Author of “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” and “The Lost City of Z” ; The New Yorker
Staff writer for the New Yorker; author of “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” and “The Lost City of Z”
'He pushed himself against obliterating conditions' -- one man's trans-Antarctic journey In 2015, retired British Army officer Henry Worsley tried to walk from one end of Antarctica to the other -- alone, with no support. He pulled his 325 pound sled of provisions by his waist. Sometimes on skis, sometimes by foot, he made his way across more than 900 miles. He was 55 years old. Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton, Eric Marshall, and Jameson Adams on the deck of the Nimrod. In 1909, they made it to within 97 miles of the South Pole. Credit: Royal Geographic Society. Ernest Shackleton’s ship the Endurance. In 1915, the ship became encased in ice and sank into the Weddell Sea, leaving the crew marooned. Photo by Frank Hurley. Henry and Joanna Worsley at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington DC in 2015. Photograph courtesy Joanna Worsley. Writer David Grann. Photo courtesy of the New Yorker. Joanna, Max, and Alicia Worsley travelled to South Georgia Island in 2017. Photograph by Roger Pimenta. Henry Worsley called Joanna and said, “I’m having a cup of tea and I’m going to be fine.” Photograph courtesy Joanna Worsley.
Osage tribe got rich from oil, became targets of murder conspiracy President Thomas Jefferson once called the Osage Indians “the great nation.” That was before he pushed them off their ancestral land in the central part of America. They lost about 100 million acres. They were forced to move again in the late 19th century. So they bought some rocky, supposedly worthless land in what is now Oklahoma. There turned out to be oil in those hills that made the Osage wealthy. They became targets of one of the most shocking murder plots in American history.
Osage tribe got rich from oil, became targets of murder conspiracy President Thomas Jefferson once called the Osage Indians “the great nation.” That was before he pushed them off their ancestral land in the central part of America. They lost about 100 million acres. They were forced to move again in the late 19th century. So they bought some rocky, supposedly worthless land in what is now Oklahoma. There turned out to be oil in those hills that made the Osage wealthy. They became targets of one of the most shocking murder plots in American history.
Texas Death Row Innocence Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of killing his three daughters in Texas in 1992. He was charged with setting a house fire that killed the girls. And he was executed for the crime in 2004. But a jailhouse informant who was instrumental in convicting Willingham has now recanted his testimony. And the fire science used to convict him has since been debunked.
Capital Punishment, Due Process and the Constitution Three young children died in a house fire in Corsicana, Texas in 1991. In a two-day trial, their father was convicted of murdering them by setting the fire. Just before he was scheduled for execution in 2004, an independent investigator reported that the fire was caused by accident, not by arson as Cameron Todd Willingham's jury was told. He was executed anyway, and since then two more investigations have found no evidence of arson. One was commissioned by the State of Texas. Did the state execute an innocent man?
Capital Punishment, Due Process and the Constitution Three young children died in a house fire in Corsicana, Texas in 1991. In a two-day trial, their father, Cameron Todd Willingham, was convicted of murdering them by setting the fire. Just before he was scheduled for execution in 2004, an independent investigator reported that the fire was caused by accident, not by arson as Willingham's jury had been told. He was executed anyway. Since then two more investigations have found no evidence of arson. One was commissioned by the State of Texas. Did the state execute an innocent man? If the evidence was faulty, does the Constitution require that his life must be saved, or does his "full and free trial" justify the death penalty anyway?
Why did Jared Kushner want a back channel with Russians? News broke Friday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, tried setting up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government. What are the consequences for Kushner, President Trump, and the investigation into Russian meddling?
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.
Why is Trump so behind on filling staff jobs, establishing concrete policies? Yesterday Donald Trump signed a “decision memo” to revamp the air traffic control system. But there was little legislative detail in the plan. There’s not much to other splashy announcements from the White House, including tax cuts and the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And hundreds of positions are unfilled in federal agencies.