Navalny Poison Squad Implicated in Murders of Three Russian Activists

initial report disclosed that the FSB poison squad traveled in clusters of two or three people to many more destinations that can be explained with their now-known efforts to murder Alexey Navalny. We continued exploring this unit’s extensive travel data methodology ... seeking to link their itineraries to previously unexplained deaths of political activists, as well as poisonings of prominent figures

The daily grotesque

TrumpTrump now hosts more than 1,500 drawings—one for each day since the nightmare began. Its subjects have grown to include Trump’s appointees and sycophants, along with anthropomorphized rifles and pizza slices, giant skulls and Klansmen, a universe of monsters whose narratives offer a disturbing parallel to the news cycle under the Trump administration. 

Alpine plants face extinction as melting glaciers force them higher

‘Escalator to extinction’ means aggressive species will eventually take over, threatening the entire mountain ecosystem

Little comparison with the corrupt countries...

A millionaire Canadian couple who secretly travelled to a remote community to receive a coronavirus vaccine meant for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous residents may now face jail sentences for breaking public health rules.

Synchronization of human sleep with the moon cycle under field conditions

Timing and duration of sleep have changed vastly throughout human evolution and history, following changes in social organization and subsistence. Human beings, with reduced vision capabilities in low-lit environments, are mostly diurnal, and it is believed that nomadic groups timed their sleep onset to the time after dusk when it became too dark to be safe hunting and gathering

Conversations About Art and Performance by Charles Rosen and Catherine Temerson

True howlers and misinformation of course abound in all dictionaries, and the Harvard Dictionary of Music is no exception, but they are to be expected and even welcomed; they complement the more serious parts of a work of reference as the satyr-play sets off the tragedy. I am as delighted as the next reader to find Ravel’s Jeux d’eau defined as Water-games, as if it were not the play of fountains but a form of water-polo. To read again that Beethoven introduced the trombone into symphonic music (to say nothing of the triangle and the big drum) should excite more sympathy than censure, and the idea that Schoenberg actually intended his Music for a film sequence as part of the repertoire for silent films, like the pieces labeled “Help, Help,” is too ludicrous to mislead, and too engaging to wish corrected. Charles Rosen, 1970

Big Tech Critics Alarmed at Direction of Biden Antitrust Personnel

Renata Hesse, a former Justice Department official under President Barack Obama, worked alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) defending Google a decade ago, helped shepherd through the Amazon/Whole Foods merger, and represented several pharmaceutical companies and other clients in antitrust cases. She is the leading contender for the assistant attorney general for antitrust position, multiple sources told the Prospect and The Intercept on Friday. Sources also said that Juan Arteaga, another Obama Justice Department veteran who defended JPMorgan Chase and several other financial firms in fraud cases and represented AT&T in its merger with Time Warner, was also being considered but was more likely to be appointed deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division

Cosmic-ray detector might have spotted nuggets of dark matter

A series of mysterious events recorded by a cosmic-ray observatory a decade ago could be the signature of an unusual form of dark matter called “axion quark nuggets”

Ageing Water Storage Infrastructure: An Emerging Global Risk

The Report provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on the ageing of large dams –an emerging global development issue as tens of thousands of existing large dams have reached or exceeded an “alert” age threshold of 50 years, and many others will soon approach 100 years. These aged structures incur rapidly rising maintenance needs and costs while simultaneously declining their effectiveness and posing potential threats to human safety and the environment

Biden returns US to Paris climate accord hours after becoming president

Biden’s executive action, signed in the White House on Wednesday, will see the US rejoin the international effort curb the dangerous heating of the planet, following a 30-day notice period. The world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases was withdrawn from the Paris deal under Donald

US' terrorists still active and organized

"We are in a full blown military operation right now to remove the threats and install our President back in power and control the violence in the big cities,” wrote one QAnon supporter.

