Scientists Find a Mammal's Foot Inside a Dinosaur, a Fossil First

Isaac Schultz
Wed, December 21, 2022 

An illustration of Microraptor chowing down on a mammal foot.

Paleontologists taking a second look at a species of small, four-winged dinosaur have found a fossilized mammalian foot in the predator’s stomach.

It’s the first concrete evidence of dinosaurs eating mammals, the researchers say. Specimens of the dinosaur, Microraptor zhaoinus, have been discovered containing ancient birds, fish, and lizards, so the mammalian find is just the latest known source of protein for this spunky hunter. The team who re-scrutinized the Microraptor fossil published their findings today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“It really demonstrates the generalist diet in this small feathered dinosaur,” said Hans Larsson, a paleontologist at McGill University and the study’s lead author, in an email to Gizmodo. “Adding mammals to the menu shows just how un-specialized this dinosaur was.”

The tree-dwelling Microraptor lived during the early Cretaceous, and specimens have been found across what is now northeast China. The fossil-rich region is called the Jehol Biota, and its well-preserved treasures are a great resource for understanding nuances of dinosaur anatomy, as well as details about different animals’ ecological niches.

Microraptor is thought to have lived in trees, gliding around the Cretaceous forests looking for morsels on branches as well as on the ground. The recently studied specimen is the holotype, meaning it was first of its species to be found and named. It’s only recently been revisited after its discovery back in 2000. The new analysis revealed the mammalian foot—a seemingly unprecedented find.

The mammal foot (center) within the Microraptor fossil.

The researchers couldn’t identify the particular mammal species, but the foot’s preservation within Microraptor allowed them to understand its ecological niche and, obviously, its predators.

“Gut contents are amazing snapshots into the diet of fossil animals, but they are so rare that it can be difficult to figure out whether the preserved ‘last meal’ represents the animal’s normal diet or a weird, one-off event that lucked into getting fossilized,” said Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not affiliated with the recent paper, in an email to Gizmodo.

“Microraptor is shaping up to be a very interesting exception to that rule, with multiple, beautifully fossilized specimens preserving different ‘last meals,’” Drumheller-Horton added. “Taken together, the authors make a compelling case that this little theropod wasn’t a particularly picky eater, eating all sorts of small-bodied animals in its environment.”

Another illustration of Microraptor with its prey.

The mammal foot apparently did not belong to a distant human ancestor; the team said it had similarities to the morphologies of Sinodelphys, Yanoconodon, and Eomaia, all ancient species of early mammals that looked roughly like opossums or rodents.

The foot belonged to an animal about the size of a mouse. The team’s analysis found the critter wouldn’t have been a good climber—an indicator that Microraptor may have occasionally swooped down to the forest floor for feeding.

“The foot seems completely intact, and thus was swallowed whole. How much of the mammal was swallowed is unknown,” Larsson said. “However, there were several other unidentified bones around the foot in the rib cage, so I suspect that more of that mammal was consumed.”

The researchers could not determine whether the animal was hunted and killed or if the feathered dinosaur had scavenged its body.

Given the luck paleontologists have had with the Jehol Biota so far, it may just be a matter of time before another meal-laden specimen offers more insights about the Cretaceous food scene.

More: A Shark, Eating a Squid, Eating a Lobster, in One Fossil

Feathered dinosaur the size of a cat is 'first proven to have eaten a mammal'

Telegraph reporters
Tue, December 20, 2022

A feathered flying dinosaur the size of a cat is the first that has been proven to eat mammals by scientists.

Palaeontologists in the UK have analysed fossil remains from around 120 million years ago, showing a small, feathered dinosaur - known as Microraptor - with the foot of an animal inside its ribcage.

The experts said their findings, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, is “the first record of a dinosaur eating a mammal”.

Dr David Hone, from Queen Mary University of London, who is first author on the study, said: “It’s so rare to find examples of food inside dinosaurs, so every example is really important as it gives direct evidence of what they were eating.

Fossil remains showing a mammal foot in the ribcage of a Microraptor - PA

“While this mammal would absolutely not have been a human ancestor, we can look back at some of our ancient relatives being a meal for hungry dinosaurs.

“This study paints a picture of a fascinating moment in time - the first record of a dinosaur eating a mammal - even if it isn’t quite as frightening as anything in Jurassic Park.”

Microraptors lived in the ancient forests of what is now China, somewhere between 125 and 113 million years ago.

While it moved on its two legs, experts believe some species may have been capable of guided flight.

About the size of a crow or a small cat, Microraptors would have been gliding from tree to tree to prey on small animals.

Although the specimen was first described in 2000, the researchers said the previous team had failed to see the remains of another animal inside the dinosaur.

Further analysis suggests the prey was a mammal about the size of a mouse, which likely lived on the ground and was not a good climber.

A mammal foot in the ribcage of a Microraptor may be first known incident of a mammal being eaten by a dinosaur - PA

Previous research has shown other Microraptor specimens with preserved food in their stomachs, such as a bird, a lizard and a fish.

However, the team added that it is not certain if these dinosaurs had directly preyed on these animals or found them already dead and had scavenged them.

Dr Alex Dececchi, from Mount Marty College in South Dakota, US, and one of the study authors, said: “The great thing is that - like your housecat, which was about the same size - Microraptor would have been an easy animal to live with but a terror if it got out, as it would hunt everything from the birds at your feeder to the mice in your hedge or the fish in your pond.”

