Several dozen academics, diplomats, and energy researchers gathered earlier this year in Berlin to embark on a fascinating thought experiment. They began with the assumption that a worldwide transition from fossil fuels to renewables is all but inevitable—a future that is not guaranteed, but hardly implausible either, despite the current domination of oil and gas. Then they imagined what that future would look like, not just in terms of the energy economy but in terms of society as a whole. Oil, coal, and gas have shaped and structured our political and economic system for well over a century.

Nobody is actually being censored at all – they’re just being spoken back to. By Laurie Penny.

They train to fight. They post their beatings online. And so far, they have little reason to fear the authorities. By A.C. Thompson, Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham.

During this powerful briefing, ICIT experts present research on how adversaries can leverage metadata and other data pools for social engineering and cyber exploitation in attacks that weaponize psychographic and demographic Big Data algorithms. Among themes explored during this session are how Russia can use Metadata to target public and private sector executives, the use of big data by special interest groups to impact elections, and the emergence of data brokers as threats to National Security.

The Democratic Party this week plans to name 75 people including lobbyists and political operatives to leadership posts that come with superdelegate votes at its next presidential convention, potentially aggravating old intraparty tensions as it struggles to confront President Donald Trump. By Jennifer Epstein.

Far from the booming metropolis of Beijing, China is building a sprawling system that combines dystopian technology and human policing. “It’s a kind of frontline laboratory for surveillance.” By Megha Rajagopalan.

The chief of staff sees his role as controlling Trump. If the President obeys him, then the President cannot be criticized. By Masha Gessen.

Donald Trump has appeared to suggest, without providing evidence, that the FBI and Russia may have colluded to fund the infamous dossier that alleged links between his team and the Kremlin. Taking to Twitter, the US President said: “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?” Mr Trump’s outlandish claim comes after two bosses of Fusion GPS, the firm that helped produce the dossier, refused to answer questions on Wednesday in a private meeting with the House Intelligence Agency.

The Jimmy Dore Show

That’s a handy attitude to cultivate for the next time you want to sell a “humanitarian” war. By Jim Naureckas.

Thomas Farr will get a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. By Ari Berman.

The Internet Research Agency has a "Department of Provocations" and a "Facebook desk" dedicated to sowing discord in the US.

Over 16 years after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent repeated passage or renewal of draconian “temporary” but “emergency” domestic surveillance laws in response, it’s fair to ask: Have we officially abandoned the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights? By Patrick Eddington.

The greatest challenge to McKinley’s reputation in the twenty-first century is the legacy of historians of the mid-twentieth century. By Michael Lind.

Some seventy-two years from the last American execution for desertion, the firing squad is a tough-guy pantomime for hacks and hams. By Jay Baron Nicorvo.

Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own risks. By Jane Mayer.

Donald Trump has appeared to suggest, without providing evidence, that the FBI and Russia may have colluded to fund the infamous dossier that alleged links between his team and the Kremlin. Taking to Twitter, the US President said: “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?”

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Thursday that the Russian government committed "warfare" against the U.S. last year when hackers tied to Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

America’s first “low-information” president. By Eric Levitz.

From Ben Shapiro to Stefan Molyneux, the politically confused heirs to New Atheism are merging with the YouTube right—and forming a new kind of idiot. By Alex Nichols.

The Conservatives now exist largely to misinform the public, writes comedian and writer Frankie Boyle.

In 1942 Alfred Hitchcock recruited the author of Our Town, Thornton Wilder, to write the screenplay for Shadow of a Doubt, an innocence-versus-evil thriller set in an ‘idyllic American town’. After considering various candidates, Hitchcock and Wilder selected Santa Rosa... By Mike Davis.

You're all going to HELL!

And the effects could damage our national interests even after he's gone.

The Mortgage Bankers Association adds to the growing political momentum in support of a mortgage tax credit.

For long-serving spy Gjorgi Lazarevski, a 2010 raid on one of Macedonia’s few remaining independent TV stations was the last straw. Gjorgi Lazarevski, a former Macedonian intelligence officer who helped expose a massive wiretapping scheme that brought down the government. By Borjan Jovanovski.

This isn't the first time a capitalist model designed to maximize profit failed us socially, but it might be the first time such a failure is sanctioned by the constitution. By Roger Sollenberger.

A Canadian man who was recently freed after being held in Afghanistan by Taliban-tied kidnappers for five years said he thought his captors were joking when they told him Donald Trump was president.

Counterinsurgency, Policing, and the Militarization of America’s Cities. By Danny Sjursen.

The FBI and certain animal rights groups are at war. By Kristin Hugo.

As part of her ongoing “Thank God You Didn’t Elect Me” tour, Hillary Clinton made her debut on Australian television last night... By Caitlin Johnstone. (Oct. 16, 2017)

In the biggest attack on the healthcare law yet, the administration will end payments that insurers use to help poor customers.

And why it was so hard to see it coming

Former secretary of state refuses to say if successor Tillerson should go but decries Trump approach to Iran nuclear deal

If you think North Korea is looking like a big, bad wolf today, just wait a few months...