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Trump’s RNC takeover is on the brink of becoming a ‘purge’

Trump’s RNC takeover is on the brink of becoming a ‘purge’

The Daily Beast reports: First came the internal grumbling about Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Then came McDaniel’s decision to step down from her post at the end of February as she lost the support of Donald Trump. After that came Trump’s move to put forward a slate of loyalists to take over the party’s top spots—including an election-denying state party chair, a Trump campaign senior adviser, and the former president’s own daughter-in-law. Next could come…

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Fani Willis turns the tables on her attackers

Fani Willis turns the tables on her attackers

Jennifer Rubin writes: Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis took the stand last week under attack from Michael Roman, former henchman 0f four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump, and many in the media and legal community. At issue was whether her romantic relationship with a special counsel, Nathan Wade, was grounds for disqualifying her from the sprawling RICO case she brought against Trump and nearly 20 co-defendants (some of whom struck plea deals). What was legally at issue — the…

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New neuroscience research uncovers the brain’s unique musical processing pathways

New neuroscience research uncovers the brain’s unique musical processing pathways

PsyPost reports: A new study by researchers at UC San Francisco provides insight into how the brain processes musical melodies. Through precise mapping of the cerebral cortex, the study uncovered that our brains process music by not only discerning pitch and the direction of pitch changes but also by predicting the sequence of upcoming notes, each task managed by distinct sets of neurons. The findings have been published in Science Advances. Previous research had established that our brains possess specialized…

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Judge Engoron’s ruling is a detailed road map to Trump’s thievery

Judge Engoron’s ruling is a detailed road map to Trump’s thievery

David Cay Johnston writes: The news about the eye-popping $355 million judgment against Donald Trump Friday minimized or even missed the real story in the judge’s richly detailed ruling. In justifying his findings of fact, New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s analysis of testimony in Trump’s seven-week civil fraud trial in Manhattan showed how everything Trump does is based on consistent and shameless cheating, deceiving, falsifying documents, and lying. The 92-page ruling establishes that Trump isn’t a business genius, a modern…

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UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls

UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: UN experts today expressed alarm over credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received. “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children…

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Systematic violation of human rights: The incarceration conditions of Palestinians in Israel since Oct 7

Systematic violation of human rights: The incarceration conditions of Palestinians in Israel since Oct 7

Physicians for Human Rights Israel: Since October 7th, any semblance of restraint has been cast aside regarding the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli incarceration and detention facilities. Forced disappearances, torture, and severe violations of human rights, particularly in terms of health, are now inherent in the practices and policies of Israeli security bodies responsible for Palestinians in custody. These actions have garnered support and, at times, were explicitly demanded by the political ranks. Simultaneously, the judicial system has allowed these…

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A key withdrawal shows Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery to fight Russia

A key withdrawal shows Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery to fight Russia

The Associated Press reports: Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine’s hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months. Avdiivka was a stronghold for Ukrainian positions deeper inside the country, away from Russia. A frontline city ever since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the fortified settlement…

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Denmark will donate its ‘entire artillery’ to Ukraine

Denmark will donate its ‘entire artillery’ to Ukraine

The Kyiv Independent reports: Denmark has decided to deliver all the artillery rounds from its stockpiles to Ukraine, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Ukrainian Lunch at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17. Artillery shells are among the most crucial military supplies for Ukraine, as they are used daily in high numbers on the Ukrainian battlefields. “If you ask Ukrainians, they are asking us for ammunition now, artillery now. From the Danish side, we decided to donate our…

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Alexei Navalny and the West’s corruption

Alexei Navalny and the West’s corruption

In 2021, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia, said: We are here to honor Alexei Navalny, a man hounded, persecuted, beaten, poisoned, and jailed for standing up to a thuggish autocracy that is well on its way to classic totalitarian rule. His crime? Peacefully using his fundamental human right of freedom of expression to challenge a regime-held together by storm-troopers, violence, and murder. Navalny’s story is not a new one. In the decade before the collapse of communism,…

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These birds score as high as primates in a puzzling cognitive test

These birds score as high as primates in a puzzling cognitive test

Science Alert reports: Only some animals are known to fathom object permanence – the idea that something still exists even when it’s out of sight. Oriental pied hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) are one of the few with an advanced understanding, a new study confirms. It’s a clever skill that comes in handy when nesting females seal themselves out of sight in tree hollows, relying on their mate to bring them food. To lay and tend to their eggs in safety, female…

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Why are Israel and its Western allies targeting UNRWA?

Why are Israel and its Western allies targeting UNRWA?

  About 20 countries have announced suspension of funding to UNRWA, the agency that has been providing services to Palestinian refugees since 1950. The official reason for the suspension was Israel’s accusation that a dozen UNRWA employees in Gaza had participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. To understand the potential consequences of undermining UNRWA – especially amid a humanitarian catastrophe – host Steve Clemons speaks with Leila Hilal, a former adviser to the UNRWA commissioner-general, and Anne Irfan, lecturer…

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote against Biden in the primary

Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote against Biden in the primary

NBC News reports: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is urging Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, to vote against President Joe Biden in the state’s upcoming Democratic primary. “If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib said in a new video posted to social media on Saturday while standing outside an early voting location. She joined growing calls from progressive activists in Michigan to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 27 instead of…

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Navalny’s body not in morgue where authorities said it was, aides say

Navalny’s body not in morgue where authorities said it was, aides say

The Moscow Times reports: Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s body is not in the morgue where authorities said it was brought after his death, his team announced Saturday. “Alexei’s lawyer and his mother have arrived at the Salekhard morgue. It’s closed, however, the colony has assured them it’s working and Navalny’s body is there,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly Twitter. “The lawyer called the phone number which was on the door. He was told he was the seventh…

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Kremlin runs disinformation campaign to undermine Zelensky, documents show

Kremlin runs disinformation campaign to undermine Zelensky, documents show

The Washington Post reports: When news first emerged last month that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was preparing to fire his top military commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, officials in Moscow seemed jubilant. They had been trying to orchestrate just such a split for many months, documents show. “We need to strengthen the conflict between Zaluzhny and Zelensky, along the lines of ‘he intends to fire him,’” one Kremlin political strategist wrote a year ago, after a meeting of senior Russian officials…

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