CROCODILE HEADS FOUND IN TOMBS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN NOBLES

Necropolis of el-Asassif - Image Credit : Shutterstock

POLISH ARCHAEOLOGISTS EXCAVATING IN THE THEBAN NECROPOLIS HAVE FOUND CROCODILE HEADS IN THE TOMBS OF TWO EGYPTIAN NOBLES.

The Theban Necropolis is a region on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom.

Archaeologists from the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw were excavating at the Necropolis of el-Asassif, just to the west of the causeway that leads to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.

The team have been studying two tombs in the necropolis since 2013, one belonging to “Cheti”, an important official during the reign of Pharaoh, Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II (reigned 2055-2002 BC), and the second from an anonymous, but high-status member who served at the royal court.

Within both tombs, archaeologists recently discovered the heads of nine crocodiles wrapped in fabric, which were neither mummified nor given any special treatments for preservation.

The skulls belonged members of the Crocodylus niloticus species, a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa. Only skull fragments and mandibles have survived, likely due to previous excavations a century ago by Herbert Winlock, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as researchers of the time paid very little attention to animal remains and dumped them in a pile.

Image Credit : Dr. Patryk Chudzik

In Ancient Egypt, Crocodiles were the object of worship in the form of the god, Sobek. Sobek is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in a true crocodilian form, or as a human with a crocodile head.

Sobek was also associated with pharaonic power, fertility, and military prowess, but served additionally as a protective deity with apotropaic qualities, invoked especially for protection against the dangers presented by the Nile.

Peek inside newly uncovered Roman sanctuary showing life in Netherlands 1,700 years ago

Aspen Pflughoeft
Thu, December 22, 2022

Centuries ago, a bustling village in northern Europe with a massive sanctuary complex was the place to be for important Roman soldiers. The hustle and bustle has faded, but remnants of this vibrant ancient life are still visible, archaeologists in the Netherlands have found.

Archaeologists uncovered the nearly complete sanctuary complex in Gelderland, RAAP Archaeology said in a news release. The site, named the Herwen-Hemeling Sanctuary, is the most complete Roman complex found in the Netherlands.

The ruins of several beautifully painted temples dedicated to different gods and goddesses have been found, experts said. Roman soldiers used these temples from the first century to fourth century to place stone altars for various deities as a sign of gratitude.

One of the partially-excavated altar stones at the sanctuary complex.

Many of these stone altars had inscriptions, photos show. Piecing together fragmented altars and translating the inscriptions, researchers learned that stones had been dedicated to Hercules Magusanus, Jupiter-Serapis and Mercury, the release said.

Hercules Magusanus is a god connected to the Roman deity Hercules and a German deity of Magusanus, Marie-Louise Genèvrier wrote in a study from 1984.

Another altar found at the site.

Excavations of the sanctuary complex have revealed even more finds than originally expected, Broadcasting Gelderland reported on Wednesday, Dec. 21. About 80,000 artifacts have been found, archaeologist Eric Norde of RAAP Archeology told the outlet.

An inscribed altar found at the site.

Archaeologists found a stone staircase leading down to a large stone well, photos show. Remnants of large sacrificial fires were also found, experts said.

Researchers also uncovered an unprecedented number of limestone sculpture fragments. Photos show one such fragment, the head of a sculpture.

The head of a limestone statue found at the sanctuary complex.

Sanctuary excavations also unearthed horse harnesses, hangers for harnesses, armor pieces, and spear and lance points, the release said. Other finds included a cloak pin, jewelry, coins and 13,000 fragments of roof tiles — some with dog and pig paw prints, Broadcasting Gelderland reported and the organization said on Facebook.

A hanger for horse harnesses found at the sanctuary complex.

Together, the complex has given archaeologists a glimpse into daily life at the 1,700-year-old Roman sanctuary.

A cloakpin found at the sanctuary.

Documenting and studying all the artifacts found at the Herwen-Hemeling Sanctuary is expected to take three to four years, Norde said.

The sanctuary was excavated during spring and summer 2022. Archaeologists began sharing their findings on social media in December and plan to continue doing so for the next two years. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Herwen is in the province of Gelderland, on the Netherlands-Germany border, and about 70 miles southwest of Amsterdam.

Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz stayed sitting and looked at their phones while Congress gave Zelenskyy a standing ovation

Sinéad Baker
Thu, December 22, 2022 

A composite image showing Reps. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Matt Gaetz sitting and Congress members giving President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a standing ovation.CSPAN/Insider

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy addressed Congress on Wednesday and got multiple standing ovations.


Reps. Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz were seen seated and on their phones through one of them.


Both are vocal opponents of US military aid for Ukraine, and want to block future payments.

Reps. Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz stayed seated and did not applause as other lawmakers gave a standing ovation for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he addressed Congress.

Zelenskyy spoke to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. It marked his first visit outside Ukraine since Russia's invasion began in February.

While Boebert and Gaetz attended, neither MAGA Republican seemed impressed.

In his speech, Zelenskyy declared "Ukraine is alive and kicking" and touted the strength of the US-Ukraine alliance.

He also implored the US, Ukraine's biggest military backer, to continue sending aid to help its military oppose Russia.

He was given standing ovations at multiple points in the speech. The cameras captured Gaetz and Boebert remaining seated for one about 38 minutes into the speech.

The applause was for after Zelenskyy described the burgeoning military alliance between Russia and Iran, and called for Iran to be stopped before it attacked other US allies.

