Trump was just handed a chance to supercharge voter suppression in 2020

Trump was just handed a chance to supercharge voter suppression in 2020

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Slate reports: In a short unpublished opinion so far garnering only slight media attention, the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit decided on Monday what may be one of the most consequential cases poised to affect the 2020 elections. The circuit upheld a district court decision ending a court order in effect since 1982 barring the Republican National Committee from engaging in “ballot security” measures designed to intimidate minority voters from voting at the polls. With Trump…

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Apocalypse in America: The smell of fascism in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy

Apocalypse in America: The smell of fascism in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy

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Alexander Reid Ross writes: Emerging from the fever swamps of 4Chan and YouTube in November 2017, the QAnon conspiracy theory community has spread rapidly from the lunatic fringe to the lunatic mainstream. Some commentators suggest it has all the hallmarks of a secular political cult. It promises ultimate salvation to its followers – the creation of a utopia of human togetherness, peace and love, brought about through a brutal military crackdown against the “Deep State.” And although it may seem…

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Erdoğan chides Bolton and calls on U.S. to hand over Syria bases

Erdoğan chides Bolton and calls on U.S. to hand over Syria bases

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The Guardian reports: Turkey has asked Washington to hand over its bases in Syria as the Trump administration appeared to reverse plans to withdraw from the country’s north-east on Tuesday, jeopardising Ankara’s plans to launch a widespread military operation targeting Kurdish groups. The fresh row between the two Nato allies broke out as the US national security adviser, John Bolton, visited Ankara to row back on a surprise announcement by Donald Trump in December that US forces would leave Syria…

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Netanyahu, feeling the heat, grabs the spotlight to assail a ‘witch hunt’ investigation

Netanyahu, feeling the heat, grabs the spotlight to assail a ‘witch hunt’ investigation

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The New York Times reports: The announcement set Israel abuzz with suspense late Monday afternoon: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a “dramatic statement” to deliver at 8 p.m., at the start of the most heavily watched news hour. Would it be about Iran? Hezbollah? Hamas? The Trump peace plan? The subject, it turned out, was an existential threat not to Israel, but to Mr. Netanyahu’s career. For seven minutes on live television — enormously valuable exposure with elections only three…

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Brexit with a smile: UK launches EU exit preparedness campaign

Brexit with a smile: UK launches EU exit preparedness campaign

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Reuters reports: A smiling construction worker, a grinning farmer and a jolly pensioner: these are the cartoon faces the government is using to try to reassure Britons that the country can cope with a no-deal Brexit. A cheery illustrated banner on a new government website sits atop links to information on how to prepare for a no-deal Brexit that critics have said could cause food and medicine shortages, long border delays and widespread economic disruption. On Tuesday, the government launched…

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Trump was never a great dealmaker. The shutdown proves it

Trump was never a great dealmaker. The shutdown proves it

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Timothy L. O’Brien writes: President Trump’s supporters elected him, in part, because they saw him as a wily tycoon and deft dealmaker who could shake up Washington and bring decades of business know-how to the Oval Office. He was always ready to tap into those beliefs. “We need a PRESIDENT with strength, stamina, heart and incredible deal making skill if our country is ever going to be able to prosper again!” he tweeted a few months after launching his presidential…

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When Mueller issues a report, Trump may try to suppress some of it

When Mueller issues a report, Trump may try to suppress some of it

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Bloomberg reports: The White House may try to block portions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report from being shared with Congress and the public in a fight that could end up before the Supreme Court. Mueller may submit his findings on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign to the Justice Department as early as February, according to one U.S. official. After that, things could get messy. Democrats who now control the House have said they’ll demand that the…

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Disruption for thee, but not for me

Disruption for thee, but not for me

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Cory Doctorow writes: The Silicon Valley gospel of “disruption” has descended into caricature, but, at its core, there are some sound tactics buried beneath the self-serving bullshit. A lot of our systems and institutions are corrupt, bloated, and infested with cream-skimming rentiers who add nothing and take so much. Take taxis: there is nothing good about the idea that cab drivers and cab passengers meet each other by random chance, with the drivers aimlessly circling traffic-clogged roads while passengers brave…

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The hidden resilience of ‘food desert’ neighborhoods

The hidden resilience of ‘food desert’ neighborhoods

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Barry Yeoman writes: Even before Ashanté Reese and I reach the front gate, retired schoolteacher Alice Chandler is standing in the doorway of her brick home in Washington, D.C. She welcomes Reese, an anthropologist whom she has known for six years, with a hug and apologizes for having nothing to feed us during this spontaneous visit. Chandler, 69 years old, is a rara avis among Americans: an adult who has lived nearly her entire life in the same house. This…

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The complete list of 140 things you can’t say about Julian Assange or WikiLeaks

The complete list of 140 things you can’t say about Julian Assange or WikiLeaks

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Emma Best writes: On Sunday, January 6, Reuters reported that WikiLeaks had sent out an email with a list of 140 things journalists weren’t supposed to say about Julian Assange. A complete copy of the email (as sent to reporters by WikiLeaks, v1.2) marked “Confidential legal communication. Not for publication.” follows: [Continue reading…]

Macaques take turns in conversation

Macaques take turns in conversation

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Science News reports: The researchers analyzed 64 vocal exchanges, called bouts, between at least two monkeys that were recorded between April and October 2012 at the Iwatayama Monkey Park in Kyoto, Japan. The team found that the median length of time between the end of one monkey’s calls and the beginning of another’s was 250 milliseconds — similar to the average 200 milliseconds in conversational pause time between humans. That makes the macaques’ gaps between turns in chattering one of…

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What Trump could do if he declares a state of emergency

What Trump could do if he declares a state of emergency

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Elizabeth Goitein writes: In the weeks leading up to the 2018 midterm elections, President Donald Trump reached deep into his arsenal to try to deliver votes to Republicans. Most of his weapons were rhetorical, featuring a mix of lies and false inducements—claims that every congressional Democrat had signed on to an “open borders” bill (none had), that liberals were fomenting violent “mobs” (they weren’t), that a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class would somehow pass while Congress was…

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No, Trump cannot declare a national emergency to build his wall

No, Trump cannot declare a national emergency to build his wall

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Bruce Ackerman writes: President Trump on Friday said that he was considering the declaration of a “national emergency” along the border with Mexico, which he apparently believes would allow him to divert funds from the military budget to pay for a wall, and to use military personnel to build it. While it is hard to know exactly what the president has in mind, or whether he has any conception about what it would entail, one thing is clear: Not only…

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