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NY Gov. Hochul is helping her fossil fuel donors gut key climate law

NY Gov. Hochul is helping her fossil fuel donors gut key climate law

The Lever reports: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is pushing to gut the state’s signature climate law after raking in nearly half a million dollars from the corporations and lobbyists pushing the move, according to a Lever review of campaign finance records. The governor’s office wants to place a provision into the state’s $230 billion budget that would change how the state counts methane emissions, allowing energy companies to include more natural gas in their energy mix while still…

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Inside Trump’s demands for a high-profile surrender: ‘It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing’

Inside Trump’s demands for a high-profile surrender: ‘It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing’

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump insisted on turning his Tuesday arraignment into a spectacle, and he’s going to get his wish. A law enforcement official tells Rolling Stone that the former president was offered a chance to surrender quietly and be arraigned over Zoom. Instead, Trump opted for a midday, high-profile booking at the Manhattan courthouse, the official says. “He wanted a perp walk, he wanted daylight hours,” says the law enforcement official, who’s involved in aspects of the security…

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Finland to join NATO on Tuesday, Sweden still waiting

Finland to join NATO on Tuesday, Sweden still waiting

Reuters reports: Finland will join NATO on Tuesday, marking the completion of a swift journey into the military alliance for the Nordic nation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials said. Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, meaning NATO’s frontier with Russia will roughly double in length, and the move drew a pledge from Moscow that it will beef up its forces in border regions. “Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO making Finland safer…

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The terrifying threat that No Labels will reelect Trump

The terrifying threat that No Labels will reelect Trump

Jonathan Chait writes: One underrated scenario that would enable a right-wing authoritarian like Ron DeSantis or even Donald Trump to win the presidency in 2024 is that the Republican path will be cleared by an organization called No Labels. The semi-inscrutable organization, which is lavishly funded by anonymous donors, is planning a third-party candidacy that would almost certainly peel off enough moderate voters from the Democratic ticket to ensure a Republican victory. Like a far-off meteor heading directly for Earth,…

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The Biden administration barely pretends to care about Syria anymore

The Biden administration barely pretends to care about Syria anymore

Josh Rogin writes: The Biden administration seems to have forgotten about Syria these days. The only moves it has made recently were responses to February’s devastating earthquake or a recent attack on U.S. troops by an apparent Iranian drone. The administration has abdicated diplomatic leadership to Moscow and is turning a blind eye as Gulf states welcome the Assad regime back into the diplomatic fold. Privately, many Biden officials tell me they just don’t see any good U.S. policy options….

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Will Jeff Zients destroy Joe Biden’s presidency?

Will Jeff Zients destroy Joe Biden’s presidency?

Jeet Heer writes: When Jeff Zients took over as White House chief of staff on February 8, 2023, he could be grateful that his predecessor, Ron Klain, left him a smoothly running operation. Under Klain’s watch, the first two years of Biden’s presidency were considerably more successful than anyone could have expected. This was especially true given that Biden faced the headwinds of a turbulent economy, international turmoil from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a polarized polity at home. Despite…

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Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

NBC News reports: The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official. China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in…

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Melting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050

Melting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050

The Guardian reports: Melting ice around Antarctica will cause a rapid slowdown of a major global deep ocean current by 2050 that could alter the world’s climate for centuries and accelerate sea level rise, according to scientists behind new research. The research suggests if greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades. This, the scientists said, could generate a cascade of impacts that…

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Saudis, other oil giants announce surprise production cuts

Saudis, other oil giants announce surprise production cuts

The Associated Press reports: Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers on Sunday announced surprise cuts totaling up to 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year, a move that could raise prices worldwide. Higher oil prices would help fill Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coffers as his country wages war on Ukraine and force Americans and others to pay even more at the pump amid worldwide inflation. It was also likely to further strain ties…

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Russian author Mikhail Shishkin’s letter to an unknown Ukrainian

Russian author Mikhail Shishkin’s letter to an unknown Ukrainian

Mikhail Shishkin writes: My dearest one, They stole the language from us. We spoke and corresponded with you in the language of great Russian literature. Now, for the whole world, Russian is the language of those who bomb Ukrainian cities and kill children, the language of war criminals, the language of murderers. They will be tried for crimes against humanity. I would like to believe that all those who prepared and participated in this war, who supported it in one…

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Pro-Russian propagandist killed in blast in St. Petersburg

Pro-Russian propagandist killed in blast in St. Petersburg

Michael Weiss and James Rushton write: An infamous pro-Russian combatant turned propagandist, known by the pseudonym Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a St. Petersburg cafe on Sunday, in an explosion that injured at least 25 others, according to the Russian government. Footage captured on a cellphone just before the explosion showed Tatarsky examining a statuette of a miner. Tatarsky was himself formerly a miner, and his Ukrainian hometown is in a region known for its coal mining and heavy industry….

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The rule of law now depends on Republicans

The rule of law now depends on Republicans

David French writes: To fully understand the Trumpist threat to the rule of law, it’s necessary to discuss what the rule of law means. A nation truly governed by the rule of law isn’t going to have a perfect legal system — no human system can be perfect — but it will have a double check against injustice. The rule of law depends on both substance and process, just laws and just processes, and respect for the rule of law…

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Norfolk Southern’s push for profits compromised safety, workers say

Norfolk Southern’s push for profits compromised safety, workers say

The New York Times reports: Norfolk Southern once had so few accidents and injuries that it won the rail industry’s prestigious E.H. Harriman safety award for 23 years in a row until it was retired in 2012. But in the last decade, the company has gone from an industry leader to a laggard. The rate at which its trains are involved in accidents and its workers are injured on the job has soared, putting it at or near the bottom…

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