Watch the moment here:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1605730264331833345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1605730264331833345%7Ctwgr%5Eaea4dc56e187d0f9493520e0d93ab7aca670a940%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Flauren-boebert-matt-gaetz-refuse-to-stand-for-volodymyr-zelensky

Other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were seen standing to clap for Zelenskyy at other points of his speech.

Gaetz and Boebert were seen standing alongside other members of Congress at another point in the speech. It is not clear if they clapped.

Reps. Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz stand as lawmakers give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a standing ovation on Wednesday.

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images; Insider

Both Gaetz and Boebert have strongly criticized the US spending money on military equipment for Ukraine, and on Wednesday repeated their belief that such aid should be stopped.

Boebert said on Twitter after Zelenskyy's speech that she wants a "full audit" of US aid spending before she would support more money being sent.

Gaetz on Twitter praised Zelenskyy's work for his citizens but said that it was wrong for American politicians to be "hemorrhaging billions of dollars while our country is in crisis." He said Zelenskyy's speech did not change his mind.

Gaetz was one of 10 Republicans who voted in April against a bill that would make it easier for the US to send military equipment to Ukraine.

The US is making efforts to monitor how its contributions to Ukraine are used. The Pentagon is already monitoring the US weapons and contracts given to Ukraine for signs of fraud.

It also sent weapons experts to Ukraine to inspect the equipment in person. Officials have said they do not see evidence of aid being misused, though they also warned that it is difficult to keep close track of all equipment used in a war zone.

Boebert and Gaetz have been in a small minority of Ukraine-aid skeptics since the war broke out. But the new Congress may bring a shift in January, as control of the House shifts to the GOP.

Republican Congressional leaders have pledged to increase oversight of aid to Ukraine, and many lawmakers like Boebert and Gaetz have said they will keep up the pressure.

Biden has repeatedly said that the US will keep supporting Ukraine.

Most recently he told Zelenskyy on Wednesday that he would support Ukraine "as long as it takes."

Zelenskyy told Congress on Wednesday of the spending: "Your money is not charity. It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way."

The Independent also reported that Boebert and Gaetz skipped a security screening when going to hear Zelenskyy's speech.

WAIT, WHAT?
The IRS went easy on Trump's tax returns because he used accountants, congressional report says



Dareh Gregorian and Gretchen Morgenson and Amanda Terkel and Laura Strickler and Sarah Fitzpatrick

Thu, December 22, 2022 

House Democrats are scrutinizing why the Internal Revenue Service failed to fully audit Donald Trump's tax returns when he was in the White House, despite an agency policy mandating such a review.

Some insight into the lapse came in a report Tuesday from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a bipartisan congressional panel that examined Trump's tax returns from 2015-20.

The report suggests that part of the reason the IRS gave Trump the benefit of the doubt was because he used professional accountants for his returns, a practice widely employed by wealthy individuals.

The use of accountants is no guarantee of financial honesty. In fact, Trump's own accountants ditched him this year after questions were raised about the accuracy of the information he was giving them.


Despite a policy mandating that IRS review a sitting president's returns, the agency did not begin to audit Trump until 2019 — two years into his presidency, and after Democrats took control of Congress.

The JCT said in its report this week that it was not able to interview any IRS agents directly, but its review of the audit materials show that the agent who did a “preliminary risk analysis to determine the scope of the examination” of Trump's 2015 return supported a “limited scope.”

“As additional support for a limited examination, the agent noted that the taxpayer hires a professional accounting firm and counsel to prepare and file his tax returns, and those parties perform the necessary activities to ensure the taxpayer properly reports all income and deduction items correctly,” the report said.

In its conclusion, the JCT questioned why the IRS agent reviewing the return gave the involvement of accountants so much weight.

“We also fail to understand why the fact that counsel and an accounting firm participated in tax preparation ensures the accuracy of the returns,” the report said. “We would assume this fact would be true of most, if not all, returns of high-net worth individuals, and do not believe such individuals should be subject to limited scope audits on this basis.”

“It does seem inequitable,” said Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, who previously practiced tax law.

He added that the IRS’s over-reliance on, and deference to, professional accountants “illustrates how outgunned the IRS is.”

ProPublica reported in 2019 that the IRS audits the working poor at about the same rate as the wealthiest 1%, in part because audits of wealthier Americans are more time-consuming and require more resources.

Rosenthal said what troubled him the most was information in the report that indicated the IRS may have limited its inquiry into Trump’s taxes because of “case sensitivity.”

The agent noted the "complexity" of the review, given how the return tied back to earlier returns and numerous other Trump entities, but "decided not to utilize the Specialist Referral System in the practice network unless absolutely needed (due to case sensitivity); hence, no specialists were assigned," the JCT report said.

In other words, according to the JCT analysis, the agent assigned to the 2015 review did have other options available for dealing with the large, complex nature of Trump's taxes.

The audit of Trump's 2015 taxes was not part of the mandatory presidential review, the JCT report said, but a review of Trump’s 2016 taxes opened later in 2019 was.

That audit listed more concerns and asked for more documentation than the 2015 audit, but the JCT still noted a dozen more avenues where the agency should have pressed for more information, including $40 million in deductions.

The JTC also chided the agent conducting the 2016 audit for putting too much faith in Trump's accountants.

"While the IRS delved into more issues in 2016 than 2015, we are not comfortable with any reliance on professional tax preparation to ensure accuracy, and it does not appear any specialists were called in to assist," the report said. "As the audit is not complete, we cannot comment on the results of the audit."

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

The JCT report was issued Tuesday, after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to make Trump's 2015-20 tax returns public. Trump was the first president not to make his tax returns public since the 1970s.

