This post contains loads of articles categorised under Politics, Law and Crime. These are handpicked articles over the course of years for CAT Aspirants. This is the second of 2 posts. Click on the following link to go to the previous post: LINK here.
Every Article will have blurb, either written by me or an extract from the original post (mostly the latter) followed by the link to reach the article.
Article 151
The rise and fall of the Soviet Empire II: Why russia’s “Twilight War” in Ukraine will be its last
Article 150
A raft of evidence shows that caste discrimination has been imported from India to the United States.
Article 149
Leaders try to fix every problem — like poverty and education — but end up getting nothing done
Article 148
Far from demanding accountability from Qatar, South Asian governments have often been mute spectators to the plight of workers and their families at home.
Article 147
Farmer suicide numbers have fallen not because of policies to ease their plight, but due to a ban on the kind of pesticides, they consumed to end their lives.
Article 146
On a remote island in Maine, a group of friends thought they witnessed one man killing another with an axe. But no one was ever arrested. In a small town far out at sea, justice sometimes works a little differently.
Article 145
A growing mortality gap between Republican and Democratic areas may largely stem from
Article 144
As the pandemic rages across the country, one team of fact-checkers contends with a post-truth dystopia.
Article 143
Newly revealed Vatican documents uncover a long-held secret: As war broke out, Pius XII used a Nazi prince to negotiate with Adolf Hitler.
Article 142
By enacting simple laws that make guns safer and harder to get, we can prevent killings like the ones in Uvalde and Buffalo
Article 141
The ‘disturbed areas’ and ‘illegal migrants’ of today’s India were yesterday’s ‘scheduled districts’ and ‘criminal tribes.’ The line between the past and present is straighter than you think.
Article 140
Leaked draft of Supreme Court ruling signals a seismic shift in American politics and law.
Article 139
Will ‘Russia’s Google’ turn into ‘Russia’s Tencent’?
Yandex, the country’s biggest tech company, could look at India for growth.
Article 138
“A Long Road to Nowhere: 10 Years of the Kim Jong Un Regime
In April, Kim Jong Un will mark the 10th anniversary of his complete succession to power. He doesn’t have much to celebrate.”
Article 137
ever Again
Warriors live by an honor code. What the Russian military is doing in Ukraine are barbaric war crimes committed by soulless savages. It is time to put an end to this.”
Article 136
“The Foreigner
An Assam Border Police official and ex-serviceman, Mohammed Sanaullah was the model Indian citizen. Then his employers decided he wasn’t.”
Article 135
“Smashed
How Prohibition came to Andhra Pradesh, and how it’s going.”
Article 134
“No One Has Addressed WHY Russia Invaded Ukraine (So I’ll Do It)
There are bigger reasons at play than an insane madman flexing p
Article 133
“High crimes and cabals
The official definition of corruption – the abuse of public office for private gain – does little to capture the reality”
Article 132
“The Economic cost of a Russia-Ukraine war”
Article 131
“Francis Fukuyama: Will We Ever Get Beyond The Nation-State?
In the face of planetary challenges, the nation-state is both the problem and the solution, says the Stanford scholar.”
Article 130
“Who would benefit from the Russia-Ukraine war?”
Article 129
“The 20th-Century History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
During WWII, Ukrainian nationalists saw the Nazis as liberators from Soviet oppression. Now, Russia is using that chapter to paint Ukraine as a Nazi nation”
Article 128
“Those born later
In 1985 West Germany’s president gave an unflinching speech. It helped a new generation to face the Nazi past honestly”
Article 127
“Doctor Who
He was a doctor on a tea estate in Assam. He studied at a prestigious college. Like thousands of other medical professionals in rural India, he was also not the person he claimed to be.”
Article 126
“Punjabi men abandoned by their NRI wives don’t have law or officials on their side. They lose their marriage, money, and Canada dreams.”
Article 125
“When children didn’t follow orders or learn quickly enough, their teacher would put them into a stress position they call “the motorcycle,” the children say. Aysu and Lütfullah demonstrate: two arms stretched out front, knees bent in a half-squat, which they held for several minutes.”
Article 124
“Gary Hersham has been selling houses to the very rich for decades. At first, £1m was a big deal. Now he sells for £50m, £100m, even £200m. What does it take to stay on top in this cut-throat business?”
Article 123
“Ajmer gangrape and blackmail case was a toxic mix of political patronage, religious reach, impunity, and small-town glamour. Thirty years on, closure still seems far.”
Article 122
“Amazon has amassed a vast amount of sensitive personal information on its customers. Internal documents reveal how a former aide to Joe Biden helped the tech giant build a lobbying juggernaut that has gutted legislation in two dozen states seeking to give consumers more control over their data.”
