An early winter “lake effect” storm dumped heavy snows on parts of western New York state on Friday, with at least two deaths reported, travel disrupted and icy powder expected to pile higher through the weekend.

The squalls blowing in from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario had dumped 3 to 5 feet (1-1.5 meters) or more of snow. Authorities said the deaths appeared to be from heart attacks due to overexertion while clearing snow in hard-hit Erie County.

As temperatures plunged, the region’s first major snowstorm of the season materialized on Thursday and intensified overnight into Friday, well before the start of winter on Dec. 21.

Lake-effect squalls unleashed sporadic bursts of heavy precipitation throughout the day, burying some areas in several feet of snow, and were expected to persist through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

By Friday evening, the weather service reported 5 1/2 feet (1.7 meters) of snow measured in the Erie County village of Orchard Park, 15 miles (25 km) south of Buffalo and more directly in the downwind of path of frozen moisture blasting inland off Lake Erie.

Accumulations of 3 to 4 feet and more were recorded at several adjacent locales by late afternoon, while Buffalo, the state’s second-most populous city with some 278,000 residents, awoke to nearly 14 inches (36 cm) Friday morning.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz reported a partial building collapse from the weight of fallen snow in the town of Hamburg, but no further details were immediately available.

As the storm gained momentum, the weather service cited multiple instances in which snow squalls were accompanied by claps of thunder and flashes of lightning, a phenomenon called “thunder snow.”

High winds and snow-draped tree limbs and power lines knocked out electricity to thousands of customers, while the storm also forced traffic closures along the New York Thruway and several other major highways.

All but five of nearly 80 flights scheduled to depart from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Friday were canceled, said the facility’s aviation director Lee Weitz.

Even so, many western New Yorkers, accustomed to bouts of severe winter weather seemed unfazed.

A Twitter user going by the name of @BuffaloSnowKing posted a video of himself standing outside late on Thursday evening as snow blanketed his yard. “How can you not enjoy this weather?!” he tweeted.

As of early Friday, road-travel bans that had kept motorists off the streets overnight remained in effect for much of the central part of Erie County. Mandatory restrictions were lifted, at least temporarily, in lieu of travel advisories in northern and southern parts of the county, including Buffalo.

With snow coming down at the rate of 1 to 3 inches an hour, plow crews struggled to keep roads clear, and the strain of snow removal proved too much for some.

“Unfortunately, we must report the passing of two Erie County residents associated with cardiac events related to exertion during shoveling/snow blowing,” Poloncarz tweeted.

Snowfalls of such proportions are not uncommon for western New York in November, when the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes can mix with frigid air in the upper atmosphere dropping down from the Arctic, according to the weather service.

Illustrating the highly localized nature of lake-effect snow, accumulation levels varied widely across the region. Still, 11 counties remained under an emergency declaration issued on Thursday by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Erie County closed its offices on Friday, though essential staffers were to report to work. The Buffalo Public Schools district, the state’s second-largest serving 32,000 students, canceled all classes and closed offices on Friday.

The prospect of up to 4-1/2 feet of powder on the ground by the close of the weekend prompted the National Football League to move the Buffalo Bills’ Sunday home game against the Cleveland Browns to Detroit.

The storm developed as temperatures for the region, and much of the rest of the northern United States, plunged 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (5-10 degrees Celsius) below average for this time of year, said Rich Otto, a Storm Prediction Center meteorologist in College Park, Maryland.

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Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum wrap up talks on Saturday, as host Thailand seeks to focus the 21-member grouping on how to respond to economic challenges such as opening up trade and slamming the brakes on inflation.

The summit is the third in the region attended by global leaders in the past week, and the talks have often been overshadowed by geopolitical tensions ranging from the war in Ukraine to flashpoints such as the Taiwan strait and the Korean peninsula.

A Southeast Asian summit that included China, Japan and the United States was held in Cambodia, while the Group of 20 (G20) major economies met on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The APEC meeting was interrupted on Friday when Vice President Kamala Harris, who is heading the U.S. delegation, called an emergency gathering of allies on the sidelines to condemn North Korea after it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

At the start of a leaders’ retreat on Saturday, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to bring back the focus on economic issues and said the group had made “significant progress” by agreeing a multi-year work plan for a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

He did not elaborate, but advancing FTAAP, which aims to build on existing trade frameworks in the region and has been pushed by China, has been a priority for Thailand at the talks.

“An important contribution from APEC to support the multilateral trading system is the advancement of the FTAAP agenda,” said Prayuth.

