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Category: Politics

NOAA’s chief scientist to investigate why agency backed Trump over its experts on Dorian, while NWS director backs forecasters

NOAA’s chief scientist to investigate why agency backed Trump over its experts on Dorian, while NWS director backs forecasters

The Washington Post reports: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s acting chief scientist said in an email to colleagues Sunday that he is investigating whether the agency’s response to President Trump’s Hurricane Dorian tweets constituted a violation of NOAA policies and ethics. Also on Monday, the director of the National Weather Service broke with NOAA leadership over its handling of Trump’s Dorian tweets and statements. In an email to NOAA staff that was obtained by The Washington Post, NOAA’s Craig…

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Commerce chief threatened to fire top officials at NOAA if they didn’t support Trump’s false hurricane predictions, sources say

Commerce chief threatened to fire top officials at NOAA if they didn’t support Trump’s false hurricane predictions, sources say

The New York Times reports: The Secretary of Commerce threatened to fire top employees at NOAA on Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion. That threat led to an unusual, unsigned statement later that Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disavowing the office’s own position that Alabama was not at risk. The reversal caused widespread anger within the agency and drew…

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Trump’s hatred of refugees applies to victims of Hurricane Dorian

Trump’s hatred of refugees applies to victims of Hurricane Dorian

Aaron Blake writes: Early Monday afternoon, acting Customs and Border Protection head Mark Morgan offered some peace of mind to Bahamians seeking humanitarian relief in the United States in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, following the news that some were turned away for not having visas. “This is a humanitarian mission,” Morgan assured. “If your life is in jeopardy and you’re in the Bahamas … you’re going to be allowed to come to the United States, whether you have travel…

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The Irish border and the reality of Boris Johnson’s no-deal plan

The Irish border and the reality of Boris Johnson’s no-deal plan

‘I was the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre. Ten of my friends were shot dead beside me.’ In 2016, UK political commentator Peter Oborne voted for Brexit. A vote he now regrets.@obornetweets went to the border to discover the reality of Boris Johnson's no deal plan pic.twitter.com/2yFMW2UwHy — JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) September 4, 2019 The Guardian reports: The Irish prime minister has warned Boris Johnson there will be no “clean break” from the EU, with further fraught negotiations to come…

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Boris Johnson ‘sabotage’ letter to EU ‘would break law’

Boris Johnson ‘sabotage’ letter to EU ‘would break law’

The Guardian reports: A former supreme court justice has said Boris Johnson would be in contempt of court if he applied for article 50 extension while simultaneously trying to get the EU to reject it. Reports in the Daily Telegraph suggested that the prime minister has drawn up plans to “sabotage” parliament’s efforts to force through a Brexit extension to prevent the UK leaving the bloc without a deal. He is said to be considering sending an accompanying letter to…

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U.S. extracted top spy from Russia after Trump disclosed highly classified intelligence to Russian officials

U.S. extracted top spy from Russia after Trump disclosed highly classified intelligence to Russian officials

CNN reports: In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision…

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Jerry Falwell’s aides describe a culture of fear and self-dealing at Liberty University

Jerry Falwell’s aides describe a culture of fear and self-dealing at Liberty University

Brandon Ambrosino writes: At Liberty University, all anyone can talk about is Jerry Falwell Jr. Just not in public. “When he does stupid stuff, people will mention it to others they consider confidants and not keep it totally secret,” a trusted adviser to Falwell, the school’s president and chancellor, told me. “But they won’t rat him out.” That’s beginning to change. Over the past year, Falwell, a prominent evangelical leader and supporter of President Donald Trump, has come under increasing…

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Britain’s Tory rebels demonstrate courage and principles sorely lacking among their Republican counterparts

Britain’s Tory rebels demonstrate courage and principles sorely lacking among their Republican counterparts

