The Senate acquitted Donald Trump, again, on Saturday, but the former president’s legal worries are far from over. As a private citizen, Trump is no longer protected by the Justice Department’s policy against charging a sitting president with federal crimes. And...
Month: February 2021
Militias and Misinformation
February 2, 2021 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief. Subscribe for a weekly selection of news stories from journalists operating outside traditional corporate systems. Subscribe The Headlines U.S. Politics Biden’s Immigration...
Climate Change Ravaged the West With Heat and Drought Last Year; Many Fear 2021 Will Be Worse
If there were any doubts that the climate is changing in the Colorado River Basin, 2020 went a long way toward dispelling them, thanks to yet another year of extreme weather. Unprecedented wildfires, deadly heat waves, withering drought—the many indicators of...
The Debate About Fixing America’s Information Ecosystem
LAST WEEK, Margaret Sullivan, a media critic at the Washington Post, argued that we need to get the “Fox News monster” under control. “I do not believe the government should have any role in regulating what can and can’t be said on the air, although I often...
Revealed: Massive Chinese Police Database
THE ORDER CAME through a police automation system in Ürümqi, the largest city in China’s northwest Xinjiang region. The system had distributed a report — an “intelligence information judgment,” as local authorities called it — that the female relative of a...
The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government
Hours after the attack on the Capitol ended, a group calling itself the Last Sons of Liberty posted a brief video to Parler, the social media platform, that appeared to show members of the organization directly participating in the uprising. Footage showed...
“This Is War”: Inside the Secret Chat Where Far-Right Extremists Devised Their Post-Capitol Plans
When the FBI arrested Edward “Jake” Lang on Jan. 16 for his alleged role in the U.S. Capitol attack, court documents show agents had followed a seemingly straightforward trail from his public social media to collect evidence. “THIS IS ME,” Lang wrote over...
Biden’s Hawkish Foreign Policy Could Derail Moves to Fight Austerity
In his first days in office, President Joe Biden has signaled a willingness to disavow austerity policies and expand public benefits, sparking cautious optimism about whether his administration could succeed in minimizing damage done by the coronavirus pandemic. But...
Biden Must End the War on Kids
Most people regard Donald Trump’s treatment of immigrant children as among his most shocking crimes as President. Images of hundreds of children stolen from their families and imprisoned in chain-link cages are an unforgettable disgrace that President Joe...
As GOP Senators Push Smaller Covid-19 Relief Package, Dem Leaders Move to Advance Biden’s Bolder Plan
Ahead of President Joe Biden's Monday evening meeting with GOP senators to discuss watering down his Covid-19 relief proposal, congressional Democratic leaders took the first step toward passing a bolder pandemic aid package through a process that would not...