FBI finds contact between Proud Boys member and Trump associate before riot

FBI finds contact between Proud Boys member and Trump associate before riot

The New York Times reports: A member of the far-right nationalist Proud Boys was in communication with a person associated with the White House in the days just before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. Location, cellular and call record data revealed a call tying a Proud Boys member to the Trump White House, the official said. The F.B.I. has not determined what they discussed, and the official would…

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Pope Francis and Ayatollah Sistani hold historic, symbolic meeting in Najaf

Pope Francis and Ayatollah Sistani hold historic, symbolic meeting in Najaf

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis and Iraq’s top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during a historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said religious authorities have a role in protecting Iraq’s Christians, and that Christians should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. The Vatican said Francis thanked al-Sistani for having “raised…

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The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus

The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus

Andrew Joseph and Helen Branswell write: When experts envision the future of the coronavirus, many predict that it will become a seasonal pathogen that won’t be much more than a nuisance for most of us who have been vaccinated or previously exposed to it. But how long that process takes — and how much damage the virus inflicts in the interim — is still anyone’s guess. “The most predictable thing about this coronavirus is its unpredictability,” said Howard Markel, a…

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We can’t curb the presidency without fixing Congress

We can’t curb the presidency without fixing Congress

David Frum writes: “The constitutional Presidency … has become the imperial Presidency.” The historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. delivered that complaint in 1973, just ahead of a wave of reforms that sought to cut the presidency down to size. The War Powers Act of 1973, the Anti-Impoundment Act of 1974, the creation of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in the mid-1970s: These and other measures aimed to restrain the presidency and restore power to Congress. Following the presidency of Donald…

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A vexing question for Democrats: What drives Latino men to Republicans?

A vexing question for Democrats: What drives Latino men to Republicans?

The New York Times reports: Erik Ortiz, a 41-year-old hip-hop music producer in Florida, grew up poor in the South Bronx, and spent much of his time as a young adult trying to establish himself financially. Now he considers himself rich. And he believes shaking off the politics of his youth had something to do with it. “Everybody was a liberal Democrat — in my neighborhood, in the Bronx, in the local government,” said Mr. Ortiz, whose family is Black…

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Tim Wu’s appointment to the National Economic Council signals a confrontational approach to Big Tech

Tim Wu’s appointment to the National Economic Council signals a confrontational approach to Big Tech

The New York Times reports: President Biden on Friday named Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor, to the National Economic Council as a special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy, putting one of the most outspoken critics of Big Tech’s power into the administration. The appointment of Mr. Wu, 48, who is widely supported by progressive Democrats and antimonopoly groups, suggests that the administration plans to take on the size and influence of companies like Amazon,…

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We can’t plant or log our way out of climate change

We can’t plant or log our way out of climate change

Danna Smith writes: CNN published an opinion piece on Feb. 10 with the headline, “Plant trees, sure. But to save the climate, we should also cut them down.” This piece omitted some vital facts and science. While the piece did not call for a broad expansion of logging, I think it’s important for readers to understand these facts. Industrial logging and wood production are major drivers of climate disruption. The US is the world’s largest consumer and producer of wood…

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AI is killing choice and chance – which means changing what it means to be human

AI is killing choice and chance – which means changing what it means to be human

AI promises to make life easier, but what will humans lose in the bargain? AP Photo/Frank Augstein By Nir Eisikovits, University of Massachusetts Boston and Dan Feldman, University of Massachusetts Boston The history of humans’ use of technology has always been a history of coevolution. Philosophers from Rousseau to Heidegger to Carl Schmitt have argued that technology is never a neutral tool for achieving human ends. Technological innovations – from the most rudimentary to the most sophisticated – reshape people…

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That is not how your brain works

That is not how your brain works

Lisa Feldman Barrett writes: As a neuroscientist, I see scientific myths about the brain repeated regularly in the media and corners of academic research. Three of them, in particular, stand out for correction. After all, each of us has a brain, so it’s critical to understand how that three-pound blob between your ears works. Myth number one is that specific parts of the human brain have specific psychological jobs. According to this myth, the brain is like a collection of…

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Countries with highest levels of obesity have most Covid deaths, report finds

Countries with highest levels of obesity have most Covid deaths, report finds

The Guardian reports: Countries with high levels of overweight people, such as the UK and the US, have the highest death rates from Covid-19, a landmark report reveals, prompting calls for governments to urgently tackle obesity, as well as prioritising overweight people for vaccinations. About 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from Covid were in countries with high levels of overweight people, says the report from the World Obesity Federation. Countries such as the UK, US and Italy, where…

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In Palm Beach, Covid-19 vaccines intended for rural Black communities are instead going to wealthy white Floridians

In Palm Beach, Covid-19 vaccines intended for rural Black communities are instead going to wealthy white Floridians

STAT reports: The winds blew southwest the day of Pahokee’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, which meant the sugarcane fields were ablaze. Growers are banned from burning excess leaves when there’s an eastward breeze, to keep fumes away from the gated communities of Florida’s Gold Coast 40 miles away. Pahokee is in the same county but, with a median personal income of $13,674, its residents live in a different world. A single highway connects the billionaire’s club of Mar-a-Lago to the working-class…

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Climate activist who took on BlackRock now takes aim at Vanguard

Climate activist who took on BlackRock now takes aim at Vanguard

Bloomberg reports: Casey Harrell, the campaigner whose sustained pressure was instrumental in pushing BlackRock Inc. to act against climate change, approaches his work as if locked in a race against time. That was true even before the 42-year-old environmental activist was diagnosed last year with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Harrell’s latest effort, focused on Vanguard Group Inc., is likely to be his last. “My diagnosis has put me on the ALS clock, which is a…

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Some Oath Keepers say its founder has betrayed the group’s mission — and them

Some Oath Keepers say its founder has betrayed the group’s mission — and them

BuzzFeed News reports: In a recent indictment of nine people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors went to great lengths to describe the magnitude of the day’s events, the alarming threat to democracy their actions posed, and the powerful influence that one charismatic leader had in shaping their beliefs. They took care, however, not to refer to that man by name. Instead, they refer to him as “Person One.” Elmer Stewart Rhodes III — a one-time Army…

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In ‘exceedingly rare’ case, Iowa journalist faces charges from reporting on summer protests

In ‘exceedingly rare’ case, Iowa journalist faces charges from reporting on summer protests

USA Today reports: The trial of a Des Moines Register reporter who was arrested covering racial justice protests last summer is slated to begin next week in what experts said is a rare criminal prosecution of a journalist on assignment in the USA. Andrea Sahouri faces charges of failure to disperse and interference with official acts and is set to stand trial starting Monday. At least 126 journalists were arrested or detained in 2020, but only 13 still face charges,…

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