Donald Trump: Xenophobe in public, international mobster in private

Donald Trump: Xenophobe in public, international mobster in private

Robert Reich writes: The most xenophobic and isolationist American president in modern history has been selling America to foreign powers for his own personal benefit. Trump withdrew American troops from the Syrian-Turkish border, leaving our Kurdish allies to be slaughtered and opening the way for a resurgent Islamic State. Trump’s rationale? He promised to bring our soldiers home. There could be another reason. Trump never divested from his real estate business, and the Trump Towers Istanbul is the Trump Organization’s…

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Companies ignoring climate crisis will go bankrupt, Bank of England governor warns

Companies ignoring climate crisis will go bankrupt, Bank of England governor warns

The Guardian reports: Companies and industries that are not moving towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and go bankrupt, the governor of the Bank of England has warned. Mark Carney also told the Guardian it was possible that the global transition needed to tackle the climate crisis could result in an abrupt financial collapse. He said the longer action to reverse emissions was delayed, the more the risk of collapse would grow. Carney has led efforts to address…

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Fast evolution explains the tiny stature of extinct ‘Hobbit’ from Flores Island

Fast evolution explains the tiny stature of extinct ‘Hobbit’ from Flores Island

An Indonesian island was home to H. Floresiensis – but how did the dwarfed human species evolve? areza taqwim/Shutterstock.com By José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho, Universidade Federal de Goias and Pasquale Raia, University of Naples Federico II It’s not every day that scientists discover a new human species. But that’s just what happened back in 2004, when archaeologists uncovered some very well-preserved fossil remains in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island, Indonesia. The diminutive size of this new human species,…

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Global warming threatens two-thirds of North American bird species

Global warming threatens two-thirds of North American bird species

National Geographic reports: As they soar through the sky, birds seem blissfully impervious to the stresses of Earth. Indeed, their ability to migrate makes them more resilient to habitat disruption than less dynamic creatures. That makes the most recent annual report produced by the National Audubon Society, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting birds and their habitat, particularly startling. Released this week, the report predicts that if Earth continues to warm according to current trends—rising 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit)…

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U.S. foreign policy is for sale. Who else is buying?

U.S. foreign policy is for sale. Who else is buying?

Anne Applebaum writes: Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, a pro-Trumper or a never-Trumper, an inhabitant of a blue state or a red state, you owe it to yourself and your country to read the text of the statement prepared for Congress by former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. If you care about the Constitution, if you feel any fealty to the ideas and ideals that have shaped U.S. foreign policy for the past century, then you will find it deeply…

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Giuliani is said to be under investigation for Ukraine work

Giuliani is said to be under investigation for Ukraine work

The New York Times reports: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his dealings in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The investigators are examining Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, one of the people said. She was recalled in the spring as part of Mr. Trump’s broader campaign to pressure Ukraine into helping his political prospects. The investigation…

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Military leader of Syrian Kurds tells U.S. ‘you are leaving us to be slaughtered’

Military leader of Syrian Kurds tells U.S. ‘you are leaving us to be slaughtered’

CNN reports: The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces told a senior US diplomat, “You are leaving us to be slaughtered,” demanding to know whether the US is going to do anything to protect Syrian Kurds as Turkey continues its military operation targeting America’s Kurdish allies in Syria. “You have given up on us. You are leaving us to be slaughtered,” Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi told the Deputy Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, William Roebuck,…

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Warren’s unwillingness to pander to conservatives makes some of her critics uncomfortable

Warren’s unwillingness to pander to conservatives makes some of her critics uncomfortable

The Washington Post reports: About 90 minutes into Thursday’s forum on LGBTQ issues in Los Angeles, a gay rights leader posed a question to Sen. Elizabeth Warren: How would she respond if a voter approached her and said, “I’m old-fashioned, and my faith teaches me that marriage is between one man and one woman?” Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a theatrical seriousness. “Well, I’m going to assume it’s a guy who said that,” she deadpanned, pausing a beat for the audience…

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Tulsi Gabbard: The only Democratic candidate who appeals to right-wing extremists

Tulsi Gabbard: The only Democratic candidate who appeals to right-wing extremists

The New York Times reports: Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, is impressed with her political talent. Richard B. Spencer, the white nationalist leader, says he could vote for her. Former Representative Ron Paul praises her “libertarian instincts,” while Franklin Graham, the influential evangelist, finds her “refreshing.” And far-right conspiracy theorists like Mike Cernovich see a certain MAGA sais quoi. “She’s got a good energy, a good vibe. You feel like this is just a serious person,” Mr….

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James Comey wants an end to the Trump presidency

James Comey wants an end to the Trump presidency

The New York Times reports: James Comey slumps strategically in restaurants — all 6-foot-8 of him, drooping faux-furtively with his back to the room — and daydreams about deleting the civic-minded Twitter feed where a bipartisan coalition pronounces him a national disgrace. He sleeps soundly — nine hours a night, he ballparks — and organizes the self-described “unemployed celebrity” chapter of his life around a series of workaday goals. “One of my goals has been to get to 10 consecutive…

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Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine delivers scathing indictment of how Trump administration conducts foreign policy

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine delivers scathing indictment of how Trump administration conducts foreign policy

The New York Times reports: Marie L. Yovanovitch, who was recalled as the American ambassador to Ukraine in May, testified to impeachment investigators on Friday that a top State Department official told her that President Trump had pushed for her removal for months even though the department believed she had “done nothing wrong.” In a closed-door deposition that could further fuel calls for Mr. Trump’s impeachment, Ms. Yovanovitch delivered a scathing indictment of how his administration conducts foreign policy. She…

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Pentagon officials deemed Trump administration withholding of aid to Ukraine was illegal

Pentagon officials deemed Trump administration withholding of aid to Ukraine was illegal

Yahoo News reports: The Pentagon was confused. Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine had been appropriated in late 2018 by Congress, intended to help fend off aggression by neighboring Russia. But well into 2019, as summer was edging toward autumn, the funds had still not moved. Department of Defense officials began to worry that the funds would never make it to Ukraine, since the appropriations would expire with the end of the fiscal year on Sept….

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Syrian Kurds burn with anger at Trump’s betrayal

Syrian Kurds burn with anger at Trump’s betrayal

The Guardian reports: Waiting at a roadside depot, Hussein Rammo, a stooped elderly Kurd, his eyes wet with tears, had the look of a broken man. “Betrayal leaves the bitterest taste,” he said, his voice at a whisper as he discussed Donald Trump’s decision to abandon Syria’s Kurds. “I am 63 years old and I have never seen anything like this. Before there was regime oppression and now we are getting betrayal. This is worse.” Shells fired by Turkish forces…

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Abandoning Kurds could cost Trump support from evangelical Christians

Abandoning Kurds could cost Trump support from evangelical Christians

The Guardian reports: Evangelical Christian voters have been among Donald Trump’s most enthusiastic and reliable supporters. Trump’s recent rejection of asylum seekers and cuts to domestic food assistance programs have not stopped followers of Christ from flocking to the president. A great schism, however, may finally be at hand. In drips that have become a gush, evangelical leaders this week have sharply criticized Trump’s decision to stand down US forces in northern Syria, warning that Turkey’s invasion of the region…

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