WASHINGTONPOST:"An attorney for former president Donald Trump, in a letter reviewed by The Washington Post, instructed former advisers, including Mark Meadows, Kash Patel, Dan Scavino and Stephen K. Bannon, not to comply with congressional investigators who have requested information about their activities related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The group of former White House aides were subpoenaed last month by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, seeking records and testimony by midnight Thursday. The bipartisan panel is investigating the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob trying to stop the certification of Biden’s electoral college win, an attack that resulted in five deaths and left some 140 members of law enforcement injured.
Trump’s legal team argued in the letter, which was first reported by Politico, that records and testimony related to Jan. 6 are protected “from disclosure by the executive and other privileges, including among others the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges.”
.."
NYTIMES:"By The Editorial Board
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
However horrifying the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol appeared in the moment, we know now that it was far worse.
The country was hours away from a full-blown constitutional crisis — not primarily because of the violence and mayhem inflicted by hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters but because of the actions of Mr. Trump himself.
In the days before the mob descended on the Capitol, a corollary attack — this one bloodless and legalistic — was playing out down the street in the White House, where Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a lawyer named John Eastman huddled in the Oval Office, scheming to subvert the will of the American people by using legal sleight-of-hand.
Mr. Eastman’s unusual visit was reported at the time, but a new book by the Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa provides the details of his proposed six-point plan. It involved Mr. Pence rejecting dozens of already certified electoral votes representing tens of millions of legally cast ballots, thus allowing Congress to install Mr. Trump in a second term.
Mr. Pence ultimately refused to sign on, earning him the rage of Mr. Trump and chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” by the rioters, who erected a makeshift gallows on the National Mall.
The fact that the scheme to overturn the election was highly unlikely to succeed is cold comfort. Mr. Trump remains the most popular Republican in the country; barring a serious health issue, the odds are good that he will be the party’s nominee for president in 2024. He also remains as incapable of accepting defeat as he has ever been, which means the country faces a renewed risk of electoral subversion by Mr. Trump and his supporters — only next time they will have learned from their mistakes.
.."
"(CNN)Want to save our democracy from Trumpism? One approach is to follow the blueprint that led to last week's surprising defeat of Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who's also known as the Czech Donald Trump.
Babis, a billionaire tycoon at the forefront of Czech politics since 2011, was elected as prime minister in 2017. He's spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric, proposed disbanding the Czech Senate and was a loud critic of Western European alliances like the EU -- all while being a fan of Hungary's far-right leader Viktor Orban. Just before the election, the right-wing populist was also accused of controversial business dealings -- allegations Babis in essence dubbed "fake news." Sound familiar? So how did the people of the Czech Republic edge out Babis? Through various political parties putting their ideological differences aside to form an alliance with one goal: getting him out of office. That meant a more conservative party had to team up with an anti-establishment party that supported gay marriage and other progressive causes they actually opposed. Babis' party lost by a slim margin, but it appears to have worked.
Petr Fiala, who led the anti-Babis coalition and will possibly serve as the nation's next prime minister, stated after the election: "People were fed up with the populist, short-term politics of Andrej Babis," adding that Czechs want "normal, competent and decent politics," in contrast to Babis' divisive rhetoric.
Another Czech political analyst said Babis' loss "stabilizes the country's position in the West camp," in contrast to being more aligned with Hungary's Orban -- who is beloved by White nationalists and has been slammed by Western leaders for embracing undemocratic ways to retain political power. (Orban is also a person Trump has publicly praised.)
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" (CNN)British and international authorities are closely monitoring a subtype of the Delta variant that is causing a growing number of infections in the United Kingdom.
This descendant of the Delta variant, known as AY.4.2, accounted for an estimated 6% of cases in the week of September 27 -- the last week with complete sequencing data -- and is "on an increasing trajectory," a report by the UK Health Security Agency said.
Little is known about AY.4.2. Some experts have suggested it could be slightly more transmissible than the original Delta variant, though that has not yet been confirmed. While it accounts for a growing number of infections, it is not yet classified in the UK as a "variant of concern." It currently remains rare beyond Britain, with a small number of cases being recorded in Denmark and the US, expert Francois Balloux told the Science Media Center (SMC) on Tuesday.
"As AY.4.2 is still at fairly low frequency, a 10% increase its transmissibility could have caused only a small number of additional cases. As such it hasn't been driving the recent increase in case numbers in the UK," Balloux, Professor of Computational Systems Biology and Director at the UCL Genetics Institute, told the SMC.
