Tag: Reading
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Pentagon Weighs Sharp Drawback in Support for C.I.A. – The New York Times
Pentagon Weighs Sharp Drawback in Support for C.I.A. (Published 2020) A broad review of the military’s support for the agency is underway, including pulling back personnel and rethinking support for C.I.A. operations around the world. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/us/politics/pentagon-cia-support.html The administration is considering multiple options that could take effect as early as Jan. 5. One would reduce…
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Dianne Feinstein’s Missteps Raise a Painful Age Question Among Senate Democrats | The New Yorker
Dianne Feinstein’s Missteps Raise a Painful Age Question Among Senate Democrats Older lawmakers’ foibles and infirmities are coming under new scrutiny, violating an unspoken culture of complicity and coverup. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/dianne-feinsteins-missteps-raise-a-painful-age-question-among-senate-democrats Twitter and other social-media platforms are exposing lawmakers’ infirmities to new and harsher scrutiny, violating an unspoken culture of complicity and…
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The Life and COVID Death of a Revered Siberian Doctor | The New Yorker
The Life and COVID Death of a Revered Siberian Doctor In a chaotic and overwhelmed hospital, a physician received the kind of indifferent medical care he spent his life trying to overcome. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-life-and-covid-death-of-a-revered-siberian-doctor Perhaps the most macabre proof of the dysfunction in Tomsk came when, according to local media, a family…
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Interpreting America at the Minsk Book Fair | Literary Hub
Interpreting America at the Minsk Book Fair At the end of January this year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hosted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Independence Palace, a glassy, corporate-looking building on Prospekte Pob… via Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/interpreting-america-at-the-minsk-book-fair/ It’s jarring that an industry ostensibly built on understanding the world’s complexity is so basic…
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Tony Hsieh’s American Tragedy: The Self-Destructive Last Months Of The Zappos Visionary
Tony Hsieh’s American Tragedy: The Self-Destructive Last Months Of The Zappos Visionary When the business icon died in a fire last week, questions abounded. The answers seem rooted in a Covid-period spiral, where he turned to drugs and shunned old friends. via Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2020/12/04/tony-hsiehs-american-tragedy-the-self-destructive-last-months-of-the-zappos-visionary/?sh=4811e0554f22 “I am going to be blunt,” she wrote in the letter,…
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A Tycoon’s Deep-State Conspiracy Dive | The New Yorker
A Tycoon’s Deep-State Conspiracy Dive Patrick Byrne, the former head of Overstock, had always been outspoken. Did an affair with a Russian agent push him too far? via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/14/a-tycoons-deep-state-conspiracy-dive Byrne told me that he immediately wondered if Butina was a “red sparrow”—a reference to the 2013 novel that was turned into a film starring Jennifer…
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The mystery of the Gatwick drone | UK news | The Guardian
The mystery of the Gatwick drone The long read: A drone sighting caused the airport to close for two days in 2018, but despite a lengthy police investigation, no culprit was ever found. So what exactly did people see in the Sussex sky? via the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-of-the-gatwick-drone A few years ago, a T-shirt became popular…
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Report Points to Microwave ‘Attack’ as Likely Source of Mystery Illnesses That Hit Diplomats and Spies – The New York Times
Report Points to Microwave ‘Attack’ as Likely Source of Mystery Illnesses That Hit Diplomats and Spies (Published 2020) A government-commissioned report provides the most definitive explanation yet for “Havana syndrome,” which struck scores of American employees, first in Cuba and then in China, Russia and other countries. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/business/economy/havana-syndrome-microwave-attack.html “My government looked the other way…
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The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal – POLITICO
The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal How a state that was never in doubt became a “national embarrassment” and a symbol of the Republican Party’s fealty to Donald Trump. via POLITICO: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/24/michigan-election-trump-voter-fraud-democracy-440475 That November 4 missive James retweeted from his campaign adviser—“Stop making up numbers, stalling the process and cheating the system”—has…
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» Ethics in Strategy Gaming, Part 2: Colonization The Digital Antiquarian
Link: https://www.filfre.net/2020/12/ethics-in-strategy-gaming-part-2-colonization/ In 2008, Firaxis Games — a company founded by Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, and Jeff Briggs — announced a new version of Colonization, which once again chose to present Native Americans as dim-witted primitives and to completely ignore the historical reality of slavery. Even before its release, Ben Fritz, a gaming blogger for…
