Intelligence chief threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress on whistleblower complaint

Intelligence chief threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress on whistleblower complaint

The Washington Post reports: The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might attempt to force him to stonewall Congress when he testifies Thursday about an explosive whistleblower complaint about the president, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The revelation reflects the extraordinary tensions between the White House and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence official over a matter that has triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump. The officials said…

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How the Little Ice Age ushered in the modern world

How the Little Ice Age ushered in the modern world

Philipp Blom writes: The Little Ice Age offers a historical point of cautious comparison for the most existentially urgent problem of the present. Cooling is not heating, of course, and the Little Ice Age was almost certainly not man-made. Yet while the cultural, economic, political, and technological context was quite different, it was exactly these areas of human life that would change dramatically as direct or indirect consequences of societies being forced to adapt to climate change. A whole world…

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Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry of Trump, saying his actions were a ‘betrayal of national security’

Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry of Trump, saying his actions were a ‘betrayal of national security’

The Washington Post reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, a dramatic turnaround by the Democratic leader that sets up a constitutional and political clash pitting the Congress against the nation’s chief executive. “The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said in brief remarks. “Therefore,…

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UK supreme court ruling is a devastating blow for a failed prime minister

UK supreme court ruling is a devastating blow for a failed prime minister

Martin Kettle writes: The supreme court has delivered a comprehensive demolition of Boris Johnson’s government and its handling of Brexit. The unanimous judgment of the 11 justices, announced by Lady Hale this morning, amounts to a root and branch rejection of the prime minister’s attempts to rule without parliament, to take Britain out of the European Union by 31 October without a deal, and to contrive a premature general election. The judgment was incisive and without any waffle. It was…

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Congress is helping Saudi Arabia destabilize the Middle East

Congress is helping Saudi Arabia destabilize the Middle East

Robert W. Jordan writes: The September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities—an attack the United States, Britain, Germany and France all say Iran carried out—demonstrates how close the Middle East is to war. But the focus on Iranian aggression must not obscure Saudi Arabia’s own role in the worsening situation, including its disastrous involvement in the civil war in Yemen. Rushing to provide U.S. military support to Saudi Arabia now will send the absolute wrong signal to Riyadh, whose conduct…

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The growing threat to journalism around the world

The growing threat to journalism around the world

A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times, writes: Two years ago, we got a call from a United States government official warning us of the imminent arrest of a New York Times reporter based in Egypt named Declan Walsh. Though the news was alarming, the call was actually fairly standard. Over the years, we’ve received countless such warnings from American diplomats, military leaders and national security officials. But this particular call took a surprising and distressing turn….

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The injustice of climate change

The injustice of climate change

Roseann Bongiovanni and John Walkey write: We do not all suffer the same climate injustices. Frontline communities — those shouldering the burdens of environmental, public health and quality of life impacts, for the benefits of our larger region — often go unnoticed. In Greater Boston, the communities along Chelsea Creek, which winds 2.6 miles through Chelsea and East Boston, is just one example. In massive tanks and open lots along the banks of Chelsea Creek are the storage depots for…

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Studying the hidden effects of artificial light

Studying the hidden effects of artificial light

Rebecca Boyle writes: Light is the basis for all life, but it is more than just a source of energy. It is also a source of information, telling organisms when to sleep, hunt, hide, migrate, metabolize, and reproduce. Since the advent of incandescent light bulbs, humans have been interfering with those messages. And the interference is worsening with the spread of LEDs, which consume less electricity and so are often brighter and stay on longer and later than their predecessors….

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New study suggests subterranean continents in Earth’s mantle untouched for more than 4 billion years

New study suggests subterranean continents in Earth’s mantle untouched for more than 4 billion years

GeoSpace reports: Ancient, distinct, continent-sized regions of rocks, isolated since before the collision that created the Moon 4.5 billion years ago, exist hundreds of miles below the Earth’s crust, offering a window into the building blocks of our planet, according to new research. The new study in the AGU Journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems used models to trace the location and origin of volcanic rock samples found throughout the world back to two solid continents in the deep mantle. The new…

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If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them

If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them

At the UN Climate Action summit in New York on Monday, Greta Thunberg said: This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be standing here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in…

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There’s evidence that climate activism could be swaying public opinion in the U.S.

There’s evidence that climate activism could be swaying public opinion in the U.S.

By Nathaniel Geiger, Indiana University Climate activists walked out of classrooms and workplaces in more than 150 countries on Friday, Sept. 20 to demand stronger action on climate change. Mass mobilizations like this have become increasingly common in recent years. I’m a scholar of environmental communication who examines how people become engaged with solving dilemmas such as climate change, and how activism motivates others to take action. A new study I worked on suggests that large rallies, such as this…

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Trump against the United States

Trump against the United States

David Leonhardt writes: Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture. He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election. He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election. He divulged classified information to foreign officials. He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat. He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist. He encourages foreign…

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The strategic case for impeaching Trump

The strategic case for impeaching Trump

Daniel W. Drezner writes: It is safe to assume that Trump will continue to abuse the powers of the presidency as long as he is in office. The Ukraine example shows that he is not above using presidential authority for partisan gain. Furthermore, when he is not doing those things, he is pursuing other policies that harm the U.S. economy and the national interest. Would impeachment stop any of that? No, not directly. What it would do, however, is distract…

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