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"(CNN)Roughly 24 hours after the death of Colin Powell, Donald Trump proved, again, that he is utterly incapable of empathy, grace or even common decency.
"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media," Trump said in a statement released Tuesday morning. "Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!"
"But anyway, may he rest in peace!" Yes, Trump really said that.
The gulf between Trump's statement and that of other former presidents on Powell's passing is simply massive.
...
"
"(CNN)Former President George W. Bush called on Americans Saturday to confront domestic violent extremists, comparing them to violent extremists abroad and warning that they are "children of the same foul spirit."
In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Bush said the US has seen "growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within."
"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," Bush said. "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit."
"And it is our continuing duty to confront them," he added.Bush's speech at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, came eight months after violent insurrectionists breached the US Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.
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"
CNN:"The Statue of Liberty can be seen from Jersey City, New Jersey, as the Lower Manhattan skyline remains shrouded in smoke on September 15, 2001.
“At sunrise, I made my way to the Hudson River coastal areas of Jersey City and Bayonne, New Jersey,” said Dan Loh, who was working for the Associated Press. “When I looked at New York City across the river, I noticed that among the wreckage, debris and smoke, the Statue of Liberty stood out on the skyline, holding her lighted torch high.”
After dark, Loh could see two columns of smoke rising from the wreckage, exactly where the Twin Towers had stood earlier.
“It would be days before airline flights would resume, and when they finally did, the sight of planes taking off was eerily juxtaposed against the smoldering smoke that still rose from Lower Manhattan,” he said..."
"(CNN)Sixty years ago, the world saw the face of evil.
Sixty years ago, in an internationally broadcast trial, millions of people around the world watched as a man -- a monster, really, despite his human form and slight frame -- sat in a courtroom in the newly-formed nation of Israel.The defendant: the notorious Nazi Adolf Eichmann, widely known as the "Architect of the Holocaust," stood charged with unimaginable crimes against humanity -- the murder of millions. Eichmann's dry, technical title -- translated roughly as the chief Nazi "logistics coordinator" -- conveyed his mechanical approach to his work but belied the horror of it all. The "logistics" which Eichmann "coordinated" were the systematic rounding up and deportation of millions of Jews and others to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps...The lessons from the Eichmann trial resonate today. In 2015, a racist shooter murdered nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2017, White supremacists chanted "Jews will not replace us" and invoked racist symbols and slogans in Charlottesville. In 2018, a gunman killed 11 Jewish worshippers inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. At the January 6 Capitol insurrection, rioters wore neo-Nazi gear, including a shirt emblazoned with "Camp Auschwitz." In the last few months, a member of Congress has carelessly made nonsensical, ignorant public remarks that trivialize and mischaracterize the true horror of the Holocaust. And, just last week, barracks at Auschwitz were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti and Holocaust-denying slogans.
Goldmann-Gilead told me, "With the death of Eichmann, the murderous ideology of nationalist socialism was not scattered. It is still existing ... in the form of hatred, hatred that is dangerous. And we must be on guard so that catastrophes do not repeat themselves."...
Washington Post:"Domestic terrorism incidents have soared to new highs in the United States, driven chiefly by white-supremacist, anti-Muslim and anti-government extremists on the far right, according to a Washington Post analysis of data compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The surge reflects a growing threat from homegrown terrorism not seen in a quarter-century, with right-wing extremist attacks and plots greatly eclipsing those from the far left and causing more deaths, the analysis shows.
The number of all domestic terrorism incidents in the data peaked in 2020. Since 2015, right-wing extremists have been involved in 267 plots or attacks and 91 fatalities, the data shows.At the same time, attacks and plots ascribed to far-left views accounted for 66 incidents leading to 19 deaths.
“What is most concerning is that the number of domestic terror plots and attacks are at the highest they have been in decades,” said Seth Jones, director of the database project at CSIS, a nonpartisan Washington-based nonprofit that specializes in national security issues. “It’s so important for Americans to understand the gravity of the threat before it gets worse.” ..."
"
(CNN)Senate Republicans blocked another voting rights bill Wednesday, as some on the left call to change the chamber's rules to allow the Democratic Party to unilaterally change federal election law. The vote was 49 to 51.
The Democratic bill, known as the Freedom to Vote Act, would make it easier to register to vote, make Election Day a public holiday, ensure states have early voting for federal elections and allow all voters to request mail-in ballots. The measure would also bolster security on voting systems, overhaul how congressional districts are redrawn and impose new disclosures on donations to outside groups active in political campaigns.