Article 121
Analysis: Racist labour exploitation continues in multicultural Canada.
Article 120
“How do you convince truckers to work when their pay isn’t guaranteed, even to the point where they lose money?”
Article 119
“Pavin Chachavalpongpun on the Strange Death of King Ananda Mahidol”
https://bit.ly/3HSNPyc
Article 118
“Anonymous users generate most toxic abuse and conspiracy theories online. The right to be anonymous should be curtailed”
Article 117
“Though small, this study is the only one of its kind in India that explores the barriers that women with disabilities encounter while accessing abortions and other sexual and reproductive healthcare services. While the study focuses largely on physical barriers, there are other overarching information and attitudinal barriers that prevent women from accessing these facilities.”
https://bit.ly/3Fhgmwl
Article 116
“Democracies are no longer as worried as they once were about offending a fragile Beijing.”
https://bit.ly/3c4kinl
Article 115
“India has big plans for new nuclear power plants. What does it plan to do with the old ones?”
https://bit.ly/3nx7cVk
Article 114
“India refused to take him. It had no reason to. Budlakoti was never an Indian citizen, nor did he have special grounds to become one. He had no connection to the country and barely spoke Hindi. He had lost his eligibility for Indian citizenship when his parents, deciding to make their home in Canada, opted against registering him with India. Budlakoti had become, in effect, stateless.”
https://bit.ly/3vsQHgx
Article 113
“The model is simple: gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring out as much cash as possible.”
https://bit.ly/3FWHZvS
Article 112
“After police failed to solve his son’s murder, Francisco Holgado infiltrated the local criminal underworld in pursuit of those responsible. He became a national hero – but at what cost?”
https://bit.ly/3BdJLW
Article 111
“By chasing sensational stories of missing white women, the media distorts the truth”
https://bit.ly/3kVOma
Article 110
“Megan Lundstrom understands more than most the conditions that force women into dangerous situations—she also has the key to help them escape”
https://bit.ly/2XOSz6p
Article 109
“Regan’s heart was racing, but he walked unhurriedly as he approached the turnstiles. He looked at the security guards who milled around at the front desk, chit-chatting among themselves as people streamed out of the building on their way home. Regan knew that the guards had the authority to stop anyone for a search. There was a chance, however slim, that one of them would want to look into his gym bag, rifle through the clothes and discover the classified documents concealed underneath.”
https://bit.ly/3AyaYTF
Article 108
“Rebecca Raffle came to Indianapolis from Los Angeles with dreams of building a cannabis empire. She introduced herself as a West Coast #girlboss, SEO ninja, LGBTQ Family, and avid baker. But she was altogether something different.”
https://bit.ly/3EqP86E
Article 107
“Fraud on the Farm: How a baby-faced CEO turned a Farmville clone into a massive Ponzi scheme
Farm Bank let players make money, while supporting real farms. Then the CEO vanished with $80 million.”
http://bit.ly/3z6Ue4e
Article 106
“How Big Tobacco Set the Stage for Fake News
A coordinated program of public deception that spanned four decades has become a template for modern disinformation”
http://bit.ly/3yMaAyV
Article 105
“The Spine Collector For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time?”
http://bit.ly/38lcX18
Article 104
“A year on from Beirut explosion, scars and questions remain
Lebanese capital remains a shell of a city as efforts to find who is to blame for tragedy have made little progress”
http://bit.ly/3yI5YLa
Article 103
“The man who stole a hotel: How Timothy Durkin took control of Sooke Harbour House
A fugitive from the US started fresh on Vancouver Island—then bilked new victims out of millions of dollars while law enforcement refused to act”
https://bit.ly/3AituP3
Article 102
“HOW THE U.S. TRIGGERED A MASSACRE IN MEXICO
The inside story of a cartel’s deadly assault on a Mexican town near the Texas border — and the U.S. drug operation that sparked it.”
http://bit.ly/3fBuUwt
Article 101
“The Inevitable Weaponization of App Data Is Here
A Substack publication used location data from Grindr to out a priest without their consent.”
https://bit.ly/3BFLAw3
Article 100
“THE TRUTH BEHIND THE AMAZON MYSTERY SEEDS
Why did so many Americans receive strange packages they didn’t think they’d ordered?”
http://bit.ly/36TqFHz
Article 99
”Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide
NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, licensed to governments around the globe, can infect phones without a click”
http://wapo.st/3rp9g35
Article 98
“THE MOST SENSELESS ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Fifty years ago 180,000 whales disappeared from the oceans without a trace, and researchers are still trying to make sense of why. Inside the most irrational environmental crime of the century.”
http://bit.ly/3hPoMSx
Article 97
“In Ponzi We TrustBorrowing from Peter to pay Paul is a scheme made famous by Charles Ponzi. Who was this crook whose name graces this scam?”
https://bit.ly/3r7Pw3G
Article 96
“An innocent man spent 46 years in prison. And made a plan to kill the man who framed him.