In a joint statement on Friday, APEC ministers pledged to keep supply chains and markets open, noting some members had condemned the war in Ukraine.

“There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions,” the statement read, adding that APEC was not the forum to resolve security issues.

The statement’s reference to the Ukraine war echoed one issued at the G20 a few days earlier in Bali, Indonesia.

Russia is a member of both G20 and APEC but President Vladimir Putin has stayed away from the summits. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov is representing him at APEC.

North Korea carried out the missile test just an hour before the APEC forum opening and Harris met to discuss it with leaders from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada and New Zealand.

“This conduct by North Korea most recently is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Harris said.

Friday’s launch came after U.S. President Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday in Bali and said Beijing has an obligation to try to talk North Korea out of resuming nuclear testing, while adding that it was unclear whether China would be able to sway Pyongyang.

Harris briefly met Xi on Saturday, a White House official said, adding that she had emphasised the importance to “maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries.”

Ties between the superpowers have been strained in recent years over issues like tariffs, Taiwan, intellectual property, the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and disputes over the South China Sea.

Set up to promote economic integration, APEC’s 21 members account for 38% of the global population, and 62% of gross domestic product and 48% of trade.

Prayuth on Friday urged summit participants to seek sustainable growth and development after economic and social challenges from COVID, climate change and geopolitical rivalries.

Campaigners are keen to see leaders address issues such as food insecurity, surging inflation, climate change and human rights.

A reminder of grassroots demands came as Thai pro-democracy protesters clashed with police on Friday who responded by firing rubber bullets about 10 km (6 miles) from the central Bangkok summit venue.

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There are many politicians with issues. But perhaps there are none with the unmitigated gall of Mike Pence. Let’s look back at the life and times of Mike Pence, shall we? Known for four years as Trump’s Vice President, Pence did not actually DO much while in his position as VP except faithfully echo back whatever the then insane President wanted him to say.

Abandoning his morals quickly and easily, Pence mostly stood around behind the scenes. Whenever his royal assolini had a speech, Pence could be seen nodding solemnly behind him.

That was the extent of it. Then on January 6, Pence was widely praised for — doing his job. Since then, Pence has used the January 6 insurrection as a toy — quickly discarding it when it suited him and playing it up when he needed to.

Those are not the actions of a brave man. They’re the actions of a coward. Recently Pence told CBS News that he would not be testifying to the January 6 committee. His reasoning? “Congress has no right to my testimony.”

Of course, the public at large can undoubtedly hear all about it. This is because our former VP inked a book deal where he happily recounts much of that day. So apparently, in the mind of Pence, book deals over almost getting hanged are just fine but sitting down before a committee investigating the hanging is not.

Pence was also happy to talk about the politicization of the January 6 committee. This is the committee that is trying to stop this from ever happening again. This committee wants to see punishment for the people who tried to hang him.

Mike Pence was booed at, hunted like an animal, gallows were built to hang him on national television, his family was put in mortal danger and police were beaten, and some died.

And yet here we have Pence, sitting snugly in his cozy chair, wearing his faux concern, brow carefully wrinkled, trying to look earnest and philosophical like he cares. The truth is Mike Pence is a failure. He should be ashamed of himself though one suspects shame and Pence have not met.

Mike Pence is the walking poster child for cowardice. He is calculating, like a hunter, carefully watching to see what action or statement will make him look the best. I think Pence has miscalculated badly. His apparent attempts to weaponize January 6 as his own personal payday will be remembered and not in any food way.

The post The unmitigated gall of Mike Pence appeared first on Palmer Report.

Elon Musk started a Twitter poll late on Friday asking followers to vote on whether to reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account on the platform, with early results showing roughly 60% voting yes.

“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, a Latin phrase that roughly means meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” The poll was open for 24 hours.

Musk, Twitter’s new owner, said in May he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Trump, whose account was suspended after last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Musk said earlier in the day that a decision to bring back Trump’s account was yet to be made, and that Twitter had reinstated some controversial accounts that had been banned or suspended, including satirical website Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin.

Musk’s decision to ask Twitter users for guidance on who should be on the platform is part of a huge restructuring of the company, including massive layoffs.

In a memo on Friday to remaining employees that was seen by Reuters, Musk asked those who write software code to report to the 10th floor of the Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco by early afternoon.

The billionaire said in a follow-up email: “If possible, I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding he would be at the office until midnight and would return Saturday morning.

