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The collapse of the information ecosystem poses profound risks for humanity

The collapse of the information ecosystem poses profound risks for humanity

Lydia Polgreen writes: For the last few years, scientists have argued that we’re living through a distinctly new geological age. They call it the Anthropocene: a new age characterized by humanity’s profound impact on Earth itself as evidenced by pollution, mass extinction and climate change. We are currently facing a new systemic collapse, one that has built far more swiftly but poses potent risks for all of humanity: the collapse of the information ecosystem. We see it play out every…

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First Amendment rights prevent bigoted professor being fired, but university says no student need attend his classes

First Amendment rights prevent bigoted professor being fired, but university says no student need attend his classes

CNN reports: Indiana University has received hundreds of requests calling for a controversial professor to be fired, and a provost has called his views “racist, sexist and homophobic.” But the school says that, while the professor does not represent its values, he is protected by the First Amendment. Eric Rasmusen is a professor of business economics and public policy at Indiana University, where he’s been teaching since 1992. He recently came under fire after he tweeted an article from Unz.com…

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Fiona Hill shreds the Republicans’ false narrative about Ukraine

Fiona Hill shreds the Republicans’ false narrative about Ukraine

  A Washington Post editorial says: A pillar of the Republican defense of President Trump during the impeachment inquiry has been that he had good reason to believe that Ukraine intervened against him during the 2016 presidential election — and that he therefore was justified in demanding that the new Ukrainian government investigate. That made the testimony Thursday of Fiona Hill, who served Mr. Trump as the National Security Council’s senior director for Europe and Russia for more than two…

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Netanyahu to stand trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust

Netanyahu to stand trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust

The Times of Israel reports: In a decision that drastically shakes up Israeli politics amid already ongoing chaos, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be charged with criminal wrongdoing in three separate cases against him, including bribery in the far-reaching Bezeq corruption probe. The decision marks the first time in Israel’s history that a serving prime minister faces criminal charges, casting a heavy shadow over Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, and his ongoing attempts…

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Former Fox News executive divides Americans using Russian tactics

Former Fox News executive divides Americans using Russian tactics

The New York Times reports: At first glance, the websites Conservative Edition News and Liberal Edition News have only one thing in common: Both have been carefully curated to inflame America’s culture wars. Conservative Edition News is a repository of stories guaranteed to infuriate the American right. Its recent headlines include “Austin sex-ed curriculum teaches kids how to obtain an abortion” and “HuffPost writer considers Christianity ‘dangerous.’” On Liberal Edition News, readers are fed a steady diet of content guaranteed…

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Secret Service spent $254,000 at Trump’s properties in first five months of his term

Secret Service spent $254,000 at Trump’s properties in first five months of his term

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. Secret Service paid more than $250,000 to President Trump’s private businesses in just the first five months of his presidency — paying Trump’s company an average of nearly $2,000 per day, according to Secret Service records. Those records, obtained by the group Property of the People after an open-records lawsuit, detail some of the revenue that Trump derives from U.S. taxpayers. The president has set up an extraordinary arrangement: He kept ownership of his…

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The real story behind the Steele dossier

The real story behind the Steele dossier

Peter Nicholas writes: For a reporter, it’s a heart-stopping moment. You’re in an interview and suddenly a source offers up something you never expected anyone to unearth: video evidence of the president’s perverse pleasures. “You were going to ask about the pee tape?” Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the research firm Fusion GPS, which commissioned the infamous Steele dossier, asks me. “We’re going to screen it for you right now.” He motions to a TV on the wall of his…

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Sondland’s testimony torpedoes Republican defenses of Trump

Sondland’s testimony torpedoes Republican defenses of Trump

Amber Phillips writes: Gordon Sondland has been considered a figure who could crack the impeachment inquiry wide open. Not just because he was the witness directly talking to President Trump about Ukraine but also because of who he is: a Republican and Trump donor, a high-profile ambassador unanimously confirmed by the Republican Senate. And despite his background as a Trump ally — the president last month called him “a very good guy and a great American” — in his opening…

