of white men and in front of a painting of a plantation where Black people were once enslaved. In a Twitter thread Friday, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch pointed out that Kemp signed the bill under the image “of a notorious slave plantation in Wilkes County, GA.”…

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Elizabeth Warren’s push to diversify federal judges is finally catching on

Elizabeth Warren’s push to diversify federal judges is finally catching on

HuffPost reports: For years, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has been a lonely voice in the Senate on the need to put people with all kinds of different legal backgrounds into lifetime federal judgeships. “We face a federal bench that has a striking lack of diversity,” she said at a 2014 event on this topic, hosted by Alliance for Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group. “President Obama has supported some notable exceptions but … the president’s nominees have thus far been…

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The UK professor and the fake Russian agent

The UK professor and the fake Russian agent

A British professor corresponded for months with a man called only “Ivan”, seeking assistance to discredit an organisation that helps bring Syrian war criminals to justice. He also asked “Ivan” to investigate other British academics and journalists. The email exchange, seen by the BBC, reveals how, a decade on from the start of the Syrian conflict, a battle is still being waged in the field of information and misinformation. Chloe Hadjimatheou writes: One chilly December morning there was a ping…

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U.S. Covid response could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths, researchers conclude

U.S. Covid response could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths, researchers conclude

Reuters reports: The United States squandered both money and lives in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it could have avoided nearly 400,000 deaths with a more effective health strategy and trimmed federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars while still supporting those who needed it. That is the conclusion of a group of research papers released at a Brookings Institution conference this week, offering an early and broad start to what will likely be an intense effort…

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Stop using ‘surge’ and ‘wave’ to describe what’s happening at the border

Stop using ‘surge’ and ‘wave’ to describe what’s happening at the border

Julio Ricardo Varela writes: A flood. A wave. A surge. What’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border is none of those things, but you wouldn’t know it from watching or reading some of the coverage in U.S. media. In recent weeks, the phrases “surge of migrants,” “migrant surge,” “the surge,” “surge at border” and other variations have all appeared in articles in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, the Associated Press, the New York Times, CNN,…

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‘They are, in effect, supporting racism’: Black leaders zero in on Dems’ filibuster holdouts

‘They are, in effect, supporting racism’: Black leaders zero in on Dems’ filibuster holdouts

Politico reports: Black civil rights leaders, voting rights advocates and elected officials are ramping up their lobbying of Senate Democrats to nix the filibuster, arguing that they can keep the rule in place or pass voting rights legislation, but not both. In a half-dozen interviews, top officials framed the choice as existential for a party that depends on Black and brown voters — and they are planning pressure campaigns privately and publicly to make that clear. Rev. Al Sharpton, the…

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After Trump failed, Georgia Republicans pass bill to make it easier to overturn elections

After Trump failed, Georgia Republicans pass bill to make it easier to overturn elections

Mother Jones reports: During the 2020 election cycle in Georgia, Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. His efforts to manipulate the electoral process failed after Raffensperger stood up to the president and defended the integrity of the election. But if the Georgia legislature has its way, Republicans could have a much easier time overturning the will of voters in future elections. The Georgia House of…

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‘Israel is experiencing its worst political crisis in decades’

‘Israel is experiencing its worst political crisis in decades’

The Associated Press reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies fell short of winning a parliamentary majority in Israel’s latest election, according to a final vote count released Thursday, leaving a political deadlock that put the long-time leader’s future in question. The fourth election in just two years brought a stinging rebuke for Netanyahu, the most dominant figure in Israeli politics in a generation. Adding to the pain, he lost ground to former partners who vowed never to…

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Hundreds of far-right militias are still organizing, recruiting, and promoting violence on Facebook

Hundreds of far-right militias are still organizing, recruiting, and promoting violence on Facebook

BuzzFeed News reports: When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces Congress on Thursday, to testify about extremism online, he will do so as hundreds of far-right militias, including some whose members were charged in the deadly insurrection on the US Capitol, continue to organize, recruit, and promote violence on the platform. More than 200 militia pages and groups were on Facebook as of March 18, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a nonprofit watchdog…

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After anti-Asian violence, volunteers take to streets to form patrols

After anti-Asian violence, volunteers take to streets to form patrols

The Wall Street Journal reports: Before sunset Monday, a few dozen Asian-Americans outfitted in neon vests and jackets combed the streets of this New York City neighborhood. They weren’t police officers. They were students, retail workers and retirees equipped with little more than a cellphone in the event they came across someone being harassed or attacked. Their mission: to stop would-be attackers from hurting other Asians, whether it be by calling the police for help or stepping in themselves. “It’s…

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After two mass shootings, Americans ask: Is this what a return to normal looks like?

After two mass shootings, Americans ask: Is this what a return to normal looks like?

NBC News reports: Spring has arrived, and the American disease that lay dormant during the pandemic — deprived of oxygen by the intense national focus on the presidential election — has made a bloody return. In less than a week, two gunmen separated by 1,400 miles have taken 18 lives. And experts who study and chronicle mass killings warned Tuesday that there could be more as the nation reverts to a more normal way of life. “This is a moment…

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Guns are a threat to the body politic

Guns are a threat to the body politic

Joseph Blocher and Reva Siegel write: Why regulate guns? The standard answer is that gun laws can prevent needless deaths and physical injury. But this is not a complete accounting. As gun-brandishing protesters and armed invasions of legislatures demonstrate, guns inflict more than physical injuries—they transform the public sphere on which a constitutional democracy depends. America must regulate guns not only to protect life, but to protect its citizens’ equal freedoms to speak, assemble, worship, and vote without fear. If…

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In a country with more guns than people, gun rights seem to matter more than human rights

In a country with more guns than people, gun rights seem to matter more than human rights

Vox reports: After a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, Americans are once again confronting the country’s unique relationship with guns. America is certainly an exceptional country when it comes to firearms. It’s one of the few countries in which the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected. But the relationship is unique in another crucial way: Among developed nations, the US is far and away the most homicidal — in large part due to the easy access many…

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