But Republicans have blocked a number of voting rights legislation since Democrats took the House and Senate the past two election cycles.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that the bill is similar to previous efforts Republicans blocked, saying it "still subjects popular commonsense election integrity provisions like voter ID to the whims of federal bureaucrats" and "still puts Washington in the middle of states' redistricting decisions."
"The latest umpteenth iteration is only a compromise in the sense that the left and the far left argued among themselves about exactly how much power to grab and in which areas," McConnell said. "As long as Senate Democrats remain fixated on their radical agenda, this body will continue to do the job the Framers assigned it -- and stop terrible ideas in their tracks."
Democrats argued that the bill is a necessity after Republican state legislatures passed laws limiting access to the ballot box following former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
More on Voting Rights
19 states passed this year laws to restrict voting, new tally finds
House Democrats urge Senate colleagues to pass voting rights bill
Nearly a dozen states enacted laws this year that could subvert the results of future elections, analysis finds
"Across the country, the Big Lie -- the Big Lie -- has spread like a cancer as many states across the nation have passed the most draconian restrictions against voting that we've seen in decades," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "If nothing is done, these laws will make it harder for millions of Americans to participate in their government."
President Joe Biden issued a harsh statement during the vote, calling it "unconscionable" that Republicans would block the legislation from advancing.
"The United States Senate needs to act to protect the sacred constitutional right to vote, which is under unrelenting assault by proponents of the Big Lie and Republican Governors, Secretaries of State, Attorneys-General, and state legislatures across the nation," Biden said.
Amid the Republican blockade, Democrats on the left have increasingly called on their party's senators to gut the Senate's filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation.
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a Senate Democratic candidate, said in a statement, "every Democratic Senator who votes in favor of this bill today, but won't support getting rid of the filibuster, is engaging in performative politics, and is content with the GOP's complete assault on our democracy."
But at least two Democratic senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have said they are unwilling to change the filibuster rule and are crucial votes for the Biden administration's economic agenda.
The current White House plan is for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to instead increase their public pressure campaign, highlighting the GOP's blockade ahead of the 2022 elections.
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"
(CNN)...the Washington Post cataloged the falsehoods told by former President Donald Trump: "By the end of his term, Trump had accumulated 30,573 untruths during his presidency — averaging about 21 erroneous claims a day." (New York City's former deputy mayor, Alair Townsend, once said, after tangling with Trump, "I wouldn't believe Donald Trump if his tongue were notarized.")
But even tens of thousands of lies are a drop in the bucket on social media, where misinformation is weaponized to drive engagement and achieve political ends. In a new series on "the poisoned public square," CNN Opinion is putting a spotlight on the menace of deliberate falsehoods...Lies about the 2020 election are flourishing, even though every single piece of legitimate evidence affirms Joe Biden's victory over Trump. The former president is so exercised about Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's refusal to try to overturn Biden's narrow victory in his state that he suggested Democrat Stacey Abrams would make a better governor.
Trump's startling words had Dean Obeidallah marveling that he for once agreed with him. "Has hell frozen over? Are pigs now airborne?" wrote Obeidallah. "Trump is 100% correct about Abrams. But his comments ... weren't about the truth that the political powerhouse, who's the former minority leader for the Georgia House of Representatives, would be excellent in Kemp's position. It was all about his anger at Kemp -- which reveals so much about how dangerous the GOP is to our democracy under Trump's leadership."...In a book publishing this week, former Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says, "Casual dishonesty filtered through the White House as if it were in the air conditioning system." In other words, wrote Frida Ghitis, it was a "culture of lies and deceit." The shelf full of Trump tell-all books carries "enormous weight today as we see Trump and his acolytes laying the groundwork to try to capture the presidency in 2024, apparently at any cost. Viewed in this context, they are dark portents."..."
"The National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assess that
People’s Republic of China state-sponsored
malicious cyber activity is a major threat to U.S.
and Allied cyberspace assets. Chinese statesponsored cyber actors aggressively target U.S.
and allied political, economic, military,
educational, and critical infrastructure (CI)
personnel and organizations to steal sensitive
data, critical and emerging key technologies,
intellectual property, and personally identifiable
information (PII). Some target sectors include managed service providers,
semiconductor companies, the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), universities, and medical
institutions. These cyber operations support China’s long-term economic and military
development objectives.
..