He asked employees to email him a summary of what their software code has “achieved” in the past six months, “along with up to 10 screenshots of the most salient lines of code.”

“There will be short, technical interviews that allow me to better understand the Twitter tech stack,” Musk wrote in one of the emails, and asked engineers to report at 2 p.m. on Friday.

The emails came a day after hundreds of Twitter employees were estimated to have decided to leave the beleaguered social media company following a Thursday deadline from Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity.”

The exodus adds to the change and chaos that have marked Musk’s first three weeks as Twitter’s owner. He has fired top management including former CEO Parag Agarwal and senior officials in charge of security and privacy, drawing scrutiny from a regulator.

A White House official also weighed in, saying Twitter should tell Americans how the company was protecting their data.

Tech website Platformer reported on Friday that Robin Wheeler, the company’s top ad sales executive, had been fired.

Wheeler, who told employees in a memo last week that she was staying, tweeted on Friday: “To the team and my clients…you were always my first and only priority”, with a salute emoji that has been adopted as a send off for departing employees.

Twitter told employees on Thursday that it would close its offices and cut badge access until Monday, according to two sources. Reuters could not immediately confirm whether the headquarters reopened.

On Friday afternoon, the company had started cutting off access to company systems for some of the employees who had declined to accept Musk’s offer, three people told Reuters.

Another source said the company was planning to shut down one of Twitter’s three main U.S. data centers, at the SMF1 facility near Sacramento, to save costs.

In his first email to Twitter employees this month, Musk warned that Twitter may not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn.” He also said, “We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed, unless you have a specific exception.”

Amid the changes, Moody’s withdrew its B1 credit rating for Twitter, saying it had insufficient information to maintain the rating.

(NewsNation) — Four University of Idaho students who were found dead Sunday inside a home all died from stab wounds and were likely asleep at the time, according to preliminary findings by a county coroner.

The investigation into who committed the vicious crime was ongoing Friday as the suspect, or suspects, remained at large and unidentified. Police have begun to lay out a timeline of what happened in the hours leading up to the killings, though much remains unknown.

New video has surfaced showing two of the victims, identified as Madison Mogen, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, ordering at a late-night food truck in Moscow, Idaho.

As an investigation into this incident is ongoing, the food truck’s live Twitch stream showed the pair ordered and waited about 10 minutes for their food at about 1:40 a.m. Police said the video has helped with the case and are working to identify one of the individuals seen in the video.

According to a press release on Friday, detectives do not believe that that the two surviving roommates or the male seen in the food truck surveillance video were involved in the crime.

The victims, including Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, all close friends, were found dead in an off-campus rental home around noon Sunday. Officials said they likely were killed several hours earlier.

According to a report from The Hill, police said Chapin and Kerndole were at a party on campus before the attack, while Mogen and Goncalves were at a downtown bar.

All four students eventually returned home, where the attack occurred.

Sometime between 1:45 a.m. and the call to police around noon Sunday, police say the four college students were violently attacked, while two other female roommates were left unharmed.

The identity of the 911 caller has not been released.

“The four were stabbed with a knife but no weapon has been found,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said in a news conference Wednesday.

While looking for possible evidence, authorities seized the contents of three dumpsters on King Road. Police appear to be looking for a Rambo-style knife. 

The Idaho Statesman reported police were at a local hardware store looking for a Ka-Bar brand knife, a brand that particular store reportedly didn’t sell. 

Cathy Mabbutt, the Latah County coroner, ruled all four deaths a homicide and said the students died from stabbings. Autopsies were completed by a medical examiner in Spokane, Washington, and authorities have released the victims’ bodies to families, who will now start the process of laying their loved ones to rest.

Providing more information about the deaths Thursday on “Banfield,” Mabbutt said the bodies of the four students were found in beds and each had multiple stab wounds. Fatal stabs were delivered to the upper torso or chest area, Mabbutt said.

“It seems likely that maybe they were sleeping,” Mabbutt said.

 Mabbutt also told NewsNation that each victim suffered multiple stab wounds from a “pretty large knife.”

“It has to be somebody pretty angry in order to stab four people to death,” Mabbutt told NewsNation. The victims were stabbed in the chest and upper body, the coroner said.

Mabbutt went on to describe the early Sunday attacks as “personal,” according to Idaho News, which cited a CBS report.

Evidence collected at the scene has been sent for DNA testing. Mabbutt said evidence was collected on multiple floors of the house, but she was not authorized to disclose whether the bodies themselves were found on multiple floors.

