Mattis resignation triggered by phone call between Trump and Erdoğan | US news | The Guardian

“As soon as the US folds its tent and leaves, Turkey will immediately begin an air bombardment followed by a ground attack by the [Ankara-backed] Free Syrian army. Thousands will die, thousands will be displaced and will be given no haven within Syria. They will be turned away at the Turkish border,” said David Phillips, a former senior state department official, and the author of the new book: The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East.

Source: Mattis resignation triggered by phone call between Trump and Erdoğan | US news | The Guardian

Can Kushner’s work on the criminal justice overhaul save his reputation?

What reputation? And who cares?

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Some caution that while Jared Kushner deserves the credit he got, his reputation is doomed by conflicts of interest and a close relationship with the Saudi crown prince

There is a first time for everything. On Wednesday Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump and bête noire of American liberals, woke up to headlines not accusing him of corruption or mocking his political naiveté. They were headlines of praise.

Kushner had helped bring about bipartisan accord almost unheard of in today’s Washington to overhaul criminal justice.

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‘We won’t keep quiet again’: the women taking on Viktor Orbán

Go, go, go! Women are the winners!

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A new wave of female politicians and protesters are offering an alternative to the Hungary PM’s macho politics

When the speakers took the stage to address the crowds of protesters in front of Budapest’s imposing parliament building on Sunday, they had two things in common. They were all staunch opponents of Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s far-right prime minister. And they were all women.

In a country where Orbán’s populist politics have a distinctly macho flavour, and debates about women often come in the context of child-bearing and family life, the political opposition is being voiced in a united and distinctly female front.

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Trump is right to withdraw US troops from Syria | Trevor Timm

What he says here is correct but what of the Kurds who will now be subjected to genocide by Syria, Turkey and Iraq!

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Thousands of troops fighting and dying in yet another Middle Eastern country is not what’s best for America

Donald Trump unexpectedly announced that the US would be pulling its troops out of Syria on Wednesday, and the entire national security establishment exploded in anger that one of our many wars may be ending.

Members of Congress, like Republican senators Bob Corker and Lindsey Graham – who have never met a war they didn’t like – are furious that Congress wasn’t consulted in the decision. Members of the media have proclaimed that the “winners” here are Assad and Putin, despite the fact that the stated mission in Syria was never to fight them in the first place. And pundit after pundit derided that this decision is a win for terrorists, with no thought to whether we are creating just as many terrorists by being there at all.

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The death of our Siemens factory is the result of another Trump lie | Robert Morrison

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Trump has the power to tell companies such as Siemens to keep plants open. All he would have to do is sign an executive order

This week, days before Christmas, I will clock into my good, union job one last time.

I spent 31 years working on machines that make parts for steam turbines at the Siemens factory in Burlington, Iowa, the oldest continuously operating, manufacturing facility west of the Mississippi. When our plant closes its doors on Friday, we will be saying goodbye to another factory that made America great. And the unfortunate truth is that the death of our factory and other Siemens-owned facilities across the United States are the result of another damned Donald Trump lie.

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Europe responds with alarm to US defense secretary’s resignation

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European ministers fearful over withdrawal of US troops from Syria and Afghanistan

Europe responded with a mixture of panic, disorientation and frantic steps to limit the damage after the resignation of US defence secretary, James Mattis.

Mattis’s decision to quit the administration came after Donald Trump confirmed he was ending all US military operations in Syria. He is also reportedly planning to halve the US troop presence in Afghanistan.

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Measles cases at highest for 20 years in Europe, as anti-vaccine movement grows

The anti-vaxers are killing people by making themselves feel they have power – power to kill children!

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A climate of doubt about vaccine safety is putting lives at risk, experts warn

A growing anti-vaccine movement in Europe, fuelled by social media and anti-establishment populists, is putting lives at risk and may be to blame for measles outbreaks surging to a 20-year high, health experts are warning.

A fresh Guardian analysis of WHO data shows that measles cases in Europe will top 60,000 this year – more than double that of 2017 and the highest this century. There have been 72 deaths, twice as many as in 2017.

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Elizabeth Warren, Native Identity, and Federal Recognition – “colonialism versus natural identity”

The underpinnings of this violation of sovereignty are complex. While it is integral to tribal sanctity and self-governance, enrollment itself, according to Lowery, is “a colonial construct; it’s not a self-determining process.” More broadly, federal recognition is a colonial construct. It is the end result of the process of proving our tribal identity and cultural heritage (both of which predate the federal government) to the federal government, and in terms that the federal government has established.

Source: Elizabeth Warren, Native Identity, and Federal Recognition

Kirstjen Nielsen Doesn’t Know How Many People Have Died in DHS Custody

When Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, asked Nielsen how many people have died under DHS’s custody, she said didn’t know. “Did I understand you correctly to say that, as you sit here today, you do not know how many human beings have died while in custody of the department that you lead, and in preparation for today’s hearing, you didn’t ascertain that number?” “I don’t have an exact figure for you,” she said. “I’m talking about people who have died in your custody. You don’t have the number?” “I will get back to you with the number,” she said.

Source: Kirstjen Nielsen Doesn’t Know How Many People Have Died in DHS Custody

Bloodstain Analysis Convinced a Jury She Stabbed Her… — ProPublica Bad science still at large in courtrooms

Americans who were wrongly convicted with the help of forensic disciplines allowed into courtrooms despite little to no proof of their reliability. Of the 362 people who have been exonerated based on DNA tests in the United States, faulty forensics contributed to almost half of the underlying convictions.

Source: Bloodstain Analysis Convinced a Jury She Stabbed Her… — ProPublica

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