"
"(CNN)President Joe Biden cast the fight for voting rights in sweeping terms Thursday after the Senate failed to advance a bill on the matter this week, casting blame on Republicans for stymieing the effort in the Senate.
During an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, Biden said, "We now face an inflection point in the battle, literally, for the soul of America" over voting rights, specifically calling out former President Donald Trump's efforts to subvert democracy.
"Today, the right to vote and the rule of law are under unrelenting assault from Republican governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state legislators, and they're following my predecessor, the last president, into a deep, deep black hole and abyss," Biden said in lengthy remarks at the MLK memorial at Washington D.C.'s Tidal Basin.
"This struggle is no longer over who gets to vote, and make it easier for eligible people to vote. It's about who gets to count the votes, whether they should count at all," he said, railing against a "sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion."
..."
ABC.NET.AU:"The European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) has ruled that Russia was responsible for the 2006 killing of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who died an agonising death after he was poisoned in London with Polonium 210, a rare radioactive isotope.
Key points:
Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, died in 2006
He was poisoned by the polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in his death
Kremlin critic Litvinenko died at age 43, three weeks after drinking green tea laced with polonium-210 at London's plush Millennium hotel in an attack Britain has long blamed on Russia.
In its ruling, the EHCR concluded Russia was responsible for the killing.
"Mr Litvinenko's assassination was imputable to Russia," its statement said.
The court ordered Russia to pay Litvinenko's widow, Marina Litvinenko, 100,000 euros ($161,600) in damages.
The Kremlin rejected the verdict in its entirety.
.."
"(CNN)Each day Stephanie Land got down on her hands and knees to scrub a toilet, she was buoyed by love for her child -- and a dream that one day she would be a writer.
Land had escaped an abusive relationship and lacked support from her family. At one point she was on seven different forms of government assistance. A single mom without child care from 2008 to 2016, cleaning houses was the only job available to her.
Her struggle became her muse, and her memoir "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and A Mother's Will to Survive" debuted on The New York Times bestseller list in 2019. It's now the basis for the series "Maid," premiering Friday on Netflix.She spoke with CNN about her work to spotlight the everyday experiences of millions living in poverty, including cycles of abuse and trauma, the inhumanity of welfare requirements, and the dignity of all work.. I wish I had been more honest with people about that and how difficult things were. Struggle shouldn't be shameful. We all struggle. We need to be a little bit more compassionate...we don't assign equal amounts of dignity to human beings. In Isabel Wilkerson's book "Caste," she points out there's a caste system in America. And it's very apparent right now...Everybody deserves the same amount of respect..."
"(CNN)Five military veterans on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's advisory board resigned from their roles this week, slamming the Arizona Democrat as one of the "principal obstacles to progress."
In a letter to Sinema, the veterans expressed frustration with her refusal to change the Senate filibuster to protect voting rights, failure to support prescription drug negotiations, her opposition to parts of the Democrats' sweeping budget reconciliation package that make up President Joe Biden's agenda and criticized her for not voting on the January 6 commission.
"You have become one of the principal obstacles to progress, answering to big donors rather than your own people," the veterans wrote. "We shouldn't have to buy representation from you, and your failure to stand by your people and see their urgent needs is alarming."
"We do not know who has your ear, but it clearly isn't us or your constituents," they added.
The criticism from the five veterans, whose resignations were effective Wednesday, adds to the growing backlash within the Democratic Party and from Arizona activists against Sinema for not backing elements of Biden's Build Back Better plan..."
CNN:"...The bigotry Trump had modeled for years, for example, spewed from the mouth of a woman, in a pink "Make America Great Again" shirt, who led a crowd that screamed racist epithets at Black Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Dunn recalled at the hearing. The violence that Trump had regularly toyed with at his rallies became manifest as DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone was beaten by attackers who called him a "traitor." The degrading way Trump has spoken about many people seemed to be channeled by an attacker who DC Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges said taunted him with the words, "You will die on your knees."
Like Trump, members of the mob claimed to be pro-police, even as they fought officers hand-to-hand. Like Trump, they talked of treason, though some rallied around the battle flag of the traitorous Confederacy. This was the moment that experts had warned might come, when Trump's followers expressed all the rage, cruelty and aggression he had normalized though his lifelong effort to sell himself as the ideal American man of action...During his 2016 campaign, Trump frequently encouraged his supporters to get tough with protesters and even promised to pay the legal bills for anyone arrested for assaulting them. Trump made a thinly-veiled threat of gun violence, saying "Second Amendment people" would act against Hillary Clinton. As Politico reported at the time, cries of "Kill her, kill her!" and "take the b***h down" could be heard at Trump events.