QAnon influencers, many of whom also invoked prayer and God’s role in what is supposedly to come. Over the last three years, QAnon’s high profile figures have attracted hundreds of thousands of loyal followers. Many of them have made a lot of money from their followings, and they’re not about give up the grift.

when Trump’s legal efforts failed, the Proud Boys called for him on social media to use his presidential powers to stay in office. Some urged him to declare martial law or take control by force. In the last two weeks of December, they pushed Trump in their protests and on social media to “Cross the Rubicon.”

Plastic pollution problem has reached new heights and new depths

Scientists have found bits of plastic on the seafloor, thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. Plastic debris has also washed ashore on remote islands; traveled to the top of pristine mountains; and been found inside the bodies of whales, turtles, seabirds and people, too.

What We’ve Lost: The Species Declared Extinct in 2020

Dozens of frogs, fish, orchids and other species — many unseen for decades — may no longer exist due to humanity’s destructive effects on the planet.

Now Is the Perfect Time to Ruin The Donald’s Life

For the rest of his miserable life, he should be made to face the consequences of all his charges: rape; bank fraud; tax fraud; insurance fraud; trying to steal an election; and when all else fails, helping fuel and organize an insurrection.

Trump's 5-year campaign of lies led to the Capitol attack

the Biden administration must treat disinformation as the national security threat it is, and acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that Americans themselves are the main producers and amplifiers of it.

The Hacker Who Archived Parler Explains How She Did It

donk_enby, who has been researching Parler for months, understood that a litany of important information about America’s most prominent far-right extremist groups was at risk of being permanently hidden from the public eye. In a monumental effort, donk_enby and a few other fellow hackers and researchers managed to capture and archive nearly every post, photo and video on Parler before it was shut down. 

Right-Wing Brazilians Are Up in Arms Over This ‘Obscene’ Sculpture

The sculptor, Juliana Notari wrote that the artwork, titled Diva, “questions the relationship between nature and culture in our western phallocentric and anthropocentric society,” and invites discussion about the “problematization of gender.”

Ian the chicken nugget: alive and well

Watch this video to see people eating Ian while he sits right next them. So what’s Ian doing now? It’s all good. After the video shoot, he was taken to an animal sanctuary in Northern California where he still lives.

The US Capitol has been stormed before – when British troops burned Washington in 1814

August 1814 when British troops led by General Robert Ross occupied Washington DC for two days and set about methodically destroying the city’s public buildings, including the Capitol and the White House.

Radio telescopes could give us a new view of gravitational waves

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a rich source of information about the early universe, and now physicists in Switzerland and Germany reckon it could also serve as a detector of high-frequency gravitational waves, which are ripples in space–time. 

"These platforms"

these platforms have served as core organizing infrastructure for violent, far right groups and militia movements for several years now – helping them to recruit, organize, coordinate and in many cases (particularly with respect to YouTube) generate profits from their violent, extremist content."

Belarus Directors of prisons make life of political prisoners awful

no packages allowed, no walks, not enough beds. These banners read: When you are jailed, there will be food and tea, and bathrooms, and more. "Because we are humans." There's so much symbolism, justice and fairness

Viral images compare handling of Black Lives Matter protests and Capitol riot

The appearance of the troops in the summer came as Black Lives Matter activists led demonstrations across the nation over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died when a police officer held a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Capitol rioters are being identified, arrested

Two days after a mob incited by The Donald breached the U.S. Capitol in a violent attack that resulted in the death of police officer Brian Sicknick, rioters who left the scene are facing consequences

“They are a bunch of thugs, insurrectionists, white supremacists, anti-Semites,” Biden said. “They are terrorists 

Biden: Black Lives protesters treated very differently

Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, has said he would vote to remove the president from office if he were still part of the cabinet.

Trump unleashed the mobs that attacked the U.S. Capitol

The attackers are legally responsible. But every congressional Republican who looked the other way while Trump sowed hatred is morally responsible