Richard Phillips survived the longest wrongful prison sentence in American history by writing poetry and painting with watercolors. But on a cold day in the prison yard, he carried a knife and thought about revenge.”
https://cnn.it/3r2z8BM
Article 95
“The Testimony
Hundreds of children from Bihar’s Gaya district had been trafficked to Jaipur’s bangle workshops. Then, a group of boys escaped against all odds.”
https://bit.ly/2Tfy6G8
Article 94
“He’d Waited Decades to Argue His Innocence.
She Was a Judge Who Believed in Second Chances.
Nobody knew She Suffered from Alzheimer’s.”
http://bit.ly/2T1WmLC
Article 93
“Collusion, machinations and alleged links with UPA minister: The dark world of ex-IL&FS chairman unmasked!
Parthasarathy stepped down in July 2018 on “health grounds” and IL&FS started defaulting in its loan repayment from August. Just next month in September, IL&FS investment-grade “AAA” rating was downgraded to D “Junk” grade by the rating agencies ICRA, CARE.”
http://bit.ly/35LBPxM
Article 92
“Last week’s deadly attack on a Bamako hotel was only the latest example of the government’s weakness, which has fostered a dangerous climate of sectarianism”
https://bit.ly/3zKWVK7
Article 91
“How the Elderly Lose Their Rights
Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it.
After a stranger became their guardian, Rudy and Rennie North were moved to a nursing home and their property was sold.”
Article 90
“The Sad End Of Jack Ma Inc.
“The purpose is to rein in Ma Yun,” said an adviser to China’s State Council, the country’s top government body, using Mr. Ma’s Chinese name. “It’s like putting a bridle on a horse.””
http://bit.ly/3woQric
Article 89
“The Grand Prix in Baku is Formula One’s Hypocrisy on Display”
http://bit.ly/3ghkLpr
Article 88
“The Tenant From Hell: How a serial fraudster took advantage of Toronto’s red-hot real estate market”
https://bit.ly/3w6qEey
Article 87
“China Targets Muslim Women in Push to Suppress Births in Xinjiang
In most of China, women are being urged to have more babies to shore up a falling birthrate. But in Xinjiang, they are being forced to have fewer.”
https://nyti.ms/3fMZDXV
Article 86
“Operation Car Wash: Is this the biggest corruption scandal in history?
What began as an investigation into money laundering quickly turned into something much greater, uncovering a vast and intricate web of political and corporate racketeering.”
http://bit.ly/3g1lx8q
Article 85
“Jackpot
How two lottery-crazed bank clerks cooked up China’s biggest bank robbery of all time”
https://bit.ly/2RLBdVd
Article 84
“Nationalism Kills
In India, Modi’s pandemic denial has deadly consequences”
https://bit.ly/3vgLwPT
Article 83
“My friends and I have agreed to call each other every day just to mark ourselves present, like roll call in our school classrooms. We speak to those we love in tears, and with trepidation, not knowing if we will ever see each other again. We write, we work, not knowing if we will live to finish what we started. Not knowing what horror and humiliation awaits us. The indignity of it all. That is what breaks us.”
https://bit.ly/2RgDQh9
Article 82
“The Roots of Route 66
America’s favorite highway usually evokes kitschy nostalgia. But for black Americans, the Mother Road’s lonely expanses were rife with danger.”
https://bit.ly/2PP7MRh
Article 81
“Memories of a Scandal-Ridden Theme Park
I worked at Marineland decades before stories of mistreatment broke. It seemed bad even then”
https://bit.ly/3fSQfSQ
Article 80
“India’s Dangerous Myanmar Policy
New Delhi’s appeasement of the Tatmadaw could trigger angry protests, and perhaps inflame anti-India insurgencies in the northeast.”
https://bit.ly/3uuz4Lv
Article 79
“Aches on a Plane
Long-Form: The story of a troubled FedEx flight engineer who boarded a flight unannounced and attempted to carry out a terrifying plan.”
http://bit.ly/3sBw4MX
Article 78
“It was an unusual coincidence, one that presented a difficult choice. Mossad agent Rafi Eitan described the missed opportunity to an interviewer from Der Spiegel almost fifty years later:
In the spring of 1960, as we were planning the arrest of Adolf Eichmann, we learned that [Josef] Mengele was also in Buenos Aires. Our people checked out the address and it proved to be correct.”