The returns had been expected to be released this week, but Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass., told reporters Thursday they might not be released for the “next couple of days” because staffers were still redacting sensitive personal information from the documents.

Neal is pressing for legislation that would require the IRS to publish and audit presidential tax returns.

The returns were prepared by the accounting firm Mazars, which quit working for Trump and the Trump Organization this year after investigations by the New York attorney general and Manhattan district attorney raised red flags about information Trump's entities had been providing Mazars for years.

New York AG Letitia James has since filed a $250 million suit against Trump and his company alleging they inflated the company's net worth by billions of dollars in order to get more favorable terms from banks and insurance companies, including on a decade of financial statements that had been prepared by Mazars.

In its resignation letter to the Trump Organization in February, Mazars Group General Counsel William J. Kelly said: “We write to advise that the Statements of Financial Condition for Donald J. Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 — June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon and you should inform any recipients thereof who are currently relying upon one or more of those documents that those documents should not be relied upon.”

James also sent a criminal referral about her findings to the IRS. A spokesperson for the agency's criminal division told NBC News in September that “IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) receives tips about potential criminal activity from a variety of sources every day. Special agents review information received for further criminal investigation. The agency doesn’t confirm the existence of investigations until court documents are publicly available.”

Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer Alina Habba said of James' allegations that “we are confident that our judicial system will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we look forward to defending our client against each and every one of the Attorney General’s meritless claims.”


Donald Trump is America's poorest billionaire

Rick Newman
·Senior Columnist
Thu, December 22, 2022

Former President Donald Trump loses vast amounts of money. Yet he lives a gilded lifestyle and never runs short of the cash needed to pay lawyers perpetually defending him against charges large and small. How does he do it?

We’re gradually finding out, now that Congress has obtained six years’ of Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. Democrats investigating Trump’s finances haven’t yet released the full returns, but they’ve published two reports that provide an overview of Trump’s income and reveal how he keeps his tax bill remarkably low. Ordinary taxpayers might feel infuriated. Or envious.

From 2015 through 2020, Trump declared a positive income in two years and a negative income in four years. His losses heavily outweigh his gains. For the six years in total, Trump reported $52.6 million in negative income, or, in other words, $52.6 million in losses.

A typical worker can’t live on negative income. Yet Trump manages to do so. That’s because he uses business losses to offset real income and reduce the amount of taxes he owes. To a large extent, this is legal, given multiple provisions of the tax code that provide relief for business owners, and especially for real-estate developers such as Trump. The details of Trump’s complete tax returns will go a lot further toward explaining whether he cheats.

There’s considerable evidence that he does cheat. “Trump avoids paying taxes by creating a lot of losses, both real and fake,” tax lawyer Steve Rosenthal of the Tax Policy Center said. “From a tax standpoint he’s often underwater, but that’s an artifact of the tax system and not so much real.” Rosenthal calls Trump’s financial statements “tax-aggressive.”

Two New York Times exposés, based on 20 years of Trump’s financial data leaked by his niece Mary Trump, detailed many possible instances of tax fraud. The New York State attorney general is suing Trump for a variety of “dubious tax schemes … including instances of outright fraud.” One practice under scrutiny is valuing properties sharply lower in tax filings than in other business documents. Tax experts studying the two Congressional reports point out several red flags suggesting fraud, including undocumented charitable donations and payments to family members that might actually be gifts.

Trump has repeatedly derided probes of his finances as politically motivated “witch hunts,” and described himself as “smart” for using tax breaks to boost his take-home pay. Yet he never released his tax returns, even though he pledged to do so many times. The Internal Revenue Service is supposed to audit the tax returns of every president, but it never finished an audit of Trump while he was president. There’s evidence Trump or his advisers pressured the IRS to back off.

Trump does earn substantial amounts of money, though the exact sources of his income aren’t defined in the two Congressional overview reports. From 2015 through 2020, for instance, Trump earned $59 million in interest and dividend payments, ranging from a low of $6.8 million in 2017 to a high of $11.4 million in 2019. Most of that income is from interest payments, though it’s not clear if that is simple interest on financial assets or something more complex.

From 2015 through 2019, Trump earned $86 million in capital gains. The source of these gains isn’t clear, but it’s well known that Trump makes a lot of money by licensing his name for use on commercial properties and other types of products. There’s no capital gain listed for 2020, for reasons unknown.

For most Americans, the main source of income is wages, otherwise known as the paycheck you earn for going to a job. Not Trump. His wage income was $14,141 in 2015 and a paltry $978 in 2016. Once he became president, his wage income jumped to nearly $400,000, because of his presidential salary. Trump said he didn’t need the money and would donate his presidential pay to various federal agencies.

Add it up, and Trump’s income from those sources was about $147 million for those six years, or $24.6 million per year. That would have placed Trump among the top 0.1% of earners and garnered a tax bill of millions each year.

Yet Trump paid just $1.8 million in income taxes, or $300,000 per year. As a percentage of those three income sources, that’s just 1.2%. In 2020, Trump paid no income tax. In 2016 and 2017, he paid just $750. President Joe Biden, by comparison, paid $150,000 on $568,000 in income in 2021, for an effective tax rate of 26%.

Unlike most people, Trump uses massive losses to whittle his tax bill to nearly nothing. Offsetting his $147 million in income for those six years is $221 million in losses, for net income during those six years of -$52 million, or a loss of around $8.7 million per year. But Trump almost certainly does not end up $8.7 million poorer every year, as the numbers suggest. Instead, he spreads business losses across many years, as the tax code allows, to offset income in years when he may have endured no losses at all.

