Month: December 2021
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Russian Court Orders 2nd Ban of a Major Human Rights Group in 2 Days – The New York Times
As the Kremlin Revises History, a Human Rights Champion Becomes a Casualty The shuttering of Memorial, the country’s most prominent human rights organization, has saddened Russians who were personally touched by its work shining a light on the injustices of the Soviet past. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/world/europe/russia-memorial-human-rights-center.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News “The state does not like that the human rights center…
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First They Fought About Masks. Then Over the Soul of the City. – The New York Times
First They Fought About Masks. Then Over the Soul of the City. In Enid, Okla., pandemic politics prompted a fundamental question: What does it mean to be an American? Whose version of the country will prevail? Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/us/oklahoma-masks.html “The red shirts have assumed effective control of most of the public bodies in Enid,” Mr. Ezzell…
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Hidden Pentagon Records Reveal Patterns of Failure in Deadly Airstrikes – The New York Times
Hidden Pentagon Records Reveal Patterns of Failure in Deadly Airstrikes The promise was a war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. The documents show flawed intelligence, faulty targeting, years of civilian deaths — and scant accountability. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-pentagon-records-civilian-deaths.html Yet what the hidden documents show is that civilians have become the regular collateral casualties of…
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China Uses YouTube Influencers to Spread Propaganda – The New York Times
How Beijing Influences the Influencers China’s government has supported foreign YouTubers who put a positive spin on its policies, in its latest effort to shape how the world sees it. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/13/technology/china-propaganda-youtube-influencers.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News Joshua Lam and Libby Lange, graduate student researchers at Yale University, analyzed a sample of nearly 290,000 tweets that mentioned Xinjiang in the…
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Fox News Hosts Sent Texts to Meadows Urging Trump to Act as Jan. 6 Attack Unfolded – The New York Times
Fox News Hosts Sent Texts to Meadows Urging Trump to Act as Jan. 6 Attack Unfolded Afterward, on their shows, Laura Ingraham spread the false claim of antifa involvement, and Sean Hannity referred to the 2020 election as a “train wreck.” Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/business/media/fox-news-trump-jan-6-meadows.html Ms. Ingraham’s text came in contrast with what she said on her…
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The ultra-violent cult that became a global mafia – BBC News
The ultra-violent cult that became a global mafia A BBC investigation into Black Axe has unearthed new evidence of political infiltration, and a scamming and killing operation spanning the globe. via BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59614595 Within Nigeria, Black Axe is fighting a war of supremacy with rival “cults” – similar criminal gangs with names like the…
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The Russian Novel That Foresaw—but Underestimated—Totalitarianism | The New Yorker
The Russian Novel That Foresaw—but Underestimated—Totalitarianism Yevgeny Zamyatin, the author of “We,” was both the original writer of totalitarian terror and one of its original victims. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-russian-novel-that-foresaw-but-underestimated-totalitarianism True literature can thrive only in places where literature is created not by obedient and reliable bureaucrats but by madmen, recluses, heretics, dreamers, rebels,…
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In a QAnon World, Is There Room for Alex Jones?
