[2019] Order From Chaos: What does a Pride parade have to do with NATO? More than you might think.

Editor’s Note: The degree of respect for LGBTQ people has increasingly become a measure of democratic health in former Soviet states. If Russia were a place where Pride parades were allowed, its quarrels with the United States, and ours with it, would possibly diminish, writes James Kirchick. This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.

What does a Pride parade have to do with NATO? More than you might think.

Related:

Meet the true journalists: James Kirchick and Lawrence O’Donnell

*Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.

Senate Leaves AUMF for Secret Wars in Force

On March 29, the Senate voted to repeal two Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, (AUMF’s), one passed in 1991 and another in 2002. The repeal now goes to the House. But those Authorizations are irrelevant to the present; they apply only to the Iraq war. But a third AUMF, passed in 2001, was left untouched. And that AUMF is the only one that has a bearing on the present moment, because it provides legal cover for the many US military operations, open and secret, around the world.

Senate Leaves AUMF for Secret Wars in Force

Hypocritical White House Wants to Form a Bogus Tribunal to Prosecute Russian Leader for War Crimes

Oh, the irony!?

After months of indecision, the Joe Biden administration has come out in favor of using international mechanisms to punish Russian officials for the “crime of aggression” in Ukraine. The White House has resisted Kiev’s effort to prosecute President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders at the International Crime Court (ICC) over fears that American officials could face similar accountability

White House Wants to Form International Tribunal to Prosecute Russian Leader for War Crimes

Related:

Iraq, Ukraine, And a World Without Accountability

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee has stepped forward to say that Gov. Ron DeSantis, while a U.S. Navy JAG officer in 2006, watched and allowed the brutal forced feedings of detainees that U.N. human rights authorities, an international physician’s group and others have condemned as a form of torture.

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings

Another Durham review in need of investigation: torture

Is it time for an investigation of an investigation of an investigation? The original investigation led by Robert Mueller into Donald Trump and Russia led to an investigation of that investigation led by special counsel John Durham. Now reporting reveals that Durham’s inquiry was mired with ethical disputes and potential misconduct, and lawmakers are accordingly demanding another layer of investigation, this time into the Durham review itself.

Another Durham review in need of investigation: torture