http://bit.ly/3rAmCbb
Article 77
“The Dark Side of America’s Gleaming Skyscrapers
Immigrant laborers have been dying tragic, sometimes grisly deaths on construction sites across the country. These deaths rarely make the news, but they tell the story of an industry indifferent to the lives of its workers.”
http://bit.ly/3eMw6NF
Article 76
“The Rise and Fall of Toronto’s Classiest Con Man
James Regan swindled his way through the city’s monied classes. The problem was, he seemed to believe his own lies”
http://bit.ly/3rBhAfc
Article 75
“The Untold History of America’s Zero-Day MarketThe lucrative business of dealing in code vulnerabilities is central to espionage and war planning, which is why brokers never spoke about it—until now.”
http://bit.ly/3e0WAdT
Article 74
“Brand India
How a country used myth and mystique to tempt global investors – and seeded a toxic Hindu nationalism in the process”
http://bit.ly/2ZGwsN2
Article 73
“Ayahuasca: a psychedelic murder story
Did ayahuasca tea — brewed from rainforest plants and revered by many Brazilians as holy — contribute to the brutal death of a celebrated Brazilian artist?”
http://on.ft.com/3pyZVmP
Article 72
“‘I Miss My Mom’: Children Of QAnon Believers Are Desperately Trying To Deradicalize Their Own Parents
Here’s what it’s like to lose the person who raised you to a far-right cult.”
http://bit.ly/3jUj29I
Article 71
“McKinsey Settles for $573 Million Over Role in Opioid Crisis
The consulting firm has reached the agreement with 47 states because of its advice to drugmakers, including Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin.”
http://nyti.ms/3cGT1sD
Article 70
Regulating journalism to death
HuffPost India was the first casualty of the Narendra Modi administration’s new restrictions on digital media ownership, but it won’t be the last.
https://zcu.io/sIsO
Article 69
“Killer, kleptocrat, genius, spy: the many myths of Vladimir Putin
Russia’s role in Trump’s election has led to a boom in Putinology. But do all these theories say more about us than Putin?”
http://bit.ly/3r7Efzt
Article 68
Our souls are dead’: how I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uighurs
After 10 years living in France, I returned to China to sign some papers and I was locked up. For the next two years, I was systematically dehumanised, humiliated and brainwashed”
http://bit.ly/3nUL452
Article 67
“MeWe Sold Itself on Privacy. Then the Radical Right Arrived.
‘Have you tried to moderate 15 million people?’ MeWe founder Mark Weinstein told OneZero”
http://bit.ly/3sr7I8U
Article 66
“Both GRE and TOEFLL offered a ‘home edition’ of the test. While ETS claimed that the exam will retain its quality and legitimacy, fraudsters have found their ways.”
http://bit.ly/2K8HWoC
Article 65
“Then the men crash into each other again. That is what the internet is like, wherever you are. It is loud; childish; desperately commercial; militaristic; incredibly rich but shockingly dysfunctional; and most of all, it is deeply annoying.”
http://bit.ly/35cla6o
Article 64
“Why The Gandhis Must Go Now
The headline read: “Sonia Gandhi not to celebrate her birthday in view of farmers’s protests, Covid-19″. The vanity and self-regard in this public pronouncement was staggering, if entirely characteristic. Do the Gandhis think they are akin to royalty, so that the cancellation of one of their birthday parties becomes a mark of identification with their suffering subjects?”
http://bit.ly/2WOIhzg
Article 63
“Secret Amazon Reports Expose the Company’s Surveillance of Labor and Environmental Groups”
http://bit.ly/34nmJhA
Article 62
“Catch my grift
Questioning the great awakening of far right pundits”
https://bit.ly/2Ifuazq
Article 61
“The Birth-Tissue Profiteers
How well-meaning donations end up fueling an unproven, virtually unregulated $2 billion stem cell industry.”
https://bit.ly/3pnpwAm
Article 60
“Here’s How Scientists Want Biden to Take on Climate Change
Ambitions include promoting electric vehicles and incorporating environmental justice”
https://bit.ly/3lHmGnv
Article 59
“‘It’s been so, so surreal.’ Critics of Sweden’s lax pandemic policies face fierce backlash”
https://bit.ly/3nuP9NL
Article 58
“How Donald Trump Lost The Election
It all finally caught up to him. The lies, the outrageous boasts, the disorder and disastrous management, the rants and the race-baiting, the predatory instincts and compulsion to dominate—all the things that made President Donald Trump the ringmaster of the American political circus at last compelled a majority of voters to drive him out of the tent.”
