Richard Hall
@_RichardHall
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Senior Correspondent with @Independent writing about foreign policy, politics, extremism, Americana, and everything in between. Former MidEast correspondent.
New York
Joined December 2008
I humbly submit these 1,600 words on the Four Seasons Total Landscaping event to the historical record. This is my eyewitness account of a day that will forever live in infamy.
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This is news hyperinflation. Journalists are wandering around with wheelbarrows full of news but it's all worthless because it now costs one million news to buy a loaf of bread.
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Again: In a densely populated city like Beirut, this kind of bombing is indiscriminate.
💥What people in Dahiye, southern Beirut, are living through.
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I visited the Gaza solidarity camp at Columbia yesterday and wanted to share a few .very brief observations. First, it's one of the most highly organised student protests I've ever seen. They have media and de-escalation training, a nutzone to protest students with allergies.
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“Where were you when the infamously grueling 2020 presidential race was called?”. “Four Seasons Total Landscaping.”.
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I’ve arrived at Four Seasons Landscaping. It’s next to an adult book store called Fantasy Island.
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Zelenskyy gives live address to massive anti-war demonstration in Georgia (and several other European cities I believe). Have you ever seen anything like this?.
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I came to Four Seasons Total Landscaping to see if the president’s lawyers would offer any evidence of the fraud they have been alleging. They haven’t. So I’m leaving.
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Almost every student I interviewed at Columbia spoke about how they woke up every morning to graphic images of Gazans being bombed, with US support, and could not accept that this was normal. A lot of boomers are trying to assuage their guilt for not speaking out against these.
With many of these college protests, I wonder how much they are drawing attention to the plight of Gazans versus to themselves, and distracting from those with real struggles in a real war zone to advocate anti-Israel, anti-Semitic platforms.
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As Angela Merkel leaves office, I get to share my favourite photograph again. In November 1990, a 36-year-old Merkel campaigns on the Baltic coast in Germany's first election after reunification. She reportedly drank five schnapps with them.
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I hadn’t loaded up TikTok today, but the kids over there are writing folk songs about the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination.
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We’re now queuing up to go inside Four Seasons Total Landscaping to hear from the president’s lawyers, as we appear close to a call from Pennsylvania which could decide the election, is a sentence I’d never thought I would write.
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It's a multi-faith protest. Despite the claims that the protest is an anti-Semitic hell-hole, I met plenty of Jewish students taking part who completely rejected the notion.
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Ian Bremmer two days ago: Assad will not fall. Ian Bremmer today: Let me explain how we got here.
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The BBC reports on what appears to be an attempt by the IDF to rearrange guns and equipment they found in al-Shifa Hospital for embedded media.
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One thing I found interesting was that the protest organisers studied the Columbia archives to learn from the 1968 protest movement. They copied their tactics and later invited some 1968 vets to campus. Story on that here: .
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News filtering through here that the race has been called. Some press are leaving.
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I joined the Facebook group of a small town in east Texas for a story last year. It's extremely pro-Trump, Dems are communists etc. Today, it lit up with discussion about AOC's fundraising & visit. There's the usual crazies, but also a genuine push back I haven't seen before.
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Absolute scenes. A woman celebrating Biden’s win, cheering Black Lives Matter, just drove past Trump supporters gathered outside.
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This is a stunning piece of journalism and reinforces just how close we came to seeing lawmakers lynched.
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The first poll watcher says he was told to stand 20 feet away. This appears to be the entirety of the legal complaint here. This is very thin.
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There is a very real possibility we have a made for Hollywoood moment when the world’s press starts filtering out of this press conference because the race has been called.
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It's quite clear what happened: Just outside the university gates, a semi-regular crowd of quite unwell people who have nothing to do with the Columbia protest have gathered with the explicit aim of getting on TV. Press show up and film them, use the footage to smear the students.
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These aren't radicals. As someone told me the other day: "It's a bunch of nerds sitting on the ground praying, chanting and doing homework.". They are still going to classes.
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Richie Torres explaining Jesus to the Pope is the funniest thing I’ve seen today.
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If they had found Nancy Pelosi they would have killed her. It’s that simple.
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I called the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia to check and the press conference really is being held at a landscaping company.
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"Tell journalist nothing" — email from an MP, mistakenly sent to me, in response to questions I had sent.
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View of the crowd here in Sanford, Florida. Trump’s first rally since being infected with Covid-19. Crowd is not socially distanced and lots of people with no masks.
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Exclusive: Carter Centre to launch first-ever US election initiative, citing "erosion" of democracy in the country. The organisation, founded by Carter, monitors elections in hotspots around the world. This is the first time it has worked in the US.
