The Harrowing, Two-Year Detention of a Transgender Asylum Seeker

Murat Oztaskin writes on Alejandra Barrera, an asylum seeker from El Salvador, who was detained in Cibola County Correctional Center, the only ICE facility in the country with a unit for transgender women, where she was denied humanitarian parole five times.

* This article was originally published here

WhatsApp Sues an Israeli Tech Firm Whose Spyware Targeted Human-Rights Activists and Journalists

Adam Entous writes on WhatsApp filing a lawsuit against NSO Group, an Israeli tech firm that targeted and infected the phones of more than fourteen hundred WhatsApp users with spyware.

* This article was originally published here

A Hunger Strike in ICE Detention

Rozina Ali on Indian asylum seekers who are going on hunger strike to protest abusive conditions at ICE detention centers at the U.S. border.

* This article was originally published here

The Trump Administration’s War on the Government Is an “Autocratic Attempt”

Masha Gessen writes about the difficulty in properly describing President Donald Trump’s assault on the norms and institutions of American government.

* This article was originally published here

Franco’s Body Is Exhumed, as Spain Still Struggles to Confront the Past

Stephania Taladrid writes about the controversy surrounding the Valley of the Fallen, the mausoleum that housed Franco’s remains.

* This article was originally published here

The Importance of Cigarette Receipts in a Thirty-Two-Year-Old Murder Case

Jennifer Gonnerman writes about David Warren and Eric Smokes, two Brooklyn men who have asked a court to vacate their convictions for the murder of a tourist near Times Square in 1987, and the seemingly insignificant piece of evidence that could help corroborate a witness’s testimony in their favor.

* This article was originally published here

On “Human Scum” and Trump in the Danger Zone

Susan B. Glasser on Donald Trump’s tweet calling his political opponents “human scum,” the fate of the Never Trumpers within the Republican Party, and the sense in Washington that the President and his allies are freaking out over impeachment.

* This article was originally published here

Why Ambassador William Taylor’s Testimony Was So Damaging to Trump

John Cassidy writes about Ambassador William Taylor’s testimony about Donald Trump’s interactions with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and how Taylor’s remarks could play into an impeachment inquiry.

* This article was originally published here

The 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing, and the Current U.S. Retreat from Syria

Robin Wright on the tragic 1983 bombing of Marine barracks in Beirut and the ensuing military pullout, and how that failed mission parallels the current military withdrawal from Syria.

* This article was originally published here

The Uncertain Fate of Amsterdam’s Red-Light District

Anna Russell writes about Amsterdam’s De Wallen neighborhood, the popular party destination, and about mayor Femke Halsema’s proposal to cover brothel windows and move sex workers out of the area.

* This article was originally published here

America’s Ally in Syria Warns of Ethnic Cleansing by Turkey

Robin Wright interviews General Mazloum Kobani Abdi about the pullout of U.S. troops from Syria, its impact on the Kurdish forces, the ceasefire brokered by Mike Pence last week with Turkey, and the coming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

* This article was originally published here

How to Mourn a Glacier

Lacy M. Johnson on how a memorial ceremony for Okjökull, a glacier in Iceland, suggests new ways to think about climate change.

* This article was originally published here

Mark Zuckerberg Still Doesn’t Get It

Andrew Marantz on Mark Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University, and the Facebook C.E.O.’s conception of free speech.

* This article was originally published here

Forget Trump’s “Meltdown”—Follow the Testimony

Susan B. Glasser writes about the death of Elijah Cummings and this week’s revelations in the House of Representative’s impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.

* This article was originally published here

William Barr’s Wild Misreading of the First Amendment

Jeffrey Toobin writes on a recent speech given by Attorney General William Barr, at Notre Dame University, misread the First Amendment and portrayed religious people in the United States as beset by a hostile band of “secularists.”

* This article was originally published here

Is This Elizabeth Warren’s Democratic Party?

Benjamin Wallace-Wells writes on Elizabeth Warren’s rise in the Democratic Presidential-primary race, and to what extent the Party has embraced her ideas.

* This article was originally published here

Nancy Pelosi on Trump, Impeachment, and 2020: “Timing Is Everything”

At the 2019 New Yorker Festival, the investigative journalist Jane Mayer sits down with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to talk about impeachment and more.

* This article was originally published here

Chaos in Syria: ISIS Detainees Escape as the U.S. Pulls Out

Robin Wright writes on the chaos unfolding in northern Syria, as American Special Forces leave and the Turkish military launches an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

* This article was originally published here

Rudy Giuliani’s Two Indicted Associates Could Have a Lot to Say

John Cassidy writes about Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, and their significant roles in the Giuliani-inspired effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens, get rid of the U.S. Ambassador, and help Donald Trump get reëlected.

* This article was originally published here

Why Trump’s Fourth Secretary of Homeland Security Just Resigned

Jonathan Blitzer on Kevin McAleenan, Trump’s fourth secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, who just resigned his post.

* This article was originally published here

Republicans Trash Trump on Syria—but Not Ukraine

Susan B. Glasser writes about the Republican criticism of President Donald Trump over his decision to abandon Kurdish allies in Syria to Turkey and the contrasting silence over the President’s soliciting of opposition research from Ukraine against his political rival Joe Biden.

* This article was originally published here

In Its Fight with Venezuela, the Trump Administration Takes Aim at Cuba

Jon Lee Anderson reports on deteriorating conditions in Cuba, owing to Trump Administration sanctions against Venezuela which have led to fuel shortages on the island.

* This article was originally published here

Ronan Farrow’s Black Cube Chronicles, Part III: The Double Agent

In an excerpt drawn from his new book, “Catch and Kill,” Farrow describes how a civil war among spies exposed Harvey Weinstein’s attempts to suppress allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

* This article was originally published here

Trump’s Muddled Policy Opens the Way for More War in the Middle East

Robin Wright on President Donald Trump’s policy shift on U.S. relations with Turkey, and how it will affect the Syrian Democratic Forces and the dregs of ISIS.

* This article was originally published here

Ronan Farrow’s Black Cube Chronicles, Part I: The Private Investigators

In an excerpt drawn from from his new book, “Catch and Kill,” Farrow describes being surveilled by two detectives embroiled in an international plot to suppress sexual-assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

* This article was originally published here

Amartya Sen’s Hopes and Fears for Indian Democracy

Isaac Chotiner interviews the economist, philosopher, and public intellectual Amartya Sen about his boyhood in pre-independence India, his fears and hopes for Indian democracy, and why contemporary politics hasn’t led him toward fatalism.

* This article was originally published here

How Far Will California Take Criminal-Justice Reform?

Dana Goodyear on the campaign of Chesa Boudin, a public defender in San Francisco and a leader in the movement to abolish money bail, for district attorney in the city.

* This article was originally published here

Trump’s Call for China to Investigate the Bidens Shows How Far He’ll Go to Save Himself

John Cassidy writes about Donald Trump calling on China—in addition to Ukraine—to investigate Joe Biden, a main political rival, and also Biden’s son Hunter.

* This article was originally published here

The Changing Definition of Investigating Donald Trump

Masha Gessen writes on the various forms of the word “investigate” that have been used to mean different things, in the media coverage of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.

* This article was originally published here

Mark Meadows and the Dinosaur Property

Charles Bethea writes about an allosaur skeleton found on a piece of property in Dinosaur, Colorado, that the congressman Mark Meadows sold to the creationist organization Answers in Genesis but failed to report, in a possible ethics violation.

* This article was originally published here