https://bit.ly/32uElaf
Article 57
“DATA IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF A FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT. OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS, THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS DESTROYED, DISAPPEARED OR DISTORTED VAST SWATHES OF THE INFORMATION THE STATE NEEDS TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE, SAFEGUARD OUR HEALTH AND ALERT US TO EMERGING CRISES.THIS IS AN ACCOUNTING OF THE DAMAGE”
https://bit.ly/2I0uJgv
Article 56
“Ramos kept saying he wanted to be like Uber—just flood the market with devices and figure out regulations later, Bruno said. Soon, Phantom would have a monopoly over one country in particular.”
https://bit.ly/35JTPrU
Article 55
“Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories
An investigation into decades of abuse at Shambhala International”
https://bit.ly/34D688K
Article 54
“Why Farmers Are Protesting Against Laws Which Will ‘Supposedly’ Help Them”
https://bit.ly/2F9fCzQ
Article 53
“How one man spent 34 years in prison after setting fire to a pair of curtains”
https://bit.ly/2GGYeCN
Article 52
“I’ve Been Fired. If You Value Academic Freedom, That Should Worry You”
https://bit.ly/3hTgFkD
Article 51
“The inferno and the mystery ship
On 4 August, a massive blast devastated the Beirut port area.
A huge store of ammonium nitrate in a warehouse is thought to have been the cause of the explosion.
Who knew about the dangerous cargo and who is to blame for the destruction it unleashed?”
https://bbc.in/34nqhRS
Article 50
“Death at Delta Sig: Heiress Wages a Million-Dollar War on Frats
A grieving mother fights for a new investigation into what happened to her son.”
https://bloom.bg/2Y9Xnki
Article 49
“How to Make Government Trustworthy Again
Why have some Asian countries controlled their outbreaks so well? It’s because authorities have earned their citizens’ confidence.”
https://bit.ly/2DQof1t
Article 48
“The Bizarre Bank Robbery That Shook an Arctic Town As one of the northernmost settlements on earth, the Norwegian hamlet of Longyearbyen has become a magnet for adventurous souls looking to start a new life. But when an unsettling crime happened, it brought home a harsh reality: in the modern world, trouble always finds you.”
https://bit.ly/2D9ATIT
Article 47
“The Past Decade and Future of Political Media: The Ascendance of Social Media”
https://bit.ly/3hY4G62
Article 46
“Why would someone steal the world’s rarest water lily?”
https://bit.ly/3gb0rDI
Article 45
“By rewriting history, Hindu nationalists aim to assert their dominance over India”
https://reut.rs/3iVAcD4
Article 44
“Better Off Deadbeat: Craig Cunningham Has a Simple Solution for Getting Bill Collectors Off His Back. He Sues Them.”
https://bit.ly/2Oe232Y
Article 43
“Vladimir Putin Is Ready For His Next Act
The Kremlin pulled all the levers to ensure a decisive vote. It won’t be as easy to dictate economic recovery or popular approval.”
https://bloom.bg/2CX1PuI
Article 42
“Tinder, Sailor, Hooker, Pimp: The U.S. Navy’s sex trafficking scandal in Bahrain”
https://bit.ly/38eEzDZ
Article 41
“Pepsi’s $32 Billion Typo Caused Deadly Riots
How they accidentally made a promise they couldn’t keep”
https://bit.ly/31sK015
Article 40
“The Secret, Absurd World of Coronavirus Mask Traders and Middlemen Trying To Get Rich Off Government Money
The federal government and states have fueled an unregulated, chaotic market for masks ruled by oddballs, ganjapreneurs and a shadowy network of investors.”
https://bit.ly/2Amruw3
Article 39
“The Trouble with Oxy
When the news hit that Occidental, the small liberal arts college in Eagle Rock, was the subject of two federal complaints over the way it handled sexual assault cases involving students, it set the campus reeling. Three years later the school has taken steps to improve, but it has yet to salve the bitter rancor between activists, administrators, and faculty”
https://bit.ly/37asoI5
Article 38
“Tom Justice was once a cyclist chasing Olympic gold. Then he began using his bike for a much different purpose: robbing banks.”
https://bit.ly/2XrmLlk
Article 37
“When I was fourteen, I had a relationship with my eighth grade history teacher. People called me a victim. They called him a villain. But it’s more complicated than that.”
https://bit.ly/2TlYjzx
Article 36
“On the Trail of a Silver Thief
After serving multiple jail sentences, the country’s most notorious cat burglar headed south, where police suspect he started making up for lost time”
https://bit.ly/2WNYm9k
Article 35
“The unbelievable tale of a fake hitman, a kill list, a darknet vigilante… and a murder.