In a QAnon World, Is There Room for Alex Jones? The post-Trump era could’ve been a return to form for the conspiracy king; instead it’s been his undoing. Link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/akvekb/the-latter-days-of-alex-jones-sandy-hook-lawsuit As Jones faces what could be a sizable legal judgement and another bout of withering press when he testifies before Congress, he’s also working on…
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The Secret History of the U.S. Diplomatic Failure in Afghanistan
The Secret History of the U.S. Diplomatic Failure in Afghanistan A trove of unreleased documents reveals a dispiriting record of misjudgment, hubris, and delusion that led to the fall of the Western-backed government. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/20/the-secret-history-of-the-us-diplomatic-failure-in-afghanistan The debates and decisions in Washington, Kabul, and Doha that preceded the Islamic Republic’s fall took place…
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Haiti’s Leader Kept a List of Drug Traffickers. His Assassins Came for It. – The New York Times
Haiti’s Leader Kept a List of Drug Traffickers. His Assassins Came for It. In the months before his murder, President Jovenel Moïse took a number of steps to fight drug and arms smugglers. Some officials now fear he was killed for it. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/world/americas/jovenel-moise-haiti-president-drug-traffickers.html Haiti may now provide the largest route for drugs destined for…
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As a Secret Unit Pounded ISIS, Civilian Deaths Mounted – The New York Times
Civilian Deaths Mounted as Secret Unit Pounded ISIS (Published 2021) An American strike cell alarmed its partners as it raced to defeat the enemy. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/us/civilian-deaths-war-isis.html As bad strikes mounted, the four military officials said, Talon Anvil’s partners sounded the alarm. Pilots over Syria at times refused to drop bombs because Talon Anvil wanted to…
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Inside the Fall of Kabul: An On-the-Ground Account – The New York Times
Inside the Fall of Kabul Against all predictions, the Taliban took the Afghan capital in a matter of hours. This is the story of why and what came after, by a reporter and photographer who witnessed it all. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/magazine/fall-of-kabul-afghanistan.html After flying for more than an hour, the three presidential helicopters arrived at the Uzbekistan…
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Nobel-Winning Journalists Denounce War Talk and Online ‘Toxic Sludge’ – The New York Times
Nobel-Winning Journalists Denounce War Talk and Online ‘Toxic Sludge’ At an awards ceremony in Oslo, Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitri A. Muratov of Russia called for peace, democratic renewal and support for a free press. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/world/europe/nobel-prize-journalism-ceremony.html “These American companies controlling our global information ecosystem are biased against facts, biased against journalists,” she…
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The Accidental Revolutionary Leading Belarus’s Uprising | The New Yorker
The Accidental Revolutionary Leading Belarus’s Uprising How Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya came to challenge her country’s dictatorship. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/the-accidental-revolutionary-leading-belaruss-uprising Lukashenka seems to have settled in for the long haul. With the possibility of open protests cut off, Tsikhanouskaya said that it was impossible to predict how long he could hold on: “It could last a…
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John Wilson Is Making the Least Predictable Show on TV – The New York Times
The Genius Behind the Weirdest Show on TV In the second season of “How To With John Wilson,” the documentary filmmaker shows off his penchant for mutating the mundane into the vivid and extraordinary. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/magazine/how-to-john-wilson.html Holding the camera himself, he says, “changes the energy of the room.” Part of Wilson’s charm is that he…
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How Donald Trump Could Subvert the 2024 Election – The Atlantic
Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to subvert the next election. via The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/ Trump has reconquered his party by setting its base on fire. Tens of millions of Americans perceive their world through black clouds of his smoke. His deepest source of…
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Creating a Better Leaf | The New Yorker
Creating a Better Leaf Could tinkering with photosynthesis prevent a global food crisis? via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/creating-a-better-leaf “All of our food, directly or indirectly, comes from the process of photosynthesis,” Long told me. “And we know that even our very best crops are only achieving a fraction of photosynthesis’s theoretical efficiency. So, if we can…
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On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes – The New York Times
On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes Powerful associates of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are making and selling captagon, an illegal amphetamine, creating a new narcostate on the Mediterranean. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/middleeast/syria-drugs-captagon-assad.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News “The idea of going to the Syrian government to ask about cooperation is just absurd,” said Joel Rayburn, the U.S. special envoy for Syria…
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“Listening to Kenny G” Is an Ironic Masterpiece | The New Yorker
“Listening to Kenny G” Is an Ironic Masterpiece In Penny Lane’s new documentary, the best-selling instrumental artist of all time unwittingly helps to explain why so many people dislike his music. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/listening-to-kenny-g-is-an-ironic-masterpiece In the studio, Kenny G displays his own relentless adjustments of his own playing; he plays his soprano sax,…