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Fact check: The disagreement in Philly was over the distance poll watchers could stand away from the counting. This is nonsense so far.
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Giuliani claims poll watchers weren’t allowed close enough. So far not produced any evidence of voter fraud.
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This is the scene outside Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
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If they don’t start this soon there might not be any press left here to cover it. Journalists keep leaving.
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He says people behind him are poll watchers who will testify they were blocked from watching votes (this is false).
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Bad reporting like this convinced people that the Columbia protesters are anti-Semitic crazies. This person has nothing to do with Columbia, is a well-known agitator. And yet a journo snaps a pic outside the gates and uses it to smear the students inside.
One sign here at the Columbia protest. This man is ranting about Jews controlling the universe. He has a black face mask on.
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Is Donald Trump convening the world's press at a small landscaping company on the outskirts of Philadelphia?
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Here’s an interview with a Columbia protester named Ava where she talks about why she’s there, anti-Semitism, and the historical echoes of this movement.
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There was “zero security” “people have no assurance those ballots were actually cast.” This is not true. Republicans and Democrats monitored the entire process.
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Sorry but this is objectively worse than anything revealed in the Hunter Biden leaks so far.
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We’re now about to hear from @CLewandowski_ moments after Joe Biden has been projected to become the next president.
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Outside the press conference here a man in his underpants (dressed as sleepy Joe) shouts “George Soros” at Biden supporters across the road.
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To Americans trying to judge the scale of the political scandal currently gripping the UK: the civil service Twitter account has gone rogue and JK Rowling just deployed "utter fuckweasel." This is code red.
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Rudy Giuliani is here. “I’m here to describe to you the first part of a situation that is very troubling.”
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These kids literally studied the Columbia archives from 1968, they reached out to protest vets, and now they are occupying the same buildings they did. Read our piece from last week on how the Columbia protesters are taking inspiration from 1968.
An anti-war movement is spreading on college campuses across America and beyond. Protests have been met with police violence, mass arrests and an unbending political class — all of which have only fuelled the demonstrations further. A hot summer of protest looms, and the stage is
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At this very moment, Kurdish fighters are engaged in a fierce battle for the last stretch of land under Isis control. Hundreds have been killed, and it's not yet over. They are likely hearing the news that US is withdrawing now. Surreal.
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Uh oh, Biden is mad in private again.
🚨🚨🇺🇸🇮🇱Scoop: White House cancels meeting with Israel, scolds Netanyahu in protest over accusations video. My story on @axios .
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Dead.
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His soul leaves his body around 2m20.
wow -- Dana Bash with a brutal fact-check of JD Vance after Vance smears *legal* Haitian immigrants in Springfield with debunked claims. Vance responds by calling what she said "disgusting" as Bash looks shocked at him making it personal.
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Legacy media spent the first week of the Columbia protests calling students raging anti-Semites, and then they act surprised when no one trusts them enough to talk. And just as an aside: If you're a journalist who can't convince people to talk, that's a you problem.
When protests are not about actually explaining your cause or trying to engage journalists who are there to listen. @Peggynoonannyc describes her visit to Columbia before the raid.
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Elon Musk, the guy who posited there would be "close to zero new cases" of the coronavirus in the US by the end of April, is currently mansplaining the pandemic to a virologist and Associate Research Scientist at the Center of Infection and Immunity at Columbia University.
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Press waiting here alongside a handful of Trump supporters as each news org is called inside. They boo when they hear name of news org they don’t like.
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Uber Eats just gave my exact real-time location (assassination coordinates) to one of their drivers.
@micsolana They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.
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There are only two reasons why 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate would be stored in a warehouse in Beirut's port for a prolonged period of time. One is negligence, the other is corruption. Lebanon's ruling class have been killing their citizens with both for decades.
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That the mass bombing of a densely populated capital city by a US ally has barely elicited barely a whisper of concern from the White House is a fitting end to Biden’s presidency. His inaction has cost the lives of thousands.
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You can judge the mood of the two opposing camps here in Philly in this short clip.
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“Joe Frazier is still voting here” says Rudy. “Also Will Smith’s father voted here twice since he died.”.
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There are plenty of negative comments, as you can imagine. Like, it's hurting people's brains. But that's normal. What's different is the push back.
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Raheem Smith, a friend of George Floyd’s, at his public memorial in Houston today. #georgefloyd
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None of this needed to happen. The president's fecklessness has unleashed absolute chaos.
* US forces fired on “danger close” .* Female politician brutally murdered.* Turkish forces operating well outside “security mechanism” area .* Increasingly impossible for US forces to remain in Syria at all .* No plan to take care of anyone who worked with us . Total disaster.
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A not insignificant number of journalists in Beirut had their homes blown up today and then went out to report. Proud to call them friends and colleagues.