Hitman-for-hire darknet sites are all scams. But some people turn up dead nonetheless”
https://bit.ly/35CplYn
Article 34
“Documents available to the public and reviewed by OneZero — including transcripts of courtroom testimony, sworn statements, and more than 1,000 pages of records produced from a federal hate crime prosecution — reveal that Patton actively participated in white supremacist groups in his youth and was involved in the shooting of a synagogue. In an interview with OneZero, one of the people involved in that shooting confirmed Patton’s participation. Patton has not previously acknowledged this chapter of his life in public.”
https://bit.ly/2YGTJ2q
Article 33
“Early Italian fascism broke from socialism only on the grounds of nationalism. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proposed giving women the vote, lowering the voting age to 18, introducing an eight-hour workday, worker participation in industrial management, heavy progressive capital tax and the partial confiscation of war profits. Of course, he also advocated extreme nationalism and Italian expansionism, but the pro-worker aspects of his programme are striking.”
https://bit.ly/3bBmVvi
Article 32
Click on the link, and then disconnect from the internet (airplane mode) to be able to read this fabulous article.
“Except for the colored rectangles superimposed on each student’s face. “ID: 000010, State 1: Focused,” read a line of text in a green rectangle around the face of a student looking directly at the blackboard. “ID: 000015, State 5: Distracted,” read the text in a red rectangle—this student had buried his head in his desk drawer. A blue rectangle hovered around a girl standing behind her desk. The text read: “ID: 00001, State 3: Answering Questions.”
Jason thought the photo was a scene from a sci-fi movie—until he noticed the blue school badges embroidered on the chest of the familiar white polos worn by the students. It was exactly the same as the one he was wearing.”
https://bit.ly/34UCwU4
Article 31
“Millions Are Hounded for Debt They Don’t Owe. One Victim Fought Back, With a Vengeance
Andrew Therrien wanted payback. He got it—and uncovered a conspiracy.”
https://bloom.bg/2RK54KF
Article 30
“Although no one tracks big cat ownership in the U.S., it’s estimated that there are likely more pet tigers in America than there are left in the wild. What’s more, depending on the species of cat, federal oversight is either limited or nonexistent. In some states, it’s easier to buy a lion — a 400-pound predatory killer — than it is to get a dog.”
https://bit.ly/3clKJmR
Article 29
“The once formidable British state is being rapidly reinvented, and on a scale not seen before. Acting with emergency powers authorised by parliament, the government has tossed economic orthodoxy to the winds. Savaged by years of imbecilic austerity, the NHS – like the armed forces, police, prisons, fire service, care workers and cleaners – has its back to the wall. But with the noble dedication of its workers, the virus will be held at bay. Our political system will survive intact. Not many countries will be so fortunate. Governments everywhere are struggling through the narrow passage between suppressing the virus and crashing the economy. Many will stumble and fall.”
https://bit.ly/2Vo6XxB
Article 28
“So, what does this mean for me? It isn’t clear yet how the social credit system will play out for foreigners in China. My sesame-credit score is a paltry 570 and China Rapid Finance hasn’t made its social scores available to view yet. There is, however, already a feature on WeChat that has been rolled out in Hebei province. It shows you the deadbeats in your vicinity—a literal map, dotted with clickable icons of anyone within 500 meters of you who has failed to pay back a loan recently.13 It also shows their national ID numbers and explains why they’re being named and shamed.”
http://bit.ly/39Egp5Y
Article 27
“Two decades earlier, in 1996, Montwheeler had been charged with kidnapping a previous wife and their son at gunpoint. He was found “guilty except for insanity,” which meant he avoided incarceration but would remain under state jurisdiction for the maximum possible sentence. In his case, that was 70 years. “Here we are 20 years later,” says Les Zaitz, the publisher of The Malheur Enterprise, which has covered Montwheeler’s story extensively. “Very quickly the question becomes, ‘What’s this guy doing loose in Malheur County?’ “
http://bit.ly/38J3Ftt
Article 26
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been permitted to run facial-recognition searches on millions of Maryland driver’s license photos without first seeking state or court approval, state officials said — access that goes far beyond what other states allow and that alarms immigration activists in a state that grants special driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.”
https://wapo.st/3ceExxJ
Article 25
“It’s an intentionally dramatic claim, directed not only to Israeli voters but also to the U.S., Europe and even some Arab states that were once enemies. And it is an argument that has animated his entire political career. By advancing Israel’s military prowess, Netanyahu believes, a country about the size of New Jersey with a population roughly the size of New York City has secured a unique place in history. A strong and innovative military, he argues, combined with an embrace of capitalism, has translated into globe-spanning success in technology, business and diplomacy. It’s a major achievement, in Netanyahu’s telling, worth the considerable costs. “I don’t look at my survival,” he tells TIME. “I look at the survival of the country, its durability, its future.””
