William Barr’s mission to maximize executive power and protect Trump

William Barr’s mission to maximize executive power and protect Trump

David Rohde writes: Last October, Attorney General William Barr appeared at Notre Dame Law School to make a case for ideological warfare. Before an assembly of students and faculty, Barr claimed that the “organized destruction” of religion was under way in the United States. “Secularists, and their allies among the ‘progressives,’ have marshalled all the force of mass communications, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values,” he said. Barr, a conservative…

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Sanders surges as progressives flock to him over Warren

Sanders surges as progressives flock to him over Warren

Politico reports: Something’s happening with Bernie Sanders that looked unlikely to many a few months ago: Progressive leaders and organizations are lining up behind him, not Elizabeth Warren, in the lead-up to voting. Two groups run by young people — the Sunrise Movement, which seeks to combat climate change, and Dream Defenders, which advocates for people of color — endorsed him last week. He’s also won the backing of People’s Action and the Center for Popular Democracy, which together claim…

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New evidence suggests, the default condition in plants is immortality

New evidence suggests, the default condition in plants is immortality

Erin Malsbury writes: Long-lived humans having nothing on trees. Some, like the Ginkgo biloba, can live more than 3000 years. Now, in the most comprehensive plant aging study to date, researchers have revealed the molecular mechanisms that allow the ginkgo—and perhaps other trees—to survive so long. The new study provides the first real genetic evidence for something scientists have long suspected: “The default condition in plants is immortality,” says Howard Thomas, a plant biologist from Aberystwyth University who was not…

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Want to do something about climate change? Follow the money

Want to do something about climate change? Follow the money

Lennox Yearwood Jr. and Bill McKibben write: If you asked us why a dozen people sat on the floor next to the A.T.M. in a Chase Bank branch on Friday, waiting for the police to arrest us for this small act of civil disobedience, we would come up with the same answer as the famous robber Willie Sutton: “Because that’s where the money is.” We don’t want to empty the vaults. Instead, we want people to understand that the money…

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Trump’s Iran problem

Trump’s Iran problem

Robin Wright writes: On September 19, 1983, during Lebanon’s long civil war, the Reagan Administration ordered Marine peacekeepers in Beirut to open fire on Muslim militias in the mountains overlooking the city. The marines had been deployed for more than a year, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, to help hold together one of the world’s most fractured states. Colonel Tim Geraghty, their commander, warned that an attack would cost the United States its neutrality and its mission; nevertheless, U.S….

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Iran deploys riot police as anti-government backlash grows

Iran deploys riot police as anti-government backlash grows

The Guardian reports: Riot police have been deployed in parts of Tehran the morning after tear gas was used to clear the streets of protesters angry at the government’s having mistakenly shot down a passenger jet killing all 176 people on board. Images of dozens of demonstrators taking to the streets in the capital and other cities including Esfahan were circulating on social media on Sunday morning and activists were calling for mass mourning rallies, raising the possibility of fresh…

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Esper says he didn’t see specific evidence Iran planned to attack 4 embassies

Esper says he didn’t see specific evidence Iran planned to attack 4 embassies

The New York Times reports: Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said on Sunday that he never saw any specific piece of evidence that Iran was planning an attack on four American embassies, as President Trump had claimed last week as a justification for the strike on an Iranian general that sent the United States and Iran to the brink of war. “I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies,” Mr. Esper said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” But he…

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Pelosi does not rule out possibility of subpoenaing testimony if Senate skips witnesses

Pelosi does not rule out possibility of subpoenaing testimony if Senate skips witnesses

ABC News reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday did not rule out the possibility of a House subpoena for testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton and other witnesses sought by Democrats, depending on whether the Senate seeks testimony in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. “It’s not excluded, but we’ll see what they do,” she told ABC Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” She also did not rule out the possibility of additional articles of impeachment against…

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It’s tempting to see India as a place apart. But it offers lessons for us all

It’s tempting to see India as a place apart. But it offers lessons for us all

Kenan Malik writes: It’s the largest democracy in the world. It’s also one of the most fragile, one in which dissent has often been curtailed and communal divisions inflamed. At no time have the vulnerabilities of India’s democracy seemed more exposed than they are now. The return to power last year of the Hindu nationalist BJP, under the leadership of prime minister, Narendra Modi, has polarised politics. Modi clearly now feels empowered to pursue unyieldingly reactionary policies. The revocation of…

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History’s largest mining operation is about to begin

History’s largest mining operation is about to begin

Wil S. Hylton writes: Unless you are given to chronic anxiety or suffer from nihilistic despair, you probably haven’t spent much time contemplating the bottom of the ocean. Many people imagine the seabed to be a vast expanse of sand, but it’s a jagged and dynamic landscape with as much variation as any place onshore. Mountains surge from underwater plains, canyons slice miles deep, hot springs billow through fissures in rock, and streams of heavy brine ooze down hillsides, pooling…

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Furor in Iran and abroad after Tehran admits shooting down Ukrainian jetliner

Furor in Iran and abroad after Tehran admits shooting down Ukrainian jetliner

The New York Times reports: Iran’s stunning admission that its forces errantly downed a Ukrainian jetliner — reversing three days of denial — did little to quell growing fury inside the country and beyond on Saturday as the deadly tragedy turned into a volatile political crisis for Tehran’s leaders and overshadowed their struggle with the United States. Ukrainian officials criticized Iran’s conduct, suggesting that the Iranians would not have admitted responsibility if investigators from Ukraine had not found evidence of…

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Saudis close to crown prince discussed killing other enemies a year before Khashoggi’s murder

Saudis close to crown prince discussed killing other enemies a year before Khashoggi’s murder

The New York Times reports: Top Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked a small group of businessmen last year about using private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies of the kingdom, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The Saudis inquired at a time when Prince Mohammed, then the deputy crown prince and defense minister, was consolidating power and directing his advisers to escalate military and intelligence operations outside the kingdom. Their discussions, more than…

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Iranian jet crash has eerie historical parallel

Iranian jet crash has eerie historical parallel

The New York Times reports: The timing of the jet crash near Tehran on Wednesday — coming just hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops — immediately led to suspicion that the plane had been downed by a missile. Those suspicions were confirmed on Saturday, when Iranian officials accepted responsibility for the downing of the jet, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, saying it was an accident caused by human error. The 176…

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Trump’s rationale for killing Soleimani is falling apart

Trump’s rationale for killing Soleimani is falling apart

Jonathan Chait writes: Why did the United States kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani? President Trump, in remarks to the nation the morning after the attack, gave a clear rationale. Soleimani “was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him.” That information has not been made public. But the glimpses behind the curtain have not inspired confidence that Trump’s story is on the level. The most damning assessment is indirect. When the administration shared its intelligence with select members…

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