There is no pressure to negotiate with Russia, says Zelenskyy

There is no pressure to negotiate with Russia, says Zelenskyy

Politico reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday denied a report that EU and U.S. officials have spoken with the government in Kyiv about possible peace talks with Russia. “No leader of the United States or European Union, our partners — nobody puts pressure on us for us sitting at the negotiation table with Russia and give something away,” Zelenskyy told a joint press conference in Kyiv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was on an unannounced…

Read More Read More

Trump appointee who assaulted Capitol officers on Jan. 6 sentenced to nearly 6 years

Trump appointee who assaulted Capitol officers on Jan. 6 sentenced to nearly 6 years

NBC News reports: A former Donald Trump political appointee at the State Department who tried to storm the Capitol and assaulted law enforcement officers on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Friday. Federico Klein was arrested in March 2021 and convicted of eight felonies as well as misdemeanor offenses by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, also a Trump appointee, in July 2023 following a bench trial. Klein did not speak during his sentencing hearing and…

Read More Read More

Kew report: Five key extinction risks facing the world’s plants and fungi

Kew report: Five key extinction risks facing the world’s plants and fungi

Carbon Brief reports: Scientists’ understanding of how climate change and habitat loss could drive plant and fungi extinctions is being hamstrung by knowledge gaps in how many species currently exist, a new report warns. More than 90% of fungi have yet to be found and formally described by scientists, according to a new report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi” report, which is based on both peer-reviewed and preliminary studies, also says…

Read More Read More

Don’t equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism

Don’t equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism

Adam Serwer writes: On October 7, the Islamist militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Israel responded with military operations that have killed several times that number of Palestinians in Gaza, a territory described by Human Rights Watch as an “open-air prison” as a result of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade. In both cases, most of the casualties are civilians. The conflict has reverberated into other areas of the world, including the…

Read More Read More

Why Hezbollah is holding back on entering the Israel-Palestine war

Why Hezbollah is holding back on entering the Israel-Palestine war

Faysal Itani writes: Like many Lebanese, I spent the morning glued to my screen waiting for Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s first speech since the beginning of the latest Israel-Palestine war. While I haven’t lived in Lebanon for more than a decade, Nasrallah’s speeches remain important events in my life, as both a foreign policy professional and a Lebanese. So I found myself parked on the side of a Washington road in rush hour traffic, watching. After all, he was expected…

Read More Read More

Israel launches deadly strike on ambulance outside hospital in Gaza

Israel launches deadly strike on ambulance outside hospital in Gaza

The Washington Post reports: An Israeli strike on an ambulance outside Gaza City’s largest hospital on Friday killed at least 15 people and injured another 60, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Photos and videos of the aftermath, which were geolocated by The Washington Post, showed scenes of carnage and destruction, with bodies crumpled on the pavement and bystanders rushing to carry the wounded into the hospital grounds. The strike was one of several attacks on schools and health infrastructure on…

Read More Read More

House Republicans introduce bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S.

House Republicans introduce bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S.

The New Republic reports: House Republicans have come up with yet another plan to kick brown people out of the country. On Thursday, Representative Ryan Zinke introduced a bill that would revoke the visas and refugee status of a number of Palestinians. The Safeguarding Americans From Extremism Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to refrain from issuing visas or granting refugee, asylum, or temporary protected status to anyone holding a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority. It would…

Read More Read More

Mark Meadows slapped with book publisher lawsuit over false election claims

Mark Meadows slapped with book publisher lawsuit over false election claims

Rolling Stone reports: Mark Meadows‘ book publisher has sued the former Trump administration chief of staff over breach of contract allegations relating to false claims he made regarding the 2020 Presidential Election. In the lawsuit filed Friday and obtained by Rolling Stone, book publisher All Seasons Press (ASP) alleged that Meadows had originally “promised and represented that all statements” in his 2021 memoir The Chief’s Chief were “‘true and based on reasonable research for accuracy,’ and that he ‘has not…

Read More Read More

Trump’s Truth Social page is a riot of witness intimidation

Trump’s Truth Social page is a riot of witness intimidation

Liz Dye writes: On August 6, Alabama man Arthur Ray Hanson, II, left a voicemail threatening Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with violence if she charged Donald Trump with interference in the 2020 election. “I would be very afraid if I were you because you can’t be around people all the time that are going to protect you,” he said on the recorded call. “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your…

Read More Read More

New research identifies a psychological bridge between dark personality traits and lack of forgiveness

New research identifies a psychological bridge between dark personality traits and lack of forgiveness

Psypost reports: Why do some individuals find it difficult to forgive those who have wronged them? New research published in Personality and Individual Differences sheds light on this question, revealing that so-called “dark” traits can play a significant role. The findings suggest that Machiavellianism and psychopathy may hinder forgiveness by fostering vengeful thoughts. Forgiveness is a complex and deeply personal process. It involves letting go of negative feelings, thoughts, and behaviors towards someone who has caused harm. While some people…

Read More Read More

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israeli apartheid: ‘You can’t behold evil and then return and not speak on it’

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israeli apartheid: ‘You can’t behold evil and then return and not speak on it’

  As pressure builds for a ceasefire after 27 days of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates joins us in a broadcast exclusive interview to discuss his journey to Palestine and Israel and learning about the connection between the struggle of African Americans and Palestinians. “The most shocking thing about my time over there was how uncomplicated it actually is,” says Coates, who calls segregation in Palestine and Israel “evil.” “There’s no way for me, as an…

Read More Read More

Biden’s skepticism about Gaza casualty numbers proves to be unfounded

Biden’s skepticism about Gaza casualty numbers proves to be unfounded

The Intercept reports: President Joe Biden, asked last week what his government planned to do to reduce the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, responded by rejecting the idea that the numbers could be trusted. “I have no notion if Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” Biden said on Wednesday. “I’m sure innocents have been killed and it is the price of waging war,” he added. “But I have no confidence in the number that…

Read More Read More

U.S. views Netanyahu’s duration in office lasting no more than months

U.S. views Netanyahu’s duration in office lasting no more than months

Politico reports: Joe Biden and top aides have discussed the likelihood that Benjamin Netanyahu’s political days are numbered — and the president has conveyed that sentiment to the Israeli prime minister in a recent conversation. The topic of Netanyahu’s short political shelf life has come up in recent White House meetings involving Biden, according to two senior administration officials. That has included discussions that have taken place since Biden’s trip to Israel, where he met with Netanyahu. Biden has gone…

Read More Read More

American Muslims are in a painful, familiar place

American Muslims are in a painful, familiar place

Rozina Ali writes: When President Biden landed in Tel Aviv days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 people, he told an audience of Israelis that this was not just Israel’s Sept. 11, that “it was like 15 9/11s.” The comparison, which emerged widely and immediately, seemed apt on the surface: a brutal attack that shocked a nation and changed the course of its history. Indeed, it’s been dizzying to witness the speed at which the same patterns…

Read More Read More