How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

Middle East Eye reports: The academic semester has kicked off at many US universities this week, and schools are working in a myriad of ways to tamp out the pro-Palestinian and student-led demonstrations that roiled the country this past spring. As students make their way back to campus, familiarising themselves with class schedules and reconnecting with university life, administrations have been working – often in conjunction with the police – to weed out the possibility of a repeat of last…

Read More Read More

Humanity’s newest brain gains are most at risk from ageing

Humanity’s newest brain gains are most at risk from ageing

Nature reports:In the more than six million years since people and chimpanzees split from their common ancestor, human brains have rapidly amassed tissue that helps decision-making and self-control. But the same regions are also the most at risk of deterioration during ageing, finds a study that compared images of chimp brains with scans of human brains. Previous studies have shown that regions of the human brain that are the last to mature, such as parts of the frontal lobe, are…

Read More Read More

‘It is not the job of the pro-life movement to vote for President Trump,’ says leading anti-abortion activist

‘It is not the job of the pro-life movement to vote for President Trump,’ says leading anti-abortion activist

Politico reports: For years, the anti-abortion activist Lila Rose has pushed the GOP to curtail access to abortion. But now, as Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance conspicuously soften their abortion message ahead of the November election, Rose — who leads the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action — is embracing a more radical strategy: Urging her followers not to vote for Trump unless he changes course. That position — which she teased in a series of social media posts earlier this week — defies both Democratic…

Read More Read More

U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

CNN reports: The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery. “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies,…

Read More Read More

Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

The Washington Post reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has enjoyed an unusually friendly public rapport in recent days with former president Donald Trump. After years of heaping insults on Kemp for refusing to help reverse Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, Trump praised the governor on Truth Social this month for his “help and support.” On Thursday, Kemp plans to attend a fundraiser in Atlanta for the Republican presidential nominee, who is locked in a virtual tie with…

Read More Read More

Trump threatens to jail Mark Zuckerberg for life

Trump threatens to jail Mark Zuckerberg for life

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump writes in a new book set to be published next week that Mark Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election and said the Meta chief executive would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again. It represents Trump’s most recent attack on Zuckerberg, who he has repeatedly accused of intervening in the last presidential election. And it comes as Meta has taken steps to assure conservatives it will…

Read More Read More

‘If you try to defend yourself, you’re dead’: A West Bank village’s night of terror

‘If you try to defend yourself, you’re dead’: A West Bank village’s night of terror

+972 Magazine reports: On Tuesday morning, the streets of Wadi Rahal were littered with stones and bullet casings — evidence of an attack the night before. According to the Palestinian residents of the village, which is located south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, about a dozen Israeli settlers had driven in, some of them armed. They threw stones at cars and houses, and when residents came out to defend themselves, the attackers opened fire. One resident, 47-year-old Khalil…

Read More Read More

Putin’s next coup

Putin’s next coup

Politico reports: Vladimir Putin may be smarting over Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region this month, but this weekend he’ll likely be celebrating territorial gains farther west — in Germany. Russia-friendly parties across three eastern German states — Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia — are poised to score substantial gains in regional elections in September, two of which are set for Sunday. The pro-Russian Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a strong chance of finishing first in all three states, and…

Read More Read More

Does chaos theory square classical physics with human agency?

Does chaos theory square classical physics with human agency?

Erik Van Aken writes: A slight shift in Cleopatra’s beauty, and the Roman Empire unravels. You miss your train, and an unexpected encounter changes the course of your life. A butterfly alights from a tree in Michoacán, triggering a hurricane halfway across the globe. These scenarios exemplify the essence of ‘chaos’, a term scientists coined during the middle of the 20th century, to describe how small events in complex systems can have vast, unpredictable consequences. Beyond these anecdotes, I want…

Read More Read More

Enthusiasm for Harris is fueling a surge in voter registration

Enthusiasm for Harris is fueling a surge in voter registration

NPR reports: Eve Levenson’s job looked very different just over a month ago. The 24-year-old is the National Youth Engagement Director for Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign, a role she’s had since the beginning of the year when President Biden was seeking re-election. Her task has been the same throughout: get young voters to the polls this fall. But as she addressed a room of Gen Z organizers last week at a coffee shop in Chicago, wearing a handful of…

Read More Read More

The superseding Trump indictment charts Jack Smith’s path forward

The superseding Trump indictment charts Jack Smith’s path forward

Anna Bower, Matt Gluck, Quinta Jurecic, Natalie K. Orpett, and Benjamin Wittes write: On Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith unveiled a superseding indictment of Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. for his effort to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, for his part, didn’t wait long to weigh in. Posting on Truth Social, he declared the indictment “ridiculous” and part of “the single greatest sabotage of our Democracy in History.” The former president seemed particularly insulted that the grand jury handed up…

Read More Read More

Photos of European influencers used to push pro-Trump propaganda on fake X accounts

Photos of European influencers used to push pro-Trump propaganda on fake X accounts

CNN reports: Luna, a self-described 32-year-old “MAGA Trump supporter” from the battleground state of Wisconsin, has gained a huge following since she joined X, formerly Twitter, in March. Her timeline has become a digital bullhorn for the “Make America Great Again” movement, praising former President Donald Trump’s re-election bid, promoting conspiracy theories about his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and touting Republican talking points to nearly 30,000 followers, who she addresses as “patriots.” “Would You Support Trump Being The President…

Read More Read More

Immigrants to the U.S. are held to higher standards than those applied to Trump

Immigrants to the U.S. are held to higher standards than those applied to Trump

Edgar Chen and Dan Ross write: From the moment Donald Trump descended his gilded escalator to launch his first presidential campaign in 2015, impugning immigrants as criminals has been the centerpiece of his political identity. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” he said that day. This year, “migrant crime” has become a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign. Moments after he became a convicted felon himself in May, Trump took the opportunity not only to attack the justice system but…

Read More Read More

Why the media won’t report the truth about Trump

Why the media won’t report the truth about Trump

James Risen writes: Over the last few years, as it grew increasingly likely that Donald Trump would mount a third campaign for the White House, leading press critics and others in the media vowed that this time had to be different. The press couldn’t fail in its coverage of Trump once again. This time, it must aggressively investigate Trump while focusing coverage on the threat that he poses to democracy. The stakes for the nation in the election, not just…

Read More Read More