Browsed by
Author: From elsewhere

Judge Aileen Cannon could get herself booted from Trump’s classified documents case

Judge Aileen Cannon could get herself booted from Trump’s classified documents case

Ray Brescia writes: For the last few weeks, the legal and political world had its eyes on the spectacle of an effort to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Yet over the last six months, a slow-moving car-crash of a case has been unfolding, with a judge who seems committed to protecting the former president at every turn of the…

Read More Read More

Outside groups pledge over $1 billion to aid Biden’s re-election effort

Outside groups pledge over $1 billion to aid Biden’s re-election effort

The New York Times reports: A new $120 million pledge to lift President Biden and his allies will push the total expected spending from outside groups working to re-elect Mr. Biden to $1 billion this year. The League of Conservation Voters, a leading climate organization that is among the biggest spenders on progressive causes, announced its plans for backing Mr. Biden on Tuesday, at a moment when his Republican challenger, former President Donald J. Trump, is struggling to raise funds….

Read More Read More

EU deal with Egypt rewards authoritarianism, betrays ‘EU values’

EU deal with Egypt rewards authoritarianism, betrays ‘EU values’

Claudio Francavilla writes: The European Union is about to reward Egypt’s autocratic leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for preventing migrants’ departures towards Europe. Visiting Cairo on March 17, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the Prime Ministers of Italy, Greece, and Belgium, will officially upgrade the EU-Egypt relations to a “comprehensive and strategic partnership”, paving the way for a package of EU aid, grants, loans and investments in the country estimated at between four and eight billion Euros….

Read More Read More

Mysterious ‘unparticles’ may be pushing the universe apart, new theoretical study suggests

Mysterious ‘unparticles’ may be pushing the universe apart, new theoretical study suggests

Live Science reports: The ever-accelerating expansion of the universe may be driven by a mysterious form of matter called “unparticles,” which do not obey the Standard Model of particle physics, a new theoretical paper suggests. Scientists widely acknowledge that the universe is expanding, though the cause of that expansion remains elusive. One of the most popular proposed explanations is a mysterious entity called dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant, which leads to expansion at a rate independent…

Read More Read More

‘Catastrophic levels of hunger’ in Gaza mean famine is imminent, says aid coalition

‘Catastrophic levels of hunger’ in Gaza mean famine is imminent, says aid coalition

The Guardian reports: Famine is imminent in northern Gaza with people suffering “catastrophic levels of hunger”, a coalition of aid groups has warned. The situation was called “man-made starvation”, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a group that includes the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization, said that 1.1 million people, half of Gaza’s population, faced famine. The IPC report came as Philippe Lazzarini, the head of Unrwa – the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees –…

Read More Read More

Israel’s Shifa raid shows its grip is slipping as a ‘forever war’ looms

Israel’s Shifa raid shows its grip is slipping as a ‘forever war’ looms

Jason Burke writes: The latest raid on al-Shifa hospital reveals that the Israeli military’s hold on the areas of Gaza supposedly cleared of Hamas militants is considerably more tenuous than the country’s political leaders have claimed – and suggests the region’s military superpower is facing its own “forever war” in the territory with enormous costs for everyone involved, particularly civilians. The fighting around the Shifa hospital and its eventual seizure was the climactic moment of the first phase of Israel’s…

Read More Read More

Trump says Jews who support Democrats ‘hate Israel’ and ‘their religion’

Trump says Jews who support Democrats ‘hate Israel’ and ‘their religion’

The New York Times reports: Former President Donald J. Trump accused Jews who vote for Democrats of hating their religion and Israel, reviving and escalating a claim he made as president that Jewish Democrats were disloyal. He made his remarks in an interview published online on Monday with Sebastian Gorka, a former White House aide for Mr. Trump who now hosts a conservative talk radio program. Mr. Gorka asked Mr. Trump about criticism that prominent Democrats — including President Biden…

Read More Read More

Putin bromance has U.S. intelligence officials fearing second Trump term

Putin bromance has U.S. intelligence officials fearing second Trump term

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s continuing lavish praise and support for Vladimir Putin are fueling alarm among former intelligence officials and other experts who fear another Trump presidency would benefit Moscow and harm American democracy and interests overseas. Trump praised the Russian president as a “genius” and “pretty savvy” when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, and has boasted he would end the war in a “day”, sparking critics’ fears that if he’s elected again Trump would help Russia achieve…

Read More Read More

Behind Trump’s campaign cash crunch: Small-dollar donor fatigue, major donor hesitation

Behind Trump’s campaign cash crunch: Small-dollar donor fatigue, major donor hesitation

CNBC reports: Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has begun to see warning signs that the small-dollar donors who fueled his last run for the White House have slowed their support to the former president this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Since late last year, members of Trump’s team have been warned by Republican Party advisors that their small-dollar donor base could be shrinking, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters. Some have even…

Read More Read More

Confirming that Jan 6 was an insurrection, Supreme Court lets ban against New Mexico official stand

Confirming that Jan 6 was an insurrection, Supreme Court lets ban against New Mexico official stand

Politico reports: The Supreme Court has turned away a convicted member of the Jan. 6 mob who was barred from public office in New Mexico under the Constitution’s “insurrection clause” seeking to reverse his disqualification. The justices on Monday denied Couy Griffin’s petition to consider his effort to overturn the rulings of courts in New Mexico that deemed him ineligible from holding office there ever again. Griffin, who was convicted in 2022 of misdemeanor offenses related to his role in…

Read More Read More

The education of a true believer

The education of a true believer

The Washington Post reports: Linda Wenhold closed her eyes, bowed her head and offered a prayer. “Lord, let us see that the further we move from biblical truth, the further we move from our liberty and freedom,” she began. The 60-year-old grandmother stood at the front of a modest stone church in this former steel town just beyond the exurban sprawl of Philadelphia. About a dozen people had turned out on a cold February night for the fourth week of…

Read More Read More

Claims that UNRWA is Hamas ‘proxy’ are ‘just flat-out lies,’ says Sen. Chris Van Holle

Claims that UNRWA is Hamas ‘proxy’ are ‘just flat-out lies,’ says Sen. Chris Van Holle

  Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, tells “Face the Nation” that claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others that the relief group UNRWA, which provides relief for Palestinian refugees, is a “proxy” for Hamas are “just flat-out lies.” The Hill reports: Funding for the United Nations (U.N.) agency that provides relief for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, has emerged as a serious obstacle as congressional negotiators race to prevent a partial government shutdown at the end…

Read More Read More

Belgian PM warns Israel against using hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in Gaza

Belgian PM warns Israel against using hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in Gaza

Politico reports: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo warned Israel on Saturday against using hunger as a “weapon of war” in the Gaza Strip, urging the Israeli government to open more access points for humanitarian aid. “I see today there is a very large population [in Gaza] at risk of famine,” the Belgian leader told journalists in Amman, Jordan, during a whistle-stop tour of the Middle East. “It’s up to Israel to prove that famine won’t be used as a…

Read More Read More

The strongman fantasy

The strongman fantasy

Timothy Snyder writes: Quite a few Americans like the idea of strongman rule. Why not a dictator who will get things done? I lived in eastern Europe when memories of communism were fresh. I have visited regions in Ukraine where Russia imposed its occupation regime. I have spent decades reading testimonies of people who lived under Nazi or Stalinist rule. I have seen death pits, some old, some freshly dug. And I have friends who have lived under authoritarian regimes,…

Read More Read More