During his presidency, Donald Trump continued to use violent words to connect with his supporters and rally them against his opponents or critics. He called journalists the "enemy of the people" and praised the actions of a Republican congressman who physically assaulted a reporter. Trump's rhetoric surely contributed to the hostility, threats and physical attacks his backers directed at journalists... Is it any wonder, after the years he invested in building up his ...political career spent winding up his supporters into an emotional frenzy, that Trumpism produced January 6? All the evidence that it did was displayed as the Capitol attackers gave free rein to the dark impulses that Trump had cultivated. They became, like him, men and women of aggression and action, certain they were right and intolerant of those who disagreed...
"
CNN:"...HBO host Bill Maher went viral after he warned of Trump's "slow coup" on "Real Time" Friday night. He delivered an eight-minute monologue premised on these three points: Trump "will run in 2024; he will get the Republican nomination; and whatever happens on election night, the next day he will announce that he won."
Maher laid out a scary undemocratic scenario in the hopes of arousing viewers from slumber.
"I've been saying it ever since he lost, he's like a shark that's not gone, just gone out to sea," Maher warned. "But actually he's been quietly eating people this whole time." Using a reference from "Game of Thrones," a show in which power-hungry characters kill each other for the coveted Iron Throne, Maher clarifies his warning by saying, "And by eating people, I mean he has been methodically purging the Republican party of anyone who voted for his impeachment or doesn't believe that he is the rightful leader of the Seven Kingdoms."
MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan reacted by commenting, "I wish more actual journalists would say what a late-night comedian's saying.Coming at it from a very different ideological POV, "Allahpundit" of the Hot Air blog said Maher was right, "even if Republicans don't want to hear it. ..
"
"(CNN)The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii is demanding policy changes after a 10-year-old Black girl was arrested at school over a drawing linked to a "run of the mill" dispute among children.
In response to the incident, the ACLU sent a letter Monday to the Honolulu Police Department, the state Department of Education and the state attorney general's office asking them to adopt policy changes, expunge all records of the arrest, and to pay $500,000 in damages for "harm and suffering" caused by their agencies.
In January 2020, a parent called the Honowai Elementary School in Honolulu to complain about the drawing made by the girl and demanded the staff call police, the ACLU said.
When police arrived, the girl, who was only identified as "N.B," was "handcuffed with excessive force and taken to the police station," the ACLU said.The girl's mother, Tamara Taylor, said she was called to the school, but she was not allowed to see her daughter or informed that the girl was "handcuffed in front of staff and her peers, placed into a squad car and taken away."I was stripped of my rights as a parent and my daughter was stripped of her right to protection and representation as a minor. .."
CNN:"CNN)While Donald Trump has held several rallies since the January 6 Capitol insurrection, his rally in Iowa Saturday was the most alarming by far
... This one was attended by longtime Iowa US Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, and other mainstream Republican officials. Some of these very same people, who just nine months ago were slamming Trump for his role in the Capitol riots, were now only too happy to be seen supporting him. This is politics at its worst -- and at its most dangerous for our democracy...You don't need to be a historian to recognize the danger in a political party showing blind loyalty to one person. These GOP elected officials just several months ago rightly criticized Trump and his role in the false election claims that led to the January 6 attack. With their presence at his rally this weekend, it seems they've now changed their tune. Perhaps they now agree with Trump's lies. But it's more likely their flip-flop comes from recent polls showing that 91% of Republicans in Iowa view Trump favorably. That, and not wanting to face the wrath of Trump, like Georgia Gov. Kemp, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and other Republicans who have dared to speak truthfully about the election.
But who knows what Trump whim will be the next litmus test for remaining in his good graces? When even Grassley, Iowa's longest-serving US senator, thinks it's "smart" politics to no longer criticize Trump for his un-American attack on our democracy and instead praise him in a pursuit of an eighth term in the Senate, it's clear that the party is no longer defined by policy ideas but by absolute loyalty to Trump and his influence. To put it bluntly, today's GOP is how democracies die...
"
"TAIPEI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan has reported the largest ever incursion by the Chinese air force into its air defence zone, with 38 aircraft flying in two waves on Friday as Beijing marked the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
The Taiwan Defence Ministry first reported Taiwanese fighters had scrambled against 18 J-16 and four Su-30 fighter jets plus two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers and an anti-submarine aircraft.