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Police Drones Are Starting to Think for Themselves – The New York Times
Police Drones Are Starting to Think for Themselves (Published 2020) In one Southern California city, flying drones with artificial intelligence are aiding investigations while presenting new civil rights questions. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/technology/police-drones.html When the man left the car, carrying a gun and a bag of heroin, a nearby police car had trouble following as he sprinted…
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India’s Leading Documentary Filmmaker Has a Warning – The New York Times
India’s Leading Documentary Filmmaker Has a Warning (Published 2020) Anand Patwardhan spent decades tracking the rise of Hindu nationalism. And now, under an increasingly repressive government, he holds his screenings in secret. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/magazine/india-documentary-anand-patwardhan.html Over four hours, “Reason” documents how the world’s largest democracy has plunged into a majoritarian abyss since the Bharatiya Janata Party,…
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In Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Deal, Putin Applied a Deft New Touch – The New York Times
In Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Deal, Putin Applied a Deft New Touch (Published 2020) The iron-fisted tactics used against Georgia and Ukraine seem to have fallen out of favor, replaced by a more subtle blend of soft power and an implicit military threat. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/world/europe/nagorno-karabakh-putin-armenia-azerbaijan.html “What else is to be done?” Mr. Mikaelyan asked, after taking another…
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Why the Assassination of a Scientist Will Have No Impact on Iran’s Nuclear Program | The New Yorker
Why the Assassination of a Scientist Will Have No Impact on Iran’s Nuclear Program Since Friday’s killing, the question increasingly being asked in Washington and the Middle East is about motive. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-the-assassination-of-a-scientist-will-have-no-impact-on-irans-nuclear-program On Friday, the Muslim holy day, he was reportedly travelling with his wife, in a black Nissan sedan, from…
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Opinion | Dear Joe, It’s Not About Iran’s Nukes Anymore – The New York Times
Opinion | Dear Joe, It’s Not About Iran’s Nukes Anymore (Published 2020) Biden wants to reinstate the nuclear deal, but first he must confront the new Middle East. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/opinion/iran-biden-nuclear-scientist.html In effect, Trump forced Israel and the key Sunni Arab states to become less reliant on the United States and to think about how they…
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Guns, Drugs and Viral Content: Welcome to Cartel TikTok – The New York Times
Guns, Drugs and Viral Content: Welcome to Cartel TikTok (Published 2020) Mexico is set to shatter another murder record, but that grim reality is nowhere to be seen on the TikTok videos that go viral by showcasing drug cartel culture. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/world/americas/mexico-drugs-cartel-tiktok.html But while some videos are still made to strike terror, others are created…
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The Cost of Trump’s Assault on the Press and the Truth | The New Yorker
The Cost of Trump’s Assault on the Press and the Truth The President is being forced to give up his attempt to overturn the election. But he will continue his efforts to build an alternative reality around himself. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/07/the-cost-of-trumps-assault-on-the-press-and-the-truth But Trump knew precisely what he was doing, and he never let…
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The Code That Controls Your Money | Wealthsimple
The Code That Controls Your Money | Wealthsimple COBOL is a coding language older than Weird Al Yankovic. The people who know how to use it are often just as old. It underpins the entire financial system. And it can’t be removed. How a computer language controls the financial life of the world. Link: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazine/cobol-controls-your-money…
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The Scammer Who Wanted to Save His Country
The Scammer Who Wanted to Save His Country Last year, a hacker gave Glenn Greenwald a trove of damning messages between Brazil’s leaders. Some suspected the Russians. The truth was far less boring. via WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/brazil-hacker-bolsonaro-car-wash-leaks/ “Oh yeah, don’t worry about that. They’ll never catch me,” the source boasted. He said he was using multiple…
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Rebecca Solnit: On Not Meeting Nazis Halfway | Literary Hub
Rebecca Solnit: On Not Meeting Nazis Halfway When Trump won the 2016 election—while losing the popular vote—the New York Times seemed obsessed with running features about what Trump voters were feeling and thinking. These pieces treated them … via Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/ The implication is the usual one: we—urban multiethnic liberal-to-radical only-partly-Christian America—need to spend…