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New Louisiana law will make it easier for the police to use excessive force

New Louisiana law will make it easier for the police to use excessive force

By Richard A. Webster, Verite News This story was originally published by ProPublica Four years before a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, prompting nationwide demonstrations, hundreds of people marched in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to protest officers’ killing of Alton Sterling in front of a convenience store. Law enforcement responded in force: Officers armed with rifles, body armor and gas masks pushed protesters back and forcibly arrested about 200 people. Some were injured. A group of 13 protesters and two…

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The Houthi’s ‘have been very happy’ to challenge Israel and the U.S.

The Houthi’s ‘have been very happy’ to challenge Israel and the U.S.

Robert F. Worth writes: The Houthi militia, born in the wilds of northwestern Yemen, has been wanting a war with Israel for decades. Its distinctive five-line motto, printed on flags and chanted at rallies by the group’s faithful, includes the lines “Death to Israel” and “Curses on the Jews.” The Houthis got their wish on July 19, when one of their drones struck a high-rise in Tel Aviv, killing one man and wounding four others. The blast signaled a troubling…

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Links between pathogens and Alzheimer’s spur new projects searching for causal evidence

Links between pathogens and Alzheimer’s spur new projects searching for causal evidence

Science reports: This week, thousands of researchers are flocking to downtown Philadelphia for what’s billed as the largest international conference dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease. But several kilometers away a much smaller group congregated for an alternative meetup: a daylong dive into whether and how pathogens might cause the fatal dementia. Saturday’s gathering of about 80 scientists on the city’s periphery is something of a metaphor for where the idea sits in the larger Alzheimer’s community, long dominated by the view…

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Trump is becoming an embarrassment to his own party

Trump is becoming an embarrassment to his own party

Kamala Harris in Houston addresses Trump's bonkers appearance at the NABJ: "The divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say. The American people deserve better … a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts." pic.twitter.com/uo7sN6NV0Z — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 1, 2024 Axios reports: Former President Trump’s comments about Vice President Harris to the National Association of Black Journalists are being treated as radioactive by many Republicans. Why it matters: The tense interview is being…

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Gaza, Islamophobia, family and the environment are the top issues for Muslim-American voters in 2024

Gaza, Islamophobia, family and the environment are the top issues for Muslim-American voters in 2024

New Lines Magazine: For months, as the war in Gaza raged on and student protests overtook American campuses, the question of just how much President Joe Biden’s steadfast support for Israel amid the war’s escalation would cost Democrats fueled endless debate. Many speculated that the anger that fueled the protests would come home to roost in November, as Muslim Americans in key swing states who had voted for Biden in 2020 would stay home, or worse, vote for Republican former…

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With the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Netanyahu shows his determination to block a ceasefire in Gaza

With the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Netanyahu shows his determination to block a ceasefire in Gaza

UN News reports: “The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Teheran represent a dangerous escalation at a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages, a massive increase of humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and a return to calm in Lebanon and across the Blue Line,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “Rather than that, what…

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Democrats may have a real chance to reform the Supreme Court

Democrats may have a real chance to reform the Supreme Court

Ankush Khardori writes: The summer of reversals for President Joe Biden continued in dramatic form on Monday as he announced that he now supports sweeping Supreme Court reform. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Biden pushed 18-year term limits and a binding ethics code on Supreme Court justices — after a long career spent opposing such measures — as well as a constitutional amendment overturning the court’s recent decision granting presidents immunity from criminal prosecution. Is it too little…

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Who is brave enough to back Brazil’s global tax on billionaires? The answer will define our future

Who is brave enough to back Brazil’s global tax on billionaires? The answer will define our future

George Monbiot writes: Last week, Brazilian climate minister Ana Toni explained a proposal put forward by her government (and now supported by South Africa, Germany and Spain), for a 2% global tax on the wealth of the world’s billionaires. Though it would affect just 3,000 of the super-rich, it would raise around $250bn (£195bn): a significant contribution either to global climate funds or to poverty alleviation. Radical? Not at all. According to calculations by Oxfam, the wealth of billionaires has been growing so fast…

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Kamala Harris is rightwing white America’s worst nightmare

Kamala Harris is rightwing white America’s worst nightmare

Robert Reich writes: When Joe Biden stepped down in support of Kamala Harris, he didn’t just pass the torch to another generation. He passed it from old white men to America’s future. Consider that women now compose a remarkable 60% of college undergraduates. And that by 2050, it’s estimated that America will consist mostly of people of color – 30% more Black people than today, 60% more Latinos, and twice the number of Asian Americans. The power shift has already…

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Harris candidacy offers foreign policy opportunity

Harris candidacy offers foreign policy opportunity

Matt Duss writes: While no one expects Harris to dramatically distance herself from Biden, there are steps that she can take to show that she speaks for the Democratic Party of today and not 40 years ago. She can announce that as president, she will immediately suspend the U.S.-supplied military aid being used in violation of U.S. law. She can publicly make clear that she agrees with the assessment of countless Israelis—including Israeli opposition lawmakers and top sitting security officials—that…

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How the crypto industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy political influence

How the crypto industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy political influence

Judd Legum writes: 15 years after Bitcoin was created, there are still few legitimate use cases. Today, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are primarily used for financial speculation and to facilitate organized crime. The broader crypto industry, meanwhile, has been rocked by scandals, including the spectacular implosion of FTX and criminal charges against Binance. But crypto lobbyists still have one ace up their sleeves: lots of money. The industry’s primary Super PAC, Fairshake, has raised over $202 million in the 2024…

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The polarization of gender attitudes

The polarization of gender attitudes

Derek Thompson writes: Men have for decades preferred Republican candidates, while women have for decades leaned Democratic. In a 2024 analysis of voter data, Catalist, a progressive firm that models election results, “found that the gender divide was roughly the same for all age groups in recent elections,” [Rose] Horowitch wrote. One suggested explanation for these apparent contradictions is that the most alarming surveys are showing us the future, and this November will establish a new high-water mark in gender…

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Social trends: The experiences of U.S. adults who don’t have children

Social trends: The experiences of U.S. adults who don’t have children

Pew Research Center reports: The U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low in 2023, with a growing share of women ages 25 to 44 having never given birth. And the share of U.S. adults younger than 50 without children who say they are unlikely to ever have kids rose 10 percentage points between 2018 and 2023 (from 37% to 47%), according to a Pew Research Center survey. In this report, we explore the experiences of two groups of U.S. adults: Those ages 50 and older who…

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Trump Media quietly enters deal with a Republican donor who could benefit from a second Trump administration

Trump Media quietly enters deal with a Republican donor who could benefit from a second Trump administration

By Justin Elliott, Robert Faturechi and Alex Mierjeski This story was originally published by ProPublica This month, former President Donald Trump’s media company announced it was making its first major purchase: technology to help stream TV on Truth Social, its Twitter-like platform. There was a mystery at the center of the deal: One of the companies on the other side of the transaction, which went unmentioned in Trump Media’s press release but was named in securities filings, is an obscure…

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