In February 2021, a black wolf wandered across the border of Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Called 1155, he wore a radio collar that park biologists fit him with three years before. When he left the safety of the park, 1155 was what biologists call a “dispersed male,” leaving his …
Read More »The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin Propagandist
How does a 61-year-old former pot dealer named “Texas” end up filming videos in front of Z-marked tanks on the Russian side of the frontline in Donbas? Russell “Texas” Bentley has gone viral this week with a YouTube video in which he wears a black leather jacket and a revolutionary’s …
Read More »China's Propaganda Machine Gears Up for Putin — and Blames America for the Invasion
For most of February, a Twitter user named @SpicyPandaAcc churned out one uplifting tweet after another about the 2022 Winter Olympics and their host city Beijing. The Spicy Panda account celebrated Chinese aerial skier Xu Mengtao, a gold medalist and a “role model” who “tells us love and persistence will …
Read More »He's a Texas County's Top Law Enforcement Official. What's His Name Doing on an Oath Keeper Roster?
Sheriff Jeff Lyde, of Clay County Texas, prefers a thin-blue-line gaiter instead of a covid mask. And he shares right-wing memes on Facebook that express contempt for the federal government. In October he posted, “LET’S GO BRANDON!” — the right’s G-rated code for “fuck Joe Biden.” He posted meme in …
Read More »Meghan McCain: People Think I'm 'Spoiled, Entitled Queen of Nepotism'
Meghan McCain is no stranger to controversy, tough questions, and being put on the spot. And so while we’ve been best friends for years, I’ve rarely come to her defense publicly because, frankly, she doesn’t need me to. But in advance of the release of her new Audible memoir, Bad …
Read More »Miami's Climate Dystopia Gets Real
Before it fell, Champlain Towers South, the 12-story Florida condo building that collapsed last week in the middle of the night, burying residents in a pile of concrete and chaos, was just another nondescript high-rise on the beach. It had been thrown up quickly during the go-go years of the …
Read More »The Democrats Have Power. How Can They Keep It?
The following two statements stand in complete opposition to each other, and yet they are both true: The Democratic Party is dominant. The Democratic Party is screwed. Consider these facts. In 2020, Joe Biden received more votes than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history. He rebuilt the “blue wall” …
Read More »'We Merely Need to Dampen Turnout': Leaked Docs Show Top Trump Allies' 2016 Plan to Suppress Black Voters
WASHINGTON — The disinformation operation was christened “Project Clintonson.” It brought together two notorious figures in Republican political circles, Blackwater founder Erik Prince and Trump adviser Roger Stone. Their objective couldn’t have been more explicit. “We do not need to make major gains among African American voters,” said a 13-page …
Read More »How Do We Fix American Democracy?
In the heady days after the 2016 election, a pair of political scientists, Valerie Bunce and Mark Beissinger, posed an unsettling question: “How might American democracy end?” Until Donald Trump’s ascent to the White House, such a question felt, well, academic. The United States was the longest-running democracy on Earth; …
Read More »A Conversation With Climate Scientist Kate Marvel
This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Before she fell in love with climate science, Kate Marvel dreamed of being a movie star. She was tall and blond and good with words and liked the idea of life on …
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