Some of those business losses are doubtless legit. Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, for instance, reportedly lost $70 million during the four years he was president. Those losses could help offset Trump’s income for years into the future, keeping his tax bill low. Trump, who takes pride in his business acumen, says the report of losses is not accurate, but his company is private and doesn’t have to report its numbers publicly.

The biggest question regarding Trump’s taxes is whether he overstates or invents business losses to avoid paying taxes even more. There are many ways Trump could do this, such as inflating the cost of maintenance or other expenses at his properties or using loans as income and then defaulting on them. Trump’s finances are housed in a trust that includes more than 500 business entities, making his tax reporting extremely complex. Many tax experts say an underfunded IRS is woefully outgunned against wealthy filers like Trump whose lawyers and accountants can create endless streams of money to follow and simply exhaust IRS auditors.

One of the Congressional reports, by the Joint Committee on Taxation, raised a slew of questions about the IRS’s deferential handling of Trump’s tax filings while Trump was president. The committee criticized the IRS for accepting the accuracy of Trump’s filings without question and for failing to appoint specialists to examine unusual elements of Trump’s returns. The committee also listed several red-flag items the IRS should examine more closely, including the validity of a $105 million loss carried over from one year to another and unsubstantiated charitable deductions of at least $21 million.

The House Ways and Means Committee says it will soon release Trump’s complete returns for 2015 through 2020, which will give tax sleuths reams of information that will help piece together Trump’s broader tax strategy. Those returns will most likely list the sources for all of his claimed business losses, which will help establish whether they’re legitimate or not.

The publication of Trump’s tax returns, which took years and involved several court challenges, is a political bonanza for Democrats, who certainly don’t mind embarrassing Trump just as his political fortunes are dimming. But Trump’s tax controversies also highlight some gaps Congress could close if it chooses to act. One thing Congress could do is pass a law requiring the IRS to audit every president's tax returns, instead of merely abiding by internal policy that any given president could push back on. The House of Representatives quickly passed such a bill on Dec. 22, but the Senate is unlikely to get to it this year, which means a reboot for the measure in 2023. Trump’s taxes also revive important questions of tax fairness, such as the lower tax rates on capital gains that are the main source of income for many wealthy people than on the labor income middle-class workers rely on.

The Trump returns also make public the fact that Trump has probably enjoyed very favorable IRS treatment for years, probably well before he became president. That doesn’t mean anybody will necessarily prosecute Trump for tax fraud, but the IRS is now in the position of having to prove it’s not a lapdog that rolls over when an insistent president puts on the pressure. The IRS will now appoint all the specialists necessary to properly audit Trump’s complicated returns, which could cost Trump a lot of money if the agency disallows millions in deductions. Trump will never be poor, but he always knew that a public glimpse at his tax returns would make him less rich.

Pope warns Vatican staff an 'elegant demon' lurks among them




Vatican Pope Francis arrives for an audience with Vatican's employees in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. 

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)


NICOLE WINFIELD
Thu, December 22, 2022 at 2:51 AM MST·4 min read

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.

Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to again put the cardinals, bishops and priests who work in the Holy See on notice that they are by no means beyond reproach and are, in fact, particularly vulnerable to evil.

Francis told them that by living in the heart of the Catholic Church, “we could easily fall into the temptation of thinking we are safe, better than others, no longer in need of conversion.”

“Yet we are in greater danger than all others, because we are beset by the 'elegant demon,' who does not make a loud entrance, but comes with flowers in his hand,” Francis told the churchmen in the Hall of Blessings of the Apostolic Palace.

Francis has long used his Christmas address for an annual dressing down of Vatican bureaucrats, taking them through a typical Jesuit-style “examination of conscience” to help them repent in the run-up to Christmas.

His most blistering critique came in 2014, when he listed the “15 ailments of the Curia” that some suffered, including the “terrorism of gossip,” ″spiritual Alzheimer’s” and of living “hypocritical” double lives. The following year, Francis offered an antidote to the sins by listing the “catalog of virtues” he hoped they would instead follow, including honesty, humility and sobriety.

This year was similar in tone, and Francis reprised his critique of forms of abuse that even religious people use against one another.

"There isn't only the violence of weapons, there is verbal violence, psychological violence, the violence of abuse of power, the hidden violence of gossip," Francis said, in a possible reference to a new case of abuse of authority that is roiling his own Jesuit order. “Don't take advantage of your own position and role to mortify the other."

Beyond that, Francis appeared to also want to take broader aim at arch-conservatives and traditionalists who have become the pope's biggest critics. Francis blasted their way of living the faith, insisting that being Catholic doesn't mean following a never-changing set of dicta but is rather a “process of understanding Christ’s message that never ends, but constantly challenges us."

“True heresy consists not only in preaching another gospel, as Saint Paul told us, but also in ceasing to translate its message into today’s languages and ways of thinking,” Francis said.

Traditionalist Catholics have denounced Francis’ emphasis on mercy and openness to doctrinal wiggle room on issues such as sacraments for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Some have even gone so far as to accuse him of heresy for some of his gestures and preaching, including allowing “pagan” statues in the Vatican.

Francis dedicated the bulk of his speech this year to the need to be vigilant about the work of the devil, picking up a theme he recently discussed during his weekly catechism lessons with the general public.

