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Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has picked Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), vowing the appointment will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” by the regulator. Trump, who oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules when he last was US president, said that Zeldin was a “true fighter for America First policies” and that “he will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to…

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Helping Ukraine is Europe’s job now

Helping Ukraine is Europe’s job now

Phillips Payson O’Brien writes: Europeans should pay Donald Trump the compliment of believing what he does and says, not what they desperately want to hear. He has clearly indicated that he wants the United States out of the Ukraine war as soon as possible. Both the president-elect and his most important supporter, Elon Musk, have reportedly been in frequent contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vice President–elect J. D. Vance has outlined a “peace” deal with Ukraine that would serve…

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The U.S. could soon face a threat ‘more powerful’ than nuclear weapons

The U.S. could soon face a threat ‘more powerful’ than nuclear weapons

Ashish K. Jha, Matt Pottinger and Matthew McKnight write: President Richard M. Nixon’s bold 1969 decision to renounce biological weapons and spearhead a treaty to ban them helped contain the threat of a man-made pandemic for half a century. But our inheritance from Nixon is now fading. And in this age of synthetic biology, unless we act quickly to deter our adversaries from making and using bioweapons, we could face disaster in the near future. The nightmare of a biological…

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Fallibilism can break America’s political fever

Fallibilism can break America’s political fever

Kwame Anthony Appiah writes: I want to make the case for the power of thinking in the third person. The first person, of course, comes quite naturally to us. We have a vivid sense of our experiences and perspectives: This is who and what I am. People will live their lives with “main character energy.” Yet, with a little more work, we can also view ourselves the way historians and social scientists might: as creatures shaped by larger forces and…

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How Kamala Harris — and Joe Biden — lost to Donald Trump and left Democrats in shambles

How Kamala Harris — and Joe Biden — lost to Donald Trump and left Democrats in shambles

The Washington Post reports: Following Harris’s loss Tuesday — in which Trump made gains with nearly every single demographic group, leaving him poised to potentially win all seven battleground states and the popular vote — the Democratic Party now finds itself grappling with how it lost so definitively, and how it so thoroughly misunderstood the American electorate. Democrats expect the party, donors and outside groups will eventually conduct autopsy reports to understand just how the race went awry. Donna Brazile,…

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Thomas Homan will deport people for Trump — as he did for Obama

Thomas Homan will deport people for Trump — as he did for Obama

Politico reports: President-elect Donald Trump has picked former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan to serve as a “border czar” for the incoming administration. Trump’s selection of Homan, 62, for the post was widely expected. “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump wrote as he announced Homan’s new job on the Truth Social platform late Sunday night. Homan’s duties will include overseeing the borders with Mexico…

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Democrats’ $1.9 trillion bet that blew up

Democrats’ $1.9 trillion bet that blew up

Axios reports: Nearly four years ago, the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats made a $1.9 trillion bet in the form of the American Rescue Plan. They lost, as it contributed to a surge in inflation that fueled massive voter discontent and Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Why it matters: In the next recession, politicians and policymakers may be more hesitant to unleash the type of programs that drove America’s rapid recovery from the pandemic-induced crisis. Catch up fast: With the ARP, Democrats wagered…

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‘Hail Hitler and Hail Trump,’ yell Nazis in Michigan

‘Hail Hitler and Hail Trump,’ yell Nazis in Michigan

WLNS reports: A group of people were seen waving Nazi flags in two different Mid-Michigan cities, including outside of a Jewish play. Many people were waving flags with swastikas on them in front of the American Legion Post in Howell. At the same time, the Fowlerville Community Theater performed the “Diary of Anne Frank” on Saturday night. A member of the Howell American Legion Post says the legion heard about the rising antisemitism and thought people could learn from the…

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Trump’s victory an opportunity to ‘apply sovereignty’ in the West Bank, says Israeli minister

Trump’s victory an opportunity to ‘apply sovereignty’ in the West Bank, says Israeli minister

The Times of Israel reports: Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the United States provides Israel with the opportunity to advance the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on Monday. Addressing the press ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich welcomed Trump’s victory over incumbent Joe Biden, whose administration he complained had “unfortunately chosen to intervene in Israeli democracy and personally not to cooperate with…

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Gaza doesn’t care about Trump or Harris — only survival matters

Gaza doesn’t care about Trump or Harris — only survival matters

Ahmed Najar writes: I spoke to my family in Gaza a day before the US election. Our conversation followed days of silence, of unbearable waiting, with every hour deepening my dread. When I finally heard my nephew’s voice, I felt relief, but it quickly gave way to heartbreak. At just 21, his voice now carries a sadness and exhaustion far beyond his years. “Does it even matter who wins?” he asked me, his tone hollow and resigned. “[Donald] Trump or…

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How solar microgrids are bringing power (and quiet) to North Carolina

How solar microgrids are bringing power (and quiet) to North Carolina

Energy News Network reports: Seventeen days after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, tearing down power lines, destroying water mains, and disabling cell phone towers, the signs of relief were hard to miss. Trucks formed a caravan along Interstate 40, filled with camouflaged soldiers, large square tanks of water, and essentials from pet food to diapers. In towns, roadside signs — official versions emblazoned with nonprofit relief logos and wooden makeshift ones scrawled with paint — advertised free food and…

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Harris paid the price for ignoring the pleas of Arab Americans

Harris paid the price for ignoring the pleas of Arab Americans

Politico reports: Arab American leaders for months warned Vice President Kamala Harris that she needed to separate herself from President Joe Biden’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza — or face an electoral backlash from this influential community in a key battleground. But those pleas went largely ignored. Instead, Harris made strategic errors that deeply insulted Arab American voters reeling from intense grief as the death toll in the Middle East climbed. She refused to host a Palestinian…

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Congress is about to give Trump sweeping powers to crush his political enemies

Congress is about to give Trump sweeping powers to crush his political enemies

The Intercept reports: Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for revenge. On the campaign trail, he joked about being a dictator on “day one” in office, pledged to jail journalists, and threatened to retaliate against political foes who he felt had wronged him. Now, just days after he secured a second term in the White House, Congress is already moving to hand a resurgent Trump administration a powerful cudgel that it could wield against ideological opponents in…

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Many in government are worried about Trump’s return. At DOJ, they’re terrified

Many in government are worried about Trump’s return. At DOJ, they’re terrified

Politico reports: A collective sense of dread has taken hold at the Department of Justice, which drew Donald Trump’s rage like no other part of the federal government during his campaign. Some career attorneys at DOJ are already considering heading for the exits rather than sticking around to find out whether threats from Trump and his allies are real or campaign bluster. Those threats range from mass firings of “deep state” lawyers to expelling special counsel Jack Smith from the…

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