Then in the early hours of Saturday, the ministry said a further 13 Chinese aircraft were involved in a mission on Friday night - 10 J-16s, 2 H-6s and an early warning aircraft.It said Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them. The first batch of Chinese aircraft all flew in an area close to the Pratas Islands, with the two bombers flying closest to the atoll, according to a map issued by the ministry.
The second group flew down into the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, a key waterway that links the Pacific with the disputed South China Sea.China has yet to comment on its activities. It has previously said such flights were to protect the country's sovereignty and aimed at "collusion" between Taiwan and the United States, the island's most important international backer..."
NYTIMES:"GONE
Nearly 100,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. Their families now search for clues among the dead.They lie in clandestine graves strewn across the desert, mingled in communal pits, or hacked to pieces and scattered on desiccated hillsides. Buried without a name, often all that’s left once their bodies are gone are the empty casings of a person: a bloodied sweatshirt, a frilly top, a tattered dress.All over Mexico, mothers wander under the scorching sun, poking at the earth and sniffing for the tell-tale scent of decomposing flesh, hoping for a scrap that points toward their missing son or daughter.
For most, the answers never come.A New York Times photographer documented their search, and in Chihuahua state, he photographed the clothing that was found with unidentified bodies and preserved by investigators.
..."
ATA ODNI Unclassified Report:"In the coming year, the United States and its allies will face a diverse array of threats that are playing out
amidst the global disruption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and against the backdrop of great
power competition, the disruptive effects of ecological degradation and a changing climate, an increasing
number of empowered non-state actors, and rapidly evolving technology. The complexity of the threats,
their intersections, and the potential for cascading events in an increasingly interconnected and mobile
world create new challenges for the IC. Ecological and climate changes, for example, are connected to
public health risks, humanitarian concerns, social and political instability, and geopolitical rivalry. The
2021 Annual Threat Assessment highlights some of those connections as it provides the IC’s baseline
assessments of the most pressing threats to US national interests, while emphasizing the United States’ key
adversaries and competitors.It is not an exhaustive assessment of all global challenges and notably excludes
assessments of US adversaries’ vulnerabilities. It accounts for functional concerns, such as weapons of mass
destruction and technology, primarily in the sections on threat actors, such as China and Russia..."
ABCNEWS: "Smaller, grassroots efforts in communities across the country are trying alternative strategies to curb violence, recognizing the fallout from decades of “tough on crime” policies that criminalized a generation, leaving them with fewer resources and opportunities than ever.
That includes violence interrupter programs such as Gideon’s Army or Cure Violence Global, which started in Chicago and has branched out to other cites. Other groups, including the West Nashville Dream Center, primarily attack structural issues such as poverty and educational inequality. The groups differ in philosophy but share a common goal of improving life in their communities.
Minorities are heavily affected by community violence, said Paul Carrillo, the community violence initiative director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, but it’s not unusual to see pushback surface at the grassroots level.“Anywhere there’s a significant level of crime there are also homegrown peacemakers," he said...."
NBCNEWS:"...He spent most of the 1960s doing time at some of the state’s most notorious prisons, including Folsom, Soledad and San Quentin.
Then Trejo got sober, got out of prison and went on to appear in hundreds of movies and TV shows, including “Spy Kids,” “Machete,” and “Breaking Bad.” He became an entrepreneur as well, with a string of successful restaurants. How Trejo transformed his life is the subject of his new memoir, written with fellow actor Donal Logue,“Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood.”..."
AP:"As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Not to worry, Trump insisted, his administration had the virus “totally under control.”
Now, in his final hours in office, after a year of presidential denials of reality and responsibility, the pandemic’s U.S. death toll has eclipsed 400,000. And the loss of lives is accelerating.
“This is just one step on an ominous path of fatalities,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and one of many public health experts who contend the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis led to thousands of avoidable deaths." Perhaps a wrongful death class action would be appropriate here. And Trumpist Republicans are continuimg his work through anti-vaxers and anti-maskers. Americans died under Trump and continue to die.
CNN: "...Physicists, engineers and computer scientists are trying to harness the counterintuitive behavior of quantum mechanics to build quantum computers, leading eventually to the quantum internet. And this effort isn't just an abstract goal of academics; it has been identified by the US government as an important national initiative. Federal agencies have begun to lay out the framework for an American quantum infrastructure. The Department of Energy for example, plans to link together its laboratories with a quantum internet. A quantum internet is both similar and different to the ordinary internet..."