He told the Vatican bureaucrats it’s not enough to merely condemn evil or root it out, since it often comes back in different guises, stronger than before. Francis used the term “we” repeatedly, suggesting he includes himself among those in the Vatican who must remain mindful of the devil in their midst.

“Before, it appeared rough and violent, now it shows up as elegant and refined,” he warned. “We need to realize that and once again to unmask it. That is how these ‘elegant demons’ are: they enter smoothly, without our even being conscious of them," he said.

Francis told the story of a 17th century convent in Port Royal, France, where the superior, Mother Angelique, had charismatically reformed herself and her monastery after evil crept in, but the devil came back in the form of a rigid faith.

“They had cast out the demon, but he had returned seven times stronger, and under the guise of austerity and rigor, he had introduced rigidity and the presumption that they were better than others,” Francis warned.

Some of Francis' critics themselves were in the audience along with his supporters. Returning to the annual Christmas ceremony was Cardinal Angelo Becciu, whom Francis fired in 2020 and stripped of his rights as a cardinal after the pope accused him of financial misconduct.

Becciu is currently on trial, along with nine other people, in the Vatican criminal court and denies wrongdoing. Francis recently allowed him to resume participating in Vatican ceremonies, a sign the pope thinks he perhaps jumped the gun in sanctioning Becciu before a court ruled on his guilt or innocence.

Pope denounces psychological abuse as Jesuit case rocks Church


Pope delivers Christmas message to workers at the Vatican

Thu, December 22, 2022 
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Thursday denounced psychological violence and abuse of power in the Church, as the case of a prominent priest accused of exploiting his authority to sexually abuse nuns has rocked the Vatican.

The 86-year-old pope made his comments in his annual Christmas address to cardinals, bishops and other members of the Curia, the central administration of the Vatican.

Francis has often used the occasion to decry perceived flaws in the top bureaucracy, such as gossip, cliques and infighting.

After mentioning wars, the pope said: "Besides the violence of arms, there is also verbal violence, psychological violence, the violence of the abuse of power, the hidden violence of gossip."

He added that no one should "profit from his or her position and role in order to demean others".

Although he did not specifically refer to this, the Jesuit order, of which the pope is a member, has been rattled in recent weeks by the case of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, a Slovenian priest known in the Church for his artwork, including the designing of a chapel in the Vatican.

Rupnik has been accused of psychologically and sexually abusing nuns in Slovenia three decades ago while he was the spiritual director of their convent there.

Repeated attempts to reach Rupnik through his school for religious art in Rome have not been not successful and he did not respond to messages left there.

Under pressure from the media, the Jesuits acknowledged earlier this month that Rupnik was disciplined at least twice in recent years as alleged victims came forward but was quietly pardoned by the Vatican's doctrinal office.

One case involved the "absolution of an accomplice" in confession, referring to when a priest has sex with someone and then absolves the person of the sin.

One former nun has accused him of exercising "psycho-spiritual" control over her.

The Jesuits have effectively reopened the case, posting a letter on their website on Sunday asking anyone wishing to make new complaints or discuss existing ones to contact them.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry)

 

West Point moves to vanquish Confederate symbols from campus

This photo provided by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York shows the three bronze panels at one of the entrances to Bartlett Hall, at West Point, that depicts the history of the United States. A commission created by Congress recommended that multiple historical reminders tied to Confederate officers during the Civil War be removed — many honoring Robert E. Lee, one of the academy's most famous graduates. And in the coming days, the U.S. Military Academy will begin taking down memorials commemorating figures of the Confederacy. 

(U.S. Military Academy at West Point via AP, File)


BOBBY CAINA CALVAN
Thu, December 22, 2022 

NEW YORK (AP) — Before turning against the U.S. military to command the Confederate army, Robert E. Lee served as the superintendent of West Point, the hallowed military academy that produced patriots like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower.

But in the coming days, the storied academy will take down a portrait of Lee dressed in his Confederate uniform from its library, where it has been hanging since the 1950s and place it in storage. It will also remove the stone bust of the Civil War's top southern general at Reconciliation Plaza. And Lee’s quote about honor will be stripped from the academy’s Honor Plaza.

The moves are part of a Department of Defense directive issued in October ordering the academy to address racial injustice and do away with installations that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.”

That includes a trio of bronze panels, measuring 11 feet tall and 5 feet wide, that depict significant events and figures in U.S. history, including Benjamin Franklin and Clara Barton. But the oversized plaques, dedicated in 1965, not only featured Lee and other supporters of the Confederacy but an image of an armed man in a hood, with “Ku Klux Klan” written below.

The congressional Naming Commission, which initiated the changes at the academy, noted "there are clearly ties in the KKK to the Confederacy.”

In a message posted on the academy's website, Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, the academy's superintendent, said it would begin complying with the commission's recommendations during the holiday break.

“We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” he said.

The United States Military Academy, as West Point is officially known, was established in 1809 along the bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York.

The school has about 4,600 cadets, two-thirds of them white and about 13% Black, according to federal data.

West Point was not the only installation under scrutiny by the congressional commission. It also recommended that eight other installations address symbols of the racist past.

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, renamed buildings and roads that memorialized Confederate admirals or those who sought to perpetuate Black enslavement.

More than a half-dozen of the commission’s recommendations for West Point involve Lee, who graduated second in his class in 1829 and later served as superintendent.

The commission recommended that Lee Barracks, Lee Road, Lee Gate, Lee Housing Area and Lee Area Child Development Center all be renamed.

The report said Lee’s armies “were responsible for the deaths of more United States soldiers than practically any other enemy in our nation’s history.”