http://bit.ly/2PjdhUW
Article 24
“As the world has been repeatedly told, India has more than 400 news channels that broadcast news 24X7, far more than any other country on earth. But what is remarkable here is not so much the giant medium, but the invisible, yet incredibly effective, work that has gone into creating an audience that is primed for the message before it even arrives. The stunning swiftness and reach of the new social media are often credited with — or blamed for — the spread of bigotry. This is unfair, for most of that credit belongs to those who tutored the addressees to receive the message without the slightest trace of scepticism. This is no mean achievement in a country where, until yesterday, people prided themselves on their scepticism and wore their cynicism on their sleeves. The same suspicious lot are now eager consumers of the most crudely concocted fake news and alternative facts.”
http://bit.ly/2SMQtPF
Article 23
Brilliant encounter of defectors from the hacking arsenal of North Korea.
“At first Jong didn’t have a computer, so he borrowed one from his roommates, promising to pay a rental fee once he’d made enough money to buy his own machine. He began his new career by obtaining beta versions of commercial software such as video games and security programs, then making pirate replicas his clients could sell online. Orders came in via word of mouth and broker websites from around the world; many were from China or South Korea, allowing for easier communication.”
https://bloom.bg/320ITni
Article 22
““It was the intelligence coup of the century,” the CIA report concludes. “Foreign governments were paying good money to the U.S. and West Germany for the privilege of having their most secret communications read by at least two (and possibly as many as five or six) foreign countries.””
https://wapo.st/2HopEuw
Article 21
“THE ROCK THAT FELL TO EARTH
How a meteorite hunter’s obsession took him from the mountains of Colorado, to the Bundy Ranch, and eventually landed him in jail”
http://bit.ly/3bhvM5o
Article 20
“Microsoft had shifted at least $39 billion in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico, where the company’s tax consultants, KPMG, had persuaded the territory’s government to give Microsoft a tax rate of nearly 0%. Microsoft had justified this transfer with a ludicrous-sounding deal: It had sold its most valuable possession — its intellectual property — to an 85-person factory it owned in a small Puerto Rican city.”
http://bit.ly/2v36Iyq
Article 19
“After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine had no significant domestic energy production and desperately needed gas for winter heating. Russia was (and still is) a major natural gas producer. Firtash built a niche for himself by serving as an intermediary between state-owned Russian gas giant Gazprom and the Ukraine market. From this perch, he emerged as a classic post-Soviet oligarch.”
http://bit.ly/2uQQ452
Article 18
“For some of these teens, Parkland was not an isolated incident. When Wilson was in sixth grade, a friend of hers was shot and killed; she said she remembered watching the news reports and seeing how “a person’s life can kind of be washed away.” Hope Kahn, who is 18, told me she oversaw a spread in her high school paper dedicated to a teacher who was murdered at the beginning of Kahn’s junior year.”
http://bit.ly/2QzrGMr
Article 17
“The Mongolian government granted Trump Jr. a coveted and rare permit to slay the animal retroactively on Sept. 2, after he’d left the region following his trip. It’s unusual for permits to be issued after a hunter’s stay. It was one of only three permits to be issued in that hunting region, local records show.”
http://bit.ly/35fpy2y
Article 16
“The Wenzhou crash killed forty people and injured a hundred and ninety-two. For reasons both practical and symbolic, the government was desperate to get trains running again, and within twenty-four hours it declared the line back in business. The Department of Propaganda ordered editors to give the crash as little attention as possible. “Do not question, do not elaborate,” it warned, on an internal notice. When newspapers came out the next morning, China’s first high-speed train wreck was not on the front page.”
http://bit.ly/2pr2JcI
Article 15
Wonderful Longform on Gaile Owens and her getting on to the death row. http://bit.ly/2QiRmP6
Article 14
Picks up from where the previous article ended. Also has a short synopsis for those who missed the previous article.
http://bit.ly/2Ohzotk
Article 13
“How did it happen? How did a freedom-loving people decide to give up a private right that had been freely exercised by millions since the first European colonists arrived in the New World? How did they condemn to extinction what was, at the very moment of its death, the fifth-largest industry in the nation? How did they append to their most sacred document 112 words that knew only one precedent in American history? With that single previous exception, the original Constitution and its first 17 amendments concerned the activities of government, not of citizens. Now there were two exceptions: you couldn’t own slaves, and you couldn’t buy alcohol.”
http://bit.ly/2riftCP
Article 12
“Three hours later, the mood has changed. The gas masks go on one at a time, protester by protester, around each head and over each mouth, tightened until secure. Some of the assembled put on goggles, to help protect against tear gas, and a few fasten helmets, helpful when police batons swing and rubber bullets fly. After what began as a peaceful protest, the demonstrators are now preparing for the inevitable moment when the peace will end.”
