Rightwing lobby group ALEC driving laws to blacklist companies that boycott the oil industry

Rightwing lobby group ALEC driving laws to blacklist companies that boycott the oil industry

The Guardian reports: The influential rightwing lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) is driving a surge in new state laws to block boycotts of the oil industry. The group’s strategy, which aims to protect large oil firms and other conservative-friendly industries, is modelled on legislation to punish divestment from Israel. Since the beginning of the year, state legislatures in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Indiana have introduced a version of a law drafted by Alec, called the Energy Discrimination…

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Why Biden’s judges are different — and what that means for the Supreme Court

Why Biden’s judges are different — and what that means for the Supreme Court

Chris Geidner writes: President Joe Biden’s judges are different. Not only are they different from those of President Donald Trump, but Biden’s judicial nominees are different from those of any president before him. In three ways, the first year of Biden’s judicial selections tells an important story about the effect the president is looking to have on the judiciary — a story that provides the clearest available information about how Biden will likely choose his first Supreme Court nominee. First,…

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What’s behind the right-wing book-ban frenzy? Big money, and a long-term plan

What’s behind the right-wing book-ban frenzy? Big money, and a long-term plan

Jon Skolnik writes: Until very recently, “book bans” seemed like a term out of the past, or a phenomenon that erupted sporadically in a small school or library district in the most conservative areas of the country. But over the last several years, parents’ groups aggrieved by the left’s alleged influence K-12 education have been working tirelessly to bring them back. All kinds of books have been exiled from library shelves or school curricula in the latest book-ban frenzy, although…

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Satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff

Satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff

Arthur C Brooks writes: Abd al-Rahman III, the emir and caliph of Córdoba in 10th-century Spain, summed up a life of worldly success at about age 70: “I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call.” And the payoff? “I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to…

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U.S. intel indicates Russian officers have had doubts about full scale Ukraine invasion

U.S. intel indicates Russian officers have had doubts about full scale Ukraine invasion

CNN reports: Intercepted communications obtained by the US have revealed that some Russian officials have worried that a large-scale invasion of Ukraine would be costlier and more difficult than Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin leaders realize, according to four people familiar with the intelligence. Three of the sources said those officials include intelligence and military operatives. The officials have also grumbled about their plans being discovered and exposed publicly by western nations, two of the sources said, citing…

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Macron hopes for ‘historic solution’ to Ukraine crisis ahead of Putin meeting

Macron hopes for ‘historic solution’ to Ukraine crisis ahead of Putin meeting

The Guardian reports: French president Emmanuel Macron believes he can deliver “a historic solution” to the Ukraine crisis ahead of his arrival in Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin. After a flurry of diplomatic activity that included talks with US president Joe Biden this weekend and three phone calls with Putin, Macron will land in Moscow on Monday seeking a “de-escalation” of the tense standoff on Ukraine’s eastern borders. Russia has denied planning to invade Ukraine but has…

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Lies are the building blocks of Trumpian authoritarianism

Lies are the building blocks of Trumpian authoritarianism

William Saletan writes: Americans like to think our country is immune to authoritarianism. We have a culture of freedom, a tradition of elected government, and a Bill of Rights. We’re not like those European countries that fell into fascism. We’d never willingly abandon democracy, liberty, or the rule of law. But that’s not how authoritarianism would come to America. In fact, it’s not how authoritarianism has come to America. The movement to dismantle our democracy is thriving and growing, even…

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Senate GOP backlash smacks RNC after Cheney-Kinzinger censure

Senate GOP backlash smacks RNC after Cheney-Kinzinger censure

Politico reports: Senate Republicans are not happy with the Republican National Committee. In interviews on Monday evening, GOP senators lashed out at their own national party’s overwhelming vote to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for working on the House’s investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. They warned that alienating a portion of the party for being overly anti-Trump is not a political winner heading into the midterms, a sharp message from sitting members that goes…

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Peter Thiel steps down from Meta’s board to support Trump-aligned candidates

Peter Thiel steps down from Meta’s board to support Trump-aligned candidates

The Wall Street Journal reports: Peter Thiel, one of Facebook’s earliest investors and its longest-serving outside board member, is planning to step down from his position at the social-media giant, parent company Meta Platforms Inc. said Monday. Mr. Thiel intends to focus his efforts on helping Republican candidates supporting the agenda of former President Donald Trump in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Thiel, a multibillionaire who has made his fortune as one…

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What if the world phased out meat consumption over 15 years? The numbers are stunning — and instructive

What if the world phased out meat consumption over 15 years? The numbers are stunning — and instructive

Emma Bryce writes: The climate impact of livestock is so powerful, that if we phased out the consumption of meat over the next 15 years, we could start stabilising greenhouse gas emissions from 2030 onwards. This would require a difficult culinary sacrifice — but it would get us more than halfway to achieving the emissions reductions laid out by the Paris Climate Agreement. These bold findings come from a recent study published in PLOS Climate, which joins several recent papers…

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How fires across the world have grown weirder

How fires across the world have grown weirder

Daniel Immerwahr writes: The hundreds of bush fires that hit southern Australia on 7 February 2009 felt, according to witnesses, apocalyptic. It was already hellishly hot that day: 46.4C in Melbourne. As the fires erupted, day turned to night, flaming embers the size of pillows rained down, burning birds fell from the trees and the ash-filled air grew so hot that breathing it, one survivor said, was like “sucking on a hairdryer”. More than 2,000 homes burned down, and 173…

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White House warns Russian invasion of Ukraine could come ‘any day now’

White House warns Russian invasion of Ukraine could come ‘any day now’

The Wall Street Journal reports: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent and might entail a high cost for the civilians living there. “We are in the window,” Mr. Sullivan told Fox News Sunday. “Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine or it could be a couple of weeks from now, or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead.” Russia has 83 battalion tactical…

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Russia could seize Kyiv in days and cause 50,000 civilian casualties in Ukraine, U.S. assessments find

Russia could seize Kyiv in days and cause 50,000 civilian casualties in Ukraine, U.S. assessments find

The Washington Post reports: Russia is close to completing preparations for what appears to be a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could leave up to 50,000 civilians killed or wounded, decapitate the government in Kyiv within two days, and launch a humanitarian crisis with up to 5 million refugees fleeing the resulting chaos, according to updated U.S. military and intelligence assessments briefed to lawmakers and European partners over the past several days. The rising concerns come as the Russian military…

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Macron vows ‘de-escalation,’ but hints at concessions to Putin

Macron vows ‘de-escalation,’ but hints at concessions to Putin

Politico reports: French President Emmanuel Macron is optimistic he can secure a de-escalation over Ukraine when he travels to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, but hinted that Western countries could have to make concessions to the Kremlin. His bullish prognosis of a diplomatic compromise will trigger alarm bells among those who advocate a more hawkish line on Russia, particularly in Central and Eastern European capitals that fear Russian aggression. In an interview with the weekly…

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