There have been reports from neighbors saying they heard a party happening at the home, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Since the discovery of the bloody crime scene, the community of 26,000 has been on high alert. Moscow hasn’t had a murder since 2015, and now some university students packed up and left early for Thanksgiving break.

The father of Chapin issued a statement imploring police to release more information. 

Fry said that residents should be cautious and warned there could be an ongoing threat to the residents of the city.

“We still believe it is a targeted attack,” Fry said. “But the reality is there is a person out there who committed four horrible horrible crimes so we’ve got to go back to that there is a threat out there, we don’t think … to anyone else, but we all have to be aware of our surroundings and look out for one another.”

On social media, Goncalves’ sister implored students to leave the area.

“If you have friends, family, or loved ones in Moscow, our family encourages you to get them home,” she posted in part. “Police say ‘isolated, targeted attack’ but it is isolated until it isn’t.”

“No one is in custody, therefore no one is safe,” the younger sister added.

The University of Idaho has offered counseling services to students and has increased patrols, which President Scott Green said would continue through the weekend.

“We continue to push for justice,” Green said in an email Thursday to students and staff. “We need to remain flexible this week and grant our students and colleagues room to process these unprecedented events in their own ways. Students, you are encouraged to do what is right for you. Whether this is going home early or staying in class, you have our support.”

Detectives have received nearly 500 tips which are being processed, investigated and cleared. Thirty eight interviews have been conducted as well, according to Friday’s press release.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Leaders and heads of governments from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are in the Thai capital Bangkok for a two-day meeting that concludes on Saturday.

As host, Thailand hopes to make progress on discussion of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), but talks come amid geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine and regional flashpoints such as Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.

What is APEC?

APEC is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to promote economic integration. As a grouping, it makes up 38% of the global population, 62% of GDP and 48% of trade.

APEC’s 21 members are:

Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Here is a look at who is attending:

Harris is standing in for President Joe Biden. The United States will be the APEC host in 2023. After the meeting in Bangkok, Harris will travel to the Philippines. Her visit to the Philippines will be at the edge of the disputed South China Sea, a move that Beijing may see as a provocation.

Xi met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Bangkok on Thursday for talks. Kishida said he conveyed concerns over regional security to Xi amid growing tensions in Asia over China’s maritime ambitions. Xi was quoted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV as telling Kishida that China and Japan should deepen trust, areas of cooperation and regional integration, and resist “conflict and confrontation”.

Belousov will represent President Valadmir Putin at APEC. At an earlier APEC meeting in Bangkok this year, representatives from the United States and other countries walked out of a meeting in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov was delivering remarks.

THAILAND PRIME MINISTER PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA
As meetings kicked off, Thailand urged APEC members to “rise above differences” after geopolitical tensions dominated summits in Bali and Phnom Penh over the war in Ukraine. Prayuth said he wanted the talks to discuss how leaders can help transition to sustainable economic growth and development.

China’s leader appeared to confront Trudeau at the G20 summit in Bali on Wednesday after accusing him of leaking details from a closed-door meeting, a rare public display of annoyance by Xi. China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said Xi was not criticising Trudeau over the alleged leaks.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is expected to hold meetings with New Zealand and Peru, and also seek support for South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo, according to Yonhap.

Malaysia is represented by its government secretary, with the country holding general elections on Nov. 19.

Marape will hold meetings with U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken.

The ambassador will represent President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

President Marcos will host U.S. Vice President Harris in Manila next week, with tensions over Taiwan on the agenda.

SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG

VIETNAM PRESIDENT NGUYEN XUAN PHUC

CHILE PRESIDENT GABRIEL BORIC FONT

INDONESIAN PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN

PERU VICE PRESIDENT DINA BOLUARTE

BRUNEI SULTAN HASSANAL BOLKIAH

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE

HONG KONG: CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOHN LEE KA-CHIU

TAIWAN: TSMC FOUNDER MORRIS CHANG

This year, host Thailand has also invited France and Saudi Arabia.

SAUDI ARABIA CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler’s visit comes as the relationship between Thailand and Saudi Arabia starts to normalise this year. For nearly three decades diplomatic ties had been frozen over “the Blue Diamond Affair”, as the theft of $20 million in jewellery by a Thai janitor is known.