http://bit.ly/2qWWCgt
Article 11
“In the fall of 2001, a nation reeling from the horror of 9/11 was rocked by a series of deadly anthrax attacks. As the pressure to find a culprit mounted, the FBI, abetted by the media, found one. The wrong one. This is the story of how federal authorities blew the biggest anti-terror investigation of the past decade—and nearly destroyed an innocent man. Here, for the first time, the falsely accused, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, speaks out about his ordeal.”
http://bit.ly/2oX2eXu
Article 10
“He pressed a thick index finger against Fulton’s temple, hard, then leaned in close to Fulton’s ear and murmured a series of threats: The IRA hunts down all snitches and executes them. Two quick bullets in the brain. Remember the boy from County Armagh who left behind the pregnant wife. Remember the boy from County Louth who left seven children mewling for a father. Remember them all.”
http://bit.ly/2BkSbhr
Article 9
“This mentality now spans the entire political spectrum and pervades societies around the world. A recent survey found that the majority of people globally believe their society is broken and their economy is rigged. Both the left and the right feel misrepresented and misunderstood by political institutions and the media, but the anger is shared by many in the liberal centre, who believe that populists have gamed the system to harvest more attention than they deserve. Outrage with “mainstream” institutions has become a mass sentiment.”
http://bit.ly/2IAfF6k
Article 8
“On the Thursday morning, when Ursula had been missing for more than 36 hours, the phone rang in the Herrmann house. When Ursula’s parents picked up there was silence, and then a short, familiar jingle, which they recognised from the traffic bulletin on the Bayern 3 radio station. More silence ensued, and then the jingle played again before the caller hung up. Three more similar calls – baffling and sinister – followed over a period of hours. A team from the local police department, now stationed inside the Herrmann home, began recording the calls.”
http://bit.ly/2oQj4qB
Article 7
“Glass shattered high above Seventh Avenue in Manhattan before dawn on a cold November morning in 1953. Seconds later, a body hit the sidewalk. Jimmy, the doorman at the Statler hotel, was momentarily stunned. Then he turned and ran into the hotel lobby. “We got a jumper!” he shouted. “We got a jumper!”The night manager peered up through the darkness at his hulking hotel. After a few moments, he picked out a curtain flapping through an open window.”
http://bit.ly/2nqRS0O
Article 6
“He culls them from a larger pool, testing and probing until he finds the most vulnerable. Clay, for example, first put himself in a place with easy access to children—an elementary school. Then he worked his way through his class. He began by simply asking boys if they wanted to stay after school. “Those who could not do so without parental permission were screened out,” van Dam writes. Children with vigilant parents are too risky.”
http://bit.ly/2kgT3ib
Article 5
“The raids are part of the ongoing Operation Synthetic Drugs, a highly coordinated and choreographed sweep through central Ohio. The target of this operation — which has received assistance from the DEA and the FBI — is a strand of a relatively obscure but insidiously metastasizing illegal substance marketed under the name “bath salts,” a deceptively innocuous moniker used to disguise the drug as a benign household product.”
http://bit.ly/2kK6GXw
Article 4
“After the 2016 election, much was written about the Trump campaign’s use of new Facebook tools to “microtarget” voters, sophisticated data analytics and rapid-fire testing of thousands of campaign ad permutations. Parscale was hailed as an innovative “genius,” an impression he encouraged. “I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win,” he told Lesley Stahl, of “60 Minutes,” in 2017. “Twitter is how he talked to the people. Facebook was going to be how he won.””
http://bit.ly/2kiZIIS
Article 3
“With that style, Hong Kong police became known for managing large demonstrations, such as rallies to decry the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 and a 2003 march to oppose a bill defining treason and sedition. The territory’s policing was so respected that Hong Kong officers trained British forces in crowd control.”
http://bit.ly/310fVmt
Article 2
“By most estimates, though, Sinaloa has achieved a market share of at least 40 percent and perhaps as much as 60 percent, which means that Chapo Guzmán’s organization would appear to enjoy annual revenues of some $3 billion — comparable in terms of earnings to Netflix or, for that matter, to Facebook.”
https://nyti.ms/2zCAdWL
Article 1
“At the time, I had been reporting for years on Koch Industries, one of the largest and most confusingly complex private companies in the world. Its annual revenue is larger than that of Facebook, Goldman Sachs and U.S. Steel combined, and it makes everything from gasoline to nitrogen fertilizer to nylon, paper towels and windows. For all this complexity, one business inside Koch Industries remains more important than the rest — processing and selling fossil fuels.”
https://nyti.ms/2Pd7GSz
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