Two other Confederate officers in the commission’s crosshairs were West Point grads P.G.T. Beauregard and William Hardee. The panel called for Beauregard Place and Hardee Place to be renamed.

It was not until the early 1930s when West Point began installing Confederate memorials, the commission noted, saying it did so under pressure from the revisionist “Lost Cause” movement that sought to recast the causes of the Civil War and depict those who fought for the Confederacy as deserving of honor for their sacrifices.

ZIONIST ETHNIC CLEANSING

Watchdog: Under 1% of Israel army probes yield prosecution


 Mourners carry the body of Tarek al-Damj during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Israeli forces killed Palestinians Atta Shalabi, Tarek al-Damj, and Sedki Zakarneh, during a raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1% of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, arguing Israel's military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of itself. 

(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)More

ISABEL DEBRE
Thu, December 22, 2022

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1% of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported. The watchdog argued that Israel's military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of itself.

Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli military received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, including 409 cases involving the killing of Palestinians, according to military data obtained by the group Yesh Din and released Wednesday after a freedom of information request.

The Israeli military opened 248 criminal investigations into instances of possible misconduct in response to those complaints — just 21.4% of the total, Yesh Din said. Only 11 investigations during that five year period have yielded indictments. In those cases, Israel’s military prosecutors acted with leniency toward convicted soldiers, the group added, with those sentenced for killing Palestinians serving only short-term military community service.

“This conduct demonstrates the military law enforcement system’s complete disregard for Palestinians’ lives (and) precludes any possibility of deterrence,” Yesh Din said.

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli military contended there had been more charges filed against soldiers than Yesh Din had reported, with a total of 31 indictments lodged during the five-year period for offenses also involving the use of weapons, property damage and violence against Palestinians.

“It should be noted that the majority of the proceedings ended in a punishment that includes actual imprisonment, in accordance with the general punishment policy,” the military said.

Rights groups and critics long have alleged Israeli military investigations into the killings of Palestinians reflect a pattern of impunity. B’Tselem, a leading Israeli watchdog, grew so frustrated with the system that in 2016 it dismissed the probes as a whitewash and halted its decades-long practice of assisting investigations.

The Israeli army says it has proved that its investigations are independent and professional. It attributed the many challenges to “a lack of cooperation on the part of the complainants.”

"The likelihood of discovering the truth is directly impacted by the lack of cooperation," it said.

The 1,260 complaints lodged against the military by victims, lawyers, the Justice Ministry and others reflected just a fraction of the incidents that occurred in the occupied West Bank and Gaza over the years. B’Tselem has reported that Israeli security forces killed 819 Palestinians between 2017 and 2021, including in conflicts with Gaza militant groups. Just 117 of those deaths prompted investigations, Yesh Din said.

Violence has surged this year in the West Bank as Israel conducts daily arrest raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks this past spring that killed 19 people in Israel. At least 150 Palestinians have been killed, making 2022 the deadliest in 16 years. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Yesh Din pointed out that the military prosecutors mainly take action in obvious episodes that have been caught on camera or have already drawn condemnation.

For instance, soldiers who were secretly filmed beating two young Palestinian men and threatening to shoot one of them in the head were suspended from duty after the video was posted on TikTok last August. Prosecutors swiftly opened an investigation and are still determining whether to press charges.

When soldiers were caught on camera slashing the tires of Palestinian cars in May 2021, they were demoted, sentenced to military community service and suspended prison terms and ordered to pay a fine.

In a case that has attracted intense scrutiny, soldiers temporarily zip-tied and gagged a 78-year-old Palestinian-American after detaining him in the West Bank earlier this year. He was later found dead, after troops untied him and left without providing medical care. The military said it is considering filing charges against two soldiers over his death.

Critics have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of using excessive firepower in the 2021 Gaza war and the military's killing of Palestinian protesters along the Gaza Strip's separation fence with Israel in 2018 and 2019. Israel blames the Hamas militant group for civilian casualties, saying the militant group uses residential areas for cover and civilians as human shields.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague launched an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories last year. Although Israel does not recognize the court’s authority, the court can pursue cases if it finds Israel unwilling or unable to carry out justice.

“The few indictments that were filed ... allow the military to maintain the illusion that it is a law-abiding system and deflect outside criticism,” Yesh Din said.

Long-cut phones ring again in Ethiopia's Tigray, bring grief




 Displaced Tigrayans look out from a balcony next to washed clothes as women prepare "Injera" flatbread in a courtyard below, at the Hadnet General Secondary School which has become a makeshift home to thousands displaced by the conflict, in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Wednesday, May 5, 2021. For a year and a half, phone calls to people trying to survive one of the world’s worst conflicts didn’t go through. Now, as phone lines start to be restored to parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region after a fragile peace deal, some Tigrayans are relieved while others grieve. Some say they dread receiving calls, saying they want to hear their families' voices but don't want to learn that people have died.

Wed, December 21, 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — For a year and a half, phone calls to people trying to survive one of the world’s worst wars didn’t go through. Now, as phone lines start to be restored to parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region after a fragile peace deal, some Tigrayans are relieved while others grieve.

“I have been dreading receiving phone calls,” said a Tigrayan living in Norway, who like others spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals against his relatives. “You want to speak to your family, but you don’t know what kind of stories you will hear, in terms of who is still alive.”

The conflict between Ethiopian and allied forces against the Tigray side is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people since late 2020, according to the United Nations and the United States, citing academic research. The U.N. secretary-general has said more people have died in this conflict than in Ukraine’s.

