How Trump and ‘the tweet of Damocles’ amplify confusion in Afghanistan

How Trump and ‘the tweet of Damocles’ amplify confusion in Afghanistan

In a two-part column, Christopher Dickey writes: The Washington Post’s vast investigative report about the delusions and lies of successive American administrations in Afghanistan reads almost like a celebration of superpower humiliation. Drawing on hundreds of internal U.S. government interviews about “lessons learned,” it would reinforce anyone’s belief the best lesson would be to get the fuck out. Like, yesterday already. Certainly the documents dovetail with U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s promise that he’ll be the one to end this…

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Judge lets Georgia cull 309,000 voters from its rolls. It’s the second state to make cuts in less than a week

Judge lets Georgia cull 309,000 voters from its rolls. It’s the second state to make cuts in less than a week

The Washington Post reports: Overnight, the number of registered voters in Georgia shrank by more than 300,000 in a contested but court-sanctioned action that could redefine the 2020 election, critics warned. State officials have downplayed the mass cancellation, arguing it is routine “list maintenance.” Others say the practice amounts to a large-scale and undemocratic voter purge, which comes just over three months before Georgia’s presidential primaries. This week, a federal judge allowed the secretary of state’s office to remove about…

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The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet

The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet

Climate activist Greta Thunberg listens during a meeting with climate scientists at the COP25 summit in Madrid, Spain. AP Photo/Paul White By Ellen Boucher, Amherst College She came from obscurity and ignited a global movement. Beginning with a small but persistent act of protest outside the Swedish parliament, she inspired millions to join her. Her fiery speech to the United Nations in September 2019 warned of the end of the world. Her unfailing determination and passion makes her appear otherworldly,…

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Trump presents his own impeachment defense

Trump presents his own impeachment defense

Politico reports: On the eve of his likely impeachment, President Donald Trump has opted to act as his own defense lawyer. In a six-page, stream-of-consciousness diatribe sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and released by the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Trump denounced the Democrats’ two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — as “not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory,” engaging with a process the White House had until now spurned in protest….

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We are Republicans, and we want Trump defeated

We are Republicans, and we want Trump defeated

George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson write: Patriotism and the survival of our nation in the face of the crimes, corruption and corrosive nature of Donald Trump are a higher calling than mere politics. As Americans, we must stem the damage he and his followers are doing to the rule of law, the Constitution and the American character. That’s why we are announcing the Lincoln Project, an effort to highlight our country’s story and values,…

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More than 750 American historians call for Trump to be impeached

More than 750 American historians call for Trump to be impeached

Historians on Impeachment write: We are American historians devoted to studying our nation’s past who have concluded that Donald J. Trump has violated his oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” His “attempts to subvert the Constitution,” as George Mason described impeachable offenses at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, urgently and justly require his impeachment. President Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power…

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The U.S. Senate is a huge — and growing — source of bias in the political system

The U.S. Senate is a huge — and growing — source of bias in the political system

Matthew Yglesias writes: Democrats have a Senate problem, and not just in the sense that Republicans currently hold the majority or that the prospect of that changing in 2020 is relatively slim. The problem is that the odds of ever changing it are slimmer than is generally realized. Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and advocacy organization, is trying to raise alarm bells about the issue. In a new memo, co-founder Colin McAuliffe writes that “the Senate is an…

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Mike Bloomberg has a plan to clean up electricity and it doesn’t need Congress

Mike Bloomberg has a plan to clean up electricity and it doesn’t need Congress

David Roberts writes: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is a problematic presidential candidate for all sorts of reasons. Progressives are irritated that he is attempting to brute-force his way into the Democratic primary by spending more on ad campaigns than the rest of the primary field combined. .@MikeBloomberg has officially passed the $100 million mark. In total, we have tracked $100,407,009 in advertising from Bloomberg since November 25. That's an average of $3,718,778 per day. #Election2020 — Advertising Analytics (@Ad_Analytics) December 10,…

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Zero-carbon ships on horizon under fuel levy plan

Zero-carbon ships on horizon under fuel levy plan

The Guardian reports: Shipping companies would have to pay a small levy on every tonne of fuel they use under proposals aimed at developing zero-carbon vessels within 10 years, transforming the high-carbon global shipping business. Ships running on hydrogen or ammonia as fuel are thought to be technically possible, but more research and development is needed to bring forward the development of prototypes. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents 80% of the global shipping industry, is proposing a…

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The real trouble with Silicon Valley

The real trouble with Silicon Valley

Derek Thompson writes: How should we tell the story of the digital century, now two decades old? We could focus, as journalists tend to do, on the depredations of the connected life. As Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have devoured the online world, they have undermined traditional media, empowered propagandists, and widened America’s political divides. The smartphone, for all its wonder and utility, has also proved to be a narcotizing agent. But what if, instead of focusing on Big Tech’s sins…

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I headed the FBI and CIA. There’s a dire threat to the country I love

I headed the FBI and CIA. There’s a dire threat to the country I love

William Webster writes: The privilege of being the only American in our history to serve as the director of both the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. gives me a unique perspective and a responsibility to speak out about a dire threat to the rule of law in the country I love. Order protects liberty, and liberty protects order. Today, the integrity of the institutions that protect our civil order is, tragically, under assault from too many people whose job it should…

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Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have a problem: each other

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have a problem: each other

The New York Times reports: Diane Chojnowski and Denyce Rusch were among the Iowans who braved light snowfall and temperatures in the teens to see Senator Bernie Sanders on Sunday afternoon, a few hours before Senator Elizabeth Warren was also due in this liberal pillar of eastern Iowa. But after Ms. Chojnowski and Ms. Rusch praised Mr. Sanders, they turned to a predicament far more bothersome than the winter weather: choosing between the two progressive candidates. “You worry about Bernie…

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Judiciary Committee impeachment report alleges Trump committed ‘multiple federal crimes’

Judiciary Committee impeachment report alleges Trump committed ‘multiple federal crimes’

Politico reports: President Donald Trump committed criminal bribery and wire fraud, the House Judiciary Committee alleges in a report that will accompany articles of impeachment this week. The report, a 169-page assessment of the case for Trump’s removal from office, contends that Trump committed “multiple federal crimes” — ones that Democrats addressed under the broad umbrella of “abuse of power,” the first article of impeachment against the president. “Although President Trump’s actions need not rise to the level of a…

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