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Federal Judge orders Florida to tear down Alligator Alcatraz within 60 days

Federal Judge orders Florida to tear down Alligator Alcatraz within 60 days

Mother Jones reports: A federal judge in Miami has ruled that operations at the controversial detention facility Alligator Alcatraz must begin to wind down, ordering state and federal officials to stop transferring detainees there and relocate current detainees within 60 days. Two weeks after US District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, ordered a temporary pause on any new construction at Alligator Alcatraz, in response to a suit by environmental groups, she has now ordered the dismantling of equipment at…

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The Trump regime’s assault on science feels eerily Soviet

The Trump regime’s assault on science feels eerily Soviet

Lois Parshley writes: In the fall of 1925, agronomist Trofim Lysenko arrived on the dusty plains of what is now Azerbaijan, hoping to keep cows from starving to death over the winter. The young scientist, who learned to read as a teenager during the Russian Revolution, dismissed the rapidly advancing field of genetics. He believed nature could be bent to human will. Lysenko denounced the idea that genes pass traits down as a “degradation of bourgeois culture,” and couldn’t understand…

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Israeli army database indicates at least 83% of Gaza dead were civilians

Israeli army database indicates at least 83% of Gaza dead were civilians

+972 reports: Data from an internal Israeli intelligence database indicates that at least 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza were civilians, an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian can reveal. Figures obtained from the classified database — which records the deaths of militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — contradict by a huge margin the public statements of Israeli army and government officials throughout the war, which have generally claimed a…

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Trump’s takeover of D.C. is authoritarian power grab that Democrats are failing to resist

Trump’s takeover of D.C. is authoritarian power grab that Democrats are failing to resist

Monica Potts writes: The military parade in June was just practice, it turns out. For more than a week, the nation has watched federal officers and even camouflaged troops patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., causing increasing amounts of violence and mayhem. Videos of agents pulling a delivery driver off his moped and stopping to lecture a Black man smoking a cigarette on his own stoop have gone viral, while Republican governors from West Virginia, Ohio, South Carolina, Mississippi, and…

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The Orwellian nature of Trump’s push for ‘Americanism’ at the Smithsonian

The Orwellian nature of Trump’s push for ‘Americanism’ at the Smithsonian

Erasing history is a deeply Orwellian thing to do. Elen11, iStock/Getty Images Plus By Laura Beers, American University When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign. It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power. It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both the future and the past. In his…

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Ukraine: All the Russians need to do is go home

Ukraine: All the Russians need to do is go home

Olga Rudenko writes: Vladimir Putin looked like he loved every minute of it. Mr. Putin, the president of Russia, the man who has proclaimed that my country shouldn’t exist — that it’s a historical mistake, to be fixed by Russian soldiers — was welcomed effusively to Alaska by the president of the United States. Mr. Putin exited his plane and diplomatic isolation and walked a red carpet like an honored guest. His smile was triumphant. Was it confidence that he…

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A Texas county cuts over a hundred polling sites as Trump attacks mail-in voting nationally

A Texas county cuts over a hundred polling sites as Trump attacks mail-in voting nationally

By Drew Shaw, Fort Worth Report This story was originally published by ProPublica Officials in a large North Texas county decided this week to cut more than 100 Election Day polling sites and reduce the number of early voting locations, amid growing concern about GOP efforts to limit voting access ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The 3-2 vote on Tuesday by commissioners in Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, came one day after President Donald Trump vowed to end…

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FBI association accuses Kash Patel of violating due process in high-profile firings of agents

FBI association accuses Kash Patel of violating due process in high-profile firings of agents

CNN reports: The FBI Agents Association is warning lawmakers that recent firings at the agency have “purposely violated” the due process rights of agents, expressly calling out FBI Director Kash Patel for what the association sees as flagrant policy violations and potential political retribution. “We want you to be aware that Director Patel is making personnel decisions without providing the due process protections promised to the recently terminated law enforcement officers under federal law,” the association’s president, Natalie Bara, wrote…

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DNA from extinct hominin, the Denisovans, may have helped ancient peoples survive in the Americas

DNA from extinct hominin, the Denisovans, may have helped ancient peoples survive in the Americas

University of Colorado at Boulder: Thousands of years ago, ancient humans undertook a treacherous journey, crossing hundreds of miles of ice over the Bering Strait to the unknown world of the Americas. Now, a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that these nomads carried something surprising with them—a chunk of DNA inherited from a now-extinct species of hominin, which may have helped humans adapt to the challenges of their new home. The researchers published their results…

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Omer Bartov: Why Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide

Omer Bartov: Why Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide

  Professor Omer Bartov concludes that the word genocide describes Israel’s conduct in Gaza and as such requires the U.S. and Europe to intervene and stop Israel’s destructive path. In his forthcoming book, Israel: What Went Wrong, Bartov unpacks how a country founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust by a marginalized people could now become a pariah state that is occupying and displacing the Palestinians with active support, or indifference, of so many of its Jewish citizens. We discuss…

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Masked federal agents have replaced the Proud Boys

Masked federal agents have replaced the Proud Boys

Melissa Gira Grant writes: The beatdown in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on Saturday was caught on video. Two masked men in tactical vests grappled with a delivery worker. One tased him, and he fell to the ground. A third man piled on, and then a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth, all in similar vests with faces covered. Pinning the worker face down on the pavement, agents tased him again and punched him repeatedly in the head. “Get the…

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Russia mocks the proposition of security guarantees for Ukraine

Russia mocks the proposition of security guarantees for Ukraine

Politico reports: Moscow isn’t shifting on what it considers to be acceptable security guarantees for Ukraine, a top Kremlin official said Wednesday. The comments by Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov undercut hopes that any progress has been made toward ending the Ukraine war since Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska. Lavrov’s remarks further indicate that the Kremlin has not softened on its maximalist positions on Ukraine: that it becomes a neutral rump…

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Trump uses legal threats to push Federal Reserve member — the only Black woman — to resign

Trump uses legal threats to push Federal Reserve member — the only Black woman — to resign

Don Moynihan writes: One trademark of an authoritarian regime is the use of the legal system to target political opponents and forgive friends. This has the effect of undermining our basic conception of the law as a set of rules that is fairly and consistently applied. It also centralizes authority and undermines government capacity. Trump’s call for Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook to resign, under the threat of a DOJ investigation, is a clear example of this type of authoritarianism….

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Obama applauds Newsom’s CA redistricting plan as ‘responsible’ as Texas GOP pushes new maps

Obama applauds Newsom’s CA redistricting plan as ‘responsible’ as Texas GOP pushes new maps

The Associated Press reports: Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the way of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections. “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely…

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