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Four years and seven days ago (with apologies to Abraham Lincoln) I wrote, “A woman can serve in Congress and remain popular so long as she is not perceived as smart, powerful and effective.” That was a line from an article I penned back then called “Get the hell off Nancy Pelosi’s back,” (Palmer Report, 11 November 2018.) Democrats had just retaken the House and Pelosi was once again to be handed the Speaker’s gavel in January. I stand by that line today.

Back then Ms. Pelosi undertook the position of Speaker of the House by declaring that impeaching Donald Trump was not on the table. She understood better than anyone why serving the American people — and not political vengeance — was her job first and last. She was roundly criticised by many in her own party for holding that opinion. If nobody else remembers it, I do. And the criticism was virulent.

Grumbling against Pelosi’s leadership has fallen off considerably since then, not because she started jumping to her critics’ tune but because they came to see, some slowly and some quickly, that she was right. And a good thing too. Trump, as he inevitably would, was hoist on his own petard.

Now Republicans are about to show us what politics looks like when the chickenshits are in charge. Nothing says “fighting inflation” quite like forming numerous committees to do everything from investigating Hunter Biden to impeaching the President of the United States for absolutely nothing. Despite the lessons of the 2022 midterm Pink Puddle, that is what the Republican Party will consume itself with for the next two years. It’s what the House of Representatives looks like when it’s run by a bunch of tantrum-throwing babies.

What’s more, there’s a new sheriff in town and his name is not Kevin McCarthy. Get ready for a MAGA-controlled House under the psychotic “leadership” of Marjorie Taylor Greene and her radical caucus. The thinly-sliced Republican majority can be derailed with ease by a small number of Republican wackos whenever they want.

That is why Greene stumped so heavily for McCarthy as leader. She knows as well as anyone that McCarthy is the weakest and dumbest member to ever pick up the Speaker’s gavel. Greene and her caucus can easily defeat him. Make no mistake about who the real Speaker will be.

The fight Chuck Schumer had with the nefarious democratic senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin was nothing compared with what Speaker McCarthy is going to face. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. McCarthy is the opposite of Nancy Pelosi. Where she was strong he is weak. Where she was a deft negotiator of the treacherous polItical landscape, he is stupid and clumsy, and myopically stumbling his way toward disaster.

In the midst of all this Democrats may even sneak some worthwhile legislation to the Senate. Whatever we can get to the them the Democrat-controlled Senate will pass, while derailing Republican attempts to outlaw same-sex marriage, give even more tax breaks to the super rich and make abortion unlawful in all fifty states. The net effect will be yet another public self-immolation of the Republican Party.

The fact that Republicans won back the House will be effectively nullified by their own stupidity. This election has been a double victory for Democrats and the silly MAGA caucus, ironically, is going to see to it personally. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.

The post Here comes the MAGA caucus appeared first on Palmer Report.

Scott R. Anderson, Seraphim Dhanani, Quinta Jurecic, Tyler McBrien, Natalie K. Orpett, and Benjamin Wittes analyzed Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Nov. 18 order appointing a special counsel to oversee two investigations related to former President Donald Trump. They discussed which portions of the Justice Department investigations will be taken over by the special counsel, the special counsel’s unique professional background, and the significance of the attorney general’s order. 

Katherine Pompilio shared Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 18 order appointing John (Jack) L. Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor, to serve as special counsel for the Justice Department’s two ongoing investigations of former President Donald Trump. Pompilio also shared Smith’s statement regarding his appointment that was released following Garland’s announcement of the order.

William Appleton shared former President Donald Trump’s Nov. 10 brief in the Justice Department’s appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s Sept. 5 special master order. The brief requests the court to affirm the lower court’s ruling which enjoined the Justice Department’s use of materials recovered in the Aug. 8 search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.  

Hyemin Han shared the Justice Department’s and former President Donald Trump’s briefs to Special Master Judge Raymond J. Dearie on “global issues” that pervade seized Mar-a-Lago materials. The briefs, intended to assist Dearie in his review, were filed under seal on Nov. 8 and unsealed on Nov. 14 by District Court Judge Aileen Cannon.  

Pompilio also shared United States District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks Nov. 10 order sanctioning former President Trump’s attorneys for “frivolous” claims made in the former president’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and others. 

Alan Rozenshtein sat down with Jedediah Purdy, a law professor at Duke Law School, to discuss his new book  “Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening—and Our Best Hope.” They spoke about the book, Purdy’s thoughts on the state of American democracy, and how to achieve a healthier democratic future:

Jurecic also discussed the state of American democracy after the 2022 midterm elections, former President Donald Trump’s announcement of his 2024 presidential bid, and the losses of many 2020 election denying candidates that ran for key positions in the 2022 midterms.

