Fake grass roots. An inflatable rat. Testimony with hidden ties. Billionaires are using DCI Group to make their bets pay off—while keeping the public in the dark. By Zachary Mider and Ben Elgin.

What Lorin Stein’s resignation from The Paris Review over sexual misconduct reveals about the true index of male power. By Wesley Yang.

“You can’t do this to me,” the cop allegedly messaged over and over. “You can’t.” By Kelly Weill.

By withholding evidence of warrantless spying, the government avoided a court challenge to controversial mass surveillance — which is now before Congress. By Trevor Aaronson.

Thrown last-minute into a torrent of competing legislation, a new bill meant to expand the NSA’s broad surveillance powers is the most recent threat to American privacy. By David Ruiz.

The project of making planes secure from terrorist attacks is an inescapable nonsense... By Cory Doctorow.

Americans rolled over for decades while we gave the executive branch unreviewable authority to kill – now that power is in the hands of an idiot. By Matt Taibbi.

Harassment and abuse are not always sexual, and all psychological harms should be taken seriously… By Nathan J. Robinson.

A photojournalist facing a criminal trial on several felony charges sounds like something that would happen in another country. So this article is written in the style that would be used if it did. By Ryan J. Reilly and Christopher Mathias.

The problem in resource-rich states is that corruption is not marginal to political power, but central to acquiring it and keeping it. By Patrick Cockburn.

When Saad Hariri’s jet touched down at Riyadh on the evening of 3 November, the first thing he saw was a group of Saudi policemen surrounding the plane. When they came aboard, they confiscated his mobile phone and those of his bodyguards. Thus was Lebanon’s prime minister silenced. By Robert Fisk.

The film executive hired private investigators, including ex-Mossad agents, to track actresses and journalists. By Ronan Farrow.

Princes, ministers and a billionaire are 'imprisoned' in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton while the Saudi Arabian Army is said to be in an uproar. By Pepe Escobar.

The “Unite the Right” rally on August 12 left one dead, 19 injured, and the city of Charlottesville in a state of turmoil and fear. In its aftermath, local leaders hurriedly vowed that justice would be served and order and safety restored. Most assumed... By Emma Eisenberg.

The FBI admits that since it’s implementation in 2001, the Patriot Act and the bulk collection of data have not done anything to deter future terrorist attacks. By Cliff Maloney Jr.

No other incident during Standing Rock better illustrates the collaboration between police and private security in suppressing the NoDAPL movement. By Alleen Brown, Will Parrish, Alice Speri.

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

Charlottesville police inserted themselves into an election for prosecutor with a last-minute arrest of a candidate. By Alex Emmons.

The DOJ has introduced an Oath Keeper video of Inauguration Day demonstrations as evidence to convict protesters of felony rioting, punishable by up to 75 years in prison. By Kelly Weill.

We do not get our rights because we deserve them, or even because we fight for them – we get our rights because the government needs us. By Shai Shapira.