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The best thing about this tweet is he reference to a description of himself as the “worst Secretary of State in history” as if it's some kind of petty, personal insult, rather than an assessment of his performance in the most important job he'll ever have.
We’ve been called all kinds of names. They try to cancel us. The New York Times even called me the “worst Secretary of State in history.”. I wear it as a badge of honor. I will never stop speaking the truth and fighting to defend our freedoms. Neither should you.
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When Gen Z Donovan is singing about a murder like this, it’s clear that many people are viewing it as a political act.
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Musk says his Spaces is failing because of a “DDOS attack” and Trump says because it has been “overwhelmed with listeners.” . A perfect insight into both of their minds.
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A little insight into what happens in the Oval Office every day. Sycophantic staff produce misleading charts to keep the president happy, leaving him detached from reality. Meanwhile, he is making decisions that could mean life or death for people across the country.
"Ready? Will you please get me the mortality rate? Kayleigh is right here. I heard we have the best mortality rate" - the WH just flat out made up a chart to create a false impression that the US has the best mortality rate in the world during Trump's interview w/ Chris Wallace
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People in Beirut are going to bed tonight in homes with no windows, no electricity and no one coming to help.
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Your daily reminder that Glenn Greenwald's tweets generally have a shelf life of a few hours.
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Senior advisor in EU parliament says fighter jets for Ukraine will be in the sky within the hour. Support is arriving at an astonishing speed.
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Thalia and Melissa came all the way from California for the Inauguration. They can’t get inside so are watching on their phone. “We’re Mexican-American, female and gay. So it’s been a real scary time to be honest,” said Melissa. “It’s nice to be able to breathe,” added Thalia.
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They both spent time in a bunker. One while London was being bombed, the other when some teenagers with signs showed up.
Here's Kayleigh McEnany comparing Trump's bizarre Bible photo op to Churchill's leadership during World War 2
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Protect this man at all costs.
How one man in Egypt is keeping this 200-year-old tile tradition alive
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Just a casual chat about ethnic cleansing.
Erodgan, talking about northeast Syria with TRT yesterday, said: "The most suitable for this area are Arabs. These areas are not suitable for the lifestyle of Kurds.". Asked, in what way? "Because these are virtually desert regions.". via @AliKucukgocmen.
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Help! I’m being oppressed by a small piece of cloth!.
Today we sent a loud clear message to Pelosi. Her tyrannical rule is not welcomed in the people’s House!
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Donald Trump Jr’s first comment since the raid on Mar-A-Lago.
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The weird thing about Fetterman’s extreme support for Israel’s war on Gaza is that there is no substance behind them. He has no real knowledge of the history, of the places or the people he’s talking about. When he’s asked for an explanation he refuses.
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Life. finds a way.
Banning laughing gas will "put an end to hoards of youths loitering in parks" says Suella Braverman in the commons. Will it?.
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Every Syrian I’m following is counting the miles to Saydnaya prison - more so than Damascus proper. It’s truly that horrific.
BREAKING NEWS: The Free Syrian Army is only 3 km away from the world’s worst prison, known as the human slaughterhouse: Saydnaya Prison.
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This is in a county where Trump won 82% of the vote in November.
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All left wing podcasts are created with the ultimate aim of arguing with Noam Chomsky and posting it on a Patreon account.
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I've left the Capitol building. Watched the whole thing unfurl today, and I'm utterly baffled by the police response. Did they not think to step up security when they knew the president would be a mile down the road telling tens of thousands their country was being stolen inside?.
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One week ago, while the might of the Russian military was massed on Ukraine's borders, Tulsi Gabbard told the world that "warmongers" wanted to protect Ukraine because it was a democracy, and that it "isn't actually a democracy."
President Putin, you’ve made your point. Before it’s too late, stop the attack now. I have both Ukrainian and Russian friends and know that they have aloha—respect and love—for each other like brothers and sisters. It’s clear …
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Here is a list of local and international organisations you can donate to in Lebanon. Foodbanks, medical charities, refugee support. They are all going to need help.
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Roger Waters wrote a creepy, conspiracy theory-filled letter to Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, attempting to mansplain her own country to her. There's been a backlash.
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I spoke to @IlhanMN about the American dream and the damage done to it by Donald Trump's presidency.
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I wrote about the people tracking military equipment losses in Ukraine. Russian losses have been so great at times that they have had trouble keeping up.
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Two firefighters debate Jan 6. One things it’s a false flag. The other interrupts.
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The framing of mass protests around the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — a pause in the bombing that has killed more than 8,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children — as pro-Hamas or pro-terror, is a hark back to the most insidious post-9/11 War on Terror logic.
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