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GOP-touted witness in Hunter Biden laptop probe charged by DOJ in China lobbying scandal

GOP-touted witness in Hunter Biden laptop probe charged by DOJ in China lobbying scandal

The Messenger reports: One of the witnesses trumpeted by House Republicans as a whistle-blower in the Hunter Biden laptop probe acted as an illegal foreign agent for China, federal prosecutors alleged in a criminal indictment unsealed on Monday. Gal Luft, a U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Maryland-based think tank, also stands accused of arms trafficking and sanctions violations by brokering the sale of Chinese-made weapons and Iranian oil to China, according…

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NATO chief says Turkey has agreed to let Sweden join alliance

NATO chief says Turkey has agreed to let Sweden join alliance

The Wall Street Journal reports: Turkey’s president gave his approval for Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance’s secretary general said, paving the way for NATO to complete a notable expansion launched in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed to forward Sweden’s accession to the Turkish parliament “as soon as possible.” Erdogan had blocked Sweden’s NATO bid for more than a year but told…

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Climate change hits Antarctica hard, sparking concerns about irreversible tipping points

Climate change hits Antarctica hard, sparking concerns about irreversible tipping points

Tereza Pultarova writes: Antarctica may be in serious trouble. Satellite images show that the amount of sea ice floating around the pristine polar continent remains far below long-term averages despite the south polar region moving into its peak winter period. Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) observed with trepidation in late 2022 and early 2023 as satellite images revealed that sea ice attached to the coast of Antarctica had been disappearing month after month at a pace never seen…

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Heat is the human rights issue of the 21st century

Heat is the human rights issue of the 21st century

Vann R. Newkirk II writes: Consider the cantaloupe. It’s a decent melon. If you, like me, are the sort who constantly mixes them up, cantaloupes are the orange ones, and honeydews are green. If you, like me, are old enough to remember vacations, you might have had them along with their cousin, watermelon, at a hotel’s breakfast buffet. Those spreads are not as bad as you remember, especially when it’s hot out; add a couple of cold bagels and a…

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Five days after aborted mutiny, Putin met its leaders and offered them employment and combat options

Five days after aborted mutiny, Putin met its leaders and offered them employment and combat options

Reuters reports: President Vladimir Putin has held Kremlin talks with Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders to discuss the armed mutiny Wagner attempted to mount against the army’s top brass, Putin’s spokesman said on Monday. The meeting was first reported by French newspaper Liberation, which said Prigozhin had met Putin and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and SVR Foreign Intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin. The meeting, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was held on…

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Wagner fighters neared Russian nuclear base during revolt

Wagner fighters neared Russian nuclear base during revolt

Reuters reports: As rebellious Wagner forces drove north toward Moscow on June 24, a contingent of military vehicles diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, according to videos posted online and interviews with local residents. Once the Wagner fighters reach more rural regions, the surveillance trail goes cold – about 100 km from the nuclear base, Voronezh-45. Reuters could not confirm what happened next, and Western officials have repeatedly…

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The case that could be Fox’s next Dominion

The case that could be Fox’s next Dominion

The New York Times reports: Of all the distortions and paranoia that Tucker Carlson promoted on his since-canceled Fox News program, one looms large: a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man working as a covert government agent incited the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol to sabotage and discredit former President Donald J. Trump and his political movement. What’s known about the man — a two-time Trump voter named Ray Epps — is that he took part in demonstrations…

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America’s power-hungry Christians need to face their own flaws

America’s power-hungry Christians need to face their own flaws

David French writes: There’s a popular story in Christian circles that’s literally too good to be true. According to legend, in the early 1900s, The Times of London sent an inquiry to a number of writers asking the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” The Christian apologist G.K. Chesterton responded succinctly and profoundly: “Dear Sirs, I am.” The real story is just as profound, but less succinct. In 1905 Chesterton wrote a much longer letter to London’s Daily News,…

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Religious right gets blindsided by angry parents in a Southern California school district

Religious right gets blindsided by angry parents in a Southern California school district

Politico reports: Three Southern California school board members backed by a far-right pastor narrowly won election last fall in campaigns fueled by pandemic rage. Then they banned critical race theory and rejected social studies materials that included LGBTQ rights hero Harvey Milk. Now, they’re fighting for their political lives. After just six months in office, those officials face a recall effort on top of a civil rights investigation launched by the state’s Democratic-led education department. Students have held protests, and…

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Where Clarence Thomas entered an elite circle and opened a door to the Supreme Court

Where Clarence Thomas entered an elite circle and opened a door to the Supreme Court

The New York Times reports: On Oct. 15, 1991, Clarence Thomas secured his seat on the Supreme Court, a narrow victory after a bruising confirmation fight that left him isolated and disillusioned. Within months, the new justice enjoyed a far-warmer acceptance to a second exclusive club: the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, named for the Gilded Age author whose rags-to-riches novels represented an aspirational version of Justice Thomas’s own bootstraps origin story. If Justice Thomas’s life had unfolded as…

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GOP states quit the program that fights voter fraud. Now they’re scrambling

GOP states quit the program that fights voter fraud. Now they’re scrambling

Politico reports: Over the past year and a half, eight Republican-led states quit a nonpartisan program designed to keep voter rolls accurate and up to date. Top Republican election officials in those states publicly argued the program was mismanaged. The conspiracy theorists who cheered them on falsely insisted it was a front for liberals to take control of elections. But experts say the program, known as the Electronic Registration Information Center, was among the best nationwide tool states had to…

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From the Jenin raid to settlements, Biden is giving Israel’s far-right government a green light

From the Jenin raid to settlements, Biden is giving Israel’s far-right government a green light

Mairav Zonszein writes: On Monday July 3, while Israeli forces were raiding the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, in a ground and aerial assault that forced thousands of Palestinian civilians to evacuate their homes, U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Fourth of July event in Jerusalem. They talked about the close bond between the United States and Israel, and smiled for the cameras. During the Israeli military’s two-day raid—the largest in…

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Joe Biden should embrace all seven of his grandchildren

Joe Biden should embrace all seven of his grandchildren

Maureen Dowd writes: Even my Republican sister is not immune to Joe Biden’s gregarious Irish charm. She met him at media holiday parties over the years and was so impressed that she got seduced to the other side for a time, voting for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008 and writing in Biden’s name for president in 2012. She sent out a Christmas card one year with a picture of herself cheek to cheek with Biden — and some of her…

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Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine war misinformation

Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine war misinformation

BBC News reports: False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict continue to go viral on major social media platforms, as Russia’s invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days. Some of the most widely shared examples can be found on Twitter, posted by subscribers with a blue tick, who pay for their content to be promoted to other users. Many misleading posts have been shared online about the recent riots in France, but one viral post last week focused…

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