Attention to the Unseen

Ars Technica reports: A joint intelligence bulletin (JIB) has been issued by the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation to state and local authorities regarding Russian hacking activities during the 2016 presidential election. While the bulletin contains no new technical information, it is the first official report to confirm that the Russian reconnaissance and hacking efforts in advance of the election went well beyond the 21 states confirmed in previous reports. As reported by the intelligence newsletter…

Read More Read More

Vox reports: Israel’s 2019 election results are in, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is all but certain to stay in office for a record fifth term. The consequences of his victory for both Israelis and Palestinians could very well be catastrophic. The past several years of Netanyahu’s time in office have been characterized by drift in two illiberal, anti-democratic directions. The prime minister has tried to buy off the independent media, further marginalized Israel’s Arab minority, and gone after civil…

Read More Read More

Haaretz reports: An Israeli public relations company headed by a settler leader boasted Wednesday that it was behind the Likud initiative to place 1,200 hidden cameras in Arab polling stations on Election Day. The firm added that it was to thank for the historically low turnout among Arab voters. “Thanks to us placing observers in every polling station we managed to lower the voter turnout to under 50 percent, the lowest in recent years!” the PR company, Kaizler Inbar, posted…

Read More Read More

Eliza Willis and Janet Seiz write: Making good on previous threats, President Donald Trump recently declared an end to aid to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, blaming the three governments for failing to stop the flow of their citizens to the United States. “They have ALL been taking U.S. money for years,” he tweeted, “and doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for us.” If his public statements are any guide, Trump appears to believe that the three countries—Central America’s so-called Northern Triangle—can shut…

Read More Read More

"If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out," writes the uncle of Stephen Miller, one of Trump's senior advisors, for @POLITICOMag https://t.co/00qTNIYbtI — POLITICO (@politico) April 9, 2019 The Hill reports: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) defended herself Tuesday against criticism she received after calling White House senior adviser Stephen Miller “a white nationalist.” “It is the most bizarre thing,” Omar told CNN. “You know we are talking about…

Read More Read More

Amy Woodyatt writes: As the Islamic State suffered defeat in its final Syrian stronghold of Baghouz last month, the White House declared victory over the self-declared caliphate, announcing via Twitter that it has been “obliterated off the map.” But human rights organizations and activists are warning that far from the front lines, recruitment for the Islamic State and other extremist groups is increasing in Egypt’s prisons, where appalling prisoner conditions have accelerated recruitment. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has presided…

Read More Read More

Vladimir Kara-Murza writes: In October 1998, a court in St. Petersburg began hearings in a case against Alexander Nikitin, a retired Russian naval officer who alerted the world to the environmental dangers of a decaying nuclear submarine fleet in Russia’s far north. For partnering with a Norwegian environmental group on a report on nuclear safety, Nikitin was charged with “revealing state secrets.” He became the first person in post-Soviet Russia to be designated by Amnesty International as a prisoner of…

Read More Read More

On Channel 4 News on March 29, veteran news broadcaster, Jon Snow, candidly observed he had “never seen so many white people in one place,” in reference to the crowd of pro-Brexit protesters gathered in Westminster on the day the UK was meant to leave the EU. What was surely an honest statement, stung some sensitive skin. His remark drew 2,644 complaints sent to the British regulatory body, Ofcom, which prohibits the use of offensive language on television. Sputnik columnist,…

Read More Read More

Politico reports: As President Donald Trump roils the capital over illegal immigration, his influential aide Stephen Miller is playing a more aggressive behind-the-scenes role in a wider administration shakeup. Frustrated by the lack of headway on a signature Trump campaign issue, the senior White House adviser has been arguing for personnel changes to bring in more like-minded hardliners, according to three people familiar with the situation — including the ouster of a key immigration official at the Department of Homeland…

Read More Read More

Michele Dunne writes: As someone who has watched the Egyptian people struggle against dictators for years, it is hard to fathom the fact that President Donald Trump will welcome Egypt’s brutal military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for a White House visit this week. Eight years after Egyptians went to the streets to remove 30-year ruler Hosni Mubarak and only weeks after Algerians did the same to remove 20-year autocrat Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the White House is betting on Sisi. It’s an…

Read More Read More

Charles M Blow writes: My mother is a devout Democrat, but also one of the most socially conservative people I know. This is typical of our home state of Louisiana among black citizens — they can be as conservative as any Republican, but are also completely convinced, by dint of history and experience, that the Republican Party not only abides racists, it courts them, and therefore they would die rather than vote red. My mother is so austere that she…

Read More Read More