Only now are many Tigrayans starting to learn the fate of loved ones as phone lines are reconnected in some areas that have returned to the control of Ethiopia’s federal government.

On Dec. 10, the Tigrayan in Norway spoke with his father and siblings in the central town of Adwa for the first time since June 2021.

“I didn’t know if they were still alive, so it was a shock to hear their voices,” he said. “I didn’t know where to start. I had to hang up and call them back later. ... It was really special.”

Yet the call also brought painful news: His family told him seven neighbors in their home village 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Adwa had been killed after Ethiopian and allied forces from neighboring Eritrea took control of the area in October, just days before the peace deal was signed.

In recent days, social media has been flooded by posts from Tigrayans who say they have learned of the deaths of loved ones. The most prominent was World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“I was informed that my uncle was murdered by the Eritrean army,” he told journalists last week. “I spoke to my mother, and she was really devastated because he was the youngest from their family and he was almost the same age as me, a young uncle.”

Tigray’s phone, internet and banking services were first cut for the region of more than 5 million people when the conflict began. They were restored in some areas in early 2021 as the federal government attempted to assert control but cut again when Tigray forces recaptured most of the region in June 2021.

The communications blackout is “the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown,” according to internet rights group Access Now. Ethiopia’s government, which has barred journalists from traveling to Tigray, asserts that the shutdown is necessary for security.

Human rights experts have said the blackout has helped fuel abuses by troops confident their crimes will not reach the outside world. All sides have been accused of atrocities, notably Eritrea’s forces, who waged a campaign of killings, gang rapes and enforced starvation and remain in parts of Tigray. Eritrea was not a party to the peace deal and remains a major challenge to its implementation.

The terms of the deal signed in South Africa on Nov. 2 commit Ethiopia’s government to restoring basic services to Tigray. Humanitarian aid is again arriving after months of restrictions, and several places have been reconnected to the national power grid. Limited banking services returned in some places this week.

But areas under Tigray forces’ control, like the regional capital of Mekele, are still cut off by phone from the outside world. And even in areas where phone lines have been restored, the connection is unstable, with calls often not going through.

A Tigrayan living in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, said he spoke with his father in the Tigray town of Shire last Friday. It was the first time they had spoken since May 2021.

“We were very worried about our families, so talking to him was very good,” he said. “At the same time, we are very sad to hear some of our relatives died in the war. It is not full happiness. I found out two people had died from my father. One could not find medicine, the other he didn’t tell me. It was very difficult to ask him that.”

Meanwhile, Tigrayans with family in areas still under Tigray forces’ control are still waiting to hear from relatives, with anticipation mixed with dread.

“The peace is good, but I still haven’t been able to talk to my parents,” said a Tigrayan civil servant in Addis Ababa. “They live around Adigrat and Zalambessa. There were many Eritrean troops there, so I fear what happened to them during the recent fighting.”

Lula to appoint Prates as Petrobras CEO, transition team sources

Brazil's President-elect Lula speaks in Sao Paulo


Thu, December 22, 2022
By Marta Nogueira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will appoint Senator Jean Paul Prates of his Workers Party to be the next chief executive of state-run oil company Petrobras, a member of his transition team said on Thursday.

Lula announced 15 appointments for his future cabinet on Thursday and said his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, will double as industry and trade minister.

Deyvid Bacelar, head of oil workers' union FUP, said on social media that Lula had picked Prates based on the labor group's recommendations. He added that Senator Alexandre Silveira would be chosen to be mines and energy minister.

Later, Bacelar deleted his social media post.

A source close to the talks told Reuters that Prates was indeed Lula's pick to head Petrobras, but it was decided that the announcement would be delayed for political reasons.

"He still has edges to smooth in the ministries and it causes strife," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The source added Bacelar had to delete the post because he "made an unauthorized announcement."

Silveira said in an interview he had not yet been offered the job, but was willing to accept any role Lula offered him.

The transition team, Prates and Petrobras did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prates, already seen as a strong candidate for the job after being appointed to the transition team's mining and energy group, had previously said the incoming government would not have an interventionist stance on Petrobras.

"I think Prates is a good choice. I like him very much," said Bento Albuquerque, a former mines and energy minister under outgoing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula narrowly defeated in the October elections.

"He's not radical and knows about the oil and gas sector."

Preferred shares of the oil company rose more than 2% after Bacelar's post, outperforming Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa <.BVSP>, before ceding half the gain.

Market participants have been showing concern over how the Lula administration might run Petrobras, with shares in the firm down more than 15% since his election victory.

Prates, however, said last month that the incoming government had no intention of causing a "breakdown" of the company and that everything would be discussed with investors.

CABINET APPOINTMENTS

Lula said economist Esther Dweck would lead a newly created Management Ministry that will be responsible for efficient government and innovation, while business-friendly congressman Alexandre Padilha was appointed to be institutional affairs minister, dealing with political relations with Congress.

Among the half-dozen women appointed to his future cabinet, Lula named Anielle Franco, the sister of Rio de Janeiro city counselor Marielle Franco — whose murder in 2018 has yet to be solved — to be minister of racial equality.

For health minister, Lula picked Nisia Trindade, head of the country's main biomedical research center Fiocruz that produced the COVID vaccine developed by British drug maker AstraZeneca and Oxford university.

Lula still has to announce almost half of the positions on his planned 37-member cabinet. He said he would do that next week, before he takes office on Jan. 1.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira, Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan, Andrea Ricci and Richard Chang)