Author Archives
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I Spent 20 Years Covering America's Secretive Detention Regime. Torture Was Always the Subtext.
“U.S. Takes Hooded, Shackled Detainees to Cuba,” declared the Washington Post headline on January 11, 2002. The reporters who wrote it were on the ground at Guantánamo Bay and in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I was in Washington, at my desk in… Read More ›
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“Don’t Look Up” and Fighting Capitalism With Naomi Klein
As 2022 begins, the world continues to see the effects of the climate crisis — from the severe drought in East Africa to the odd snowfall in British Columbia. But since December 5, a new film has been sounding the alarm…. Read More ›
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Uber CEO Admits Company Can Afford Labor Protections for Drivers
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reassured investors concerned about new European Union regulations in December, telling a group of bankers that his company can continue to thrive even under rules that would force it to hire drivers as employees. “We can make any model… Read More ›
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Judge Rules Against Pipeline Company Trying to Keep “Counterinsurgency” Records Secret
Last week, a North Dakota court ruled against a bid by the oil company Energy Transfer to keep documents about its security contractor’s operations against anti-pipeline activism secret. The court thwarted the pipeline giant’s attempt to narrow the definition of… Read More ›
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Vaccine Passports Are Here to Stay. Why Worry?
Illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept “Yeah I use the pass. What should I be afraid of?” That’s Jack, a friend who works in state and city politics, responding to a poll I posted on Facebook about digital Covid-19 vaccination passports. “Are… Read More ›
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U.N. Power Broker Jeffrey Sachs Took Millions From the UAE to Research “Well-Being”
Starting in 2016, the men who run the United Arab Emirates went all-in on positivity. They installed a giant smiley face on the dome crowning a Dubai police station. They created a Ministry of Tolerance and a Ministry of Happiness, as if… Read More ›
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How the Pursuit of Unknown Viruses Risks Triggering the Next Pandemic
“I can feel the fear — fear of infections,” Tian Junhua said as he gazed wide-eyed at a clump of bats clinging to the wall of a dark cave. “Because when you find the viruses, you are also most easily… Read More ›
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The 10 Worst Americans of 2021
From top left, clockwise: Rupert Murdoch, Sen. Joe Manchin, President Joe Biden, Elon Musk, former President Donald Trump, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Photo illustration: Shaun Lucas/The Intercept, Getty Images At this time of year we… Read More ›
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A New Way to Think About Medicare
Introduced during the Trump administration, “direct contracting” is a Medicare payment model that allows private medical practices and insurance companies to arrange set payments from Medicare for the year, rather than bill the administration for services. But critics warn that… Read More ›
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A Reformist Black Police Chief Faces an Uprising of the Old Guard
On the morning of May 28, 2020, a Black sergeant with the Little Rock, Arkansas, Police Department woke up, turned on the news, and saw the George Floyd video for the first time. “It was just a punch to the… Read More ›