Stewart Baker sat down with Adam Klein, Nick Weaver, and Chinny Sharma to discuss the results of the 2022 midterm elections, the British government’s plan to scan all the country’s internet-connected devices for vulnerabilities, the Russian sanctions imposed on Dmitri Alperovitch, and more:

Anderson also examined the use of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the gradual expansion of its use by the executive branch in the first of a two-part series on the history and interpretation of the AUMF. 

Anastasia Bradatan discussed the case of Asadullah Haroon Gul, a former detainee at Guantanamo, and how his case illustrates the legal complexities of detaining members of an “associated force.” 

Han also shared the 9/11 Commission’s notes of an April 2004 interview of former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney on the White House’s response to the 9/11 attacks. The notes, which remain partially redacted, were declassified on Nov. 9. 

Anderson and Wittes discussed the Nov. 15 incident in Poland in which a Ukrainian missile inadvertently struck the town of Przewodów. Anderson and Wittes considered the framework of international law surrounding similar incidents, discussed how international law would have shaped the response if the missile was Russian, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) decision making process for responses to armed attacks on NATO member states.   

Solon Solomon questioned whether oblique intent can trigger Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty if a NATO member state is attacked as a result of conflict between two other states. Solomon argued that oblique intent cannot substantiate the magnitude of an attack required to invoke Article 5 and that the use of oblique intent to justify armed attacks under Article 5 would lead to difficult legal and operational situations.  

Wittes also sat down with Georgii Dubynskyi, Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation, to discuss the ministry’s original purpose and the role its taken on during the Russian war, how Ukraine has maintained resiliency against Russian kinetic and cyberattacks, why Russian cyberattacks have been less effective than expected, and more: 

Peter Pascucci and Kurt Sanger discussed the challenges to United Nations norms related to nation-state cyberspace in the context of the war in Ukraine and argued that Ukraine’s decision to disregard those norms during hostilities with Russia is consistent with international law. 

Wittes also sat down with Matt Tait to discuss how the Ukrainian internet still functions despite the Russian invasion, why Russia has been so ineffective in the cyber arena, if U.S. support for Ukraine is threatened with Republican control of the House, and more:

Kim Cragin discussed the fluidity between white power and anti-government movements and how these groups take advantage of virtual and physical “free spaces” to organize and recruit. Cragin also argued that the civil case in Bernalillo County, New Mexico against the New Mexico Civil Guard, a paramilitary group, can serve as a potential model for disrupting recruitment efforts by such groups. 

Eugenia Lostri discussed the International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI)—a cybersecurity initiative of the Biden administration—and assessed the efforts of the CRI to address the ever evolving ransomware threat. Lostri highlighted the adaptability of methods used by cybercriminals, the importance of public-private cooperation, and concluded that the CRI could potentially be a useful tool for disrupting criminal cyber activity. 

David Priess sat down for a chat with Aaron Bateman, historian at George Washington University, to discuss early satellite technology and attempts at anti-satellite activity, the Outer Space Treaty and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the problem of space debris, and more:

Brad Carney and Olivia B. Hoff provided a detailed summary of the 2022 National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review, and Missile Defense Review. 

McBrien also sat down with Rebecca Herman, assistant professor of history at UC Berkeley, to discuss her new book “Cooperating with the Colossus: A Social and Political History of US Military Bases in World War II Latin America.” They discussed the history of U.S. military policy in the region, questions of legal jurisdiction, and the difficulty of reconciling national sovereignty with international cooperation:

Scott Moore discussed the economic issues that China faces, including the need for increased innovation (both to boost the Chinese economy and aid global economic recovery) and the contradictions between the economic creativity needed and the political control sought by Chinese President Xi Jinping.  

Wittes also sat down with Sophia Yan to discuss her recent podcast for The Telegraph about the rise and rule of Xi Jinping, her hasty exit from China, how Xi is different from other recent Chinese leaders, and more:

Jordan Schneider sat down with Moore to discuss U.S.-China cooperation in the coming century. They spoke about medical cooperation between the two nations, if global challenges can be combated without China, leapfrogging or innovating as a means of technological development, and more:

And Justin S. Mankin and Christopher W. Callahan presented a scientific basis for climate liability and loss and damage claims in context of the legal and political challenges of pursuing climate reparations. They described how they trace the link between emissions and economic losses, as well as the implications of their scientific findings on collective climate action.

And that was the week that was.