The New York Times reports: Britain and the United States have often seemed lashed together amid the populist storms of the last few years — Brexit and the Trump White House echoing and amplifying each other across the Atlantic. But in one respect they have radically diverged. In London, rebels in the Conservative Party staged a dramatic insurrection in the past week against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, blocking his plan to withdraw Britain from the European Union even without a…

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We’re still trapped in the dystopian aftermath of 9/11

We’re still trapped in the dystopian aftermath of 9/11

Matt Ford writes: The FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center was created in 2003 because, as a FAQ on its web site explains, “The 9/11 Commission report found that agencies did not share counterterrorism information in an effective and timely manner.” This is true—to a point. The executive summary of the report recommends the following: “Determine, with leadership from the President, guidelines for gathering and sharing information in the new security systems that are needed, guidelines that integrate safeguards for privacy and…

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How Trump upended U.S.-Taliban peace talks

How Trump upended U.S.-Taliban peace talks

The Associated Press reports: With a series of tweets, President Donald Trump has upended nearly a year of U.S.-Taliban negotiations on ending America’s longest war. He has “called off” the talks and asserted that a planned secret meeting between him and Taliban leaders at Camp David, set for Sunday just days before the 9/11 anniversary, is now canceled. Some question whether it was a face-saving attempt after the deal his envoy said had been reached “in principle” faced serious challenges….

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NOAA administrators place fealty to Trump above national interest

NOAA administrators place fealty to Trump above national interest

On Friday, an official at NOAA who thus far remains anonymous, released the following statement: From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link. The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms…

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Textbook corruption: The merging of Trump’s official duties and his commercial interests

Textbook corruption: The merging of Trump’s official duties and his commercial interests

The New York Times reports: At a table in the lobby bar of the Trump International Hotel this week, the final details of a black-tie, 40th anniversary gala for the Concerned Women for America were being worked out by the conservative group’s staff. There was the contract with the president’s hotel to be reviewed. And there was also unfinished business with the White House — logistical issues posed by two guests from the administration, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary…

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Is the Pentagon helping Trump’s Turnberry resort stay afloat?

Is the Pentagon helping Trump’s Turnberry resort stay afloat?

Politico reports: In early Spring of this year, an Air National Guard crew made a routine trip from the U.S. to Kuwait to deliver supplies. What wasn’t routine was where the crew stopped along the way: President Donald Trump’s Turnberry resort, about 50 miles outside Glasgow, Scotland. Since April, the House Oversight Committee has been investigating why the crew on the C-17 military transport plane made the unusual stay — both en route to the Middle East and on the…

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How the right has tried to rebrand anti-Semitism

How the right has tried to rebrand anti-Semitism

Mairav Zonszein writes: On August 20, after President Donald Trump told a reporter that any American Jew who casts a “vote for a Democrat… shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” outraged reactions flooded social media, attributing to his statement the anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty.” This is the idea, rampant in so much nineteenth- and twentieth-century thought, that Jews cannot be trusted because their allegiances are inherently divided between their Jewish and their national identities. Captain…

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Boris Johnson’s government falling apart: Minister resigns from cabinet and surrenders Conservative whip

Boris Johnson’s government falling apart: Minister resigns from cabinet and surrenders Conservative whip

The Guardian reports: Amber Rudd has resigned from the cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip in protest at Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit. The Hastings and Rye MP said she was relinquishing the Tory whip after the prime minister sacked 21 rebels this week. The secretary of state for work and pensions posted on Twitter: “I have resigned from cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip. I cannot stand by as good, loyal, moderate Conservatives are expelled. “I have spoken to…

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The West has lost confidence in its values. Syria is paying the price

The West has lost confidence in its values. Syria is paying the price

Anne Applebaum writes: The crisis of Western values has many aspects, many faces. There is a decline in faith in liberal democracy, a loss of confidence in universal human rights, a collapse in support for all kinds of transnational projects. There is a constitutional crisis brewing in London. There is a president who defies democratic norms in Washington. There are challenges to the free press and independent judges in democracies everywhere, from Budapest to Manila. But this same crisis —…

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