Trump administration to begin official withdrawal from Paris climate accord

Trump administration to begin official withdrawal from Paris climate accord

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is preparing the formal withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to three people briefed on the matter, a long expected move that nevertheless remains a powerful signal to the world. The official action sets in motion a withdrawal that still would take a year to complete under the rules of the accord. Abandoning the landmark 2015 agreement in which nearly 200 nations vowed to reduce…

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Why Zuckerberg’s embrace of Mayor Pete should worry you

Why Zuckerberg’s embrace of Mayor Pete should worry you

Noam Cohen writes: We recently learned that Elizabeth Warren is the kind of presidential candidate Mark Zuckerberg considers an existential threat to Facebook. She is, after all, determined to break up the sprawling social-networking empire. But what about the others? What sort of presidential candidate does Zuckerberg consider an existential asset to Facebook? We may have an answer: Step right up, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Bloomberg recently reported that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, privately recommended…

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Most witches are women, because witch hunts were all about persecuting the powerless

Most witches are women, because witch hunts were all about persecuting the powerless

Seventy-eight percent of the people executed for witchcraft in New England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries were women. Jef Thompson/Shutterstock.com By Bridget Marshall, University of Massachusetts Lowell “Witch hunt” – it’s a refrain used to deride everything from impeachment inquiries and sexual assault investigations to allegations of corruption. When powerful men cry witch, they’re generally not talking about green-faced women wearing pointy hats. They are, presumably, referring to the Salem witch trials, when 19 people in 17th-century…

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Ukraine knew of aid freeze by early August, undermining Trump defense

Ukraine knew of aid freeze by early August, undermining Trump defense

The New York Times reports: To Democrats who say that President Trump’s decision to freeze a $391 million military aid package to Ukraine was intended to bully Ukraine’s leader into carrying out investigations for Mr. Trump’s political benefit, the president and his allies have had a simple response: There could not have been any quid pro quo because the Ukrainians did not know the assistance had been blocked. Following testimony by William B. Taylor Jr., the top United States diplomat…

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Indicted Giuliani associate ties case to Trump

Indicted Giuliani associate ties case to Trump

The New York Times reports: One of the two indicted associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, on Wednesday tied the case to the president himself, saying that some of the evidence gathered in the investigation could be subject to executive privilege. The unusual argument was raised by a defense lawyer in federal court in Manhattan as the two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they had made illegal campaign contributions…

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As president, Trump can’t be prosecuted for murder, Trump’s lawyer asserts

As president, Trump can’t be prosecuted for murder, Trump’s lawyer asserts

Politico reports: Even if President Donald Trump shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, New York authorities could not punish him while he is in office, the president’s lawyers argued Wednesday. Attorneys for Trump made the claim while arguing before a federal appeals court in their suit against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns. Trump is fighting the subpoena on the grounds that as president, he has absolute immunity from criminal indictment or investigation….

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AG Barr should recuse himself from Ukraine-related issues, or resign, or be removed from office, says New York City Bar Association

AG Barr should recuse himself from Ukraine-related issues, or resign, or be removed from office, says New York City Bar Association

Law & Crime reports: The New York City Bar Association has called on U.S. Attorney General William Barr to stand down and recuse himself from any further review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of issues related to the Trump Administration’s massive and snowballing Ukraine scandal. In a statement, the organization blasted Barr’s continued presence. The DOJ “has a unique role in safeguarding the rule of law under the Constitution,” the statement’s summary begins. “Barr has undermined that role,” by…

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Sondland seeks to align himself with Taylor after bombshell testimony

Sondland seeks to align himself with Taylor after bombshell testimony

Politico reports: What did Gordon Sondland know and when did he know it? The bombshell testimony of veteran diplomat William Taylor, President Donald Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine, has raised a crucial question of whether Trump admitted to Sondland that he was withholding military aid in exchange for an investigation into political rivals. Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., indicated as much in a phone call between the two in September, Taylor says. Sondland, however, had said previously he…

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Economists greatly underestimate the price tag on climate change

Economists greatly underestimate the price tag on climate change

Naomi Oreskes and Nicholas Stern write: For some time now it has been clear that the effects of climate change are appearing faster than scientists anticipated. Now it turns out that there is another form of underestimation as bad or worse than the scientific one: the underestimating by economists of the costs. The result of this failure by economists is that world leaders understand neither the magnitude of the risks to lives and livelihoods, nor the urgency of action. How…

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How to halt global warming for $300 billion

How to halt global warming for $300 billion

Bloomberg reports: $300 billion. That’s the money needed to stop the rise in greenhouse gases and buy up to 20 years of time to fix global warming, according to United Nations climate scientists. It’s the gross domestic product of Chile, or the world’s military spending every 60 days. The sum is not to fund green technologies or finance a moonshot solution to emissions, but to use simple, age-old practices to lock millions of tons of carbon back into an overlooked…

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Trump’s top Ukraine envoy testifies about deep-seated push for quid pro quo

Trump’s top Ukraine envoy testifies about deep-seated push for quid pro quo

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday of intense efforts by administration officials to secure politically-motivated investigations of Trump’s rivals in exchange for a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president and critical military aid, according to sources in the room for the testimony. William Taylor prompted sighs and gasps when he read a lengthy 15-page opening statement, two of the sources said. Another person in the room said Taylor’s statement described “how…

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The common misconception about the meaning of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’

The common misconception about the meaning of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’

Frank O. Bowman III writes: “High crimes and misdemeanors” is surely the most troublesome, misleading phrase in the U.S. Constitution. Taken at face value, the words seem to say that impeachable conduct is limited to “crimes”—offenses defined by criminal statutes and punishable in criminal courts. That impression is reinforced by the fact that the phrase follows the obviously criminal “treason” and “bribery” in Article II’s list of the kinds of conduct for which the “President, Vice President and all civil…

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Putin and Hungary’s Orban helped sour Trump on Ukraine

Putin and Hungary’s Orban helped sour Trump on Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine for information he could use against political rivals came as he was being urged to adopt a hostile view of that country by its regional adversaries, including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump’s conversations with Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and others reinforced his perception of Ukraine as a hopelessly corrupt country — one that Trump now also appears to believe sought to undermine…

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Trump’s ‘lynching’ comparison shows there’s no bottom to his sense of victimhood

Trump’s ‘lynching’ comparison shows there’s no bottom to his sense of victimhood

Eugene Scott writes: President Trump apparently fears an impeachment could be so destructive to his presidency that he has frequently described it in terms of an epic injustice, taking that habit to a new level Tuesday by calling the impeachment efforts a “lynching.” And in doing so, the president has solidified the perception that he is completely insensitive to the United States’ history of racism and violence. So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the…

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