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FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

Yahoo News reports: Some officials within the FBI, which received its own copy of the whistleblower’s complaint in early September, chafed at a Justice Department move they believed was aimed at shutting down any inquiry at all, especially into potential counterintelligence issues raised by the allegations, according to a former senior U.S intelligence official who has discussed the matter with current FBI counterintelligence agents. There were “guys who wanted to run with it,” said the former senior official. “People were…

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How rich people like Gordon Sondland buy their way to becoming U.S. ambassadors

How rich people like Gordon Sondland buy their way to becoming U.S. ambassadors

Some positions attract more political appointments – like those in Western Europe. Markus Pfaff/Shutterstock.com By Dennis Jett, Pennsylvania State University In every other developed democratic country, the role of ambassador, with only very rare exceptions, is given to career diplomats who have spent decades learning the art of international relations. In the U.S., however, many ambassadors are untrained in diplomacy, and have simply bought their way into a prestigious post. The involvement of the American ambassador to the European Union,…

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Why tyranny could be the inevitable outcome of democracy

Why tyranny could be the inevitable outcome of democracy

At the dawn of democracy, Plato foresaw an unfortunate end. vangelis aragiannis/Shutterstock.com By Lawrence Torcello, Rochester Institute of Technology Plato, one of the earliest thinkers and writers about democracy, predicted that letting people govern themselves would eventually lead the masses to support the rule of tyrants. When I tell my college-level philosophy students that in about 380 B.C. he asked “does not tyranny spring from democracy,” they’re sometimes surprised, thinking it’s a shocking connection. But looking at the modern political…

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Democracy can’t survive if Americans don’t make more effort to become better informed

Democracy can’t survive if Americans don’t make more effort to become better informed

Margaret Sullivan writes: A lot of Americans don’t know much and won’t exert themselves beyond their echo chambers to find out. This is the way a democracy self-destructs. And what’s more, it’s not that difficult for American citizens to do much, much better. Granted, the flow of news is unending — exhausting, even. And granted, there’s a lot of disinformation out there. But apathy — or giving in to confusion — is dangerous. “I’m terrified that the idea that it…

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Many Americans are tuning out of politics because they mistrust the media

Many Americans are tuning out of politics because they mistrust the media

The New York Times reports: In upstate New York, Travis Trudell got an alert on his phone Wednesday morning telling him the impeachment hearings had started. He turned on Disney Plus instead. In Wisconsin, Jerre Corrigan never considered watching. She spent the day giving a math lesson to third graders. In Idaho, Russell Memory worked a busy day as a computer programmer and figured he’d catch up in a few weeks when the hearings were over. The Democrats in Congress…

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New American citizens could swing battleground states in 2020, study finds

New American citizens could swing battleground states in 2020, study finds

Politico reports: Immigrants who have become new American citizens in key swing states could prove influential in the 2020 election if effectively mobilized, according to a new study. An analysis conducted by the progressive group New American Leaders found that naturalized citizens make up hundreds of thousands of eligible voters in key presidential swing states such Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. New American Leaders, which helps immigrants run for elected office, released the numbers ahead of the fifth Democratic presidential debate…

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Trump’s deference to Putin

Trump’s deference to Putin

CNN reports: President Donald Trump has an Achilles’ heel when it comes to Russia. Over the years, he’s made no secret that he has a soft spot for the country and its authoritarian leader, President Vladimir Putin. Trump has proved that he is willing to reject widely held US foreign policy views and align himself with the Kremlin on everything from Russian interference in US elections to the war in Syria. Trump’s ties to Russians were so concerning that the…

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Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

Chilean police clash with anti-government demonstrators during a protest in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2019. Santiago is one of a dozen cities worldwide to see mass unrest in recent months. AP Photo/Esteban Felix By Henry F. (Chip) Carey, Georgia State University Numerous anti-government protests have paralyzed cities across the globe for months, from La Paz, Bolivia, to Santiago, Chile, and Monrovia, Liberia, to Beirut. Each protest in this worldwide wave of unrest has its own local dynamic and cause. But…

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