Airman shared sensitive intelligence more widely and for longer than previously known

Airman shared sensitive intelligence more widely and for longer than previously known

The New York Times reports: The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to a small group of gamers had been posting sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, according to online postings reviewed by The New York Times. In February 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, a user profile matching that of Airman Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a previously undisclosed chat group…

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Afghanistan has become a terrorism staging ground again, leak reveals

Afghanistan has become a terrorism staging ground again, leak reveals

The Washington Post reports: Less than two years after President Biden withdrew U.S. personnel from Afghanistan, the country has become a significant coordination site for the Islamic State as the terrorist group plans attacks across Europe and Asia, and conducts “aspirational plotting” against the United States, according to a classified Pentagon assessment that portrays the threat as a growing security concern. The attack planning, detailed in U.S. intelligence findings leaked on the Discord messaging platform and obtained by The Washington…

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‘Biological aging’ speeds up in times of great stress, but it can be reversed during recovery

‘Biological aging’ speeds up in times of great stress, but it can be reversed during recovery

Live Science reports: Our “biological age,” which reflects signs of age-related decline in our cells and tissues, doesn’t steadily increase along with our chronological age. Instead, new research suggests that biological aging can accelerate during stressful events and then reverse after those events. In other words, there are measurable biological markers linked to age-related changes in cell function, and these markers can appear in times of stress and then disappear during recovery. Scientists already knew that biological age’s relationship to…

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Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That’s over now

Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That’s over now

NPR reports: Dmitry Medvedev, a leading government official and former president of Russia, took to Twitter earlier this month to denigrate Ukraine in a post using language reminiscent of genocidal regimes. And Twitter didn’t stop him. In his 645-word tweet titled, “WHY WILL UKRAINE DISAPPEAR? BECAUSE NOBODY NEEDS IT,” Medvedev called Ukraine a “Nazi regime,” “blood-sucking parasites” and “a threadbare quilt, torn, shaggy, and greasy.” The post garnered more than 7,000 retweets and 11,000 likes. One response, though, asked Twitter…

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Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show

Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show

The Washington Post reports: When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 to call for an end to weapons supplies to Ukraine, the protest was led by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of parliament for Germany’s far-left Die Linke party and a firebrand with national ambitions. Wagenknecht decried the prospect that German tanks, soon to be delivered to Ukraine, could once again be used to shoot at “Russian women and men.” “We don’t want Germany to be drawn…

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‘A quick death or a slow death’: Russian prisoners choose war to get lifesaving drugs

‘A quick death or a slow death’: Russian prisoners choose war to get lifesaving drugs

The New York Times reports: In Russian prisons, they said they were deprived of effective treatments for their H.I.V. On the battlefield in Ukraine, they were offered hope, with the promise of anti-viral medications if they agreed to fight. It was a recruiting pitch that worked for many Russian prisoners. About 20 percent of recruits in Russian prisoner units are H.I.V. positive, Ukrainian authorities estimate based on infection rates in captured soldiers. Serving on the front lines seemed less risky…

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Rightwing edgelords are the real threat to national security

Rightwing edgelords are the real threat to national security

Vice News reports: Since the beginning of the Biden Administration, the GOP has painstakingly attacked the Pentagon as a “woke” institution that’s somehow morphing the military and the nation into a soft power. Drag queen story hours and “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) training have become buzzwords for institutional rot, popping up on Fox News and in congressional committees as national security threats destroying the Department of Defense. Then last week it was revealed that perhaps the most damaging unauthorized disclosure of U.S….

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Why so many top Republicans want to go to war in Mexico

Why so many top Republicans want to go to war in Mexico

Zack Beauchamp writes: One of the hottest new ideas in Republican politics is, apparently, launching a war in Mexico. Three recent articles — in Rolling Stone, Politico, and Semafor — traced the rise of the proposal from obscurity to the party’s highest levels, finding ample evidence of the idea’s popularity in the GOP ranks. Former President Donald Trump, for example, has been asking for a “battle plan” to “attack Mexico,” specifically targeting drug cartel strongholds in the country. Every single declared Republican presidential candidate has endorsed…

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The dangerous rise of ‘front-yard politics’

The dangerous rise of ‘front-yard politics’

Derek Thompson writes: Several months ago, while walking through my neighborhood in Washington, D.C., I noticed an impressive number of front-lawn placards celebrating and welcoming refugees. The signs made me proud. I like living in a place where people openly celebrate tolerance and diversity. Several days later, my pride curdled into bitterness. As part of some reporting on housing policy, I found a State Department page offering advice to Afghans and Iraqis resettling in the U.S. The upshot: Stay away…

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Consciousness begins with feeling, not thinking

Consciousness begins with feeling, not thinking

Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio write: Please pause for a moment and notice what you are feeling now. Perhaps you notice a growing snarl of hunger in your stomach or a hum of stress in your chest. Perhaps you have a feeling of ease and expansiveness, or the tingling anticipation of a pleasure soon to come. Or perhaps you simply have a sense that you exist. Hunger and thirst, pain, pleasure and distress, along with the unadorned but relentless feelings…

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Fox News’s settlement in the Dominion case is big news, except on Fox News

Fox News’s settlement in the Dominion case is big news, except on Fox News

The New York Times reports: Fox News’s last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday earned banner coverage on every television news network but one: Fox News. The $787.5 million settlement was covered only three times by Fox News in about four hours after the settlement became public, amounting to about six minutes of coverage. For most of the day, including during the network’s prime-time shows, hosts appeared to be focusing on other issues, like illegal immigration and Covid-19’s possible…

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Fox can claim tax writeoff for defamation settlement

Fox can claim tax writeoff for defamation settlement

The Lever reports: Fox’s massive settlement with private equity-backed voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems didn’t just spare the conservative news organization from a lengthy public defamation trial or a full public reckoning for its election lies — it could also mean a tax break as large as $213 million, according to a Lever review. On Tuesday, Fox News and its parent company Fox Corporation agreed to pay a $787 million settlement to Dominion, the largest-known media defamation payout in U.S. history, concluding two years of litigation over…

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Top GOP lawyer decries ease of campus voting in private pitch to RNC

Top GOP lawyer decries ease of campus voting in private pitch to RNC

The Washington Post reports: A top Republican legal strategist told a roomful of GOP donors over the weekend that conservatives must band together to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters, according to a copy of her presentation reviewed by The Washington Post. Cleta Mitchell, a longtime GOP lawyer and fundraiser who worked closely with former president Donald Trump to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, gave…

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With a heavy weight on his shoulders, Evan Gershkovich is standing tall

With a heavy weight on his shoulders, Evan Gershkovich is standing tall

Jason Rezaian writes: As Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow courtroom, everything about the stage-managed proceedings was designed to elicit a specific response. He was placed in a glass cage where cameras flashed around him. Local Russian journalists covering the appearance yelled words of encouragement to him. Courtroom security guards admonished them for doing so. And the judge presiding over Gershkovich’s case rejected his appeal to be released on bail. In short, everyone played their part. Everyone, that is, except…

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