How the brain links gestures, perception and meaning

How the brain links gestures, perception and meaning

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Raleigh McElvery writes: The tendency to supplement communication with motion is universal, though the nuances of delivery vary slightly. In Papua New Guinea, for instance, people point with their noses and heads, while in Laos they sometimes use their lips. In Ghana, left-handed pointing can be taboo, while in Greece or Turkey forming a ring with your index finger and thumb to indicate everything is A-OK could get you in trouble. Despite their variety, gestures can be loosely defined as…

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The attorney general’s letter on the Mueller report will do little to bridge the partisan divide

The attorney general’s letter on the Mueller report will do little to bridge the partisan divide

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The New York Times reports: The investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III found that neither President Trump nor any of his aides conspired or coordinated with the Russian government’s 2016 election interference, according to a summary of the special counsel’s findings made public on Sunday by Attorney General William P. Barr. The summary also said that the special counsel’s team lacked sufficient evidence to establish that President Trump illegally obstructed justice, but added that Mr. Mueller’s team stopped short…

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It’s Mueller time but don’t forget: Trump has damaged our democracy

It’s Mueller time but don’t forget: Trump has damaged our democracy

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Robert Reich writes: As George Washington’s biographer, Douglas Southall Freeman, explained, the first president believed he had been entrusted with something of immense intrinsic worth, and that his duty was to uphold it for its own sake and over the long term. He led by moral example. Few of our subsequent presidents have come close to the example Washington set, but none to date has been as far from that standard as Trump. In the 2016 presidential campaign, when accused…

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Britain lost a war it declared on itself

Britain lost a war it declared on itself

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Nick Cohen writes: The hundreds of thousands marching were patriots. Not patriots of the flag-waving, chest-beating type, but patriots determined to stop their fellow citizens suffering and a humiliated Britain being torn apart. “Traitors”, “saboteurs”, “citizens of nowhere”, “Remoaners”… The right has deployed the language of civil war for three years. The insults carried with them the threat that dissenters would be treated as enemies within, but also the promise and the hope that, left to its own devices, Brexit…

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Now emblazoned on billboards — quotes pro-Brexit politicians would rather forget

Now emblazoned on billboards — quotes pro-Brexit politicians would rather forget

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Belfast Telegraph reports: Billboard depicting “damning” political quotes have been placed in locations across Northern Ireland by anti-Brexit campaign group Led By Donkeys. The group was formed by four friends in England to highlight what they see as the double standards of politicians on Brexit. The “guerrilla advertising” campaign is designed to embarrass pro-Brexit politicians by using past claims and predictions. In January they erected the first featuring ex-Prime Minister David Cameron’s May 2015 tweet in which he promised “stability…

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Oil and gas majors have spent $1 billion undermining climate action since 2015, report says

Oil and gas majors have spent $1 billion undermining climate action since 2015, report says

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National Observer reports: In the three years since world leaders signed the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s five largest oil and gas companies have spent more than $1 billion on misleading branding and lobbying related to climate change, according to a new report. While the oil majors — ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP and Total — have publicly supported carbon pricing and other efforts to mitigate climate change, they have also lobbied against effective policy,…

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New Zealand’s prime minister has rewritten the script for how a nation grieves after a terrorist attack

New Zealand’s prime minister has rewritten the script for how a nation grieves after a terrorist attack

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Masha Gessen writes: Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, has staged a revolution. In the wake of a shooting that killed fifty people, in two mosques, in the city of Christchurch last Friday, Ardern has quietly upended every expectation about the way Western states and their leaders respond to terrorist attacks. Ardern has resisted war rhetoric. Since the modern era of terrorism began, on September 11, 2001, world leaders have responded to terror by promising vengeance and waged…

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Its territory may be gone, but the U.S. fight against ISIS is far from over

Its territory may be gone, but the U.S. fight against ISIS is far from over

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The New York Times reports: The fight to expel the Islamic State from its last shard of territory in Syria may be over. But the United States and its partners still face significant battles against the terrorist group, its affiliates and other networks that are less formally aligned with it elsewhere, in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Philippines. Even before an American-backed Kurdish and Arab militia ousted the last extremist fighters from the eastern Syrian village of Baghuz on Saturday,…

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As a million Brexit opponents join the People’s Vote March, a few dozen supporters March to Leave

As a million Brexit opponents join the People’s Vote March, a few dozen supporters March to Leave

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Organisers say one million people have taken part in the #PeoplesVoteMarch calling for a second referendum. See the full scale of the protest here https://t.co/2pdvBsW2gt pic.twitter.com/237NwEdV8F — Sky News (@SkyNews) March 23, 2019 Well it’s noon and the march for a People’s Vote is about to begin. So let’s take a look at numbers at the start of @Nigel_Farage’s #MarchToLeave this morning… 😬 pic.twitter.com/QBG0GmSaPW — Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) March 23, 2019 The big day for the Leave Means Leave…

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Why Theresa May is the worst British prime minister in living memory

Why Theresa May is the worst British prime minister in living memory

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Anne Applebaum writes: “She was dealt a bad hand.” “She took a poisoned chalice.” From a great distance, it is possible to feel sorry for British Prime Minister Theresa May. She seems so dignified. She seems to be trying so hard. The circles beneath her eyes have grown so much deeper since she became prime minister back in 2016, following the surprise result of the Brexit referendum, the resignation of her hapless predecessor, David Cameron, and an ugly leadership squabble,…

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As Mueller report lands, a wider legal threat continues to loom over the Trump presidency

As Mueller report lands, a wider legal threat continues to loom over the Trump presidency

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The New York Times reports: Even as the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, submitted his confidential report to the Justice Department on Friday, federal and state prosecutors are pursuing about a dozen other investigations that largely grew out of his work, all but ensuring that a legal threat will continue to loom over the Trump presidency. Most of the investigations focus on President Trump or his family business or a cadre of his advisers and associates, according to court…

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I wrote the special counsel rules. The attorney general can — and should — release the Mueller report

I wrote the special counsel rules. The attorney general can — and should — release the Mueller report

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Neal Kumar Katyal writes: The public has every right to see Robert S. Mueller III’s conclusions. Absolutely nothing in the law or the regulations prevents the report from becoming public. Indeed, the relevant sources of law give Attorney General P. William Barr all the latitude in the world to make it public. Those regulations, which I had the privilege of drafting in 1998 and 1999 as a young Justice Department lawyer, require three types of reports. First, the special counsel…

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Cyclone Idai shows the deadly reality of climate change in Africa

Cyclone Idai shows the deadly reality of climate change in Africa

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Landry Ninteretse writes: As Africa climate week unfurls in Ghana, the countries of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe count the costs of Cyclone Idai, which ripped through villages and towns, taking hundreds of lives and leaving a trail of destruction. For a continent already racked by the effects of the climate crisis, Idai is another chilling reminder of the destructive power of the kind of storms that will become more common as the world warms up. The cyclone made landfall on…

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EU leaders believe no-deal Brexit looks likely on April 12

EU leaders believe no-deal Brexit looks likely on April 12

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The Guardian reports: The EU increasingly believes a no-deal Brexit on 12 April is the most likely outcome, senior EU officials have said, prompting Emmanuel Macron to privately ask the Irish prime minister if his country could cope. The French president sought assurance from Leo Varadkar in the closing moments of a marathon session of talks on Thursday night, as the leaders looked to settle on mid-April as the new cliff-edge. “What will happen if there is a no-deal Brexit…

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