Music: Kefaya — ‘Indignados’
Democratic elites were slow to admit what voters already knew
Ezra Klein writes: President Biden and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agree on this much: It is the elites who are trying to take Biden down, ignoring the sentiments of legions of Democratic voters. But when I started arguing in February that his age would mortally wound his candidacy, it didn’t feel that way to me. I saw the elites propping him up, ignoring the sentiments of legions of Democratic voters. Who’s right? Maybe we both are. In any system, elites are…
Biden’s continued candidacy was an insult to the intelligence of American voters
Helen Lewis writes: Allow me to summarize the response from outside America to the news that President Joe Biden is not running for reelection: Thank God. Here in Britain, the most common reaction in the minutes after the news broke was sheer relief. Relief that Donald Trump will not be allowed an easy path to a second term. Relief that the Democrats will put forward a candidate who is able to bear a full campaign schedule—defending the party’s record and…
Anne Applebaum: ‘Often, for autocrats, the second time in power is worse’
Tim Adams writes: A couple of years ago, in the Atlantic magazine, journalist Anne Applebaum wrote an era-defining cover story called “The Bad Guys Are Winning”. Her argument was not only that democratic institutions were in decline across the world, but that there was a new version of old threats to them: rogue states and dictatorships were increasingly linked not by ideology, as in the cold war, but by powerful currents of criminal and mercenary interest, often enabled by western…
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Carole Cadwalladr writes: Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he invited the cream of Silicon Valley’s tech elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower. It was an awkward affair. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Google’s Larry Page and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation. But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none…
What impact could the latest ICJ ruling on Israel have?
Illegal Israeli settlements have been steadily expanding in Palestinian territories for years. Now the UN’s top court says it’s time for Israel to stop, reverse course, and repair the damages. The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation is unlawful and is fueling a surge in violence. However, the court’s findings are not legally binding — and the Israeli government has ignored previous decisions. So, will the ICJ’s advisory opinion have any practical implications?
Lebanese journalist wounded by Israeli strike carries torch at Olympics
The New Arab reports: A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris to honour journalists wounded and killed in the field on Sunday. The torch relay, which started in May, is part of celebrations in which about 10,000 people from various walks of life were chosen to carry the flame across France before the Games opening ceremony on 26 July. Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling on 13 October while reporting on…
Data centers are draining resources in water-stressed communities
Eric Olson, Anne Grau, and Taylor Tipton write: The rapid growth of the technology industry and the increasing reliance on cloud computing and artificial intelligence have led to a boom in the construction of data centers across the United States. Electric vehicles, wind and solar energy, and the smart grid are particularly reliant on data centers to optimize energy utilization. These facilities house thousands of servers that require constant cooling to prevent overheating and ensure optimal performance. Unfortunately, many data…
Music: Kefaya — ‘Symphony’ ft. Nicki Wells
Kamala Harris is ‘ready to step up and unite the party,’ says Elizabeth Warren
CNBC reports: Vice President Kamala Harris has gained more public support from Democratic lawmakers as a potential replacement for President Joe Biden, should he decide to drop out of the race against former President Donald Trump. California Rep. Mark Takano on Saturday became the thirty-sixth Democrat on Capitol Hill to call on Biden to exit the race on the record. He added that he believes Harris should be the one to helm the ticket. “President Biden’s greatest accomplishment remains saving…
DNC moves forward with nominating Biden via virtual roll call as though his candidacy is not in question
NBC News reports: Democrats are in an unprecedented crisis over who should be their presidential candidate. But the party committee that governs the nominating process met Friday and proceeded as if everything was normal and its entire plan was not at risk of being upended at any minute. As calls mount for President Joe Biden to step aside and let another Democrat lead the party into the November election against former President Donald Trump, the Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee…
We volunteered at a Gaza hospital. What we saw was unspeakable
Mark Perlmutter and Feroze Sidhwa write: In the United States we would never dream of operating on anyone without consent, let alone a malnourished and barely conscious 9-year-old girl in septic shock. Nevertheless, when we saw Juri, that’s exactly what we did. We have no idea how Juri ended up in the Gaza European Hospital preoperative area. All we could see was that she had an external fixator — a scaffold of metal pins and rods — on her left…
Israel confirms airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Hodeidah port
Middle East Eye reports: The official spokesperson for the Houthis, Nasruddin Amer, described the Israeli airstrike on the oil tanks and power facility at Hodeidah port as “a brutal act of aggression against Yemen aimed at worsening the suffering of its people and pressuring Yemen to halt its support for Gaza.” The Israeli military announced that it carried out strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah in Yemen earlier on Saturday. In a post on X, Amer dismissed…
JD Vance’s wife faces racist online backlash from far-right social media posts
ABC News reports: The wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and the couple’s children have become the targets of backlash for their Indian ancestry. Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in San Diego, as well as RNC speaker Harmeet Dhillon — who is Sikh and Indian – are facing anti-Asian hate from far-right figures online. Posts appear to have spiked this week following Vance’s nomination criticizing Vance for marrying someone who…
NOAA is under threat from Project 2025
Zoë Schlanger writes: In the United States, as in most other countries, weather forecasts are a freely accessible government amenity. The National Weather Service issues alerts and predictions, warning of hurricanes and excessive heat and rainfall, all at the total cost to American taxpayers of roughly $4 per person per year. Anyone with a TV, smartphone, radio, or newspaper can know what tomorrow’s weather will look like, whether a hurricane is heading toward their town, or if a drought has…
Earth’s water is rapidly losing oxygen, and the danger is huge
Science Alert reports: Supplies of dissolved oxygen in bodies of water across the globe are dwindling rapidly, and scientists say it’s one of the greatest risks to Earth’s life support system. Just as atmospheric oxygen is vital for animals like ourselves, dissolved oxygen (DO) in water is essential for healthy aquatic ecosystems, whether freshwater or marine. With billions of people relying on marine and freshwater habitats for food and income, it’s concerning these ecosystems’ oxygen has been substantially and rapidly…